Want to Come for Christmas?: Chapter 11: So This is 2014!

Picasso on New Year's Eve

December 31, 2013

This morning, we were off to Picasso Museo: he had lived in Barcelona too! We found ourselves in line at a narrow cobblestoned lane, on a sunny and sixty-degree-in-the-sun, (but we were in the shade) morning. No one was speaking English: pretty much par-for-the-course. The girl in front of us was able to speak a few words, and I'll have to give her that she knew a lot more English than I did Japanese. But we sat there in line (Andy was off taking pictures) and we both played around about "being so smart" and "coming so early" because as we stood there, a line began to form, many times longer than what had been there to begin with! Forty-five minutes later, when we got in, we had had a nice conversation about how the girl learned English (yeah-she really was able to talk at length about it) and we filed in, to learn about Picasso. Spent a good three hours in there, learning about him as a 13-year-old protege, his early years, and then his later years (after he had become a genius in the painting world). There was a special event, by a photographer, David Douglas Duncan, who had lived with Picasso and his new wife, while he was in his 70's. That gave us an idea of what the man was like in his daily life - interesting, as well.

That afternoon, we went down to the waterfront wandered around a bit. We did some map searching, and found the Barceloneta, the place our friend (wo had been in Nags Head) had told us of. It was a long walk, but it was warm enough to take our coats off and wander a bit. We were near the Mediterranean Sea, but it looked just like Southern Shores to me. Long walk through the harbour, but a good start to the New Year, on New Years' Eve.

We went to see the Majic Fountain, or Mont Juic. It was New Year's Eve, after all! We walked down to the Playa Espanya, turned left and went up the (giant) walk to the edge of the fountain, which was not working. It was dark, and it was supposed to be! We noticed policemen (and I haven't even begun to tell you the beauty of the Spanish Policia! Just ask Grace!) TV crews, many people with lots of children...we realized that nothing was going to happn until midnight: and if you know us, you'll know we went home and got into the Champagne that Javier gave us, and stayed up till 12:00 - and watched the breathtaking fireworks happening at Mont Juic from our front veranda!

Wednesday, New Year's Day

It's another year: 2014! With another early morning wake up call - this time to Gaudi's La Predera - we met some other folk out on the travelers trail. A very interesting person we met was Cristine, an Italian woman that was now living in Belgium working for the European Union. She spoke 4 languages, and kept all the line-people translated and informed. We WERE the second and third in this line, which consisted of two older men from Canada, a family from Connecticut, and ladies from Italy! But we all shared stories about where we had been and what we had done, and then Poof! - the Museo opened and we all went merrily along on our separate ways. (But were able to make contact with Cristina and get her address, if we ever go to Belgium.)

La Pedrera was an interesting house, made in the styleo of Gaudi, and after an extensive tour of the rooftop, we had a long session in the attic where we learned about how Gaudi brought these spectacular pieces of architecture together. But back to the roof: another place where those with fear of heights need not be observers! I'd say that 7 stories above the ground, you begin to notice that this house doesn't have an average, chimney strewn roofline. The chimneys look like little men from space, all a bit different, but definitely not of our lineage...then, the rooftop itself goes to and fro, up and down. And of course, since this is tourist season, there were so any people up on that roof that it was difficult to get a shot off without someone posing or cheesing it up! The attic was made up of a lot of arches made out of brick: Andy explained it to me, but it wasn't clear to me how they stood on their own. The most incredible thing was that Gaudi made these hanging chains and then put them in a mirror to see how they take the load: these things were called "cantenary arches", and were the model for Sagrada Familia and a few others in his bunches of houses in Barca. The rest of the house was spectacular in their use of ergonomically made handles and cool door/window framing. Wanted to buy everything in the gift shop.

There was not sign of it really being a national holiday, except that just about all museums were closed. We had no problem finding a place to eat. Of course, without our interpreter, Grace, we had some difficulty with the menu: because were always trying holes-in-the-walls, where the waitstaff doesn't usually speak English, and the menus are mostly in Spanish, only. Doesn't matter however: buen comida.

So back to Mont Juic it was, to see the Magic Fountain. This was placed in Barca way back in '29 for (I think it was) The International Exposition. It was supposed to jazz up the look of their park, right in front of what is now the Art Museum. When they kicked those lights, fountains and music on, my goodness, what a show all these children and adults were given! Every type of fountain, in all colors of the rainbow against every type of music (opera, pop, jazz, blues, kids songs and of course, Christmas Carols) were combined to make an absolute spectacle for two straight hours! One of the things on the "Top Ten" of the things to do in Barca, for sure. Our suggestion is to be on the same level as the 4 Big Columns, and get there about 20 minutes previous to the show's beginning.

Another sleep tonight,without a particular time to arise tomorrow.