Harris World Tour

Today we decided to stay home and enjoy ourselves. We slept in, had warm baguettes with "stinky cheese" (what my kids like to call the Camembert cheese) and jam. It was nice seeing everybody doing their own thing. Gregory doing research about where we are going next, places to visit, things to do, etc. Sunshine drawing, Daniel reading, and I was writing and catching up with the blog. These were my favorite kind of Sundays at home. I think one gets attached to the familiarity of routines. Back in California, we would go to service and visit the grandparents who would treat us for lunch and/or Starbucks. My in-law's house was the only place I could truly relax and take a nice nap in their backyard. The kids already mentioned that they miss their Meme and Grandpapa, their grandparents. I don't even know how we can be homesick if it's only been a month. I guess when I think about the fact that we will be gone for a year it gets me a little bit anxious and homesick. ...

We arrived last night by bus at 10:00 pm and we were happy to hear that there is Uber! The driver got out of his car and came to look for us because we didn't see him. I love to hear French, it sounds like music to my ears! We made it to our destination and a very nice lady, the host's neighbor, was waiting outside for us! The moment we got out of the car, she welcomed us like old friends. We felt welcome right away. She spoke very fast but I could understand most of what she was saying. She showed us the apartment which is lovely but the heat was unbearable. I thought to myself, “and this is where we plan to stay for a week, without air conditioning?!" I made a promise not to judge when we get to a new place at night but to wait until after I eat. We made the beds and opened all the windows and doors to get a breeze. Daniel wasn’t happy but I have noticed that he gets homesick at night. I don’t blame him. When you are tired, you want your own bed and your own house. Next ...

I don’t sleep well on the days that we travel. Even if we have bus tickets for 4:25pm, I woke up at 7:00am, which is early for me this trip. I took a shower in the first big shower we've had had since the beginning of the trip. We are going to miss this nice and spacious apartment with AC! After breakfast and more laundry, Gregory and I took the bus to the American consulate to notarize a letter. The temperature was pleasant and the streets seemed empty. The boutiques were just opening. We made it to the consulate and went through all the security. While we were waiting our turn, we heard two stories of people whose passports had been stolen. They warned us to be careful. We came home by noon, Gregory went to post office to mail the document and I went to the grocery store to get food for the bus. I could live in Barcelona, it's such a beautiful city. We came home, prepared lunch and got ready to go earlier than we wanted because there is no taxi nor Uber thanks to the taxi s...

This morning, Gregory went online to buy tickets online for Gaudi’s Parc Guell at 8:00pm which is a great time considering the heat of the day. It has been so hot in Barcelona that we hesitate to go out but, come on, we are in Barcelona after all! We left the house at 1:00pm which is probably the worst time but we are also on vacation, so I'm not hurrying anyone up! We took the metro back to Las Ramblas and walked to the end in the huge stream of tourists. After 20 minutes, we were all done with crowds. We made it to the port and saw the famous Columbus Column. We were entertained for a while watching people dressed up as different characters like Don Quixote, an ocean creature, and more while Gregory tried to make a collect phone call from the last payphone in Spain. He hasn’t finished closing up his affairs completely. Did I mention that we bought a property in Oregon a week before coming to Europe and now we need to sign and notarize some documents? He also didn’t sell his car, ...

We have been so happy and comfortable in our new home that it is hard to leave the house. Yes, even in Barcelona, or perhaps we are just tired of moving around! We left after our usual breakfast to see the most visited building in Europe, Gaudi's masterpiece La Sagrada Familia. We asked the concierge the best way to get there. Of course, he was going to call a taxi, since we are staying in a fancy "barrio" (area) but we told him that we were looking to save money. He directed us to the kiosk to get a metro-bus card for 10.20 euros that's good for 10 trips around the city. That was the cost of the taxi one way!  Transportation is very good in Barcelona. We only waited a few minutes for the bus. Also, it is nice to get in the bus to see the city and the locals. We made it to the church only to find out that it was fully booked for the next couple of days. We were supposed to get the tickets in advance online if we wanted to get in! Bummer. We spent a good amount of t...