A Side Dish of Surrealism

I will begin by warning anyone reading this post that I got very camera happy and that this post is very long, but about 90% photos.  If you're not interested in art (and particularly not surrealism), skip to the bottom for some ancient history and the inevitable dose of food porn.
Since I had another day off from work, I decided to go to Figueres and Girona.  To get there, you just take another one of the medium distance trains (Cercanias) and hop off in your town of choice.  My first choice, of course, was Figueres.

 By the Regional train (the cheapest), the trip to Figueres is about 14 euros and 2 hours, 10 minutes of your life.  This was worth it to me because Figueres is home to the Dali museum.  I had avoided going to the tiny Dali exhibit in Barcelona because I was holding out for a chance to go to Figueres.  This museum is actually part of a 3-museum system dedicated to his life, since he is from Catalunya (you can see the house he was born in right here in Figueres, if you so choose).
However, Figueres is also beautiful in its own right and the whole city is like a giant art museum.  There are statues everywhere and snatches of beautiful architecture.

 When you get to the train station, there's a handy information booth stocked with maps (they will then explain and sketch out the route to the Dali museum, the #1 request by far) and booklets in every language imaginable describing the offerings of the city.  The route that they suggest also heads through the fruit and vegetable market (on purpose, I believe, since it involves more turns than necessary) open every day until 2 pm.

 Since I was there anyway, I loaded up on dried fruit for my upcoming trips to the Basque Country and southern Spain.  I'd much rather spend my money on tasty meals than train station packaged food.  And then, like a glowing halo of all things delicious and greasy, there was a hopping Xurreria at one corner of the market.  Long coils of churros (2 types!) were lifted out of the grease and efficiently snipped up by the woman in charge.

 But next to those were the most glorious site of all... a dulce de leche filled hot fresh churro.  The person in front of me bought the last ones from the tray, so mine was made mere moments before it was handed to me, in a sheaf of paper.  Figueres, you had me at Churrito.

 While the path to the museum involved treacherous encounters with sea beasts,

 the city knows how to advertise its prized jewel and lets you know you're on the right path.

 This statue involves a drawn figure on the ground and uses the cylinder as a mirror to reflect the undistorted face:

 Upon spotting the ginormous line in front of the musuem, I ducked into Maia

 for a traditional Catalan sandwich: toasted foccacia scrubbed with tomato (pa amb tomaquet, anyone) and layered with salty slices of cured ham.

This was a great idea (pats self on the back) and I would highly recommend it.  It's a cheap, easy lunch that gives you more time to see the museum and the town.
The Dali museum is right behind St. Pere's (Peter's) church, a beautiful structure that you will pass during your long wait in the line.

 It's pretty inside (do as I did and befriend the people around you, then duck inside while they save your spot) and more importantly, it's cool and out of the sun.  Important things about St. Pere church: the town grew around it in the 9th century back when it was a small church, King Philip V and Princess Marie Louise of Savoy were married there in 1701, the original church was burned down in the Spanish Civil War and was rebuilt by Republican prisoners, and it has an interesting and intricate tree gate on the side facing the square.
 After waiting, I was rewarded with the sight of the Dali Museum.  Beside the large sculpture in front of the museum, which is odd by itself, the museum boats lots of golden humans (also inside in the courtyard) and people who don't seem to notice the bread balanced on their heads.

 Since you have been forewarned, please, PLEASE buy a baguette and recreate the poses in front of his building before devouring your purchase.  Every time I saw someone walking around with a perfectly good loaf of bread, I was baffled why they weren't doing this.

Sculpture in front of the museum

 Around the corner, you can also catch a glimpse of more large, public statues.  One involves a traditional Greek statue atop a large pile of tires; the other a Roman/Greek bust atop a column that seems to mimic bricks (but huge).

 Once inside the museum, I was allowed to take pictures with no flash... and I had a field day.
The first room I walked was the circular exhibit surrounding the courtyard.  To one side was "Valles", which means valleys but to Dali appeared to mean nails.  They were in every painting in some form.  Several paintings also included a ribbon dangling down from the sky.

 
 
 Next, I went into the courtyard, which holds the famous piece The "car-naval" (1978) sites.  It involves a Cadillac with a broken window, a tire column, a reproduction of the slave by Michelangelo, and Gala's boat.  Oh, and the Esther Queen by Ernst Fuchs and a reproduction of a marble bust by Francois Girardon.  Translation: there's a guy covered in vines inside a Cadillac with a broken right passenger window.  The car has an enormous statue as a hood ornament and a boat held aloft by a tire column behind it.  All in all, it's pretty surreal.

 Oh, and it's in this circular stadium-like courtyard with golden figures among vines lifting their arms to the sky.
Next, I went back into the circular corridor, on the other side, and saw lots of ink drawings by Dali that are quite whimsical and usually fell into the category of the two-possible-pictures black and white art.  His are pretty obvious, though.

 The corridor also contained more object juxtaposition art like the work in the courtyard.  Look close to appreciate the random, zany details.

 Off the courtyard is a small room with a couple Dali gems:

Portrait of Pablo Picasso in the Twenty-first Century (one of a seriesof portraits of Geniuses, including Homer, Dali, Freud, Christopher Columbus, William Tell, etc).  done in 1947.

Note: they called Christopher Columbus a genius.  I didn't.

Reproduction of "DNA Structure" (a stereoscopic work), 2003

 Shout-out to science!

Soft Self Portrait with Grilled Bacon (1941)

Portrait of My Father, 1920

 Dali seems to have painted his family quite a bit.  In addition to this portrait of his father, he also painted many interpretations of his wife and her moods and thoughts (shown later).
In a gigantic main room, beneath the crystal dome seen on the Museum Dali sign, is this painting.  It's HUGE.

 And now, just a lot of art:

Study for "Honey is Sweeter than Blood", 1926

This one reminded me of The Persistence of Memory in terms of the melting shapes and use of horizon.

Portrait of Gala Laughing, 1969 (one of MANY portraits of his wife)

Atomic Leda, 1949 (one of the prized possessions of the collection)

Inaugural Goose Flesh, 1928 (The name just baffles and amuses me)

Figures Lying on the Sand, 1926 (My thought, seeing this the day after sunbathing in Sitges, was, "Spot on, Dali.  Good man.")

 Back in the giant hallway, I noticed another famous piece staring me in the face.  Or rather, I was staring at its two faces.  This famous painting is called Gala Nude Watching the Sea, but at a distance of 20 meters it turns into a portrait of Abraham Lincoln.

(my camera only seemed to see Lincoln, sorry)

 All I can say is, this piece messes with you but it's so cool.  It's the kind of thing that makes me like Dali: his ability to push boundaries in a way that instantly captivates and fascinates and is something I would never think of myself.  EVER.
Up the stairs from the big room is the Mae West Room, a room that Dali specifically designed for the museum.  I waited in line to see the main event and, while in line, appreciated the strange collection of art on the walls, such as this ear-for-a-nose anatomy swap bust.

 The Mae West Room contains, as its centerpiece, a giant portrait of Mae West made of random objects that can only be seen as a whole through the legs of a camel at the top of a staircase and through a giant looking glass (picture taken through looking glass below):

 Otherwise, when you're down on the floor, you see the objects from a different perspective and realize they are art pieces in themselves.  Beside the giant lips, which seemed to have no hidden properties (except that you could probably sit on it like a hard, mini couch), each object had quirks.  The nose had little fire replicas using the nostrils as fireplaces.  The eyes were each paintings, one of a landscape and the other of... something else.  And the giant hair and jeweled earrings (cut off from the picture) are just a weird giant archway.  I mean, you can see where the whole thing is going, but it's cool when it all comes together.  I recommend examining the eyes.  Dali was a magician when he worked with perspective.
The next step? Upstairs to more adventures!

Bird with a face through a window in its stomach, guarding the staircase to more wonder and delight

You enter the room and look up to see... giant feet.  Normally, I'm not a huge fan of feet, but this was kind of fun.

 The room also had more portraits of Gala in different... interpretations.  You have to wonder what your husband is thinking when he sees you in terms of disjointed coils that make up your face.

 And some more Dali:

 Not pictured, but he also drew drawers coming out of people's bodies on the regular.   All I could think of, in true EMT nerd fashion, was compartment syndrome.

(Take a deep breath before reading this title aloud) "50 Abstract Paintings which Seen from Two Metres Change into three Lenins Disguised as Chinese and Seen from Six Metres Appear as the Head of a Royal Tiger" (1962)

The Three Glorious Enigmas of Gala (1982).  Note that Gala had a whole Gala's Enigmas collection/series.

"Bed and Two Bedside Tables Ferociously Attacking a Cello" (1983).  I loved this painting's title... but loved it even more when I found out it was part of Dali's "Catastrophe Collection".

 When I first bought my ticket to the Dali Museum, I had a surprise waiting.  They handed me two tickets... admission also included a ticket to Dali's Jewels.  Jewels?  Yep.  Dali made jewels.  Some were based on his famous works, others unique creations pulled from his limitless mind.  As Dali said, "In the period of the Renaissance, great artists did not restrict themselves to a single medium.  Leonardo da Vinci's genius soared far beyond the confines of a picture.  His scientific spirit envisaged the possibilities of miracles under the sea and in the air - now realities.  Benvenuto Cellini, Botticelli, da Luca created gems for adornment, goblets, chalices - jeweled ornaments of puissant beauty."  And this, according to Dali, was to create decadent jeweled art.  My first impression was that he'd created the high culture, Surrealist version of the Victoria's Secret million dollar bras.

Leaf Veined Hands, 1949

The Eye of Time, 1949

The Living Flower, 1959

Close-up of "The Living Flower"

The Royal Heart, 1953.  This piece moved, as did many of the pieces.  The red jeweled heart in the center would open and close along a central fissure, causing the gems to sparkle and the heart to "beat"

Corset Ring

 The jewels were beautiful, frivolous, and surprising.  The exhibit also had panels with Dali's musings on the relationship of time and space, the ascription of human characteristics to things not human (note to curators: we have words for this, including anthropomorphism and personification), and a response to the claim that his jewels were"frivolous".
Outside the museum, I decided to take a walk outside to the castle.  The view was beautiful

 but the castle was rather boring.  And I was not going to pay a 3 euro entrance fee for something that dull.

 Besides, I had a city to wander!  Thanks to my handy dandy booklet on the city and my own childish taste in buildings, I mixed hilarious buildings with Moderniste style on my architecture self-guided tour.

Hotel adorned with carousel horses.

Casa Puig-Soler, a Moderniste house built in 1901 by Josep Azemar i Pont

Casa Cusi, a Moderniste house by Josep Azemar i Pont for a family of Figueres industrialists (electricity production and cement manufacturing; beautiful lifestyle paid for by far less glamorous industries)

Casa Salleras, 1904.  Designed by Josep Azemar i Pont.

Casa Caselles, built in 1930 in Neoclassical style by Joan Guma Cuevas.

A beautiful, quirky house that I loved.

 After a few hours in the Dali Museum, I had realized that Girona was just not going to happen today.  I was exhausted and would have been crunched for time.  I headed home for a brief siesta before meeting up with Ignasi and my other adult coworkers for dinner.
I had been told to meet at Cafe Zurich, which my guidebook had said was popular with locals.  Then again, it's also next to several huge tourist zones (La Ramblas, El Corte Ingles, Plaza Catalunya, FNAC), so I was skeptical.  It turns out that we were just meeting there, and then we headed down to a side street off Las Ramblas called ATN.  While waiting for the rest of our group, Antonio showed me the Roman cemetery preserved in the square.  The square lies atop what used to be a road leading out of Roman Barcino (what turned into Barcelona) and the exhibit features intact Roman tombs lined up on the spots where they were found during excavation:

 Once our full forces had assembled, we went inside and ordered.  As with nearly all menus in the mile radius of Las Ramblas, there were English translations.  Amusing ones.  To get a fixed menu price, we ordered from the starred items on the menu (having a cheaper Menu del Dia/Menu of the Day is common and you'll find it at nearly all restaurants of every level of cost).  I got (verbatim from the menu):
Octopus salad with strawberry foam and rocket chlorophyll

 Charcoal-grilled lamb chops with celery tagliatelle and oregano essence

and Milk curd and honey: honey jelly flavored with grape fruit, and milk curd creamy (note: this dish, Mel i mato in Catalan, is very traditional dessert.  I tried it on my excursion with the cardiovascular department and really disliked it, but I gave it another change and I like it a lot this time).

They also brought out a complementary starter, which was a curved spoon filled with chopped up bacalao (cod) and honey.  Yummy but a bit of a strange texture.
The food was good (octopus was excellent, lamb chops a bit too fatty and salty, but I generally think things are too salty) and the company was, yet again, excellent.  I was surprised at just how much the adults of the lab unwound over dinner together, though.  Let's just say that their sense of humor is equivalent to that of a sixteen year old boy, but they alternate that type of discussion with comparisons of how many square meters their decks are and the issues of having children.  Apparently, their children wait up for them at home when they go out, and if they go out without their spouses their kids demand explanations.  Hilarious.

Spotted: A school textbook sale.

 Things are coming to a close here.  After several months of adventures, it's time.  A bit of travel, and then I'm headed home! I can't believe it.