Dear Henry,

I saw a video of a baby on the Internet who seemed to be putting his feet into his mouth. The baby looked an awful lot like you, Henry. I will admit that this is a brilliant trick and most people would not be able to do it. But I am wondering if maybe you were influenced by the story I told you about Frances the Magician and were trying to develop some of your own tricks. Not that I have anything against magicians per say, Henry, but I think you might want to set your sights a bit higher. Working for the “Magic Castle at Sea” may seem very glamorous but it requires you to spend months away from your family. During the day, you spend your time counting the number of people in tour groups while holding a flag. Only in the evening, between meals, can you amaze people with your magic performances. So just as long as you are developing these tricks for your own amusement and that of your friends and family, I am OK with it. And I can’t wait to see the next one.

We spent the last two days in Barcelona. This is a beautiful city, maybe the most beautiful city we have ever seen. The architecture is stunning. We spent a great deal of time wondering around taking pictures of buildings.

The most remarkable architect of Barcelona is Antoni Gaudi. His buildings are not like any others and are very controversial. Of course, this is where the English word “gaudy” comes from. The most amazing building is the Sagrada Familia – the Basilica. This was begun in 1883 and is still not completed. They estimate it may be complete in 2030. There are three large facades – the nativity facade, mostly done, the passion facade, mostly done, the glory facade, not done. This place towers over the city, its giant bell towers crowned with strange sun-like shapes made from Venetian glass. But the truly amazing thing is when you step inside and experience the light. We have never seen anything quite like it. Because of the way the windows are situated and the giant tree-like columns are designed, the light shines in in the most interesting ways. It’s very hard to explain but it really takes your breath away. There are many interesting features about this building but it would be too much to write about, Henry. Someday you will have to come here and see for yourself.

We saw another building by Gaudi called the Pedrera where he built huge alien-like shapes on the roof over the ventilation ducts. We also saw some light fixtures he designed for one of the squares. We think he was very clever even if he didn’t know how to edit, as they say on Project Runway.
We leave tomorrow morning. Hope to see some pictures on tumblr and see you on Skype with those toes in your mouth soon.

Love,

Gramma and Papa