Wow - How good is Barcelona? Part 2. But somethings just don’t make sense.

When an artist creates his own gallery. I can see why, but before I explain... Yesterday I caught up with Angel's family in Spain. So after a few thousand steps we arrived at our lunch venue El Xalet de Montjuïc, which had the most amazing views over Barcelona. Our resident tour guide Lali (Angle's sister) had organised a full day of Barcelona highlights so after lunch we took the cable car, (Montjuïc Cable Car) to the Montjuic Castle which commands stunning views of the city and the port, (which happens to be the site of the next America's Cup later this month). The castle itself was pretty ordinary, but the views were spectacular. We made our way from there to a gallery of Joan Miro, a Catalan painter who combined abstract art with Surrealist fantasy. His style evolved from the tension between his fanciful poetic impulse and his vision of the harshness of modern life. (Hence the reason I avoid art gallery's - you can see from the pics below to me it was rubbish). However, as part of the gallery you get to see the Calder Mercury Fountain, which was displayed at the Spanish Republican Pavilion for the 1937 World’s Fair in Paris, and was situated in front of Pablo Picasso’s famous painting Guernica. Like Guernica, Calder’s sculpture should be understood in the context of the Spanish Civil War and was intended to have a political meaning, (no idea whet all this means!!!!). The inherent beauty of the liquid metal was well understood, but its toxicity was not. Now it resides behind a glass screen. I don't understand all the PC stuff but it was very mesmerising! From the Gallery we made our way down the hill for an aperitif and to plan tomorrows itinerary, but we hade to make our way through a Palestinian protest (where there were more police than protesters). All up a fantastic day!!.