Day 2 in Barca began with the same food obsession that day 1 finished with. We had a BIG breakfast in the hotel on the supposition that we would need fortifying for the big walk day we had planned. So it was scrambled eggs, fruit salad and Danish pastries ( yes I do know that's too much but the breakfast bar kept calling out to me).
We took Brit some yoghurt, pastries and fruit to her room and then set off down La Rambla, to the amazing market. This was fresh produce HEAVEN! I have never seen any food that was more beguiling. At nine o'clock the Pinocchio bar at the entrance of the market was full with people breakfasting on fried seafood and washing it down with a bottle of red wine. It was not just that the food at this market was fresh and of high quality. The stall holders created art in the presentation of the produce. It was a feast for the eyes as well as for the mouth. The seafood stalls had oysters as big as my open palm. There were myriad unfamiliar shellfish and crabs with claws 10cm in circumference. There were rabbits and pheasants..and yes, there were jamon stalls with their astonishing range of Iberian hams. We bought a paper trumpet full of ham slivers and tiny loaves and snacked our way through the market. We bought candied peel dipped in chocolate. We perched on high stools under the vaults that run alongside the market and sipped hot, strong coffee.
Brit continued her grocery and wine shopping. She found a lovely helpful young man in a wine shop who helped her to decipher the local labels and she left with bags chinking with glass. Then it was more spicy ham and special sardines. This was the kind of shopping that I could really get excited over!
From here we went to contemporary art gallery which defied all expectations. It was an astonishing modernist white building that completely overwhelmed the art displayed within it. We went from gallery to gallery in bewilderment. I have never seen a more silly and self- important nonsense. The gallery had optimistically set up an interactive exhibit (a photo booth) that called on visitors to take a before and after picture. The aim was to photograph the patrons' response to the art work. I think my expression said it all. It was a pleasure to leave and walk through the streets that ringed the university to find somewhere for lunch. Today we had an assortment of empanadas and I have to tell you that the glass of beer with lunch might become a fixture when we return to Melbourne.
There is such an easy elegance to the way that people dress in Barcelona that it's a pleasure just to sit in a cafe and people watch. Even the kids put colour, cut and texture together so well. We then hiked over to the Gaudi apartment, Casa Milan. It was interesting to see the progression of thinking in the buildings along that street. There were the Greco Roman inspired facades, with their reliance on geometrical shapes. Then there were the buildings where the architects defied the heaviness of the stone they worked in and sought to carve lace from stone. Then Gaudi used that facility for working with stone to twist stone into the shapes of human bone and drape across his buildings the skeletal forms and skulls suggestive of human beings. These forms emerged from the organic fabric of his buildings as if they have been disinterred from a grave and put to some engineering use. Crowning his Mila Apartments was a huge crown topped by a crucifix. I think that the whole building was the expression of some kind of mad obsessive devotion. All humanity was weak flesh and man was subjective to an almighty god. Maybe. What was just as astonishing as Gaudi's buildings was the fact that he found patrons that believed in his disturbed and opulent visions and supported him with commissions.
We gave ourselves a short break back in the hotel room before going out in the early evening. Brit suggested we sign in for a cooking class and John had booked us in about 3 months ago. Kimba, the Catalonian chef that took the class was just fantastic and adept at handling everyone from well intentioned but unskilled cooks, to know all Texan software salesmen who consider themselves quite a dab hand in the kitchen and probably only took the class so they could demonstrate their knowledge.
The cooking school with its full catering kitchen was located in a building on La Rambla. There were 7 students in total so it was easy to get to know everyone as we were delegated preparation tasks. We made butternut pumpkin with pear crime and served it with blue cheese and caramelised hazelnuts. The second course was a Spanish potato and onion tortilla served with garlic and tomato toasts. Course 3 was a wonderful seafood paella with mussels, prawns and cuttlefish. We finished off with a Catalan crime brûlée. I have to tell you we did a great job and the whole meal was delicious! It was a real adventure and really nice being able to meet a range of people visiting Barcelona from around the world. We really needed the long walk back to the hotel to help digest the meal and walk off the effects of the wine that we drank throughout the preparation and meal.
The walk was also an opportunity for Brit to drop into a shop we visited earlier in the day to try on a rather snappy pair of loafers. Though it was almost ten pm, the city was jumping. The streets were full of people and loads of shops were open and doing business.
We'll so ended day 2 for Brit and me, but poor Johnny had to stay up to do battle with the internet and a most uncooperative Familia Sagrada ticket booking website. It's so late and I'm so tired. Goodnight.
