Park on Industria and Marina

When I have downtime here in Barcelona, many times I like to go to the park right near my apartment on the corner of Marina and Industria. I find that its enjoyable to just hang out at the park either on my own with an ipod or some school work, or with a friend. For instance, yesterday I went to the park with a blanket with my roommate. We ate lunch and fruit there and I studied for a final that I have coming up this week. The park itself is not very large. It has ping pong tables and large dirt areas with surrounding grass. There is also a small gated in playground type area with a slide and some swings for younger children. I notice that this park is never very crowded, and there are usually parents taking their children to play, or people walking their dogs. I always get upset that people here are not required to pick up after their pets because it makes the park smell worse, and it just seems dirty to me. I also like to watch the people play ping pong, and I am happy that they make use out of what the city has to offer them. It is mostly residential people who use this park, because I live in a very residential area. I also live near the Sagrada Familia, but I do not like to go into the parks surrounding the church because they are extremely crowded and extremely touristy. It is hard to find a peaceful spot to sit down in the parks by Sagrada Familia and there are always people trying to sell small items and souvenirs because they know there are so many tourists there. The parks here do not really remind me of parks back at home because at home I feel like all the parks are standard and have much more to offer. However, I know there are parks in Poble Nou and other areas that have skating rinks and more options for the patrons of the park. But in my area it seems the parks really just have benches, a few play items for kids and some ping pong tables. At home, most of my parks have greater playground areas for young children, more facilities like tennis and basketball courts, also skating rinks, etc. I still enjoy the park near my apartment though because I do not like to spend all day sitting in my apartment on my computer. Instead its more productive for me to sit outside, look around my surroundings and get some work done or just hang out. I wished that there were more nicer days while I was here in Barcelona because I could have enjoyed the park more and it rained so often and was colder than I thought it would be.