It's been a few days since I've been able to post - there is only one computer at this hotel for guests to use and it has always been busy.
I wish I could say that our flight from Barcelona was uneventful... well it *almost* was - because it almost didn't happen. When we checked in almost 3 hours before our flight they told us to sit downstairs and about 45 minutes before the flight departed; a wheelchair would be brought down for mom. Well, about 45 minutes before our flight I walked over to the check in counter to see them give our wheelchair to another person. I was *ticked* - yeah, that's a nice word. The lady that I was talking to called another wheelchair and told me that it was on it's way. About 30 minutes later, I'm getting security involved as well as employees in "high places" - I was raising a fit! About 5 minutes before the flight was to depart; mom's wheelchair goes upstairs without her... can you say "aargh"? The supervisor runs upstairs and has it brought back down stairs and then escorts us through security and has had the plane held for us. We got on board and left 10 minutes late - all because of the airline's screw up. If they had told us it was going to take an "Act of God" to get a wheelchair we could have taken the 2+ hours we sat downstairs doing absolutely nothing to walk the 300 yards through security and to the gate.
Ok, so we got here... The hotel is "unusual" - old, some things don't work... or don't work properly - namely the elevator! It has been down more often than it has been up. Which makes for a three flight climb to our room. Try to talk Mom into doing that! It doesn't work (well anyway). So Mom spent the day in the room yesterday - while Travis and I went on the bus tour and then went to the top of the Eiffel Tower - way cool! Today we were able to talk mom into coming with us (I wasn't leaving her alone in the room again - especially on her birthday!) and we started out by taking the Metro to the Louvre. After the walk from the metro station to the Louvre we find this wonderful little sign saying "Closed on Tuesday". Do we have a giant target on our back or are we just really unlucky? We weren't going to waste the whole day so we went to Notre Dame and toured the inside of the beautiful church. I think between Mom & I we took 150 pictures - I had only seen the outside and the inside is so pretty.
Last night before bed we decided to learn a little french by watching a game show called Intervilles... google it - it was hilarious! We didn't need to understand anything they were saying - we just laughed and laughed at these stupid people. In one "game" the contestants had to dress up as a piece of cheese and run out into the middle of a bull fighting arena (oh, did I fail to mention - it was complete WITH the bull) and then another team member brought out a ham "jacket" and slipped it on. Once the ham & cheese sandwich was built - the sandwich had to run and jump into a plate. The "sandwiches" were trampled on by the bull - gouged by the bull - chased by the bull... ok, putting it that way - it just sounds sadistic; but it was really, really funny to watch.
We're off to NYC tomorrow and I will be able to turn my cell phone back on!
We miss everyone!
Most of our time in Florence was spent in the square around the Duomo. We spent hours shopping in the small shops that line the streets. We also had the most wonderful lunch at a quaint cafe a few blocks from here. 
I think one of the most breathtakingly beautiful drives that anyone could ever take would be the one between Sorrento & Amalfi Italy. Rugged, rocky coastline with villas built right into the cliffs. Every turn of the road brought even more beautiful scenery. 
Our shore excursion to Malta was titled "A Taste of Malta" so we got an overview of a lot of different things. We toured this church which was bombed in WWII; the bomb pierced the dome and ricocheted but didn't detonate. The church was filled with people at the time. 
Casa Mila - Antonio Gaudi was the architect; I studied some of his work in class this past semster.
This dragon is at the entrance to Park Guell - again designed by Gaudi.
This is a picture of another portion of the park. There are four levels; the first being the dragon and buildings at the entrance, the second is the pillars you see in the bottom part of this image as well as the "tree" section, the third is the curved bench (atop of the pillars) and the last level holds a cafe. The ceiling in the pillar level consists of a series of concave circles between the pillars. Each concave is filled with tile; some are not decorated but covered simply with a mother-of-pearl type tile and the ones that are decorated have designs such as a sunburst or an octopus. Even the undecorated ones are beautiful. 
The curved bench is covered with mosaic tiles; each section being prettier than the last. 
One of the last things we visited was another Gaudi design; La Sagrada Familia. Translated it means Church of the Holy Family. This church has been under construction for over 100 years and my guess is that it will be another 100 before they finish. 
