Tapas, Wine and Gaudi oh my!

The hubs wanted to go to Barcelona for his birthday. Now I realize this is a bit (read: incredibly) selfish, but I've already been to Barcelona. And you see, I'm working on this goal of going to 100 countries by the time I'm 50 years old. And well, I'm thinking I have a decent chance of making 50 (countries, not years) by the end of this year. And as I've already got Spain marked off my list, it'd be really great for hubs to pick a new country for his birthday trip. But alas. It was his birthday and he wanted to see Barcelona (his first time - I made my solo trip the Christmas before we met) so to Spain we went.

The biggest up side to this Barcelona trip is that I absolutely love tapas. I mean - I LOVE it. We stuffed ourselves with tapas, and then had a little bit more for good measure. It was pretty fantastic. And the Spanish wines, oh the Spanish wines! You can't find easy, smooth reds like that for next to nothing in Brussels, that's for sure! Of course, we aren't nearly as hungover every morning in Brussels either.

Herb wanted to see all the touristy things on his birthday trip. It sorta took me by surprise, as he isn't usually a full-on tourist attraction kinda guy. But again - it's his party and he can sightsee if he wants to, sightsee if he wants to, ohhhh.... Yeah, you get the point. I'm not big on paying to get into things, but it was his birthday so not only did I pay to see things - I paid for both of us to see things. I'm pretty sure he was appropriately stoked. So it's all good. And on a definite positive note, who knew the inside of Sagrada Familia is so beautiful!?

Given my previous confession that I don't generally pay to see the inside of anything, I'd only ever stood outside. (And in a moment of full disclosure - I thought Sagrada Familia was ridiculously ugly. I mean - really couldn't understand what all these people go on and on about - it is freaking ugly!) But the inside is so bright and spacious, full of light and graceful archways and colorful splashes dancing on the walls thanks to the stained glass.

So maybe I didn't get to add yet another country to my list. But now I can join all those well-heeled folk in speaking haughtily about the glory that is the Sagrada Familia. Or maybe not. But whatevs - at least I could if I wanted to. :p