Natalia joined me for a work trip to Barcelona that we extended with a second visit to
Paris, which was the first time we returned since our honeymoon.
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Natalia got to experience the Westjet Calgary lounge for the first time with me on this flight.
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Because my friend Matt flew us to Barcelona (AND drove us to YYC), we were able to get a private tour
of a 787 Dreamliner cockpit. Natalia liked it.
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My company put us up in the Torre Melina, a very nice hotel in the University district and, more
importantly, a short 5 minute walk to the conference centre. This garden was our walk to the conference
centre in the morning.
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Natalia at the Plaza Columbus near the water. We figured we should figure out the metro, which we
did after a nap to try to reset our time clocks a bit. This trip wound up being one of the hardest
for me in terms of aligning to local clock, which I blame on not crushing the hotel bar until 2am
every night.
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Wandering through the Gothic district of Barcelona.
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A cute square where we found Natalia a coffee. She didn't love the coffee in Barcelona as most people
drink espresso, which she then watered down to an Americano, but it wasn't her thing. It turns out we
all get used to what we get used to.
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Cool old covered walkway between buildings.
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Barcelona Cathedral - they wanted more than 20 Euros for a tour, so we passed on it.
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The pooping dude is a Catalan tradition that apparently has its roots in wishing someone to have
good fields, so this would be fertilizer. But, I think it's mostly a joke on tourists who then
buy pooping characters.
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Natalia found a cute ballerina shoe store and looked at flats, but at 150 Euro, they're a bit spendy.
Especially with the Canadian dollar down, that's basically a $300 pair of flats.
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2000-year old Roman columns inside a building in Barcelona. If you're willing to look a bit, there
are all kinds of cool things to be found on walking tours.
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My buddy Matt and his captain Doug joined us for dinner and we wandered a bit more in the Gothic
district along with along Barceloneta beach area too.
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Tapas with the pilot boys. The patatas bravas is a big win for me. Matt wanted spicier peppers
so apparently the pedrona peppers are mild.
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I thought this graffiti was pretty funny.
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Waiting in line to get into Dr Stravinsky I laughed at this dude who was rocking the poncho.
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Doug laughing with a bunch of botanicals in jars at Dr Stravinsky.
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A Calgary Herald article about our server and the cocktail joint called Dr Stravinsky.
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Natalia thought this drink was quite tasty. The neat part of this bar is that they linked all
of the flavour profiles in order to help you select your drink. They made a map with intersecting
lines that if you like spicy and sweet, order THIS drink, etc.
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While we failed on getting into Park Guell (apparently the answer is to pre-book tickets for a public park),
we still had a fun look around the area. And while the duelling smells of sewer and cigarette smoke dominated
it was still a cool look-about.
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Boulderers climbing around the outside wall of the park.
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View of Natalia from the top of the Park Guell. If we couldn't go in, at least we could get a nice view.
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We actually had gorgeous weather while we were in Barcelona with 15-20 deg C and sunny the whole time.
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La Sagrada Familia basilica behind Natalia. I screwed up trying to book us for tickets (Europe always
places the first day of the week as MONDAY not SUNDAY), but they actually refunded my error. Due to
my buddy Owen's suggested use of Get Your Guide app, we got a reservation for later in the week.
Random dancing in the street with old people in a cool neighbourhood called Gracia
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A good way to get access to a bathroom is to order a couple of beers from a bistro.
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Natalia was struggling hard with jet lag on this afternoon, so we kept walking around the
Gaudi houses to have a look about.
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This one is Casa Bottli, with a dragon on the roof.
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With a better look at both of us touring Barcelona by foot.
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A massive mega-yacht parked in Barcelona harbour. Apparently, there are a couple here belonging to
a few Russian oligarchs that are under sanctions, so the boats just stay here for now.
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Natalia trying out an Aperol Spritz at a little Andalusian place we had steaks down from our hotel.
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A different colour for chimichurri sauce, but it was still pretty good.
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We went back to the Bocqueria St Josep for dinner and I got to try meat in a cup.
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Along with olives and my first look at weird corn dogs.
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I thought 'octopus on a stick' was a bit of an odd idea, but people were rocking it.
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Full pork legs are a regular feature of Spanish tapas and they were all over the markets
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How often can you have nachos and gelato at the SAME TIME!
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Natalia and Meghan at the Quatre Gats, a bar made famous by Picasso
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He made a tidy business painting outside this bar, and basically paid for his beer. I think the look
on this guy's face while riding a bike is odd. Like is he having fun? Or having a tough time?
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My buddy Greg and his wife wound up at this restaurant totally by chance, so they joined us. He had
some kind of 'steak' dish that he thought was absolutely terrible, so we got to laugh about that. Not
quite as bad as Owen's 'head and hoof' dish though.
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Celine, Natalia, and Meghan enjoying drinks together at Quatre Gats.
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Natalia and I in the cool piano room. Lots of cool paintings were all over the walls here, some
with a Picasso connection and some without.
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We went to the Picasso museum to get a better understanding of his journey as an artist. This was
his first 'complete painting', after having had a pretty thorough formal education in art. It turns out
you do what you know and with his dad teaching art and painting, he had an 'in'.
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This one is called 'The Dwarf' and I found it immediately strange yet meriting a longer look.
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He also very clearly liked boobs as some of doodles made obvious.
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This was a pistachio croissant we got right outside the Picasso museum.
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Natalia pointing out the Zicla protected bike lane rubberized dealios. They're a Spanish supplier
so it's not surprising that they're being used a lot here. Lots and lots of great cycling infrastructure
in Barcelona, which along with a stellar Metro means I'm sure they have a pretty low car ownership rate.
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After a lot of Spanish food this week, we decided to have an Italian dinner, which was excellent.
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We both had ravioli, but Natalia's pesto was better than mine.
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Giant Arc de Triomphe, which isn't military at all, but was instead used as the entrance to
the World's Fair when Barcelona hosted it. One of the things I found fascinating in Barcelona was
how late everyone (including babies) were just out on the streets. It wasn't odd at all to see little
kids out with their parents well past 10pm on a weeknight. Everyone is just out and enjoying the evenings here.
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A store I snapped a shot of for Natalia's sister Maria.
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Natalia liked the lemon gelato (which it turns out has cava or champagne in it) at Quatre Gats so much
that we went back here again. This is a Valencia beer that I took a photo of for my friend Jose who lives here.
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A blurry shot of 15 Euro cocktails at the rooftop bar at the Grand Hyatt.
Touring Sagrada Familia
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Our last major touring spot for this trip was getting into Sagrada Familia. It turns out that Viator and
Get Your Guide apps ARE actually good at pulling together tickets that would otherwise be wasted. Another
way to say it is that they're dominating the secondary ticket market, kind of like TicketMaster in the concert world.
This was the second time I had seen this church, but it's still super impressive to see.
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We were able to get in just before dark, so the stained glass was still lit up.
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Absolutely amazing to see the height in this church, along with the stained glass windows.
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The 'forest' columns capable of holding up the roof, which is impressive.
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This will be the Jesus tower when it's done, in 2032.
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Absolutely stunning from the outside of the church.
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This church has been under construction since 1870. Just nuts.
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This restaurant was in the Lonely Planet in the 'Sagrada Familia' area, but it took 20 minutes of walking
and four Metro stops to get there. Not really 'in the area'. Natalia liked the chocolate carrot cake though.
Natalia's photos from her touring with Celine
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Natalia with weird corn dogs covered in potatoes - kind of like Hickory Sticks.
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Natalia and her travel buddy Cecile at Bocqueria St Josep - one of the bigger markets in Barcelona.
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Natalia and Jennifer in Citges, on the coast.
Natalia's travels to Montserrat
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Natalia and Celine and Meghan went up to Montserrat, a cool abbey built into the mountain,
just outside Barcelona. It's connected to the metro system via a cable car.
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A calamari squid ink croquette that Natalia tried.
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Natalia, Celine, and Jennifer enjoying a drink and a snack.
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One of the wines Natalia liked from Spain. With really good rioja red wine, there isn't as much
offering for the drier, less sweet, white wine Natalia likes.
