Connecticut and Barcelona

Here is Roger at our conference in a Barcelona chair.

One of my very few complaints about Franklin is that last summer he went on a cruise, promising additional posts and pictures on his return. They were never forthcoming which I found distressing--but now I understand. Once a trip is over it's over and blogging is about what is in your head at the moment. Besides, there are interesting (?) things to write about here such as why the cats seem to have jet lag (they get me up at 3 AM) and why the deer have eaten all the tulips except the yellow ones. But the pictures of Spain are better so I'll keep trying.

We had mixed feelings about Barcelona--it's a wonderful city but hideously expensive at the current exchange rate and touristy enough to be disappointing, especially with respect to food. We found some very good restaurants and some quite bad ones--unlike the Costa Brava where there was not a single wrong note in the gastronomic sense. The great pleasure in the city, of course, was the architecture. We stayed in the Eixample, the section full of Gaudi--and of other wonderful buildings. One of the greatest pleasures was that the subway stop we used to get to the conference was just across from Casa Batilo so we got to see it at different times of day and in different lights.

We were also near La Pedrera, an apartment building which was very controversial in Gaudi's lifetime. There are still lived-in apartments in the building; the building tour includes one apartment furnished as it might have been when the building opened, plus a museum with models and films and building details. You can also walk around the somewhat scary roof. My pictures are of the light well (one of Gaudi's innovations), a model of the building and the detail around a doorway which was Gaudi's design.

Part of what is so enchanting about this part of Barcelona is that Gaudi isn't alone--the buildings, which mix residential and commercial in a very satisfying way, are all much the same height--about six stories--with rich variations in the facades. I'm not quite sure why I picked the one shown; there were dozens of others.

We missed a number of things such as the Miro museum which wasn't open on Monday, the one day we had free--but still we were happy enough to pack up on Saturday, jump into a taxi, and ask to be taken to "Pepecars", the rental agency recommended by our friend George. Pepecars has very reasonable prices but is close to impossible to find; we spent a good deal of time at the airport with our taxi driver wandering around with our contract in his hand asking where to go. We later learned that this is typical of Pepecars. But we did find it. After a wait we rented and left for the Costo Brava--more on that part soon.

Janet, I hope the birthday was wonderful and that you are safely back in Dublin. That town is near-ish--nothing in Connecticut is far. We are further upstate, closer to Boston.