Elle’s in Europe 2025 - Day 3 - Free Straws
With the air conditioning debacle behind us, we all slept in until 11 AM this morning. Elle seems to be adjusting to the time change better than Jenn and I, having slept straight through the night while Jenn and I got up a few times. Having missed our included breakfast, we headed down to the hotel restaurant for lunch. Jenn got the beef tzatziki, and I had their Spanish sandwich (can’t remember the name) with a spicy cocktail. The food took nearly an hour to come out, and Elle was starting to lose patience. Fortunately, mine came out first, and I quickly ate it and took Elle up for a nap so Jenn could enjoy her lunch.
Given the late start to the day, I hadn’t had my coffee yet. While Elle napped and Jenn rested, I went for a walk to grab a coffee. I found a place about a 30-minute walk from the hotel called Hidden Coffee Roasters. I got there and got a delicious flat white. Jenn said that Elle was still sound asleep, so I slowly made my way back to the hotel just in time for Elle to wake up from her nap.
Our big plan for the day was to go to the Picasso Museum. We haven’t been there before and thought it might be a nice place to go with Elle, and it turned out to be just that. We took a taxi to the museum and spent the next hour walking through the halls. We had great reviews about the museum, and it turned out to be stunning. It was made up of four or five distinct rooms from different eras of Picasso’s work. Elle loves art museums, and this one was no exception. Jenn’s favorite part was the end at the gift shop museum, where we got a few books for Elle and some decor for our house.
From the Picasso Museum, we walked through the center of the city to La Rambla, the most famous street in the city. Along the way there, we stopped to give Elle some water. In the process, a security guard noticed Jenn giving her water in a bottle and ran over and gave us a few straws. It may seem small, insignificant, and not a big deal. But in that moment, it felt like a beautiful gift. Ironically, it was also the first time Elle had ever successfully drunk from a straw. We continued to La Rambla, an area we stayed in 2010 at the Le Meridien. It felt surreal to be back there with Elle. It was as beautiful as we remembered it. Elle was waving at all the passersby and kicking her feet throughout.
We grabbed a taxi back to the hotel to give Elle her second nap of the day. She went down easily and was up in time for our 8 PM reservations at Rangoli. We had a small table on their patio overlooking the water. Jenn started with a glass of wine, and I had a beer. We split their fried shrimp appetizer, butter chicken, lamb, rice, and naan. Elle joined us especially with the rice and naan, even if she made a mess. She also enjoyed a pouch of vegetables and some goldfish. It was quiet on the patio, which made it a perfect evening. It didn’t hurt that it was excellent Indian food.
We ended dinner at 9:30 and for the next hour walked up and down the boardwalk. It was an incredibly vibrant night. The sun doesn’t set hear too close to 10 PM, and the beaches were bustling with people enjoying a great summer evening. We noticed that there were almost no phones out, just people talking, playing games, drinking, and enjoying the evening. We soaked it up before walking back to our hotel and closing out another great day in the beautiful city of Barcelona.
