Week with Mommy and Fred - Part 1

Hola!

For the first time in a few days, I'm finally able to relax in my bed and write a blog post!  But I'm not complaining because I had such an amazing 5 days with Mommy and Fred in Barcelona! We ate, drank and were complete tourists and made such great memories we'll always remember.

They got to Barcelona on Friday morning (February 14) and after walking them to their hotel, we put on our walking shoes and headed down towards Las Ramblas.  They couldn't have picked a better week to come because for the first time, we were able to walk around outside without jackets on! We to Placa Real where we ate lunch.  We had our first of many pitchers of Sangria and enjoyed the most beautiful weather! After lunch, we walked around La Boqueria (which as of right now, is my favorite place in Barcelona) and up and down Las Ramblas.  There were so many street performers outside (even Fred tried to participate!) and people walking around.  We walked to the end of the street and looked at the Christopher Columbus statue and the port.  After shower and siesta time, we went to a restaurant called Margarita Blue.  It was Mexican and it was delicious! It was a little local place with great drinks (I got a mojito) and cheesy, yummy food.  We split nachos and each got an enchilada. After finishing, we went to L'Ovella Negra and had a pitcher of Sangria and then walked to the Hard Rock Cafe for a change of scenery.  After a long night of eating and drinking, we made a quick pit stop at McDonalds for a late night snack and went our separate ways.

The next morning, they met me at my apartment and I showed them around my neighborhood.  Saturday was Gaudi day since we were planning on going to see the Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell.  After the apartment tour, we walked to Sagrada Familia and went inside.  I am obsessed with it.  Every time I walk by the outside, I see something new.  The outside is so intricate and detailed.  I had never been inside either so I was excited to see if the inside matched what I had seen outside.  The inside was so beautiful too! There were stained glass windows, chairs set up for the church and huge columns that looked like trees.  It was amazing and indescribable.  We kept talking about how pictures don’t do the church justice.  After, we took the metro to Parc Guell.  First, we walked around the outside of the Parc and then went inside and had a snack of a baguette, cheese and salami.  Just what we needed (except for all the pigeons around)!  The view was beautiful as always.  Aside from La Boqueria, Parc Guell is also one of my favorite places here.  After going home and taking a siesta, we met up with my roommate Lainie (my other roommates were travelling in London that weekend) and we went to a restaurant called La Pijama.  We had burgers, fries and beers.  Probably one of the best burgers I’ve had.  After, we went to a little local bar called Una Mas.  It was pretty empty for a Saturday night so the bartender came over and each made us a special drink.  We called it a night pretty early because we had had a long day.  I don’t think Mommy and Fred knew how much walking we were actually going to be doing!

Sunday morning, after I snuck into their hotel for the breakfast, we went to the Gothic Area (Barri Gothic) and Cathedral.  We tried to get inside but because it was a Sunday, by the time we got there, it was closed.  We met a headless man and watched street performers as we decided what to do.  Instead, we went to get sangria and paella and Restaurant Port Vell, the place where my friends and I went the first week here.  After getting lost (of course) we finally made it!  Fred and I shared seafood paella (yum!) and Mommy got chicken paella.   Delicious as usual.  Later that night, we went to a steak restaurant called Alfonsina.  Literally the best steak I’ve ever had (and I’m not just saying that because I had been craving steak but it was just so amazing and good).  We also got empanadas and risotto to go with it.  I’m thinking about it now and it’s making me hungry.  After dinner, we went to the W Hotel and had fancy drinks! I had the second best drink in all of Europe (according to the bartender) and it really was that good! The environment of the W was so cool with all of the lights and the modern furniture.  It was pretty quiet because it was a late Sunday night but we had a lot of fun drinking and talking!