Barcelona

We made it. Here are the highlights of the trip thus far… We departed our home with four pieces of luggage and four carry on bags. Leaving the airport was pretty smooth. The British Airways flight was not overcrowded, although sitting in coach class on an international flight leaves something to be desired. We sat in the middle section with four across and it worked out well. We sat parent, child, parent, child to minimize bickering. The on board entertainment system was not working correctly and they rebooted the system in the first ten minutes of the flight. I was a little nervous to say the least, since we did not pack DVD players and planned to use the entertainment on demand on the plane. Yikes. Luckily, everything rebooted fine and we were off. The flight up the east cost and up to Canada was bumpy for the first two to three hours and I was queasy with nerves. Thumbs up to BA on the kids” dinner menu. For others taking this trip later in the summer, the kids meal was chicken tenders, potato wedges, grapes, carrots and celery, a bag of Sun chips, rice pudding, and a mini Kit Kat candy bar. They ate well and watched the movie “Tooth Fairy.” It is apropos since Josh”s tooth is loose and he believes that in Europe, he will get a Euro under his pillow instead of a US money. We had a plan with the kids that we would watch one move, eat dinner, then sleep. We tried to listen to music after the movie and it became apparent that sleep was going to be difficult. We resituated our seats so that the kids could lay out more across the middle seats and we really struggled to get comfortable. The kids watched movie #2, Toy Story, and eventually slept. Bottom line is that Scott and the kids probably only slept 1.5 to 2 hours. I rested, but don”t think I was really able to sleep. Of course, when it was time to land in London, the boys were sleeping and it was hard to get them up to get off the plan.

London and transferring planes was probably the worst part of the day. The walk to the bus transfer was very long, then a bus to a new terminal. We had to go through a new security checkpoint when we arrived in the new terminal. I had to trash all of my water I had brought from the plane. Then, Josh was randomly selected for a security screening. Seriously…. he went through the metal detector and the buzzer went off. I stood with him while they patted him down. Imagine a five year old on two hours sleep being dragged through the airport then having to have a pat down­. Give me a break. We were exhausted and getting irritated. We found our new gate and it was a mob scene. Three buses transported our fellow travelers to a tarmac and we entered the plane the old fashion way by walking up the steps to the plane. We were the only family on board and there was no priority seating or anyone helping give extra time. It was cold and windy outside the plane. We were so slow getting on the bus to the tarmac that we were on the last bus and one of the last to board the plane. I was pretty upset. Luckily, the flight was fast and we were able to rest, so it worked out, but a non stop to Barcelona would have been better. The funny comment was that Max thought Hethrow Airport was the city of London since we were on so many buses and it took so long to get around. There was one couple on our flight who had the same itinerary from DC and will be on the cruise. They don”t have kids, but seemed very friendly.

Ah, por fin, Barcelona. We made it here and as expected, it was raining. Taxi to the hotel was easy and the cost was what we expected at 38 Euro. I was able to speak in Spanish to our taxi driver and I love the feeling of being back in Spain. Our room was not ready, so we walked around the corner to a tapas and pizzeria. Everyone had a snack and then back to the hotel. Everyone bathed and changed clothes. We took a 3 hour nap. The hotel is Le Meridien. The location on Las Ramblas is outstanding. The rain is a damper, but we love the cafes and laid back atmosphere. We followed Frommer”s advice on a tapas bar and took a 10 minute drive to another area of town for dinner. We could not go to the restaurant we had desired, since it was tiny and not kid friendly. We loved the neighborhood and found another tapas restaurant. We had one liter of the most amazing sangria, bread with tomatoes, bread with spinach, a cooked apple with ground meat in it, a lamb dish, and the kids had a chocolate trifecta of chocolate pudding in a little container. We went to another café and had real café con leche. Amazing. It beats Starbucks any day. Speaking of… there are ten thousand Starbucks here. One on every corner.

After dinner, we bought the kids Barcelona “football” soccer jerseys. Tomorrow is a home game. Our taxi driver mentioned it and how they are playing a team who is second from the bottom, so it will be a win. They were thrilled to have authentic soccer jersies and both got number 10, Messa, who is the most popular player. The kids are holding up well, but a little weapy, meaning they are crying easily at the littlest things. At some points of the day, they were holding up better than us because they were so excited.

We are semi acclimated since we did not sleep the entire day away. Tomorrow is rain, but we are still going to tour. We are missing friends and family at home.
Free internet at the hotel. Yeah. I will post some photos tomorrow. Sorry for some of the strange punctuation. They Spanish style key board is a bit off for me and spell check will not work right for English.