My husband and I have been sheltering from the heat a lot, but it’s not getting cooler soon, so to avoid becoming shut-ins, yesterday we took a trip to Caixa Cosmo, BCN’s science museum. Bottom line–it’s amazing! A lot of displays are hands-on activities, as in the SF Exploratorium, especially in the extensive physics section. There are also excellent displays demonstrating the size and age of the universe in approachable ways, a deep dive into evolution, an indoor rain forest complete with fauna, and a mammoth skeleton acquired last October. There are many things we didn’t get to, such as the planetarium, the outdoor gardens (too hot!), and an extensive geological section. The museum is enormous and gorgeous, very modern in both appearance and facilities, on a huge plot of land on the side of Mount Tibidabo.

No water fountains, of course. To date I have encountered one indoor water fountain in BCN, at a single dance studio.

Here are the skeletons: Triceratops head, mammoth, cave bears.

The rainforest was the main thing I wanted to see, and I was remembering Hawaii, so compared to that it was more like a rainforest in a cage. But honestly, it was a lot for a building. You can walk through it and very much feel the humidity and hear the bird sounds. It’s about five stories high, and there are lots of platforms for viewing from various heights. The picture on the right is a waterfall, so there are both flowing and standing water habitats.

Since the tree roots are underwater, it’s a decent aquarium and zoo as well as a rainforest, because there are lots of animals to maintain. My phone’s distance lens didn’t do an amazing job on the spoonbills. The lungfish is from a separate display, but it had such a plaintive look I had to include it. There were plenty of other creatures, including turtles and rays. There were supposed to be capybaras, but they were hiding, perhaps. We saw a creepily huge anaconda and a boa in carved-out enclosures.

We only managed three hours there so we’ll have to return; I definitely need to look through the microscope at the tardigrade, for example, which was the only display with an actual line. Afterward we were hungry, and since we were in an unknown neighborhood without an obvious centro, so we asked Google, which sent us to a Club Bonasport, a private racquet and fitness club that allows the public to use its restaurant, though unfortunately neither its indoor nor outdoor pools.

Very High End. The restaurant sprawls indoors and out, all glass with a great view of Barcelona sloping down to the Mediterranean. We arrived between mealtimes so it was practically empty, though the members we saw were all tall and lean, clad in well-fitting natural-fabric athletic wear, and on first-name terms with the staff, who were busy prepping for cocktail hour–there must have been 150 wine glasses awaiting their moment. We arrived between mealtimes so the kitchen was closed, but they rustled up Spanish omelets for us and were actively friendly and accommodating, and the meal was not even expensive.

Readers who know my husband will know why I could not prevent him from taking a picture of this yellow car in a private parking area.

I’ve completely lost bragging rights to my First Class Girl Scout status, because I did not at all heed the motto Be Prepared. We had plenty of time in the morning for me to figure out what I needed, but I didn’t bring anything, most particularly not a water bottle, a hat, or either of my portable fans. I was thinking I would be on an air-conditioned bus then in an air-conditioned museum then in an air-conditioned restaurant, then on an air-conditioned bus again, and I was. But there were substantial walks between endpoints as well as in the museum, and we spent a little time wandering around looking for the restaurant. I had to rest on a bench a few times. I’m really looking forward to the fall when I can find out if my sluggishness is only heat-related, or is a sign of joint deterioration, energy depletion, or some other other age-related insult for me to learn to live with.

Whether I deteriorate or not, I’m very happy that I’m doing it in BCN!