Birthday celebration in Barcelona.

Sunday 21/4/13

Today's plan was simple today. We'll visit the Sagrada in the morning, then Nello's Bar for lunch and the Moto GP on TV, followed by a bit of a walk around the Gothic Quarter afterwards. As it was my birthday we decided we'd take a taxi so could enjoy a few drinks during the day.

We rolled up at the Sagrada, walked past the huge line of waiting people, and went straight in the door. That was easy.

What we saw inside was stunning.

 The Sagrada is big on the outside, but huge inside.

The ceiling.

Stained glass and organ pipes.

More glass

Every time I turned around there was something that would take my breath away.

The museum was enlightening, covering Gaudi's history with the project and displaying a lot of his models and drawings. I would have liked to sit down to dinner with this man. It would have been an interesting night. He obviously thought way outside the box.

The reproductions of the original models were incredibly detailed.

Just a small project.

The idea for the Sagrada was put together in 1866 and in 1882 the first foundation stone was put down. Initially work progressed very slowly because it was funded by donations. Once the project was advanced enough to charge people (tourists like us) to go inside, things began to happen quickly. More than half of the project has been completed in the last fifteen years. These God franchises obviously return a good profit, or should that be prophet?

The model shop. I'd love one of these at home.

Drawing of one of the façades.

While we were in the museum we met a lovely Canadian couple. It turns out they are bike nuts as well. We're collecting contacts in North America all the time. Maybe our next adventure will be from north to south through the Americas. (Too soon to think about Suzanne?)

As we'd been here a couple of times before we didn't take any exterior photos, but if you're interested I'm sure you'll find thousands on the net if you're so inclined.

As we left we saw some guys doing the giant bubble thing in the park across the road.

Lots of fun.

The kids loved it, and so did I.

Next stop, Nello's Bar for a birthday lunch. After a very good feed of nachos and a burger, a surprise birthday cake arrived, with some champagne.

Happy birthday boy...

...and his birthday cake.

Thanks for the surprise Suzanne.

Then our waitress Sophia and Suzanne sung happy birthday and were joined by most of the restaurants patrons. It was a fun afternoon.

The Moto GP wasn't on, if was the F1 cars, but it didn't matter, we had a good time anyway. The bikes are on later tonight.

It was time to work off lunch so we went for a stroll and took in some more of Barcelona's architecture.

A little more of Mr Gaudi's work.

I love, love, love this building and was fortunate enough to enjoy a very special dinner inside with some friends one night many years ago. Hi gang.

We then strolled down La Rambla, again. Alan tried to pick up some chicks but they didn't seem to be interested. Or maybe they just didn't understand English.

The old triplet fantasy eh Alan?

One of the scams you come across as a traveller is the "Please help me. All my luggage and paperwork has been stolen and I desperately need money to get back home."  ploy. The sign is written in English and is very believable. This same guy was sitting in the same spot in June last year when we were here.

Con man. It's all a lie.

We had a quick drink, it was actually an excuse to sit down for a while because we were worn out, then grabbed a taxi back to the hotel.

With absolutely perfect timing we walked in the hotel door just as the warm up lap for the races was on TV. Suzanne hit the hay, and I watched all three races.

That's what I call a birthday.