Frank and Donna visit Barcelona July 21th -25th

After Sandrine and family left, we had a couple of weeks with no visitors and so to keep the kids busy, I enrolled them in local summer camps.  Nathan and Ciara did two weeks of art camp at the local art school, and I enrolled Rylan and Cole for 4 weeks of soccer camp at the Can Vidalet soccer club not far from our house.  They only went for the morning 9am to 1pm so they still had the rest of the afternoon free.  At the beginning it was difficult especially for Cole and Rylan who were not used to playing soccer in Spanish, the kids were a bit rougher, there was some bullying and they learned lots of new Spanish swear words.  I didn't have high expectations for any of the camps, but I think it was a good experience for the kids at a very reasonable price: 36€/week for Ciara and Nathan's camps and 27€/week for Cole and Rylan's soccer camp.

My aunt Donna (my mother's older sister) and her husband Frank arrived on Tuesday July 21st.  They stayed with us only a few days on their way to the Shetland Islands where Frank is from.  Frank and Donna were planning on serving a mission for our church in September and they were called to the Toronto, Canada Mission, but a few weeks later they got a call from church headquarters and their call was changed to serve in the Vancouver Temple presidency.

Frank and Donna arrived during an extremely hot and humid week, temperatures in the mid 30s and with humidity it felt like the mid 40s.   We wanted to take them all over Barcelona, but the heat took its tole on Frank and he was not able to manage long outings in the sun.

We did take them downtown on the 22nd and we showed a few famous sights and then took them to the Museum of Ideas and Inventions http://www.mibamuseum.com/en/index.  This is mainly because the kids could get in free with their Super3 cards and we had never been to this museum before.  It was actually pretty fun.   The kids each got to draw a picture of something they would like to invent and then enter a contest to see if they could win a prototype and patent for their invention.   They had all kinds of crazy inventions on display, it was very interactive, but kind of small.  Not sure if I would pay full price for my kids 6€ and adults are 8€.   Frank and Donna enjoyed it, and at least it was air-conditioned inside.

Later that evening we took them to a local festival.  La Festa Major de Santa Magdalena, in honor of the patron saint of Esplugues.

People dancing with large heads

Watching the festivities.  Next to Bob is a Gigante, or giant, not a really tall woman.

Castellers

The following day, I took Frank and Donna shopping at the open market in Sant Ildefons.  Donna seemed to enjoy it a lot, Frank was fading quickly with the heat.  So in the afternoon, I proposed to take them to Decathlon.  Frank had a great time in Decathlon and bought all his gifts there to take back home.  All of our visitors so far have enjoyed shopping at Decathlon and every time I bring someone there, I always mange to find something that I need to buy.

The following day, we drove to Salou, near Tarragona.  Frank and Donna were going to meet up with Frank's niece who was staying at a resort near Port Aventura.  While they met together, I took the kids to one of the many beaches in Salou.  We settled on Platja Llarga which wasn't very busy and had some nice waves.  Later we met up with Frank and Donna along the Passeig de Jaume I, a very beautiful boulevard beside the main beach with parks and fountains and lots of tourists.   We had a nice lunch at a restaurant on the beach before heading back to Barcelona. 

We wanted to squeeze in just one more sight, so that evening we took them to the Magic Fountain show near Plaça Espanya.  It was a really busy evening, but I think Frank got some good pictures and then we headed over to Las Arenas, the mall that was built from an old bull fighting ring, to grab a bit to eat.

Platja Llarga, Salou

Lunch on the beach

The next morning Frank and Donna flew to London and then on to the Shetland Islands.  When they landed in the Shetlands the temperature was 12ºC, so between Barcelona and the Shetlands the temperature dropped more than 20º.