Lucky Break: Getting Our Gaudi On

After the wedding and taking some photos out in front of the church, we decided to take a walk over to the nearby Passeig de Gracia and La Pedrera to take some more "trad" wedding photos. Diana and I were just having a bunch of fun but David, our official photographer and good friend, along with the videographer were working away snapping pictures and shooting video as we went. I liked this Abbey Road style one with the Barcelona tourist bus in the background:

A common wedding photo spot is to stop at the Pere Falques designed benches that run along the avenue (no, they weren't designed by Gaudi). This Catalan modernist architect also designed the similarly cool lamps that run along Avenida Gaudi near the Sagrada Familia. Anyway, this is our version...

...and a lovely close-up...awwwww...how sweet:

I wanted this one where we were "waiting for a bus" at this stop:

So, what about the lucky break that I mention in the title? The original plan when we left the church was to walk around Passeig de Gracia and maybe stop out front of La Pedrera. When we got over to La Pedrera, Diana asked the person at the door if we could go inside the ground-floor courtyard to get a couple of pictures. The girl said that there was a special event going on so we couldn't go in.

Oh well, we thought. We walked over to the side of the building to take some photos when a man in a suit approached us and asked if we wanted to go in. It turns out that he must have been someone fairly important as he guided us right past security, into a private elevator, and up to his huge office that overlooks Passeig de Gracia! SCORE!!! Not only did we get in, we got the VIP treatment along the way. Taking advantage of the situation (of course), we took a bunch of photos inside his office including this one sitting on one of Gaudi's two-person benches:

The guy's office was pretty amazing but it wasn't until he showed us the door to his private balcony (!!!) that we knew how truly lucky we were. This is one of those cases where I have maybe 10 different photos that I'd like to put in this post but knew that I had to choose just one. I liked this one because it shows the facade of the building, the iron railing, a little view of the street beyond, and, surprise, a small statue of the La Moreneta (that chick is everywhere) along with Diana's bouquet:

After what seemed like about three minutes to me and probably like a half-hour for the man who was super nice to us that day, he took us up a back stairway to the attic, which is probably my favorite part of the building. The only thing that makes Gaudi's undulating brick catenary arches look even better is the happy newlyweds under them! :-)

We spent probably ten or 15 minutes taking photos in the attic before going up to the roof. If you've ever visited La Pedrera, you know that the space looks like something out of Star Wars:

While up the roof, the wind picked up a bit at one point and made Diana's veil fly around. For some reason that I'll probably never be able to explain, it made me think of the plastic-bag scene in the movie American Beauty. Watching her veil in the wind was very beautiful and I think this photo captures the moment:

Like I said, our friend David did a great job making us pose for some "traditional" types of photos that we probably wouldn't have done. I liked this one in front of who-knows-what-it-is:

It looks like we're dancing or something in this photo but I can promise you we're not. I like it because it shows a bit of the roof, some of the other buildings in the area, the pretty sky, the video guy, and our former roommate David:

I like how he framed this one and how you can see the scale of Gaudi's crazy chimneys:

And finally, a nice happy-couple shot with the Sagrada Familia in the background:

How lucky is that? Not only getting in to La Pedrera but also getting the private tour and the opportunity to hang out there for about an hour taking photos. Sorry again to all the guests who had to wait at the restaurant for us to get back but the photos and the experience were definitely worth it!