Barcelona Trip Day 3 (March 6, 2010): Plain Vanilla Ice Cream

Yesterday was a jam packed day, in fact I don't believe that Jenn and I could have possibly saw more of Barcelona in one day then we did. Thus we decided today was going to be as relaxing of a day as we could possibly make it. So with that theme in mind noon rolled around and we decided that it would then be an appropriate time to finally get out of bed and take on the day. Our day started by just opening up the blinds and viewing out a crystal clear view of the city of Barcelona, it made the city view room even more of a treat to have. Our hotel (Gran Hotel La Florida) is located on a hill called Tibidabo and a bit further up the the hill at its peak is an amusement park and a gorgeous church. So to start off the day we thought it would be great to take a leisurely walk up to the top and check both of these places out.

Standing In Front of the Gran Hotel La Florida

Beautiful Views from Tibidabo

The walk up the remaining portions of the hill was perfect, the weather outside was in the mid 60's, the sun was shining, and everything was just pristine. Every where you walked you had a great view of different parts of the city and was just an awesome thing to take in. When we made it to the top we were greeted by angry amusement park employees who looked to be striking, the cause unknown, but they were sure upset. The amusement park at the top has been around since 1902 and reminded me of something you would see in an early black and white romance movie, just a lot more crowded.

Beautiful Church On Top of Tibidabo

Amusement Park On Top of Tibidabo

Gorgeous Tower On Top of Tibidabo

View from the Top of Tibidabo

After walking around at the top of Tibidabo we headed back down the hill to our hotel for lunch. The hotels restaurant is extremely fancy and quite frankly since we have been in Barcelona has not been all that crowded, and for the majority of our lunch we were the only people in the restaurant. To start off the meal the waiter came out with a "chef's creation" which was a cold spicy tomato soup that I loved but Jenn almost gagged, she is not a fan of the "cold  I ended up getting their special three course meal which started with an onion soup with a pouched egg, veal, and then greek yogurt with chocolate ice cream. Jenn went away from the pasta (because it wasn't on the menu) and went with the filet of beef and plain vanilla ice cream for desert. In fact one of the funniest moments of the day was when one of the waiters came by to take our desert order Jenn got very descriptive with her "plain vanilla ice cream" and came to find the waiter spoke perfect English, it was quite funny. My favorite part of lunch besides spending it with my loving wife and having great views of Barcelona was the champagne. They offered some to start the meal and every time my glass got close to being empty it was refilled, that's how it should always be.

The Chef's Creation

The Glass is Half Full with Champagne

The Onion Soup with Pouched Egg

Jenn's Filet of Beef

My Veal

Greek Yogurt with Chocolate Ice Cream (Delicious)

Jenn's "Plain Vanilla Ice Cream"

After lunch we headed back to our hotel room to get ready to go relax down by the hotels indoor infinity pool and spa. The water in the pool was relatively warm (freezing if you ask Jenn) and the spa was perfect. I even spent a few minutes in the hotels sauna which was located in the locker rooms which is always nice and relaxing. We spent at least three hours down by the pool just laying out and relaxing something that we promised each other we would do when we booked this trip and boy was it worth it.

The Awesome Indoor Infinity Pool

When we headed back up to the room we decided in typical Joel & Jenn fashion that we would order room service for dinner. Jenn went back with her consistent pasta bolognase (now 3/3 when available) and I went with Iberian Bellota Ham Baguette, which was dried out ham with a nice sauce on sourdough bread. What was so special about tonight's room service was that we were setup at sunset on the most beautiful day so far on the trip. It was such an amazing experience and one of those that you just want to capture in your mind forever.

Beautiful View from Our City View Room Eating Room Service (Life is Good)

Iberian Bellota Ham Baguette

Jenn Went 3/3 With Pasta Bolognase (where available)

We spent the rest of the evening relaxing in our room watching whatever english television we could possibly find which ended up being a lot of news. We also turned off the news for a while and watched the movie Office Space on my iPhone which is always fun as well. Tonight will be our last night at the Gran Hotel La Florida and it will be sad to leave as it has been an amazing experience all the way around. Tomorrow we head to the Le Meridien located on the famous La Rambla much more centrally located in the city of Barcelona. We are so excited to see what the rest of our trip holds and what other adventures will be coming our way. I know one thing is for sure, today is one of those days I will remember forever.