Who is Sofia Boutella?

She is a young and hard worker argelian-french dancer who was part of the french team of rhythmic gymnastics in Olympic Games when she was about 17 years old . She became very popular around the world after Nike's add and after taking part in a Madonna's videoclip. Personally I am not a hip hop fan but its is worth to see her dancing.

Peugeot 206 commercial

I said yesterday that the new add of Volkswagen was quite popular but not my cup of tea. Someone asked me if I remembered a better add of a car. I do, bit old but here it goes:

Who is Rémi Gaillard?

When someone decides to learn a new language, a good grammar, listening, oral and writting level can be reached but there are some cultural details that can't be taught at classes as musicians, tv programs, fashion, gossips, famous people...France has a very popular comedian called Rémi Gaillard, equivalent to the Spanish Follonero ( literally means Troublemaker) they have different style but they both can be very bothering.

Bellow some videos of Rémi Gaillard bothering around disguised as Kangaroo, Packman, Sumo Fighter, Mario Bross...

These are of the Spanish Follonero :

Volcanic area in Olot

94 miles from Barcelona and 34 miles from Girona you can find the volcanic area of la Garrotxa, you can drive from Barcelona ( here how to arrive) or arrive by bus to Olot and then visit the area by bike or hiking. Best way  to arrive though, is by car, you can park in a free parking area and from there you can hike to the volcanos following the signposts. There are several tours.

It is easy short way though sometimes uphill path is a bit painful. They are small volcanos so uphill last short after starting. These volcanos had been inactive for 10,000 years and it is not a earthquake area but in the XVth century cities of Olot and Queralb were completely destroyed because of earthquakes
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.  Santa Margarida's volcano , yes, a church is placed in the middle of the crater. Second picture, the one with people in it shows how big the crater is so the picture is taken from "inside" the crater of the volcano where plants and trees have grown.

• Another tour to the Bocanegra ( Blackmouth in Spanish), land is lightweight and porous, in black or red, volcanic soil.
  

• The Croscat , structure of the volcano is easy to distinguish. Some decades ago the volcano was mined in order to sell the soil so, unfortunately, part of the volcano disappeared. As well some visitors take advantage of the lightness of the soil and walls to leave marks around. A real shame.

The visit to  volcanos can take the whole day round but if you get sick of hiking you can visit the city of Olot , the forest "Fageda d'en Jordà" which is in the area or visit the narrow village of Castellfollit de la Roca, placed on the top of a basaltic cliff and where there is only one way to arrive to the village, here some pics of Castellfollit.

Darth Vader and Volkswagen.

Another Ad, this performed by Darth Vader for Volkswagen ( no, the car's model is not called Star Wars). It is being an absolute success in Spain. In my opinion it is not that great to be named at work and at home ( seems everybody talks about this ad!). What is needed to create a great ad?

Wood made cell by Docomo

The Japanese company of cell phones Docomo has created a new cell called Touch wood . Another bloger (banalthinks ) showed me this original ad recorded in a Japanese forest, the song played is from Bach and is funny to see how you can create a tone by the length of the wood sticks and make it longer or shorter depending on the piece of wood. Not to mention the patience needed!

Collserola.

What to do those sunny days when you feel like walking in the forest but you don't want to spend a lot of money or two hours in train or car?

Go to Collserola. 

 It's the mountain range you can see from the city and it is where Tibidabo is placed. You can check here all the routes ( spanish and catalan), you can go to the funfair if you don't feel like walking. City views are very beautiful, as all the routes are.

I made a route to Sant Medir's Chapel and then I walked towars Tibidabo, it is not like a jungle, more like a big park, but is worth to go if you are feed up of the grey colours of the city and you need some green and Spring colours.

In Saint Medir's chapel you should take a bean from a basket in the chapel and ask for a wish. It seems that in IInd century dC, romans were after a catholic priest and Saint Medir who was a farmer and was sowing beans distracted them by saying that the priest passed long time ago when he sow the beans. The miracle ocurred when some blossoms appeared in the plants like they were plant long time ago and no the same day . Anyway romans killed both, the priest and Saint Medir.

• Views of Barcelona.

 

• Flowers

 

 

• Sant Medir's Chapel

•  Tibidabo

• Comunications' tower of Collserola , designed by Norman Foster (945 ft)

• Railway

•  Observatory Fabra.

Sagrada Familia

The cathedral of Sagrada Familia of Antoni Gaudí is under construction since 1882 . Plans of the cathedral were made when Barcelona was not as built as is nowadays so now there is a "space" problem with the sides of the cathedral. The main tower is not still built but it will be 558 ft high. There are two facades, very different one from another. The facade of the Passion in Sardenya street was built under the supervision of the architect Subirach and under my ignorant point of view looks like Star Wars'scene ( does not mean it is really beautiful too! ) this side of the cathedral has a very interesting thing: a  magic cube, placed on the left side of the facade, the cube has numbers that in whatever direction you add them the result is 33, age of Jesus when died.

The other facade, the Birth in Marina street has one gazillion details and looks like completely different than the other side.

About Antoni Gaudí, without any doubt he has a genius, born in the region of Tarragona, so he has not from Barcelona as lot of people use to think. He was 74 when he was run over by a tram between Girona and Bailen Street with Gran Via de les Corts in Barcelona. He was wearing old clothes, no shaving and without documents so he was taken by a homeless so no one took attention on him until it was too late. He was buried under Sagrada Familia.

Another thing about Sagrada familia, in one of the towers (Sant Bartholomew is called) there are some falcon's nest, Major House of Barcelona put some webcams to see them online.

Sometimes there is a free entrance to someplaces as the cript or the main nave of the cathedral but that can change depending on the works and the day of the year. Here, some information about the official web of Sagrada Familia. If you want to make a visit inside the Cathedra you can see some parts of the nave and some towers, better to know timetable of visits in advanced and prices, about 17 euros.

Lluís Companys' boulevard and Ciutadella Park.

If we arrive to Arc de Triomf's metro station in Barcelona and we walk to Park of the Ciutadella through Lluís Companys boulevard we can observe a curiosity on the ground.

Streetlams are very beautiful and antique, it is a perfect place to ride a bike, play petaca, Courts are placed down the boulevard right hand, you can skate and relax but the unusual is on the ground, this is:

holes on the stone ground of the boulevard, close to parque de la Ciutadellla right hand. The boulevard was build for the World Expo of Barcelona in 1888 and bomb attacks of Spanish Civil War were in 1938 , same area where the holes are now. I don't know if could it be the impacts of the bombs or if it has another explanation. You can find here ( just spanish and italian) about places where people took refuge and which areas were bombed. At the end of the boulevard there is an statue of Rius i Taulet, ex-major of the city at the time of the World Expo in 1888. The boulevard's name: Lluís Companys was the name of the president of Catalonia who was executed in Montjuïc Castle in 1940 during the Civil War.

It is one of the most popular parks in Barcelona, it has a militar origin (name means citadel or fortress)  it was built during the Spanish Succession War. Nowadays is a green area, with a lake and boats, plenty of sculptures and statues around, ping pong tables, two museums, a zoo...and the Parlament ( lots of jokes about that...like wondering in which building you can find more animals...)Here you can find all details about sculptures of the park and its history. Weekends are busy with events as concerts, food places, people walking, juggeling, riding bikes, skating, playing guitar, using laptop (free wifi in the area), rowing...good place to relax.

•  Entrance Parc de la Ciutadella

• Museum of  Zoology or Three Dragon's Castle.

• Museum of Geology.

•  Til.lers' boulevard.

• Building of the World Expo 1888

• Waterfall with statue of the Aurora's carriage.

• The Lake

• The Mamut 11,45 ft tall.