We did not sleep in, but with so many people and little kids, we weren’t actually ready to leave the room until late morning.  Then we were further delayed because I left the key in the door when we left, meaning that the other set of keys did not work. After trying to climb in through an interior window, which did not work, we had to call a locksmith, though luckily we didn’t have to wait there for him.

We went first to the Sagria Familia church.  Unfortunately, the lines were enormous, so we contented ourselves with seeing the outside, and then headed on to Guell Park. After emerging from the subway, we bought bread and cheese and then climbed the steep hill, including several outdoor escalators, up to the park.

Barcelona is warm and dry, so the park was a lot like Phoenix. We climbed to the top of a stone lookout with a view over the city. Then we descended to the main entrance of the park and ate lunch on a stone bench. From there, we wandered the park, viewing the crazy surreal structures and benches all covered with painted mosaic tiles. The girls bought souvenirs, including a clay bird whistle like the one I used to play as a boy.

From there we walked back down the hill, stopping at one point for ice cream. We then took the subway to the Rambla, an incredibly busy, crowded street. We walked through a huge food market, buying delicious fresh fruit and looking at fish, fruit, vegetables, cheese sausages, and all kinds of other foods for sale.

Then we crossed over into the medival town, walking through some narrow streets before emerging onto a square where we went inside of the cathedral. They would not let Phyllis inside in her shorts, but I took the girls in. It was nice, but I was mostly struck by the fact that they had replaced the traditional prayer candles with coin operated led lights. Very tacky, it seemed to me.

After we walked further through the old town all the way to the water. More narrow, winding streets, only this time no tourists. Pretty.  It started to rain and we ate dinner at a pasta place, indoors. We then walked back towards our room, passing through the park where the zoo is. This was a very nice, large urban park with trees and grass and paths.  At one end was a large open area with a veranda where people were slow dancing to music.  We climbed a monument of stairs here and then made our way the rest of the way back to the rooms.