Beautiful Day for the Park

Saturday, Apr. 29, 2017--Barcelona

The day started with me literally falling out of the bed.  The light switch is on the right side of my bed.  I set my watch on the left side of the bed (rather than on the right side where I should have had it).  I awoke wondering if it was time to get up.  The window has a built-in outdoor shutter which I had lowered to keep the light out.  I was facing the right and reached over to turn on the light.  Then I tried to just reach out to my left to get my watch so I could bring it over under the light.  In doing so, I knocked over the bottle of baby oil setting there (which I am using to avoid having my arms and legs get dry and itchy).  Fearing that the bottle would leak, I quickly rolled that direction to grab it.  In doing so, my mind wasn't registering that this is only a 3/4 bed.  My roll took me too far, and I tumbled to the floor with my covers wrapped around my legs.  It was a bit too early to get up, but I couldn't get back to sleep after that experience.

The day was sunny and turned warm enough to get rid of my pullover by noon.  I wandered through many back streets.  Then I decided to head to a park.  I started at the Arc de Triomf at the top of the Passeig Lluis Companys, a panhandle park that leads to a larger city park.  It was filled with crowds.  Just below the arc, a young man was performing wheel gymnastics with a cyr wheel similar to what can be seen in these videos.  He was spinning, turning, etc., to the delight of the huge crowd watching. 

The rest of the linear park was lined with stalls down the middle selling all kinds of items--jewelry, baby clothes, wines, etc.  What I found more interesting is that the side street was lined with about 20 stalls and food trucks selling nothing but vegetarian foods.

The Parc de La Ciutadella, a larger public park, begins at the bottom of the panhandle park.  It was filled with people sunbathing, eating, visiting, etc.  As soon as I entered, I could hear a band playing and headed that direction.  It was a group of young people just having fun playing for the crowds.  A sign gave their name as Les Zotres, apparently a French band which sounded very much like the ones I had heard during the Feria in Arles two week ago.  Click here for the only video I could find of them.  (Note that the other videos of a band with the same name are not the band I saw.)

I got a park bench just a short distance from the band so I could continue to hear them, and there was more entertainment just across from me by Slackline Barcelona, a group of performers woven plastic strips stretched between trees.  Click here for a video of a performance by them at the same park  and click here for a long list of videos by them.

As I left for another area of the park, I came across a group performing dances in Native American costumes, then a small group of guys practicing body balancing routines, a group of hippie musicians who may have been a religious group (or a commune trying to recruit new members); they had a literature table.  It was a great afternoon for enjoying all the sights.  Plus, it was interesting to note that I hardly saw anyone looking at a cell phone.  Everyone was there enjoying the moment--the warm sun, the entertainment, being outside on a beautiful day, being with friends, etc.

The route back toward my room, took me through parts of the old Gothic Quarter of Barcelona with narrow streets lined with very old buildings. I passed several stag and hen parties dressed in costumes to celebrate the end of freedom before the wedding day--a group of guys dressed as nuns, another dressed as madrigals (and actually singing and playing instruments), a group in Mexican panchoes and sombreros, a group of women dressed in superhero costumes with capes, etc. 
It was a great day to explore except for the huge number of large guided tours throughout the city.  In those narrow streets, it can be hard to get around a group of 30 people spread out from building to building and barely moving along, but even on La Rambla, the wide walkway in the center of town, tour groups clog up the movement!