Dear Friends and Allies,
What started as a practical day, buying fixative at the at supply store, V. Piera, for the work I'm doing in the little studio, and finding a place to get an airmail stamp (at a cigar shop of all places), and then mailing a letter to Citigroup to "dispute" the Sim card I bought that didn't/doesn't work, turned into a delight by my coming across a lovely little park oasis at the Palau Robert near the Diagonal station. The Palau also has two fascinating exhibits. The first I saw was about the composer Xavier Montsalvatge, consisting of a life review, a wonderfully moving video of his talking about his career, and two headphones allowing you to play his wonderful music. I noted among the record covers (he goes back that far) that Kathleen Battle has sung his compositions. That happily reminded my that she owns one of my monoprints. Xavier lived from1912-2012. Xepes, the great guitarist was one of many who popularized his work.
There's also an exhibit about a world-class restaurant and its great chef, titled Ferran Adria & elBulli. It featured little films showing most unusual dishes, such as one dessert where a balloon was first filled with water, frozen just long enough to freeze the outer layer. The rest of the water was drained and somehow the balloon removed. The fragile ice ball was then cracked into pieces to be decoratively topped with unique variations of what was once upon-a-time familiarly known as Italian ice.
I'd already found a place to have a good meal (Restaurant MariscCO) before coming upon the exhibitions with its green park/oasis. Most uniquely, the restaurant charges according to the weight of the fresh fish/clams/oysters/lobsters/shrimp and on, that you'll order. Unknowing, I ordered small fried fish. When the dish was put before me, instead of seeing the one or two small fried fish that I'd expected, I saw a myriad of tiny (1 1/4" long) two eyed snaky creatures. Were they really fish or tadpoles? They appeared as confetti on my plate. I ate with relish after a healthy salad with tuna (and oh, the olives - divine).
Not usually a coffee drinker, let me say that while I've seen Starbucks here, their café con leche is the best.
And now for the pics (starting with my walk searching for the art supply store, a panel from a presentation in the park, then with Mar, the lovely woman in purple who helped me decipher the Barcelona map, then the composer's exhibit, and finally Palau Robert park and facade images
:
What started as a practical day, buying fixative at the at supply store, V. Piera, for the work I'm doing in the little studio, and finding a place to get an airmail stamp (at a cigar shop of all places), and then mailing a letter to Citigroup to "dispute" the Sim card I bought that didn't/doesn't work, turned into a delight by my coming across a lovely little park oasis at the Palau Robert near the Diagonal station. The Palau also has two fascinating exhibits. The first I saw was about the composer Xavier Montsalvatge, consisting of a life review, a wonderfully moving video of his talking about his career, and two headphones allowing you to play his wonderful music. I noted among the record covers (he goes back that far) that Kathleen Battle has sung his compositions. That happily reminded my that she owns one of my monoprints. Xavier lived from1912-2012. Xepes, the great guitarist was one of many who popularized his work.
There's also an exhibit about a world-class restaurant and its great chef, titled Ferran Adria & elBulli. It featured little films showing most unusual dishes, such as one dessert where a balloon was first filled with water, frozen just long enough to freeze the outer layer. The rest of the water was drained and somehow the balloon removed. The fragile ice ball was then cracked into pieces to be decoratively topped with unique variations of what was once upon-a-time familiarly known as Italian ice.
I'd already found a place to have a good meal (Restaurant MariscCO) before coming upon the exhibitions with its green park/oasis. Most uniquely, the restaurant charges according to the weight of the fresh fish/clams/oysters/lobsters/shrimp and on, that you'll order. Unknowing, I ordered small fried fish. When the dish was put before me, instead of seeing the one or two small fried fish that I'd expected, I saw a myriad of tiny (1 1/4" long) two eyed snaky creatures. Were they really fish or tadpoles? They appeared as confetti on my plate. I ate with relish after a healthy salad with tuna (and oh, the olives - divine).
Not usually a coffee drinker, let me say that while I've seen Starbucks here, their café con leche is the best.
And now for the pics (starting with my walk searching for the art supply store, a panel from a presentation in the park, then with Mar, the lovely woman in purple who helped me decipher the Barcelona map, then the composer's exhibit, and finally Palau Robert park and facade images
:
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