Espana!

Amanda and I arrived in Barcelona fairly late. So we settled in at our apartment, then went out for some awesome tapas. Even thinking about the food in Barcelona makes me hungry. It was so divine.

The next morning, Amanda and I woke up early to head out on the town. We did outdoors walking things. We started at a Barcelona park where there was a fountain designed, in part, by a young Gaudi.

Check out how incredibly sunny and warm it looks! So different from Poland, which was suffering -20/30 degree temperatures.

The below picture is one of the ones I insisted Amanda and I visit. It's part of a promenade made for... what else, a World's Fair! In the background, you'll see the Arc d'Triumph. Or, whatever it's called in Spanish. Which means, I still need to see the "real" one. In Paris. Which I will see. Over Easter!!! Huzzah.

Next, we moseyed over to the Gaudi-designed Sagrada Familia church. It's been in the works for about forever, under continuous construction for over 100 years. Can you imagine spending your life building something that will never be finished? How frustrating!

After that, we hiked up a serious hill to go to Park Guell. This park was designed for wealthy people to live around. But, back when Gaudi lived and designed stuff, people didn't want to live that far from the center of the city. This is also the location of a great scene or two in L'Auberge Espanol. Which probably isn't that great of a movie. But it's cool because it's so multicultural and about the difficulties of adjusting to a new country.

Next we adventured for a tour of other Gaudi architecture. It was a very Gaudi day. Amanda and I walked over almost the entire city of Barcelona.

I'm pretty sure that all of those buildings are UNESCO World Heritage sites. I'm not the type to tick off boxes of UNESCO sites that I've been to, but if I'm in a city, I might as well try to see them.

We stopped and did some shopping on our way home. Then we went to another tapas place where they counted your toothpicks to see how much you ate, then charged you accordingly.

On the way back to the apartment, we walked past Big J's. This is a diner-style joint next to our apartment. AND THEY HAVE A MAP OF NEBRASKA. I actually screeched, terrifying Amanda! Whoops.