Barcelona continued

On Monday we had a 2nd day's tourist bus pass to use so we again got up and trudged down to the bus stop and jumped on a different line that went out towards the Olympic Village from the 90s and up to the museum district. We had noble plans to stay on until we hit the harbor, then take the funicular up the hill again, then the bus back down. However, our bus driver stopped for a long break, leaving the kids to stew in their discontent, and eventually we had an insurrection and were forced to disembark at a history museum of some sort after an hour and a half's quite uninteresting bus ride. We briefly discussed going before we realized that it would be insane. Instead, we found a little cafe and charged the batteries, eventually thanking the kids for their rebellion since it was what we all needed. Needless to say we decided to head to the closest funicular stop, one that went from the top of Montjuiic hill to the harbor, where we suspected there might be a good beach with sand for the kids to bury themselves in. Happily, we this turned out to be a perfect plan! We had a stunning ride down the mountain to the harbor area, went straight (NO STOPS) to the closest cafe on the beach, ordered ourselves food and drink, and sent the kids out to play on the sand while we sat just feet away with our drinks. After a few hours of contentment we headed home where we got the kids ready for bed then went directly across the street (Zoya, Patrick, Sven and myself) for a little tapas dinner, followed by another walk down La Rambla where Zoya and Patrick got a caricature done of themselves, did a lot of laughing and eventually went to bed. The concept of a street for walking and gawking is such a wonderful one- we were in love with its pointlessness.

In the funicular

At the beach!

"oh my goodness! do you see this shell?!"

Hannah impressed by the naked guy with the huge belly sunning himself proudly on the beach in front of our restaurant.

Doing the Colombus point.

Zoya racing out of the water after Patrick got done with his dip in the sea.

Tuesday was our last day in Barcelona so we decided to get a little cultured- Sven and Hannah went to the Picasso museum while the rest of us went to the zoo. After meeting up we headed back to the beach for a fantastic lunch, a bit of swimming in the Mediterranean Sea (Zoya and Patrick), Sven got a backrub on the beach to try to get over his illness, and after a fair amount of sun, we headed back to get packed. For our last evening we had a rotating schedule- our family and Hannah went to get in line at a little restaurant that we'd seen with a one hour wait the day before, and were lucky enough to get a table and order some delicious food before Hannah went back to trade spots with Patrick and Zoya, who joined us for another round. It was a wonderful way to end a 10 day visit with our friends, and we were definitely sad to see them go the next morning, but our bellies have expanded enough and its time to get back to basics!

Eilidh at the zoo in front of the penguin exhibit.

Playing at the zoo.

The last dinner