Europe

We felt brave heading out to the “Brave Coast” when we woke up to a thunderstorm on the day we had scheduled for sea kayaking. But our guide, a Brit named Daniel from the same company that had led us…

So, where the hell was Alex (see below, for Alex’s “where the hell is Matt” dance)? He was at Montserrat, a monastery poised upon a cliff about an hour northwest of Barcelona. Pilgrims have flocked to this spot for 1,000…

Alex does the “Where the Hell Is Matt” dance:

Our first guided tour of the trip: a hike in the Pyranees, to see cliffs, waterfalls, and medieval villages. Gramma had found this wonderful “small group” tour company, and the group consisted only of the five of us, a couple…

This beautiful, incredible cathedral-in-progress (since 1882) probably speaks for itself, and has been professionally photographed by many others, so I’ll only share a few of my amateur shots. I was here in 1989, so on this visit I was baffled…

We were finally able to watch some swimming live last night. Apparently, swimming is not something Spain excels in, and it has not been featured much on the two main stations carrying the Olympics here. But Spain hasn’t been excelling…

We are a family of four again, plus Grandma makes five. Arthur arrived Sunday morning. We dragged him out into the Gothic Quarter to explore, and captured some atmosphere shots, before we let him sleep. Woke him up again later…

OK, not completely nude, but definitely some topless women. It was hard not to notice them, and it was hard not to notice my son noticing them. But the trip to Sitges, a beach town 30 minutes south of Barcelona…

We arrived safely in Barcelona, took the aerobus to the correct stop in the city, walked two blocks and found a large garage door with a tiny person-door nested inside that seemed to correspond to the address we were given….