Will Around the World

Tim and I began the day by looking for a Dalí exhibit that we had heard about. We got a little lost, but at least we got a chance to explore the city, including the Joan Miró Park. We eventually found the exhibit, but it ended up being in a private gallery, not in a museum, and the works were mostly sketches.

There's nowhere to park!

Miro's sculptures get Barcelonans in the mood

Afterward, we took a bus to Montjuïc, a mountain park at the southwest corner of the city. It is a large, relatively peaceful open area that rises above the crowded streets. On this day the sun finally broke out for good, and with the warm dry weather and Mediterranean trees and flowers around me, I felt like I was back in the Bay Area. To emphasize the point, we went to the Botanical Garden, which has a limited collection of plants from California and other so-called Mediterranean regions around the world. The highlight was a panoramic view of the city, including some Olympic complexes on the mountain.

View from Botanical Garden on Montjuïc

Our next stop was the Fundació Joan Miró, a museum dedicated to the Catalan artist. The museum's main exhibit is a chronological overview of Miró's work. I enjoyed it, but unfortunately I did not find many works that I was familiar with (I suppose they are in New York or Paris). The best part of the museum was a temporary exhibit called "The Beauty of Failure/The Failure of Beauty". This politically minded installation examined aesthetics and utopian movements over the last century. The last room dealt specifically with the United States and its war on terrorism, which is a hot topic in Spain (especially following the Madrid bombings in March 2004). There was a memorable video of President Bush in the Oval Office, minutes before delivering a nationally televised address. The whole time he makes silly faces into the camera. I couldn't tell if this was raw footage or had been manipulated by the artist, but it's eerily similar to footage of the president just before he announced the start of the Iraq war (which was used in Fahrenheit 9/11).

Got a hankering for Doublemint gum?

After the museum, we lingered for a short while on Montjuïc, admiring the views. Then we went down to the city and hung out at one of Barcelona's many beaches.

View from Montjuïc

Port de Barcelona

We returned to the apartment and met the girls for dinner. They took us back to Raval for a third straight night, but this time showed us around the neighborhood first. Raval is full of immigrants; I saw Indians, North Africans and Filipinos. Rita and Paola explained that Raval was once slum-ridden, but over the past decade the government has revamped the district, bulldozing squalid apartments and installing benches and palm trees. Overall, Barcelona is a pretty and well-kept city, but I liked seeing this part that was not yet totally airbrushed.

We dined at a terrace bar named Kasparo, located in Plaza Vicenç Martorell. It served tapas and sandwiches, which are popular dinner fare in Barcelona. I had jamón serrano, a local delicacy. This marvelous dish, which is a thinly sliced ham, melts in your mouth.

I can't forget one thing about Rita and Paola. The two times that we went out to dinner, they shared with Tim and me bites from their plates, so that we could sample the local cuisine. It was a small gesture, but it went a long way to showing me what gracious hosts these two were!

Although it was still early when we finished dinner, we headed back to the apartment because the next morning, Tim and I had to catch a 6 AM bus to the airport. When we got back, Paola (who is anything but a soccer fanatic) showed Tim and me an amusing story in the newspaper, a half-page piece about the Italian footballer Totti. This article was only about blisters that grew on his feet during the last night's match. It even included a detailed graphic of his defective shoe.

Guess what I just had: water or Red Bull?

Then we saw a headline about the Spanish president, named Zapatero. Paola and Rita thought that this name — which translates to Shoemaker — seemed funny. I said that I didn't think so — Shoemaker (or Schumacher) isn't too uncommon in America — but Tim countered that you don't hear too many folks named Cobbler. "Does 'cobbler' mean the same as 'shoemaker'?" I asked. "I don't know," Tim confessed, "but we'll soon find out!" He asked Rita to lend him her Spanish-English dictionary (a book so large that it might have been used to squash cockroaches). Sure enough, the entry for "cobbler" was zapatero. As we were looking up the word, I caught a glimpse of Paola and Rita, rolling their eyes.

What's Spanish for "hemoglobin"?

I'm jonesing for Dominos! Y'all know the number?

I don't know, but I did find a KFC right around the corner...

Dang it...I said Dominos!!

I'd like to end this chapter with a word of heartfelt thanks to Rita and Paola. Meeting them added a rich dimension to my experience in Barcelona. They are two of the friendliest, most generous people I've had the pleasure of meeting. If you are reading this, Rita and Paola, you are always welcome in San Francisco!

The Red Bull kicks in

Barcelona was my favorite city on the trip. It's vibrancy, wealth of cultural treasures, natural beauty, pleasant climate, ease of getting around and affordability seemed to make it an outstanding place to live, let alone visit. Three days was a short time to spend there, but it was long enough to leave a deep impression on me. Someday I hope to make my way there again.

# posted by billklee @ 14:47