Last day in Barcelona

Hard to believe this is our last day.  Again it is a little wet outside so we decide to pass on the hop on hop off bus again and start the day by taking the metro to the Templo de la Segrada Familia.  Today the line is about ½ as long as the other day when we get there, but it is still 20 minutes before it is even scheduled to open!  Unfortunately because of the weather the towers are closed so we can’t go up, so we just did the audio tour and entrance to the Church.  Wow, Gaudi has quite the imagination, it was very interesting but definitely did not feel like a Church with so many people in side and all the noise.  The audio tour actually made it a little better because you could not hear everyone speaking so much.  The cathedral  is still under construction, about another 30 years at least to go before it is complete to Gaudi’s plans.  It is amazing to see now over the skyline of Barcelona, can’t imagine what it is going to look like in another 30 years.  Part of the audio tour takes you outside to explain some of the towers and architecture, but it is now raining so hard that we did not even listen to the whole tour.  At the end we discovered a museum under the cathedral that goes in to more details about the design and decided to go through here too, partly to stay dry, and partly because it was interesting, but again so crowded.  We were at the Cathedral and museum for about 2 hours and by the time we left the rain had let up so we decided to walk back towards the apartment and explore some more.

Waiting for the metro

In Segrada Familia

Segrada Familia

Outside of Segrada Familia

On the walk home we went by the Arch de Triumph, yep Barcelona has one too.  It was very pretty, where in Paris it is in the middle of the traffic circle, this one is in the middle of a park which makes it very nice to take pictures are wander around.  The green space is very pretty.

Arch de Triumph

Headed home and picked up some take out pizza.  This is another place that was recommended in the apartment, they had 4 different kinds made and you choose the slice that you want, we went with one of each, all very yummy.  Take out because we had wine and beer to finish and I didn’t want to waste the 3 Euro bottle of wine!

Check out the cash register in the pizza shop

Siesta time again for Wendy while I clean up a few pictures.  The internet here has been really terrible so haven’t had a chance to upload any more to the blog, I’ll be busy when we get home.  We packed up most of our things for tomorrow morning early flight.

Another Gaudi building

The weather is now not so bad so we decide to head out to see the Magical Fountain light show.  This is a display right out front of the palace very near the Olympic Grounds.  We had not been to this part of town yet, there are still quite a few spots we will not get to visit this trip, but we assume that one year we will take a cruise out of Barcelona and be back again.  The fountain was very nice, done to music and a few lights.  It wasn’t very dark yet when we were there, so it may have been prettier a little later.

Barcelona arena

Location of magic fountain

Looking down at magic fountain

Amazing how the Segrada Familia stands out over the skyline

Magic fountain in action

Decided we would have supper on the walk home.  The walk home is all downhill and very easy except it has started to rain again.  I have picked up a broken umbrella one day on our travels that was rolling around on the street, it has become a laugh for us every day.  I am a little upset tonight as even the claps to hold it closed broke. 

So many beautiful balconies

Walked by the restaurant “Tickets|”, had read about this online. Stopped by to see the menu, but they only take internet reservations, a little out of our price range anyway.  We did watch for a bit through the window to see what they were preparing, google it online, very trendy looking stuff.

Ended up going to a place where a girl on a street corner told us to go and with the little ticket she gave us they would give us a free drink.  We were very surprised when we got there to see that the place was full.  Ended up waiting for a table for about 30 minutes to even get in, but again a fantastic meal.  Barcelona has certainly come through with some amazing food.  From our apartment there are literally 100’s of tiny restaurants to try down all these little side streets, during the day you would never even know they are there the way they are all boarded up, but at night it certainly does come alive!  The restaurant we ate at tonight closes the kitchen at midnight and then it turns into a club at until 3AM, this city truly does never sleep

April 28 Homeward bound

Up at 4:30 for a quick breakfast and off to the airport.  We worried a little about catching a cab at this time of the morning, but Wendy watched from our window in the apartment and saw there were literally cabs going by every few seconds.  Got all the luggage out to the curb and we hadn’t even stopped walking before one stopped for us.  Guess he was glad to get a sober fare to the airport rather than pick up more partiers from the night before. 

We are on the airplane right now from London to Halifax.  Our itinerary is Barcelona – Heathrow, London –Halifax – Moncton.  A long day but we get in around 5PM tonight which will be around 10PM Barcelona time for us, perfect time for supper like we have been used to now for the last month.  We have had a fantastic trip, know how fortunate we are to be able to do this, and really do hope we can manage again next year.  Who knows where next years travels will bring us, but I’m sure we will be off somewhere….  Back to work tomorrow.