Barcelona and Beyond

I realize there are a lot of travel blog posts right now but we have been on the go...this trip was for work.  Jeremy/his company had a rewards trip for the top 10 Growers in Europe and it was in Barcelona.  I feel very lucky that I was able to come along.  They were really nice people and we had a great weekend.  We started off by flying the Vueling Airline, which is not for the claustrophobic...my knees even touch the seat in front of me, which is why it is so cheap to fly.  Luckily, it was a very short flight.

The first night we walked around Old Town and ran into a band and people dancing in the square.  We ate under this sculpture, which sort of looked like hangers that were untwisted and re-purposed into a piece of art.  

We were privileged enough to hang out with Dr. Brian Dixon for the week, what a good guy!

When in Barcelona....just kidding, I didn't.  I did have the chocolate gelato though and it was the best I've ever had in my life.  As the Usana employees had meetings, I was able to see some of Barcelona on my own.  Here is their Arc de Triomphe:

This was on the border of a cool park, with a fountain

The Barcelona zoo was also connected to this park.

Just your basic really frightening mannequin...why?

We got a tour of La Sagrada Familia and it was fun to get to go inside this time...  The light is where they say God dwells.  They say the architecture by Gaudi represented a concrete forest, which is exactly what it looked like inside.

The meals this weekend were great, and really stretched me.  At this tapas lunch I tried all of these things.  My least favorite was the Squid Black Ink croquette...it was the color.  Where I drew the line was the pork carpaccio...which was basically raw pork, I did take one bite but the texture was more than I could do.

There is the pork carpaccio...ugh.

My favorite part of Barcelona was being right on the water.  This ship sailed the world in the 1300's...(insert Pirates of the Caribbean theme song)

Some huge yachts were docked there and it was cool to see how the rich and famous travel...not Vueling.

The first day we did an ipad rally which was basically a scavenger hunt through Barcelona and you had to perform certain tasks or answer questions about the sights.  We had to taste Iberian Ham, participate in a Usana logo glass mosaic, find a marionette, take pics with strangers, etc.


This is where the gala dinner was held, appetizers in this lovely courtyard and then dinner in a beautiful room called the library.  I felt like a first lady having my picture taken a thousand times just because I was Jeremy's wife...I really married well!

Brian at the head of the table

Alan and his lovely wife Nancy.

Philippe (could he have any other name, he is as French as they get..he works with Jeremy), Mike (a guest on the trip) and Alan (Jeremy's boss)

This place was mechanically raining, it was cool.

The beach, the Mediterranean

Cool sandcastle

The final lunch was here over the marina...we had paella

Here is the mosaic that we all made during the scavenger hunt...Gaudi would be proud!

After lunch we headed to Nice to do another event the next evening.  We did have a chance to look around a bit.

Art????  Brings a new meaning to block head...

Yoga poses on big pedal stools....more art.  I did love the color of all of the buildings in Nice...pink, blue, oceany colors.  I kept thinking of my Uncle Dwight and Aunt Janine that won a trip here when they first were married.

I would swear this is the chocolate shop that they filmed "Chocolate" in...I wanted to go in but it was closed so I had to take a pic from outside.

Brian...he should go on "The Bachelor" and use this as his profile shot!  He would probably kill me for saying that but luckily we aren't friends on Facebook so he will never know...

So blue by the rocky shore...

An obvious choice for lunch

Crooked glass, very off-putting

Jeremy with the big man - Dr. Wentz!