Wednesday/Thursday
We boarded our flight at 5:30 pm, pulled away from the gate at 6:00 pm and returned to the gate at 6:01 pm. Engine trouble. Yeesh!!!! We are having some serious bad luck with international travel. (Remember that flight to Cabo where they evacuated the airport?) Not cool. So after sitting at the gate for 30 minutes, they asked us to grab our luggage and get off the plane. There was chatter about fixing the problem or getting a new plane and 4 hours later, they announced the plane had been repaired and it was time to re-board. So we re-boarded the plane and sat at the gate for 40 minutes. Finally, they announced we were ready for push-back. Kinda makes you a little nervous, flying on a plane that has just been repaired. But 7 hours later, we landed safely in Barcelona. And we were TIRED!!! I took a sleeping pill on the plane and still couldn't sleep. I just tossed and turned, unable to find a comfortable position to take a nap. We grabbed a cab, went straight to our hotel, and took a nap before we were supposed to meet up with Wes's coworkers at 5:00 pm. Oh, how I wanted to keep on sleeping. But I'm glad we rallied and made it out....we took a wonderful sunset cruise, which eventually took us to the W hotel for dinner. The weather here is PERFECT! High of 75, low of 65 so it's great to be able to sit outside for our meals and enjoy the view. There were approximately 50 people on the company trip, with folks coming from the UK, Germany, France, Holland and the US. Everyone was super friendly and there were quite a few jokesters in the group, which made the evening quite entertaining. After a loooooong night, we fell into bed knowing that we wouldn't make the 9:00 am bus tour. It was time for us to catch up on some sleep.
Friday
We slept until 11:00 am but still felt quite jet-lagged. The bus tour was meeting at a local tapas place for lunch so we headed that direction. Most people were very tired from the night before or from jet lag so it was a quiet lunch. We enjoyed standard Spanish tapas, including goat cheese, green peppers and shrimp. The we walked around the shops lining narrow cobblestone streets. We ran across a Picasso museum and took an audio tour. It was fascinating!! I had no idea that Picasso was a child prodigy and did some of his finest work at the age of 13. Imagine seeing a canvas, ten feet tall and 8 feet wide with 3 people painted in amazing detail and almost perfectly to scale. And to complete that work by 13 years old?!? Wow! After our tour, we were feeling tired again so we took a quick nap before meeting downstairs for our next scheduled event. Three pink limos were waiting outside the hotel to take us to dinner. We headed to a ship that had been converted to a restaurant on the shore. The had a cocktail hour first, while a saxophone player played and appetizers were served. Then we headed inside for an amazing 6 course meal: clams, mussels, steak tartare, fish, potatoes, and tiramisu for dessert. There was also a flamenco performance with live music that words cannot describe. The singers voice, the young man on the guitar, the dancers.....breathtaking! After dinner, the CEO of the company congratulated everyone and announced if they reached their quota next year, he would see us in Jamaica!! No pressure, Wesley:) They did an amazing job of organizing a fantastic weekend in Barcelona while highlighting all the local traditions.
Saturday
We slept in again, switched hotels and then met Sean and Becca Hennigan to walk around town. We went to La Boqueria, a large outdoor market with everything from meats and cheeses, fruits and vegetables, and every sea creature you can imagine. It was beautiful! We grabbed a spot at a booth inside the market and enjoyed a phenomenal lunch - more tapas. The proscuitto, mushrooms and manchego cheese were the highlight of this meal. Then we found a spot outside and enjoyed some sangria, people watching and excellent weather. We ordered more food (when in Rome) trying some paella this time. I wish I had my FitBit on as we walked around. It felt like we walked ten miles. Back to the hotel, a quick shower, then we headed out to meet Mike and Jessica, another couple on the company trip. Several people had recommended ________________, another tapas restaurant nearby. Judging by the line out the door, everyone heard the same thing we did. Even though we waited for almost 2 hours, the meal didn't disappoint. We picked about ten different tapas plates and they were all SO GOOD that we asked our waitress to repeat the same ten courses when we found ourselves still hungry. We were SO FULL, I wanted someone to roll me home. I'm not used to starting dinner at 10:00 pm and finishing around midnight but we are settling into this routine. Thank goodness we can sleep in each morning to prepare for our late nights.
We are receiving daily updates from the home front and things are going well. The kids are sleeping great, which is always my biggest concern. I think Stella had one rough night, but that's because she developed a rash on her eyes. Lynda took her to the doctor and they think it's allergies. We talked to KK today and she says it gets better each day. The weather is great at home so they are enjoying playing outside for the first time in a few months. KK said Drake misses Dada and the girls are asking for Mama. I miss them but I've got lots of kiddie pictures on my phone to ease my mind. And KK sends me pictures daily so I know what they are up to, which is nice.
That's all for today. Maybe I can upload some pictures on my next post.
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