<----------- Another New Blog Link

I've added another new blog link to the left here. This is the blog of another friend i've had since highschool, Lara. Lara lives on a boat in Charleston, SC and has just quit her job to pursue her art career full time. Check out her blog to see her fabulous gallery of artwork (hopefully more to come now that that pesky other full-time job isn't in the way) and follow her life in Charleston and beyond.

One of Lara's paintings entitled "Cows in Field"

Barcelona

As you may have noticed from our calendar on the left, it has been a hectic few weeks to say the least. So, let’s start at the beginning.

At the end of June, our friends Brian and Candace came out from the states. They spent a few days in London, but we also convinced them to travel with us to Barcelona, a city I have long wanted to visit.

We spent our first day in Barcelona walking up and down La Rambla, the city’s main shopping/people watching boulevard. We loved its restaurants filled with paella as well as all of the food markets.

Paella- yummy!

Food market on La Rambla

Next, we headed out to Gaudi’s famous church: La Sagrada Familia. From the outside, the Sagrada Familia reminded me of those sandcastles we used to make as kids by holding wet sand in our hands and letting it drop to the ground little clump by little clump until you have a lumpy looking mound. While the outside, to me, wasn’t very pretty, it was very interesting. The inside of la Sagrada Familia, however, was SPECTACULAR!!! It was like nothing I have ever seen before. Gaudi is said to have been inspired by a forest and wanted the cathedral to invoke the feeling of lying on the forest floor and looking up at the trees. I think he was successful. The stained-glass windows blew me away more than anything else. They were so modern looking and produced such amazing light. The cathedral has been under construction for 100 years and is not scheduled to be completed until 2040, but I would go back just to see what it looks like at the end!!!

La Sagrada Familia

Inside

The next day, we hopped on the train and headed 45 minutes south of Barcelona to the beach town of Sitges. Lined with old Spanish churches and courtyards, this town had a very wonderful old-world feel to it. However, once you delve into the town centre, you are instantly aware of why it is called one of Spain’s biggest party retreats. Bars line most streets and colourful drinks are aplenty!

Brian and Candace in Sitges

On our last day in Barcelona, we headed north of the city to Park Guell, which was also designed by Gaudi. It was originally planned as a city retreat for the wealthy, but was never really completed. It was wonderful to walk through the park and see all of Gaudi’s nature-inspired designs intertwined with the Spanish landscape.

Me and Bobby, Park Guell

Bobby squishing La Sagrada Familia from the top of Park Guell

If I were every to go back to Barcelona, I would definitely plan on staying in Sitges and making day trips into the City instead of the other way around. While Barcelona was fantastic, there wasn’t a lot to do there and it would have been nice to sit on Sitges’ beautiful beaches a while longer!

UK Factoid of the Day

In the UK, the dance/song we call the Hokey Pokey is called the Hokey Cokey and the lyrics are as follows:

Put your left leg in
your left leg out
In
out
in
out
shake it all about

Do the Hokey-Cokey
and you turn around
That's what it's all about

I like Cokey
I like Cokey
I like Cokey

Knees bent
arms stretched
rah
rah
rah

UK Factoid of the Day

In the UK, what we call Cotton Candy is called Candy Floss.

<------ New Blog Link

I've added a link for my friend Sarah's blog to the left here.  Sarah and I have been good friends since high school and this is a blog she shares with her husband, Ben (although, much like our blog, Sarah writes most of the entries). 

Sarah and Ben are some of the greatest foodies I know.  She reviews a lot of restaurants in the Norfolk/Hampton Roads area and beyond.  I always look forward to going out to dinner with these two because I know that it will be FABULOUS.  I have high aspirations for Sarah's blog becoming the next SmittenKitchen or for the two of them to open a fabulous bakery/restaurant of their own.    

 

Sarah and me at her wedding in California last November.  

Poetry/Quotes

A while ago, in a style that I very much stole from one of my favorite things in the world: storypeople, I started writing down little poetry/quote infusions about our sometimes crazy but always amazing life over here. I decided that I would start putting a few up every now and then, so here goes:


"Don't you ever miss home?" I asked him. "No," he said, "the Beer is better here & that makes up for everything else."


(I bet you can guess who said/inspired this one)

A Day at the Races (x2)

Its summertime in England which means, among other things, that its horse racing season! I’ve never been much into gambling, or horses either for that matter, but I am into wearing crazy looking hats, so I’ve been looking forward to the racing season for awhile.

Two weekends ago, we went up to York (2 hours north of London by train) to attend the races there. This being my first foray into betting on horses, I decided just to completely wing it and pay no attention to horses odds or statistics in any way. I chose the horse whose name I liked the best in each race and put £2 on it winning and £2 on it placing (£2 is the minimum bet). My system seemed to work because, at the end of the day, I came out £10 on top!

Winning ticket!

My hat for the York races

We stayed in York over night so that we could spend Sunday touring around the city. I was very impressed with York’s massive Cathedral, the largest north of the Alps.

York Minister Cathedral

This past weekend, we attended the Royal Ascot which is in Ascot (1 hour out of London by train). This is the motherload of all horseraces because the Ascot racecourse is the closest to London and therefore draws a crowd of tens of thousands of people (including celebrities and the Queen!). It is much more formal than the York races and many men were dressed up in top hats and tails. Financially, we weren’t as lucky at this race and ended up about £18 down at the end of the day, but we did get to see the Queen, so I guess it was worth it.

Hat for the Ascot

The Queen!!