Barcelona {Girls Weekend}

Way back in January, some of the momma's from the kids Spanish school (all American momma's) put together a trip to Barcelona...just us momma's! We went over MLK day weekend so the dad's all had off and there was a RIDICULOUS deal on flights (the way there was FIVE EURO...so barely over $5 and the way back was like 35 euro...so UNDER $50 roundtrip...it was awesome....flights in Europe are so amazing). It was such an amazzzinnnnggg trip and SO MUCH fun!!!! Anyone who knows me knows I love me some girl time/girls nights out/girls trips so I was super excited to go on this and get to know some of the other moms better! There's only so much you can get to know someone when you only see them at school drop off and pick up. I've been able to see quite a few of them outside of that time but still not a lot to really hang out and get to know.

Anyway....soooo we flew in super late Friday and pretty much made our way to our apartment we rented and crashed. Then Saturday we toured around! We did one of the walking tours around the old part of town, which was interesting....I wasn't a huge fan of the tour guide we had but we saw some pretty places. Barcelona is a BEAUTIFUL city....the architecture is truly superb and well worth the trip. The guide said the city has won multiple architectural awards and I believe it! There are many favorite architects from there, the main one people know and the main work we toured was Antonio Gaudi. More about him later though :) I absolutely love love loved all the beautiful architecture there though....it is one of the main things I'm going to miss about Europe!!! I love the picturesque towns and streets and the detail and thought they put into everywhere you look...even the streets lined with apartment buildings...they are all different and unique and gorgeous!!

These are all pics from our walking tour.

 We did a LOT of walking on this little weekend trip. Our apartment was in a pretty good location and had 10-20 minute walks to most of the places we wanted to go. We did take the metro a few times just to save time to the further places. We went up to a higher up place in the evening to see some of the city at night and then walked over to the nearby former bullring...which was HUGE but since it's illegal there now they converted it into a huge mall. The ENTIRE top level is a circle of restaurants so we skipped the mall and went to dinner! It was pretty cool and the food was SO GOOD! They were all super nice restaurants up there so we sat and chatted and ate..it was so nice.

Sunday we did more touring....we had tickets for the Sagrada Familia...which was one of my favorite parts of the trip. It is a large Catholic Church that was designed by Gaudi. Construction began in 1882, with Gaudi coming into in 1883 and took over the design and engineering. He spend his last years working on it and by that time barely 1/4 of the building was done. The progress on the church has been slow....obviously since it is still under construction today and the estimated finish date is 2026 :) It is pretty cool to see the stark differences in the building periods though...you can see the original constructed part that Gaudi worked on...which is a much darker/aged stone now, and right up to it is the newer construction which is brighter and newer looking, and then of course the newest pieces are definitely newer looking.

The central part of the church was finished in 2000 and it is absolutely breathtaking. Gaudi's designs and style is all over this gorgeous building and I love seeing his attention to details throughout- from the color of the stained glass to the shapes of the windows and the shapes of the pretty much everything throughout the entire building...everything has a purpose for why it is the way it is and the position it is in...Gaudi was very symbolic and that is shown throughout the church.

The outside is amazing as well....the building is truly impressive now and when it is completed it will be even more so. There are three main entrances to the church....the Nativity Facade (which has scenes from Christ's birth, the Glory Facade (dedicated to Christ's glory period....this side is not completed), and the Passion Facade (dedicated to Christ's death). The towers outside are absolutely amazing....we got to go up in them which was awesome....beautiful views of the city :)

Later that same day we went to another Gaudi masterpiece....the Casa Batllo. The entire house has a very organic, natural look and has a lot of water inspiration. In the entire house, there is barely any straight lines....it is very flowy and curvy and definitely unique! The owners of the house gave Gaudi complete freedom to do what he wanted and man did he ever. :) One of the things I loved about it though was he made it to be enjoyed...ever piece and part of the house had a purpose and at the same time was part of the design....there were vents and openings throughout the house, which looked awesome in their own right, but served a purpose for allowing ventilation and controlling air flow. Some of them were pretty awesome/ingenious too! I loved the fusion of his architectural designs and his artistic designs. The other thing I loved was his use of mosaics and ceramics. These mosaics are one of the most popular/famous things about Barcelona and the patterns are everywhere, especially gift shops :) They are gorgeous though!!!!

Our last day there we mostly did some shopping and wandering around the main downtown area. There is an open market that I absolutely LOVED. It was full of stands of veggies, fruits, candies, meats, pastries, and more! The color everywhere was gorgeous and I loved walking around there. I could have taken pics there all day and loved every one of them :) :) :)

It was super fun thought to explore Barcelona! We ate super good food, saw some gorgeous places, and had so much fun together!!!! I've been so blessed with the most amazing friends everywhere we've gone so far. It is honestly the hardest thing ever, every time I move, to leave my friends and have to start over but I love the friendships I've made in my life and love and miss you all wherever you are in the world! And of course my family too :) :) :)

Here's some pics from my iphone :)

We made a flat Maria for our friend that was supposed to come and then couldn't last minute :( it was funny though!

These girls are crazy ;) :) :) 

at the oldest bakery in Barcelona! they had delicious treats!

The bakery even had a waffle window....

and they were sooooooooo goooooood!!!