Over the long Easter weekend (Good Friday and Easter Monday are actual holidays in Europe), and to celebrate Ryan's birthday, we traveled to Barcelona with our friends Matt and Julie. For starters, I'd just like to say that our friends were real troopers that stayed on the smallest "sofa bed" in the history of mankind, so what else could we do for the whole weekend other than attempt to get really drunk every night so they didn't notice the discomfort. We did manage to fit in some touristy activities such as the free walking tour, cruising La Rambla, and
La Sagrada Familia. I visited Barcelona eight years prior and La Sagrada Familia has changed remarkably in that time. The interior of the temple was largely under construction during my first visit, and now, with the light flooding through the numerous stained glass windows, it is simply breathtaking (pictures below).
We also ate lots of yummy tapas and paella, drank many bottles of delicious Spanish wine (and some less delicious Spanish beer), chilled on a rooftop bar, enjoyed a sunset from El Bunker, watched an FC Barcelona game at a small bar packed with locals, and belted out some karaoke into the early hours of the morning. Julie asked me to accompany her on some T. Swift which sounded like a great idea at the time. The music started and we couldn't quite hear the song and then couldn't find the beat to join in. I don't think we really sang a coherent word until the chorus started. It was one of the most shameful karaoke performances of my life. Here are some blurry cell phone pictures:
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| Matt got into the prop box to get into character. |
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| Julie, we have to redeem ourselves. |
Also, it's always a good time when you get lost in a foreign city on your way back to the AirBnB with two dead cell phones and only ten euro to your name. Julie and I had the cab stop at a hotel where I proceeded to navigate a conversation in rusty Spanish in order to determine where our apartment was located in relation to the hotel.
Oh yeah, and a bird pooped on my purse during this trip. Never a dull moment. Now, on to the photos.
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| La Rambla |
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| A powerful drinking fountain caught me by surprise. |
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| Nailed it. |
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| Perusing the fruit market. |
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| The eyebrows are on point. |
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| A perfect likeness. |
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| Apparently the artist thought Julie has a witch chin. |
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| Matt: spot on. Julie: not so much. Adorable anyway. |
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| Enjoying some Spanish wine! |
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| PHOTOBOMB |
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| Julie's quest for Micheladas was a success! |
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| The only photo of the four of us. Photo cred: the waiter. |
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| What's this beautiful building, you ask? El hospital, which I might add was the reason I was able to find our way home when we got lost. |
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| La Sagrada Familia |
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| None of these pictures will do it justice. |
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| La Sagrada Familia |
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| Cuties |
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| Exterior of La Sagrada Familia |
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| View from our rooftop bar |
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| View from El Bunker |
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| We love you, Barcelona. |
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| Enjoying our last night in the city with some Spanish wine, good views, and great company. |
We will miss you, travel partners! Good thing you'll move to Seattle, too, right? ;)
xoxo,
R & L
