Barcelona

The first weekend of March we took Monday off and spent a long weekend in Barcelona. I have been to Barcelona before on a work trip so I knew it would be an amazing time and we decided it was our favorite trip since we have been here! Below are some highlights and photos... Sorry for it being so long and with so much info- I also use this blog as a way for me to remember everywhere we went, ate and explored!

We flew in on Saturday afternoon and were staying right off Las Ramblas, a pedestrian street with miles of bars and restaurants in the center of the city. We were staying in an apartment we found on air bnb. This was my first air bnb experience, the apartment was ok but lets just say I will do a little more research next time ;) BUT it was a great location. We got here just in time on Saturday to explore Las Ramblas and have tapas and sangria at Los Toreros.

Churros and hot chocolate for dessert at Cafe De L'Opera

Followed by drinks at Los Orvella Negra (the black sheep) and El Bosc De Les Fades which was a bar that looked like a magical forrest when you were inside, it reminded me of Fern Gully :)

Sunday we spent the entire day exploring all of Barcelona by vespa. It was sunny and in the mid 60's and we had the best time! Heres how we spent the day...

First stop...Park Guell an absolutely beautiful area designed by Gaudi. Originally this park was built to hold an exclusive neighborhood and Gaudi was to build all of the houses in it but the project was unsuccessful as only 2 houses were built (one being a "model home"). But the 2 houses and the amazing park area Gaudi designed are there for all to see. 

Then we headed up the "mountain" to Tibidado the highest point with the best views of Barcelona.

Drinks with an amazing view at Mirablau

Lunch in Gracia at El Glop which was our favorite meal while there! Then to Casa Batllo

Stops in La Pedrera, Placa Catalunya, Parc de la Ciutadella, Port Olimpic, Platja Bogatella etc.

We explored Poble Nou where we had a Horchata drink at El Tio Che, rode down El Gotico, El Born and took in the city!

Sunday night we had dinner at Tacon Rojo with cava sangria in fishbowl glasses

After dinner we ventured to a slightly sketchy area of Barcelona to the one and only Bar Marsalla. This is Barcelona's oldest bar est. in 1820. It looks like the bar has not changed much at all since then and the atmosphere really makes you feel taken back in time. This is a bar where Salvador Dali, Ernest Hemingway, Gaudi and Picasso would go to get their drink on back in the day. This bar is famous for serving absinthe so while there we had to partake...

Monday we started our day off at La Sagrada Familia. Another work designed by Gaudi, construction of this church began in 1882 and is still incomplete- not scheduled to be finished until 2026!

Next stop was lunch and exploring La Boqueria Market...we sampled lots of foods and juices that were delicious!

The rest of the day was spent wandering around getting lost in the city. Some highlights were Placa Reial, Guell Palace and Royal Plaza. The streets of barcelona are so exciting and filled with all kinds of people, street performers and guys on corners selling beers from a six pack- you could spend hours exploring!

Dinner at Bodega Biarritz-there were tons of tapas out on the bar you just pointed to. 

This along with an early flight on Tuesday concluded our trip. Barcelona is such a colorful city with amazing architecture and friendly people it is hard not to fall in love with it and we definitely did!

New Flat

We officially moved into our permanent flat 2 weeks ago. We spent our first 6 weeks in London in a temporary corporate housing apartment. It is really nice to get settled somewhere and unpack all 7 of our suitcases. :)

Moving day was quite an adventure! We had to rent a car here and drive to Ikea and Argos (closest thing to a Wal-Mart). To find a rental car that was an automatic was a task in itself... Matt had to take the train all the way to Heathrow Airport which was the closest place he could find an automatic car. Driving on the wrong side of the road in such a big city with so many crazy roundabouts was quite scary, but he did good. It was a looong day but we managed to get everything we needed all moved in.

Our new place is about a 15 min walk from Matts work (London Bridge area) it is a 5-10 minute walk to 2 different areas we like with lots of good restaurants and pubs (Bermondsey St and Shad Thames area). It is a brand new modern building/apartment and has an awesome grocery store on the bottom floor which I love! At a spacious 496 sq ft ;) it is very energy efficient which makes for low electric and water bills but is also code for very low water pressure!

Here are some pics and a video of our new place:

 

 

 

This was the first weekend we have been home since we moved in so we spent the weekend exploring the area.  On Saturdays there is a food market on a street right by our house (Maltby Street Market) so we went there for lunch.

Sunday the weather was beautiful 63 and sunny so we headed to the Shad Thames area where there are lots of restaurants with outdoor seating overlooking the river so we had brunch outside and enjoyed the sunny March day!