Scotland says No (1 Viewer)

Oh boy, I am going to Barcelona on a biz trip in 2 weeks :wink2:
 
Luiz,

When I lived in Barcelona and went to the American School (think it was over on Muntaner, if my memory serves me correctly), I was friendly with two girls, Maria and Teresa Pisuner. Their family had fought on the Republican side and left in 1939, the long march to the French border, and their family had just returned from long exile in Venezuela.

I also got to spend a week with a friend of my father, a very religious man, who survived anarchist Barcelona. He had some harrowing stories of survival that I will never forget. My father went to the battlefields around Madrid several times and I still have the bullets and fragments he collected.

When we lived in Madrid, we were surrounded by streets whose names no longer exist I'm sure: Calvo Sotelo, General Mola, the Jose Antonio and so forth. We lived on the Paseo de la Castellana (then the Generalissimo) and saw the old man pass a few times although you never knew if it was his double. I was there the day Carrero Blanco was killed by the ETA; after I cleared Customs, my father took me to the Men's room and told me what had happened. It was incredible.

I was no longer living in Spain when Franco died but my father told me there were many who passed the casket, came to attention, and yelled "Generalissimo, presente."

Spanish history was always a living thing to me; we had a copy of Thomas' book when being caught with it could have caused trouble.

Brad
 
Grognard said:
Oh boy, I am going to Barcelona on a biz trip in 2 weeks :wink2:
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I am jealous! If you have time, go to Montjuich, the Jewish mount, so named I believe because they used to throw Jews off of it.
 
jazzeum said:
I am jealous! If you have time, go to Montjuich, the Jewish mount, so named I believe because they used to throw Jews off of it.
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Thanks for the tip! I was in Barcelona for the first time last year at the same period and had time to visit the Sagrada Familia and other Gaudi achievements which are fantastic from an avant-garde architectural perspective. This time I am planning to visit Montserrat and do a Cava testing tour (to wash down the tapas) :)
 
Did you go to the Barrio Gotico? If not, that deserves a visit.

Now, if you want tapas, you need to go to Madrid.
 
The azulgranos tasted defeat in the Champions League tonight. Tomorrow, the champions and 10 time winner play :wink2: How many will CR score?
 
Hi Brad,

We have similar recent histories ( pesonal ) in the same town and around the same time!:salute:::salute:: Incredible! The name of the American school you went to up Muntaner is Benjamin Fanklin and it is still there....I went to the British one called Kensigton ^&grin^&grin...My Dad is one of those Spaniards that love all British........
The funny part is that you and I were/are at the opposite sides of the same prism, that is while your acquaintances were all " Lefties" and supported the socialists, anarchists and communists in trying to take power in Spain, my family supported the King and were/are anti communists....so I should say our views of the same recent historical facts complement each other..
I guess my testimony in this discussion is an example that not all Catalunia wants to go independent, the current Queen of Spain is a Catalan, as far as culture and language the Catalan is taught in schools, you can have University classes in Catalan if you wish, it is spoken in the streets,there is printed literature in it, in our days when you lived in Barcelona you could not even speak it...do you remember that?
On a different topic where did you live in Barcelona, my parents still live by the Turo Park, at Francesc Macia could we have crossed each other at some point without knowing :):):)

Cheers
Luiz


jazzeum said:
Luiz,

When I lived in Barcelona and went to the American School (think it was over on Muntaner, if my memory serves me correctly), I was friendly with two girls, Maria and Teresa Pisuner. Their family had fought on the Republican side and left in 1939, the long march to the French border, and their family had just returned from long exile in Venezuela.

I also got to spend a week with a friend of my father, a very religious man, who survived anarchist Barcelona. He had some harrowing stories of survival that I will never forget. My father went to the battlefields around Madrid several times and I still have the bullets and fragments he collected.

When we lived in Madrid, we were surrounded by streets whose names no longer exist I'm sure: Calvo Sotelo, General Mola, the Jose Antonio and so forth. We lived on the Paseo de la Castellana (then the Generalissimo) and saw the old man pass a few times although you never knew if it was his double. I was there the day Carrero Blanco was killed by the ETA; after I cleared Customs, my father took me to the Men's room and told me what had happened. It was incredible.

I was no longer living in Spain when Franco died but my father told me there were many who passed the casket, came to attention, and yelled "Generalissimo, presente."

Spanish history was always a living thing to me; we had a copy of Thomas' book when being caught with it could have caused trouble.

Brad
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jazzeum said:
Did you go to the Barrio Gotico? If not, that deserves a visit.

Now, if you want tapas, you need to go to Madrid.
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Thanks I am going to Madrid first (have been many times to Spain btw) and Barcelona after :wink2:
 
Sorry I never answered you Luiz. Here's a recent article where it seems Mr. Mas has moderated his position somewhat, which is good news, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/w...sion-crisis.html?nlid=39918670&src=recpb&_r=0

I lived off the Diagonal, where I can't exactly remember.

I had a couple of friends, as mentioned before, whose parents had left Spain after the War but had returned. However, one of my father's close friends was a Señor Ribas, who was conservative and a landowner so I had a chance to see things from both sides of the aisle.

Interestingly, one of Mr. Mas' associates says that things will be done democratically so that is a great development from what we saw almost 80 years ago, although I'm sure that in some of the villages the old divisions are still closely felt from those who lived through those times.

Brad
 
Hi Brad,

Sure we must have met/crossed paths in our childhood! Fantastic! Could not imagine that through the forum, I would meet someone that lived in Barcelona as I grew up....wow{sm4}{sm4}
The forum is just fantastic we can not only chat about our collections, pictures we take of them and events related to the TS World but also get to meet people.....
Pitty we are not closer to drop by and have some Paella ( Marinera or Campo ), Lentejas Guisadas or just some savvy tortilla espanola ( no Tex Mex haha ) and drink some good Marques de Riscal.....as we chat about TS
Great to know that.
Cheers

Luiz


jazzeum said:
Sorry I never answered you Luiz. Here's a recent article where it seems Mr. Mas has moderated his position somewhat, which is good news, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/09/w...sion-crisis.html?nlid=39918670&src=recpb&_r=0

I lived off the Diagonal, where I can't exactly remember.

I had a couple of friends, as mentioned before, whose parents had left Spain after the War but had returned. However, one of my father's close friends was a Señor Ribas, who was conservative and a landowner so I had a chance to see things from both sides of the aisle.

Interestingly, one of Mr. Mas' associates says that things will be done democratically so that is a great development from what we saw almost 80 years ago, although I'm sure that in some of the villages the old divisions are still closely felt from those who lived through those times.

Brad
Click to expand...
 
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