August 2016 – just meesh

August 31, 2016August 31, 2016

a day in LDN

My mom and I finished our trip with a day in London. Since our flights home were out of London we decided to put a day in between flights (we flew from Barcelona back to London, with a day before our flight home). Yes, a little unorthodox, but I’m so glad we did.

The day started with a walk along the south bank (my fav thing to do in LDN) to borough market for some yummy treats. We sampled the most amazing scotch eggs, sweet potatoes fries, smoothies, brownies and cookies the size of our faces (yes, again).

From there we headed, via the tube, to Regent’s park. There are so many parks in the city and I had yet to visit Regent’s. I think what sets Regent’s park apart is the beautiful rose garden.

Never in my life have a seen roses so big and so perfect. And in so many colors! It was amazing to walk around and see all the different types, each as beautiful as the next.

After stopping to smell the roses, literally, we headed towards Notting Hill area. I’ve yet to see it and I’m obsessed with the movie. But, we never made it because we decided to make a stop at Kensington palace instead.

Boy did we have a field day…we decided to view the exhibits because the palace has a lot of outfits wore by the queen, her sister and princess Diana on display. But also got to visit the quarters of the various monarchs that resided there…that’s where the fun started…

To be honest the whole time my mom and I were like 2 snickering school girls making immature jokes throughout. We couldn’t stop laughing and now we swear the monarchs spirits are haunting us.

Anyways, after we had our fun we headed towards Knightsbridge to do some shopping. We finished our day with dinner at Harrods overlooking the Egyptian escalator. It was pretty cool.

A bittersweet moment to know that the next day we’d be heading home and leaving a place I’ve come to love so much. But I know it won’t be long before I’m in London again!

^our yummy scotch eggs & sweet potatoe fries

cheers.

~meesh

^one of the things that had my mom and I laughing about at Kensington palace 🙂

August 25, 2016August 25, 2016

food of barcelona

Here’s a rundown off all the food we ate in Barcelona:

LUNCH/DINNER DAY ONE: LAS RAMBLAS

calamari, pizza and sangria

SNACK DAY ONE: FONT DE MONTIJUIC

ice cream 🙂

LUNCH DAY TWO: EN ROUTE TO PARK GUELL

fresh bakery tuna salad sandwich

DINNER DAY TWO: GOTHIC QUARTER

veggie paella

SNACK DAY TWO: MERCADO DE LA BOQUERIA

chocolate covered strawberries and assorted truffles

LUNCH DAY THREE: GRAN VIA

veggie sandwich

DINNER DAY THREE: LAS RAMBLAS

tapas!…we tried more than just the 3 pictured here

SNACK DAY THREE: GOTHIC QUARTER

bakery goodies

Note: There are no pics of food from breakfast becasue it was provided at the hotels throughout the trip.

cheers.

~meesh

August 23, 2016August 23, 2016

costa brava

We spent our last day in Spain in the Costa Brava region which is just north of Barcelona along the coast.

The first town we visited, Lloret de Mar, is your quintessential European tourist coast town. Hotels line the beach and there are people in swimsuits everywhere. My mom and I enjoyed our time there just sitting on the beach looking out at the water. The views were spectacular.

From there we boarded a ferry that would take us to the next town Tossa de Mar. Wow, can I just say wow. The views of the coast from the ferry were breathtaking. I was mesmerized just watching the water hitting the rocks. I loved taking it all in.

Once we got to Tossa we did a short waking tour of the old part of the town, the tour took you to the highest point in town and the views all along the way were incredible. It was all just so calm, peaceful and beautiful. After the tour we enjoyed lunch with a view of the water.

We spent the rest of the afternoon with exploring town, indulging in gelato and taking in all the views, aka me snapping about a million photos.

Even the views on the bus ride back to Barcelona was a site to see. It offered a different view of the coast, small winding streets and houses in the hills.

Costa Brava was by far the best place we visited while abroad. If you’re visiting Barcelona take a day to go north and visit, it won’t disappoint.

cheers.

~meesh

August 19, 2016August 19, 2016

sagrada familia

Before I get in too deep with this post I’m giving a little history lesson about the Sagrada Familia for those you don’t know what it is…

Antoni Guadi is Barcelona’s most famous architect of the modernism era. He is the mind behind Park Guell, Casa Batllo, Casa Mila and the Sagrada Familia. And the Sagrada Familia was not only his dream but the city of Barcelona’s dream . It’s a modernism basilica featuring ornate details and once finished will have 18 towers. The key thing to note is that although construction started in 1882, construction is still not finished. Funds for construction are raised through donations and it’s forecasted to be complete in 2026.

Although not entirely finished you can still visit the inside which is complete. So after or morning tour my mom and I headed to over becasue our tickets were for that afternoon. Even just looking at the outside is a site to see, ever detail is meticulously thought out and all together it’s just breath taking…

I guess I didn’t know what to expect from the inside becasue I’d only ever seen pictures of the outside. And when I walked inside I think my jaw might have hit the ground. I’ve been a lot of European churches and basilicas and I have never seen anything like it. It wasn’t stuffy and dark like I’d expected, it was bright, colorful and airy. It had a completely different vibe and I loved it.

This inside has a more simple feel as compared to the outside but again the attention to detail is incredible. And, I’ve never seen stained glass create such color and light within a space.

While there my mom and I also had the opportunity to go up one of the towers. We chose the towers on the Nativity side. So basically a lift takes you up to the viewing area and bridge that connects the to towers, which was really cool and we got some great views of the city but then it was kind of creepy because you have to take the stairs down and it’s pretty dark/cramped. After we got down my mom and I needed a little breather because it was pretty intense. I mean don’t get me wrong it was a really cool experience but just wish we knew what we were getting ourselves into beforehand, haha.

Moral of the story is if you are in Barcelona you must go visit the Sagrada Familia.

cheers.

~meesh

p.s. Also not super happy with the pictures here becasue it really doesn’t do it justice…might do a post with more pictures soon

August 18, 2016August 18, 2016

barcelona three

Day 3 started out with a morning bus tour of the city. The difference between this tour and the hop on hop off was that we got a live tour guide and we got to do some fun activities…

What we also didn’t know about the tour was that it included a ride on the Teleferic of Montjuic (so we got to go again) and a visit to the Spanish Village, which I’ll get to in a bit.
The tour started on the busy Barcelona streets, weaving in and out of different neighborhoods. Our first stop was at the Olympic Village where my mom and I had our first chance to go down to the beach and dip our toes in the water. We also got to see a lot of older folks enjoying the beach.

From there we headed up to Montjuic where we got a history lesson about the Montjuic castle that we had visited our first day and then got a chance to ride the Teleferic again and enjoy the views.

Then we headed to one of our favorite spots in Barcelona, the Spanish Village. The Spanish Village is basically all of Spain just condensed down into a “mini village.” The buildings inside feature architecture from each of the regions in Spain and house shops that feature the food and wine of Spain along with handmade items like fans and blown glass.

It was like this little hidden gem that we didn’t even know existed before the tour and my mom and I picked up some really cool handmade items like fans (which are super popular there). I think if we had time we would have spent the whole day there just going in and out of the little shops.

Our tour then finished with a walking portion through the gothic quarter of the city. We’d been there before but it was nice to get some context and learn about the area’s history. Plus I’m a big fan of walking tours because I think the best way to see a city is on foot.

Once our tour finished we headed back to the Sagrada Familia….which I will go into detail in the next post.