Barcelona At It's Best!!!!!!!

Being in Barcelona was just fantastic. There was so much to see and eat, we couldn't wait to go out every morning. Tourism is just thriving and you would never have guessed the world was in such a financial crisis with all the spending that was happening there. Everyday, there was an art or music festival of some sort in the city and huge crowds everywhere. People from all over the world were in Barcelona eating, drinking, shopping, and enjoying themselves with their friends and family. Ryder loved seeing all the different people and he was absolutely thrilled...to be a fireman for a couple of minutes. I was so excited to see many of the sites and I had seen on TV or in books and magazines, and none more than the Olympic torch and stadium. As you all know, I'm a huge fan of the Olympics and Barcelona in 1992 was one of the most successful in history. We loved walking around the main stadium grounds even though Ryder looks a little annoyed here in front of the torch. Just prior to this picture, he was a ball of jumping joy who was running down the hill to see the torch. He then proceeded to fall face first and use his nose as a rubber break against the concrete. We were so scared he had knocked out all his teeth but was happy to see that the damage was minimal. His nose was flattened and scratched up but his ego was severely wounded.
And since we were on the sports tour of Barcelona, we decided to go visit one of the most famous soccer stadiums in the world. We went to the home pitch (that's what soccer fields are called) of the Football Club of Barcelona (F.C.B). What? Soccer? all you Americans might be asking? Let me put this club and stadium into perspective. The place sits 100,000 people!!! And that's after it was downsized to eliminate the standing sections which were made illegal about 10 years ago. Before that, the soccer stadium was regularly packed with 120,000 screaming soccer fans cheering on one of the most famous and historic soccer clubs in the world. Imagine the Boston Red Sox of soccer here. We took the stadium and museum tour and it was definitely one of the highlights of the trip, although momma jax will tend to disagree on this one. We actually were able to step onto the field. Momma Jax just said "huh? this is it?" I bet that she already forgot the name of the stadium. For all you sports trivia buffs, the answer is Camp Nou.
We did make it to other sites in Barcelona and they were equally stunning. The city is a canvas for Antonio Gaudi who I have so much more appreciation for after visiting Barcelona. He is truly a genius and his influence can be seen everywhere, especially here at Casa Batllo which is one of his most famous works.Casa Batllo is a project he worked on for a couple of years. He was the architect and designer of this house striking house in the city center. It feels like a underwater house straight out of legendary Atlantis. There are no straight lines in the place. Everything is curved or circular, not that Ryder would know cuz he slept through most of the tour. Gotta check it out if you ever bounce into Barcelona.
Ryder slept through most of the museums and tourist attractions. He basically was awake to eat and chase birds. We would actually wait for him to fall asleep and the immediately rush to a museum or attraction cuz that was the only way we could enjoy it. No 2 year old boy is going to sit quietly as you look at art in a gallery. So the goal everday was to tire him out and wait for the little smurf to pass out. Then we rushed to places like this...the most famous construction site in the world.
La Sagrada Familia is argubly Barcelona's most famous landmark and definitely Gaudi's defining project, although he never completed it. He worked on it till his death and his students and fellow artists have continued the monumental task of completion. It won't be done for at least another 15 years so we made Ryder promise that he would bring us back once it was completed. Throughout the city, there are churches and other beatiful buildings that you sorta just pop your head into and admire. The places are beautiful and ornate but unfortunately, not too exciting for little boys.
Plaza Catalunya, on the other hand, is one of Ryder's favorite places. In the middle of town, Plaza Catalunya, is the mecca for people watching. We sat on the sidewalk of this corner cafe which must've had over 100 tables for people to just chill. We joined the locals and tourists for a nice warm cup of java while Ryder entertained himself by chasing more pigeons. When he got tired, he came back to have a taste of some excellent hot chocolate.
He decided to take a few big swigs and model his new Spanish Chocostache! The coffee and chocolate in Spain was great, but the ham was to die for. Everywhere you went, there was some type of preserved, smoked, or cured ham. It was delicious for the first 15 meals, then you kinda get ham overload and have to lay off for 2 days. Here we are in the market advertising the ham and cheese.
I enjoyed the ham but I never knew that the prices could be so steep. We are talking some serious ham here!! Some of the good stuff was going for about US$50 for a couple of thin slices...NO JOKE!!! Ryder couldn't tell the good from the bad, he just ate it all down. He liked the ham but he almost fainted when he saw mountains of his favorite fruit...GRAPES!! We literally walked into a stall full of the most beautiful grapes he's ever seen. He yelled "GRAPES!!" as if he had struck gold.
Jackie and I just gorged on the endless plates of tapas at every restaurant and I can honestly say I drank beer at every meal for 9 days straight. The local drink is Clara, which is beer with lemon soda. I took a severe liking to it so I was a little buzzed through the entire trip. Plus the beer went good with all the salty dishes like olives, ham, and anchovies. You can try it at home, just get a bottle of Corona(that's as close as you gonna get) and a can of lemon Fanta. Make sure it's cold or add ice. You'll love it. Here's just a random picture of the world's largest vending machine. I was pushing Ryder in the metro station and I had to whip out my camera when I saw this monstrosity. That's a guy IN there refilling the machine!!Of course we didn't just go to Barcelona to stuff ourselves with delicious food and drink, although it may seem that way. There happened to be a wedding there where Ryder's favorite auntie was getting married. Auntie Carolyn and Uncle Alberto were getting hitched, and a couple of days before the BIG ceremony, there was a little shindig with just the immediate family.
Here we are a couple of minutes before walking into a very tiny registrar's office. Auntie Carolyn looks sooo dark as if she'd been tanning all summer in Chile where she lives. The following pic is of both families crammed into the office of Cabril's Justice of the Peace. Cabril is where Uncle Alberto grew up so he had to go back there to get officially married.
This last picture is one of my favorites. I took this right outside the Hotel Colon where we stayed for the wedding. The hotel was right on the beach and the weather was fantastic. We had a great dinner and a good night's rest before the big wedding day the next morning.
All the wedding photos and the big video coming up in the next blog.