HOLA, BARCELONA AND MADRID

I LOVED these purple flowers in Barcelona...

I LOVE the girl beside me even more!

Our first day in Barcelona was spent sleeping in... and barely getting out to get food....  We were exhausted from the fast pace of the rest of the trip.  We did enjoy our view from our hotel room.

The unique church 3 blocks from our apartment.

Breakfast was delicious...

And these crazy guys built a glass, soda tower for the gnome.

We went walking to see a few things before the sun set.

This arch was famous for something....

I thought the lamp posts were beautiful and unusual.

Lizards are the cities mascot....

So we got pictures with this unique art.

And this monument was awesome as well!

Who wouldn't want to sit in the trunk of a giant, prehistoric mammoth?!

Mmmmmmm, Ice Cream!

We went to look at the sights the following day: including the famous fighting of the bulls stadium, the beautiful church we could see from our hotel deck and the Olympic Museum.

I love the look of this bizarre church.

The Bull Stadium

My handsome bull!

The stadium was big... and has an interesting history.

The Beatles even performed here once upon a time.

Katia cheered on her imagination at the stadium.

This statue reminds me of Kotten Kandy!

So interesting!

So beautiful!

So breath-taking!

So unique!

Katia and Chris also decided to swim in the Mediterranean Sea...

Lots of statues in Barcelona had fruit in them....

And we finished the evening traveling an hour to see a "castle" that ended up being a gorgeous church. 

I wish we had gotten here sooner... It would have been fun to go inside.

But the sunset from the castle church was absolutely inspiring!

We were laughing so hard at Chris' solution to Katia's hiccups.

This weird statue was at the train station in Madrid.

Yes, it kinda scared me.

If I had a million dollars: I'd have purchased this don Quixote and Sancho statues for my father who introduced me to "The Man of La Mancha."

The following morning, we took a train to Madrid.  We relaxed in the hotel and then headed back to the United States the following morning.  I was so glad to be going home.  I LOVED our amazing experience, but there really is "no place like home!"
The Bettenhausens picked us up at the airport... and I couldn't get enough of these two, cute kids.  Jelly Bean informed me that it was really good that we came home because he "almost forgot all about me."  (Ha Ha Ha!)

with Raisin

Jelly Bean, Raisin and Me

Memories from our trip...

These magnets were my souvenirs.

It's fun to look at the refrigerator and relive our exciting trip!