I remember studying Dali in college. At the time I felt that his work had become a bit of a cliche, with dorm rooms plastered wall to wall with dripping clocks. A few years back in Chicago I had the chance to see some of his other work, and again in Madrid. Having just visited the Dali museum in Figueres, I have to say that I am starting to like his stuff again, though I’m not in love with it. The museum is a must see, but after leaving it my mind felt abused by the intensity of the imagery. It’s said that Dali spent the last years of his life living at the building/museum/home. I think I would have lost my mind. Intense to say the least. Then again, he was a very talented individual.
All that said, I do love the fact that though you can’t use a flash you can shoot all the photos you want. Dali would have wanted it that way!

I promised myself after restarting this site, that I would post daily. Turns out trips have a funny way of making this hard to do. Also the fact that I didn’t plan ahead. Lesson learned. 

First time to London, to actually see something, and turns out we saw a lot. At one point we took a 5 mile hike across a big part of it. Felt good, though I sit here now having returned with a scrambled head. I liked London…a lot. More than I expected. Living here in Spain and it’s monoculture of foods, and at times wines, London was a small large wake up call to something I knew about myself, but seem to have forgot, I like variety. London is pluralistic, in food, people, wines, beers, though maybe not weather.

During our all too brief visit we ate sushi, steak pies, fish and chips, some of the best steaks I’ve ever had, and a few real breakfasts, full of grease! I drank beers that had complex flavors, came in a pint glass and did not need to be chilled to death to mask their rancidness. I drank wines from Italy, Austra, Australia, Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Madeira, England, Germany, Alsace, and more. I meant new people, many new friends. Had conversations that I’m still trying to figure out in my head, and stayed with a good friend, whose family makes a nice substitute when ours are so far away. 

This picture I’m going to title, “Dali and Big Ben meet under a Street Light”. It sums up the trip for me, I think.  I’m still trying to figure out what happened in London. It might be that I just miss the ability to communicate flawlessly in my native tongue. Though I think it was something much deeper. I’ll be trying to figure out here and over at Catavino, stay tuned.

I really liked London. I need to digest it a bit, then I might start to make sense. But first some beer and a dram of scotch…till soon r.