The Sacred and the Ordinary

Today we went to the flea market. The first thing you see when you get off the metro is a giant silver building, a pod shaped thing that rises out of the earth like something out of a science fiction movie. Designed by Jean Nouvel, the building sparkles and undulates. “It’s a spaceship,” Sacha says with complete conviction.

We found the flea market, a big parking lot framed by brick buildings and dotted with stalls, vendors hawking socks, bras, soaps, ribbon, bolts of fabric.

There are food stands with churros and hot nuts sold in paper cones. We are looking for a scooter or a tricycle, but don't find one. In the end we buy a bar of soap that smells like honey, and head out.

After the flea market, we set out to see Gaudi's cathedral, the Sagrada Familia. But first we have to eat. The boy falls asleep and we decide to have some lunch, settling on a tiny pizzeria tucked into a corner building, mostly chosen out of exhaustion and the desire not to lose this moment of quiet. Then we finally found the cathedral.

The walls are dripping with stone shapes that remind me of a heap of shrunken skulls, for some reason.

And just at that moment, Mr Baby wakes up. He is kicking his legs, lurching out of the stroller, threatening complete meltdown. I’m the one to say it. “We’re going to McDonald's.”He’s probably only been to McDonald's two or three times before, he has no brand recognition. But I know it will make him happy because it is McDonald's, and he is a child. I push the stroller in through the doors, and am immediately calmed by the familiarity. The Sagrada Familia is flanked on all sides by fast food restaurants, a KFC, a Burger King, and of course Micky D's.

He eats half a chicken nugget and plays with his My Little Pony toy (the cashier surely thought he was a girl, that mop of hair...). We sit here for a while, looking out at the cathedral.

We finally go inside. It is like a fun house church. The spiral staircases, the soaring ceilings, the artwork looks astrological.

They haven’t finished building the thing yet, it has a third phase that is being worked on. And suddenly this cathedral becomes fascinating to Mr Baby. There are cranes! The cranes are moving! They are picking up bricks and transporting them from one side to the other! There are men in construction hats, and cement mixers, and men with wheelbarrows! We sit and watch for a long time.

With every sacred moment there is the reality of ordinary life.