Dali and Tacos - Opposites Attract

After spending a few days close to home (Clermont), Clare and I decided to take a trip further afield.

"Shall we do something with culture in it?" she suggested.

"Like what?" I asked, eyeing her with suspicion.

"I thought we could head down to the Gulf of Mexico and visit the Salvador Dali museum," she said.

"Mmmm, Gulf of Mexico sounds good ...... "  I mused, "but I'm not sure about the arty shite."

"You'll like Dali, he's a bit mental," Clare pointed out.

"Ok, let's give it a go," I sighed.

And so we jumped into the car along with Jody (Clare's fella) and headed south to St Petersburg, a bloody marvellous city located on the Gulf of Mexico.

As cities in America go, this one was pretty cool. Lovely beaches, a picturesque marina, a plethora of shops, and on top of all that it was actually quite cosmopolitan too. It was like an American version of Brighton.

But we were there to visit the museum and be cultured, and it didn't take long to find it because the architecture gave it away a bit. 

Pic.No.1 The Salvador Dali Museum in St Petersburg. If you are going to build a museum to house surrealist art, this will do the job

Pic.No.2 This was a close-up of the Dali museum

Pic.No.3 The building was equally impressive inside

Pic.No.4 See that big curly thing? It was made out of concrete and had nothing holding it up

Pic.No.5 Look at the location of the museum - it looked out onto a marina and to the Gulf of Mexico beyond

Pic.No.6 It's me being cultured in a museum. I was dying to say things like; "his transitional surrealist works indiciate a definite step away from his early impressionist period," even though I didn't know what it meant

Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the gallery itself. So I had to go on the internet and nick images of the paintings I liked the best ..........

Pic.No.7 "The Slave Market With The Disappearing Bust Of Voltaire". See those two fat birds dressed in black? If you squint, they turn into a bust of Voltaire

Pic.No.8 "The Weaning of Furniture Nutrition". If I was Dali, I would've called this "Bird with a Hole In." This painting in particular was far more striking in real life. That white boat looked so real that it felt like you could pluck it out of the picture

Pic.No.9 "Geopoliticus-Child". It's a picture of a bloke in an egg

Pic.No.10 "Still Life". I think that Dali was being ironic here, because the objects weren't still. They did however represent scientific breakthroughs of the time

There were two things that particularly impressed me about Dali's work: 1. normally, I walk through art galleries and think 'I could do that' (yep, I'm a heathen), but this time I didn't; and 2. his technical ability was absolutely staggering. He was sublimely skilled, unlike the artists of today, who cut cows in half, and pile up bricks.

Pic.No.11 After viewing the museum we wondered around outside in it's grounds ....... this is the view towards the Gulf of Mexico

Pic.No.12 Everybody come and look at us!

Pic.No.13 Look, it's me again. And this time I am standing in a comedy Dali moustache

Pic.No.14 See that bench? It is based on his 'Persistence of Memory' painting which is all about melty clocks

Pic.No.15 In the garden was the 'Tree of Wishes'. Basically you take off your admission wristband, write a wish on it and stick it on the tree. I couldn't be bothered thinking of a wish, so I just stuck it on the tree

Pic.No.16 It's me. I was being a dichotomy because I was standing amongst the branches of the Dali 'Tree of Wishes' but couldn't think of any wishes

I have to say that looking at arty crap is hungry work, so I was glad when Clare and Jody suggested that we go and eat. 

Whilst reasearching places to eat in St Petersburg, they had found a place that featured on the Food Network program, 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives'. It was a Mexican place which was good because I love Mexican food.

Pic.No.17 As we pulled up at the ahem [cough] restaurant, I was a little taken aback because it looked more like a bus than a restaurant. And it was called Taco Bus

Pic.No.18 And we had to sit on picnic benches around the bus

Pic.No.19 I ordered one beef, one chicken and one pork Tacos. And beer because it was hot and it would be rude not to

Pic.No.20 Fancy a bite dahlink? I have to say that although the surroundings were a little unusual, the food was absolutely sublime. Fresh, crisp and tasty

And so that was our trip to St Petersburg. I have to say, from what I saw, I would definitely like to go back there again and explore further.

So how has your week been, and what plans are you up to over the Easter holidays?

P.S. Just in case you were wondering what I have done with Izzy, she has been spending the Easter holidays with Steve. I was chatting to her on Skype and she was telling me that she was off camping for a few days.

Today, Steve sent me a picture of their camping trip ....... I kid you not ...... this is the picture he sent ......

Pic.No.21 Steve and Izzy's Easter camping trip didn't quite work out as planned