Mid-August is an interesting time of the year to attempt to get to know Barcelona as residents, and to settle in to daily life here. Most Barcelonians go on vacation during the August holidays, which can last for all of August and are especially observed during the middle two weeks of the month. Meanwhile, tourists flock to the city during this time, as Europeans take advantage of their own August holidays to visit. The end result is that the city is divided into two different worlds: the tourist areas, which are jam packed with tourists from all over, and everywhere else, which are almost completely empty. Many businesses close completely and the few that are open have modified hours.
This has been challenging to navigate during our first few days here. Taking care of basic errands and getting to know the feel of a neighborhood is difficult when so many business are closed. Walking the streets of what I am sure is regularly a vibrant area, I often feel like one of the sole survivors of a zombie apocalypse. (I may or may not have been watching too much Walking Dead.) The other survivors and I walk the otherwise empty streets, our reflections in the darkened windows keeping us company, searching for an unlocked door leading to essential supplies. An occasional car speeds by carrying other survivors fleeing the zombies. I had a zombie apocalypse plan in place in Burlington (poison and lots of it- there is no way I’m trying to survive) but I don’t have a plan in Barcelona (almost all the farmacias are closed! and how do you say arsenic in Spanish?).
Meanwhile in the tourist areas of town, we are surrounded by people, often shuffling slowly in the same direction, very zombie herd-like. While Parc Guell was beautiful and provided great people watching, it was certainly made less pleasant by the crowds and the 3 hr wait we had before we could enter the historical section that contains Gaudi’s buildings. An attempt to visit the aquarium on Saturday ended with a trip to the aquarium gift store instead, since we probably got as close to a real fish in there as we could have if we tried to enter with the zombie herd waiting in the ticket line.
Apocalypse or no, we are figuring it out. The waterfront by the aquarium is fun to walk around, and we found a pop up inflatable amusement zone that was surprisingly empty of crowds, where Isaac did some air-blast-aided jumping on a trampoline. Then he and Felix did their best hamster imitation in large plastic bubbles floating in a small kiddie pool. They kind of suck as hamsters, but had fun trying.
Parks are a great place for us survivors to spend time. We have a decent one right by our apartment and on Saturday spent time at the Parc de Joan Miro, where the boys created American Ninja Warrior style challenges on the climbing equipment and zip line. Afterwards we got to hang out by Miro’s gigantic mosaic sculpture Dona i Ocell (“Woman and Bird”). Our guide book tells us it is locally known by several other names that are easy to guess by looking at its shape. They are perhaps even more appropriate since the Parc is located in a part of L’Eixample neighborhood known as the Gayxample.
On Sunday we headed to neighborhood of Gracia, where the Festa Major de Gracia is taking place, during which locals compete for the most elaborately decorated street. Here a good amount of locals have stayed put and the crowds felt less herdish. We walked through a dozen or so decorated streets and got to know the neighborhood a bit as we went. Our favorites were the streets decorated as the Amazon and Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. The boys enjoyed empanadas we bought on the street and I enjoyed the novelty of walking around with a cana (cup of beer) in my hand, if not the beer itself, as it tasted something like Budweiser.
From the signs posted in closed business windows, a few that have been closed will open up this week. More survivors will slowly return to town, and the zombies will head back home too. By next week the city should be almost completely back to normal. But I’m gonna get my apocalypse plan together anyway, because you never know. Since this is a year of trying new things, maybe I WILL plan on survival. Better go do some push ups.