Some of my favorite things.

What is your favorite thing about Barcelona, I was asked. My favorite thing is the variety. I love the variety of the porches, the architecture, and the little things I see when I am out and about like art at the train stations.

This is not art but I like the idea of selling books in the train station

to raise money for solidarity.

This article writes about a lot of the art so it seems that I have more exploring to do.

Books

These were a couple of promotions related to the holiday.

Not only was the weather good, some people had a nice setting for book buying and selling.

There were many organizations selling books,

including local political groups.

There were discount books, 

books for kids,

old books, and

miniature books.

This is what we ended up, thanks to a used book store in London.

Parting shots from Madrid

It is a good thing I can't read much Spanish so I was not tempted by the books for sale.

There were many booths along the south side of El Retiro.

It looks like what was on the table was only a small selection.

It is said that this bookstore has been here, in the same
alley as the San Ginés chocolateria for over 300 years.

There are also big bookstores

and

smaller ones.

There were even book excerpts on the metro.
"The objective is to encourage reading in public transport
through brief texts that arouse the interest of users."
more here

 A few random pictures

I liked the variety of plant towers around town.

It is great when doors are open and I can peek in!

The metro was so clean and so empty!

And their tickets were so much smaller.
They also have tap cards, which Barcelona does not have. Yet.

I had never seen a park bench with pedals in front of it.

At the airport they had a bar where each person had a
screen but instead of serving drinks they served ham.

I don't know where else we'll travel in Spain, but I am so glad we got to visit Madrid!

Another library

The Sant Cugat library will request any book in the system and have it sent to the library, but the cost is 1.50€.  For just under 4€ I can go to any library in Barcelona and back and get whichever books they have.  Exploring different libraries has been a pleasure and last week I tried a new one.

Biblioteca Sant Gervasi - Joan Maragall
I took this photo from the architects' site, where you can see several more.

The window at the entrance had all the iconic Barcelona buildings.

The library had a lot of nooks and crannies, making it hard to take pictures.  It also had a lot of visitors (patrons? customers?), which also made it hard to take pictures.

There was a nice local section, including a lot of works of Joan Maragall.
(note - Joan is the Catalan equivalent of Juan)

The English section was a little frustrating since the titles were covered with labels and the books were covered with plastic, meaning it was difficult to slide them out to read the title.  On the other hand, they had books in English, which is what I wanted.

I didn't see a librarian, but the desk looked inviting.

Books that need repair go here?

Between floors was a display area that seemed to be a play on the
often heard, "I can't remember the title but it had a green cover."

edit - This display may be related to the comment above, but as was pointed out in the comments this display is related to the advertising campaign for the color of the year.  Read more here. 

Above the library was open space.

If I weren't trying to explore a lot of libraries I would definitely return to this one.

Books

Lucky for us our landlord is a literature professor who has spent a lot of time in English-speaking countries.  She left behind enough books to keep me busy for a while.  But I do like to be able to browse books, too.

from the bookstore's site

I found a used book store that is part of chain and one book is 3€, two books are 5€, and five books are 10€.  Their English selection was mostly classics and books people travel with, but there were a few that caught my eye.  I stop by now and then just to see if there is anything I desperately need. Nothing yet.

The main library is not too far from our house and is close enough to other places so I can combine errands.  If you see the bike rack in the background it is empty except for my bicycle, which I thought was strange.  When I went yesterday at 6pm it was much more crowded.

The five shelves on the left and the two shelves in the next section make up the English section.

No English newspapers, no English magazines,

but they did have plenty in both Catalan and Castilian. 

Barely any people, but this was in the morning. 

The children's room had some English books and I found a useful illustrated Spanish dictionary.
I had never seen a single person in there until I went yesterday at 6 p.m.

I did not have a library card and wanted to get books.  What to do?  I mentioned my dilemma to someone who said she was too busy to read.  She let me borrow her card and even gave me her online PIN so I could renew books.  Wow!

But then we were eligible to get cards.  How could I go in and get one when they thought I had one?  I thought about going to a different branch but it is a bit far away and does not have great hours (although I am sure I will get there at some point).  I thought if I went in the evening there would be different people working.  And I took A. in hopes that they would not throw me out in front of my kid.

We arrived and the person who I knew remembered me (he speaks English to me each time he sees me) was at the circulation desk.  I went to the information desk.  I don't the exact words, but she asked, "Did he send you to me?"  No, so she sent me to the circulation desk.  There was someone else there, too, so I asked her.  Nope, had to the see the guy who spoke English.  "You want a card for your kid?  Sure."  I said I wanted one, too.  "Don't you have one?"  At least I could honestly say I didn't.

We both got cards!