BARCELONA: NEW YEAR'S EVE AFTERNOON

From Parc Güell we caught a cab down to La Pedrera (aka Casa Milà), Gaudi's iconic apartment building which you've probably seen pictures of dozens of times, without knowing exactly what you were looking at. Fortunately, this time we only had an hour's wait until our timed entry -- just enough time to stroll around the corner for a bite to eat!

Now that's a BIG BEER!

 We began our tour on the roof-terrace of La Pedrera, with its storm-trooper-like chimneys...

and an amazing view of Gaudi's masterpiece-in-progress, Basilica de La Sagrada Familia.

Next came the attic, where residents used to have storage/laundry space, but which is now a mini museum.

Finally, we actually got to tour an unoccupied apartment, which has been furnished as it might have been in Gaudi's time. The most amazing thing about this building is that it has two large interior courtyards that extend from ground level to rooftop, and each individual apartment circles around one of these courtyards, allowing each and every room to be infused with natural sunlight!

I'd move here in a heartbeat!

On the ground floor there are two arched entries with gorgeous sculpted gates and, in the early days, horse-drawn carriages would enter through one gate, drop off passengers, follow a curved ramp down to the underground stables (now a parking garage), then circle back up to retrieve their passengers and leave through the other gate. Rather innovative for its time, don't you agree?

From there we strolled down Las Ramblas to the "block of discord", to take a peek at a few other unusual houses, including Gaudi's Casa Batlló, with it's dragon-like roof.

We wound up the afternoon having tea in the rooftop cafe of El Corte Inglés, a department store in Plaça de Catalunya.

Then it was time for our siesta!