A walk to remember

My time travel experience started right here in the Gracia district of Barcelona. My old neighborhood!

It was really funny in a way, and let me explain why.

When I left the city in my search for adventure, it was a few years after the dictatorship ended. Democracy was a new thing for this country, and it was just beginning to emerge, but I didn't want to wait. I was in need for freedom, the kind that lets your soul and mind open to anything! I desperately wanted to feel free! Therefore, I embarked in what later became my life's philosophy. Funny, cause if I had been patient and waited just a little bit more, I would have probably had what I wanted right here! On the other hand... if I had stayed I wouldn't be who I am today... and frankly, I love who I am!!!

Besides, with all the prohibitions of the dictatorship, once democracy was established it happened the same thing that happens to horses when they feel close to their stable... they bolt! And for that matter, the whole country bolted!

Anyway, where was I???? Oh, yes!..... I was never satisfied with anything, place or people. I always wanted more. I didn't exactly know what it was that I was seeking for, I just knew whatever it was that I was getting, it wasn't enough for me.

At first, I thought I would recognize it right away, and just like that I would find out it was time to say when... It didn't turn out that way, though. 29 years have past since then, and still haven't found what I was looking for! Although, I now have a very clear image of what is it that I've always been searching for. But, in order to have it, without running away in the middle of the night as usual, I had to come back to where it all started... back to Barcelona and the familiar ghosts from my past!

Even then, it has taken me some weeks to finally get the courage to go back to ghostland, or Gracia, my old neighborhood! lol

I was afraid I would not recognize it, but surprise, surprise! Except for the street names, all now in Catalan... the place hasn't changed as much as the rest of the city. It was an emotional rendez-vous with all that I hold dear to my heart... and a much needed one! If I had known it would help me so much in the process of finding myself again, I would have done it a lot earlier!

Would you like to come with me and see what I saw?


This is now Placa de la Revolucio, formerly known as Plaza Unificacion. It has all been redone! It used to have a preschool smack-dab in the middle of it... It was my niece's first experience with the knowledge acquiring process!


This one hasn't changed the name... Only cause it was a very Catalan name to begin with... Although, I asked some old ladies sitting on a bench, about the new names they baptized some of the places with... and they were more than generous in sharing that information with me. They told me some idiot bureaucrat is thinking in changing this square name from Rius i Taulet to something else I can't remember right now! Anyway, in the meantime this is Rius i Taulet where the old Mayor House sits and of course the clock tower stands still!


Another thing that hasn't changed in Rius i Taulet is Clavell! It still is a clothing store, the garments on the window have changed with fashions, but sure enough it is the same old store in essence! Boy, my mother used to take me here every change of season to buy me clothes. I specially remember the coat shopping trips... there was two of them, one at the beginning of the season, another right around Christmas... All because of that old saying "Qui par Nadal res no estrena, res no val". In other words "He who doesn't wear something new for Christmas, nothing is worth"... more or less


Now transformed into a theater, when I was a little girl Regina was a movie theater... one of those double feature cinemas. It is just a block away from my childhood home, and I remember my mother used to get free tickets for every Friday night show... It obviously was the first movie theater I ever went to, and the habitual one every weekend! I have so many memories linked to this place! It is hard to think of just one to tell you about!


And here I am! Right about to enter one of the biggest 'comforts' from my past... El Roure, in Spanish El Roble, in English The Oak... But lets go inside, shall we?


This place hasn't changed at all! Jesus Christ Almighty!!! There's a place in this city that's actually older than me!!!!! lol


Here he is! The guy behind the bar counter, which by the way remains the same after all these years, is Tony the owner. I used to have a crush on him when I was little, he was so nice to me all the time! Then a few years ago, my brother told me he used to have a crush on me, not when I was a little girl though... not every guy is a pervert! lol Anyway, the day I went there he was all smiles and eyes sparkling with me... He said, the next time I should go by he will open a bottle of Cava to celebrate my return home... I'm starting to think my brother might have been right!


Emotional moment this one! Right after turning left on the curb... I entered the street I was born to... Carrer Neptu! Now, it still is the name it had when I first saw the light, only now it is written and pronounced in Catalan. Which by the way means Neptune Street... like the planet, or the God of the Oceans.


This is me in front of the house where I was born . The pic wasn't intended to come out so ghostly... but I guess it suits the mood just fine! won't you say so? lol


Now this is more like it! After all, I'm not yet a ghost! Anyway, this is my old gate... my house was on the first floor, just a fly of stairs away from that gate. The new improvement is that now there is an elevator... ?????? lol Why? it is a mystery to me. Only a fly of stairs away... remember? lol


Not even that one has changed! Good old Mr. Brown still is in the corner of Carrer Neptu and Luis Antunez. It was here where I had the reception of my first wedding! Shiiiit! that wasn't a good memory! lol


I was going to the movies that day, so I had to go back to Carrer Verdi. Right across from the movie theater, a couple of interesting places... A salon, and a Lebanese restaurant.

I was surprised at the lively atmosphere around my old neighborhood. I heard it had become the in place in Barcelona, the place where many artists (the ones who have already made it anyway!) have moved in the past years, and the reason why I couldn't find here an affordable place to live!!!! But I've gotta tell you, it has given so much life to this beautiful and picturesque place! I guess I will have to agree it has been for the best!


I was drawn to it by its name... La nina de los peines, The comb girl. What an unusual name... what would that store sell???? I had to go across the street to have a closer look at it... Well, it turns out I was on the market for a new stylist, specially since mine doesn't live here in Barna, lol.... And it seems I just found one! The store is no store at all, but a beauty salon!


Here is a pic of the interior... The best I could manage anyway!


And here, written on the window glass, it's the reason why I decided to make it my beauty salon! It is a poem the owner, I assume, wrote about her vision and mission... And it translates as follows: " My mirrors are magic mirrors, to multiply the visions of you, so you may choose the one you like the best. My mirrors are magic mirrors because you can ask from them whatever you want, I vouch for them. My mirrors are alive, they store all they reflect, and that's why I effort myself so they may reflect smiles, beauty and the image you want to see in them"

Now, isn't that something! I ought to make it my beauty salon! Don't I?


Here it is, good old Cine Verdi! I remember coming here on Saturdays with some of my friends from school. It was then a one screen room theater, and a double feature one as well! I can still remember it was here where I saw for the first time 'Love Story', don't remember the other film though... And also remember Dulce, one of my schoolmates, who cried the whole movie through, and whose glasses kept getting all foggy, thus missed half of what was going on in the movie cleaning them every five minutes or so!

And here I am, right outside Cine Verdi... I was early (for a change!) so I had to wait a bit to get inside. I went to see this Korean movie "Breath"... Very good, intense, and interesting subject! I totally recommend it!