St Pau del Camp, Sta Maria del Pi

Travel-goods catalogs certainly play to anxieties -- there must have been 10 anti-bedbug products in TravelSmith's latest (including liners for your suitcase, in case bugs travel back in your clothes)-- not to mention the sleepsacks in case hotel sheets aren't clean enough, the portable air purifiers, the hand sanitizer wipes, etc. [Didn't buy or use, but of course they did make me more anxious]

Flight to Madrid was luxurious -- US Air's Envoy class has seats that extend horizontally (as opposed to American Airlines' business class, which is maybe at a 5 degree angle, hard to sleep with). Even finding that my reservation wasn't in Iberia's system wasn't that bad -- it felt good to be able to talk Spanish & be understood (and understand what the airlines people were saying). I'm no where near that point in Japanese -- can only produce the most rudimentary, routine utterances.

Steve v. worried that I was an hour late getting into Barcelona (I probably wouldn't have made the earlier flight even if Iberia had been able to find my reservation -- I'd been under the delusion I needed to pick up & recheck my bag in Madrid, which cost me 1/2 hour, and I needed to change terminals and THEN it took something like 1/2 hour to go back through security and treck out to the gate -- Madrid airport's terminal 4 is vast.)


V, v good to see Steve, of course. He was happy to see me, and happier still that we could get into town for EUR 1.86 by train from the airport (2 trips on a 10 trip metro ticket). Hotel v nice (it used to be the Ritz). Breakfasts truly luxurious -- vast choice of fruits, juices, fresh rolls, pastries, smoked salmon, cheeses, and excellent cafe con leche. Hard not to pig out.

MNAC (National Mus of Catalonian Art) - 19th century and Stephen eating

National Museum of Catalonian Art - Romanesque collection

During the 1920's, Barcelona moved frescoes and statues from small churches in the Pyrenees into the museum, to keep them from being stolen. (often the communities got reproductions back). Amazing collection. I especially love the last pic in here, with its Madonna & child encircled by 4 truly gruesome martyrdoms.

Half-marathon fans

There was a half marathon run on Sunday -- runners and fans from all over the world. Here are some fans we encountered on the way to the Museum of Catalan history.

Steve, of course, mesmerized by the Mus of Catalan History, and took a couple of hours to get through the 19th century part. I'd finished with the 19th century, gone through the 20th, experimenting with reading the interpretive materials in Catalan rather than Spanish (it's not that hard to decipher written Catalan. It looks like Spanish with the final o's dropped, the y's turned to i's, and the j's turn to x's). "With" is amb rather than con.

La Sagrada Familia

(I liked the older facade rather than the newer one.)

Long flight home. The book I was reading -- the emperor's children – I found kind of depressing – no character I could wholeheartedly like. Saw Anywhere but Here w a v. young Natalie Portman. Returning to work, dweebly though it is, a great relief.

Daibutsu (the great Buddha)

This image was cast in 1292; it was housed in a shrine that was washed away in a tidal wave in 1495; since then it has been in the open. Very, very impressive and peaceful to look at.

I kept hearing a song out of Judas Macabbeas in my head (I guess because I'd been playing it during Hanukkah)--

Never bow we down oh never bow we down no never bow we down/
to the rude stock/
or sculptured stone/
but ever worship Israel's God/
ever obedient to his awful nod...

Hase-dera (Kamakura)

The rows of little images are of Jizo (a bodhisattva, who takes care of children, particularly aborted, stillborn, or miscarried children).

Ginkakuju (Temple of the Silver Pavilion)

Philosopher's path (Tetsugaku no michi)

Of course, I'd visualized a very pristine, secluded path. In fact, it goes through a residential area, and there are a lot of shops on the northern end, including one selling Native American tchotchkes from Sedona. I was surprised to see narcissus blooming (it seemed so early). I have no idea what the sign above with the rat & mouse is about.

Nanzen-ji

(picture of the Sanmon -- gate-house-- from the www) -- there was a steep flight of steps I didn't have the courage to climb, but the large group of elderly Japanese tourists trundled up them just fine). I couldn't find any pix of the 16th century screens from the abbot's house, which were v. beautiful (but I got pretty chilled walking around shoeless looking at them.)

Kiyomizudera (name means something like Pure water)

(Picture of the main pavillion from the www -- none of my pix were that clear).

I took a wrong turn and approached Kiyomizudera through a vast cemetary, rather than through the steep cobbled street lined with snack & souvenir shops that most people took. The grounds were full of "families"of weathered stones, each with its bright bib.

Drinking water from the springs is supposed to bring health, longevity, academic success. (I didn't). I did take off my shoes & descend into a (pitch dark) cave where you follow a chain of wooden beads until you come to an ancient stone (lit from above), with the Sanskrit rune for "heart".

Sanjusangendo (Kyoto, next to the Grand Hyatt)

The name starts with the Japanese for 33, alluding to the 33,033 arms (33/ statue, 1,001 statues) ofKannon. Some of the images date from the 13th century.

Yoji-josuiku (incantations using willow stick) was being held the day I visited, along with Toh-shiya, where 2,000 young people (who came of age the previous week) visit, participating in an archery contest. (photography not permitted inside the sanctuary -- the photo of the images is from the web)