Archive for October, 2009
The House of Bones Casa Batllo
Restored and remodeled by the Spanish modernist architect Antoni Gaudi in the years 1905–1907, Casa Batllo is now one the most overlooked buildings by the tourists who visit Barcelona.Although Casa Batllo is a museum now, Gaudi designed it for for a wealthy Barcelona Aristocrat.
The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), and indeed it does have a visceral, skeletal organic quality…
Casa Batllo, Barcelona in HDR:: Photo Credit: MorBCN
Restored and remodeled by the Spanish modernist architect Antoni Gaudi in the years 1905–1907, Casa Batllo is now one the most overlooked buildings by the tourists who visit Barcelona.Although Casa Batllo is a museum now, Gaudi designed it for for a wealthy Barcelona Aristocrat.
The local name for the building is Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), and indeed it does have a visceral, skeletal organic quality.
Casa Batllo building, Barcelona :: Photo Credit: Fran Barrero
Close up of Casa Batllo chimney :: Photo Credit: WikiMedia
Casa Batllo’s roof has been compared to a reptilian creature, the backbone of a gigantic dinosaur, the dragon killed by St. George (Sant Jordi being the patron saint of Catalan).
Casa Batllo roof :: Photo Credit: Klaus Dolle
It seems that the goal of the designer was to avoid straight lines completely. Much of the facade is decorated with a mosaic made of broken ceramic tiles that starts in shades of golden orange moving into greenish blues.
Casa Batllo window, Barcelona :: Photo Credit: WikiMedia
Casa Batllo arched roof :: Photo Credit: WikiMedia
Inside Caso Batllo :: Photo Credit: (Erik)
Inside Caso Batllo :: Photo Credit: acastellano
Inside Caso Batllo :: Photo Credit: 3dom
Window detail of Caso Batllo building :: Photo Credit: shapeshift
Casa Batllo arched roof and complex chimney detailing :: Photo Credit: WikiMedia
From the balconies resembling the bones of animals to the scale like surface of the front facade, the building is a tour de force of an artist reaching the peak of his powers. At night the floodlit facade has an iridescence like the scales of a fish. This polychromic finish is known as trencadís.
Caso Batllo lobby :: Photo Credit: Kipourax
Caso Batllo: Spiral Design :: Photo Credit: 3dom
Caso Batllo: Spiral Design :: Photo Credit: Mini Anna
Things To Ponder
- If you take an Oriental person and spin him around several times, does he become disoriented?
- If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren’t people from Holland called Holes?
- Do infants enjoy infancy as much as adults enjoy adultery?
- If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
- If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
- Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?
- When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
- Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist but a person who drives a racing car not called a racist?
- Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?
- Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?
- Why isn’t the number 11 pronounced onety one?
- ‘I am’ is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that ‘I do’ is the longest sentence?
- If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn’t it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?
- What hair colour do they put on the driver’s licences of bald men?
- I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks so I wondered what do Chinese mothers use? Toothpicks?
- Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What are we supposed to do, write to them? Why don’t they just put their pictures on the postage stamps so the postmen can look for them while they deliver the mail?
- You never really learn to swear until you learn to drive.
- No one ever says, ‘It’s only a game’ when their team is winning.
- Ever wonder about those people who spend $2.00 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backwards: NAIVE
- Isn’t making a smoking section in a restaurant like making a peeing section in a swimming pool?
- If 4 out of 5 people SUFFER from diarrhoea, does that mean that one enjoys it?
- Why if you send something by road in a car, it is called a shipment, but when you send it by sea in a ship, it is called cargo?
- If a convenience store is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, why are there locks on the door?
Fast Food On Farm
In Case Of Fire
Polar Bears Just Can’t Read
Funny Mailbox
Dad The Magician
What’s your father’s occupation?” asked the teacher on the first day of the new academic year.
“He’s a magician, Ma’am,” said the new boy.
“How interesting. What’s his favorite trick?”
“He saws people in half.”
“Gosh! Now, next question. Any brothers or sisters?”
“One half brother and two half sisters.”
Chinese Old Man In England
An old couple in Shanghai had been chatting online with another couple in the English countryside for years. One day, they agreed to swap residences for a month.
Finding clean air, serenity and little traffic at his destination, the Chinese old man wanted to take full advantage of his new surroundings. He decided to go for a leisurely drive. No more than 15 minutes on the road, his cell phone rang. His wife was on the line.
“Honorable husband, be very careful. I heard on the radio that a man is driving on the wrong side of the road.”
“You no talking joke. There are tens and tens of them!”
The Exterminator
A woman was having a passionate affair with an inspector from a pest-control company. One afternoon they were carrying on in the bedroom together, when her husband arrived home unexpectedly.
“Quick,” said the woman to her lover, “into the closet!” She bundled him in the closet stark naked.
The husband, however, became suspicious and after a search of the bedroom discovered the man in the closet. “Who are you?” the husband asked the man.
“I’m an inspector from Bugs-B-Gone,” said the exterminator.
“What are you doing in there?” the husband asked.
“I’m investigating a complaint about an infestation of moths,” the man replied.
“And where are your clothes?” asked the husband.
The man looked down at himself and said, “Those little bastards.”
The Rolling Hotel
This custom-modified Mercedes 0404 is owned and operated by “Rotel,” which is an acronym for “Das Rollende Hotel” (”The Rolling Hotel”), a German tour company that offers budget tours all over the world in similarly equipped vehicles. This coach has 24 passenger seats and 26 sleeping berths (the two extras are for the driver and the guide). On the curb side across from the berths is an extensive drop-down “camp kitchen” set up.
Travel has reached a new dimension with the bus coaches. The bus/hotel offers a separate room for each passenger. There are several buses, especially designed to tour certain parts of the world. So if you want to travel in style, reserve your site on the Rolling Hotel and tour World in comfort…
This custom-modified Mercedes 0404 is owned and operated by “Rotel“, which is an acronym for “Das Rollende Hotel” (”The Rolling Hotel”), a German tour company that offers budget tours all over the world in similarly equipped vehicles. This coach has 24 passenger seats and 26 sleeping berths (the two extras are for the driver and the guide). On the curb side across from the berths is an extensive drop-down “camp kitchen” set up.
Travel has reached a new dimension with the bus coaches. The bus/hotel offers a separate room for each passenger. There are several buses, especially designed to tour certain parts of the world. So if you want to travel in style, reserve your site on the Rolling Hotel and tour World in comfort!
