bar tha lo na!

We spent the second weekend of Freddy's spring break in Barcelona! We arrived on Thursday night along with my friend Mike and roommate Christine and found the apartment where we were staying without too much trouble. After some confusion about paying the 300 euro deposit in cash, we got settled and ventured into the Barrio Gotico to get some dinner. We ended up at a really nice and cute although somewhat touristy restaurant called Princesa 23 where we had paella, tapas, and really really yummy sangria. 

Catalonian bread (idk what it's called) and patates braves-- yum!!

The next day, we stopped to eat breakfast at a small cafe on the way to la Sagrada Familia. We each ate a breakfast sandwich and had a coffee for 3 euro. In Paris, a cafe au lait alone would have cost 4 euro. We paid ten euro to get into the cathedral but didn't even end up going to the top because there was an hour-long wait and an extra 3 euro charge to take the elevator (the only way up). The area where you can walk on the ground floor of the cathedral is actually pretty small-- you basically circumambulate the construction that's going on in the middle of the cathedral and can stare at the vast metal sea of scaffolding. Only a couple of the walls of windows had its stained glass installed, but they were absolutely beautiful:

A small exhibit at the exit from the cathedral showed how Gaudi used mathematics and nature together to create his very unique designs-- it was really interesting to see where he got some of his design motifs that are used not only at la Sagrada Familia, but at Parc Guell and la Pedrera too. 

Next, we strolled down the Passeig de Gracia and saw la Pedrera and Casa Batllo. I wish we had gone in and to the top of la Pedrera because I saw pictures of the top later, but unfortunately we didn't realize that we could and didn't look into it at the time. The sidewalk was somewhat crowded as we were walking down Passeig de Gracia, but I wasn't being too protective of my small shoulder-sling purse as we walked. Thank goodness I noticed, then, when I felt something lightly tug at my purse and I immediately whipped around to see what was happening. My purse had been completely unzipped and although she quickly stopped and removed her hand, I definitely saw the woman who opened it. I wanted to yell at her so badly but I was too in shock so I just grabbed Freddy and repeated over and over again, "She just opened my bag. She just opened my bag." Thankfully I noticed, because she didn't have the chance to take anything out of it. One wallet stolen per semester is enough for me, thank you.

That night Fred and I went out to another suuuuuper romantic dinner at a tapas restaurant. The place was pretty empty when we sat down, but we had been looking for somewhere to eat, so decided to take a chance. Of course, it turned out that our 10pm arrival time was just too early for the Spaniards because the place was crowded when we left around midnight. We had a good time-- probably ate too few tapas and drank too much sangria, but hey, we were on vacation!

Tortilla Espana, or Spanish Omelette - staple tapas dish that's basically a fluffy omelette with potatoes and onions. I tried to make a version myself when I got back to Paris-- didn't turn out this well, but pictures will come soon.

The next day we trekked up to Parc Guell in spite of the dreary weather. It was SO WORTH it! even though it was raining and a tiny bit muddy and our view of the city was covered in clouds. The park itself is beautiful and the architecutre is amazing. The walkways and terraces all seem to fit perfectly with the nature around. The longest bench in the world is the curvy one on the top level of this park-- if you ever had the Paso a Paso textbook for Spanish in high school, you know which bench I'm talking about. 

in front of the gates of Parc Guell

On the way back to the metro, we stopped for cafes con leche and ran into the other BC kids who were also coming from Parc Guell. They told us to definitely go see the Hospital de Sant Pau so we headed there next. It was pretty amazing to see how beautiful the complex was-- supposedly it's the oldest hospital that's still functioning. The architecture was beautiful (partly designed by Gaudi, so I guess that's a given), but to be honest I found the experience a little bit creepy. It was a little too quiet in the main courtyard of the hospital and something about the design along with the eerie weather gave me the chills. All that combined with my deathly fear of doctor's offices and medical equipment made it an interesting and pretty but not-that-enjoyable-for-me-place.

Freddy thought the hospital was cooler than I did.

After refueling and getting out of the drippy weather for a bit, we trudged back down to La Boqueria, a really cool and I think really old market right off La Rambla. Besides beautiful veggies, vibrant fruit, candy, cheese, juice, and seafood, you could also find pretty much any part of a sheep or cow that you might ever want to buy. We finished off the evening by making kind of a futile trip up to Montjuic by funicular (Montjuic is a huge park at the top of a mountain/hill where there is a castle and the Olympic stadium). We were trying to  meet up with friends, but couldn't get ahold of them so we walked in the rain at the top of the mountain for two minutes and turned around to go back down and instead... eat chocolate cake! hah

fruits and veggies at La Boqueria - notice the color effect... no, Spanish lettuce is not grey

Animal guts at La Boqueria.. yum

Spaniards know how to do chocolate mousse cake-- but French mousse still tops it.

The next day, we didn't have much time before our flight, so we just explored the beach, walking from Mar Bella, where our hotel was, to Barceloneta, which is the main beach closest to the middle of the city. It was cloudy and dreary and we enjoyed each others' company but not the view. 

All in all, one of my favorite weekends :) I learned that I really like travelling with Freddy. We do things at similar paces, are interested in spending time in similar ways, and we like being around each other. But I think that's pretty obvious. 

Catching Up: the BF in Paris

It has been a crazy month since my last post, so I am going to try to catch you up weekend by weekend, hopefully bringing you all on a virtual tour of my amazing months of March and April.

.... starting with Freddy's visit to Paris and our weekend in Barcelona!

As I may have mentioned, Freddy surprised me by sending me a pdf of his flight to Paris on the day my wallet was stolen, thus completely turning my day around. Since this day in February I had been counting down the days until his visit-- you can only imagine the force of my jumping on him in Charles De Gaulle as soon as he arrived. 

We spent his first weekend in Paris (his first weekend outside of North America!!) both recovering from jet lag and at Versailles. I had never been to Versailles before as I had heard it is touristy and not worth the trip out of Paris if you only have a few days here, but our trip was definitely "worth it". 

We arrived at the chateau in the afternoon and tried to take pictures in the one-minute intervals when the sun would peek out from behind the clouds. We made a leisurely afternoon out of our little day trip, gliding through the chateau and skipping through the gardens (almost literally, on my part anyway). True to my history major nerdiness, I tried to read about the history of the place while Freddy stood in awe of the gold-gilded doors and frescoed ceilings. We took quite a few pics, including this one:

 Gotta get a mirror pic.

We spent the next couple of hours walking around admiring the gardens, munching on salami and dark chocolate (who says those two delicious things cannot make a great lunch?). Although it was still cold, the sun came out, shining low through the trees and making the statues gleam. 

The afternoon was really as peaceful as it looks in these pictures too. I would love to go back in the spring just to picnic in the gardens.

We actually didn't do any museums or even that much "touristy" stuff during the week in Paris because I had class everyday so there wasn't much free time. On Tuesday we celebrated our one year anniversary by going to a kosher Italian restaurant at Miromesnil called l'Inte Caffe, recommended by our mutual friend from high school, Grace, who has been studying in Paris since September. The pasta there was delicious! and we took the scenic route on the way to dinner, stopping by the Arc de Triomphe:

On Wednesday we took our own walking tour of Paris, crossing over to the Left Bank to check out the Jardin du Luxembourg and Rue Mouffetard. 

Glowing in one of the rare bursts of sunshine of the day.

From there, we walked down Boulevard Saint-Michel where Fred and I both bought cheap fake leather jackets. (We both wore them in Barcelona... I guess we were "that couple" wearing matching jackets...) We then headed through the Latin Quarter and stopped at a few tourist shops to indulge in tacky but fun souvenirs :) and to eat kebab! Kebab, aka Sandwich Grec, is a pita sandwich filled with meat, a few veggies, and sometimes french fries. You can find kebab places in Paris and in other European cities, in different variations. It's your non-chain fast food that's cheap, filling, and yummy. It's usually sold at places that also will make crepes and stay open late. 

Freddy with his fry-filled kebab

We spent the end of the afternoon up in Montmartre, where we checked out Moulin Rouge (Freddy didn't seem as excited about that as most of the girls I know). We went in Sacre Coeur and just enjoyed the view of Paris and the Eiffel Tower from the top of the hill.