One Year Away

Penny

We have added some pictures to the Spain album. Enjoy!

For the last leg of our Spain trip, we left our new found del Moral family members behind and were once
again off on our own to Barcelona. Spain’s high speed trains make the journey only a few hours long and by mid day we were in Catalan country. The language and even the vibe of this part of Spain is very different. It sometimes felt we were in a different country.

We had little time in Barcelona (2 days) and we tried to catch some of the major sites. We first went to the Bario Gotico where we strolled around the narrow streets and enjoyed drinks and ice cream at the different plazas. The city was packed with tourists. You could hear so many different languages being spoken and many people in shorts and sports sandals.

We also visited the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. The Cathedral that is still under constructed was started in
the 1880s. The Cathedral is being financed solely by donations. The architect was the renowned Gaudi and he made sure to document his vision for his successors to be able to complete the work well after his death. The Cathedral is unique. Each facade, sculpture, column and window has a story to tell. Also, for the fist time, we saw the use of color on a cathedral’s exterior. The tops of some of the Cathedral’s 12 expected spires are decorated with colorful fruit sculptures that are covered with Italian colored glass that shines in the sun.

After a couple of days in Barcelona, we were off to Gerona for one night to catch our early morning flight from the small town. We took the opportunity to visit the old part of the town and its beautiful cathedral. As it was Sunday, the entrance to the cathedral and its museum were open to the public free of charge and we were able to sit for part of a choir practice that was spectacular thanks to the cathedral’s great acoustics.

At 6:45am on Monday morning, we were on our flight to Milan. It was time to say ‘Adios’ to Spain and ‘Buon giorno’ to Italy!