Med Cruise Day 1: Travel to Barcelona

Happy Birthday Misty! We traveled to Barcelona on Misty's birthday. We didn't plan our trip around Misty's birthday; it just happened that the best time to leave was on her special day.

Ray's Journal

Friday started off the wrong way - we got to the airport 3 hours ahead of our flight instead of two (bad email communications on my side). Then our flight was delayed by over a half hour. Once we boarded we sat on the Tarmac for an additional half hour.

Misty, the cutest little birthday girl, got pretty cranky waiting all that time for the promised rocket ship ride to the moon. Okay, so we fibbed a little because she said she didn’t know what an airplane was; but she saw the airplanes at the airport and instantly knew what they were (by then it was too late to correct the charade). Sitting on the Tarmac, she got even more cranky and started saying she didn’t want to be on an airplane or that she wanted to go home. Once we actually got to take off, she figured it out and started beaming and giggling and repeating that she was going to the moon. All the adults around us looked and “awwwwwhhhhh’d” at her happiness. From then on, things started going right.

We got to Barcelona and we all instantly felt better as the weather was exactly what we all needed. The geographic area looked exactly like southern Italy and most other Mediterranean areas. Angie really likes it.

We met up with Grandma who was chillin’ at a cafe outside our apartment, and went to dinner. The adults had some Paella Senorito and loved it! The birthday girl had some small fried chicken balls which were wonderful. Then we all had some great ice cream based deserts. At that point we all sang the Happy Birthday song to Misty - who absolutely lit up and beamed as we sang. After dinner we walked around for a while, eventually stumbling into the famous Mercado Rialta (city center square). The kids went home with Grandma and Angie and myself went on our date.

Angie and I walked around aimlessly for over an hour, mostly just following our “shiny” instincts. We came across the Gothic Cathedral and the museum for Gaudi (both closed but cool looking). The we found a Flamenco bar. The main dancer for one song grabbed a young man from the audience and brought him onstage to teach him a very short lesson in Flamenco dance. The next song the main singer sang a song all the younger ladies seem to know. He then went around putting the microphone in front of several of them to have them sing into. That went well enough that he brought the mike to yours truly (who most definitely did not know the song) and had me try to repeat the words as he most rapidly said them. To say the least I failed. Angie was laughing so it might be cool.

Lastly, we walked around the cool night life of Barcelona and saw the city. I rather enjoyed it, and Angie seems to have also liked it.

Angie's Journal

Today was a travel day, but it was nice that it was a short flight. Unfortunately the flight was delayed and there was a long wait on the tarmac, which made Misty a bit cranky. However, once we were in the air she was fine. We made Misty a special Birthday Girl t-shirt to try and make her birthday a bit special. She was very excited to see Grandma, which made my mom happy that she remembered her. 

The apartment my mom picked out was really nice. It lacked some amenities that a hotel might have had, but being in the historic area in an apartment that slept 6 with A/C and a lift was enough for us. Since we got in mid-afternoon, we were able to walk around a bit. 

After dinner my mom took the kids and Ray and I got to roam on our own. It was so fun walking down all the alleys and streets discovering what was around the next turn. Eventually we stumbled upon a Flamenco show which was fun. It wasn't a commercial show, just a small gig at a local restaurant. I kind of liked that more because it had a more lively atmosphere.