Trocito de Sol – A slice of sunshine
I have been staying here in Barceloneta for almost a week now – we came out a couple days before Easter and although Mark had to go “home” to Gracia to take care of some business, I have been here all week and with luck Mark will rejoin us later this evening. We bought a traditional chocolate cake in the form of a house and shoe and 3 days later we are still munching on it:
Easter here in Barcelona begins a few days before Palm Sunday. Before I write in the present tense of where I am now, sitting in my writing spot on the beach I will share a few images of palm leaf products for sale for Palm Sunday:
Okay, I’m free to blog about where I am, here and now. I can actually hear the ocean surf from my spot, and view sailboats, windsurfers, ocean liners as well as people who walk by my little slice of beach, not to mention the seagulls. The aural landscape is fantastic, soothing, takes me back to my days of living on the beach in Malibu. The fresh ocean fragrance is also envigorating.
It’s fun getting to know Barcelona from yet another point of view. With my bicing card I can grab a bike at any nearby station and pedal with Quixote alongside to wherever I want. Sometimes I’ll check the bike in at a station at a beach too far to easily walk to, then I’ll throw sticks on the beach for my dog, and then check out another bike to ride home to our piso attico in Barceloneta. The 6 flights of stairs to our funky attic are getting easier to scale by the day.Once our remodelling begins I/we will be forced to stay in Gracia again, so we’re trying to get the maximum enjoyment before the reformas begin.
One of my favorite easy bike ride destinations is the Hotel W, which I find imminently photogenic and intriguing from all angles.
In my new capacity as Barceloneta tour guide I like to take my Catalan friends to see the Hotel W up close, because its a different experience than one imagines.
Yesterday I rode my bike through a nearby park and came upon what appeared to be a graffiti overpass of some sort. I rode to the top, optimistic that it might be a short-cut to the zoo or to CIutadella Park, but instead it ends abruptly – how very bizarre! The cool thing is that it is an aural vortex, and it seems like all sounds converge there. I could hear a live circus band, a boat bellow and what sounded like zoo noises, all the sounds separated as if on different audio channels. Surprisingly I could not hear the cars whizzing by on the street below me. I will go back with my NAGRA audio recorder in the future … what a weird find.
This morning was overcast, balmy, breezy with big waves. I took the dogs down for their early morning walk and although my iPhone camera reduces the surfers to mini pixel size, there are actually scores of surfers out there..
Eating lunch in my spot, while the dogs hang out in the adjoining room instead of their respective comfy spots. I think they’re bored and confused because Mark hasn’t been here in 2 nights, though he’s on his way here now. I think this spot might be destiny for me – its really nice to write in, and yet keep track if the day picks up etc. I have a feeling the more I stay here the more my forays into the environs will be longer with bicing, and the more I huff home up the steps afterwards the more appealing it is to not leave again and just stay in and write etc…
I finish today’s blog with two Happy Easter photos; one of Mark in his room camping out on an air mattress with the dogs, the other of a nice sand sculpture taken on Easter Sunday:
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