We got out early in search of breakfast. I was feeling a bit down yesterday after the train ride, missing my house, my people, my dog, but everything looks fresh this morning and I'm recharged for part 2! The streets were pretty quiet but we found a couple of coffee shops open with options for breakfast sandwiches.
The Lashers arrived around 9 am after a long travel day, but they were troopers and, after a quick shower, were ready to go!
We set out walking to the Picasso Museum, stopping to view the sights along the way. The skies were cloudy, but the temps were pleasant and it wasn't far to walk. Barcelona is under a lot of construction and many streets are torn up, so we had to step our way around. Traffic is crazy fast down narrow alleyways, keeping us on our toes.
The Picasso Museum, an extensive collection of Picasso's work, is housed in 5 adjoining medieval mansions, and the architecture alone is amazing. the museum first opened in 1963 (at a different site) with the donation of the personal collection by Picasso's lifelong friend Jaume (Jaime) Sabartés and has expanded at several points with donations by collectors, Picasso himself, and eventually his widow. His early work is much much different from the trademark cubism we generally associate with Picasso. He said once, "It took me four years to paint like Raphael but a lifetime to paint like a child." One of the most famous paintings from his early work is "Science and Charity" painted when he was 15. My favorite piece is the "Portrait of Sabartes" as a 16th century royal courtier, requested by Sabartés and created by Picasso as a joke. I love the playfulness there, and it is said both men appreciated the joke as Sabartés, Picasso's secretary and administrator, was like his own courtier.
We set off from the museum toward Güell Park, first in search of food. We wandered through Barcelona's Arc de Triomf. It was built in 1888 as the entry for the Barcelona World Fair. The site of the fair is now Cuitadella Park.
Several times Tony mentioned the skies were getting dark right about where we wanted to go, but we thought we might miss it. Tony suggested we hop on the bus if we wanted to make it to park. We stopped for empanadas and discussed bus options... we even tried to get the apps on our phones but it proved very difficult. As the first drops began to fall and claps of thunder joined in, we found a metro station and decided to get passes for the rest of the trip. With our translate apps in hand we tried to navigate the machine, and the lines backed up behind us.... after several tries, making the same mistake, we finally figured out to leave the card in the machine, right about the time a young man reached from behind us and pushed some buttons... "You know you can do this in English?" Presto! The prompts appeared in our native tongue! So glad we'll never see those people in line again as they were less amused than we were.
We hopped on the metro heading to the park because we'd already come this far. But when we popped up in search of our bus stop for the connection, it was abosulutely pouring. Tony (longtime golf course superintendent) said, "I don't know a lot, but I know weather." Should have listened earlier... We aborted mission and went back down to the metro to go the other way. Maybe the park tomorrow!
We had a shortish but wet walk from the metro to our apartment and we found a great spot to have tapas and drinks before winding down. We stopped for round two and picked up more empanadas to eat in.
We successfully kept the Lashers up all day, and hopefully they'll be rested and on Barcelona time for day 2!
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