Spain was high on Brewster’s wishlist. “Mom, can we please go to Barcelona?” He repeated over the past couple of months. I’d answer, “probably not.” That was until a few weeks ago when I looked at the TGV schedule and spotted a direct train from Aix-en-Provence to Barcelona. I wanted to treat Brewster for surviving a semester of Spanish 3 taught in French and treat Sadie for completing a semester of French school. As my dear friend Julie Leahy pointed out recently, “Why Not?” which has become my mantra in France.
I talked over the idea with Matt. “Babe, Barcelona is only four and a half hours away.” ” I started convincing him. “ We can leave Saturday morning and return Sunday night. It’s our birthday week and Brewster doesn’t have basketball that weekend. It’d be really fun. What do you think?”
There are so many things I love about Matt including his answer. “Yes, go. Definitely go to Barcelona. It’ll be a blast and you won’t regret it.” He was absolutely right and so awesome for saying so.
I booked our train tickets and started searching for a hotel. I prefer Airbnb for two or more nights but just for one night, I’m a fan of hotels. I rank hotels by their stars on hotels.com and look for the best deal. After reading reviews and researching the best Barcelona location, I booked a boutique hotel room in the Gothic Quarter. I was excited and so were the kids!
Friday night we packed an overnight bag and set our alarms for 6:45am. “World traveling is exhausting,” I said sarcastically when the kids quietly complained about waking up that early on a Saturday.
We walked to the bus station in the dark and took a bus from Aix to the TGV station as the sun rose. At 8:15am we boarded the train going towards Madrid. Four and half hours later, we were in the Barcelona train station looking for the subway. “Another metro,” Brewster said as we walked underground. We were noticeably more comfortable than we were a few months ago navigating public transportation in a foreign city. I smiled watching Sadie and Brewster walk through the turnstile confidently.
We exited the subway on La Rambla at the Christoper Columbus Monument.
I remembered the view from 2004 when Matt and I visited Barcelona. The Spanish sun warmed us up. We shed a layer and walked to the coast. With our backs to the Mediterranean Sea, we looked down La Rambla and I said, “Well guys, welcome to Barcelona!”
Brewster pointed out a Catalonian flag nearby and educated us about the Catalonian Independence movement. He knows more than I do which is both impressive and handy.
We walked down the wide pedestrian street, La Rambla, through the market stalls to Place Real, a square filled with trees, fountains and restaurants. 
From there, I passed my navigations over to Brewster and he lead us down the narrow windy streets of the Gothic Quarter to our hotel. We checked in and giggled when the bell-man asked if we were celebrating our anniversary. I remembered I mentioned in my reservation that we were celebrating our birthdays so they were clearly confused. They gave us a bottle of wine which I opened and enjoyed a glass. Our room was a step up from the accommodations we’ve been staying in and the kids loved it.
Our first stop on our afternoon field trip was a walk past the beautiful Cathedral and across to the amazing Mercat de la Boquieria.
Colorful food and people filled the covered food market. Restaurants lined the side of the market and on this Saturday afternoon, it was the place to be! We agreed that it would be fun to be a local in Barcelona and meet a friend for tapas or a beer at the market. The kids appetite was whet but they were more in the mood for sweets, so we walked next door for a scoop of home-made gelato.
From there, we hopped on the metro and headed north to Antoine Gaudi’s Park Güell. The park was a steep walk uphill from the stop which felt good after sitting on the train all morning. I bought tickets for Gaudi’s house which is now a museum. I mistakenly thought his mosaic sculptures were located outside the house. Instead of his art, we looked at his old furniture, prayer room and luscious garden. He clearly was a very religious man and an incredible artist and architect.
To see mosaic sculptures in the park required another ticket. The line was long so we decided to skip it continue our adventure. We walked around the park and back to a different metro station noticing the architecture and plethora of urban art. 
Happily we returned back to our hotel, cleaned up and headed out to the El Born neighborhood for tapas. The kids were a little nervous looking at the menu. Sadie thought tapas were Mexican, so she was confused by the foreign list of Catalonian specialties. They both put their brave faces on and ordered. The three of us shared a variety of tasty dishes including a ginger sweet potato dip, pesto cheese toasties, blackened cod, and ginger chicken which hung off of a metal skewer on a stand resembling a hang-man sketch.
El Born was another windy dark neighborhood filled with cozy restaurants, art galleries and boutiques. I decided that I needed to come back to Barcelona for an extended amount of time with Matt to visit in the dozens of places that we walked quickly by. We stopped for fresh hot churros and ate them on the way back to our chic hotel.
I woke up earlier than the kids and snuck out in search for coffee and a Sunday morning adventure. The streets were empty. I walked to the Catalunya Plaza, picked up a latte and followed an online walking tour through the Gothic Quarter. 
I strolled past the art gallery where Picasso showed his art as well as gothic arches, plazas and fountains. I loved the morning solace. By 10am, I returned to the hotel, ate some breakfast with the kids and packed up. We had 11:30 tickets to the most famous Barcelona Gaudi building, La Sagrada Familia. The unfinished Roman Catholic Church may be the most amazing architectural feat I’ve ever seen. I loved seeing it a second time. When Gaudi died, the church was only a quarter of the way finished. Since 1926, they have been working on it continuously, except for a pause during the Spanish Civil War. The city is hoping to finish the Cathedral in 2026, for the centennial of Gaudi’s death.
There were a few other hundred (maybe thousand?) people enjoying the the beautiful church so I was happy that I had pre-purchased tickets. Impressed, we loved the intricate stone work, the tall ceilings, modern architecture and beautiful stained glass. It was unlike any other European church we’d seen in our travels this semester.
We walked twenty minutes down the street to Casa Milà and Casa Batilò, two other of Gaudi’s buildings. 
They are located in what we called the “Superbrand” shopping district in Barcelona. Stores like like Prada, Gucci, Dior, & Louis Vitton lined the wide boulevard. We bought Sadie a new winter jacket at a French store, IKKS and and headed to lunch.
After lunch, we strolled down La Rambla enjoying the mid-December mild weather. We walked through the Gothic Quarter back to our hotel for our luggage and back to the Metro to the Barcelona train station. When we were boarding the train Brewster said, “Wow, that felt like a lot more than 28 hours”.
It’s amazing what I’ve packed in to our semester in Europe. As I wrap up our time in France, like our trip to Barcelona, I have no regrets.
Joie de vivre 