For example, you have to like a city where the police cars have a blue rose decal on the hood... I mean, what self-respecting Dirty Harry wannabe would cruise the mean streets in a car that has a rose for a hood decoration? Here, however, no one thinks twice about that... Catalunyan cops may have as much macho to contend with as any other copper anywhere else in the wide world but apparently they are not troubled by the fact their cars - which, by the way, are not big and are not powered by engines the size of a locomotive's - are a little "arty."
Another quirk: The city's workers wear brightly colored work uniforms with a smile emoticon on the back... As someone who once spent a summer working as a garbage man, I am especially fascinated by the men and women whose job it is to keep the plazas clean of bits of paper and other trash. They go about their business with casual efficiency and seem to spend a fair amount of time helping baffled Ukranian tourists find their way from one place to another... I'm not sure exactly why Reus is popular with Ukranians, but for some reason it is and in many restaurants the menu is in Spanish, Catalan, English and Ukranian.
My apartment is on a narrow street with a few bars and restaurants scattered along it and when it's late I can hear people on their way home from a night out as they pass beneath my bedroom window. They laugh, they talk in that over-loud way that people who have drunk one or two beers too many do and they seem pleased with their lot in life. I like the sound of their voices.
Another thing to like about Reus: The statues. They're everywhere and with one huge exception they are NOT dedicated to the military. The exception is the statue in the Placa Prim, which is dedicated to a Reusian general from the 19th Century. I'm not normally attracted to statues of men on horseback waving big swords around but in Prim's case I've made an exception. He was a remarkable soldier: A general who led his troops from the front, not the rear. As a former infantryman, that appeals to me... Although he was a brave man who was much honored for his heroism, he was also a man who believed firmly in democracy and he wasn't afraid to say so. The result: Even though he was made the Count of Reus and had other titles of nobility bestowed upon him, he was exiled from Spain more than once for telling the royal family that the people of Spain had rights. At one point he was even among a group of like-minded people who went searching across Europe for a suitable king, one who would uphold Spain's constitution. They found such a man but Prim never saw the realization of his dream for a ruler who would respect the rights of the people: He was assassinated in Madrid soon after.
I still miss my Mr. Coffee but one of the things I like most about Reus is the number of coffee shops there are. I've been told - and I think it's probably true - that you can have a cup of coffee at noon in a different coffee shop every day of the year and still not have been in them all. When I take a break from working on short stories and novels, I go for a walk and find a coffee shop. I can spend an hour in one working my way through a cup or two of cafe con leche and reading or just listening to the city as it rotates around me... there are not many better ways to spend some time away from a keyboard...
These are a few shots from around Reus:
 |
| General Prim - a remarkable soldier |
 |
| You so seldom see statues of half-naked fat guys but Reus has one |
 |
| This statue of a young nobleman is in a small plaza dedicated to the artist Fortuny... the statue is copied from one of his paintings |
No comments:
Post a Comment