Barcelona, Part 2

These 2 kids were really wonderful on this trip.  Even dinners were fun.  We went to the great restaurant one night right near our hotel (Hotel Arts) called Shoko Beach Front Restaurant.  It was right off the beach, a mix of asian and night club, with lots of Tapas.  We had fun.

On the first day in Barcelona, David had to go to a meeting and Kathy, Noah and Sophie took a bus tour around city.

And went to a really cool aquarium.

Noah's Karate teacher, Master Marvill told Noah to send him Karate poses from all around Spain.  Here he is in the center of the Catelunya Square.  More Karate poses to come.

We took a day trip to a medieval town called Girona.  The old quarter was really well preserved.  There was an old Jewish quarter at the bottom of the town that was really cool too.

Tradition is that when you entered the town you had to kiss to tush of the lioness climbing the poll and you will have good luck.  They say you will be so lucky that you will never leave Girona, or you'll return soon.  Sophie was the only one in our group to actually kiss the tush!

More Karate!

Karate on the steps of the old church

And little Sophie posing in the park at the top of the city.

From Girona, we went to Figueres.  There they have a really neat Salvador Dali museum.  Everyone thought it was cool.  But confusing at times.  What do you see in this picture?

Look closely.  Very closely.  Can you guess what we named this picture?

Outside the museum walking around town we found the most fun stuff.

Heaven in Figueres.  At times food was a challenge.  We had had lunch at an outdoor square in a beautiful setting in Girona before coming to Figueres.  We ordered sliders and hotdogs.  The "sliders" were some sort of gray meat.  The hot dog was grayer.  Kids didn't eat much but fries.  Later that day after the Dali museum, we were walking by a bar and outside was a little roaster with "Oscar Mayer Hot Dogs".  Noah was so excited!  So we went in, ordered him a hot dog--his best meal of the trip! With some wine, olives, fries, and water--with ICE! (Which was hard to come by).  A great afternoon for everyone!

And of course after hot dogs, Gelati!

Sophie gets into the act with her Karate poses in Figueres.

A souvenir from the Dali museum.

The staff at the Hotels Arts couldn't have been nicer.  The kids had to do a scavenger hunt and would get a prize if they found everything on the sheet.  Sophie is turning hers in to Francesca.

We were getting to leave on our last day.  Beautiful view!

Waiting for their prize.  Here is Sophie and Noah waiting for their prize from the scavenger hunt--ice cream!

Next stop, Madrid!

Our Trip To Spain Day 1

Hola.  We are on our way to Barcelona!  We have an overnight flight, but from JFK (notice the "Big Apple"?).  We got a ride to JFK and we're all excited in the airport waiting to board the plane.  

Add caption

Noah and Sophie can't wait!

We had 2 seats in the middle and 2 seats in the middle and 2 seats near the window.  The girls started off here.

And the boys.

Sophie was all tucked in for the trip.  "One minute.  I'm busy".

We got to Barcelona around 6 am local time (1am Philadelphia time).  Everyone slept only 1-2 hours on the plane and we were all tired waiting for our bags.  But still smiling!

This is outside our hotel "Hotel Arts".  Our room wasn't ready when we got there so we had breakfast and walked around.  THat's our hotel in the background

Right on the Mediterranian sea.  

As you can see, it was a little cold, but it didn't stop the kids from playing on the beach .  

We were pretty tired with minimal sleep.  But at 5pm we were to meet David's work colleagues, and the doctors who invited him to the meeting in Barcelona.  We met at Park Guell, a park designed by a famous architect Gaudi.  On the way over in the cab Sophie fell sound asleep and we couldn't wake her so carried her.  We were waiting for friends outside the park and looked over and Noah was sound asleep---standing up against the wall!  This is the best picture of the trip!

In addition to being sound asleep, notice his hat?  We had FC Barcelona hats but with "CART19" on the side (David's work).  Dr Juan gave us all hats when we arrived.  FC Barcelona was playing Real Madrid the weekend we were there.  We couldn't get tickets though.

Once we got inside the park, Noah and Sophie woke up, and turned out that we all had fun.  It was really interesting to see, and the kids had a ball running around.

Climbing on the wall!

Park Guell is way up the hill of Barcelona with beautiful views.  If you look out to the sea, in the distance you can see 2 (faint) tall buildings.  Our hotel is the one on  the right.

Easier to see the hotel in this picture (tall buildings in the distance).

 

Notce the buildings are built to look like Gingerbread houses.

We were just getting started.  We went to bed early, got up he next day (David had to go to a meeting the first day) and everyone was on Spain time ready to go!  More pictures soon.