Wednesday August 7th

Tonight we were invited to a dinner at the Consular General's house! It was so much fun! They had great stories from working in the Foreign Service and we were able to get an idea of some really great posts! We also learned that embassy drivers are pretty much the best drivers in the world! We are very excited for a future of different cultures, climates, and adventures! For now we are just excited that we are in Spain!

Dinner was absolutely amazing! We had chicken with vegetables and truffle noodles (we both thought of chocolate truffles when we first heard this... Truffles are actually a fungi.) They are delicious! Even Kelley David who has a dislike for other fungi (ie mushrooms) thought they were pretty tasty! We had steamed Kale with raisins, pine nuts, and lemon juice. Amazingly healthy! There was also cornbread, which we are both absolutely in love with! It was a great night of home cooking!

Conversation surpassed even the greatness of the dinner. Between the stories we were able to hear and being able to reminisce about this Summer... it was delightful. The Consular, her daughter, and the other intern that were there are truly friends and we enjoyed them immensely. They are impressive in what they do and are just good, down to earth people. We are so happy that we could spend this time with them and gain mutual respect and friendship. We are excited to keep in touch and we hope to see them all again down the  road at a future post!

Tuesday August 6th

IceBarcelona! This is a bar that is made completely out of ice. We were glad to save a few splurges for the end, this happening to be one of them! We left the hot outdoors for an indoor -5 degrees Celsius (or 23 degrees Fahrenheit.) Before you go into this bar you are given gloves and a nice down coat. This seems awfully hot when you are putting it on. Then, one of the workers opens the door and you feel a gust of cold air greeting you to walk in. The bar is made out of ice. There is a bench made out of ice, there are counters made out of ice, and sculptures made out of ice! Most of the ice sculptures were modeled after Gaudi's creations including Sagrada Familia! There are a few lights flashing colors and some music. The bartender came over to ask us what we wanted to drink. Peach juice for KD and Cranberry juice for me! They came in ice glasses. This is pretty impressive for a place that doesn't do the ice cube thing. We had a lot of fun and even did a bit of dancing! (Mostly just to keep warm.)

 a Gaudi imitation

 Ice Sagrada Familia

 

 Cranberry Coldness

Polar Peach

 Oh, and you can watch penguins on the television!

We were super grateful for the fur on the bench or we would've had frozen bums!

Unusual to have your glasses melt on your lips.

 

 

After about a half hour of freezing weather we returned to the great outdoors! We now know what it feels like to be an ice cube in a warm drink. We could literally feel ourselves melt! The air outside was hot and muggy and our cold bodies tried to cool it down. It was a very strange sensation!

 

We finished off the evening hanging out on the beach. We took a few pictures and enjoyed the relaxing sound of the waves. Ah Barcelona!

 

 KD's shoes were wet from condensation and picked up a rim of sand!

It looks foggy because the camera was trying to get used to the cold.

 



Monday August 5th

We have switched a few things up this week so that we can fit everything in. So, today was Consulate day! I took lunch and a project to work on. It is nice to be where there is air conditioning and fun to eat lunch together. An opportunity that we won't be afforded once the school year starts. As always it was a wonderful afternoon and we were able to walk through the consulate gardens. There is a
beautiful lily pond there and we are a little sad that we didn't have our camera. The gardens are peaceful.

After work we came home, had dinner and then headed out for the Arc de Triomf and Parc de la Ciutadella! This is a wonderful park that you can walk around with an amazing fountain! This is easily one of our favorite places in all of Barcelona! We were enjoying relaxing and people watching.

 

Sunday August 4th

After church we walked to the oldest church of Barcelona! It just so happens to be within walking distance of our house!

we tried for the Picasso museum again today. The line wasn't as long as last time that we went but it was still really long. We talked about it for a few seconds and decided neither of us like Picasso enough to spend that much time in a line. So, we went to one of our favorite places ever.... The Gothic Quarter! We were able to walk and enjoy! We were even able to go to the antique market. Oh my goodness I love antiques! Another enjoyable and romantic evening!

Saturday August 3rd

Montjuic! This time we went and walked around the area of Montjuic. We didn't have to take the metro at all! The area is just up the street and a walkway up a big hill! It was beautiful. We were able to see the Greek Theater!

We also walked through the gardens. There were beautiful fountains, plants, places to sit, and we even were able to see a cloister! (A cloister (from Latin claustrum, "enclosure") is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth.) Thanks Wikipedia!

The cloister!



 I had to sit on a ledge to get this shot. KD kept saying, "Be Careful!" So cute!

 Fountain

 

 A view of the National Palace

 Another great fountain!

 This shot took a few minutes to make sure nobody was in it!

 The hedge garden

 Who wouldn't want to study here?

 

 It was a beautiful and romantic walk. It was also very relaxing! This is a great way to be spending our time. We love Spain!

 

 

 

Friday August 2nd

Today we went to Camp Nou!  For those of you who don't know, this is the stadium for FC Barcelona!  Yes, you can all be extremely jealous right now, and it was awesome!  When I was planning on coming to Barcelona, this was the one thing I really wanted to do, but I soon found that the season ends in May.  I had resigned myself to missing out on this opportunity, but lo and behold, the 2013-2014 season starts in August and the home opener was today against Santos FC.  We sat at the very top of the stadium and got there an hour early to beat the crowd and make sure we could enjoy the atmosphere, including all the opening ceremony stuff.  What we couldn't believe was the sheer size of the stadium: Camp Nou seats just shy of 100,000 people, and the seats will literally vibrate when every starts yelling, singing or cheering.  It was great seeing all the tradition too, from the singing of the club song, to people getting out of their seats and bowing down to Messi.  Yes, we did see Messi in real life!  We also got to see Neymar Jr. in his first ever home appearance as a Barca player, and we got to see them on the field at the same time!! (I may have been slightly freaking out).  Regardless, it was an awesome night and we are sooooooo glad we went!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday August 1st

Today we got a new experience at Montjuic.  We go to the fountains at least once a week, but this time we went early enough to watch the waters turn on!  It wasn't quite what we were expecting.  We thought the waterfall would start at the National Palace and the fountains would turn on as the water fell down the front of the staircase.  What actually happened is that random fountains and sections of waterfall would turn on in seemingly unconnected spots, though the large "magic" fountain was the last to turn on.  Plus, since we got there early, we got amazing seats maybe 10 yards away from the fountain, front and center, sitting on the wall with the waterfall coming out from underneath us.  Of course, being so close we did get wet, but that was definitely worth it since it was nice and cool.