A few fav pics from Espana

If I were typing on a keyboard in Spain, I'd be able to write the n with a tilde above it.

Aside: The keyboards at the business center in our hotel in Barcelona had two extra letter keys: one for the n with the tilde, and one for the c with the little tail. I think the tailed c is used only in Catalan, so I'm not sure what the traditional Spanish keyboard looks like.

But I'm not in Spain, so we have to use our imagination, or I could write Espanya, which says the same thing but looks plain wrong.

Anyway. I've uploaded the pics and have had the opportunity to identify a few favorites, which appear below (like with Dancing with the Stars, they appear in no particular order, as anyone who has uploaded photos in Blogger knows).

This first photo is of an art installation at the Crystal Palace in Retiro Park in Madrid. If you look closely in the silver ball in the middle, you can see our reflections. This photo might be the first successful mirror photo that I've ever taken of myself.

The following photo is of a food stall at La Boqueria, a covered outdoor market on the Ramblas in Madrid. "La Rambla" is the term used to describe the main drag through a town in Spain (or maybe just Catalunya because I don't recall encountering the term in Madrid), and Barcelona takes it to a whole new level, with street performers, pet and flower stalls, and even your occasional shell game (we saw one person get suckered out of 50 euro).

The following photo is of an art installation that spells "Barca" outside the cathedral in town (not La Sagrada Familia, the other one). B got into place just as the kids started running through, and since there were so many groups of schoolchildren at all of the tourist destinations that we visitied, I thought it captured our experience with the city nicely.

The last photo: I love Fanta Limon and am heartbroken that you can't buy it in the US. I drank it almost nonstop while I was over there and might have to plan another trip to a Mediterranean country solely for the soda options. This photo was taken in Retiro Park right after we took a rowboat ride around the little lake. (Note the short sleeves - it was the only day in our trip that was warm enough for them, and I relished it.)