Europe Pics

I uploaded some of our pics from Europe to my flickr account. I reached my monthly limit so some of my pics did not upload. I guess I will have to wait until next month to upload the rest of them. I do not use flickr enough to pay for an account. I think you will get the gist of our trip based on the photos I did upload.
We hope you enjoy.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephaniemar/sets/72157618414572191/

Going home.

We figured out the train and made it to the airport. Our last impression of Barcelona was sitting across from two hipsters from Italy on the train to the airport. I think they left a club and got in the train for the airport. They had little speakers hooked up to an mp3 player so they played Italian pop music for everyone on the train. At first I was slightly annoyed but actually found them amusing and kind of fun. It was fitting that we left as a began with different languages all around us.


Barcelona was a pretty, lively and romantic city. We are glad we went from hectic London to relaxing Barcelona.
Things we noticed:
- Everyone smokes, everywhere
- Ladies on scooters/motorcycles are hot
- Straight men look gay
- Paella looks better then it tastes
- All the buildings are beautiful and colorful
- People stroll
- Passage de Gracia is a fashionitsas haven
- Resturants do not open until 9pm
- Sangria complements any meal
- Even the coffeeshop at the train station uses an expresso machine to make coffee con leche
-Flying over the Pyranees is amazing
We are ready to get back to the states and speak to someone in English, but not ready for our vacation to be over.
See you soon.





-- Post From My iPhone 5/16/09

Last night

We had an amazing vacation. We were going to check out another lesbian club because we had such a god time last night, but found wifi and checked our flight and realized it was at 11am and not 2pm. We strolled around the city, had some tapas and sangria. It has been an amazing vacation, we do not want to leave but really miss the comforts of home, our friends and Ramona and Henry. Everytime we see a dog here we get sentimental. So now we are off to bed. See you all tomorrow state side.



-- Post From My iPhone

Aire

Yes, it is almost noon and we are just leaving the room. We went out last night and did not get home until 3am. Aire the lesbian club open on Thursday nights, that we went to, was hopping. The club does not even open until 11pm, we got there around midnight. Again the Boston lesbian scene was trumped by the, music, space and crowd, in Europe and there was no cover charge. The club stayed packed until closing. It was a blast. We danced to some pretty great music and were entertained by three boys who randomly broke into dance routines in various parts of the club. They were so fun.
We woke up to sunny skies today and are heading to Barceloneta to take in the coast. We are finally wearing shorts.



-- Post From My iPhone

La Rambla

So far we have found Barcelona the easiest city to navigate. If Amsterdam was the city of bikes, then Barcelona us the city of scooters.



I think there are more of them then cars, and there are seperate parking spaces for them in the streets. They also have a bike share similar to Zipcar except for bikes. We saw the bike stations everywhere and people using them.



After Sagrada de La Familia, we strolled down La Rambla. It is a long stretch of the city with shops, cafes and carts that sell everything from tourist trinkets, to art, to flowers, to birds, rabbits and turtles. It is quite a site. You can walk all the way down to the port where there are great views of the city. Off of La Rambla are narrow alley ways with more shops and cafes. Unlike Quincy market which is all tourists, this was a mix off locals and visitors. Tucked away were La Placa(plazas) where people were just hanging out. It was exactly what I though Barcelona would be. We also found this huge food market that sold fresh fruit, meat, fish, bread and candy. As tempted as I was I did not buy a turtle.



Last night was Spain's footból finals. FC Barcelona are the champions. All through the night we could hear horns and people celebrating. It was on the front page of every paper.



-- Post From My iPhone

Sagrada La Familia

This famous church designed by Antoni Gaudi has been in the process if being built since 1882 and it is still going. This is just one small corner.



They do not plan on finishing for another two decades. When you look at the final plans it is hard to beleive they will ever finish. It is the biggest most ornate building I have ever seen. We did the audio tour and walked around and through the church and we both felt we missed so much if the intricate details of the church, which when you look from inside is in the shape of a cross. Really all you can notice is the tall facades on the outside of the church, which will eventually represent the 12 apostles, 4 evangelists and the "Holy Family", Mary, Joseph and Jesus. You walk through construction is going on and people are working on pieces of the church right in front of you. It was a little surreal.
We are off to explore once we finish our coffees.




-- Post From My iPhone 5/14/09

Platja De La Barceloneta

We made it to the beach. I could not be happier. It is a beautiful day. Lucky we brought our bathing suits with us. Since nudity is the norm here we changed right on the beach. I took a dip in the water and it is slightly cold but pretty normal for the east coast. Since there are not a ton of people swimming I can only assume it is too cold for the locals. Mel is pretty comfortable sunbathing topless and and really is the whitest thing on the beach. There are people walking up and down the beach selling all kinds of stuff, water, beer, blankets etc. Mel bought some fresh coconut. We are looking forward to eating at one of the cafes set up along the beach. We couldn't have asked for a better last day in Europe.
We then headed to the main strip in for a lunch of paella, mussels and wine.



-Post From My iPhone