Bienvenido Barcelona!

Getting to Barcelona was quite the experience. We took our first (and only, thank goodness) Ryanair flight. I was so pleased to get all 12 days worth of clothes etc. into one bag only to find that my bag was 2 kilos over the maximum weight. So, it was time for some strategic weight shifting. I put my chargers and converters in one coat pocket and all of my liquids in another.  I looked a little lumpy, and wearing my northface jacket in 70 degree weather was a bit unpleasant but my bag now only weighed 8.5 kilos...success!!


A couple of hours later we were in beautiful Barcelona! We got in at night and so our first stop was dinner. We went to a place just around the corner for some paella, a traditional Spanish dish of rice, meat, seafood etc. all served in the big pan it is cooked in.

Enjoying some sangria before the paella comes.

My DELICIOUS asparagus risotto (paella has a tomato based sauce so I got this instead)

Mixed Paella

Me, Cat and Alaina with our hats down by the pier. 

Me at the beach!

We only stayed for about an hour because it was mostly cloudy and  so windy it felt like a  hurricane was coming.

Park Guell is the park designed by Gaudi.  It is a really beautiful park with paths taking you up the hill to a panoramic view of the city as well as a bunch of Gaudi's mosaic art. 

Camille, me, Cat and Alaina at Parc Guell with a great view of the city in the background.

Mosaic benches at Park Guell

Me, Tess and Cherie at Park Guell

At Parc Guell with the city in the background

The entrance of Mercat de La Boqueria.  We had lunch here every day, usually a baguette with ham and cheese and some fresh fruit. 

Me with my raspberries at the food market

Fish at the market.

It rained all morning so we got these awesome ponchos while standing in line to see La Sagrada Familia

All of us in our ponchos...we are so ready for Easter!

Tess and I in the entrance of La Sagrada Familia looking like stereotypical tourists with our audioguides, waterbottles, cameras and rain ponchos.

Inside La Sagrada Familia. The columns were  inspired by trees. The 'branches' are what support the ceiling. 

The passion facade. 

Nativity Facade

Me with la Sagrada Familia in the background. It was started in 1882 and is still  being built. It is scheduled for completion in about 2026. It would be so cool to go back and see the finished project. 

Tapas for lunch.  Tapas was originally slices of bread or ham to cover ones drink, preventing flies from getting in.  It has evolved into a wide variety of small plates of food for people to share. 

Easter is a huge holiday in Barcelona. We were there for Good Friday and for Sant Jordi's day. Sant Jordi's day was nuts.  The streets were packed with people and there were people selling books on every street. Sant Jordi's day celebrates the death of Catalunya's patron saint, St. George.

This bread was in all the bakeries for the Easter celebration.

Barcelona is known for its great night life, and for good reason!  We had so much fun going out in this wonderful city. Our hostel always had a night out planned for its guests so we went one night with them first to a bar near our hostel and then to a club on the beach! We met some great people on the way. One group of guys from England were hilarious, especially Will with his blue blazer and red bow tie.  We also met a couple Danes in our hostel. They tried to give me a lesson in Danish...who knew I had been butchering 'unskyld' all this time?!  The club we went to was so nice!  Inside there was a dance floor and then there was a deck part that was right on the beach. It was a great way to spend the night in Barcelona!

Cat, Alaina and Me with our new friend Will.

We didn't have the best weather in Barcelona the first few days we were there, but the last day was absolutely beautiful. We took advantage of the weather and walked all around the city seeing the many different plazas and parks we had yet to see. 

The Gaudi fountain in Parc de la Ciutadella.

I ran into Anissa in Barcelona!  What a small world!  

After four wonderful days in Barcelona it was time to say adios make our way to Madrid!

Kicking off spring break in Belgium!

One exam and one final paper later its time for spring break!  On the itinerary...Brussels, Barcelona and Madrid.  Our first stop is Brussels; the land of beer, chocolate, waffles and best of all..FRIES!

At dinner the first night in Brussels

The restaurant we ate at the first night.  All of the art work on the walls are depictions of the history of Belgium. 

We took a day trip to the city of Brugge on our first full day in Belgium.  The city is beautiful and quaint with canals running throughout it and a chocolate shop on every street corner. 

Me and Cat enjoying one of the many canals

One of our first stops in Brugge was to see the béguinage. A béguinage is a place where religious women live, secluded from the rest of the town. It is a bit like a convent only with less strict rules. The béguinage in Brugge is open during the day so that people can enjoy the beautiful gardens and church inside the surrounding buildings. The one in Brugge became a monastery in 1937 and is still home to the Benedictine sisters.  

Brugge's beguinage. 

One of the many swans in the pond outside of the beguinage.

Then we walked around the city, stopping in many chocolate shops along the way, and enjoyed the day. There isn't a whole lot to in Brugge other than walking around and enjoying the city.  We had beautiful weather so it ended up being a great day!

One of the things to see in Brugge is the Basilica of the Holy Blood.  The church is home to a phial that contains a cloth with the blood of Christ on it. It was supposedly brought to the city during the Second Crusades. I was pretty excited to see the blood of Christ and so paid my 2 euro to get into the museum where the relic is held.  Much to my disappointment, the 'museum' was a single room, and all you could see of the Holy Blood was the ornate, gold and diamond encrusted shrine it was held in. The shrine was pretty cool but it would have been much better to see the actual thing. 2 euros I'll never get back...

Chocolate display in one of the many chocolate shops we went into. 

Market Square, the main square in Brugge

Me and Tess in front of the Provincial Hof in Market Square

Lots of Belgian Beer

You can actually see the sugar crystals in the waffles...

In the entrance of the Frite Museum! I love that this city has a whole museum dedicated to one of my favorite foods...fries!

Back in Brussels we went out for a traditional Belgian dinner of moules frites, mussels and fries. 

The next day we did a lot of site seeing in Brussels.  One stop was to see the Manneken Pis meaning literally, little man pee.  Interestingly enough this is one of the most famous sites in Brussels. There are pictures of it all over the souvenirs and chocolate replicas in all of the chocolate shop. After seeing the statue represented all over the city I was expecting it to be pretty impressive, or at least pretty big.  But no.  The actual statue is only about a foot and a half tall. It was pretty comical to see when we actually got there, I wasn't sure we were at the right place for a while.  There is also a pissing girl statue in Brussels, even more odd than the Manneken Pis. 

One of many chocolate replicas of Manneken Pis, these were all much cooler than the actual statue!

Me with the Manneken Pis...

The Pissing Girl

Me in the Grand Place

Alaina, me, Tess and Cat in the Grand Place.

Eating lunch in the park and enjoying the beautiful weather!

Cat, Alaina, Tess and Myself

The Royal Palace

St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral

This is where the Delirium bar with all the beer is located. We went out here one night and met  some baseball players from the states.  After living just outside of Brussels for a few months they were excited to meet some English speaking girls!

While I can't normally eat chocolate I decided to make one little exception while in Belgium. I couldn't go to Belgium and NOT have some Belgian chocolate.  So I went to Neuhaus, one of the best Belgian chocolate shops and got one piece of dark chocolate. It was called the Jean. It was absolutely delicious! The girls decided to document every moment of the chocolate eating experience as you can see below...

I had the Jean, a dark chocolate

Me with my chocolate from Neuhaus 

Enjoying my first bite of chocolate in over a year!

It was DELICIOUS!!

Me and Alaina enjoying dinner on the patio of our hostel

In Delirium Bar, they have over 2,000 beers available!

Basilica of the Sacred Heart. This church was huge and only a couple blocks from  where we were staying.

Home of the European Commission Headquarters

The triumphal arch in Parc du Cinquantenaire 

We got the most delicious fries here on our last day. They were served in a big paper cone and  a little fork along with one of more than 20 different sauces!

Our circle of sauces for our fries.

After enjoying our fries in the park it was time to head back to our hostel and leave for Barcelona!