(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Our trip to Poland and Spain was over, but even the airport had interesting architecture.

Around Madrid

As we walked around Madrid we didn't have a lot planned. Sweet Son had requested we go to a museum. Sweet Daughter wanted to see "cool stuff" so off we went.

This playground had many unique features. This was like a skateboard you could ride side to side while holding on to the handles. 

I think this was a government building. (I write this blog a year in the past so I'm not completely sure.)

When we got to Spain we made sure to use one of our days to get into a museum on their free admission day. After standing in a long line we were inside. After about 30 minutes of looking at the amazing art, Sweet Son said, "Where are the Kandinsky's?" This was the first time we found out he wanted to see a specific artist. We asked a museum worker and they looked at us like we were crazy. We were in the wrong museum. Sweet Son was so sad. Luckily we found this painting they recognized from their art cards.

I think this was a royal palace. The rest of us wanted to sit in the shade and rest. Wonderful Husband was the only one willing to stand in the sun for a photo.

Row your Boat

Madrid has some beautiful buildings and monuments. We wandered past this one and then decided we needed a closer look.

 

We originally stopped to take a photo with that monument. Then we noticed the people in boats all around.

We had plenty of time so we rented a row boat. Only this isn't as relaxing as you might expect.

That's better.

Here we are getting close to the monument. This is much more relaxing when they do all the work. I highly suggest bringing a couple of your own when you visit.

People in Glass Houses

You know what they say about people in glass houses? But have you ever actually seen a glass house or did you think it was just a metaphor? Turns out there is a very nice glass house in Madrid.

The kids rocking and reading in the glass house. Each chair had a book chained to it. It was very quiet and relaxing. This photo shows less than half of this one room. This is the large main room, but hopefully that gives you an idea of the scale of this house. It is not used as a home, but is often rented out for private parties or large gatherings.

This photo shows the house in the background. The ducks refused to cooperate for our photo.

Hotel in Madrid

This was a huge hotel room for Spain. There are 4 twin beds, two windows, a desk, small fridge, and a bathroom.

Here you can see the layout when we arrived. We ended up moving the kids beds farther apart so they wouldn't pester each other as much at night.

Here is the view out of one of the windows. Yes, we were right across the street from the train station. We like staying by public transportation. It also helps if we get lost walking around. People may not know every hotel, but they always know things like a train station. This was a huge help the year before in Italy when we ended up with a map that was wrong and we couldn't figure out how to get back.

Wordless Wednesday

Ice Cream in Spain

Train in Spain

We traveled from Barcelona to Madrid by high speed train. We were all excited. The kids love trains.

The boys spent the entire ride looking out the windows and tracking us on the map. They were fascinated by how fast we were going.

The girls get motion sick. We spent the entire ride much like this.

Upon arrival we walked out and found this giant baby head. She was feeling better on steady ground and was more than willing to pose for a photo. He just wanted to stick his hand up the baby's nose. Yeah, he's 4.

There are turtles in the station. We watched them for quite awhile.

Casa Batllo

When we travel some stops are for the kids - see last Friday's post about the dragon playground. This was one of my suggestions. If you like unique architecture or hate straight lines/walls, this is the place to be.

The outside of the house really stands out.

From the inside looking out. We have so many photos that just didn't turn out right. In a picture, our brains assume thing are straight lines and when you can't see the depth this house loses much of it's charm.

Even the back patio when confined by straight walls due to neighbors has rounded edges and things coming out.

Walking down the hallway listening to the audio tour.

From the roof you can see how every element possible is made round, curved, or mosaic-ed, often all three.

This is still a house people live in so there are parts close to the public. There are just so many amazing details from the elevator, the door knobs, even the laundry room, that I can't include here. It was well worth the price of admission and the wait to get in. It also offered a change in perspective for our kids. They started drawing houses with round walls, mentioning architectural features they had never noticed before, etc. I love when we travel and it expands their minds to things they had never even known they might be interested in.

Dragon Playground

Urban playgrounds often become predictable. This wasn't true in Barcelona. This awesome sculpture/play structure was surrounded by concrete and one of the coolest things ever.

Sweet Daughter is posing on the bench/dragon's tongue. Sweet Son is running into it's mouth/up the stairs.

What's at the top of the stairs? The slide down the tail. This is a huge slide - easily more than 2 stories. Luckily it was morning and not too hot because I imagine this could burn fairly quickly. 

This sculpture looks cool no matter what angle you are going for, but none of them are easily captured by camera. This is what the kids did when we told them to act like a dragon for the photo.

Barcelona Science Museum

For those who read this blog regularly, you know how much we love Science and museums. So it will be no surprise that when we travel we like to check out other Science museums. The one in Barcelona is supported by a bank and the cost of attending is very low especially for how much there is to do once you are inside.

Dinosaurs are always popular.

They had a large area for an aquarium and to learn about the fish and water issues they are having around Spain, especially in Barcelona. We learned about water conservation, threats to ecosystems and tons more.

Evolution! Something many of the Science museums around us avoid due to possibly offending the religious. Our kids loved this exhibit and seeing things that support what we have been teaching them.

There were tons of hands on experiments and experiences. Most we don't have photos of because we were all having too much fun. This one was a GIANT block of ice. You could see where others had placed their hand or finger and melted just a bit of it away.

Behind us you can see another ecosystem area. This museum was one of the best I have ever been to for keeping the kids interested (just not in taking photos). Lots of hands on, a little reading required, many different areas and topics, it excels in all of these categories. They also offer classes that I have heard great things about. While we saw the area the classes are held in and our kids begged to go, they weren't having any during the time we were there.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

The perfect tree for these two. 

I have no idea what caused the missing section, but it was a seat with arches right at their head heights.

Park Guell, part 2

This is a continuation of yesterday's post about Park Guell.

This was the wall/seat area around a large arena or performance type area. The mosaic goes all the way around and most was made from broken dishes, choosing to reuse the pieces and make it beautiful.

The view from another park of the top performance area looking out/down. You can see the two buildings at the entrance with their unique roofs. You can also see out across part of the city.

This is probably the most recognized part of Park Guell.

The grand entrance - you can see the performance area on top of the pillars.

Park Guell

When in Barcelona, we wanted to explore Park Guell. This area was designed with such attention to detail it's amazing.

This walkway was lined with large balls and trees offering a tiny bit of shade on a hot day.

This is a man made wall on the side of the hill. Everywhere you look there are great features like you can see here.

 I love the use of curves and non linear structures.

This was under one of the main structures. It was a perfect place to literally run around, and around, and around.

Tomorrow I will post about the great mosaics and other features at Park Guell. There really isn't any way to do this place justice through pictures.

Playgrounds in Barcelona

One of the things we love about Europe is how there are so many playgrounds. Every half mile of walking we would find another one. When you are doing as much walking as we do these "resting" breaks are essential for the kids.

This is a huge climbing structure. This perspective doesn't show it, but it was easily over 12 feet tall. That's a long way to let 4 year olds climb, but they loved it.

Isn't this playground awesome? There is a bucket/pulley on one side.

The other side has a slide to dump sand back down. They spent a long time just rearranging the sand on this playground.

This was just a small random neighborhood playground. It also had this incredible view that looked out over the entire city. It's things like this you don't discover if you decide not to walk everywhere.

Another playground, this one long and skinny, with lots to explore.

Here is Sweet Son on a zipline in one of the parks.

Sweet Daughter's turn on the zipline. She really had some speed going.

Exploring more of Barcelona

As we continue exploring Barcelona we were surrounded by fountains, gorgeous architecture, and hills. Oh the hills we walked.

Beautiful fountain

Walking down a pedestrian street with cafes and shops.

This is about half way up the stairs to the building. We climbed all of them. That's right, our kids are rock stars at being tourists. We didn't carry them, no strollers, and every night they slept so well.

Did I mention the hills? We walked everywhere and there were moments when you could tell the kids were starting to get worn out. Then they would see a playground and be re-energized. I averaged over 20,000 steps per day in Barcelona. I sat down when the kids played on playgrounds and their legs are slightly shorter than mine so I'm sure they averaged at least 25,000 per day. That's a lot of walking.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Our hotel room in Barcelona. It was a bit cozy, but perfect for us.