Barcelona

I will start with a warning. I've had a rough week. As some of you already know, my little guy had a fall and had to go to the hospital to get his teeth removed. It was not fun. He is ok now, eating lots of soft food, but is back to the happy, mischievous little cutie he is. So with that you can imagine, the last thing I wanted to do these last couple of days was tell you all about our trip to Barcelona. My memory it a bit foggy with everything that happened shortly after our arrival, but here it goes.


David was so happy there. This is a place he had been looking forward to come visit for the longest time. He is a HUGE flamenco music lover. I on the other hand didn't really know what to expect. I was obviously as always excited about the food, but other than the obvious things you think about when people say Spain,  I didn't really know what to see. I'm uncultured, there is no other way to put it. (Don't worry, I think I make up in other kinds of smarts....I hope.)  I don't know much about architecture, art, or history.... Not much stuck from all those years in school. That is something that I've loved about all this traveling. There is so much I get to learn about, AND I enjoy it more cause it's there in front of me. Now I'm not a complete idiot, but there are some things here that are maybe not new to me but I know very little about.  Now each place I go my brain just stocks up on knowledge, and it seems to be sticking.  ANYWAY......now that you know how dumb in somethings I am in let me tell you about our trip to Barcelona.

First off buildings there are AMAZING, it doesn't matter whether they are one of Gaudi's, they were all just ....Wow. I felt like I was on a movie set. We went during Good Friday and unfortunately that just made the lines longer than usual I imagine, AND some things were under construction so all we saw was a tarps, cranes and all those nice things you get to see in some of our pictures. We weren't able to go into any of the tours, not just because of the wait, but having a more vocal toddler (is he considered a toddler yet) things are not just done as easily. We like to give him his time to run around in the playgrounds and have fun too. He can't be in the stroller forever. Also it's a nice break for our feet. We walked SOOOOOO much. My feet have never hurt so much, but it was ALL worth it. I think that is the best way to see places. I was so happy about the food too. It had been awhile (not counting the fair) of us not having the best food on our trips, but here everything we had was so yummy. They have all sorts of markets there, food, art, jewelry, antiques, a little bit of everything! Eating and shopping, two of my favorite things, and in a beautiful place, even better. Barcelona is a city with a TON of artist of all kind. The best street performers are there FORSURE. These people know how to put a show. Looking back I really enjoyed this trip. As always here are some "tips" I have if you come to this wonderful city. 

• Walk everywhere, there is so much to see, most things are so close to each other and the few things that are not, they have a awesome metro system that made it easy to get to the other attraction.
• Download a few Barcelona Apps. Technology is the best sometimes. We had an app that told us what to see and another that was a great map
• Tapas : LOVE the tapas, they are small plates, and the best thing is you get to try a little of everything, (and we did)
• Paella, it's a must. I did not think I was really going to like it cause I mean for me rice is rice.....but it was quite delicious!
• Learn who Gaudi is. His works are the main attactions, and they are amazing! If you are smart you probably would be like yea "duh, of course" but if you don't already know....you are not alone
• Go to the beach, It is so nice and right by there we had the BEST food at the little market they have, also there is a great little shopping mall on a floating island.
• Watch for pick pocketing. We are paranoid already and are really careful but we were warned by a lot of people especially around La Rambla, including a merchant we bought some things from. So just watch your pockets, it's always best to carry everything in the front and use bags with zippers. 
• Stop and take a break, watch the street performers, enjoy some yummy food, and enjoy yourself! It's not too often you get to be in such an awesome place. 

Papas bravas, Jamon Serrano, and Pan con Tomate.....YUM YUM YUM

We got a family pic (kind of), thank you trusted random lady

Oh jeez....no I don't mind walking so much just to get to a TARP.... so sad, well at least you can see the roof. 

Popcorn, he LOVES his popcorn

"Please NO pictures!!!"

The most AMAZING street statues, John Lennon was the BEST

This guy had the coolest puppet show EVER....and he had one chic stroller

Yummy Yummy Tapas

We bought THE most DELICIOUS Chorizo here....SOOOOOO GOOD

This Sandwich was a work of art as you can see the process here.....OH gosh and it was DIVINE

You can never go wrong with Churros

A pleasant surprise

This kid LOVES music

As you can see all of these buildings are AMAZING, the Park Guell, designed by Gaudi was one long hike up the road, but very much worth it. We spent a lot of time there looking around the whole place. La Sagrada Familia was so stunning, we were really bummed we didn't get to see the inside. We need to come back and do all the tours. Every time I sit down and "revisit" everything we did makes me want to be back in each place. So can't wait to go back and explore some more of Barcelona!!!