Barcelona at Night

Most of my excursions through Barcelona have been during the day.  Finally, I dared take out my camera while walking through the Barri Gothic last night - the last night of the festival of La Merce.

A random plaza circled by tapas bars & restaurants - and random street musicians

Lit-up balconies at the Hotel Banys

Near the Cathedral of the city - lit up

Another lit-up tower - near one of the stages set up for the festival of La Merce

Strings of lights in El Born

9pm and 24 degrees (75 F)... perfect night. 

Next time, I won't be toting a bottle of wine in my hand... so I'll probably take more pictures.  Until then, this is a glimpse of the city I traced my way through last night.

On a side note, for a country that's suffering from a "crisis" - they sure throw a lot of festivals and put on impressive fireworks displays.  party on?

"... that way they can cop a feel, unobstructed"

My dear mother just can't seem to "get" the fact that I've lived in a big city all my life.  She was there in LA with me until she came to Barcelona 10 years ago. 

Mom:  "So be sure to keep your keys, and your ID and your money in your pockets.  Don't keep anything of value in your purse..."


My eyes are rolling, and I've completely tuned her out - I've heard this before.  Besides, I've navigated New York City at 3am.  Hell, I've taken the bus in LA at 2am (which is much sketchier than NYC - by far). 

Mom: "did you hear what I just said?"

Me: "yeah - so I should keep everything in my purse, that way my jeans will be completely streamlined with no bulges indicating which pockets have things in them... that way, if any perve or pickpocket comes up to me, they can cop a feel, unobstructed!"

I think she got the point. 

Then I was off to visit my friend Mick down in El Born.  I had a map - but tried not to use it.  We got a bottle of cheap 0,94 euro wine (take that, 2 buck chuck!)  We played ping pong in Ciutadela park.  We got the janky chewed-up table no one else wanted to play on.  It just made the game more fun.   That park is awesome.  I wish I lived closer to it. 

Barcelona can be way fun.  Today was a great day.  forgot my phone at Mick's - so no pictures... sigh.  next time

Retired

  I've put the Barcelona back in SharonVioletaBarcelona.

I like collecting stamps.  I even ask US immigration to stamp me back in to the States.  Silly, I know.

And after 3 and a half months of bouncing around from place to place in Los Angeles - living out of my suitcases - They are finally retired (until any road trip/day trip/ski trip?)

Huge thanks to my cousins, my friends, and my employer for letting me housesit, couch surf, guest room crash, and the like.  It's strange not having an address anymore.  I used to be so stable in my living situation. All this is so unsettling.  Let's see what becomes of this trip.  I'm navigating through life without a map.

BCN: Virtual Disconnect

Dear Barcelona,

Because you have made it so frustrating to find information online about places & things within your city, you are forcing me to actually go out and wander the streets in search of things to do.  Sure, I get to stumble upon things I'd have never otherwise found - but finding out about places to go and things to do is so challenging. 

And Facebook doesn't get interesting for me until 4pm which is when all my U.S. contacts start waking up and posting... my contact list here is still rather meager.  As for Twitter - since I'm roaming, I can't really tweet at leisure - so there's no point there...

Talk about word of mouth: Sunday (May 1st) was Mother's day & Labor Day here in Europe.  At about 5pm, we heard a helicopter circling overhead here in my mom's 'hood.  But I didn't even realize how unusual that was until my mom pointed it out (helicopters circling overhead was the norm when I lived in Koreatown, Miracle Mile & MacArthur Park adjacent in L.A.)... Mick was over for lunch & after he left, he called and said the whole Zona Alta was on lock-down with police barricades shutting down access into the area.  Why?  Dunno... Think they had anything on the evening news?  Newp.  You know how we found out what was going on?  Mum went to the hairdressers, and that's how she got the skinny.  Old fashioned gossip at the hairdresser's.  Apparently there were some discontented unemployed rioters and anarchists protesting the banks due to the "crisis" (unemployment is 22% here), and they were throwing bricks and white paint at the bank windows all around town.  But there's no reporting anywhere!!! 

I know more about what's going on in Los Angeles than here.  sigh.  Even getting a connection here with my Mac is a tedious effort:  the Wi-Fi (pronounced wee fee) keeps going out, and I have to call up Telefonica to have them adjust their router (pronounced rooter) every few days so they can switch the channels to help me connect. 

Well, my return flight to LA is in less than 10 days... we'll see if there are things that I'll miss when i'm there until my return to BCN (not including people). 

Thanks for letting me rant.

Still Without a Map...

... But not without a clue.  I'm just wandering the streets, and walking wherever my interest leads me.  Sometimes I pass down a street I've been down before... other times, I turn a corner and find something completely different.  Found: in the Barri Gothic - how's this for a statement against all the CCTV cameras all around us? 

Yet today I needed to use my GPS feature on my iPhone.  The data roaming fees are painfully steep, so I've been keeping it off - only going online when I have a wi-fi (or as they say here "wee-fee") connection.  When seeking out a specific place in the middle of a maze, when it's already a challenge to find the names of the streets anywhere, you kinda need a map.  

I was trying to get to my friend's place, and I knew I was within 5 minutes of his location... but I couldn't tell which way to turn or go... I only had a vague notion, and things looked familiar - yet it all just looks the same after a while 

me: "so I'm in this little plaza, and there's a tapas bar with some tables outside, by some old church looking building - I can't find the name of the street - oh it's Carrer de ____"

Mac: "That can be anywhere - and I don't know the names of all the little random streets... "

Thank you GPS (and the crazy line outside the Museo Picasso for helping to guide me)

the sidewalks have crazy patterns

view from where we sat for tapas

Once we met up, we found some cute little setting to sit and have a couple of tapas, and some vino blanco.  Still not a fan of tapas.  The wine, on the other hand...

The return home had to be on foot - MANDATORY.  Those Papas Patatas Bravas, Calamari, greasy sausages, pan con tomate & 4 glasses of wine needed to be walked off. I did take a break to snap a couple more pics.  (just a note: Papas is Mexican, Patatas is Spanish for potato)

on Paseo de Gracia

Soundtrack:  The Black Keys, Brothers (x2 - it was a long walk home... longer than i thought)    

You know you're on Paseo de Gracia when the sidewalk looks like this