Paris was wonderful. It took me a little longer to like it than I was expecting, but once I had gotten over being in a foreign place that's not Rome, and was able to move around myself, it was much easier. The Musee D'Orsay was absolutely incredible and made me want to learn how to paint (better.) Also cheese in France is so good, if you didn't already know.
From Paris we moved to Barcelona, which was wonderfully warm after the freezing ordeal at Versailles. There was sun and beaches and light sweaters and I was so happy. We didn't see any big museums but the food and architecture and all was great. We went to Gaudi's Sagrada Familia - it was only a few blocks from where we stayed. It was started about 120 some years ago and has about 50 more years to go before it's supposed to be done. It was absolutely like nothing I've ever seen, but I still have kind of mixed feelings about it. I can't decide if it's absolutely beautiful and interesting or if it's just kind of tacky and wierd. Probably both, but either way Gaudi's attention span must have been really unbearable. We also went to Park Guell which was pretty cool. It reminded me a lot of the Tarot Sculpture park we went to in the beginning of the year.
Montjuïc was this whole area they made for the Olympics and visually it was kind of reminiscent of Versailles, in terms of sprawling landscapes and fountains and promenades etc, only it was like Space Versailles. They had a big needly looking tower and giant staffs that lit up at night, and it was all deserted and empty and creepy. I liked it a lot.
After Barcelona we went to Madrid and Toledo. Toledo was a total bust and I'm still really sad about that. The town was a lot like Assisi, and we couldn't figure the map out enough to find anything, and nothing we could find was open what with it being January and all. We did make it to the Cathedral, which in a whole was good, but they had a few places with these amazing carvings of grotesques. They were all these creepy twisted up uncomfortable looking animal people. I only wish I had seen them early in the year, because these creatures are absolutely what inspired my project for the year. Part of me thinks seeing them made the whole stinkin' Toledo trip worth it, though I don't think Sam would agree. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures in there, so I can't show ya 'em.
Afterwards Madrid was pretty cool. We didn't see a whole lot of the town other than a flea market that was kind of crappy and made me appreciate Porta Portese all the more. We did see the Prado, though, and OH my goodness it was incredible!!! I got to see all the Goyas - its so wierd to see how his style went from Baroque rainbows and kittens and stuff to the painting of Saturn. Easily, though, the most incredible thing was The Garden of Earthly Delights. I'm glad I saw it late in the day because everything I saw after that just made me mad because it wasn't as awesome. That's awfully dramatic. Really, though, every reproduction I've seen was so dull, and obviously the size of it is important when looking at the whole thing. It just blew my mind. And it was so nice to see after painting after painting of the same religious scenes - and Bosch took the same subject matter and made it so incredible. Just amazing.
After Madrid we had a super stressful rush to catch a ferry in Barcelona to Civitavecchia, and we made it by about 20 minutes. The ferry was really nice, but a kind of bizarre experience. Since it's not a big travel season, it was mostly cargo on the ship, so other than Sam and me there were maybe 15 truckdrivers and a few bikers on the whole thing. It was fun, though, and relaxing, and great to be heading back to Rome.
Once in Rome we did all the Rome things that ya do - Pantheon, Forum, Trevi fountain etc. We also saw the Bernini painting exhibit at Palazzo Barberini, which was really exciting and interesting, though didn't make it to the Borghese for Sam to see the sculptures. Otherwise we just ate a lot of gelato and unwound.
So now Sam is heading back home and I am sad.
Being back around the Cenci was and is kind of wierd, with absolutely nobody else around. I'm going to need to take some day trips or something before classes start, so boredom doesn't set in too much.
PS i'm really upset - something happened in the photo transfering and I lost a lot of the pictures I took. Not all of them, and I can't really figure out any order to what got lost, but a good chunk of them aren't showing up.
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