This past weekend I had the opportunity for personal travel time with some other Chigi babies to Barcelona. The city was incredibly beautiful. We ate delicious food, browsed through street markets, and went inside all the luxury brand stores. However, all of these destinations had to be found. By traveling on our own, we had to be the ones to navigate through this new city. At the end of the first day, we had just finished up our shopping and decided to head back to our hostel. We assumed our journey back to our hostel took about a 45-minute walk. We weaved through quaint neighborhoods, saw several cute restaurants, and peeked inside a few art galleries along the way. Little did we know, our walk could have only been 10 minutes. Our hostel was very close to us after we finished shopping, but we had no idea! It is funny because we could have been irritated. However, despite our aching feet we enjoyed every minute of it. Not many people can say they mindlessly explored the streets of Barcelona! If we had not made that navigational error, we would not have found the restaurant that made our breakfast the following day so enjoyable. Since we found this precious cafe during our journey, I have forgotten the name. They served chocolate milk in cute glass bottles and had live music. I ordered a crunchy granola bowl, topped with fresh kiwi. It was divine. The memories made at that breakfast table would not have been made if we did not get lost. Of course, the lesson of paying close attention has been learned. Thankfully, this time it was worth it. Getting lost led to new things and wonderful memories that would not have experienced otherwise. Our weekend in Barcelona was certainly one for the books!
Walton Stivender

Enjoying our beautiful Saturday in Barcelona ~ 5/20/17