Saturday, August 29, 2009

Barcelona



Well, the journey to Barcelona was rough! We were exhausted from our week in Utah, then had a 5 hour flight to Newark which was delayed an hour, fought our way through the Newark airport, had to recheck in, got on a 9 hour redeye flight to Barcelona, arrived in Barcelona minus one bag (my bathroom bag which took them 2 days to locate) had to take 2 very expensive cabs to the hotel and realized that we were quickly going to run out of money on this trip! We had to start our trip with a long nap so we could regroup and enjoy our vacation.

Which we did! We ended up LOVING Barcelona. I could easily have spent a week there. Loved the architecture, culture, and beauty of the city.

One of our first stops was to the Bull arena. Fights are only on Sundays, but we did tour the stadium and museum and even visited the bulls.


Kenzie was the bull, chasing the boys around!


Caden jumped over the fence to a restricted area (its always Caden - I have to watch him like a hawk!). But I of course had to snap a picture of him up close to the bulls before I made him come back. They were eyeing him like he was dinner!


La Sagrada Familia is Gouddis masterpiece cathedral that has been in construction for 150 years and is estimated to be another 100 years before it is complete. Absolutely breathtaking - so intricate and unique!


A Plaza in the shopping district. We loved Las Ramblas - a street with performers, stores, and a farmers market.





Once we were comfortable with the subway system, the city was much easier to navigate. We were all impressed with the public transportation - well organized and clean!

Tibidabo - an amusement park high on the hills overlooking the city. A fun afternoon for the kids but hard to get to and expensive.



Stiges - a beach community about a half hour train ride outside the city. One of our favorite days. Such a cute city! Sorry if there are half-naked people in the background - we were in Europe!










The Fountains at Monjuic - our favorite place in Barcelona and one of my highlights of the trip! Think the Bellagio show but with lights and lasted about 20 minutes set to American 80s rock music. All of this in a beautiful setting. I don't know if I enjoyed the show more or watching my kids laugh and dance as they got soaked standing on the ledge of the fountains!


We watched one show from up close and another show from high on the stairs. It was just SO cool and there were thousands of people there enjoying it with us.

Just a cool climbing structure right on the beach. We noticed that this was common - playgrounds right on the sand - pretty cool.
Barcelona received a HIGHLY RECOMMEND from us if anyone is planning a trip abroad.

3 comments:

{jane} said...

so, did i somehow miss this post before? it was late - i saw the one before & after...go figure.

first - i totally know how you felt by the time you reached Barcelona, international traveling is exhausting - but wasn't it so much better to have all your boys with you??? a truly priceless vacation {which i'm sure you felt literally. totally broke now?}

ok...that first picture is amazing of the ferris wheel. i'm kind of glad you missed the bull fights, we've all been in mexico, and even with boys - it's VERY violent. i've got the squeebie-geebies that caden jumped over that gate! what is that boy thinking???

then - the Gouddis architecture is amazing. wow. however one spends time like that on one project never ceases to amaze me.

the fountains & crazy monkey bars on the beach look fun. lots of your stops seemed to be a great balance of tourist stops & pool/beach time. which is a necessity with kids.

and - what the freak is that pita on steroids? that is awesome. was it yummy! what was inside?

once again - miss you all lots. i'm hearing from the "boy moms" in myla's class that she's the big crush of the 4th graders. is it bad of me that i keep having the thought, "well, she's totally taken...so tell them to find someone else to like!" lol.

we're having a girls lunch friday & possibly a vball party monday if you can make it. {wink, wink}

{jane} said...

was that some kind of record-long-comment?

it must have exhausted me - i'm going to bed now...and it's only 10:30pm!

Idaho Penningtons said...

lauren is thinking about spain next fall for a study abroad! I would love to go visit! Did you have any trouble at the beach with women and no tops?