Barcelona

Well I´m a bit of a slut when it comes to places that I visit. I seem to fall in love with everywhere and Barcelona is no exception. I´ve got it bad. Its a city full of life, light and energy. Just wandering around the old city and the area around La Rambla is a real buzz.

The place I am staying is called Ram.Cat Apartments and is just of La Rambla. It is a really nice room and the apartment is all recently fitted out. Quite fittingly it located above and near record stores. I also discovered a wonderful book shop near by full of history, politics and art books. If only I had Spanish or Catalan. Apart from a lot of walking around and bits and pieces of fast food coffee etc. I haven´t done all that much. Last night I went to the movies and saw The King and today I went and saw The Road to Guantanamo. Both are very good, if a little heavy. The Road to Gutanamo was very interesting as I knew very little about the British guys who had got caught up in the barbarism of the war on terror. It is a stinging indictment of US policy (should you need anything else to convince you) and a chilling reminder about what a lack of process and natural justice really mean. Movies are in their original form with Spanish subtitles - so works well.

I am hoping I can find some flamenco somewhere tonight, though I realise I am not in the best part of Spain for this sort of thing.

Currently reading a very good book called Homage to Barcelona by Colm Toibin. After that I plan on re-reading Orwell´s Homage to Catalonia (an old fav) and Victor Serge´s Birth of our Power. Mighteven go for Robert Hugh´s book on Barcelona after my holiday if I hace time.