Yesterday was my roommates' birthday. Yes, Mike and Shane have the same birthday. :) After work I went to pick Shane up at his job and we went to the Salvador Dali Museum.

Salvador Dali is one of my favorite artists. I was excited when I found out that St. Petersburg is home to the Salvador Dali Museum, which houses the largest Dali collection outside of Spain. I have been here nearly 2 years now and had yet to go once. So I was pretty excited.

After entering through the store and buying tickets, we hurried to join a tour that had just began. One of the first things we heard from our guide was that Dali was born on May 11th. She then told us that it was her birthday also. It was quite amusing.

The Museum currently has an exhibit called Salvador Dali and a Century of Art from Spain: Picasso to Plensa. It was amazing, to stand, up close, to such amazing artwork. To stand where the artist stood and labored for years, to look at the texture of the materials. I loved it. Any photo or image in a book of Dali's work does not do it justice.

Christopher Columbus Discovers America

This piece was one of my favorites. It is one of four large (about 10-20') paintings in the gallery. It is absolutely breathtaking. The details and colors are amazing, as well as the imagery that he uses. There were also a lot of smaller pieces. I was actually pretty surprised to see paintings that were only 4"x5", etc.

The Gallery's newest piece is Gala Contemplating the Mediterannean Sea Which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln - Homage to Rothko. Here it is at a small version, and you can clearly see Lincoln as he appears on the penny. When you view it up close, the details are amazing (hint:click it and it'll get bigger).

Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea Which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln

Anyways, I definitely recommend visiting the Dali Museum. It was a great way to spend a couple hours.

Later on in the evening, Shane wanted to go to Alibi, so we did that. Walter was supposed to meet us, but has been being shady lately. He owes Shane and Mike all kinds of money and now randomly decided he's going to move to Pittsburgh instead of looking for a job. So, he never showed up.

Justin was there, and I also saw Kevin, and Toby. Robert was there, dancing, as usual. :) Um, I drank beer, Shane got shots of Jose Quervo for him and I. It had been a while since I took a shot of Tequila, at the bar at least. As Shane was getting his free birthday boy card (and kiss) from the DJ, I felt it kick in and make everything a little brighter and more interesting. Hehe. I saw Mike and another coworker out celebrating also. Mike was pretty drunk, as was everyone I was there with.

All in all, it was a good day and a great night. I got home a little earlier than usual, so was still pretty functional today at work. I even helped a coworker move her desk into her new office.