A Spanish Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this last year, Dallin and I decided to celebrate with a trip to Barcelona, Spain. We flew from Venice Marco Polo airport to Barcelona airport on Ryanair on Thursday morning. When we arrived in Barcelona, we hopped on the train at the airport to take into the city. Within 30 minutes we arrived at our stop and walked to the flat that we rented. We rented a tiny little flat in the city on airbnb.com. Here is the link. It was super cute, but luckily Dallin and I had it our to ourselves because it was so little! We were amazed when the owner told us it was her primary residence. I couldn't imagine living in such a small space permanently. Just to give you an idea of how small it was, the toilet had to be set at an angle for it to fit in the bathroom! Haha. But it was clean, nicely decorated, and it was in a great location, in a quiet Spanish neighborhood right by the metro station. Perfect for our weekend away.

We got settled in our flat and then set off to explore downtown. We first headed to the Ramblas, the main pedestrian thoroughfare of Barcelona. We got some lunch at a little place a bit off from the Ramblas called Restaurant Elisabets. It was a cute little place decorated with antique radios and flooded with Catalan locals. Unfortunately, our first experience with Spanish food wasn't that great. Maybe we just got unlucky, but I have to say that Italians are definitely better at cuisine than the Spanish. At this restaurant we got some paella. It was... meh. Not really bad, just not that great. My main course was pretty good. It was chicken stuffed with mushrooms and ham in a cream sauce, kinda similar to chicken cordon bleu. Dallin got some kind of meat that was subpar, though. Then we got these mousse things for dessert. They were ok.  After our Spanish cuisine experience, we continued our journey down La Rambla.

Walking down La Rambla.

Along the Ramblas there are all of these little pet shop stands with bunnies, birds, fish, and turtles. The Catalan children will bring their parents here on Sundays to buy a pet for the apartment.

This is La Boqueria, a lively food market selling fruit, candy, tapas, sandwiches, fresh fish, and lots of ham!

Pretty buildings along La Rambla

The Ramblas ends at the harbor with a monument honoring Christopher Columbus.

I decided to ride the lion on the monument for a bit.

After our walk down the Ramblas we decided to continue our sunset stroll along the harbor of Barcelona.

This is the Head Sculpture of Barcelona. Pretty cool. It's along the harbor.

Me walking along the harbor.

We continued walking through town to the Picasso Museum. The museum is contained in a Gothic palace and it is unique because it follows the evolution of Picasso's style. It starts with his young boy years of realistic paintings then shows his progression through his life to his cubist style he is famous for. Both Dallin and I enjoyed exploring this museum and learning more about Picasso and his style. Our favorite exhibit showed all of Picasso's many renditions of Valezquez's "Las Meninas".

Picasso created over 50 interpretations of Velazquez's painting!

After exploring the museum, we stopped at an awesome tapas bar for a light dinner, since we had a late lunch. We loved the tapas. At this bar, you just grab a plate and choose from the array of mini open-faced sandwiches. When you are ready to leave, you just go up to the register and the bar tender will just count up your toothpicks to calculate your bill.

Tapas!

After some tapas we walked around the Ribera district and the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona, enjoying the ambience-- Spanish families out for their evening paseo, guitarists playing lovely melodies, and the warm glow from street lamps and lively restaurants reflecting off of the shiny cobbled streets. We then hopped on the metro back to our little flat to watch a movie on our iPad and then sleep the night away.

The next morning we woke up and got ready for the day, walked from our flat to the metro to make our way to the Casa Mila on the Passeig de Gracia. We grabbed some yummy ham sandwiches and pastries for breakfast along the way.

The Casa Mila

The Casa Mila was designed by the famous architect, Antoni Gaudi, as a ritzy apartment complex. It now just accommodates the many tourists who flock to experience Gaudi's modernista style first-hand. I remember learning about Gaudi in my art classes at BYU, but I always found his style to be kind of strange and actually, a little ugly. All of his buildings reminded me of melting ice cream cakes or something. After visiting Barcelona however, I have realized that you really just have to see his designs in person to fully appreciate his unique style. After seeing many of his designs in person, I now find his works to be incredibly beautiful! But looking back on these pictures I understand my previous feelings about Gaudi. Pictures just cannot do him justice. Anyways, enough of me being artsy-fartsy... bottom line-- I am now a huge Gaudi fan.

We toured the Casa Mila that morning. You enter first into the courtyard of the complex and then climb all of the stairs up to the roof of the building. The rooftop displays Gaudi's style of artfully decorating the roof with the functional aspects of the building. All of the decor on the roof are either chimneys or stairways of the building.

Me on the roof.

Chimneys and stairwells.

Dal and stairwell.

You can also visit the attic of the Casa Mila which houses a museum about Gaudi. It explains how he came up with his designs. I especially loved how Gaudi drew inspiration from nature. The museum shows a bunch of models he used for his designs and a lot of them were just natural things like animal skeletons, flowers, leaves, and branches. He was quite a religious person and saw God as the greatest architect, that is why he drew his inspiration from nature.

After visiting the attic, you can also tour one of the apartments. They have it decorated in the style of when the Casa Mila was completed with furniture and decor just as if a family had been living there.

After touring the Casa Mila, we continued walking down the Passeig de Gracia to what is called "The Block of Discord". This consists of three different Modernista facades all right next to each other. With each building's elaborate details and twisting architecture it appears that each facade is attempting to outdo its neighbor.

Part of the "Block of Discord" with Casa Batllo by Antoni Gaudi on the right and Casa Amatller on the left by  Josep Puig Cadafalch.

After walking the Passeig de Gracia, we hopped on the metro to get to the Sagrada Familia Church. When you emerge from the Sagrada Familia metro stop and turn around, prepare to be amazed. The Sagrada Familia, this absolutely mammoth church which is still under construction, will blow you away. It is just so HUGE! We just gazed at it for a moment after we got there because we were so amazed. Then we remembered that we were really hungry so we set off to find some eats.

Unfortunately there are hardly any decent eating options near the Sagrada Familia. We walked all around the neighborhood and couldn't find any decent restaurants, so we had to settle for McDonald's. It was our first time ever eating McDonald's in Europe, and I must say, it wasn't too bad. McDonald's tastes better in Europe and the restaurant is a bit classier here. And it was nice because we got to eat out on the patio with a great view of the Sagrada Familia in front of us.

After nourishing ourselves, we then got in line to visit the Sagrada Familia. It was a long line but it moved pretty quickly. This is now my new favorite church that we have visited in Europe. It's so unique because it still under construction. It began construction in 1882 and it still probably won't be complete for another 30 years or so. It is like a modern day Notre Dame or something.

This is the passion facade. In each nook of the facade is a scene from Christ's Passion.

Christ's crucifixion on the Passion facade.

Another reason why I love the Sagrada Familia so much is because it is so modern in style. Dallin and I have seen so many Baroque and Gothic style cathedrals but the style of the Sagrada Familia is just so different from those. It's also different because it is so new inside, it gives you a glimpse of what it must have felt like to step into the older churches like St. Peter's Cathedral or Notre Dame when they were first completed.

The Nativity facade. This facade depicts all of the scenes from the nativity between beautifully carved flowers , plants, animals, and angels.

Closeup of the Holy Family on the Nativity facade.

Lastly, I once again, just loved Gaudi's style. I love the amazing details of the facades and all of the scenes from Christ's life that are depicted on them. I also loved the interior. Gaudi designed the interior pillars of the church to resemble trees, so the inside of the church actually feels like a forest and the ceiling is carved with flowery bursts. The interior is absolutely beautiful!

The forest-like interior.

I loved the stained-glass windows. The beautiful colors were breathtaking!

 After touring the Sagrada Familia we hopped on the bus and made our way to Parc Guell, another one of Gaudi's works.

Entrance to Parc Guell.

Parc Guell was originally designed to be a high-income housing development. The idea flopped and the results were to turn the work into a beautiful park.

Entering Park Guell

Me standing in what was supposed to house a produce market for the community in the original Parc Guell project.

Yeah, I am about five months pregnant, so that's why I look rather portly here.

Enjoying the colorful terrace. Gaudi even designed these benches to be ergonomically correct!

The terrace in Parc Guell.

This cute pink house was Gaudi's residence for 20 years. It's a model of what the houses in the housing development would have looked like.

That evening we returned to Eixample to eat a yummy pizza dinner at a restaurant called El Raco. Then we made our way back to our flat to rest.

The next morning we toured the Gothic Quarter, which seemed to be the heart of Barcelona. We went into the Cathedral of Barcelona, perused a few Christmas markets, and admired the beautiful streets.

In the cloisters of the Cathedral.

Later that day we were waiting for a restaurant to open to have lunch at. We were standing under the eaves of a building and... it happened. I knew it was bound to happen at some point. I finally got pooped on by a pigeon. Bleck!!! It was disgusting. I felt something drop on my head and asked Dallin if he saw anything. He said, "Yep, its bird poop". I wasn't sure if he was kidding or not, because he likes to freak me out like that. I made him take a picture of it, and finally, I realized he wasn't kidding. Ugh, I was so upset! Our pal, Rick Steves has told us many times that if you get pooped on, don't touch it, just let it dry and then pick it out. It's a lot less messy. I could hardly stand it! Just sitting there with bird poop on my head. It finally dried and we went into a Starbucks to wash my hair in the bathroom. GROSSS!

I HATE PIGEONS!

Luckily after that ordeal, we had an amazing lunch which brightened my day. We went to La Crema Canela which was this awesome Asian fusion restaurant. It was so good!!! We got these chicken skewers with this amazing rice that had all this yummy stuff mixed in. It was delicious. And it was a really nice, classy place too. We loved it.

After lunch we walked down the Ramblas again in search for a bicycle rental shop. When we finally found one we rented two bikes and took a one and a half hour tour on bike of Barcelona. We rode through Citadel Park to the Arc de Triomf then down to the beach and harbor. I love exploring cities on bike. You can see so much more of the city in a shorter amount of time. So fun!

Me with one of the moving statues on the Ramblas. They stay still, until you give them some money and then they come to life.

Barcelona's Arc de Triomf

Barcelona's Beach. It's probably nice in the summer!

Riding by the harbor.

We then returned our bikes and then got some dinner at the same tapas place we went to the first night. Dal loved his tapas!

Dal's favorite were the tapas with chorizo on them. YUM.

After some tapas we decided to ride the funicular up to Barcelona's mountain, Montjuic. This is where the Olympic stadium is, as well as the Montjuic Castle. We explored the castle a bit and admired the views of Barcelona from above. Then we took a bus down to Placa d'Espanya. From there, we walked to see the "Magic Fountains". They were so magical! Haha. They were these big fountains that shoot up with colorful lights and music, kind of like the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas. That night the show was to Disney music (the Spanish versions, of course). It was kind of corny, but I have to admit, I enjoyed it. :)

The Magic Fountains!

After watching the inspirational moving water, we headed back to our flat and went to sleep.

The next morning was our last day in Barcelona. We packed up our stuff, said goodbye to our flat and set off to find us a delicious breakfast.

Saying goodbye to our street in Barcelona.

And boy did we find it at this magical little hole-in-the wall.



It was here that we consumed the best thing about Spain-- Churros and Chocolate Caliente! It was so yummy. Churros should always be paired with pudding-thick hot chocolate.

Churros and Chocolate Caliente-- part of this balanced breakfast.

After this yummy breakfast we took one last stroll down the Ramblas, then hopped on the metro to the Estacio Nord bus station to catch our bus to the airport. An hour later, we arrived at the Girona airport and then flew back home to Venice. It was a great weekend in Spain, and we were thankful to spend Thanksgiving in Barcelona!

Jolly Olde London

Yep, now I know we're in London.

Over last Veteran's Day weekend, Dallin and I finally made it out of the European Union over to England and spent a couple of days in the great city of London. I had been to London before and I remember when I visited the first time, I noticed and marveled over all of the differences between the United Kingdom and the United States. However this time around, after living in Italy for a year, visiting England was almost like coming home. Compared to Italy, the culture and customs of the English people felt so similar to our own, not to mention, their language. It was a nice break from the Italian people and culture.

On Friday morning we flew from Milan Bergamo airport to the London Stansted airport on good old Ryanair. From the airport we took a shuttle bus that dropped us off on Liverpool street in London. We promptly bought our oyster cards (for public transportation) and loaded some money on them. From there we hopped on one of the iconic red double-decker buses to ride to our accommodations. We loved riding on the top levels of the buses for great views of the city.

On top of the bus.

We made it to our accommodations located in the Southwark area of London. We rented out a room from a lovely born and bred Londoner woman named Marina. I found the room on airbnb.com here. For only $62 a night we had a clean room with a very comfortable bed. There was only one bathroom in the house so we had to share it with our hostess, but I think she cleaned everyday, because whenever we came home it was spotless. The flat was in a good location too, just a block away from a main street where a lot of buses pick up. Marina also gave us some tips on things to see and directions to various sights. Overall, our experience was great, and you can't beat that price for accommodations in London!

After getting settled in our room, we were starving so we hopped back on the bus and made our way to Trafalgar Square. We grabbed some sandwiches at a little cafe and started our sightseeing. We started off with a walk through the West End of London starting off at Leicester Square where we got some half-priced tickets to see Chicago that night. Then we made our way to Covent Garden, a very fun part of the city. It is a covered marketplace with lots of fun boutiques and shops. It was all decorated for Christmas and outside on the squares there were lots of street performers who were fun to watch.

Happy Christmas! from Covent Garden

This ugly skinny dude was lying on beds of nails for moolah.

The best thing about Covent Garden was this food fair they were having, where all of these vendors were selling lots of yummy foods. There was everything from Argentinian food, to cupcakes, to gourmet burgers. We got some snacks here and then returned here later for dinner. I also liked the giant Rudolph here.

From Covent Garden we continued our stroll towards Cambridge Circus and then down Charing Cross Road.

Busy Cambridge Circus.

We took a little detour down Denmark street which happens to hold a lot of British pop and rock history in its buildings. For example, in the building that houses the guitar shop pictured below, Wunjo Guitars, used to be  a music publishing house. This company employed as a lowly office boy, Reginald Dwight. In 1969 Reginald wrote "Your Song" on the rooftop of this building and went on to become Sir Elton John.

Denmark Street

We continued our West End tour by strolling through quaint Soho then up glitzy Regent Street all the way to Picadilly Circus.

Soho

Picadilly Circus

From Picadilly Circus we looped back to Covent Garden because we wanted to hit up that food fair again. When we arrived, they just happened to be starting the tree lighting for the big Christmas tree there. It was quite a festive occasion with free cider and a gay men's choir singing Christmas Carols!

Look at the tree!!!

After getting some yummy dinner and dessert at Covent Garden we headed to the Garrick Theater to see Chicago!

All that Jazz!!!!

Our seats were awesome and the show was great! I really enjoyed it. Our only complaint was that the character of Roxy was played by America Ferrera, you know, Ugly Betty. She just didn't seem like a good fit for the role. I don't understand why they casted her as Roxy. Her acting was pretty good but her singing was not. The singing parts for Roxy aren't even that difficult to begin with, but America was barely holding it together. She was flat probably 80% of the time. That was the only disappointment. The rest of the cast was excellent!

After the show we caught the bus back to our little room in Southwark and went to bed.

Day 2 in London was a busy one. I bought a London Pass, but just for one day, so to save money we crammed in everything that we wanted to see that was covered on the pass in one day. We began with St. Paul's Cathedral. We were welcomed out front by some lovely London Occupiers.

They were really making a difference out there. Way to go guys.

St. Paul's Cathedral was grand. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so I have none of the interior. This is England's national church. The history behind this church and those that stood before it is overwhelming. Of course this is where Prince Charles and the beloved Lady Diana were wedded in 1981.

Exterior of St. Paul's

We climbed up the dome of St. Paul's for a view of foggy London.

Climbing down from St. Paul's lantern.

After exploring the cathedral we walked to the Tower of London.

The Tower of London. This fortress served as a royal residence, the Royal Mint, the Royal Jewel house, and as a prison and execution site of those who dared to oppose the crown.

We joined a tour group hosted by the famous Beefeaters. These guys are retired members of the British military and give very entertaining tours of the Tower.

One of the main sights at the Tower of London are the Crown Jewels. Unfortunately no pictures of these mindblowingly beautiful rocks are allowed. This very stately guard was in charge of guarding the jewels.

This is me in front of the White Tower. This served as the last line of defense within this fortress-complex. It now  houses a museum of the Royal Armory.

After touring the Tower of London we exited and got a great view of Tower Bridge, then hopped on a boat tour down the Thames River.

Though Tower Bridge looks medieval in style, it wasn't built until 1894 of steel and concrete.

Our boat tour gave us a great view of London from the Thames.

Our boat tour ended in the Westminster district of London. We walked around the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, snapping some photos, and then headed to Westminster Abbey.

Big Ben and the London Eye

 I had forgotten how beautiful Westminster Abbey was! Again, sorry for the lack of pictures. No photos allowed inside. England's kings and queens have been crowned and buried here at the Abbey since 1066. It also houses the tombs of many famous poets, politicians, and warriors such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Lord Byron, and Lewis Carroll.

Me in front of Westminster Abbey.

Because we came over Veteran's Day weekend everyone in London was wearing these paper poppies. They commemorate soldiers who have died at war.

After touring Westminster Abbey we then visited the Churchill War Rooms. These were the underground headquarters of Churchill's war effort during WWII. It was interesting to learn more about Winston Churchill and realize how devastating WWII was for London.

We then headed to Trafalgar Square and did a whirlwind tour of the National Gallery, hitting up the famous ones: the Da Vincis, Botticellis, Velazquezes, Rembrandts, Turners, Van Goghs, and Monets.

Me outside of the National Gallery in front of Trafalgar Square.

Then we got some delicious dinner at Wagamamas! Me and my family loved this place when we came to London a couple of years ago and Dallin loved it too. It is an Asian noodle restaurant with several establishments around London. It is so yummy!

Dal lovin' the Wagamamas.

After dinner we were pretty dead from such a busy day of sight seeing so we hopped on the big red buses and headed back to our flat.

The next morning we headed to Notting Hill. I was not able to come to this quaint area of London last time I visited so this was new territory for me. I loved Notting Hill! Each Saturday morning they have an awesome street market on Portobello Road with lots of antiques, clothes, jewelry, books, and other treasures. It was a joy to just walk around this place.

Me in Notting Hill. We  also searched for Hugh Grant and his travel bookstore, but no luck. :)

We got strawberry and nutella crepes for breakfast at this crepe stand. YUM!

I love Notting Hill!

I'm glad we came early in the morning because it got quite crowded quite quickly as we were leaving.

We then headed to Kensington Garden and rented some bikes to ride through the park.

a beautiful fall day in London!

We biked past Kensington Palace where William and Kate are going to move in soon.

We also rode past the beautiful Royal Albert Hall. My family and I saw a concert here last time we were here.

After our pleasant bike ride we perused the overwhelming department store of Harrod's in Knightsbridge. Our favorite department was the toys. There were so many fun (and expensive) toys to look at. Every kid needs a their own kid-sized battery powered Ferrari to cruise around in! We also looked around in the baby clothes department for fun. They had Gucci, Burberry, Yves Saint Laurent baby clothes. All of the necessities for our little one! Haha.

The Egyptian Escalator in Harrod's. As we were riding up it one time, there were  legitimate opera singers popping out of all of the different balconies surrounding the escalator and singing. It was so random, but cool!

Knightsbridge

After exploring Harrod's we caught the bus to Northern London near the British Museum. We got some lunch at an amazing Thai restaurant  and then toured the museum.

Me in front of the British Museum

We saw all of the amazing artifacts from ancient civilizations.

Me and Taweret, the Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility got along well. :)

We saw the Rosetta Stone, Ramesses II, and a Greek Temple.

Pound it.

After the British Museum, we headed over to Buckingham Palace to see the exterior at night. The royal standard (a red, yellow, and blue flag) was flying, so the Queen was home.

Buckingham Palace

We then searched for some dinner. First we went to Chipotle, because Dallin just had to have it because there are no mexican restaurants in Italy. We had spotted it the day before and grabbed some lunch there and Dal just had to go back to eat his beloved Mexican food. I, however, held out because I wanted some fish and chips. You can't go to London and not get fish and chips! So afterwards we found a pub and got some fish and chips. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as I had hoped. Should have gotten the Chipotle. I wish I could remember the fish and chips place I went to with my parents last time. It was so delicious and it was what I was craving. Oh well.

After dinner, we walked down Whitehall towards Westminster to get some more shots of Big Ben at night.

Our last night in London

After taking a few photos we got on the bus back to our flat. We slept for a couple of hours only to get back up at 2 am to take the bus back to Liverpool street to take our shuttle at 3 am to the airport to catch our 6 am flight. Oy. It was early. We made all of our buses without a hitch, but when it came time to go through security I ran into some trouble.

I have this key chain on my keys. It's a bright pink bottle of pepper spray. I have had it with me since college, and I have luckily never had to use it. But I have always had it with me just in case. I had kind of forgotten about it when I travel and I have never been stopped by security before because of it. Well, that came to an end in London. The security people found it and they had to call in the police to take care of the situation. The situation being a little pregnant woman being caught with a pink bottle of pepper spray.

Apparently it is illegal for anyone in the UK to carry pepper spray. It is considered a "class 5 fire arm" or something. So I wasn't stopped for almost bringing it on the airplane, but because I was carrying it around London. So, I had to be questioned by the police. When the MP5s were brought out, I got a little scared. The cops led Dallin and I into an interrogation room. Luckily, the two cops were very friendly and cordial, so that put me a little at ease. I answered all of their questions truthfully. Dallin flashed his military ID and I got off with a "strong caution". Nothing went on my record (thankfully) but if I ever happen to bring pepper spray into the UK again, I could face some consequences! Luckily we were super early for our flight so we weren't in danger of missing it in spite of being set back around 30 minutes. But it was quite an eventful end to our trip to London! And you can be sure, you won't ever find me with pepper spray in the UK ever again! I learned my lesson!