Zest!
Monthly theme day: zest.
Hmm… Tricky?
Here is how Google defines it:
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zestzɛst/nounverb
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1.scrape off the outer coloured part of the peel of (a piece of citrus fruit) for use as flavouring.“zest the orange and lemon, taking care to discard all of the white pith”
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…
Important business!
France has several national sports, among them: football (aka soccer), rugby (mostly in the south), the Tour de France (not cycling, just the Tour de France), and petanque, or boule. Yesterday, some important business was going on in front of the Argeles city hall: no less than a championship! Important business, no joking matter!
Weekend sport
Is this guy really lazy, or is he really clever, combining sport and dog walking? I’d go for the second one!
34th Barcelona marathon, km 38
Oh the pain, and the pride one has to feel after running such a distance. A few snapshots of the runners as they reach km 38 out of 42km and 190 meters.
And the winner is… Julius Chepkowony for the men, in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds, and Emily Chepkomy for the women, in 2 hours, 26 minutes and 53 seconds, beating the standing record by over 3 minutes. Both are from Kenya. Well done, all you 20.000 people running after them!
Keeping fit, aka post 999
Well, ok, this photo was taken 2 weeks ago, during a normal winter day. Now, we’re having a cold spell all over Europe, you might have heard of it. The coldest winter in Catalunya in over 25 years, nothing less! Temperatures have gone down and down and down… Minus 23 in the mountains, minus 1 here. Which makes it even more important to keep FIT!
Circ Raluy
We went to the circus last night, for the first time in many many years (over 30 for Rob)! Was great! The Circ Raluy, traditional Catalan circus founded in 1911, and still operated by the same family, Raluy. Will show you some more of it in the coming week.
I was particularly moved by the many references to Federico Fellini’s La Strada.
A country divided by El Clásico!!!
I always prepare my post in advance, the evening before usually, ready to go online at midnight. It is now 3.15 PM on saturday.
In a few hours, the fever will break out in Spain. Football fever! World’s best team, the Football Club Barcelona (the Barca) will play against the Real Madrid, the capital’s main team.
In Spain, you can support many different teams, Valencia, Getafe, Real Madrid, etc. Not here in Catalunya. Here, you only support the Barca, nobody else. Well, there might be some lost Spaniards supporting other teams, but no Catalans!
Right. Who will win? Last time, Madrid lost 5:0…
Now… PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE read this as well! It is the other version of this post, as seen by our friend Ashleigh and her family, in Madrid
No, it is not the real Messi!Controversy
Ice-skating on Plaza Catalunya…. Very controversial, as many many Barceloneses think that the 700.000 euros cost to operate it is a slap in the face of the 4.4 Mio unemployed in Spain. And the rising poverty and misery which goes with it, as unemployment benefits are very low in Spain, and hundreds of thousands don’t even get them anymore.
But it brings a smile to this little girl’s face.
Our World on Tuesday, and until Christmas.
December theme day: action shot
It’s theme day again, this month’s theme being: action shot.
Well, here is one of the members of a group I spotted last spring, doing acrobatics next to the Corte Ingles superstore. They were absolutely BRILLIANT!
Lucky post 888
Only 2 months and 8 days left till Boxing Day!
Our World Tuesday, right here!
On a more serious note, it was a lucky day for a young guy in Israel as well. Welcome home, Gilad!
Action!
Just before arriving at my favorite beach, there is this skating ground/place. As I was a bit early for the airshow on sunday, I decided to risk my life, and got a bit closer to the action. This is what came out, some guy almost landing in the bold spot on top of my head! Was close!
This for Our World Tuesday. Have a look!
Training
During spring and summer, there are countless marathons, semi-marathons and shorter races in town. There is one this Sunday, a 11km race organized by the Corte Ingles superstore, with 60.000 registered runners, so far. This guy might be training for it, or just running for fun.
And yes, the weather is fantastic! Beach weather, my friends!!!
Free
Barcelona is a very youthful city. For a person in his late teens or twenties, it is a paradise: beaches, bars, discos, many many concerts all the time. And surfboarding! Here is the little shop in our street, selling the free spirit.
Le Tour… is gone
After a very rainy day yesterday, with some accidents, today’s departure of the Tour was much dryer. No rain, not much warmer, a bit of sun. 224 km to Andorra.
I took this picture yesterday, sorry about the bad quality, was taken with an old phone.
For us living here, it was a bit of a nightmare. The routes of 60 bus lines have been changed, many roads barred, many Bicing stations closed (the bicycles you can rent everywhere). But it was the 3rd biggest event in Barcelona in 20 years, after the 92 Olympics and the ???? football world championship (need some help here with the dates!). IT WAS GREAT!!!
Anyway, if you want to see much better and sharper pictures of the Tour, please have a good look at Monte Carlo Daily Photo!
Le Tour de France in Barcelona!
Well, what a day!!! After 44 years, Le Tour came back to Barcelona! On the wettest day in months! It actually rained non stop almost the whole day, till about 4.30 PM, despite of the Mayor’s prayers. Those guys made 180 odd kilometers in the rain. At least, it stopped, 30 minutes before the end of today’s stage, Girona to Barcelona. I took a longer break from work (sorry, boss) to see them pass at the end of the street, armed with my phone. Got a few nice pics of the speeding cyclists, but I chose to post this picture, courtesy of my wife, a nice view of the speed involved… Suppose they were in a hurry to finish! Take a look at Monte Carlo Daily Photo to see wonderful (and sharp) pictures of the Tour!
Barcelona Daily Photo 