Barcelona

Alrighty, so Part 2 of our story is slow in the making...I know you're all waiting with bated breath to know how it all turned out. j/k Last night Carlos and I were cracking up reading through our old emails and remembering all the funny things that happened, the timing, etc. In the meantime, here are some pictures of our trip to Barcelona from this weekend (in reverse order because I'm too lazy to fix it, sorry). I don't mean for this blog to turn into a travel log--but I am quickly running out of time to visit all of these amazing cities in Europe, and really these cities are just too incredible not to share.

Barcelona is a gorgeous, huge, and very modern city. If we ever live in Europe again (which I highly doubt will happen) we would be happy to live here. In fact, it would be Carlos' first choice (in spite of all the  dogs--everywhere!), and my second (I still dream of living in a cottage in the English countryside--but that's not very realistic). The city is located on the Mediterranean, has excellent food, a temperate climate, a beautiful Spanish dialect (with French influence)--really, you couldn't ask for anything more. 

The city is sprawling with ornate parks--probably the most beautiful parks we've seen--which is saying something. This is the Ciutadella Park...

complete with permanent ping pong tables (SWEET!) 

It also had tons of street performers sprawled out practicing their "trade." Definitely the most interesting place to people watch--sorry, we didn't get any pictures of them--and it was all so strange, I don't think I could even do justice describing it.

They also have a Labyrinth Park...that took us several tries to figure out. :) There were tons of families there and all the kids were having a blast. It was very fun--and the surrounding park was gorgeous as well.

This is one of the amazing views of the Mediterranean from the Parc Guell. We were stunned at how beautiful everything was.

Parc Guell was designed by Gaudi (whose architectural masterpieces can be found all over the city--they're incredible). This park is about 100 years old. I believe they ran out of money before finishing it, so the city ended up taking over and converting it to a public park. We couldn't get over these stone archways...

So beautiful...

If I lived here I would definitely come here every week to have a picnic and enjoy the views and flowers. This was the entrance to the park.

Another reason why I loved Barcelona--outdoor escalators--you can't really tell, but these go all the way up the tall hills. INGENIUS! (I know I appreciated them, especially after walking 10 miles/day--at least)

We all remember the '92 Summer Olympics. Okay, maybe not, but they took place here in Barcelona. We found part of the Olympic Village that had this park, and we got the biggest kick out of this sign... 

Look a little closer... 

Is that Spanish for jocks? (I don't think they'd let me in)

Outside the stadium--Carlos holding up the Olympic torch

We weren't able to race around the track, but we got a good view of the stadium.

This was my favorite building, the Palau de la Musica Catalana. This is not a great picture, but those columns in the middle were ornate mosaics. The balcony in front of that is made with glass bottles--the whole thing was just amazing...

 This is the Catedral de Barcelona (that's been under construction for a long time). It's very gothic, and very cool.

Every Saturday and Sunday they have a dance just outside with live musicians. Locals and tourists throw their jackets, purses, etc. inside of the circle then proceed to dance around together. This small lady right in front was calling out the moves--she was the "ring leader." Carlos was brave enough to join in (but not in this pic--sorry)

Inside the Catedral...

This former palace is now a museum of modern art. It also had several escalators out front, and this fountain was huge.

 We hiked across the city and up a very large hill to see this castle/fortress. The moat was our favorite part. This also overlooks the Mediterranean and had several cannons and large guns all over to defend the city.

This has to be the most famous building in Barcelona, La Sagrada Familia. This building was begun almost 130 years ago and is not yet finished.  The line to get inside was at least 2 hours, so we didn't wait. On the website it says that the funding for this building comes only from donations...which would help explain the 12 euro entrance fee.

This is the most detailed, gaudy (or Gaudi :)) building you can imagine. I've never seen anything like it. Here is a close up of some of the details...

One more shot of Carlos out front...or in the back? The other side of the building is much more modern--the figures are more abstract/impressionistic--I didn't love it (hence no pics). I recommend you google search images of this place. It's amazing. These pictures obviously don't do it justice.

Two more examples of Gaudi architecture. These are from the night we arrived. I was convinced that the term "gaudy" must be from Gaudi--but I was wrong. His style is very much over the top, very modern, but very beautiful. How cool would it be to live in a house like this? It's hard to see, but the roof is like a rainbow with a very unique shape. The front is also very colorful--it reminded us of an underwater palace--well, it would if such a thing existed.

I loved the unique shape of the stone and the detail of the balconies here.

 Whew! That concludes our trip to Barcelona. You got to see everything we did, but I bet your feet don't hurt nearly as much! :) (Handy travel tip--take the on/off tour bus between sites, it's worth it in Barcelona since everything is so spread out). I thought this city would be overrated--I kept hearing people say that this was their favorite city in all of Europe, but now I understand why. It really was incredible. I'm sad we didn't have time to go to several other sites outside the city--there's never enough time. I'm already missing the delicious falafel and lamb that we enjoyed there...mmmm.