barcelona por favor

Last Wednesday, Seth and I set out for Barcelona, only an hour bus ride and 2-hour plane ride away. We were both excited, though for separate reasons. I couldn't wait to get out of the cold weather and learn about a country I had barely considered before the day we booked our flight; he wanted to expand his understanding of the Catalonia culture and history, as well as refresh his once-learned Spanish.

We both got what we asked for. The weather was a pleasant 60 degrees throughout our stay. The city greatly reminded me of San Francisco -- Mediterranean climate (duh), colorful houses, laid back inhabitants, early spring. It was amazing how fast my mood and spirits lifted. Frankly, I believe that the winter and cold suck.

Seth got all the culture and museums he could want, and he got me sucked into it too. The first museum we went to was a Joan Miró museum, filled with paintings from his early 20-year-old career to his final masterpieces. His paintings were very intricate and very influenced by the politics of the area, as well as the general feeling of Europe at the time. During the Spanish Civil War his paintings were much more darker; afterwards his work often incorporated the sky or stars, as if he wanted to look away from our troubled, war-ridden earth. I've never focused on an artist in such depth, but now as I am starting to appreciate art more, I agree it's important to understand the artist to gain a better understanding of their art. For example, my Seattle neighbor Todd explained to me once that Pollock's chaotic work isn't from splashing paint all over the canvas, rather carefully dripping each line. Suddenly then his work seemed so much more impressive.

We also visited the Catalonia-history museum. Wow. Columbus set out from Barcelona! And during the industrial revolution, the rest of Spain was uninterested in using steam powered machines or updating their technology, but Barcelona was. Their economy boomed. Then while Deutschland's Kaiser and his generals were dealing with their two front war in 1914, Spain didn't participate and had a type of glorious revolution centered in Barcelona. But then Franco took over and he forbid anyone to speak or learn Catalan (official language of Barcelona) and since his death in 1970s the Catalans have wanted independence from Spain... who knew?? ahem, I got a little carried away there, but trust me, fascinating history.

The last cultural impact I encountered was the architecture from Gaudi. When I was 13, I had this fantasy house that was out of this world. It would have many colors and mosaics and have curves instead of boring lines. Gaudi apparently knew exactly what I meant (61 years before I even existed) because he made the house for me:


Despite the close purse-snatching and often sore feet, the trip went beautifully and I was quite sad to leave. I now have a taste of Spain, and I liked it. A lot.