B-town Beauties

We're back! We are tired but we really enjoyed our time in Barcelona. These past two weeks have been just what we needed. We learned a lot, and put lots of things into practice. Now here are some pictures of our free time!



Ow ow!!



We had fun playing 'around-the-world' with some of the seminary students.



At the statue of Christopher Columbus.



What a way to see the sights!



Taking a dip in the Mediterranean . . .



. . . And taking a nap on Daddy's shoulder.



Seriously, having a beach so close by was awesome.



And back in Barcelona . . .



Hey! Haven't we been here before?

Quick story-a few hears ago, Jesse and I were traveling from Caceres, Spain (Where I was student teaching) to Lyon, France where Jesse's brother and sister-in-law live. We ended up having a 9 hour lay over in Barcelona so we decided to take advantage of seeing a new city. We stored our luggage, and headed out. I'd learned about La Sagrada Familia in one of my Spanish classes, but didn't remember much about it. I just knew it was a famous landmark. So we went to see the old cathedral. We paid our 8 euros, went in and found that we happened to be visiting La Sagrada Familia at a time when they were doing renovations! Bummer! There was scaffolding everywhere, and there just wasn't much to see on the inside. So after about 20 minutes, we said, "Oh well. Maybe someday when we are here again we can see it when renovations aren't taking place." Later that day, we were on a train headed to France. I was reading the brochure about La Sagrada Familia and read this:

Originally designed by Antoni Gaudi, (1852 – 1926), who worked on the project for over 40 years, devoting the last 15 years of his life entirely to the endeavor, the project is scheduled to be completed in 2026.

That's right folks. 2026. We were in a world famous place and spent a mere 20 minutes inside, then left because we thought it was being renovated! It's not being renovated, it's being finished! How smart are we?

So if you are wondering, we did NOT go in this time, but checked out the progress since we last left La Sagrada Familia 3 years ago. I would say it's coming along. But will it make it's 2026 completion date? I'm thinking no.