Compulsive Shopping at Passeig de Gracia

Shopping in the most expensive street in Spain is risky for the wallet and yet there are some stores along Passeig de Gracia, Barcelona where you can adventure into compulsively squandering your monthly salary. While on a shopping spree though, it is easy to pull out the plastic magic wand usually known as Visa and also referred to by many other names with unpredictable effects. At that moment, you are the luckiest person in the world, you have overcome centuries of cash exchange to finally manage to get goods for free. But fairy tales are illusive and the fantasy created by the wand gently fades away by the end of the month. You wake up naked wearing a fig leaf, fleeing from a bunch of goons in black sent after you to gently remind you that your magic wand has been cancelled and you owe money to the bank.

Llongueras Hairdresser in Barcelona

I did not really know what title to choose for this image. The man facing the woman in the poster, standing under a beautiful ceiling lamp was the first thing I wanted to show but then on second thought I realized that the Llongueras hairdresser in the background, run by a well known coiffeur in the city was better for my SEO. I find this a dilemma nowadays, either you get artistic with your titles, you know, trying to express a concept with one or two words, like say, "Waiting" or you mention the obvious: "Man and Lamp". But then there is the third choice which is the most abject, trying to please search engines to stay on top. Well, I think I managed to squeeze all possible titles in the post, that is the last minute resource. The hairdresser is at Passeig de Gracia, one of the many by the same name spread around Barcelona.

Balloon Man, Barcelona, Spain

Selling balloons on the street is an occupation almost inherent to gypsies in Barcelona but this man and two other at Passeig de Lluis Companys, in the Arc de Triomf area, seemed to be Portuguese, maybe gypsies too, who knows. I suppose this activity is regulated but they always look worried and vigilant as if they were hiding from the police. To tell the truth balloons are a good treat for our eyes and if they make our kids happy, no matter how short a helium balloon's life can be, then what the heck, let them speculate a little bit. What is selling balloons compared to the subprime mortgages crisis?!!