These kids...

I woke up and found them snuggled with books

Kindergarten graduate

Barcelona, Spain Day 1

Lane and I were fortunate enough to go with another couple from work down to Barcelona Spain for a few days to check out the yogurt pouch machine his company was purchasing.  We took a beautiful train ride from Paris down along the south of France to Barcelona.

 Not many pictures or the train ride, sorry.

When we arrived, we went out to eat dinner at a restaurant on a locally famous street called Las Ramblas, then strolled around a bit before heading back to our Hotel Astoria for the night.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and headed out to see the city.  We took a taxi over to The Miramar Hotel and got to check out the beautiful city of Barcelona.

 We then took a cable car up to Castell de Montjuic.  It's a former military fortress/castle that has amazing views of the city.  It was a bit rainy but we loved getting to see all of the city from here!

The day was mostly spent eating and walking our way around Barcelona.  The architecture was so interesting to look at and the food was so much better than I had expected.

 This was one of many of the areas they fixed up for the 1992 Summer Olympic games held in Barcelona.

Lane and I visited the Barcelona Cathedral.  The outside had some awesome gargoyles and a neo-Gothic facade.

We ate at Taller de Tapas for dinner with some work friends and had some delicious foods. *side note Tapas are basically appetizers that most people like to make a meal out of.  Here is the menu if you want to get an idea of what kinds of Catalan foods they eat.

We learned so much about Catalonia while we were there- so amazing!

Barcelona, Spain Day 2

Day 2 we took a tour of La Sagrada Familia a large roman catholic church designed by a famous Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudi.  Construction was started in 1882 and it is set to be complete in 2026.  If you are like me you're probably thinking, that's a long time for construction.  After seeing it in person you can understand why.

This is standing inside looking up at the ceiling.  (Almost as though you are standing in a forest...)

The use of natural light in his architecture was fascinating.

The architecture here absolutely blew my mind away.  Pictures just don't do this place justice.  

Barcelona has a few different famous buildings that Gaudi designed and we were able to see and tour a few of them.

We had lunch at a place along the port and enjoyed some delicious fresh seafood!
Next we toured The History Museum, an underground ruin with the remains of Roman buildings.

(Lane showing off an old Roman fishing hook...)

Barcelona, Spain Day 3

Our last day in Barcelona was more food and more strolling around. 

We had so much fun getting to know the beautiful city.  I won't bore you with the details so here are some photos instead!

 Another beautifully designed Gaudi building.

 The Columbus Statue

 My friend and I ate our way through the Boqueria market on the Ramblas in Barcelona and the fresh food did not disappoint! 

 We also took a tour of Le Pedora, a building Gaudi designed.

Dinner was at this place, and they had the most amazing restaurant The Windsor, and my favorite dish of the entire trip was their dessert!

Since I know this may seem a little jumbled with all our hopping around, I included a copy of our rough itinerary from the trip (...of a lifetime :) !!!