Barcelona Day 2 of 4

Day 2 in Barcelona and after what was a very busy 1st day traveling, things got much better today, especially with roaming on the Nokia N79 and Nokia 6120.

You may remember yesterday I said I was having problems video calling from Spain back to the UK, well after changing networks from Movistar to Orange, Video calling did in fact start working and although not as clear as when in the UK, it was really nice to be able to see family from a different country.  The handset that was used was the Nokia N79 due to the larger screen.

A tip for everyone who travels, make sure you either remember to set the time to update on its or do it yourself after getting off the plane.  I ‘thought’’ I had already done this but with 2 phones, a laptop, a watch and a TV i only just caught the bus into La Ramblas on time.

This was my first real situation to be able to take some photos when on both the tours of the city so I have added many of them below for you to take a look at.  Remember that the Nokia N79 was my ONLY camera for photos and video so when you consider these were from a phone they are more than enough quality to print on normal 6×4 paper.

 

 

    

The photos above and below are taken in the Southern part of Barcelona where there seemed to be far more photo opportunities here than in the North.  I also took a video clip to show off the quality. 

I had to find a mobile phone store during my travels and see how they do things over in Spain compared to us in the UK.  First of all I found a Mobistar shop (Mobistar are owned by Telefonica who also own O2).  There were a few older models in the window like a Nokia 6210 Navigator and a N95 8GB so I thought maybe inside was better?.  That was a mistake, it was pretty much where outside left off, only offering basic models on display.  There was a chart on the wall with many top end phones and prices but none were on display, compare that to the UK where you have the best phones on display as a main selling point to show them off.

The Vodafone store was even smaller and had a few phones behind the counter in glass and some others again in glass on the left and right walls.  Nokia 6210 Navigator was there again but they at least had a BlackBerry Storm on show (no HTC Magic though?).  Both stores had no brochures to let customers take away?, what is all that about, surely that is a basic requirement of a phone shop so people can go away, look, have a think and return later. Over in the UK we have a monthly brochure per network and this is a good selling tool.  If you are reading this from outside of the UK, what is it like where you are?, are there monthly brochures with the deals and phones in?, I would appreciate your feedback.

Off to the Aquarium

I did not know there was an Aquarium in Barcelona until I saw it on the map and for only €17.00 it was well worth it to get to see another great sight the city had to offer.

Although the photos are not as clear as the others, remember they were taken indoors in poor lighting against glass, I am happy with them just to be stored on the computer to look back over.  This is where a Xenon would have made a difference but only the Nokia N82 has that type of flash, not even the N97 or N86 have a Xenon!.

The ice cream photo was back outside and shows off hoe clear the N79 captures different colours.  And it tasted amazing!,  Caramel, Biscuit and Creme from Hagen Dass…..mmmmmmm!!!.  So good you can go back for more…… and will as I did.

Northern Barcelona

After doing the Southern tour first, the Northern tour did not have as many opportunities to take photos, especially as we had to miss the route via the Nou Camp Stadium because there was a match on.  I did manage to get these 2 photos below though:

La Ramblas

La Ramblas is like Barcelona’s version of Oxford Street but with a strange twist.  There is a market down the middle of the street with shops either side ranging from KFC to a rather naughty shop (I will let you work that out).  Most stores are closed on a Sunday so I spent more time walking down the middle where I came across some strange people.  Have you ever been out in the summer and seen those statue people that just stand still and when you throw money in their hat they move…… times that by 10 and that is what you have here.

Two of the statues are just that, look like statues.  However the other two are different, one being Edward Scissorhands and the other a strange tree looking person

Now came my highlight of La Ramblas, a very funny clown type person who squeaked all day long and never spoke.  He had a huge crowd gathered on one side of the street watching him play games with passing people from pulling them in with invisible rope, getting on the floor and trying to look at a lady (you will see what i mean in the video!), He also copied people waling down the street as well as many other antics.  This was such a laugh and one of my highlights from the trip to Barcelona

End Of Day 2

Day 2 was great, I had great weather which allowed me to get the best from the Nokia N79 camera in both image and video formats.  As I was going to be using the camera a lot today I put the N79 into ‘offline’ mode switching off the mobile network and making the phone pretty much a standalone camera.  What I was really pleased with was the battery life I got when I did this.  Taking around 80 photos, 10 video clips, and when getting back sending all the filed to my Samsung NC-10 via Bluetooth, the battery bar had only dropped by 1 bar!.  This was outstanding from the N79 battery.  However I will say that my situation was different as I did have a Nokia 6210 as my phone to call and text on, many of you will only have the one phone but it was nice to see the battery holding out anyway.

After being in the heat for around 9 hours it was time to come back to the hotel so I caught the free coach back from 8.30pm to do the write up.

I am not using the USB modem due to the costs on data roaming so am relying on the cable internet in the room which is fast, but costs €6.95 for 60 minutes or €19.95 for 24hrs. So because of this Day 2’s write up (this one) will have been published on Day 3, And Day 3/4 will be done on Day 4 as I will be on the way back to the UK so can use my USB modem to write up on the events, I will also have a Nokia 8800 Arte waiting at home to review which I am REALLY looking forward too.  It’s the most expensive phone I have used so far with a RRP of around £900.00.

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Tags: barcelona, n79