Bye bye Barcelona

But all good things come to an end...

We took a certain mother/in law to brunch

now, where did you get those peepers?

Sophie, ready to soar off on her scooter!

cuddling up makes me happy

then we went off to play in the Joan Miro park

before exploring Parc Guell - another fantastical vision of Gaudi's - massively uncompleted but with the world's longest (and I dare say, prettiest) bench

And then headed home, with the good fortune that the incredible, fortified town of Carcassonne is the half-way point.

and explore some more

The city is an open-air museum to Modernist architecture. So we gawped at Gaudi and his peers

but also enjoyed the beaches

Seb the digger

 Checked out the imperial

 and the minimalist

Barcelona chair

in Mies van der Rohe's reconstructed pavilion from the 1929 world fair

And the Olympic

 Had much lovely food (sometimes thanks to grandparental babysitting)

check out the view from the cafeteria of the Cortes Ingles department store!

And did a wee bit of shopping

But let's not forget the marathon smultz of the annual Eurovision contest: Go Iceland and Sweden and Conchita!

Barcelona! Ours to explore

3rd trip to Spain in our year of Issigeac living. Barcelona was where the birthday boy (with parents, children and partner in tow) wanted to celebrate. It was rather an eclectic long weekend of sites and events. 

3 great minds meet

Starting with the Science Museum:

The exhibit on the Mediterranean has an olive oil tasting bar - of course!

the amazing Amazonian rainforest - from canopy to life amidst the flood-submerged roots

martial arts moves?

ended with an evening on the Ramblas

Our soaring, spinning, sandy son

Looky, looky

Four fantastic new Eardley mugs - personalized even

[posted whilst we are in Barcelona]

Just how it should be

Happy birthday and year ahead 

to the one I love so dearly

-----------------------------------------
UPDATE:
The birthday lad himself (after having driven 6+ hours to Barcelona)

and using last year's gift!

Spring outings & aboutings

 George & Lorraine finally decided to return to Canada after wintering in the sun, only to discover that the weather was too miserable to stay in NB, and so they came to us...

Wandering in Eymet 

Enjoying the region's 2nd largest vide grenier (200+ stalls!)

Our haul

blurry snap that shows the thickness of his latest tome (Lord of the Rings)

lunch in the garden 

afternoon in the garden

work to be done in the garden...

and yes, even with all the outings and aboutings, there is school

Stylin' Sophie

Our gal and a neighbour got creative with the pick-up sticks

A Spring shop

It's May Day today and let's remember our farm workers and our market sellers this year. We may even head to Eymet for their weekly market.

I never tire of sharing photos of the bounty of our market...