An Art Work A Day

 It being the holidays, I dream and plan of travelling.

For more on this very special street within the Prague castle complex that I visited last February, click here. These days I very much wish to visit this amazing city again but most airlines start locally only have routes there from April.

I am able to take the steepest routes uphill but my balance problems kicks in so down again I have to take the long around route. I have invested in lots of band aids and silicone soles for shoes etc etc so painful feet is not going to stop me this spring and summer :-).

I dag startet jeg dagen ved Sagrada Familia etter å ha dratt ut til buss-stasjonen for å ha billetten ferdig kjøpt og klar til flybussen i morgen natt. Hvis du vil vite mer om denne fantastiske kirken til Gaudi som fremdeles er under bygging så kan du klikke her.

Also today I have taken tons of photos. Unfortunately I do not have any good image programs on this computer yet so posting many full size photos will make my blog load very slowly. I will however post a few photos showing what has been a read tread through Barcelona; all the street performers and artists, especially all the living statues and the many churches.

I attended this one tonight for a lovely serimony where the whole church was dark and people were standing holding candles and at one point one by one of the candles was lit and later one by one the lights in the church itself were lit. Very moving.

Walking around the markets I long for a kitchen to be able to try all the amazing seafood available fresh here.

By the way got some help sorting out the cash problem. Insuranse is a great thing :-)

Being here has lots of ups but also one down. For some strange reason my visa card won't work in Barcelona and stupid me even considered taking with me an extra card but decided not to in the end. The big problem is that it is holy week here in Spain so open banks is not an option to sort this out before Tuesday unless I can find one open for a bit tomorrow morning. I started my day with 16 euro, I now have 15. No going out for food that is for sure. I managed today on the food I bought yesterday on the market and with water from fountains. Tomorrow I will have to buy some stuff.

Fortunately all activities today was free and I had the 5 days card for the metro and buses.

Today I went to see an Easter prosesion and also the works of Gaudi. Here are two of his mst famous buildings, Casa Mila or La Pedrere and Casa Batillo. Casa meaning house in Spanish.

Going inside the houses costs quite a bit and the queues were very long (1/2 -1 hour waiting) so that comforted me since I did not dare spend any money in case I could not figure out the problem with my card. I plan on posting more about Gaudi and especially the Guell Park where I spent many hours today. For now you will have to make do with a couple of tempting pictures.

Later in the day I went in search of the big Easter prosesion but did not find it and also in search of an open bank someone suggested would be in the train station. No luck there either but a nice suny walk in the Arc the Triump area comforted me quite a bit.

the lounge area where we went down to the breakfast room in the Contessina

Standing outside my hotel I had the central train station are behind me, the roads towards the markets and the old city to the right, In front of me I had a few street with a slightly more normal meaning a tiny tad less touristy area and to the left I did not know so I took off in that direction. On the map there seemed to be only a few things in that direction like a garden or something. What i found was Fortezza de Basso, an old fort which I wish I could have taken a better look inside of.

Walking around this fortress I found this lovely garden where I sat down.

I started by putting away my stuff at the Residence La Contessina Via Faenza 71n (my apartment). http://www.residenceinflorence.com/ Here you will see images of the place including my kitchen and my bed and get all the other info you could want about a place with lovely service and landlady.

With my small nylon backpack I then went out to explore. I totally love markets so since I could see one close by according to the map, I naturally headed in that direction. The first market stalls are always fun and I enjoyed myself a lot. The only thing that disappointed me after a while in Florence was that very little of things in the stalls were original crafts - 99 % was factory made so those selling rarely had had anything to do with production which I found a pity. Initially I had believed it to be one market place but after a few days I realised that most of the historical part of Florence had these stalls - lots of glass jewellery, leather and that special porcelaine was what you saw the most. Some also had handmade books kind of things. Besides from leather SHAWLS were what was sold everywhere. I must admit I ended up bringing home a few LOL - thinking LOL that I could use some as table cloths if I ended up not wearing them. had to do some shopping you know LOL and since I am not into leather and gold . . . .

There were also quite a few street artists around - most of them painted city or Tuscan landscapes in watercolour. This one spray painted. I also got a nice talk with one of the watercolour artists in this market area.

Strolling around I ended up passing the Duomo - The Saint Mary Cathedral - Duomo cattedrale di santa Maria del fiore (in Italian). http://www.duomofirenze.it/storia/storia_eng.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Cathedral

These two pages will tell you all about it much better than I can. Definately a place I will study much closer on a later trip. Then I will also walk to the top of either the dome or the tower on the side, 4oosomething steps at the top but a wonderful view I was told. I did the top of the St Peter church in Rome and The Doumo in Milano. Definately worth it.

I did not go inside this day but the next day. Just taking in and walking among all those incredible buildings was more than enough for a first day, travel weary too.

The street seller ladies were very busy here and I must admit that this lady was quite good at it and I ended up with a couple of things LOL.

I kept walking towards the river and stopped for dinner at la Piazza della Signora. For more info and better close ups of the famous statues here, use the link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piazza_della_Signoria

As you can see there is a mixtue of the old and the new.