First days in Barcelona

all in all, the flight here wasn't as bad as it could have been. we had to make 2 connections, something i as a former flight attendant shudder at - more connections means more opportunities for things to go wrong. we connected in Detroit and JFK and of course JFK is the important connection where things could go wrong. when we landed in JFK, we sat on the runway for over an hour before they finally pulled up some stairs and bused us to a satellite terminal. we made it to our flight to Barcelona just in time.

when we landed in Barcelona, we were all groggy from lack of sleep, but happy to feel the warm air outside. the apartment is in a central part of town called Eixample, just a block or two away from Gaudi's La Pedrera. can't really complain about the location or the apartment. with kids, it's been wonderful to have a kitchen and to be close to stores and the Metro line. we haven't made it in to La Pedrera yet, but Skye and i admire it every time we walk by. we hope to stop in soon.

so far, we've been trying to adjust to the time change. initially, we thought we should stay on US time since the Spanish eat really late and none of the restaurants open for dinner before 9 in the evening, but that got to be really exhausting. things do open up much later here. we went to the aquarium this morning - it was around 11 in the morning, but things were still opening up.

yesterday, Skye and Claire went to the zoo with Samantha, our babysitter from Madison. can you believe it? i couldn't believe it when Samantha told me back in May that she would be in Barcelona when we would visit! she is here taking some Spanish courses. Samantha watched the girls while Phil and i snuck off to the Fundacio Joan Miro. it was inspiring to see so many of Miro's works.

we have wandered down Las Ramblas, bought groceries at Mercat de la Boqueria, sat by the fountains of Placa de Catalunya, and gone up the funicular to Tibidabo, an amusement park on top of the hills looking down on Barcelona.

i have discovered that Barcelona is more like LA than NYC. in some ways, i had expected Barcelona to be convenient to navigate because it has a very good public transportation, but the city is sprawling. it takes quite a hike to get from one end to the other. but overall, the girls are handling all the walking quite well. we brought Skye's foot scooter with us and that has been helpful when we have to walk long distances.

oh, and i have had my shopping fix at Mango whose face is Penelope Cruz. :)

i'll post some more photos as i have time to upload, but here are a few.

aerial view of Barcelona as we flew in


church at the top of Tibidabo