Solidarity Event in support of Children with Heart Disease

If you’d like to give a helping hand to children with heart disease, why not go to Tibidabo this Saturday?

For the eighth consecutive year, the amusement park will be playing host to an event entitled: ‘El cor ens demana festa’ [Hearts call out for a party] in support of children with heart problems. It is organised by the Catalan Aid for Children with Heart Disease Association (AACIC) in collaboration with Barcelona City Council.

From noon on there will be games and workshops organised at various points in the park, with performances and surprises planned for the main event.

So visitors can collaborate with the association, a scarf has been designed that can be purchased for 6€ at the different park entrances on the day. Scarves will give free admission to Tibidabo for every child under the age of 16.

Children over the age of 16 who present the scarf at the ticket offices can buy entrance tickets for every attraction and show in the park for 18.20€. Without the discount admission is 25.20€.

Parc d’Atraccions del Tibidabo -> Pl Tibidabo, 3 | Sarrià-Sant Gervasi

Barcelona Electric Mopeds

The company Honda has given Barcelona City Council, for free, seventeen electric mopeds intended for various areas’ municipal services, including mobility and environment.

That means Barcelona is to become the first and only city in Europe to act as a testing ground for such vehicles, before they go on sale in the continent.

For his part, the Chairman of the company Montesa Honda SA, Yukitoshi Fujisaka, explained they chose our city because “motorbikes in Barcelona are an essential feature for transport and mobility“, and pointed out that it was “an important step towards extending zero-emission motorbikes to Europe“.

The tests, which are to be supervised by the RACC, who have also received a free moped, will be used for bringing about the appropriate adaptations to the model, designed for use at work, such as delivery and messaging services.

Aspects will be assessed such as its range, technical incidents and opportunities for improvement.

These mopeds, free of CO2 emissions, have seating for one person and a range of 34 km. Their batteries can be charged with a normal charger within three and a half hours, or with a fast charger within 30 minutes.

New fast chargers have also been provided, as well as eighteen portable charger and eighteen current transformers. Source: www.bcn.es

The City Council revamps Barcelona flowers

Around this time every year, the flowers in the city’s parks, gardens, squares and other green spaces are given a fresh look. The work is done three times a year (in May, September and November) with the aim of making the city look more colourful.

To achieve this, varieties have been chosen for their long flowering periods, so they’ll look good for longer in the beds where they’ve been planted. But as they’re annuals, they will eventually have to be changed.

At this time of year, the flowering plants being put in are mainly white and red begonias, yellow and orange French marigolds, petunias in various colours and coleus blumei, a plant with coloured ornamental foliage.

Many of the varieties being planted are not yet in flower, so their entire flowering period is yet to come. These plants will stay looking good right through until November, when they are due to be changed.

The new flowers are being planted in 274 green spaces across all the city’s districts, in parks such as Ciutadella, Creueta del Coll and El Clot; but they’ll also be appearing in boulevards such as Sant Joan and Torras i Bages, and squares like Sants, Tetuan and Torre Llobeta.

Source: www.bcn.es

Poster for La Mercè Festivity 2011

A festival brimming with colour, energy, joy and light. That was how the Colombian illustrator Catalina Estrada wanted to portray Barcelona’s annual festival in the poster for La Mercè 2011.

Using the style and shapes she is known for, she has brought together the traditional features of the festival and the essence of this year’s, which will see lots of circus activities, music and art on the city’s streets.

With this in mind, this year’s guest city will be St Petersburg, one of Russia’s cities with a very strong dance and circus tradition.

The festival’s other big name revealed this Wednesday was that of journalist Joaquim Maria Puyal, who will get La Mercè 2011 under way with the traditional opening speech in the Saló de Cent at the City Hall on 22 September, over the three days of the festival, one less than last year because the 24th falls on a Saturday .

More than 40 Catalan street art companies will demonstrate the high standard of the shows produced here, some of which have received international awards. Parc de la Ciutadella and the Castell de Montjuïc, two star festival venues, will provide a showcase for these artists to put on their creations.

Inevitably tradition will play a unique part in the festival. This year the fire-totting devils and beasts will lead the way through Hell’s Gate, which will span the whole of Via Laietana.

And once again the City Council facade will turn into a cinema screen for La casa màgica, by Franc Aleu.

The Champions League final at the Arc de Triomf

On Saturday a giant screen will be installed near the Arc de Triomf on Passeig de Lluís Companys for a live broadcast of the Champions League final, between FC Barcelona and Manchester United.

Barcelona City Council has been working jointly with the Catalan Ministry of Home Affairs, Televisió de Catalunya, the newspapers El Periódico de Catalunya, La Vanguardia, Sport and Mundo Deportivo, as well as the radio stations Rac1, Ona Catalana, Ràdio Barcelona and Catalunya Ràdio, to put up the screen and, should Barça win, organise a meeting point for some festive, media-led celebrations.

Preventive measures are also being planned to ensure mobility, safety and coexistence between fans and residents by the Mossos d’Esquadra (catalan) and Guàrdia Urbana (city) police forces, and other municipal services, as usually happens when crowds gather for football matches.

As on previous occasions, it is hoped the screen will serve as a meeting point for public celebrations, where people can watch the live broadcast of the match and special programmes, linked to the world of football and Barcelona, that will be shown once the match is over, if Barça win.

If you’re not infected, you’re not affected. AIDS Barcelona

Barcelona is joining forces with the anti-AIDS foundation: Fundació Lluita contra la Sida. Adopting the slogan “If you’re not infected, you’re not affected“, the foundation and City Council are launching an awareness and money-raising campaign.

Highlights include a Gala against AIDS on 1 December. This is the first time one of the most important charity events in the country is being held. Featuring many famous Spanish and international figures, it will aim to collect money to fund research and help projects for AIDS sufferers, activities the foundation has been carrying out for over fifteen years.

The gala merely signals the start to the campaign, under which the City Council will be expressing its support for taking on the illness and raising awareness of it among city residents and publicising the foundation’s solidarity work.

All money received from donations, bracelet sales and attending the gala dinner will go to Fundació Lluita contra la Sida research projects.

Art on the Street with August Rodin in Barcelona

Art on the street (“Art al Carrer“), an initiative organised by the La Caixa Social Work Foundation with the City Council, is back in Barcelona for the third time. It has previously put on two exhibitions, on Manolo Valdés and Igor Mitoraj.

Rambla de Catalunya will become an outdoor museum from Friday 18 December to 6 February 2010 .

And this will be courtesy of the exhibition Art al carrer. Auguste Rodin a Barcelona, which is putting seven sculptures on display from the Musée Rodin in Paris, including The Thinker.

The exhibition was officially opened by Barcelona’s Mayor, Jordi Hereu, in the company of Eixample’s District Councillor, Assumpta Escarp, the secretary-general of the La Caixa Foundation, Lluís Reverter, and the director of the Musée Rodin in Paris, Dominique Viéville.

Rodin’s exhibition includes the famous work The Thinker and six studies of the six leaders making up The Burghers of Calais. You can see it on the Rambla de Catalunya, between Carrer Consell de Cent and Carrer Diputació.

Source: www.bcn.es  |  NN Hotels: www.nnhotels.com