A few days later we headed to Spain! It has been on our list of "must see" because Jamie served a mission in the Barcelona area 10 years ago and I have wanted to see the country he fell in love with. He served mainly in surrounding areas, not in the heart of the city, but we decided to stay close to their main blvd and had a darling hotel right next to the Placa de Catalunya.
We started at the Cathedral of Barcelona, it was a bit under construction but gorgeous with beautifully detailed statues.
Inside they had little alcoves with stained glass and statues of christ, it is a working church so there were many people that would go into the spaces, cross themselves and sit and mediate.
In one of the side sections of the church they have 13 geese, they are supposed to guard and warn the cathedral - Hadley was fascinated.
After the Cathedral we headed over the Picasso museum, he worked in Barcelona and Spain and they had an amazing collection of his works. I have to admit that the work he is famous for is not my favorite, but I couldn't pass up the chance to see the museum and I am glad we did not skip it - they had pieces from the beginning of his schooling until his death and it really showed how an artist developed. He actually has some stunning classic style works and he experimented with a blue period that looked quite a bit like Van Gogh's work. He loved to experiment and was amazing to see how wildly talented he was and that art was a passion and process for him. They unfortunately did not allow pictures inside!
We then headed over to the Chocolate Museum, you thought I was going to skip that?? They had a collection of basic machinery and walked through the process of chocolate making through the ages. It wasn't very large but I never tire of chocolate.
They also house sculptures from a major competition, this is the Sagrada Familia made entirely of chocolate - these people are amazing!
My favorite part was they had a little studio that you could hire for classes or parties - while we were there they were having a group of 6/7 year olds make chocolate designs, such a cute idea.
On our way back it POURED!
Hadley did not quite understand the importance of her rain cover...
The streets were lined with people trying to stay dry, even those that had umbrellas were soaked. After a good 20 minutes Jamie and I finally ran for it and figured we would eventually dry off! We comforted ourselves with ice cream...
The next day was sunny and beautiful again. We stopped at a local grocery store to pick up some food, we realized quickly that as a missionary Jamie never ate out and didn't have any memories/attachment to restaurants - but had some favorites that you could pick up at the local store. Here he is showing Hadley his favorite drinkable yogurt, she was a convert and pretty much lived on the stuff for the rest of the trip. We also grabbed some Magdalenas, the ones I have tried in the states were kind of cookie/dense/bland but these were amazing! The only way to describe them is like a twinkie sponge but much much better!! It was really fun to see Jamie's eyes light up as he found some of the foods he had not eaten in so long and share them with us.
We then walked down and checked out the shops and the main blvd, I was really not feeling well so we took the day pretty slow. Luckily they had outdoor markets, shopping and gorgeous weather...and a beach! Somehow I didn't realize that Barcelona is right on the ocean (should have taken that geography class...) I knew it was close to the coast, but you walked a few blocks and the beach was right there! We wandered around the area and on the harbors.
I have a ton of pictures like this, just watching the two of them together makes me smile. Hadley is not willing to put up with being confined to a stroller all day long while we explore so we bought her this little backpack or her "bop pop" so she could walk around. I know they are not common in the states but they are EVERYWHERE over here, I think we walk so many places and the sidewalks are so narrow that there needs to be some kind of control. We have taught her to hold our hands but it is nice knowing there is a backup so she doesn't end up in the streets or me sprinting after her - and isn't that ladybug darling?
Christopher Columbus Monument
The infamous pig leg, they really are everywhere! Jamie loved them and wanted to smuggle one back to England... all pig parts remain safely in Spain. Even though it was a slow kind of day it was so fun to be together and just be in Barcelona.
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