My friend Kathy arrived on Friday and will stay through the rest of the trip. The conference continued through Saturday and my presentation went well. I certainly am glad to have attended as there were so many interesting sessions and I met and talked with people from all over the world. The conference dinner was held on a beautiful evening in the University gardens where I ate with colleagues from Australia, Canada, Thailand, and the United States.
I am finding how different Catalan is from Spanish, but still trying to muddle through. At times I'm sure it's quite comical. I think I'll break down and get a dictionary since many of the words don't appear in the one I brought.
Barcelona is an architectural dream and I wish I knew more to fully appreciate the diversity and creativity. Of course art played an enormous role as well. My friend Kathy and I toured the Museu Picasso which featured a temporary exhibit about Picasso’s friend artist Klees von dongel. The building was beautiful with rooms and rooms of Picasso’s artwork from 1890-1968, much of which I knew nothing about. Of course there were some recognizable ones. He certainly was gifted, but also seemed troubled.
The museum also has a nice café and gift shop with lots of items (e.g., notebooks, book marks, magnets) with favorite works of Picasso’s art. I am impressed with the level of politeness around the city which the large museum crowd reflected. I haven’t encountered any rudeness and, aside from Las Ramblas which is noisy and bustling, pedestrian and automobile/scooter traffic move along quite civilly.
From the museum we walked to the Museu de la Xocolate which unfortunately was cerrado and then to see the Catedral Gotici. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera, so will have to return for photos of this magnificent structure.
I am finding how different Catalan is from Spanish, but still trying to muddle through. At times I'm sure it's quite comical. I think I'll break down and get a dictionary since many of the words don't appear in the one I brought.
Barcelona is an architectural dream and I wish I knew more to fully appreciate the diversity and creativity. Of course art played an enormous role as well. My friend Kathy and I toured the Museu Picasso which featured a temporary exhibit about Picasso’s friend artist Klees von dongel. The building was beautiful with rooms and rooms of Picasso’s artwork from 1890-1968, much of which I knew nothing about. Of course there were some recognizable ones. He certainly was gifted, but also seemed troubled.
The museum also has a nice café and gift shop with lots of items (e.g., notebooks, book marks, magnets) with favorite works of Picasso’s art. I am impressed with the level of politeness around the city which the large museum crowd reflected. I haven’t encountered any rudeness and, aside from Las Ramblas which is noisy and bustling, pedestrian and automobile/scooter traffic move along quite civilly.
From the museum we walked to the Museu de la Xocolate which unfortunately was cerrado and then to see the Catedral Gotici. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera, so will have to return for photos of this magnificent structure.
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