The agenda for the morning was to grab a quick breakfast in Gracia via Metro transportation, then pick up the Avis rental car. Super easy renting a car, and we licked out by the fact that they had a French car for us, else we would have had to pay a very expensive one-way destination fee. We got a zippy little 5 door Renault turbo diesel 6 speed manual with a TomTom GPS system. I had a blast driving through the tight streets back to the hotel to get our luggage -- next thing we knew we were on the highway heading to The Dali Museum in Figures, Spain. I love driving in Europe, and I find people here to be very assertive and good drivers. you done see the dude camped out in the left lane going 10 mph below the speed limit, people don't excessively break or have otherwise unpredictable behavior ... they're just efficient. Having driven in Spain, Sweden and Holland/Belgium before, I was really looking forward to this part of the trip, and so far I haven't been disappointed.
Anyway, the Dali museum is incredible. I never realized what a prolific artist he was, and in so many different mediums, and for so many decades! One always thinks if melting clocks, but he's done so much more, including sculpture and jewelry design. I was especially take with his water color series of Dante's inferno, and pen and ink depictions of Don Quixote (examples below)
this was also a stand out piece for me. it was just a self portrait he did at a writing table.
Another hour or so on the road, and we were walking to find the Best Western in Carcassonne, a town with a medieval fortress.
well, our hotel sits smack in the middle of this place, and it sort of brought out the 10 year old in me, as all I wanted to do is run along the ramparts, raining down arrows on bad guys. the weather has kept many away, so it has felt pretty secluded here.
Sadly, I hardly remember any French, but people have all been very friendly.
There was fresh bread and cheap red wine (which was kinda bad!) during dinner, so it was hard not to soak in the atmosphere.
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