Living like the Kings: Barcelona for Columbus Day Weekend!

Our first mini-vacation/adventure by plane in Spain...hey that rhymes! Fun big city adventure with our neighbors and friends the McMillans! We did most of our travelling around the city by subway, it was really easy to use and the kids had a great time. Saturday morning we headed out to Mont Juic Castle, we took the subway and funicular and cable car to get there...the kids had a blast already!

Kids on subway, Kelsey and Lee holding hands, taking care of each other!

Brian and the kids on the cable car.

Luke, Shawn, Victoria and Lee, climbing all over the old cannons, they thought that was great.

Mont Juic Castle

Alyssa, Lee, Victoria, Kelsey, Shawn and Luke being silly and taking in the view of the city below!

View of Mediterranean Sea from the castle.

After the castle, we headed toward the Olympic Stadium. Then we wondered around a beautiful garden, that took forever to find our way out of. We headed in the direction we thought would get us out, only to find the gate was locked. The kids enjoyed running around the garden!

Family photo in Garden of Joah Maragall.

Beautiful fountain in the gardens!

After we finally found a way out of the garden we headed towards the National Art Museum and the Plaza Espana in hopes of finding something for lunch!

Shawn, Luke, Victoria and Alyssa with museum in the background!

After a very quick lunch, because we were so hungry we ate so fast...we found an amazing park that entertained the kids for quite a while.

Alyssa and Shawn both climbed all the way to the top, this is Alyssa here at the top!

Even Kelsey was trying her best to make her way up the web!

And Shawn too!

And this zipline was a hit with all the kids, Kelsey and Daddy here.

Two tired 2 year olds after playing hard, Lee and Kelsey.

Main market on Las Ramblas, would have loved to see more, but it was very busy and the kids were tired.

This evening, we brought dinner to the apartments for the kids, and Dave and Brian went to a local Irish bar to watch the LSU vs. UF football game. This was very important since those are the guys schools! I think it is fair to say we all enjoyed our evening! Alyssa actually asked to go to bed that night and fell asleep while the other kids all ran around and played!

Day two, once again subway toward the zoo, with a pass through the Arc de Triomf in Barcelona! Enjoyed a fun morning at the zoo. Shawn and Luke enjoyed reading the map and leading us around the zoo, a great way to teach them how to read a map!

Arc de Triomf

Silly gorillas!

Kids enjoyed these bears, there were two and they really looked like they wanted out of there!

Kelsey looking at the penguin. It jumped up on that rock and scared Alyssa, she took off!

Boys reading the map, where to next?

Checking out on the of train stations, it was really pretty inside!

After the zoo we headed towards the old part of town and toward the Gothic Cathedral. We stopped and had lunch at a nice Mexican restarant, that was really nice! We passed another church on the way and had entertainment there by a street performer! We didn't get to go inside the Cathedral as it was too late and I am sure the kids we happy!

Daddy and Kelsey outside La Hacienda, our lunch spot!

Streets in Barcelona, love the narrow streets.

Our street preformer...Mr. Clown!

Kids watching the clown make fun of innocent bistanders, including a little old lady.

Kids running from the clown, after giving him a tip!

Onto the next innocent bistander...Brian, the clown pretended to rub Brian's bald head. We all got a good laugh!

Tired girl, she looked like she was going to fall asleep on daddy's head.

A peak inside the Cathedral.

One of the Gaudi houses, I love this artist, so whimsical! This was just around the corner from where we stayed!

Last morning, but not the first time at this little pastry shop! We were headed towards the Sacrada Familia Church and Park Guell before we went to the airport to head home. Park Guell is another work of Gaudi, one of my favorite places. Although the kids were a little dissappointed because it wasn't like the park from the other day!