A Love That Will Last

Ok all you chuckle-nuggets out there. Let's set the record straight. MEGAN IS NOT PREGNANT! Girls have built in pregnancy tests that come once a month and mine has come CONSISTENTLY this month and the months previous. So you can stop your speculating and gossiping. There is no Spanish bun in my oven. 

Now on to more important matters. This week was awesome for us. Tyler got to go the press briefing and he was asked to present an article! Wahoo! Tyler is awesome! I am always so proud of how great he is doing and how humble he is. We had family night again with the family we live with on Monday and we are glad to invite the spirit into this home every week. It brings not only Tyler and I closer together, but the family expresses how much they enjoy listening to Tyler's lessons (I haven't braved FHE in Spanish yet) and feel the spirit. The week was pretty mellow because we were preparing for our trip to Barcelona.

We left for Barcelona on the 6:00 am speed train on Friday morning. It was an adventure getting to the train station because we bought the earliest train ticket but didn't take into account that the metro doesn't open until 6:00 and our train was supposed to leave at 6:00. Luckily we found out there was a bus route that runs all night. The speed train was really nice and went 300 km per hour (That's about 186.3 miles for all of you who don't like the mental math thing) so it only took us about two and half hours to get to Barcelona. The night before Tyler and I were not really tired and stayed up most of the night reading and surfing the net. So when we arrived in Barcelona we only had a few hours of sleep under our belt and wanted to take a nap at our hostel before going out and seeing the sights. Plus it was only 9:00 am so we had plenty of time. When we got to our hostel, they told us that we couldn't check in until 1:00 pm! When we booked the hostels it didn't say anything about that! So we had to take our luggage and find a place to hang out for the next few hours. Well I was SUPER tired and SUPER grumpy so we walked in silence for about half an hour before finding a nice park and crashing for awhile. I felt a lot better after that nap and eating a sandwich. By then it was close to check in time so we went to our hostel and checked in. 

Our hostel was...interesting. It was called "Graffiti Hostel" and for the record, Tyler booked this one. The hostel was covered in, well, graffiti! It was actually pretty cool and we stayed in the "London" dorm (there was New York and I think Prague?). All the rooms had writing on them from the guests and I was sad that we forgot to sign our names on the wall when we left. We stayed in an 8 bedroom dorm and had to pay extra for clean sheets, which isn't totally uncommon, but Tyler wasn't totally convinced the sheets were actually clean. Plus, because we were staying in dorm on bunk-beds and the hostel was full, Tyler and I both had top bunks across the room for each other. It was fun to watch Ty in his first "Europe on a shoe-string" experience. Especially with the group of 26 Poles who were staying in our hostel and just seemed to be everywhere at once all the time. 

The rest of Friday we walked all around the city. First we went to a cathedral called "Sagrada Familia" or the Sacred Family which was designed by an architect named Gaudi, who had a huge influence on Barcelona. When Gaudi graduated from architectural school, his professor said he was either a nut or a genius and when you look at these buildings, you think the same thing! The buildings are just crazy! The Sagrada Familia was started in the late 1800's and will not be finished until 2022! Just because there are so many details and crazy little things that need to be done.

After the Sagrada Familia, we walked around Barcelona. We went everywhere! Barcelona is a very interesting city that has really funky buildings (from Gaudi), really old buildings (from Roman times), and really modern buildings (mostly from the Olympics in the early 90's). One of my favorite buildings was the Cathedral in the Old Town. The patron saint of Barcelona is buried there. Her name is Eulalia and she was tortured by Romans when she was 13 for being Christian and then killed. The church was beautiful and the picture of me drinking water from a fountain is in one of it's courtyards (The water was for drinking and it was holy! I had to try it! It came from an underground well). The cathedral was huge but there were buildings all around it, so you couldn't tell how big it was until you were inside. It took over 600 years to complete and was amazing! 

The old city was really beautiful. All the streets are really narrow and close together. The architecture is really unique and it was fun to get lost in the streets. Barcelona was originally rumored to be built by Hercules before Rome but more accurate records for sure have it settled by the Romans about 15 bc. It was a beautiful city. I wish that I felt as great in Paris as I did in Barcelona...but we can't have everything we want now can we?

The next day, we went to a city outside Barcelona that was supposed to have amazing beaches. Sitges, the name of the town, was awesome! It was a small resort town that we found out was a gay resort which was fine with us, but we did feel a little uncomfortable with the beach dress code. Let's just say Tyler's choice of wearing a swimsuit and not a speedo and my choice of not being topless put us as the two most overdressed people on the beach that day. Ah Europe! Never a dull moment! But we got some surf and sun in the sand and it was a really relaxing day. As I was laying on the sand, I had a small moment taking in how blessed I really am. I love traveling and I have been able to do so much of it. I have Tyler in my life and he is really my best friend. We laugh and talk and I love to hang out with him. Laying in the sun of the Spanish Riviera will be a memory that will last us a lifetime!

On Sunday we decided to hike a nearby mountain called Montjuic. Well we didn't really decide to hike, but we started walking up it and never really stopped until we were at the top! The thing about walking that really kills you is that it doesn't catch up to you until the day is over and you are on a train back to Madrid and so sore you can barely sit down! But we got to see the rest Barcelona had to offer us. My favorite thing about walking around is all the time I got to spend talking to Tyler. I learn new things about him all the time. He is so funny and so unique and just perfect for me. It is hard to talk about your marriage without sounding corny or mushy, but sometimes you can't help it. I like that Tyler and I can agree on most things and other things we simply agree to disagree. We have a love that will last!

We got home late Sunday night and were happy to be home in Madrid. I spent Monday doing all the laundry and by the time I had hung up the last of it outside on the line and we were eating dinner, a torrential downpour soaked it all. We just laughed and I guess our clothes will be extra clean this week! I also got to talk to the returned missionary, Joey on his way out the door to Florida and I was happy to hear he was doing so well. Tyler and I really miss you all and we hope that you are having a great summer! Keep writing!