barçalunacy photoblog: July 2007

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Cat and mouse

Stefan watched me take pictures of the street vendors who sell purses.

He grinned as he saw them waving their fingers at me in that no-no way and shaking their heads in protest. There was no doubt what they were telling me; they just didn’t want their photos taken.

But, why not write and show you a photo.

Street vendors
Click on photo ... best viewed large
Barcelona, 2007

These squirrelly vendors are important to Barcelona as the tourist, locals, architecture, homeless and the every day clever and experienced pickpocketeer.

Prices are reasonable and the best part is that you don’t have to hang around to be waited on.

Their eyes are on YOU and simultaneously on the conscientious police who for some reason just don’t leave these guys alone. Tsk! Tsk!

Might be ‘cause they don’t have a seller’s license (who knows) or Barcelona doesn’t collect its sales tax, which is a whopping 16% of the base price.

They are thoroughly prepared with their wares on the street settled beautifully on what might appear a tablecloth with long strings connected to the material. With one pull, all the products you’ve seen are neatly bundled. Santa Claus would be proud.

So, if you happen to be buying a product from them, don’t be surprised if they scurry faster than a speeding bullet in all directions.

Most probably, they saw the diligent, capable, friendly and reliable police of this fair city.

Be delighted. If that happens, you have witnessed the friendly start of the cat and mouse game.

Enjoy!!

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

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Too blue eyes

He came to Barcelona about 3 weeks ago.

It was he, Stefan, from a little German town somewhere between Stuttgart and Tübingen.

And,

Was now sitting in a squatting position on a sidewalk adjacent to a famous street called Passeig de Gràcia.

Stefan
Barcelona, 2007

He was hoping to collect some coins here and there because like me, he became a statistic. I wrote about my plight in a post called “Grant me a wish”.

Someone had stolen his identification papers and money.

Without money, he couldn’t get his passport. Without identification papers he couldn’t prove who he was.

However, in three more weeks, more or less, he felt certain he would be back to his beloved Germany and working as an emergency nurse and counseling drug addicts.

I was intrigued and felt sorry for his problem but all the while, I couldn’t keep my brown eyes off his blues.

Would you be able to?

I have a tip for anyone coming to Barcelona from the United States; first and foremost, take a time-out, go to your consulate and register your passport.

You won’t be sorry.

Enjoy!

View Stefan and others in barcalunacy's People of Interest FLCKR photoset.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

07_07_07

Seven photos here depict moments in one day in Barcelona, Spain.

Steppin' out
Barcelona, 2007

People from all over the world were asked to contribute.

Surprises await
Barcelona, 2007

I was lucky and honored to be invited to a FLICKR group of the same title of this post.

Barcelona traveler's
Barcelona, 2007

There's talk of selected photos to be bound in some kind of book with proceeds going to UNICEF.

Dazed and confused?
Barcelona, 2007

Neat idea.

Modeled to imperfection
Barcelona, 2007

Here were the group's rules:

"This is a group I have set up in advance. I'd like you to join this group and on the seventh of July this year (07/07/07) I'd like you to take seven photographs and post them to the group. I'm looking to get people to post from all around the world. Hope to see your photographs on 07/07/07."