If you don't speak Spanish, don't worry.. Barcelona doesn't, either

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We're long overdue for an update.. here's what went down in Barcelona! Another sunny, warm destination with a lotta soul. Walkability was a big plus, though the metro system was pretty good too. We stayed in a street off Las Ramblas and while it was extremely touristy, it's pretty central to a lot of cool things. While there, the biggest things we hit up were:

- The Mercat Boqueria, right across Las Ramblas from our hostel. A saliva-inducing array of fruit beckoning to be tasted, mountains of candy, an icy sea of whole fish for sale (and more varieties of shrimp I knew existed), display cases brimming with body parts of questionable edibility and pricey cured meats (upwards of 60€/kilo!), a smorgasboard of pickled things, dried beans, fresh breads, mountains of eggs. The best thing to do in this situation was to make preparations for a picnic lunch -- and that's just what we did, taking it in the botanic gardens after seeing some Miro (more about this later).

One of Gaudi's many mosaics in Parc Guell.
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- Museu de la Historia d'La Ciutat. Not only does this museum trace the history of this Catalan capital since pre-roman times,they have the archeological site to prove it! Great multi-media presentation of the artifacts and daily routines of the early roman settlers in Barcino, through the Muslim conquer in 8th century, followed by Carolingan Franks... etcetera. Learned a lot about their wine making process, as well as laundry, water tretment, and food. Who knew you could do so much with rotting fish.

La Moreneta, black virgin of Montserrat.
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- Museu de Xocolata. Spanish chocolate, especially from Barcelona, is one of the most delicious drinks I've ever had. The exhibits in this museum made me ravenous, with their chocolatized sculptures, paintings, and famous scenes. The history bit was a little lacking, but man did they have a good gift shop. I can't wait to try the chocolate recipe book I picked up (and to practice my spanish while doing so!).

-La Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell. Gaudi's masterpieces of organically inspired art. His art forms are of an elegant, earthly strangeness, his aspirations were soaring, and the results -- you have to see for yourself. Pictures will be posted later. Also, enjoyed spending time in the park a lot because of beautiful flower gardens and street musicians that were quite good. Also, note to self: Check out some classical guitar musicians upon returning to the states! So good.

- The beach!

- ART: Lunch at Els 4 Gats, the cafe at which Picasso had his first individual exhibition. It's more of a restaurant now, but it has great ambiance, good service, and delicious food. The duck confit was amazing. They have lots of art around still - though I doubt most of it is student art now that they're so well-known. Lunch was followed by an exhibit to the picasso museum. Lee Miller, a model and journalist for vogue during the war, had a lot of great personal pictures of him. There was also a good showing of his artistic evolution through the works. We also checked out the Miro museum at the now-defunct Olympic park (an odd place in itself). I'm learning to appreciate modern art - there was some really good stuff there. I like how Miro used sculpture to deepen his painting ability. Memorable art: the wild paintings, during the Spanish civil war (lots of angry colors), A self-portrait drawn of everything he could see around himself using a magnified mirror and later corrected with thick strokes of black paint, and a gift shop full of amusing things. I love museum gift shops.