spain day 2

....also known as the day in barcelona that we did EVERYTHING.

we had a little croissant breakfast in the rooftop sunshine,

then strolled out through the front gate


and down the empty morning sidewalk, where we encountered a large avenue shut down to auto traffic to have a big bike ride. europe!

soon we were wending our way through the old narrow streets of the gothic quarter...

...to arrive at the picasso museum, neatly tucked into a cool old mansion, and displaying early works and complete projects. it provides a broader and deeper look into someone so famous in his lifetime for cubism and surrealsim, peeking into his early style evolution. i highly highly recommend this museum.

we shared some audioguides, which had a kids program. well done, museum.

a particular favorite for all four of us was the studies he did of each character in velazquez's famous and much-lauded and studied las meninas, which was cool on several levels: three rooms full of picasso's works as he studied this great piece, but also because velazquez is spanish, and the original las meninas is just down the road at the prado in madrid and seeing it all marry together in front of us in barcelona was super cool.

check out the courtyard at the picasso museum. magnificent!

we did a brisk hangry walk at noon-ish, which provided us with our first real taste of just how late spaniards wake and eat on a weekend. it was noon, and nary a lunch spot was open. it got a little dicey for the hungriest among us...
but then we found a spot, had a bite, chilled in a courtyard, and then....

walked a few blocks


to the beach,

ah, the beach! the mediterranean! the thrill of putting your feet in a new body of water for the first time has not yet lost its joy. the barceloneta beach was a perfect mid-day break, and the beach offered fine seaglass hunting.

the walkway along the beach is splendid

and the major promenade leading away from the beach, alongside the harbor, made the perfect place for some gelato.

we ambled onward, through the gorgeous estacion franca train station where a one-day pop up flea market was going on (and i wanted to stay at it FOREVER but we didn't)




and we walked on to the parc de la ciutadella, to stroll, to put our feet up, and (for some of us) to find a playground.

after a rest and a good hard play, we found the arc de triomf, and watched some street performers.

by then, it was tapas time, so we found a sidewalk terrace for tapas, nachos, and rose.

we grabbed a cab and headed home for a little afternoon (ahem, 7pm....) down time, which provided a breathtaking sunset vista and a chance to rest for the kiddos...

before we headed uphill deeper into the gracia neighborhood to find a seafood extravaganza dinner

after dinner, the kids participated in the traditional 11 pm climbing of the street signs and leaping of the parking barrier ballards. i was pretty worried about how the spanish dinner schedule of eating at 10pm would jive with the kids' schedule of being asleep daily by 8pm, but they rose to the occasion, staying awake and cheerfully so.