Barcelona adventures

I thought it was just about time to share a few photos from our little trip sans children to Barcelona that we took at the beginning on October. We planned it all the way back in June, after finding out that my sister was pregnant and wanting to go and see her before the baby arrives in December. It was also our five year wedding anniversary, Rob's 30th birthday and just in fact an excuse to have a break. We've not been anywhere on holiday just to two of us since our honeymoon and frankly that was a bit shit. Not because of the company but because of where we stayed and in fact we sort of treated this like a little second honeymoon because of that fact.

We arranged for the boys to be looked after at home, so they could keep to their routines and be at school and nursery since we were going away in term time and mid-week. I was pretty anxious about leaving them, more particularly Rohan as we've only been away from him for a night before, and not to another country all together, especially since he was still recovering a little from his surgery, but he was in good hands with Robs parents staying for the whole week. We left on Sunday evening and it just felt so strange to be at the airport just us. No trying to keep them entertained whilst we waited, no having to control them, no million questions, just silence! Then we remembered this is what life is like with no children around!

We were greeted by torrential rain when we finally touched down in Barcelona where we were picked up by my blooming sister and drove back up the windy roads to her village above the city. We stayed up a little while chatting before it was time for bed. The next morning my sister had a hospital scan, so we left Rob in bed recovering from a cold and headed into the city. It was amazing to be able to join my sister and see the baby wriggling around inside her tummy, sometimes it still amazes me that she's going to have a baby and that I'm going to be an aunty for the first time! After her appointments we walked along the seafront back into town, chatting and having a proper catch up, until we reached one of our old favourite areas of El Born and decided to take the opportunity to do what we liked best, which is to walk the old streets looking at all the amazing back allies, tiny independent shops and window shopping. We used to do this years ago, before Theo came along, and it was so nice to relive those memories and really enjoy not being distracted by small people! We got especially excited when we stumbled upon the Tiny Cottons store and pawed and stroked every item of children's clothes saying I want that, I want this - I want it ALL!

The next few days passed like this; visiting different places, chatting, eating food, resting and relaxing in our child free state. Wednesday soon rolled around and that meant it was Rob's 30th birthday! I'd booked a surprise stay in a hotel in Barcelona, something we've never done before, so we packed up our bag for the night to head out to Hotel Brummel, on the other side of the city in Poble Sec, but first we stopped off at Camp Nou as that's what Rob wanted to do on his birthday. We spent a few hours going round the museum, which actually was really interesting as the history of the football club is so interwoven into the social history of Barcelona and the Catalan people. After we'd finished we made our way to the hotel to check in and were given the most amazing room! It had a gigantic roof terrace overlooking Mont Juic one way, the rest of the city the other and complete with an outside bath, which after getting pretty hot and sweaty on our way there, we decided would be a good opportunity to change into our swimmers and have a dip whilst enjoying a beer in the late afternoon. It really was pretty idyllic! The hotel itself is just stunning, it definitely made me want to stay for more than one night. It felt amazingly light and airy but with so many great design features and so much to look at. It definitely had that cool vibe, with lots of art on display, plants, beautiful furniture and products for sale. The staff were really friendly too, and gave us loads of tips of where to go and provide you with maps of loads of cool things to check out. If we were visiting Barcelona for the first time, or didn't have family here it would be such a great resource. There's also an attached yoga space where guests get free classes, but unfortunately they weren't on at the times when we were there, but otherwise I would've loved to go to a class. We really enjoyed our stay and it felt like a proper treat, the space inside and out were beautiful, with a stunning courtyard on the ground floor and a terrace with a small pool on the next floor up.

We spent the rest of the afternoon just relaxing before getting ready to go out for dinner in the evening...again such a novelty! My sister and Borja joined us at their favourite pizza place in Ravel and we got to eat a whole meal without having to leave our seats once or feed anyone else! Afterwards we visited an old bar full of dusty shelves full of old bottles, mirrored walls and heavy old curtains and drank a few beers and Rob sampled the absinthe. Feeling pretty tired we walked the short way back through the city to our hotel, and tucked ourselves up with a cup of herbal tea. We know how to live now that we're in our thirties! 

The next few days passed by much the same, we wandered around the streets, sat in parks, visited cafes, and went to another scan. We decided to take some maternity photos of my sister and Borja and walked up to Tibidabo which is just above where my sister lives. The evening light was perfect and we wandered around that area finding the perfect places to shoot. The next day we headed out again to visit a favourite out of town cafe my sister and Borja discovered for brunch before driving a little way more to a local vintage market, where we stumbled upon yet more amazing places to take a few more maternity shots.