Barcelona follies.

After spending a week and Rome we crossed over to Barcelona for the New Year. Our visits to Barcelona have been anthologized quite extensively on Camels and Tacos. We aren't breaking much ground here other than bringing Ana's parents along and checking out the Zoo.

Ximena meets Caga Tió (pooping log). Here is the story of Caga Tió from Tourist Guide Barcelona: Caga Tió also comes out on  08 December. It is a small log with a smiley face, wearing the traditional red Catalan hat - the Barretina. The name Caga Tió means 'Poo Log'. Every day between  08 December and Christmas Eve, children look after the Caga Tió. They cover him with a blanket to make sure that he is warm and they feed him Turron every evening. This is to ensure that he is nice and full so that he will poo out lots of treats on Christmas Eve!  On Christmas Eve, after our large dinner, dessert comes courtesy of Caga Tió. The children are given a stick with which they hit the Caga Tió. They sing a special song:  "Caga Tió avellanes I torró Si no vols cagar Et donanem un cop de pal."  This translates as:  "Caga Tió hazelnuts and turron If you don't want to poo We will hit you with a stick"  The children then reach inside the Caga Tio's blanket and find sweets and small toys. Similar to the sorts of treats that children receive in their stockings from Santa Claus.  

This is only an opinion, but the Barcelona Zoo has much to be desired. Several of the major attractions were closed. The overall facilities looked dated and rundown. 

We did see penguins. 

Ximena's first swing set. She loved it. 

In continuing Ana's parents tour of religious sights, Sagrada Familia is always a hit. 

I decided to take photos with the iPad mini. Not too bad. 

Looking into the ceiling. 

The end of construction is near...a short 10-12 years are left. 

MACBA exhibits. Water is life. Pipes are the vein of a city. Taoism in there somewhere. 

The gold curtain is actually chains. 

 

After church there needed to be Cava tasting at Freixenet.

Freixenet is the other big name in Cava. 

Going down to the cellars never gets old.  

The damp and the mixture of smells of mold and cava will put a smile on anyones face. 

Aging bottles.  

The ceiling. 

Random car.

Went to a nice hardcore punk show at CSOA Transformadors.
Here is a link to another site that list shows: https://antipatiazine.wordpress.com/ 

There were nice collections of bootleg shirts. 

Which band, I don't know... 

one of the show goers.