The whole town

Today is the day the local magazine, TOTSantCugat, comes out.  Tot means all or whole in Catalan.

You'll find them ALL over, including outside the hardware store,

the candy shop,

a doctor's office,

the tobacco shop,

a door with the handle in the middle
(not sure why they are here),

the pharmacy,

and the optician, to name a few.

I can't really blame the people who take the magazine and leave the ads.

I can't read much Catalan, but I pick one up and make an attempt to learn something before looking at it online to really know what is going on.

Outing

The parents' group at school suggested a time and place for people to gather for coffee.  It didn't conflict with Castilian class so I found my way there.

I seldom buy coffee at a shop in the USA (pronounced in class like ooh sah - to rhyme with moose -ah), but I knew I didn't want a teeny-tiny cup

like the scene from Muppets Most Wanted, in which the Sam, the Bald Eagle has an American cup of coffee and the French Interpol agent has a European cup.

It turned out I could order a cafe americano, but that means it comes with milk.  Oh, well.
It also came with free water - so adorable!

As a tour guide once said, coffee in, coffee out.  But what do you do if there are no symbols and not even an entire word?  Good thing I have been working ahead in class!

 In Castilian the bathroom options were hombre and mujer

and if it had been in Catalan it would have been home and dona,

Grocery shopping

Checking out the food in the store is almost endlessly entertaining, but what are the logistics?

The major grocery stores I visit do have bicycle racks and I have not seen anyone at the store with a bike.  Maybe I am there at the wrong time, but I am guessing it is not the trend around here.

On the other hand, so many people of all ages use these kinds of carts.  The variety is amazing with some having many pockets, some of them insulated, and some looking a bit like walkers and are pushed instead of pulled.

Our landlord left one behind that is simple and functional.  I debate whether to lock it up at the stands provided.  It works by

• putting the chain around the handle
• putting a coin (0.50€) in the slot
• turning the key
• removing the key
• using the key upon returning
• retrieving the coin (which I forgot the first time but some kids were happy to tell me)

The grocery carts are separated by putting in a coin (0.50€, 1€, or 2€) and pulling out the chain.  When the chain is pushed into the cart ahead of it after shopping, the coin is returned.

If you don't want a big cart you can take a little one to pull behind you.

Come visit and I will take you shopping so you can see for yourself!

Guest Blog from D - Yippee

There has been quite a bit going on and I should write some posts going back a bit in time, but right now I will write in the present.  It has been a hard week to be abroad, as I lost a good friend and colleague back home to a tragic accident.  Perhaps I will be able to compose a post on that later, but I cannot do it now...

Prior to that news, I had been thinking about our bicycle situation.  I brought a tandem and a folding bike with us from home, the landlord had a bicycle here that J. is riding, and the first week we were here we bought a second hand bike for A.

Bicycles from home brought as checked luggage and assembled.

While some of us do keep bicycles in the living room, we have a parking space in our underground garage which is kept locked.  So it seemed like a good plan to use it for bikes since we don't have a car.

Landlord's bike, tandem, and A's bike in our parking space.

Sant Cugat del Vallès has one of the highest rates of bike theft in Spain, and our garage is not that secure, so I felt I needed to really lock it to something.  This resulted in learning about hardware stores in town and getting a chain and lock exactly the right size to put around the column that supports the building.  

U-lock of tandem to chain locked around the column. A. locks to the U-lock.

I have been riding the folding bike to commute to work everyday.  There are several variations on the basic route, which I have explored, but they are all about 5.5 km, and use a bicycle path separated from the road for much of that distance.  The route is downhill-flat-uphill both going to and from work, which is not my favorite.

Everything from the first traffic circle to the motorway is on a bike path. 

However when A. started school, I was riding with him to school so that took me uphill from our place to his school, and then I started exploring new routes.  Google maps is a great resource, but it also makes some pretty odd choices.  The first time it took me on a route from A's school to my work, I ended up climbing on a steep dirt road.  Here is my folding bike loaded with my pack on the rack on that dirt road.

The off-road commute on my trusty FlyBy bike with my work bag on the back.

The routes were now longer, about 10 km, and I found a way to stay on paved roads, but I was now climbing much higher first and then zipping down hill which I enjoy much more... Here is a map from the day I went out to his school, then work, then back to his school another way, and returned home.

Toward the top of the map is uphill and toward the bottom is downhill.

At work I see the other folks who ride in (about 20 scientists) and one told me he was riding his mountain bike over on dirt trails through the local mountains from Barcelona.  This was enticing, and I lamented not having a mountain bike to ride.  He told me about a phone app, Wallapop which has become the dominant tool for buying and selling used goods in Spain.  I found a basic used mountain bike there at a reasonable price only 8 blocks from our place.

The bike is a 2009 GT with 24 speeds and disc brakes.

J. has been exploring running trails which are also used by cyclists.  I took her lead today and rode off into the woods.  I met three guys who led me for awhile and then joined two other guys who led me further into the mountains.  I was thinking about my friend who loved to climb mountains and decided to go to the summit of the mountains between Sant Cugat and Barcelona.

Today's summit ride in honor of my colleague.

At the summit is a tall church that we can see from our home in Sant Cugat and that you can also see from Barcelona.  There is also a small amusement park, and a hotel at the summit.

The church of the Sagrat Cor in Tibidabo.

You can see the red roller coaster track of the amusement park.

I enjoyed exploring and meeting folks on my ride today while thinking about my friend.  Oh and of course the ride out was all up, and the ride home all down, just the way I like it.  A great way to start a day.

La Mercè, part two

If you watched the video from yesterday's post you probably have a good sense of the festival - LOTS of people, traditional cultural performances, concerts, parades, more than one person could do.

We should have guessed there would be a lot of people when arrived at Plaça de Catalunya in central Barcelona.  There were all sorts of booths and people promoting their tours by bus, foot, and bicycle.  Here is a tip - where there are a zillion people milling about it is a bad idea to take a bike tour that attempts to go through narrow passageways.  Sorry no picture.

As we attempted to walk through the narrow walkways we came to the entrance of the Cathedral of Barcelona, which I don't think we had seen before.  We were dressed modestly enough so they let us in.  I knew nothing about it and would like to go back with a tour or after reading a description, but I did enjoy the quick peek.

We followed the suggestion of allowing serendipity to be our guide.  After leaving the discomfort of the crowd we came across this stage (raised, with seats in front and standing room in back - much more inviting).

A live orchestra was performing while little kids in sheep costumes danced and larger kids dressed as shepherds danced around them.  Later adults in costume came out and performed different dances, but also in costume and with sticks that may represent a shepherd's crook.

We met D.'s former student at the central post office, which did not have a mailbox in front of it, but it was a great place to meet someone.

E. suggested we have tapas, which sounded great because we had done that only once before.  He has been in the city about two years and speaks fluently and knows what to ask for.  We were lucky that the restaurant was willing to serve us since it was only about 1pm and we were lucky to try some great food - something eggplant, something olive, a potato dish A. liked a lot, something cheese, a couple somethings tomato, and a little bread.

We followed that with a walk to the water and gelato.  What a great day!

We had no problem catching our train.  A. rushed home play with friends (electronically) and D. and I sauntered home, past stores, past the monastery,

and past the buckeye trees.

Maybe if we lived in town we would see the fireworks show tonight, which we heard is spectacular.  I don't know if we would have joined the Correfoc, which is a run in which people dressed as the devil set off fireworks.  I was glad to see that people can choose whether they run earlier with the kids or later with the adults.  What a festival!

Gegants i capgrossos

Another weekend, another festival.

This one is for the patron saint of Barcelona, the Virgin of La Mercè
and it is the biggest of the festivals (festa mejor).
It is several days long, always including 24 September.
All around the city were events including traditional cultural events,
music, visual arts, and even a bicycle marching band.

We opted for the traditional events, including the giants and big heads.

It was crowded and only became more so.  We could see that there were sets of puppets with different themes, representing different historical events.  We asked a local about them and she said even though she can recognize most of them, she does not know all of them.

We could recognize that these were the Gaudi set.

The back side

Sorry about the quality of the picture.  Check out better images on this video.

Each set (or maybe only some sets) do a little dance together,

accompanied by live music.
Each set of dancers has its own set of musicians.

I don't know the last time I was in a crowd so large.  With all the selfie sticks and kids on shoulders it was hard to see. Trying to get out was challenging, but it was definitely the right decision to leave.

It was a pleasant surprise to learn that all day long the giants and big heads parade around town,
along with their musicians.  They stop and perform at random (it seemed).
This group passed by our lunch stop and performed about a block away.

Then we ran into this group a bit later
(musicians on the left).

photo credit to the Baileys
Sant Cugat has its own giants, but I have seen them only in the museum.

Part two to follow.

Food, the produce department

About every two blocks is a store selling produce and maybe a few other things.  I can't figure out how people choose a store since they seem the same to me.  I assume they base it on location or a recommendation from a friend.  I sometimes go to these stores and I sometimes go to the grocery store, which is close to our apartment.

At the store it is serve yourself,

preferably using gloves found in the metal box.

Then take your bag over to the scale and press the number
(found on the sign, see first picture).

Maybe these are a different kind of yam or sweet potato?

You can also look at the picture or name.

After pressing the picture/name/number,
the machine will produce a sticker with the price.
f.y.i., tubérculos = tubers

Check out the celery!!

During the week there is a changing display of fruits and vegetables.
When we arrived late on Saturday a lot of foods were sold out, including from the display.
It pays to shop on Friday or join the crowds on Saturday.