For Allison's 30th birthday, we took another sister trip to Spain. The weather was absolutely horrible pretty much the whole time, but we made the best of it and had such a great time together...
We met in Barcelona and hit the town as soon as we checked in
Pretty city! Little did we know this was the last blue sky we would see for the next 10 days.
Barcelona cathedral
Outside the Sagrada de Familia - one of the highlights of the trip for both of us. It is seriously SO cool - Gaudi was the mastermind behind it all. The design is one of a kind and almost futuristic... very different from the rest of the cathedrals in Europe.
This entrance was only finished recently - very modern.
so cool! compare to the inside cathedral picture from above - so different... camera doesn't quite capture it!
This is the ceiling...
Outside the nativity entrance, this one was designed by Gaudi
We climbed to the top... amazing view of Barcelona!
Lol - drama on the bus on the way to the park. Long story, but by the end of the ride, I had 3 old spanish ladies and the bus driver yelling at me hahahaha.
Gaudi park! So random/bizarre. We think Gaudi was on something.
Ergonomic seats for people to sit in and enjoy the views of the city.
We went to a spanish guitar concert that night... this is at dinner before the concert at Crema Cannoli. Duck and sweet potatoes - DELISH. (We came back the next night.)
Allison's birthday! We went on a day trip to Montserrat which is a monastery up in the mountains. This was while we were waiting for the gondola to come take us up the mountain.
At the monastery, we popped into the cathedral to catch the boys choir performance that was promised in Rick Steves, but alas when we arrived it was just a mass.
Beginning our afternoon hike!
Really like this picture - the orange tree and how small Allison is!
More hiking...
In the middle you can see the monastery!
We may have gotten lost on the trails. More than once. We were so done at this point.
So happy to be off our feet after a marathon day!
HAHAHAHAHA. Ok, this is in Sevilla... at the WORST tapas place in the world. It was the worst food and the worst service. Notice the napkin under her elbow - she was too disgusted to have any part of her body touch the table lol.
After our non-lunch (we couldn't eat one bite of the food so just left with empty stomachs haha) we went to the cathedral
This altar, or whatever it's called, was really cool - so ornate and tall!
From the top of the tower you could see the courtyard. All of these cathedrals used to be mosques before the spanish inquisition - you can totally tell with the designs. For example, the way to the top of the tower was a ramp (not steps which is usually how you access towers) to allow for horses to take people up 5 times a day for the muslim call to prayer. So interesting!
Allison in front of Christopher Columbus' tomb
That night we took a tried and true Rick Steves city walk... Allison narrated as per usual.
Sevilla is such a cute town!
We had dinner on the terrace at the top of our hotel overlooking the church
Then headed to a flamenco show... no comment on this experience. Actually, I will comment. The singer sounded like a dying dog and the foot stomping was out of control! Allison loooved it though which is all that matters.
I don't remember what this sight was, but another muslim-turned-christian place of worship.
This is at the royal palace in Sevilla - exploring the gardens in the back yard!
After the palace, we made the trek down to Vejer, a small town in the south. This is right when we arrived - kind of freaked out about how in-the-middle-of-no-where we were.
But we immediately fell in love with the hacienda where we stayed! Look how cute! There are only 7 guest rooms - we got to know all the other guests and the people who run it were so precious.
Hanging out by the pool and planning our next few days.
More shots of the hacienda...
Breakfast on the terrace the next morning... this little kitten was precious. I HATE cats but couldn't get enough of this little guy. He wouldn't get off my lap!
Our one and only pic of the rental car that was (almost) the death of us. Literally.
Braving the gale-forced winds and cold weather and ready to spend the day at a deserted beach cove in Conil!
Ruggedly beautiful!
Really happy to be here :)
Coming back from an exploratory walk
The next day, we road tripped to three Andalusian hill towns - Zahara, Grazelema and Ronda. This is upon arrival in Zahara - great views!
We decided to hike up to the top where there was an abandoned castle - of course it started raining 2 minutes into the hike and we were umbrella-less. Oh well - we trudged on!
LOVE this picture! The view from the top of the castle - quintessential little white hill town from above.
At the top of the top - wind was out of control
Gorgeous!
Our next stop was Grazalema - here are a few of the views...
Then came Ronda - the thing to see here is the gorge (behind me in this picture)
Hahaha... we had to head home before any of the restaurants opened for dinner... so McD's it was! The whole siesta timing thing really threw us...
The most stressful drive of my life - this was the 11th hour of the day spent driving that car. On mountain windy-twindy roads. In pitch black darkness. In rain that was pouring so hard our fastest windshield wiper speed wasn't fast enough!
So, after the stressful drive home, we decided to spend the entire next day relaxing at our hacienda. We read, sat by the fire, chatted with the other guests, played cards...
... and ate one of the best dinners of the whole trip prepared by the hacienda! SUCH a great day!
The next day we drove to Granada to see the Alhambra. This was right at the entrance - cute view behind me.
Waiting to get in the Nasiri (sp?) chapel. Again, in the rain with no umbrella haha. A theme of our trip.
The muslim influence is so evident!
So. Cold. So. Wet. But still an amazing narrator!
The grounds of the Alhambra were super cool!
After the Alhambra we drove to Madrid. We did some research and found the "best paella in town"... we were so excited!
Seafood paella! Before the first bite.
After the first bite. LOL we couldn't figure out how to eat the fishies that came (with their full bodies) on the plate.
Next morning - so excited to finally find a Starbucks!!! We needed it (more reasons than one) for our jam packed day ahead.
Plaza Mayor - and its Sunday flea market
This is at the San Miguel market - it's like the Whole Foods of flea markets! So gourmet.
Walking around Madrid
Palacio Real - another highlight of the trip but you couldn't take pics inside.
More walking around Madrid...
At the Prado museum - I'm the person on the far right - we waited in a looong line to get in
At the end of our trek through the Prado - I literally couldn't feel my legs. I may or may not have had an "adult meltdown" (as Allison called it) when I just plopped down and sat on the floor smack dab in the middle of one of the art rooms. Haha. We ran ourselves into the ground this day!!!
We rewarded ourselves with an amazing dinner of.... ox!
Such a fun trip - definitely an adventure - but so many great memories and hilarious mishaps that will make me laugh every time I remember our time in Espana!
Grabbing dinner after work to celebrate Chels' birthday... at Barbecoa... best restaurant ever.
At my work's community service day - we painted and organised a low-income-family child care facility, and a few of us shopped for presents for the kids. This is Barry dressed up as Santa before the kids came in to get their presents (favorite bratty kid comment: "I thought Santa was supposed to get you things you wanted? I don't want this!" Hahaha)
Chels, Shika, Valerie and I took a quick weekend trip to Basel for a true Christmas market experience. It was really fun! This is me in front of the Basel Christmas market...
Ordering lunch - cheese filled sausages - TO DIE FOR!
Super cute - although the Basel market was on the miserable side because it was so cold and wet.
Day 2 - we took the train to Germany and hit up the Freiburg market - LOVED it.
Took a quick hike to get an aerial shot of Freiburg - beautiful!
Group shot
Back in London - went to Handel's Messiah at Royal Albert Hall
Photobooth shot from our Christmas party for work - black tie attire and all (although you can't tell from this picture)! These are my work peeps!! Spend a ton of time with these guys!
Pub dinner with Jay and Ellen last night - so fun to have friends from the OC in town!!!
