Barcelona

It is Saturday morning, 17 January 2009, and I wake at slightly after 3:30 AM and stagger into the shower. I’m up at this ungodly hour because a friend is coming by to pick me up at 4 AM. We are headed to Frankfurt-Hahn Airport (which is, interestingly enough, about 1½ hours from Frankfurt). Once there we will board a Ryan Air 737 that will take us to Barcelona, Spain for a long weekend. So I can’t really complain about the early hour.

This is what the Rheingau looked like a week earlier…





How happy do you think I’ll be to arrive in Spain?

We arrived at the airport in Girona, and took the bus into Barcelona. Once we got to our hotel rooms, we dropped our bags and headed for the center of town. On our way we stumbled upon a parade. One that was complete with a very tall bare-chested-bird-headed woman (I’m basing the woman part on the chest, not the bird head).



There was also a bare-chested-bird-headed male, and both were wearing crowns. I am unsure of the significance of these two characters.

These two youngsters were part of the next group. I believe one kid has grapes suspended above him, and the other has a hop cone above his head.



Wine and beer ... I think I’m going to like this place.

A couple of groups later had a fire breathing dragon. The dragon actually had a long tube of some sort protruding from its mouth with a constant flame of about 6” long. Within the same group were little children in dragon outfits, complete with safety glasses and gloves. The dragons which they were wearing had a roman candle attached to their mouths. The roman candles were periodically changed out and new ones were lit by the adults walking with them.



Check out the size of this kid…



Look at all the proud parents and grandparents in the crowd. I don’t think this type of thing would ever be able to happen in the U.S.

God I love Spain!

After the parade we went to La Boqueria. Which is the big market in Barcelona. They had everything a good market should have…

Fruits



Vegetables



Peppers



Ham



Lambs heads



And assorted feathered and furry animals.



While we were out wandering around town we saw the Columbus monument.



I was walking around the base of this impressive monument and photographing the various statues. Now I’m not the most politically correct person in the world, but even I was taken aback when I saw this one…



A proud native bending down to kiss the ring of … wait a second … he looks familiar.



Oh my God! It’s the 30th District Congressman from California, Henry Waxman!

Barcelona is a beautiful city. It is full of parks and large open areas, has some amazing architecture, and is right on the Mediterranean coast.

Our two week trip to the Czech Republic was cancelled (or at the very least postponed), so it looks like I’ll be in the office for the next two weeks. This will be the longest stretch since September I think.

I’ll be posting more pictures from Barcelona this week along with pictures of my new car and my latest food project.

Please stay tuned…