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!!

Leaving Madrid…Arriving in Barcelona

The Atocha Train Station in Madrid

Today seems like a whirlwind.  We took a three hour train ride from Madrid to Barcelona, and finally arrived at our hotel around 3PM.  Matt lost his sunglasses somewhere along the way, so we walked to a nearby mall to find him some more.  I, of course, was hangry by this time :)  And we decided to eat first so my happy camper phase would re-appear :)  By the time we actually ate lunch…it was 4:30PM!!!  We felt like true spaniards after all.  We weren't alone…many other spainiards were eating their lunch as well.

We decided that we were too tired to do much else tonight, so we decided to check out the hotel's pool that is on the rooftop…the front lobby hostess said, "you'll LOVE it!"…so we tried.  Me, in my bathing suit and coverup…Matt in his bathing suit and t-shirt….only to find out it's FREEZING up there!!!  We didn't realize it had dropped to 60-something degrees!!  We promptly got back in the elevator to come back to the room, but not before THREE spaniard men got on the elevator with us.  Thankfully, Matt pretty much shielded me from them by standing in front of me…but I'm pretty sure they were making fun of us.  And so goes our trip :)

But, tonight, Matt went out and bought a bottle of wine, some cheese, strawberries, olives, and chips (all the traditional tapas you would receive in a spanish restaurant)…and turned on Nora Jones from his IPad.  We slow danced, ate, talked and laughed...It was wonderful.  Just what I needed today - the perfect end to such a tiring day :)

Tomorrow will start a new adventure in Barcelona…


**Oh, I don't know if I need to say this, but I will (only because I had a girl ask me this question before we left for Spain) - My fertility doctor gave me full reign to have some alcoholic drinks while in Spain - he said it can't hurt anything in the first two weeks and to enjoy our trip and the "Spanish champagne"**

Madrid, Spain…Day 3

We wanted to see the Capitol in the daytime, so we mosied on back over to it this morning. It really is quite impressive to behold.  The detail in the architecture is amazing!

Then, I read about this park, Retiro Park, that is very tranquil and has a lake that you can rent a row boat and go out on…so went there next! 

And, of course, my sweet hubby was a complete gentleman and rowed the entire time…:)  Did I mention he was on the crew team during college?? So, really, I was doing him a favor in letting him row the whole time…college nostalgia and all that…ahem :) 

Matt really wanted to go visit the Naval Museum, too, while we were in the area…He was super excited.  Me?  oh, well, I love my husband…:)

A 90 cannon Spanish armada…they had one that had 112 cannons on the side too!  DANG!

Matt found a model of the USS Maine..

I put in my two cents…never can be too cautious…must look fierce at all times..

This was the worst tapas we've had the whole trip thus far…however, Matt liked it…anchovies on tomato bruschetta…ick!!

And THEN we went to Plaza De Torres to watch a bullfight…

Now, let me just say, after speaking with a nurse at work who said this is a MUST see while in Madrid, and that they usually don't kill the bulls…SHE LIED. 

Pomp and Circumstance before the big show..

This beautiful beast never had a dog in this fight.. it was completely barbaric in my opinion. We had to leave early because I was crying so much. As people clapped and yelled around me for the matador to finish him, I sobbed like a baby.  I couldn't post any pictures of it being hurt…I can't even stand to look at them.

What I do know, is that I will NEVER go to another bull fight again.

And then it was 10:00pm…time for dinner in Spain. We were EXHAUSTED! 

We found Peggy Sue's diner…had a burger and fries and diet coke…

Now time for bed!  Can you tell how tired I am?? Sheesh!

We leave for Barcelona in the morning!  Looking forward to more of our adventure!