Parc de la Ciutadella & Parc del Laberint D'Horta

I'm really going to miss these excellent days of leisure, fun and exploration.  What a treat this has been.  Erica, Maryann, Mad and Hen headed out early to Sagrada Familia and Sully and I had some time to ourselves.  We were out the door early by our standards, about 10:15.  The temperature was super comfortable this morning and we appreciated the change.  On the way to the Metro I saw no less than two different tables at neighborhood cafes at which folks were drinking beer.  We walked/skuuted to our usual Poble Sec stop, hopped on L3 a few stops to Arc de Triumf and walked toward the Parc de la Ciutedella.  

On the way we watched several apparently retired men playing petanque.  I was super impressed with their skill, especially the fellow in white on the left.  No beer was involved but they meowed like cats a lot, especially when young ladies wandered by.  Sully's interested waned after about 10 minutes so we rambled on. 

 Made our way down to the beautiful Parc de la Ciutadella, an old park with some cool fountains, sculpture, the local zoo, loads of open space and at least two playgrounds, based on our personal experience.  While at one of the playgrounds I was chatting with a sweet grandmother who gently reminded me that doce (12) is "dothay" not "dosay" here in Spain.  Just about when I get it figured out it'll be time to go home.  Met up with the rest of the crew and made our way to to a breezy little outdoor cafe that met all of our needs, those being cold drinks, pizza and paella.  Lunch really was amazingly tasty.  Erica and I couldn't finish our shared "gustacion del dia" of gazpacho soup, tomato/olive oil bread, salami, cheese, dried ham, fried calamari, Catalan fried potatoes with cream sauce, garlic shrimp, salad and sangria.  Our soup came to the table first and Maryann insisted we start eating before everyone else so that our soup doesn't get hot.

We split again, with E & Maryann heading off for some Gaudi architecture while the kids and I took the nearby Tram (which is what we call a streetcar at home) to the end of the line at Sully's begging.  It also allowed Henry's much needed 15 minute siesta, during which he did sleep soundly.  Transferred a couple of times and made it to the northern part of the city to the Mundet station.  On the way to our second park of the day, we passed the Velodrom D'Horta, an outdoor bike racing track.  The velodrome was built in 1984 as the first of Barcelona's construction projects in preparation for the bid for the 1992 Summer Olympics.  Unfortunately it was closed, as I'd have loved to have seen Sully on it.  We did a little climbing to get a good view of the cool, smooth, wavy wood track.

Walked up hill, got the daily ice cream fix, waited out a 10 minute thunderstorm which cooled everything down nicely and made it to one of the highlights of our entire trip, the Parc del Laberint D'Horta.  It is a child's dream (or maybe nightmare?) and was started in the late 18th century.  With hedges about 10 feet tall, there's no cheating here.  I imagined a cute trip through an easy maze.  First trip with all four of us was 45 minutes, counting appeasing the little man with Spanish doritos, tang water and being carried part of the way.  Plus, it was tricky!  But really cool.  There were wires running though the hedges so you couldn't cheat (not that we were ever considering) and we kept running into other folks sharing our challenges.

We regrouped from above and refueled.  The kids sat and I did it once more myself to prove to them that it'd be much faster the second time.  Then Madeleine and Henry had to beat my time, of course.  During their first trip alone, I chatted with a friendly young couple, she of Canada and he a native of Barcelona.  She'd already been through by herself and he was getting ready to go.  As he knew they were trying for a good time and I had noticed his Barcelona marathon shirt, I asked him if he would consider an escort by a couple of knowledgeable guides.  He ran the maze with them and had a blast.  First time (starting from this viewpoint, down the stairs and around 180 degrees, then through the maze and back up the stairs) was 3 minutes 11 seconds, including a couple of missteps.  Last and world record-setting time for the trio (who were trying to beat 3 minutes) was 2 minutes and 30 seconds!  Sully wanted no part of going through again so he and I watched and cheered them on.  Their new friend's name is pronounced something like "Diwad".  He seemed to enjoy as much as they did.

The victors celebrate yet again.  A really magical experience.  Why can't we have one of these at home?

Even Madeleine admitted to being tired out and asked to go home.  Easy single line metro ride home.  Dinner.  Bath.  Loud shouts, car horns and firecrackers outside at 10 pm!?!!?!  Sure enough, FC Barcelona was playing in the Super Cup and their star, Messi, had scored the team's first goal against FC Porto to take the lead in the final game.  We watched the second half to witness the local team dominate for a 2-0 win.  A great day was had by all.  Tomorrow I may sneak off for some solo touring myself.

-N