Friends in Barcelona - 1st week in July

Great meals, great times and lots of laughing!!

We all experienced different levels of "missing home" on this trip.  At first, Ashler was definitely feeling left out being away from his friends.  Then as he was "kik"ing with his friends, he quickly realized that they were not doing anything back in Albert Lea and he embraced the trip with gusto. It was awesome to watch him growing up right before our eyes.

The kids enjoying ice cream -- what a great pair!

Avery understandably missed her friends terribly.  Her solution, meet people at the beach.  She quickly became our social butterfly -- listening for any kids that spoke English and then just start talking to them. We met a lot of very nice people through Avery and we were very proud of how she worked through her "sadness."

One of many friends Avery met on the beach

Living in the same place for five weeks, we also started to make friends in the neighborhood.  "Our bar" as we called it was at the entrance to our building -- conveniently they showed every game of world cup soccer and made the best mojito's and rum and coke's in town!  We also had our grocery store -- where Avery became friends with the Pakistani workers when she would get water and ice cream every few days.  Matt had "Matt's street" -- duly named because in the first few days he found a gluten friendly grocery store, place for a haircut and one of our favorite restaurants.

Another great view from our flat:)

In all, we became locals quickly.  We also encouraged the kids to become independent allowing them to take trips to the store or to a familiar restaurant of their choosing.  It gave us all more freedom and certainly allowed them to spread their wings.  We watched as Avery went from being afraid to ask where the bathroom was, to her taking the lead on many of our adventures.

Matt and Heather were fortunate to have our great friends Andy and Cherie come visit -- it was awesome to have such fun laughing time with friends from home.  They arrived on July 5th.  As luck would have it, Cherie's daughter, Morgan and her friend Britta were also travelling in Europe and spend a few nights with us as well.  Cue Avery's smile as she quickly became "besties" with the girls. After they left Barcelona, they went to the running of the bulls.  We are happy to report that they survived that adventure and are back in the State's safely.

Southern MN Landscaping -- Barcelona Branch!!

Britta and Morgan hangin' with the Benda kids

Huge Harley Rally outside our window

Kid in a candy store!

I think we wore them out?

Ok, so we love our beach time!!!!

Casablanca!! Last weekend in June

Why not?  A quick look at a map as we were planning our adventure and we were surprised as to how close we would be to the Northern Africa coast.

Then, we learned that we would have the ultimate baby-sitter with Grandma coming to visit = weekend away as a couple for Matt and Heather.  Why not the Hollywood glamorized city of Casablanca, Morocco.  We did put the movie on Heather's laptop and watched it in the airport.

Our flight on Friday was delayed and we did not arrive until well after 10:00 pm and a 45 minute cab-ride to the hotel.  We honestly did no preparing for this leg of the trip until the day of... -- leaving us with a blank sheet of paper with no expectations.  The one thing that was a surprise was just the experience of being in a Muslim country.  To go from a Spanish beach where clothing is optional; to a country where the woman are covered from head-to-toe was a bit overwhelming.

Out of respect, Heather did make some additions to her wardrobe to allow for long skirts and scarves --- but always a nice accessory.  

The first night, we had a great meal at our hotel restaurant -- Beef Tenderloin -- YUM!

The next morning, our view did not disappoint --

yes, that is the Atlantic Ocean and waves of people -- almost all men -- as the woman would be under the umbrellas and generally fully clad. We were told not to go on the beach so we stayed at the hotel pool to get sun. 

Breakfast was included and the buffet was amazing at the hotel.  Fruit, figs, dates, jams, meats and cheeses. We did not even realize that that was also a custom omelette station until the second day.  

Following breakfast, off we went to walk the City.  The main attraction was the third largest mosque in the world -- Hassan II.  We decided to walk to get a feel for the City.  It was a longer than expected, but very interesting.  We passed through some very poor areas of town that we would definitely avoid at night.  No problems though as Heather kept her scarf in place and we simply avoided eye contact with others out of caution.  

The trip was well rewarded -- we were in AWE over the immensity of the mosque.

Heather inside the mosque with shoes off and scarf on

This was the view as we approached

25,000 people can worship inside the building and over 100,000 could worship in the general vicinity of the surrounding area -- with loud speakers everywhere.  

After this experience, we decided to revert to our tourist ways and took a cab-ride to "Rick's Cafe" -- a replica of the gin joint made famous by the movie -- recall the Humphrey Bogart line -- "Of all the gins joints, in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."  Again, the food was spectacular and the service extremely attentive.

Following a few taxi snafus we made it to our next destination-- we just wanted a cab driver to drive us by a few sites on the way to one of the markets -- the cabs go "off meter" so you never know whether you are getting a fair fare.  You need to ask in advance.  Well, every cab driver wanted to give us a 2 hour tour of the city and charge some crazy price.  We literally just walked out of one cab as he was getting a little "agitated."  All went well though and we arrived at our intended destination, the "local" market Habous.

This place was crazy and definitely felt third world.  No running water or bathrooms and a different world from the structure that you find in a European Country.  Great deals though and something we will remember forever as putting the Mall of America to shame as a destination shopping experience.

Ended the day with ANOTHER great meal at a traditional Moroccan Restaurant.  Matt had the the best lamb ever!

A little sun by the hotel pool before we left.

Great side trip to expose us to a really different, but exotic world.  Overall, probably our best dining experience on the trip.

Family Time!! June 23-July 1

Well, we are in to week four of our grand adventure.  How appropriate that this leg of our practice retirement we were able to enjoy with family.  It can get hard being away from the familiar confines of a Minnesota summer:(  As such, it was nice to have a dose of family to push off the homesickness.

Grandma Jean with her Grandkids

From the sounds of it, it was also nice to be away from the flooding and swarms of mosquitoes that have infested the Midwest!

On June 23rd we sent Jena to the airport and later in the day picked up Matt's mom and nephew, Ben at the airport. They had some delays in Paris, so after a little logistics they finally arrived.

As it turned out, they arrived on a major Spanish holiday -- the Feast of St. Joan to celebrate the summer solstice.  As described by one travel guide:

"In Catalunya a great deal of emphasis is placed on the Summer Solstice - the shortest night of the year. It is a public holiday renowned for the electric atmosphere in the air and the crazy parties that take place. If you are in Barcelona during this period there is no way that you will miss the date - fires in the streets and the constant crack of fireworks will make sure of that! The celebrations take place on  23 June  each year but the actual feast day is on the  24 June ."

After a short Spanish nap, we headed out to the beach -- nothing really happens until dusk, so it was well after 10:30 pm before we left the flat.  Our first thought was to take the bus a little further down the beach to check out the festivities.  Unfortunately, the bus driver took one look at the size of our group and just kept driving as his bus was already full of people.  One review we read suggested that over 100,000 heading to the beach area for this one night party -- after seeing it, we believe it.

"... and I thought a 4th of July at the Freking Cabin was crazy?!!!"

Instead of the bus, we decided to walk to Barceloneta -- the nearest and busiest beach.  What an adventure -- we actually found a place at the beach and just watched in awe as people were having fun and setting off fireworks -- often way to close for comfort.  We left Jean and the kids for a few minutes to wade further into the chaos.  That is exactly what it was -- chaos -- wall to wall people drinking, dancing and no kidding people firing bottle rockets over you head.  We quickly exited that scene.

We did enjoy the sites and it emphasized the electric and exciting nature of this great City.  Around midnight we ventured back to our flat and the people continued to arrive in droves.  We woke at 4:00 am and were not surprised to still hear revelers outside our window.  Needless to say, the next day was very quiet and quite a few stores were closed.

Welcome to Barcelona Jean and Ben!!!!!!

The next few days we re-explored the City and enjoyed the Spanish weather.

We went to the park!

Matt took his mom to the Market

Matt, Jean and Heather visited Sagrada Familia -- amazing Basilica that is still under construction

Ashler and Ben checking out Picasso

Ashler loved bridge time with Grandma Jean

After a few days of R&R, we again made the trip to Sitges -- the seaside village we had visited year's ago and again last week with Jena.  Well, as always, Sitges did not disappoint.  The weather was beautiful and the waves -- magnificent.  Avery was in boogie board heaven and the boys could not get enough of riding the waves.

Best 15 Euros ever spent!

Beach Bums!

A great meal after a long-day at the beach.

We were pretty sure that Jean enjoyed herself:)

Goodbye Barcelona

A question that people politely ask (or more likely infer) is: how can you possibly afford this trip?  Well, we have been designing this adventure for years.  Some people buy family cabins, boats or other fun toys.  They may take extended trips or pursue hobbies such as fishing or golf.  Those choices are all awesome and provide people what they desire.  We decided, however, to build a different version of our family cabin. This experience allows us to grow as a couple, as a family and certainly as individuals.  This is our family cabin. For years, we carefully and quietly built the foundation and now we have commenced construction.  In the years to come, we hope to continue adding on and maybe tearing down a wall or two if necessary.  Our blueprint is a napkin sketch that is not set in stone.

Mentally, to accomplish this "build" we needed to move beyond our Midwestern logic, "but you have nothing to show for it when you return."  We needed to have faith that this experience would provide at least a semblance of structure for our future.   The hardest step in pursuing our practice retirement was mentally overcoming the concept that it was even possible. We needed to visualize it as "building" something in order to overcome the fact that we could not hold it in our hands when we were done.

Well, the discussions, journals, photos and this blog are the walls and windows.  Thanks for sharing in our adventure by reading about our travels.  We feel honored that we had family here this week and friends other weeks to help us with the construction work.  Thanks for putting on your hard hats and engraving your names in our cement foundation.

Time to relax & have some fun -- June 16th -- 22nd

It is our second week in Barcelona and it is time to start the process of branching out and exploring the City. We are making the transition to more of a Spanish lifestyle -- meaning that we keep motivated, but are more likely to let things be -- trying not to let time control our lives.  "Let it be" seems to be the key phrase we are using.

Also, it is a late night City.  It is heading towards summer and getting a lot warmer.  It seems that no one eats dinner until at least 10:00 pm.  With the world cup also in full gear, we find ourselves staying up rather late -- and of course trying to sleep in the next day to catch up.

This week, we were thrilled to have our first guest from the States arrive -- Jena flew in on June 16th and spent the week as Avery's room-mate -- they got along famously.

Welcome Jena to Barcelona!

The girls -- having some laughs

We continued to learn the game of bridge and of course, the beach lifestyle seems to be fitting us well.

Ashler "made" a new friend at the beach #twinning

In general, we definitely do not feel like we are in a foreign country -- instead, it is like we are visiting a different neighborhood of our home country.  This city is so welcoming and energetic.  It is almost like the urban centers around the world are becoming more similar -- we should appreciate their similarities -- but also appreciate the uniqueness that our own smaller communities offer.

Gaudi is everywhere!! Casa Batilo

We are picking up Spanish, but as much as we want to speak and learn Spanish, everyone here wants to show off their English.  We have been often asked by our Stateside friends if we are getting along without speaking the language.  The easy answer -- no worries!

Likewise, we have been so fortunate to have our local hosts guide us towards some real gems of the City -- Nikoleta and Andries with Just Landed BCN have been fabulous to us.  They helped us get settled into the City and really listened to our needs.  We met for a nice cocktail one evening at the Arena Shopping area.  How nice as they answered our "tourist" questions, but also helped us understand a bit of the culture of the City -- where do the locals go and what is on their minds.  We are slowly beginning to understand why so many people come to Barcelona to visit, but never leave.

Every park has some type of unique art -- this one built into the sidewalk

We discussed many topics and then from memory they sent us a lengthy email with follow-up explanations and links to the items we discussed -- even a link to stream world cup soccer from our flat.  They have supplemented our trip so well. 

We also attended an event sponsored by an expatriate group in Barcelona -- a chance to meet more people from around the world that have chosen Barcelona as their home away from home.

Our night at the Internations event -- we met some wonderfully interesting people

Another day, we took a trip up the Mount Juic and rode the cable cars to the top -- what a view!

View from the cable car

From Montjuic Castle

Wow! Another amazing fountain and park

Great view of the Port

Later that day, the girls did some shopping.  We ended the day with a visit to an amazing rooftop restaurant and then checked out the nightlife on the beach.

BFF's at the beach with some yummy mojitos.

Enjoying our rooftop view of the City -- XO

The next day, we ventured to Sitges -- an amazing seaside village just a train-ride from Barcelona.  We had stayed in Sitges during our previous visit to Spain and it was great to see the familiar sites.  Ashler was just a baby during our first visit, so his return was a bit more memorable.

Doing some train spotting -- Public Transportation rules -- only 30 minutes to ......

Famous Church in Sitges

This amazing locale in Sitges

Seriously.......

Every meal should start with dessert!

The fam!

No trip to Barcelona is complete without seeing the magic fountain.... Font Mafica de Montjuic

Ashler dancing with his Mother:)

In all, we were really able to release (decompress) during week 2 and expand the scope of our adventure.  

In general, it is surprising how much planning and energy it takes to keep ourselves from falling into a rut -- it is so easy to spend our time on electronics or other mindless ventures.  When we are home working 8 plus hours a day, we barely have time to get ourselves fed, let alone think about exploring our minds and interests.  What are the implications of not having balance between work and home life? Certainly our time together as a family suffers when we do not have life balance.  We bottle up so much inside that we don't even know is there.  Then, we are too busy to unpack it and instead it explodes out in unforeseen and unexpected circumstances.

Well, we are trying to learn how to release it gradually on this trip -- after all, that is the idea -- practicing how to retire.  How appropriate that the Spanish word for retirement is "jubilacion."  We should celebrate what we have and learn to appreciate it -- not pack it all inside only to be released in bursts.

Whew, that is a lot of thinking for a Spanish afternoon --time to get busy planning the next adventure -- or on second thought, time for another nap:)