The Siesta Life

Carter and I have quickly adapted to the Spanish schedule. Russ on the other hand is still in full on work mode, although he refrained from working when his girls were awake. Of course since Carter and I slept late and both took naps that gave Russ plenty of time to do as he wanted.
Our first full day in Barcelona was the uphill walking day. I did not mean to trick Carter into this, but somehow I did, and she did not complain. It helped that we were going to the Parc Guell, Gaudi’s failed real estate development, now UNESCO heritage site, that Carter had studied about this year in Spanish class.  

We had tickets for the Gaudi house museum, but not tickets for the Parc. Since our timed entrance to the museum was in the afternoon Russ and I convinced Carter that we should walk there. Most of the walk was only a slight incline through a residential area. We stopped at a big mercato which was interesting to all of us with the various stalls of fruits and vegetables, ham, cheese, coffee and other foods. My favorite stall was the egg vendor who had not just chicken eggs, but everything from tiny quail to giant ostrich. The most unusual ones we’re the big black emu eggs, about the size of a grapefruit. If only I spoke Spanish I would have asked the woman where she got these eggs from, unfortunately my translator had already moved on.
As we continued up steeper and steeper slopes we still could not see the Parc, we turned a corner and saw high above us the edge of the Parc. According to our walking app, it was only about 20 flights of stairs up. Thankfully we happened upon an outdoor escalator that took us three flights up. Once we discovered that we also needed tickets for the monument zone of the Parc we bought those for the next available entry time, three and a half hours later.  

We wandered the free part of the Parc looking out over all of Barcelona to the sea. Then we walked back down the hill to find lunch at a small family owned place called a Bar Casi. It was not much to look at, but it was a great find. The owner was sweet and we had the best gazpacho which was a welcome and refreshing thing to have after our hill climb.
After lunch we re-climbed that steep hill to get to our appointed visit times for the museum and the Parc. Thank goodness Gaudi’s plan for a seventy house development failed because if it had not the world would not be left with the most beautiful view of Barcelona. The serpentine benches covered with mosaic of colorful tile are an inspired scene, only appreciated much later. The walk seemed worth it.
After a little shopping on our way home Carter and I fell into our beds for a good siesta. Russ who had been up since 5:45 went to the gym because the eight mile walk had not been enough. More Guadi tomorrow, but on the flat.