Hola Niño!

Traveling with a baby is awesome!!  Also, it's a little bit miserable.  Explanation:  People LOVE babies.  I sort of get it, but mostly, I am not what you might call a "baby person".  I'm getting along well enough with my own, but I have no overflowing desire to hold, cuddle, talk to, or play with every baby I encounter.  It seems however, that I am in the minority.  JR attracted SO MUCH attention on our trip to Spain, everywhere we went people gushed over him and wanted to play with him, and we got all sorts of preferential treatment!  Of three hotels, we got upgraded to suites twice, "so that there would be plenty of space for the baby's crib", we got sent to the secret security line at the airport and had priority boarding, and when we showed up 30 minutes after our ticketed entrance time at Park Guell, the employee's dirty look quickly turned into smiles and giggles when she saw JR.  Excellent!  The downside: the only meals the two of us were able to enjoy together were room service and take out thai food that we brought back to the hotel after the baby was down for the night.  Otherwise, we had to take turns holding the squirmy, irritable baby and taking him outside to calm him down.  We also had to severely limit pool and beach time, and ensure we left plenty of time in the afternoon for a nap at the hotel.  Lesson learned: next time we travel, we'll be bringing downloaded movies on the iPad and an HDMI cable, because baby goes to bed around 8:00 and hotel television is no good.  Taxis are another problem.  Getting a taxi with a car seat was nearly impossible, even with help from the hotel staff.  And of course, you never know when it's going to be your sweet little angel that decides to throw a tantrum for no apparent reason, and there's just no working around that!

So with all of that in mind, here is how we spent our time in Barcelona!

Night number one, we signed up for a walking food tour.  Like most babies, JR is better when we are on the move, long sit down dinners just don't work with him.  Our evening with The Barcelona Taste ended up being the perfect choice.  We stopped at four restaurants in town for authentic Catalan cuisine, had a guided tour around the city, and I didn't have to do any of the research or planning!

Tapas!

Vermuth from a bodega (place where they make Vermuth in barrels) in Barcelona

The next morning we took the bus up to Park Guell to check out some of the famous Gaudi architecture designs.  We could not have asked for better weather during our trip, it was perfect the entire week - I think June is the best time to visit Europe!  The park was beautiful, but the buildings and mosaic wall are smaller than I expected them to be, so I was a little underwhelmed by the monuments.

La Sagrada Familia, on the other hand, was incredible.  Another of Gaudi's works, this century old church is still under construction.  We've seen a number of great churches and cathedrals in Europe, and I was starting to feel like I'd had enough of them and they were all starting to look the same - not this one!  It was simply stunning.  An elaborate and ornate outside with a surprisingly colorful inside.

We left the church to find this:

Turns out, this region of Spain used to be Catalan, and there is currently a popular movement towards secession and a return to Catalan independence.  We scuttled our way out of here as quickly as possible, protests make me nervous.

We thought we would spend the afternoon relaxing at the hotel and letting JR have a quiet nap time.  JR didn't like that idea one bit.  So after a good hour of crying, we popped him back in the baby bjorn (he went right to sleep) and headed to Casa Batllo - you guessed it, more Gaudi!  It was like being in a Dr. Seuss house, only creepier.  It's not so unusual these days to see anything and everything on the streets, but 100 years ago?  A building like this was a lot more our of the ordinary.  And I believe it was inspired by a human skeleton.  Hm.

For our final night in Barcelona (or so we thought), we went to see the Magic Fountain show.  During summer weekend nights, every half hour the fountain lights up for a 20 minute display of dancing water jets and colorful special effects set to music.  Our music selection for the evening was Disney songs (in Spanish!).  We had fun dancing with JR and playing name that Disney movie.  I was 10/10.  Kerry got 0/10.

The next morning JR had his first plane ride!  A 45 minute hop over to Ibiza in the Balearic Islands, where we stayed for four days of beautiful beaches, sparkling pools, and jugs of Sangria.  The beaches outside of Montpellier are nice enough, but they don't compare to the fine sands and turquoise waters of island beaches.  While Ibiza is well known for its extravagant night life, we opted to stay about 30 minutes outside of the main city, in a town called Santa Eulalia.  It's a very family and tourist friendly place.

First plane ride - and a very nervous mommy!

Sangria by the pool

JR had his first dip in a swimming pool.

As well as his first real beach trip, which lasted all of about 45 minutes - I was so nervous about having that tiny boy in the sun too long!

Pretty beaches!

After a few days of island relaxation, it was time to head back to our home away from home in Montpellier.  So back to the airport, a quick flight to Barcelona, then lugging our suitcases (and baby) on the metro to the train station to take the three hour train ride back to Montpellier.  And all was fine!  Until, the train station.  One thing about being on an island for a few days is that you tend to lose touch with reality, and the news.  Which is why when arrived at the train station and saw the word "CANCELADO" on the board next to our train number, we were a bit confused.  I don't know very much Spanish, but I'm pretty sure "cancelado" is not what you want to see listed next to your ride home.  Closer inspection revealed that all of the trains to France that day had been cancelado-ed.  Ahhhhhhh - another French train strike!  These useless demonstrations occur pretty regularly around here and don't seem to accomplish anything more than upsetting both French nationals and tourists.  It's really a shame that the workers and the government can't find a better way to resolve their issues.  This is where traveling with a baby becomes absolutely miserable.  It's hard enough to rearrange all travel plans last minute, but to do so with a tired, hungry baby in a busy train station in a foreign country?  Not fun.  Try as we might, there was just no getting back to France that night.  No more trains.  No flights.  Car rental?  800 Euros.  Bus?  9:00 P.M. and a 5 hour ride.

Unhappy Traveler :(

We ended up walking into the overpriced travel agency in the train station and letting them find a hotel with a baby bed for us.  Getting stuck in Barcelona may not seem like the worst thing, and indeed it was not, the city is fantastic and it was a beautiful weekend.  But our suitcases were full of dirty clothes, our little fur babies needed us home, and we were exhausted.  The next train was at 4:00 the following day, so we  made the best of the situation, and took the next morning to check out Las Ramblas, a famous, and thus overcrowded and souvenir stand packed street with mediocre restaurants, a few great hotels, and a decent selection of shops.  It made for a nice walk, but in general, I didn't really see the appeal.

Overall Spain was fantastic.  Both Barcelona and Ibiza far exceeded my expectations, and I very much hope we are able to return one day.  After all, Barcelona is only 3 hours away!

Identity Crisis

As a new mom, there are two questions I get asked repeatedly.

1. What do you think of parenthood?

2. Is JR going to have French citizenship?

So here are my answers:

 1. It's like having dogs, except a lot more work.

 2. NO!  He is an American baby.  France does not grant citizenship based solely on birth place.  

In fact, we recently got proof of his true nationality - baby's first passport!  That said, had the U.S. rejected his application for citizenship for any reason, France would have granted it to him, but only with proof that the country of his heritage had turned him down.  The three of us made a quick day trip to the US Consulate in Marseille to declare his birth and apply for a Social Security number and a passport, and three weeks later it showed up in the mail.  I brought 3-5 extra copies of all requested paperwork; the lady reviewing our application thought I was crazy.  Clearly, she hasn't had to work with the French government very often.  The arrival of the passport is very exciting for us, because it means we can travel again!  Without any sort of ID, we couldn't leave the country.  But JR is finally ready for some European adventures, and maybe even a trip across the Atlantic before too long.  

We may not have been able to leave France, but fortunately for us, that includes Paris!  We braved our first trip with JR and enjoyed a quick weekend in the City of Light.  You might think traveling with a baby would be a new challenge for us, but after weekends away with Max and Minnie, one little baby was easy.  We took an early train in on Saturday and spent the afternoon wandering in and out of shops in the Marais.  That evening we gathered up all of our courage and made use of the hotel baby sitting service.  Yes, we left our (almost) three month old baby with a stranger, in a hotel room, in a foreign country.  Crazy?  Probably.  But can you really expect rational decisions from two people whose brains have turned to mush from the efforts caring for a newborn for three months?  Didn't think so.  So to dinner we went!  These were our menus:

Not a great photo, so maybe it's hard to tell, but this is an iPad!  I know we don't get out as much as we used to, but have restaurants really changed that much?

Sunday morning we made our obligatory visit to the Eiffel Tower - I really can't get enough of it.  And of course, we had to take JR to "see" it.  He had a great time...

sleeping... 

He did wake up eventually for a little play time

We also met up with a couple of fellow Texans - Steve and Lynn were in Paris on vacation - so a big thank you to the two of them for giving us a great reason to come to Paris :)   We had planned on touring the Musee d'Orsay, but the day ended up being so beautiful that none of us could bring ourselves to spend the afternoon indoors and we ended up walking the Luxembourg Gardens instead.

Busy day at Luxembourg Gardens

Monday morning we took the 6:00 train back to Montpellier.  Here's how I spent my train ride:

Not fair.

And just one other highlight from the last few weeks... my boy is getting strong!  He is working those arm and neck muscles, and even managed to push himself from tummy to back the other day, although I have yet to get a repeat performance.  Tummy time is his very least favorite thing, so we don't practice it all that often.

A very rare, peaceful moment on his belly

                           
This week we will head off on our first real vacation with JR.  Spain, here we come!