Last day in Spain

Thursday morning, we went back to Barceloneta and stopped at the maritime museum. After that, we went on a tour of the Sagrada Familia. It is a big building that Gaudi started to build and then he died. So they are finishing it the way he designed it to be. It will eventually be a Catholic church/basilica and the Pope visited it a few years ago. Their plan is to finish the building in 2026, which is 100 years after Gaudi died. Joseph and I laughed when we thought about what they would do if construction was delayed and they didn't hit their deadline. We climbed up the towers too, which they only allow a certain number of people to do so each day. There were two options for coming back down- elevator or stairs. I thought the employee said 100 steps, so I told Joseph we would take the stairs. I was wrong and there were actually 400 stairs. He knew that but didn't tell me. After lunch that day, we went to La Perdrera and Casa Mila, which is another Gaudi house/architecture. After all this, we moved to a hotel close to the airport so I could get there bright and early the next day.

I traveled home Friday and the flights went alright. I stopped in Frankfurt, Germany and then had an 11 hour flight to Houston. I started having contractions on the second flight but thankfully drinking lots of water made them stop. I flew with a German-based airline and they served alcohol for free on the flights. I laughed every time the flight attendant asked me if I wanted any alcohol.

Maritime Museum

Sagrada Familia

In the tower at the top

The 400 stairs that I thought was only 100

Part of the stairwell going down, you can bring a permanent marker and write something. We read this in a guide book so we were prepared.

The top of La Perdera/Casa Mila

Wednesday in Spain

Wednesday started with a tour of Camp Nou, where the Barcelona soccer team plays. There was a game while we were there but it was on Sunday. The tour was pretty cool though. We had lunch at a place called Vivanda and it was delicious. It was a far walk but well worth it. We went to the Picasso Museum as well as the chocolate museum. The man at the Picasso museum was shocked at how quickly we went through the museum (we spent 45 minutes inside and it is not that big). Sorry, we're just not that into art but we felt like we needed to at least stop and see it. You can probably guess which museum I liked more since I think we spent more time at the chocolate museum even though it was much smaller. That night, we went to a cool guitar concert at an old theater/palace thing. I wasn't really looking forward to it but it was actually really good.

The ticket for the chocolate museum. Yummy chocolate inside.

Castle made out of chocolate.

Tried a macaroon at this famous dessert place. It tasted like jelly beans. Not my favorite.

Found churros and hot chocolate that he'd been waiting for. The hot chocolate was very thick. More like chocolate from a fondue fountain. But tasty!

Where the guitar concert was held.

Tuesday in Spain

Tuesday was another exciting day for me. The one thing I requested when we found out we were going to Spain was to take a cooking class. It was awesome! We got to help make really cool foods and I even want to make some of them back home now. After the class, we visited the Barcelona cathedral. Then we went to another art museum. I broke down that night because I hadn't eaten anything familiar all trip and was starving. Combined with being pregnant, it was not a good moment in my life. So I ordered pizza for dinner instead of embracing the culture. After dinner, we went to a flamenco dance concert.

The cathedral

Fancy water in place of wine at the cooking class. What's crazy in Europe is that you pay for water at restaurants. There is no such thing as fountain drinks/dispensers. A glass of water like this could cost anywhere from $2.50 to $5 depending on the restaurant. It was ridiculous! Europe is pricey just based on the water alone. Fortunately, it was included in our cooking class.

They also offered us sparkling water since we didn't drink. I was excited as I don't recall having plain sparkling water ever. Rory in Gilmore Girls orders this when she goes to her grandparents' home every time so that is why I was excited. It wasn't good though so I don't know why she would choose that.

Making paella for ten people

He plated that appetizer. He was extremely proud of himself.

Flamenco dancers

I think the cathedral again

He really wanted to use the blowtorch to finish the desserts. Everyone else at the cooking class called him the BBQ master since he was from Texas. I don't think there were any other Americans in our class.

Our paella, complete with shrimp with eyes.

Monday in Spain

Monday morning, we went to the Boqueria Market. I was really excited about this as it is basically a huge farmer's market with booths and stands for anything from bread to fruit to meat to seafood. We walked along La Rambla, which is a street with lots of vendors and cool entertainers. We saw the Christopher Columbus statue too. Then, we went to Montserrat for the rest of the day. We rode the cable car and funiculars around the mountains. We also saw the basilica and the choir school up there. The views were amazing. We packed a picnic to enjoy up there, which was nice.

The Christopher Columbus statue. You can't see the top of it. Joseph's mission president wrote a book about Columbus in Spain

A cool fruit at the market

Seafood is just laying on beds of ice around the whole market.

Montserrat

The basilica up at Montserrat

Where the funicular cab goes to. It was so cloudy/foggy that you couldn't see the end.

Sunday in Spain

On Sunday, we set out to Tarragona for church. Joseph served in that area for a large portion of his mission. It was about an hour train ride from Barcelona. Church was in Spanish, of course, but it was still nice. There was only one baby in the entire congregation so it was oddly quiet. Many members remembered Joseph and called him, "The Elder Wilcox." He saw a couple who he taught the whole time he was in the area but they never came back to church. They remembered him and were active in the ward again. Joseph was very touched to see them and by the fact that they remembered who he was after all these years. For lunch, we went to a member's home and she made a delicious meal. She lives along the beach so we walked around the beach for a little bit before catching the bus back to the main part of the city. We walked around Tarragona for a while and Joseph showed me more sights there. We had dinner at the hotel and watched the FC Barca game that night.

Some old church in Tarragona

We're not very good at taking pictures of ourselves. But this is proof that we were there.

An old amphitheater from the 2nd century I believe.

The beach in Salou, where we had lunch

Roman aqueducts that we visited

Day 2 in Spain

We slept in Saturday, which was odd. Back home, sleeping in is defined as Ashton sleeping past 7am. First, we went to the grocery store to get food for Sunday. It was fun to walk around the store and see the differences in products and options. After that, we went to a restaurant in Barceloneta. That is the area of the city along the beach/Mediterranean. The restaurant serves the best paella in town apparently. It was a fancy restaurant and very yummy. We ordered a big plate of paella and I ate some parts of it.

After that, we took a funicular ride up to Montjuic. We saw a castle and then went to an art museum. For dinner, we got ice cream at this mall that used to be a bull fighting arena. Then, we went to the Magic Fountain show near the art museum.

How the shrimp comes in Spain. Notice the eyes...

Served along with squid, octopus, mussels, clams, and some other seafood creatures that remained unnamed. I ate the shrimp and the octopus. That was as adventurous as I got. Plus, I wasn't completely sure what seafood I could eat.

View from the restaurant. The tall building in the back is the hotel where Joseph is staying for work. Lucky!

The cab ride to Montjuic. It was a long line for a short ride but had cool views.

Views from the cab/funicular car

The water fountain show

The bull fighting arena turned into a mall. It was very fancy but had great ice cream.

Joseph's favorite statue at the art museum.

The cannon at the castle we visited.

Hanging out at the castle on Montjuic

Halloween 2015

Posts on Spain will have to wait since all the pictures on are Joseph's phone, which is still in Spain.

I flew home just in time to take Ashton trick or treating on Halloween. I was originally going to miss it and then decided that I wanted to be back to take her myself. She was Daniel Tiger. It turned out alright. She was okay with leaving the ears and watch on, which surprised me. We went to our ward's trunk or treat for a little bit, which was inside due to rain. Once the rain lightened up, we went back home and walked a few blocks in our neighborhood with some friends of ours. Ashton loved getting all the candy, especially suckers. She also liked handing out candy when we came back home. Overall, she had a great Halloween.