The South of France

That's where I be now-back to the weird keyboard layouts and expensive internet access. I was gonna try to upload some pics but the scandisk drive seems iffy so I don't wanna risk it.

Anyway, I had to leave Barcelona with sooo much left unseen. Today was just train ride so let me present a few things I picked up in Barcelona. Mostly, the folks in that region would really like for you to call them Catalans. Public nudity and prostitution are legal in Barcelona. I did not have any encounters with either, however. "The Elephant Man" can be viewed on You Tube apparently, and the street where the hostel I stayed at is part of the red light district. The beaches in Barcelona are not naturally occurring. They were created as part of the city improvements made for the 1992 Olympics. Other improvements made at that time including installing indoor plumbing to one of the oldest sections of the city which is right in the very center of the city. Prior to 1992, if you lived in that quarter, you had to go to a city square to bath. The national sport is Bullfighting and there is a lot of opposition to this especially in Catalunya where their 'national' pasttime is building human castles/pyramids! Catalunya nativity scenes feature all the usual suspects at the manger plus a little guy named 'caganer' who has dropped trou and is taking a poo. Another Christmas tradition is Tio de Nadal which is a log with a face painted on one end and has four sticks as legs. Tio sometimes has a little hat. At some point Tio gets covered with a blanket and then the kids beat him with a stick and gifts drop out from the blanket. (Insert Dave Barry quote here)!