Honeymoon -- Day 3: Hop On, Hop Off!

(From Lindsay)
On Friday we did our day of sightseeing in Barcelona. For 22e each we were able to get tickets for the "Hop on, hop off" bus. It was one of those double-decker buses that goes all around the city. There is a red line and a blue line so you basically decide which route to take and then "hop on" at the starting stop in La Placa de Catalunya And then "hop off" at a sight of interest...then repeat. We spent about 7 hours hopping on and off all around Barca.

Some of our favorite spots included the Sagrada Familia (unfinished Gaudi cathedral that looks like a sand castle) and the Park Guell which is an incredible park built into the hillside and also designed by Gaudi. What would a Lindsay and Brian sightseeing tour be without sports, so we also visited the FC Barcelona Futbol Stadium where the famed FC Barca soccer team plays. Despite the fact that the team wasn't playing there were a few hundred people touring the stadium and numerous vendors selling FC Barca items. Our favorite items were the FC Barca branded potato chips and individually wrapped marshmallows with player's faces on the plastic. I'm hoping B shares this with the Niners...can you imagine tearing in to a bag of Vernon Davis and Crabtree marshmallows at Candlestick, haha?! Anyway... We also visited their 5,000 sq/ft team store with everything FC Barca that you could possibly imagine. Our favorite item was the game "Guess Who" complete with FC Barca players. It was pretty incredible and we definitely got a sense for how huge this team is in Barcelona.

We completed our sports tour by visiting the Estadi Olimpic - the Olympic Stadium from the 1992 games. We had fun walking around the stadium and contemplated running a few laps around the track before deciding that it was too hot outside! The stadium was pretty much any other stadium, but given my love for the Olympics it was pretty cool to see - especially since 1992 was the first games I really remember watching as a kid.

After hopping on and off all over town we headed back to the hotel for a wine and cheese break and a little siesta. As an aside... we learned from a native Spaniard that there are rules when taking a siesta:
1. no changing in to pajamas (you must remain in your clothes)
2. you must be on a couch or lounge chair (no going in to your bed!)
3. you must hold something in your hand (ex: remote, pen, phone, etc)
The key is that when the item falls out of your hand it will wake you up and your siesta is now over! B and I tried to take siestas as often as possible...Barcelona is exhausting!