Barcelona

Gaudi is amazing to experience in person. Words can not describe the way he sculpted space and environment. I cant help but think as I walked through several of his creations that he had to have had a great relationship with his contractors and craftsmen. For one of his buildings all he created was a maquette and some drawings, not much to go on if you were in charge of actually realizing and building the space, but it was executed amazingly none the less. Having a father who was a coppersmith, and an uncle who owned a foundry had to have come in handy when organizing and designing the spaces he created. After spending the last two days with his buildings, I am inspired, I feel I need to design and build something when I get back!

Picasso…. The Picasso museum here was also a treat. It houses much of his early work, and is laid out in an impressive building in the medieval section of Barcelona. Many of the works of art are very early, and trace his progression from academic to groundbreaking visionary. It is always great to see the rendering skills he possessed as a boy and young man. The part of the collection I enjoyed the most was seeing his series of work dealing with Velasquez, “Las Meninas” it seems that every good artist, or artist of significance has to deal with the history, and the artist that came before. For Picasso, that was Velasquez, and in some part, looking at “Las Meninas” referencing Velasquez, I can see how Picasso felt that Velasquez was the giant that Picasso had to deal with in some way, either to battle, or to stand on his shoulders, or to absorb him in some way. It seems that Picasso made the right decision.

La Rambla…The main street, leading from the port up to the city center is called La Rambla. It is a wide pedestrian walkway, flanked by tall apartment buildings. There are all kinds of things happening along La Rambla, from bird and live animal markets, to hustlers with shell games and turtle races, to street performers and amazing Tapas Bars. The kids had a blast exploring along La Rambla. Spanish schedules are great; adjusting children to them is a little bit of a challenge. Luckily there are enough places around to find food and snacks.

We Leave tonight for Marrakech Morocco, and other parts of North Africa. It should be a very different experience!