Barcelona

Barcelona Day 1
We flew in from London, Gatwick to Barcelona on Friday. We arrived in Barcelona at five o'clock. We then hopped on the Metro, their subway, to Llacuna, which was where our hotel was. Needless to say, I had Hakuna Matata stuck in my head the entire weekend. We were staying at the Holiday Inn Express. It was pretty far from where all the sights were, but that was ok because they served complimentary breakfasts! Hotel breakfasts are my absolute favorite! Because we got in pretty late, we didn't see any sights that night, but instead went out for dinner. We had Shellfish Paella next to the beach. The Paella was pretty good, except they served whole crawfish with it, which I didn't eat. My favorite part was the shrimp in it. Everyone made fun of me, because I said "shrimp" like Grammy. The beach though, was pretty dirty. Beaches in Barcelona did not become popular until the Olympics hit Barcelona. Before, they were like Galveston. But, when the Olympics came, golden sand and palm trees were imported to improve the beaches. Landscape artists were hired to make the beaches more attractive, thus the Barcelona beach craze began.

Barcelona Day 2
We had a wonderful breakfast on Saturday. It was a different breakfast than most hotels in America. It served croissants, cold meat and cheese, yogurt, and chocolate croissant bites. It was wonderful. Then we headed off to see the Roman Remains and a Cathedral. The Roman remains were cool, because a lot of them were whole. We saw four Corinthian Columns that had been in the Roman Forum, their market. We saw aqueduct arches, and two towers that used to be the gate to the city. We saw pieces of Roman Wall that had been worked into present day walls. Then we saw a lovely Cathedral. It was giant and very detailed. Little statues of Mary were carved all above the door. The steeple rose above the city, watching over it. We unfortunately could not go in because Makenzie was violating the dress code. We visited a local market where Makenzie spoke Spanish to all the locals. We were glad we had Makenzie along, because if not, we probably would not have gotten a lot done. Dad tried to speak, but ended up telling some guy, "you don't speak Spanish," when he clearly did speak Spanish. The market was so busy! There were tons of stalls with fresh fruits and vegetables. There were juice stands proclaiming two for two euros. So we got some strawberry and coconut juice. It was nice and refreshing. Seafood stall had all sorts of fish. Some looked very scary. They had bulging eyeballs and tiny sharp teeth. The smell was almost overwhelming. We took a picnic lunch to a park. On our way to the park, we found a Spanish ceramic store, and got souvenirs. Mom and Dad got a large jug for the house, I got a blue tile with a star on it, Jordan got a small plate, and Maddy got a fan. Makenzie didn't want anything though. About this point, my sandals broke, so we had to dash in to a store and grab a pair of flip flops. While we were at this park, Makenzie almost got her bag stolen. Apparently these two men were "scouting,"which means they were looking for bags to steal. Because Makenzie was asleep and her bag was a little ways a way from her, he was, well, scouting. Then this lady yelled at Makenzie to watch her bag, and Dad and I, walked over from where we were sitting, and the guy biked off, with his partner yelling at him. It was very exciting. Then we went to another Cathedral, called Santa Maria Del Mar. It is one of the oldest Gothic church. It had soaring arched stone ceilings, with columns to support it. stained glass filtered in light, and statues of saints sat below the glass. It was gorgeous. then we went to eat Tapas for dinner, which was really fun. You served yourself from the bar, which was cool. My favorite had a piece of bread with fried cheese and jam on it. I know it doesn't sound good, but the jam and cheese were soooooo good together!

Barcelona Day 3
After another wonderful breakfast we set off to see yet another cathedral. This one was the Sagrada Familia designed by Gaudi. This cathedral is perpetually under construction because Gaudi died before construction was completed, so they are guessing on how he meant it to be. It was very modern. Most of the statues had square faces, and the stained glass didn't form pictures. When you first see it, you think someone must have dripped candle wax all down it, and then you see it's actually people and flowers and what not. Then we went to Mountjuic, the city's famous hill. It was a very steep hill, so we rode a bus to the top. It gave stellar views of the city and it's port. Then we hit the beach. This one was cleaner, so that was nice, but it was very windy, and the sun wasn't out, so we were a little cold. Besides that, most of the women were topless, but we still had fun. We played in the water for a little while, then the girls built a sandcastle, while I watched. It was nice to be at the beach again. It wouldn't feel like summer if we didn't visit the beach. Then, to end a perfect day, we had pizza. It too was wonderful.

Barcelona Day 4
We tried to go and see a park designed by Gaudi after breakfast, but we got lost and had to return to the hotel to catch our flight. We stopped into a shoe store for Makenzie who wanted some Spanish sandals. We had a smooth flight home, and all collapsed as soon as we got home. It was  a wonderful weekend, but it had wore us out.