Back from Spain

After an enjoyable close-to-two-weeks in Spain (Barcelona, Seville, Madrid, Toledo), I am back in NYC, more or less for the duration.  Among the best things I saw out there were the Gaudi buildings and Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, and the astoundingly rich collections of Spanish and other European art in the Prado and Thyssen museums in Madrid. It actually got painful trying to see as much as one could, in a day each, of those two collections.  For example, lots of great El Greco (supplemented in Toledo), Velazquez, and Goya. And the Picasso Museum in Barcelona was quite interesting for its early works, pre-fame and fortune and thus predating the emergence of all those trademark mannerisms.