Beautiful Barcelona

Hello from Scotland! I know you might be a bit confused, wasn't I just in Scotland with my family? And the answer is yes I was with my family in Scotland! Now I'm heading to Perth to stay with my wonderful aunt and uncle for a few days. I'm traveling there on the train from Glasgow where I made a slight detour to see a friend who lives there. Anyway, flashback to my weekend in Barcelona!!!

MC and I earlier in the semester decided we really wanted to go somewhere in Spain but couldn't figure out when and where. We wanted to make a trip to Madrid and take the train to Barcelona, but that was too expensive, so we just decided on Barcelona. We figured it would be a bit warmer and there would be a beach so why not? Anyway, I'm just rambling and I'll get to the actual trip!

We left Wednesday morning/afternoon to head to the airport. Unfortunately you can't take the tube to the Stanstead airport since it's so far out of the city. You either have to take a train, taxi or an Easybus (a very cheap option, but involves riding in a van and me getting very very carsick). We've taken the Easybus quite a few times to get to the airport and you think I would have learned my lesson by now, but I guess not. I almost tossed my cookies a couple of time while on the way to the airport, but I managed to keep in locked down. The plane ride was very smooth and only about two hours or so, so I tried to sleep for some of it and read for the rest. There were quite a few FCB (FC Barcelona) fans who were on our flight, wearing jackets, scarves and bags that displayed their team logo, FCB was playing Man City or Man U. (I can't remember which)

Once we arrived at the airport we took a train to the city center (while clutching our bags very tightly to avoid pickpockets) and met up with MC's friend who we would be staying with for a couple of days! We met her at this fancy house (I don't really remember the name, Spanish is not my language, mind you, so I felt very disoriented)

But it was everything I ever dreamed! Lots and lots of tall buildings with small balconies that had flags, clothes and plants hanging all over the side.

Once we reached MC's friend's place (let's just call her A) we took some time to relax a bit before heading out for dinner. Her apartment felt very Spanish, the ceilings were very tall and the tile on the floor had pretty cool designs. Her room even had a balcony that opened to the street below (which was VERY noisy). We finally headed to the bar called The Black Sheep (that's the English translation, I can't remember the Spanish name for it) at about 7:30 to find a place we could watch the Barcelona game. I really wish we could have actually gone to the game, but those tickets are even harder to come by than the tickets to an EPL match. 

At the bar we got to try some very Spanish food and let me tell you...I REALLY enjoyed it!!! 

The food on the top is called Patates Braves (I think that's how you spell it) and what it is is fried potato chunks with hot sauce and a sort of mayo sauce on top.

While I don't typically like spicy food, it wasn't half bad! The two bottom foods went together. The one on the left was a hard sausage jerky (it was pretty tough to chew) but you ate it with the bread which had a very light tomato paste.  

We stayed at the bar until it closed at about 2 and headed home. While it was late, the weather was perfect! I'm guessing it was probably about 55 degrees outside, while that may sound cold for an Arizonian, it was quite a bit warmer for someone from London!

Before I go further, I should probably explain a little about Spanish culture. The Spanish are very laid back. No one really gets moving in the morning until 9 or 10. And in the middle of the day they close everything down from 2-4 o'clock for something that's called a Siesta! You can't really go anywhere cause everything is closed, but then places stay open till 12-1 o'clock in the morning on weekdays!

Anyway, A took us to La Boqueria, which is a HUGE fresh food market!

There was a ton of fresh meats, fruit, smoothies, chocolate, and breads. I was in love. Here is a sample of some of the things we saw:

These are the different chocolates shaped in all sorts of things!

Lots and lots of different parts of animals (I'm not even sure who's head is staring at us through the picture). 

This is a different kind of Patates Braves held in containers similar to chips!

For breakfast MC and I got strawberry and banana smoothies, a chicken and cheese croquettes (don't ask me what it is exactly, I'm not sure, all I know it was deep fried and delicious), and chocolate covered strawberries. 

After our journey and breakfasting at the market, A took us to the place where we were meeting our walking tour. The weird thing in Spain is that they have a bunch of Gelato shops. And I couldn't just walk by all of them without stopping at least one!

I thought it tasted pretty good. I'm hoping that the ones in Italy turn out to be the best or I'm going to be sorely disappointed!

We then met for our walk and took off! I'm not sure what it was, maybe it was the fact that our guide was American or not very enthusiastic, but I was not very interested in the tour that day!!! I know! Me not wanting to know more about the history of beautiful Barcelona! Don't worry, I won't make it a habit. But we did stay with the tour about an hour or so, so I did get some facts. 

This is one of the oldest Roman graveyards in Europe! As you can see, it sits below the rest of the city, apparently there is an actual museum you can walk into and get a close up of, but we saw them just fine. 

This is the Barcelona Cathedral also known as La Seu and the spires can be seen from all through the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. The construction ended sometime in the 15th century. The Cathedral is dedicated to the Santa Eulàlia (yes I had to look that one up) who was killed as a martyr and her body is currently buried under the high alter. 

This lovely drawing on the building can be found right across from the Cathedral. If you think that a five year-old drew that, you're wrong! (Don't worry, I thought the same thing. Great minds think alike) Actually, this drawing was made by Pablo Picasso after he had moved to Paris. He originally grew up in Barcelona, but moved away to study art in Paris. The city wanted something made by him to display, this is what he drew, supposedly on a napkin, and sent to Barcelona. (Kinda like a big Eff you! To the city) 

Another crazy thing we saw all over the city was the number of different flags flown and displayed all over the city. Why do you ask? Well currently Barcelona and a number of other cities known as Catalan are trying to become their own county. The plain red and yellow striped flag is the plain Catalonian flag, you know for the people who are proud to be Catalan. The second type of flag has a blue star atop the red and yellow stripes. These flags are flown by the people who don't want to be part of Spain anymore! The final flag has a yellow and red star on the top. These flags also do not want to be part of Spain, but they are linked with Communism that was popular in the 60's and 70's. They aren't very popular. 

After that MC and I ditched out on the tour and decided to head of to Sagrada Familia since the tour wasn't going to take us there! We walked for about 3 miles before deciding to take the metro, but we were able to see some cool sights along the way!

I'm not entirely sure what this is, I think it had something to do with the aquarium in Barcelona next to the ocean.

This is Barcelona's very own Arc de Triumph (I think that's the french way to spell it, so I apologize). I don't know the history behind it, but MC and I passed it on the way to the Familia. 

As you can see, there was a lots and lots of construction that surrounded the Familia. Apparently it's never been completed! The designer died a while ago and they are still finishing is final piece. We overheard people joking that it was going to be another 20 years before it was actually finished, but I'm not exactly sure when it will be completed. Another cool fact about the Sagrada Familia is that there are bible depictions all over the front of the building. I know its kind of hard to see, but the Nativity is right above the front doors. Honestly, even I had a hard time recognizing all of them and I like to think that I know my Bible Stories pretty well.

Next to the Sagrada Familia was a little shack that was selling food and we were hungry!

So we had our first round of Spanish Churros!

And our second round of Patates Braves.

We then headed back to A's place to rest up for a bit before we took off to meet up with her boyfriend and then out for dinner!

I can't remember the name of the place we went for dinner, but it was a cute little restaurant and we ordered even more Patates Braves! Although I think they were the best at the restaurant we went to Thursday night!

The next morning, A left really early for a school trip she had to Madrid and we left to check into the Air B&B we were staying in. Our directions weren't very clear so we got a bit lost, but everything else went rather smoothly. 

After checking in, we headed to Park Guell which was one of the highest points of the city, so we were able to get a great view!

I also learned a very important lesson! Don't wear a dress up to the park! It was super windy and I was very grateful to have leggings on underneath. We then attempted to see the mosaics that are farther down in the Park (the mosaics that are seen everywhere on Pinterest when you look at Barcelona). Unfortunately we didn't know that you needed to buy a ticket in advance to see the mosaics, so we had to take pictures from afar. 

Thats ok! It's on my bucket list for the next time I go to Spain! 

After Park Guell, we headed to the beach for some sand and sunshine! HA. When we arrived at the beach it was cloudy and very very windy!

We didn't walk very far into the sand because we didn't want to get any in our eyes. But we enjoyed looking and the pretty water and wishing for warmer weather. 

We walked back along street towards the city and stopped at a place called Makamaka for lunch. It was AMAZING!!! I was so surprised how good the food was. To be honest, it was an American diner and I wasn't expecting very much, but I'm so glad we went. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of my burger, all I know was that it was sirloin and it had caramelized onions on it as well. 

I would definitely hit up Makamaka if you are planning to go to Barcelona anytime soon!

The rest of the day was spent browsing the touristy shops looking for souvenirs to take home with us. MC and I both ended up with mugs from Barcelona and post cards! We headed back to the place we were staying and then after a couple of hours headed out to dinner where we got Tapas (tiny plates of food that Spain is famous for). The next morning we headed out to the airport and I thought we would get home pretty easy.

That was not the case, however. Upon entering the airport, we were rushed right through security. Which normally wasn't a problem, but we were flying with RyanAir. An interesting point with RyanAir and US Passports is that they make you get your passport and boarding pass checked, usually with the bag check desk. So we realized our mistake and headed back through the arrival gate and to the bag check queue where we waited for 30 minutes, to only get to the front and be told we were in the WRONG LINE!!! We then had to wait for another 15 minutes in another line just to get our passport checked, it seriously only took 1 minute for the lady behind the counter to look at each of our boarding passes and passports and stamp them. Then we had to travel back through security, thankfully the Spaniards know how to get it done, so we were through pretty quick. It was then a long wait to get onto the plane. 

Wow! That was a lot! I'm sorry that I'm so terrible at uploading posts:/ I probably won't get better throughout April, but I should be posting about last week and my trip to Scotland tomorrow because my flight to Italy leaves early Wednesday morning! So look for me!

Beware the Ides of March (or England's Mother's Day)

First off Happy Mother's Day Mom! Today is the English Mother's Day and I'm sorry that I didn't get you anything!

Wednesday we left for Edinburgh (pronounced Edin-b*r*a, *rolling the r)! I was looking forward to a couple days in Scotland because I'm obsessed with clans, kilts and bagpipes:D (oh and you know one of my favorite actors is from Scotland)

It was a very long train ride to Edinburgh and I definitely felt it! The train seats aren't very comfortable because they don't lean back like a plan seat and it's impossible to find a good position to sleep in. But we managed to make it through the 5-6 hour train ride by playing cards, eating snacks and reading. We finally arrived and I stepped out of the train and it was love at first sight. 

I'm not even sure how to describe Edinburgh more than it looked like I had stepped out of fairy tale! The buildings were old and well managed and the entire city was placed on top of hills and right next to the ocean. While it was more grey and cold than London, I loved it!!! I think if I had the chance to come back and study abroad I would be more than happy to spend an entire semester there. 

Anyway, the rest of the day was just a day to explore because it was already halfway over. We found the Elephant House, 

this is of course where JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter. The store was filled with lots and lots of Elephants of all shapes and sizes and in the back room they had a couple of pictures of JK Rowling sitting and writing. I'm really glad that we went during the "off season" because during season, there is usually a line out the door waiting to get into The Elephant House. The entire bathroom was filled with tons of graffiti about Harry Potter, to JK and funny little quirks. There was a sign on the mirror above the toilet that read "Ministry of Magic This Way" and had an arrow pointing to the toilet. Another sign on the toilet seat read "Watch out for Moaning Myrtle" and many message written as Thank You's to JK. The food was really good so we ended up going back for dinner our last night there!

We walked around some more before heading back to our flat that we were staying in and then Dad and I headed out to join a Haunts Ghost Tour. It was pretty cold so we made sure to bundle up really well before heading out.

The tour wasn't that exciting to be honest, although we were able to see the catacombs underneath the city which have been there for more than 200 years. And let me tell you, that was very true. It smelled really bad in those rooms. While I didn't find it scary, two girls in our group would jump and scream every time.

The next morning we did our typical walking tour of the city and was able to learn some of the history or Edinburgh! So here's your daily history lesson by Tessa!

This here is known as the Merekat (or Market) this used to be the center of town back when the city first started. A lot of the public executions used to happen at this spot, in fact if you were caught speaking treason, they would nail your hand and tongue to the building (it used to be wood) and after a day they would remove the nail from your hand, but cut your tongue out and leave it there. However, this was a time when the King (don't remember which one) was away from Scotland and those who supported him were labeled "traitor". But when he came back, he rewarded those who had spoken up for them. This is also the spot that any major news was read out from. Because of the distance between London and Edinburgh, it used to take 3 days for news to arrive, so it would always be late. Even with technology nowadays, they keep up the tradition and still announce the news three days later! So they will be making an announcement sometime in April when the new child of Kate and William is born.

While it may not be a very big city, Edinburgh has it's own Walk of Fame! As you can see from the picture below, when someone is placed on the Walk of Fame they get their handprints placed in the ground and from what you can't see clearly is that they put your name and year on there as well. The handprints you see below are JK Rowling's. Her year on the stone is 2008. Our guide assured us that even if we weren't born in Edinburgh we would be able to make the Walk of Fame all it took was two simple steps: 1. Move to Edinburgh (pretty easy) 2. Create a project that changes the world. There are only 7 different set of handprints on the Walk of Fame as you can see how hard it is to get onto it!

This building is the City Counsel. And while I won't talk about them in general, I will talk about the national animal of Scotland. The national animal of Scotland is an Unicorn! Now you might ask me: do the Highlands of Scotland hold more than Nessie in their mythical hills? The answer is no. For hundreds of years it was the King's decision to what the national animal would be. When Scotland finally got it's own government in 2008 they let the people take a vote to what the national animal would be. There were some normal animals on there such as a type of hawk, a deer and some other options, I don't remember them very well, but the last animal choice was an unicorn and the people decided to just stick with it.

This is the St. Giles Cathedral and the statue of some English King (sorry I don't remember his name). But some important factors on this little area. The place where I stood while I took the picture used to be a graveyard. When Edinburgh was an inclosed city, there was only so much room for a cemetary, so they stacked the bodies as much as they could. Our guide told us that it became so packed with bodies, they could only dig a foot or two before hitting new body. Because the graveyard was on a hill if there was a large storm the night before, it was more than likely the rain would wash away the first layer of rain and bodies would be exposed. Isn't that a lovely story? Lets see...the statue you can see is actually made of lead, which is a very soft metal, so after several days of tough Scottish winds, parts of the statue start to move. After the first couple of months of having the statue placed, they noticed that the King began to slide off his horse or his head would fall forward to make it look like he was sleeping. So every once and awhile they have to go in and fix these issues on the statue. 

There is a cemetery close to the Elephant House called the Greyfairs Graveyard while the headstones are really large and old, you'll notice some interesting names placed on these stones. One would be the name McGonagall another would be Tom Riddell, these are real headstones and are most likely the inspiration that JK had for naming her characters such names! Our tour guide told us that people leave tributes in front of Tom's grave which he wasn't very happy about because what kind of idiot leaves tokens at the grave of the Dark Lord? I hate to break it to these Death Eaters, but He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is gone and forgotten! Haha, this guy was real and his daughter is apparently buried here as well.

After our walking tour we decided to browse some of the many Tartan and Cashmere shops that are a plenty in Edinburgh. During this time it proceeded to start raining and SH headed back to the flat while Mom, Dad and I decided to get a bus to the Rosslyn Chapel (as seen in The Da Vinci Code, which I still have yet to see). It was a very long trip and I took a nap to avoid getting carsick on the bus, but it was a very pretty chapel, unfortunately I was done listening to tour guides so I just looked around the chapel while Mom and Dad listened to the tour about the architecture about the building. 

On the way home the rain was still falling hard and I took another nap. We finally got off the bus and hurried back to the flat to avoid getting soaked (which didn't happen) we then headed out to find some dinner! We headed to this placed called The Filling Station, which looked like a pub, but was actually a really good restaurant. We finally got the chance to try some Haggis, I'm not going to spoil and tell you exactly what it is, you can Google it, but it wasn't too bad, just kind of spicy and I wasn't expecting it! I had nachos (yes completely not Scottish) and a side of mash (mashed potatoes) while the nachos were still pretty spicy, I really really liked the mash!

Friday morning I slept in a little later and caught up with my family when they took off to go do some shopping. We met my aunt MF and her daughter LF at St. Giles Cathedral and I was SOOOOO happy to see them! We walked around with the intention of going to the park, but ran out of time and went to lunch instead and then walked them back to their car! I'm really excited because in two weeks I have the opportunity to stay with them for a couple of days at their house in Scotland! I can't wait!

After leaving MF we went and explored the castle and while we didn't go all the way inside, we were able to get a wonderful view of the rest of the city from the courtyard! 

Next to the castle they had an old Tartan Mill that you could sit and watch different types of Tartan fabrics being woven and there were quite a few. They also had scarfs, jumpers, fabric, and different kinds of clothing. 

This was one of the dresses that they had on display in the Mill. This is a silk dress that you could purchase off the dummy for over £2,000. And while I did love it! I didn't love it that much! Afterwards we walked around to the Grassmarket where they had a beautiful china shop that sold tea for one sets, mugs and teapots! They had this cute sign posted on one of the walls in the shop:)

For dinner we went back to The Elephant House because it was just that good! And then we headed back to the flat to pack and get ready for leaving back to London! 

Saturday was another boring long train ride back to London. I was having problems with my shoulder  the entire week, so sitting in one position was really painful. But we made it back and once the family was checked into the hotel we headed to Borough Market for real this time! I think they really enjoyed it:) I mean, who wouldn't? We then went and bought some tasty British chocolate that they could take home with them and then we went out to dinner at the crepe place in South Kensington! afterwards, it was time to head back to the hotel and say our goodbyes! While I wasn't sad to see them go at the time, I did feel a little put out this morning. 

But I'm happy that my mom will be back in a few short weeks so that we can explore the English countryside! I'm glad that they had the opportunity to come visit while SH has his Spring Break! And I can't believe it's already halfway through March!

Spring Break

Well to be brutally honest, I don't really remember much of Friday. I know it consisted of getting my Yoga essay finished along with going to the store to buy stuff for the FHE activity I had planned for Monday. The only thing I remember clearly was starting a movie at 11:45 at night. For those of you who haven't seen The Decoy Bride, I would definitely suggest it if you want a cute cheesy movie with a happy ending, plus mostly everyone speaks with a Scottish accent. If that doesn't sound appealing then let me throw in that the 10th Doctor (David Tennant), Helena Ravenclaw (Kelly Macdonald) and Carol Marcus (Star Trek)(Alice Eve) are all in it:)

Saturday morning I headed to the Heathrow Airport to meet my family (well some of them. Mainly my mom, dad and youngest brother).

Of course his first day in London couldn't disappoint so he casually met Benedict Cumberbatch while waiting to pick up their baggage.

Of course he's in London less than 30 minutes and he meets a celebrity while I've lived here for more than 2 months and have yet to meet any celebrity. But my dad gave me a heads up when they were heading out of customs, so I managed to get a shot of them (He and Sophie) heading out of the airport. 

I almost started to cry in the airport I was so happy got the chance to see him. But was I really upset that I didn't get to meet him? Nah. I still have 2 more months to stalk him in London!

I was super excited for my family to be in London and for me to be able to show them the city that I love! 

We headed back to the place they were staying at so we could put luggage away and head to our football match!

Mom and SH were really tired after the original excitement of arriving in London, but I think they enjoyed the atmosphere of the game! I could tell mom was not happy about all the obscene language that she overheard being shouted at and she has reassured me that she probably wouldn't be coming back to an EPL game (which was fine because I knew that she had been to plenty of mine over the years). SH really enjoyed himself, he kept asking my dad if we could go back and watch some more at the end of the week, but we didn't have time because we already had plans made! 

After the game we headed out to find food and show SH and mom the sights of London! We walked over to Parliament Square and pointed out the touristy spots such as: Westminster Abbey, the Eye and Big Ben. We went to Tortilla for dinner and stumbled upon a cool pub as we walked around. 

I definitely want to go back and go there for dinner sometime. 

Just a picture of our wanderings around on Saturday night.

Sunday after fighting large amounts of Jet Lag, we made it to church on time and stayed for Sacrament meeting and the two speakers were quite lovely. We then headed back home to change and take a walk around Kensington Palace, Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace. 

Surprisingly the weather wasn't too bad, so it was a nice walk through the park. After Buckingham we walked down the Boulevard to find dinner in Trafalgar Square. We went to dinner at a place called Byron and they had AMAZING onion rings, which I was very excited to try because I have been dying to find good ones since I've come to England. 

Monday my family went to Warner Brothers Studio tour while I was stuck in class all day
(you know since that's mostly the reason I'm in London in the first place). After yoga got out of class it was a mad dash to get home and eat dinner before heading to Poundland (like a dollar tree) to get the supplies I needed for my FHE activity. I had decided that we would all play Minute to Win It games since some of the young adults had never heard of it before. 

SH tagged along with me and helped me get set up for the games. I was really nervous about conducting these activities in my new ward (half of which I still didn't know very well). Because I was worried it wouldn't entertain everyone and others would just think it was stupid. Thankfully, my friend AD helped me manage the games. We played Elephant March (wearing panty hose on your head and knocking water bottles over), Sugar Stack (balancing sugar cubes on a wooden spoon held in your mouth), Balloon Head (keep the balloon in the air using only your head), Face the Cookie (put a cookie on your forehead and try to get it into your mouth using only your face movements) and a couple more. I think overall it went well!

Tuesday we made a feeble attempt at going to Borough Market, which was a terrible idea because more than half of the usual stalls were closed or not even there, so I left with my head hanging in shame, promising that we would be back over the weekend. Borough Market was't our only item on the agenda for Tuesday, we started off by going to St. Paul's Cathedral, the Millennial Bridge,

Globe theater, the London Bridge, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. SH and dad even went and explore the HMS Belfast and got their picture taken.

I love love love this picture of the two of them and I plan on keeping it forever!

I took them to one of my favorite fish and chip stands in London where I got chips served in makeshift newspaper and we fed the birds. We then headed to Portobello Market where the family was staying and we found the Notting Hill Bookshop which was featured in the movie with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. 

Afterwards, mom, dad and I took off towards Charing Cross, where I was to meet a friend and they were off to explore. I went to meet AD at Trafalgar Square where we made an attempt at climbing the lions, but because they were so cold and slick, we gave up and just sat between their paws on the monument. We then headed off to M&M world to explore. I really enjoyed looking around until I found out that they don't have peanut butter M&M's in England! I was appalled! Those are my favorite kind! The entire store smelt really funny too, so we didn't stay very long, but we took a couple of pictures. 

The entire store was 4 stores tall and there were sooooo many M&Ms, however I restrained myself from getting any and we went on our merry way!

Our next stop was Nando's where we had dinner and some very yummy cheesecake. In fact they handed us each our own slice of cheesecake and a little pitcher of cream to pour on top of it. (I'm not sure why, but I wasn't going to argue!) Afterwards we walked around Oxford Streetand I showed her Tiger and we stopped in Boots to get some makeup and then we split up at Tottenham Court Road Tube Station. I was eager to try and get to bed early because we were off to Scotland the next day!