Picasso, Romans, and Getting Lost

I have to take back what I said about "not getting Picasso."  We spent the Sunday morning at the Picasso Museum in Barcelona.  That man was PROLIFIC!  This museum contains over 4,700 of his works, starting from when he was quite young.  Seeing his artistic progression, presented chronologically brings a much better understanding of his work. As an added bonus, the museum had a temporary exhibit of Picasso and Dali during their time together in Paris.

After Picasso, we went to the Historical Museum -- a relatively unknown gem.

John pulled out his credit card to pay.

Woman: Are you a teacher?
John: My wife works at the university.
Woman to me: Are you a teacher?
Me: Um, yes.  (I do teach people some things some times.)

This is the result. ("preu" = "price").  And, the ticket is good todo años.

Lesson: If you work for a school, always carry your ID. You never know what discounts are available.

The museum includes a massive underground exhibit of the ancient city, dating back 2,000 years.  The level and detail of archeological restoration is one of the best we've ever seen.

This is just a small part of exhibit.

Support pillars of the church -- late 6th century - early 7th century

Wine vats in a house.

On average a person consumed 210 - 260 liters per year. (55 - 69 gallons!)

Monday morning we headed down the cost to the town of Tarragona, the site of the ancient Roman city of Tarraco.  At its peak, Tarraco had a population of nearly one million.  We took the EuroMed train that travels along the Mediterranean.  Although a cloudy day, the view east was still stunning.

The well restored Roman amphitheater sits on the sea side of the town.  It could seat 14,000 spectators.  It is here that the bishop of Tarraco, Fructuosus, and his two deacons, Augurius and Eulogius, were condemned and burned at the stake.

The town is very proud of its Christian heritage.  Each year they hold a re-enactment of the burning -- always fun for the kiddos.

I very much wanted to see the Roman aqueduct.  This was not in walking distance of the center of town, but we could take a bus.  It seemed to go well.  When we got off at the "aqueduct" bus stop, we learned that was for the "aqueduct cemetery" not the Roman ruins.

Back to square one.

Ah .... we found the right bus.  

Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers on the bus. Otherwise we would have thought we were being dropped off in the middle of nowhere on the side of a busy highway.

Most importantly, the woman told us how to get back.

This is the bus stop.
John is looking very European with his "murse" (man-purse), but we aren't supposed to call it that.

The journey was 100% worth it.  The aqueduct was AMAZING!

It is magnificently large.  Here I am under one of the arches for scale.

Just as much fun is being able to walk along the top of it!

We missed Catherine & Preston's wedding, but raised a glass of Cava in their honor. Elizabeth and Caroline were excellent family representatives.

A surefire way to mess with the heads of friends you have known since you were five, is to wear the same color to a wedding.  There were probably a number of "are you Caroline or are you Elizabeth?" questions.

What we learned:

1. "Fly Emirates" and "Qatar Airways" are very popular soccer jerseys.
2. The older you get, the further things are away from you. Or, "walking distance" takes on new meaning.
3. Preferente Class is the best class.