Day 9: Barcelona

This was a very quiet and restful day. No pressures, no to-do lists. We had a very late breakfast at a nearby street cafe and got a free gift of sand toys when I bought some new sunscreen. This part of Barcelona is great, near the university and to the left of Las Ramblas. Much less touristy and much less bustle. More manageable for us.

A while back I asked on 43 Places for suggestions for children’s activities in Barcelona. There were lots of answers. One person replied and shared a video of his friends playing on large musical play equipment at a park. He gave us the rough location as well.

We searched out the park and found the equipment. It was very very cool! Be sure to watch the videos. We spent most of the morning in the park, playing with the various equipment or just in the sand. Lauren spent a lot of time at the nearby mall. Understandable that she wouldn’t want to sit around a playground all day! We ate at the mall at a really great outdoor restaurant with good cerveza and good traditional Spanish food (a lot better than American mall food!). We tricked the kids into napping in the mall (holding them and walking them around till they fell asleep) and slowly nursed a frapaccino at the local Starbucks (yes, Starbucks).

After naptime we returned to the park and play some more until heading home around bedtime. It was a truly wonderful no-stress, no-frills day with the kids. They needed it.

(Day 10: Meeting the Grandparents — We packed up and moved out the unspectacular hotel and made our way to Las Ramblas. We were set to meet Chris’s parents infront of Hotel Lloret. All went as planned and we made our way to the apartment. I was pleasantly surprised on arrival at the apartment. The BCNInternet agent who met us with kind and friendly, and despite a small mix up with the keys, let us in. It was large and bright and well-equiped with comfortable, modern furniture. I was very pleased.

C fell asleep on the way there, so I stayed with him in the apartment while Dave, Wendy, Chris, Ruby, and Lauren went out to get lunch.

C woke up shortly after they returned from lunch. I think he had had just about enough of all this change and was on the verge of an emotional meltdown. Chris, in a feat of papa-skills, took him on a tour of the apartment and pointed out all the regular things that were just like our apartment at home. The shower, the dishwasher, the sofa, the washing machine. C calmed down.

The rest of the day went uneventfully, with Grandma and Grandpa fighting off jetlag. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe near Plaza Catalunya. I guess Grandpa Dave enjoys visiting the different Hard Rock Cafes in the cities he visits. We got a veggie burger… the first I’ve had in 10 months. That was nice!

Unfortunately I got no pictures today, though! I’ll ask Grandpa Dave to share his soon.)

Why Starbucks? Nice, big, soft chairs. You need that when you are holding sleeping kids.

Yeah, that was the real reason we moved to Norway. So Chris could film this new movie with Linday Lohan in secret. The movie wrapped in December, and now it’s out in theatres, so I guess it’s ok to talk about it.

I liked this movie because I happened to capture a group of adults making use of the play equipment as well as C. This park was a really beautiful joyful place and I’m glad that we found it.