Hola BCN!

Ahhhh Barcelona, such an experience. First off, let me tell you that trying to fit 3 cities into one week is rough...not necessarily a mistake, but I was not prepared for the exhaustion (and some homesickness) that constant traveling left me with. Let's just say that by the time we touched down in Barcelona, all I could think about was sleep.

We arrived around 5 pm on Monday night, and took a train from the airport to the hostel. Not too long of a trip, but I was far over-dressed for the warm Spain weather. When we got in, we dropped our bags off and went on a search for food, finding some 2 euro kebabs that the reception recommended. It was fantastic. I do not have photos, because I devoured it. We also picked a 1 euro bottle of wine, which was actually surprisingly good. Wine in hand we went back to the hostel, fully intent on an early night....

But this is Spain. Of course tons of people were awake down in the common room,  so we ended up meeting new people, playing drinking games and staying up late.

Tuesday we kind of failed at getting out of bed early, but finally pulled ourselves up and decided to go on a walking tour of the city, which was awesome. The guide was Australian and gave us an incredible explanation of Barcelona's history, as well as the current movement that many Catalans are involved in to return it to it's own nation-something I had never heard anything about. 

That night we met up with Jackson, Alyse (our friends from Dublin) and their friend Jen for tapas at an awesome restaurant. It was great to see familiar faces and exchange stories about things that had happened since we'd last seen them. And the food was awesome. My favorite you ask? Rabbit ribs. If you know me, you know I love me some rabbit.

After dinner we went over to a shot bar called Chupitos, which serves shots for 2 euro-incredibly cheap. Also, to clarify, these were really interesting, delicious, not strong at all shots....such as the Pringle shot...no idea what alcohol it was but you chase it with a Pringle with a drop of Tabasco. We also had some flaming shots.

Wednesday we had full intentions of waking up early and getting to sightseeing and the beach, but per usual we slept in a bit and then got caught up in a train situation. We have a rail pass for later journeys in our trip and had run into some snafoos that are a bit too boring to share on a blog. Just know that we spent a couple hours on Skype calls and going back and forth to the train station. 

Finally, we got ourselves out of the hostel and headed over to La Sagrada Familia (see above), which is a large, crazy looking, forever under-construction cathedral. We didn't go in because the line was long, and I had heard not that impressive things about the inside. Looking back, I regret this decision because many people have since told me that it's amazing and that we really missed out....bucket list!

Next we went over to Park Guell, which is a giant "park". I wasn't crazy about this place, but it did have amazing views, and truth be told I didn't explore as much as I could have because I was eager to get back and rest my poor little feet.

Side note- never in my life have my feet hurt as much as on this trip. I am now taking volunteers for foot rubs, please and thanks.

Thursday we woke up pretty early because we had plans at 5:30 and wanted to get as much sightseeing in as possible. We started the day with the Picasso museum. This was awesome, because although Picasso did much of his work in France, and most of his works are displayed elsewhere, he started his career in Barcelona, so this museum houses much of his earlier paintings. I've never been much of a Picasso fan, I honestly just don't "get" it. But I did enjoy seeing his early paintings from before he got into this Cubist phase.

Next, we tooooooooo......THE BEACH!!! Finally. I got onto that beautiful hot sand and immediately regretted not planning to spend an entire day there. It was beautiful out, the beach we chose was far less crowded than others and it was pure bliss. Good thing I live near the beach because I will some of that when I return...

Here's a nice visual...excuse any topless women you may see...Europe is far more ok with nudists than the US.

Thursday night we attended a seafood paella cooking class. Essentially, a chef brought us to the market to buy the seafood (mussels, clams, calamari and prawns) and then we learned how to cook paella, eat paella and make sangria. This was an awesome (and delicious) experience...I fully intend to make everyone paella when I return home, so hit me up. 

Friday we didn't get to spend any time exploring, because our flight to Stockholm was pretty early in the day so we needed to leave for the airport right after we got up and packed. Barcelona left me pretty pooped, so I slept the whole plane ride and am just now writing this (after my first day in Stockholm) so I'm sorry for the late upload!

Overall, Barcelona was a gorgeous, awesome city. I didn't see even close to everything I wanted to, and I'd love to go back someday. I spent a good portion of the time feeling homesick and kind of sad, as I think can be the case when you travel. You have those times that your mind and you body want to be somewhere comfortable and for me, Barcelona (particularly our hostel) wasn't that place. I'd like to go back and really get the full potential that I think the city has to offer me.

Oui oui, Paris!

Our trip to Paris started with a nice train ride through the Chunnel from London to Paris. I would tell you more about it, but per usual I passed out for the whole ride. However, I did wake up at one point to find a man staring at me sleeping with my mouth open, so there's that. Once we arrived in Paris we were hit with the harsh reality that this was the first country on our journey that we didn't speak the language. We oriented ourselves and eventually found our way to our apartment. At this point, we were praising The Lord to have our own space not shared with others. Granted, the apartment was close quarters, but it had what we needed and fast wifi. 

Here's a nice panoramic photo of literally 98% of the apartment, just to give you an idea of its size.

After all our travels, and honestly not being on a set sleep schedule yet, we opted to grab some groceries and cook dinner at home. We got some pasta, sauce, lardons (delicious little bacon bits) and salad fixings. Oh, and wine of course.

After a relaxing dinner, we lounged for the night before heading to bed. Not that exciting of a night, but just what we needed at this point. 

Sunday I woke up feeling homesick and overwhelmed. I essentially had one day to see all of Paris. For Natalie, this was fine-she's been there before. I, however, was feeling this overwhelming sense of "ohmygodwhatifinevercomebackhereandidontseeeverythingwhateverwillido". Obviously, I got over this and picked my top things I really wanted to see/do: Notre Dame, have a coffee in a coffee shop on the streets, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and of course-a nice French dinner. Conveniently, these were all located fairllllly close to each other and we devised a route and managed to do all the above! 

Some thoughts: 

Notre Dame: beautiful Cathedral, didn't see a hunchback though :/ also the line was massive so I did not go on a tour...see below.

Coffee was delicious as expected :)

Eiffel Tower: actually kind of ugly, in a crazy sort of way. I do like that it's just this massive item stuck in the middle of a city though. I wished I had seen it at night, since many many people recommended that, but since we're here in the summer, it gets dark around 10pm and we had other evening plans. Bucket listed!

Louvre: amazingly huge. Like, really...just so huge. Again, we didn't go in-perhaps spending an entire day in the Louvre will have to be added to my bucket list as well. I DID, however, get to see a woman bathing in the fountain outside...fully washing her...undercarriage....I saw bare ass. So that can obviously be crossed off my bucket list. For everyone out there,  do not drink the water in the fountain.

And now the most interesting part of our day- Dinner! 

We wandered over to a little restaurant near our apartment. We're seated and we're pursuing the menu before we realize it is all in French. Now, I've always been told not to go to restaurants with photos on the menu, because they are more expensive and probably not authentic. But I'm saying I really could not tell you what anything was on the entire menu. Natalie and I stared blankly at the menu, until our server came over at which point we stared blankly at him and said the one thing we semi-recognized. Risotto. Which is Italian....but whatever right? This waiter was already not thrilled with us for not speaking French,  so we weren't about to ask him to translate the entire menu. Anywho, the risotto was absolutely amazing, so no regrets. 

After dinner we stopped into an Irish pub (yes, in Paris) to watch the last half of the World Cup game. This place was absolutely packed, and while I really couldn't care less about "football" I did enjoy being a part of something so huge for France (they were playing that night).

After France won (!) we walked home to our apartment along the canal and over a cute little bridge and crawled into bed, happy with our day and ready for our trip to Barcelona the next day.

Overall, Paris is beautiful. I want to return. I'd like to learn from French first...

Just Touched Down in London Town

   Currently I'm on my train heading to Paris from London. Thought it seemed like a good time to check in and let you all know how the visit in London was.

Wednesday we checked into our hostel, which initially was a bit of a disappointment. By Wednesday afternoon I was tired, and starting to feel a bit homesick. In retrospect, I think it was a combination of jet lag and all the Guinness I drank in Dublin. The hostel in London was significantly larger, but also more crowded and less relaxed feeling than Dublin- kind of like if you were to compare the cities themselves. We also were in a 16 bed dorm with all women, so I felt a bit like a sardine. After a nap though, my mood drastically improved and I was ready to investigate dinner. Nat and I did some Yelping and decided on a Thai place down the road that promised amazing food for a good price, despite their run down appearance. I had a delicious green curry and was quite pleased with my choice, delicious!!! After that we soaked up some wifi in the common room and hit the hay early.

Thursday we had full intentions of waking up early and beginning the day with a walking tour of London, but early ended up being 11 so we opted for the 3pm tour instead. After we woke up we went and got coffee and then made our way over to Covent Park to a good fish and chips place we had heard about. They only had take out so we ate it outside a park...yes, outside...because this was a private park that required a key? I don't get it either.

 

After our fish and chips we went over to Green Park which is near Buckingham Palace to meet up with our tour. As per usual on our trip so far, the tour consisted of mainly Americans, and a couple from New Zealand. The tour guide was excellent and hilarious and made a point of showing us all the funny things the Brits had messed up over the years.

 

All in all, a great tour (for free!) and we also got discounted tickets for a pub crawl! After the tour we went out for drinks and appetizers with Miley, a girl from the tour at a swanky London bar during happy hour, the back to our room for leftover Thai food and an early to bed night. Zzzzzz

Friday we took the tube up to Camden with Miley, which is an area filled with really cool food and shopping markets.

While a lot of it was touristy stuff, I loved the jewelry portion and picked up a couple rings to adorn myself with. We ate some food from the massive market, (I had falafel, it was delish, sorry I forgot to grab a photo) and then wandered back to our hostel to rest up before the pub crawl. Once napped and revived we were ready for the stunning nightlife of London. The first couple bars were very standard "pubs" I would say....World Cup games, beers, little wooden booths, but then the bars started getting a bit more interesting. We went to one called "Proud" which was an old horse stable where you could hang out in the horse stalls with your group, or head out onto the giant terrace. The fourth one was a pretty standard bar, but we danced a lot so that's always fun. It amuses me to no ends that Europeans are listening to music that I would consider a throwback...."Teenage Dirtbag" came on three times during the evening. The last bar, called "Koko" was really more like a music venue. It was massive and there was a live band playing.

 

Not exactly my favorite music, but I will take live music over a DJ any day! After a fun filled night of dancing we somehow found our way home on night buses and curled up into bed.

Saturday morning we got up and went over to Borough Market and to see the Tower Bridge. The market was this amazing place with every type of food you could imagine, and I found myself filling up with little samples of everything. I didn't buy anything to eat because we had afternoon tea planned, but I think I got a good taste of most things. My favorite thing to see? Prosciutto, as fresh asyou can get it....Mom, this photo is for you:

After seeing the market and the bridge, we came back to Kings Cross area to meet Miley for tea!

A delicious almondy Rooibus tea and some cured meats, cheeses, olives and bread later I was full and happy and ready to continue my journey to Paris (where I actually am now, but that's a different blog post ;) 

Almost forgot to mention! England has the best reminders to get Pap smears I've ever seen, so that was pleasing! Once a health advocate, always a health advocate! 

Anywho, enjoy and stay tuned for my adventures in Paris in a few days!

Xoxo

Pub Crawls, Guinness and more Guinness

Today was our last day in Dublin. While I'm excited to move on to London, I wish I could stay a bit longer in this lovely city. We made lovely friends in our hostel, who we enjoyed a couple nights out on the town with, and we explored a couple of fun little spots in Dublin.

Monday we arrived at the airport in Dublin feeling surprisingly not too jet lagged. We immediately hopped a bus into the city centre and over to our hostel, where they held our luggage while we grabbed a quick bite to eat. I had a very Irish meal - brown bread with butter and some soup.

 Oh, and a latte of course.

Then we wandered over to a little park to enjoy the surprisingly nice weather with a lovely old lady. I've made the determination that old people in other countries are much more charming than in America. Maybe it's the accent. After our park sit, we came back to the hostel to check in and settle down for a bit. That night the hostel hosted a free pasta dinner, so we met a couple people from around the world over a plate of carbonara. That night we went out to a couple of bars in Dublin with our roommates, including Dicey's which is a gorgeous outdoor garden bar that was really fun.

Tuesday the jet lag set in and we had a really hard time getting ourselves out of bed to enjoy the city. Finally, around 12:30 we got ourselves together and went for a nice lunch of soup and sandwiches and then made our way over to the Guinness Storehouse for a tour and free pint! 

This was a really cool experience. I never knew how much went into making beer, and the tour itself was incredibly comprehensive-covering the ingredients, history, and the marketing of the well known beer. Perhaps the best part is the free pint you learn to pour to perfection and then enjoy in the rooftop bar with a gorgeous view of all over Dublin. The tour took a couple hours and when we got home we immediately went out for a delicious dinner of shepherds pie and, you guessed it, MORE Guinness. Then the hostel hosted a pub crawl, so a couple of our friends from the room and us went out to a bunch of bars in Dublin, meeting some folks along the way.

Today we woke up, had a nice bagel and coffee and then headed over to an exhibit in Dublin Castle. This day doesn't leave much time for exploring, as we are flying to London in a few hours. Overall, Dublin has been great! As with almost everywhere you visit, there are still a million things I'd like to see....guess I'll have to return at some point!

Embarking on my adventure

Most of you probably know that I've been planning my grand European escape since I graduated college....almost two years ago...with intentions to begin immediately. Well, work got in the way, and responsibility got in the way, but finally I'm doing it! June 8- July 21 I will be backpacking all through Europe with my lovely best friend Natalie...and I couldn't be more pleased! Follow me if you wish to keep up with what I'm doing in each city!