Picasso

Another beautiful day in Barcelona, despite the sleep problems we’ve been experiencing, we are mostly well and having fun. Sharon still has a terrible cough, though thankfully, right now she is sleeping like a baby and coughing less than usual. I know she hasn’t been feeling completely well…she told me to write: tell them, I’ve been feeling so achy and sick in the mornings I’ve been taking a shower every morning. I can attest to the fact…Sharon has been a very clean human on this trip.

Sleep still eludes me at night. This blog entry is taking place around 2 AM Barcelona time. Of course, jet lag has its advantages…my internet connection is fast this time of night.

So here’s the run down. Today (actually yesterday), we had the weirdest, groggy morning. I was up early, showered and ate breakfast, after about 3 hours of fitful sleep all night. Sharon slept in. I went back to sleep for about an hour after breakfast. Meanwhile, Sharon took her shower and ate, we gulped a lot of café con leche and rode the metro to the Picasso museum. The part of town that houses the museum is ancient and gorgeous, with narrow cobblestone streets, flower planters in windows, beautiful facades on the buildings that tower around you and plenty of stylish Catalonians walking on their way to work…wait, maybe they were on their way to lunch. It was after noon.

The Picasso museum was wonderful and we spent all afternoon within its old stone walls. We were pleasantly surprised by the special room dedicated to Picasso’s re-envisioning of Las Meninas…a famous Velasquez painting in the Prado (which we’ll be seeing in about a week). About 50 large and small canvases filled the space. It was like getting inside Picasso’s brain and beginning to understand his sense of reality. Sharon loved this.

We ambled through the old part of town after our museum adventure. Lanterns lit the cobblestones and though a bit early for cena, we pined for tapas. We found a smoke-filled tavern on a street called Born and sat ourselves down to eat. After the nutrition, we had energy to roam around some more, visited the Cathedral. (Not the Gaudí. That was closed.) Once again, many people were out in this part of town. The weather was cooler than the night before, but that didn’t stop the Catalonians from strolling along their lovely streets.

Our final find of the day was an open market…lively and well-lit at 8 PM. Sharon poses here by a candy vendor’s jewels…all jelly candies of different shapes and sizes. I am posing at the butcher’s stall. Tomorrow we rent a car and head up the coast to see Dali’s theater and museum in Las Figueres.

PS...Sorry for the weird formatting of the text...we have limited time, are paying a premium for our internet access, therefore, I'm leaving the oddities, though due to compulsions, might fix them later.