Spain

Well, Spain was interesting. Let's start at the beginning shall we?
Madrid is a very busy city. Everybody is on fast mode, they just done stop! Run to the metro, run away from the metro, its crazy! The roads are just packed with people trying to walk along the sidewalks, and the starbucks we hung out in for free internet was always crammed with wall to wall people trying to get seats. Mom, thanks to your lessons on stalking "those who might leave" in parking lots I was always able to sneak two seats and a table for us. It's an art form i think. On our first day we went and saw the Royal Palace; the biggest palace in Europe. It is huge! Goon As Graeme would say. It was so long with so many columns and all the lampposts in its courtyard were trimmed in gold. Each time we see palaces or "houses" like this we always go "Can you imagine this being where you live?". The next day we went and saw the Crystal Palace. This is not a palace that was lived in. Both the walls and ceilings are made completely of glass. It was so nice to have a completely clear day to this, so the sun shone through the glass and it was beautiful. That was such an awesome day. We sat on a bench looking at the palace and the pond, with the ducks waddling around, eating our delicious lunch of mandarin oranges and cupcakes. Mandarin oranges have become a staple us. We really miss fruit and fesh produce. On our third day we went down to the river and had another picnic lunch, and then walked along the shore to the temples of Debod; temples that the Egyptians built in 2nd century A.D. They had hieroglyphics all along the walls. I cant remember why they were built... Sorry :) information overload. Our fourth day was just a whatever day, we had seen all the big sights that you we ere supposed to see, so we just enjoyed our last evening in Madrid walking along the streets and drinking hot drinks.
Barcelona.... Well if you haven't heard yet, my purse was stolen the day before we were supposed to leace for France. It was really stupid of us, but we had everything in there; our passports, our debit cards, my credit card, my glasses, contacts, iPod, ect. So that little hiccup cost us 4 more unwanted days in Barcelona. Yes some would say that being stuck in Barcelona is not a bad thing, it could be worse, but after starting off the trip to this city with a walk through the suburbs looking for a hotel that didn't appear to exist and conveniently is nonrefundable, having to book a new hotel for the week onto of that one, and then the hotel in Avignon, France having to be charged because it was too late to cancel, we we were pretty ready to leave.
Before this all happened, Barcelona was pretty sweet. We really like cities that are on the waterfront. They just have a much nicer vibe to them, way less intense. Everybody just walks alone the walk ways having a good time, not rushing around. We loved hanging out by the water after sight seeing and such during the day. We went and saw the Sagradia de Familia, a very strange looking cathedral thats still in the process of being built. The guy that designed it, who seemed to design everything famous in Barcelona, definitely liked things to look different. It has like lizards crawling up the sides of the steeples. Graeme thought it looked pretty weird, beautiful is definitely not the right descriptive word for it. We went and saw the Parque Guell; a park designed by the same guy. Guadi is his name. The park theme was Hansel and Grettel. Everything looked like it was made out of gingerbread and gumdrops, a kids dream park. It was a beautiful park, with super tall palm trees all around. When do you get to walk through a park of palm trees? Not in BC thats for sure. We walked down to the beach one day, and the waves were huge. People were surfing, even though it was a pretty cold and windy day.
This brings us to the day everything was taken. So spain was kind of a hectic time, it kind of feels like a whirl wind. That unwanted experience didn't ruin our feelings to towards Spain at all, it just made the last few days a bit of a haze. We'll tell you more about it when we get home :) which is in 3 and a half weeks by the way, surprise! Can't wait to see everyone again, we miss you guys! Graeme will blog next on Paris and Belgium. Hope everyone is having awesome Christmas holidays!

g&k