It Was a Balmy Sunday in Barcelona
(with apologies to
Bulwer-Lytton)
The temperatures unseasonably high. We began the day by
deciding we need another day here. We’ll see Toledo next time.
In the morning we rode the tour bus to the Picasso museum,
had a quick breakfast and then spent a couple of hours wandering through the
museum which gave a wonderful perspective on his later domestic life and on
his origins as an artist, with other perspectives in between. No images, of
course, though one patron almost got into a fight with a very forbearing guard
over her right to take pictures (she had none).
From there we strolled through the old city, amazed to
suddenly come across an 11th century chapel, old even among the
medieval buildings, and had a light lunch at an outdoor trattoria in one of the
many plazas and then headed up to the Parc Guell, another of Antoni Gaudí’s
efforts. Supported by one of his many patrons, the plan was to create a
park-like housing development for forty residences. Long story short, it did
not work out and Guell gave the land to the city as a park (he insisted that it
be spelled as parc). It was designed by Gaudi and is a pleasant, if crowded
place, especially on a beautiful day. To our amazement, the iconic Salamander
is not available for general viewing, but only at a cost between five and eight
euro. We refused. So no lizard, dragon salamander, but some pleasant views.
Monday, more Gaudí and a walk through La Rambla by day.
Hopefully our brains won’t fry nor our eyeballs pop.
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