Beautiful, Sunny Barcelona

After the cold and chill of Germany and Italy, Barcelona’s weather felt like heaven. The morning of the fourth Matt and I found a pharmacy and I purchased some medicine similar to Theraflu that miraculously allowed me to feel much, much better. Unfortunately, Matt was just beginning to sneeze and blow his nose incessantly and it became clear he was quickly picking up my sickness. That morning we snapped photos of the famous Sagrada Familia and loved a hot lunch at Kentucky Fried Chicken. In the afternoon, we walked down to the port and soaked up the warm sunshine and the beautiful view of the Mediterranean Sea. I bought some popcorn and we sat on the dock for almost an hour; the sunshine felt like medicine itself. Then we toured the aquarium museum for several hours, taking the time to read the information and writings on the walls and tanks. Matt loved the stingrays; I found the moving sidewalk to be the best part. The sidewalk slowly pulls you through an area where the tank is above and on either side of you and you can see sharks and a large variety of fish. Unfortunately, our lovely day ended with a bummer of a restaurant which cost us all that our budget would allow and we left hungry. Nonetheless, the next day we started out with as much enthusiasm as a sick Matt and a getting better Heather would allow. We spent the afternoon at an impressive Picasso museum which houses over 3600 pieces of the artist’s work. That evening, we were so fortunate. We were walking around just to look and see and we found a large group of people clustered around a main street and soon discovered a bright and flashy parade – the parade of the Three Wise Men. Matt and I watched with delight, caught handfuls of candy, and captured moments on film and video. The next day was a holiday, the day when gifts are exchanged in Spain; accordingly, the museums and so forth were closed. Matt and I then happily exchanged the city for the beauty of Park Guell, designed by the famous Gaudi. After a nice long walk and a rest on the longest park bench in the world, we enjoyed steaming hot cups of coffee as the sun set and the evening chill set in. Since Matt was feeling terribly sick, we returned early to the noisy hostel and spent the night in relative comfort. The next morning, we woke at six to catch our flight with IBERIA!!! Indeed, Iberia is much more pleasant than RyanAir and we found we were able to move through the lines with relative ease. Our flight landed in Vigo around noon and we were back in our own lovely apartment around one. What happiness we felt when walking into our own clean space! That afternoon, Matt slept off his sickness while I began on the laundry and made homemade chicken noodle soup. The joy of adventure and travel certainly led to the joy and thankfulness of returning to Vigo.