Ladies of the Night? At 11am?

Camera shops! I've never seen so many. Certainly in Edinburgh they are few and far between. But they are every second shop here, in between shoe shops, so we're both happy. I just look, though.

Walked down to the waterfront, via all the wee side streets in the Old Town, not the main drag. The trucks were out washing the streets, no rubbish to be seen, and the rubbish bins were tall clean steel funnels, which hid the rubbish underground. How very sensible.

There seems to be a lot of graffiti, some of it very good, but only on the roller doors of shops, not on the buildings. During the day there were a few cafes and wee supermarkets open, but lots of graffiti-ed roller doors. But at night it's a different story. More of that later.

We came out at a nice square, and there was a lady in a very short skirt standing waiting for someone. I was taking a photo of the nice orange gas bottles, and noticed a lady standing beside them. I then noticed quite a few more ladies standing around. Yes. It seemed we were in the Red Light area, though it was only about 11am.

Now, this lady in my photo may not be a lady of the night, but just happened to be standing there. I do not want to suggest anything otherwise - she may have friends who blip- but there were a lot of them around. And the police cruising round in cars. It was only when I downloaded the photo that I noticed the (wording on the) graffiti.

Down to the amazing waterfront. I look forward to the day Edinburgh develops their waterfront like this, as was their boast a decade ago. Big police presence there too.

We walked back up Las Ramblas, and happened to notice the market doorway. What a fabulous place, much better than the one near the cathedral with the curvy Enric Miralles roof. The fruit! The seafood! The meats! I had fun taking photos. We bought strawberries, which weren't as nice as they looked.

Back to the B&B for a siesta, then out this evening. Though we only lasted till 10pm. The wee street we went down this morning was now mobbed. All the graffiti-ed roller doors were up, revealing bars and cafes of all sorts. Everyone was out and about, including kids on scooters (the push ones, not real ones).

While at the Place de Cataluyna, there was a big disturbance and people with megaphones, protesting outside a bank. They then moved on to another bank and then another one, sticking notices all over the doors. I am really surprised that none of this happened in Britain. The banks lied, cheated, sent whole countries bankrupt, ruined people's lives, but just carry on rewarding themselves as if nothing had happened, and the public just accept it. Weird.

We had a beer and wine and eats in a nice bar with great music and subdued lights. Many of the cafes seem to like bright lights.

Tomorrow we move into the flat and the poor house swappers go to Edinburgh. I was hoping it had suddenly warmed up and spring was happening, but it appears not...

It's now 11pm, and I'm off to bed. This holiday lark is exhausting.