Barcelona - Day 1

We arrived in Barcelona late Friday night.  We settled in at our apartment and the next morning headed to the Cosmo Caixa which is a children's museum.  It might have helped if we could have read the information with the exhibits!!  But w

e all enjoyed it so much--especially AJ and Grace.                                            

The was a special exhibition on microbiology.  In this picture we were looking at the skin on our hands and fingers under high powered microscopes.

 Here Grace and Jackson colored in their micro organism just like they wanted and then....

 click...and it was on the floor swimming around with the others.  They had fun chasing their and trying to step on it.

Jason and Jackson had a contest to see who could keep their hand on the huge block of ice the longest.

Just an interesting guy and his reflection.

A rainforest was re-created here.  There were some huge fish, an alligator and a little duck who I think lived in fear he would be eaten by the alligator.

 This pendulum swung from the top floor down 5 stories to the bottom floor.  As it would swing it would knock down the metal bars in the circle around it.  It took just over 24 hours to knock all the metal bars down.

When we walked in the museum these two guys were sitting behind the information desk.  I thought--wow, he needs some time outdoors in the sun!  Then I discovered they are Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton.  They looked SO real (down to the whiskers, pores, capillaries in the eyes, wrinkles, etc.)  that it was kind of scary!

 This is the famous market on La Rambla.  It was very crowded on Saturday.  There you can find all kinds of fruits and veggies, candies, freshly squeezed juices,  nuts, spices, cheese, and breads.  We enjoyed a stroll down the La Rambla which is over a mile long and busy with beautiful architecture, vendors of all kinds, artists sketching portraits,  We were warned of pickpockets, but had no problems.  We were prepared!

 Don buying his favorite nuts--macadamia!

 The statue of Christopher Columbus.  This is the site where the King and Queen of Spain greeted him after arriving back to Spain from the New World.

 We enjoyed dinner in the Placa Reial in the heart of the Gothic Quarter.  What a great place for people watching.  There were jugglers and musicians to entertain us.  In the center was the Three Graces Fountain...Grace made it 4!

Waiting for the next Metro.  They have a great system there and that was our method of transportation along with a lot of walking!!!!