The Red Skirt

Parc Guell is a huge park in the northern area of Barcelona designed by Gaudi, (who I mentioned in my earlier post here). We went to Parc Guell on the last day of my recent trip to Barcelona; we spent about an hour wandering the grounds and exploring the various terraces, staircases and passageways. The bright mosaic tiling around the main terrace and covering the houses didn’t look at all out of place with the sandy brickwork and dull green palm trees; normally I find sculptures and bright artwork to look a bit incongruous in gardens and outside areas so it was interesting to note the cohesive design of the park as a whole.

I’ve named this blog in tribute to my favourite film and also because I had so many comments on this red skirt during the holiday. It’s a fantastic skirt; it fits me perfectly and it has pockets! An old lady in Camden died quite recently and her son gave all her clothes to the charity shop so I’ve inherited at least half of her amazing wardrobe. I didn’t know her but I think of her every time I wear one of her items; they’re all brightly coloured and costume-like and you just know she must have lived a pretty fun and glamourous life with a clothes collection like that (she’s also how I came to own the amazing orange eighties suit I shared on Facebook the other week).

I’ve included some pictures of my beautiful friend Christina – when we were about 17 we worked in the same shop and people used to get us mixed up or think we were related. We’ve got similar mannerisms and speech patterns but also used to dress quite similarly; we’d often swap clothes at parties just to confuse people as well. Now we’ve basically gone in totally separate directions and look completely different, this holiday is probably the most opposite we’ve ever looked and it was a running joke between us. What do you think, can you see any similarities?

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Parc de la Ciutadella

Still more about Barcelona. We were only there for about a week but we really crammed so different things in! The tempo changes across the week were crazy, some days we were so busy whilst other days the hours seemed to stretch forever. These photos are all from our laziest day; after running frantically around museums when we first arrived we spent the middle day of our trip wandering leisurely around Parc de la Ciutadella and the tiny Parc de Carles. It was so hot – everything was bathed in hazy warm light, as you can see in these photos!

Both parks were rammed with locals (almost no tourists in sight) as it was a national holiday. There was such a feel of happy camaraderie and fun in Ciutadella – permanent table tennis players were teeming with grown-ups and youngsters, kids were trying to pop giant bubbles, the lake was filled with leisurely boaters and there was bunting, bridges and acrobatics happening in the fields amongst the trees. I especially loved lounging around in the playground. Between pushing each other on the burning swings and dangling our legs in the pool, I happily recalled a thousand hours of summer holidays and playgrounds past.

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On Miro & Barceloneta

Let’s talk about clothes! Joan Miro was undoubtedly a hugely important artist but to borrow the words of my friend Christina “I understand it enough to know that I don’t understand it.” There are a few certain key topics I took away from the Fundacio Joan Miro (where all the above photos were taken) but ultimately it didn’t spark my imagination in any significant way. What I most appreciated was the level of discipline he had in so many different mediums. A lot of people have written about the cheerful atmosphere created by the abundance of colour, and that’s true enough and I certainly enjoyed his work on that very basic level, but to distill his art to a refrain of “I like the bright colours” does him a disservice, as it would any artist. So instead of discussing him in depth I’m basically showing you my clothes and a few completely out of context sculptures.

These bottom photos are from Barceloneta, the area of Barcelona where we stayed. It was wonderful; we stayed in an apartment and wandered out every morning to pick up breakfast items from the local market. We were about five minutes walk from the beach and even closer to the market square pictured below. There were a lot of small and cheap restaurants near us which were filled with locals and were a lot cheaper than their Ramblas counterparts!

I bought this shirt full price about 2 years ago (one of about 3 full-price things I own) and the extremely boring skirt is a recent purchase from Urban Outfitters. I’m now in my mid-twenties with my own office, PA and business, so I’m vaguely making an effort to ditch the Pokemon print skirts and excessive hair ribbons and go for something more “mature”. Although obviously pairing it with sailor cardigan, vintage rainbow bag and plastic plimsolls takes the maturity level down a bit…

La Pedrera & Antoni Gaudi

It’s all systems go here at the moment but I wanted to show you a bit more of beautiful Barcelona. On our first day we went to La Pedrera, one of the many notable buildings designed by Antoni Gaudi. As well as being a great example of Modernist design it’s a hugely innovative building in that it is self-supporting (mostly due to an innovative arch design rather than using load-bearing walls).

Most of these photos were taken on the roof which is decorated with these amazing statues and sculptures. To me they look like deformed heads or statues from some strange mutated army of warriors, and what with all the sun and peachy, sand coloured walls it did feel a bit like we had been transported into a sci-fi desert. It was just a really unusual and evocative environment. When the building was first completed it was used as luxury flats. Can you imagine living somewhere so fantastic?

We spent about an hour wandering the top of the roof; Christina sat sketching and I was furiously scribbling words as they sprang into my head. Afterwards, we went down into the museum. The cabinets housed various natural and manmade forms that inspired Gaudi’s designs and architecture; types of plant, animal skulls, driftwood, metal filings, glass bottles, geometric drawings. I left with my mind buzzing and whirring with ideas, and a strong sense of reverence. I’ve always thought that good architecture is like the grandest extension of art; unlike most of the art I deal with it’s so permanent, inherently useful and with such a clear reason. Gaudi was an artist, designer and an architect and had the kind of genre-changing career most people can only dream of. He devoted himself entirely to his work, eventually giving up socialising, relationships and everything but his religion and his work. Maybe that’s just what it takes?

Barcelona

Hola from Barcelona! I spent most of last week in Barcelona, one of my favourite European cities. I went with 3 other girls and we had such a fun week: living like locals, running around museums, exploring backroads and side streets and meeting lots of amazing people.

I think travel is so important. I’ve spoken about this before and every time I go away it’s something that crystallises even more in my mind. I’m in the unique position that I’d racked up 3 different continents before I was 2 years old as my immediate family is spread across the globe. I think my whole life I’ve grown up with the sense that the rest of the world is just around the corner, rather than imagining “travel” to be some huge insurmountable obstacle I’ll tackle when I’m older.

It’s often considered lucky to be able to travel but really if you’ve got a little bit of money and a bit of time where you’re not directly needed there’s not much else you need to go away (maybe a cheerful attitude and an open mind). Like most people in the UK I spent a lot of university going on European excursions with my friends – every time our student loans came we would pick a new destination for reading week and live on beans the rest of the term (RIP £5 Ryanair flights). I’m already planning my next 3 trips this year and I’m so excited to see the rest of the world! Where would you like to go?