Our Christmas present this year was 5 days in Barcelona. Not a traditional Christmas, and it didn't really feel like Christmas, but it was still fun! We decided that it was the last Christmas we spend without our families, though. We miss you, families!!
Right off the plane on Christmas Eve- into warm sunny weather. We were thrilled to see the sun.
On Christmas Day, we walked to the beach. The water was chilly, but it was beautiful.
Then we took the metro to the outskirts of the city to Parc Guell. This park was designed by Gaudi, a famous Spanish architect (more photos of his buildings follow). The theme in this park is mosiacs.
The entire ceiling is covered in tiny mosaic tiles.
Gaudi's plan was to make this a sort of elite estate for rich people, but that never happened. Now it's a public park, free for everyone to enjoy.
The dragon lizard.
At the top of the hill in the park, we could see La Sagrada Familia (another Gaudi).
And an awesome view of the city- almost 360 degrees.
For a big city, it wasn't too smoggy.
Another Gaudi, downtown. Unfortunately, it's under reconstruction.
Another Gaudi- an apartment building.
Happy holidays!
It was very festive at night.
La Sagrada Familia. It was breathtaking, even though it was also under construction. Over 100 years in the making.
This building has so much to look at. The scaffolding blocked several big parts of it, but it didn't take away from the overall beauty.
This is just one of the small details.
Happy to see such a cool sight!
Alleyways in the Borne barrio.
MMMmmmm... tapas and beers. San Miguel beer, olives, chorizo, bravas, croquettes... it was all SO GOOD!
On our last day, we checked out of the hotel and went to the Picasso Museum. Another cool thing to see, but no pictures were allowed.
drink and be merry!
There's the little 3 kilo bird, getting carved, and about to be gobbled up!
The Grand Palace.
Transitioning between bars.
Absinthe. It's a powerful drink. 
The process goes like this: you place the silver contraption over the glass, put the sugar cube over the grate, and light the cube on fire to melt it into the Absinthe. I guess it makes liquid poison taste like somewhat sweeter liquid poison. We didn't melt our sugar all the way, as you can see, and so it didn't disolve. Yuck!
Our highlight was the M.C. Escher Museum. He was a Dutch! He used woodcutting and lithograph to create his prints. These are some of Stevie's photos from inside the museum:
