More New Friends

I have not posted for a few days, so here are a couple photos that go with the previous entry.

Jacob having his caramel decaf latté:

Ray making friends and chatting it up with the owner (not pictured) and his son at the pizza place we went to:

And they have Sierra Nevada water!!  (There is a Sierra Nevada in this part of the world, too!)

Now I will continue with Sunday, August 3rd.  That morning we practiced getting up "early" to get to church by 11:00!  We got a bit confused on our transfer of public transportation, so took a taxi the rest of the way, getting us there just in time for the service that we found out starts about 7 minutes late as a standard practice.  :)  Good news for us!  

So, we made six new friends at the church, all wonderful people offering to help us out in various ways.  One of them, Robert, who is actually from Spokane, Washington and has relocated to Barcelona with his wife (who is back in the States now for several months) took us to his apartment afterwards, giving us drinks and talking up a storm, saying he is starved to speak some English (since his wife is not here and he's currently living solo).  

On the walk to his apartment, we passed by a Gaudí building.  For anyone who is not familiar, Gaudí is a famous Barcelona artist/architect who designed many buildings, homes, a park, and the amazing church called Sagrada Familia.  Truly amazing.  We will visit more of his work eventually.  Like I said, we have a while to see all these places.  :)

We went to lunch at Ray's and my favorite vegetarian restaurant, Teresa Carles (from when we visited 16 months ago).  It was awesome!  OK, now I am going to admit that I LOVE taking pictures of delicious and beautiful food!  Here are some of our fabulous meal...fresh, gourmet, and very tasty!

 Kiwi, orange/lime, strawberry smoothie

Sampler appetizer plate

Nachos

Salad with roasted cinnamon squash and tempeh

Gorgonzola cream pasta stuffed with cheese and nuts

Three different vegetarian sliders with fries

Lasagne over greens

After lunch (at about 4:00), Robert took us to a museum of excavated ruins of a Roman town dating from the 1st century A.D.  Super cool!  We had walked by that museum previously a couple times without knowing it, as the entrance is almost hidden away at the side of a huge cathedral.  Here are some photos of that visit.  

Here we are under part of an ancient Roman aqueduct. 

 

We went by a puppeteer with a great little set-up:

Photos of the Roman ruins and findings:

These heads are all guys who were important in this town and died in the first century:

Sunday evening we had dinner with a wonderful family who we were connected with through a friend (thanks, Marci!).  Luis (his wife couldn't make it that night) and his daughters, Marta and Victoria, and Victoria's boyfriend, were all wonderful hosts of Barcelona.  Luis and Marta picked us up in their car (we four squeezed in to the 5 person car), and the took us to El Borne where we wandered the wide, plaza style avenues (no cars) which were lined with restaurants and outdoor patios, until we found an outdoor table to fit all eight of us.  We had a meal of tapas and got to know each other.  Luis and his family were preparing to sail to the Balearic Islands in their sailboat within a couple days.  I wish I had thought of taking a photo of Luis and family!!  He said we will get together again, so next time I will.  

MONDAY, August 4, we started our Spanish classes...four hours per day, 5 days per week.  I must say that the time went by quickly.  The boys were very apprehensive about sitting in class for that long learning Spanish.  However, they really like it!  Wow, what a relief for me...no complaining to listen to!  :)  The instructors are engaging, fun, and keep things moving.  The periodic breaks help, and they get to watch video clips (in Spanish), play games, and do various other fun things.  I am very impressed with the school and instructors.  The boys are in a class on their own, and Ray and I are in a class along with a young Danish lady.  They move us along quickly, which is great, as they are starting at a more beginner level than I need.  The day goes by before we know it.  

Back to the beach after classes one evening... 

A posed photo of Jacob...yes, centred on the tree...

Nicholas climbing along a railing...high up off the ground...

 Another couple shots of that giant fish statue...

We are still on the hunt for an apartment that suits our needs in a nice neighborhood-y area, close to activity and decent markets.  We have called a lawyer about our visas.  We found out that the government offices close during the month of August!  Oi!  We are just taking it step by step at this point, doing all that we can to secure our residence here for a year.  This part of our story to be continued...

Good news...we were successful at opening a bank account today!  The guy who helped us was amazing and could have even run circles around an American banker.  Ray was SURE he was from another country.  But alas!  He is a native Spaniard.  We have to go pick up our debit cards in one week at the branch.  I want to bring him a small gift for being the most helpful person we have met!  :)