But, it was not really the beauty that made Barcelona the best
leg of our holiday; it was the liveliness rather. Imagine a city that has much wider streets for pedestrians than the roads - streets which are buzzing with people; live performances and human statue art constantly entertaining you as busy hawkers retail cheap but interesting stuff by the side. So much energy and life throbs into the city that it can almost lift you up from the lowest of moods and make you feel happy about the most mundane things in life.The city also brims over with things to see – museums, squares, parks, churches, art galleries etc. Our favorite place though was the Sagrada Familia, a beautiful church envisioned by Spain’s modernist architect, Gaudi which is still in the process of being built.
It is a mammoth structure that depicts the birth as well as crucifixion of Jesus on its 2 facades, with 1 being still under construction. There are breath-taking statues all over it made of unusual materials and unbelievable precision. The monument though beautiful, leaves one with a strong sense of loneliness - the high ceiling, the expansive interiors and the somber statues set you up in an introspective mode as one surrenders oneself to the will of God.
While the Sagrada Familia presented the epitome of architecture to Papa and me, it didn’t quite make it to Mira’s list. For her, the biggest and the foremost highlight of Barcelona was pigeon chasing. Yup – pigeon chasing! She was off my lap as soon as she spotted some pigeons – chased them enthusiastically and chuckled loudly as they fluttered away into the sky.
The other highlight was Mira’s discovery of Mc Donald’s, rather Mc Donald’s chicken nuggets. Oh, I tell you these guys have just got the recipe right. For someone like Mira, who has rejected right from ice-creams to Cerelac, Mc Donald’s nuggets qualified as the rare ready made food which successfully made its way to her usually uncooperative mouth. Believe me, It was a divine sight and I was so very loving it! 
Final highlight – the parks and the play areas. As soon as the guilt of visiting monuments, museums and other places of adult interest dawned upon us, we quickly relieved ourselves of the burden by visiting the closest park or play area. It was good fun as Mira and I rode the swings and enjoyed the rides while Papa dug his head into the city map to locate our next destination of interest.
In short, it was all going amazingly well till one fine morning when Mira got up to see her mom hurriedly dumping clothes into bags. She did declare “ghumi” and was confidently heading towards the stroller, but was whisked away and carried off to a waiting taxi instead - Barcelona airport being our next destination. Ironically, while Mira and I still longed to stay back to chase that one last pigeon or admire that one last monument, Papa was already dreaming about getting back to Bangkok – looking forward to gulping a full bowl of Thai noodles as he watched one of his latest DVDs on TV.
And guess what, we are back – back to the ordinary but deliciously familiar life. Nothing much has changed - the noodles are still being cooked, the DVDs still being played, the playroom still being frequented, except that a scatter-brained mom keeps visiting it every now and then to boast about her flawless planning and execution which got her entire family to spend a lovely holiday together – a holiday made of 11 long days, 3 unfamiliar places and a really harsh winter:-)
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