rtw365

Barcelona

Barcelona is technically in Spain, but is really in a different place altogether. They even speak a different langauge (Catalan is taught first in schools there, then Spanish). It is a wonderful city with lots of art and creativity and tolerance for eccentricity.

The architecht Gaudi is an amazing product of this, and seems to have smoked the same stuff as Bosch. His buildings give me the same feeling that Bosch's paintings do. Even though it won't be completed for another 20+ years, even while it is being built his La Sagrada Familia alone is worth flying to Barcelona for. Not only is the artistry differnt, the very engineering of this true new Wonder of the World is unique. The guidebooks and photos simply don't do it justice -- you just have to be there to appreciate it. Completely unlike anything else, it will blow you away.

Speaking of different, Picasso spent his formative years in Barcelona, and the Picasso museum shows his work from childhood through his blue period. It's impressively informative to see the progression he makes to the leap for that huge first in art history -- painting what he felt rather than what he saw. I only wish they had a fuller collection after his blue period since I could understand so much there but didn't get the leap to cubism in the same way.

Milo and Dali are both from Barcelona or nearby and seem as much a part of what Barcelona is rather than just something that happened there.

Among the other things to do in the city, I found a designer that I really liked and picked up some fairly inexpensive shirts to replace some of my traveling wardrobe.

Going for Japanese food one night in Barcelona we ran into Calista Flockhart and Harrison Ford -- I guess the restaurant I picked was a bit too trendy.

posted by Dale L. Larson @ 9:57 AM