La Rambla del Poblenou

Marina bridge

From Marina bridge you'll see both endings of Marina street.

Hunting Dragons

Keychains of dragons are easily to find. Just stop in every souvenir shop in BCN and you will find them in several shapes and colors. I got mines just strolling  Las Ramblas, and stopping by newspaper kiosks. Some of them have a sign with a 3x10 euros offer. Others don't have it. So I'm not sure all kiosks have the same offer.

Also keychains can be found at the Charms market.

But more difficult can be finding a keychain with your name. Every Sunday and holiday days there are market stalls at the end of Las Ramblas, close to Colon monument. One of them sells rings, keychains and other things to be engraved with your name.

The Charms Market

Beverly Pepper

Beverly Pepper at Barcelona

The Citadel

Before going to meet the tram we shall visit the park of the Citadel, el Parc de la Ciutadella. In this particular case I think that some reference to its history is needed, not much just some lines. And if you were more interested in its story, there are a couple of museums close enough just ready to offer you the whole and terrible history of that flat piece of land. 300 years ago Europe was in war, not was the first time neither the last time. Two royal families were fighting to rule the Spanish Empire, because its emperor had no offspring.  In this war, like all wars, everybody had to took sides. In Spain Catalonia and others, took side for Archduke Charles (Austriacists), Castile and others took side for King Phillip the 5th (Borbonics). War of the Spanish Succession (wiki) No war has good endings. The Austracists lost the war in Spain, and Barcelona was keep under a bloody siege. We can think that is very common in wars. But the worst was done after the war, a Citadel was build, not to defend or protect anything or anybody. "In 1714, after a 13-month war (War of the Spanish Succession), Barcelona fell to the army of Philip V of Spain. In order to maintain control over the city, and to prevent the Catalans from rebelling as they had in the previous century, King Philips V built the citadel of Barcelona, at that time the largest fortress in Europe. A substantial part of the district it was constructed in (La Ribera) was destroyed to obtain the necessary space, leaving its inhabitants homeless. The fortress was characterized by having five corners, which gave the citadel defensive power, and by a rather wide surrounding margin, serving as location for the army's cannons. It included enough buildings to house 8,000 people. Hundreds of Catalonians were forced to work on the construction for three years, while the rest of the city provided financial backing for this and for warfare-related expenses as well, with a new tax named el cadestre." (Wikipedia) The Citadel was the largest fortress in Europe at that moment, and its canons were aiming to the city and its inhabitants. And that happened in the same century The United States got its independence from England, and France made its revolution against monarchy. I think that should be known by everybody who visits this now merry place.

chapter 0

The Beginning Carmen closed the book, at last she got all the necessary bits and, literally, pieces required for the journey she was going to make. The sun was already hidden behind the skyline of the city of Barcelona, but sometimes orange sun rays could pass through the spaces between the buildings. (work in progress)

Appendix

Appendix
00 The Citadell
The Castle of the Three Dragons. (Wikipedia)

01 Wellington Street
The last ones of Wellington street (article in spanish by "El País")
The city of Marvels (book by Eduardo Mendoza)
Rails y ferradures (blog in spanish about tram history, with lots of details of BCN)

02 SuperSymetry
One year on from the Higgs boson find, has physics hit the buffers? (article appeared in The Guardian, science)

Return

Return

After

After

14

14

13

13

12

12

Seaside

09

09

08

08

The Tale and the Tune

The Tale and the Tune

Susy

SuperSymmetry, a few words on quantum physics.

SuperSymmetry predicts a partner particle for each particle in the Standard Model, to help explain why particles have mass  (CERN).

"This theory (Supersymmetry) is founded on such a lovely idea: that you have this additional symmetry in nature that unites force and matter and gives a deep, intimate connection between them, that tells them they're not distinct entities by themselves, that the universe is really rather simpler than you might have thought," Tara Shears,  particle physicist, Liverpool University. (Appendix)

But experiments in the LHC in Swiss have not found evidence of this SuperSymmetry, probably something went wrong at the beginning of the universe.

The Beginning

Journey, where does it really begin?

This journey can not begins just steeping in a wagon of the Tram. We can say some foreplay is required.

You shall protect from the old gods, or the odds. Aren't they the same thing? A magical o metaphorical creature is needed for this travel. Good if you already know what is your personal guardian, the spirit that protects you. Take with you the amulet that represent that spirit. But most people doesn't know which is his or her own guardian... poor little souls. If this is your case then it is advisable to get the protection of the guardian of this city: The Dragon!

Three dragons shall be required to protect you from the spiritual dangers of this travel. One to protect your mind, your sanity; one to protect your memories, who you are; and the last one to protect your soul, the flame that makes you unique.

The symbol for protection, memory, and being unique is represented best with  key chains. So three key chains with dragons are required. You can get them wherever you want in the city, they are easy to get. But the power of the three are greater if their are from different parts of the city.

Another key chain is required to control the three dragons, to let them know who are protecting to from evil things. So this fourth key chain should be your name, and the three ones must be chained to it.

Then You should go to the Castle of the three dragons, worship the God dragon, and ask him to allow the Three Ones protect you.

 (in progress)