Barcelona, part 2

The second day, I woke up early and went on a Rick Steves walking tour.  I love to download his tours on my phone and put my headphones in and just follow what he says to do.  He often tells you where to stop for a snack or a drink, but everything was closed on Sunday morning.  It was nice to have the streets mostly to myself, though. 

Here are some more buildings that were designed by Gaudi.  

I went into this apartment building to see if they had tickets to tour the building, and they did.  I decided to wait to see if Milena wanted to tour with me later in the day, but we ran out of time.  

Even the street tiles were designed by him.  

Here are some other sites around the newer portion of the city, Eixample, where we were staying.  You can also see some runners, because there was a marathon going on.  It happened to be on the same day as the NYC marathon, but many fewer people were running.  

One of the markets that Rick Steves said to stop into, but it was closed. 

After the tour, I met up with the rest of the group and we went shopping and then went to lunch.  the food was so good here. 

After a delicious lunch, I went off on my own again to tour the Cathedral of Barcelona.  

the view from the roof of the cathedral...

La Sagrada Familia

After the cathedral, I walked around the older part of town, which I quite enjoyed but didn't take any pictures.  Then I met up with the group again and we took a night train back to Valencia.  

And that's Barcelona!

Barcelona, part 1

 I'm not someone that has a "bucket list" but I do have a few places that I have always wanted to visit, and Barcelona is one of them.  So I finally got to go while I was in Spain.  Our first stop was "La Sagrada Familia" cathedral.  This cathedral has apparently been under construction for a hundred years and is still not done.   The architect, Antoni Gaudi, worked on this cathedral for 40 years and after he died, others took over and have continued to work on it.  You can see some of the scaffolding and a crane in these pictures. 

We entered on this side of the building....

Inside is supposed to resemble trees because Gaudi liked to bring nature into his work. 

On the other side of the building, these sculptures were carved into the side. 

I loved the expression on their faces

Christmas 2021, part 2

 After Christmas, I took my niece to the city to visit the American Girl Doll store.  When we drove by, she said, "It's better than I even imagined."  Here she is with her doll in front of the display.  

We met up with some friends and their daughter, who also has a doll.  Here they are in a cute car that is in the "Julie" section of the store.  

And posing in front of the Christmas tree.

One of the things you can do here is get your doll's hair done.  (yes, really)

She was happy with how it came out. 

The store is across the street from Rockefeller Center, so we stopped by to see the tree, too. 

Christmas 2021

 Just a few pictures from Christmas this year.  

Before I went to NJ, I got tested for Covid, since I had been exposed to a few people that later tested positive.  It took 4 hours, but my test came out negative. 

Valencia part 5

After the Paella making class, we walked to the other side of town to see the opera house and cultural center.  

This is a picture of the area that we took during our flight in. 

A few more odds and ends...

I liked the design of this bottle

I got some Horchata. In Spain, they drink it with a pastry called a "farton" so I had to try that, too.  

Selfie in the plaza 

More graffiti

Valencia part 4

 We took a class on how to make Paella.  It was fun, but I'm sure I'll never make it again.  

First we met at the Russafa Market. 

Then we walked over to the kitchen where we made the food.  Look at how enormous this pan is.  

Here's Milena's daughter grating a tomato.

And Milena stirring the beans

The finished product. 

Our paella was made with chicken and rabbit, and they added snails at the end.  I did eat the rabbit (but pretended it was chicken), but didn't eat the snails. 

Valencia part 3

Shopping in the old part of the city.  There is a local who paints himself in all of his graffiti.  Here is an example. 

We went to the Lladro store. 

This is a bottle of water.  I brought one home because I thought it was so pretty.  

A random store display.