Holthaus à Go-Go: Grandparents and Barcelona

'Tis a sad day after a wonderful two weeks. My parents and Grandma flew in to see us and they just left this morning. My Grandma now has more freedom to roam the earth after years of taking care of her parents and then my Grandpa, who passed away in June. As soon as they walked in the door it was a non-stop two week jubilee of love, giggles and snuggling.

It's fortunate that they came when they did because the very next morning I had to take Doren in for a procedure early in the morning, Marc had to be at work and the boys still had two more days of school. Without batting a jet-lagged eye my mom got them off to their schools and picked them up while I was gone all day.

Poor boy recovering from another endoscopy. The hardest part was not being able to feed him anything but liquid for over 24 hours.

A few hours later he was all better and it was more of this. Doren loves Papa Bob so much.

Muther is always up for a craft.

So many lovings.

At a Jelly Market

We went to Gartenschau to see all the pretty flowers.

We also went to some castle ruins and had lunch in a cozy little German restaurant.

Another reason it was great they came when they did is because Marc had a business trip in Barcelona Monday through Wednesday, so I took advantage of three free babysitters, just like Momcation, and flew out to meet him on Wednesday for two nights. Fancy! This is one of the many things I love about Europe. In the same time it takes to fly from San Diego to San Francisco (and probably less money) I can fly to an entirely different country.

I couldn't get over how, besides the obvious, everything is so much easier traveling without the boys. For example, I took the train to the airport and had to make two transfers. There was plenty of time between each transfer and all I had to do was walk to the other side of the platform. When I have the boys and stroller and bags the transfers are three minutes long and on the opposite side of the station requiring two rides on an over-crowded elevator, if one even exists. When I got to the airport I sauntered right through security because there was no line. With the boys the line is always a mile long. My gate was one of the first in the terminal and the plane wasn't nearly full. With the boys, the gate is the last one in the terminal and the plane is always over-booked. I can't explain this phenomena! It's just the way it is!

For a few weeks before the trip I was trying to get back into Spanish mode. I took six years in high school and college and used to be pretty conversational. But now I'm so used to trying to think of everything in German that all the Spanish has flown out of my head! Simple sentences that used to come so easily are now mottled with German, like "Me gustaría eine Flasche agua, bitte." Oy! So I spent the flight reading and listening to whatever I could to try to remember stuff. I didn't appreciate it when I was learning it in school and now I absolutely love it!

Arriving in Barcelona was thrilling with all the Spanish faces and visions of olives dancing in my head. Ahh, Barthelona...Barthelona. Hearing the language and seeing the words on signs, even though I forget a lot, are still easier on my eyes than German. I think it's safe to say I was grinning like Goofy walking through the airport, being so excited to have a little break from the boys and my normal days. If anyone is going to Barcelona I recommend the Aerobús. Its €5.90 to multiple stops in the city, it leaves every five minutes in both directions and you don't have to mess with the Metro. Fun fact: the bathrooms in the Barcelona airport all smell exactly like a Caramel Macchiato with a hint of orange zest.

Marc met me at the stop and we waded into the city streets. Yes, the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain...except for the two days I was there. It was clear before and clear after, but they got their year's worth of rain when they got me. Not a drizzle or normal rain, but the big, fat, sideways kind that soaks you no matter what you do. And, sure enough, the rain boots I had for ten years disintegrated a few weeks ago so I was on the hunt for wellies. But first, dinner...

I know, Mexican in Spain, but we had to because our cute friends from Croatian Vacation told us we had to go to this place. Oh, sí. ¡Sí!

The best margarita and street tacos EVER at El Pachuco.

Everyone has a lot of plants and laundry hanging from their balconies, which no one bothered to take in even though Niagara Falls was coming out of the sky.

Our "hotel" was, um, nothing to blog about. The only memorable thing was that the walls were so thin we might as well have had a Kleenex dangling between us and the neighbors because we could hear every single word clearly. If you must know, they were Americans talking about Warren Buffett paying his taxes and the CEO of Wells Fargo stepping down.

Oh my goodness, this waffle. I couldn't tell if the sauce was garlicky or caramelly. It was so amazing.

My cute little coffee, except I could have drank like five more.

Ruins found under the city.

We're assuming they manufacture suppositories here.

Another one of Marc's artsy shots.

Who knew Barcelona was right on the beach? I didn't! I thought you had to drive an hour or so, but it's right there on the Mediterranean. There were even some pretty decent waves and lots of surfers. We had a nice morning with no rain so we did a lot of walking and ended up at this beach which I imagine is pretty crowded in the summer.

Moments before the deluge. We hid under a bridge but still got wet because of the sideways rain.

Earlier in the day we walked to La Sagrada Familia to go inside but found out you have to buy tickets in advance and come back at whatever time slot they give you. We returned at 6pm sharp. The exterior is so detailed and the inside is much bigger than it looks on the outside.

Definitely the most unique, spectacular church I've ever been to.

I already really love stained glass so the best part of the whole thing for me is that the colors are in rainbow order. Nice touch, Gaudi!

A must-see

After the tour we had plans to meet one of the guys from Marc's class and his wife, who also live in Germany, for tapas. After Mexican and Vietnamese meals I definitely wanted to have the tapas experience. It was raining really hard and we had a long way to walk. We went into every shoe store we passed during the day and no one had rainboots in my size 41. (Fyi, apparently the only shoe size available in Spain and Germany is a 38. I've seen it with my own eyes.) Despite having an umbrella, I blame my big feet for the fact that I no longer needed to avoid the puddles and river of water flowing down the sidewalk. My shoes were completely filled with water. But we still really enjoyed meeting the other couple, drinking wine and trying lots of tapas. Hopefully no one noticed my shoes were off or the puddle of water under my chair.

We left early the next morning but our flight was delayed, then delayed again, and then rerouted a longer way. We also had train problems because of more delays. I guess it isn't always easier without the boys. Its a good thing they weren't with us for all of that. A lot of Spanish came back to me and when I returned to Germany I found myself saying "Sí" to people and "Eine Kaffee mit Sahne, por favor." How do jet-setting Europeans keep it straight?!

The family met us at the train station with the boys in mustaches. Even though I was gone only two nights Doren looked like he either didn't recognize me or was so upset he couldn't even try to smile. Gee whiz!