The next day I went into Figueres, the birthplace of Salvador Dalí, to check out the Dalí Museum and the Sant Ferran Castle. The town itself was a little smaller than Girona but was quite nice. After wandering around and eating lunch, I ascertained when my tickets could be picked up and found I had a couple hours, so I walked up to the castle. It was a very long and mildly perplexing walk, as various signs to the castle pointed in completely different directions and the roads were very unpopulated. I split the difference in the signs and it turned out well for me. The "castle" is really an old fortress. It was pretty interesting to walk around, but my feet started to disagree with me. I persevered, though, and then went back down to the Dalí Museum. There's an associated Dalí Jewelry that I actually went to first; it was really interesting to see his sketches turned into precious metals and stones as some pieces transcended the drawings while others were lackluster in comparison. I thought it was interesting that he aspired to create great value apart from the intrinsic value of the materials and viewed making jewelry as another media within his studio practice.
Then I went into the Dalí Museum. It was a really good museum - just the right size where you're able to spend several hours there but you leave having seen everything and feeling accomplished. I didn't know that he was so interested in stereoscopic imagery and other optical tricks until coming here.
After the museum I made my way back home. I'm not sure my feet have ever been that sore before (and the rest of me was fine!); I had worn a different pair of shoes that day and think that may have been part of the problem. So the following day was a studio and foot recuperation day.
Then I went back to Figueres as I wanted to look around the downtown area more - I had planned to do it after the Dalí Museum, but due to my sore feet that day I didn't. Plus the town is really fairly close by train from Camallera so it didn't burn too much time doing so. While I was wandering around I saw they were constructing something in the center plaza (la rambla). I asked what was happening and they said there was going to be a beach installed there the next day as a Saturday event. I asked two or three more times as I thought I must not have heard right. Why install a beach in the rambla when there are beaches everywhere by the sea in each town including Figueres? When I went back to Camallera that afternoon I asked Clara what this was all about and she had no idea but we looked it up and sure enough, it was a small festival. I decided to go back to see it and painted the rest of the day.
The "beach" ended up being two small piles of sand and then a lot of little tent shops selling mostly stuff that I wasn't interested in - books in Catalan, baby bibs, leather goods, seafood paella, and so on. I don't mind checking things like this out though because if you don't go then you always wonder what it would have been like.
I painted again that evening and the following day.
