After an early wake-up call at 5:00 am, I met our tour group downstairs where we were handed a takeaway breakfast and headed for the airport. We were told that because of the latest terror attacks, getting through security would take extra long. What was strange was that our group of 16 only had a single ticket, and Air France made sure we kept together as a group and checked our luggage in a block. I did manage to fall down the escalator because I did not know how to steer two pieces of luggage (my large suitcase plus my rolling backpack), but I was not hurt except for my really sore legs. Remember my 396 step climb on Sunday? I am REALLY feeling it today!
There was an elevator to the tower which was not all that high, but it did offer a nice view of the city of Barcelona. Boy, it was sure windy, but it offered a respite from the heat below.
Guess what I found? Yes, something I have found in many churches here—a donation box to raise funds for renovation of the organ! It seems to be a worldwide problem.
Here are some other pictures I took inside the church.
I saw a poster advertising a concert tonight at 7:00 by the St. Paul’s School of York at a nearby church, Església de Santa Maria del Pi. I walked into the church about 6:00 and heard the choir practicing Ave verum corpus by William Byrd. In these resonant acoustics, the high school choir just soared. However it turned out that the concert did not begin until 7:45 and then it began with the school’s wind orchestra. In these super reverberant acoustics, I am afraid the sounds all mushed together creating mass dissonances. The choir finally came on and sang a mass by Lassus and a contemporary setting of “The Lord is my Shepherd.”
They took a break and didn’t seem too organized, so I finally went to dinner about 8:30 pm and ordered a seafood paella.
We will have a sightseeing tour tomorrow morning.