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NYC

On they way back from Barcelona we made a stop in NYC.  3 nights, 2 days was not enough time.  But we managed to walk around Central Park, Grand Central Station, the Empire State Building, see a show, hit the American Natural History Museum as well as the Intrepid and stop to watch a game of chess in Washington Square Park.  Oh, and all while overcoming jet lag.  

Here we are on our way into NYC from Newark International.  The kids were asleep in less than 5 minutes.  We had to pour them out onto the sidewalk in front of our hotel so they could sleepwalk to our room Then pour them into bed, at 7pm.  They didn’t stir until 5 am. So yeah, the first night in the Big Apple was pretty exciting. 

First stop, top of the Empire State Building

On our way to Grand Central Station

Then a walk through Times Square to the Intrepid Museum.  A space shuttle, concord jet, and nuclear submarine tour.  We spent more time here than we expected.  Really cool.

Day 2.  On our way to grab some breakfast near our hotel.  I loved passing this statue in the middle of the road.

Then to the American Natural History Museum.  Sean is sitting down in front of the big screen in the bottom right of the picture.  But the enormous Blue Whale makes it look like a 37″ TV.

Lunch break at the Shake Shack.  Thumbs up to frozen custards!

On our way from watching a chess match to taking in a show.  We had dinner in our good friends, Leela and Jaya’s, old neighborhood.  

It did rock.

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Final day in our beloved BCN.

The kids and I went to tour the Palau de Musica, designed by another infamous Catalan architect Lluis Domenech i Montaner.  Gorgeous music venue.  But I was so overcome with the multitude of detail I neglected to get a photo of the performance stage.  

This is the ceiling.  I could not capture the scope and awe of the stained glass.  It covered the ENTIRE  area.

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Pintxo Night!

The family headed to a Pintxo Bar for a traditional Basque meal made of small bites served on slices of bread.  We chose our pintxos from the cases along the bar, often reaching in between patrons seated at the bar. 

Traditional cheese and chorizo.  So pretty.

At the end of the meal you pay by the number of toothpicks.  It was super fun and new kind of social experience with the locals.

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3 Days Left

July 4 - :(  Kids choice day.  The picked Park Guell, one of Gaudi’s many design masterpieces here in BCN.  The kids remembered quite a bit of the park from our 2015 trip.  Afterwards we strolled through our neighborhood, Gracia and enjoyed another gelato.

Happy.

Kelsey gave this living statue 1euro and she came to life and handed each of them a marble from her special box.  Kelsey says it’s a “magic marble.”  

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Montserrat

July 2 - Today we traveled to Montserrat, named for the abbey that sits at the top of the mountain range.  To reach it from BCN we took an hour train ride then boarded an aerial tram a were conveniently lifted up to the top.  Well almost the top.  From here we did a short hike to get a better view of abbey.  

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BCN Week 2

June 26 - July1  One day was spent just riding a city bus, unintentionally.  The three of us boarded the bus headed for BCN’s version of OMSI and while riding the bus I realized I didn’t double check to see that it was open.  It was Monday. It was not open.  So we just stayed on the bus until we got close enough to home then hopped off and walked home, finding some ice cream along the way.  The next day we headed back and this house was along our short walk from the bus stop to Cosmo Caixa.

This was also on the way.  Known as the Tiburon (Shark).

We’re here!  And it’s open.  The kids and I spend 4 1/2 hours here.  It’s a pretty awesome place with a rainforest, complete with a capybara as well as a traveling exhibit on the brain and language.  Total cost for the three of us?  4 Euro.

The next day we headed to the cable car, aka Teleferic, on Montjuic.  There was an amazing thunderstorm the night before so the views are crystal clear, for Barcelona.

The castle at the top looks pretty cool from the outside, but we hear it’s not worth the time or money spent to go inside.  So we hike around instead.

I always wondered where the cruise ships docked.  This is seen from the “backside” of the castle on Montjuic.  

Who doesn’t love a good cannon?

The Catalan Flag

Sean made this checkerboard and used the beach glass he and Kelsey collected from Barceloneta Beach.  It’s been pretty fun!

More pigeons. Two years ago Sean was obsessed with chasing them.  Now he is getting up close and personal.  (eew)  

It’s probably not a good thing to feed them rice... oops.

The fountains at Placa Espana.

5 Euro.  For real.

Kelsey only said “eewww” once when looking at the mural.  Gelato abides.

It’s really a cool thing, done with different colored 2x2 square tiles.

Sean has mastered his technique and no longer drips all over himself.

Weekend fun!  And I for some reason did not take many photos.  We headed to Villanova i la Geitru for some beach time.

The sand was silky soft.  And when the sun went behind the cloud it was even a bit coolish.

Dinner time on the terrace.. never get tired of spending nights up here.

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Chopsticks

The game, not the song.  One day when we were on the subway I looked over at two boys and their Dad.  The boys were going on, arguing in Spanish, while playing chopsticks.  They were trying to explain to their Dad something about the game and the look on their father’s face was one I totally recognized.  Utter confusion and exasperation... about the rules of the game, how it is played, why.  It’s nice to know that Dads in Spain get as confounded by their kids’ explanations of this game as this Mom, from Oregon.  Here my kids occupy one of our many subway rides with Chopsticks.

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1 down, 2 to go

June 25 - Today marks the end of our first, of three, weeks in BCN but more importantly Jeff’s Birthday!  We spent the day at Parc de la Ciutadella and walking through the El Born district.

Mammoth Photo op 2017

Photo op 2015

Another dejavu...

We were in search of xurros from this one particular store, but when got there it was closed for siesta.

30 minutes later it was open!  It was worth the wait.

More stuff found while wandering...

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Walking around looking at stuff

Which is everyday, but specifically June 22-24  I love all lightposts/street lamps in Europe, but these in the Gothic Quarter in BCN are my favorite.  I’m going to make earrings like this one.

Emergency lunch stop on the Passeig de Gracia.  Good moods return.

Friday, June 23 is San Joan Day.  A Catalan holiday with lots of fireworks.  On our way to this spot we passed many people sitting in plazas drinking cava and enjoying the festivities.  We walked through one small plaza where neighbors set up tables and had a potluck block party, reminiscent of our street at home. This plaza had a band playing too. Bonfires are also common in neighborhood plazas like this one. However the fireworks became too loud/too close for the kids so we left and got a late night gelato, 11pm.

On our way to gelato we found a familiar site!

July 2015.  Looks like they have both grown “two slats” in two years.

June 24, Saturday we went to an awesome traveling exhibit on David Bowie.  He was so multi talented, fearless and creative.  There was a lot of music throughout the almost 2 hrs we spent there and afterwards Sean was humming Starman for days.  Then we headed to the beach to let the kids play and we sat and relaxed.  This tower, ahem, is the subject of a lot of debate in BCN, but I have to say it’s pretty cool at night when it displays it’s multicolored light show.  This is where we exited the subway to head to the Bowie exhibit.

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Days start to blend into each other

Barcelona, June 19 ~ 21  The pace slows now that we are in BCN, surrounded by familiar sites.  Here we don’t feel as “pushed” as we did in Paris to get out and see the city.  19 days allows some space in the day for downtime, which is a good thing because the kids want to take advantage of our apartment building’s pool.  We have been there everyday, if not once, twice and I see that as something that will not be changing anytime soon.

The kids and I took the subway down to Placa Catalunya and they drank from the Font Canaletes.  Those who drink from this fountain are said to return to Barcelona again.  We all did this two years ago, so I guess it works.  Kids are working on trip number 3.

Dinner on our rooftop terrace is always a highlight of our day.  Here’s the view.

Kelsey had the idea to walk up to Park Guell after dinner.  It was a lot of uphill walking to get to this point.  But the kids did awesome.  Hard to believe it’s after 10pm from this photo.  Great views of an amazing city.

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Day 5, our last day in Paris

June 18 Today we tackled the Louvre.  The size of the crowds and the museum overwhelmed the kids at first.  After fighting our way to the Mona Lisa we took a snack break and after a longer break than desired ( on my part) the kids kicked it into gear.

The Egyptian Relics was their favorite.  It was a lot of fun to watch them explore.  They took photos with their camera’s of everything they thought was cool.  They took a lot of photos.

Here is our apartment building.  Our flat was on the 3rd floor.  I always have to remember ground floor is floor 0.

Our time in Paris flew by.  The kids did great.  3 museums, 4+ monuments, and over 35 miles trekked in 5 days.  Now on to Barcelona for a rest!

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Day 4

June 17  A visit to the Pompidou Center, a cooking class and the Arc de Triomphe.  Can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of the outside of the Pompidou, but here’s a shot of the rooftops from the roof of the museum.  After many “confounding” exhibits in the Contemporary section it was after seeing a dress made out of meat that the kids decided this genre of art was not for them.  At least they had some sort of reaction!

Sean is making his own response to the art.

Now on to our cooking class with Martha (pronounced “Marta,”) in her apartment.  It turned out to be just the four of us.  It was an unusually hot day in Paris but it didn’t deter us!

Madelines

Orange Cake.. and we also made a chocolate fondant cake but I was too busy eating it to take a picture.  Total decadence!  Three desserts and wine in the middle of the afternoon.  

Sean really wanted to see the Arc de Triomphe to add to his “monuments visited list.”  So on our last night we made our way there.

After visiting the Arch and buying a couple of souvenirs we made our way back to our apartment in the 8th arr to have a late dinner.  Sean entertained passersby with his singing to the pop music in the cafe.

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Day 3

June 16  Jet lag caught up with us today.  We all slept in until 11:30!  Jeff said that’s never happened to him so he never thought to set an alarm.  But we still got in Notre Dame, the Latin Quarter, gelato (the first of many,) and the Jardin du Luxembourg.  This is Chatelet metro station.  

Sean still isn’t quite awake.  His energy level matches that of the sphinx fountain.

This was more impressive to Kelsey than what was behind her.

Maison de “you name it.”

We made it!  This was a really cool play area.  Thanks to our friends Ben and Megan for the recommendation!

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Paris Noir

... just felt more Parisian...

Back on solid ground.

What’s more impressive than this?

Pigeons of course!

This guy was just hanging out, in his steely heeled boots, vaping at the bar.  too cool to pass up..

A wrong turn took us to this cool doorway

Latin Quarter street

Sacre Couer at sunset

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First days in Paris

June 14 & 15 - Working on overcoming jet lag and strategizing our visit while chilling in the Jardin des Tuilleries. 

June 15, first stop  Now is when we discovered that although this was top on Kelsey’s “must do” list, not so much for Sean.  He is not a fan of heights and was a little unsure of his safety.

So, he took each step one at a time.  I mean EACH step.  He can honestly say that both of his feet touched every single step from the base to the second platform.  Good thing we weren’t in a hurry.

Proud that he made it, he was fine staying right where he was and refused to take the elevators to the top.

So, Daddy and  Kelsey went on without us.  

Kelsey on the Eiffel Tower, “It was good.  And it reminded me of the time in the book Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where the family went up to the top of the tower at night so they could have the whole city of Paris spread out below them like a carpet.”

The family and Monet at Musee de l’Orangerie.

After a rest and dinner we walked up to Sacre Couer, from the Metro Stop, which by the way had the LONGEST spiral staircase up to ground level.  Found some Irish humor along to way too.

The top.  The acrobat/juggler you see on the pedestal was amazing with a soccer ball.

Sacre Couer

On our way to bed...

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end of the line...

OK people.  This is where we end the Fawcett Four’s Paris/BCN/NYC tour.  Feel free to check out our trip from 2015, starting here, if you really feel compelled.

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Our last day

Aug 6 - Sigh... we were all sad to come to our last day in Barcelona.  We planned to have one full day before our flight home so we could do any last minute things and get a chance to soak it all in.  We went back to Santa Caterina Market for some Spanish Paprika and saffron.  The kids gawked at the fresh fish, crab, frogs (frozen) and snails.  We ate lunch which we had to force down Sean in order to prevent an even worse hunger related melt down later on.  We walked to the Ramblas and marveled at the river of people for as far down the street as you could see.  

The kids insisted that Jeff and I drink from the Font de Canaletes.  Legend has is that those who drink from it will then return to Barcelona.  Kelsey & Sean had already done that.  I guess they wanted to come back with us.  Then we headed home for our last siesta and some final packing.  

A view from our terrace.

That evening we went to our final Gaudi site, La Pedrera.  It is an apartment building he designed in the early 1900′s.  The roof is the reason to go.  All of the ventilation stacks have been artfully designed into an amazing sculpture park atop the downtown building.  Kelsey was very taken by the site and the city views.  She remarked about the beauty around her and said this had been an amazing trip and she felt very happy.  This was not the first time she said something like this.  She was truly genuine and it made my heart melt.  We couldn’t have asked for more from our kids this trip.

We ended the night not at another tapas place but at Zensai, a fabulous Japanese restaurant not far from Passeig de Gracia and La Pedrera.  I’m not a big sushi fan, meaning I never eat it.  But when Jeff said it was the best he’d ever had (and he has had a lot) I tried it.  It was amazing, as was the yakisoba, the steak and the gyozas.  We were all happy when we walked to the L7 train to take us to the El Putxet station then to our apartment one last time.

Gaudi designed tiles of the sidewalk along Passeig de Gracia.