Gothic Quarter/Old Town - Barcelona

February 25, 2014 - After a morning at Zoo Barcelona we headed out to explore the old town area of Barcelona.  In an attempt to creative a positive attitude toward exploring we stopped in this beautiful coffee shop, Demasie, with a window brilliantly filled with a variety of cookies.  The cookies and coffee were perfect.  The light blue walls included dark panels written on by hundreds of customers.  It was fun to spot the places we know.  The owner(?) was very friendly and let the girls add their writing to the walls.... I finally had to pull them out to continue on our way. 

demasie.es, Carrer de la Princesa 28, 08003 Barcelona, +34 932 69 11 80

Ann Arbor, MI - Go Blue!

Audra's addition

 I had promised Gabby no museums, so we wandered up and down as many old narrow streets as the girls would allow.  Luckily they have no idea where we were so I used that to my advantage... however, Audra and Sofia do have a good sense of direction and always knew which direction 'home' was. 

walking past the Picasso Museum

Esglesia de Santa Maria del Mar

sculpture by a park bench

biggest paella pans ever!

The girls came alive when we discovered the candy store, Happy Pills, you would think they are deprived of candy.  Easy concept with bright packaging:  pick a container, fill it (plastic gloves provided), pick a label, get a lid, pay and you're on your way.

happypills.es, Carrer dels Arcs 6, 08002 Barcelona

Homenatge als Castelle - Antoni Llena - 30 meters high, location - Placa de Sant Miquel

this wonderful sculpture that Gabby declared 'looks like nothing', was a lot of fun for the girls to run and play under

as soon as I had stated there are no Starbucks in Barcelona, we ran across one

Casa Bruno Quadros on Las Ramblas - popular photo op!

I threw the girls a bone last night and took them to eat at the American style restaurant we found walking around the Gothic Quarter.  They happily ate hot dogs, chicken fingers, fries, fried mozzarella sticks... apparently this fried food is okay with Gabby. 

happy girls having dinner at Bernie's Diner, Via Layetana 20, 08003 Barcelona, +34 931 85 77 35

Parc de la Ciutadella and Zoo Barcelona

February 25, 2014 - We only saw a portion of the Parc de la Ciutadella (City Park), it's a beautiful green space filled with paths, a few museums and a lot of people out enjoying the spring day.  We walked from one end to Zoo Barcelona at the other end. 

The zoo is the perfect size (about the size of ZooAtlanta) to explore in a couple of hours.  The paths wind around and above some of the animal enclosures making for great viewing.  There are seal and dolphin shows, reptile house and a wonderful variety of animals.  

It's not cheap but it's a good value for entertainment and happy kids.  Admission: adults 19.90 euros/$27.36  children (3-12) 11.95 euros/$16.43

www.zoobarcelona.cat 

breakfast of champions - fueling up for the day

entrance to the park off of Passeig de Pujades

Park de la Ciutadella

statue in front of Zoo Barcelona

many peacocks roaming freely throughout the zoo

one peacock showing his stuff

kangaroos soaking up the sun

one smelly camel

the hippos were fun to watch, they were actively swimming

all the animals were posing because it was such a beautiful day!

Red Ant Noodle Bar - Barcelona

February 24, 2014 - Wonderful dinner Monday night!

red curry with chicken

ramen noodles

Barcelona - Monday

February 24, 2014 - Before heading to Park Guell for the day we had to find a coffee shop and some fresh fruit. One really positive thing about living in Sweden that has rubbed off on the girls is eating a lot of fresh fruit. I was never so happy to hear Gabby say 'yes, I really want some fruit, all the food here is fried!' 

Sofia's arrangement of sea glass and stones found on the beach Sunday

wonderful cafe a block from our apartment for my cafe americano every morning

love the the quote and thought it was funny to find this poster from the Stockholm Modern Museum in the coffee shop

yeah, fruit market

 We also made a trip to the super market.  Walking in felt like we were entering an empty building.  Big, wide aisle ending at cashier lanes, went through a few doors, down a few sets of steps to finally find a full size grocery store.  We bought ingredients to make the Spanish omelet.  I'm most excited about the bottle of Brava... the spicy sauce served on fried potatoes everywhere here.