Goodbye, Barcelona...until the next time!!

With only four short days in Barcelona I crammed in as much as I could, feeling anxious that I wouldn't get to everything I wanted to do (and I didn't). By day two I was soothing my fears by repeating "When I come back to Barcelona next time I'll do...". What a fabulous city with beautiful and friendly people, wonderful food, amazing architecture and the most unique shopping I've seen.

Here is a quick list of favorites:

☞ Firstly, I had the BEST travel companion in my friend Jennifer. We seemed to be on the same wavelength about what we wanted to see, do, taste while in Spain. We got up early, stayed up late (okay, not Barcelona-late, but always past midnight). And ran around the city like women on a mission. She didn't even blink when we realized I'd gotten us on the wrong train to Figueres to see the Dali Museum. The one hour train ride turned into three hours - just three extra hours of talking, right? Initially, I'd planned on going to Barcelona alone, but I wouldn't have had half the fun without Jen being there, too.
☞ Sagrada Familia - One of my regrets is that we didn't spend more time at Antonin Gaudi's masterpiece. It is more amazing than I'd suspected and one more reason to return to Barcelona. One of the best things is that it is still a work in progress, and as you enter the cathedral you can watch the artisans at work. They say it will be finished by 2026...um, yeah, right.
☞ Food- From the yummy panini-type sandwiches to the tapas to the gelato to the European hot chocolate to the great dinner at Cesc the food did not disappoint. We even happened upon a great Japanese restaurant - we missed getting the name of the restaurant, but I'm counting on being able to find my way there again next time. I loved the fried artichoke shavings in the photo.
☞The Colors of Barcelona - we found these displays of candy all over the city. They were so beautiful. This one was at the Boqueria, the out door market in the Barri Gotic area of Barcelona. Fresh juice is sold everywhere in the city, though I never bought any.

☞Attending the local sacrament meeting. The taxi driver had quite a time trying to find the church with the address we gave him. He pulled over and asked a man on the street, "Is there a church around here?", the man said "no". We kept telling the driver that, while we didn't know what the building would look like, it would not look like a church. Finally, we had him drop us off near the address and we started walking. In less than a minute a woman pushing a stroller asked if we were looking for the church. She didn't bother to say Mormon or LDS, but we knew enough to follow her through a park and chain-link gate to an unassuming building. And yes, it did not look like a church. We found out the building was the back side of an old football stadium and the church rented out the former offices of the stadium. Jen and I marveled at how the inside looked just like every other meetinghouse (circa 1970) in Utah. Had they really shipped over the standard-issue honey colored doors? I regret not taking a photo.

☞ The Fountains at Placa d'Espanya - I hadn't even considered the fountains as a 'must-see' for Barcelona, but Jen and the Sunday night crowd (several hundreds) that gathered more than an hour before the fountains began flowing changed my mind. They were pretty amazing. It was such a fun and beautiful way to end the day.
☞ Shops/Workshops - I loved how so many of the shops have the actual workshops attached as well so that you can watch the shop owners making their wares be it espadrilles, toys, etc.