The 3-hour time difference hit us hard this morning as we crawled out of bed in order to go to the nearby Dalí Museum. The museum and its bistro were recommended by our friend Loretta and neither disappointed us.
After arriving at the Dalí Museum we went straight to the bistro named Gala (Dali’s wife’s first name) for our breakfast/lunch. The place had a Spanish Tapas ambience so we had a Tortilla Española and Melon Salmorejo with Burrata. The latter dish was described as “Spain’s most popular sopa” (soup). That’s very interesting because I have been to Spain numerous times and never heard of the dish. I messaged our daughter, Erica, who lives in Madrid and she told me that she has seen Salmorejo with watermelon or tomato but never with canteloupe as sold at the bistro. So much for truth in advertising. Whether or not it is the most popular sopa in Spain or not, it was very popular with us. The Tortilla Española was a different story. It was good but didn’t measure up to my standards. My Spanish “Father”, Juan Carlos, makes the best version of this dish and I will accept nothing less.
After our breakfast/lunch, we went to the information desk and spoke to a volunteer named Annette who told me what to do. It made me feel right at home since I have an older sister, Annette, who has been telling me what to do since I was a little boy. So, obediently, we headed to the tour, given by a volunteer docent. She was very amiable but seemed a little loose with the facts, frequently making errors about his age when he painted a portrait (how can you get that wrong when the date is on the painting right in front of you?). In addition, Patrice kept cringing every time the docent mentioned the artist’s name calling him Dally (as in dilly dally) rather than “Da Lee” (with the accent on the Lee).
The museum has an incredible collection of Dalí (that’s Da Lee, not Dally) masterpieces and many works by other artists. We saw paintings by Picasso, Magritte, and Jackson Pollack. The patio was lovely and you can sit there while you enjoy your food from the bistro.
We had a great time in the museum and we recommend you go there if you are nearby. On exhibit, we were able to see one of the two versions of “Lincoln in Dalivision” (the other being a larger version at the Dalí museum in Figueres, Spain). I know you have seen this picture. Up close it is a myriad of photos and pixels but from a distance, it is a portrait of Abraham Lincoln. An interesting phenomena was pointed out by our guide. She said that if you look at the picture with your eye at a relatively close distance you see the various pixels but if you look from the same distance with your phone’s camera you see the Lincoln image (see below)
After the museum, we walked around the town and ventured down to the Pier. There, we saw a variety of street vendors and performers. We saw a young person selling shirts with clever sayings on them. She told us she designed this shirt after the Supreme Court reversed Roe vs Wade.
For dinner tonight we met up with our friends Zara and Chuck from Jupiter, Florida. Long-time followers of the blog will recall that Zara and I had first met on the internet in the 1990’s when we communicated about our children with Crohn’s disease. We were each other’s therapists while our kids battled that awful disease. If you are interested in learning about Crohn’s go to this link https://www.crohnscolitisfoundation.org/
Enough about horrible diseases let’s get back to food. Tonight we had dinner at Columbia (2117 E 7th Ave, Tampa, FL 33605), a Cuban restaurant in Tampa (our hotel is in nearby St. Peterburg). As much as we enjoyed the Library last night, the Columbia outdid it. The service was excellent, the food was outstanding, and the price was incredibly reasonable. I even had some sangria. Yes, I drank some alcohol.
Enough food for now, tomorrow is all about tattoo removal and baseball.
Adios
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 