Barcelona, Spain

Greg called one morning and said he found round trip tickets getting us to Barcelona, Spain for about $50 a piece.  Say what?!  Needless to say, I was ready to pack a bag and promptly the phrase “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain…” began running through my head.  We arrived at an airport about an hour outside of Barcelona, rented a car (for about $100), and stayed at a nice hotel (about $80 a night, including a free buffet breakfast).  We were just outside of Barcelona, so we had to walk about 5 minutes to the train station, then ride for 30 minutes or so into the city.  The weather was perfect and we were off to a great start!

 We arrived in the late afternoon starving only to realize dinner service didn't begin until 9pm.  What did this mean?  McDonalds was our first dinner in Spain!

I didn’t realize, but Barcelona is a very large city.  There is a little bit for everyone… art, architecture, aquariums, amusement parks, shopping, eating, drinking, and really the list could go on. 

   

We try very hard to keep a balance of “boring” adult sightseeing and child friendly activities.  We can stand in line for an hour to see the La Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi’s masterpiece with ornate carvings, breathtaking stained glass, and wild steeple tops…

 Inside of the Cathedral

Below are carvings on the outside of La Sagrada Familia depicting the birth of Christ and the Crucifixion

And visit Park Guell, while intended to be a garden community, only had 2 homes completed and was eventually turned into a public park…

only with the promise of “Fun World” (an amusement park on top of the Tibidabo mountain.  It has a real name, but Fun World is what Greg named it) being our next destination.  Honestly, Brady could have eaten cotton candy and taken a whirl on the carousel and he would have left a happy camper.  We also went on an airplane ride and the kids played on larger than life dice and dominoes.  There was an additional side the park that had rides for the older kids, but we didn’t pay for or venture that far.

 View overlooking the city

The best decision we made was to get tickets for the Hop on Hop off bus.  We were able to hear the history of the city and landmarks, while riding comfortably and getting off wherever we pleased.  The second day we visited the aquarium…

Were able to see the Christopher Columbus statue on Christopher Columbus Day!

He's in the middle between the boat masts.  I was going to crop it, but thought it was proper to have him surrounded by boats

And ended the day at Poble Espanyol, an open air museum of reproductions of various Spanish architectural styles.  Various craftsmen and vendors set up shops and sold their handmade goods.  It is a true pleasure for me to support people making things they love.  I love the sense of pride, heart, vision, and drive it takes to create.  There were glassblowers, ironsmiths, jewelry makers, and even a man making guitars!

All in all, it was a wonderful vacation and we had a great time as a family.  Barcelona is certainly a booming metropolis with a palpable heartbeat.

Weekend in Lipari

Our last summer mini vacation, before we became tied to a public school schedule, was spent in Lipari.  We took a drive on a sunny day up to the town where we were going to catch the ferry.  Arriving a little early, we decided to have a quick lunch, but still managed to leave ourselves only a few minutes to find where we needed to park the car.  As we are driving around in circles and the GPS is on a mission to send us out into the middle of the water, serious storm clouds moved in.  We found the car lot and the next thing I knew, strong storm gusts began blowing signs and the restaurant located next to the lot had foam tiles from their roof sailing through the air.  We missed the first ferry, so we waited around 2 hours for the next ferry to come in.  As we waited, it rained and rained, and when it stopped raining, we could see the vapor rising from the water and collecting into new clouds. 

 

 

 

We finally board the hydro-ferry and proceed to bounce, I’m talking airborne bouncing, for the next hour.  The kids on the ferry were exclaiming “WHEEE!” as I’m curled in a ball holding tightly to a trash bag… just in case my guts decided to try and escape. 

We stepped off the boat to find a full rainbow stretching from one side of the sky to the other. 

 

After suffering from my motion sickness, I was immediately reminded of God’s promises.  He never promised I wouldn’t suffer or experience pain, but He did promise He would be with me!  I was happy to be on land, happy the rain had subsided, and happy that once again our personal travel agent had done a superb job with selecting our lodging.  It even came with a cat… to Brady’s delight and Juliette’s horror. 

The next couple of days were spent relaxing at the beach, walking through town, and roaming the castle grounds. 

 

 

 

 

 

Our final night we found a restaurant and sat at a table just in time to see the bottom drop out of the sky.  The rain seemed to subside as we stepped out to make our way back to our apartment.  That assumption was very wrong!  The choice was to find a place to wait it out or just try to tough it out and make it back.  With no real end in sight, we forged ahead.  It was raining so hard I was finding it difficult to keep the water out of my eyes.  The kids were screaming, we were drenched, and it was an all around disaster!  Thankfully, we happened upon a hotel with a kind owner who called our hotel to get us a ride. 

 

It turns out that the hydro-ferry is much smoother when it’s not riding through stormy weather!  We took the long way home and drove through the mountains—I love seeing as much of our island as possible!