Parking in Granollers

My dears,  don't do it! 
Not for a minute.
The tow trucks circle every area of Granollers.  They really are out to get you.  Don't park illegally. Don't leave your car somewhere for five minutes.  You'll be fined. 

Walking Through Town in Sports Clothes!

Walking By the River

Creeps Me Out a Bit

And I love it!

Kiddy Crowd Control for the Kings

Granollers is madly getting ready for the three wise men to visit la porxada. You can see the cue controller being put into place above.
There will be tons of children lining the streets to see the three Magi being drawn by tractor and waving benevolently. Their helpers will bombard the children with sweets supplied by the local bank.
Happy Three Wise Men Eve! 

A Walk to Viena

Today I walked to the sandwich bar Viena. It took me 59 minutes from door to door. I saw a baby rabbit chasing a bird. Never seen that before.
Happy New Year everyone.

Breakfast Conversation

I just had the strangest experience!  There were a couple of women talking in the cafe, and they were obviously talking about clothing and quite seriously too.

I didn't realise I was staring, and then suddenly the lady turned to me and smiled and started talking to me about the same thing. Obviously I didn't catch everything and I stumbled out my ´no entenc' (I don't understand) but she kept talking and gesturing at her top and finally it was discovered that shirts were not comfortable but naturally I assured her it looked nice anyway and the colour was great.

That hasn't happened to me before.  That total strangers engage me in conversation. Well, it's happened in other countries, but not here.  Just yesterday I was saying to Xantal (a friend/student) that I was looking for positive things to love about Catalans. Very funny. And just now, as I'm writing, they said goodbye to me... and though they spoke to each other in Catalan, they spoke to me in Spanish. (Also quite typical from Catalans)

A Cyber Walk In Granollers

Today I thought I´d take you for a quick walk in Granollers to my favourite coffee shop/bakery.  Let´s go.

 These are the stairs from our apartment. We´re going down.

At the bottom of our building there are two elevators. Sometimes, if I want to get one last look at what I look like before I go out into the world, I open the doors of the elevator and there is a long mirror. Doesn´t show shoes, but I get a more flattering light than the one in my hall.  That´s me today.  (If you want, you can post me a picture of you today and I´ll add it to the blog too, just for fun)

Here´s our entrance. The weather has changed a bit in the last few days.  Today it´s sunny but with a few clouds. About 23 degrees, but cooler in the shade and breeze.  I´m still wearing sandals.

We turn left and that ´s what we see.  The building beside us is a bank with some surprisingly insensitive and politically incorrect advertising considering the  ‘occupy` movement going down.

So we walk to the end of the block (15 steps?) and turn left again. Yes, lots of graffiti here.

Our bins! This is still our block! Come on.

It`s marketday! It´s pretty late (1:30), so people are packing up. I haven`t been to the market for ages.  We have to get across here. Hold on to your bag. Granollers is usually pretty safe, but on market day every one has a better grip on their possessions.

I usually cut down here. There a less people. Especially on market day.

We`re almost there.  Love this old stone work. A student of mine just walked passed.  Smile and wave.

There`s the church! We`re sitting there.

Ferrer! Our coffee shop/bakery.  I think it has one of the best coffees in Granollers.  My sweet tooth has more or less disappeared in the last weeks, but you can order what you like. Today`s on me, so order  anything you like.

It was lovely to see you today! Thanks for joining me. 

This is the first post where I have used my new Toshiba netbook, our lovely fuji camera, my new Motorola flipout and done everything myself! (ok I did call Albert about some small details, but, I did the actual work!)

I´m even going to try to blue tooth this document to my flipout and send it from this coffee shop before I leave.  Am I not totally cool and clever, not to mention modern and dexterous?¿  That is my Spanish keyboard for you!

Hugs all and talk to you soon!


(edit - blog publishing disaster actually occurred but hopefully Albert can help me out with tech details. Learnt a lot though!) 

Milk Cafe with Vegetarian Menu in Granollers!

At number 4 Girona street there's a new cafe opened up with many vegetarian options. It's in the same place the unlucky Grinsen used to be. The waiters are friendly and fast and tonight we're watching Barça beat Osasuna on the big screen. Good luck Milk Cafe!

Spectacular Sunset over Granollers

Footballi in the Corona Plaza

At the time of writing Whites were winning by two points.

Blues or Whites?

In the Festa Major of Granollers there are two teams. They were created artificially to bring a fun sense of rivalry to the week's party. At the beginning, some 30 years ago, the two teams started with the seed of a coalition of several groups in the city. The Whites have a church and money background. The Blues have a people of the street feel. The problem with Whites too, is it's the same colour as Real Madrid. Sounds strange, but people here have a blood hatred of white in this way. Granollers colours are blue and white, that's why they were chosen in the first place. Two years ago we were watching the tug of war between the two teams. There was an abundance of blues, so Albert was asked to pull for the Whites. We became Whites for this reason alone. And we also wanted to balance out the teams. As you can see from the picture above, there is a predominance of blues lined up for the footballi. We think the Whites need to reinvent their image and gather the new generations into their fold.

Catastrophy for the White's Dance Off

We're all ready to dance, blues and whites with a white glove in hand, and there is a sudden power cut! 20 minutes later it's still not resolved. People are leaving, children are starting to cry. But wait! A microphone is working! Good luck Whites!

Tuesday Festa Major Granollers

So today Jett participated in some card games, some giant board games and entered a tournament. He said he didn't have time to win it.
Afterwards we danced in the Bollywood Master Class and went home for dinner. Later on we watched the Whites with an hour long drum show.
The Blues held a Swing event with a big screen playing old dance routines. Just before we came home there was an African Dance exhibition. The streets are still quite full. No concerts nearby tonight. Jett and I are home preparing ourselves for tomorrow's activities. Visca Whites!

Piou piou in the Library Square

It's about 30 degrees and we're sitting under a big tent playing card and board games. The boy beside Jett is his friend who lives up stairs.

Monday Night Festa Major

A fire production from the Blues. The main square had salsa all day. There was a metal concert. Quite a lot of people for a Monday. And 1 € beers, a big favourite. There was a huge area blocked off for Catalan sausage and bread making and Toy Story 3 was playing in the Corona plaza.

Summer in Plaza Corona

It's almost lunch time here. But people are feeling lazy. Summer is truly here. Flies are dancing in the air. It's also market day in Granollers, so there are many more people on the street. There's a breeze, but it's warm.
 I came out to drink Tiger's Nut milk (orxata) but felt so lazy I decided to take a boost of caffeine instead. I'm cleaning the apartment and preparing for our month long road trip to Norway. We leave on Sunday. I can't afford to be lazy this afternoon.
 I'm also strongly aware that when we return it will be to the Festa Major. A week long (loud) party centred 50 metres from our building block.
And my brother arrives. It will be his first visit to Granollers.
Ah, the cafe amb llet is kicking in. It was my emergency coffee for work purposes! Is it me, or is everyone suddenly walking faster?
 Oh, and remember, the sales start here twice a year. The 7th of January and the 1st of July. So if you plan to come for shopping, those are the best days.
My friend Kate said she was feeling in love with this place lately. I guess it's contagious. Arrogant women, lazy appreciative men, hot sun, lots of bars with terraces, people milling about. It's not the Spain of the south, as I have read about, but it's plenty for me.

Happy Summer Evenings!

Everything was very good today. Perfect weather, great company, cold drinks and yummy vegetable chips. Yay Granollers! Oh, and the sales started today so what could be better?

Norwegians in the Porxada!

The Granollers Cup has attracted lots of blonde Norwegians to Granollers! The local boys are going crazy. Heia Norge!

El Fornet - the New Bakery

This is the first time I've been in this new bakery. It opened just a few weeks ago and fits right in. The decor is both elegant and cosy and it's a lovely addition to this busy side street. Unfortunately I'm on my coffee and pastry restriction so I can't say how good the coffee is yet. It's busy today.