Back to La Rambla (and a T.S. Eliot quote)

As T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem, Little Gidding:

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."

I felt that way when I walked along La Rambla late this afternoon.  I can't believe I had never set foot on this street before eight days ago.  It's just 1.2 kilometres long and it's so cool.  

See the Catalan flag in this photo.  The Catalan flag is EVERYWHERE!  (For those of you who think I don't know how to spell in Spanish, it's because I have been spelling nearly everything in Catalan.) 

You might have noted that I switched from calling this street "Las Ramblas" in earlier blogs to "La Rambla" in later blogs.  The street signs say "La Rambla".  What is the difference?  

La Rambla is comprised of several shorter streets, each with different names.  The plural form is Les Rambles in Catalan.  In Spanish, the plural form is Las Ramblas.

From Placa de Catalunya down to the harbour, the streets are called Rambla de Canaletes, Rambla dels Estudis, Rambla de Sant Josep, Rambla dels Caputxins, and Rambla de Santa Monica. I have caught some of those signs in these photographs.

As seen in an earlier blog, La Rambla continues on a wooden walkway into the harbour. It is named Rambla de Mar.

Am I cool enough to stay at Internacional Cool Hotel on La Rambla on my next visit?  :-)

Look at that gorgeous blue sky!  I have been very fortunate with the weather in Barcelona.  I shivered a lot in the first couple of days on the open air bus when I was in the shade, but a hat, gloves and turtle-neck helped a lot!