Ambling along La Rambla

 

My morning was spent ambling along La Rambla - early before all the cafe's and eateries had opened.  So many interesting buildings.  

How I wish I could have been here 100 years ago when this building housed a shop selling Far Eastern parasols, umbrellas and beautiful fans.  In the 21st. Century its only the facade which acknowledges its past.  

A little further on a lady leans provacatively over a balcony - advertising the Museum of Erotica.

The market is a riot of colour - how dull, dismal and tasteless our supermarkets are in comparison.

 
This is how strawberries should look - not the unripe red and white things we have to suffer in April.  The growers must shout "Hooray for Britain - the only ones fool enough to want our rubbish".

A black mark for Barcelona is that it is one of the few ports which does not believe in handing out good free street maps to its visitors.  The only free map available was that from the Hop On/Hop Off bus company which naturally proved absolutely useless as a walker's street map.  At the top of La Rambla is that fabulous department store, El Corte Ingles.  Fabulous for all sorts of reasons not least of which is that they provide good loos without having to lash out on buying coffee or tea.  As usual I am blown away by their stunning fashion - why oh why are we so dowdy in England.  Thank goodness I popped my credit card in my bag today!

Then I venture into the narrow alleyways of the Old Quarter.  More humorous figures on balconies

bridged archways over the streets

even a shop selling marionettes (no I MUST NOT!).  

Back in the 1950s when just 10 I had noticed a few marionettes hanging high up in an old shop in Brighton.  Full of character, their faces old and wrinkled, their bodies moving slightly as the breeze wafted in through the open door.  They had me mesmerised, but money was tight and there was no way I was allowed to purchase such unnecessary items.  The thought of those puppets stayed with me throughout my life.  Whilst in Hong Kong I discovered old Chinese Puppets - they came back to the UK with me.  A Venetian puppeteer advertised his marionettes online - a couple were made especially for me and winged their way to the UK one Christmas.  Obsessions are all part of my Aspergers Syndrome - hey ho, we are all different.

No way I can get lost on my way back to the ship because Christopher Columbus points the way.

At the sailaway that evening I met K....., who in her youth was a runner, played hockey and served in the army.  An injury during a hockey match left her crippled for life and her mobility decreases with every passing year.  But she tries to stay positive and gets around with the aid of two crutches.  A couple of years ago she lost her daughter to cancer - what tragic stories I hear.  This is her first cruise - I do hope she enjoys it.