The plane trip over was uneventful, I pretty much slept the entire time. My family and I arrived in London, where we had a 7 hour layover. Instead of hanging out at Heathrow, we decided to leave the airport and run a whirlwind tour through Hyde Park (felt like home, haha), Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament, and Big Ben. We almost made it to Kings Cross; I figured since it was September 1st, there was no way that I couldn't run into a wizard. Ah well. Pictures are below!
Wellington Arch- near Hyde Park
Buckingham Palace
Front of Westminster Abbey
Big Ben!
We returned in a rush, but still had a little bit of time to stop for fish and chips. It actually was pretty good... we even tried the vinegar on the fries, which I had previously decided was disgusting, but was quite a bit better the second time around.
Then we boarded a plane for Barcelona, and took a taxi with a very friendly driver to our hotel. It was the first time I got to use my Spanish in Spain, which was pretty thrilling. We dropped our stuff off, and went to grab dinner at a tapas bar. It was midnight, but the city was still bustling. I tried a bunch of new food, all of it delicious. The menus were all in Catalan, so we were kind of flying by the seat of our pants, but our waiter was really helpful. In fact, every person we've met here so far is incredibly nice. Our waiter seemed really excited about us being from Chicago, since that's where Obama is from. Apparently he's a big hit here :)
Down the street from our hotel is a Gaudi apartment called Casa Batllo, which we walked by on the way back from dinner. More pictures!
Spooky!
But very colorful. I'll have to post a daytime picture.
Tomorrow we plan on heading down checking out some more Gaudi apartments, strolling down Las Ramblas, and checking out the Gothic Quarter before relaxing on the beach.
Hopefully everybody is doing well at home! Miss you guys!
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