The apartment I am staying in is so quiet that I slept for longer than I wanted.  Spain doesn’t rise early though so it was semi ok. One of the owners of waytostay had suggested I go to Poble-sec. It is has a tropical feel and is at the base of the mountains. I got three trains, sounds complicated but it wasn’t . The longest I waited for a train was a minute. The Europeans really know how to run Metros, apparently Madrid has the best in the world. It must be pretty damn good.

The first stop was to the Joan Miro museum, it is building designed specifically to house the works of Miro. He worked with the architect to create a space that worked with his art.  It was an exhibition that made you leave feel enriched. I watched the 15 minute movie about his life and was nearly in tears by the end. He was certainly a dreamer of big things. He is not up there as my favourite artist but there are certainly works in the collection that I really liked. Sadly there is never a postcard of the ones I really like.

Then I went for a walk through the  gardens next to the museum  it had a very tropical feel. I could nearly have been in Cairns. It would have been nice to spend more time there just sitting back reading but I had places to go and things to do and my tummy was super hungry. I went to the restaurant in the park and had their set menu. I could only fit in two courses though. I had black rice with cuttlefish and for a main ( I am sorry Justine) I had oven roasted rabbit with potatoes and tomatoes. Super yum. The waiters were seriously hard workers. I hope they get paid well. I took photos but it tasted better than it looked. If you are up that way give it a try.  My phone was in lock down mode as didn’t know the sim code for the Spanish sim in it so I could not get directions for MNAC. So i headed off to see if I could find it.

Along the way I found the museum of Catalan archeology I was drawn in by something, am not sure what . It was only 3 euro and I was one of two visitors in there, in a huge space. It is a little sad that there were only two of us but it made for a peaceful hour. It is well worth a visit if you are into being amazed by how talented and skilled they were in years BC and AC.

When I got back to el Born I went to the Picasso Museum while the ticket line wasn’t too big. The work he did as a teenager was just jaw dropping. I think I preferred these works to his later stuff. He really was a prodigy, I  never knew this about him. After having been in the space that Miro had created specifically for his work , being in the Picasso museum ( which is just in a really really old building, not purpose built) made me see how much the Miro space worked.

I got caught in a thundery downpour of rain on the way home but that was ok , I have been very lucky with the weather and I was just so happy to be in Barcelona.