What a difference one weekend can make!

Hola!

Since my last blog, we unfortunately watched the snow melt in London. The sidewalks stayed pretty icy for a few days b/c the temperature was still getting cold at night, but now all evidence of snow is gone. Last week we rested up from the crazy weekend before and also tried to get some energy for our trip to Barcelona. Wednesday we relaxed and Thursday we went to a huge mall with Laura and Georgia. It is one of the biggest malls in Europe and definitely the biggest in the UK. It has multiple stories and each story has a ton of shops on it. It was nice to walk around, but like it typically is, I didn't find anything but dinner! It was a great dinner of a burrito from a place similar to Moe's, so it definitely was appreciated.

On Friday, I woke up to a heavy amount of snow falling, but thankfully none sticking to the ground. It was a quick snow shower, but one to definitely put fear inside me. Throughout the day there were rain showers, snow showers, and sleet all mixed in. The day went quickly, and Jenna and I escaped around 3 to head to Heathrow for our flight. As we walked, the precipitation kept changing from rain to sleet and we could only expect the worst. Thankfully...it was the absolute opposite! We arrived at Heathrow with time to spare and got bumped up to an earlier flight. We grab a quickly sandwich and headed to our terminal, and after an uneventful flight, arrived in Barcelona over an hour earlier than we expected. We enjoyed the sights and unseasonably warm weather as we walked along La Rambla (as Trey describes it, The French Quarter of Barcelona...but I didn't think it was nearly as dirty as that). We checked into our hostel after walking down what seemed to be the Islamic hangout of Barcelona. The hostel was more like a hotel b/c we had our own room and bathroom and things were clean and nice. We headed out onto La Rambla again and ducked into a tapas bar, where we ate dinner around 11:30 and had a huge beer stein of Sangria! We also met a nice couple from outside London who kept the conversation going. We headed in around 1 am and crashed from the long day.

Saturday morning we woke up to blue skies and warm weather. We headed down La Rambla towards to Mediterranean Sea, saw the monument dedicated to Columbus pointing to the Sea, and bought tickets for a hop on/hop off bus tour. This was great b/c the city is very spread out and we could have spent lots of time underground on the metro if we would've wanted to see everything. We rode along throughout the city and our first sight was the Segrada Familia, designed by the architect Gaudi. If you have a chance, Google the name Gaudi and take a look at his work in Barcelona. Very innovative and amazing. Jenna and I both fell in love! The Segrada was an awesome cathedral that looked like a dripping sandcastle and it is still unfinished. We got back on the bus and headed to Park Guell, that is again inspired by Gaudi. It was a nice, calm area to walk around with some great views of the city and the ocean. We got back on the bus, it began to get a little cold, so we finished the bus tour and headed back to the hotel to rest before dinner. We ventured out around 10 pm (local time for dinner) to a place recognized as the best deal for paella in Barcelona. Something must have been good b/c there was a line of about 25 people waiting to get in. Since we only had 2 people, it only took about 30 minutes. The sangria was awesome, paella was more traditional but not great, and service was terrible. Overall, we enjoyed the experience and were ready to sleep after the long day.

Sunday morning, we were again greeted with great sunny skies. We walked down towards the beach area, and stopped off to listen to a great street band performing. They had gathered a large crowd and even sang some Bob Marley. This was one of the coolest things I had seen all weekend. The people here are just very free spirited and seem to love life and the greatness the city brings to them. We continued walking to the beach and loved the site as we got to the waters edge. We decided to be a little atypical and got some chinese food to eat, then sat on the beach enjoying a beer. I was so excited to touch the Mediterranean and enjoy having my boots and socks off for even a short time. We then hopped on the bus again and went along the South route and saw more sites, including the area where the 1992 Olympics were held. Again, we got off at a stop with great views of the city from above. The city really had it all-mountains, ocean, and city life. It is somewhere I'd love to visit again, especially in the Spring or early Summer when things aren't too crowded but you could take advantage of more outdoor activities. At the end of the day we grabbed a snack (2nd of the trip), which was a doner kebab. It is a chicken shwarma, with toppings and sauce all in a pita. I have officially fallen in love and am destined to find these things back in The States! We sat on the ground in a square, enjoyed our snack, and then headed to get our luggage and back to the airport. Our flight was very bumpy and had lots of turbulance, but no other issues. We made it home nice and safe and with no snow slowing us down. Unfortunately, that was my last big trip while I'm here, but I have enjoyed them all so far. My next two weekends will be filled with seeing the last few things in London and maybe taking a day trip to someone near here...any suggestions???

Hope all is well back home and get ready b/c Melissa will be back home soon!