Thanksgiving Minus the Turkey

We had more friends come to visit. . . yeah!!! Our good friends, Alli & Shawn, came to visit us in Geneva the week of Thanksgiving. We had such a great time!! We somehow managed to visit and laugh together so much that I don't think we made it to bed before 1am every night!! It was so great to catch up together!! After showing them the sites in and around Geneva, we all headed to Barcelona for the Thanksgiving holiday. It's pretty difficult to find a turkey around here for Thanksgiving and if found, it definitely isn't cheap, so why not get away for the weekend?!?

Barcelona is on the east coast just south of the border with France.

Barcelona is a beautiful city. A lot like Madrid, the architecture is beautiful! The city is full of life and there is so much to see and do!!

A monument to honor Christopher Columbus. This is where his ship landed
when he returned from discovering the Americas. 

Oh the beautiful beach!!! I wish it had been just a bit warmer! I probably would have planted myself there on the beach for the rest of our trip =)

More beautiful beach

We took a bus  tour to see the city. Here's a quick shot of the Olympic Stadium from  the '92 summer Olympics. The object on the left was the torch for the duration of the games. 

 Europeans love football!! Not American football, of course, but what we call soccer. FC Barcelona is a popular team in the soccer world. One of the most famous players right now is on their team, Lionel Mezzi. You can tour their home stadium in Barcelona. Plus they have a great museum on the history of soccer in Europe. Interesting fact. . .it was actually a Swiss man who brought soccer to Spain.

Shawn and Jeff getting really excited to check out the stadium!!

FC Barcelona's home stadium which holds about 100k people.
The motto on the bleachers means "More than a club."

This is the tunnel the team runs down and out to the field for every game.

Alli & I on the soccer field.

In our tour we got to go stand in the media room where all the players are interviewed after the game.  We are ready for our interview!! =)

Jeff checking out the view from the media boxes.

The most famous sight to see in Barcelona is the Sagrada Familia!! It has been under construction since 1882!! It is the masterwork of Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi. It is an amazing sight to see!

Here it is in the distance...we are eight stories up snapping this shot.

Here it is up close. It is so unique and unlike anything I've ever seen before!

You can really see in this picture the older part of the church versus the new. 

Here is one of the sculptures on the facade up close. It is said that Gaudi actually used corpses to make molds to ensure his statues (even the babies) looked as real as possible!

Unfortunately the line to get into the basilica literally wrapped around the building and we had too many other sights to see. We decided to go see some of Gaudi's other work in the city. 

Casa Batllo

La Pedrera

We took a tour of La Pedrera. . .so fascinating to see Gaudi's work and design up close. This building is actually apartments and part of the building is still private residences. Part of the tour also includes the roof. Gaudi took his artwork and sculpture onto hiding the chimneys, ventilation towers, and such.

The roof of La Pedrera. . . some of the statues look like soldiers helmets. 

This gives you an idea how tall those things are!

Beautiful sunset while we were on the roof.

Enjoying a beautiful day with the city and sea behind us.

The food everywhere we stopped so yummy!! I love tapas!! We tried so many new delicious plates, including paella. This is a favorite of Jeff's, but I had never had it before. I am definitely a fan!!

Yummy paella