After breakfast and cleaning ourselves up properly we went to the Palau de la Musica Catalana (A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it was built in 1908 by Domènech i Montaner), the thing that I'd picked as a place to visit while in the car on the way to Barcelona. Before I tell you what the guidebook says about this place I have to write the trip over to the Palau. Basically we walked down the street that's parallel to Las Ramblas, and walked through more streets that contained shops that made me drool.
When we reached the Palau though I have to say I didn't immediately see the beauty of the place. We walked up to a brick building with a large glass encasement on one side, went into the corner-room to purchase tickets for a guided tour in English, and then we walked back out to walk around to the front. Before we did this Ahmee pointed out the building WITHIN the glass encasement. The outside had tons of color without being the circus, tons of curves without being a Gaudi, and tons of lace without belonging in a church. We walked around to the front, past a brick wall that contained another really cool "sculpture" in it (some bricks were moved out so that a picture was shown to those who looked closer), and went across the street to gawk at the facade of the building. Sooo many different things were used! The pillars on the second level each had a mosaic and each mosaic was different, there was a statue of a gorgeous woman with several men and children behind her (this was on the corner of the building), the balusters were made of green glass, and there was just sooo much color and curvature on the outside that I just immediately loved it. As we were standing there gawking with our mouths open a woman walked up to us and asked almost timidly, "Excuse me.... Do you know where to get in?" I failed at directions and let Ahmee tell her where to go. We saw her again when we went inside to the cafe.
Now I've come to the daunting task of describing the interior of this building. There is no way I could adequately describe the interior. I adored too much of it. It wasn't too ornate, it wasn't dark, it had lots of color, and it had architectural elements that I enjoy (like the vaulted ceiling, or like the fantastic light fixtures, or like the layout of the cafe, etc.).
We waited in the cafe, drinking water as we waited for our guide to show up. As we waited we looked around at the room and at our fellow tourists. In the middle of the room was the four-sided bar, this was where people went up to grab a bite to eat and a bit to drink. Behind me was the wall of windows, and to my left was the waiting area of most of the group. On the wall above the people were these blue pipes that stuck out like a sore thumb. Ahmee and I had a good time guessing what they were for, both of us thinking that it might be the AC (Ahmee suggested they had fans that blew over ice way back when, I disagreed because this sounded costly), and both of us coming up with other ideas (such as it was an organ that you could play and it would go throughout the entire building with it's blasts).
We stopped talking after a bit to people watch and watch for our tour guide. I spotted her standing with another man. She looked at the people on the opposite wall (she'd just come in through the main entrance) and talked to the man for a bit before heading their way saying, "Guided tour in English this way please!" She got out tickets and started very swiftly.
Some of the main things I learned while on that tour include: that the Palau de la Musica Catalana was started by a singing group of men and (for the first time) women in the 18th-19th century, that this group started out singing on the streets and they eventually managed to raise enough money to purchase a plot of land next to a church and hire an architect to build them a grand auditorium. this group still owns the Palau, they still hold concerts (have one basically for every day of the year-and each one is different, can have rock, pop, country, classical, any kind of music there), that when the founder of the group was alive (the director) he lived in an apartment above the auditorium so he could hear when someone was singing off pitch and he could hear when an instrument was out of tune and get things... fixed, that during WWII the Palau had to be closed numerous times due to the fact that the Palau and the music played there displayed the patriotism of the people to Catalana and to Spain, that the auditorium could seat 2,428-or so- people, that the Palau had gone through slight modifications (some of the things were taken away because it was "too much", and one corner got added in after the Palau bought the church next door and had it demolished), that the AC had been installed later and within the Auditorium it came from under the seats of the top row, that the stage size could be altered, and the significance of the things we were seeing.
The most impressive room of all was (of course) the Auditorium which had multiple levels and was built (of course) to carry sound all throughout the room. The ceiling is a feature that I've known for a long time requires particular needs in order to carry sound. I've known for a long time that a slant is required so sound can move (but not echo). The ceiling in here however had multiple vaults that ran down the length (these were splendidly painted) which also helped carry the sound. Something that they'd recently put in (as in maybe 10 years ago) were the chairs which had a plastic backing that helped to absorb the sound rather than reflect it (like the old wooden chairs did). Something else the wooden chairs did was they made a terrible squeaking noise every time someone moved, so I guess it was a relief to have those switched out. 
Something insanely beautiful was in the middle of the ceiling, and this was the stained glass window of a sun that was three dimensional (I think) in how the middle of the sun went down as if it were a chandelier (this window weighs a ton, literally). Something insanely beautiful to the front was the decoration of the stage. The walls surrounding it had women musicians where their upper bodies were done in sculpture while everything else was done in mosaic, resulting in women who appear to be coming off the walls to aid in music making. The two pillars to the ceiling (don't know what to call them-they aren't exactly pillars) that were on each side of the stage were carved to display the two most loved styles of music at the time of the buildings erection: one was for Classical and the other was for Catalan music.
Even though I was told that most of the concerts were held in the modern auditorium, I couldn't help but imagine singing in there and what an honor it would be. Imagining the people coming out all dressed up to sit in this glitzy room and listen to me sing would be incredible. Thing is, I know I'd get nervous beyond belief because you've got so much to compete with there. In order for the people to enjoy the actual music it had better be good or else they'll be busy looking around the room the whole time.
When we left the Palau we got to take another look at the singing muse with the director in the background and the children's choir singing over her shoulder (this was the woman we saw on the square) and then we went and got postcards and walked back to the room where I worked some more. That afternoon I finished up the work due for that weekend and sent it in before we went off to dinner at the Cafeteria.
Once back I sent emails, packed a few of my things, and fell asleep (again didn't sleep too well).
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