Barcelona

It’s been way too long since my last entry! I have too much to write about!

Okay. Well I will start with Barcelona. I loved Spain! Stephen and I flew to Barcelona the first weekend in April to meet up with our friends Lindsey and Dallas. Lindsey’s sister, Mallory, is in college at KU and studying in Barcelona for the semester, and Lindsey and Mallory’s parents were there visiting as well. It was a family reunion with Megan and Stephen as bonus kids! They are such a great family, and it was a treat to spend so much time with them. This trip was wonderful and will go down as one of my favorite places for many reasons, but what made it so special was Lindsey and Dallas had just gotten engaged in Italy a few days before we met them in Spain. We were the first people outside of their family they were able to tell in person, and their happiness was contagious. They were both glowing with the excitement of their engagement! After they shared the big news, we sat by the pool just drinking champagne in view of the ocean and enjoying the moment. What a way to celebrate an engagement! They are a great couple and I know they have a long, happy life in front of them.

Our hotel was situated right on the water, and our room had a floor-to-ceiling window so that when you opened the curtains all you could see was the blue Mediterranean water. It was almost like being on a ship in the middle of the ocean!

Barcelona had just really started to get warm the weekend we were there; most people were walking around with t-shirts or tank tops on with maybe an extra layer. I don’t know what has happened to me, I have only been in London for a few months but it was like I’d completely forgotten what it was like to dress in warm weather! I arrived with a lot of black London layers in my suitcase. The Mediterranean sun is gloriously warm, so I had to do a bit of improvising (and a little shopping).

Other than the sun and the blue sky, my favorite things we saw in Barcelona were related to the architect Antoni Gaudí. The first being the Sagrada Familia, a catholic church that has been under construction since 1882! I will do a companion posting with photos to this entry so I can show a bit of the church; it was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. What was interesting is how Gaudí brought nature into his design. Instead of plain columns inside the church, they are styled to look like the trunks of huge trees. They are different colors and sizes and really give it such a sense of whimsy. Every corner you look there is some intricate detail; it’s like being in a cathedral in a fairy tale. We paid the extra bit of money to get a ticket on the lift up to the top of one of the towers, and it was definitely worth the money. Acrophobes beware though (ahem, Stephen), if you have a fear of heights you might not enjoy the thrill of the shallow, open balconies overlooking the city or looking straight down the tight spiral staircase!

My other favorite Gaudí spot was Park Güell. The park sits on a hill in the northern part of the city and from the top you can see all the way to the sea. Again the overall design elements are very whimsical, and the spring flowers were really starting to pop, it is such a beautiful place! We hiked all the way to the very top (again, not prepared, in flip flops), and then shared a couple pitchers of sangria at the café in the piazza. Not too shabby.

Mallory, having lived in Barcelona since January, took us to some fantastic local places for lunch and dinner where they served up some of the freshest platters and tapas I’ve seen. It’s amazing how much you can eat when all the food comes in bite sizes, we all put away a mound of tapas. Delicious. She also took us to a flamenco show which was highly entertaining, had great dancing, and some beautiful live singing and intricate Spanish guitar. (Dad, you would have loved the guitar.) There were two female dancers, a younger one who took a seat early and continued the show clapping out the rhythm, and an older one who danced the entire show. She was what I can only describe as Fierce. You couldn’t take your eyes off her. And woe be the person to meet her in a dark alley, I swear she could dance someone to death. The whole show was only half an hour and got thunderous applause.

Now onto the fashion. It was the very beginning of beach season while we were there. Our hotel, being right on the water, gave us plenty of opportunities to walk along the boardwalk and take in the sights. The sights being – nude beaches. Now being that this is Europe, I was kind of expecting that and it's no big deal, but what cracked me up is we saw several people with shirts on but no bottoms! It was still a bit chilly for nude sun time I guess... but I would option for bottoms instead of a top, no? This one guy had on a t-shirt, but no bottoms, and he had his knees bent and butt facing the walkway so everyone could get a good look at his (not kidding) newly shaved balls and butt crack. Lovely! This other lady, who was 50+, was also wearing a t-shirt but no bottoms, and had stood up to wipe the sand off of her, only she was trying to get the sand out of every nook and crevice and was bending this way and that wiping everything... again, just lovely! :) Maybe the beautiful people nude beaches are in Brazil??? For those who chose to wear clothes, summer casual was definitely the way to go. Maybe it was just my impression, but I got kind of a casual, hippy, Spanish vibe from a lot of the people. I also saw a lot of royal purple on people.

Ah, it was a wonderful trip! Olé!