A stork brought me
It’s true, my mum told me! So please stop that silly nonsense about cabbages (WTF) or maternity wards!!!
Playing with fire
An evening at the Circ Raluy, an traditional circus, without animals being kept in tiny cages in the cold.
Birds
Looks sometimes quite ‘hitchcocky’ in the Port Vell area… Be afraid, be very afraid of the white bombs!
Are you looking at me???
…or am I looking at you? Did you bring something to eat? Is it in your bag? Don’t you think it smells fishy here? I love the smell of fish in the morning!
Unbearably slow
Can I touch the horsey? Yet another festivity on the Rambla. The Rambla (which has several names, depending on which section of it you are) is one of the 3 main thoroughfares through the old town, together with Paralel and Laietana. It is actually a dried riverbed, recovered along the centuries with dirt and other stuff. Now, it is the promenade, always full of tourist and photographers watching people go by. A narrow passage through the old town, it is as best a very slow going, driving down the mile or so of its length. And well, whenever there is a festivity, the city closes it. But when it’s open, almost every taxi driver in town chooses to pass this way, doesn’t matter where you are going. The perfect tourist trap: it’s nice, it’s slow, and the meter is turning and turning… Even at 4 in the morning, when you have an early plane to catch, just on time for the slow moving street cleaning machines…
But hey, it’s a photographer’s paradise!
Board meeting
Wake up, guys and gals, spring has arrived! 25 degrees today, that is mid to high seventies, or so they say!
The red one
Looking at me from inside the Jardinet dels Gats cat shelter, and wanting to be loved and adopted.
Anyone???
El jardinet dels gats
El jardinet dels gats, catalan for the cat garden, is an city center shelter for abandoned or homeless cats. Our very own tiger, Rio (you can visit his blog here), came from here.
If you’re in Barcelona, and if you need/want a cat, this is the place to go!
Birds of all feathers…
… will love this luxury bird penthouse!
I’d be very curious to know the name of this very shiny tree, if someone knows it!
New legs
There is a charity here in Barcelona building these… new legs for disabled dogs. Good work, guys!
Into the blue…
Barcelona has a very fine zoological garden, inside Ciutadella park. Many people specially come to see the dolphins dancing.
Kim’s Water World Wednesday meme is here.
Skating with penguins
It is winter, but, with 18 degrees, it doesn’t feel wintery at all to us. So, there is always the possibility to feel the cold at the ice rink on Plaza de Catalunya. If you’re of the smaller persuasion, you can even skate with penguins!
Oh: do NOT feel obliged to buy the things they advertise…
Girls?
Groomed, dressed, perfumed (Eau de Canine, of course), READY!!! So, where are the girls?
Once again, sorry for not spending some more time on your blogs… Many of my days start at 6 AM, and after I come home at around 8.30 PM, there is just not much time left for anything else than eating, shower… Hoping to catch up a bit around Christmas.
The keeper
Somewhere…
You looking at me??!!!
Me??? I wouldn’t dare!!!
Our world Tuesday? Yes! And also Mandarin Orange Monday.
It’s hot and thirsty weather
So, what can you do, when you’re a dog. You can either lay in the water, or drink it. Or both of course. Happy dogs, wish I could have done the same. I mean lay in the cool water…
Water World Wednesday, right here.
And don’t forget: it’s monthly Theme Day soon! Here‘s the link (not open yet). The theme is: people watching. On your cameras, go! See you all on September 1st!
Are you looking at me?
Water World Wednesday, of course!
As the CDP portal is still down, here is the CDP Facebook page where you can, amongst other things like publishing your latest posts, also vote for the theme of the next, you guessed it, theme day!
Entree interdite! Entrance forbidden!
The cat on the hot tin roof?
No, we wouldn’t let him go there.It is very very hot, and our Rio would love to shed his fur coat and be in the nude. So we wet him with a towel, and he loves it! Not an outdoor cat, no no.
Our world tuesday
Seagulls. Plenty of them around. Definitely part of our world!
I have very little time at the moment, can’t browse your blogs as much as I would like to. Will be back soon-ish.
I love my dog!
As Cat Stevens would say. And we love our cat!
Click here for the Weekend in Black and White.
Weekend sport
Is this guy really lazy, or is he really clever, combining sport and dog walking? I’d go for the second one!
The sunken forest, Brazil in Barcelona
1000 square meters of a Brazilian sunken forest… Unexpected, even in a science museum. Complete with the animals I named yesterday, plus ants, anacondas, venomous giant spiders, leaf-cutters…
Neighbors
In tune, although a bit late, with our monthly theme day, animals, here are some of our friendlier neighbors, very cheeky ones.
Once again, I need to apologize for not browsing your blogs a bit more. Life is very good at prioritizing things. And days only have 24 hours…
Monthly theme day: animals
This month’s theme day is about animals. Which is fine, as it allows me to stay a bit longer on the Chinese new year celebration.
I realize that, even though I’ve seen those cats very often (even have one in my office), I don’t know their exact meaning. A luck bringer??? Anyone?
Santa Eulalia’s geese
Barcelona’s holy patron is Saint Eulalia, also called Laia. She was a geese shepherdess in the village of Sarria, now a part of Barcelona. She was a martyr, was killed for her faith by the Romans, says her hagiography.
Nowadays, the cathedral in the old town is named after her. And in the cloister are living 13 geese. Why 13? Eulalia was 13 when she became a martyr.
Our World Tuesday. Please click here.
Due to some spam comments lately, I had to change the settings a bit. No anonymous comments allowed for the time being, just as a protective measure. And because it’s really annoying.
Our World Tuesday
Our beautiful, very sweet and very talkative neighbor, Pippa.
To see more photos for this weekly meme, please click here.
Swans
Let’s get out of Barcelona, even Spain, for a bit. Some swans in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland, some time ago.
Watery Wednesday
Lots of cats living wild on Montjuic Hill. And they need to drink as well. Spotted this one on a very warm and sunny afternoon, last sunday, just a few meters away from the Magic Fountain. A fine pussycat for a fine Watery Wednesday!
Encounter of the third type: the Barcelosaurus
Coming out of his nest now and then: the oldest inhabitant of Barcelona. By far. Kids love him! There is a mammoth in Ciutadella Park as well, but he is obviously at least 70 Mio years younger, duh!
Cats!
Aw, I just can’t resist when I see a sweet family like this one: I HAVE TO take a photo or 5, and I have to resist the urge to take them all home. But I think our own Puss, Rio, would not be very happy. Anyway, adorable, aren’t they?
Acampada Barcelona: If they wont let us dream, we wont let them sleep
The revolution on Plaza Catalunya. A few photos from the village on the square. The same is happening in 56 more cities in Spain. For more background info, see Friday’s special post.
Uncommon pets
I see that lady quite often with her friend, walking, crossing streets… The duck is never far away
And this is one of the biggest and heaviest dogs I’ve seen lately, Barcelona being a small dog city.
Update… Due to the now well known Blogger outing, I just reposted this, but lost all the comments.
Foxy post for our 2nd blogaversary!
Yet another beastie roaming our streets in full daylight, the Foxy Van! Art assault, vandalism, made on purpose… Who knows?
Other beasties and stuff roaming our fair Worlds on Tuesday, right here.
Oops, I almost forgot… This post also celebrates this blog here. I started it on May 10th, 2009. A work of love! This is the 722nd post, I missed a few days at the end of June, early July last year, being hospitalized for a week.
722 posts, many more photos (yeah, I know, the one photo a day rule…). And we made so many friends! We even met some of you, and realized, you’re really very nice people!!! More to come, from Greece this time…
Some numbers…
424, the number of followers so far
???, the number of visitors (who cares), from pretty much every country on Earth, including Vatican City (who might it be?)
8150, number of comments as I write this
But, the most important number is…
3
Year 3!
And the most important name is….
MANDY
Couldn’t have done it without you, your love, your patience.
Museu Blau
One of the friendly exhibits at the brand new Museu Blau, the blue museum, aka the Museum of Natural History. The building itself is…a weird dark blue ‘floating’ triangle and so built that is is a bit of a challenge getting good pictures of it. Well, I tried, you’ll see the result…soon. Meanwhile, you can always have a look here.
Doesn’t he look real???
El Gat
A close-up of Fernando Botero’s Gat, the cat, situated on the Rambla del Raval. Botero spent some time in Barcelona in 1952, before moving to Madrid. The cat is very popular with tourists and kids: it’s fun to climb on it’s back!
Watery Wednesday
A seagull, taking the waters in Ciutadella Park, with his slightly more water-shy mate below.
Watery Wednesday again! Just click right here to see more!
Gorilla in a twist
Poor little guy, she’s ignoring you!
On the poster, it says: you still think animals don’t love?
My World (full of gorillas in love) Tuesday. Here.
Soy de las bicis!
I’m from the bicycles (rental shop) on Plaza Picasso, 44. Here is my phone, should I get a bit too far away.
This is My World on Tuesday.
A cat’s tale
A short update about Rio, the abandoned cat we adopted at the end of October. He is now 8 1/2 months old, and weighs just over 4 kg. But he still hasn’t learned how to clean his nose properly after eating!
Jabs are done, and he will be neutered on April 7th, as we promised by signing the adoption contract in October. He is a very sweet cat, full of life, and he did not so far break anything important! And he is EXTREMELY talkative!!!!!
And his is slowly becoming a blogging star! Check out his blog here!
Watery Wednesday
A very familiar scene in the Port Vell, the old port (which is actually the new one… Don’t ask). I think the fishes actually wait for for the tourists to feed them. Hello, Ivan Petrovich Pavlov!
This, of course if for Watery Wednesday.
Watery Wednesday 125
A blue-eyed duck in Ciutadella Park. Watery Wednesday nr 125. Please click here, and… you’ll see!
Rio de Julio
This is our cat Rio and his favorite mouse! This little bandit is almost 7 months old. To follow his adventures, from abandoned kitty to blogging stardom, please click here to see his own blog!
The elephant behind cloud 7!
Must be Dumbo, the flying elephant. Mandy spotted him!
Well, Skywatch Friday! Click and be amazed!
Watery Wednesday 124
We’re having a ‘very cold spell’ (quote), temperature dropping and dropping and dropping to… minus 1 C, or 30F. Told you I was quoting the weatherman! Anyway, these critters must love it!
Well, it’s water, it’s Wednesday… Yes, it’s WATERY WEDNESDAY!!! Click here, and gaze in wonder. Go on, could be the best time in your day!
And don’t forget tomorrow’s Food for Thoughts meme!
Thursday’s Food for Thoughts nr 7
Feeding time… Big guys need a lot of food!
This is the 7th edition of the weekly Thursday’s Food for Thoughts meme. Please feel free to post any even remotely food related photos. This meme is as always open till Saturday night, Spanish time.
Should you post something, and should you want to use a badge, just save one of the 3 below in your computer and post them as you would for any other photo somewhere on your post.
Cats of the Raval
Some paintings on a wall in a nice small square in the Raval part of the old town.
This is for My World Tuesday. Many other people already posted their photos to this meme, so please click here to admire them!
Cosmocaixa 3
And back to the science museum. It has it’s own sunken jungle, believe it or not, an indoor jungle! Above…
… and below. You can actually walk around and through it, meet the inhabitants, some funny birds, a capibara, big fishes… And it’s pretty warm in there!
Photos reworked with a program I discovered recently, something called Luminance HDR. More magic photos on my other, more experimental photo blog, right here.
Other day, other cat
May we introduce Rio, the newest member of our family. He’ll be with us for the next 15 to 20 years. He is extremely affectionate, follows us wherever we go, and is a tiny PURRRRRRR machine!
Rio was born on july 8th, so he is almost 4 months old. And he has some very very sharp little teeth!
He is a fine example of a classic catalan street cat.
And…. Following the enlightened example of the great Master Luna, Rio’s already got his very own blog!
The C day
This is our last cat, Bundles (of joy). We found her abandoned in the streets of Larnaca, Cyprus, and raised her for a few months. As we moved to New Delhi a few months later, the procedures to take her with us being an absolute nightmare, we had to found her an adoptive family, where they already had a cat. She’s happy there.
Today, we will adopt another abandoned kitten from a shelter called the Cat Garden, el Jardinet dels Gats, it is our C day! Can’t wait!
Wild thing
One of the cats living off the land in Ciutadella park. The way they move is quite remarkable, more like larger feline than house cats.
Watery Wednesday
It is Watery Wednesday again, with some really clear water. Please click here to see more watery photos.
Patou
This is a Patou, or Pastou in the local dialects, in french Chien de montagne des Pyrenees, the quintessential Pyrenees mountains dog, common on both sides of the border, in France and Spain. It is a guard dog, used in medieval times to fight wolves, bears and lynx. Spotted a few of them in the mountains last weekend. They are the sweetest of dogs, but can be very protective. They need a lot of space, so don’t even think about having one in your 2 bedroom flat! He was made very famous in France through a TV series in the 70es called Belle and Sebastien, the adventures of Sebastien, a young boy, and Belle, his beautiful snow white best friend.
Feeding time
We are now living less than 5 minutes away from what most people describe as being the center of the city, the Plaza de Catalunya. Posh hotels, Hard Rock Cafe, couple of big fountains and weird sculptures. And lots and lots of pigeons, expecting to being fed by the occasional tourist. And they’re lucky, as the tourists come here in their millions.
This said, as in most big european towns, pigeons are considered a nuisance or a plague. The municipality of Barcelona does not kill them, but chemically neuters 20.00 of them every year. Does it work? Not really, not on Plaza Cataluny anyway.
Watery Wednesday
Barcelona’s mighty flying dolphin squad, Ladies and Gentlemen!
To see more watery pictures from all around the world, do not miss Watery Wednesday’s 90th edition, right here!
The shadow of a duck
You might remember the doggy watering can a few days back. In the same shop on Passeig de Gracia, they had this excellent and quite surreal shadow play as part of the decoration.
Holy cow! Even moo’ jazz!
So Vache. The perfect jazz band for the perfect cup of coffee! You don’t have coffee??? What a shame! But good old Daddy Rob has the solution for you: just click on the frog in the sidebar!
Stuck!
Traffic advice for may 17th, latest report, 12.58 PM. Please do avoid Calle Consell de Cent, at the corner Av. Meridiana, Clot. Slow moving horsies.
Earth day: the greyhound
Dog races are very popular in Spain. But… What to do with the dogs, mainly greyhounds, once they’re too old or too slow? They are usually put to sleep.
Several groups here try to save them, to buy them, and they are then given for adoption.
You talkin’ to me?
You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin’ to? You talkin’ to me? Well I’m the only one here.
Famous quote from a cabbie.
White
I hope everybody had a nice long weekend, whether you celebrate Easter, Pesach, or just a good time off.
We saw a lot of red lately, so let’s have some refreshing white. One of the nicer ways of seing Barcelona is by horse carriage. Most of the horses doing the tours are brown, so it was a nice surprise to see this pair.
And here they go. Notice the guy’s hat and sweater! He is in harmony with his horses!
Zoological museum
Let’s stay in the Ciutadella area a little longer.
Among other nice buildings in the Park, there is the zoological museum. And you can have an idea of the content of the museum even before entering it!
Oh yes, I just added the possibility to either send a free ecard of our pictures, or even to buy some prints! Don’t hesitate!
A question for today
Question: what do you get if you combine yesterday’s and today’s picture?
Yes! It is
Duck a l’Orange
INGREDIENTS
2 Duck Legs or Breasts (with Skin left on)
Feshly ground Salt & Pepper
1 oz (25g) Butter
For the Orange Sauce…
1 Large Orange
4 fluid oz (100ml) French Red Wine
4 fluid oz (100ml) Fresh Orange Juice
2 fluid oz (50ml) Duck or Chicken Stock
1 Tablespoon of Honey or Brown Sugar
METHOD
Zest* the Orange Skin and set aside the thin strips of Peel. Remove as much of the Pith as possible from the Orange. Break into Orange Segments and set aside.
Clean the Duck Legs or Breasts under cold water and pat dry with Kitchen Towels. Score the Duck Legs or Breasts skin with a sharp knife and then season well with Salt & Pepper.
Heat the Butter in a large Frying Pan until frothing, but do not allow to burn.
Place the Duck Legs or Breasts in the pan and brown nicely on both sidess (2 or 3 minutes).
Once browned place aside on a plate and cover with Tin Foil to keep warm.
Spoon out most of the Duck / Butter fat from the Frying Pan. Add the Red Wine, Orange Juice, Honey, Duck or Chicken Stock, the Orange segments & and some of the Orange Peel. Reduce the sauce for a couple of minutes, stiring often.
To serve place a Duck Leg or Breast on each plate, pour over the Orange Sauce and sprinkle with the remaing Orange Peel.
Serves 2 as a Main Meal.
Plaza de toros
This is one of the 2 bullfighting arenas I know of in Barcelona.
Bullfighting. Whatever you might think of it, the news here are that many people try to stop it. Some want to stop it entirely, some want it to be just a sport, with no actual killing of the toros, the way they do it in Portugal.
Well, this arena is being transformed into a giant shopping center. Due to the crisis, the works stopped for a year, but they started again. The complex should open early next year.
And once again… Sorry for having so little time to browsing your blogs. Will try to come back as soon as possible.
Big bird
I recently posted a picture of some former neighbours in India. Well, this is one of our Barcelona neighbours.
Living on the 7th and last floor of our building, and having a rather large terrace, they come here quite often. We even saw a stork last sunday!
As some neighbours are, we usually need to clean up after them…
Neighbours
No, this isn’t some soap from Down Under! No Kylie Minogue!
We travelled quite extensively, and these are pictures from our last known abode before we moved to Barcelona, 17 months ago.
Faridabad, state of Haryana, India. Near New Delhi. These were our neighbours from hell. About 40 of them. And believe me, we lived in a quite posh area (hi Leif).
All the balconies were caged, as you wouldn’t want one (or 40) of these neighbours inside your house! They can injure you severely, or probably even kill you. One trick: do not stare at them, as it makes them absolutely furious.
Beach
Very nice day yesterday, 16 degrees, so we went to the beach, for a stroll.We didn’t see anyone in the water, not even the little dog. But, next to some elderly people in heavy winter coats, some people were wearing bath suits, and these guys were walking topless. Spring is about, and it’s nice!Proud
One of the many many peacocks roaming freely through Barcelona zoo. This is from my archives. Can’t believe we took over 5000 photos in 15 months!
Bundles
This is the cat formerly known as Bundles. We were unable to take her with us to India, and then to Spain, so we had to leave her where we found her, in Larnaka, Cyprus. She was a street cat, and we rescued her when she was 2 or 3 month old. Bundles of joy! She has a happy life!
Dogtown
Barcelona is, like Buenos Aires (hello there!), a dog town. Very few cats or other quadrupeds around, but dogs everywhere. But not just any dogs, no. Small dogs. The sheer amount of small pinchers, terriers, specially Yorkshire terriers, tiny poodles, dachshund, is quite incredible. But, believe it or not, we are not sinking under the weight of accumulated dog poo. A dog owner won’t go for a walkie without a sheet of newspaper, or a plastic bag, to scoop up after little darling finished his/her little big business!
This one, I spotted him in a crowd. Basically, we weren’t formally introduced, so I don’t know anything about him/her. Friendly face though.
Welcome by the way to Valy, the 151st follower of this now over 5 months old blog.
Barcelona Daily Photo 
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