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Barcelona

Our next European travel adventure, and last for the summer, begins with Barcelona.  None of us have been to Spain prior to this.  My takeaway is, similar to Italy, the food and drinks are great and I anticipate we will take some of it into our daily lives.  There is something called pan con tomate which is just bread, tomato, garlic and olive oil.  We got those ingredients (plus cheese) and ate it for meals several times at our Airbnb in Costa Brava - our next stop.  

Also, Sangria.  Sangria de Vino and Sangria de Cava were served everywhere.  The food tour guide  mentioned that people in Spain tend to simplify these and use cheap wine or cava mixed with Fanta.  So, to Ryan's horror, we did that as well. A fun fact about Ryan is that he is a purist when it comes to wine and cava/champagne/prosecco so the idea of mixing those with other things or even putting in ice cubes is offensive to him.  Nonetheless, we did it because when in Spain...  I do wonder if this one will be repeated when we get back home or if it's only acceptable in Spain.  We'll see!

More Barcelona photos here:

August 17:  Flight to Barcelona was eventful only in that Sam lost a tooth.  It's fitting that it occurs on an airplane given our new jet-setting lifestyle.

August 18:  Ryan worked today so Sam and I headed to Park Güell.  It is a beautiful park on a hill (a challenge in the heat).  We went to a sandwich shop near by to pick up lunch for a picnic in the park which was a highlight. We could have spent the whole day there.  We did not.  We spent a challenging hour seeking shade due to the heat.  The humidity in Spain at this time of year is interesting which is a nice way of saying it's damn humid.  


After the park, Ryan met us at La Sagrada Familia for a scheduled tour of the church and one of the towers (Nativity Facade).  Having traveled some in Europe I don't always opt for a church tour given I've done many now, but this one is different in its uniqueness.  It was designed by Antoni Gaudi and difficult to convey in photos but very beautiful and everything has a purpose or meaning.  



August 19:  Today we scheduled a food and history tour which led us through the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona.  Food tours work well for us to get to know the city and figure out the food scene.  This one was also more focused on history than others we have done.  It was a good tour except some mixed feelings about the tour guide.  We ended up with a private tour since no one else was booked.  Ryan and I have learned that we do best with small group tours but not with private or large group tours.  The issue with private tours is that there are no buffers between us and the tour guide.  We don't want to have to feel pressured to carry on conversation or ask insightful questions.  So, we had 3 hours with the tour guide and that was plenty.  


After the tour, I had a meltdown!  As mentioned in a prior post, meltdowns for me are typically caused by by being hot, hungry and tired.  As it turns out, they are also caused by being hot, FULL, and tired which I was at the moment (and a long bus ride away from our hotel).  In my corporate life, we did something called AARs (After Action Reviews) which is basically a post-mortem to see what went well or not in a project and how it can be done better in the future.  Ryan and I do AARs for our travels to see what we need to improve upon or keep doing for future trips.  After this meltdown, Ryan suggested we do AMRs (After Meltdown Reviews) since I do like to keep him on his toes with throwing new meltdown scenarios at him such as this one.  

August 20: Heading to Costa Brava today by train.  

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