Goodbye Gaudi

Our last day in Barcelona and we say goodbye to Gaudi! This morning, we packed up and cleaned our amazing apartment hotel, and headed out to the Picasso Museum. I missed this the last time I was here and it showcases his early works. You couldn't take any photos inside, but the highlight was his extensive study of Velasquez's Las Meninas. Here's a few photos of the museum's exterior:

We walked around the old city center and Gothic quarter and stumbled upon the Cathedral, pictured below:

We then hopped into a cab to go to Mercado Boqueria on Las Ramblas. Although walkable, my dad was struggling and I wanted to make sure he saved his energy for later. We found a great stall that specialized in seafood and had a grilled seafood platter, vegetable platter, and ordered more razor claims and different types of calamari, as shown in a few photos below:

We had fun walking off our lunch and observing this amazing market. My dad asked why we didn't stay at a hotel closer and we could have eaten here everyday. I responded, "no one actually stays in Times Square", plus the space and laundry machine in our apartment hotel was definitely needed. Here's a collage of the meat, various eggs, rainbow of juices, and a Korean stall!

Outside of the Mercado, we hopped on the green line to Fontana. We could have taken it further, but then you would have to walk longer to Parc Güell where we had 1:30 pm entry reservations. I researched that by stopping at Gaudi's Casa Vicens, we could transfer to the #24 bus that drops you off at the top of Parc Güell. As such, here's a picture of Casa Vicens, the first house Gaudi designed and started in 1883. It appears to be undergoing some work as there are plans to open the house to the public:

We hopped on the #24 bus that meandered throughout the city and up the hill. We had to wait a bit for our entry, which was okay as I wanted to not rush my dad in the sun. We finally entered and here are a few pictures below:

Upon leaving the park, the bus was arriving and we took it to Passeig de Gracia and Diagonal, where we walked by Casa Milà and Casa Batlló - to show my family from my walk with Amanda the other day. Some photos below:

After observing several Korean tour groups, we hailed a cab back to our apartment hotel where we enjoyed the pool terrace, rested and washed up. We headed out for an early dinner before our flight, but as it was during siesta time, our options were a bit limited. We ate around the corner and had some pastas and pizza. 

Suntransfers picked us for the airport and we flew Vueling back to Orly Paris. However, this was not without adventure, as the queue for baggage drop was super long, and our flight was delayed 30 minutes. But the worst part is our luggage didn't make it on the flight. They said it should be here on Friday and dropped off at our hotel, but we are obviously a little anxious as we leave Saturday for home.

Not sure if it was the delays (flight and baggage claim queue), but we couldn't find our Suntransfers pickup and therefore took a taxi to our hotel, Mercure Notre Dame St. Germain de Près. The clerk took pity on us and gave us dental kits and water bottles. In all my years of travel, I've never had any luggage issues, so let's hope this is a blip and we get them quickly on Friday.