Barcelona

We made it! Our excitement yesterday was tempered by the exhaustion of the overnight flight. Overall the flight was good. Very rough, but we were in business class so that helped. I was going to get pictures of the plane, but of course, I forgot to charge the camera. I will get you on the way back.

Getting through customs was quite easy. Long line, but it moved quicker than the lines at Disney. Colin said as we were walking to Barcelona, "It's weird to see English listed as the second language." I would have to agree with that. Once we got our bags, we found our driver. Very nice man, Pere Lluis Dachs, drove us over to the hotel.

ALMA Barcelona was just incredible. The staff were extremely nice and spoke English (Thank You!). The room was very nice...two twin beds, large shower with a rainfall shower head which was wonderfully refreshing in the morning. We changed and headed out to La Sagrada Familia.

Our flight got in late, so we ended up getting a taxi to make our ticket time. This taxi driver, well, he was a little scary - the driving was at least, but it was the kind of driving I expected. He was zinging in and out of traffic and taking tight turns like a race car driver. We came up to La Sagrada Familia and when I was it....WOW! It was amazing!

First impression, this place is massive. I mean just....what's bigger than massive...it would be that. Once you get past the size, the masterpiece is revealed. There is so much on the outside of this church...statues, reliefs, textures. The doors are carved with words in them...it was spectacular. I walked around this place in complete awe and then we entered.

WOW doesn't do the inside of this church justice. It was beautiful and unique while still maintaining the reverence most churches hold. We explored the inside until it was time to head up one of the towers. Mercifully there was an elevator to take you up. It had an amazing view up there. Once we got a few pictures, we had to start heading down. Unfortunately that nice comfy acsent was not available for the descent. That's right, this old, pain riddle woman walked down 65 km of stairs.

The stairs were very narrow so you don't have people pushing past you. I tried to stay slow and steady. I got to the tight spiral stairs that actually had a railing! I looked down the spiral of the stairs and OMG I dont't think we were even half way down. It was kind of like the movies when someone looks down a hallway and the end seems to stretch away

making it three times longer. That was this only down. I didn't do too bad I was able to catch up to Colin whenever he got held up by people in front of him.

Lunch was next. I was starving, so we picked the closest place, Buenas Migas here we come. We had some pasta and rest before heading over to our bus.

We loaded on the bus and found seats on the upper deck. Oh, right, I never talked abvout the weather. Absolutely gorgeous. Warm but not humid, breezy, sunny, just wonderful. The bus ride was great. We got to see a lot of Barcelona until we were 1/2 way through the route. Then we both started falling asleep.

Despite the sudden naps Colin and I would take, we saw some incredible architecture in Barcelona, including my first glimpse of the Mediterranean. We changed buses, but didn't make it all the way around the second route. We decided to get off and catch a taxi to dinner.

So, going into this everyone, including myself wondered what I would have to eat on this trip. Well Cafe Emma was recommended by Steph P. That is where we went. I had eggs Benedict for the first time and either I really like eggs Benedict or I was starving so anything was going to taste good.

We headed back to

the hotel, scrambled to find an adapter to be able to use our US plug. I think Colin started having a panic attack! But the hotel was gracious enough to lend us one!

The hotel was really great. Perfectly quiet, didn't hear a sound from outside or the hallway. We didn't really like the fact that the room with the shower had no door, but the shower was really incredible.

A couple comments on the pictures. The one of Colin was his look after we got off the bus and I realized we weren't where I thought we were and said we had to get the next bus. Oopsy. Also, it was very very bright and I didn't bring my reading glasses, so I basically couldn't tell what I was shooting the whole day. Aim and pray that was my photographic skill.