Pictures of Barcelona

I'm having a lot of trouble posting pictures directly to my blog. I think this is because 1 - they are from my Canon and the file sizes are bigger and 2 - our internet service, while better, is still pretty slow and it's taking foreeeeever to get even one to upload. So, instead I'm just going to post a link to my Facebook album and if you're interested you can go check it out.

Click here (you don't need a Facebook account)

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1799349794909.96321.1574713769&type=3&l=34258206a5

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!

Pictures of Our Flat

I snapped some pictures of our flat on my phone today, this should at least give the general idea! First we have our entry way:

There is actually a little storage area here - we kind of use it as a mud room:

Living room/desk area:

Living room - with the red and gold window shades (with pale green paint??) that I love oh so much:

Living room again:

Looking into the kitchen:

Kitchen:

We have a little walk-out terrace... right now it's just used to hold our bikes (currently still wrapped in packing paper):

Hallway leading to bedrooms:

Our bedroom:

Our bedroom/closet:



Master bath:

Master bath:

Guest bath:

Guest room - future guests please note that by the time you get here, this bed will be made up as a king and the extra stuff will be cleared out! Well, maybe not the shoes...

We actually have a storage area in the hallway which is fantastic, all of that luggage we brought over on the plane with us and ski clothes live here!

That's it! Home sweet home for at least the next year.

Grady comes to his new home today!

Hello! Sorry it’s been a while since my last blog, our internet service is still not up to par. Most of the time when I get on it knocks me off again. Fun stuff.

Today marks a big day for us here in London! Our dog, Grady, finally joins us! He is on a plane over the ocean as I type. Actually no, he should have already landed! Yippee! Now comes customs, and from what I’ve been told it can take up to 3 hours to process the animals if there are quite a few of them. But, they are able to get off the plane and go to a pet reception area where they get water and bathroom breaks. My parents had pleasure/burden of taking care of Grady since we left Dallas on Jan. 16. They have been such good doggie grandparents! Now they will have to come to London – Grady will need to see them! The above picture is one my dad took while Grady was at his final vet check up before the big flight.

This past weekend Stephen and I left town for the second time; we went to an area called the Cotwolds – a hilly part of the countryside in West-Central England. It was a last minute trip, we booked our train and hotel on Thursday night and left late Friday afternoon. We live pretty close to Paddington, one of the main train stations in London, and being able to hop on a train after a short walk and get to where we’re going makes for some pretty stress-free traveling and I highly recommend it. We stayed at the Hare and Hounds hotel just outside of a town called Tetbury. It was also near Highgrove House – one of Prince Charles’ royal residences. Our taxi driver pointed it out as we passed the front gates, only he called the prince “Charlie”. I have never heard him referred to anything other than “Prince Charles”, he doesn’t seem at all like a “Charlie” to me!

It was a beautiful place, even in the still-not-quite-Spring dreary weather. I really can’t wait to go back to the countryside when it’s blooming! I have lots of great pictures from the weekend, but our super slow, unreliable wireless makes it pretty much impossible to upload them. I am making a(nother) phone call today that will hopefully put an end to the madness.

Our next trip has just been planned – we are meeting some friends in Barcelona, Spain, at the beginning of April! I am pumped about this, I have heard so many wonderful things about Spain, plus we get to see Lindsey and Dallas!

The buzz on the royal wedding is really starting to ramp up now. Road closures galore have been applied for thousands of street parties. We live just north of Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens, and I have read that there will be a large screen erected to show the ceremony as it’s happening. I expect our neighborhood, along with everyone else’s, will be one big party! I go running through the park all the time, so I’ll try to snap some pictures of the preparations as I see them.

Okay, I must leave now and make sure the house is puppy-proofed. I’ve gotten used to leaving bags on the floor knowing a little white doggie wouldn’t go rummaging through them, but that won’t be the case for much longer!

I Want To Be Italian

Last weekend we traveled out of London for our first weekend trip - to Rome! It was unbelievable, gorgeous, fun, delicious, basically everything I could ask for from my first trip to Italy!

We left late Friday afternoon and flew cheap-o airfare from London to Rome. On this airline each passenger is allowed to bring one carry-on bag, if you choose to check a bag they charge 20 pounds for it. What I didn't realize is that my purse was considered a carry-on bag (unlike in the States where you get a carry-on plus a personal item) and we were stopped while getting on the plane and had to shove it into Stephen's already-stuffed bag. So, traveling in Europe lesson #1! During our flight the captain made an announcement to say hello and whatnot, and he mentioned that we were currently flying over Geneva and the Swiss Alps. It was already completely dark so all we could see were city lights, which was a bit disappointing because the Alps is one of my favorite places! Next time we'll have to fly during the day.

Our hotel (Hotel Hassler) was at the very top of the Spanish Steps - which means we got to climb all 138 steps at least twice a day (not a bad thing after all the gelato and pasta!). The majority of the first day we spent just wandering around the city and taking it all in. We saw the Pantheon (originally built as a temple to all the gods of Rome). The building is in amazing shape, it is still fully formed as opposed to a ruin. It's really beautiful inside and out, and the concrete dome, although almost 2,000 years old, is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world! At the center of the dome is an open hole (oculus) that lets in sunlight - or rain if it's raining - and the sun spotlight arcs across the dome as the sun moves across the sky. It's kind of mesmerizing.

For dinner we stopped at a restaurant where I had the world's best pasta alla carbonara. Seriously, I think I said mmmmmm with every bite. For dessert I had lemon gelato - once again, one of the greatest things I've ever tasted. It was perfectly tart and creamy and sweet... I love lemon-flavored things. I have this memory from when I was very young, 3 maybe, standing in my great-grandmother's living room eating lemon drops out of the candy dish on her coffee table. I don't remember much of her, but my love of sweet lemon started then! Probably my love of candy, too. :) Oh! And they topped the meal off with a complimentary glass of limoncello! Amazing.

Our second day we visited the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. We took a tour inside of the Colosseum, which was one of my favorite things of the trip. The size of it is a little overwhelming, and what we see today is not even the full size/height it was originally. There are certainly many stadiums in existence today that dwarf it (hello Jerry World), but there is something about all that space created by stone, not to mention being almost 2,000 years old, it's just one of the most impressive things I've ever seen.

After the Colosseum we walked up to Palatine Hill - one of the 7 hills of Rome and where Rome was founded - and then down into the Roman Forum. There are ruins everywhere, it's so easy to imagine what it was once like.

The last day we visited Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. If the Colosseum impressed me, the Basilica stunned me completely. The size, the beauty, the intricacy, the holy space... it's difficult to describe or even capture with photographs. Sadly we weren't able to stay very long because they started closing it up about 20 minutes after we'd arrived. We'd spent so much time going through the museum and the Sistine Chapel!

Okay, so enough with the important historical stuff, I have had requests to describe the fashion styles of the places we visit. Italian people - what a show! I could sit and people-watch in a piazza all day long. Everything they do, they do with effortless flair, and they make the English look so... English. If you are an Italian man, you wear dark, form-fitting clothes, pants that don't pool around your ankles, are fond of black turtlenecks under blazers, and make it look really cool. You also have on sunglasses and a scarf thrown on in a way that shows the world that you don't have to try very hard to look this good. If you are an Italian woman, you wear beautiful tall boots or stiletto heels through cobblestone streets and don't twist an ankle as I would. You wear very tight pants or leggings and carry a large handbag of note. It was a tad cold in Rome, so you are often wearing a puffy jacket, shiny, in either black, eggplant, or navy, and you get extra points if it's belted. Seriously, I saw that jacket everywhere.

I'm going to upload some pictures, but it might take a little longer to get to that. We are moving to our new flat today - hooray! - and losing our free wireless. I will have to hunt around for a pub or coffee shop with wireless until we get everything set up in our new place.

So until then! Ciao!

First Care Package

We got our first care package this week - thanks to Chris and Kathryn! It was a basket full of Texas:
Here are Chris and Kathryn, we'll be back in the States in May for their wedding!

Thanks you guys! We've already broken into the salsa. :)

Rome if you want to

We're going to Rome! Our first European trip out of London has officially been booked and I couldn't be more excited. Our hotel is in a great location, immediately outside of the lobby are the Spanish Steps. I'll be sure and take lots of pictures to post!