Saying goodbye to Barcelona

Today is our last day in Barcelona.  We have had a fabulous time here and there is much we will miss (and a few things we won't). The casual, easy-going way here suits us all very well.  There has been lots to see and do, and we have many highlights from our time here (and about 2167 photos--thanks Sierra and Jonah!).

Sierra has enjoyed having her people take care of her.

Some days, Barcelona looks a lot like Santa Cruz.

We've been going at a slower pace the last week or so, enjoying the good weather and lots of time on the beach.  Much more, in fact, than we ever spend as a family while we are at home in Santa Cruz.  Funny how that works.  Living in the city for 8 weeks (first Florence, now here) has been fun and easy, but we are looking forward to a more peaceful (and hopefully less smoky) stay in our travels through mostly smaller towns in France.

Sierra gives some volleyball coaching to her somewhat reluctant student, Jonah.


Here, in no particular order, are some of our favorite things from our time in Barcelona:

• Picasso Museum (don't trust any guidebooks that say it's somewhat disappointing--we all loved it--especially his many riffs on Velazquez's Las Meninas)
• manchego cheese
• La Boqueria
• the many gardens of Montjuic
• Miro Museum
• anything and everything Gaudi, especially Park Guell, La Sagrada Familia, and Casa Batllo
• OK, and La Pedrera too--what can we say, we love Gaudi!
• playing volleyball on the beach

• tapas (well, two of us loved them, one of us didn't care as long as they had cheese, and one of us did not like them because he never got enough food)
• El Born
• the clean and efficient metro
• Las Caracoles
• all the action and activity outside our door (except at 2 a.m.)
• the abundant blue and green sea glass on the Barceloneta beaches 
• the fountain show at Font Majica

• El Vaso de Oro
• morning bike rides up to Montjuic (you've just read Tom's contribution to the blog)
• Spanish classes at Enforex
• churros y chocolate

 While we are traveling in France, there will be either more posts to the blog, because there will be so much more to share (thanks to Tom's amazing and exhaustive trip planning), or fewer because of less access to the computers and/or the internet.  However, I can guarantee that there will be at least one blog post from someone other than me (I know, you're thinking "finally!"), because Jonah wants to please his big cousin David and his Mimi, both of whom wondered why he hadn't posted anything.  And once Jonah posts something, Sierra will undoubtedly want to chime in as well, right Sierra?