After feasting our eyes on La Sagrada Familia, Andy and I split from the folks in search of some more of Barcelona's art scene.

Needless to say, the day was warm, the sky was blue, the city was beautiful.

... and the food was pretty good too. Sorry father (who constantly complains about all the food posts), but we headed in to the most hipster cafe we could find in order to re-caffeinate Andy, and came out with a couple of fairly tasty empanadas.


The 'Andy pitstop' segued quite nicely into a 'Tegan pitstop' when we stumbled upon some sort of student vintage market...


And then onwards! To the modern art!









In the end, we probably spent more time looking outside, at the group of rather awesomely good skateboarders, than at the art.

Andy became inspired.

He'd already been eyeing off a mini skateboard in the shops, and this place just seemed to be stoking the fires of skate-spiration.

I decided it was time to move on. But not before I posed with my new friend.






We walked around for a bit, before Andy apparently decided that I needed a bit more cardiovascular in my day. So we proceeded to walk, but now in the direction of- and then up- a very steep mountain (at least a slightly steep hill- by Perth Swamp/ Potsdam wetlands standards anyway),

On the way up- my narcissistic magpie personality cannot help posing near the colourful door...

...skedadling when the door suddenly feels very thin indeed following the vicious barks of a (presumably) 10 foot tall dog inside.


The view was nice, and we eventually made it up to the Joan Miro centre.

Unfortunately, inside was a no-photo zone. So we mostly just took funny photos of the roof.
In any case, Miro is a Catalan artist very into abstract shapes (and themes- he got into 'dream painting' for a bit), primary colours, and the use of medium other than paint and canvas to make his art.  For example, a giant, nearly two storey image of a cat, made almost entirely out of wool!

In the end, most of it wasn't in my style. It's probably telling, that my absolute favourite piece in the whole place was not by Miro himself, but by my beloved Calder (the guy who actually invented the mobile!).

It was a water feature, but instead of water, it was quicksilver, and the whole thing was designed perfectly to accentuate the unique properties of the mercury- so that little drops would find their individuality, split from the mass, go running down a slope and whooshing 'round a corner, and then meet up again in a soft, shiny pool of glory.

I could have watched it for hours, and I deeply, deeply want one for my garden (aside from the health issues of course).

I did also like this fellow, but it might be because his profile reminded me a bit of someone...

I tried to get Andy to jump behind this fellow.. which began in a 'not exactly right' manner....

... but eventually we got to the desired effect, got much applause from the ever-growing audience, and soon had begun a posing trend that even now is circling the greater European region (I assume).



We had plans to meet Andy's folks at 6, but had some difficulties getting off the mountian (Travellers 'tip: It looks like the funicular is permanently broken), and then some difficulties finding them at our meeting point (Travellers' tip #2: Park Guell is not a meeting place- that thing is HUGE).


We made our way finally to La Delicias, which I really have to mention in a little detail. I found it via Time Out, and liked the fact that it was listed as being quite 'out of the way'. When we arrived I was fairly happy to find that the menu was in Spanish and Catalan (not English), and that we seemed to be the only tourists in the area. Still the waiters were super friendly, and helpful, we managed by luck to avoid anything to strange (barely missing something that I found out later was tripe), and ended up with a very great amount of very tasty food for not too much money.


Chorizo...


.. Patatas Bravas..

.. And more seafood than any one person could need in a day (but just about as much as I wanted).



We also went in for a couple of desserts, which ended up being ok, but not marvelous- possibly an expected outcome when you order creme brulee  and amercian brownie at a tapas bar.