Did you figure it out?

Barcelona, Spain! The stained glass image that I posted last week is the magnificent ceiling of the concert hall in the Palau de Musica Catalan. Every design in the building is meant to represent the outdoors, so that image is the sun, and instead of being a flat piece of stained glass, the middle of this sunburst droops in the center toward the audience below as if it were a raindrop. Cool, huh?


It was wonderfully warm with crisp, cool breezes floating in from the Mediterranean Sea. We walked Las Ramblas (a long pedestrian shopping stretch), ate paella & tapas, gaped at Gaudi's architecture, toured the Picasso museum and marveled at the magnitude of humanity.

One afternoon, we spent silently inspecting the impressive Barcelona Cathedral in the Barri Gotic area of the city. Built between 1046 and 1058, this gorgeous stone church is near the palace where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella received Christopher Columbus after his voyage to America.



The spire of the central tower reaches 230 ft. tall, and the interior consists of one wide sanctuary with 28 side chapels. Underneath the alter area, is the sarcophagus of Saint Eulalia, patron saint of Barcelona who was brutally martyred for her faith by the Romans in 1327.



Adjacent to the cathedral is a mysteriously beautiful 14th century cloister. There are always 13 geese in its central courtyard; each goose represents one year in the life of the Saint Eulalia.



This open-air church really could use a good scrubbing-a restoration is already in progress, which I think will make the site even more illustrious.

There was one particular side chapel, just to the right of the main alter, where Chad and I lit candles for Auntie Ann (in St. Francis' chapel since he was known for peace) and then this little one for Kyrie.