Quality Familia Time!

Today was a FULL day to say the least. We took a lovely walking tour of our neighborhood thanks to travel writer Rick Steves. I narrated and led the crew through churches, markets, alleyways, and finished at a quaint lunch spot where we chose our own pintxos (small open-faced sandwiches) and downed a nice cold beer and glass of wine. Poor Lou was especially spent by lunch after losing himself for half an hour after his early morning coffee “adventure.” I might note here the rest of us were fast asleep and blissfully unaware.

Headed next to a tour of La Sagrada Familia. We were stunned by the beauty and scope of the cathedral. Our tour guide was beyond knowledgable and kept us entertained throughout. She sent us on our way to a locals only wine bar in an alley – the dads were happy to rest their feet and chat about what we just saw. I was happy to crack into a bottle of vino tinto.

From there we grabbed a taxi to the headquarters of Castellars of Barcelona. I think David posted a fun picture of what we saw. I’ll expound… the first bit was human pyramids with mostly children. That was just bonkers because the little girls were like monkeys climbing up other bodies but with great precision. Later more adults arrived wrapping themselves in some sort of supportive binding around the waist. This alone was theater. Anyway… more and more adults formed the supports and people kept climbing and climbing into their formations. At one point there was a projector illuminating the color-coded plan on a large wall. The castellars paid close attention to their roles. Hated to cut away early to get to dinner.

Our waitress asked if we preferred to pick our menu or let them course it for us based on our tastes. Of course we let them choose. FOURTEEN items later we were done with dinner and ready for dessert. FOURTEEN. One thing was better than the next. Razor clams, calamari sandwiches, squid, artichokes….cava, cerveza, vermút. We tried it all. Watching our dads try new things, devour Catalán cuisine and *attempt* witty banter with the waitress was priceless. They didn’t care that their jokes didn’t translate well into Spanish. They just kept at it. Hell, they wouldn’t have landed in English either.

Today was a day for the memory books. I *might* just have happy cried at La Sagrada Familia – I was just so grateful to be sharing the time with my dad. I mean, you should have seen how much he loved that place. We all did. And besides almost getting Lou run over in a crosswalk because of an ill-advised “you can make it,” and Denny entering a taxi on the wrong side only to hear the driver scream “CERRAR LA PUERTA!!” and nearly losing the door to traffic, I’d say we pretty much survived in one piece. Said goodnight to our dads just shy of 1:00 am. They were total rock stars today. Lou said he wasn’t planning to wake at 7:00 am like he did today. Thank goodness….I don’t have anything planned for us until lunchtime.