We had not yet been to Arc de Triompf so we decided to see it Saturday.  Since it’s outside and a nice day we brought Walnut with us- I’ve already posted his pictures from that day.  We took the Metro red line just a few stops and discovered a market at the square.  We’re not sure if it’s a small Christmas market or if it’s an occasional market that we just happened across.  We also passed the Central Catalana de Electricidad building, which originally housed steam generators for the production of electricity.

After the Arc, we walked to the Cathedral to visit the main Christmas markets.  On the way, we past through some neighborhoods new to us.  We passed an ‘experimental xocolatier’ but they didn’t seem to have any in stock.

Here in Catalonia, there are a few Christmas traditions that are new to me.  There is the Caganer figurine (caganer means “the crapper”) which is a figurine of someone taking a dump.  These figurines are hidden in the nativity scene.  Another tradition is the Tio de Nadal or Christmas log.  Beginning in early December, the christmas log is ‘fed’ every night and well cared for by the household’s children.  On Christmas day, the log is placed in the fireplace and told to poop out presents.  To facilitate this, children sing songs (ordering the log to poop) and strike the log with sticks.

We’ve been in Spain for about 9 weeks now.  I haven’t been very good about keeping friends and family up to date with Walnut.  He had been diagnosed with a portosystemic shunt the third week of August and had lost about 4 pounds.  He’s been on a new diet and medicine regimen that has helped him a lot.  He has regained his weight (actually I have to cut back on his kibble!) and energy.  He’s doing great!  We live close to a very active dog park and on our evening walk it is common for him to greet 20 dogs.  He loves it here.