Barnard
Bonnet La Sagrada Família, in Barcelona, is certainly one of the most famous Gaudí masterpieces. It is also the most terrifying buildings in the world. It was in 1985. I was taking my vacation in Spain and enjoying my time in this lively and interesting city. One afternoon, my friends and I decided to visit the Sagrada Família. This Barcelona landmark is very touristy and it was crowded as usual. We started to climb up the thousands of steps. We knew it would be very tiring, but the view of Barcelona would be the reward. The stairs were very narrow and we had to follow the person before us. From time to time, I had a quick look outside through the slits cut in the stones. It was fun and amazing. After arriving at the top and having a little rest and a look at the view, we had to go down by the same way. Climbing had not been so difficult, and I was very confident about going down. We started down the stairs, excited and happy. People around me were joking and laughing. Suddenly, I discovered that the stairs had no central handrail. It was a spiral staircase WITHOUT a ramp...We were "in the sky" without any handrail. I couldn't believe it! My brain stopped working. My blood froze immediately in my veins. I was sweating profusely, becoming pale as a dead man. And I stopped. I was paralyzed, stuck on my step, my back against the wall, as far as possible from that 'vacuuming' hole. I was unable to produce any sound, to say a simple but useful word as, "Oh! Mommy", "Help" or "My God." Just the hole and the fear. The fear of the hole. My friends before me hadn't noticed that I had stopped, and I was blocking people following me. Then I heard a shout, a spiral behind me, a terrible shout. "No, No, I cannot do that. I want to stay here. Help me!" A young English girl was in the same case as I was, but she found the strength to scream, to alert people she was in danger. You really feel in danger when you are suddenly overcome by vertigo. I remember I sat down on a step, closed my eyes, burying my head in my arms. I needed to calm myself and recover my senses. My friends climbed back up to see what happened. They told me some kind and reasonable words, but as vertigo has nothing to do with reason, it was not very helpful. But the good idea was to hold out one hand to me. I was like a baby, lost, terrorized. I needed to feel a warm human skin contact. I went down step by step. I was ashamed to have been so ridiculous, but I really couldn't control myself. It was my first experience with vertigo. I don't know why it came so late in my life, but since then I suffer from vertigo. The most absurd is when I am...six feet above the ground on the Eiffel's follies in Arcachon... I hate Gaudí and his fantastical architecture.
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