We had 3 nights here in Barcelona with the TBK Group, when they left we moved to a VRBO Apartment not far away in a very interesting neighborhood. Today – Thursday the 18th – we set out with our Barcelona Art Passport to see some art. First stop was the Modern Art Museum Fundacion Miro which houses a wonderful collection of Joan Miro’s work. I presented my phone with the voucher at the entry and we walked in with self guided headsets. We were entranced for 2 hours. When I was in grade school my parents put a replica print of a Miro in my bedroom. That print followed me through college, eventually going to our son’s dorm room and then to our nephew.  I do not think it survived past that. However I was imbued with a love of Miro’s work and when we started buying original lithographs in the ’60’s our first was a Miro. We own several now. Anyhow to say this was high on our bucket list would be an understatement. We stayed in the museum, avoiding the rain for a light lunch.

The rain had not abated when we were done so we caught a cab to the Picasso Museum. Entry here was more problematic as they wanted a paper copy of the voucher for their records. Through a series of conversations-they speaking fast Spanish, we speaking slow English –  we eventually found our way to a  tourist center which was pleased to help if I could email them the voucher on my phone. Problem, no wifi and my shift to Verizon International would not work immediately. Solution, go to Costa Cafe, buy an Expresso and the code for their wifi is on the receipt. Problem, I could not satisfy the European regulations that I understood that I would surrender some portion of my nonexistence privacy if I continued to log in. Solution the barrista saw my plight and after much swearing and thumb pressing (she has an extensive vocabulary) she got me logged in with my name and her particulars. I will never get near a Costa  Cafe again without remembering her.

We returned to the Picasso Museum and bypassed the very long line with our new Passports. 

We were not out of the woods, or rather into the exhibit, yet as we had to navigate the convoluted entry process during which we failed to pick up the wireless self guided tour, a blessing maybe. 
We were again overwhelmed with the amount of material on view, much of which was entirely new to us. I must admit choking a bit when we came to a room of glorious linoleum cut prints. 
When Carol and I were in our early collecting  days we saw a collection of  early linocuts that were priced at around $1,000 or so which was quite high for the time. Since we did not particularly care for the images we didn’t buy. Not one our better financial decisions.

After spending a couple of hours in the exhibition galleries we exited and decided we had had enough for one day. We took a cab back to the apartment and after a bit of rest and some of this writing we set out for dinner to La Pruna which is currently rated 16th best restaurant out of 11,000+ restaurants in Trip 
Advisor and it had the added benefit of being a three block walk from the apartment. 

Tomorrow Eddie, apartment manager and tour guide, will pick us up at 8:30 for a full day tour to Montserrat and the environs.