The Plane in Spain

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• September 28
• September 29
• September 30
• October 1
• October 2
• October 3
• October 4

September 30

Velasquez at the Prado

Today is our last day on the town with Brian. I got up early for breakfast. Lots of (German) tourists are sitting in clumps all across the dining room. The Spanish know how to do a continental breakfast: breads, preserved meats, cheeses, boiled eggs, fruits, juices, coffees, and yoghurts. I could get used to this every day. Of course, at home, I don't walk it all off, either.

We got off to a late morning start to see the Picasso Museum and the City Museum. We retraced some of our steps from the night before, and I got some pictures of the Roman cemetery. The Old City covers probably a couple of square miles, and tourists absolutely need maps to get through it. Barcelona is much bigger than Sevilla's Old City, so getting a feel on foot in a day or two is difficult to do. We each have different styles. Brian is inclined to wander, and navigate by the sun's position. Ron is a map guy, through and through. I have great difficulty orienting myself on the maps, that is, getting a sense of direction, but I'm very good at getting us from Point A to Point B on the map. We usually let Brian lead. We'll get to a very unfamiliar place. Ron hauls out the map, and I figure out where the next place is, somewhat imperfect and irritating, but workable.

I didn't take a huge number of pictures today. Nobody was taking pictures in the Picasso Museum, and the city Museum didn't allow pictures.

We have several great guide books, but the best one are the Lonely Planet Spain book, and the Lonely Planet Best of Madrid and Best of Barcelona books. A travel tip - read the books before your vacation. I don't think our trip has suffered too much, but we've only gotten to some of the sites, because we read about it the night before. This isn't the most efficient way to travel, but it makes for a very dynamic vacation.

I've taken a lot of street scene pictures. I'll probably file most of them away, but they provide a sense of place and scale. Barcelona, in spite of all the upscale retail and rampant globalization, is still a place. It's built compactly in a very human way. It has a continuity not possible in the United States. People have been living in ths place for three thousand years. Buildings are built along the same walls and streets that ran here a thousand years ago.

In the City Museum, you walk beneath the Old City into an archaeological excavation. You see the remains of the original Roman walls. You walk over a fish factory and a winery. You end up in the city's first church district. It is directly beneath two successive churches (and a mosque) and the site has been in continuous use for 1700 years as a church. The hall next to the church was originally part of the ruling prince's complex, and is still used for public purposes, now a museum.

The Picasso Museum is in the same neighborhood. It contains a permanent collection and special exhibits. We went to the permanent collection, because we will never see these works anywhere except in Barcelona. The permanent collection is housed in 19 rooms. It houses studies from his formal schooling, sketches made throughout his life, and a hundred or so major works and ceramic sculptures.

Picasso was a rebel from a very early age. From his formal training he had a keen mastery of form, line, and light. His pre-modernist works are gorgeous, too. Clearly his classical training gave him a freedom and a discipline to create his Cubist idiom. It is a remarkable experience to walk through his life and work year by year and room by room. He donated most of the permanent collection to the museum in 1970. His wife, Jaqueline, donated a substantial collection of ceramics in 1984. If you visit Barcelona, go see the Picasso Museum and the City Museum.

About 6 p.m. or so, we headed back to the hotel. I should mention here that we've had a few food issues on this trip. Ron is perhaps more finicky than he realizes, and we're visiting a country that is not noted for it's vegetarian cuisine. I'm not sure what to do about it. Sometimes it makes Brian and me nuts, but Ron, too is clearly in distress when he can't find something that he thinks he wants to eat. He really is afraid to dive into the cuisine and try some new things. He's a paradox in a way. He'll order broiled fish with vegetables and tell us that it's very plain, and not an "oh wow!" experience. Brian and I have just had a fabulous meal full of wonderful tastes, and Ron just shakes his head and wonders why. At about this point, Brian's head explodes.

Brian wanted a blowout meal for his last night in town. He picked on the recommendation of the front desk, Restaurante Casa Dario. It's a wonderful seafood place. Brian and I had similar dishes, a variety of seafood, his in oil, and mine broiled. Ron had broiled hake. Ron had a very interesting and tasty shrimp and bean salad. Brian had an avocado salmon salad. I had a Galician pork and cabbage soup. We ended with desserts, of course. I had a creme brulee with fruits on a skewer. If I always had fruit that way, I'd eat a lot more creme brulee.

So at midnight, we turned our steps in the direction of our hotel and savored a wonderful dinner. I think we're learning that when you're in Spain, you do what the Spanish do.