Days 5-7 in Barcelona

Matt started Tech Ed so he has been escaping with the laptop before I wake up and returning after we sleep, so blogging has been on hiatus. He got back early tonight so here goes.

I can't remember where we left off, but on Sunday we took the Bus Turistic up to Parc Guell, a Gaudi fantasy. The boys wanted more hiking, but they loved the mosaic Salamander fountain. It was a lovely day, and the rest of Barcelona joined us in Parc Guell. It made the people watching fun, but it was quite crowded.

Jacob is getting used to the time zone so we are able to pack more into our days now. On Monday we wandered over to La Rambla and wandered the streets of the Barri Gotic. My parents had recommendations for a certain restauarant in the neighborhood. My dad got his roast chicken and the boys had french fries. We played hide and seek in Placa Reial and found a playground in the middle of Place Sant Michele. Unfortunately, we were unable to find any of the markers of the Jewish Ghetto. I think you need a tour guide, and we just can't seem to get out of the apartment early enough to make the 10 am tour.

After lunch we headed over to the Richard Meir designed Contemporary Art museum. The building was fabulous, like walking in a sculplture. The art was a bit modern for my taste. The boys were downright frightened of several of the installation pieces. Though, one large, brightly colored Miro sculpture caught Jacob's attention. He sat on the ground for 15 minutes and sketched it. Nate was very helpful and stood over him, making comments such as, "That looks nothing like it." or "That's the wrong color." Like a true artist, Jacob ignored the critics.

Dinner that night was an exercise in frustration as we are finding most nights in Barcelona. Dinner at 8:30 is just too late for my boys. Tapas bars offer very little in the way to eat for the kosher minded and the toddler inspired. After wandering the street near our apartment for 20 minutes with whining boys, I gave up and made them scrambled eggs and cheese in the microwave in the apartment. I had bread and Nutella (no complaints on my end!)

Tuesday was Picasso day. We were up and out of the house after stopping in a cafe for some of the famed Barcelona chocolate drink. Jacob was covered in chocolate much to the amusement of the little old ladies sitting next to him. It was a true eating day for him as he spent the whole day complaining about being hungry. At each stop (every 30 minutes or so,) he ate a Clementine, apple or chips. In total today, in addition to his meals, Jacob ate 4 clementines, 2 whole apples, 1 bag of potato chips, 1 cube of cheese, 1 croissant and 1 Kinder egg. He is the very Hungry Caterpillar.

We toured the Museu Picasso. The paintings were nice, but I was most impressed with the building. The Museu is housed in 3 ancient homes connected. The outside facades look postively medievil, but the insides were 100% modern. After the Museu, we headed to Parc de la Ciutadella. The boys enjoyed this more, though Nate was determined we should rent a row boat and row the pond. I put the kibosh on this plan, as it has been more than 17 years since I have rowed a boat, and I could see us stranded in the middle, and Jacob in the dirty water. We found a playground and the boys played for an hour while the grown-ups basked in the sun and made dinner plans.

The Parc is next to the Born neighborhood, which is ultra trendy and hip. As such, the restaurants correspond. Since it was only 4, we had to kill some time. A choice had to be made between the Museu de Xocalata (chocolate!) or Museu de Zoologica. It was a tough choice, but we went for animals. I think we were the only visitors to this musuem in a long time. It is a dusty old hallway with loads of taxidermy animals. The boys were thrilled! They spent a long time examining the animals and skeletons.

Then it was time to go search the circuitous streets of the Born looking for an Asian restuarant called Wushu. Despite the guide book's assurance, Wushu was closed till 8 pm, a disappointing discovery after a long time wandering around lost. No worries though, we found a cafe for croissants and cappucino. Then we wandered the streets killing time before dinner at Udon a noodle bar we found in our rambles. Udon was great, similar to Wagamamma in London. The boys were THRILLED to have edamame and soba noodles after a week of tomatoes and cheese.

Now we are back at the apartment, and the boys collapsed into bed.

Today's kinder egg sorpresas were: a tiny yellow car and a silly yellow bat eraser.