When the inside of the house could be the outside

As of late I’ve been posting a lot from the back-log, the entries I started writing but then abandoned or fizzled out on, not willing to decide on photos or think of a interesting angle for the writing to take. That’s why there are suddenly posts from year-old trips to Portugal, or summer pictures in the middle of winter.

Casa Vicens in late June

This winter in Los Angeles is colder than usual; at least it’s colder than I remember, although I haven’t been here for Christmas for three years so maybe my memory is faulty. What I do remember about my last trip to Barcelona in June was that it was decidedly not cold, that it was hot and sweaty, not as hot and sweaty as Hangzhou would be, but nevertheless hot and sweaty, where I want nothing more than to wear dresses but have to be careful,  my thighs and the laws of physics being what they are.

If you like Gaudi and modernisme, you should go visit Casa Vicens in Barcelona. It was the first house he designed and it is considerably more calm than Casa Batllo or Sagrada Familia. Admission is 16 euros but there are no lines to navigate, no crowds to push through.

Casa Vicens has a slightly different vibe than the more popular modernisme buildings. As an early work, it definitely feels like Gaudi was still finding his voice. It’s not as ornate or grand as many of his other designs. Many of the floral and plant motifs from his other work are consistent, but here we also see a lot of Moorish influence, reminiscent of the Alhambra or other buildings in southern Spain.

I have some plans now for designs for my own summer home, if only this blog would be profitable enough for me to afford it!