Be Warned...Comfy Shoes are IMPORTANTE in Europe - Day 3

On day 3 of Spain I woke up having a bit of gym withdrawl...I know ridiculous. I woke up craving a workout even though I would be walking all day long. I headed down to the hotel gym and did 20 minutes of cardio (10 minutes on ellipical & 10 minutes on the treadmill). It between my two cardio intervals I did two sets of push-ups (15) and sit-ups (100).

It was nice to work up a sweat and appetite for the hotel buffet that was awaiting me. On the schedule today was to finish up the hop on hop off tour bus, bus train tickets to Sevilla and hit the famous La Ramblas market. Below you will see the ground we covered on the red line!

1) Today it was time to purchase our train tickets to Sevilla and I was sure glad I was travelling with someone who could speak a bit of spanish because if I were in charge of getting tickets we would of ended up in France or something. The convenience of our hotel's location was amazing today...simply buy our train tickets and hop on the tour bus without walking. :)

2) We hopped on the bus but soon realized that we were on the wrong color so we got off and started walking to Plaça de Francesc Macià. While walking I realized I had made a horrible footwear decision...within 20 minutes of walking I had a blister on each of my feet. We stopped at the farmacia for band-aides but honestly the damage had been done. Thank goodness we were riding the bus today. :) FYI Don't wear cute shoes...wear COMFY shoes! Once we arrived at Plaça de Francesc Macià I was again amazed at the beauty of the plaza. I just can't get used to it!!!

3) We hopped on the bus and were ready to enjoy the gorgeous Barcelona weather. Our first stop was Placa de Catalunya. This is usual a beautiful spot but it was full of protesters, posters and fired up people so we didn't really get to enjoy it. Next we were finally going to see some of Gaudi's other work. Below you will see Casa Batlló and Casa Milà aka La Pedrera. Casa Batlló is so unique, I never thought I would think skull balconies were so beautiful. La Pedrera is just GORGEOUS!

4) Our next stop was the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. We saw it yesterday and were so glad we didn't have to stand in the 1/2 mile line around the church. :) After the cathedral we continued to enjoy the red line tour...but forgot to get off at Park Guell. :(

4) Next stop Parc de la Tamarita or Jardins de la Tamarita. This stop was beautiful and sooooooo peaceful. We thought this was Gaudi's Park Guelll....oops. :)

5) We continued on the red line until we reached FC Barcelona's Stadium. I couldn't wait to see this because of my childhood love affair with soccer. I had heard that this stadium was simply amazing and the largest in the Europe. For me it was totally insane thinking that a stadium of this size would be sold out every game for futbol! The tour of the stadium was great you got to see almost every square inch of it. :)

Really...prayers before the game??? :)\

6) After loving the stadium tour we jumped back on the bus to get to Plaça de Catalunya. I wanted to see the famous La Ramblas market during the day. I had heard that it is quite a sight and experience. Sorry for the picture overload below but I was in heaven and shock all at once. I was so glad that I got to see this market!

So much meat....

So many cheeses....

Have you ever seen sour candy like this?

So many fresh spices....

So many nuts and fruits...

After drooling at the freshness of the La Ramblas market I decided that I had to try one of the waffles had been seeing all over Barcelona. This waffle was to die for...toffee topping with bananas was the perfect end to sightseeing. :)