leftovers

View of the city from the Miro Museum. Unfortunately, they would not let us take pictures in the museum. I love the Murals show. Here is Youtube video in spanish.

Magic Fountains at the Placa D'Espanya and Montjuic


a halo

I love spectacles like the Magic Fountains... the music, lights, colors.
We got the Barcelona Art ticket and went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. They were having at John Baldessari show. This is one of my favorite pieces. Catalan Art Museum... this is exhibition hall from the World's Fair.

that's all!

Sant Sadurni d'Anoia

We headed out on a day trip to Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, the home of cava. It is a short train trip from Barcelona. The Freixenet winery is just across from the train. It was lovely and the bottling robots were super cool.




Vineyards and Montserrat in the distance
Here is the entrance to the other winery, Codorniu. The winery was built around 1900 in the moderisme tradition. You take a taxi from the train station (expensive and a bit of a hassle but cheaper than a rental car). The tour is more rustic than Freixinet. We didn't make a reservation (oops) so we had to take our tour in spainish. Luckily we had just toured Freixinet in english and honestly the tours were similar. However, the guide felt sorry for us and we had a great conversation at the end with him during the tasting. The brilliance of placing the shop after the tasting room caused us to check our luggage on the way back. We only lost one bottle of wine in HB's bag. It was wrapped in plastic so it did not do too much damage.

Monserrat

We took the train from Barcelona to Montserrat. Montserrat is a pilgrimage monastery in the mountains above Barcelona. One of my favorite moments was the boys choir that sings at one.


One of clerks at our hotel, Hostal Residencia Neutral in Barcelona, recommended a small restaurant in the little town below Montserrat. We were the only tourists to get off the train. We slowly found our way to restaurant Bo2 in Montistrol. The restaurant has a daily menu from 12-4. The food was fantastic and such a good deal. We were the last people in the restaurant and spent some time with Yolanda (owner and chef) and her daughter, Maria. It was so nice to connect and the food was fantastic.

jamon...churros... oh my

Here is the la Boqueria Market just off the Ramblas in Barcelona. We ate some amazing meals, however we have few pictures. We didn't want to be the "ugly americans". Trust us the food is good in Catalunya.
Kevin is here with his favorite thing from Catalunya- jamon! We tasted some hams that cost hundreds of dollars and were aged as carefully as wine.


Lots of bright, shiny candy... I love it!Mid- afternoon snack. Churros and chocolate.


Speaking of chocolate, I went to the museum of chocolate, which I would not recommend. I went because I had read that they display all of the crazy dioramas in chocolate that are used in store displays. They were not as awesome as I had hoped... luckily I went in the wrong entrance and got it free. No five euros for me. Here is the Sagrada Familia in chocolate and some charming molds.More to come.... Cava and Montserrat

Si Es Plau

I just got back from Barcelona! HB and I had a great time. I think I will do several posts... I will start with the iconic architect Gaudi.
park guell
La Sagrada Familia
detail from the Nativity Facade elevator
detail of the staircase in the Sagrada Famila... spiral... shell... nature's geometry
the roof of Casa Mila



Casa Batillo

We have several hundred photos of Gaudi. I just tried to edit...

Gaudi is hugely inspirational. I have owned a book called "Barcelona Tiles" for several years. I picked up after I saw a show about moderisme and Barcelona at the Met. I have incorporated some of the tiles into backgrounds of my paintings and prints. I love Gaudi's organic shapes, patterns, colors, and ambition.

stay tuned--- food and wine is next

Whaaaat?!? Wow

My goodness... found at craftzine.

quick trip south

Yum!

progress....

Brown Bag, Thursday, 3/4/10, noon

I will be speaking about my work- past and present at the University Museum in Oxford. I will be talking in the Speaker's Gallery. I hope you can make it!