The georgiou barca trip 20011/12: December 2011

CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR IN BARCELONA

Today was Christmas day and it was my first time away with my family in another country for this special holiday. It was a beautiful sunny day and we spent the day the Catalonian way, which is very relaxing and low key. We had our little Christmas tree with many presents under it and SANTA came and visited with a present each for Zoe and Nic, after an early morning wake up from two very excited kids we had fun opening presents in our pjs and lounging around till lunch where we then had a home cooked meal of "bouti and patates". Luckily our favorite cafe was open and we enjoyed our coffee after our big meal. Very few Catalanians were out and the streets were lovely and quiet.

2011

A very special Christmas that i will never forget.

The day after boxing day Nic went to his first session at the FCB Barcelona Escola training camp. He was so excited (actually i think Arthur and i were even more excited than him. LOL). the program is from 8.30 till 5.30 with 2 separate training sessions. in between they are taken to various activities such as visiting Camp Nou and the museum, ice skating and various other group games. He absolutely loved his first day and he couldn't believe he got to train where his favorite players such as Xavi, Thiago and Messi train every week. What a fantastic experience for him.

NIC'S FIRST DAY AT THE FCBARCELONA TRAINING CAMP

NIC AND HIS FCB BARCELONA ESCOLA COACH EDGAR

New years eve in Barcelona was very low key but fun. We walked down to Placa Catalunya and La Rambla where there were thousands of people. Everyone did the big countdown and cheered and celebrated. Unfortunately they don't do the fire works during new years eve only on in July.
We then went on our balcony and enjoyed the atmosphere from up there.
New years day we had another home cooked meal, popped a bottle of Spanish CAVA and relaxed.

Nic caught the champagne cork. LOL

So now I'm writing to you from Athens as on the 5th of January we left beautiful beautiful Barcelona. My family had one of the most amazing experiences and it was unforgettable. Nicholas went through 5 weeks of tennis training, 5 weeks of football at a local academy and then the absolute high light of two weeks at the FCB Barcelona Escola.
We celebrated mine and Zoe's birthdays as well as Xmas and New Year.
How can we top that?
Adios BARCELONA,
hope to visit you again soon.

I will probably post one more time from Athens our last leg of the trip.

bye for now.
miss you all
Katy

MADRID AND
MORE SIGHTS IN BARCELONA 2011.

In my last post i had not yet written of our experiences in Madrid and what an experience... we went there for the very famous 'El Clasico' football match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, the flight was short and we got off the plane to a lovely modern airport where there are 4 terminals, its MASSIVE. The building was very modern with a gorgeous curved roof. The big shock hit us when we retrieved our luggage and stepped outside for a taxi, we had come from a sunny 18'C day in Barcelona only to be confronted by a 5'C day in Madrid! It was FREEZING.

We stayed at hotel ME Madrid, it was really nice and i would definitely recommend it. Our room overlooked a gorgeous Placa where it was full of people in cold weather gear out and about with there kids or enjoying lunch in the many restaurants in the area.

This particular weekend in Madrid there was a Christmas festival on. The streets were jam packed with locals, families, tourists, young teenagers and football supporters. It had a great atmosphere with all sorts of activities being presented in the main city Square. The area is a lot rougher than Barcelona and you would not dare wear your Barcelona strip or scarf here as there is a very big hatred amongst the Madrid/ Barcelona fans, i think this is one of the reasons our family didn't really fall in love with Madrid as we have come to love Barcelona so much we felt a very strong loyalty to the Catalonian people.

That night Barcelona beat Madrid 3-1 and my two boys were very very happy. Nic was a bit shocked at how the Madrid crowd were especially when they were losing on their own turf (you get the picture)!!!! lots of hatred in the air. (that's why i was sooooooooo glad we won. lol) The Madrid supporters are very one eyed.

Having the great win the night before made the weekend even better and Arthur and i went out to celebrate at a famous restaurant called BOTIN which is the earliest known restaurant in the world, the setting was amazing.

To get to your table you had to walk through part of the kitchen and go down very narrow steps underground in what would have been a basement in its day and it had the appearance of a cave with stunning old doors and low ceiling, it was very very charming and we enjoyed some traditional Sangria with very good simply cooked food.

the same night we went to the famous "chocolateria San Gines" where we enjoyed churros dipped in hot chocolate.YUM YUM YUM!

we had a great weekend and i have seen Madrid but i am not in a hurry to go back there and i certainly wont miss the 3-5'C cold days.
bye bye Madrid better luck next time!!!!!! (NOT)

after Madrid we had Zoe's 7th birthday and we bought her a traditional flamenco dress. for her special day we saw the movie "Arthur's Christmas" and she wore the dress and the high heeled flamenco dancing shoes the whole the day!

whilst we have seen the main attractions of Barcelona there are so many many more things to do. one of them was going to see a ballet and luckily it was "swan lake". zoe was mesmerised at how beautiful the ballerinas were. we were very lucky to see one of her favorite stories. this is why she bought this the next day.

we also went to one of the campuses for the Barcelona University. i think it would be fun to study in a uni that looks like this. so tranquil and full of character. it was just gorgeous.

we have also visited many local parks that will have some sculpture or design by some artist or architect. leading up to xmas we also took time out and just lived. nic had his tennis in the morning and football at night so we got into a routine as if we were back in Melbourne with school and other activities taking priority. it has been really nice just chilling and watching tv as well as doing the sight seeing.