well here we are in Spain

Hello from the other side of the world - we had a good trip over but even business class sleeping leaves a lot to be desired. The hotel is nice but the bedroom is a little cozy. I guess if you plan to complain you should stay home. I tried to get a message off yesterday but needed more help - a nice young lady from the front desk helped me today. This is a huge city of over 1.3 million and the streets are very narrow and busses and cars really sail - no place for the timid driver! Motorcycles are popular and they park on the sidewalks without any kind of lockup. Each day we tour part of the city - a worlds fair was held here in 1929 and a small city was built with each building represented a region of Spain - many cultures and people from ancient places have left their mark. We saw the venues used for the 1992 Olympics and they are in use today. We visited the Gaudi (a very famous builder all over Europe) church that was started in the 1800´s and he died in 1926 and there are at least 200 workers a day still working trying to finish it - maybe (or not) by 2050. It is truly an impresive structure - I bought a book with pictures and history because a personal camera couldn´t begin to capture the size etc. Using a computer here is a challange because it is all in Spanish (imagine that). The weather is windy and we had a short but intense rain storm yesterday morning while we visited the government buildings /outside only). Every thing is old - in the US it would have been taken down and rebuilt 10 times. Everyone lives in apartments and the buildings date back hundreds of years. They have balconies and little flowers to make them think they have yards ect. I guess. That sorta covers it for now - Dad and I are hanging tight - sometimes we stop and rest but manage to keep up pretty good. Miss you all and hope everyone is doing great - sorry we missed the dance. Ryan. Love, Mom