Hola la playa! Barcelona

Carlo absolutely HAD to go to the beach for few minutes! I have to admit it was wonderful seeing the water! :-) (At this point my feet had been plagued by several blisters and we resorted to take one of those riksha bicycle taxis...either way, at least we got there!)
There were hundreds of tourists laying out in various assortments of attire soaking up the spring rays...some with more clothing-some with less. It seemed everybody stripped down to the bare essentials, even some topless ladies!Eh, sorry no pictures...

Soaking up the rays, last day, Barcelona

Before returning to the still winter-like weather in Munich, we had to soak up some last rays of sunshine on the terrace of our hotel room... Breakfast in the gothic quarter nearby was an absolute hit with a small artists market setting up nearby. We ended up purchasing a nice watercolor painting of the exact square.

Romatic Dinner at the harbour, Saturday night, Barcelona

Carlo and I had one romantic dinner on Saturday night. Thank you Carlo!
The seafood platter was serious business! We loved every minute and actually were the last guests to leave close to one o'clock...:-)

Park Guell-Barcelona

The park high above the city is a testament to the genius of its architect Antoni Gaudi!

Las Ramblas-Barcelona

On the main drag through the city, there were many stands with flowers, newspapers, animals, performance artists, etc...

I got stuck with the little chickens and ducks of course.. :-)

Wish I could have bought them all to take home...

On the

Barcelona, La Bouqueria! Fruit, veggies, seafood galore!

The market with its many, many stands of unlimited quantity and quality of fruit, vegetables and meats as well as candy and seafood took our breath away.. better yet, made our mouths water! The fresh seafood assortement on display was seriously the best and most abundant we had ever seen!
Most of the crabs, lobsters and scampi were alive.. we wished for a pot and a kitchen!





The selection and variety of seafood was sheer endless! Again...where is the next kitchen???




Dried cod fish, the base for Bacala..
And there were piglets too!

Sunset stroll, 1st night, Barcelona

Harbour area at sunset...



Roy Lichtenstein sculpture!

Weekend trip to Barcelona, Spain-Friday

Carlo was in Barcelona for business on Friday and we decided to add the weekend in the city...
WOW!!!

Starting from the location of our hotel in the gothic quarter, the warm weather, to the history and artistry of the city to the restaurants!!! It was an unforgettable experience. Barcelona is a city by the people for the people. It was clean, organized, fun and extremely alive!!!

Here some pictures from our stay...


View from our hotel room balcony on the 8th floor: Tibidabo (mountain) in the background
Sun, warm temps and seagulls above... arrival in the hotel was lovely!
Cathedral right around the corner from the hotel..with a flock of geese living in the interior courtyard!




One famous walkway in the gothic quarter...often seen in guidebooks and pictures.

Weekend in Messina...part II

Brrr.... it was cold, but still much nicer than in Munich!

A few snapshots:

Weekend in Messina, Sicily with Carlo's parents

Over the Valentine's weekend we travelled to Messina, Sicily for a quick visit with Carlo's parents and his brother. Of course we had chosen the weekend with THE worst weather of the entire winter in Sicily. Usually that doesn't mean much compared to Munich weather, but it turned out to be wet, cold and snowy! Yes, there was snow in the hills above the city and all he mountains on the other side in Calabria were covered! Wow! Nevertheless we had a nice time with the family, even though Carlo had indigestion and had to stay in bed on Saturday night... Not the Valentine's Day I had imagined.. ;-)



Behind me, the snowcovered hills of Calabria!



The Aeolian Islands in the far distance
...

Looking towards Messina!

The light on the water was breathtakingly beautiful.