Friday, 15 April 2011
First stop: Barcelona
Just a quick update. Hilary and I flew to Barcelona on April 2nd and had an absolute blast there. We stayed with an awesome host named Paloma who we found on couchsurfing.org. She was so gracious and kind and showed us what Spain was all about. Our first night there she took us out with her friends and we met another couchsurfer, Miguel, from Madrid. They taught us a lot about the Spanish culture which was awesome. Our second day we went to Park Guell, where I had gone 4 years ago. We walked there and it was quite the hike up a fairly steep mountain but made for a fun adventure. It was a hot beautiful day and Hilary and I were snapping pictures left and right. Miguel called us and we took the Metro to meet him at La Rambla for lunch. It was a busy day there and he showed us around and what was good. Hilary and I walked to Casa Batllo after saying goodbye to Miguel and also saw Casa Mila by Antoni Gaudi on our walk home to Paloma's. That night we went out to eat with Paloma's good friend Carlos who also had a couchsurfer with him named Kayla. We had tapas at a nice restaurant and then they took us out salsa dancing at one of their favorite places. They are both SO good! They go multiple times a week and it was so awesome to watch. Carlos tried teaching me but I don't think I was born with that Latin feel. The next day we just knew we wanted to see the beach so we started walking there. On the way we saw the Arc de Triomf which was pretty cool and stumbled upon a nice park. It was another gorgeous hot day and we laid around the palm trees for awhile. We saw the Barcelona Zoo but didn't go in and walked around it to get to a bridge that crossed the train yard. The bridge was awesome and had a concrete park on top of it! It had a river running through and awesome playground equipment including a teeter totter Hilary and I could not get enough of. We finally made it to the beach after that and laid out for awhile in the sun and people watched. We ate at a little cafe on the water and it was delicious. We walked back around the harbor to La Rambla where the Christopher Columbus statue was and walked down the crowded street another time. The market was open that day so we took a stroll through the yummy looking fruits and vegetables and bought a very delicious fresh strawberry smoothie. After that we were tired and decided to take the Metro back to Paloma's instead of walking. We just chatted and hung out that night and made friendship bracelets for our gracious host. The next day Hilary and I were off to Marseille France! I'll post about that later, in the meantime check out my pictures on facebook of our recent travels!
Monday, 4 April 2011
London´s Farewell
I did a lot after coming back from the Netherlands but don´t quite remember it all.
I recall going to Paige´s art exhibit which was awesome! She did a great job. I met her dad and he graciously took us out to dinner at Jamie´s Restaurant which is Jamie Oliver´s, the british chef TV star, it was absolutely delicious!
I had a couple days to work on my projects from Hilary and Nikki arrived back in London, coming from York. They came on a friday and we took a small little tour around London to all the tourist hot spots that night. We ate at Garfunkels which is always a good choice. Saturday we tried walking to Buckingham Palace but came across a small road block, literally. Westminster bridge was closed and lined with policemen and there were numerous helicopters flying overhead. One the policeman asked if we were going to the protest and we said no so he suggested we go to the other bridge. It was a massive protest about the government cutting funds for services and there were huge amounts of policemen on every street. It was interesting to see but annoying because it took us a really roundabout way to Buckingham Palace. We got to the Palace and snapped a couple pics before heading back so we could get ready to go see the Oxford vs Cambridge boatrace. It took us awhile to get there and we literally walked up to the bridge seconds before the boats had already passed. It was devastating because I really wanted to see it. The crowds were insane and the actual race only lasted a matter of minutes. It was disappointing to say the least. We headed back to my place where we met Paige and Kinne and made dinner together. That night we went on an organized pub crawl which was a lot of fun and a good way to see London´s nightlife on a budget. Sunday we walked all over the place. We briefly saw the Street Photography exhibit at the Museum of London which was really cool and then we headed to Westminster Abbey for the evening service. That night we were pretty tired so we just watched Tangled in my room. Monday morning Nikki left to fly back to the states and Hil and I hung out watching Chuck.
That week I spent trying to finish up my projects and getting everything done for the last day of school. I eventually made it and Hilary and I also saw some last minute sites. We went to Abbey road and took the classic walking Beatles picture which was really fun. Hilary went to see Les Miserables by herself because I was too cheap to buy a ticket to see it again but I think she enjoyed it very much! The last night in London we spent walking around eating fro yo and seeing as much as we could. It was a beautiful night, very lively too, and was unusually warm. London knew I was leaving and wanted to say a proper goodbye :)
I recall going to Paige´s art exhibit which was awesome! She did a great job. I met her dad and he graciously took us out to dinner at Jamie´s Restaurant which is Jamie Oliver´s, the british chef TV star, it was absolutely delicious!
I had a couple days to work on my projects from Hilary and Nikki arrived back in London, coming from York. They came on a friday and we took a small little tour around London to all the tourist hot spots that night. We ate at Garfunkels which is always a good choice. Saturday we tried walking to Buckingham Palace but came across a small road block, literally. Westminster bridge was closed and lined with policemen and there were numerous helicopters flying overhead. One the policeman asked if we were going to the protest and we said no so he suggested we go to the other bridge. It was a massive protest about the government cutting funds for services and there were huge amounts of policemen on every street. It was interesting to see but annoying because it took us a really roundabout way to Buckingham Palace. We got to the Palace and snapped a couple pics before heading back so we could get ready to go see the Oxford vs Cambridge boatrace. It took us awhile to get there and we literally walked up to the bridge seconds before the boats had already passed. It was devastating because I really wanted to see it. The crowds were insane and the actual race only lasted a matter of minutes. It was disappointing to say the least. We headed back to my place where we met Paige and Kinne and made dinner together. That night we went on an organized pub crawl which was a lot of fun and a good way to see London´s nightlife on a budget. Sunday we walked all over the place. We briefly saw the Street Photography exhibit at the Museum of London which was really cool and then we headed to Westminster Abbey for the evening service. That night we were pretty tired so we just watched Tangled in my room. Monday morning Nikki left to fly back to the states and Hil and I hung out watching Chuck.
That week I spent trying to finish up my projects and getting everything done for the last day of school. I eventually made it and Hilary and I also saw some last minute sites. We went to Abbey road and took the classic walking Beatles picture which was really fun. Hilary went to see Les Miserables by herself because I was too cheap to buy a ticket to see it again but I think she enjoyed it very much! The last night in London we spent walking around eating fro yo and seeing as much as we could. It was a beautiful night, very lively too, and was unusually warm. London knew I was leaving and wanted to say a proper goodbye :)
