Catalonia Recap

Girona Walls

Errol has recruited our three younger children as FC Barcelona fans. They love Lionel Messi and cheer “Força Barça!” with passion.

Barcelona has been the only place the twins wanted to visit. It is the only destination they have willingly left Freiburg for. Errol was there two years ago and returned with a longing to live in Barcelona someday. There was a lot of buzz around this trip.

On Friday evening, we flew into Girona, a RyanAir airport, about an hour outside of Barcelona. We stayed in Girona that night and explored the city for a couple hours the next morning. We were all impressed with the Roman walls that once surrounded the whole town. I loved how not crowded Girona was.

On Saturday morning we took a commuter train from Girona to Barcelona. It began to rain.

Errol, Vinnie, Lee, and Ned got on a bus for the soccer game. Thom and I took went down to the Gothic Quarter and stood in line for forty minutes for the Picasso Museum. Thom gets major props because Vinnie left her raincoat in the Frankfurt airport, and she wore Thom’s to the game.

After Picasso, Thom and I found the English section at the local library. We read and later ate delicious burgers.

Errol and the littles returned from the game wet and tired. Their bus back had been delayed, but they were all happy Barca had beaten Valencia, 2-1.

Sunday was a beautiful, sunny day. We visited La Sagrada Familia and La Rambla, We walked around the city and made stops at every playground we came across. Errol was thrilled to come all the way to Spain to sit on park benches and go to the library.

There’s a little cafe across the street from La Sagrada Familia and next to a playground. Errol and I grabbed a table while the kids played and had the closest thing to a date since we moved to Europe. The kids only ran over to us about twenty times. The man next to us was very entertained.

A downside of Barcelona was how expensive transit was. All our children required a ticket on all buses and trains, and there was no discount for younger passengers. Deutsche Bahn trains spoil us since all children are free, but most cities don’t charge for kids under six and give older children a 50% discount.  

We were all very happy to return to Freiburg yesterday. I’m glad we took this family trip to Spain, but it’s too bad that it came so close after our Alpine adventure. It takes a bit to recharge and get all the laundry done...

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