Barcelona Day 3

It has been another beautiful day in Barcelona. I slept a little later than everyone else this morning, as I was not able to get to sleep until after 3am. The bustling nighttime sounds of the city are starting to hinder my beauty sleep. :)

We went to La Granja again for coffee and breakfast this morning before we headed out to Park Guell.

Apparently this park is a very popular place to visit because our bus had no less than 50 people crammed in there and that included a group of kids from a summer camp. Suzanne and I were jostled, poked, and groped on our ride up the mountain, and just when we didn't think we could stand it much longer, we were there!

Park Guell was originally designed as an "urban design" directed towards the more well off families in Barcelona. Gaudi began working on the project in 1900 but they abandoned the project in 1914. The park was then acquired by the city and has obviously become VERY popular.

The park was absolutely beautiful! I wish that we could have spent some time just sitting and taking it all in but it was so crowded and we had such a full schedule that we weren't able to.

Once we left the park, we caught a bus to go see Sagrada Familia. This cathedral has been under construction for about 100 yrs and they have about 50 more to go. The line was crazy long so we just walked around the exterior and will go back earlier on another day to take a tour.

Our next destination was the Museu D'Historia de Barcelona. We went on a pretty amazing tour of some original ruins dating back a few thousand years. My favorite part was the chapel above the Plaza del Rey.

Once we left the museum, we headed back to Den's house to clean up before we caught the bus to Christina's house outside the city. We received such a warm welcome from her family. We met her parents, Mary Jane and Carlos, her two sisters Monica and Emma, Emma's husband David, and their beautiful girls, Erika and Nayra.

We took a before dinner walk down to the beach and put our feet in the Mediterranean.

 Den, Erika, and Christina

Well some of us put a little more in than just feet.

Then we walked back and opened a couple bottles of cava (champagne) and had the most amazing dinner in the garden.

After dinner Luke challenged Christina to a ping pong match in the basement.....

I'll let Luke tell you who won...

It was so great to meet Christina's family. They are so fun to be around. I now that we will have a great time with Mary Jane and Monica on the cruise.

On the ride back to the city, we practiced some Spanish and got to know Monica better (she was our driver).

Back at the flat Christina and I decided to serenade everyone with a little karaoke, and then it was time for bed. Tomorrow we are heading to Tarragona!