A Festival Every Week ·
It feels like there's been some kind of festival in Barcelona every week since we got here. Last week was a big one - La Mercè. It takes place at parks and venues all over town. This year the partner city was Manchester, UK, so there were lots of things related to bees (which are apparently the symbol of Manchester? It was too cold to see any bees when we were there). We skipped most of the excitement during the week, but last Sunday we chose a handful of things to go see, and ended up at a park farther from the city than we've ever been.
We started at the Parc de la Ciutadella, where there is a greenhouse that they call the "Hivernacle". It was a short walk down from the Arc de Triomf station, and easy to find since all we had to do was follow the crowd! The plants were huge! see pic --> Our next activity was nearby, at the Parc de l'Estació del Nord, where there were food stalls and lots of things going on. We were in time to hear "Mr. Wilson's Second Liners", a New-Orleans style second line band in tie-dyed t-shirts (see above). They were really good!
to the space station), floating in the water with a tall ship, and dancing at a disco. It reminded me of the Peeps displays that I've seen for Easter. They all had moving parts and buzzing sounds. Very clever - but hard to photograph. Here's John looking into one of the hives.
After that, we took the metro out to Trinitat Vella, to the Parc de la Trinitat. It's another huge park, with lots of different venues, way north and east of the city. We started with an installation called "Warning Notes" that used all kinds of repurposed materials to make sounds that surrounded you. It was interesting and unsettling.
We checked out the large dancing inflatables (see pic) that are apparently inspired by Japanese floral art. They're like those things you see at car dealerships, but more artistic. The red one had little "hairs" on it! Then we stopped to listen to the "Always Drinking Marching Band", a fun band for kids and adults alike. We thought about staying to see the "Fire Garden" display, but we didn't feel like hanging out for another 2 hours.
I'm glad we got to participate in some of the fun of La Merce. Now that we know what's involved, we might do a little more next year. I'm sure they're already planning for 2026!
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