Barcelona

 You've heard the term Bird's Eye View?  This guy arrived on our window ledge to welcome us to the city...at least that what it seemed he was saying..........that or open the window, it's wet out here!  We were in the older historic downtown area of the city, making it a wonderful location to get out and about.  If you click to enlarge the picture, you can get a feel for how old many of the buildings are.

You can also see how dark and gloomy it was on our arrival, though the next day was beautiful, and the 2nd day even nicer.  Look how the city spreads out, how full, how heavily populated it is.  Off in the distance (though we could walk it) is the famous Sagrada Familia.  Do click to enlarge and see the spires and the construction cranes.  We stayed at The Renaissance, formerly known as The Diplomatic Hotel.  The rooms were a bit pricey and small; but the location was awesome and we truly enjoyed our stay there.
Barcelona, my B for May (status post April A-Z)

There will be many posts about Barcelona with specific focuses, this is a bullet point list of things observed during our too short stay of 3 nights and 2 days.

• Stay longer, there is much to see
• People in Barcelona eat dinner quite late, many restaurants aren't even opened til 8 pm
• The city is packed with history
• Traffic is HORRIBLE, leave the driving to someone else.  Parking is in short supply, lots of folks walk, ride bikes and scoots; as well as use public transportation
• The Olympics were there in 1992, a good place to tour
• There are many Cathedrals to visit, as well as Churches, and Basilica's.  
• Art is Everywhere in many forms
• BE WARE OF THE PICK POCKETS.  Barcelona is considered, even by the locals, to be worst city int he world for pick pockets.  NEVER leave your belongings un-attended.  Men should not put wallets in the back pockets, and women should always put their purses across their body...not just hanging from their shoulders, AND the purse should be in front of you.  NEVER wear a backpack, you can't see them in action.
• The airport is HUGE, give yourself plenty of time to find your way
• Check the price of high speed trains if you want to travel elsewhere and compare to flying.  It may be a better option
• It's a busy port city
• Barcelona has been voted best beach city, multiple times.
• World Book Day, April 23rd, started in Barcelona (St. George's Day) 
• Catalonia flags far and away out number flags of Spain.  Catalonians want independence from Spain, speak their own language which is closer to French and Portuguese then Spanish.  The people in Barcelona refer to themselves as Catalonians, not Spaniards.   
• Rock n Roll is far more popular in Barcelona then The Flamenco.
• The city was formed from a military grid...a planned city.
• There are 5 streets with the name La Rambla

**REMINDER, please leave the url to your actual blog post, NOT your google+ page, NOT your blogger profile/dashboard page. Use the name and url option, or leave a hyperlink. **After the close of April's A-Z, I plan to continue to write a post a day in the month of May using again the A-B-C's as my guide. My focus for the month of May will be Spain. I've been planning and almost have every letter thought out.

Arc de Triomf, Triumphal Arch Catalonia

As promised, it's May and I'm starting my blogging about Spain, in alphabetical order...of course.  Arc de Triomf (Triumphal Arch) built for the 1888 World's Fair Entrance.  This photo taken from a distance shows you how wide the promenade is.

The arch was used again in 1929 during the 2nd World's Fair held in Barcelona (Catalonia), as well as The Olympics in later years.  It's built to resemble similar arches in Rome by Joseph Vilasecai Casanovas.  The expansive promenade is perfect place to walk, run, ride bikes, and stroll with a baby carriage.  The sun was warm, bringing everyone out locals and tourists.  It covers an 118 hectares (291.58 acres and is within walking distance to Parc de la Ciutudella on Passeig de Lluis.

The details of color, and sculptures is breathtaking.  Look how small the people walking nearby look....Please click to enlarge so you can fully appreciate this beautiful site.

**REMINDER, please leave the url to your actual blog post, NOT your google+ page, NOT your blogger profile/dashboard page. Use the name and url option, or leave a hyperlink.

Zipline Tours

Zipline Fun!

Z....wow, we're at the end of the alphabet.  I've never gone on a Zipline, probably wouldn't, but people I know whom have, said it was fun.  Just don't think it's my cup of tea.  Above picture is linked to a place in southern Ohio, Hocking Hills where you can zipline through the forest.

If you like outdoors, how bout Zion National Park, here's the link where I've blogged several times about it. HERE

Or maybe you prefer the animals at the Zoo?

**After the close of April's A-Z, I plan to continue to write a post a day in the month of May using again the A-B-C's as my guide.  My focus for the month of May will be Spain.  I've been planning and almost have every letter thought out.  If others are interested in continuing to blog daily using our A-B-C's, please let me know.  We could start a linky and continue what we've begun during April.  I don't imagine it will be anywhere near the scope of the annual April Challenge.  But, if you're interested, please let me know in your comment.  And even if you're not up for another blog challenge, do stop back in, I have much to share from recent travels to Spain.**

If you're a new follower, please let me know so I can reciprocate.

Yellowstone, Yugoslavia, Yemen, and the Yukon

This is one of only 2 posts I wasn't able to write and schedule ahead.  I kept racking my brain for a topic and or location that started with the letter Y.  Last year at this time I wrote about Yellowstone HERE.  Seemed a cheat to write about the same thing again, so instead I'll leave a link.  

This years model for my A-Z has been topics that start with whatever our letter of the day is and then linked it to a post I previously wrote about a location that started with that letter.  

Year and Yummy is all I can come up with.  A year...we all know that's 12 months, the significance of a year with regard to travel.........you might need to plan that far ahead.  We pretty much do, for example when we returned from Spain in April (which will be blogged about in May), we planned next years location for April which will be Arizona.  Some trips you don't need to plan that far ahead, in fact you can't really book airlines that far ahead; but if you're trying to book a popular destination it's a good idea to get your lodging that far ahead...........we had Spain booked a bit more then a year ahead.  

Yummy........one should eat yummy food, which does NOT include fast food chains when you travel.

 Prawn kebab....hubby's meal.  He said it was yummy

 Seafood kebab, our friend Jane's meal; who also said it was yummy

Park Medallions, my meal....and you guessed it..........it was yummy for my tummy.

I'll tell you about these meals and others at this restaurant in Marbella Beach Spain in May when I blogged alphabetically about the trip.  The first two pictures are meals I prepared at  home; but could and have easily prepared when traveling when we stay in a time share with a full kitchen.

Other Y locations are Yogoslavia, Yemen, and The Yukon; but I can't blog about those as I've not been there.

**After the close of April's A-Z, I plan to continue to write a post a day in the month of May using again the A-B-C's as my guide.  My focus for the month of May will be Spain.  I've been planning and almost have every letter thought out.  If others are interested in continuing to blog daily using our A-B-C's, please let me know.  We could start a linky and continue what we've begun during April.  I don't imagine it will be anywhere near the scope of the annual April Challenge.  But, if you're interested, please let me know in your comment.  And even if you're not up for another blog challenge, do stop back in, I have much to share from recent travels to Spain.**

If you're a new follower, please let me know so I can reciprocate.

Xenophobia and Xenia

X...this letter gave me fits last year, but since I had signed up multiple blogs to the challenge last year I really had to stretch.  I used X Marks the spot, the city of Xenia Ohio, and X...well here, take a look

There are 6 cities/towns with the name of Xenia in the United States.  One in Colorado in Washington County at 4,534 feet of elevation, Kansas in Boubon County at 1,040 feet, one in Iowa in Dallas County at 1,027 feet, also one that used to be in Hardin County, but there's very little documentation of this, Illinois has a Xenia in Clay County at 534 feet (this location is now known as Altanta), and the one most known for the horrible tornado in Ohio.

Additionally, there used to be a city/village in Missouri named after Xenia Ohio as a matter of fact, that no longer exists.  There is a sign marking where the village used to be in Nodaway County.  It moved to Pickerington when it was by passed by the railroads and ceased to exist back in 1870.
There was a small skirmish during the Civil War between The Union from the Iowa Calvary and the Confederates from southern Nodaway County.

XENOPHOBIA:
 fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign

**After the close of April's A-Z, I plan to continue to write a post a day in the month of May using again the A-B-C's as my guide.  My focus for the month of May will be Spain.  I've been planning and almost have every letter thought out.  If others are interested in continuing to blog daily using our A-B-C's, please let me know.  We could start a linky and continue what we've begun during April.  I don't imagine it will be anywhere near the scope of the annual April Challenge.  But, if you're interested, please let me know in your comment.  And even if you're not up for another blog challenge, do stop back in, I have much to share from recent travels to Spain.**

If you're a new follower, please let me know so I can reciprocate.