The host mum has given me a block of post-it notes with Spanish sayings with little cartoons and my favourite this week is the myopically optimistic: If you don't take your eyes off your dream, you save yourself from seeing any obstacles.
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| Exiting the train station in Placa Cataluyna |
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| I didn't realise this lady was taking up most the my picture of Las Ramblas |
After getting used to family life for a bit it was time to explore the city again!
The town is very well connected with trains and buses which take you straight into the centre. On my first trip I decided to have a little tourist mission and wander around the centre. Barcelona is a nice scale to walk around and explore although it's still full of summer tourists who walk at a snail's pace... I've decided I much prefer to get a bit lost but appear purposeful and keep on walking-then find a bench and disguise my confusion and emergency map reading as a water break or photo opportunity. Therefore it looks like its all part of the plan.
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| I was fairly lost and overheated at this point |
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| Barcelona's narrow streets |
I set off from the main square and basically did a food trail, combined with seeing the sights, stopping off for 1 euro (!) fresh fruit juices in La Boqueria market and horchata with ice cream.
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| One of the many cathedrals |
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| La Boqueria market |
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Placa Cataluyna
Some of the aupairs I met earlier in summer were going out on the Friday and we ended up going to a salsa club in the city centre where plenty of people where willing to make it their mission to teach a mixed nationalities group with varying levels of Spanish and degrees of 'two left feet' syndrome some of the steps. They played anything from more traditional songs to Sean Paul and Enrique Inglesias which I appreciated. Nights out in Spain are a bit of a shock to the system- people only start to go out after midnight and places close at 5/6am. I am notoriously bad without enough sleep so I've been embracing the Spanish siesta or Lima Lima Delta (little lie down) in the afternoon as preparation. However I really like how no hour of the night seems to leave the streets deserted over here. You can catch the last train home at midnight and be surrounded by elderly couples on their way back from dinner, meet people walking their dogs at 4am and joggers at sunrise. Most of the aupairs live outside the city centre so we have been catching the first train home between 6 and 7am, with a quick pit stop as Macdonalds in the station for breakfast. I then arrive at the house just before 8am as the sun is coming up, say good morning to the host mum who is much more chatty than me at that hour and go to sleep.
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| Dusk when I leave and sunrise when I get back is a long night |
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| Sunrise over the beach and station |
This week has seen the arrival of the festival of Barcelona's patron saint 'La Merce'. The city has been full of different events and I went into the city on Friday for drinks with some aupairs and ex-aupairs who are now teaching and studying to take advantage of the holiday atmosphere.
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| Placa Reial |
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| Male aupairs are few and far between! |
I also managed to see some of the events. The parade of giants took place in the square in front of the City Hall where different giants sent from the neighbouring areas were introduced and did surreal dances with each other which involved a lot of bobbing around in an awkward face-off to different theme tunes as a commentator described the scene in very indistinct Catalan.
Next on the agenda was battling the crowds to see a projection show on the City Hall and feeling like we were in a sauna. I couldn't get any photos to do it justice due to being fair closer to half the population of Barcelona than I ever want to be again but it involved a mixture of cartoons and music to tell a story. I can't tell you the full message but it included an appearance by Father Christmas and a whole team of penguins which was great.
Next stop was the parade of fire-breathing dragons! I think despite the general Spanish contempt for all things 'health and safety', this had been toned down slightly from the photos we'd seen in the past which looked like the streets were only a few more sparks away from going up in flames. Instead the drumming and dancing that accompanied the dragons played a bigger role than I had expected and really added to the atmosphere. My photography efforts involved the technique of holding my phone as high as possible and mainly missing the dragons but I think the photos give a good idea of the crowds and atmosphere if nothing else. The dragons mainly looked like various mean looking dinosaurs with the surprise guest appearances of a cat and a Gaudi lizard wearing a hat (still both breathing fire) to keep the crowd on their toes.
On Sunday we had a relaxed wander around the city and saw the festival transformation of La Parc de a Ciutadella with balloon sellers, bubble makers, colourful statues and a food market made up of painted caravans
We finished with a loop round to the port and back over the bridge to Las Ramblas, dodging all the tourists,and the station for home.
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| Leaving La Parc de la Ciutadella |
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| The bridge over the harbour with mountains in the background |
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| One of the many marinas in the city |
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| Old Customs building |
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| Monument to Christopher Columbus |
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| Looking out onto the water from the city |
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| Walking back through Las Ramblas |
