Blue women carrying water

Found near Barcelona's Cathedral, in the Barri Gotic.

Sorry, friends, don't have much time to browse your blogs lately, as I am a bit under the weather at the moment. Will be back a bit more, as soon as I am better.

Intruders...

One of the many canons adorning Montjuic Castle. What was deterring intruders years ago seems now to be welcoming all the foreign tourists on the big ships in the background...

By the way, the 5th visitor from now on, 8.14PM in Barcelona, will be the 10.000th... A big welcome to you, my friend! Have some cake!
 8.46PM: welcome to Lois, from Tallahassee, one of our first visitors ever, and also our 10.000th visitor! Lois has a wonderful blog, please check it out, it is really worth it!

Zona de varada

Seen on a beach nearby. A zona de varada is a place where to put fishing boats aground.

Catalan Blue

If I had to define the "natural" color of Barcelona, and generally Catalunya, I would choose this fantastically rich blue you can find everywhere here. This is another door, in a small village just north of Barcelona, along the coast. I think it is the door at number 69.
What would be the defining color of wherever you live?

Murano glass

Small horses, lamps, glasses, necklaces, boxes, vases, etc. You can make pretty much anything out of glass. Here is how they do it in Murano, island world famous for it's... glass.

And here is a woman. Made of glass. Beware: glass women are FRAGILE!

Masks

Many Venitians spend a small (or not so small) fortune dressing up for Carnavale, costumes, shoes, and masks. Here are a few traditional masks, mainly meant for tourist in search of a cheap (or not so cheap) souvenir.

And then, there is the other way, as seen below...

Which mask would you choose?

Water Closet Palace Hotel

In the same shop where we found those strange bearded women yesterday, there was this, the Water Closet Palace Hotel.

Needless to say, this was not OUR hotel!!!

I am creating another small blog with some more classic views of beautiful Venice. Here are the first pictures. You can also click on our Venice blog, just above this post.

Bearded women?

Seen in a shop in Venice. Fashion statement?

La isola di Burano

Near Venice, in the laguna, is the very beautiful island called Burano, famous for it's lace. Now, you know that this blog is rather colorful... Here are some more colors for everybody to enjoy!

L'uomo ucello

Well, we've been away for a couple of days, to the wonderful Venezia, Venice, for some sightseeing, window shopping, and some serious photo shooting. This being a blog about Barcelona, I wont post too many pictures of Venice, just a few selected ones (out of the hundreds we took).

L'uomo ucello, the birdman, greeted us from what probably is his favorite perch. Fantastic mask, a bit scary! And the costume is not bad either, for a big bird.

Thanks for all your wishes for this blog's first 6 months, and for our little trip! It was cold, very wet, windy, but it was wonderful!

6 months!

This is Barcelona! Perfect picture to celebrate the 6monthaversary of this blog, started on may 10th, 2009!

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. And yes, we decided against taking our laptops on the trip! See ya all tomorrow.

Montserrat

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 on the trip!

Photo taken on top of Tibidabo. On the mountain in the back, you can (barely) see the sanctuary of Our Lady of Mantserrat.

Window

Window near the Cathedral, in the old town.

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 on the trip!

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!