2016 - Spain, Norway

Oslo, Norway - Barcelona/Madrid, Spain - May 29th-June 12th, 2016

Day 1-2 - Oslo, Norway - May 29, 30
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We are now in Barcelona after 2+ days of travel. We left Boise at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday the 29th of June, flew to Denver where we had a 4.5 hour layover, on to Newark and then on to Oslo, Norway. It was about 10:00 a.m. Monday morning and we took a bus to our hotel. We freshened up, Josh took a 45 minute nap, and then we took a train to downtown Oslo and ate lunch. Josh wasn’t feeling well and was super tired. He would fall asleep any time we stopped moving. He ordered a chicken pita and it was huge! But he just picked at it and threw it away. After we ate, we walked through a cathedral, and then walked along the main street to the palace. It was a pretty walk to the palace. We then walked down to the harbor. The Espinoza’s stopped at a café, and while we were resting there, a few kids fell asleep. It was about 6 p.m. on Monday, and we hadn’t had a chance to sleep other than during travel times so the kids were ready to go back to the hotel and get to bed early. The kids and I took the train back to the hotel and the Espinoza’s stayed in town another hour or so. Josh fell asleep as soon as he climbed in bed. I read for a little while, but didn’t sleep very well that night. We were up at 3:00 a.m. when Dave called, had breakfast at the hotel at 4:00 a.m. and left for the airport at 5:00 a.m. We flew to Brussels, and had another 5 hour layover then on to Madrid. We arrived in Madrid around 5:00 p.m., then took another train to Barcelona. We got to our house at 10:30 p.m. and went to a restaurant for dinner. We were back and in bed around 1:00 a.m.
Day 3 - Barcelona - June 1
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I slept soundly until 8:45 a.m. I was about the first one up that I could tell. When everyone was up we went to the grocery store and each of us bought what we would need for food the next couple of days. Most of us just ate cereal that morning and packed a lunch, then took the subway to downtown Barcelona. We spent the day walking around the city. We started in Catalunya, the shopping district, and took the main road, La Rambla, down to the harbor. We ate our lunch there and then spent the rest of the day in the Gothic district. We went to a museum about Gaudi, one of the most famous architects in Barcelona. While walking through the Gothic district we stopped for tapas. It was really good, especially the lamb and croquettas. We finished dinner at 8:00 p.m. and headed back to the metro to go back to the house. Apparently there is a strike going on and there were few trains on the tracks. We were packed in like sardines; it was quite ridiculous and it took almost an hour to get back.
Day 4 - Girona - June 2
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Today we went to Girona. It was about a 30 minute train ride from Barcelona. Pol, a foreign exchange student from the 2014-15 school year lives there and wanted to show us around his town. It was a beautiful old city and I’m really glad we were able to visit it. We started in the modern side of the city and walked across the bridge into the old city. This city dates back to 900 AD at least that is when the cathedral started to be built. We walked all around the grounds around the cathedral and took a tour inside the cathedral and courtyards. We stopped for tapas for a midday snack, and then walked along some gorgeous paths and on top of the old city walls. Josh loved the old section of the city and was running and exploring all over the place. We also walked through the alleys of the old city and stopped to buy some nougat which the city is famous for. After spending most of the day in the old city, we walked back to the new city for some ice cream sandwiches Pol recommended. They were really good, except the lady cooked mine too long, so it was leaking ice cream. We then stopped at a clothing store called Zara. We weren’t going to buy anything, but we looked around and Josh found some slim shirts and pants so he tried them on. They actually have pants and shirts that fit his tall and skinny build and they looked really good on him! So I bought him 2 outfits and he also bought himself a hat. We then went to a restaurant for dinner. Most of the kids got hamburgers, the Espinoza’s got seafood and I got chicken and potatoes and fried zucchini. The food was delicious! Josh loved his burger and said the BBQ sauce on it was the best he had ever tasted. After dinner we walked back to the train station and got home around 10:30 p.m.
Day 5 - Barcelona - June 3
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Today was a nice restful day. We all slept in until around 9:00 a.m. I took the kids to the beach at 11:00 and we hadn’t even seen the Espinoza’s up yet when we left. We walked along the boardwalk for about a mile, and then went down to the beach. It was a beautiful day and the beach was beautiful, and I was so happy to be there after our experience trying to get to the beach 2 years ago with Megan. I said a prayer of gratitude that I was able to be there, and then quickly asked for forgiveness for bringing 6 minors to a beach in Spain with topless women >.< I was embarrassed about that and realized I should have expected that. I even tried to find a spot where that wasn’t around, but no success. I told the kids to just keep their eyes down and enjoy our little section of the beach. They all went in the water for a few minutes then left to buy ice cream. I sat in the water with Caytlyn and when they got back they all came in the water again for awhile. I went back on the beach to sit with our stuff while the kids were in the water. When they came out of the water they all laid on their towels and slept for about 45 minutes. I went back out in the water again for a little while and then we headed back to the house. That evening, Israel cooked us a chicken dinner and we sat around the table talking with each other for an hour or so.
Day 6 - Barcelona - June 4
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Our first stop today when we left our house was to the famous cathedral in Barcelona called the Sagrada Familia. Construction began in the late 1800’s by Gaudi and due to be completed in 2025. It is a huge cathedral and very spectacular to see. We walked around the outside of it and stopped in the gift shop for Josh to buy a little statue. Josh then led us to the archeological museum. This was his project from class, the place he researched that he wanted to see and presented to the class. We were there a bit over an hour. Our last stop of the day was at the food market off of La Rambla. It was crazy busy, and they had so many food stands with many different kinds of foods. Mostly fruits and vegetables and sea food. Josh bought a mango, pomegranate and some habaneros. I bought some fresh mango and coconut juice. The Espinoza’s bought some vegetables to make stir fry for dinner.
Day 7 - Barcelona - June 5
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The first place we went to today was the Picasso museum. It is free on Sunday’s, and it’s a good thing it was free because I would have been a little upset if I had spent 15 Euros on that place. Most of it was boobs. I had no idea he was so fascinated with prostitutes. We then stopped at another cathedral and ate our lunch and snacks. The rest of the day was an adventure. We wanted to see Park Guell, but it cost 12 Euros and Israel thought he may be able to find a way into the park the back way. We took the metro to the top of the hill and start wandering around, trying to find a way into the park. We can’t find a way to get to it. We end up stopping for snacks at a small diner because we needed a restroom break. We then resumed our quest to find the upper half of the park. We did find it, and it lead to several nice look outs of the city, it was lovely. We got low enough that we could see the top part of the Gaudi section. We left the park and went back to the house to make dinner plans. As soon as we got back to the house, Dave called and wanted to skype with us so we called them and talked for about 15 minutes. I really wanted some chicken paella for dinner, so Israel looked up a restaurant for us. I took Josh and the kids minus Aiyana to the restaurant. It ended up being closed for renovations so we saw another restaurant nearby that served paella so we went there. They only had the sea food paella though, but I figured I could just pick off the sea food from the top and eat the rest. It ended up being mixed all throughout it; clams, oysters, and sea bugs. I picked out what I could, but it tasted completely clammy and it was gritty like sand or pieces of shell so I gave up on it. Half of us didn’t like it, the other half like it OK. It was expensive too! That place cost me almost $50 for Josh and I and we barely touched our food. We decided to go feed the pigeons, but the stands were gone with the pigeon food, because it was starting to get dark. We stopped for ice cream along La Rambla on the way home.
Day 8 - Barcelona - June 6
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We all slept in today then packed up most of our stuff because we are leaving for Madrid early tomorrow morning. We left the house around noon and took the metro to the bus station. The bus took us to a fort on the hilltop. We spent a few hours eating our lunch and walking around the fort and the grounds. When we were back in the city, the kids and I stopped at the city center to feed the pigeons. We spent 5 Euros on pigeon food and had an enjoyable time feeding and catching pigeons. Josh loved it! He’s been talking about all the pigeons our whole trip and wanting to hold one. It was a huge success. Afterwards we walked a little ways up La Rambla and got more ice cream and then got back on the metro to go home. Unfortunately, the Espinoza’s weren’t with us and none of us had a house key on us. I called the Espinoza’s and asked them to hurry home since we were just sitting on the front porch locked out. They said they would head back and asked to get groceries for dinner while we were waiting. When I was at the grocery store, Josh was able to climb into the back patio and get in the back door and let everyone in.
Day 9 - Madrid - June 7
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Today we took the train to Madrid. It left at 5:50 a.m. and we arrived at 8:25 a.m. We got a small breakfast at the train station and took the metro to our apartment. It’s a big apartment with a big living area and back patio with a BBQ grill that we used for dinner that night. After we got settled in we went to a nearby mall for groceries. When we got home most of the kids took a nap while we got dinner ready. Israel BBQ’d pork and I made pesto potatoes. After dinner we went in to the city. We stopped at a famous chocolateria for some churros and chocolate. We went to the Plaza Mayor and to the palace. We arrived back home around 11:00 p.m.
Day 10 - Madrid - June 8
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We had a few issues with the apartment last night and this morning. First, I couldn’t get the oven to work for the potatoes last night so I fried them instead. Then, occasionally brown water would come out of the faucet. This morning we had no hot water for our shower, and the dish washer was spewing out suds when we turned it on. Israel had the owner come out and fix things, so we left the apartment later then we had planned on, around 11:00 a.m. Our first stop was at the train station to buy our train tickets to Toledo tomorrow. The Espinoza’s are going to a different city (Segovia), so I will be taking the kids. I hope I don’t get us lost! It was taking a long time so the Espinoza’s sent me ahead with the kids to Retiro Park. Once we arrived at the park we found a place we could rent bikes and rented bikes for an hour to ride around the park with. The park is huge and we still didn’t get to see the whole park in that hour on the bikes. When the Espinoza’s arrived at the park, they rented bikes also, but it was time for us to turn our bikes back in. We ate lunch in the shade, got ice cream and water while we waited for the Espinoza’s. We then went back to the metro and stopped at the mall again to window shop and get chicken for dinner. I walked back to the apartment with Caytlyn instead of staying at the mall and got more potatoes going for dinner. We ate dinner at 7:00 p.m. and then a group went back to Retiro Park to see the book fair.
Day 11 - Toledo - June 9
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We went to Toledo without the Espinoza’s today. They took the train to Segovia instead. We left the house about the same time. We were able to get to the train station and on to Toledo just fine. Once we arrived in Toledo, we bought a map for 2 Euro and took the bus to the top of the hill and the main center plaza of the old city. The first thing we wanted to do was get lunch. The Espinoza’s recommended an Italian pizza restaurant by the Greco museum at the far end of town. It isn’t a big city in the old part where we were; probably a 2 mile square radius; all in narrow winding alleyways, like a big maze. We walked to the other side of the city to find this pizza place. We were trying to follow the map, but we wandered quite a bit because the kids were very interested in the shops along the way. Several of them, especially Josh, loved all the swords and daggers. We never did find the pizza place, but we walked through the Greco museum and still walked around trying to find a place to eat. We decided to head back towards the main plaza for food, because every restaurant we looked at was pretty expensive on this side of town. We were heading back to the main plaza, stopping in shops along the way when we realized that Caytlyn was no longer with us. We had a total of 4 hours in the city, which I figured would be plenty of time, but 2 hours had already passed and the kids wanted to shop and go to the military fortress and we still wanted to stop for lunch. Now Caytlyn was lost! We immediately went back to the last shop we remembered seeing her but she wasn’t there. We decided to split up in 2 search parties. My phone and Josh’s phone worked, so he was in one group and I in the other so we could contact each other if we found her. After about 20 minutes of searching, Caytlyn called Josh and told him she was at a photocopy shop using their phone, but they would be closing soon. Josh’s group asked around and went to 4 different photo copy shops but she wasn’t at any of them. My group headed back to the main plaza to meet up with everyone. Josh’s group finally made their way back to the main plaza and Caytlyn was still missing. A bit later she called Josh again from a nearby hotel. It was just a few minutes away from the plaza we were at, so we told her to come to the plaza where we were. About 10 minutes later she finally shows up. While we had been waiting in the plaza, kids had got drinks and snacks at the McDonalds. At this point, we had 30 minutes left until we had to head back to the train station, so we split up and went shopping. Josh bought a dagger and a keychain and I bought some jewelry. We walked back to the train station and headed back to Madrid. We all wished we had another couple of hours in Toledo but it is what it is. The Espinoza’s were already at the house when we got back. We rested for a bit, then went around the corner to the Irish pub for dinner. It was really good and we were all really hungry.
Day 12 - Aranjuaz and Madrid - June 10
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Today we took a bus out to Aranjuaz. It is where the summer palace of the royals is. It was about an hour ride out. Once there, we walked around the palace grounds first. They covered a large area next to a river, with several fountains. It took about 45 minutes to walk though the gardens. We then took a tour inside the palace. It was really cool inside. Each room was so different but all were extravagant. We ate lunch in the gardens afterwards, and then went back to the bus and back to our house in Madrid. This evening we went back into the city and went to the Prado museum
Day 13 - Madrid - June 11
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It was our last day in Madrid, so we spent the morning packing and sleeping in. We left the house around noon and headed to the city center. The Espinoza’s took me out to lunch while the kids ate lunch on the palace grounds. We had steak and it was delicious. After lunch everyone just did what they wanted to do. Josh and I walked through the palace gardens and walked through some shops and bought sweatshirts for Josh and Christa. We then met up with the rest of the kids at Plaza Mayor. Josh and I also wanted more churros and chocolate since it was our last day in Spain, so Vincent joint us and we went to a place that was recommended to us by our land lord. It was so good! We went back to the house for the evening. We skyped with Dave and Christa for awhile, then I tried to go to sleep because we had to get up at 3:30 for our flight. But the girls’ room is right next to mine and they didn’t settle down for a couple hours.
Day 14 - Oslo - June 12
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Hansine (a foreign exchange student) met us at the airport in Oslo when we arrived. We took a taxi from our house at 4:30 a.m. and arrived in Oslo at 11:30 a.m. The airport experience in Madrid was very frustrating. They were slow and incompetent and we barely made it to our gate on time. The first thing we did in Oslo is take a train to the city center and bought Oslo day passes. We then went to our hostel, but we were early so we left our luggage there and walked down the street for lunch. The kids and I ordered 2 large pizzas to share and they were very good. We then checked into our hostel and left to go see the museums. Our first stop was at the Viking ship museum. It is a small place so we only spent 20 minutes there. It was very busy there, but it was neat to see the ships that were over 1500 years old. We then walked down the street to the outdoor folk museum. We spent about an hour there, walking through the old buildings and the Old Stave church. All the museums closed at 6:00 p.m. and when we went to get back on the bus it was too crowded and there was no room to get on. We waited there for 45 minutes and had to skip 2 buses because there was still no room for us. We decided to walk to a different bus stop and we were able to get on that bus and go back to the city center. From there we walked to the Opera House in the harbor and were able to walk along the roof for awhile and said goodbye to Hansine. Then we went back to the area of the palace to find a good place for dinner. The restaurant we chose was delicious but expensive! The Espinoza’s and I ordered ribs and chicken and loved it. I couldn’t finish them all though because I had 4 racks of them plus chicken. I gave about 1/3 of my ribs to Josh to finish. They were the best ribs I have ever had. Josh ordered a steak and the kids ordered burgers. We then went back to our hostel and to bed.