Hello! If you're just joining me today, scroll down to read the posts about our trip to Barcelona and Andorra in order, starting with "Peering into the Pyrenees," day 1 of our trip, and work your way up.
On the last day of our tour, we had a lot more to do than just load up the bus and head back to Sagunto. Instead we had a whole day planned with walking tours before boarding the buses at 6:30. All morning we walked through the neighborhoods behind La Rambla, including the gothic neighborhood and two cathedrals. It was getting chilly and the wind was starting to pick up, so we hurried through the tour and enjoyed splitting for lunch to sit in a warm place and relax. Several of us decided to go to Wok to Walk, a nearly fast-food asian place for under 5 euros, just like Lemon Grass in Valencia. It was delicious and we all enjoyed more fresh squeezed juice from the market before going to Starbucks for some warmth and wifi.
With three hours of free time we were soon ready to continue our tour, but since we had an appointment at the Picasso museum we had to wait for the whole group until 3:15. Once we arrived we had to wait for quite awhile before dividing into groups of 20. The museum was highly guarded and had more security guidelines even than I recall we had at the Louvre. Finally my group was allowed in and we found that everyone else was still there, wandering through the collection without sticking together as we had been instructed.
We started out with some of Picasso's earlier paintings, and as we moved on they got stranger and brighter. I have seen Picasso's work before in art history books and classes, and I've never been a really big fan of any of it. Here's the thing. I spent a maximum of 15 minutes in the whole gallery and left with the first group that had been let in. There was just nothing about it that sparked my interest. But how? you may ask. How can you not care about such a famous artist? Because it's not something that I want to look at for more than a few seconds, and honestly I don't find any of it very appealing. But you don't understand what it means, you don't appreciate it for what it really is. Ok. Well that's ok with me. I appreciate art that I enjoy looking at. If I don't like the way it looks, I'm not going to be excited to see it even if it is famous (like nearly everything at the Louvre). Got a history museum? I'm there. Archeology museums of natural history? Just tell me when. Science museums, aquariums, planetariums? My favorites. But drop me in an art gallery and usually I'll have seen all I care to see pretty quickly. My favorite forms of art are those I see on packaging, logos, and concept art for Disney or Pixar movies, usually done by artists who never get the credit they deserve. Knowing that, you can see why I was done so quickly and spent the rest of the time chatting with friends while we waited to load the bus. Some people really enjoyed the Picasso museum and I'm glad it was part of our tour. I know he was a famous Spanish painter and it's cool that I got to see his paintings here in Spain (although we didn't have time to go to the Dali and Goya exhibits at Montserrat).
Our group of nearly 90 wound our way through the streets of Barcelona back to the hotel where we retrieved our luggage from the storage room (yes, quite a task) and waited for the buses to pick us up. Just as the sun went down we went on our final tour on our way out of town, a bus tour of the Olympic Village from the Summer Olympics of 1992 in Barcelona, just weeks after I was born. We caught a glimpse of the stadium and other essential olympics buildings before it got completely dark. On the bus on the way back Cristian put The Prince of Egypt in for us to watch, in Spanish of course, and I tried my best to sleep a little. We got back at eleven last night and after sleeping in a bit, I've enjoyed a relaxing Sabbath, a hike with Shannon, lunch with friends and I'm looking forward to talking to my family later!
On the last day of our tour, we had a lot more to do than just load up the bus and head back to Sagunto. Instead we had a whole day planned with walking tours before boarding the buses at 6:30. All morning we walked through the neighborhoods behind La Rambla, including the gothic neighborhood and two cathedrals. It was getting chilly and the wind was starting to pick up, so we hurried through the tour and enjoyed splitting for lunch to sit in a warm place and relax. Several of us decided to go to Wok to Walk, a nearly fast-food asian place for under 5 euros, just like Lemon Grass in Valencia. It was delicious and we all enjoyed more fresh squeezed juice from the market before going to Starbucks for some warmth and wifi.
With three hours of free time we were soon ready to continue our tour, but since we had an appointment at the Picasso museum we had to wait for the whole group until 3:15. Once we arrived we had to wait for quite awhile before dividing into groups of 20. The museum was highly guarded and had more security guidelines even than I recall we had at the Louvre. Finally my group was allowed in and we found that everyone else was still there, wandering through the collection without sticking together as we had been instructed.
We started out with some of Picasso's earlier paintings, and as we moved on they got stranger and brighter. I have seen Picasso's work before in art history books and classes, and I've never been a really big fan of any of it. Here's the thing. I spent a maximum of 15 minutes in the whole gallery and left with the first group that had been let in. There was just nothing about it that sparked my interest. But how? you may ask. How can you not care about such a famous artist? Because it's not something that I want to look at for more than a few seconds, and honestly I don't find any of it very appealing. But you don't understand what it means, you don't appreciate it for what it really is. Ok. Well that's ok with me. I appreciate art that I enjoy looking at. If I don't like the way it looks, I'm not going to be excited to see it even if it is famous (like nearly everything at the Louvre). Got a history museum? I'm there. Archeology museums of natural history? Just tell me when. Science museums, aquariums, planetariums? My favorites. But drop me in an art gallery and usually I'll have seen all I care to see pretty quickly. My favorite forms of art are those I see on packaging, logos, and concept art for Disney or Pixar movies, usually done by artists who never get the credit they deserve. Knowing that, you can see why I was done so quickly and spent the rest of the time chatting with friends while we waited to load the bus. Some people really enjoyed the Picasso museum and I'm glad it was part of our tour. I know he was a famous Spanish painter and it's cool that I got to see his paintings here in Spain (although we didn't have time to go to the Dali and Goya exhibits at Montserrat).
Our group of nearly 90 wound our way through the streets of Barcelona back to the hotel where we retrieved our luggage from the storage room (yes, quite a task) and waited for the buses to pick us up. Just as the sun went down we went on our final tour on our way out of town, a bus tour of the Olympic Village from the Summer Olympics of 1992 in Barcelona, just weeks after I was born. We caught a glimpse of the stadium and other essential olympics buildings before it got completely dark. On the bus on the way back Cristian put The Prince of Egypt in for us to watch, in Spanish of course, and I tried my best to sleep a little. We got back at eleven last night and after sleeping in a bit, I've enjoyed a relaxing Sabbath, a hike with Shannon, lunch with friends and I'm looking forward to talking to my family later!
