Woody sighting and Woody controversy.

I was "bicing" (bicycling) down Rambla Catalunya today, on my way to a class, when all of a sudden the traffic became unbelievably slow, then essentially stopped. It was even difficult for those of us on bicycles to negotiate our way along. Turned out it was because of the throngs who had stopped on the sidewalks to watch Woody Allen work.

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I didn't sop because it would have made me late, but he seemed to be pacing out a scene. (Is that the correct lingo?) To me he looked like a nice old guy in a fishing hat. He was a little heavier than I expected. (I thought people were supposed to look heavier on film and lighter in person!)

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OK, that's all I saw, so now for the controversy. It's twofold: 1. residents are beginning to complain about traffic jams, crowds of people, special privileges alloted to El Señor Allen. 2. Opposition politicians in Barcelona's city government have accused socialist mayor Jordi Hereu of giving Señor Allen essentially carte blanche in exchange for a photo opportunity when he was in New York not so long ago.

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Well, maybe I'm oversimplifying the second point a little. Apparently, the city has invested in the project, along with the Spanish and Catalan governments. The conservative Popular Party (PP) wants to know exactly how much the city has spent. So far the response from city hall has only been to say it is under a million euros. The PP also wants to know who paid for trips the mayor city council members made to New York City to meet with Señor Allen.

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Hmmm, the plot thickens...

Scarlett Johansson, Taxi Tours & Barcelona Taxis in general

I was just on my way home from teaching a class when I came upon police on motorcycles stopping traffic to let a caravan of vehicles through the intersection of Colon and Laietana. Along came a van followed by a truck pulling a Barcelona City Taxi Cab. I didn't notice if Woody Allen was in the truck with the camera but Scarlett Johansson was definitely the platinum blond perched in the back seat of the taxi.

She looked as though she was enjoying her ride, as I believe most taxi passengers in Barcelona do. However, her driver probably didn't speak much English. Taxi drivers here rarely speak the international language of commerce and tourism. In all the years I have lived (and before that, travelled) here, I have only come across one Taxi driver who spoke English.

That's why I was surprised to come across a service company called Barcelona Taxi Tour, offering not only reserved airport pick-up and drop-off but a variety of tours provided by drivers with supposedly "perfect English." Tours include a Gaudí tour, a Moderism Architecture tour, an Olympic tour and a general tour called, "The Global View." According to the web site prices are agreed upon when you make your reservation but it's a safe bet that they don't fall into a back packer's budget. That's OK though, because the city's buses and metro are great - plus Barcelona is a really great place for walking!

If you are a visitor or new to the city and do need to catch a regular taxi, though, here is a little info for you. Barcelona's taxis are regulated by the local government. Aside from controlling rates, another thing is the look of the cab. For that reason Barcelona's taxis are always black and yellow vehicles. Usually they are compact cars but a few are minivans. They are almost always comfortable and air-conditioned.

In front of the airport, train station and bus stations there are special taxi lanes for collecting passengers. On the street, you can flag one down when the green light on top of the car is on. Tip the driver by rounding up slightly - local people do not usually tip more than a few cents or 1 or 2 euros. Although local taxi drivers are usually honest, to be extra safe ask for a receipt as the driver's information is printed on thses. Click here for current information about taxi fares.

Taxis are available anytime, although it can sometimes be a bit of a challenge to find a free one on weekends around 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the morning because of all the people pouring out of bars and discos. That may be why some people don't go home until 7, 8, 9, 10, 11...or later. ;-)

Spain's Monday News: Goya and the Great Canarian Telescope ; Woody Allen & Scarlett Johansson in Barceloneta ; Spain is number 1 in...

Star Gazing with the Great Canarian Telescope - El Gran Telescopio Canarias will give a star gazing preview this Friday at the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory on the island of La Palma. Although only partially complete, enough of it has been assembled to allow telescope operators to make initial test runs. So, at 10 p.m. Canary Island time Crown Prince Felipe will fix the telescope on Polaris, the North Star, for a “first light” ceremonial observation.

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The rest of the telescope will be completed over the next year, with a grand opening presided over by King Juan Carlos I next summer. At that point the installation will be fully operational.

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One of the its first projects will be an investigation into the origin of galaxies. A team of 40 astronomers from Spain, France, the UK and the US, referred to collectively as the Galaxy Origins and Young Assembly, or GOYA, will conduct the study.

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The facilitywill have taken 7 years to build and will be the largest segmented mirror telescope in the world. The lens alone will weigh almost 17 tons and measure 10.4 meters (34.1 feet) across. It will reportedly have vision equivalent to four million human eyes.

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Star Gazing in Barceloneta - Today Woody Allen started filming his new movie in my neighborhood. Security was strong to keep him and Scarlett Johansson away from curious folks like me. Apparently Johansson plays a tourist in the film. Well, they're definitely in the right neighborhood! Click here for a photo and article.

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Spain is Number 1 - when speaking of cosmetic surgery in Europe, that is.

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Spain has more "esthetic interventions" annually than any other European country, with some 400,000 last year at an average cost of 2,000 euros. And the number in increasing between 8 and 10% each year, according to the Sociedad Española de Cirugía Plástica, Reparadora y Estética. (SECPRE - the Spanish Society for Plastic, Reparatory and Esthetic Surgery.)

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As a matter of fact, plastic surgery has become a common enough expense in the family budget to be included in Spain's official Consumer Price Index, which is used to calculate inflation!

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SECPRE reports that men, who make up 20% of patients, most often have surgery on the eyelids, abdomen and liposuction. Breast augmentation and liposuction are the most popular procedures for women.

Tuesday's Spanish News: Spaniards Killed in Yemen; Eurocontrol and air travel; Idealista.com and housing prices; El Señor Woody Allen en Barcelona

Spanish Tourists Killed in Yemen: The top story in all the papers today was about the 7 Spaniards and 2 Yemenis killed by a suicide bomber's car bomb. The attack seemed to be aimed at tourists in general, as the car drove through a gate and into a line of tourist vehicles at the Queen of Sheba temple in Marib. This was at least the 4th terrorist attack in Yemen since 17 American sailors died and 39 were injured in a suicide attack on the US Navy ship, the USS Cole.

According to ADN, the web site of the Spanish Foreign Ministry has stated for quite some time that Yemen is a dangerous place to visit and requires maximum vigilance. The paper went on to point out, however, that the web site does not maintain a list of dangerous countries, as the British Foreign Office does. On the Spanish web site, one must first select a country and then read about it to see if there are warnings about travel there.

The Spanish tourists had arranged their trip to Yemen through the Barcelona travel agency, Banoa, which specializes in adventure travel.

In the better news department, low-cost airlines are growing in Spain: According to Eurocontrol (European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation), low cost airlines, such as Catalonia's Vueling and England's EasyJet, now control 25% of the country's market, as opposed to 16% in Europe as a whole. The organization cited the growth of business in the Spanish low cost sector at 36% since January of this year, while the major airlines only saw a 15% growth.

In the mixed news for home buyers department: According to idealista.com while Barcelona's housing prices fell 3% this past quarter (the area's first decrease since 2001), Madrid's prices remained nearly the same with an increase of o.1% and the third largest city, Valencia, saw an increase of 1.2%. Idealista cited the continued influence of the America's Cup as a reason for Valencia's increase.

Woody Allen's Summer Project 2007: That is the temporary name given to the director's next movie, set to start filming in Barcelona on Monday. At a press conference in Barcelona yesterday, El Sr. Allen, as Spanish Culture Minister Carmen Calvo referred to him, said that he was looking forward "with great, great enthusiasm" to shooting the film in the city. "I want to write a love letter to Barcelona and from Barcelona to the rest of the world," Allen said. He claimed that he wanted to depict Barcelona, "the same way I presented Manhattan to the world through my eyes."

Alan said he was also pleased to be filming for the first time in a non-English speaking country. He joked that he tried to learn Spanish when he was a child but, "the truth is I never paid much attention in class."

The film will star Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem.