I slept in today feeling the days of travel wearing on me a bit. But we started out with a bang, if a tad late. Walking a few blocks in search of breakfast we stopped into this eye popping cafe… 

…a very nice “good morning” with humor. And the vegan mash I ordered was delicious and healthy.

The plan was to grab a taxi (taxis are very reasonable here) and head 15 minutes up to the top of a hill to Montjuic Castle and the Joan Miro Museum. But after searching for a taxi for 30 minutes we were told they were all on strike. We tried figuring out the bus system and then decided to scrap our plans and make it a beach day. Susanna informed me that she would implode if she didn’t get some daylight on the beach. So off we wandered through darling windy streets.

After some hours we end up on the sand playing Azul but not before we have Sangria and nachos at a beachside bar. 

We ordered tickets online for the Picasso Museum at 5pm. In Spain you are advised to book museums and activities ahead and the ticket entries are timed. So off we walk (more blister issues for me) to see Picasso’s masterpieces. As a theater artist I really liked watching the little film of Picasso’s collaboration with Diaghilev on sets and costumes for the Ballet Russes. It delights me to see visual artists connecting to the theater world and made me miss my work a bit. 

Things in Spain are open later so as we walk to dinner, we stop into Casa Beethoven, a sheet music store that has been in Barcelona since 1880. A darling little rectangular-shaped store lined with shelves and shelves of music. I couldn’t resist a Catalan folk music book and Susanna bought some old 45 records with eclectic, vintage photo covers. 

We then went to the Four Cats restaurant, a Picasso haunt and had vegetable paella (Susanna is a vegetarian and it has been harder to find interesting food without meat) and a chocolate cake to die for. The atmosphere was lovely, even if I felt underdressed and bedraggled from the beach, sand and wind. I keep saying, “They’ll never see me again.”

It was a day well lived in a city filled with historic luminaries that followed me around and led me onward. The past can enlighten our futures…Picasso, Gaudi, Diaghilev are my guiding stars to creative output. 

I hope the taxi drivers have settled their dispute and we can find our way to Montjuic tomorrow.