Author: Kate Wilson

Christmas childrens park

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

Between Christmas and New Year there are various organised activities for children here in Catalunya.  I don’t have children so  wasn’t part of that world in the UK and  I don’t know if it happens there too but the Catalan way is to do it on a very big scale.

The biggest one here was a three day Christmas park – Parc Infantil Nadal or PIN – which took place in the Granollers sports centre.

It is the same place where I went to see Amma but now transformed into a giant playground where you pay a few euros to enter and then can do as much as you want.

It was impossible to photograph but strung across this hall was a high wire – you get attached to a harness at one end and fly across to the other.
Why didn’t I do it? I was a bit scared I suppose but it looked wonderful.
There were areas to learn circus skills of course

Dolls lined up ready to be played with

Miniature shops and houses waiting for occupants to move in

Mysterious games made of recycled materials that you had to discover how to use

and a quick way to get down to the lower level from the top floor.

I didn’t try this either but wanted to very much!

El Dia dels Reis

~ Kate Wilson ~ Leave a comment

It is a public holiday here.

  •  two boys out playing with their dad in the square – flying a remote control airplane which was probably a gift from the Kings. They got to fling it  up into the air but I noticed he kept his hand on the controls
  • on the beach at Caldetes Duna raced around carrying an empty water bottle. We threw her ball for her but she promptly took it down to the waters edge and happily watched it float away
  • people continued to walk past the house carrying shopping bags – where are they going? All the shops are shut.
  • the houses on the sea front at Caldetes look nice – some are modernist. But directly behind them run a railway and a busy road built on legs. The houses in the next street back have this as their view now – where once they saw the sea.  All done in Franco’s time of course.
  • tomorrow the resident adolescent and his father are off skiing. It’s only 2 hours drive to La Masella which has more than 57 pistes. It looks lovely on the web site but as my oomph is still a bit lacking it seems a long way to go to walk a dog in the snow. Duna and I will stay at home.