Today Amber had a b'day party to go to at another indoor play place, but we hadn't been to this one since last year so that was good! The boys came with us and went bowling next store and out to lunch so it was a nice event for all!
The boys got to watch another movie from my friend in the afternoon.
I finished getting our stuff packed as we will head towards the sun in a few days! I have had enough of the snow for now!
Monday we went to the Chiropractor and then I went to the mall for a few errands. It is not like a mall at home. It is more of variety of stores, not clothing all clumped together so I can get all my errands done in one place.
Then home as Jacob had a friend come over for the day and they had a fun time and ended the day with building a snow man and a good snow ball fight, b/c it snowed again last night and throughout the day today! Then we drove Sean over to a friend's house for a late afternoon playdate and then off to the sports store off the highway in the opposite direction, nothing is ever close here! Jacob wanted some school bball shorts but they were all sold out and some hockey skates. We are going skating again tomorrow and he went twice last month, so he really wanted his own pair. The first store didn't have any in his size, but they recommended we try the other store on our way home. So we drove there and they had some. They had skates there for sale for over $800! I am guessing for those really good hockey players. Needless to say we didn't spend anywhere near that, but they still were $130 and that was the second most cheapest pair they had and they had a lot of skates, but not a lot in his size. Of course since he is now in the men's sizes the prices go up quite a bit. Jason met us at the first store and then came with us to the other store and was looking for some for himself since he said Jacob would grow into them pretty quickly! But he didn't get a pair. So that took about 2 hours and then it was time to go back and get Sean and go home for a late dinner. Jacob was saying this was a great day and was so excited about his skates. Once at home he unpacked them and put the skates safety blades on and then packed them up in a bag with a sweatshirt for ice skating tomorrow!
Tuesday we got a great goodie package from a friend at home! And I was at home when the guy delivered it! Everyone enjoyed their gifts!
After lunch we went ice skating. We took one of Sean's friends and then meet 3 other families there. The kids just love ice skating! Jacob got to use his new skates. Amber and a friend were trying to twirl and skate backwards today!
Then both my boys went over to Sean's friends house and Amber and I dropped off my car at the dealership so they could replace my cracked windshield. I also ordered new floor mats and hopefully that will help the smell go away! It took about 30 min. to get everything taken care of as far as dropping off the car. The one guy didn't speak English and I asked the other guy who was next to him if he could help me translate since he wasn't helping anyone and he said, oh that guy over there can help you. Well, that guy over there was on the phone for like 5 more min. Really the first guy just couldn't help us for a few minutes! Customer service with almost everything here sucks!
So once we waited for the other guy to get off the phone he helped me. But then I wanted to order the floor mats and he said oh that is a different guy. So then another guy came out who didn't speak English either so that guy had to help us as well.
I finished getting everything together for our trip tomorrow!
Wednesday morning we got all ready for our trip to Barcelona! We were excited to fly someplace warmer and see the sun! You don't realize how much you miss it until you never see it!
So our flight was late morning out of the airport here, so we didn't have to drive far. We decided to fly out of Lux even though it is like double the cost of taking the cheap airline, but time wise it is so much better. What we have done and a lot of people do is fly the cheaper airline, but you have to drive to another country to catch their flights, so either Belgium or Germany. So it is a pain. This trip was so much easier and convenient! We only had to drive 20 min. to the airport. We got sandwiches on the plane for lunch and then Amber even took about an hour nap! The flight was about 2 hours long. Once we landed and got our luggage, got a cab, always a challenge for 5 people and luggage in Europe! It was about a 25 min. ride into the city where we had rented an apt. The street we were on is a great location and pedestrian only. So the cab dropped us off at the end of the street then we just walked down to it. We had to wait about 10 min. for the owner to arrive and let us in and show us around the apt. He reminded me of one of my cousins, but maybe even a bit taller 6'6" or so. This apt. is over 120 years old. It has been remodeled but they tried to keep some of the original stuff. So the Spanish tiles in some rooms are still there along with the high beamed ceilings and brick wall. It has a lot of character to it. The apt. has maybe about 12 foot ceilings in it. It has 3 bedrooms, but I think it was originally just a one bedroom apt. and they turned the 2 big rooms in the front of the apt. that have the big old windows, new windows on the outside double pained so we didn't hear hardly any street noise, into bedrooms with big old doors.
The apt. has a funky layout with the now 3 bedrooms, a remodeled kitchen, dining area and family room. But I think the front 2 rooms maybe were like a living room and a parlor room. Very neat! I wish I could see a picture of what it used to look like- if walls could talk. We like to rent apts. b/c we get so much more space then the tiny hotel rooms in Europe plus we have a hard time finding a place that will let 5 in a room. They want us to book 2 rooms and if we are going on vacation I would like to stay together!
We hung out for a bit here and then walked to the grocery store about 10 min. away and picked up some necessities plus peanut butter and BBQ sauce to take home with us! After everything was unloaded then we went walking. Their famous street was just about a block or so from us. We walked around the square and the kids feed the pigeons.
Then we headed to our favorite vacation restaurant when it is available- any guesses?
Hard Rock Cafe! Needless to say we enjoyed a good meal! We had eaten at one when we were in the south of Spain over fall break so we couldn't add this one to our country count of 6 Hard Rocks! I of course mapped it out before we got here!
After dinner we just walked down the main/famous street with shops/cafes/ etc. They actually have a whole middle walk way in the middle with booths of things set up. We walked all the way to the end. I think it is about a mile and at the end is a tall statue of Christopher Columbus pointing to America. This is the port area as well.
From here we turned around and walked back. On the way back we spotted a Dunkin' Donuts and a really neat covered fruit/veg/fish/meat and spice market. We will have to come back for donuts another day as we already got breakfast foods at the store.
Tonight I booked us tickets to go to a dinner and Flamingo show for tomorrow night! I am looking forward to it and I thought the kids might enjoy it.
Thursday we had breakfast in the apt and then walked over to the plaza with the tour buses and bought the 2 day pass. Today we did the orange line. With big cities we find these are the best way to see the city and sights and hop on and off to visit the sites. The city is so big it has 2 routes, one west and one east. We got on at around 9:30 and returned home today around 3:30. We first got off the bus at the Montjuic area and were going to take the cable car up to the castle but it has been down for repairs for 3 weeks. So they replaced it with a bus going up there. Once up there we walked around the castle and cannons and then saw the inside courtyard and the roof.
Outside the castle they had a little cafe set up so we got some sandwiches for lunch. From here we took the bus back down and got back on the tour bus and got off 2 stops later and saw the Museum National Art de Catalunya. It is the largest in Europe. It was nice, but we didn't get through all of it.
From here we walked down and also took an escalator, as this museum was atop of hill, to the Magic Fountain. This is a huge fountain that plays a 20 min. sound and light show at night. Other things we saw today were the Olympic Stadium, 1992 Olympics were here, the old bull fighting area which closed down in 1977 and they kept the outside of it but the inside is now a shopping mall.
And we drove by some of Gaudi's famous buildings. He is a famous architect that did a lot of stuff around the city.
So after the fountain we got back on the bus and finished the tour. From here we walked back to our apt. as the kids were tired. For dinner tonight we took the kids to the Flamingo dinner show. The food was ok, the kids got kids meal and we got the Spanish dish, Paella with seafood. It was ok. But the show was nice.
The show was for an hour. Amber liked it when all the girls came out in their long skirts and danced with their frilly dresses. The boys enjoyed it too! I told them maybe mom should get a flamingo dress and start tap dancing around the house! They didn't think that was a good idea!
Friday we headed back to the bus tour and did the green line today. We just bought a 2 day ticket and then we can ride either line. This bus with both lines hit all the sights we wanted to see so it was great! When we go on these trips what I normally do is before we leave I research the city and make a list of things to see and do and then once we get here we see what we can do in our time there.
The line for the entrance wrapped around the corner, but it was only about a 20 min wait. So inside is so much light and beautiful mosaic colors. In 2010 the inside was complete enough for masses and the Pope came and blessed the church. For lunch we spotted a KFC and had to stop. They still don't have biscuits here. How can they not have biscuits and the coleslaw wasn't good. But the chicken tasted the same. I had been in contact with a friend from Lux who was here and they were in line at the church. So we went over and said hi to them. Then we had our Spanish churros with chocolate. Then back on the bus for 2 more stops.
Here is Parc Guell. This is an area that was designed by Gaudi. It was built as an upscale neighborhood, but never took off. It had 2 houses on it and then a park like area. So we walked around and then went in the 2 houses.
One of the houses is a gift shop and the other the a museum of what the house would have looked like.
Then we walked back down the hill and back on the bus
until the last stop where we got off and saw 3 more houses Gaudi did. We toured one, the Casa Batillo. It was built for the Batillo Family and was an amazing house.
After we toured it we walked back to the apt.
For dinner tonight I had seen an add for a restaurant that was in the tourist book and it said they served 70 types of tortillas so I thought we would try it out. We took a cab there and when we got the menu, I guess tortilla in Spanish means omelet. So we all had omelets for dinner. Jacob was complaining about it, but the other 2 ate them up! Then we just walked home and had dessert we had bought from the store.
Sat. was our last full day here and we had seen most of the things I wanted to see so we took the kids to the aquarium. They say it is the largest in Europe. It was nice and they had some tunnels you could walk through where the sharks and stingrays swim over you head. This is a big flat fish. He is very thin and just big.
I think we finished in an hour though. From here we walked to a mall around the corner. All of this property was along the port on the sea. So we had lunch at a nice Seafood restaurant where we could sit outside and see the sea. It was nice. From here we walked back up and did the Gothic district. In here were the original walls of Barcelona until they were torn down in the 1850's for expansion.
So this area has narrow streets/pedestrian friendly only. They say people lived within the walls of the town and had these narrow streets and not much light would get in b/c the buildings were so close together, and they had to deal with the pollution from the factories that were all in this area as well. So b/c of these they had poor living conditions and sicknesses.
Then we saw 2 churches in this area. We visited them both. Big difference in how dark they were compared to the Gaudi Church we saw yesterday!
One of the churches we took the lift up to the roof.
There were some Carnival parades around the area with people/kids groups prepping for it. From here we walked to Dunkin' Donuts that we had spotted our first day here on that famous street. So we got some for breakfast tomorrow. Lux doesn't have any good donuts. They have 2 kinds and that is it. Then we just walked back to the apt. and read or watched a movie. Then for dinner we just decided on Hard Rock again after our adventure dinner last night. We went back out on the street for dinner around 5:30 and it was packed. It is a popular street and square there but there were a huge amount of people around compared to what we had seen all week! We only had to wait 10 min. for a table. A lot of people were leaving probably from lunch. Hard Rock is one of the few restaurants opened all day. Here lunch is from 2-5pm, but most restaurants open at 1pm for lunch. Then a typical dinner would start at 9pm!
So after dinner we walked back to the apt. and watched another movie and I got some wash done. It was nice having a washer and dryer. Most places either don't have one or just a washer. It was nice to get some of the dirty clothes done before we head back!
Sunday we just hung out in the morning and enjoyed our donuts with some scrambled eggs I made. Jason went for a run around town. I told him make sure he doesn't get lost. We ate lunch at the apt. and then left for the airport. It was a good visit!
The flight was a bit delayed so we got back to the house around 6:30 or so.
Time to get everyone ready for school tomorrow!
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