Day 5 - Wednesday - Montjuic

We started off the day, as we have for the past 2 days, with dos cafe con leche y jamon y queso bocadillo from the bar across the street from the hotel - 4.15 euros - sure beats the 15 euro/person the hotel charges for desayuno.

For lunch, we made our way to a Filipino restaurant nearby. Reviews said it's inhabited by the local Filipinos - usually a good sign for a restaurant. Unfortunately, it was just okay - not much flavor to anything. We had (1) pancit bijon (2) pigs ears and tofu (3) lugao (rice porridge)

Then, it was off to Montjuic - a metro ride to Paral.lel and then the funicular to Montjuic. Around the corner, was one of our destinations for the day - Fundacio Joan Miro. Doesn't that sculpture look like E.T. with a certain part of anatomy that Spielberg never showed?

Photography was not allowed inside, so we abided by the rules and only took pictures at the artwork that was outside in a patio area.

It's interesting to see the evolution of Joan Miro's artistic endeavors. Like Picasso, he started with the basics: anatomically-correct sketches, realistic paintings. But as he grew more confident (or stoned?), his art became palates of colors and forms which might almost seem whimsical and random (and again, stoned). But like Jackson Pollack and the older Picasso, I think his pieces just matured into an "I don't care what you think anymore, I only care about what I care" technique. Works for me.

After the Miro museum, we walked to Estadi Olimpic. The Opening Ceremonies of the Barcelona Olympics in '92 are still our favorite opening ceremonies. Who can forget the archer who shot the arrow to light the flame? Brilliant!

The Passeig de la Fama leading to Estadi Olimpic had footprints for Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer, Lance Armstrong, among others.

(1) Outside the stadium (2) the futbol field (3) the cauldron (4) K and the cauldron (5) outsdie the stadium (6) statue of Olympic torch (7) statue of Olympic torch

And from Palau Sant Jordi below the Olympic Stadium, we had a nice view of the Torre de Calatrava, the communications tower for the area. An interesting looking building from afar, but quite ugly when closeup.

Then we took the escalators down the hill to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (MNAC). We didn't venture in, just took pictures from the exterior.

We headed toward Inopia, the Albert Adria bar K wanted to try, but it wasn't open until 7pm. We had 2 hours to kill and only managed to kill a half hour in a cafe. We decided to just head back to the hotel after a quick stop at El Corte Ingles, which was all lit up with snowflakes for Christmas.

We popped open the bottle of Cava we bought two nights ago and enjoyed our aperitif before heading back out to eat.

We opted for simple and close and thus, ended the day at the same place we started it - D'Or, the bar across the street. Dinner was Sangria with (1) Plata del Dia - Carne Catalan (2) Manchego in Olive Oil (3) Bikini - grilled jamon and gruyere. Simple but good. AND CHEAP! The cheapest meal we've had so far!

A nina from the table next to us went to another table and asked for some of their potato chips. She then returned to converse with the woman sitting there.

And finally, chilling out, finishing the cava and watching Hospital Central. Ah, Maca.