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. 

Villa Franca del Penédes vs. Sant Sadurní d'Anoia Barcelona Wine Country

Ok folks, the truth has come out, Ana and I are spies for Charles Shaw aka The Bronco Wine Company. They sent us on a secret mission to infiltrate cava and wine country near Barcelona.   

Batman has the Batmobile, Ana has the Cavacycle.  

Bob's cover is selling "chocolates" 

We planted some Two Buck Chuck seeds a couple of years ago, look at the progress. 

This is how we travel to avoid detection.

We ate all the enemy's grapes.

Inside the Torres epicenter. I had a hunch that they knew who we were, so they put us in an eco-friendly solar powered train to tour the facilities. They made sure we didn't get out of the train as they assigned us an escort .  

Spy food.

A visit to The Wine Museum in Villa Franca was also part of the mission.

Grape torturing devices. 

Ditto.

Wine making dioramas were a hit for most museum goers, but for undercover agents like us, they contained sensitive information.

Deadly potion bottles.

A visual history of past wine spies.

Decorative winery furniture always impresses party guests, little do they know this is an information gathering device. 

Ana waiting to speak with our "handler" aka "chief." Our secret meetings took place in an old wine barrel. Clever, right. 

You may not know it, but Ana and I are hiding in these contraptions. 

A detailed 3D map of how we infiltrated the nucleus of our enemy's headquarters.  

My other disguise.

Choices, choices of where to hide the poisonous potion. 

The table was set and we were ready for our mark...

We danced into the evening...

...and when the night was about over...

...the server AKA Agent Pinguino laid low and ready for the orders... 

...Ana served the deadly potion...

...the church where the services were held for our mark. Mission accomplished.

A peek into our training facility aka "Simon Chocolates" 

Which poison do you think we used?

Behind the doors leads to a secret underground facility. 

Operation Calçots was a success.