A street car named Tibidabo

This is the 107 years old little street car going up the hill, to Tibidabo.

I will be away for a couple of days, taking my wife to one of the most romantic and beautiful places on earth, Venice, Italy. Therefore, this is an automatic posting. Back on wednesday. And yes, we decided against taking our laptops!

Rock the boat

Seen this on some rocks in northern Catalunya.

 I will be away for a couple of days, taking my wife to one of the most romantic and beautiful places on earth. Therefore, automatic postings for the next few days .

Yearly beach chairs report, brought to you by Daily Photo Barcelona!

This is the very first yearly beach chairs report, brought to you by Daily Photo Barcelona! Welcome, have some cake, free drinks in the back.

Not much to say today... The summer is over, here anyway, beach chairs are being stacked, cleaned and put away. Small boys walking away. Please don't cry: summer will be back again next year!

Some hardened weather beaten people left on the beaches, wearing sweaters and jackets. Or diving suits. Being a northerner myself, north east of France that is, it is still very nice for me, no sweaters for me yet. Weather beaten, me? Not likely! I'm a big softie (as confirmed by my wife).

Well, this is it: end of the first yearly beach chairs report! Stay tuned folks! Coming soon on this very channel: the first yearly sweater report!

Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau - 3

Another detail of this magnificent hospital, one of the pavilions. Please click on the label below the post to see the other photos.

Waiting...

Waiting... Ignoring each other...
There are people from over 100 countries living in Barcelona, many Chinese, Pakistanis, several thousands French, Indians, Moroccans, and so on. Integration is still a problem, despite of the efforts of the local gouvernment (the Generalitat). Immigrants are offered free Catalan classes, free access to culture, but still, the divide is great. Also, we are in Spain, but it's hard to get a job here if you don't speak Catalan. But then, Catalan doesn't help you very much in the rest of Spain...It's hard to get a job anyway, with or without Catalan, as the unemployment rate in Spain is the highest in Europe, with 19.3%. Over 3.8 million people are unemployed here.
The mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, recently blew a fuse about the "anti-publicity", the bad name of the city in the news lately. Corruption, grand theft, prostitution, drugs. So, not all is fair in our fair city. So what? Welcome to the real Barcelona, a place finally like any other place, with a good side, and a bad one!

And one more...

Yesterday, I hesitated quite a while.... Which doorway for the theme day, as I have a good choice of pictures to choose from. Was hard.
Anyway, here is another one, in Sant Pol de Mar as well. Part of a church compound, I believe. Much simpler than the one yesterday, but simplicity has it's beauty.

Theme of the month: Doorways

This is one I discovered this afternoon in Sant Pol de Mar, on the Costa del Maresme, north of Barcelona.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants of thos month's theme day.

Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía

A bit more of Valencia, a picture that combines both my love for music and my love for science fiction. Just behind what I showed yesterday is this building, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (Queen Sofia's Arts Palace). An opera and concert hall looking like some stranded space ship.

Will go tosee Puccini's Madame Butterfly in January. It will be a GREAT evening!

la Ciutat de les Arts i de les Ciències

Short trip to Valencia. Valencia, where they speak valencian, a type of catalan, is a beautiful city south of Barcelona, renowned for it's food (the paella comes from here, originally), culture, architecture... It also has, in the city's cathedral, the Holy Grail, or so says the present Pope.

This picture was taken in the very futuristic City of Arts and Sciences, also known by the not so nice acronym of CAC. Amazing architecture.
The round building is a cinema, and the arches on the side are part of a car park.
More about it here.

My blog of note for today is about Minnesota's 8th largest town, the beautiful Eagan. Seems to be a really nice place to be, and some of it's inhabitants are quite quirky! Have a look, here.

Asterix and Obelix in Catalunya

October 29th, 1959... That day, for the very first time, was published a comic which would become famous around the world, as it has been published in 107 languages: Asterix and Obelix.
The went pretty much everywhere: America, Rome, Egypt, England, Belgium, Spain...
Even to Catalunya, the proof being this picture! Yep, another shutter, another closed shop!

Other birthdays today: Winona Ryder, 38, Richard Dreyfuss, 62, the Internet, 40. 40 years since Charley Kline sent some data from the University of California to the University of Stanford, an L and a O, on a Honeywell computer.
Happy birthday! Have some cake!

Posting 1 and 172: El Cul

This, my friends, was my very first posting, almost 6 months ago. I didn't know by then anything about this sculpture.
Very recently, I came upon some info about it, and... I just can't resist sharing it with you guys, as it is totally silly, and so typical of Barcelona!!!

The photo was taken in a little park off Avinguda Icaria.

Open quote:
This park holds one of the sculptures built to celebrate the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. It is El Cul (The Bottom), a bronze piece 6.5 metres high by Eduardo Úrculo, and was dedicated to Santiago Roldan, the President of the Barcelona Holding Olímpic between 1989 and 1993. Úrculo was very pleased that "Barcelona was the first Western city to have a monument dedicated to the bottom". The sculpture, situated next to the Himalayan cedar forest, consists of long thick legs supporting two perfectly round buttocks.
End quote.


Stay tuned, folks: tomorrow is an important birthday for many people, specially for Frenchmen.

Little boxes

1. Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of ticky-tacky, Little boxes, little boxes, Little boxes, all the same. There's a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one And they're all made out of ticky-tacky And they all look just the same. 2. And the people in the houses All go to the university, And they all get put in boxes, Little boxes, all the same. And there's doctors and there's lawyers And business executives, And they're all made out of ticky-tacky And they all look just the same.

3. And they all play on the golf-course, And drink their Martini dry, And they all have pretty children, And the children go to school. And the children go to summer camp And then to the university, And they all get put in boxes And they all come out the same. 4. And the boys go into business, And marry, and raise a family, And they all get put in boxes, Little boxes, all the same. There's a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one And they're all made out of ticky-tacky And they all look just the same. Malvina Reynolds

Bundles

This is the cat formerly known as Bundles. We were unable to take her with us to India, and then to Spain, so we had to leave her where we found her, in Larnaka, Cyprus. She was a street cat, and we rescued her when she was 2 or 3 month old. Bundles of joy! She has a happy life!

Window shopping: India?

My wife treated me to a nice Pakistani reataurant last friday night. Nice food!
Anyway, en route to the Shalimar, we went down the Ramblas, the main tourist area in the city center, and passed in front of one of the many many souvenir shops (fans, Tshirts with different "funny"texts, ashtrays, etc). This one was different... Next to some Rosina Wachtmeister cats (in a future posting!), they were selling this. Quite a surprise to find this here, even though there are approximately 28.ooo Indians living in Catalunya!

Welcome!

Welcome to my 158th follower, Sishir! Have some cake from that fabulous shop in Avinguda Gaudi! Everybody is invited, got 7 more of them! Nice weekend to all!

Perfect

Yesterday, while I was at work, we had THE perfect rainbow. A complete 180 degrees bow. Photo taken by my lovely wife Mandy.

White

Hi Mister! I don't know you. You were sitting on that bench, enjoying the sun.
But whoever you are, I love your beard, and your smile!

Dog days

We're having some strange weather lately. Rain and wind today, but mostly just wind. Perfect weather to go walkie on the beach!
The black things in the water are surfers, but I didn't see a single one actually standing on a board. Probably too rough.

Casa Amatller

Welcome back to Passeig de Gracia, the street full of weird and wonderful buildings.
This is Casa Amatller. Built between 1898 and 1900 by architect Josep Puig i Cadafalch, for the chocolate king Antoni Amatller, and inspired by 17th century dutch townhouses. The sculptures are by Eusebi Arnau. Another fine example of modernism. Very very touristic, of course, very long queues to actually visit the building. Haven't had the time yet to do it, but I will, asap. And I'll take some pictures, promised!

Open? Closed?

This is a bar in Mataró. But is it open, or is it closed? You decide! Looks welcoming.

BLUE

A new highlight in the Barcelona skyline is the W Hotel, nicknamed la vela, the sail. Built by the renowned architect Ricardo Bofil, a local, and entirely made of glass, directly on the seafront, with some spectacular views over the sea and the mountains. Some of the names of the rooms and suites: wonderful room, fabulous room, fantastic suite, wow suite and, of course the Extreme Wow Suite, probably on top of the building.
Their prices... Well, it's a 5 stars hotel, so just let your imagination go wild.

As the outside is made of glass, it reflects the ambient light. I will go back one day when the sky isn't as blue as today, to see the different reflections. Might be interesting.

Black is beautiful!

Specially if it's this wonderful black Cadillac waiting for a newly wedded couple in front of the Mataró City Hall!

The Cadillac automobile was named after the 17th-century French explorer Antoine Laumet de la Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac, who founded Detroit in 1701. Cadillac is a small town in the southwest of France, near Bordeaux. It is famous for it's wines, Bordeaux and Sauternes.

Colors

I would love to live in this street! A world full of colors. Not far away, maybe 2 hours, in northern Catalunya.
The only thing missing are some kids at play, or a couple of cats lounging.

Glasses

Weekend in Mumbai (Bombay), a short while ago. A posh restaurant in the suburbs. Loads to drink, some very fine stuff!

City Archive

A nice place to sit down for a while, way from the crowd, but still right in the city center, in the inner courtyard of the City Archive, the Arxiu Municipal.

I don't usually do this, but... A BBC reporter is starting a daily photo blog... here.

Dogtown

Barcelona is, like Buenos Aires (hello there!), a dog town. Very few cats or other quadrupeds around, but dogs everywhere. But not just any dogs, no. Small dogs. The sheer amount of small pinchers, terriers, specially Yorkshire terriers, tiny poodles, dachshund, is quite incredible. But, believe it or not, we are not sinking under the weight of accumulated dog poo. A dog owner won't go for a walkie without a sheet of newspaper, or a plastic bag, to scoop up after little darling finished his/her little big business!
This one, I spotted him in a crowd. Basically, we weren't formally introduced, so I don't know anything about him/her. Friendly face though.

Welcome by the way to Valy, the 151st follower of this now over 5 months old blog.

The Santa Eulàlia

The Santa Eulalia. This gorgeous schooner was built in Torrevieja, near Alicante in 1918, and launched one year later. Under different names, it was active for almost 80 years, until it was auctioned off, and bought by Barcelona's Maritime Museum.

That purchase saw the museum posed with one of the most significant and difficult challenges it had ever faced, namely the recovery and restoration of a historical vessel, adhering to the strictest criteria in terms of the protection of cultural heritage.

You can now visit it on it's mooring, in the Port Vell.















Here is some technical data:

Previous names:	Carmen Flores (1919-1931) Puerto de Palma (1931-1936) Cala San Vicenç (1936-1975) Sayremar Uno (1975-2000) Santa Eulàlia (2001)
Year of construction:	1918 Probably launched on 14 January 1919
Shipyard:	Astilleros Marí, in Torrevieja (Alicante)
Dead weight (maximum load):	190 tons
Displacement in service:	215 tons
Gross / net tonnage:	156 tons / 116 tons
Material of hull:	Wood
Overall length:	34.6 m (47 m including the bowsprit and the boom)
Length between perpendiculars:	29.3 m
Maximum breadth:	8.5 m
Depth:	3,8 m
Maximum draught:	4.05 m
Surface area of sails:	526,4 m2
Number of sails:	12
Height of masts above deck:	27 m
Engine:	Volvo Penta 367 CV (291.9 kW)
Current crew:	7 (captain plus 6 sailors)
Maximum no. of passengers:	30 people

Abanicos

The natural extensions to a Spanish woman's hand is this: an abanico. Although mostly a southern thing, Sevilla and Andalucia originally, it is used a lot here as well.
They can be as cheap as dirt (I saw some made in China!) or going in the hundreds of euros, if they are made of ebony or ivory, silk, gold, etc. I suppose they are more of a statement then than of real utility.