There is a first time for everything

Barcelona

To say the Barcelona weekend got off to a rough start is an inaccurate description of just how rough the start was. This was a conference through Biolase, where Dad and many of our favorites from the Biolase family plus my friend who also teaches English in Madrid but is actually an American (Jeff) and my roommate from last year (Cathryn) would be joining me on the trip. Long story short, we (all three of us) missed our flight. That's correct, ladies and gentleman, I, Stephanie, who has taken upwards of 1000 flights missed my first one. At 9:30 pm. I will tell you the full story sometime.
After an absolutely absurd ordeal, we left the airport defeated, upset and headed to the train station. We climbed aboard a night train with five minutes to spare before departure, and had a little cabin to ourselves. Jeff and Cathryn had never been on a train before and this provided an excellent opportunity for the two of them to bond (Cathryn had just landed that morning from Alabama) as well as Cathryn and I to fill in the gaps of our life updates that Viber, emails and Facebook hadn't covered. In the end, I can honestly say I am really happy that we missed the flight and it all worked out beautifully.

Friday, the three of us got to the convention to say hello to everyone, have lunch and then do some minor exploring of the city before it was time to get all dolled up for an incredible 45 person dinner at the Opera House. After an amazing meal with great conversations in one of the most extravagant places I have ever been, Dad gave an incredibly inspirational speech. I was glowing with pride for him and I truly believe that he is happy. He's great at what he does and I know that under his direction, these next few months are going to be awesome for the company. It was a really cool moment. After dinner, we headed to hear some live music and party until my heels wouldn't allow it anymore.

Saturday, I had drawn up quite a schedule for seeing most of the big Barcelona sites in just a few hours. We hit it hard. Though we hadn't anticipated the lengthly lines of tourists with our same itinerary, we covered a lot of ground with our day. Before we knew it, we were racing back to the hotel to throw on cocktail dresses (Jeff) and a suit (Cathryn and I) and have a glass of champagne in Dad's suite with breathtaking views overlooking the whole city. I must admit this may go down as one of my favorite days of 2012.

 Jeff is hilarious and had Cathryn and I both cracking up all day. The company and banter between us was entertaining and it just made me so happy to have a best friend in my country, sharing great memories together. All too soon, day bled into night and it was time for the big gala dinner. There were so many familiar faces, it was just such a good time.
Dad played with the band once the party heated up and the crowd went crazy. Maybe it was my imagination, but I think this is the best I have ever heard him sound without his "crew" behind him. Seriously, he really was on fire. There was dancing and more dancing until we decided to go dance somewhere else. We got to the next place and danced and danced until eventually I was drug back to the hotel. I did not want such a great day to end.

Sunday, moving a little slowly as you can imagine, we had a few final "Barcelona Musts" to knock off the list. We headed to the beach and were graced with the best weather of Cathryn's entire trip. I actually wore sunglasses for a few hours. We met up with Dad to go to the Picasso Museum, where we were all incredibly fascinated by how Picasso painted with such accuracy in his youth and then transformed into the infamous Picasso-style after the tragedy of his best friend committing suicide. This museum and the hours I was able to spend letting his art speak to me was certainly a highlight of the weekend.

 After the four of us ate lunch, we hugged and headed to different airports. Thankfully, we made the flight home with hardly any problems (especially by comparison) and crashed successfully in our beds that night in Madrid.
The weekend flew by and it was a great trip!
Everyone in Spain says that you are either a Madrid-person or a Barcelona-person. I didn't believe this until after this weekend. I had high expectations for the city of Barcelona and for the weekend itself. The weekend exceeded my wildest dreams and the city, I must admit, let me down a little bit. Certainly glad I went but it doesn't rank in my top 10 or top 20 cities where I have been. This realization surprised me a good deal. I am definitely a madrileña.

At the end of the day, traveling is an adventure. And you just NEVER know what you are going to get.