If the trip to Barcelona was good for only one thing (which it certainly wasn't) it would have been this:

Seafood Paella

On the Friday morning of my birthday we had a 4:30 a.m. start which gave me a slight indication that we would be catching a flight somewhere (remember, at this point I had absolutely no idea what Andy had been planning). When we turned off at the exit to the local airport, it was a given. With a smile on his face my husband breathed a sigh of relief: he could finally let me in on the secret. He then proceeded to tell me where he was taking me for my birthday surprise. To say I was, is an understatement: Barcelona, four star hotel, three nights, with just my husband. It really and truly doesn't get better than this people.

Well actually it does. When we reached the hotel he then proceeded to present me with not one, but three boxes from my favourite jewelry shop. Inside I found a matching necklace, bracelet and earrings, all silver with light pink stones that happened to perfectly offset a pink ring I have from the same shop. What a brilliant man I chose to spend the rest of my life with. Each year, he proves over and again that I made the right choice in him. And not just only for his generosity and kindness, but because of the man he is.

We spent our first evening in Barcelona mapping out the city, trying to familiarize ourselves with this very big, but clean city. We thought we would walk into the city center, not realizing quite how far we would have to walk. We were a bit thrown off by the lack of people, until we realized we had taken the longer route into the old part of the city. We stopped for a beer and some Tapas along the way as we were getting pretty tired after having been on the go for over 12 hours. When we finally found the Gothic part of town it was well past 8 p.m. We were ready for some good food and drink. We found a lovely restaurant for my birthday dinner and promptly ordered a pitcher of Sangria, my new favourite beverage. What followed was the most scrumptious meal I've had in a long time. It was so good in fact that I ate it for two nights in a row. The seafood in this city was amazing and I overindulged to the point that when I awoke on Monday morning my eyes were half swollen shut. Now I can usually eat shellfish, but I think my body was trying to tell me enough already. I had definitely gone into shellfish overdrive. Good thing this didn't happen until my last day, because I would have continued eating these delicious treats until my eyes were swollen completely shut.

The rest of the trip was fantastic and once Andy had his bearings, getting around was really quite easy. Needless to say, we chose to walk most places and are still waiting for our legs to stop feeling like they have been shoved through a slicer.

I will post about the other sights and the fantastic Flemenco show, as well as upload our photos as soon as I have more time.

I'd like to also say thank you to everyone who sent birthday cards, gifts and wishes - it means a lot to be remembered :)