Barcelona

A quick recap....

My last few days in London I spent getting a haircut, exploring Camden Town, crossing multiple bridges on foot (the London, the Tower, the Mellinium, which didn´t wobble), and exploring the Globe Theater and the Tate Modern. I really had no idea of what to expect at the Tate Modern except that it came highly recommended by everyone I know. The building itself is awesome, but the thrill of stumbling on paitings which I had no idea were in its collection--Jackson Pollacks, Mark Rothkos, Picassos, Matisse´s, etc--was incredible to experience. There is a room of Rothkos, and I had it all to myself for about ten minutes. I will definitely spend more time there. I also stumbled upon Burough Market, where all kinds of merchants sell their gourmet foods. It is a big slice of heaven for me, and a bottomless pit to toss my money. I bought some soda bread and a brownie.

Friday I took off for Barcelona. It´s very nice here, with some psychadelic arcitecture and warm weather, and--slap me here, please--CHEAP WINE. I went to the market and for about four dollars came back with a Tolberone bar, a bottle of decent red, and a tube of q-tips. I found a perfect hostel where I have my own quaint little bedroom with a balcony overlooking a construction site and lots air-drying laundry.

I´m really wishing I knew Spanish. I really don´t know anything except for counting 1 to 10, which somehow stuck from my childhood. I´m doing a lot of smiling and pointing at menus and nodding wildly. I hate to think about what a fool I might be making of myself. In fact, I´ve found it best to say as little as possible: this way, though it´s utterly clear that I don´t speak Spanish, there may be some mystery about my nationality.

I´ve done a great deal of walking. In fact, my feet are killing me. In the Barri Gòtti the streets are narrow and go every which way, and more than once I took off for one destination only to find, half an hour later, that I´d come full circle right back to where I started. Most times, I wasn´t too happy about this. I stumbled upon the Santa Maria del Mar, a breathtaking cathedral, and also went to the La Sagrada Familia, which was also quite a sight. Food has been quite good. I really like the coffee, I don´t know why it´s so much better, and one night I had some delicious tapas--a mushroom soup, a salad of greens, plump grapes, and these salted fish which I can´t remember the name of, and then a rabbit and sweet potato dish. And all the food has been pretty reasonable.

Last night, while nursing my foot, I finished Alan Hollinghurst´s _The Line of Beauty_. I like it very much. It´s the third book that I´ve read while over here--I can´t begin to describe the joy of reading for pleasure, and having the time to do it.

This afternoon I´m taking off for Venice. I don´t know what to expect, but I plan on a crash course in Italian.

I hope all´s well........

LV