Let's hear it for...

images of antoni gaudi's segrada familia; britannica.com (1) and greatbuildings.com (2,3 & 4)

.....Antoni Gaudi. (1852 - 1926)

A story; In 1990, back when L'Homme and I were kids, we took off around Europe for four months. Being a Uni student with a couple of jobs (me) and a part-time youth worker (him), we had barely enough money to get air tickets, let alone accommodation, but we were determined, ignorant and a little too romantic! We bought ourselves a 28 day Europass, allowing us to travel the European train system, we'd sleep in a carriage overnight and would get off wherever we arrived at the first shaft of light. One of our first stops was Barcelona...what a gift!

As we got off the train, someone who we'd bunked with the previous night said, "Be sure to see anything that Gaudi created, his architecture is dotted throughout the city" - and better still, it was free!

So, that's what we did. We sought out every Gaudi creation there was and it was far and away one of the happiest, most memorable travelling experiences of my life. So much so that we have vowed to return every ten years for the rest of our lives (told you we were a little too romantic!) to watch the progress of this little gem, the Sagrada Familia....the Church Gaudi was creating before his untimely, accidental death. However the genius has left so many plans and notes that the building will be able to be completed.....eventually. Gaudi was so far ahead of his time, it was ridiculous! And he was a crafter, people (!), with mosaics being his calling card - along with curves, gargoyles, wonky-Seuss like walls and archways of every description.

I found a great pictorial blog post here....or just google his name and become another awe-inspired fan.