Hyped Up On Chocolate .... and more Gaudi

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Before I start ... if you look at the photos you will notice that the first 20 or so ... the comments just do not match the actual photo. A little problem I have been having sometimes when uploading photos here. I was just too lazy to start over!!

Today was my 50th day of travel. The achy feet, bad hair, incessant packing and constant washing of clothes in the bathroom sink would allude to the fact that I have been going for quite a bit but it really doesn't feel like that long. Do I miss anything? Friends and family ... of course. Although I speak to my parents more often through Skype than I do on a normal basis!!! I miss my bathtub ... I hate showers and even after 50 days ... still hate them .... too violent! My hairdryer ... I miss having the same hairdryer every single day. I hate the hotel ones that look like you are drying your hair with vaccuum tube. I could probably use a poutine or a Cinnamon Dolce Late ... or a fondue at Meule et Caquelon or anything Vietnamese or Thai. Otherwise ... spirits still high and not over the idea of having to get up in the morning and look at and learn about pretty things. Not going to lie, there have been a couple of days when I was probably ready to pack up and go home but don't we all have those kinds of days even at home???

I also got a notification from Travel Blog to say that I had posted my 100th blog entry. Really? Have I really had the chance to ramble on about my comings and goings that much??? It seems a little unreal but if Travel Blog says it ... then it must be true.

So now on to my day ...

First, I went to see about the Picasso Museum. Ridiculously long line again so I decided that it was just not meant to be. There are a lot of his works in Madrid and I will be there shortly. I will also be in Malaga and there is a museum there as well. He was born there so I am expecting that there will be some interesting things to see then.

So I turned my attention to the Museum of Chocolate. God love a museum that gives you a chocolate bar with the entrance ticket!! It is just a small museum but it was actually quite interesting. It takes you through the history of chocolate and how it came to be part of our traditions and such. The fun part though is that there are amazing sculptures made from chocolate. The photos don't really do them justice ... always hard to shoot something behind a glass casing.

After the tour of the museum, I stopped in the small gift shop/cafe and had a hot chocolate. But this was no ordinary hot chocolate. I had one of these in Rome three years ago and it was almost like a religious experience. Well I had another epiphany this morning!! This is a thick and rich hot chocolate. You will see from the photo that it is almost as dark as coffee. It is almost like drinking hot pudding. Yuuuuummmmm!!!

So hyped up on a lot of chocolate, I made my way around a few streets until I reached the Palau de la Musica Catalana. Another gorgeous building of Barcelona! The architecture here is just so beautiful ... it is just a pretty city. I went to see about visiting it but the visits are guided and only at specific times. It would have meant waiting around for over an hour so I decided to skip it. This is actually my last full day in Barcelona so I had a couple of things to cram in. Darn ... I may have to come back to Barcelona to go see all of these things that I did not get a chance to do. I am starting to think that five days was not enough!!!

I then walked over to the MACBA, the museum of contemporary art of Barcelona. I am not even going to start explaining these exhibits. Modern art is without description at its core and this definitely one of those exhibits. What I have concluded though is that video art installation creep me out. Just like the carnies at a circus ... just gives me the willies. There is just something about these excentric videos playing in empty spaces. The noises surrounding it is often sombre and angry ... I don't know ... it just creeps me right out. But again, there are pieces that always stand out. I had a laugh when I saw that a whole section was dedicated to this artist who had done all of these mind maps on different topics. Who knows ... maybe all of the mind maps that I've participated in on different projects at Alterna may end up in a museum one day!!! That same artist had also done a kind of border that wound its way around the room and kind of used the concept of mind mapping. There were pictures included ... I saw Yoko Ono, Einstein, Winston Churchill ... oh and a picture of that skull covered in diamonds!!

My last stop would be to the Palau Guell. This is another work by Antoni Gaudi that was commissioned by Eusibio Guell (who also commissioned the park). This was actually home to Guell, his wife and their ten children. It is not as "Gaudi" as other things that I have seen since being here. But then again, I do believe that this is one of his earlier works. You can definitely see the style is his though. And although it was a bit of wait, the entrance is free and includes an audio guide. So if you want to pinch pennies ... this is a good one to see to get a small dose of Antoni Gaudi (the others were definitely much pricier!!)

And that ended my day in Barcelona. Tomorrow I am taking the train to Montserrat. I have wanted to do this FOREVER. I am really excited to finally being able to do it!!! It will be another thing off of my list of things to do in my lifetime.

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Photos

6 Asterix
That is the statue in St Peters Basilica

14 Tintin
Made of chocolate of course