Barcelona!

Christmas in Barcelona:  mostly sunny, some rain, 50-60 degrees, minimal or no coats.  Now THAT's Christmas weather!  Remember - there was no snow in Bethlehem.  White Christmas was the mission obtaining its goal of 400 baptisms this year - a true miracle!  Mom and Dad are amazing.  Where do they get all that energy?  We went everywhere, with and without them.  They took us to their favorite Tapas and hot chocolate restaurants, favorite stores, and favorite sites.  They took an entire day and drove us to the Costa Brava and their favorite beach resort town Tossa de Mar.  Gorgeous.

We went with Mom and Dad and Spencer all over La Rambla (fun shopping/restaurant district), the Maritime Museum (the medieval shipyards!), Sagrada Familia (the Gaudi designed cathedral, still under construction after 150 years), Parc Guell (the Gaudi designed park - you feel sort of like you've stepped into a Dr. Seuss book), the Columbus statue overlooking the sea, the Montjuic 16th century fortress overlooking the sea (where Mom and Dad take all incoming missionaries to give them an overwhelming view of their new home), and so many other places.

I spent an incredible hour in the National Museum of Catalon Art, soaking in the collection of 12th century frescos.  Absolutely incredible.  It is touted as perhaps the best collection of medieval art in Europe, and I certainly agree.  It took me awhile to really be able to process all that I had seen.  The rest of the museum is incredible, I'm sure.  I just spent so much time in the medieval section that I didn't have time to get to the rest of it!

We loved spending time getting to know the missionaries.  Ellie wanted to spend all her time in the mission office following the elders around.  It was cute.  I could go on and on with stories, but I'll let some of these pictures say a thousand words.  We're saving our pennies to go back!