It feels like Spring – look at that blue sky!

Those trees that I photographed a few days ago are now almost in full blossom

It is the kind of weather when you don’t know what to wear.  A coat and hat makes you feel too hot but go without and it is too chilly in the shade or the late afternoon. Here’s me looking hot and bothered in Granollers – it is also time to start carrying sunglasses and of course I hadn’t!

I went up to Barcelona today to sort out some papers in the British Consulate. That was an interesting experience as security measures now mean you feel you are visiting a prison – at no time was I in a shared space with another human being without a pane of reinforced glass between us. I had to give up my mobile phone at the entrance otherwise I would have taken a photo of the amazing views over Barcelona to the sea from the Consulate office.
I had an idea that Primark might be interesting and as I am looking for a new dress to wear for Swing, I took a long and complicated journey down to Diagonal Mar.
The British Consulate is at 477 Diagonal and Primark is at 4 Diagonal. Don’t let this give you the impression they are close to each other!
Diagonal is not very pleasant to walk along in the day time as it is so noisy and busy but there are some wonderful buildings that would be a shame to miss.

There is that blue sky again! I love that dome and the round balconies.

There were green parrots squawking up in the trees and I felt drawn into this garden where they had an exhibition about Wales. It all looked very sunny and tempting.   This place is called Palau Robert and it was the Catalan Ministry for Culture between 1936 and 1939, then returned to private ownerhip after the civil war and later bought by the Government.

Inside was a small show about a man called Joan Triadu` (1921-2010) – teacher, writer, literary critic and Catalan activist. He was professor of Catalan for two years at Liverpool University.   I love wandering around in Barcelona and coming across unexpected and interesting exhibitions

One of his books is called The Adolescent Teacher. He was sent to Granollers to teach age 16!

Primark was a disappointment but the journey was worth it because I took the tram for the first time from Marina to Diagonal Mar. I don’t know this part of the city very well and I still have no idea what the Gerkin is all about!
Here is a closer detail of the Zurich building on Diagonal – I walked past it without noticing the first time and only on my return trip saw the amazing pictures on each rectangle and the reflections

The line of life is a ragged diagonal between duty and desire.   William Alger