Santander, rest day, June 05

Up just in time for this: 

It´s got to be downhill after that sight.  But onward we go.  First destination was the Botin Art Museum: 

(it is even whackier inside) right near where the ferry embarked.  I instructed Googles Maps NOT to take me the way of the tunnel, but, no:

However, when your eye is not burning like crazy and it is earlier in the day so that the fumes are not so bad, the 1/2 mile passage is not terrible, just unpleasant.  And it is efficient.  And oh, look!  Look again and you can see the light.....

A lady outside the museum getting ready to do some performance art:

Miro in the square near the museum:

One room had about 6 pieces of traditional art, this Matisse being my favorite:

The curation was so pretentious saying things like portraiture is the true essence of the whole and stuff like that.

Then there were walls filled with pieces like this:

which could be interesting to talk about, but hardly an emotional experience.  Silvia Bachli (the artist) has this to say, "A successful drawing is simple.  It expands into space.  It is bigger than the paper format.  It keeps its secret, even when one looks at it again and again."  Whatever!

More of her work, but in color, in some other rooms, the most interesting feature being the placement of the chairs:

By the way, I must note that I have never seen more guards in a museum than in this one.  One was following me, worried that I would snatch a piece off the wall?

Essentially, I want the same for my enemy as myself.  Don´t even get me started.  OK, just a little bit started.  What does my enemy want for me, I ask.

This is supposed to be made of things confiscated at an airport put into an arrangement that looks like a spine:

There was way more, IMO, weird stuff with sound and such, but this is enough to talk about!

In the afternoon, it was off to The Lighthouse!

Some small beeches cut into the coast every now and again.  The staircases to reach them are VERY long!

There was a monument:

Close-up of guy reaching for the cross...or maybe that is not what he is doing:

It was a pleasant cliff walk to the lighthouse and back.  And in case you were wondering, the great big body of water is the Cantabrian Sea.  

Then it was time to hit the beech, two beeches, in fact.  It was just lovely to walk along the sand and see so many people of all ages having a good time, like this group of boys who, just arrived, ran a hootin´ and a hollerin´ running into the water:

This kid was really digging himself into a hole:

I saw him on the outbound and on the inbound and he was still at it.

Among the many varieties of games people were playing with balls and paddles and nets and whatnot, there was this game in which you catch a ball but before you throw it back, you have to jump around in a circle, in one move.  

Maybe I am behind the times, OK, I am, but the bare tuchas look is really in (for girls...and women) and I so don´t get it.  Kind of along those lines, one woman was taking the sun with her face completely covered, but no bathing suit top.  (Maybe she left it at home?!)

After walking the beeches, it was time to try the rival ice cream vender, also it was time because they don´t open until 4:30.  I bought a burnt cream (essentially brown sugar flavor) in a chocolate covered cone.  It was delicious!! 

Did a major reorg of my suitcase hoping it will cut down my getting out of Dodge time in the mornings.  And, oh, good news!  After I told the guy at the resale Apple store that I would withhold payment for the AppleCare, he got hustling and I think the refund is in process.  If not, Apple Customer Service in England will take care of it after 30 days.  When the customer is right there is usually a way.