We arrived at Manchester airport on Saturday and took the train north to rainy, cool and damp Edinburgh. Our Bruntsfield apartment is really lovely and spacious and is located next to many shops and restaurants. After taking care of the essentials (bus passes and groceries) we had time for golf at one of the several nearby parks- one with a pitch and putt golf course is just 5 minutes walk away. On Monday, the boys and I went to the Hermitage golf course (12 holes, pars 3,4,5). On Tuesday we played soccer in Prince's Street Garden with some local chaps (Sammy, Nigel and their friends) and then bought Michael dry shoes at Cameron Toll. Prince's Street is pretty torn up due to the installation of rail lines for the new tram and the gardens seemed pretty ... read more

Well, it is almost time for us to leave Barca and make our way back to Texas. The last day or so, Dave and Michael have been "under the weather" with some kind of minor bug. They are resting in our lovely apartment (trying to ignore the non-stop construction going on in the apt building right next door). Jack is taking good care of them by venturing alone to the mercado, where he used his knowledge of Spanish and his ability to make Euro change to procure breakfast pastries. Maria decides to brave the rain and get a closer peek at La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's "masterpiece". The structure reminds her of a huge sandcastle made from wet dribbled sand; and sadly, her pictures do not do it justice -- she advises you to go on-line. Gaudi ... read more

Yesterday we went to Camp Nou, home of FC Barcelona, one of the world's biggest and most popular football clubs. It was packed with visitors from all over the world. (And Bruce Springsteen fans hovered outside the grounds, awaiting a concert by Springsteen that evening.) Barcelona is the club for which Ronaldinho played until a few days ago. The stadium seats almost 100,000 people, and they offer a nice self-guided tour with audio guide. There is also an excellent museum describing the history of the club, which (we hadn't known) is closely tied to the Catalonia independence/autonomy movement. In both the museum and the humongous store, there were small displays of Celtic Club (Glasgow) paraphernalia and we believe that the reason is because both football clubs' origins are bound up with historically nationalist movements within their ... read more

We did a lot of walking around our first couple of days here in Barcelona, almost all of it intentional. Our very nice apartment is located not too far from the Placa de Catalunya, a large, central square that divides old and new Barcelona. We took a walk on Las Ramblas, which runs south toward the harbor. It used to be a medieval drainage ditch along the outside of the walls of the old town (Barri Gotic), but is now a pedestrian friendly (crowded) area with outdoor bird markets and flower sellers, and shops with outrageously expensive souvenirs. We also saw some very, very interesting looking street performers. (See photos.) Another street that is nice for walking is called Passeig Saint Joan. Along this wide boulevard, there are park areas where old men play bocce. (See ... read more

I am going to continue on my car blog. I have got a few more pictures I would like you to see. Most of these pictures I took on top of double decker buses so they are slightly from above. The silver car is a souped up MG convertible, they don’t have MG in the u s a . The black convertible is a Porsche boxter, the black BMW is a m6 coupe. The smallish black one is a smart for fun.my favorite car is this pink Chrysler 300C limozine with stars on it, we saw it on the way back from arthurs seat. seeing sweet cars is my favorite thing to do in Edinburgh By Mich@el $pence ... read more