The love was more immediate than in Paris. I did end up having some take-your-breath-away moments in Paris since I wrote, though- one when I went back to the Louvre in the evening and the sun was setting over Les Jardins des Tuileries and L´Avenue des Champs Elysees and glowing pink and orange through the glass of the Grand Palais roof. Seeing the Eiffel Tower light up from a quiet (except for a few French guys drinking by their car) spot just across the river also gets under your skin in a way that daytime Paris didn´t for me. The mosaics of the Basilique du Sacre-Coeur took my breath away. I also got a thrill from looking through old photographs and postcards at a "marché des puces", trying to read the narrow cursive of the early 20th century scraled across the front of a postcard of the Arc de Triomphe.
In Barcelona I´ve been mesmerized by the rhythm of Flamenco at a little hole-in-the-wall bar, pulled along in the crush of people at a crowded beach club, and induced to move by the energetic musicians of live band, including the happiest saxophonist I´ve ever seen.
I like that the streets are narrow and flanked by the typical 6 story, stone and brick buildings, as in Paris, but are infused with a lot more colour and little more chaos. Shops and markets overflow with mosaic-ed souvenirs, clothing, cell phone cases and sunglasses (always together), handmade jewllery, bread, fruit and vegetables, knives, candy... Sunday in the park everyone was relaxing on the grass, slacklining, performing acrobatics and playing music.
The typical schedule of a day here is not what I´m used to- essentially everything just starts and ends way later. A few late nights made for late mornings and I haven´t even been toCatedral de la Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell yet, so I´m going tomorrow. Today, it´s time to hit the beach.
No comments:
Post a Comment