While in Spain I learned some new things.  First, the to-go cup is not a regular item, and Catalan folk have the smallest cups ever!!!

This a picture of my husband at a Starbucks in Barcelona.  Yes!  We went to Starbucks!  It was the ONLY place to get a normal sized cup of coffee!  He actually feared me, and my mood, until there was caffeine pumping in my veins.  Let me tell you we found McDonald’s too.  That was the best burger EVER!!!!  Talk bad about me all you want.  I was hungry for food I knew.  Now don’t get me wrong, I loved the Catalan foods.  The Paella was to die for!  However, greasy goodness can not be substituted in an American’s diet.

Second thing I learned is that a “walk” in Spain is a “death hike” to us.  We spent the first 3 days of our visit in a small village called Monstrol De Montserrat.  I have a couple friends there that encouraged us to come see them.  They were so incredible and so generous.  Thanks again guys!!!!  Anyway, we spent the first two days “walking” in these mountains with our pals.

Crazy gorgeous!!!!  And Yep!  We crawled to the top of one of those puppies.  This is the best hiking I’ve done.  This is for sure the highlight of our trip.  I just can’t help but laugh at the idea of these mountains being something as casual as a place to “walk”.

This is one of the may refuge on the mountain side for climbers to spend the night.  There were a few different places like this that we passed along the way.

These are my buddies at a refuge that we stopped at for tea.

Here are a couple of images of the village of Monstrol.  Beautiful Place!!!!

After a few days of real Catalan living my husband and I moved on to the big city life of Barcelona.  Here is the third, and last thing, I learned.  Don’t let the vacation high control you.  I became so attached to life in this city that I had the insane vacation high that leads one to believe that they could move to the place they are visiting.  Forget that I don’t know the language, and would not be able to get a job for that reason, this was “New Home”.  Fashion, architecture, art, public transportation, the beach, puppy dogs……….What else is there?

The locals were fabulous.  Elderly walked arm and arm.  Different markets for fish, meat, bread, pastries, cheeses.  Individuals seeing their neighborhood community from there balconies.

This a statue of Christopher Columbus pointing towards the United States telling us to leave and go home already.

Okay, we’re heading back to land of Mac and Cheese, calling anyone you see “Sweetie” and getting away with it, and HUGE to-go cups of coffee!!!!!