Hola Barcelona!!

David and I have successfully arrived in Barcelona as of yesterday afternoon, and we are preparing for a very fun and relaxing week of vacation. Yesterday we walked around and did some grocery shopping (because we have a "kitchen" where we are staying) and we enjoyed the perfect 75 degree, very sunny but slightly breezy weather and the beautiful views of the city. Today we are mostly sticking to the plan and going to go relax on the beach, but since it is difficult to spend the entire day on the beach we also plan on seeing a famous fort on the south side of the city. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and entrance is free, so we are quite looking forward to it.

Before leaving Denmark we spent a day in Copenhagen so I will share some of those pictures with you as well. Unfortunately for us, our day in the country's capital was cold and almost rainy, but we still enjoyed our time of exploration. Here are those pictures:

This is the outside view of the "Round Tower". In addition to being round, the ascent to the top has no stairs and instead is a sloped spiral. This is the oldest functioning astronomical observatory in Europe.

This is David as we climbed to the top of the observatory. You can see the cool sloped floor. According to my family, legend has it that a few hundred years ago a visiting prince and princess from Russia didn't even get off their horses to climb to the top, but rather used their horses (or in her case, carriage) to get all the way to the top. 

This is Rosenborg castle, a very exciting museum which houses the crown jewels of the Danish monarchy. No photos were allowed so I don't have any, but the crown of Christian IV was one of the most impressive things David or I has ever seen. 

David and I found this old Anglican church as we were one our way through the old citadel which leads to the Little Mermaid statue. It was a fairly interesting church to see, but mostly it was just pretty from the outside. (=

The Little Mermaid! This is one of the most famous statues in Denmark and is one of the most photographed items in the world according to the sign by the statue. Unfortunately since the weather was gloomy it was even colder by the water so we didn't stay too long.

This is what is locally known as The Mable Church because it is entirely made out of marble. It was beautiful to see, and the inside of the dome was incredibly impressive!

This is the statue in the middle of Amalienborg Palace, which is the current residence of the monarchs of Denmark. The palace is so large that it was impossible to get a good picture of the whole thing, but I suppose you could search on google if you were interested. 

This building is now offices but historically was one of the first major stock exchange buildings. I just found the architecture to be striking!

David and I in Nyhavn, a famous port in Copenhagen. We took a picture here because we also have a picture of the exact same street which was replicated in Lego Land. It was really cool to see how accurately they represented the area.

The entrance to Tivoli, a famous amusement park in Copenhagen. David and I didn't do any of the rides to save money, but we certainly enjoyed walking through the park and the gardens. 

Here is a picture of us in one of the many gardens of Tivoli.

So that pretty much sums up our wonderful trip to Denmark! I do already have some pictures of our time in Barcelona, but I think I will wait to show those to you in a different post. For now, we are off to the beach!!