Free entry to the museums

MACBA Museum

Yesterday I managed to go to three museums. Luckily, the crowds were not overwhelming for the museums so getting through museums was smooth and easy. The first museum I went to was the MACBA - Museum of Contemporary art of Barcelona. The art is quite "off the wall" and not really impressive to me personally. There was one part of the museum which had man-made flowers bearing information and facts on each petal. The information and facts were all to do with political, social, economic and environmental issues of the world today. It was the highlight of the museum... Thought provoking and engaging of critical thinking.

The next museum I went to was the CCCF. I haven't a clue what it stands for. All these Barcelona museums have acronyms to denote them. This museum was more interesting than the MACBA though. The CCCF had an exhibition on the remains and wreckage of buildings and other items in New York from the September 911 attacks. Thereafter there was a photographic exhibition showing Barcelona though the years. Right from before the World Wars. Interesting to see where this city came from and how small it was.

La Pedrera

Casa Batllo

The next two Museums I went to were not free and were very expensive. It costs 18 Euros to get into Casa Batllo (Gaudi Architecture) and 14 Euros to get into La Pedrera (Gaudi Architecture) so I gave both of those a miss. You can see the architecture from outside the building anyway... The next museum was the Antoni Taipes Museum. It is a collection of all archives and other historic matter through the city's development. Mildly interesting but a little "off the wall again. I came to the conclusion that art is so extraordinary in this city. At the MACBA there was a pile of rubbish in the centre of one room. That is what constitutes art... All the things that are thrown away. In another room there was a naked man having a weirdo moment in front of the mirror. Art yet again! Then in another room pieces of paper were stacked up and tied with a string. Art again!

Succulents grow well

The moment I was looking forward to all day was the last visit of the day. I went to the botanical gardens up on the hill on Montjuic. The botanical garden has only plants and shrubs which are endemic to Mediterranean biomes. There are Mediterranean biomes on the western side of most continents. The botanical garden was divided up into sections - which each had plants from respective continents where these biomes are found. Namely : California (USA), Chile (South America), Western Cape (South Africa), Western Australia (Australia) and the European basin (countries which surround the Mediterranean Sea). The garden had many interesting vegetation species from each continent but it was interesting to see how the same families / types of plants occur in these different places - even though the species are slightly different from place to place.

South African section of the garden

Then I had to rush home to think of what to take with to a pica pica dinner at a Mexican friend's place. She told everybody to bring something from their country. Well, being another public holiday in Spain, the shops were closed. I could not buy anything to take with and I did not have the time to make anything either. Olives, Popcorn, Spongecake were the things I brought from "my country". Thank goodness I had a couple of things in the cupboard that I could take... It was a good night with the company of people from Mexico, Argentina, Finland, France and South Africa!! Daniela (the French lady) told me my French is so good. Little did she know that I did not understand most of what she said! Tacos and guacamole and other Mexican dishes were the order of the day. The heavens opened up and there was a huge storm so we watched the lightning as it struck in the sky. At about 1.30 in the morning we left to go to the music concert at Plaza Real. By the time we got there it had finished but people were still gathered in their masses.Talking and drinking - without music. We never made it to the light show or the fireworks on the beach at 10pm. Given the rain those things would not have been a hit!

Tacos and guacamole