January 25...observations

This morning starts with a croissant from this bakery, “forn de pa” , forn means oven and pa means bread, so it translates to bread oven; and a little coffee with milk, in this case I’m using “leche de avena” which is oat milk, since I was not able to find my preferred hemp milk.

Next is a visit to the nearest savings bank “la caixa” to open an account. While I was waiting by the boarding gate in Frankfurt, there was a free news paper stand, and they also have free coffee machines, and I noticed the headlines of one of the American newspapers, but now I can’t remember if it was Washington Post or Wall Street Journal, anyhow, next to President Obama and Hu Jintao, was an article about a possible bailout of these popular “cajas” savings banks. I mentioned it to Victor on the ride home, and he dismissed it as no problem, he says they’re always saying things, but they always solve whatever. Actually, later, after lunch, on the news, right after the bomb at the airport in Russia, they talked about this being only certain spanish Cajas, but the Catalan Caixas are ok (let’s hope, cause that’s where I went this morning).

can you find Wilbur in the distance?

Before lunch I went to take Wilbur out, to the beach for a little while, this area has no security guards, so taggers can sneak around to do there thing, and while I dislike the senseless ugly dribbles, there are a few graffiti artists that have talent.

These 3 tall towers were part of an old power plant, which the locals voted to keep as historic icon of what the old Sant Adria used to be like; they are also the tallest building of the city , over 200 meters.

Then we walked over to the Plaza de la Vila, were we strolled a bit a couple of nights ago, they had these cool water fountains that change shape and color, sorry I forgot to bring my camera that evening, but I’ll try to go back there later, when it is dark, because during daylight they don’t operate. 

Along the way, there’s a pedestrian street with local shops and bars, which Victor pointed out how empty they’ve been these last few weeks, because the new law that came into effect on January 1st this year, there’s no smoking allowed allowed inside, bars and restaurants. I was happy to hear that, but I didn’t say, as Victor is an avid smoker, but he makes his own cigarettes. And so now they have a few tables outside in the cold of winter, usually these tables have only been outside during the better weather.

Actually when we went to lunch yesterday at the Gallego, it was only because I had unexpectedly brought Albert over and Mari didn’t have enough food for all. She was conflicted, because she said Victor will not go there anymore because of the no smoking law. I argued that they should support their local businesses, as they are not at fault. He made an exception.

wedding dress

Now this is a rare find, a spanish gypsy wedding shop. Sorry the reflection of the glass takes a bit away from all the outrageous colors. Just check out those men's shoes.

mens shoes

men's wedding clothes

Day care for seniors, I don't think I ever saw this before; as most of you know, most elderly people live at home with the family; well now they have these centers where you can drop them off and pick them up later, just like you do with little kids.

I think it's cool, this way they're not so lonely when you're at work. And stay out of trouble.

Warning: Beth, Deborah, Denise and other horse lovers, you need to skip this paragraph.

Back when I was young living here, horse meat was rare, although I knew it was very popular in France, and you do see a wide variety of world wide foods now, but I was still surprised to see several horse butcher shops. I have never tried horse meat, and I don't think that I could, not knowingly anyway.

Wilbur at the beach