European Adventures - Part 5: Gaudi Day

Please excuse my brief hiatus.   I've been having an awful migraine situation - basically since last Wednesday!!  It's been insane and I feel like I'm pretty much losing my mind.  Do any of you out there suffer from migraines?!  Seriously - the WORST!!  I've been getting them since I was about 10 years old - so you can do the math - but it's been a long time sufferin'!  Anyways…back to the final installments of my European travels and THEN next week we'll start fresh with some other things!! 

Day Seven

It's Gaudi day!!  It's Gaudi day!!! By far one of the best days on this whole trip!!  I didn't know a lot about Gaudi before I went to Barcelona, but now I've become completely OBSESSED with him.  Like I'm in love.  We started the day with a quick breakfast at the hotel and then went on to catch the bus up to all things Gaudi.  We began the day at Park Güell.  Seriously - I've never seen anything like it.  It was like a fun architectural dream park.  Absolutely amazing.  Here are a few pics of the park:

Part of the "bench area"

This is made to look like the inside of a wave...pure genius

The columns

The ceiling of the "column area"

The Lizard

Entrance to the park

Seriously - if you ever find yourself in Barcelona - this is an absolute MUST!!  It's filled with gorgeous colors and "ideas" - just breath taking.  And if you think we didn’t get our picture taken with the "lizard" that stands in front of the park - you're seriously wrong.  We also had a delightful lunch in the park and just enjoyed our time there immensely. 

After our stroll through the park, we headed down the Passeig de Gràcia (a fantastic street to shop on)to Gaudi's apartment.  Again - the architecture in this place was not to be believed.  I normally don’t get all "omg" over buildings - but this was like nothing I've ever seen before.   We walked up the crazy amounts of stairs and finally arrived on the roof.  The view was spectacular and you could see a good portion of the city.  Here are a few of the pictures:

Apartment Building from outside 

Inside the lobby looking up

Rooftop Statues

More art on the roof

The view

More view

From the top looking down

After this we just strolled around and walked down the Passeig de Gràcia, in and out of stores.  I also snapped this shot of the tallest/shortest duo I've ever seen.

We also had a nice afternoon snack at this place called Qu Qu - a lil wine & tapas never hurt anyone in the middle of the afternoon!  Then back to the hotel to regroup and meet up with sister #3! 

We walked over to dinner after my sister got there.  She took us to this amazing little tapas place - the food was so good.  It was all very fresh/organic and I basically licked my plate clean.  Then we headed to a bar that was basically like a Rain Forrest Café for adults - nbd.  It was so cool!  Umm pretty sure I haven't said "so cool" since '97, but it seemed fitting.  It's called El Bosc de les Fades and again - it's a "must" if you're in Barcelona.  Here are some pics:

After our busy day - we were exhausted and even more excited that we actually had to spill Gaudi day into another day (actually it will turn out to be another one, too)!!!  I know you're psyched!

Day Eight

Day Eight was quite a busy day!!  I mean we really packed it in.  We started out at La Sagrada Família. Another one of Gaudi's masterpieces.  It was gorgeous.  The intricacies in his work are not to be believed.  Here are some pics:

There was an option to go up into the towers (18 stories high) and you can look out and then (this is what they forget to mention to you) you have to walk down the 18 stories down a spiral staircase that is about as wide as 2 large pizzas and basically pitch black.  Well me and my sisters thought it would be fun and I was trying to "challenge" myself on this trip so off we went.  Aggain - not knowing these details.  Well we got to the top (via elevator), they drop you off - you look out at the view for an second and then you're off to the races.  Wellll guess who didn't want to "accept this challenge" anymore - yup that would be me.  Shockingly enough I had a migraine that morning and I had to take my medicine - which can also make me a bit anxious/uneasy…so couple this with these specs and that equals a bit of a problem.  I was shaking like a leaf and sweating profusely…I just wanted to get down.  Thank God my sisters were with me and they were so good - they bookended me in and got me down.  All the while my younger sister motioning to people that we were trying to pass (with extreme difficulty) that if they didn't move I'd throw up on their heads.  Sisters are great!  We finally reached the bottom and I couldn't run out of there soon enough.  I sat down and about 3 guards came up to check me - so nice.  I was able to compose myself and we finished touring the rest of the church. 

When we finished up there we grabbed some lunch and then had one of the best sweet treats of live. Churros con chocolat…

It's like hot chocolate you can dip sugary greatness into.  Unreal.

Then we headed out to see the beach - don't worry I took my shoes off and put my feet into the Mediterranean Sea - it was a necessary thing.  We walked around down there.  My sister took us to this gorg park with this inside…

Crazy that these things are just "around" there.   We also saw The Arc de Triumf:

Afterwards we headed home for another lil nap/downtime.  We had a big night out with Sister #3 and her friends!  We went to this place on the water for dinner.  It was the best paella I've ever had in my life.  Randomly, our cab driver told us to go there after we told him where we wanted to go…he said "No no no…I take you to Salamanca…best paella in town!".  Sooo we didn’t have much of a choice - we just kinda went with it.  We met my sister's friend there, too - they go to school together so we know her - she's great.  We had a fabulous meal of paella and sangria - does it get much better?! 

After dinner we headed out to my sister's favorite Wednesday night bar - La Ovella Negra (translation - The Black Sheep - translation - what my family calls me).  I was pretty much obsessed.  And don’t think that we didn't get this to drink…

Because we did.  It was great - it's all picnic tables and relaxed - I had so much fun.  We played games and just hung out.  We got to meet some more of my sister's new friends.  And don’t worry we got souvenir mugs on our way out…NBD.  After this my sister wanted to take us to this place called "Raz Mataz"…yup just as you'd picteure it.  Now let me break this down for you - she's still in college and doing the college thing - which don’t get me wrong I'm all over - BUT when you're NOT in college and you all of a sudden go into "mom mode" things change a bit.  On our walk over with the "group" this is what we experienced:

-A girl fell and totally exposed her situation because of the shorter "skirt" she was wearing
-3 girls were trying their hardest to not tottle off their 8 inch espadrille wedges
-Someone's hair almost catching on fire because of a girl flailing her cigarette around
-An ambulance/ EMT people huddled around a guy that was sitting on the sidewalk - so drunk he peed his pants and didn’t know where he was
-People trying to "get us on the list" so we didn't have to wait 8 years for the pleasure of getting into said bar
-A lot of yelling/screaming/obscenities

NOW I'll reiterate - I'm not saying I was never like this - because the Good Lord knows another song - BUT at this point in my life - I feel more protective and I just wanted to scoop all these kids up and bring them home to bed - because NOTHING good (looking back when you're my age) was going to happen at good 'ol Raz Mataz.  Sooo my sisters, Sydney & I headed back to the hotel and passed on the second bar.  I think it was the best decision we made our whole trip.  The best part - my two sisters went out and bought us McDonald's "wedges" - not produced in the states - they were amazing little morsels of potato.  God I love BARCELONA!!!