Current mood:	cheerful
Entry tags:	europe, pics, spain, travel, trip report

Grand Finale
For a last day spent touring on my own, I think I did all right!  I ditched the family at about noon to hop a tourism bus and rode along the Red, Green and Blue lines to get an overview, and the hopped off to enjoy Ciutadella Park, roam the Gothic Quarter and all of its little shops and tour the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia.  I wanted to go check out the Parc Guell because of my recent found love of Gaudi's work, but didn't make it out there as the sun and fatigue started to get to me.  :(    I went back to the hotel to nap so I could join the rest of the family for a bus tour that would take us to see Barcelona by night.  That might sound cheesy, but it may have been one of the most worthwhile things we did while in Spain.  The tour didn't take us anywhere we hadn't seen in the day, but the lights made the monuments worth the second look.

The best part of the tour though was when they drove us up to Montjuic to catch a showing of the "Magic Fountain of Montjuic."  This was basically a really large fountain that used color and music to put on a sort of water ballet.  Think something like the fountains in front of the Bellagio in Vegas, only smaller and with more color and infinitely better.  The show was awesome, Paul and I couldn't believe it was put on for free.  The fountains were dazzling, and I took dozens of pictures, each of them too pretty not to keep.  The show started out using classical pieces (such as The Dance of the Flowers and The Ride of the Valkyries)  to accompany the water play, but later they used Timbaland's Apologise.  I know the song is pretty overplayed, but it worked really well and was completely awesome in the context. 

Everyone agreed the fountains were the best finale for the trip we could have wanted.  It was a cool and quiet way to end a busy trip, and the fountains were so beautiful that we could have sat and watched them for hours.  I'd definitely recommend them as a must see if you ever make it to Barcelona!

Day 10 pictures:

                       

Aaaand more pictures from the Magic Fountain of Montjuic!