Saturday at the Getty Museum

Saturday was a perfect day to take in the beautiful scenery of the Getty Museum with my local sorority alumnae group. We met up for a guided garden tour of the grounds followed by lunch at the Restaurant at the Getty followed by a little bit of museum time and more strolling of the grounds. I highly recommend taking one of the several free guided tours offered by the museum; I'd been to the museum dozens of times, but never really slowed down enough to appreciate the many tiny details as well as overall conception of the spaces and resulting beauty. It was just lovely to pause and smell the proverbial roses. The tour only takes an hour but you learn and gain such a different perspective. Next time I visit, I definitely want to take the architecture tour.

We learned that the different kinds of cactus represent different neighboring communities around the Getty

 And lunch:

Cobb Salad with blue cheese, apples, bacon, cranberries. Gotta make this at home

Day 7: Gaudi, Gaudi, Gaudi and Shopping in Barcelona

We spent my last full day in Barcelona visiting Antoni Gaudi's most famous works in the heart of Barcelona: Casa Battlo, Casa Mila (La Pedrera) and the fantastic Sagrada Familia, one of my all-time favorite buildings.  In between Gaudi stops, we shopped around Barcelona, along Las Ramblas, Portal L'Angel and Passeig de Gracia. That's what I love about traveling with another girl; ample time for shopping in addition to the more cultural endeavors.  Unfortunately it was an overcast day, plus I didn't have the right camera lenses nor the right skills, so it was hard to capture the true magnificence of Gaudi's work.

Casa Battlo; the balconies always remind me of skulls.  Tickets were expensive so we didn't go in.

Casa Mila "La Pedrera"

My favorite part of Casa Mila: the swoopy rooftop and stormtrooper chimney heads and mosaic covered stairwells

Love the mosaic covered stairwells

Sagrada Familia in the distance

Basílica y Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia - the Passion facade

Sagrada Familia, the Nativity Facade.  Amazing how two sides of the same building can be utterly different

They've made a lot of progress since my trip four years ago; particularly inside. Only 15-30 more years to go.

Passion facade details. All these statues are so starkly evocative

Nativity Facade: the intricate detailing of this side is unbelievable. I love the creepy melting candle wax feel

I only recently noticed all the writing throughout

We rode the elevator up one of the spirals and were able to capture some details near the top

Reminscent of fruit baskets or rainbow coco puffs

Shopping breaks

Las Ramblas

Calle Tallers. I love the rambling narrow streets of Barcelona in the Cuitat Vella