Gaudi
I love the ‘Club’ floors in good hotels. Free food, free drink, varied culinary presentations, an oasis of calm. Most hotels offer their lounge as a very practical convenience. And then there are some like the Hotel Arts in Barcelona that raise it to an art form.
We have had a checkered history with the city. The first time we were due to visit, Yoda fell sick, and we had to cancel. The second time, our granddaughter Ava decided to come into the world a little early, and once again we canceled. Third time lucky.
The lounge is on the 36th floor and as you enter you look out onto the Mediterranean. The Marina gleams white at your feet, the Gehry fish sculpture is gold, bronze or silver, depending on the time of day, and we saw a hot air balloon fail to take off the afternoon we got there.
The goddesses in black loved Yoda. He had free rein over the lounge, while we gorged ourselves on endless offerings of tapas, good wine, and sensuous desserts.
In the Parc Guell, one more of Gaudi’s unrealized masterworks, our driver dropped us off at the top. ‘It’s easier to walk down, than up’. Everyone seemed to know this Koan. Eighteen tour buses disgorged their hordes just as we arrived. Mercifully, they seemed to be on a schedule. We got out of their way, and let them stampede past.
Yoda was in his stroller, and he was surrounded by a mob of school children who were out on a field trip. ‘ Ay, perrito’ filled the air, as they made tentative attempts to stroke him.
Yoda lapped it all up, but began to get nervous as more and more children gathered around him. Fortunately, they had a great teacher, who made them stand in line, and come forward to get their 15 seconds of ‘alone time’ with him. It all felt quite papal. Yoda should have been wearing a beanie and saying ‘Bene, Bene’.
In the late afternoon, we went to Las Ramblas, and walked past the mimes. The most famous are the two skeletons on bicycles, both standing still, until we fed their hats some money. They began to pedal away frantically, we got our photo op, and Yoda seemed quite mystified. A Lady Liberty decked out in gold gave us a small silver star for good luck. She had a deep dusky voice, and maybe she was in drag. Anything is possible on a fall afternoon in Barcelona.
Further on, there was a musician playing some kind of accordion. He had an old camera stand, on which he had placed his two dogs. They were dressed in light sweaters, and were wearing brightly colored spectacle frames – the kind we wear on New Years eve and promise never to wear again. The dogs brought in more crowds than his music. I was tempted to place Yoda beside the two dogs, just for the picture, but better sense prevailed. Dogs are very territorial.
The folks in the tapas bars loved him. They were intrigued that he did not step out of his bag to scavenge food scraps from the floor. Yoda knows how far he can go, specially when Mina is around.
On our last day there, a couple sitting in the lounge next to us came up and whispered. ‘Don’t they mind dogs in here?’ They had left their dog behind in their room, and went off to get him.
What a delicious possibility – a doggy play group in the Club Lounge 36 floors above Barcelona. Unfortunately we had to leave for the airport. Next time! We’ll be back!!
Nov 26, 2008 | | Book
