Lorena's Epiphany

Spain Travel Journal: Barcelona 04 (part one)

August 9, 2009 at 5:43 pm Leave a comment

/.A Mission./

I woke up at 9am this morning on a mission to buy Spanish bowls for serving crema catalana (or creme brulee). Theresa had pointed out a place by the Boqueria that sold them, but once I got there, it was closed. I asked some old ladies on the street (since of course, they’d know!), but they just thought I was hungry.

Walking from my hotel to the Boqueria, I passed through a pretty sketchy part of Barcelona (El Raval). There were lots of Arabic businesses there and Spanish men cat-calling. On carrer de l’hospital, signs hung from the balconies requesting better housing (or so I understood).

one of the neighborhoods along carre de l'hospital

One more day in Barcelona and I really don’t want my trip to end..

/.Reflecting on Catalunya Square./

I’m sitting outside the Catalunya station, right on the Ramblas, with two crazy old men next to me, heckling tourists in Spanish. The chairs are separate, so I sort of have my back to them.

Today, I’m off to the Picasso museum and then maybe do some shopping in the Gracias neighborhood. I bought a temporary phone line while walking through Raval to keep in touch with Karen (who I’m meeting later in the day). No phone for a week has been a temporary relief. I kind of liked being out-of-touch for those few days.

Hopefully, we’ll get to go to the Tibidabo amusement park in the afternoon. The sky is a bit overcast today and I hope it doesn’t rain. So far the weather’s been consistently hot (no complaints here). Just as you see people rolling their suitcases away, you see just as many rolling them into hotels. Veronica had mentioned earlier that August is an off-month for most Spanish, and businesses closes so people can travel. Do I need more of a reason to love Spain?

boy with the suitcase

I got to walk all over a Miro floor painting today. It felt good in a weird way stepping all over someone’s art.

/.Travel Fetishes./

Re-Pla is one of my favorite tapas and wine bars in Barcelona. It’s your typical hole-in-the-wall place with very ornate decoration, but an incredibly friendly staff. I’m sipping on a sangria with a fan blowing in my direction. It’s almost 4pm now and I’m escaping the heat with a small break. I found a shop right around the corner that sells paella woks, but it’s closed for siesta.

One of my favorites in Barcelona

I had originally planned to spend the day at the Museo de Picasso, but decided to avoid the long lines and catch a cool exhibit right across the street from it. The exhibit was a very interesting take on souvenirs and how we fetishize basically worthless objects that aren’t even that well-designed. You go through 10 rooms that make you really question how/why you pick souvenirs – and all this the day I had planned to get my own souvenirs! Ironic.

Effecte Souvenir exhibit by DHUB

The first room was an experiment to see what objects different museums around the world would choose to represent their respective cities. A coffee cup with matching plate from the Guggenheim museum (NYC) was the most representative. It had black silhouette outlines of the skyline around the edges. I wouldn’t mind having that at all.

A tacky, environmentally unfriendly watch was the souvenir chosen from a Swiss museum. You’d think they’d produce a better watch, no?

The text and graphics in the exhibit were all in neon, and I found the setup very striking. When I walked in, they handed me a sega-sized device with touch-screen to navigate the exhibit. You can click on the different objects to read more about their origin. I hardly used it past the second room since it was so heavy.

My other favorite section was the gondala room. You walk into a dark room with one screen on each side and stools in the middle. Two films play out while you sit there – one of a gondola in Vegas’ Venice and the other of a gondola in the real Venice. The theme here was fetishizing a place, as they’ve done in Vegas. While watching the films, you feel like you’re on the gondola while a voice speaks. The audio for the Vegas gondola explains how that Venice was basically built by thugs who would bury you in the desert if you crossed them.

LOL! The bartender of Re-Pla just looked over my shoulder and asked it I was writing a bible! haha! That’s my sign to stop and finish my sangria. More entries from today coming in next post

Entry filed under: Floating. Tags: Barcelona, catalunya square, exhibit, fetish, gondola, Las Vegas, museums, Raval, sangria, souvenirs, Spain, tourists, Venis.