After spending a month working at the Advanced Graduate Workshop in Manchester, England, I met my buddy Greg (from NYC soccer) in Barcelona for a little vacation. We started with a couple of days in Barcelona and then moved up to a little beach town called Tossa del Mar for some relaxation. Greg hadn't been to Barcelona before so I had a great time showing him around. We started by hitting some of the typical tourist spots along the main drag, La Rambla, including the main market, the waterfront, and of course the ever present street performers.

Luckily, the Tour de France came through Barcelona our second day there, so of course we went down to watch them go by.

We also checked out the amazing Modernist architecture, particularly Gaudi's church, La Sagrada Familia, which is a sight that never fails to amaze. The church (its not actually an official cathedral) has been under construction for over 100 years and still has plenty to go. Currently there are two finished entrances, each with four towers. The first one we came to was new and done by someone other than Gaudi. It has amazing geometric sculpture which I really like. The other side was personally supervised by Gaudi and looks like it is melting.

We also checked out a few of the other local landmarks, including the local Arc de Triumph and the beach, where Greg stuck his feet in the Med for the first time.

Finally, we moved up to Tossa del Mar, a little beach town just up the coast from Barcelona on what is called the Costa Brava. It had a beautiful beach and somehow we had managed to get a hotel right on the beach (see view from our room window). What luck.