Can you see the boys in the alleyway? I am standing on our balcony taking the photo of them at the door to the apartment building. They have just come home from dance, as they do 5 days each week, after 2-3 hours of dancing. As you may know, dancing is a passion of theirs. At the end of September they auditioned for and were accepted into a newly formed hip hop dance crew with Bea Villabol (their instructor). Throughout the year they prepared for several competitions this spring, two of which were in May and are included in this blog post.
The first competition was called Urban Display (held just outside Barcelona) and is the largest one in Spain. Here the boys are getting ready for a pre-performance photo with their crew.
Here are a couple photos of the Urban Display venue.
Their crew competed with 26 other groups in the Junior A category (up to 9 people, ages 12-15), and they were oh-so-surprised when they were announced the winner! :)
Here is the video of the performance, which I posted on YouTube. I continued recording after the dance was over, so you can stop watching once they go off stage. (I am not tech-y enough to figure out how to edit the video!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSHZsP7DtMU
The next weekend they had another performance, this time with a total of 21 groups competing. They won first place again!
The parents of the dancers :)
Along with all the dancing excitement, we had friends visiting from Belgium. When Ray and I were visiting Barcelona two years ago, we met a young Belgian lady, Julie, and her mom, Christine, when we were out to dinner, since our tables right next to one another and as a result of Ray's outgoing personality. :) We got to talking and invited one another to our home countries. Last June, Julie and her boyfriend, Roel (pronounced "Rule"), visited us in Tahoe during their one month tour of California and some national parks. So this year we really wanted to visit Belgium, but we literally ran out of time slots for any more trips, with dancing commitments and visitors to Barcelona. So Julie and Roel came to Barcelona to visit us! My parents and I went to Park Güell with them and enjoyed its unique architecture. You may remember the blog about the park from our visit there in the fall. Nicholas was not enthralled with the place, and Ray had been again recently with a friend from Texas who visited in April, so the three boys opted out of the excursion.
Here are some photos of the two buildings at the entrance to the park.
(This may be a bit of a repeat about Park Güell, so skip if you'd like.)
From these two main buildings you walk up the stairs...
...where each tile along the walls is unique...
...past the famous mosaic gecko where everyone stops for a photo...like Mom and Dad...
...and Julie and Roel...
...until you reach the top of these staircases and take in the view from a bit higher up...
...and perhaps take another photo there...
...then turn behind you (and up a few more steps, I think) to walk under those huge columns that hold up the terrace above...
Then walk up to the terrace and take in the grand view...
...and take more photos on the terrace bench...
This is a "side" photo of the terrace above and the columns beneath
Besides the houses, tiles, columns, stairs, mosaics, and terrace, the park is actually park-like in the outer areas, but still has some unique features.
Julie and Roel introduced us to a cool new restaurant. They are great at finding fun new places!
We had to say goodbye to Julie and Roel way too soon! Hopefully we can include Belgium on our next international trip. (I have the travel bug now, so we will be coming back before too long!) :)
Later that week, we decided to take an excursion (one hour train ride outside of Barcelona) to Monserrat, the first national park in Spain. The word "monserrat" means "serrated", referring to a group of jagged rocks visible from a distance.
A few photos on our tram ride to the top
At the top
Monserrat was a sanctuary for monks and also for nuns, so there are large related buildings up there. We have seen plenty of these. :)
There are lots of hiking trails on the mountain, so we chose one explore.
At the end of the trail there were big rock formations.
The adults being entertained by the kids on the rocks
Posing like his kids
One last view before heading back down
The little tram car that will carry us down again
Resting at the train stop before hopping on the train back to Barcelona.
It's been a full day!
Can't put into words as to how much fun we had!!
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