Parc de la Ciutadella

Our last day in Barcelona we went to the Parc de la Ciutadella. The entrance to the park is near Barcelona's version of the Arc de Triomf. The park has a big fountain designed by Gaudí, a cool playground, and a huge statue of a wooly mammoth. We played for a while and then had to head out to go home. It was a whirlwind trip, but it was fun.

Palau Nacional

After we finished up at the Sagrada Familia, we took a train to the Gracia neighborhood and found a place to eat. We ate at Can Punyetes. The food was good, but the floor was kind of hard. I lost my balance when I was sitting in my chair and did a face-plant on the floor. Spanish food is a lot about tapas, but tostadas seem popular too. Tostadas are toast with stuff on it like cheese or tomatoes.

Before we headed home, we checked out the huge fountains at Palau Nacional near the Espanya metro station. The fountains were the coolest I've seen in my many years of travel (that includes Buckingham Fountain in Chicago, the fountains on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, andthe fountain in the shopping center near our old house in North Carolina).

There must have been at least a hundred stairs from the bottom of the fountains to the top. We walked them all. At the top is the Palau Nacional, which apparently has a bunch of art inside. We skipped the art. The fountains were enough.

La Sagrada Familia

Our second day in Barcelona, we went to La Sagrada Familia. It's a hug Catholic church that they're building there. In fact, they call it a temple. They started building it in 1882 and they expect to finish it in 2026. It's a pretty great and spacious building. The architecture is by Gaudí, a famous Spanish architect whose name is rather appropriate: his stuff is pretty gaudy.

Anyway, the building is actually really cool. It's hard to describe so I just posted a lot of pictures Daddy took.

The coolest thing there was that we got to take an elevator up one of the spires. The elevator takes you up and then you walk all the way down the narrow, spiral staircase. While we were walking down the clock struck 2 o'clock. Since we were right in the tower, it was really loud. It spooked me a bit, but I didn't cry... Okay, I cried for a second... Okay, it was more like 5 minutes.

Rambla On

Our first day in Barcelona, we landed around noon, checked in at the hotel, and headed straight for the city. We stayed in a hotel near the airport. To get into the city we took a city bus to the Espanya metro station (metro is what they call the subway) and then took the metro further into the city. (If you're wondering why it's not spelled España, it's because most of the place names in Barcelona are Catalán, not Spanish. Even the signs are all in Catalán.)

From Espanya, we went to Plaça Catalunya where La Rambla starts. La Rambla is a street that goes from Plaça Catalunya to the sea. It's lined with shops, markets, and street performers. Some shops sold flowers. Others sold pets. A few had some cool art.

Halfway down La Rambla is the Mercat de la Boquería, a big open market of fruit, fish, meat, cheese, and sweets stands. We got some fruit, some cheese, and some chocolate. It was the best mozzarella cheese I've ever had.

Off the side streets of La Rambla there are some really cool narrow streets with more little shops. It's an area called Barri Gòtic. We just wound through the streets for a while and checked out some clothing stores, book stores, and toy stores.

At the end of La Rambla there's a big statue of Christopher Columbus, or Cristobol Colón as they would say. It's the tall statue at in the picture to the right. Columbus has his back to us because he's looking out to sea.

By the way, if you're wondering where our stroller is in all these pictures, it's back in London. We forgot to take it with us. That basically meant Mama carried McKenzie all around Barcelona for three days. Her muscles are like twice as big now. You think anyone wants a roundhouse kick to the face from her now? Forget about it.

Viva España

We went to Barcelona last week. Daddy took a few days off work and we took a little trip. We got some cheap flights from EasyJet. It was like £30 per person round trip. EasyJet is like the Southwest Airlines of Europe.

We saw some cool stuff in Barcelona. I'll show you some pictures in upcoming posts. For now, I'll just tell you about our flight to Spain. At first, it was a real bummer. After we boarded, the pilot told us we'd have to sit for a couple of hours even before they could take off. There were air traffic control problems over France. After sitting for an hour or so, I had to go to the bathroom. When Mama took me to the bathroom, one of the stewardesses saw me and asked if I wanted to see the flight deck (I think she was flirting with me). She checked with the pilots and they said "Sure! Come on in."

It was sweet. They lit up the control panel for me. They showed me where the button is for the windshield wipers. They showed me where the steering wheel is... actually it's not a wheel; it's a lever. I even got to sit in the co-pilot's seat.

When we went back to our seats, we told Daddy all about it. He was so jealous. Maybe next time he'll take me to the bathroom...

Natural History Museum

We went to the Natural History Museum yesterday. It's another free museum in South Kensington, right next to the Science Museum (which we went to last year).

The Natural History Museum is in a really cool building. It's pretty cool on the inside, too. We saw a bunch of dinosaurs and then we went to the Investigate Room. That's a room where kids get to touch and play with stuff. We looked at bugs and rocks under a magnifying glass.

After the museum, we took the tube over to Leicester Square and ate in a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown near there. I ate some noodles with my chopsticks. McKenzie ate some of Daddy's fried squid with chili and garlic. She thought it was yummy.

Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard

Well, there's no Julio there, but I go to school. This is a picture of me in front of the school. It's a nursery school, which I guess is like a pre-school in the States. Pretty much every kid who's three goes to nursery school. A lot go to public schools that are free. All the free ones were full, so Mama and Daddy pay a little for me to go to a private school. But even the private schools are subsidized. The government says that they have to provide two-and-a-half hours of school a day for free. My school lasts three hours, so we really only pay for a half-hour. It's an expensive half-hour, though, as half-hours go.

Yesterday was my first day. Mama stayed with me yesterday, but today I stayed all by myself. We play with blocks and cars and toys. We paint and use Play-doh and do other fun activities. I'll learn to write my letters and my numbers and do simple logic. Maybe I'll learn some numchuck skills and bow hunting skills, too. That, and make new friends. There are about 10 kids in my class. We're pretty much friends by now. They've got my back and everything.