Barcelona

I wrote this blog post back in May. Things have obviously been a bit crazy in my life for the past two months and I am just getting around to posting it.

For the last couple of weeks I have been thinking about how life is never exactly what you thought it was going to be. I don’t really consider myself a dreamer but I am really bad about visualizing something before it happens. And you know what? It is never what I imagined. Sometimes that is a good thing and other times it’s not so great. I always like to be pleasantly surprised, doesn’t everyone?

So it’s usually a unique situation when I have no preconceived expectations about something, someone or some place. This happened to me recently when Mark and I traveled to Barcelona for the weekend. I have always wanted to go to Spain but since I did not take Spanish in high school or college, I really didn’t have too much knowledge on what we should do. Thank goodness for recommendations from close friends, Trip Advisor and Yelp! (Side note, I am starting to believe that Mark and I couldn’t function without Yelp. We use it religiously. “Yelp it” is a term used way too frequently in our household.) I also have to say a special thank you to Tim Friend, our friend from Mark’s MBA program.  He helped us pick out a hotel location, gave us advice on the sites, and I’m pretty sure we ate at every restaurant he recommended.  He really helped make our trip awesome.

Anyways…Spain was great and I think going into the weekend with an open mind made it even more exciting. The only thing I really had high expectations for was the sangria and it DID NOT disappoint. So here is the point where I help out the Spanish tourism office – Barcelona is fabulous, go there! The food is delicious, the people are very nice, the city is clean and beautiful, if you love architecture it’s a must see, it’s a lot cheaper than Paris and the sangria and cava are AWESOME!

I will say that as an American living in Paris trying my best to speak French, landing in a Spanish speaking country was interesting to say the least. My knowledge of Spanish is VERY LIMITED. Other than being able to count from one to seven, these are the words I know:

 

Hola

Gracias

Tu madre

Muy caliente

Cerveza

Bano

So basically I can say this: “Hola, cerveza muy caliente. Tu madre bano, gracias.” Makes sense? No? I didn’t think so either.

The first time I tried to say hola or gracias I actually laughed while I said it because I realized how funny I sounded. What I did not expect was when I was forced to speak Spanish and I didn’t know what to say, I would revert to French instead of English. That was odd.

I do have to call out Mark just a little here, he was as bad at speaking Spanish as me. I thought since he had taken about 4-5 years of it he would be better off, NOPE! Don’t worry, I made sure to tell him regularly how disappointed I was. His response was that he could understand it better through reading but I didn’t see any of that put into action. He relies on me to help teach him French, the least he could do was return the favor. Right?

So here is a spot where I get a little political but hold tight, if you have ever traveled to a non-English speaking country you will know what I am saying. When I was still living in Alabama there was some discussion/controversy over whether directional signs such as a bathroom sign in an airport should be listed in both English and Spanish. At the time I didn’t really think too much about it. However, I have changed my tune. I believe that anyone who has ever been in a country where they don’t speak the language can agree with me on how thankful they are to see multiple languages on signs. I would not survive.

Ok that’s enough political mumbo jumbo, that’s not what this blog is about.

One of Mark’s coworkers at GE and his wife were also in Barcelona so we were able to spend the day with them on Saturday touring the Costa Brava. Meeting Robert and Kristen was a lot of fun and added so much to the trip. Now I just have to convince them to visit Paris!

I could try to explain how beautiful Spain is but I think photos will do it better justice. So here are some photos from our trip. I am also including some photos of Lilly. When Mark and I go out of town – which happens quite often – she goes to the French countryside to stay with Gabi. Lilly gets to run around in the forest off leash and go swimming, she LOVES it!

 

View of Barcelona from Castell de Montjuic

Casa Batlló

Castell Tossa de Mar

Castell Tossa de Mar



Vila Vella



Vila Vella - Thanks to Robert and Kristen for inviting us on such a fun adventure!
  

Jardins de Santa Clotilde

Jardins de Santa Clotilde

Jardins de Santa Clotilde

Jardins de Santa Clotilde

Costa Brava

Costa Brava

Sagrat Cor on Mount Tibidabo

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia

Park Güell

Park Güell

And here are some of Lilly's vacation in the French countryside.

 

 

 

C'est la vie, y'all! Thanks for reading!