The Ramblas and Barceloneta

For our last day in Barcelona we decided to take a stroll down The Ramblas and check out the waterfront. Of course we had to grab a little breakfast first.

At the beginning of the walk we passed by the Fountain of Canaletes. The fountain was built when they transformed the street from a drainage ditch to a beautiful street. 

Fountain of Canaletes

An old legend says that if you dink from the fountain than you are certain to return to Barcelona. Of course we each took a drink and filled our water bottle so Jane could have a drink later as well. 

Fountain of Canaletes

We passed by another Market, La Boqueria Market

The markets were so vibrant and it was fun passing through although we didn't buy anything. 

Walking past the Heart of the Ramblas. The painting has an arrow that represents an anchor and is meant to remind the city of it's attachment to the sea. 

Heart of The Ramblas

The walk was fun. A great spot for people watching. I guess The Rambla is a place where a lot of pick pocketing occurs and can be especially sketchy at night but luckily we didn't run into any problems.

At the end of the Ramblas we came to the Columbus Monument. It was built to honor Columbus who came to Barcelona the year after America. 

A little ironic that at statue was built for him since Columbus' other discoveries jump started 300 years of decline for the city.  

On our way to the waterfront we passed by the Head of Barcelona so Kevin had a chance to see it. 

A nice view of Montjuic castle from the waterfront. It was fun getting to see it from this perspective after having been there the day before. 

At this point we'd made it to Barceloneta which is where the beaches are at. If it had been just me and Kevin it would have been nice to spend part of a day on the beach but considering Jane would have just tried to eat sand most of the time we decided we'd rather not. 

We did find a restaurant right off the beach so we could enjoy the view while keeping Jane sand-free. 

I think Jane was just happy to be out of her stroller and free to wander around. 

By this time Jane was done and ready for a proper nap so we grabbed a bus and made our back to our hotel. There was a park I would have liked to have seen with a lot of architecture of Gaudi but it would have meant a longer bus ride and we thought Jane would not make it. She was sort of over Spain by this point. Instead we took a bus to a Chocolate Museum before going out for dinner. 

The Chocolate museum was a little lame and overpriced at 5 Euros each but I was glad we didn't try to go somewhere else because Jane was done pretty quickly. 

It was still fun though!

After dinner we spent the rest of the evening getting our things together since we needed to leave for the airport in the morning. The flight back to America was a little rough compared to the flight there. Since it was during the day we had to try and keep an awake Jane happy in a very confined space. Not easy when all that baby wants to do is MOVE. Our flight ended up leaving late and we had a really short connection in Newark (and several very unhelpful people I might add). By the time we got our bags from customs and got through security again our next flight had already left. We could have taken a flight to Denver and gotten back to KC at 11:30 pm (which would been 6:30 am to us), flown standby for a direct flight to KC that evening, or stay the night and take a direct flight to KC in the morning. Since we were traveling with an overtired baby staying the night in Newark became the best option. Only problem was we didn't have all our luggage. Jane was fine on clothes and diapers but Kevin and I were not as prepared. We had a few things but we bought a few overpriced essentials at the hotel store, did laundry, and called it a day. I didn't buy any souvenirs for myself in Spain (except coffee) but I know have a great New York t-shirt. 

 It was so great to sleep and even more wonderful to get home the next day and see our sweet Anna. (Not sure if I mentioned previously that Anna had stayed with Kevin's Mom and Dad a week and then my Mom and Dad several days) Jane and Anna were so excited to see each other. It was a fantastic trip but being home was wonderful. Our neighbors had mowed for us too so getting back a day late wasn't as dreadful as we'd expected. We were pretty exhausted the following week but I'm so glad we were able to make this trip happen. We will definitely always remember our first trip to Europe!