super calatrava-rohe-mira exposition

So for our final day in Barcelona (pronounced "barth-eh-lonah" in castallano) we decided to make our way to the Parc de Montjuic. It was the only part of the city that remained for us to see. First up to the Fundacio' Joan Miro (a museum dedicated to his work). For those of you who are familiar with his work you can imagine why we might be excited to see the collection; However, we should have given ourselves a little more time as they close at 14:15 on sundays... something about that magic quarter hour marker I suppose???



Once at the top of the Montjuic we had a most amazing view of the city. There really are very few places where one can take in the vast density of this little catalan town.



After a lite lunch at the museum cafe (i won't mention the cranky staff) we headed past the gardens toward some of the remnants of the summer olympics which are also located in the park. It was great to see the torch designed by Santiago Calatrava, a Spanish architect who has made himself famous for structurally magnificent gestures.



Once off the top of the hill we were serendipitously surprised to be staring at the Barcelona Pavillion (currently known as the Pavello de Mies Ven De Rohe). This is one of the seminal works of modern architecture. Originally built in 1929 for the world exposition in Barcelona and reconstructed in 1986 after several attempts by the city... Let's just say we were both thrilled









So after an hour or so of sketching thumbnails of that little shack I like to call "arch-i-licious" we started back to the east end of town running into yet another of the ubiquitous "bicing" rentals... super cool, and kinda cute too.



A quick trip into the lobby of Jean Novel's contribution to the barcelona skyline and it was back to the dream to get some rest. Tomorrow we head back on the Renfe to the southern tip of Spain, across the straights and into Morocco. Bring on the mint tea!