Days 474 & 475: 12th and 13th October 2018 - Spanish Bank Holiday weekends not so different to English ones!

Friday 12th October 2018

We are completely out of routine now, fitting school around both fun and educational days out as well as doing the necessary jobs associated with our return to the UK. School took a long time this morning and tempers were pretty short, (particularly mine), so after lunch Patrick took the kids for a walk to give me a much needed break and a chance to catch up on the blog. I also took the time to chat to Mum on the phone which was lovely. 

It was a fairly nondescript day which ended with Thai Curry and an early night ready for a day out in Barcelona the next day.

Saturday 13th October 2018

There is no laundry here and the weather is quite changeable so keeping on top of washing is something of a mission. We have put our cockpit tent up and that allows us to hang a small amount of washing up and then go out for the day, not worrying about the weather too much so this morning I did a small load of hand washing which appeared to attract the attention of other liveaboards in the marina and we met a lovely English couple who were wintering her, as well as an English guy who keeps a boat here as a base for seeing his son who lives with his mother in the town. AJ and Esmé enjoyed playing with him on his skateboard until rain stopped play and they returned to tidying their bomb site of a cabin.

Once the washing was hung and the kids cabin was relatively tidy we headed off into town and up to Tibidabo. We were all keen to go on the VR rollercoaster again but unfortunately it was shut due to the rain. Seems Spanish bank holiday weekends aren't much different to ours! Not to be dissuaded though, we set about enjoying whatever Tibidabo could offer in the rain and started on the big wheel where we met some American kids and their Dads out for the day whilst the Mums were away on a girls' birthday weekend! The kids hit it off and we bumped into them on and off throughout the day. AJ was a bit more adventurous than the previous week, possibly because it was his second time there, but also buoyed on by his new friend. We all had a great day despite the rain and it was good to get out and have fun after a hard week of Patrick being ill. AJ even went on the "Red Rollercoaster"!

As the afternoon drew on we headed back down the mountain to the centre of Barcelona again to do some jobs and grab some food. First up was Decathlon for trainers for the kids. Both will need them for school but Esmé in particular was desperate for new footwear as she was living in her favourite flip flops which sadly died at the boat show. Next up was a small trek to another of my "cheap eats" finds on Tripadvisor, this time A Tu Bola which is a street food place selling all kinds of meatballs... and vegetarian offerings followed by chocolate balls for desert. Patrick and I were blown away by it but sadly the kids less so. I'm sure Patrick and I will return if we get chance when we come back to Barcelona to prepare Laurin for Transport.

Lastly was a trip to Carrefour as we were running low on groceries and there is no supermarket particularly nearby the marina. The one in Barcelona is about 10 minutes walk from the station which then drops us off only 25m from the boat so shopping here seemed like a good option until we saw the humongous queues. Fortunately though the queues moved quickly and we were soon on our way back, feet aching from a long day. It's funny though that however tired they are, the kids always have enough energy left for some fun, and so when they saw a street entertainer making bubbles in Catalunya square we took 10 minutes to let them enjoy! A lovely end to a lovely day!