New Thing #94 - Wanderlust (Paris & Barcelona Day 6)

Month 6 - Wanderlust

December 5, 2018 - Barcelona: Day 6

Soooo, Sandi and I may have had a wee bit too much fun last night, because I woke up with a pretty strong case of the wine flu. Sorry not sorry though. We had a great time! The only drawback is that today is our last day in Barcelona, and we spent most of the morning sleeping. Oh well, you only party in Barcelona once, amiright?

Roast Club to the rescue again. When I walked in, the waitress not only remembered me, but she also remembered my order from yesterday. That's the kind of local flavor I love. Since I was famished, I added in a turkey/cheese/avocado sammich. Yes, I ate all of this with zero regrets!

We made one final stop on our Gaudí Barcelona tour extravaganza. We headed up into the mountains to Park Güell, which is a park within a park, that boasts some of Gaudís most unique features.

One final stop for Gaudí!

This house, which now doubles as the gift shop, reminds me of Hansel and Gretel, who might still be inside.

Okay, this is gorgeous.

No, wait, THIS is gorgeous. I do love symmetry and continuity.

Trying something. Give me a minute...

So, we had this great idea to take a photo on this angled wall because we thought it would look cool. Um. It does not. It was also incredibly uncomfortable and awkward to get in to. Enjoy. LOL

The view from the top wasn't too shabby!

Trying our "camera on the ground with the timer" shot from Paris.

Oh heyyyy

See? A gingerbread house.

Some tiles within the park.

Tiny replica.

More lovely doors!

We spent about an hour at the park, but it was starting to get crowded, so we headed back near our hotel to round up a few sites we hadn't seen yet, including the Barcelona Cathedral (that cost too much to go into), the Christmas markets and some additional side streets. Weariness got the best of us, so we opted for a cat nap, a shower and the opportunity to pack. Our wake up call is going to be stupid early.

 Barcelona Cathedral

Christmas markets.

These log people are a tradition as well. They are filled with candy and opened at Christmas. Kind of like a Spanish version of a piñata.

Just love the detail on this building.

Lunch tapas!

Meatballs!

Balsamic and goat cheese salad. Yum.

Cheese fries

We never went in here, but it's a boujee name for a sandwich shop.

Rooftop hotel. Too bad it was too chilly to enjoy it! (We did discover there's a hot tub around the corner.)

View from the hotel roof.

Next, we made it back down to Plaza Catalunya to meet up for our final tour of the trip: a walking tour of the Gothic Quarter, tapas and a flamenco show. Luckily, it was just the two of us with our guide Aneta, so we could walk at whatever pace we wanted and get a more hands-on experience.

If you're in the market for some authentic flamenco shoes, you can get some handmade here!

Excavations found original Roman ruins.

Gothic quarter.

More pooping figurines.

Yes, this is a rubber ducky store in Barcelona. And, it's quite popular.

There was an exhibit that used different chairs as characters from the nativity scene. Each chair is dressed up to represent a person or animal.

Donkey.

Horse.

Baby Jesus.

A wise man.

Cow. (I didn't get pics of everything.)

Our tapas restaurant for dinner.

We got to pick two of our choosing from these trays.

I chose a Spanish omelette with eggs and potatoes and a chicken skewer.

One drink came with our tour, so naturally, I chose sangria.

Aneta ordered a variety of additional dishes including this meat and cheese platter...

...more tomato and olive oil bread...

...cheesy potatoes...

...and more chicken croquettes!

Small intimate venue for our flamenco show.

I need this dress.

He means serious business.

The flamenco show was really cool and fun to watch, but I felt like the performers were a bit distracted and/or tired. This was the last show of the night, and I think they were over their characters. I also wish it would have been a bit longer than 25-30 minutes, but they were still pretty incredible and it was a cool experience.

With our guide, Aneta!

December 6, 2018 - Home

3:00am came way too early this morning, but to be honest, neither of us slept very well to begin with. At least we didn't have any trouble flagging down an Uber to get to the airport. We arrived pretty early, but it's a good thing we did. Despite getting our bag tags quickly, we still had to wait in a slow-moving line to actually drop our bags off. I'm not sure what point self check in does if you still have to wait in the line to check your bags.

By the time we made it through dropping our bags off and getting through security, we had around 20 minutes to try to find something to eat before our flight to Amsterdam. I found another Spanish omelette, which I've gotta say is pretty damn good.

The flight to Amsterdam was running late, and we were starting to freak out a bit about our transfer. We didn't have much time before our flight back to Detroit and every minute we sat on the tarmac was one minute we'd have to sprint through the airport.

Since we left the European Union, we had to go through customs and the line was longer than our line to check bags. The silver lining was that they had an express lane for any short connecting flights. We never got to use that, but still ended up making it on time for our flight home. Side note: The Netherlands has some super hot immigration agents. Two in particular could have been models. I would have taken a photo, but that's pretty frowned upon when entering a new country. But, damn, maybe I should book a trip back to Amsterdam soon!

The flight to Detroit was without incident. Sandi and I managed to nab 3 seats all to ourselves, so we could spread out a bit more. Sleep was a hard time coming, but I managed to catch up on some movies. The rest of the day was quite a blur, but made it to Detroit without issue, grabbed some dinner and then headed home. Around 24 hours of travel, and I was ready to be home. Sandi's parents were so nice picking us up from the airport, using my car, so I could drive straight home. Jet lag is a bitch. And going to work the next day was a terrible idea. At least it was Friday!

This trip seemed like two completely different trips. The difference between our experiences in Paris and Barcelona were staggering. I'm glad Paris is now out of the way, but I would return to Barcelona in a heart beat. Perhaps I will make a two week trek of Spain for my 40th this year!