Friday, May 1 - Barcelona Day #2

May 1 is the equivalent of Labor Day in the US.  Scott had it off, so we chose to make the 3 day weekend a long weekend in Barcelona.

Here's a view of the corner where our apartment where we were staying was situated.  It was a great location in the Les Corts neighborhood.  It was on a quiet street, yet surrounded by so many conveniences.

At the far corner was the Suamu restaurant.  We decided to try it for breakfast.

Here's a view of it from the outside.

And a view of us at our table on the inside.

We rarely eat breakfast out while in Spain, primarily because we can't find American breakfasts.  We appreciate being in Spain, but when we want our American breakfast fix, we just make it at home.  But, we got lucky this day and Scott found scrambled eggs and bacon and french fries for breakfast.  He was sooooo excited!  I had a vegetable Spanish tortilla.  The kids ate a lot of Scott's food as well as toast and croissants.  We liked this place so much for its food, atmosphere, and location, that we ate breakfast there the other 2 mornings in Barcelona.

Everyone is given headphones and an audioguide is offered in 11 languages.  The kids loved playing with the headphones.  They may have even learned a thing or two.  At first Rosa and Cody sat together.

Here's a happy Devon with water and notebook in hand.  The kids have taken to bringing their notebooks around so that they can draw things they see or amuse themselves when sitting around.  

We've never taken a hop on/hop off bus, but we decided to give it a try to acquaint ourselves with the city.  We're so glad we did.  There are two busses to choose from in Barcelona.  They both sounded the same, and so we randomly chose this one.  It turns out that it was the right one to choose (Barcelona Bus Turistic), because just that week a stop was added to the route just 2 short blocks from the apartment.

Devon sat with me.

Scott had a seat to himself.  

Here's another playground we found in the park.

There are loads of pictures of things we enjoyed seeing along the way.  It may get overwhelming.  But we (I) want it in the blog for future reviews and to remember the experience.

We started the day on the blue route.  

I'm infatuated with Gaudi's architecture.  Here's a picture of Casa Batllo.  If I were to go back to Barcelona without the kids, I'd definitely want to check out the inside.  The outside is crazy and interesting and mesmerizing.  And the lines are enormous.

Pretty lamp post

And here's the Sagrada Familia.  There are so many beautiful churches in Europe.  I certainly don't appreciate them fully.  And they all start blending into one another from my point of view.  La Sagrada Familia breaks the mold.  It's stunning and memorable and I'd be happy to see it again and again.  

My first time seeing this church/cathedral/basilica was in April 1990 when I did a 3-week exchange program in Barcelona.  This unfinished church may actually be completed within the next 20 years.  There's certainly 25 years more work that's been done.  

EVERYTHING has been thought of.  Gaudi knew he would never finish it.  But he put tons of thought and time and design into what was completed in his lifetime and then guidelines for completing it.  

Here are just some photos.  Our tour took place the following day.

We hopped off the bus and climbed the steep hill to Parc Guell.  I remember being here in both 1990 and then in 1999.  It's such a fascinating and beautiful park full of nature and Gaudi's designs, and tourists.

Here's Devon smiling away in one of the walls.

Beautiful curves that almost look like nature.  Gaudi was incredibly inspired by nature.

We walked and walked and walked.

Here's a view of the beautiful city of Barcelona and the Mediterrean Sea from the park.

We stopped to play at a playground, and Rosa loved climging in this tree while the boys played in the sand.

Later it was time to empty sand and dirt out of shoes.

We chose not to buy tickets to enter this part of the park.  It didn't seem worth the long wait in line.

But we did enjoy admiring the architecture from afar.

We ate lunch in the Parc Guell neighborhood and then continued on our hop on / hop off tour.

Here's a statue we saw along the way.  Perhaps it's outside the Miro museum.

This could be Barcelona's Plaza de Espana.

Museum of National Art of Catalunya

Sitting on the top in the front row.  Devon had the best seat in the house, Scott's lap.  They enjoyed looking at the map together.

Cody in the front row as we go by the waterfront.

Arena where the Futbol Club of Barcelona plays home games.  They rival Real Madrid for being the #1 soccer team in Spain.

Cablecar on Montjuic

Cool sculpture

One of the University of Barcelona's buildings

For 3 weeks in the fall of my senior year of high school, we hosted an exchange student from Barcelona, Silvia.  She was visiting with ~15 other students and a teacher.  That spring, I spent 3 weeks in Barcelona with her and her family.  It was an amazing experience.  We lost touch, but when I visited Barcelona in September 1999, I found her and her parents again and we reconnected.  Again, afterwards, we lost touch.  But, thanks to Facebook, we reconnected yet again and Friday night we had the chance to meet up yet again.

We met at her parents bakery, Forn del Noddy.  Silvia and her mom had prepared a typical Spanish dinner for all of us.  It included her mom's amazing Spanish Tortilla, pizza, squid, and toast with tomato.  It was wonderful.  The kids loved being treated to Fanta and the yummy bakery desserts.

Here's a picture of Silvia's dad.  

I did a terrible job of taking pictures that night so I don't have any to share of the whole gang.  After 15 years, everyone looked the same.  And we had the chance to meet Silvia's lovely boyfriend, Lluis.

After dinner, Silvia loaded us into her car and drove us back to our apartment where everyone fell asleep quite easily.