Barcelona

This has been a pretty tremendous year for us travel wise. After starting the year with our big anniversary trip to Costa Rica in March, we had several different opportunities come our way. Instead of wisely choosing between them, we chose to do all of them! Our pocketbook is hurting a little, but our passports sure like the attention. 

In September, we had the opportunity to go to Barcelona with Kent's brother Mark and his wife Amber, as well as our mutual friends Brian and Kim, and Matt and Raquel. For a few days we were also joined by Amber's brother Aaron and his wife Michelle. It was a fun little getaway, and notably Kents first trip to Europe!

I will let the pictures tell the story....

We found some fantastic sangria in Barcelona! And it was almost always served in these humungous glasses, with gigantic ice cubes!

Beautiful Barceloneta Beach

The Barcelona Arc de Triomf. Not to be confused with the Parisian Arc De Triomphe. 

Sagrada Familia, the most famous structure designed by architect Antoni Gaudi. His work influenced the architectural style of much of the city. He designed this church in the 1800's, and work continues on it today, even as tourists explore the building and churchgoers worship. Completion of the church is expected around 2030.  

Kent and I in front of Sagrada Familia

Michelle and Amber, in My Bar!

Walking down the streets of old town Barcelona we found modern graffiti marking the centuries old buildings.

One of our days in Barcelona we took the train northwest of the city to the Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey. The monastery is very unique in that it is situated high up on a mountainside, accessible only by cable car.

The Central Square at Montserrat Monestary. 

The cable car you ride to get to the monastery. 

The BEST White Russians EvEr!!

Oddly enough... The BEST Pina Colada's EVER!

Me and my fella, hiking around the monastery 

Barceloneta Beach again!

Fountain of Mountjuic -- Kent and I made this our Grand Finale on the final night of the trip. It was Spectacular!

Fountain of Mountjuic

The beautiful fountain show at Mountjuic

Cable Car at Montsterrat

Riding the Hop On Hop Off Tour Bus 

A deli like we just don't see here in America (and I'm kind of glad...Those ham hocks looked pretty nasty)

This is a cemetery in Barcelona. It was beautiful!

The most interesting thing... McDonalds in Spain serves Beer!

And we stumbled upon this cool place. Ocana Bar. Matt and Brian were in Heaven!!

Cheers! A fantastic little Irish Pub in downtown Barcelona, home of the Best White Russian  Ever!

Our local bar, Andrea's. Where we ended every night. Andrea and her minions sure poured a strong drink! And It sure seems like we have a lot of bar pictures. LOL. 

The Whole Gang, hiking up at Montserrat. But we are all looking up at the girl who almost fell down the mountainside. :(

Rainy Day in Barcelona

Mercado de La Boqueria

Me and Lil' Kim inside Sagrada Familia

I just couldn't get over the juxtaposition of the old town garage fronts, older than anything we have in America, painted with Modern graffiti. A bummer really. 

La Pedrera - a Residential building designed by Gaudi

Me, Amber, and Raquel, waiting for the Metro. Its hot down there!!

Torre Agbar -- We had a fantastic view from our hotel room at the Silken Diagonal. 

All in all, we had a pretty amazing trip. We headed out with no idea what to expect, and found a cultural delight in Barcelona. The interesting contrast of a modern city and old world European charm was pretty amazing. I'd definitely love to visit again someday!