Today was amazing. I think when we look back on all our European adventures, Barcelona will take the prize for me for unexpected amazingness. For reals. I have been blown away with the coolness and beauty of this city.
We all got up early today and met with our tour guide in the lobby of our hotel. We had a private tour planned for today that included a kid friendly tour guide and driver so that we could see and learn all that we could in just the one day that we had to really set out and explore Barcelona.
We started at la sagrada familia, which is a Roman Catholic church that was started to be built by the famous Antoni Gaudi in 1882. That's right, it was started over 100 years ago and is still not finished. They say that it will finally be done in 2030 or something like that. I remember back when I was really into watching Samantha Brown's travel shows on the Travel Channel, she came here one time and I have wanted to see it in person ever since. It just looks so crazy on TV and in pictures, but in real life it i awesome.
The details and design is so intricate and fine and the whole church is massive and really blows you away.
Like so many other things we have seen here in Europe, pictures do not do this baby justice. It is SO amazing to stand in front and see it all with your own eyes.
I loved the the colors Gaudi used in the tree, and in the fruits. I also loved all the symbolism and just the pure insanity of all it all.
The front of the church has the nativity built into the facade...
There are snakes, frogs, and crocodiles and other various animals carved into the stone work of the church.
The back of the cathedral is the death of Christ...
One of my favorite parts were these chimneys. They are built like this with all the holes so that in theory because Barcelona is such a windy city, when they are all done Gaudi thought that they would actually whistle when the wind goes through them all. Nobody knows if it will actually work, but if it does you should be able to hear it throughout the whole city. Pretty cool.
Here is our tour guide telling us all the ins and outs of La Sagrada Familia, I know I learned a ton!
She was so great with the kids and held their attention most of the time, which says a lot!
...and then this happened...
Todd and were BUSTING up. That's our Tagg for ya, he is our little casanova and has inhibitions or shyness whatsoever, which we sure love about him!
Three cute european explorers!
After we finished seeing La Sagrada Familia, we drove to park guell, which was a large park built by Gaudi. He was commissioned by Count Eusebi Güell, who was his friend to build this park and it was supposed to be a kind of housing development for the rich. Two homes were actually built, but only one of the homes on the hill sold. Gaudi lived in the other home that was the model home for the development, but nothing else ever sold and the development idea was scratched and it was turned into a park.
The park is full of architectural elements designed and built by Gaudi and the whole thing really is just beautiful. I found that I absolutely love Gaudi's work. I heard that you either love him or hate him and I really fell in love with the craziness. I love the colors, the randomness, and the elements of nature he uses in his designs.
This was the coolest bench that went all around this wide open social gathering area. The bench swerves in and out and is made so that small groups of people can sit on the bench and everyone can see each other and hear the conversation, which is ingenious really.
I loved all the broken Spanish tiles placed together in a design.
From the top of park guell looking out over the city...
Our tour guide called this the marshmallow house, and the boys thought that was pretty funny.
Those are supposed to be mushroom caps, because some say Gaudi was into mushrooms if you know what I mean...I would probably agree with them seeing his work.
Thatcher really soaked this whole tour in, he learned a lot and really payed attention to what she was saying...I love this picture of him...
These two boys are good travel buddies...
These designs in the ceiling were made out of old cups, plates, saucers, etc.
This one is so cool, you can see the cups and saucers in it!
Park Guell was so amazing, I am so glad we went!
We then drove up to the sight of the Olympics and to a look out spot to look over the whole city...
The cruise ships in the port that day...
Tate was asleep, so it was just the four of us for this picture. Tagg is really happy and loving it as you can tell. He was done by this point!
After being dropped off at our hotel after the tour we rested for a bit, then headed out to grab some lunch. We wandered along the main road that our hotel was off of and found this place that was recommended to Todd before we came from some work friends.
It was POURING rain at this time and we waited a good 20-25 minutes to get a table. I'll never forget crouching under one of the awnings with the boys while Todd went and tried to get us somewhere to sit that was dry. We finally did find a table and it just might have been worth all the trouble. The food was delicious, and we enjoyed some good tapas again.
After lunch we decided to walk around and revisit some places that we drove by earlier in the day. While walking we found this cafe...
Uh WHAT? We had a real good laugh at this one. We made the boys pose like that, and people walking past us didn't take kindly to it. I wanted to shout, "Oh yeah!? We are AMERICAN and he is OUR president and we have all the right in the world to NOT LIKE HIM!" But I didn't. I refrained. Against my better judgment, but I did.
I was in picture snapping heaven...I was completely captivated by the architecture.
This was probably my favorite building we saw, I loved all the details like the flowers, the pattern on the outside, the shutters, etc.
We then saw Gaudi's Casa Batllo which is basically a building designed to look a little like a Dragon. Yeah, Gaudi was crazy, but so cool right?
Thatch and Tagg in front of Casa Batllo...
We walked back to our hotel to rest a bit. While the boys were resting I decided to go get a pedicure because I was wanting to get one before we left London, but never had the time to slip away. I googled a place and found one close to the hotel and so I ventured off to find it.
When I arrived I realized that this place did fish pedicures, and even though the idea was kinda freaky, I went ahead and did it because why? YOLO that's why!
You sit down and put your feet in a tank of these little dead skin sucking fish...
...and then they proceed to eat all the dead skin off of your feet!
It felt crazy at first, and my first instinct was to rip my feet out of the water. But I braved through it and after it was over my feet were smooth!
After the fish pedicure I went back to the hotel and met up with the guys and we went out for dinner. We had a great time at this cute tapas place.
Now we are sad to say goodbye to our time in Barcelona as it has been so fun to see and explore, but we can't wait to go on our Disney Cruise tomorrow! Woohoooo! The boys are like kids on Christmas Eve over here and who are we kidding...so am I!
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