It's kind of funny. I guess I had a picture in my head of what I thought European people looked like (as far as manner of dress) and most of them really didn't fit it. The men did more often than the women, especially in Italy. But the women were mostly just wearing casual, normal looking clothes. :)

When we finally got to Barcelona (after 22 hours of travel), a representative of the travel company met us at the airport and escorted us to our hotel where we had to immediately run up to our room and freshen up and then hurry back downstairs to meet our travel group and go out for dinner. We went to a little place that was a few blocks away from the hotel called Cullera de Boix (which means 'wooden spoon' if i remember correctly). The food was all interesting, but a lot of it was things I didn't like - olives, uncooked meat, etc. Everyone who did eat it said it was great, but I just kept chomping on bread. We were both just insanely tired as well. I totally hit the wall about two-thirds of the way through dinner.

This is Notre Dame de la Garde. We walked up many steps to visit it! 

And this is Doug is Marseilles. I loved Marseilles and I wanted to stay there! 

This is a little timeline of the history of the church. I don't know if you can read it or not, but it's interesting if you can. 

This is a photo of a copy of a drawing done by Gaudi showing what the church will look like when it's finished. This is just from one side - they had copies of the drawings showing it from all sides. 

Here's another photo of the Holy Family Church in Barcelona. This is a close up of two angels with trumpets and you can see Joseph, Mary, Jesus, and someone else off to the left. 

So, one of the interesting people we saw in the Amsterdam airport was a woman with flourescent yellow hair. Literally. That wasn't the really interesting part though. She also either had one breast completely exposed or she was wearing a shirt with a fake breast on it so that it looked like one was completely exposed. Neither of us wanted to look long enough to figure it out, but the glance I got did not look like a real nipple.

It was definitely a vulnerable feeling at first, being out of my home country and surrounded by people speaking other languages. Amsterdam has as many signs in English as not, but it was still odd. As cool as the airport was (complete with art and nice furniture), we were most excited about the nap we took there. Our gate wasn't even open yet, so we found these lounge chairs by big windows and passed out for a while. It was strange and a bit disorienting to wake up in an airport.

From there it was on to Barcelona...

And, yes, another shot of the church. Isn't it just amazing?!? 

Here's another shot of the church, from a different side. Though everything being done in the church is based on Gaudi's ideas and drawings, much of the actual work is being done by other artists (because gaudi is no longer living), but this side was actually done by Gaudi himself. 

This shot is from inside the church. It's very bright because, though it's inside, there is one side of it still open to the outside. 

This is a close up of some of the detail. The church is still under construction and they figure they've got about 25 years to go before they finish! 

This is a picture of the Holy Family Church in Barcelona. Another Gaudi masterpiece. 

One other interesting person we met when leaving Austin was Smitty. He was sitting on the other side of Doug on the plane. He's a Canadian offshore oil man and he uses very colorful language. :)

Anyway, I lived through my first international flight. I expected to be totally freaked out the whole time we were flying over the ocean, but it wasn't too bad. For one thing, it was night time and I couldn't see anything anyway and I was *trying* to sleep. I also thought I'd be wicked fidgety, but I was really okay. I mean, I would have liked more leg room, but I didn't go crazy or anything.

Unfortunately, it is impossible for the average person to sleep on an airplane. I tried and tried and I think I managed to sleep about two hours. The seats were so uncomfortable and I've never been able to sleep in a sitting position. (college doesn't count)

We had a four hour layover in Amsterdam and they have a very cool airport. With some interesting people...

This is the fence around the park from the outside. The colored top is also all done with broken ceramic. 

Another house/building in the park. All of these buildings now house museums and gift shops. 

This is the ceiling in the Hall of 100 Columns (though there are only 85 or 87 - don't remember which) in Park Guell. The whole ceiling is a mosaic of broken ceramic. 

Some more cool columns in the park. Park Guell, that is. 

This is another Gaudi house in the park in Barcelona. It looks like a gingerbread house! 

One little story I forgot to mention about our adventures in trying to leave the country - Doug spotted someone he knew at the airport. Not surprising, but amusing. It was a couple of Dutch guys that work for a supplier or vendor or some sort of other company that Dell does business with.

Also, for some reason (possibly because we had hand-written tickets from delta), we were selected for a thorough security check in Austin. So, we got checked for weapons and passed on through. The pants I was wearing have about a dozen snaps and zippers on them, so I was beeping up a storm! Anyway, we didn't mind and the security people were very friendly. It did feel a bit weird and conspicuous. I figured the average person would be annoyed and offended by the process, so I just tried to look as un-annoyed and non-offended as possible. :o)~

I met a nice girl and her baby in the airport. I am not the type to start up a conversation with someone I don't know, but she was traveling with a newborn... :)

This is a courtyard in this big park in Barcelona. Gaudi did the columns you see in the background and they are supposed to look like the palm trees that you see planted in front of and behind them.