An odd day to say the least ... Waking up, the weather was teasingly whispering to stay in bed curled up with a book. But logos over-ruled (thank heavens) and out the house I went with my sudo-child, THE Laptop & co., down the well beaten path that has one destination (at 7am) ;
STARBUCKS.The bitter cold is not cut off when you walk into the shop because they have a policy where rain or shine, the door MUST remain open. Seeing me walking up through the windows that look out onto
La Rambla, Jose had nearly finished the "
cafe latte con lece soja". Setting up, took the time to look at a map and said to myself today "we" will do *fingers swarm & hit randomly on page*
La Ribera. Being a Sunday, I was not sure whether Jesus would come in or not and thus decided to first explore some places that were close to the studio and spend the afternoon discovering the southern tip of the city.
After an hour tour of
Liceu, one of the largest opera houses in the world that holds over 2000 people, indulged in taking much too many pictures of entrances and old dance halls dreaming of dance cards and petticoats that don't make one want to burst. How tantalizing this tour was for in a little over a week it will be me peacoked and floating through those very halls. A fake princess for a night but a princess never the less.
Seeing as it was only 11am, left for the
Contemporary Art Museum and
Culture Centre. Below is the pic of me in the Room of Mirrors, which unfortunately was the only piece worth seeing. None of the three people who worked there new or heard of the name Vilallonga!(talk about having to raise hiring standards!) Not much else to say other than came across a book of Barcelona Art from 60's - 70's, which did not contain Jesus either (perhaps reflection of a not uncommon phenomena, artist better recognized outside his native country than within), for only 5 EUROS. An interesting perspective on Catalan artists through a pivotal period... Oh yes and the Graffiti surrounding the museum is wonderful! Took many pictures for the project, for Jesus feels that it is street art that may bring us out of this crisis in art and truly, as am discovering more and more, it seems there is potential in this undervalued medium.
At home, Jesus was not there and when telephoned he was still in bed! with a cold. Still his voice had the sing-song tone to it s he answered "HHoollaa", and he wished me a good day in hopes that we shall see each other
la maniana.So off to
La Rivala. There visited 4 more museums!
Picasso Museum was the first and what a shock at the disappointment. Of the hundreds of pieces there, only five were worth the time. The rest were literally scraps and notes and paintings which Pablo did not wish to display. Unfortunately, could not take pictures so you will have to take my word for it until you come down here and check it out yourself. Essentially, there are 5 "castles" that make up this museum and one is under the impression that they had a difficult time to find enough content to fill it.
Across the street was both a
Prehistoric Museum and a
Textile Museum. The former is interesting in how the director decided to include not only works that were thousands of years old but also quiet recent works (like less than 10 years) !! They looked the same which then has one wondering how one looks so new and how the other looks so old...???!!!
The
Textile Museum was filled with dresses, shoes and yes Amanda tons and tons of JEWLERY! hahaha the entire time was thinking of my cousin and my mother and how they would die to be in my shoes at this moment. Modern, Ancient and Old in every style they were which was simply cute though took many pics because knew you guys would die to see it.
Lastly, and yes Amanda this one is for you as well. The
Xocolate Museum! As you all well know, the Spanish learned of this delicacy when Cortez conquered the Aztecs. It was a quick success and profitable as well as tasty. The bars of coco were so cheap if I can bring a crate back I promise I will. The museum showed how coco was made, explained the history and had hundreds of STATUES made of coco. You won't believe it when you see it... neither would I if the smell of temptation were not everywhere.
Heading home had
tapas for the first time. Food here is ridiculously expensive. Though I was out of what is considered the downtown area, it seems that it is a consequence of this city. Never having
tapas before, must have looked more then silly... after the
bartista brought me a small plate with dried sausages and some bread I waited about 5 minutes before realizing that this was
tapas! And for 9EURO!!! NO! Well, it was eaten... but that night for dinner just to be safe went for a
fruita di mare salad at what I later realized was an Italian Resto!
The night ended long after - having gone out with a few new acquaintances whom all went out to say goodbye to Janin, a German girl returning home after having been here for a little less than 1 year. At 3h30 am her friends said their farewells and though it was sad it seems that good-byes are apart of this place. Things come and go... as do friends, lovers and enemies. The Barcelonans accept this and move on - they remember & relish in their nostalgia- and move on.
