Picture Overload, starting... ... NOW!

BARCELONA! 

(sorry, this one's a little out of order!)

Cathedral in Burgos

Gold people...solid gold.

Burgos.  Still love the trees here. 

 They will grow in and make a nice canopy tree tunnel!

Burgos: Plaza Mayor

This is how you eat pizza around here...

yes, those are hatchets.

 .

Old church...

there are old (and I mean OLD) churches everywhere!  It's amazing! 

They're HUNDREDS of years old, and just sitting around waiting for people to see them!

Cathedral in Leon.  AMAZING! 

This was one of my favorite cathedrals because of the stained glass! 

It is incredible!

Cathedral in Leon

(pics above, and the one below!)

Castle!

This castle was fun because you could go in, under, through, 

around and down some creep stair cases and check it out! FUN!

Barcelona gang!

Day 1!

Always make sure you know what you're doing when you get to the train station....

otherwise people look at you REAL funny!

Me and my peeps!
(just waiting for the train)

What did I tell you about the birds?!

(It doesn't help that everyone encourages them either...)

The famous: Las Ramblas

Christopher Columbus!

Now this is a pirate ship!

La playa!

Chantelle and I: first time in the Mediterranean!

Chantelle, inspiring me to take the plunge!

(thankfully!)

Our wonderful sand castle!  

(you can notice my shorts tan STILL! Embarrassing...

but that's just the life of a runner! Permanent lines.)

*Oh, and my cute suit...thanks Ellie for making me keep it!*

Barcelona Cathedral 

(closed while we were there for some festival)

Ok, so there were a ton of these strange, STRANGE

 people dressed up as "statues" to get money.

(Some were PRETTY creepy!)

He was good...until you got closer, 

and realized he was too short to be the real "Mask"

My favorite...by far!

Pablo Picasso Museum!

(Awesome!)

The Moment You've All Been Waiting For:

LA SAGRADA FAMILIA 

(In english: The Sacred or Holy Family)

*This side symbolizes the birth story of Christ, and has symbols of the sacred family all over it (the other side is themed as the Passion, or the death of Christ, and is actually really creepy.  It looks really modern, and weird. Another artist actually created it (not Gaudi) b/c many of Gaudi's blueprints were lost in a fire during the Spanish Civil War. 

There's no way to tell how amazingly huge this place is in this picture!

Inside the Sagrada Familia

Still inside:  these columns symbolize trees going up into the heavens.  

*everything inside and out was inspired to Gaudi through nature, so cool!

Ya, I took this picture! SWEET!

*You may be wondering what I keep getting cranes in my pictures...well that's because this building, already so magnificent, is still being finished.  It will not be finished for at least 30 more years to come, and when it does, will be the largest church in the world!

Guell Park! 

Beautiful and creative-again, inspired by Gaudi! 

His houses surround the area also, and they're sights all in themselves.

A captivating view from Guell Park

I was afraid of getting mobbed after I took this picture (my flash went off and everyone stared at me!) But this was so cool! The metro didn't have doors, but was all connected, so you could see from one end, all the way to the other!

*THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO A GIRL WHEN SHE'S NEVER BEEN TO A BIG CITY BEFORE!

This is what castles are SUPPOSED to look like! 

Flowers, and greenery EVERYWHERE!

This one's in Barcelona, one the mountain with the Olympic Park!

(my most touristy pic yet...great!)

The Olympics were here...HERE!  (in 1992)

I can't even explain how bad my body wanted to go down and run on that track!!!