This is day five of our Spanish odyssey (though day 1 didn't really count because it was mostly travel). So far Tucker has been a champ. We took a redeye over and Tucker slept almost the entire flight over. It was pretty funny because he assumed the craziest sleeping positions on the airplane--he would flop himself off the seat and then climb right back up (still sleeping), or he would sleep hinged at the midle with his feet on the floor and his torso on the seat.
The only part of the trip that was stressful, and this was not in any way associated with Tucker, was navigating the Madrid airport. We only had one boarding pass for both of our flights which had the same flight number (but on which we had different seats). The pass didn't tell us what gate or what time the second flight (to Barcelona) left. I thought maybe we were just supposed to stay on our plane at Madrid and that plane would just go to Barcelona. No. Iberia airlines just has some crazy system of ticketing so we deplaned (only with our boarding pass stubs) and got kicked all around the airport, through customs and everything. Only after 45 minutes of this were we able to figure out that our stubs would be enough to get us on our next flight, which had about 15 different flight numbers (and whose gate was posted only about 10 minutes before it boarded). Weird.
Aside from traveling, we envisioned a vacation where Tucker would more or less keep the same hours he does at home (awake before 7 am, asleep before 7 pm) and thus basically be on our own for long parts of the day because the rest of our group would get up late and go to bed late. Instead, Tucker seems to have embraced his Spanish roots and is staying up to 11 pm and waking up at 11 am (the LAST of everyone to wake up). Austin and I have even been sleeping until 10 am--I think the last time either of us has woken up at 10 am was college. It feels very luxurious.
The villas where we're staying are right on the beach, but we were surprised to find that the beach is definitely a clothing optional beach. It is a bit shocking to our American sensibilities. We are definitely the most clothed family on the whole beach with Tucker's swim shirt, and my swim shorts, not to mention just suits in general. Thankfully, Tucker remains oblivious to this fact (which is very important because has absolutely no filter and the naked beach could become a favorite topic of conversation for him for months).
We're staying in Sitges (see-juhz) which is a little seaside town outside Barcelona. The downtown is a 15 minute walk from our villa. One of the highlights of our trip so far was the paella we had at a oceanside cafe on Sunday. It was amazing. (Incidentally, we learned that marinara paella is seafood paella NOT tomato-sauce paella). The streets in Sitges are cobble stoned and lined with little shops in old stone buildings. There is a prominient old cathedral along the rocky coast (the beach is below the rocks). It is just beautiful. Another highlight was timing our trip for the night Spain won its first world cup. Sitges is really a tourist town so I'm not sure we got a sense for the true nationalist soccer fervor, but it was still pretty exciting.
We ventured into Barcelona yesterday to see some of the big city sights. We didn't bring a stroller because Tucker is not good at sitting in one anymore (he likes to push them and "fix" their wheels). But that makes walking around in hot weather pretty tough. We ended up seeing the outside of Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia, an amazing cathedral still being built (only 130 years in the works). The line to get in was two blocks long and according to my aunts and uncles that had visited the day before, there was a lot of jackhammering going on inside (Tucker hates loud noises), so we skipped the inside. After that we saw La Ramblas and La Placa Catalunya then took the Tourist Bus around the old town. Tucker liked the double decker bus and the water fountains around town the best. The bus ride was a little too long and not very well narrated, but we got a little bit of a sense of the city. Tucker ended up conking out in my lap for 45 minutes... when it was our time to get off, Austin slung him over his shoulder, and Tucker slept another 10 minutes on Austin's shoulder. It has been more than a year since he's slept like that on us.
