Alright, why not? And in a matter of days we booked our tickets. Flash-forward a few weeks and our already crazy group of four had grown to seven. I spent way too much time researching it (like I seem to do with all of our vacations) but I finally found us the perfect apartment for our weekend get-away. September 3rd could not have come fast enough.
Six of us boarded our 7:30 pm flight out of Frankfurt Hahn. Erica arrived earlier in the afternoon and was able to pick up our apartment keys and spend the rest of the day with friends. The thing about flying out of Frankfurt Hahn is, sure, you may pay all of 20 euros for your flight....but you never actually fly INTO the city. So after an hour long bus ride into Barcelona from Girona and another taxi to the apartment, we didn't arrive until just after 11:00 pm.
The six of us wandered around Carrer de Valencia in search of our apartment before realizing Erica wasn't even there. She was out to dinner with her friends (the Spanish eat VERY late) and the six of us were stuck with all of our bags and no place to go. Just across the street was a small bar that had a tiny "Open" sign above the front door. As we walked past, the place looked dark and there were only two gentlemen sitting inside. Ummm, looks a little sketchy....let's keep walking.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing in the next block or so looked at all appealing so we schlepped our bags back to the "sketchy" Lord Byron Bar. Little did we know but the majority of the laughs and great memories from this trip would happen right there at what soon became known as LBs.
It turned out to be the perfect way to kick off our Barcelona adventure. Good friends, great music, and a lot of laughs.
Let's meet the gang - (from left) Micah, Erica, Danielle, Chad (Micah's hubby), Jim, me and Brad
Here is Brad channeling his best Eddie Vedder with the air guitar. This would not be the last we would see of Mr. Vedder and it was certainly not the last we would see of LBs.
About 2:30 we called it a night and made the long trek (and by long I mean directly across the street) to the apartment. It was perfect! 
The Bingham's Room
We woke up bright and early the following morning and enjoyed breakfast on our rooftop terrace. We had quite the view...
The plan was to spend the day sight-seeing and our first stop was the Sagrada Familia. If you can see past the numerous cranes, it is quite an impressive work of art. With a total of eighteen spindle-shaped spires and hundreds of thousands of sculptures throughout, it was easy to see why this was Gaudi's masterpiece. Unfortunately, the project isn't expected to be complete until at least 2026....only 144 years after the project got started and 100 years after Gaudi's death.
From here the group jumped on the Hop On/Hop Off bus tour and we headed towards my favorite part of Barcelona - The Park Güell.
The boys posing with a belly dancer
This was the best two euro we spent on the whole trip....it was beyond hot!
As you may remember, I was here back in January with my friend and colleague, Mandy. We practically had the place to ourselves and it was about 40 degrees cooler. And I don't remember the pigeons....
Within two minutes of stepping foot under the columned terrace area, Brad got pooped on. Now this is not uncommon for Brad. I've watched the boy get pooped on at least three, if not more times since I've known him. But this was bad. Real bad. And it landed on his head AND his shirt. After I was able to compose myself, I helped clean him up.....then laughed some more.
Again, we have some of the most interesting architecture. Think Candy Land meets Dr. Seuss. 
Following our stroll through the park, we took the tour bus a few more stops to the Avenue Diagonal, one of Barcelona's more well known streets that is lined with shops and restaurants. It worked out that we paid for the two day bus tickets....because we were about to enjoy a three hour lunch which quickly ended our "sight-seeing day."
The menu included an assortment of paella dishes brought out in hot skillets. Let's just say I'm glad Brad and I decided NOT to share. It was wonderful!
And you can't have paella without sangria! Actually, you can't go to Barcelona without having sangria....lots of it.
The day could have ended there and I would have considered it a good marble day - but there was still so much in store. However, for that part of the adventure, you will have to wait....
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