I’m here, right off of Passeig de Gràcia boulevard for the week. Even in grey December, absolutely lovely.
If you like Belle Epoque this is really the place for you. The last great and florid “hurrah” for the use of ornamentation in architecture and design… and what a way to go out!
Despite Guimard’s bronze insectoids, Paris is beautiful mostly in the solid, second-empire fashion. The feeling in Barcelona is like the Gothic never went away, and it’s amazing.
Visiting Barcelona is how I imagined a visit to Paris would be (since I visited Barcelona first).
Stop in at Irati for me while you’re there…
(EDIT: Just realized that in two visits to Barcelona, I never made it to Park Guell. Or Tibidabo.)
I will!
Yeah - Barcelona. They have this “Howard Pyle and Maxfield Parrish” story-book whimsicality and enthusiasm built in. I don’t think the French do whimsey. 
Thanks for letting me know that December is nice - I’m going to Barcelona in January and I can’t wait. It’s going to be my first experience of Europe (along with Carcassonne and Provence.
Absolutely stunning video, although I wish I could slow it down to look at more detail.
Amazing! Are some of those shots from a quad copter (or better?)
I went there with my lovely wife for our honeymoon (Luna de Miel - the honey month, from ancient times when the bride and groom were given honey wine to make their first month more fertile? ahem… or maybe it’s just the sweet phase of the relationship)
Do visit Park Guell! I wept at how beautiful the stone and tile work was in the market gallery down below the serpentine seats. Look up at the big circular medallions. Blew. My. Mind. and I am a die hard Antonio Gaudi fan.
Don’t miss a visit to his cathedral, climb a tower, put some money in the donation box. If I didn’t live in SF bay area, I’d live there.
I’ve only been in either November or January. It beats fall or winter at home, anyway. (Same goes for visiting Switzerland in January – sure, it was cold and snowed, but it would’ve been cold and snowed if I’d stayed at home, too.)
My wife visited in December which had the added bonus of the Christmas street market.
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