A picture is worth a thousand words...

...and I've taken almost a thousand pictures. That's a LOT of words. The words will definitely outweigh the pictures in this post because it's too late and it takes too long to upload pictures on here. I'll try to upload more when I get little breaks during the day.

I guess I should start describing this trip from the beginning.

Our flight was scheduled to leave Mobile at 5 PM Monday afternoon. However, Fay had other plans and we were put on another plane for the next day. We were a little bummed out, but everything turned okay. We arrived in Barcelona around lunchtime on Wednesday. The flight was very very long. Very. And I had to use an airplane bathroom for the first time. It was horrific. I thought that I or my shirt might get sucked into the deep innards of the plane. This is gross, but I was so scared that I didn't even wash my hands. I ran out and then bathed in Purell. Silly, but it really had an effect on me. However, I sat beside a family with 3 young children (3,2, and 9 months-brave souls!) and before we got off the mom had given me her telephone number in case I needed anything and lots of tips about living in Barcelona. She was so so nice and gave me a very good first impression about the Spanish citizens.

Honestly, I'm not very sure what we did on Wednesday afternoon. I know we checked into our apartment and ate some tapas, but I can't remember much else. I would ask, but everyone else is asleep. Speaking of our apartment, it is awesome! I really hope that my next apartment here in Barcelona will be half as good. Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure.
This is our super sweet back porch/terrace/patio thing. You can't see it in this picture, but their are tall apartment buildings on each side of it. Thus, when we look up we see lots of underwear hanging out to dry. If we look to our right we can see the famous "Johnny Cash flipping off Folsom" picture.

This is the picture of the living room leading to the kitchen. And Grandmomma organizing her purse, or something.

I like the apartment a lot. And it's about 2 blocks from the busiest part of the city, Plaça Catalunya. It really would be okay if KEI called and said, "Surprise! You get to stay here until December!"

We (Mom, Dad, and I) slept until 11:30 yesterday morning! None of us really slept on the plane, and we were all worn out! We did a little of the tour (picture of map below) and just ate. That was it!

Today we got up and did more of the tour. Our first stop was La Sagrada Familia. WHOA!!! It's so crazy that Gaudí worked on that for the 40 years leading up to his death in 1927, and it won't be finished in our lifetime. That's intense. (There's a picture from the front facade below- it's Jesus). Then we spent some time at Gaudí's Park Güell (the picture of the city).

Before leaving you with a little more eye candy, I'm going to give you a few of my first impressions.
1. The city is very very clean. The population is abundant (especially around the harbor and Plaça Catalunya) but the trash is not. Once you get out of the main areas, the streets are filled with quaint shops and cafes and lined with trees. It's very picturesque. There's not even any noise pollution! People don't yell, honk their horns, or drive super loud cars here. I'm not sure why, but I like it!
2. The food is good, y'all! I have to admit that I haven't had much of an appetite since we've been here, but the little I've eaten was soooo good. I had the best sandwich today. Bread, tomato, bacon, and cheese. And it was unlike any bread, tomato, bacon, and cheese sandwich you will ever eat... unless you visit the Alaska Restaurant in Barcelona. We're still not sure why it's named "Alaska Restaurant." Isn't that an Indian word?
3. Barcelona Bus Turístic is awesome! There is an abundance of hop on/hop off bus tours in cities, but this one is worth remembering. The buses (busses?) are so clean and there is one at each stop every 5 minutes if not sooner. With 3 different lines for 3 different parts of the city, I would recommend this for anyone wanting to be quickly acclimated to Barcelona. And, it uses headphones with recorded information in at least 8 languages.
4. People like to show their panties. Maybe I'm just behind the times, but girls like to wear very thin dresses and panties in a contrasting color. If they're not wearing that, they're wearing pants that reveal the elastic on their panties. I'm fairly certain this look should be left to male rap stars.
5. Toilets in Europe are intense. I didn't remember the vortex-like suction that these things have until my first flush! I now push the button and back up against the wall. It's almost as bad as the airplane toilet.

I think that's enough for right now... and I'm ready to get some sleep. Have fun with these pictures! I'm sorry I haven't edited them yet... The ones I haven't mentioned are Dad in front of La Pedrera and a picture of the Mediterranean. Yes, it really is that beautiful!