España part 1

It took us close to a day of traveling to arrive in Barcelona.  The flight from ATL --> BCN was hard on my back. Luckily, I didn't have too much trouble with swelling because I listened to my smarter older sister who told me to buy compression stockings.  Genius!  It's a must for all those preggo ladies out there that fly. My dad also rocks them really well too, but that's a different story. I made sure to get up and walk every 2 hours on my flights just as my doctor told me to do.

Once we landed in BCN, Chris' coworkers rented a car and drove us to our hotel.  We were staying in Castelldefels, which is about 15 km south of Barcelona. We were in Castelldefels for Chris' conference.  It is a quiet and beautiful little beach town.  It turns out a lot of FCB players live in this town. Chris had a chance to play soccer with Jordi Alba.

We checked into our hotel and took a short nap.  I had to force Chris out of bed, but he thanked me later because he adjusted to the time change quickly.  Then we walked to the beach and found a nice little place for lunch.  Of course I needed a ham* sandwich for lunch.  I have a small obsession with jamón serrano*, Spanish cured ham. My bocadillo/sandwich was amazing and my response was to cry.  Clearly I am having some hormonal and sleep issues. Chris ordered what we thought was a glass a wine.  While I was in the restroom the server brought Chris a bottle and he couldn't explain that he wanted just a glass.  So we spent more time relaxing along the sea as Chris enjoyed his bottle of wine.  I explained the misunderstanding to the server and asked if we could take the wine with us to our hotel and we could. Chris thought it was funny to have me carry it home for him. 

Chris' bottle of wine instead of a glass.

Me carrying his wine back to our hotel.

Later that night we went out for tapas at another restaurant along the sea. We went to bed early because I was leaving the next day and Chris had to go to work early in the morning.

Day 2: Chris left for work and at the same time I left to return to the BCN airport.  I was heading off to visit our family friends in Oviedo while Chris was working at the conference. I took the city bus to the airport for 2 euros (a cab to the airport would have been 30 euros) and arrived with plenty of time. 

I was in Oviedo for 3.5 days. I'm so glad I went and had a chance to see our friends.  Some of them I hadn't seen in 8 years! It was also nice to have a Spanish only part of the trip. I didn't need to explain anything in English to anyone. :) It was very relaxing and I stayed entertained. I'm sure I would have been bored in Castelldefels waiting for Chris to come back from work each day. 

Oviedo

Oviedo is kind of like Seattle.  It is very green, rains frequently, and is very cloudy. It is also in the mountains or hills.  Spain as a whole was having abnormally cold weather while we were visiting. (This was a nice break from the ABQ HEAT!) I had to borrow a heavier coat from our friends.  It took a while to find one that had long enough arms and that I could zip shut, oh the baby bump.

Views of Oviedo from Alicia's apartment

While in Oviedo I stopped by the peluquería/hair salon to get my hair done!  Our friends Paquita and Alicia who are sisters own this salon.  I had 3 different people working on me at once. I had my hair highlighted, mani, and pedi done.  I felt like I was in Princess Diaries.

This is their salon, Pali (their names put together)

I also spent time with Paquita's granddaughters.  They showed off their English to me, which is pretty good! Paula and Carlota are tons of fun and I had a great time with them.

Can you feel their energy?

Paquita and Alicia took me shopping for a gift for Baby Girl at Baby Zara... THANK YOU!!!

I thought this one was very Kate Middleton, but I  thought a white coat was crazy!  So this was vetoed!

Baby V. does own this little number.

We got her this little dress and some tights to wear under her stylish coat. 

We did a lot of walking around town. I had to see the Woody Allen statue in town.  He is a big fan of Oviedo and filmed part of Vicky Cristina Barcelona in Oviedo. I was told he visits often too, but has his body guards with him.

Paquita, Woody, and I.

I had a morning to myself to explore some of my favorite sights in Oviedo.

I stopped by the Cathedral.

This kids were on a field trip to the Cathedral and were SOOO well behaved!

I stopped by the church where Franco was married. (Franco Spanish dictator for many years. Hopefully, you remember him from history class.)

The last thing we did while in Oviedo was to go and visit Luanco, which is a seaside town where Paquita owns a cabin/cottage. I spent a month there when I was 13. It was a chilly day, but I still had to put my feet in the water, the Bay of Biscay.

Luanco

The beach!

Putting my toes in

Paquita and her friends with me in Luanco.

Stopping for a bite to eat

The next day I work up bright and early to catch my flight back to BCN to return to Castelldefels to see Chris. We had one last night there before we were switching to our vacation time in Barcelona, which will be my next post.

*For all the concerned people out there thinking OMG she ate cured ham.  That's not cooked...she clearly is a horrible person. First, calm down. Second, if you are really getting into details about why I'm horrible, it's not because of the ham.  Third, I hate to break it to you, but you are wrong. You can eat jamón serrano and jamón iberico. If you don't believe me, read this. http://www.antena3.com/noticias/salud/embarazadas-pueden-comer-jamon-iberico_2012100500171.html It's better to read it in Spanish, because the Google translation is horrible and comical too.  They did a big study on this and the results were released this past fall. The Society of OBGYNs of ALL of Spain have signed off saying the ham is safe for preggo people to eat.  I also consulted with my doctor and he said enjoy the ham! Chris also gave me the thumbs up too.