Barcelona, Day 1

And we're back. It was a fun trip. The weather was great while we were there, but it was pouring this morning when we left, so we timed it just right.

We liked Barcelona. I don't know about the rest of Spain, but Barcelona doesn't have the crazy feel of some of places we've visited in Italy, like Rome or Naples. People generally obeyed the traffic laws and didn't illegally triple park. It wasn't as clean as Switzerland, but then, most surgical instruments aren't as clean as Switzerland, so that's no surprise.

In that part of Spain, known as Catalonia, the dinner hour is still quite late, and we quickly fell into that pattern. Things really didn't start to pick up until 9:00 or so. We'd find ourselves roaming the streets of Barcelona at 9 trying to find a good place to eat. The kids would get to bed around 11 or so, and then they'd sleep until 10 the next morning.

I walked the family just about to death. Barcelona is a very walkable city, and we stayed pretty close to the heart of things, so we only took the subway or the bus a couple of times. We just walked the rest of the time.

Here's the view from our apartment, on a typically narrow street:



And let's just get the obligatory Subway picture out of the way:



On the first day, we headed for the waterfront. (The hill that you can see in the background is called Montjuic. You'll see some pictures from there later on.)



Despite our best efforts to fill our kids with a sense of wonder and appreciation for all of the world's different cultures and peoples, their favorite activity on the trip was, of course, touching the sharks at Barcelona's big aquarium.



One of the coolest things about many cities in Europe is the variety of street performers. (I always give a little money to a performer if we take a picture.)

After we'd seen enough of the fish and the jugglers, we headed up Montjuic to see Montjuic Castle and to take in the views of the city.

Sometimes, the signs here can be a little confusing.

Here's the view of Barcelona from Montjuic. The big structure you can see in the upper right is the Sagrada Familia, about which I'll say more tomorrow.

I have no idea why this woman with the funny nose is about to beat someone over the head with a chair, but I figured she was worth a picture.

We ended our day with a show at the Magic Fountain.