Beaches and blisters...

I am too tired to hook up my camera to download pictures from today so you will have to form your own photos from my descriptions. I'm planning on posting a bunch of Barcelona pictures on facebook tomorrow night because we're moving on to a new destination tomorrow.

Our final day in Barcelona was pretty low key. We'd walked the feet off of the kids yesterday so today what they really wanted to do was hit the beach. We all had a fantastic, solid sleep (until 11:30 am!) and then slowly made our way down to la playa. After a beautiful, calm lunch on the marina we people watched for a few hours on the main Barcelona beach. What a strange combination of people there were! Not only that, but the incessant questioning of "Massaje? Massaje?" by wandering women got really annoying. Jeff likened it to a mosquito buzzing around your head and I couldn't agree more. I swear we were asked if we wanted a massage every 3-5 minutes for the entire time we were there. One lady was so bold as to actually grab my leg and start rubbing it before I could bat her away! Jeff was procuring us some refreshments at the time and didn't believe it had happened until the same lady came and did it to him about half an hour later! Very, very strange. I'm not going to lie.... I was kind of tempted to get a 5 euro massage on the beach but I just couldn't pay them and help promote their 'industry'. It was so annoying. On the other hand, the super refreshing lemon beer was amazing, and the kids had a great time jumping waves and finding rocks.

We were pretty tuckered out from the strenous beach sitting so we headed home to relax for a few hours before having dinner. We didn't have any plans and just headed out the door hoping for divine intervention and a great dinner. After many, many blocks (which is where the blisters come in - but my shoes were cute!) the busy corner and blue awning drew us in and we sat down. We ordered some drinks, settled in, and - much to our dismay - were told that they didn't have any food available aside from some little sandwiches. The waiter pitied us and brought us a small bowl of olives and the four of us shared a tuna sandwich and a brie sandwich. Before you feel too badly for us (as I'm sure you all are) the bread was fantastic and the brie sandwich in particular was amazing. The only 'small' problem was the fact that we'd ordered an entire bottle of wine (thinking we'd be there for a long time and eat a whole meal!). So, the kids happily had their Barbies swinging from lamp posts and putting on hip hop shows while we worked our way through the bottle of wine and bowl of olives. The girls wished they had a hat to put out because they swore they would've made a mint from the passerbys! Oh, and to give some kudos to them - they have been unbelievable with their Spanish. Julia actually walked into the bar by herself tonight and asked the waiter for a menu, and then at the end of the evening went in and asked for 'la cuenta'. She said the waiter asked where she was from and she said Canada - so he proceeded to speak to her in French! She found that hilarious and said, "No comprendo". Funny. I think that both of them love the reaction they get from everyone when they actually go out of their way to speak and try their best. Last night Chloe asked (in spanish of course) for "lemonade without bubbles" and had a complete conversation with the waitress about what they had and didn't have. It's so great to see and we're so glad to see that side of them coming out and being put to use.

After the strange olive and tuna sandwich 'dinner' we were all still hungry and ventured towards home hoping to find a place that tickled our fancy. We stumbled upon a cute little pizza place where we finished off the night with some great food. Julia ordered a pizza margareta and I was secretly hoping to steal a piece but the little turkey ate the whole thing! I'm still thinking about it now... sigh. The girls were wide awake but Jeff and I could barely keep our eyes open by the end of the meal - which means it's time for me to sign off and hit the sack. Jeff is peacefully slumbering already although the girls are awake and still reading their books. We need to leave tomorrow by 11 am which doesn't seem too early until you consider the fact that it's already after midnight! So, sweet dreams (or, happy afternoon!) and tootaloo for now....