First up - Barcelona.
5 observations about this fab city:
1) Impressive Attractions:
Barcelona has some pretty major, cool sights - and eagerly flaunts them
Gaudi fabulousness...
Gaudi tours, postcards & souvenirs are everywhere...such cool buildings - the excitement is warranted in my POV
Serious FC Barcelona pride...
The spirit is everywhere. I estimate 1 of every 4 males in Barcelona wore some sort of FCB gear. Q included.....
Given Q's fan status, we had to pay homage with a Camp Nou tour. The place is massive - seats ~100,000...
But the coolest part was being able to place an order and watch them make a personalized, official jersey...
(and just like that, Q's first day of school shirt is all set!)
2) Doesn't-look-like-an-economic-crisis infrastructure
While one hears a lot about Spain's economic crisis (e.g. unemployment ~23%), looking around the city you'd never guess they had any issues
Fancy, fab wide boulevards....
(Las Ramblas 'death march' with serious jet lag)
(they even have their own Arch de Triumph)
Random parks abound...
They pepper the wide boulevards
And include fun equipment I'm sure would be deemed 'too unsafe' here
Protected bike lanes...
Yes - I am a sucker for a city with a good bike lane
When you have a kid riding while eating ice cream (thus not holding on,..thus falls into the street on a sharp corner), you can see why that separate bike lane is so exciting
3) Vacation worthy Indulgent
Barcelona is clearly a place to have fun - the whole city feels like a vacation really
Amazing Seafood....
Xavier agreed with us - and appreciated the abundant and delish calamari
Zoe wasn't so convinced
(We had to bribe her with screen time to even try one)
Good cheap wine...
After loads of trial & error with cheap Moldovan & Georgian wines, I was a tad dubious when I saw the surprisingly low wine prices...
(most ~2-5 Euro range)
I liked one so much I brought a few bottles with us...
Kids welcome in bars....
Seriously, this should be a norm. In true American style, we tried to go to dinner ~7pm. The restaurant wasn't open till 8 - had to kill time with a cocktail.....kids? No problem!
A tiki bar with live birds in the window & smoking drinks even!
Smoking....
OK, so you can't enjoy all that fun without a price - smoking is also more pervasive here than in any city I have been in in a while....
4) H-O-T
You won't forget it's summer temps....
While SF has that good/bad same temp year round, in Barcelona the weather made sure we didn't forget it was summertime
The kids nearly melted at the zoo...
They got resourceful about cooling off...
I resorted to buying refreshment...
But best yet - about midway thru the zoo, they offer rentals of these...
What a brilliant way to extend zoo time!
Show some skin outfits...
Maybe it was the weather, but seemed cultural - not a lot of fabric was common
5) Time to enjoy it all
There appears to be an awful lot of time for coffee, smokes & a leisurely pace. No one seemed in a rush
Serious 'Bankers hours'....
Hot damn - I'd be happy to work 'full-time' with hours like these
(off at 2 everyday except Wednesday - sign me up!)
Serious about vacation too....
All those 30 hour weeks add up to August off!
Many of the small stores & restaurants just flat out shut down in August & locals clear out of town
The good news: the bigger stores take that opportunity to clear out their summer inventories
Practically everything was on sale!
After almost a week in town, our kids took a page from the Spanish play book - totally protested the last day of touring to enjoy AC, staying horizontal & Netflix
(Yes, while in Barcelona they discovered the joy of Scooby Doo - you win some, you lose some)
Here's to discovering so many fun elements of this fab city - and (reluctantly) knowing when to say when - and just chill.
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