Dalí and then some..

After a full night's sleep we hit the ground running..

Sarita and her husband, Jóse (notice the accent) drove us to Figueres to see el Teatro-Museo Dalí. The drive up there was incredible. We passed some beautiful mountain, and I was able to see the snow-capped Pyrenees way off in the distance (though they didn't really show up in the pictures very well). I've posted a bunch of pictures of the drive up.

The museum was incredible. I absolutely love Dalí, so having the chance to see so many of his paintings up close was wonderful. It's amazing what a range of styles he painted. I've posted some pictures of my favorites.

After the museum we drove to a tiny medieval town called Pals. Built in the 13th century it was complete with city wall, cobblestone streets, and tiny slits in the walls for the archers to shoot their arrows from. So incredibly cool. I have very few memories from my childhood in Spain but one which I still carry with me is of this climbing vine at my family's house in the country (Salto al Cielo) with beautiful pink flowers that dry up like paper but still keep their vibrant pink color. I've asked my mom what they're called but she couldn't remember. Well, we saw them in Pals today and apparently they're called Buganvilla. Now I have to find it in the US and try to grow it. Along with geraniums. Everyone here has geraniums and I'd forgotten how incredible they smell. Then we ate at this adorable little outdoor restaurant within the city walls and headed home.

Let me say a little about Spanish driving. People seriously drive like crazy people. They drive well over the speed limits within the city (crossing the street is dangerous business) and have a terrible habit of stopping at red lights, then running them as soon as the other lane's light turns yellow. Insanity. But it makes for a fun ride. It's so interesting to look at all of the different kinds of cars, too. There are many cars which are common in America; Ford, Toyota, Mazda, Hyundai, BMW, Mercedes, and Volkswagen. Even though some of the cars are the same models, there are also Fords and Toyotas which I have never seen on American roads. But then you've got all the cool European standards; Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat, Renault, etc.. Some are so tiny they look like the little electric vehicles that the meter maids drive around downtown Asheville. But, 90% of the cars are manual transmission, and that's awesome. Even Sarita's mini-van-esque Volkswagen has 6 speeds!

Well, that's all for now. It looks like we'll be checking out some Gaudí architecture tomorrow so I'm sure I'll have a thousand more pictures to post.

Hasta luego,
Irene

Oh, and I had cool captions for all the photos, but I accidentally hit the back button and had to start from scratch.. And I was too lazy the second time around. But enjoy them anyway.

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