Barcelona!


The German school system runs on the 6-7 weeks on, 1-2 weeks off cycle.  So "just" 6 weeks after Christmas vacation, we found ourselves with another break and decided to head south, this time to Spain.  Other than the 9 hour transatlantic flights to and from Germany, this is the only time the kids have flown.  They were astounded when we arrived after just 2 hours!

Not wanting another loud city trip, we booked an apartment in Sitges, a quiet town on the Mediterranen Sea about 40 minutes from Barcelona's center.  Little did we know, our 8 days completely overlapped with Karneval so much for quiet but it was still quite an experience.

I can imagine this is what Mardi Gras is like - such brightly colored costumes, dancing and floats and really loud music.  No candy thrown just tons of confetti!







We spent a day in Tarragona, marveling all the Roman ruins. Including an aqueduct that is in such good condition, you can still walk over it.  Will any constructions of our time still exist in 2,000 years?

Amphitheater

Vaults leading to the circus

Barclona's Parc Güell, designed by Antoni Gaudi, highlights countless mosaics and soft cornered passageways.  I could have spent the whole day here.

Gaudi also designed the famous and still unfinished Sagrada Familia (construction began in 1882!) and La Pedrera, whose roof has the best sculptures.

Barcelona is home to a world famous aquarium and it's tunnel did not disappoint.  All the kids cared about was finding Nemo, but settled happily for Dory!

The Poble Espanyol is an open-air architectural museum constructed in 1929 for the Barcelona International Exhibition which offers scale models of architecture and culture of various locations from around Spain. Who knew there are such vast differences within one country!

Special entrance rates for job seekers!

We were lucky to visit our good friend Elena, who lives in Barcelona with her family.  The dwarf hamster was enjoyed by all!

How a day on the train begins....

How it ends...

Andrew was ecstatic to get tickets to see FC Barcelona in Camp Nou (sold out capacity of 98,787!).  He and Emma saw Messi and Iniesta --rated Number 1 and 3 soccer players in the WORLD!

We spent a day hiking around Sitges

Our apartment was "cozy"

Now this is a good idea!

Although I have taken Spanish a few times, any confidence in my beginnner language skills quickly evaporated because in this part of the country, Catalan is definitely the primary language.  A few times Andrew's French had to come to the rescue including an incident when an ATM "ate" our card.

You can take the girl out of the gym...

Life in Sitges seems very laid back and we enjoyed the seaside atmosphere.  The kids could have spent every day at the beach!

Cut your own ham?