España

The kids had off from school for Carnaval (see last post) so we used half of the week to take a quick trip to one of the most visited cities in Europe - Barcelona. (We read that the top four cities to visit in Europe are: London, Rome, Barcelona, and Paris. We have seen them all!..and a few more)

Barcelona was a great city. It is right on the Mediterranean Sea. The water was too cold for me and Ned, but the kids had a great time splashing around and jumping the waves.

That is the W Hotel in the background

Our first day, after a romp at the beach, we took the El Transbordador Aeri del Port (cable car) to Montjuic. The cable car looked like this and was VERY high and VERY crowded. I don't recommend it for those with a fear of heights or cramped spaced...

But, it allowed us to capture views like this...

and this...

We walked around a few parks and then hopped on the Teleferic de Montjuic (Gondola)

And Arrived at the Montjuic Castle. The kids enjoyed climbing on the old armory and checking out the old castle, built in the 18th century.


On the way down (we took a cable car and a gondola up...what comes up must come down) we passed a few great playgrounds. Barcelona has wonderful playgrounds scattered through the city. It was perfect. When the kids were getting burnt out of sightseeing and eating tapas and paella, we hit a playground. This one had particularly huge slides. All 4 of us enjoyed a few rides!


It was so loved in Rome and London, we decided to do the tourist thing and ride the double-decker tourist bus (or as Andrew calls is - the decker decker bus). It truly is a good way to get a layout of the city if you only have a few days.


The bull fighting arena. Still in use. And, apparently controversial. The tour guide said there are activists outside protesting on game days.

Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi's unfinished masterpiece.

Gaudi started it in the early 1900s and died in 1926. They expect the church to continue being contructed over the next few decade.

Park Geull by Antoni Gaudi

We had a lot of fun listening to street musicians and shows and checking out all the Gaudi art

Gaudi Dragon Fountain

At night we went to the Magic Fountains at Montjuic. Think Las Vegas water show outside the Bellagio, but with one huge fountain. Every 15 minutes they put on another show. The first one we saw, by luck, was a Disney themed one. It has a variety of Disney songs set to magnificent lights and water display. We liked it so much, we stayed for another show which was set to 90s music. The kids, of course, liked the first one better.

It was a great trip!