April 6



The hotel’s blinds were great, it blacked out the room and I was surprised to see that it was 9:30 when I first woke up. I took a shower and we got ready for our day out in Barcelona. We took the metro to Sagrada Familia, I was impressed with our navigating skills, we figured out switching metro trains with no problem at all.

Sagrada Familia was beautiful. There was a pretty long line for general admission tickets but they had it moving pretty quickly and we didn’t have to wait more than thirty minutes to get inside the gates. I picked up an information pamphlet and it said the main “Jesus Tower” that has yet to be constructed with be 550 feet high and you will be able to see in from the Mediterranean. It is such an impressive building. We waited in line for about forty-five minutes to ride the elevator up to the top of the Temple; the view was awesome. We took a few minutes to take some pictures before we started our descent down about ten stories of winding stairs.

We were all looking for some normalcy in our diet, namely some vegetables so we stopped at a “Buffet Libre”. It was an all you can eat buffet with a delicious salad bar, fresh pasta and great pizza. We all enjoyed in thoroughly and recharged our batteries before we kept on going. We took the metro over to the Picasso Museum. It was awesome.

The arranged the museum and his works chronologically so it was really cool to follow his growth as an artist. In each room, they had an explanation about different people and places that influenced his work at the time that was pretty insightful. I had no idea that he actually spent some of his later years making ceramics. His wife Jacqueline donated all of his ceramics to the museum and ther were cool to look at. I also had no idea that he followed rather traditional form when he was younger either; he painted a lot of portraits and landscapes that were very good.

After we left the Picasso museum, we headed toward Port Vuell to see if the vendors were back today after the police had scared them away the day before. Luckily they were and my mom got a prada bag. After Port Vuell, we went and grabbed a drink in a very comfortable hotel lounge in the same plaza as the Cathedral of Barcelona. It was very relaxing. When we got back to the hotel, Mom and Dad went to do P90x while I used my internet card to update the blog and send an email to Laura. I caught up on the world news and had a very relaxing break.

When my parents got back, we got ready for dinner. We ate at a small restaurant and bar called Cal Pep. The restaurant was closed for a private party so we sat at a long bar and had tapas. I could tell it was going to be delicious because all of the restaurants we passed in the same plaza were empty but this one had a wait. They did a good job of turning tables, and we didn’t wait longer than twenty minutes. The server could tell it was our first time and he suggested what we should have. He was spot on. We had calamari, roasted green peppers, a delicious tomato and olive oil bread, clams, beef and potatoes, and tortilla (egg, onion, and potato mixed to kind of make an omelet) that were the best I had ever tasted. No lie. The seasoning was perfected and all of the dishes were cooked perfectly. Each bite I took was better than the last. My favorite tapas were either the clams or the beef and potatoes.

After we all had a café coratado (my parents like them just as much as I do), we took a cab back to the hotel. I had a great day and was looking forward to showing them my home of Valencia for the next few days. This trip has been outstanding and I have been having an absolute blast.

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