plaça de Gal.la Placidia: Before the renovation

Today I found the only picture of our favorite park, la plaça de Gal.la Placidia, taken the summer of 2006, before the renovation.

I can’t picture that this is the ONLY photo I took. Maybe it’s the only shot I have right now in my possession. I better look some more in the next few days.

For now, the picture gives you a little idea of what I wrote YESTERDAY and in my previous post, Notice of a Rebirth.

Not just a park

plaça de Gal.la Placidia
Barcelona, 2006

Imagine! As you are looking at the park, literally cut the park in half and to your right and the street adjacent to the park now stands the temporary market de lliberbat.

You can also see people, a playground, fountains, plants, trees … ACTIVITY!

Sigh!

It’s gonna be a long 4 years.

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plaça de Gal.la Placidia: Boo-Hoo for now.

As many of you know, I’ve been in the states for the past weeks visiting my family and will be returning shortly back to my beloved Barcelona.

Meanwhile, I found out yesterday the TEMPORARY market de Llibertat has officially opened.

The market is located on the street adjacent to plaça de Gal.la Placidia. Part of the plaça is also being used to house the market.

This past year was quite a sad one for us who love the park at the plaça. Because of renovation, the regulars who congregated there have gone somewhere else.

It was a park where BIG people came to unwind, the LITTLE people played on the seesaw and dogs EVERYWHERE, running back and forth in the doggie pens.

It was a park where I adjusted and re-adjusted my camera settings and where many people were kind enough to “tolerate” me as I took their photos.

So, last night I went through the pictures I shot of plaça de Gal.la Placidia when it was “normal”, when it was tranquil and when it was serene.

And today, I select the first of a series of photos of the people, the place, the pooches and the birds.

So be certain to search the tag placidia as the series of articles add up.

The Beauty Within
plaça de Gal.la Placidia, Barcelona, 2006

How fantastic it is to see the pregnant girl of today proud of her body. I had the idea that she was as beautiful as any world-class model and better.

How lucky their child will be to have such confident and relaxed parents. Their serene manner almost put ME to sleep.

Enjoy!

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Girl in the Middle

She sat there,

as if she had just won the Olympic Gold Medal, triumphant and regal.

plaça de Rius y Taulet
Barcelona, 2006

I arrived in time to see boys do what boys do best. Run, wrestle and climb, fall, retry and eventually make it to the top of the box.

Once there, they sat, looked at another, and smiled.

In the midst of this hoopla was a little girl dressed in a white skirt.

plaça de Rius y Taulet
Barcelona, 2006

She so much wanted to play with them and sit on the metal container and keep them company.

Oh, how she tried and tried to climb.

So completely innocent and free.

plaça de Rius y Taulet
Barcelona, 2006

Eventually she made it with much encouragement from her male companions.

plaça de Rius y Taulet
Barcelona, 2006

Maybe someday she will remember this moment.

And,

Maybe someday when she feels uncertain and insecure as most woman who “grow-up” do, she can draw from the experience of this moment, smile, feel confident, forge ahead and be free.”

View barcalunacy's A Candid View of Everyday People FLCKR photoset.

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Peek-A-Boo

Barcelona is a romantic city and people can’t help, intertwining, intermingling and just plain old kissing.

In the plaça Gal-la Placidia I caught a couple confirming how they feel about one another. Ah, young love.

plaça Gal-la Placidia
Barcelona, 2006

A kiss is just a kiss, and the act of lips interlocking still fascinates others.

Even me!!

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Side-Affects of the Cigarette Smoking Ban

Western society is so concerned with the health aspects of smoking that I just want to, “cough, cough” (excuse me), talk about the downside of the “smoking ban”.

Sitting on this bench made me realize

Park Bench
Barcelona, 2005

that in my day:

· I don’t know how many wedding couples gave matchbook favors with the name of the couple and the date of their, joyful nuptials. But there were countless, many.

· I don’t know how many rooms, lobbies, and bars in hotels, motels and inns had their names on the matchbook. But there were fantastically many.

· I don’t know how many people of both genders used the edge of the matchbook to dislodge a piece of “something or other” from between their teeth. But there were tremendously many.

· I don’t know how many matchbooks were used as a PDA file for giving or taking phone of vitally, important numbers between both genders. But the number is at least a google or more.

Hmm. (Musing while writing.) In one or two more generations, the children then will not know anything about the matchbook of today.

So, what will take the place of the soon demised match book that acted as an address book?

Park Bench
Barcelona, 2005

Answer: A bench’s slats.

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Converging and Diverting

Shoot! I don’t profess to be a philosopher but we’ve certainly made choices that could go either this way or that way. Are you with me so far?

In this obsessive, compulsive and fixated age of fitness and good health, it was wonderful to see how a group of young folks opted to ride the “up” escalator. My kind of folks!



The other, a young woman, trekked the stairs, all alone. (Ah. Those were the days …)

I was fascinated by a moment of human behavior. They had walked together and then separated.

The scene reminded me of Robert Frost’s overly quoted, overly written and overly analyzed poem, The Road Not Taken. But who cares, I LIKE it overly well.

Can you guess the Frost line I softly whispered to myself as I shot this photo?

Yes!

You’re right.

She “took the one less traveled by …”

View barcalunacy's A Candid View of Everyday People FLCKR photoset.

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Hanging Loose

These guys looked tough, intimidating and unapproachable and I was immediately intrigued. I liked the way they sat, as close friends do, but more so, I liked the way

plaça de Rius y Taulet
Barcelona, 2006

their laughter softened their rough edges.

These seemingly rough guys were amused by an impish, little boy who was small for his age and standing up against those twice his size and bigger.

plaça de Rius y Taulet
Barcelona, 2006

They liked his spunk and he liked their attention. All were hanging loose and having fun.

And then,

plaça de Rius y Taulet
Barcelona, 2006

Yikes! When they noticed me I thought I was done-in-for.

But in the camera’s viewer I saw a wave, that friendly kind of wave (thank goodness) and I was delighted.

Enjoy!!

View barcalunacy's A Candid View of Everyday People FLCKR photoset.

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Oh! What a tangled web he weaved

Did these pesky tourists know they fell into a tangled web of toilet paper?

Legend had it that once caught in the web, you were never FREED.

But luckily for these 2 guys they weren't welcome FEED.

Imprisoned Pesky Tourists
Gran de Gràcia, 2005

And the tangled web was weaved.

Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
Gran de Gràcia, 2005

Hmm. Was it too late for this little guy?

Pesky Morsel
Gran de Gràcia, 2005

Passers strolled by; some didn't hesitate to show their disdain.

Hardcore Tourist
Gran de Gràcia, 2005

Hard to imagine that it was a year and half ago these photos were taken.

We’ve walked many times down Gran de Gràcia looking for him.

And,

He’s gone.

But,

Not forgotten.

View more of other street performers in barcalunacy's Barcelona Street Artists FLCKR photoset.

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