Oct 18 Barcelona

Oct 18 Barcelona
Barcelona seems twice as big as it was, when I last visited, 15 years ago. Parc Guell was crazy! There was only parking for buses. When we asked were to park a cop pointed downtown. So the seven of us girls got out and the dads went to look for 2 parking spaces. After lunch we found Gaudi's giant tile lizard and the undulating tile walls. Amazing how beautiful all the 120 year-old tile work is.
Pupeteers, steel drum players, jugglers, and guitarists played and performed.
 A dozen salespeople had tablecloths covered with scarves, jewelry, and glass pendants in the pillared area under the soccer park. Taya and Clara bought glass geckos that they promised to carefully carry as we climbed up to the top level.
At the top, Another couple of dozen youths sat, selling behind their cloths covered with trinkets. We sprawled on the snaking tile bench overlooking downtown Barcelona and the Mediterranean sea.
Sven likes to get jumping pictures and the bench was only about 18 inches off the ground so the kids stood on it and...."one, two, three...." Taya leaped forward falling on the sandy surface, her glass gecko flew out of her hands dismembering itself on the ground. No sooner than when Vicky had picked up the crying six-year-old, then the three-year-old, Clara fell off the bench breaking her gecko and skinning her knees. As we comforted the crying kids, Sven picked up glass pieces and promised to use super glue to fix them. Kids were rubbing on disinfectant and Balika was offering spongebob bandaids when a police car appeared across the field from us and all the marketers folded up their wares in their tablecloths,slung them over their shoulders, and ran the other way, laughing like it was a show they put on every day.
Balika said, "just like at the Eiffel tower--it's against the law to sell souvenirs there and every couple of hours the police come by and the hawkers all run."
Vicky and Bobby went to visit her childhood nanny and the Haakanson's drove me to the airport where we got snacks and Eilidh drew me a picture of the three of us in the back seat of the Renault and Bella drew a castle, a monkey-puzzle tree and the entrance and the exit to a secret place. I cried in the terminal. I will miss them terribly.