Monjuic

Montjuic is a hill in southwest Barcelona.  It boasts incredible views of the sea and city.  But more than the vistas, it boasts some incredible history.  This was the site of innumerable executions, murders, and other tragedies.  Along the southern face of the hill is an enormous cemetery with the most grandiose tombstones I have seen. In 1992 it was the stage for the Barcelona summer games.  There is so much to see in Monjuic.  We have visited two or three times and seen a third of it. 

This past weekend, we scored a sweet parking spot right across from the Miro Museo and the entrance to the teleferic.

The Miro museum was amazing, without huge crowds, but with a very accessible collection.  On the 3rd floor was the most perfect library.  Roman and I spent about a half hour together there reading in silence.

Our wonderful neighbors in Houston, Bill and Larry, made us promise to visit the dancing fountains at night, so we will return to Montjuic again this week to keep our promise.

Lo siento

Sorry for not blogging in a while...

The Dishes

JonCarlo likes to do the dishes.

Independence Day

We celebrated the 4th of July with the Burkes.  Paul grilled burgers and I baked fries.  About the meat here, it's almost all local raised and grass-fed.  The red meat is actually red, even after it's cooked.  We dined on the terrace overlooking Vilanova and the nearby hills.

The Catalans know a lot about independence.  They were once a powerful and wealthy nation of their own with their own identity and language.  Unfortunately for them, they were bocadillod between Spain and France.  The have been suppressed and marginalized for decades.  Speaking or teaching Catalan language was even illegal for many years.

As an aside, Finn had these old school Irish Legos that were passed to him from Jenn.  The Native American ones were honestly some of the most down-right offensive representations of that culture I have ever seen.  More representative of the Village People than of the Cherokee nation.

Festa Major de San Pere de Ribes

Every town has a festa major, the town party that honors their patron saint or something like that.  San Pere de Ribes is the town 2 minutes from our house and had the typical festa.  In Catalunya, els gegants (the giants) are ever present.  We've been here long enough now where we actually recognized people there we knew!

Museu de Mamuth

We accidently ran into the place on the way back from Parc de Ciutadella.  It was very small and the sign outside said that visitors could touch and handle the exhibits.

Well, on the way out, I reread the sign! DO NOT TOUCH ANY OF THE EXHIBITS! Oh well...

The only thing the kids didn't touch was the pristine baby mammoth because it was behind glass.

Graffiti

The best graffiti I have ever seen anywhere...is in Barcelona.