I ♥ Barcelona

This week has been a little on the difficult side for both Megan and I.  For those of you who don't know, I received a dreaded phone call from my mom letting me know that my Grandma passed away two mornings ago.  Megan and I both had a hard time decided whether to cut our trip short when we first heard that she wasn't doing well, but in the end we decided to stay.  I know that is what my Grandma would have wanted us to do, and in the end I don't regret staying.

After deciding to stay we made our way from Sevilla to Barcelona on the good ol' train, and so far Barcelona has been AMAZING!  We arrived late at night the first night, but the next morning we were up early to begin our adventure in the streets of Barcelona. 

Our first stop was the famous street of La Rambla.  La Rambla is the main street that runs down the middle of Barcelona and is lined with tons of fun and colorful shops.  Since we happened to be in town on a holiday, we got the chance to see the middle of La Rambla lined with street venders.  It was such a fun day, just strolling up and down the street admiring all of the wonderful artists, scarves, jewelery, and other odds and ends on display.  We also visited the Columbus Monument and took the elevator to the top to capture a few pictures of the city and harbor (fun fact: did you know that the Columbus Monument and the Statue of Liberty were 'married' in 1992 to unite the two countries and their ajoining history?), then we walked up to the Plaça Catalunya (a plaza halfway up La Rambla) and admired the fountains and sculptures. Overall, it was a great first day.

Today, we decided that we really needed to get a lot done!  We woke up especially early and first made our way to the Parc Güell.  The history behind this whimsicle park is rooted in Antoni Gaudi, whose architecture is to be found throughout all of Barcelona (here is a website to find out/see more of Gaudi's work: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaud%C3%AD).  After the park, we high tailed it over to La Rambla again to visit another one of Gaudi's creations, the Palau Güell, but we were restless and didn't want to wait in line so we took pictures of the outside and went to our next stop; the Mercat Boquería.  It was amazing!  There were lines and lines of fresh produce boothes (think Saturday Market, but only food!)  Once I am able to post pictures you will be amazed too (I took a TON).  We grabbed some fresh fruit and walked around looking at all of the wonderful fresh meats, fruits, vegetables, candies, spices, etc.  It was simply stunning.  We then decided that we were in the mood to visit another Cathedral.  I am pretty sure that every city we have visited, we have gone into at least one of their Cathedrals, and they never cease to amaze us. This one was done in a gothic façade and contained a colorful courtyard, complete with geese.  After the Cathedral, we were off again!  This time to another of Gaudi's creations-the Casa Batillo.  Unfortuently, this Casa was a little on the expensive side to get into, so again, we just took pictures of the outside, then we found a street shop with books on Gaudi and looked through the pictures of the inside :-).  At this point in our day, our feet were beginning to hurt and we decided it was time for a drink!  We had read about a fairy tale themed cafe and decided to check it out.  It was like walking into Lord of the Rings.  We enjoyed a drink next to the trees with faces and took a picture next to a fairy sitting by one of the indoor ponds and then were on our way again, this time to the city park.  The city park was also (for lack of a better adjective) AMAZING.  It was complete with a Zoo and the fountain in the center was absolutely beautiful (and was another one of Gaudi's works).  We left the park through the Arc de Triumf, and finally headed back to the hostel to make dinner (sautéd garlic, lemon, cheesy noodles-yum!)

So far our adventures in Spain have been exciting, and along with them we have also become quite fond of the Spanish way of life when it comes to the Siestas (a part of the day-usually between 3 and 5-when all the shops close and people go home to visit with their family and NAP) -in fact we insist on taking one everyday here in Spain (we are trying to emerse ourselves in the culture :-)
 
Tomorrow we will be leaving Barcelona (and Spain) and taking the train to Nice, France (another beach town-yay!)  We have been so lucky with the weather so far, but we hear that by the time we make it back up to Paris and Prague, it will be FREEEZING!  Oh well, we will enjoy the 80 degree weather while we can!

I hope that everyone back home is doing well.  I also want to thank everyone for the support while I have been over here considering the recent circumstances.  It has been really dificult to be so far away from home during the past week, but all of the emails and facebook messages have made the world feel a little smaller and in a way, they have made me feel closer to home.  I love you all!