Tag Archives: history

Inside the History Museum in Barcelona

As promised, here are images from inside the Museu d’Història de la Ciutat, the city museum of Barcelona.

Museu d’Història de la Ciutat entry sign

After going through several ground floor galleries full of archaeological discoveries from the ancient Roman city beneath Barcelona, visitors enter an elevator and descend several levels until they are two stories beneath their starting point. An audio track played as you enter the elevator reminds you that you are going back 2,000 years in time as you descend.

[wppa type=”slide” album=”12″ size=”760″][/wppa]

This museum was an unexpected discovery. We had arrived in Barcelona with plans to visit several Gaudi sites, the Miro museum, and the Picasso Museum. But this was certainly a place worth devoting an afternoon to!

Stony & Textural Black & White in Barcelona, Spain

Even in sunny Spain, there are cold, wet, and gloomy days when the colour of the sky is flat and bright shades of clothing or advertising are muted and subdued. What better time to switch to black and white photography which actually enhances the image since you are looking at the bones, the structure, or the texture instead of being wowed by snappy-bright colour.

These are from Barcelona on a wet but wonderful Sunday. The building is the Museu d’Història de la Ciutat, the city museum of Barcelona. This 15th Century palace was moved, stone by stone, from its original location in 1931 due to the upcoming construction of a roadway. When the new site on Placa del Rei was being excavated and prepared for the rebuilding of the palace, there was a stunning archaeological find — a large section of the old Roman city was still lying beneath the city streets of Barcelona!

I will have a slide show from the interior of this museum in the coming days.

Enjoy!

Upper exterior of the dramatically gloomy 15th Century building housing the Barcelona History Museum. This historic palace is built atop part of an excavated Roman city.

Gargoyles ring the upper part of the history museum in Barcelona

Entry to the imposing 15th Century stone palace housing the Barcelona History Museum. An excavated section of the former Roman city is on view in the lower levels.

One last picture — a glimpse through a narrow passageway which is down the street from the museum.

View down a narrow passage in Barcelona, Spain

Dali Dreaming

Where did the last 21 days go? I am sitting in my darling apartment in the South of France and as I edit photos, I have just realised that it has been 3 weeks since I took these pictures in the Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain.

The center atrium (more shots in an upcoming article) has the type of feature that reveals the wildly humorous streak which infused Salvadore Dali’s work. A gigantic sculpture of a goddess figure is riding atop a vintage black Cadillac beneath a stunning eye to the sky opening. It is actually breathtaking because it knocks your visual senses off-kilter.

A massive statue of a goddess rides atop the roof of a vintage black Cadillac at the Dali Museum in Figueres, Spain.

An oculus or eye to the sky hovers above the atrium sculpture garden in Salvadore Dali’s museum in Figueres, Spain.

We’re already thinking of our next trip to Spain — but for now, here was how we spent an hour before we went to see the Dali works of art.

Mark pouring a glass of wine at lunch in Figueres, Spain.

Make sure to come back for more interior and exterior views of the Dali Museum in the coming days.

Photo Of The Day: Remnants on Red Brick in Small Town Australia

Taken in Maldon, Country Victoria, Australia — the tantalising remains of painted advertising on a red brick building.

Remnants of painted advertising remain as a ghostly image on the red bricks of an old building in Maldon, Central Victoria, Australia

Quick postscript — doing intensive photo editing and uploading to several agencies this week. You’ll be seeing more Photo Of The Day entries from places all OVER the world as a result!

Autrefois Le Couserons: The Grand Parade Of Tractors in St. Girons, France

A sunny Saturday was perfect for the annual Autrefois Le Couserons celebration of rural and traditional life here in the Midi-Pyrenees of France.

The barricades went up early and people began lining the streets, sitting in fold-up chairs (including right beneath our front windows!) or standing anywhere that there was a small patch of available space that was not on the road itself.

Parade spectators at the Autrefois Le Couserons parade in St. Girons, France

Parade spectators sitting beneath our windows in St. Girons, France

For just over two hours, they paraded through St. Girons — tractors, carts, bands, singers, dancers, vintage firetrucks, you name it! And all of it went right beneath the windows of our apartment where we each stood, camera in hand, taking hundreds of pictures on that bright and clear day.

I am dividing the coverage of this event into several articles and slideshows so that it isn’t an overwhelming amount to look at each time.

Vintage tractor on parade at the Autrefois Le Couserons festival in St. Girons, France

Now for all of you ‘tractor geeks’ (Ooops! Tractor ‘enthusiasts’ was what I meant!) — Enjoy!

[wppa type=”slide” album=”8″ size=”760″][/wppa]

The ‘Teaser’ Parade for Autrefois Le Couserons in St. Girons, France

The light was thinning as we left the house on Friday night. We hadn’t realised that there would be an opening night parade — a teaser — prior to the multi-hour Autrefois Le Couserons spectacle that was scheduled on Saturday morning. But we were fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time once again.

Three generations of a French family watch the small opening night parade for the Autrefois Le Couserons festival in St. Girons, France

Up and down the streets of St. Girons, people gathered in the windows overlooking the small parade and they followed it on foot in some cases. The night was fast approaching, the temperatures were thankfully dropping, and there was an air of excitement all along the route of the parade.

[wppa type=”slide” album=”7″ size=”760″][/wppa]

Come back soon for another slideshow from the hundreds of photos that I took over the weekend.

Coming up next? Tractors and farm vehicles from all eras!

Autrefois Le Couserons: Extended Coverage On The Way!

Hundreds — seriously — I took almost 200 photos last night (in spite of the people and cyclists who stepped right in front of my proposed shot again and again!) and well over 600 today. So I have a lot to wade through! Those numbers don’t even take into account the several hundred photos that Mark took, too.

Musicians in traditional dress at the Autrefois Le Couserons festival in St. Girons, Midi-Pyrenees, France

It’s been a glorious two days of vintage vehicles, traditional music, and people in historical costume and we are all quite relieved that the weather stayed clear and bright. As the parades went through St. Girons on both days, people clustered high above the street in front of their windows to watch the spectacle pass by.

Watching from above as the Autrefois Le Couserons parade passes through St. Girons, Midi-Pyrenees, France

I think I’ll create a couple of slide shows of the (turn down your volume if you don’t want to hear the music track on this link!) Autrefois Le Couserons festival here in St. Girons in the Midi-Pyrenees of France. This is an annual celebration of traditional rural life in the Couserons.

Shepherd on horseback with his dog tucked into his arms at the Autrefois Le Couserons parade in St. Girons, Midi-Pyrenees, France

We now live in such a fascinating place with layers of history and settlement over the centuries since its pre-Roman origins.

Stay tuned for more pictures from this activity-packed weekend!

A Wanderful Life

The Neverending Journey