Happy New Year!!

OK, so I'm a few days late, but hey, it's still worth saying. While the majority of Europe has got slowly back into the swing of things starting yesterday, for some Spanish kids tonight is what they've been waiting for since school broke up. Yes, the 3 Kings of Orient arrive tonight - on a boat, of course - all the way from Bethlehem and parade around the town on floats throwing sweets to children and bringing their presents like Santa Claus.



As regular readers will know, I have two children and we'll be doing our best to stifle the yawns and cries to keep them up tonight to go and see the "cabalgata". I'm all for embracing the local culture, and despite the Epiphany going largely unnoticed in my homeland of England, it's a big deal here (if my memory serves me correctly, most English households actually take all their decorations down today). My only qualm is that it starts so bloody late!! OK, maybe my family don't follow exactly the same routine as other kids in Barcelona, going to bed at 21h onwards, but they're 5 and 3!! They flat out refuse to do "siestas" (don't blame them, never been a siesta man, even when I've wanted to!) and end up being knackered at about 19:30!! So today is the first time we'll be venturing out to the parade, wish me luck!!

Coming to Barcelona this year? You can certainly get some bargains for Barcelona Apartments in the low season for the first couple of months, so feel free to check out. Also, if you need information about the city in general, see this Barcelona guide.