Final destination: Barcelona

Rick Steves' calls Barcelona a lovely place to visit either first of last because of its coastal and far Eastern location. For me, it was my final destination. Michael still has Paris to go (he'll head there tomorrow) but I'm now on my way home :(
I was super excited for Barcelona partly because I had been there before and partly because we had rented this super cold apartment. We first found the bed and breakfast that owned the apartment, we were going to book just one of the rooms, but then we also saw that they owned an apartment nearby and...it was super grey! And modern. And it wasn't actually that expensive so we decided to go for it. It had its own kitchen, a huge tv, a great speaker system. This allowed us to cook dinner two of the three nights, which was really nice after all the eating out we'd done recently.  And nice because Michael is a pretty good cook :)

Our first day in Barcelona was a Sunday so we kind of took it easy. We had breakfast with the owner and other guests at the bed and breakfast. He helped us buy our tickets for La Sagrada Familia and gave us some other advice. We walked to the two of the famous buildings by Antonio Gaudi, La Pedrera and Casa Batillo.
They are both really crazy buildings. Hannah and I went in one of them when we visited previously but they are pretty expensive so Michael and I decided to just admire the outside. We then went to a park, per my request, because I just wanted as much time outside in the wonderful weather as possible. Barcelona actually has many "green lungs" (parks that provide some fresh air in the midst of city living). This one was focused on water and had multiple ponds and some interesting architecture. We also found the recreational sports area where we napped and then played hacky sack. Add that location to the list. Michael says I should also make a list of places I've napped. Honestly, it would largely be similar to the one of places I've hacky-ed.

Our second, and my final, day in Barcelona was our 'best tourists ever' day. We woke up early and got to La Sagrada Familia for our 9 am appointment to go up the tower. It was as beautiful as I remember. And we did the audio guide so we actually learned a lot as well. The church is already huge but compared to the model of what it should look like when its done, it has a ways to go. Supposedly it will be finished within the next 40 years. It was started in 1889. But, as we learned, Gaudi knew it would be a work of the centuries, so he was not expecting it to be even near finished by the time he died. It's quite amazing how many people have come together to design it and how they all try to be true to the Gaudi style even though many of his plans were burned during a Spanish war.

After spending a few hours at the church, we walked down to la rambla, one of the most famous streets in barca. We perused the central market and enjoyed some food, as well as suuuuper expensive chocolate. Nothing bad had even happened so I guess that chocolate was just for fun. We finally made it down to the water, which we enjoyed before taking the metro up to Parc Guell, also designed by Gaudi. It was there that we discovered that if both our careers fail, we can just got to a European city, play hacky sack and put a hat out and we'd probably make at least a few euros everyday. That was a fun realization. One more place on the lists of both napping and hacky-ing.

That evening we went to a tapas bar I had found for Michael's early birthday celebration. He'll be 23 on Friday, when he's in Paris, so I wanted us to celebrate while in barca. We enjoyed delicious tapas, some of the best sangria I've ever had and traditional Catalan deserts.

I'm disappointed I didn't have more time to explore the city, because there is so much to see there, but I am also antsy to get back to work. This was a lot of time off. I thought about reading articles and doing some work while away but there really wasn't time for it. Im pretty sure I won't get another vacation like this for a long time so I decided to just focus on the vacationing, which I did. I'm now on the way home- I can hardly believe it. It feels like forever ago that I was just arriving in Denmark. I'm very grateful for this adventure and so glad I had a great travel buddy. I never would have gone all those places if Michael wasn't set on having a massive Europe trip.

We just started the descent over Chicago airport, where we'll land in 40 minutes. I fly from there to Des Moines. I can't wait to see my mom!