Bad Tourist in a Museum

Been there, done that…

I finally visited La Pedrera, or Casa Milà, as it’s also known. Yes, I have been visiting Barcelona for the past 12 or so years once or twice a year, and it has taken me this long to see one of the top attractions…

You see, I don’t do queues. Nope, I’m not spending hours waiting to get into a museum (yes, this is just one of the reasons I call myself a Bad Tourist…). Life is just too short for that, and I don’t need so see anything that badly. And I hate crowded places. And I don’t like big museums…

But I’m digressing here. This time Professor M and I just happened to be passing Casa Milà and there was no queue!!! That just doesn’t happen. Or at least I’ve never seen no queue in front of this building, ever. It didn’t hurt that it was my birthday (that was way back in early June when we were in Barcelona), so it felt extra special. Because of course I’ve been wanting to see Casa Milà for ages, for the past 12 or so years that I have been visiting Barcelona…

The tour consists of the rooftop (with this fabulous view of Passeig de Gracia), the attic and a model apartment. The rest of the building is off-limits: some lucky people actually live there…

The ventilation towers on the roof terrace look as if they had stepped out of an early 20th century science fiction film… But it was the ventilation courtyards in the middle of the building that really fascinated me:

Small is beautiful…

I have to admit that I don’t particularly enjoy touring huge museums (actually, I’m quite good at finding excuses not to visit them because they wear me out). I prefer a curated collection that is big enough for me think I’ve seen something worthwhile but small enough so as not to overwhelm me. Such as the small and compact Museu del Modernisme.

This is my kind of museum: a small collection of interesting items that you can see in 30-45 minutes.
The museum houses a collection of Art Nouveau (or Modernist, as they call it in Barcelona) furniture, sculptures, paintings and advertising posters, originating from a private collection of two antique dealers.

The collection of furniture is big enough for anyone not familiar with Art Nouveau / Modernisme to get an idea of what it’s all about. Yet, it is small enough to entice you to study the details of each piece. And that’s what a museum should be about, in my opinion: giving you an overview of something while letting you get absorbed in the minutiae if you so desire.

There are other interesting (and small) museums in Barcelona, too: Chocolate Museum, Erotic Museum, and the Motorcycle Museum, to mention just a few.

And then there are the beautiful buildings everywhere, my favourite way of studying art and architecture. This time around I was particularly taken by various textured facades. Look at these pictures, for example: it’s as if these buildings were covered with wallpaper…

Do you like museums? 

Tiina

FOLLOW:

Linking up with: 

Not Dead Yet Style, Elegantly Dressed and Stylish, Garay Treasures, High Latitude Style, Sydney Fashion Hunter, The Pleated Poppy, Style Elixir, Get Your Pretty On, Happiness at Mid-Life, A Labour of Life, Doused in Pink, Curly Crafty Mom, Fashion Should Be Fun, Rachel the Hat, Sincerely Jenna Marie, More Pieces of Me, Color and Grace, The Wardrobe Stylist, Not Dressed As Lamb, Style Nudge, Coco et La Vie en Rose, Fashionably Employed,The Fabulous Journey, Living on Cloud Nine, A Well Styled Life, Elegance and Mommyhood. Posh Classy Mom, Nancy’s Fashion Style, Sheela Writes, Shelbee on the Edge