Holiday in Sunny Spain

For this year's Fall Break, we decided to visit Dh's favorite city in the world - Barcelona. He's been there many times on business and has always come home raving about the city, it's food, the sights, and the people. Now we know why.

We landed in Reus airport bright an early on Saturday, October 13 after a short & cheap flight from Frankfurt Hahn - thank you Ryan Air. After finding the campground where we'd rented a small cabin/trailer, we bought groceries, had a snack and a nap, and then headed off to Port Adventura, a Universal Studios amusement park about an hour south of Barcelona. It was a gloriously sunny day and the park was packed, but still we had a great time. We stayed all day and got back to the campground late, but it was a lot of fun. While we were there, we got a message from our former exchange student Marta that she and her boyfriend would meet us at the campground at 10:30 the next morning for our tour of Barcelona.

It was great meeting up with Marta again, and meeting Jonathan. She stayed with us in Elmhurst in 2002, so the girls and I hadn't seen her in 5 years, although Dh visited with her on a business trip to Barcelona since then. We had our own private tour guides to show us the city, starting with spectacular views of the city from Montjuïc. Next, we wove our way to Park Güell and fell in love with the whimsical art and architecture of Gaudi. Finally, we walked Paseo de Gracia, had some incredible tapas, toured El Raval and Las Rambas. It was a long, tiring, and incredibly beautiful day. I felt bad for Marta & Jonathan, who had to travel back to Villanova Park with us to get their car at 11 p.m., drive themselves about 20 minutes home and then get up for work the next day.

On Monday, we parked downtown on Las Ramblas and caught the Bus Touristic for a tour of the city. We had great plans to see lots of sights that day, but couldn't get moving early in the morning. It was perfect weather for the bus, though, as the sun was shining and there was a wonderful breeze, so we rode past the acquarium, the Olympic Village, and the waterfront, before getting off at the Placa de Catalunya to find a new tapas place for lunch. Of course, being that we were in Barcelona, lunch was at about 3 p.m. each day. After lunch, we hopped back on the bus for the northern route, stopping first at La Sagrada Familia, the incredible moderniste cathedral started by Gaudi but still under construction. After some souvenir shopping, we boarded the bus again and saw the sights from Park Güell to Mount Tibidabo, to the Royal Palace, the University of Barcelona, and the Futbol Club Barcelona. After taking time to feed the fish on the pier, we met Marta for dinner 9 p.m. at the Restaurant 7 Portes. Another late night, after dropping Marta at her apartment, and we were all exhausted.

On Tuesday, again we had great plans, but were too tired to get moving early. We drove up Mount Tibidabo first thing and saw some beautiful sights there, while the girls took a page from "Friends" and did a quick bit backpacking in the foothills of Mount Tibidabo. We spent the bulk of the day at Poble Espanyol, the Spanish Village, a wonderful village built for the 1929 International Exhibition which features architectural styles, cuisine, and craftspeople from all of Spain. When we left Poble Espanyol, we drove to Barceloneta to walk the beach and dip our feet into the Mediterranean sea. While waiting to meet Marta in la Placa de Catalunya, Dh and the girls fed the pigeons, well, except for dd#2, who really hates pigeons. Marta took us shopping for a couple of hours, something the girls had all been looking forward to, before we drove back to her apartment for a home-cooked dinner with her and Jonathan. It was a wonderful meal and great fun. Tired, but happy, we drove back to Villanova Park for one last night before heading back to Frankfurt.

We got up on Wednesday, tried to stuff everything into our suitcases, fed the last of the milk to the campground cat, threw everything into the car and drove back to Reus to catch our plane back to Frankfurt. Although it rained Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, it stopped by 9 a.m., so it was sunny and warm in Spain, rainy and cold in Frankfurt. Unfortunately, the story of our lives here in Germany. *g* But, we're home, happy but tired, and still anxious to go back to sunny Barcelona sometime to see all the sights we couldn't fit into this trip. What a beautiful city!