O! Xocolata

What do you do when you see a statue of an african queen made entirely out of chocolate. Well you smell it and dig your finger nails into it to see if its solid chocolate. Welcome to the "Museu de la xocolata" (Museum of chocolate) in Barcelona.


This museum tells you everything that you ever wanted to know about chocolate plus it has a bunch of statues that are strictly made out of chocolate. From Mary holding Christ (see pic), Louie Armstrong, to Lady and the tramp. Plus the chocolate that you buy is to die for. Some of the best chocolate that I have ever had.

Sagrada Familia Church

Sagrada Familia Church is located in Barcelona, Spain. This church was built in 1882 by Antoni Gaudi (1852 - 1926). As you can see the church is still being built. They don't expect church to be finished for at least another 50 years. There are many interpretations of his orginal plans. As we walked through the chuch, workers were still working on the building and there were materials roped off everywhere.

This church is amazing. In the front entrance, there are carvings in marble of Jesus from his birth to ressurrection. There are many other carvings in the building. On one side of the church is a square box with numbers in it, if you add the numbers up...up, down, across, or diagonally they add up to 33...for 33 years of Christ's life. The church depends strictly on private donations and entry fees, that's why its taking so long to be built.


Can you imagine a church in the USA taking almost 200 years to be built. Its amazing, I hope that I am around in 50 years so that I can see the finished product.

For Everything Else..........

Traveling to Spain................................$27.10
First Class Upgrade..............................$100.00
Staying in Hostel...................................$36 Euro
Eating Topas while watching world cup......5 Euros
Seeing the Royal Palace in Madrid..............8 Euros
Seeing the great work of Picasso.................8 Euros
Eating Ice Cream in Barcelona ...................2.40 Euros
Topas and Granizada(see pic)...................5.40 Euros
Being stranded in Madrid with one Euro in your pocket because Visa canceled you credit card.........Priceless

Somethings money can buy, for everything else (especially if you don't want to get stuck in
Spain) there is Mastercard

Recepción al mecca del jamón (Ham Espana style)

I did not know that Spain was the capital of ham. They eat so much ham in Spain. They even have a ham museum (museo de Jamon), as you can see from the picture. It is not an actual museum, but its like a pub and/or deli. There are many different kinds of ham hanging all over the place. Some type of ham is usually the main meat in Topas. Topas are like sandwiches, or sometime pieces of meat, olives, or something. Spain is know for their Topas walk. That's where you go from place to place and order topas and beer or sometype of drink. Usually if you order a Topas and have a drink...they give you one of the house special topas for the day. And Topas are very cheap.

O! Canada

Never been North of the border, so I decided to visit Canada for a day. Our neighbors up north and very nice. It was kind of cool up there, so it was nice to get out of Phoenix for a day. Just traveled around Calgary for the day. Went by the saddledome to see where the Flames play. Interesting time in Calgary. Will go back for a longer visit next time.

Picture of downtown Calgary to the left

Food: Perogies
Drink: Good ole Molson

American Stuck In Spain

What happens when an airline that services your planes go on strike? When you are flying stand by, you get stuck in Spain. Never imagine that I would get stuck in a foreign country, but what I imagine came true and then became a nightmare. After Ibernia airline went on strike, they service our planes in Spain, a bunch of their clients bought tickets on US airways so that they could get back to the states. A flight that was undersold by 24, all of sudden became overbooked by 25. I was stuck in Spain. I had 20 Euros left and my bank card. After I use the internet and made some calls, my money started to dwindled. Now I found out that BOA had blocked my card because I did not informed them that I was going to Spain. They saw some charges coming from there and wanted to be safe.

My cousin tried to wired me money to Western Union, but I got to the shop 10 mins after they close. I even tried to go to one on the streets of Madrid and got there late. Now I am stuck in the middle of Madrid. I was able to borrow a euro from an American on the street to get back to the airport. BOA after they took block off my card, they then canceled my card. Luckily I was able to swipe it and get a hotel room for the night at midnight. Even though my card did not work the next day....I did not have to sleep on the streets of Madrid. I was able to get a flight out the next day..but it was a nightmare for that 24 hour period.

Hola de Madrid

Welcome to Madrid, Spain. Madrid was a very interesting city to be in.....from where we stayed, everything was centrally located. Most stuff was about a 20 minute walk from our Hostel. Never thought I would stay in a hostel, but it was pretty nice. Besides walking up the 5 flights of stairs, it was very clean, and she even had internet for the residents.

In Madrid there is so much history. From the Royal Palace, the Prado (Art Museum), Picasso exhibit, Spanish Civil Was, Napolean taking over Spain, and the Spanish way of life; its a wonderful country to visit. The Art was fabulous, never saw so many pictures of the crucifixion from so many different interpretations. But you must take your walking shoes, I think we walked at least 10 miles a day. Next time I go I will definitely learn more Spanish, they habla pequeño inglés.

Went to this monastry where the nuns baked fresh goods. We found it in a Rick Steves book. You can't see the nuns and every thing is done behind this wall. From there we spent a day in El Escorial to see another palace and the valley of the fallen (where 50,000 are buried from the Spanish Civil War). It was very interesting being in the old palace. They have many crypts where many former Kings and Queens and their kids are buried.

Tidbit about Library in the El Escorial Palace
They have some of the oldest books in history in that library. Back in the day, if you checked out a book wrong or did not bring it back. You were kicked out of the country...country as in Spain...not the library, or city, but the country.

Primera Clase a Madrid

Having flown to many destinations and overseas, I was looking forward to flying to Spain; especially flying firstclass. Since the upgrade was only $100, I thought I would give it a try. It was absolutely wonderful. Not only were the seats so comfortable and recline almost to 180 degrees, it was like you were in a whole new world. I have flown first class domestically many of times; this was well worth the upgrade. Our menu consisted of a choice of Maryland Crab cakes, Texan Chili Spiced Filet migon with a chilli sause, and others. I choose the filet migon entre', which was spectucular. With the assortment of hot bread, followed by an excellent dessert...you felt like you were in a nice restuarant. An after dinner drink or three...LOL....an assortment of movies and the 7 hour trip to Madrid seem like only hours. First class is the only way to fly international...now I definitely have to stay at US Airways.

Viva! Las Vegas

Went to Vegas for the weekend for my cousins surprise going away party. He is getting ready to fight that man's (Mr. Bush) war over in Iraq. I will pray for him and hope that nothing goes wrong over there.

His sister set up a surprise party where both his sisters, father, cousins, and girlfriend was going to meet him in Vegas. He called me that Saturday and asked me what I was doing for the weekend. Wanted me to come to Vegas because he thought only his sister (Anjeanette) and cousin (Nina) were going to be the only two there. He said he did not really want to spend the whole time in Vegas with just those two. I told him that I could swing some things and come up there. He was pleasantly surprise when everyone else was there.

The best time was going to the gospel brunch at the house of blues. It was a very spirtual brunch and performance. Got to sing with one of the singers and go on stage and perform with the group. It was pretty exciting. The food was great.....had lots of canjun food

Food: Gospel Brunch (Cajun), Bellagio buffet (Crab legs and anything else)
Drinks: Anything you want in Vegas