Ted Ligety blows away competition in season’s 1st GS race
Ted Ligety won the 2012/13  first Giant Slalom World Cup race in Soelden. Manfred Moelgg and Marcel Hirscher came 2nd and 3rd. Ligety’s time of 2:36.02, beat  Moelgg by 2.75 seconds and local Hirscher by 3.12 seconds.

“I didn’t think this was possible,” Ligety said. This is an unbelievable gap, a once-in-a-career margin.”

“That’s probably a once in a career achievement,”  said Ligety,  surprised about his outstanding performance on his new skis.

The time difference between the winner and the runner-up in a World Cup GS has only been bigger six times previousl —  in the 1970s.

Guell museum

Roof detail

Detail of roof, Gaudi museum

Detail of museum roof

Detail of roof

On our last day in spain, we toured Park Guell and many Gaudi’s sculptures and the Gaudi museum.

Mosaic on ceiling in Park Guell

Gaudi museum in Park Guell

Lizard at entrance to the park

Sculpture in Park Guell

Gaudi mosaics on bench with bridge in back

Detail of bench mosaics

Another detail of bench mosaic

Mosaics on bench in Park Guell

Mosaic detail with rainspout hole

Backside of bench; water goes out through wolf heads

Bench at Park Guell
The bench above looks out over Park Guell, with the Gaudi Museum directly behind the bench.

Tristan in Gaudi’s Park Guell

We flew to Spain primarily to climb, but I thought I’d show my teenage son Barcelona’s sights, including “Park Güell“, which houses the Gaudi museum and numerous of his buildings and  sculptures. Since our plane left Barcelona in the morning, we needed to drie back from Siurana a day before our flight to return our rental car. We chose a hotel within walking distance of Park Güell for our last night in town and spent the day walking around this fantastic park.

Chair in Gaudi museum

Detail on Sagrada Familia

Upon our arrival in Barcelona, we walked from the Hostal Centric to the Sagrada Familia. We toured town, on foot, for 4 to 5 hours, in glorious bright sunshine, happy to finally arrive in Spain and to not be squished into a tiny airplane seat any more. We’d flown all night, so our marathon walk around town was in part to stave off falling asleep, and partly to counter the possibility of jet lag.

Towers with construction cranes

Construction of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona’s most famous building, started in 1882 and will continue at least until 2041.

Looking up at the Towers

Gaudí devoted most of his life to its construction and changed the design often. Gaudí’s modernist style was based on curved forms found in nature, as opposed to straight lines used in conventional buildings. At his death in 1926 only the nativity facade, one tower, the apse and the crypt were complete.

The Sagrada Familia will have 18 towers, which reach a height of almost 400 feet. Four towers on each of three facades represent the 12 apostles; another four represent the 4 evangelists and surround the largest (558ft tall) tower, dedicated to Christ.