minimunchkin: September 2017

Saturday, 30 September 2017

Valencia

We stayed an extra day in Barcelona to let Mia rest a little more which meant we had hardly any time in Valencia. We did think about driving straight on to Seville from Barcelona but that would have been around an eight drive which was probably too long and uncomfortable especially for Mia. We literally just left the hotel to go to the city centre for dinner and that was pretty much all we saw of Valencia. The kids were happy though. We had a surprisingly big room at the Melia hotel with a decent gym, so Shad was happy too.

Our first taste of paella in Spain. Ryan thoroughly enjoyed it.

Spicy potatoes, yummy too.

This squid was deelish, so tender.

Our brave little patient

We had quite a scare in Barcelona. After our Gaudi tour, we'd bought tickets to enter the Sagrada Familia but our entrance time was a couple of hours after the walking tour ended. Since we had around two hours to spare, we thought we'd get some drinks and snacks and just hang out at the playground opposite the Sagrada. Mia was super happy that she could play on the play equipment. Shad, myself and Ryan were sitting on a bench just infront of the slide structure. I was finishing my drink and just looked up for one second, as soon as I looked ahead I saw Mia falling from the monkey bars onto the ground. It all happened so fast, none of us even knew that she had gone on the monkey bars. It didn't register how high she'd fallen from but when she didn't pick herself up immediately, that really scared me. It's very unlike her, this little kid has a very high pain threshold and she's a tough cookie. Shad immieduately told me not to move her, we weren't sure if she'd hurt her neck or head. She was bleeding around the inside of her mouth and also her lips, and had a mouthful of sand. Shad picked her up once we sure she was ok but she was still in a lot of pain, telling us that her hands were very painful. So we rushed her to hospital in a taxi. After eight hours in the trauma ward, we finally took her home at 1:30am. Two broken wrists, a very bruised chin and jaw (and at that time we still weren't hundred percent sure that she hadn't injured her jaw too), scraped up knee, but this little girl was so brave, still very chirpy and smiley (after some pain relief medication of course) throughout the whole hospital ordeal. We can only thank God that she wasn't hurt even more, looking back at how it happened, it could have been a lot worse.

That night at the hospital was a difficult one for all of us. Shad and I were frightened but trying not to show it, it's a horrible feeling when you know that she's hurting but we're unable to do anything to make it better. And it was even more frightening being in a foreign place where we couldn't really communicate with the doctors and nurses effectively. While we waited in the trauma unit, we saw many very sick people being wheeled in, and also their worried families. Poor Ryan was left on his own for quite some time in the waiting area while we were in the ward with Mia and a little later, he had to walk through the wards several times to get to us. It wasn't a nice environment to be in, and he was also scared and worried for his sister.

Throughout this ordeal, we were treated with great kindness from complete strangers. At the playground, other parents, grandparents came up to offer help, water, tissues, ice packs, offers to call for an ambulance. The taxi driver we flagged down was actually not picking up passengers but the minute he saw Shad carrying Mia, he waved us into his car and when we got to the hospital he refused to take our money, telling us to go take her in, no need to pay it's free. All the doctors and nurses we came across were all very friendly and helpful. So thankful for the kindness and generosity of these strangers.

Minutes before the fall

In the trauma ward at Sant Pau hospital. Three X-rays later, after confirmation that both her wrists were broken, the doctors came in and put the casts on her arms. Just as we were about to leave, we noticed that the right side of her jaw had started to swell and she was starting to complain of pain. So back we went to the Pediatric unit to see the doctor there. While he didn't think Mis's jaw was broken he recommended that we see a maxillofacial specialist the following day just to be certain.

Dinner while waiting to be discharged but all she could eat were the soft cookies as her jaw was hurting.

Hospital number 2... Centre Medico Teknon. This private hospital was more like a resort than a medical facility!

Still on soft diet but thankfully no broken jaw. Given the all clear by the dentist and the maxillofacial surgeon.

One day after the accident. A much happier patient, but constantly lamenting on how she "misses her old life before the casts". 😅

Back to the scene of the accident, only then did we realise how high the monkeys bars were. Mia refused to go near it, the minute she saw it she said "stupid monkeys bars, I want to go and kick it!"

All things Gaudi

Mia has been looking forward to Barcelona ever since we told her that we would be coming here. To her, Barcelona means Gaudi and she was super excited about seeing the church that he created. She had learned all about Gaudi in Foundation year at school in English and Art. I still remember that tiny voice in the car one day as we were driving home from school, "Mama, Gaudi makes colourful things". Shad and I were amazed that she still remembers what she learned at school three years ago.

Our first Gaudi experience... Park Guell

Felt like we were in a Dr Seuss book!

Don't just look up, Gaudi' mastery can also be found on the pavements.

Casa Batllo with its skeletal appearance is also referred to as Casa del Ossos (House of Bones) by the locals.

Curvy Casa Milla

Known for its combinations of stone and metal work, Casa Mila is also known as La Pedrera which means the Open Quary.

Finally we arrived at the Sagrada Familia. It's still as impresssive now as it was 12 years ago. They've added more features since we were last here but it's far from finished. Will it really be completed by 2026?

We went back two days later to visit the inside of the church. What Gaudi envisaged was just as impressive as its exterior. When we were in Parc Guell few days earlier, Mia bought some small fridge magnets with Gaudi's different colourful designs on them. The minute we walked in here, our little artist whipped out her magnets and started to point out the designs of her magnets and the different colours to us, with explanations included! 😄

One last look before we leave.

Sunday, 24 September 2017

Barcelona

I loved Barcelona the last time we were here. I'm not sure what is was about this city that stood out in my mind so vividly, maybe it was the beautifully quirky and colourful Gaudi creations, or perhaps the taste of my first tapas, or maybe it was the afternoon siestas but whatever it may have been, I was really looking forward to coming back again. We were extremely sad when we heard about the terrible incident a week before our arrival. At that stage, we were seriously considering not coming here at all, partly because we were uncertain of what it would be like in the city, what security measures would be in place, but also because we were in some way afraid for the safety of our kids. But we decided to go ahead as planned and we were really glad we did. When it was time to leave, I think Mia and Ryan were just as sad to leave as we were.

Kids' first taste of tapas...

They loved it!

We did a city tour the following morning. I'm sure we've seen many of the sights when we were here last time but we were on a student budget then and walking around with just the Lonely planet in our hands. Incredible how little we knew of what we were looking at doing it that way. Our tour guide this time was a Spanish history scholar so we got ourselves a fantastic history lesson on this tour.

Waiting for the tour to start. Not happy with the early morning wake up call!

Who needs a chair when you have Daddy's feet seat?

We saw many of these Catalan flags hung on balconies around the city, a show of support for the

More tapas for lunch

We stumbled across this place after our tour and decided to stop here for lunch after checking the TripAdvisor reviews. The reviews were right, food was tasty but thank goodness we did not order any of this jamon. Tiny roaches were feasting on it!!

Before we discovered the insect situation 🙂😱

We stayed in a very local neighbourhood in I'Eixample, about 10 minutes drive from the city centre. It was the perfect place for us, lots of tiny eateries, bakeries and supermarkets nearby but what the kids loved the most about it was the playground across the street!

That's our apartment block in the background, the yellow building.

Ryan was so happy that we finally found some space to kick his footy.

We had a fantastic tapas dinner one night at this small restaurant, La Flauta. The queue to get a table was so long that we almost left but somehow we got a table after waiting for around 10 minutes. Kids loved the food so much that they were already planning to come back here again tomorrow when we were half way through dinner!

Ryan voted these the best garlic prawns he's ever eaten (I'm writing this post several weeks later and we've eaten quite a few more garlic prawns and he still insists none of the others could beat this!)