Barcelona Here We Are!

Sorry for the delay on this one...I have been so busy there was no time to post. I figured Cheryl and Mom have kept themselves busy by talking to each other through commenting on the other posts.

Today was a travel day, so that meant that Jess and I had to get up EARLY! We did a good job though we were up and out before the sun came up, and we were able to successfully navigate the Madrid metro system all the way to the airport. This is no easy task dragging luggage up and down flights of stairs changing trains three times. We made it in plenty of time, and I was even able to order breakfast for us in Spanish. 

We soon got on our flight to Barcelona. Since I was still pretty congested, the flight was not pleasant, but it was over before I knew it. Then, little did we know we would have an hour of travel ahead of us. We had to take a bus to get a train to get the metro, then walk toward the sea. On the train though, there was a group of musicians who played some original music for everyone. I love how there are musicians and artists everywhere. Eventually we got to the Hotel Gaudi, and we have a balcony view of Gaudi’s house. He is the famous artist who has all of the crazy architecture all over Barcelona. And we are right in the middle of everything!

After a necessary nap (I didn’t give Jess a chance to suggest anything before I fell asleep on the bed), we headed out to explore the city. It is a little warmer here, so that made me happy. We headed toward the water to a tapas restaurant overlooking the water where we had an assortment of different food on bread and a pitcher of sangria. Here we watched the sun set and a huge cruise ship looking boat parallel park in the harbor. Amazing!

We had been there for a pretty long time, so we headed over to Barconleta, a little neighborhood near the water. We explored the streets where we found lots of pastry shops, restaurants, and lots of other stores. There were people standing outside of their restaurants inviting us to come in to have some free tapas, so we found one that looked good and went in for a while. Here, we had a couple drinks and some wonderful tapas. I wish there were more places like this in the states. After being there for a while we moved on to explore some more. The buildings are beautiful here. We soon found our last destination of the evening for our seafood pallea. Our waiter was very helpful and very nice. He kept bringing us things for free! I think I like Barcelona better than Madrid!

Tomorrow should be very interesting. We will attempt a tour bus to see the historical sights of Barcelona. Hasta luego!