Barcelona and Amsterdam...it's beautiful here!

Hola! This is Haley and I am reporting about Barcelona, Spain and Amsterdam, Holland.

First, I must share a little story with you all about our dear friend Kirstin: Let me start by saying that we have picked up a few souvenirs along the way and our backpacks are not quite big enough to carry all our stuff. So, what does Kirstin do while travelling? She finds a nice, hot pink trash bag to carry the overflow while we connect between cities. So, we reluctantly leave Cinque Terre and head for Spain. Several trains and buses later, we arrive in Milan to take a plane to Barcelona. Well, here walks in Kirstin, with her big pink trash bag...filled with stuff...in the fashion capital of Italy!! People are walking around with their designer clothes and expensive handbags, and here is Kirstin...sporting her trash bag!

We arrive in Barcelona and soon fall in love with the city. The style of the city is quite different than much of Europe that we have visited so far. Gaudi had a big hand in the architecture in Barcelona and by the end of the trip we knew by looking at the building that Gaudi had designed it. We knew this because Gaudi has a very distinct look. Some of his work seemed as if Dr. Seuss had dreamed it up for one of his books.

One of his buildings in Barcelona is called La Sagrada Familia and it is a cathedral which is unlike any cathedral I have seen.

Gaudi actually died in 1926 before finishing the building and it has been under construction ever since. There have been many architects who have tried to add to this building since his death but can't seem to quite replicate what Gaudi had intended. Walk around the outside of the cathedral and you can see different styles which don't quite match. The building, by the way, was started in 1882 and is not expected to be completed for another 30 to 80 years!

We really liked walking around the city, just getting lost in the little back alleys near our hostel at night (which, we found out later is a very dangerous area, whoops, sorry mom)! The first night we ate dinner in a square called the plaza real and loved it there.

BTW...if you are ever in Spain, have Calamari! It's WAY better here. That is probably because Barcelona is right on the water. On our second day in Barcelona we decided to just relax and head to the beach. It was an interesting experience and let's just say that the women in Europe have no shame...and also save quite a bit of money by only buying half a bathingsuit!!! I won't post a picture of that...you can use your imagination. Our last night in Barcelona was beautiful. We had amazing tapas and sangria and watched a live flamenco dancing show. The traditional culture is so beautiful here and it was cool to get to experience it for a night.

The next day we arrived in Amsterdam. I didn't quite know what to expect from this city before coming here. The red light district is only a small portion of the city and the rest is full of quaint buildings and rivers.

My favorite part from our visit here was visiting the Anne Frank house. Each one of us was moved so much by her story and felt a connection to her while walking through the small annex which held her family and 4 other Jews for 2 years during the 40's. I was very moved by the room which gave Otto Frank's story. Otto was the father of Anne and was the only survivor from the annex. All of the others passed away after being placed in concentration camps when they were discovered in the annex. Otto Frank was separated from his family and when he was released, he searched for his wife and 2 daughters only to find that they had all passed away. He had to move on with his life after the most earth shattering thing had happened to him. He lost everything. But, he was moved to do something with the chance he had been given. He fought against racial and religious injustice for his family until he died. The house continues to preach the message he had lived for and Anne had written about many years ago.

One of Anne's quotes that has stayed with me was written on the wall in one of her rooms. This was written when she and her family hid in a few tiny rooms, windows blacked out, never to go outside, for two years. "The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be." She couldn't leave her house because of her race and religious choice. I can't imagine not being able to be in nature and be free. It really makes me so thankful for the life that I was blessed with.

We couldn't leave Amsterdam without taking a few of our signiture jumping pictures...

Amsterdam and Barcelona were beautiful and very memorable. But a few of my lasting memories of this trip have involved a tiny zapper that I had bought a while back because we had so many bug bites. The little pen gives out a tiny shock that is supposed to help the itch go away. Well, we rarely use it for bug bites...instead, we zap Kirstin at any chance we get. The zapper doesn't bother anyone but Kirstin. Lindsay will hug her and zap her in the arm. I walk to the bathroom and on my way back, I'll zap her in the neck. The best so far has been when I asked her to pose on the street in Barcelona and Lindsay snuck up behind her and zapped her on the cheak. I snapped the picture below just when she reacted to the (tiny) zap. As you can see, it brings us SO much joy and it brings Kirstin to scream...let's just say that Kirstin doesn't quite trust us since the purchase of this new toy!!!