Sunday: The first Sunday of the month is free museum day (love it)! Although it was wet and rainy (what drought?!), my roommates and I headed to the Barri Goti (Gothic Neighborhood) to check out the Picasso Museum (free!) and the Chocolate Museum (not free). Gothic architecture is probably my favorite. This is from the inside of a BEAUTIFUL Gothic church.
I wish I had enough time and money to make it up to Toledo, the capital during Spain's Visgoth period, to see some really cool stuff. Oh well, as I keep telling myself, reason to come back. The line for the Picasso Museum looked really long, so we decided to come back in a bit and go to the chocolate museum first. I have to say, it was probably the one thing I've been disappointed with so far. It's just different scenes and sculptures out of chocolate (Don Quijote in Chocolate, FC Barcelona in Chocolate, Arc de Triomf in Chocolate), and really you can see all that stuff on the food network. We didn't even get free samples and the so-called museum store was also pretty lame. They didn't even serve churros y chocolate!!After lunch, we got in line for the Picasso Museum. The line is through this tiny little street/alleyway.
There are shops and a million people passing through. As in every major city, Spain has no shortage of street musicians. While waiting in line for Picasso, there was a really awesome guitarist serenading the line. One of my roommates bought his CD, and his music is super chill and relaxing. It was only about a 15 minute wait to get into the museum, although it was PACKED. I'm not sure I like museums when they're that busy. Sometimes it's nice just to stare a painting for a long time, and it's kind of hard to do that when there is a ton of people all trying to see the same thing.The museum has a lot of Picasso's earlier works, before he got super cubist. I actually had no idea how many different styles Picasso had. While I didn't really care for his earlier stuff, I really appreciate his talent more. You can really see how his super abstract stuff morphed from his super realist stuff. I think the museum did a good job of showing that transition. The temporary exhibit that was at the museum was the collection of Picasso's abstractions of Velasquez's "Las Meninas." Picasso did some 50 odd interpretations of Las Meninas.
After Picasso, the sun had finally come out, and it got ridiculously humid outside, so some gelato was in order (have I mentioned that I love how there are gelato places on like every corner?). We wandered around and found ourselves at the Parque de la Ciutadela. There used to be a fort there (citadel--ciutadela). The park is really gorgeous and green. We didn't walk around it too much, but we're definitely going to go back. Also right around there is Barcelona's Arc de triomf. The Arc was not actually built for a military triumph. It was built for
World's Exhibition in 1888. I'm excited to compare this Arc with the one in Paris (only 9 days!!).Monday: I have to make a mention of the wonderful metro system here in Barcelona. I take the metro to school, but I have to switch lines at one of the stops. Well, that passageway is under construction, so to switch lines, I have to walk out of the metro station and all the way to the other entrance and re-enter. It's a pain and it adds about 10 minutes to my commute. Yesterday, I get off the metro and do the whole walk to switch lines, but once I get to the other metro station, I'm informed that the line I need to get on is not working. I only have 10 minutes to get to class, and I absolutely cannot be late for class because we were going on a field study. I was a good 15 minute walk from school--so I start running, mind you its god awfully humid out. I can't get a taxi to save my life. Finally, at 3 minutes until 9, I get a taxi and make it to school 5 minutes late. Luckily, my class hadn't left yet. Oh the beauty of public transportation.
The field study was for my history class. We walked to a few statues. But the really cool part was this public library we went to--La Biblioteca Pública Arús. The guy they built it for or who built it (I can't remember) was a Mason, so there are all these masonic symbols all over the library. The library is super old looking, with these dark wood shelves with glass doors, filled with really old looking books. There was also a bunch of Masonic artwork on display and some Masonic medals, pictures, etc. It was pretty cool--a little creepy. The library was closed during Franco, but luckily it wasn't destroyed. I guess it houses a large collection on Spanish Anarchism, as well as a bunch of information on the Freemasons.
I also visited Casa Milá, one of Gaudí's houses, yesterday. My camera died, but I'll be going back, so I'll take pictures then. It's pretty spectacular. Gaudí didn't believe in using straight lines. According to him straight lines were man made, curves were of nature. So you can imagine this large building with very few straight lines. You can't go throughout the whole building, but you can go up to the attic where the servants lived, and to the roof. Gaudí was also really big on the self supporting arch. If you were to take a chain and pin it in any two places, it would form a self supporting arch. The arch in St. Louis is self supporting. In all of Gaudí's work, you really see his use of arches. Another interesting fact, in Sagrada Familia, each column is made of a
different type of stone to support the structure underneath it so that he wouldn't have to use steel support--truth to materials. Although now, they're using steel supports inside the columns. In Casa Milá, there are also some of Gaudí's chairs on display. I had no idea he was a carpenter of sorts. The chairs are really really beautiful.Monday night we had Spanish cooking class!! We learned (and got recipes for) chupitos de tomate, tortilla espanola, paella, and crema catalana. Everybody helped with one dish. I got to help with the paella! And after we cooked, we got to enjoy the meal. It was all very delicious. I don't know if I would be able to make any of it again, especially the paella. The teacher definitely did and added stuff to all the dishes once we were finished. Either way, it was tasty and a fun experience.
I've got to head back to class. I'm going on a field study today for my architecture class. We're going to the Palau de la Musica Catalana. It was done by Domenech i Montaner--a rival of sorts to Gaudí. I've seen the outside, so I'm really excited to go in an take the tour. If only every class involved field trips...
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