Bombers de Barcelona

Walking through the Plaça Sant Jaume, I stumbled across a group of young men posing in front of the Ajuntament de Barcelona (City Hall).Lots of people were taking pictures, and although I had no idea who these guys were, I joined in. For a moment I thought that they might be Barça's football team (they'd tied Manchester United the night before).

But on closer scrutiny they didn't seem like athletes, and I didn't see Ronaldinho among them ... and in fact, none of them is black. Now I've just figured out that these men are the forty-four new firefighters of the City of Barcelona.









But what is this protestor about? He seems to be tolerated here, even blessed by the statue of councillor Joan Fiveller. (I'd love some help with the translation of his sign!)

Barcelona: ciutat romà

The City History Museum of Barcelona is incredible: the actual dig lies just below this 14th-century complex.

Roman Barcelona was very well organized. You can see the laundry, the winery, and here, part of the fish factory, where garum was made.

This bust of a woman dates from the 1st century AD, and may be that of Agrippina, sister to Caligula, wife of Claudius, and mother of Nero.

And the marble bust of this unknown man dates from the 2nd century AD.

However, shortly after I took these shots I was told that (guess what) cameras are not allowed here. (Sigh.)

Morning in Barça

Some parents walk their children to school. These men walk their plants out to the terrassa of their restaurant.

The building at left is a sham; or rather, it's hidden behind a painted scrim to give us something pretty to look at during the renovation. Barcelona, posa't guapa!


Back to the Plaça Reial. Morning is the time for real people. No tourists in sight -- except me.

la Plaça Reial

Yes, this is a tourist photo (unretouched, though). I couldn't help myself. The Plaça Reial -- a block from our friends' apartment -- seems much nicer now than ever before. And my God, is it gorgeous at sunset!

Barcelona: mucho mas que la vida loca

A photo of a truck filled with bottles of butane -- why would I want to feature it in my photoblog? Simply because after four days of living here in our friends' apartment, I've noticed that the city -- the Barri Gotic, at any rate -- runs on this fuel. On my way to this square I passed two men pushing large carts full of the distinctive orange bottles. And on our first morning, "home alone" while our friends were out, John and I struggled to scramble eggs. The missing element: the butane fuel, which had been carefully switched off by our hosts!

There's a drought in Barça, officially proclaimed a year to the day before I took this photo. This means less extravagant dishwashing techniques -- however the consumption of drinking water remains the same, perhaps, since todo el mundo imbibes from bottles.