Belated Barcelona pics

My this vacation has been flying by! I expected that it would, but it's kind of sad when it actually does. Trevor and I were in Spain about 2 weeks ago, and now I'm finally getting around the posting the pictures from that part of our trip. Since then, Trevor left to go back home and go back to work, and I've been hanging out with my parents in Paris/visiting friends with my parents in Marseille. More on that later.

Barcelona was a very interesting city, and full of life! Our plane arrived at 9:30pm. By the time we took the train into Barcelona and transferred to the metro, it about 11pm. Taking the metro in Paris at such a late hour generally means it will be close to empty...this was SO far from the case in Barcelona. When our metro arrived, it was full of people, dressed up in their best clubbing clothes, just getting ready to hit the clubs. We could hardly fit with our suitcases. By the time we got off the subway and found our hotel, it was 11:30pm, and we hadn't had dinner yet. So we headed back out to find a place to eat. Just around the corner we found a long strip of restaurants, all with terrace seating in the island in the middle of the street. All of them still had plenty of people having dinner, many who were just beginning. *Whew* we weren't going to go hungry. We sat down and ordered an assortment of tapas and some beers. The people watching at that time of the night in Barcelona is great. You have a full array of people- from the adolescents/young adults who are getting a bite to eat before going dancing, to the parents with their young children, to the old couples walking hand in hand on their way to dinner, everyone is out and about. It's quite the culture shock, even for us, who are used to starting dinner at 9pm regularly when we're in Paris. We jumped right into the fun, though, and acclimated to "Barcelona time," usually not starting dinner until at least 10pm. When in Rome, right?

We got to see a large array of Barcelona highlights, which I'll post pictures of below.

This is about as close to the club scene as we got during our time in Barcelona- I call it,
the morning after:

A beautiful port, near Barceloneta:

A giant fish sculpture, near the port:

View of the W Hotel Barcelona from the beach (not where we stayed)

Yellow tree flower petals in the Parc de la Ciutadella

More yellow flower petals

Trevor in the Parc de la Ciutadella

Love in the Parc de la Ciutadella

Fountain in the Parc de la Ciutadella

Sagrada Familia

Columbus monument

Lichtenstein street art

Outside the Picasso museum...didn't want to take pictures inside the museum, so we don't have many from here.

At the Picasso museum

Trevor enjoying some freshly pressed orange juice (made to order!) in the cafe where we had breakfast every morning

Some tapas...these were the best we tried while we were there

That's it for now! I might most some more Barcelona pictures when I get home and can upload all the vacation pictures onto our new computer. Currently, it takes about a minute to look at each of my pictures because my poor little laptop can't handle 5 meg pics. So once I'm home, I'll go through all of them and if there are any nice ones I missed, I'll post 'em.

More about Paris and the south of France later!

Bad Dreams

This isn't related to Barcelona, but it's funny, and I wanted to share it. I think this interaction between Trevor and me nicely exemplifies some differences between us (and maybe even men and women in general?).

Me: I had a bad dream last night.
Trevor: Aww, what was it about?
Me: We were trying to adopt a child, but there was another man trying to adopt the same boy and we were having dinner with him. He was being a total a**hole and basically told us he would be a negligent father. I was pissed off and started yelling at him...(okay now that I'm awake, my dream is sounding more and more like I was on Jerry Springer, but it was upsetting at the time). I just couldn't believe some of the things he was saying!!
Trevor: That's funny.
Me: What?? That's not funny!
Trevor: That's a bad dream?? You didn't get shot at or get chased by bears or anything.
Me: *sigh*

Disclaimer: Don't read into the dream. We're not trying to adopt a child...I probably dreamed about it because my aunt and uncle recently adopted a little boy from Ethiopia!

¿Que hacemos en Barcelona?

Okay, I´ll be honest. I wrote that title just because I really wanted to use the upside down question mark that´s on the hotel keyboard in Barcelona. ¿How fun is that?

This will be a picture-less post, unfortunately, because the WiFi is horrible here, which means I´m stuck using the hotel's computer. Pictures will have to wait until we´re back in Paris. Even so, I wanted to post a quick update about our time in Barcelona so far.

Our plane landed in Barcelona yesterday at 9pm. Trevor researched the best options for getting to our hotel from the airport, and decided that the quickest and most economical option would be to take the train and then transfer to the metro. We were a bit confused at first, but I busted out my Spanish and asked somebody for help. Whew...even though my Spanish is definitely a little rusty, I managed to get my point across, and even incorporated a bit of Spanish lisp on my ¨gracias¨ (only on the ¨c¨ of course). When the train arrived at our stop, we got off and looked for our metro correspondence. Strangely, there were no signs to get to the metro, only signs to exit. So we followed those, figuring that they would somehow lead us to the metro. No such luck! We ended up on the street, at the top of an escalator, with the stairs to go back into the train station closed off by a gate (because it was already 10:40pm at this point, and the last train was at 10:30). We felt a little lost, but eventually found the metro entrance we were looking for. Apparently, the train and metro aren´t connected in the way they are in Paris. But, we found our metro line and barely made it on because of the hoards of people dressed up in their clubbing clothes who were just getting ready to start their night. It was a bit surreal, even though I was expecting Barcelona to be party central.

We ended up finding out hotel around 11:30pm, checked in, got settled, and ventured out to find a place for dinner. Had we been travelling to any other city, we probably would have eaten before leaving, but we had heard that restaurants don´t start serving dinner until 9pm here, so we knew we´d find something when we got in. As soon as we turned the corner from our hotel, we saw a long avenue, with an island in the middle of the road, filled with tables, which were filled with people. The most amazing part was that there were people of all ages, including some very small children, just sitting down to dinner...at 11:45pm. Wow.

We chose a tapas place, ordered some food and enjoyed. The prices were much cheaper than Paris, which was a welcomed break (we´re talking 1,90 € for a beer...not too shabby). The food was okay- nothing fancy, but not bad- and the service was just like in France. They serve you and then leave you alone. Overall, we really enjoyed the first night!

We finally went to sleep at 1:30am, and rolled out of bed at 11am this morning. Quite a different pace of life! We found a cafe near our hotel and had some breakfast at noon (where several locals were also enjoying breakfast!) and walked to a nearby beach to stroll around and people-watch. After a while, we sat down at a beach-side cafe to have a drink (sangria!). Then we walked around the city, took pictures in a big, beautiful park, and pretty much had a very relaxing day. Now (7:15pm), we´re heading up to the pool for a swim and will probably go have dinner in a couple of hours. Ahhh...this definitely feels like vacation!

Sculpture, stairs and Vivaldi!

Thursday was Chris and Jessie's last full day in Paris. It went by so fast, we could hardly believe it! Wednesday night, over a game of hearts (during which Jessie shot the moon for the first time ever! Nice one, Jess!), we decided to prioritize our next day. Trevor and I had strongly recommended the Rodin museum, which is right down the street from the apartment. It's a favorite of ours because the sculptures are beautiful, and the museum itself is in Rodin's house (more like small palace) and garden. Since it's hidden behind a high wall, you never expect such a gorgeous piece of property, and it really is a gem in the heart of Paris. Chris and Jessie knew they wanted to go to the Sacre Coeur, because our friend Christophe recommended checking out the view of Paris from there. We also had tickets for a concert at the Ste. Chapelle that night, so it was going to be a busy day.

We ended up just going to the garden at the Rodin Museum (for just 1 euro!). We brought some sandwiches and sat on a bench, taking it all in while we ate.

From the bench where we ate our lunch...view on Rodin's house

Trevor and me in Rodin's garden

Gates of Hell

What visit of Rodin's garden would be complete without a photo of The Thinker?

There were gorgeous roses all over the garden

After Rodin, we all headed to Montmartre on the metro. This is where the Sacre Coeur is. Unfortunately (perhaps fortunately for our thigh muscles), we didn't find the automated lift up the gigantic hill to the Sacre Coeur until after we had gone up the stairs. Good exercise though!

Here is the view of Paris from the Sacre Coeur. It was a gray day, but still pretty clear!

After visiting the Sacre Coeur, we stopped at a hilltop cafe for a drink. On the way, I narrowly missed getting hit by a Smart Car that was not being very smart and going way too fast around a corner. Luckily, I was fine and the view from the cafe was wonderful. No pictures though...whoops!

We headed home to change and get ready for the concert at the Ste. Chapelle. The piece was Vivaldi- Four Seasons, and it was very beautiful. I think the best part, though, is getting to sit in the Ste. Chapelle for an hour and take it all in. It's an absolutely wonderful place in Paris that doesn't get the attention in deserves (which is probably for the best, really).

Trevor and me after the concert

After the concert, we walked over to a crepe place I used to eat at a lot when I was studying in Paris. It's a cute little hole in the wall on St. Andre des Arts. Chris and Jessie shared a dessert crepe with carmelized apples, chocolate, vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. They were generous enough to share a taste with us, and it was quite delicious.

...and it's gone. Sadness!

After dinner, we all needed to walk a bit to digest, so we strolled over to Notre Dame. Keep in mind, it was at least 9:30pm by this point...and still light out.


Then we walked to the Louvre, through the Jardin des Tuilleries, and hopped on a metro to the Eiffel Tower. We arrived at 11:15, just after the twinkling lights had turned off (they are on at the top of every hour for 10 minutes). But, we still enjoyed seeing it with the regular lights.


After that, we headed back to the apartment. Chris and Jessie packed up their suitcases, we all watched some Bruno previews, and headed to bed. The next morning Chris and Jessie left bright and early to go down to the south to visit our friend Renee. We had a great time with them, and loved being a part of their first Paris experience!

Time flies when you're having fun!

The last several days have flown by. My last update was on Tuesday, and I'm already having some trouble recalling everything we did with Chris and Jessie since then. Luckily...I have pictures to help me out. Since I've gotten a little bit behind in posting updates, I'm mostly going to make this a picture post.

Mid-morning on Tuesday, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower with a picnic from a nearby boulangerie for lunch. We passed the Invalides on our way...

Here we are in the Champs de Mars, with the Eiffel Tower behind us.

Trevor, Chris & Jessie on the bench where we sat for lunch

Chris "bises" sandwich!

Chris and Trevor took a funny picture...they're quite amused...

I think this would be considered "dying laughing"

...still laughing

After lunch, we headed over to get a closer look at the Eiffel Tower. Here's one of Jessie and me along the Champs de Mars.


And a close-up.

Woooowww!

Hoards of people visiting La Tour Eiffel

From underneath the Eiffel Tower. Chris & Jessie showed me a manhole that marks the spot for the center. I was trying to take a shot like my friend Amber's, but hers is cooler.

Eiffel Tower leg, with people walking up the stairs. Can you believe they charge 4.50 euros and make you wait in line to walk up to the first level?? We decided to spend the gorgeous day doing something other than waiting in line.

We walked to the Trocadero Metro exit, where you can get a very clear view of the tour. The clouds were amazing that day!

From Trocadeo, we took the metro to Charles de Gaulle Etoile to see the Arc de Triomphe, and then walk down the Champs Elysee...Ooh Champs Elysee dun dun dun dun dun...I'm sure the song will be stuck in my head for the rest of the night now!

From the Champs Elysee, we walked down to the Place de la Concorde and turned left onto Rue Royale. This is a fancy street in Paris, where you can find Laduree- famous for macarons. We each bought a box of assorted flavors. Our taste buds were happy.

The next day was pretty mellow. Chris and Jessie went to see the Musee d'Orsay while Trevor and I stayed home and then went out to run some errands. Then we all went to have a drink at the famous, "Le Select" cafe along the Ave de Montparnasse. This is where Hemingway hung out. No big deal...

After that we walked through the Jardin de Luxembourg, one of Paris' biggest and most gorgeous parks. It has a large fountain where kids can rent little sail boats and push them around with sticks. This is where I said my first sentence when I was a wee one- "Veux pousser bateau avec baguette" ("Want to push boat with stick").

Mini-sail boats are quite entertaining...especially when they run into eachother...and when ducks draft off of them.

A French vessel.

Okay, that's it for tonight since it's getting late here. Tomorrow, I'll try to post some more pictures before we head to Barcelona. I've got to study up on my Catalan on the flight!!