Barcelona

Border collie on the train to Barcelona

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

Yesterday I finally made it up to Barcelona to meet a friend in Ciutadella Park.  I even managed to fit in a tango or 6 in the open air La Glorietta. I haven’t danced for months – it was lovely!
Bonnie came too and we travelled from Granollers Nord Canovelles to Arc de Triumf. It still surprises me that Granollers has three railway stations. From Canovelles you can go in the other direction to the mountains, to Vic and Puigcerda, something we’re planning to do soon.

This was Bonnies second time in Barcelona and only her third and forth journeys on a train. She wears the muzzle only when we are sitting in the carriage, to protect her really as most people don’t try to pat or touch dogs wearing restraints. She doesn’t like to be bothered by strangers.
As before, she was very good, very patient, very quiet and even snuggled up to a man on the next seat, letting him pat her and stroke her ears.
Here she is trying to get comfy and find the best position on a very wobbly and slow train to Barcelona

A Day in Barcelona

~ Kate Wilson ~ 7 Comments

Today I went up (down?) to Barcelona.
My intention was to go and dance some tango at Tangoneta but somehow once I got there, it felt nicer to just wander around and soak in some city energy.
At Plaça Catalunya suddenly the wind got up and autumn arrived

One moment it was a pleasant late summers day and the next we were shivering and fighting against buffeting gusts.
After a good while poking around the sports clothes in Decathlon I emerged to find it was now also raining. But the light around the cathedral was beautiful.

As always, everyone else seemed to have an umbrella.  I never do!
Like a needle to a magnet I was drawn to my favourite streets in the Gotic area

Everything is like a film set or a story.
Coffee and cake and a bit of Trollope. Then a quick visit to ‘my’ church Sant Just de Pastor. It’s always a good place to sit for a while and tune in. Thank god for city churches – you don’t have to be Christian, or to pay anything, or to explain yourself or pretend. You can just go in and be.

Then I set off on the journey back home. I usually walk from the Gotic back to Passeig de Gracia because the journey on the metro, although it looks direct, involves a lot of tramping down long corridors.  But as it was chilly I went down at Jaume I to catch a train. The link from the yellow line to the Renfe platforms is a full scale hike – up hill and down dale.

And now it is even worse as there are works at Passeig de Gracia so you have to emerge and change stations to catch a train to Granollers

 Underground there are still lots of independent and more original cafes along the way

I’m sorry this is rather a boring post. It’s been hard recently, since my brothers death in fact, to write anything at all. There is a lot going on inside me but not much of it communicable. And there is always the sense of ‘what’s the point?’ ‘what do I do this for?’  and ‘who is it for?’

But let me finish with this photo of a happy dog sleeping on the beach yesterday, when it was still summer and the sun was warm.

Tango in the Park

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

Took the train to Arc de Triumf this evening to go dancing. In Ciutadella Park.
Isn’t that a lovely way to spell Triumf?

It took me over an hour to sort out the dogs first as they each have different needs – Blue a 10 minute meander down the road. Duna a 20 minute race around the block. Bonnie a 40 minute fast walk to the Park Ponent, keeping her beside the wall where possible to stop her getting panicky when anyone came behind us. (That happens a lot – it is a city!)   I have to really plan my dog walks these days.

Then half an hour to walk to the train station at Canovelles. You have to walk across the tracks there to arrive on your platform and you never know till the last minute which platform the train will come into.

In Barcelona it is a happy stroll down to the Park and the Glorietta where free outdoor tango is happening again. Summer is coming!

Gorgeous gorgeousness!  It was lovely to be there and to dance with three of my favourite partners. The breeze caresses your face as the sun goes down and the ancient wooden floor catches your heels as you spin round the bandstand. It was always a place I love to dance tango. I have very happy memories of my first time there as well as some more uncomfortable ones of times when I stood at the edge feeling lonely and awkward.
But generally now I feel at home there and tonight it was lovely and welcoming. The music drifts out across the park and people stop to watch which is very gratifying to the exhibitionist in me.  I know more people, I can speak better Spanish, I am also happy to watch and just be part of the scene.

In exactly one week it will be my birthday and the thought passed through my head to come back and dance that evening.   But who knows what the future will bring?  I decided to live for the present and celebrate tonight as my birthday and to enjoy the dance now.

 

‘Life may not be the party we hoped for, but while we’re here we should dance.’  
~Author Unknown

Barça

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

And the most surprising thing in my new life is that here I am watching football again!

El Clåssic

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

Today was quite intense.
The streets are full of Catalan flags and stalls selling books and roses for Sant Jordi.
Actually it isn’t really Sant Jordi (Saint George) until Monday but as it falls on a Monday they have decided to spread the celebrations over three days

This gives us more time to chose our book which this year will be another one in Catalan, this time by a woman, and if possible not about the Civil War or Medieval Barcelona.
We will read it together, mostly out loud, as we have been doing for the past two years.
It really helps with learning the language.
Duna came to help  and almost came to blows in the bookshop with another dog who was also doing his book shopping

Then there was also the football match between Barça and Madrid. At 8pm the streets were almost empty even though the shops were still open. We went to the Toy Bar which was full of people but were still able to get a small table although the extremely large man in front of us kept standing up in his excitement and blocking all view of the game