Spain 2010 {Figueres: Dali Museum}

It’s hard to believe that I’m about two months behind on this, but I’m going to continue on with the Spain posts.  The upside to being late is that I get to relive the trip through the photos.

When Travis and I visited Spain in 2005, we took the train to Figueres to see the Dali museum.  Unfortunately, the day we went was the first day they went into off-season mode, so they were closed.  I didn’t get to see the museum.  This time, I did!

It was a long, hot wait to get inside.

So, Salvador Dali was quite a character in his day (he’s the guy that painted the melting or drooping clocks); after seeing his work and the museum he designed to house his works, I think it’s pretty safe to say that he was a true artist.  No holds barred in his mind; everything goes, and everything went.  He was experimental, creative, and he must have lived, breathed, and dreamed art all day and all night long.

Here are a few things (out of many) that I found interesting.

Teatre-Museo Dali

Do you see Mae West's face?

Ceiling Mural

Dali's wife and muse, Gala

Atlantis

Dali's tomb in the museum

Spain 2010 {Getting There}

A few weeks ago, we (Travis, my father-in-law, David, and I) embarked on a two-week journey to Spain.  Catalonia, to be exact.  Travis’ family hosted exchange students when he and his sister were in high school, and Carme (his Catalonian sister) was getting married, so we were excited to go!  Travis and I visited Spain five years ago and had such a great time, and we were looking forward to the wedding, meeting the groom, and seeing the rest of Carme’s family again.

We got started early and made it to Seatac early in the morning, had a questionable breakfast (side note: if there’s no line at a food line, there’s probably a good reason; our breakfast was from some place called something like Wok King, and everything had a hint of fried eggroll taste to it, which was not so complementary to bacon, potatoes and eggs), but hey, who cared, we were going to Spain!

Hasta La Vista, Washington!

After a long, long day of flying from Seatac to JFK to Barcelona, Ponc (Carme’s brother) picked us up at the Airport to take us to their beach house in Llanca.  The weather was very hot and humid, not like the Pacific Northwest where we still wear sweatshirts and jeans in July (not all the time, thank goodness, but it does happen)!  We had a great afternoon with Ponc’s family (his lovely wife, Merce, and their cute little guys, Little Ponc and Quim) and Carme and her wonderful groom-to-be, Albert.  Ponc and Little Ponc are really into soccer, so we decided to bring the boys Sounders jerseys.  Plus, the final game of the World Cup was the night we got there, and Spain was playing the Netherlands!

Our Catalonian Family

The lovely Bride and Groom

Lunch was amazing.  In Spain, lunch is like our dinner.  It’s usually the biggest meal of the day, and we were treated to a beautiful and delicious pan of paella.  The last time we went to Spain, I neglected to take pictures of the food we ate, and I was bound and determined not to make that mistake again this time.

Yummy Paella

It was so nice to finally be in Spain, to kick back, relax and enjoy the scenery.

Llanca in the Evening

So, the final soccer game of the World Cup was playing that night.  We decided to head into town to one of the restaurants to have some tapas and watch the game.

Tapas

The Spanish love their seafood.

More Tapas

Here we are watching the game.  Okay, our backs are to the t.v., but we were eating, turning, and watching.  Notice the excess baggage Travis and I are carrying under our eyes?

Watching the World Cup Game

I made it to halftime…  I was doing the head-bob thing at the table, literally falling asleep (I didn’t sleep at all on the plane rides over).  Carme took me back to the house so as to avoid plunking a major faceplant at the dinner table.  After sleeping for about an hour or so, I heard the neighbors scream, yell, and holler.  It sounded like Spain won! 

Then, I zonked out again…

I missed the finale to the big game, but after getting some sleep, aaahhh… it was so much better.  Check out how beautiful this little beach town is in the morning.

Llanca in the Morning

I still have so many photos to go through, and I’ll be updating posts here over the next couple weeks. 

Adios!