We found a tapas place called Tapas 24 where Nicholas actually liked the tapas, and Jacob said they were awesome. Typically, tapas are meat oriented, so I do not eat much of them. There was one egg tapa that I ate. Very good.
We explored the area of the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, which is the part of Barcelona called Montjüic. It is a huge area, with various buildings for the Olympics and lots of planned open space.
On our way to Montjüic, we got off the Metro stop called Plaça España and saw the old round bullring stadium...now turned into a modern mall.
And in the centre of the traffic "roundabout", this cool "center piece". That is what is so great about this city. It seems we are surprised with another fabulous statue, or plaza, or...
On our walk to Montjüic, we pass by this huge museum. It is quite a hike to get up there, and they even have outdoor escalators for those who do not prefer all the steps. You pass by these pillars on your way.
Getting closer...
And closer...
And we made it to the top with an awesome view!
Here is La Sagrada Familia from afar (although I zoomed in quite a bit).
Then we walked behind the museum and to the Olympic space. We first visited the Olympic stadium, then we explored the other areas.
We have no idea what this tower is at Montjüic and have not researched it, but the boys enjoyed playing on it!
After Montjüic, we decided to enter THE BULLRING MALL to look for food. The boys were thrilled to find this smoothie place. We got a kick out of the name. :)
At the very top of the bullring mall, there is an outdoor area around the whole thing for some amazing views. This is that same statue in the center of Plaça España.
On our weekly Spanish class excursion, we went by "4 Cats" (or "Els Quatre Gats" in Catalan, the regional language here) bar and restaurant (following 2 photos), which opened in 1897 and is a famous spot where well known authors and artists would meet.
We returned to the area Diagonal Mar (mentioned in a previous blog) to what is called an "urban adventure park". It was essentially a ropes course with various ways to get from pole to pole on ropes...sometimes zip lines, swings, etc. Jacob and Nicholas found it an easy but fun course.
Nearby there is a cool building that is skinny and pointed. Ray found it curious and took these photos. He kept saying that this was not efficient use of space. :)
Right next to the pointy building is this amazingly designed science museum.
Walking around it, it's hard to figure out how the weight around all the sides are held up.
We met some new friends in the city to explore another neighborhood festival. We started out at this big slide complex. Even I went down a slide. :)
On two different streets of the festivities, there was a long line of firecrackers set off down the centre of a narrow street: they were SO loud and the spectators had to watch out! (I only have a video of that experience!) After the firecrackers, a group of drummers came through with a fun beat and lots of enthusiasm!
Here are some of the decorations we thought were fun.
Here we are with two ladies from our Spanish classes. The one on the left is Julie from Denmark. She has finished Spanish classes, but is in Barcelona for a couple more months doing an internship for a Danish travel agency. The other is Gemma from England, who has already returned home to begin college.
We all got haircuts, and Jacob decided to go a little GREEN. :)
Nicholas said "maybe next time" for the color.
So now a little more detail about our appointment in getting our residency cards... For our appointment with the "police", it was required that we have an apartment for at least the next 6 months, so we were scrambling to get that set. We had to set this appointment almost 4 weeks ahead (and making the appointment took over a week and required a lawyer to help us!), and just a few days after the appointment, we left for Italy, so we HAD to get approved for residency. Otherwise, we would not have enough time on our temporary visas (which we received in the US) to get our residence visas in Spain. In the end we did not get an apartment, but the rental agency we were renting from the first month gave us a letter that approved us to rent the same apartment for the following 10 months (which we do not want to do, but the letter was important for residency).
We have heard crazy stories about getting through all the legal hoops in Spain...and how much delay there can be. Sometimes it is not so much legal, but rather WILLINGNESS to help. We took the advice of a friend who spent a year in Spain and secured a lawyer to help us through the process. He met us at the police office, and the challenges began! It was 5 hours of waiting and government resistance at every turn, challenges with appointments, getting more approvals, and making taxi trips to another police location. (I won't bore you with all the details.) Oh my! We were on the edge our seats the whole ride! Even though it looked like obstacles were continually arising, I just inherently knew we were going to get through this. The lawyer was invaluable, I must say. He was a rockstar and was VERY determined. He did not take "no" for an answer. Also, he had told me ahead of time the documentation to come with, but I brought EVERYTHING I could think that I would need. And I needed it! He would doubtfully turn to me and ask if I had some document or another (i.e., birth certificates, proof of payment for the apartment, etc.), and I would pull it out to his surprise and relief. I have to thank all those who told me to be over-prepared! :)
I will tell the tail end of the story. After being delayed at another police station, we had a short time to return for our original appointment, which had been long past, but which the lawyer had gotten verbal approval that we could come back for. The boys and I had to take a cab with the lawyer (cabs only fit four passengers), while Ray would take another after us once he found one (we waited for the first cab for too long...time was running short). We arrived just before the 2:00 closing for the day (it's the government!). Our lawyer worked his way in with us and urged an employee to take us and do the fingerprinting (which is the final step before we get our cards a few weeks later). It ended up that three ladies had to help us. They were all extremely unhappy, kept complaining about the time, called over the manager who tried to stop the process, did not want to help Ray (who arrived late and out of breath because he ran all the way there after not finding a cab). In the end, they stayed an extra 30 minutes to get us all fingerprinted! We walked out of there, and our lawyer said we just completed "mission impossible". We were all SO happy!
As for our apartment, we will just rent an apartment on a daily/weekly basis (like a vacation rental) until we find a permanent place. Easy solution! But it will be nice to get settled into a final place for the remainder of the year.
Next blog will be about Italy!
Thanks for the long post and all the pics. Looks like you were having fun before you left for Italy, which you deserved after all the work to get your visas! I hear there are wild times in Italy!!!
ReplyDelete