Spain

This first picture is Sitges. We took a tour bus to Montserrat and stopped at Sitges on the way back to Barcelona. Both fun places to visit. It would have been nice to have longer on the mountain. There is a monastery there. We attended mass in the cathredal and visited an amazing museum. While we were in Sitges we stuck our feet in the Mediterranean Sea--another thing that would have been nice to have more time for.

The second picture is Gerona. We took a train from Barcelona and spent a day walking around, taking pictures, and eating at outside cafes. We visited the cathedral and walked along a wall that was built when Gerona was a Roman outpost.

One of the first days in Barcelona we spent a couple of hours at a park that was designed/built by Gaudi. It was all mosaics-- walls, roofs, buildings, fences. Molly and James are in a walk-way that we liked because it was shady.

It was hot and humid while we were there. Molly and I bought a fan--the best investment of the whole trip--they came in handy every day we were there. Fans were sold all over Barcelona and I planned on bringing back a bunch of them. What better present could I find for all my menopausal friends? I didn't want to carry them all over Spain so I planned to buy them the last day in Valencia. Guess what? They weren't being sold all over in Valencia and I couldn't find any to bring home with me. At least not the cheap tourist ones. I found a shop that sold fans and cases to keep them in. They ranged from about 35 Euros to hundreds of Euros for a fan.

Most people come back from vacations saying take half as many clothes and a lot more money. It was so hot and humid I would have loved to change my clothes twice a day--but didn't pack for that. We got a travel Visa card and changed money to Euros and brought back most of it. I packed an extra bag to bring back gifts and souvenirs and never even opened it. I got my fan and a Lladro--we toured the LLadro factory, really cool! and bought a handful of postcards. Other than that, we bought water (lots, we were always hot and thirsty) and paid for taxi's occasionally. I did grab three bars of chocolate in the duty-free part of the airport to use up my European coins. We had a great time, saw amazing things, had blisters and sunburns and were just worn out by the time we got home--but the memories are amazing--and I would go back tomorrow if I could.

Dave is starting to put pictures up on his blog: http://drbair.zenfolio.com/

There will be more coming--it has been very busy since we got home. Dave does put pictures on facebook quite often. Request to be his friend if you are not already and want to see pictures. I am still looking for the cord to get pictures from my camera to my computer. I put it in a safe place while I was gone--that is one safe place, I haven't re-discovered it yet:)