Barcleona, Spain March 2009

Stephanie: Spain: next stop, Barcelona.  Barcelona is such a cool city.  It has everything: culture, shopping, museums, seaside, history, sports and an olympic stadium.  We took the tourist bus around town to the various sites.  Here are some of the highlights.

Sagrada Familia was first priority.  It is a huge and magnificent church, designed by the visionary architect Antoni Gaudi, who has many other famous buildings around the city.  The church is an on-going, privately funded project and probably won't be finished for another 40 or so years. 

Our guide book recommended we eat at Can Culleretes.  It is the oldest restaurant in Barcelona (est. in 1788!).  We arrived at opening time, 9p.m. and there was a line.  It was worth the wait: great food, great price, lovely decor.

The Barcelona museum had an amazing Roman Villa, very well preserved (seen above).  The Romans were so advanced.  It was so cool to see their central heating system, food storage and washing rooms.  They were more advanced than some modern countries are now.

We visited the Olympic Village which was really cool.  It's situated around some great views of the city.

Check out the slide show for other Barcelona sites: The Cathedral, Aquarium, Barcelona football game, Pier, random Spanish parades (O-lay!)

Valencia March 2009

Stephanie: On our trip to Spain, we went to Valencia first.  The city was having Las Falles, a huge festival where neighborhoods sponsor Falles, papier-mache monuments that they burn on the last night.  It's a week-long celebration, businesses shut down and everyone parties.  It was certainly like nothing we'd experienced before.

We learned early that the Spanish like fire, staying up late and having a good time!

The first night, we tried to look at as many Falles as possible around the city.  There were over 700 in Valencia and the surrounding area.

We tried to sleep in the next morning after a long day of travel and a late night but it wasn't to be as the city's wake-up call consisted of ear-splitting firecrackers going off at 8a.m.  This continued throughout the day and all night.  Children as young as two also lit firecrackers in the street.

The following day, we explored Valencia.  We enjoyed Spanish tapas at a cafe and waded in the Mediterranean.  The weather was cooler than I expected but still very nice.  The Falles started burning around 10p.m.  Each Falles was like its own bonfire and fireworks show.  I was surprised to see so many blazes close to people's flats, cars and historic buildings but there were lots of firemen on hand--they obviously know what they're doing.  We had a great time!

Santos comes to visit, March 2009

Stephanie: Our friend from Texas, Jayson Santos, came to visit in March.  We took him around Winchester, London and Portsmouth before heading to Spain.

London took a few days.  We visited Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, the British museum and the National Gallery.  Check out the slideshows on the side to view the sights.  Russell and Santos went to a Chelsea football game in London.  It was fairly sedate, no soccer hooligans.  Eight minutes after the game ended, they were told to leave immediately because an employee said 'I want to go home.'  Sorry, Santos, no more pictures for you!

In Portsmouth, Russell and Santos visited the Victory ship that Russ and Steph saw in the fall. They noticed a funny sign this time--ha!  Quit your whining!