Barcelona - La Pedrera

So at last my trip to Barcelona came along. I had picked a Sunday flight mid-morning. More civilised than most. And I plumped for BA and so Terminal 5 from Heathrow rather than Stansted or the like. More importantly, this meant I arrived in the airport which is actually near Barcelona, rather one that is merely in the region and requiring a long journey for the city.

Anyway, Terminal 5 is actually quite nice. But I would still rather not spend a couple of hours there.

My hotel in Barcelona, or at least the first hotel, was the Granados 83.

I have stayed there before, so you see I do like it. Why? Well, its a decent location. But above all it is really quite stylish. I enjoy the designer feel, even if it veers into the impractical. For example, if my bum was square, then that would be the ideal geometric shape for a toilet seat. Unfortunately...

And the sink is a lovely simple sheet of marble which just slowly slopes to the taps. So of course when you "fill" the sink, all the water is furthest away from you, and if you have short arms...well yes not terribly practical. But looks ace.

Unlike the works of Antoni Gaudi. Which are stylish, but also just WORK. A great architect but also a great designer. Its all so clever.

So arriving in the hotel mid-afternoon it left me time to visit one of Gaudi's masterpieces nearby - La Pedrera. Only disappointment was to find it wrapped in scaffolding.

But that couldn't detract from enjoying the interior, both the courtyard area with its oozing organic shapes, and the rooms within. Although the rooms aren't square but rather the apartments look like a series of wonky honeycombs, the rooms all look very practical as well as being attractive. It all is aesthetically pleasing as well as superbly thought through. And everything is designed to fit in, from the staircase to the doorknobs. It all flows beautifully.

Its a building one explores from the top down, as it is the roof, and in particular the vents and chimneys, that are its crowning glory. The undulating roof terrace with its weird sculptural, but practical forms is justly much photographed. So here are some more to add to the catalogue.

 And the terrace's position gives great views across Barcelona, of old and new city

Underneath is the attic showing Gaudi's trademark parabolic arches. He was a genuine innovator.

 And a nice model showing what the facade would like if it didn't have a wrapper on it.

The "show apartment" is a beautiful example of art nouveau decor. Only really the kitchen that I think would put off a modern tenant. Otherwise, a highly desirable flat, both now and a century ago.

 

 Quite a phone set

 Ok, I wouldn't swap my mp3 player for the music centre - elegant though it is.

Next door is the department store Vincon - another art nouveau concoction

The area here, and in which my hotel is is situated, is call L'Eixample and was the posh new area of turn of the century Barcelona. So a stroll around allows one to gawp at the big apartments and department stores,

 until one reaches Placa de Catalunya, a sort of greener version of Trafalgar Square.

Bit hungry now so dinner on the terrace of a restaurant overlooking the Ramblas

Then back walking down the Ramblas to the Waterfront.

 The lions on the Columbus statue aren't as nice as those round Nelson's Column

The waterside has a had a lot of money spent on it to become swish and a leisure destination of choice. Largely well-spent I would say.

 A truly massive marina.

 

A nice place to wander around as the sun goes down....

 

Lucy Porter, Ben Norris and Karaoke

Well another busy week before my departure to Barcelona. Out every workday night, although that did include my charity directors meeting and just going down the pub with one of my ex-trainees.

Tuesday night was my department's end of financial year drinks. We are now a big enough team to just book a whole basement bar, which was just right for us. We can determine the noise levels and the drinks and just chat away to each other. We are just such a friendly team that everyone gets on very well. The hours just flew by. And even when time up there, the real hard core still wanted more. My mate Thibault persuaded me, against my better judgment to go on to a neighbouring karaoke bar. Now you either love or hate that sort of stuff. I am afraid I fall into the hate category. But some of my colleagues loved it - You've lost that loving feeling... probably shouldn't have sounded like this ...

Friday night I took my largest party yet down to to my local comedy club - five of us, although on size we were comfortably beaten by a hen party celebrating the forthcoming marriage of a lady who had been courting her intended for 34 years.

I have to say, this was another brilliant evening which I have to put down as much as anything to my companions - my current trainee Andy, his predecessor Thibault and my ex-colleague Gareth with his fiancee Jo. We all just clicked easy enough, had a fun dinner beforehand and then settled down to a night of comedy. We were put down at the front again, and my arrival with yet another new trainee in tow did incur suggestions from the MC that my trainees expected a job at the end of it but instead would end up under my patio. Absurd of course as my patio would be a small mountain by now if I had installed them ALL there.

Anyway the main acts were Lucy Porter and Ben Norris. And very good they were too.

Now it is often said there aren't many good women comics and I have to subscribe to that viewpoint. Most just aren't very funny and many resort almost entirely to gynaecological humour which isn't that funny but you are made to feel a prude if you don't laugh at it. But Lucy is a quite wonderful exception. She has it all packed into her 4 foot 11 frame. She comes across as genuinely lovely, very funny - neither coarse nor nor too "family". Her stories flow very well, but she is still capable of moving off script and interacting with the audience. And like the best of comics, she never seems on script in the first place, like she is just chatting to you.

Ben Norris is very good too, but with less material - more audience interaction. This did feel more like he was making it up as he went along, although the couple of comic raps he did towards the end would really have needed a lot of work to memorise. But both would have my hearty recommendations for a good night out. I think the full house audience would have endorsed that. We certainly had a good time.