traveling – 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.

^^tbt to when my shoes where this white

cheers.

~meesh

July 15, 2016

barcelona two

The next morning we headed out to conquer Park Güell…the thing is, no one tells you that you have to get your tickets in advance and that you then have a specific entrance time…same goes for the Sagrada Familia. Also, no one told us that you can purchase tickets online ahead of time…Sooooo after we walked all the way to Park Güell and bought our tickets to go inside that afternoon. We then somehow walked from there all the way to the Sagrada Familia only to find out that couldn’t get tickets for the next day in line, you have to get them online…

At that point I was exhausted from walking and so pissed off that we couldn’t just go and see things as we pleased. It took a lot of the fun out of traveling and just became a pain in the ass because we wasted a half a day just figuring out how to “sightsee” in Barcelona.

After that debacle we got on our hop-on hop-off and got to relax and see a lot more of the city, that we hadn’t the day before. Woah, is Barcelona huge…the guide on the bus was listing all of the things you could do in different areas of the city and it was like you could easily spend a week there and still not see/do everything.

At that point we were starving so we picked up baguette sandwiches on our way back to Park Güell …I only mention the sandwiches because 1. they were incredibly delicious (pic to come) and 2. it reminded my mom of when she traveled Europe back in the 80s with my dad. …And so we proceeded to spend 20 minutes trying to recreate a photo in which my dad was eating a sandwich, only instead it was of me eating a sandwich. No, the photo did not turn out…

Okay, so we finally got into Park Güell and….don’t get me wrong it was really really cool/unique but it just wasn’t what I expected. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that my only reference point to Park Güell was how it was portrayed in the Cheetah Girls movie…but still. It was just a lot smaller than the vast openness I had expected.

After that we enjoyed the hop-on hop-off bus some more before doing some shopping around the gothic quarter, getting dinner and calling it a night.

cheers.

~meesh

July 12, 2016July 12, 2016

barcelona one

For anyone that followed along during my study abroad travels then you’ll know that my favorite way to travel through Europe is by train. It only seemed fitting that as we traveled from Madrid to Barcelona that we did so by train.

We arrived in Barcelona in the early afternoon and both my mom and I were eager to get to the water, after all Barcelona is a port city. So we dropped our bags at the hotel and headed out to find the water. Our hotel was near Las Ramblas, the major street that takes you to the port so that’s where we started. We stopped for some lunch and sangria and then soon found ourselves at the water’s edge.

What better to do at that point then get on the water? So we boarded a ferry that takes you around the port and the nearby beaches. The views were stunning all around, though a bit windy it was worth every penny. And, we even got a little show as we passed by one of the many cruise ships and got mooned by one of the vacationers.

After our boat ride we (and by we I mean me) decided to head up towards Montjuic which at the top you’ll find Montjuic castle and gardens along with the Olympic stadium and a bunch of other things. Man did I put my mom through the ringer on the hike up there…I don’t think either of us where prepared for the climb, but luckily we took the Teleferic de Montjuic (aka cable car) the rest of the way up which offered incredibled views of the city and sea.

Once at the top we explored the castle until it closed and then headed down towards the Font de Montjuic to see the water/light show. On our way down we stopped at the Olympic stadium and got to see some of the plaza and arenas where the 1992 summer games where held.

Finally we arrived at the Font de Montjuic eager to see the magic fountain show, we grabbed some ice cream and settled in to await the show, which doesn’t begin until it gets dark….so here we are waiting and waiting and it’s getting darker and darker out but no show…we waited some more before we finally called it quits and headed in for the night.

Once I got wifi back at the hotel we were able to find out the show only takes place Thurs-Sat, of course we were there from Sun-Wed and of course would not be able to see the show. I guess that’s just a reason to go back someday…

cheers.

~meesh

June 29, 2016June 28, 2016

the food of madrid

This one is pretty self explanatory…here’s a rundown off all the food we ate in Madrid:

LUNCH DAY ONE: MERCADO DE SAN MIGUEL

assorted burrata cheese crostinis & fresh fruit smoothies

DINNER DAY ONE: PLAZA MAYOR

sangria and seafood paella

LUNCH DAY TWO: MERCADO DE SAN MIGUEL

personal pizzas: 4 cheese and mushroom

MIDDAY TREAT DAY TWO: SAN GINES CHOCOLATERIA

chocolate and churros, a Madrid must have

DINNER DAY TWO: LE MARIA

crackers & cheese, presecco, steak, smoothies and coffee liquor

…talk about being wined and dined

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

cheers.

~meesh

p.s. Barcelona is up next!

June 16, 2016June 24, 2016

madrid day two part 2

Ahhhh I’m so sorry, I haven’t posted in ages. It’s been crazy trying to be an adult so I have to adjust my time management. Anyways here is part 2…

After our lunch we headed to our afternoon guided tour which was nice and relaxing, we even got a chance to see the bull fighting stadium which we wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. And luckily it rained while we were on the tour so we stayed dry in the comfort of the bus.

Once our tour finished we walked through the plaza España and then up to the Debod temple (the oldest building in Madrid) from there we explored the old town and enjoyed walking down all the curving narrow streets.

Of course we also had to stop and have some chocolate and churros at San Gines, as Madrid is know for it. Pictures to come in separate food post.

We even ran into a wedding so we stopped to see the bride and groom and snap some pics. After dong some shopping it started to rain again so we need to find shelter and food…

We happened upon this little restaurant called Le Maria and omg…. this was by far the best meal we had on our entire trip. I have never been wined and dined in this fashion ever before but now I wish it were how I dine every night. Included in our 2.2 euro service charge was a glass of prosecco, gazpacho, crackers and cheese, bread and then after dinner an orange smoothie, and a vat of coffee liqueur. It was unlike anything I’ve ever experience and I loved every minute of it. If you are in Madrid you NEED to go.

By then the rain had let up and we headed back to our hotel for the night.

cheers.

~meesh

June 16, 2016June 28, 2016

madrid day two pt 1

The next morning we headed out to conquer the other side of town, which included visiting the palace, the palace gardens, the cathedral and the basilica. On our walk over in the morning we had no idea that our hotel was right by the palace so we made good time and enjoyed walking through the palace gardens. Seriously the flowers there were incredible.

We couldn’t actually go inside the palace, I’m not sure if you can on a normal day but there was some ceremony going on that day. Because of that you couldn’t even go into the palace square as it was all blocked off. We were still able to walk around and see the outside, which was just as spectacular.

After that we checked out the cathedral and basilica, which were both very nice. Before our afternoon tour we wanted to find the place we had heard of yesterday on the hop-on hop-off were you could get a 360 degree view of the whole city…my mom couldn’t remember where they told us it was and I happened to be napping during that part of the bus ride so we wandered around looking for some time…

Little did we know that it was the cathedral that gave you access to the views. But it was a separate entrance so that’s why we hadn’t seen it before when we were there earlier. Anyways, we made it to the top and the views didn’t disappoint. I will say thought that there were these giant statues up there and it was creepy being so close to them because they were triple our size (see photo below).

After that we picked up lunch at the San Miguel Mercado, again and sat in the square listening to some lovely music being played by a sweet old man. He was amazing and had a dog so we gave him a couple of euros because we enjoyed it…