Barcelona Festival

Today we went to the Gothic quarter and enjoyed the Festival of the Giants. People wear very tall costumes with mostly human forms, although we saw dragons and other scary creators. They dance and twirl, and one large police officer squirted water towards the audience! There were thousands of people watching the parade

We then walked towards the center courtyard and watched the human pyramid competition. Groups of people climb on top of each other's shoulders and try to reach the tallest height. It's scary when they fall; however, there are so many people below to break their fall.

Next, we meandered through the narrow streets looking at all the quant shops, going through an historical museum, and enjoying the Gothic architecture.

To see pictures, click here

Pictures

For some reason, pictures won't upload to this blog. I've uploaded today's pictures to Picasa and the link is below. Please let me know if you are able to view them and if they look OK. Thanks!

Album link: https://picasaweb.google.com/114368931225061757765/Barcelona

Barcelona beauty

Today we went on a bus tour to see the sights of Barcelona. Our apartment is in a nice central location, but because of the angled streets it's very easy to get lost and it takes longer to go somewhere. So, our impression of the city before today has been a little disappointing. The three hour tour enabled us to see much more of Barcelona's beauty. It seems to be spread out more than Madrid. Barcelona hosted the 1929 Olympics, and then again in 1992. All of Barcelona came together 21 years ago to improve the city for the world games, and over 100,000 volunteers came forward to help. You can see these improvements today from beautiful parks to an amazing waterfront.

We learned on the tour today that the National Museum of Art was originally a palace. The view from atop this hill is just breath taking. To imagine being king and waking up to this view every day is just mind blowing. The Olympic stadiums and buildings are just behind the art museum, and we enjoyed seeing them up close on the tour today.

We stopped at the expansive waterfront and enjoyed coffee (thank you Starbucks) and then lunch (thank you McDonald's). By the way, it was the most beautiful McDonald's I've ever seen. We then went shopping at an actual shopping center, and found cute pants you can't find in the United States.

There is an annual festival going on this week called Barcelona La Merce Festival. http://www.bcn.cat/merce/recursos/docs/ProgramaMerce2013ang.pdf  There are many different events including the human pyramids, the parade of the giants, and spectacular fireworks displays.

Scenic drive from Madrid to Barcelona

Our drive from Madrid to Barcelona took us about six hours. The scenery at times was like a desert, with large rock formations similar to the grand canyon. Then the terrain changed and reminded us of driving through northern California. We saw many wind turbines along the way. Most of the time the speed limit was 120 km/hr.

There were many beautiful old churches. We also saw a number of old and crumbling structures. And occasionally on a hilltop you could see an old fortress. The Spanish are a proud and conquering people. Every so often we saw a huge black metal bull cut out along the highway. What it means we had no idea!

We got into Barcelona and quickly found out why everyone says don't drive your car to the city. There is a lot of traffic and the traffic lights are not timed for continuous movement. It's stop at each light for several minutes at a time. There's not nearly enough parking and what we could find was expensive.

Madrid bus tour

Madrid has double decker bus tours, where you can get off and then back on as often as you want. It's a great way to see all the sites at our own pace. It's also a great taxi!

We stopped at the Madrid Royal Palace and enjoyed a tour of the inside. The original palace burned on Christmas Eve in the 1700's. They rebuilt entirely out of stone and marble. It's a very impressive place.

Dining at the Ritz

We enjoyed dining and drinks at the Madrid Ritz Carlton Hotel. They sat us in a beautiful garden, with lighted fountains and ponds. A large formal party was on one side, and tables & chairs on the other. An incredible Spanish guitar trio serenaded us. The chicken quesadilla was the best food we've had in Madrid!

Madrid architechture

Albert and I are in awe of the incredibly ornate Madrid buildings! Albert was told by three different people not to spend much time here, as it wasn't a very pretty city. Boy were they wrong! We could spend weeks here and still not see everything!

Click here to see the pictures of Madrid.

Preparation

With less than one week until departure, we are madly trying to finish everything so we can go.  Albert had to meet with clients in Eastern Oregon, prepare 30 days of food for his mother, and break the news to his little dog that he won't be back for a while.  Eric is packing, getting the tech toys together, finishing up with clients, and making sure his family is set for a month without him.