Carcassonne & Barcelona!

Hello!! As I previously mentioned, we recently traveled to Barcelona, Spain and I must give you all a brief look into what we did! P.s. for some reason some sections of text are "whited-out," if you select the text with your mouse--as if highlighting it---then you will be able to see it.

**most of the pictures in the following post of are from friends, because my cam cam's battery died shortly into the trip!

Carcassonne

On our way South we stopped in Carcassonne, France, which is about 2 hours from Ambialet. Carcassonne was a prominent site in the story of the Albigensian Crusade, which was the persecution of the Cathars that we have been studying in my one course.

Carcassonne-Old city on right, modern expansion on left

St. Nazaire-3 different styles of stained glass

A sweets shop in Carcassonne-stacked chocolate! The chocolatier had any kind of chocolate you could dream of!

Dried & sweetened fruits

We continued south and stopped in Narbonne, France (the rugby team we watched Albi play in January), where we spend the evening.

Barcelona

The next day we drove through the Pyrenees mountains and crossed the boarder into Spain! Although we were in Spain, the common language found in Barcelona is not Spanish, but Catalan. Barcelona is in the Catalonian region of Spain that still prides itself on a certain level of independence from Spain.

We spend the remainder of the late afternoon/evening walking around Barcelona...

Plaça Reial

Check out these drain spouts on one of the churches in the city..quite a difference from the typical gargoyle!

Unicorn & Elephant

Grasshopper!

Random sculpture in a square (my classmates are inside of it)

C. Columbus

A port on the Mediterranean

We spent a lot of time window shopping on a street called La Rambla, where we also found a few street performers scattered about. I convinced my friend Colleen to drop a Euro in the Mad Hatter's tea kettle. He was excellent! When he heard the clang of a euro coin in his tea kettle he would come to life from his frozen position and silently put on a performance, having tea with the patron (in this case, Colleen)

High heels made of chocolate! They really take their chocolate serious here in Europe.

Picasso
(1881-1973)

The next day we started our morning at the Picasso Museum.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to take pictures at the museum, but I found a few off of the internet to give you just a glimpse at what I experienced.

This is the entrance into the museum.

The most exciting outcome of my visit to the Picasso museum was the new respect I developed for Picasso as a painter. I distinctly remember learning about Picasso in 4th grade when we were learning about many of the Masters of Art. I also clearly remember enjoying his signature abstract fauvism style as a child. As I grew up I tended to respond more to other forms/styles of artwork. What I learned from our visit to the museum was that Picasso did not paint like a child with abstract, surrealistic shapes, and bright colors because he lacked any artistic talent. In fact, he developed his wacky style of art with great determination. 

Picasso painted Science and Charity in 1897, when he was only 15/16 years old!

Two of Picasso's quotes that struck me the most were:

 "It took my four years to learn to paint like Raphael, but it took me a lifetime to learn to paint like a child."

and

"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up."

I realized that Picasso took realism and brought to life the imagination that is often lost with aging. Here is one of his many renditions of  Velázquez 's Las Meninas that I particularly liked. 

Park Güell

Later in the day we visited Park Güell. The park was designed by Barcelona native architect and artist, Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926). The whole park is an incredible piece of artwork...

View of the city from the park

Barcelona-from Park Güell

These are monk parakeets. Their population in the wild started growing after some escaped from captivity in the 70s.

Gaudí used a lot of mosaics in his work

Miró

(1893-1983)

The next day we started our morning by visiting the Joan Miró Museum. Miró was also a native of Barcelona and similar to Picasso, Miró's artwork is dominated by surrealism and fauvism. The current exhibit is  The Ladder of Escape. I will honestly admit I did not have any strong stirring of feelings from the majority of Miró's art, but I guess you can't like it all can you?! This was anther museum we were unable to snap pictures in, so I only have a few of my own and I got a few pictures of pieces I did like off of the internet.

Pieces of artwork that I really did like..

Blue I, II, III

Burnt Canvas I

Dog barking at the Moon

Autoportrait

One of  Miró's sculptures on the veranda

On the veranda at the Miró Museum with Barcelona in the background

Sagrada Familia


Next stop, Sagrada Familia, the basilica designed by Gaudí. Construction began in 1882 and is still currently under construction. The estimated date of completion is 2026! 

This is the view of Sagrada Familia from Park Güell. Currently, there are 8 spires completed. After completion of construction there will be 18, 12 for the twelve apostles, 4 for the four evangelists, 1 for the Virgin Mary, and the tallest for Jesus Christ. At the completion of construction the tallest spire, the Jesus Christ spire (which has not been built yet) will be 170 metres, or 560 feet!! This tallest tower will be exactly 1 metre less than Montjuic Hill in Barcelona, because Gaudi believed that his creation should not surpass God's.

The Art Noveau style with major Gaudí influence is dedicated to telling the story of the Holy Family. There are few straight lines throughout the entirety of the architecture and Gaudí passionately played with the concept of lighting.

Casa Batlló

This centrally located house in Barcelona is another masterpiece designed by Antoni Gaudí. The house is locally known as Casa dels ossos (House of Bones), because of its resemblance to human bones on the outside. On the top of the house is designed to look like Saint George's lance piercing the back of the dragon. The story of St. George and the dragon is a staple event to this area of France.

 Chimneys on the roof

On the roof

Flamenco




After Casa Batlló we went to see a Flamenco performance. Flamenco is performed with a combination of voice, guitar, dance, and hand clapping (accompanied by other instruments at times). Our show had an accompanying violist and percussionist (he used a tin box as his drum). The performance flew by at only 30 minutes long, but I felt like I could have sat there for hours. The intense emotion was palpable.




Brochure 

Venue

One of the dancers.

Dalí

(1904-1989)

Last, but NOT least, my favorite....Salvador Dalí!!!! On our way from Barcelona back to Ambialet we stopped in Figueres, Spain, where Dalí was born and where he died. It was here that I felt that rush of emotion I believe someone should feel when they look at inspirational art. 

Outside of the museum

Dalí

Me with Dalí's tombstone

Center Panel of the ceiling of The Palace of the Wind

The Mae West Room

The May West Room through a reducing lens

Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea

 It was amazing how from where we stood you clearly saw the woman looking toward the sea and then when we took a picture of it and then looked at our camera Abe Lincoln popped out! From this point of view we were standing on the top of a staircase further away..from here Abe was much easier to recognize with the naked eye.





Galatea of the Spheres

Enigmatic Figures in Landscape

I love him!!!

For the sake of my studies/my 3 hour French exam tomorrow, I had to leave out quite a bit of detail for each of these events/locations. If I haven't complained to you already, this past week/this week have been insane weeks with regards to school work. We leave for Avignon/Paris in 2 weeks and I will be away from the monastery for about 19 days, so the most of my classes are in crunch mode. Despite the lack of detail I hope you enjoyed the pictures!!

xoxo

-K