Friday, March 14

Hola!

Who knew you could get so much accomplished in one day?!

Today was such a great day because my roommates and I (Lainie and Bridget) did so much!  After sleeping in and making breakfast (and laughing about our night before!) we got dressed and headed to the beach!! I hadn't been to the beach yet and I was so excited.  The weather is finally starting to really warm up and feel like spring so it was perfect for the beach.  I wore my long maxi-dress (finally!) and flip flops and it really felt like spring/summer.  We brought towels and stuck our feet in the sand and relaxed.  We hoped to get some color from the sun because we haven't been able to in such a long time! For lunch, we went to a little sandwich shop called Wrap It and got wraps and sandwiches.  It was so nice to relax and enjoy another part of Barcelona that I haven't been able to take advantage of yet.

After spending a few hours at the beach, we walked to Las Ramblas and went to La Boqueria.  Since it was only 3 us of us in the apartment this weekend, we decided to cook ourselves a nice little dinner. We had talked about doing this for a long time and we finally decided today was the day! At La Boqueria, we got a nice piece of salmon, green beans and a loaf of bread.  We really felt like Spaniards getting fish and vegetables at the local market.  Every time I go into La Boqueria, I fall in love with it even more.  I really need to start going there more often to walk around and explore.

We brought our food back to our apartment, showered and headed back out the door to see the fountain light show at Montjuic.  It is called Font Magica de Montjuic.  It was so cool and beautiful! There is a huge big fountain right in front of the museum and Montjuic.  The fountain show is played to music and has different lights that coordinate with it.  We didn't expect that many people to be there but it was so crowded! We couldn't believe how many people were there.  It was so much fun to watch and we got sprayed by the water so many time! We talked about coming back there more often and bringing a baguette, cheese and wine while we watch it.  

Since it was almost 9:00pm, we decided to head back to our apartment and cook our food.  Lainie and Bridget cooked the salmon (with soy sauce and a few other ingredients), I made the green beans and almonds and Bridget cut the loaf of bread into pieces and put cheese, butter and pesto inside.  Our oven is kind of crazy and we don't exactly know how to work it, so it was pretty interesting to cook all this food.  We had a lot of fun cooking together.  All the food came out so good and it was all so easy! For desert, we bought a box of brownie mix and tried to make brownies.  Since our oven is crazy, they started to smoke and we thought it was going to catch fire! We immediately took them out and cooked them in the microwave instead! Our dinner came out much better than the brownies did and we had a few Oreos instead for desert (thanks mommy and Freddy!).  

We decided to stay in because we want to get up early tomorrow and go to Montserrat.  It is usually a day long trip that is about an hour away from Barcelona by train.  It is an old monastery that is supposed to have amazing views.  Tomorrow or Sunday I'll be doing another blog post on it so stay tuned!

Off to bed now since I have to get up in a few hours to go hiking (lol).  

Besos!!

Week with Mommy and Fred - Part 1

Hola!

For the first time in a few days, I'm finally able to relax in my bed and write a blog post!  But I'm not complaining because I had such an amazing 5 days with Mommy and Fred in Barcelona! We ate, drank and were complete tourists and made such great memories we'll always remember.

They got to Barcelona on Friday morning (February 14) and after walking them to their hotel, we put on our walking shoes and headed down towards Las Ramblas.  They couldn't have picked a better week to come because for the first time, we were able to walk around outside without jackets on! We to Placa Real where we ate lunch.  We had our first of many pitchers of Sangria and enjoyed the most beautiful weather! After lunch, we walked around La Boqueria (which as of right now, is my favorite place in Barcelona) and up and down Las Ramblas.  There were so many street performers outside (even Fred tried to participate!) and people walking around.  We walked to the end of the street and looked at the Christopher Columbus statue and the port.  After shower and siesta time, we went to a restaurant called Margarita Blue.  It was Mexican and it was delicious! It was a little local place with great drinks (I got a mojito) and cheesy, yummy food.  We split nachos and each got an enchilada. After finishing, we went to L'Ovella Negra and had a pitcher of Sangria and then walked to the Hard Rock Cafe for a change of scenery.  After a long night of eating and drinking, we made a quick pit stop at McDonalds for a late night snack and went our separate ways.

The next morning, they met me at my apartment and I showed them around my neighborhood.  Saturday was Gaudi day since we were planning on going to see the Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell.  After the apartment tour, we walked to Sagrada Familia and went inside.  I am obsessed with it.  Every time I walk by the outside, I see something new.  The outside is so intricate and detailed.  I had never been inside either so I was excited to see if the inside matched what I had seen outside.  The inside was so beautiful too! There were stained glass windows, chairs set up for the church and huge columns that looked like trees.  It was amazing and indescribable.  We kept talking about how pictures don’t do the church justice.  After, we took the metro to Parc Guell.  First, we walked around the outside of the Parc and then went inside and had a snack of a baguette, cheese and salami.  Just what we needed (except for all the pigeons around)!  The view was beautiful as always.  Aside from La Boqueria, Parc Guell is also one of my favorite places here.  After going home and taking a siesta, we met up with my roommate Lainie (my other roommates were travelling in London that weekend) and we went to a restaurant called La Pijama.  We had burgers, fries and beers.  Probably one of the best burgers I’ve had.  After, we went to a little local bar called Una Mas.  It was pretty empty for a Saturday night so the bartender came over and each made us a special drink.  We called it a night pretty early because we had had a long day.  I don’t think Mommy and Fred knew how much walking we were actually going to be doing!

Sunday morning, after I snuck into their hotel for the breakfast, we went to the Gothic Area (Barri Gothic) and Cathedral.  We tried to get inside but because it was a Sunday, by the time we got there, it was closed.  We met a headless man and watched street performers as we decided what to do.  Instead, we went to get sangria and paella and Restaurant Port Vell, the place where my friends and I went the first week here.  After getting lost (of course) we finally made it!  Fred and I shared seafood paella (yum!) and Mommy got chicken paella.   Delicious as usual.  Later that night, we went to a steak restaurant called Alfonsina.  Literally the best steak I’ve ever had (and I’m not just saying that because I had been craving steak but it was just so amazing and good).  We also got empanadas and risotto to go with it.  I’m thinking about it now and it’s making me hungry.  After dinner, we went to the W Hotel and had fancy drinks! I had the second best drink in all of Europe (according to the bartender) and it really was that good! The environment of the W was so cool with all of the lights and the modern furniture.  It was pretty quiet because it was a late Sunday night but we had a lot of fun drinking and talking!

La Rambla

Hola!

La Rambla is a super touristy area of Barcelona that I think most people have heard about.  It's filled with a lot of American chains like Starbucks, H&M, Burger King and even a Dunkin Donuts! But after walking around this street on two different occasions, a few things stand out:

Bar Lobo - restaurant, Carrer del Pintor Fortuny, 3
    This restaurant was so good! It was the first time my roommates and I had tapas in Spain and we couldn't have found a better place to try.  It is in the back of a side street.  We ordered a bottle of champagne, and 6 tapas of tuna with guacamole (!!), clams, sausage on bread, some sort of meatballs, croquettes and these fried/baked potatoes with some sort of gravy.  All so good!! And not too expensive.  Definitely a recommendation for anyone who goes to this area.

La Boqueria - outside market
     This was the cutest market.  Inside there are so many candies, sweets, meat, cheese, vegetables and other little food places to eat.  And everything was laid out so pretty! There were hundreds of different kinds of nuts and dried fruits that looked so pretty when they were put side by side.  Even though it's touristy, it is so fun to walk around there and explore the different foods they have.  Really easy to find too, it is in front of the first Dunkin Donuts I found in Spain!

There are also a lot of cute small stores in the middle of the street, like gelato and waffles! (Something I regret not trying.)  But because this is a super touristy place, you have to be really careful about the pickpocketers!! When I got lost trying to find my way (LOL) a very nice man working at a hotel warned me about it and just told me to be aware.  But it was fine.  Still, a super fun place to walk around.

The more I explore La Rambla, I will add to the list even more.  It is definitely not the last time I will be there!

Besos from Barca!