Barcelona, Spain

We survived another family vacation!!! Friday morning we woke up to snow in Morges and headed to the airport in Geneva. Our flight was slightly delayed, but considering we were flying Easy Jet, it wasn't too bad! The flight was easy and we did an amazing job on public transportation and arrived at our apartment/hotel in record time! Our hotel was blocks from la Sagrada Familia so it was amazing to step out of the subway and be standing at the foot of one of the most amazing structures we had ever seen!

Our trip consisted of three full days of sightseeing. We crammed in as much as possible and took full advantage of the sunshine the first day. Our second day was a bit chilly and the third day....it never stopped raining. Dan also surprised us by planning out our dinners. He had pulled a bunch of Spanish recipes off the internet, had a grocery list, and did a great job with our meager kitchen to prepare some great meals that didn't involve us dragging the kids out at 9 pm for dinner!

DAY 1

• We started out at la Sagrada Familia and got there shortly after it opened at 9 am. (We also learned that we couldn't find a cup of coffee until after 10 am!). We took the elevator up for some amazing views of the city. I sure hope that this project is someday completed! Gaudi was quite the visionary! We were also treated to hearing a choir rehearsing on our way down the spiral staircase. It was heavenly!
• There was also a funny situation outside of Sagrada Familia. We were about to enter and suddenly a female security guard is holding something in her hands and laughing....it was Sam's underwear! My kids seriously have underwear issues....if they aren't completely forgetting to put them on they are forgetting to pull yesterday's pair out of their pant's leg! It must have fallen out of his pants....pretty funny!
• Zoe and I got to do some shopping at Zara, a famous store from Spain.
• La Rambla is the pedestrian street in Barcelona filled with vendors, street performers, and people watching. Sam and Zoe got their pictures taken with several street performers and it didn't take Sam long to figure out and say, "All they really want is money, right dad?" We also had a great lunch at a cafe we had read about. Awesome sandwiches!
• We made our way all the way to the waterfront and Monument a Colom. A huge monument built to honor Christopher Columbus in 1888 for the Universal Exhibition. We walked along the port and were constantly nervous as there were no railings and I was paranoid that Sam or Ben were going to run over the edge.
• On our way back we walked through the La Boqueria. It is one of Europe's greatest permanent produce fairs. We saw it all! It left no question in our children's minds where their dinner comes from. Plucked chicken's hanging from their heads, piglets staring at you with lifeless eyes, seafood galore. These are only the things I can describe. We took lots of pictures so be sure to check out our flickr album...unless you are a vegetarian!

DAY 2

• The day started out with a visit to Park Guell. What was originally built to be a gated community for the Barcelona wealthy, began in 1900 by Eusebi Guell. It was designed by Antoni Gaudi, but by 1914 Guell had given up! Today it is an amazing park and also has the Casa Museu Gaudi, where Gaudi lived for most of his last 20 years.
• Our next destination was Tibidabo. This turned out to be a bit of a bust. It is an amusement park on top of Barcelona's highest peak. However, it took forever to get there: metro, tram, and funicular. When we got to the top it was windy and freezing! We let the kids each go on a ride and we toured the basilica on top of the hill. After a hot chocolate we headed back down and called it a day!
• Zoe and I headed out while Dan was making dinner to the Christmas Market near our hotel. I had promised some friends that I would buy them the special Barcelona Nativity character. Yes, all Catalan Nativities have a peasant in the background squatting to relieve himself. I affectionately called him the "pooping peasant". No joke.

DAY 3

• Rain. No Elko vacation would be complete without rain. We took our time getting out of the apartment that morning and headed back towards la Rambla. After walking around in the rain for hours we decided we'd had enough and headed back towards the sea and took the kids to the Aquarium. We stopped off first at "tapas tapas", a place Sam was obsessed with eating at. After seeing the menu Sam decided he didn't really want to have tapas and ordered a ham and cheese sandwich! Dan and I shared paella and Zoe had shrimp. Ben slept through the meal! The kids enjoyed the aquarium very much and we spent a good portion of the afternoon there.

All and all a fabulous trip. The weather was lousy on departure day and we ended up having our flight delayed seven hours. We now know the Barcelona airport quite intimately!