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!

Olympic Park and Fairgrounds

As mentioned in my previous post we wanted to check out Olympic Park on our way back from visiting Montjuic castle. 

The park is pretty empty these days. It is kind of a shame because the area really is beautiful but it was still cool being so close to the Olympic Torch. I could just imagine the courtyard filled with people. 

It looked like they were building some softball fields in the area so hopefully that will bring more people up there to the park in the future. 

Jane was getting hungry so we found a little garden area with some shade to eat our picnic lunch. 

Jane enjoyed being free from the stroller for a bit. 

Behold the baby!

Olympic Park is adjacent to the Catalan Art Museum.  I had my ticket from the other day and since Kevin didn't actually get to look at any of the artwork during the Gala he looked around while I nursed Jane. 

Another look at the 1929 World Expo Fairgrounds

It was getting late in the day so we took the escalators down and began to make our way back to the hotel. 

This fountain is called the Magic Fountains. In the evenings they have music and colored lights and put on a little show with the fountain. During the Gala they arranged for it to go off again so Kevin actually got to see it.

More structure from the 1929 Fairgrounds. 

Placa d'Espanya is a major transportation hub and is where we caught a bus to get back to our hotel. 

Placa d'Espanya

After getting Jane a good nap we ventured out for dinner and I took Kevin by the Block of Discord on our way. 

A repeat of the photos but the building is just so cool!

It was a really busy but really fun day. I was a little sad to see it end since it meant we only had one day left in Spain!

Montjuic Castle

For our second full conference-free day we decided to go and check out Montjuic castle. First we caught a bus to the bottom of the hill and then enjoyed walking up to the castle. 

Our first good look of the castle. The castle is 18th century and was originally built for 'watching' the people of Barcelona and suppressing them. If someone was told they were "being taken to Montjuic" it meant they weren't going to be seen again.  It was even the site of hundreds of political executions. 

Luckily for us the castle is now under control of Barcelona's government (as opposed to Spain's national government) and is now a beautiful park.

Jane had fallen asleep during our walk up to the castle so we decided to check out the castle grounds first before heading in to see the museum.

A nice view of some of Barcelona.

Castle grounds.

A view of the harbor.

Another view of the castle before heading inside. They had a small little museum inside where they gave a history of the castle and showed up show it transformed over the years. We also found a little room to get a little snack.

Kevin standing guard.

You will NOT get past me!

The castle grounds really were lovely and we had fun wandering around.

Not exactly sure what this statue was for. I'm hoping that cuddling up next to it isn't offensive to someone. 

Jane was being such a cutie. You'll have to excuse the dorky hat though. I lost our cute pink hat on a walk earlier in the week and we stopped in a shop to buy one and there were limited options. It served it's purpose though and kept our fair baby safe from the sun. Somehow we managed to lose this hat too but I'm not too broken up about it. 

Baby in a castle!

A view from the top of the castle. 

Jane really just wanted to walk around everywhere. Luckily it was pretty wide open so she could explore. It's crazy that she was a new walker during this trip and now she is doing pretty amazing. A lot changes in two months!

Walking with Daddy

Such pretty views of the city and ocean.

Kevin had actually been up to the castle earlier in the week. He and a coworker skipped out on a talk one day and decided to do a little sightseeing. Luckily the conference wasn't terribly far from Montjuic. I was glad he didn't mind coming again though because it was beautiful!

After we'd had enough of the castle we made our way back down the mountain and stopped by Olympic Park on our way. More pictures in the next post!