Slower start this morning, I wasn't out the door until almost 9:30 am. Headed to the Picasso Museum asap - it opened at 10 am and today is the one day a month with no admission. Got there around 10:30 (oh, I got lost on accident and on purpose on the way...) and the line looked long. But it went quickly and I was soon in. There is a temporary exhibition on Kees Van Dongen that was really well done and fascinating (and no, I never heard of the guy before). The Picasso section was intermittently interesting, but not as good as the museum in Paris, I thought.
Stopped in Placa Catalunya to see if the big stores were open, which I knew they weren't but maybe something weird happened and they were. No. Checked the disposable camera price at the newsstand; $22 - no way! Then I went into the information center on a whim and yes, they had disposable cameras for much less. Whew.
I decided to have lunch in Barceloneta, the neighborhood that used to be fishermen & families but is now getting trendy. I chose a well-reviewed restaurant in the Frommer's guide and when I managed to find it, almost choked at the prices on the menu. Thank goodness I'm used to Chicago prices! It was an excellent meal - delicious gazpacho, and fiduella Can Costa - a noodle dish with sauce and seafood, that you also stir in a side sauce that's like a spicy mayonaise. And yes, I said seafood is in it - apparently I like shrimp, as long as it's expensive and Spanish! It was very tasty shrimp and I even spooned the last piece out of the pan before giving up on the entree. There were also mussels and things that I think were squid but pretended not to recognize. I finished it all off with a crema Catalan, which is like a creme brulee. But Catalan.
Having wayyyyyyy overspent for the day at one meal, I decided to do something free again and headed to Park Guell. Now a park, it was supposed to be essentially a housing development until Gaudi went a little crazy and the investor stopped plowing money into it. Now it's a wonderfully overly orante park, and I spent a couple of peaceful hours walking or sitting and listening to the various buskers throughout the park.
I left the park and thought I'd walk around a bit before heading back to the hotel. The old town is very pretty at night. But, being Sunday, everything was closed so I got bored and came back here to blog and plot my next two days. Lots of places are closed on Mondays, so it looks like the beach tomorrow and a busy Tuesday!
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