SPAIN PART 1: Barcelona

A few weeks ago we went on an amazing trip to Spain!  We planned the trip for months so by the time we landed in Barcelona we were excited to put on our adventure pants!  We took over 500 pictures so it has been a bit of a task going through each one.  So sorry for the picture overload!

We started our trip off in Barcelona.  We flew from San Francisco to New York then to Barcelona.  Long flights but well worth the wait!  The early morning in the airport started off very eventful and quite hilarious.  Cody and I knew that Lara and Harv were in for some bad Karma when they lost their nice camera on a previous flight the night before and I noticed Lara had put on her shirt inside that morning.  We were in for some funny times in Spain...

Lara and Harv buying their 1st camera of the trip.  Little did they know it was not going to be their last!

 Lara showing us her inside out shirt...

 Lara and I at 7:00 am after arriving in Barcelona after 16 hours of flying.  So happy to be there! 

Our cute little hotel:

 It was small, but nice...And I must add that the shower was amazing!

We had just enough time to drop off our bags before we went on our bike tour.  We didn't want to waste any time!

The Barenz on their bikes! 

 Cruzin through the streets of Barcelona...

 The Arch de Triomphe of Spain

 The Gaudi Fountains

There was a big riot outside of one of the bull fighting arenas.  We ended up not going to a bull fight.  We had mixed feelings so we opted out.

 Outside of the Sagrada Familia.  Also designed by Gaudi, which we found most of the famous architecture in Spain was designed by him.  The construction started in 1882 and as you can see it is still under construction...apparently it is supposed to be completed by 2026 but it doesn't sound like it will ever be done.

       We ended our first day in Barcelona by going to a tapas bar.  Then instead of hitting the clubs we went to bed.  We were TIRED!!!

The started the next day off by heading back to the Sagrada Familia so we could go inside.  We thought we would grab a quick breakfast before we went in but at 9:30 nothing was open yet!  We had heard that they run on a different schedule, but no even Starbucks was open!  I think I could get used to that lifestyle...

Cody always happy to do anything! 

 The inside was AMAZING!  Pictures don't do it justice.

 This building has a reputation for being weird.  And weird it was.  It reminded me of the sand/mud castles I used to make on the beach when I was little.

Harv doing his impression of Gaudi...

After the Sagrada we took ourselves on a walking tour of the city.  We ended up doing A LOT of walking.  Much more then we planned but I guess thats how it goes sometimes when you don't know where you are going!

Wrong country boys... 

A cute little street we saw trying to find the Picasso museum.  Found out later it was closed...

We went into a Gelato place that had made these chocolates.  I thought they were so pretty.  It is officially on my list of things to attempt to make.

 At lunch at a cafe by the beach.

After doing some more site seeing and shopping we grabbed some dinner.  It was super good!

The next morning we started off by going to see a building across the street from our hotel that is now apartments designed by...yep Gaudi.

 On the top of the building.  It reminded me of something out of a Dr. Suess book. 

Afterwards we made reservations for a cooking class.  I LOVE to cook so I was really excited!

 Me making catalan cream while Lara, Harv, and Cody made tomato soup.  

The finished product.  It was really yummers.

 Our finished paella!

Torchin up the cream!

After we became professional cooks we hit the streets for some more shopping!

Las Ramblas

 Lara and I thought the name of this hotel was funny!

We found this market called La Boqueria.  It was so crowded and full of everything and anything you can think of.  

 haha

 This is me being annoyed...in 7th grade Spanish class I learned one of my favorite words...biblioteca...and I learned from this sign that it is now called a llibreria.  So boring!

Later on we went to "the castle on the hill" which we found out later was not a castle it was a museum.  pretty none the less.  It had a really pretty view of the city.  We snapped some pics.

 Cody and Harv either trying to be cool or getting sick of taking pictures...you choose.

We spent our last night out in Barcelona at a soccer game.  Bilbao vs Espanyol.  The stadium was huge and the fans are crazy!  I think the stadium holds something like 80,000 people!  It was super awesome! 

That's it for Barcelona!  Coming up...Malaga/Marbella...