Keep Calm….. and Blog On

Posted on March 11, 2013 by dailydoseofeurope

Soooooo…. to say its been awhile since I have blogged would seriously be an understatement. What can I say……life just got busy. Halloween, birthdays, Christmas, New Years, more birthdays. Then throw in an “almost broken” hard drive that I just didn’t want to deal with…… well you get the picture! I have decided its finally time to finish our trip blog (after all, some people have been wondering how the flight home went with the little Miss).

So here goes…..

Now lets see just where DID I leave off…..

Day 2: Hop on Hop off bus tour.

It was another HOT cloudless day in Barcelona. We had our usual breakfast at the hotel, and then made our way to our bus stop for day 2 of our bus tour. I made sure that our hats were packed because I was determined to see Barcelona from the TOP of the open air bus. With our hats (and full sunscreen) on, Barcelona did not disappoint. What amazing buildings! So beautiful with their “movement”, colours, and unique style. My initial thought was that we were going to do the full loop on this tour since we didn’t do it the day before, but those thoughts quickly evaporated as we came upon La Pedrera. I decided in an instant, that it was worthwhile the kiddies got off the bus and saw this building up close and personal.

La Pedrera is just a stunning piece of architecture. I know that to some people it is more than this, but since this is not something I have ever studied I will take it for what it is…. and that is a beautifully crafted building. We got off our bus and made our way to the line to buy tickets. The kiddies were less than thrilled to be waiting in line, so I promised them that there would be a gelato at the end of the “tour”. As one waits in line, people come up and continually try and “sell” you things. This one lady who worked at La Pedrera, thought she would inform me of my “tour” choices once in the building….. Ummmmm…. I’m with two kids under age 5. There will be no 3 hour commentary tour, no 2 hour commentary tour, let alone a 1 hour commentary tour. We are heading to the roof, with a tiny walk around and then down to the cafe for gelato…. but hey…. thanks for asking!

The walk up to the roof was great. Brodie and I had a little game going and Syd followed in step for step (except when she wanted to be carried…. really little lady…. its like 100+ degrees). We finally made it to the roof and we were not disappointed. The views of the city were great (we even saw the landmark Sagrada Familia that we were at the day before). Brodie really liked the “stone soldiers” at the top, and Syd was just happy to hang with her brother. We had some great photo ops, and then decided to make our way down for gelato and a much needed coffee.

On the way down they take you through the apartment that Gaudi once lived in. This was super interesting until Syd saw a wooden rocking horse…. well all HELL broke loose. All she wanted to do was cross the “keep out rope”, and RIDE THAT HORSE from 1892 or when ever it was from! It felt like FOREVER trying to find our way out with a screaming Syd in my arms until a very nice lady told me I could take the lift down! We made our way to ground level on the lift, but one now needs to walk through the GIFT SHOP to get out of the building…. of course! I managed to get the kiddies through the gift shop with a small purchase of a “Gaudi 5 sided marker”, and into the cafe in record time.

The cafe was in the La Pedrera building so it was probably one of the most stunning cafes I have ever been to. We were seated and ordered 2 chocolate gelato and an uber yummy coffee. I remember thinking while we were sitting in that beautiful cafe, just how fortunate we were to be experiencing this amazing city around us and all it had to offer…… Sydney melt downs and all!

We ended up taking the hop on hop off bus line in the full loop. It was great to see the shopping districts and then make our way back to the hotel. We got cooled off and chilled out on the “club floor” of the hotel, getting snacks and drinks before meeting up with Mike for a picnic on the beach.

When we first reserved our hotels for the trip, I remember thinking that the kiddies and I would be at the beach in Barcelona EVERY DAY. It was so close to the hotel…. I seriously was picturing beach AWESOMENESS. Other than our first day walk around, we hadn’t been to the beach prior to this evening. It was fun to bring dinner down with us, but for some reason I just wasn’t having the experience I was hoping for……. my expectations were high, and I guess were just not met. The beach was busy and it just wasn’t what I had pictured Barcelona beaches to be. The kiddies did have a TON of fun in the waves. While Syd was totally apprehensive at first about getting in the water, she finally stripped off all her clothes (of course) and frolicked around with Mike and Brodie. Brodie was having SO much fun jumping in and trying to ride the waves. I was pretty happy watching all of it unfold with my Nikon in hand, all from the safety of a dry towel, warm sand. We had a lovely evening being together on the beach but that was our one and only time spent on the Barcelona beaches.

It really was a great day…. Barcelona, Beaches, and My Family……seriously…. NOTHING BETTER!

Enjoy your (not so) Daily Dose.

Xox

Waiting for the tour bus

Larger than life Usain Bolt

All the beautiful buildings from our top of the bus view.

Brodie called this the “Eye Ball” building…. we are watching you!

Fun, but “hot” bus seats

La Pedrera

La Perdrera

The walk up to the roof top…. Brodie was just a tad bit hot from all the Barcelona sunshine!

Roof Top Beauty

Looking towards Sagrada Familia

Stairway fun

Our beautiful cafe/gelato stop

Ceiling detail in cafe

Mmmmmm……. Gelato (and amazing coffee), makes everything better!

Stunning building near our hotel in the Diagonal Mar

So lovely….. all the white against the blue sky.

Picnic on the beach

Syd was having NONE of it……

Brodie was all in!

Off comes the clothes

Now she is loving the waves!

My Princess…..

…. with lashes that go on forever!

Wave riding all evening

Fun

Looking down the Barcelona beach towards the W hotel

Hello……It Began in 1882!

Posted on October 3, 2012 by dailydoseofeurope

We woke up in Barcelona on the Monday morning to what looked to be a smog filled sky. Turns out the winds had shifted and were blowing the smoke from the fires around Girona into town.

We made our way to the busiest breakfast buffet EVER and began our day. The plan was to head out on the street tram and head to the Barcelona Zoo – the last stop on the tram line. The day was predicted to hot and muggy, so being in the shade, under trees, in the zoo, seemed to be a good option for the kiddies and I. Not to mention that the kiddies have been so SUPER excited by zoos in Europe, and all the animals that call them home.

The Barcelona zoo is MASSIVE. So much so, that the brochure gives you routes for half the zoo one day the other half the next. This freaked me out a bit not knowing what I was getting my self into since we were only doing the one day! However once we entered and made our route, I knew we would see all that we wanted to see and it wouldn’t take us 2 days!

Syd slept through a big part of the zoo in the stroller which gave Brodie and I some time to look at and chat about the animals we were seeing. His highlights were of course the Orangutans, but he was also super excited to be seeing Owls, and learning about Bats. The only big cat we saw on this day was the Cheetah, and much to Brodie’s dismay was just laying in the shade under a tree.

We stopped for lunch which turned out to be a bit of a gong show…. it took way to long for what it was. It however turned out to be a nice reprieve from the bombardment of animal questions that was being thrown at me from the little man. After we left our rest stop, we saw the line up for the dolphin show. It took some convincing, but the kiddies decided that they wanted to wait in line for he show. It was about a 45 minute wait, but as the show began Brodie turned to me and proclaimed “This is the best show…. EVER”. Both kiddies were enthralled by the 2 dolphins being put through their routine. The whole show was done in Spanish so while we couldn’t understand a thing that was being said, but with all the jumps, and the splashes…. well the kiddies were throughly entertained and LOVED it!

After our full day at the Zoo we decided to head back to the hotel and hit the outdoor pool. It was here that Brodie made fast friends with Ryan…… a boy on vacation from his life in Geneva. The pool at the hotel was funny that there was no shallow end……it was the same depth end to end. There was a really shallow kiddies pool, but everyone wanted to be in the deep pool given that is was warmer than the shallow kiddie pool (weird). After about 2 hours of endless diving with Ryan, and seeing who could hold their breath the longest, it was time to call it a day and get cleaned up for dinner. Brodie and Ryan made plans for a “pool meet-up” for the following day.

Tuesday in Barcelona saw us purchase a 2 day pass, and hop “on”, the Aqua coloured “hop on hop off” busses for a tour around town. Our destination was Mount Tibidabo, to take in the views of the city and the amusement park at the top. It was a hot and sunny day, and with no clouds in sight, I forgot the most important thing in the hotel room….. the kids hats! Uuugghhhhh….. no hats meant that with my über sensitive boy, who still had his heat rash, we were sitting in the lower, covered (but air-conditioned) part of the bus. We missed seeing a lot of the amazing architecture that first day, but we did hop “off” the bus at the astonishingly beautiful Sagrada Familia.

The Sagrada Familia is one of Barcelona’s most famous Antoni Gaudi architectural landmarks. With that being said…. most famous or not….. I knew that the kiddies would never make it through a walk through of the building so we ended up just walking around it, taking a bazillion pictures and, commenting on just how beautiful it truly is. Not to mention just how long it is taking to build….Hello…… it began in 1882!

Now sometimes hopping “off” the “hop on hop off” busses isn’t the best idea….. we lined up for about 35 minutes waiting to get back “on” a bus to take us to the Mount Tibidabo stop. It was at this stop that we would then hop on the Tramvia Blau tram, which would take us to the Peu de Funicular, which would then take us to the top of Mount Tibidabo. Yes…….. it was a crazy day of transit!

The kids were having a blast, but were happy to finally get to the top of the mountain. The views of Barcelona were absolutely stunning! We honestly could see forever! The amusement park was closed, but there was a carousel ride that was operating and a place to buy coffee and have a snack! We would have stayed longer had the amusement park been open, but the kids were happy to ride in circles on the carousel overlooking Barcelona, and that was good enough for me! We eventually made our way back to the bottom of the tram line and decided that we would take the metro back to the hotel. The metro was pretty easy to navigate without any major problems until we got back to our stop…… now to decide which exit to take. Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe… Yeah, we picked the wrong exit….. placing us farther from the hotel than needed… oh well, next time we would know!

It had been a long day to get back where we started from, so it was time to just chill. Brodie was anxious to get to the pool and connected with Ryan…. they did have a plan for a “pool meet up” after all.

Cooling off in the pool, after taking in a lot of amazing Barcelona sites was the best way to end our busy day! Oh my……thank goodness for our awesome pool!

Enjoy Your Daily Dose

Xox