Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain

We decided to celebrate our final day in Halsou by driving to Spain. Go figure....

Our destination was the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

The museum was designed by American architect Frank Gehry. It is constructed with titanium, stone and glass. To me the building was the star of the show. The art inside paled by comparison.

We spent over 3 hours looking at the paintings, sculptures, and art installations. They were all very interesting and thought-provoking.

And I discovered my newest favourite artist: Robert Rauschenberg. He created art pieces from scrap metal and found junk. A true kindred spirit! I could have taken all of his work off of the gallery walls and hung them in my house and garden.

Sitges

After our morning in Montserrat, we decided to spend our afternoon lying on a beach. We had heard from quite a few people about the lovely seaside town of Sitges, so we loaded our GPS with that information and were on our way.

Little did we know that it was 'Gay Pride Week' in Montserrat! And furthermore, we did not know that we just got there in the nick of time to watch the parade! I have always wanted to attend the Gay Pride Parade in Vancouver, but have always been on holidays when it was being held. How great that I got to be a part of it in Spain!

It was a riot of colour, flamboyance, dancing, loud music, and FUN! Everything I could ever ask for....

Montserrat

Yesterday we picked up our car and went for a drive in the country. Our first stop was Montserrat, a monastery in the mountains about an hour outside of Barcelona. What an amazing place! The geography is unbelievable. We spent the morning there hiking the mountain paths and visiting the Basilica to see the 'Black Madonna'.

Feed Us!

Deep fried artichoke hearts and Iberian ham on bread

A platter of seafood

Vino Tinto

A Spanish version of Osso Buco

Hazelnut cakes and chocolate truffles

Fat and happy diners

There is something I love about going into a restaurant, opening the menu and not being able to read one blessed word, and saying to the owner, "Feed us."

That is what happened last night.

The owner spoke to us in rapid fire Spanish. We couldn't understand one word of what he was saying. So we just shrugged, closed our menus, and in our best sign language asked him to choose for us.

He said, "Tapas?"

We nodded.

He said, "Feesh?"

We nodded.

"Toro?"

We nodded.

"Jamon serrano?"

We nodded.

"Vino tinto?"

And then out came the food. And the wine. It was perfect. It was delicious. We ate every bite and mopped our plates clean with pieces of bread.

As I said. I love being fed.

Pickpockets

The scene of the crime.

Throughout our travels of the past four years, we have always been warned about pickpockets. We've always been mindful of how we carry our bags and purses, but thankfully we have never had anything stolen from us.

When we arrived in Barcelona, the first thing Arturo told us was to watch out for pickpockets. He said it was the worst this city has seen in 10 years. He warned us not to let anyone crowd around us with offers of help and to keep our satchels in front of us, zipped up at all times.

The other night we were taking the metro and we were on a very busy line. The trains were full and people were anxious to get where they were going. As we tried to enter a car, two men were getting off. But instead of stepping out of the car onto the platform, they stood in the open door, not moving.

I thought that was weird. We tried to push past them to get into the car.

All of a sudden Joe jerked his elbow up sharply and yelled, "Let go!"

Joe had his hand on his wallet in his front pocket and he felt another hand cover his. Thank goodness Joe had the wherewithal to lay a martial arts move on the guy. The two men quickly scuttled away and we felt very lucky that Joe and his wallet weren't parted.

Joe now carries his wallet in his breast pocket zippered up.

Rooftop Breakfast

Our host Artur invited us up to the roof of the apartment building for breakfast this morning. What a view! And the food wasn't too bad either.....

We're planning on going back up to the roof with a bottle of cava tonight once the sun goes down.

First Night in Barcelona

We ate a great meal last night. Lots of tapas, cava, and paella.

We took a taxi down to the port of Barcelona last night. It was a beautiful evening. Back home, summer hasn't even arrived yet. Here it is in full swing! Palm trees, warm breezes, with half a moon in the sky. Pinch me.

This photo was taken of the Sagrada Familia from the balcony of our apartment at night.

Okay, I can't stand how beautiful this church is and all I can do is stare at it from our balcony window. I promise you I'll post other photos as well from our time in Spain. Promise.

Barcelona Is Beautiful

The view out of our apartment window in Barcelona.

We have arrived in Barcelona safe and sound. Our flight was non-eventful, Joe and I slept almost the entire time, and we arrived an hour earlier than expected. Our host, Artur, picked us up from the airport and delivered us to our apartment which is called 'Gaudi's Nest'.

As you can see from the photo, our apartment faces Gaudi's 'Sagrada Familia'. It is an unbelievable view!

We are just heading out for dinner. I hope we're not too early! It is only 9:00pm. After all, this is Spain and no one eats until at least 10 o'clock.