The Aquarium

After 5 hours of class today (all in Spanish!) I had a delicious lunch at home with Amparo. Then I went to the Barcelona Aquarium with several friends. At first, it was annoying to eat dinner so late (usually around 9pm), but I realized that it's really nice to have free time in the afternoons to explore the city and visit different areas and attractions. 

This afternoon, I successfully navigated the metro the Barceloneta stop -- something I never thought I'd be able to do. Amparo's granddaughter, Alicia, was absolutely shocked when I told her that the closest subway system to my house is over 2-hours away by car. Amparo understands because she grew up in a small town in Valencia and only moved to Barcelona when she got married.

The aquarium is near the port in Barceloneta, where they are lots of carnival rides, ice cream stands, and picnic tables. It was pretty quiet today, because it was a Monday afternoon. I look forward to going back sometime on the weekend and exploring more!

The aquarium is the building on the left behind the mary-go-round.

My favorite part of the museum was definitely the shark tank. The best part was there was a moving sidewalk (!!!) that went through a tunnel under the tank. Here's a photo of my friends on the moving sidewalk. 

The water in the tank was above the tunnel, so you could see over head. Here's a photo of a shark swimming straight above us:

I love the fish that are camouflaged to match their surroundings. Can you spot two fish in this photo? (click to enlarge)

These fish are SO cool!

And last but not least, a perennial favorite, the penguins! These little guys were waddling all around, chasing each other, diving under the water, and then popping up somewhere else. They were even more entertaining than the live-feed of the penguins at Sea World (Hiiii Nancy!).