Day Three | Sights & Sounds

This is not the first time I have lived in a big city. Boston came first, then London, and the sounds of living in a more populated area are coming back to me. The big ones and the little ones. The apartment faces on to one of the more well-walked streets in the neighborhood. For those that know Burlington, VT where I live, Becca has described her neighborhood perfectly, it's like living on a mini Church Street. filled with boutique shops of all kinds, restaurants and bars and people able to walk down the middle of the street, when there isn't a car trying to make its way through!

Last night was Friday night. Now, so far on weeknights, due to the cadence of the Catalonian life, and dinners starting around 9, there have been people walking and talking in the streets at least until 11, and often until 12 midnight. Last night it went all the way to 5 AM. It's becomes a background white noise. The wonderful thing about it is that it is all good natured; true belly laughs of delight from children at 11:00 at night, and so much laughter of friends telling stories with each other and catching up, to the flirtatious giggling of young women, and sometimes young men. There was a slight lull around 6 AM and then a different sound fills the air with pedestrian street sweepers. I have a whistler amongst them who is always chipper and with a clear whistle, making his way down the boulevard, cleaning up along the way, whistling his songs. In the apartment where I live there are no sounds from airplanes or metro traffic, just the occasional siren in the distance and the frequent engines of motorbikes navigating the crowds and side streets. Coming from a relatively country setting back in Vermont, where the only real sounds I hear are crickets, birds and coyotes,I wondered how the city sound scape was going to be, but I've found it actually comforting. It's life being lived outside my windows. Below are some pictures from the neighborhood, the late afternoon sun hitting neighboring buildings from the back deck, to the view from the front balcony looking down the street when the lights first came on in the evening. It appears in the 3rd picture that someone has their upper deck well lit up and glowing.The final three are from a street around the corner and it was bustling with people at 8:30/9 PM. I was to learn later that it was a prelude of an evening of people having a wonderful time.

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SATURDAY

Thank you to those that have made suggestions of where to go in Barcelona. Today was a destination morning with my sights on the Cathedral de Barcelona in the Gothic section of town. Old Town, or the Gothic section, is one of the most extensive medieval city centers in Europe. It felt like a cool October morning, about 44 degrees and a light wind, but sunny. I set out with my google maps across town (note to self, must get better at navigating with G-maps....I spend more time than I like looking down rather than up!) As I travelled through the neighborhoods the bakeries were just opening up and there was this wonderful smell of fresh hot bread and coffee in the air.

One of the unique infrastructure/architectural elements of Barcelona is that at the major intersections, while often on a four-square, the buildings on the internal intersection were designed to be at an angle facing the intersection, so there is always a part of those four buildings with a flat-front facing each other. Many of the streets are tree-lined and filled with all generations of people with their wheeling grocery carts heading for the market. One of the things I have noticed is how often I see many generations walking together and helping each other out, either grandparents helping with the babies or the kids helping their grandparents. It's all one family.

The cathedral was wonderful and beautiful (pictures below). There was a troupe of children performing a folk dance out front and the Christmas market was in full swing. I stopped for tea and a roll and then wandered over to the Mercado de La Boqueria of La Rambla street. The Mercado is an incredible market of fresh fish, meats, cheeses, wine, sweets,and anything that looks or tastes amazing. (pictures below). La Rambla is definitely the main tourist drag and probably selecting that as a destination on a Saturday around noon might not have been my wisest choice, but it was worth the crowds to see everything that was there. I followed a new route home that ended up being the 'Rodeo Drive' of Barcelona, with all the Tiffany's and Cartier-type stores. There were lots of beautiful people walking incredibly slow behind impossibly dark sunglasses. I like the streets off the beaten path so I was relieved when the streets switched back to the neighborhoods that I am becoming used to; one-lane alleys with specialty shops and the neighborhood people taking the time to talk with one another. I already have a few familiar faces with the shop owners and am able to wave 'hola.' Not much more, but it's a start.

Tomorrow it's supposed to rain mid-day, but that bodes well as I have some correspondence and work I need to catch up on. A rainy Sunday with tasty tapas food and wine just around the corner...I'm up to the challenge.....

Below are some pictures from today - The cathedral, the children folk dancers, a door no one will ever get through, scenes from the Mercado, and a bit of the Gaudi architecture, this one featuring the 'mask-styled' balconies.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring....