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Freixenet is factory that produces Cava – or Spanish sparkling wine.  It’s actually the 9th largest wine manufacturer in the world.  Since I, Andre’a, am not too fond of wine, I never really learned a whole lot about it.  But i must say, this tour was very interesting.  Noelia and Esteban were nice enough to make reservations for us to go on the English speaking tour so we could actually understand!  We started off watching a 10 minute film of the history of Freixenet, then headed down to the old cellars.  Here, in the old cellars, they actually still do everything by hand.  There’s a lot of turning the bottles – which causes the sediment to collect at the bottom which will need to be removed.  If a machine does this, it can hold 500 bottles and finish in 24 hours.  If it is done by hand, the process will be finished in 21 days.  BIG DIFFERENCE!  In the new cellars of Freixenet, all this is done by the machines.  But here in the old cellars, where the more expensive, nicer aged wines are made, they do everything manually so it’s more “romantic”… as the tour guide said.  So here are some photos from the old cellars.

There were many tunnels to go through… some were quite small.  And the walls were usually lined with cave bottles.

Colin took this photo because of the year… this wine is as old as he is!!

by colin and andre’a feldhaus

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After we visited the Gaudi buildings, we began to make our way to the Port.  Along the way we took some more pictures.  These first two are of some cool streets that we passed or went through.

Then we saw the statue of Christopher Columbus… the funny thing is, he is pointing the wrong direction.  He’s supposed to be pointing to the Americas, where he discovered, but instead he is pointing in the opposite direction.

We made it to the dock where we ate lunch at a yummy restaurant.  When we were on the dock, there was ceiling that was made of windows.  Apparently it’s the place where everyone takes a photo looking up at your reflection… so of course we did!  Here’s the four of us:  me, colin, Noelia, and Esteban.

And this picture is for our dear mother Judy!  We saw this horse drawn carriage waiting for some tourists to hop in.  The horses were so cute and they were even cuddling!… or at least i think they were…

Finally we ended up back in the Square where the entrance to the train station was.  We had a few minutes before we had to catch our train, so we wondered around the square.  There were a million pigeons, and I think you could purchase bird seed to feed them at one of the stands nearby.  I think they are fed quite often by how many we saw, and they weren’t as scared of humans as most birds would be.  Colin decided to try and trick them.  He didn’t have any food but wanted to see if the birds would land on his hand anyway.  That’s what he is doing in this photo.  Colin actually did trick one bird and it flew on his hand, quickly to find out that he’s been fooled and flew away.  Unfortunately, I was messing with the settings on my camera and missed the action. oops.

by colin and andre’a feldhaus

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For our first trip into Barcelona, Esteban and Noelia wanted to show us some of Gaudi’s work.  Gaudi was an architect who wasn’t fond of straight lines.  Barcelona is known for is buildings and work around the city.  So for this post, I thought we’d just show you some of his buildings.  We visited 3 and he also has a park that we haven’t seen yet. Hopefully the next time we go into Barcelona, we’ll get to go inside some of these amazing buildings.

This first building we went to is called the Batllo House.  From what I read, the porches were made to resemble a skull and the columns to resemble bones.  Noelia also told me that the whole building resembles a lizard.  You have the porches with they eyes and nose, the roof that looks like it has scales, and on the inside there is a staircase that looks like a tail.  It’s quite amazing and unique.  It’s very interesting because this building and the one next to it (you can see only a small part of it in the first picture)  are both very modern beautiful buildings.  However, this one just stands out so much more because of the different architecture and use of all the curved pieces.

The second building we went to was called La Pedrera.  It is my understanding that there is some apartments in this building.  I can’t imagine what it would cost to live here, but Esteban told us he thinks the apartments across the street that have a view facing this building probably run around 8,000 euros a month!  That’s not a small number!  As you can see in these pictures as well, there isn’t many normal straight lines.  Noelia told us that while this was being built, there was red bars in front of the windows to protect them from vandalization or thieves.  Apparently, Gaudi didn’t like that and came at night to cut the bars.  He shaped them differently so they weren’t straight up and down.  I guess since he’s the architect, he can do what he wants!

The third place we went was the Sagrada Familia.  This is a cathedral that Gaudi designed.  However, Gaudi died and because of space, the plans have had to be revised.  As you can imagine, it has taken someone a long time to study his work and try to redraw part of this cathedral so it still looks like Gaudi’s work.  Because of this reason, the cathedral is still being built.  The parts that are finished are absolutely stunning, and I hear the inside is even more beautiful!  Can’t wait to go inside another time.  This first picture is Colin and I in front of the main entrance.

The back towers and entrance.

The intricate detail is unbelievable!

A closer photo of the detail above the entrance.

Just in case some of you thought we weren’t really doing anything here and just on an extended holiday… here’s some proof.  Here are some pictures from a couple of our video shoots.  One is with Samuel at the monastery and the other is with Pablo at the beach.  Samuel needed some photos for his newsletter, and since Colin was actually working, I got nominate.  I didn’t get very many because we were at the end of our shoot, and accidentally got in some of his video frames… OOPS!  I got the evil glare from Colin… But all in all, the videoing is off to a great start.  We are making tons of progress and we have lots of great help with editing in another language.  Thanks to all our new Spanish friends that are making this whole project happen smoothly!  We could’t do it without you!

This cat was following Samuel around the whole shoot.  It was quite hilarious!  He was constantly scaring it away and a few minutes later would return… so i couldn’t resist taking a photo!

Oops, got in the way of the camera…

I love this picture because it shows the permanent look of confusion on all our faces.  I can just hear the dialog in my head… Pablo “Que?” and Colin “huh?”  HA!  In all honestly, it’s not that bad, but there are times when speaking the same language would be a huge help.  And for some other reason, I end up translating between all the boys… I’m not sure how that works at all because I know the least amount of Spanish!

Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus

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After walking around the town of Roc de San Gaiata (see last post), we took a stroll on the beach.  We walked maybe 3 kilometers and reached the next town, so we turned around and headed back towards the car before it got too dark.  Then Colin decided he’d gone long enough without Mexican food and asked Noelia to take us to the supermarket so he could get the makings for fajitas.  That was an experience in itself for many reasons… like Colin shattering a glass vase, and to colin’s detriment – found no refried beans.  So his Mexican food wasn’t quite up to par, but if you don’ t have the right ingredients, what can you expect.

Enough talk… here are some pictures.

This photo was just funny.  I mean, who wouldn’t take your dog for a little bike ride?!?!

Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus

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One evening Noelia and Pablo took us to the quiet little beach town of San Gaiata.  This is one of Noelia’s favorite places and is also where Esteban proposed to her… so it holds some sentimental value!  First we had a look at the town and the apartments/flats.  Noelia told us that this town resembles what towns in the south of Spain look like.  She said a lot of building are built more square and have a courtyard in the middle for neighbors to talk easier, for having gatherings, and for the children to play.  The buildings were amazing and for a beach town it was surprisingly slow and quiet… a perfect get-away spot.

Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus

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Colin wanted this “street photography” picture to have it’s own post because it is his favorite from our trip.  So here’s the story behind this photo…

The four of us (Esteban, Noelia, Colin, and I) were waking in a park when Colin quietly and discreetly puts his camera down by his stomach and pretends to look at his camera and fidget with buttons.  Since I know Colin well enough, I knew exactly what he was doing.  I quickly turned around to see what he was photographing that was so important or amazing but didn’t want or dare to be noticed.  There on the park bench were these 3 spanish gentleman, dressed in their Sunday best, just chatting.  I hate to use the work adorable, but how else can you describe the men in this picture… adorable!  After Colin took the picture and showed it to us down the path, Noelia told us what they were talking about.  One of them was saying something like, “… and this is my granddaughter.”  Once i knew that, it became even more sweet and could feel the emotion of this photo even more than before.  I feel like you could just take this picture out of an old film.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy it and all our previous Madrid pictures.  It was an amazing weekend away and time to head back and start working on the videos!

Here are just a couple more pictures of Madrid.

These first two are just a couple that Colin took at night.  The city is just as stunning all lit up as it is during the day!

Gary, this one’s for you!  This is the post office.  It was seriously one of the biggest post office buildings i’ve ever seen… and probably the most beautiful one I’ve ever seen.  I wish we could have taken a better picture to show the size and detail of this building, but it just wasn’t possible.  We would have had to block off traffic to one of the busiest streets in downtown Madrid and even then, there would be huge trees blocking part of the building.

This is one of the museums.  I can’t remember what it was called, but it had many famous paintings in it.  We were going to go in part of it, but then ran out of time.  bummer.

On the sidewalk in the city center of downtown Madrid, was this plaque.  It marks the “0″ kilometer mark.  Once you move from this point, the kilometers start being measured in any direction.

There were a few things we didn’t get to see because time was short, but we had an unforgettable time there!  We even got to see the very beginning of an “American Parade” that they were having.  I think it was celebrating the culture of mainly central America, but i did see someone running around with a texas flag!  And i think there were some people from South America in the parade as well.  How random is that!

by Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus

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We also went to the Plaza Mayor… or as Noelia told me, the Mayor’s Square.  It’s this huge court yard with buildings on all four sides.  There were restaurants on the bottom floor with tables outside and then all the rooms above were offices for officials.  It was quite the lively place at night… we even found live music and entertainment.

Close by was also the symbol of Madrid… a statue of a bear eating fruit off a tree (El Oso y el Madronyo).  So we took a picture by it.

They next day we went to the Palacio Real.  My understanding is that this is a building where the government officials meet to discuss things.  There is a huge cathedral right next door.  Noelia told me that when the Prince of Spain got married, his bride had to walk from the Palacio to the cathedral to wave and have the people see and “meet” her.  However, it ended up raining and she had to ride in a car and the people didn’t really get to see.  Bummer.  But once again, it was so stunning.  We didn’t get to go into it because they were preparing for a big military parade the next day.  It was a holiday, but we couldn’t stay to see it.

Close by was also the Templo De Debod.  It was a replica of an egyptian temple from ages ago when the egyptians were in this area.  Pretty Cool!!

by Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus

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Madrid.  Well, as we said earlier, the couple we are living with was taking a little weekend trip to Madrid and invited us to tag along.  Noelia is from there and she wanted to visit her family and show us around “her” part of Spain.  I had no idea how different the regions of Spain are… they eat different food, wear different clothes, and even speak different!  Who knew!!!  Noelia’s family was more than welcoming and was nice enough to let us all stay there.  We also met up with some of Esteban and Noelia’s friends from Madrid.  All of them went to Seattle last Dec. for some worship team training.  Then they came back to Spain to lead worship for a camp.  They are all very talented people and we had a great time talking and laughing over dinner… at 12am in the morning!!!

Anyway, now for some photos…

We took the train into the city and got off right before the Puerta De Alcala.  Noelia explained to me that back when Madrid was MUCH smaller, they had four doors on the outside of the city to go in and out of.  This was one of them.  However, Madrid has grown a ton since that time so this door is actually is the center of Madrid now.  kinda funny…

On the outside of the Puerta De Alcala,  is the Parque De El Retiro.  This is a park that used to be on the outside of the “small city” Madrid. Noelia told me that it was where the rich people would come and spend the day.   Once again, since Madrid is so large now, this is in the middle of town as well.  It is a huge and beautiful park with tons of vendors, statues, ponds, and plenty of quiet places to read or relax.  There is also an amazing building there called the Crystal Palace.  It is probably one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen.  I told Colin it would make the perfect location for a wedding… and surprisingly, he agreed!  It’s that amazing!

We also saw a mariachi band playing in the park.  That is definitely a Mexico thing and not a Spanish thing… so it was funny to see that!

By Colin and Andre’a Feldhaus

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