Christmas Day

25/12/2017

Adíeu

Kitty is low with her cold. Even Mucinex cannot rouse her this morning, and I know she slept poorly with all of the coughing through the night. I remember two years ago when I was struck with a similar cold—coughing, coughing, coughing—and she forced me to stay in for a day and relax. Kitty stays home today.

I strike out with my camera, turning back to get a shot of Kitty waving from our living room. I repeat a walk I did last year: up the Diagonal past La Casa de les Punxes. I find myself repeating some of the same shots, but the light is different: more diffuse with less shadows. This time I go down Carrer del Bruc to Mercat de la Concepció, where they are still selling flowers out the back. There are a few restaurants and cafés open, and I settle for De Tapa Madre Restaurant. We had a lunch there in 2013, and it looks inviting. I sit at the bar to rest and have a Vermut, common as a lunchtime aperitif, and watch the chef, a middle-aged woman, select seafood for her lunch preparation. She must be the madre of the place. It’s rare to see a woman cooking, and the wait staff at upper end places tend to be men. At any rate, she is adept at handling what I would call langoustines, regular prawns and lobster. It all looked wonderfully fresh.

Flowers at Mercat de la Concepció

As I come onto Passeig de Gràcies, a woman in her early twenties sees my shirt and stops me, speaking English. I’d forgotten I was wearing the 2017 Women’s March shirt. It put a smile on her face. We chatted. She (Sue) was on a three-month tour alone from Washington and Colorado. Had been to Paris, Amsterdam, Salzburg and was now on her way to Madrid. Her second trip to Europe. I admire her energy. I told her how we had been captured by this city, and can’t seem to summon the will to go anywhere else. She understood. She said she thought it was prettier than Paris, and that in Paris the attitude is “don’t touch” and that you don’t get that here. Kitty is fond saying that Barcelona seems more “lived in” and less “like a museum than Paris.” Sue was going down to the Gothic quarter and asked what I thought she should see. I said I thought she should just wander around. Enjoy the squares and the two “Maria” churches. I thought about the lovely square Filip Neri, but knew I couldn’t offer directions. She can’t go wrong, really.

Casa Milà

I continued on towards the apartment. An elderly lady in a fur coat asks me to use her phone to take her picture with Casa Milà in the background. It’s an ancient phone with a cracked screen. Realized I should have gotten the two of us, but she left before I thought of it.

View out the front of apartment

The sky is starting to clear as I get home about 2:00, and have a sandwich. Kitty is feeling better and cooking our holiday soup. Now I’ve worked on photos it’s time for more reading (I’m enjoying Sander’s Lincoln in the Bardo). I can’t imagine being bored in retirement, at least I seem to be handling all this Barcelona discretionary time quite well!

Kitty cooks the Christmas soup through the day. It’s delicious, with big seashells. Last year she did it with lardons, and this year with the pre-fab meaty mix from Bon Preu. Both were amazing.

We read and watch a post-apocalyptic movie where the Last Girl manages to maintain her make-up and hair until the bitter end, and high-school age kids get to launch a coup and wear uniforms and shoot guns.

One thought on “Christmas Day”

worldinaroom says:

December 25, 2017 at 10:45 pm

hello, i love your blog. I am on my little laptop as i cannotget internet on my big computer. it is all messed up, but my nephew is coming tomorrow to work on it. Have fun and i hope K feels better. Love, Jane

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