Portal del Angel: Can Cottet Thermometer

Back in 1956 a big thermometer was hung on the façade of Can Cottet building at Portal del Angel avenue (the most expensive street in Barcelona). It was customary in the fifties to boast about "new technologies" in public spaces.

Cottet was a famous optician selling specs and shades and I still don't understand what the thermometer had to do with them. But before you leave maybe you would like to know the whole story about Can Cottet thermometer.

The measuring instrument was designed by Rolando Cottet and was installed in 1955, but would not be operational until February 25, 1956. The project was carried out by the architect Pedro Ricard Biot. This thermometer is inspired by a similar luminous thermometer in Copenhagen.

The thermal range of the thermometer goes from 5 degrees below zero to 40 degrees Celsius. The thermometer is placed 4 meters above the ground and rises up to 24 meters . The device weighs two tons.

The Can Cottet thermometer has undergone some remodeling, but always trying to maintain the original external appearance. In 1998 it was renovated, taking advantage of the rehabilitation of the facade of the building. In 2009, its neon tubes were replaced by low-power led lamps. In July 2011 it was granted a "Little landscape of Barcelona" distinction by the Municipal Institute of Urban Landscape and Quality of Life.

Shops in Barcelona: Lady Taking a Shower at Ferran Street

A store is a store and I won't surprise anybody with a more or less regular shop window but this one seemed curious enough to show. I don't want to publicize the place for free but I can tell you that it is one of the many tourist shops at carrer Ferran in Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter). You should also know that such quarter is located in Ciutat Vella district. By the way if you are really a fashion window enthusiast then you ought to check this wonderful collection: Store Windows and Displays

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Spanish Toy Soldiers Et Al

I don't know if these soldiers are made of lead but I suppose so. At least I am sure they are toy soldiers, men of arms, Spanish crusaders, conquerors. There's one figure that specially called my attention, and that is the one representing Don Quixote, with spear and cavalry book in hand as if looking towards the mills that he mistook for giants although in some way it maybe interpreted as some religious man reading the sacred words to some newly conquered or invaded people in the name of the Spanish crown and the Holy church, if not, why is it that he's surrounded by crusaders? The picture was taken at a small store in Ferran street.