Banksy in NY

To refresh your memory, Banksy is a well-known pseudo-anonymous British graffiti artist.

I learned about Banksy during our trip to London last year, and quickly became obsessed. So, of course when I learned of an exhibit coming to New York, I had to go.

While Banksy's work is usually fantastic stenciled graffiti, this was a bit different...

The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill

Because "New Yorkers don't care about art, they care about their pets" he opened a "pet store".






I think it has something to do with the "what's the difference between animals we eat and animals as pets", but I may be putting too much into this. It may be Banksy being an asshole. I don't care, I love him.

Barcelona Day 8 (Sep 14 2008)

For our final day we did more of the same, lounged at the pool, a beachside lunch, then a fancier dinner. Went to bed early, and flew back to sad New Jersey the following morning.

Barcelona Day 7 (Sep 13 2008)

Well, I don't have any more emails to remind myself of what we did, most likely because we spent our time from here on doing nothing but relaxing =)

On Day 7 we slept in, had another lunch on the beach



Then decided our hotel's pool was more comfortable.



The pool was beautiful, but freezing! It did offer an awesome view of the hotel's giant fish.



which I later learned is called "Peix" or fish, and was created by Frank Gehry.

We ate an earlier than usual dinner, then headed back towards Montjuïc to see the Magic Fountain.







The magic fountain of Montjuïc's first performance was on May 19, 1929 during the Great Universal Exhibition. The designer Carles Buigas submitted his plans one year before the exhibition and many thought that the project was too ambitious to be created, let alone completed on time.

Over 3000 workers were commissioned to work on the project and less than 1 year later the magic fountain was born.





Then back to the hotel, where we received a sweet surprise from Dan's boss.

Barcelona Day 6 (Sep 12 2008)

Hi. We checked into our second hotel yesterday. It is gorgeous, right on the beach, but facing the city. Yesterday I went to the Egyptian museum, here, then we had lunch and dinner on the beach.

I'm watching CNN on tv, hope your weather is going ok, hope North Carolina is still standing.

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This was the day we moved from our regular hotel to the Hotel Arts, a nice surprise Dan's company set up for us. Dan went to work in the morning, I slept in, stopped by his office, then went out to kill a few hours.

By the way, this is the view from Dan's office. Turns out to be a pretty famous sculpture by Domènech i Montaner named "Cloud and Chair", and the building is the Fundacio Antoni Tapies.



I went to the Egyption Museum just because it was near by, but it was FANTASTIC! So glad I went.

From there I wandered on La Rambla for a bit, saw this fella,



then met up with Dan and headed to our new hotel (the one on the left).



our view



We settled in, then took a walk along the beach and had lunch at a little shack on the beach.

Barcelona Day 5 (part 2)

Park Güell is a garden complex with architectural elements situated on the hill of el Carmel in the Gràcia district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was designed by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and built in the years 1900 to 1914. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Works of Antoni Gaudí".

The park was originally part of a commercially unsuccessful housing site, the idea of Count Eusebi Güell, whom the park was named after. It was inspired by the English garden city movement; hence the original English name Park. The site was a rocky hill with little vegetation and few trees, called Montaña Pelada (Bare Mountain). The intention was to exploit the fresh air (well away from smoky factories) and beautiful views from the site, with sixty triangular lots being provided for luxury houses. Ultimately, only two houses were built, neither designed by Gaudí.

It has since been converted into a municipal garden.

Barcelona Day 5 (Sep 11 2008)

On September 11, Catalonia commemorates the 1714 Siege of Barcelona defeat during the War of the Spanish Succession. As a punishment for their support to the claim of Habsburg Archduke Charles to the throne of Spain, institutions and rights of the territories of the Crown of Catalonia and Aragon were abolished by the victorious absolutist Bourbon monarchy in line with the political evolution occurring in other parts of Europe at the same time.

But, to us this meant it was a bank holiday, and Dan had off. We chose this day to take the Bus Turistic, a hop-on hop-off bus that takes you to all the sites of the city. Wow, we saw EVERYTHING.


















And this was all before we came to what we really wanted to see...Park Güell. This deserves it's own entry.

Barcelona Day 4 (Sep 10 2008)

Just wanted to let you all know that if you don't hear from me, I'm fine. Our laptop battery died, and the charger doesnt work here. Right now I'm at Dan's job on a spare computer. We're going out to eat with his coworkers in a few minutes. His office is very nice, 7th floor overlooking La Rambla! Didn't do too much today, I tried to get out to see a few sites, but only found one. Tomorrow should be good though, it's a bank holiday here, so Dan is off work, we're gonna take the 'Bus Turista' which zips you from site to site, and you can get on and off as you like. It's about $30 for one day, and it goes everywhere, and you get a book of coupons for the attractions.

So far so good, I'm getting around ok, but am afraid to use the subways alone. No purse snatchings though =)

Hope you all are well.
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This was the day my excursions caught up with me. I tried to get out to see a few things...but didn't realize how tired I was. I did manage to find Casa Calvet.



Casa Calvet is a building, designed by Antoni Gaudí for a textile manufacturer which served as both a commercial property (in the basement and on the ground floor) and a residence. It is located at 1900 Carrer de Casp 48, Eixample district of Barcelona.

Gaudí scholars agree that this building is the most conventional of his works, partly because it had to be squeezed in between older structures and partly because it was sited in one of the most elegant sections of Barcelona. Its symmetry, balance and orderly rhythm are unusual for Gaudí's works. However, the curves and double gable at the top, the projecting oriel at the entrance— almost baroque in its drama, and isolated witty details are modernista elements.

Bulging balconies alternate with smaller, shallower balconies. Mushrooms above the oriel at the center allude to the owner's favorite hobby.

Columns flanking the entrance are in the form of stacked bobbins— an allusion to the family business of textile manufacture. Lluís Permanyer claims that "the gallery at ground level is the facade's most outstanding feature, a daring combination of wrought iron and stone in which decorative historical elements such as a cypress, an olive tree, horns of plenty, and the Catalan coat of arms can be discerned".



Three sculpted heads at the top also allude to the owner: One is Sant Pere Màrtir Calvet i Carbonell (the owner's father) and two are patron saints of Vilassar, Andreu Calvet's home town.

That was it for my morning. Although I did stop at the Parc Joan Miró to get a picture of this scultpture, "Woman and Bird" by Joan Miró



I went back to the hotel to nap, then met Dan at his office (where I wrote the above email). We went out to dinner for tapas.

Salted cod salad



And mussels



Then we went out to a celebration with his co-workers. No one spoke very much Engligh, but the sangria was flowing and I had a fantastic time.

Barcelona Day 4 (Sep 9 2008)

Hi everyone. Today I spent the day at National Musuem of Catalin Art, Which is huge! I had all intentions of going to the "Poble Espanol" afterwords, which is a mock replica of barcelona that you can walk through, showing different villages, etc., which was supposed to be right around the corner from the museum, but damned if I could find it. I ended up lost on a mountain, which would have been scary if I didn't happen to have been lost with a group of German tourists who apparently followed me up the mountain. There was a lot of "das" and "nein" but we made our way back down the mountain.

So now for a shower and a nap and then out to dinner.

Me
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With Dan at work again, it was another solo day of sighseeing. I started out again at the Plaça d'Espanya



Before heading up Montjuïc, towards the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya

The MNAC, is a museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Spain. It is housed in the Palau Nacional, built for the 1929 World's Fair. Imposing in the distance...



And absolutely breathtaking up close.





Inside did not dissapoint:



And Dali!



I left the museum, picked up a sandwich, and enjoyed the view for a while




Before getting lost on a mountain




But, I did find the Ludwig Mies van der Rohe gallery, which I, suprisingly, loved!

The Barcelona Pavilion, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, was the German Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona. It was an important building in the history of modern architecture, known for its simple form and extravagant materials, such as marble and travertine.

The building stood on a large podium alongside a pool. The structure itself consisted of eight steel posts supporting a flat roof, with curtain glass walling and a handful of partition walls. The overall impression is of perpendicular planes in three dimensions forming a cool, luxurious space.

The Pavilion was dismantled at the end of the exhibition, but a replica has since been built on the same site (1981-1986).








I made my way back towards the hotel, stopping at CaixaFòrum
This redbrick, Art Nouveau fortress, built to house a factory in 1911 by Josep Puig i Cadafalch (architect of Casa de les Punxes, Casa Amatller, Casa Martí, and Casa Quadras), is a center for art exhibits, concerts, lectures, and cultural events. Well worth keeping an eye on in daily listings, Casaramona, now CaixaFòrum, has come back to life as one of Barcelona's hottest art venues. The restoration work is one more example of the fusion of ultramodern design techniques with traditional (even Art Nouveau)



And this, once a bull fighting arena, now being renovated into, depending on who you ask, either a music venue or a shopping center.




As usual, back at the hotel I showered, slept and went out to dinner with Dan, (unfortunately without my camera this time).