Eitan and I took off this morning on a little mini adventure together – I knew that in the late afternoon and early evening all three of us would be working (Eitan is now one of Andrew’s production assistants) so the opportunity to do something new and different before the US world woke up called to us. There is an area north of the Barcelona city center called Diagonal Mar – a relatively new business center with a huge inside mall at it’s core. Also in the area is the Museu Blau (“Blue Museum”), described as “a new cultural amenity that gives the city an innovative cultural agenda gratifyingly combining scientific rigour with popular science, recreation with gaining a knowledge of nature, and leisure with a serious look at today’s environmental issues.” Big PR – reasonably well fulfilled. Eitan and I went to check it out and actually found it to be very, very engaging. This museum has the most extensive collection of stuffed and skeletal representations of animal and insect life I have ever seen (love to be in the hall when these guys come to life at night!…think “Night at the Museum”), along with a display of colorful minerals that goes on for rooms. The building itself is very unusual and apparently the architects – Herzog & de Meuron – are quite well known and obviously rather edgy. Frankly it’s not to my taste but it definitely gets your attention.

More than anything, I really enjoyed discovering a new part of Barcelona with Eitan.  I had been to this part of the city with both Ruth and Andrew on other excusions, but it was great to make Eitan aware that there are many, many parts of this diverse city to be discovered and enjoyed.  We were able to take a single metro line out there in less than 15 minutes and ride a tram back in the same amount of time.  There’s even a beautiful bike path that goes all the way out there (and back, of course) – with lots of plazas, malls, and parks we haven’t even touched yet.  So much to do, so little time.  Carpe diem!