Barcelona, Spain Day 2

Matt found this great tour guide BY BIKE on the internet before we left Birmingham.  So, we booked our tickets from the States, and it did not let down!!  We had so much fun touring Barcelona on bikes and getting some good exercise, too! It's all led by english speaking people - the girl who led our tour graduated from Tulane, and had a job in marketing and just didn't want to do it anymore…So, 4 years ago, she moved to Barcelona…

Below is a place where the King and Queen would stand on the steps to receive news from, oh say, people like Christopher Columbus bringing news of the new world! They would stand on the top stairs while the other person would announce their news from the street.

Below is "The Cathedral" in Barcelona.  

Apparently only one church is allowed in any city and this is it.  We didn't have time to go inside on this tour, but we will by the end of our time in Barcelona. It's in the Gothic quarter of town :)

Then we traveled to the Born quarter, and below is a famous opera house…it's pretty expensive to go inside…so I think this is the best we'll get of it :) It is beautiful on the outside, though!!

Arc De Triomf.  

Yep, that's right…Spain has one, too.  But a funny story…the city council provided a picture to the people of Barcelona on the front news of the paper of the first proposed landmark to be placed in this new addition to the city…THEY HATED IT and PROTESTED.  SO, the city council said, "ok." and they allowed a differed architect to present - which is what you see below - the people of Barcelona LOVED it…and so it won the favor of all…and you get the Arc de Triomf.

The FIRST proposal was by a man with the last name Effiel.  After his proposal was denied in Barcelona, he went to Paris… they liked his idea…which is now known as the Effiel Tower :)

Mistake???

That main park in Barcelona - Parc de Cituadella (I think) - it was beautiful.  Very tranquil, and a great place to just sit and have a picnic :)

Riding through the streets of Barcelona!!

Sagrada Familia.  On the bike tour, we only had enough time to see the outside of most of these places, but I will have to dedicate a whole post to this place - BEAUTIFUL, with a neat story behind it.

That will be tomorrow's post…wait for it!

It looks like a dripping castle on the side that Gaudi was able to finish before he died...

Then we headed down the Mediterranean!!!  The building the distance is the "W" hotel..it's a copycat of the one in Dubai.

And they also designed this large fish out of copper that is supposed to emulate a fish moving and it's scales glimmering as the sun hits it..

The city was once fortified and protected by Roman walls….this is the last one standing after all these years. 

This is in Plaza St. Jaume…the city center

This is as far as we got on our Day 2 in Barcelona…right after the bike ride, I got so nauseated, we had to go home to let me lie down.  I ended up sleeping and vomiting the rest of the night.  Not sure what I picked up, but it did me in for the day.  Matt had to pass time on his own in the hotel lobby or checking work email, or taking care of me…poor guy…and husband of the year award!  So, we actually didn't get to celebrate my birthday :(….but, hey - we're in Spain…and tonight, we celebrate!!!  (This is the next day - which now you also know why I couldn't update last night)  Btw, Matt did take some funny mean pictures of me while I was so sick…which will not be posted!!