Adios Español Bonna Sera Italiano

It wouldn't be a Leyva vacation without our destined theme:  "RAIN".   As we departed the city,  our cab driver said it usually rains less than ten days in Barcelona in a year, sometimes even not at all, but guess what?  Today was one of those torrential rare moments in Barcelona, fortunately we were leaving...goodbye Barcelona, thank you for the flood.   

Thank goodness the weather in Venice promises to be mild and perfect for our plans.  Although we have had a few drizzles here and there today.  We have not been terribly affected because today we just explored the island(s) and hope to do the bulk or our sightseeing tomorrow.  Today we just had our first meal of pizza, pasta and salad and walked around just enough to take a few pictures.  Tomorrow we

plan on visiting the islands of Murano, Burano, St.  Mark square and possibly if we have time, we will squeeze in a gondola ride in the evening.  Until then 

Ciao

"Oye Vale"

Every mayor city has one and some minor smaller ones do too.  Barcelona is definitely not the exception!  This morning we got up with the intention of experiencing Barcelona in every dimension and as many levels as possible.  So we headed to Barcelona's central market called "Boqueria".  What  a multi sensory experience that was!  We saw things we had never seen before sold in the meat cases ( to sad and gory to post the pictures on this blog for fear of being reported).  We heard Spanish, Catalunyan Spanish, a Spanish we couldn't even decifer, Indian Spanish (a large population of people from India) and many other languages we could not understand.  Oh, and lets not even address smells, because that entails another category that is also pretty gross! Let's just say water is scarce for some people and bathing is a luxury :-(
Some of the best experiences come from traveling and although we did not enjoy seeing some of the things we saw, nor did we like some of the smells.  We would not trade the experience for anything.  Including our evening dinner of Tapas, Paella (again) and Sangria (non alcoholic of course :-)
  Last year it was Aloha,  the year before it was "Pura Vida", this year it is "Oye Vale" to express a myriad of things, such as:  have a nice day,  thanks, ok, hey you, of course!  Awesome!  Etc....
So to sum it all up we can say it was a "VALE" kind of day.

P.S we thought we could post pictures but we were not able to transfer from our phones . Tomorrow we travel from here to Venice Italy and we will take pictures with the blog in mind.

Hola Barcelona!

After almost 24 hours of traveling we finally arrived at our first European destination, Barcelona Spain.   At the risk of provoking, some rain we will venture to say that we are having wonderful non "Leyva" kind of weather.  It is about 70 f.  Sunny and breezy, and best of all DRY!
The sun doesn't set until close to 9:00 p.m. It is not completely dark until 10:00 so we were fooled to believe that we could eat something light, since it wasn't "to late" . It wasn't early, and our meal turned out to be everything but light, albeit delicious.  We had a vegetarian Paella, and a side of cheese tapas.
Thursday,  was quite different, since we had the opportunity to sleep and settle before going out for the day.  We had the opportunity of visiting several famous sites like the church of  "La Sagrada familia".  The two Gaudi homes and "Las Ramblas".  The church is a church that has been under construction for the past 100 years.  The Gaudi homes were built by the famous Antoni Gaudi in the last century.  "Las Ramblas". Is a tourists corridor where're the prices are increased and then
 is done so tourist think they are getting a good deal.
Our final proverbial cherry on top was getting the opportunity to eat the traditional hot chocolate that is as thick as oatmeal, with a churro!  Enough sugar to  coat Duncan  donuts for a week!
Enough activities and enough sugar for today, for now Hasta Mañana (with a lisp).

Spain & Italy here we come!

We are less than a month away from our departure to Europe.  We are excited and nervous that we will forget something.  We trust that the advise from our friends and family will help us get through the planning and many details that we need to do before we leave.  Right not packing is a concern.  How do you pack light, but enough for such a long trip?  Will we have enough time to do what we planned for each day?  Lots to think about and lots to read before we leave.  For now  we will continue to listen and take all the advise and recommendations that any of you may have for us. 

Venice, Italy

In the last few weeks we have been working on purchasing the details for our summer trip.  so far we have purchased our flight from Los Angeles to Barcelona and from Barcelona to Venice.  We are now working on getting the accommodations for our stay in Barcelona.   We hope that we can find a place that is in close proximity to the important sights in Barcelona AND in a decent safe area.  If anyone knows of a good affordable hotel or apartment and is willing share please do so.  We hope that by our next post we have the accommodations in Barcelona and Venice.  For now...
Ciao.

Still Planning

Since our last post we have been exploring possibilities and places to visit in Europe this summer.  Our biggest challenge is getting in as many places as we can, in the few days that we are going to be there.  We have established that we will be in Barcelona, then we hope to be able to fly or take the train to Venice, Florence, and Rome (in that order) then a short flight back to Barcelona.  The details and the amount of time at each destination is still something we have to work on. Suggestions and recommendations are welcomed.

ANNOUNCING......

We are excited and happy to announce that we have purchased our tickets for our summer vacation 2013. We will be flying direct LAX to Barcelona Spain, then we are planning on taking either a plane or a train to Italy, so we can also visit Rome, Florence, and Venice. All these stops in 15 days. Looking forward to the best time of the year!!