Barcelona Trip, 16-20 May - Part III

Well, after all the wonders of La Sagrada Familia, we needed something a bit closer to earth (just a tad closer, as it turned out). After lunch on the square in front of La Sagrads Familia, we made our way down to a metro stop to go to Montjuïc, the promontory by the port, which houses several museums as well as the Olympic village. We went there primarily to see the Fundació Joan Miró. Apparently there was some big party taking place, because there were security everywhere, and lots of people carrying glasses and tables and chairs and stuff.

Anyway, I liked what I read about Miró himself, passing through the museum, and reading the little blurbs about him in each room. I also liked some of the paintings (my favourite was 'Constellations: The Morning Star'). Then we got to the top floor where there were a few large triptychs on display. One of them (the title said something about a hermit) annoyed me no end. It was three pieces of white canvas, with a thin black line snaking across each in extremely higgledy-piggledy fashion. That was it. Another triptych was called something like 'man approaching death' (I've tried to find out online what the actual titles are but I've had no luck. If anyone knows which ones I'm talking about, ping me). Each canvas had a fat black curvy line that got longer (or shorter depending on which one you looked at first), a squiggly blob of a primary colour (red, blue or yellow) and some black-grey grass-like scribbles along the bottom. Mona and I sat down to look at this last triptych, because we wanted to rest our feet rather than because we were struck with awe. I started out being really negative about it, saying how if THAT was art, anyone could do it, and that there was no craftsmanship in it, so don't even get me STARTED on the hermit one!

But then we kept looking at this the Approaching Death triptych (I'm just gonna make up a title, seeing as I can't remember the real one), and gradually we started to make sense of it. I still think that any six-year-old could have painted it from a purely physical point-of-view, but she sure couldn't have invested it with the symbolism that Miró did. I suppose that's what makes it a Piece of Art. Nearby a few of his sketches and preliminaries for this triptych were on display, which proved that he had actually given some thought to what he wanted to display on the canvas. So I started out absolutely hating it, and I ended up kinda liking it, because by discussing it we had actually managed to find some meaning in it. But! I still totally detest the hermit triptych, because THAT makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. So there.

Oh and downstairs there was an exhibition of other artist's works - can't remember if they were there because they were inspired by Miró. There was one, which was essentially a lot of black stuff on off-white background. The black part looked like a square rubber eraser does after you've used it a week or two, and the one corner is starting to wear away. It was called 'Patience', and it made me see red. I feel about this painting the exact same way I feel about that hermit triptych - there may be ideas, but there is no visible skill to it, and it's a combination of the two that really attract me to a painting. Witness Dalí's 'The Hallucinogenic Toreador' that Giorgia and I saw in Florida. I will never forget that. So many layers, not only of paint, but of symbolism and homages, sheer imagination and beauty. Loved it, loved it, loved it!

When we got out, the sun was slowly on its way down, and we walked up to the Palau Nacional, from where you can look down the cascading steps to the Font Mágica (big fountain, that unfortunately we didn't get to see in action) further on to Plaza de España. We sat on the top of the steps for a while, until we decided we'd better get moving or our legs would never again obey. Got a metro from Plaza de España home to Passeig de Grácia. Went to another Lonely Planet-recommended restaurant 2 minutes from Casa Batlló, which turned out to be excellent. The sangría was loooovely!! And cheap too! We had planned to get up early Friday morning, in order to beat the crowds at be at Casa Batlló the minute it would open at 9am.

Stay tuned for Part IV, in which it is revealed whether we manage to get out of bed in time or not.......

Achtung Baby! If you're watching Pirates...

If you go to see Pirates Of The Caribbean At World's End, make sure you stay until after the end credits - there's a wee surprise....

They run for app. 7 minutes, but in my book, it's worth the wait.

Barcelona Trip, 16-20 May - Part II

... in which we leave Gaudí and go for dinner. And then we go back to Gaudí.

Being in awe makes you hungry. So we checked out our Lonely Planet (the Barcelona only version from 2006) to see if they could recommend somewhere nice on our way home from Park Güell, which was a good half hour or more from our hostel. And they could. We wanted tapas! We quickly put together choices involving a lot of meat and heavy stuff (tortilla, albondigas, croquette etc), and so we wanted something green to balance things out. And for the record, it wasn't only Mona who wanted that....

Anyway, the menu had something called 'ensaladilla rusa', which it said was vegetable salad. Sounds good, let's get that! The first thing the waiter (very nice guy, I think I scored some points doing my best to speak Spanish with him) brought us was this mayo-smothered dish with a single wee bread stick poking up in the middle.

At first we thought that maybe it was a complimentary dish or something. Then we asked the waiter. 'That's your ensaladilla rusa, girls'. Oh! He must have gotten such a good laugh at the looks on our faces at that moment. We certainly laughed ourselves silly. So, no greens for us! But lovely lovely tapas with lovely beer :)

Next day, Thursday, we got up around 8ish, and got ready to go find some breakfast. I ended up having a waffle smothered in chocolate, which turned out not to be near as sickeningly sweet and heavy as the first bite had led me to believe. Yumyum! After that, we set the course for La Sagrada Familia. What can I say? It's a bustling building site - you can totally see why Gaudí himself said it would take 200 years to build! Nothing comes off a conveyor belt! The sheer monumental attention to detail, the craftsmanship and the knowledge that went into planning everything is just astonishing. You could spend a day here, checking out all the meanings of every statue or inscription, even though there's so little of it finished. Mona and I have already decided that we're coming back once it's completed in 2020-something.

Here's a picture of the cathedral from the Passion facade. There are going to be 3 facades, dealing with the birth, the death and the resurrection of Christ. The first two are done - the Nativity and the Passion of Christ. The Passion facade looms like a massive cave out of the belly of the building. Fro some reason it reminded me of mammoths as well - probably the trunk-like columns.

The inside is mostly a mass of scaffolding, but you can get an idea of how huge the space is going to be. They are building the central and side naves at the moment. I just want to take a moment to apologise in advance if I get some of this church part terminology wrong. I have no real idea what I'm talking about, hehe. So there. Anyway, here's a picture from the inside.

You can go up into the bell towers on either finished facade - we went up on the Passion facade side. I don't have a problem with heights usually, but this journey I'm pretty sure I will only make once, even if it was very worthwhile, and I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't have actual acrophobia (ha! I had to look that up :D) You take a lift up to a certain point app. 60 m above the ground (the tallest tower in a pair is 100 m tall). You can then walk upstairs a bit in the other tower, and back down either all the way on your own two feet or you can get back in the lift. We chose the stairs.

Now the towers, being bell towers, are hollow inside, and the outer wall is full of holes (purely intentional ones at that). Everything is solid stone, including the stair, so it's not so much that it doesn't feel safe. It's just that it's very narrow and you keep getting wind gusts in the face, which meant I went very slowly, even if I knew I couldn't actually fall out of the tower, unless I made a real determined effort to do so. The views were fantastic, and we absolutely loved it, but I also really liked it when we came back down. Here is a picture of one of the lovely fruit mosaic clusters on the side nave:

There was a cleaning guy who overtook us and vice versa several times. The last time he was having a wee break in an alcove and he saw me fumbling my way down clutching the rail and asked me why I was afraid, and I didn't know the words to explain. Once we were down we went out on the Nativity facade side, which is chock full of little details, where the Passion facade is more stark and sparsely decorated, but no less majestic:

Stay tuned for Part III, in which we go looking at pictures at an exhibition.....

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum! Jack Sparrow is back!

I interrupt the ongoing Barcelona report for a special interlude in honour of the release of Pirates Of The Caribbean At World's End.

On the web on Monday I got 2 free tickets to the premiere yesterday, in the Cineworld cinema in Dublin city centre. Steph went with me. I got a last-minute idea to dress up as a pirate. You know, seeing as I already have a sword and all that. And thankfully, I wasn't the only one! Three guys were there, who had real costumes, with frock coats, tricorne hats and stuff. My sword was way cooler than theirs though, haha. Judge for yourselves.....

I won't say anything about the movie other than that I loved it.... *sigh*

Barcelona Trip, 16-20 May - Part I

Yolanda was getting married in the vicinity of Barcelona, and so I had decided to take a couple of days extra to check out Gaudí's creations as I'd never been to Spain before. As a really great bonus, my sister then decided that she was gonna join me! She got there on Monday, and I arrived Wednesday. She would leave Friday, when I was to go meet the wedding party.

Anyway, the approach to Barcelona held a lot of promise which turned out to be fulfilled completely. We were flying parallel to the city, over the water, so I had a good view of the city, but was straining to find La Sagrada Familia. Anyway, what a lovely way to start the trip! I found city centre and Mona without any problems, and after a good lunch we set off to go see Casa Míla, also known as La Pedrera (The Quarry). Our hostel was just around the corner from Casa Batlló, another Gaudí must-see, and Casa Míla was a few blocks away. We decided to start with La Pedrera and continue on to Park Güell later in the day.

Here's a picture of the street-facing facade of the building:

I cannot get over the imagination that Gaudí had, and this goes for everything of his we saw. Simply and utterly amazing. One thing I will say, though, is that you can only take in so much Gaudí in one day. We had split our four places (Casas Míla & Battló, La Sagrada Familia and Park Güell) over 3 days, which was perfect. You just get to a point where you cannot process any more awesomeness, and so you would not appreciate anything properly you saw after that. I think we had a really good distribution, and it never got too overwhelming.

Anyway, back to La Pedrera. :) Here's a picture of the really cool ventilation shafts, which looked like helmeted heads. I absolutely loved the sinuous lines and the mosaics, which are Gaudí trademarks if anything. I have wanted to see Park Güell since reading a description of it in a William Gibson novel (Mona Lisa Overdrive). It did not
disappoint - check out this photo with the famous undulating bench that runs around the top of the Sala Hipóstila, the forest of
columns with lovely mosaics in the ceiling.

You could happily spend a day here, just chilling out, if it's not hot enough to go to the beach. Here's a picture of one of the many fantabulous stone colonnades dotted around the park. As it frequently does with Gaudí, the stone looks like you've taken a mixer to it and just left it like that. I've said it before and I'm gonna say it again - amazing....

Anyway, that's it for Part I, stay tuned for Part II, where we go for tapas......

Concert report - Sinéad O'Connor in Dublin Castle

The weather forecast had said 'rain', but thankfully that only turned out to apply to the early afternoon, and not much at that (at least not in Dun Laoghaire, where I was until I went to town for the gig), so by the time the Delorentos took the stage around 6.30 pm, the sky was clearing to reveal a lovely blue hue.

The venue was Dublin Castle, more specifically the big courtyard - very nice. The space was divided by a small stripe of 'no-man's-land', similar to the lay-out U2 had in Croke Park, although on a much smaller scale. I went into the front section and stood with my back to the barrier. That way, I still had a good view, but didn't get the crush from behind that you would invariably get even a bit of, if you were standing at the very front. Also, it meant there was plenty of room to dance. :)

The Delorentos are an up-and-coming Dublin band. I thought the music was good, and they definitely have passion, which is always great, but I'm afraid I didn't find their stuff all that original. I already have records by Coldplay, The Killers, Snow Patrol and Editors, so I won't be adding Delorentos to the collection, if you get my drift.

Next up were Kíla, an Irish band playing jigs and reels and songs as Gaeilge, plus a lot more. Very infectious! One guy in the audience, near me, had a couple of good Riverdance moves :) The band were obviously enjoying themselves immensely, and played up a really great storm. At one point a band member asked us to scream at front man and bodhrán player Rónán Ó Snodaigh, because it was his birthday. We did our best, hehe.

Then, finally, at 9 pm - Sinéad. I am going to try and reconstruct the set list, as far as I remember, but I'm warning you now that the sequence may not be correct (I've given the album and year in brackets though, because I know that much for sure)

'The Emperor's New Clothes' (I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got 1990)
'I Am Stretched On Your Grave' (I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got 1990)
'You Made Me The Thief Of Your Heart' (In The Name Of The Father soundtrack 1994)
'My Lagan Love' (Sean-Nós Nua 2002)
'Jump In The River' (I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got 1990)
Two songs from her new album 'Theology' - can't remember the titles. I think one of them was 'Something Beautiful'
'Nothing Compares 2 U' (I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got 1990)
'Never Get Old' (The Lion & The Cobra 1987)
'The Lamb's Book Of Life' (Faith & Courage 2000)
'This Is The Last Day Of Our Acquaintance' (I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got 1990)
'Mandinka' (The Lion & The Cobra 1987)
'Thank You For Hearing Me' (Universal Mother 1994)
'Fire On Babylon' (Universal Mother 1994)
'In This Heart' (Universal Mother 1994)

For the encore, she played 2 new songs from 'Theology' (including an adapted version of 'Rivers Of Babylon'). One was called 'If You Had A Vineyard'.

She was in great form throughout the gig, and was getting a bit of a kick out of the massive response to 'Nothing Compares 2 U', I think. She played a lot of my favorite songs, like 'You Made Me The Thief...', 'I Am Stretched...' and 'In This Heart'. The last song is an a capella song on the album, where she starts out singing the first verse alone, and then harmonies are gradually added in subsequent verses. Nothing about that changes on the live version, only who provides the harmonies. It's absolutely gorgeous. Hearing that, on a clear evening, in May, in Dublin, with the crowd being completely silent (for once) was just fantastic. Her voice has lost nothing of its force after all these years of singing - amazing both to watch and to listen to.

Concert was over app. half past 10, so plenty of time to catch a bus home. All in all, an evening very well spent....

I'm gonna get a guitar, learn three chords, and see about some truth....

Yep. I'm gonna join the ranks of guitar players.

I still have to buy the guitar though. Should be fun. I have a lot of U2 and Tori songs on the list of must-learns. We'll see how it goes.

The last time I played an instrument was no success. (that one time in high school where I played bass, doesn't really count, because I didn't have to learn anything. My teacher wrote down the junctions I had to put my fingers on to get the notes. I got blisters on my finger from the strumming. Argh.)

I was around 10, and the choice for some unfathomable reason fell on the accordion. Which I then proceeded to dislike playing. I think I stuck with it for two or three months, before I packed it in. I remember having to learn 'Jingle Bells' (it was coming up to Christmas time), but I can't remember whether I made it or not. Most likely not, haha.

Anyway, back to the guitar. I've had a wee browse on eBay, but I have no idea which brands are good and which are not, so I think I'll go into a music store in town and ask for some advice. I haven't decided whether I will take lessons, or try teaching myself yet - I could try the latter first and see how I go......

American Doll Posse

Tori Amos has released her 9th studio album on May 1, called 'American Doll Posse'. There are five girls in the Posse, all with their own personae, hairstyles, wardrobes, characters - Tori, Clyde, Pip, Santa & Isabel. They are all singing different songs on the album. Sound weird? A bit, but only if you don't already know a bit about Tori. The Posse together make one whole woman.

On Tori's website (in the Bio section), the Posse are listed together with the Greek archetype that they draw from, because in ancient Greece all aspects of the feminine were considered divine and had incarnations within the Greek pantheon. For example, Clyde draws from Persephone.

If you want to know more about what Tori is doing and what this all means, check out her website.

So far, after just one listen, the songs that I instantly love turn out to all be Clyde's songs. Some of the other songs will require a few more listens, but that's okay.

Really can't wait to see this album played live! Can't wait to see Tori at any rate! I hope she does a Piano Bar thing again!

For those of you who don't know what the Piano Bar is, it's something she has done on previous tours. You can send in requests for cover versions that you would like her to play, and every night she picks a couple. It may or may not be the same concert you end up going to, but it's still a very cool idea I think. I already have a song in mind....it's a U2 song of course....am not going to say which one it is though.....hehehehe. In fact, she has already played a U2 cover once - a brilliant version of 'Running To Stand Still'.

I think she is a very strong singer, both with regards to voice and material. I'm not saying that I understand what her songs are about, not by a long shot, but they are just so darn catchy. They tend to stay in my head even if I have no idea what they mean (at least not on a conscious level). Like, right now, I have 'Playboy Mommy' on constant repeat in my head. Last week it was 'Spark'.

Some of them are straightforward enough ('Yo George' springs to mind). Most of them are not. I like that though - you have to work a little bit to get it, do a bit of homework. Also, it means her albums make for interesting listening for years to come - I know most of the album 'Scarlet's Walk' off by heart by now, but I'm still no closer to the heart of some of the songs. That was my first Tori album (thanks Elisa, for introducing me to Tori by playing the gorgeous 'A Sorta Fairytale' from this album. I've just ordered 'To Venus & Back' which will complete the album collection).

What I also like about her, is that she really has something to say if you care to listen. It's not just some bubblegum-pop-3 minute sweetness, it actually has a weight and a substance. She is rooted somewhere, she takes the time to grow the songs, to research her subjects, tap into the spirit and channel it, whatever it is, and I love that.

So, you can listen to Tori purely for her gorgeous voice and infectious grooves, or you can dig into the world in and behind the music. Either way, it's definitely worth it...

Lazy Weekend

This is just a wee post to say that I did absolutely nothing over the weekend.

Except watching DVD's and knitting that is. And a bit of eating every once in a while.

The DVD's were 'Pirates Of The Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest', and the 3rd series of 'Robin Of Sherwood' (with Jason Connery as Robin. Michael Praed left after the first two series, because he got a role on 'Dynasty'.)

'Robin Of Sherwood' is just the best adaptation of the Robin Hood legend, like, EVER, in my humble opinion. I remember watching this on German telly (ZDF, if I recall correctly), when I was little, and I love it as much now as I did then. Like 'Pirates' it's got all the ingredients for a fantastic tale - action, romance, comedy, beautiful landscapes, and mystery. Also like 'Pirates', it's got great actors in it (the majority of whom are very easy on the eye - that is always a good thing). Hehe.

Apart from that, it's also responsible for turning me onto Irish music, seeing as the Irish group Clannad wrote and performed the entire score for all 3 series. The result was the album 'Legend' released in 1983. For the third series they wrote some additional pieces, and changed others a bit (like the theme tune for example), but these pieces were never formally released. Anyway, 'Legend' is a pretty cool album and it fits the show itself like a glove, evoking the majesty of Sherwood and Herne the Hunter, the magic of Albion (one of the Seven Swords of Wayland) and the poignancy of the tale of Will Scarlet, and of Robin & Marion.

As for 'Pirates' it just rules - simple as that. Can't wait for the third instalment, so roll on 24 May when it releases in Irish cinemas. I hope they will do something similar to what was done with the 'Lord Of The Rings' movies, when 'Return Of The King' was released, and play all of the movies in sequence in the cinema. Stay tuned.....