Barcelona, Gothic Quarter: Casa de los Canónigos at Bisbe Irurita Street

Casa de los Canónigos o Casa dels Canonges (Canons' House) at Bisbe Irurita street and next to Sant Jaume square is a XIV c. Gothic building restored in the 1920s by Rubió i Bellver and Jeroni Martorell. It was then that neogothic elements were added to the original building like this bridge connecting Palau de la Generalitat premises with the above mentioned religious house that until 1980 used to be the Official Residence of the President of La Generalitat. Jordi Pujol, the first elected Catalan government president after the 1978 Constitution discarded the house as private residence and so have done his successors.

Vildsvin, The Old Tavern in Ferran Street, Barcelona

Vildsvin, The Old Tavern (L'Antiga Taverna), 38 Ferran, Barcelona. It is funny to use a Swedish word to baptize the stylish but informal middle European tavern conceived by Sagardi Euskal Taberna Group. If you are reading this you know English, so Vildsvin might ring a bell. Let's see in German: Wildschwein. Huh, do you get it now? Wild Swine? Ok, let's quit it. That's a wild boar. Would you believe that a cute, chic place, with tiled floor, noble wood furniture and an oyster bar in the ground floor is called the Wild Boar? Nope. So I can imagine some smart guy, saying hey, it has to be a wild boar cause a tavern is a tavern but we are going to make it sound a little posh so we create an atmosphere here. 

Update 2023: Vildsvin is now: Orio Gotic restaurant also by Sagardi. A restaurant venue in Barcelona changes easily after 15 years. Restaurants come and go like mushroom.

Bubblebou Show by Pep Bou - Port Aventura Amusement Park, Salou

Welcome to Bubblebou, that is, one of the bubble shows created by Pep Bou, a unique artist when it comes to creating magical shapes out of common and ephemeral soap bubbles.

The first of my three day stay at hotel El Paso in Port Aventura amusement park (Salou, Tarragona) it was raining cats and dogs so we had to spend our time in indoor shows. Lucky us! My wife told me we were going to the Chinese pavilion to see something called Bubblebou. No idea. There we were, an off voice was reminding us about the usual "don'ts". No food, no cell phones, no nothing...but thanks God they said they just excluded flashes and spared cameras.

So there I went, shooting like mad. Thanks to that I can share this tender moment with you: A girl from the audience, covered by a gargantuan multicolor bubble and the artist, satisfied by his evanescent creation.

Here is a link to Pep Bou's homepage (I couldn't find the name of the man in my photograph who obviously is not Pep but is part of his artistic group).