Week #.....Aw, I've lost count. ART WILL SAVE US!

Covid-19 is still with us, with no signs of letting up. Here in Marin County, the local health organization has made it easy to get tested. I don't know if that's what's contributing to the new bump up in numbers, or whether people have gotten lazy about masks and gatherings. It's truly tough to go three and half months (since March 16) without seeing friends and family face-to-face! However, it's a lot tougher to get sick, very very sick, or be responsible for infecting hordes of people. It's not easy to grasp the exponential growth of infection, but one person truly can say, "I contain multitudes" (thank you, Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself") when it comes to the ability to infect and sicken large numbers of people.
On the good side, people are forced to slow down, become more introspective, and recognize what is truly valuable in our lives. A lot of set-aside home projects are getting done. And there's a lot of good TV and great videos out there!

Off to the Sun: I am Amazed; A Magical Night in the Garden

Image courtesy of Desert Botanical Garden

Chihuly glass "cactus" at the entrance to DBG

 On this, my second trip to the Desert Botanical Garden (DBG) in Scottsdale, I was expecting something WAY out of the ordinary - and I surely was not disappointed. The garden is always fantastic - 55 acres of carefully planned and beautifully maintained plantings that bring together the best of the southwest. The succulents, cacti and exotics that thrive in the relentless sun of desert climates are combined into an art form here. If you think deserts are nothing but sand and scrub, the DBG will change your perspective forever. It's the place that made me appreciate the stark beauty of a single cactus against a rainbow sunset.

But tonight was special. We had come to see Electric Desert. The Klip Collective, a group of video and sound artists from Philadelphia put together their first garden "show", Nightscape, at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania - that alone was enough to make me want to see what they had done at DBG. I had visited Longwood a number of times for my books on Pennsylvania (the original editions of Pennsylvania Handbook, Moon Travel/Avalon Publishing). As DBG is to the desert, Longwood is to the lush deciduous greenery of the mid-Atlantic. I was prepared to be impressed, and it was magical.

Image courtesy of DBG

Bands of light played across saguaro cactus and tall trees, swirling into patterns and colors, accompanied by a tinkling, thrumming trance-inducing sound track. 

Image courtesy of DBG

The path that winds through the garden opened into different "rooms", each with its own unique style of color and lighting. Still photos, though beautiful, don't capture the sounds and movement of the installation. To get a glimpse of the DBG installation, check out this video.







 The coup-de-grace was the mountain behind the gardens, lit with dancing patterns; lights shot upward like towers set in the mountain itself, making it look as though the entire mountain was about to lift off...I don't know how they did it, but it was mesmerizing, beyond fantastic. Check out the video here. And since you've been especially good, and because Klip is generously making their work available for everyone to see on Vimeo, here's another video of DBG from them. If you have a chance, see it in person on a warm summer night in Scottsdale, or follow Klip Collective to their next triumph.

Image courtesy of DBG

Big Church, Good Eats, Clowns (Yikes)

Partial ceiling, Sagrada Familia

Up early enough (I thought) to avoid the long lines at Sagrada Familia, the cathedral Gaudi considered his master work--I was so wrong. In this case, it pays to buy ahead online. The line to buy tickets took an hour and a half. I didn't have breakfast, so a pear brought from my daughter’s tree in California saved me, along with some almonds. Inside, the wait was worth it ... extraordinary, and very, very special. 

The detail! Plenty of religious references, especially for a lapsed Catholic like me, truly inspired soaring spaces, and plenty of the ornate detail for which Gaudi is known. 

As in medieval times, the cathedral is a work in progress and is not expected to be finished for many years. It was begun in 1882 under another architect, and taken over by Gaudi in 1883. After his death in 1926, his vision has been carried out by others. It’s built entirely from contributions (“made by the people and mirrored in them”, as Gaudi said), and is expected to be finished some time in the first third of the 21st century.

Later, I came back to the area of my hostel—the neighborhood known as Eixample (after one metro misdirection--wrong train) and met my friend Patti and her bro for the best tapas lunch ever,  at Catalana (236 Mallorca Street). The joint was packed, so we had a 15-minute wait, but so worth it. We ordered a bunch of tapas, and the favorite was a fried egg mixed into crispy potatoes and carrots (the veges were deep fried); it was spectacular.  

After a reluctant good-bye, I returned to the Casa Batllo and bought a ring I couldn’t get out of my mind, then took the metro to la Bouquerilla market in Cuitat Vella, the old Gothic quarter—I scored some bread right out of the oven and a little salty Serrano ham. That and some figs came in handy later when I picked up the car at 5:15. Still jet-lagged, I had the urge to eat at the most peculiar times.

I pulled over to hook up the GPS system I had bought for this trip and circled the area to find my hotel, then parked across the street to load my goods. I was not there more that 15 minutes, but I violated some law or other during my brief driving sojourn in Barcelona--I discovered a notice on my windscreen the next morning in Figueres. Whoops. The rental car company, Europcar (highly recommended, easy to deal with) kept my credit card number in case of any misdemeanors (with a...gulp...charge of 60 Euros for a ticket plus the cost of the ticket). I hope it was just a warning, but I couldn’t find someone who could tell me what the notice was about, other than I was required to report to the Bureau of Transportation in Barcelona. Not going to happen.

After an uneventful hour-and-a-half drive on Spain’s superb toll roads, I arrived in Figuères in the evening. The  GPS was accurate, and a real blessing navigating the unfamiliar roads. The voice I chose—a South African radio personality named Beauty—was amusing (“Toll road! Oh, why do things have to cost things!”). It took me a while to find Hotel Plaza Inn (14 Pujada del Castell), as it was in the middle of an old town with streets so narrow they looked more like alleys in the dark.

Clowns are not my favorite thing, and to be greeted by a life-size plaster one in the doorway was a little disconcerting--however, I recognize that the hotel wanted to distinguish itself in some way. The peculiar mismatched artwork everywhere—a Tahitian scene next to a Parisian flower shop painting--was obviously purchased from the Spanish equivalent of garage sales, but it was amusing rather than off-putting. The room was fine and somewhat noisy, facing the street --plenty of traffic, with an active construction site across the way. Parking, though free for the night, was a couple of blocks away. The most disconcerting thing, however, was when I stepped out onto my balcony: on the balcony to my left was a human-sized blow-up rabbit, and to my right, another plaster clown. And there I was, stuck in the middle. I hoped I didn’t fit in.

Antonio + Joanne, True Love

Mosaics on the patio of Gaudi's Casa Batllo

Barcelona airport, El Prat, was easy to navigate, and finding the the train into Passig de Gracia train/metro station in the middle of Barcelona was quick; not a lot of drama finding the hotel.  The nasty surprise when I got there was the ... and I'm being generous...spartan room at Somnio Hostel (251 Diputacio, 2nd floor).

The location was excellent, near public transportation, shopping and restaurants in a good part of Barcelona close to everything. The staff couldn't have been nicer or more helpful. However, I discovered very quickly that there are dozens of hotels in this area that cost just a little more money and offer a lot more.

At $108, this stay was WAY overpriced. This is basically a hostel, and I've stayed in other hostels that offered much more for less money.The room, about 12-foot square, consisted of a double bed and four white, featureless walls.  A couple of hangers on the door sufficed as a closet. The shower was so small an average-sized man couldn't turn around—and I paid for a room with a bathtub. A lot was lost in translation, and Booking.com got flamed for this one.

Casa Batllo at night

Since I arrived at 9AM, I immediately walked around and took in a few Antonio Gaudi properties—one of my main interests in Barcelona, along with my love for the book “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, which is set in the old city just south of my hostel. The wait to enter La Pedrera (known locally as “the quarry” for it’s blocky gray presence), an apartment house famed for it’s rooftop sculpture garden, was more than an hour, so I took a tour of Casa Batllo (BAT yo), once a private home for a weatlthy Barcelona family. The house burst with Gaudi's ornate natural themes of ocean life, dragons, curves. What an inspiration!

Gaudi was not formally trained as an architect, and built everything using plumb lines and models; his works will live forever because of their incredible whimsy mixed with practicality. Everything, down to the shape of the door handles, was carefully thought out and handcrafted. Genius! 

The multimedia presentation on the top floor was mind-blowing. There were no credits given, but what a beautiful tribute to an amazing design--the video is projected on top of a five-foot-tall model of the house. See it at Vimeo.

Roof of Casa Batllo

Gaudi's deep Catholic faith was evident in the crosses he placed here and there on the property, and the small family chapel off the main sitting room. 

That evening, I walked the length of beautifully lit Passig de Gracia, admiring the graceful buildings and ironwork. Barcelona is one beautiful city; even the sidewalks are beautiful.

Sitting room ceiling and light fixture

The servants quarters on the top floor were light and airy

The sidewalks of Barcelona; great to look at, hell on suitcase wheels

Saturday August 3 – Fireworks!

I had already decided to retire the bike instead of renting it overnight when I discovered how close the viewing platform for the fireworks was: a fifteen-minute walk. I strolled down to my favorite tea place, Bottega Café, on Cadero St. between Nelson and Comox streets. It’s crowded with locals in the morning (owner John Manestir wanted to create a place for the community to hang out), and in the afternoon, you couldn’t ask for a more pleasant place to sit and enjoy a cuppa and pastry, and maybe a chat with one of the sweet young European girls who work the counter, or one of the friendly local folks.

Even the postboxes are cute

I wandered down to the fireworks viewing area, which was on the beach. Essentially, anyone can come and watch the fireworks for free, if they’re willing to reserve a spot on the beach for several hours ahead—I took the easy way out, and bought a seat on the viewing benches, right across from the fireworks barge, for $42. I didn’t want to waste precious time staking out territory when I could be exploring. Food trucks lined the walkways, and I took my seat at 8:30PM, jumbo hot dog in hand. The two couples next to me turned out to be from San Francisco and Marin;
the fireworks and beauty of Vancouver throw a pretty wide net.

Before the fire show, a trick flyer did dives and loops in the sky, fireboats did an ornate ballet in the water, and the sunset put on its own spectacular. Finally, the show started close to 10PM (the sun stays up later here). Words fail me, which is why you have to see the video: http://vimeo.com/71997462.

Walking back, the crowds were so persuasive that I got a little lost. Fortunately, a group of handsome firemen directed me to Cardero Street. While walking, a young man commented, “Wow, the energy is so happy here,” and he was right—nothing like a ton of explosives in pretty colors to re-program people’s brainwaves into patterns of joy.

See the video: http://vimeo.com/71997462.