Sunday, In The Park, It Wasn't The Fourth of July!

The original plan was to have lunch in Park Citudella, which is my favorite urban park in the world.  Every time, including Sunday, that we've been there, the park is packed with people of various types -- families, elderly couples (yes, older than us!), people working out, people walking their dogs, families or friends playing basketball, couples dancing in a traditional way, guys using their bubble nets to create huge numbers of bubbles for tips, kids running after the bubbles to burst them, couples on a picnic date, and more.  

And the whole place radiates joy.  

There are many different areas of the park, including statues, grass fields, basketball courts, a church, the local parliament, a small lake with rental rowboats, playgrounds, and more.  But our favorite part is the incredibly beautiful fountain.  Antoni Gaudi played a minor role in the creation of the fountain very early in his career.  The Gaudi factoid a minor note about this park.  The park itself is the wonderous attraction.

This statue, and the one above, 

frames one of the entrances 

to the park.

Hard at work, holding up a birdbath.

Not even sure what this is, but it's cool

A very small pond, with

an interesting sculpture.

Close-up of the two hands.  I wonder how

the pinkie on the right hand came to be

broken off.

Palm trees abound.

When we got to the fountain, it was everything we had remembered. . .a gathering place for joy.  Off to the left is a closed-in gazebo, where a DJ was playing lively music (including a personal favorite by The Mavericks!) and people were dancing.  Others were waiting patiently for their chance to get out on the floor.  

In front of the fountain, several guys (not Five Guys though) were making money by using nets to create bubbles floating through the air to fascinate kids and adults alike.

The fountains were off -- and we noticed that other fountains in the city were off too.  We didn't know if it was a Sunday thing, or a pointless holdover from COVID.  Suddenly, as we were standing right in front of the fountain (and this is huge, as you will see from the pictures below), the fountains came on with a rush.  Perfect timing.  Turns out they turn on right at noon.

First selfie of the trip.  We are blocking

most of the fountain, primarily 

because the sun is so bright I couldn't

really see what the photo set up was,

so I clicked and hoped for the best.

It wasn't the best.  Oh well.

Up at the top of the fountain's superstructure (pictured above and below), music was playing and people were gracefully engaged in traditional Catalan dances.

All felt right.

I think I've outsmarted the the blog program that keeps putting the photos in backwards order.  Instead of separate posts with just photos, I am putting the photos into articles.  So far it is working.

One part of the fountain is shooting

water up, whilst the dragons have

water shooting out of their mouths.

Catalan dancing at the top.

There is a lot to this huge fountain.