My husband and I didn’t make it to the region of Spain where one could see the total eclipse because we didn’t think we wanted to until we did, then it was too late. It was a big event on everyone’s mind yesterday though, so we decided to do something in commemoration, something new.
Parc del Fòrum is a civic resource with a variety of activities including an architect-designed sand-free beach that I have been wanting to try since it opened earlier this year. It’s not hard to get to but sort of off-putting, especially in hot weather, because there is a bit of a walk that’s mostly inland and on pavement. As soon as we reached the shaded seatings areas though, a gentle sea breeze sprang up, making us suddenly comfortable. We claimed a table where my husband enjoyed a refreshing drink and a book, which I also did between dunk breaks. Keeping my suit damp made the afternoon positively invigorating for me, a huge relief from the heat wave.
Several swim areas with different depths and allowed activities are separated from each other by paved lounging and diving platforms, and from the Mediterranean itself by a variety of concrete breakwaters. I mostly stayed in the shallow one, paddling from one ladder to the next while keeping my hair out of the salt water since we had dinner reservations later. There were both free-range and accompanied children and teens as well as childless adults, with plenty of room for everyone.
The nearby neighborhood includes the Diagonal Mar indoor mall, hotels, a large convention center, and corporate offices, as well as the Natural Science Museum, which is not the same as the science museum we visited last week. Like many malls here, Diagonal Mar has a significant play area in its lower level. The building in the foreground in the second picture is a Hilton.
The white structure beside the museum is a full-sized building even though it looks like an art installation. The second picture shows what we think is an actual art installation based on my husband’s investigation (he’s in the shot).
We got an early dinner so we would be done before the eclipse in Barcelona peaked at 99.8% coverage around 8:30 pm. Our first idea was to go to one of the many pleasant roof terraces and have a drink while we watched the sun. The buses didn’t work out as expected, though, and we were running out of time, so when we passed Glories station and saw a crowd of people with odd glasses looking at the sky we decided to join them.
Given that the blockage was a high percent, I was expecting the sun to start to look smaller or for its light to dim, but it definitely didn’t, it was shining vigorously. After a chorus of Oohs indicated we were passed the peak, I asked a fellow nearby if the sun looked smaller through the glasses and he said Yes, here, take a look (in Spanish) and handed them to me. It looked like a small arc, about an eighth of the total diameter, at the upper left. Soon after I handed them back the sun disappeared behind the trees; we didn’t have a view to the horizon.
Glories is a large commercial area where we occasionally shop for appliances or see movies, and we mostly go there by bus. After the sun disappeared, we noticed that the entrance to the subway there is pretty dramatic, a long escalator descending into a bowl-shaped depression filled with cactus plants. Glories tower, which seems to enjoy changing its lighting scheme as much as San Francisco city hall does, also caught our attention as the sky darkened.
Later that night we got this great shot from our friends in Tarragona. A day to remember!
