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| Even the airport bus is super fun :) |
Barcelona was on the agenda for me and with a week off school, Russ and the girls were anxious to add this trip to their agenda's as well!!
In an effort to have more time to explore, we surprised the girls at school on Friday and headed for the airport!
They were beyond ecstatic for another adventure which helped keep their spirits up on our evening adventure.
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| Waiting for the plane! Lots of good conversations about luggage loading! |
They did fall asleep on the plane and were a little groggy when we arrived, but quickly caught their second wind and were troopers on the way to the hotel. After a good night of sleep we were ready to meet the city!
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| The future spokesperson for the City Tour Bus Company |
We have had a lot of success with the Hop-On Hop-Off tour buses and after a lot of research decided this would be a great way to see the city. We hopped on (much to Lo's chagrin) and headed out for the day. Unfortunately, some of the places we planned to see required tickets, which were all sold out, but nonetheless the tour around the city helped us get our bearings and plan our activities for the days to come.
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| Walking La Rambla! I love these pictures of them :) |
DAY 1: Because our plans didn't work out exactly as we envisioned, we switched the itinerary around a bit and headed to the most famous street in Barcelona; La Rambla.
'Las Ramblas' is the central most boulevard which cuts through the heart of Barcelona's city center. It is a vibrant, lively promenade filled with all kinds of sights, smells and junky souvenir shops (more on this topic later). One of the highlights along La Rambla is La Boqueria Market; a paradise for the senses! I have never seen, smelled, tasted and heard so many things in one small place. It was truly amazing!
One thing I couldn't seem to wrap my head around was how perfect all of the stands and displays were... hundreds of people (meaning thousands of hands) meandering though a tiny open-air market that is approaching 800 years old, yet everything was impeccable. Almost too pretty and perfect to touch... but of course, WE did (one of us anyway... I will let you guess which one of us it was and no, it wasn't Russ). At the egg stand, Loralye noticed a very large duck egg. When she expressed her excitement and went to point at it to show me, the lady behind the counter announced "NO TOUCHING!" So, while we didn't touch the "hugemongous" duck egg... we did touch a LOT of other stuff!
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| The Chocolate Stand... notice the facial expression... by far the favorite stand of all!! |
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| The Mushroom Stand... not nearly as impressive as the Chocolate Stand! |
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| We did lots of touching at this stand...especially the eggplants, those were particularly fascinating! |
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| I tried to take their picture in front of several of the stands... as usual, they were over my nagging. This picture must have been just after an empty threat to not visit the Chocolate Stand. Lo's fingers show just how hard it is to be on vacation with me. |
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| Fresh fruit smoothies... and lemonade! Absolutely delicious and supremely sour!! |
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| The Candy Stand... right up there with the Chocolate Stand. We loved the jelly eggs, bananas and frogs! |
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| The Meat Stand... Russ's favorite! The girls, ehh.. I think you can tell by their faces (lemonade is still sour). |
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| The "Fish Stand": Lets just say, we can guarantee the freshness here... so fresh, it's still moving :) |
A follow on to the picture above, we had a funny moment while standing next to one of the fish stands (which were a bit gruesome, given all the head chopping and blood, but the girls were fascinated!). Annelyse got up real close to a row of blue crabs sitting perfectly on the ice. She was leaned in close, inspecting the tentacles and 'chompers' when one of the crabs moved just slightly. She jumped back so fast she almost fell down. We could not stop laughing and she was completely disturbed by the fact that the crab wasn't dead. Short of attempting to find a place to put him back in the water, we quickly moved on and had a long discussion on food-borne illness and the advantages of freshly caught seafood. By the end of our tour, we were completely stuffed and on sensory overload!
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| While I stated that they "demonstrated stamina" I didn't suggest that they liked it! |
We reached the top and while the fort/castle looked interesting, our miniature travel companions weren't feeling up to a tour of the place. Honestly, we weren't either, but they are a better excuse :) It was beautiful on the exterior and impressive nonetheless. We read some plaques, took some pics and headed for the cable cars!
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| Not feeling it... |
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| Please just stand there for one picture... Loralye!!! At least she couldn't fall through the bars like other places we have visited... those we call "just for show" or "built for Vikings, not ambulance chasers!" |
Shoulder Picture #2 |
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Seeing that the cable car ride was the 'reward' for the trek up the mountain we were anxious to see how the girls reacted to the experience. Aside from the cable car stopping mid-ride, for no apparent reason, I would assess their experience as neutral...
The best part was getting on the car, seeing that the cars never stopped moving, hence the reason for the blurry pictures!
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| Much like the cable cars, Loralye never stops moving! |
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| One's perspective at 3.85 years of age: A stick...supremely fascinating... much more so than the fact she was in air overlooking Barcelona. I often have to remind myself to "just be"... I learn so much from them. |
After the cable car ride we headed for dinner which had a funny story... As soon as the food was served, that was the girls signal to go check out yet another public bathroom. Upon arriving in the bathroom, a girl exited one of the stalls and we quickly proceeded to walk in. Before I had a chance to shut the stall door, Lo asks? “How did she go potty?” I didn’t understand what she meant… so she went on to point out that the toilet seat was up and then said “See, how did she go potty with the toilet like that?” I start to explain that likely she didn’t sit down, because bathrooms are dirty, etc… but before she would even hear any of my explanation or attempt to demonstrate the ‘hover’ method, she announces, “She must have a penis”… I hear the woman who left the said stall start laughing hysterically. I try to shush her (which of course is impossible and go back to the hover explanation, but Loralye isn’t having it. At least 5 more times, she insists that this woman has a penis because the seat was up. No other explanation. Period. Once the woman can final breath again, she says…. No no, your mom is right, I didn’t sit on the seat. Lo smiles and when she leaves the bathroom says, “I know she has a penis” I can’t recall a time I have been more embarrassed and amused all at the same time. Not to mention, that word seems to be universally understood...
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| Lo doing the 'light-up thingy with the street vendor |
While traveling we were also challenging the girls to speak Spanish or Catalan, which is the local language in Barcelona. During the same dinner, the girls were anxious to go explore the souvenir shops and we told them they had to go ask for the bill if they wanted to go. Annelyse quickly reminded us she couldn't because she didn't speak Spanish. We had been using Google to help us translate so she quickly grabbed the phone and started typing. Eventually we settled on how to ask for the bill. 'La quenta porfavor'. After a few times practicing, they walked up to the waiter and proudly said "La quenta porfavor!" The staff there clapped and made a big deal about their attempt at Catalan and they came rushing back to the table, bill in hand and smiles as big as watermelon slices :)
After dinner we headed out for some souvenir shopping (ugh). The girls couldn't wait to get their hands on everything these stands had to offer! Not to mention all of the other exciting activities that started around dusk.
There were these "light-up-flying thingies" that Loralye was fascinated with, so of course we came home with a couple of those, magnets, key chains, cacti (which we carried from hotel to up until the end up the trip in Styrofoam cups), fans (several seeing we broke them before we made it to the next stand).
One of the other things prevalent along the strip were street performers. Loralye was NOT.A.FAN... in fact she would start crying whenever she spotted one that we would have to walk past. There was one in particular that she was completely petrified of...which I think set the tone for the rest.
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| While I was taking this picture, Loralye was behind me screaming "Don't let him lasso Annelyse"... She really looks like she is in danger, doesn't she? |
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| One would think this was the super-scary guy... |
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Nope... this was the guy Loralye was petrified of... she said he was going to "eat her"
He stood as still as a statue until someone put some money in his hat... Needless to say, she wasn't interested in running up there to participate. |
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| Fan whipping... |
No night in Barcelona would be complete without a visit to a
Flamenco show. The girls were
ecstatic about the evening and couldn’t wait to see these gorgeous dancers up
close and personal. Of course, with
expectations running high, we should have been on alert for any activity that
did not align with expectations. The show began with two men singing in an operatic fashion...cue the first of 4,348 questions. “Why are there boys up there," “when are the girls coming out,” “boys aren’t
flamenco dancers," "how much longer until we see the dancers," "are the boys going to dance," "when are we leaving?"
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| They got tired of us taking their picture so they turned the camera on us! |
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| In front of La Pedrera (Casa Mila) |
Day 3: A day full of sight-seeing was on the agenda, with Antoni Gaudi being the featured artist. Antoni Gaudi was Gaudí's work was influenced by his passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion. Gaudí considered every detail of his creations and integrated into his architecture such crafts as ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging and carpentry. He also introduced new techniques in the treatment of materials, such as trencadís which used waste ceramic pieces.
We started by going to La Pedrera aka Casa Mila. Casa Milà, popularly known as ‘La Pedrera’ (the stone quarry), an ironic allusion to the resemblance of its façade to an open quarry, was constructed between 1906 and 1912 by Gaudí.
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| At the top of Casa Mila |
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| Looking down through the apartment from the rooftop. |
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| Playing hide and go-seek in the art... it was very sunny (and hot) on this rooftop!! |
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| Ignore the vent... |
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| Looking at the miniature version of the building they were in. Anything mini is very fascinating! In the background you can see all the curves/arches within the building. |
After this visit we headed over to the Sagrada Família. The Sagrada Família is a large Catholic church, also designed by Gaudi. Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Construction of Sagrada Família had commenced in 1882 and Gaudí became involved in 1883 taking over the project and transforming it with his architectural and engineering style, Gaudí devoted his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete. On the subject of the extremely long construction period, Gaudí is said to have remarked: "My client is not in a hurry."
This place is truly remarkable... like nothing I have ever seen. No picture can do this place justice, both in magnitude and detail. They plan for it to be complete in 2026.... perhaps we can start planning a return trip to see the finished product!
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| Do you see the guy in the yellow bucket behind Lo... looks pretty tiny compared to what he is chiseling! |
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| The hand-carved detail was like nothing we have ever seen. |
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| Ceiling |
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| Light was pouring in and there were rainbows all over the floor! |
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| "WOW"... they kept saying that over and over and spinning in a circle... truly remarkable! |
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| None of these pictures do this place justice. |
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| Cuties in front of the cathedral :) |
As impressive as this place was, with our company, we lasted about 45 minutes before we had to move on.
The last stop of the day was Park Guell; another of Gaudi's creations.
Park Güell: The park was built between 1900 and 1914 and was officially opened as a public park in1926. In 1984, UNESCO declared the park a World Heritage Site under “Works of Antoni Gaudi"
Park Güell is the reflection of Gaudí’s many artistic talents. Gaudí conceived this park, which is situated within a natural park consisting of groupings of high-quality homes, decked out with all the latest technological advancements to ensure maximum comfort, finished off with an artistic touch.
He also envisioned a community strongly influenced by symbolism, therefor there are many elements within the park that symbolize political and religious ideals at the time of construction. The buildings flanking the entrance have fantastically shaped roofs with unusual pinnacles, look very much like a gingerbread house. I wasn't able to take much of the history in given that I had to take a conference call during our visit. While not ideal, the surroundings and landscape made working while on vacation much more bearable.
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| Find the Chmiel's |
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| Yet another encounter with women from the Far East... Cracks me up every time... you would think they are celebrities! |
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| They created a game in the open area where they ran around like maniacs... I had a call to take for work, so this open space and freedom to roam helped keep them occupied for a bit. |
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| View from the bench down to the village and "gingerbread houses" |
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| Kids taking pictures of daddy! |
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| These benches were made of recycled titles/ceramics. Incredibly detailed and beautiful. And surprisingly comfortable. Gaudí was not only interested in how his work looked but also the usefulness and comfort it offered. |
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| The iconic mosaic lizard |
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| Had enough of the picture taking again... |
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| That's better (must have been a good bribe) |
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| No longer cooperating... |
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| Hands around the neck were a frequent occurrence on this trip... that's what 5 full days together brings us to. |
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| Yes, that is a real cat... sitting in a basket of stuffed animals in a souvenir shop. Lo spotted her, plopped down next to her and pet her the entire time we were in there. She asked just before we left if she was for sale and if we could get her :( I think she has been missing her Louisa! Regardless, this cat was very sweet and seemed to love all the attention Lo was willing to share! |
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| Fake smile since I was distracting her from her mission... |
We did cram a lot into 5 days, and found one way to keep the ladies happy... their new favorite candy shop; "Happy Pills". No better way to put a smile on these two little ones faces than a store decked out from floor to ceiling with countless bins of candy!
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| I love this.. she can't take her eyes off the wall of candy :) |
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| Out front with their goodies! |
There were lots of other memories from the trip that weren't associated with a specific activity or place, but surely contributed to the fun. Below are some of the outtakes from the adventure...
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| On her favorite bus with her favorite guy! |
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| Shoulder Ride... again.. needless to say, we both were in need of a chiropractor after this trip! |
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| The Christopher Columbus statue |
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| Fun on the bus! |
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| Yep... the stupid selfie stick is still around... :( |
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| And the fighting over the stupid selfie stick also continues... |
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| Hands around the throat again... |
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| I can't remember what the building is in the background, but the dirty, cesspool-esque ponds they are standing in front of, attempting to put their hands in, I do remember! |
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| They loved this tiny balcony! |
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| Dad's the horse... giddy up! This was the alternative to yet another shoulder ride! |
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| I think they have had enough with the photos and sight-seeing! |
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| Frustrated that she can't do the puzzle... this thing completed is the size of a postcard. Why to they make such things?!? It took us a good 2 hours to complete. |
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| Little travellers! |
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| Gelato on the street! |
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| Another favorite... notice her shoes! She had to have these at the airport to match her dress. She walked all over their airport in these and thought she was pretty hot stuff :) |
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| Russ distracting me while taking a work call... |
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| Our beautiful Flamenco's |
This trip was a whirlwind and by far our favorite place we have visited to date. Blogger crashed the first time I did this post, so there aren't as many memories or details, but I think the pictures speak for themselves and tell the story of our experience in Barcelona!
DAY 1: Because our plans didn't work out exactly as we envisioned, we switched the itinerary around a bit and headed to the most famous street in Barcelona; La Rambla. 
After this visit we headed over to the Sagrada Família. The Sagrada Família is a large Catholic church, also designed by Gaudi. Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Construction of Sagrada Família had commenced in 1882 and Gaudí became involved in 1883 taking over the project and transforming it with his architectural and engineering style, Gaudí devoted his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete. On the subject of the extremely long construction period, Gaudí is said to have remarked: "My client is not in a hurry."
