Hello readers!
I am so sorry I have been so terrible about updating my blog. After I got into the swing of things - I figured that my blog would be pretty boring and redundant, so I've been saving up some good things to tell you all for this special blog! The past couple of weeks have been busy - midterms, papers, a little traveling, etc. But the best part is that John came to visit! SO FUN! But it went by way too fast. He got here on Thursday, February 25th (a while ago, I know). We met up at Plaza Catalunya and walked around, went to the Born Ribera where my favorite church is (Santa Maria del Mar) and then went and got some tapas and a restaurant around there! The next day we took a bus to Andorra from the airport. It was a long bus ride, but pretty cheap and it was good to see the country side! I am going to leave out the part about our bus driver stalling out four times. The system of the bus was pretty ideal, it drops you off and picks you up at the place where you're staying, however it just wasn't that efficient considering we had to stop and change buses at the bus station in Andorra and drop other people off,etc. But anyways, we got to Andorra and went down to the small town of Canillo where we walked around, found a place to rent ski equipment and ate dinner. That night I ate Rabbit - it was pretty good, it really did taste like chicken. I ate the legs. I think John ordered duck. The next day we went down to Canillo at 9 in the morning so we could prepare because we didn't know how long it would take but it ended up being pretty easy. I didn't have any ski pants, so the place where we rented our ski's and poles let me borrow some ski bibs - i was so lucky! The resort where we ski'd was perfect - so pretty and snowy! The weather could've been a little bit better, there was more rain than snow towards the end of the day but we stuck it out! We started out on the bunny slopes which were pretty easy for me and then decided to head for the green/intermediate slopes. John and I waited at the top, contemplating which angle to start off at when all the sudden a little girl comes zooming past me. I see her flying down, so I think "Okay if this little girl can do this then I can" and I took off. Not knowing I needed to zig zag down the mountain in order to go slowly, I went straight down and pizza'd the entire way....I don't think I've ever done something so fast in my life and the funny thing is that I didn't even fall until the end. About 5 minutes later, John comes down to find me just sitting on the ground - ski's and poles nowhere in sight - and told me that he stopped ever few feet looking for me burried in the snow somewhere. It was so fun! However, it took a little while for me to build my confidence back up and I think that John learned the true meaning of patience that day.
We got back from Andorra late on Sunday and I showed John around the city a little bit - we went to Sagrada Familia and just walked around. The next two days went by so fast! It was full of showing John around and he actually got to go with my architecture class on a field trip to Casa Mila so that was fun! On tuesday night we went to the BEST RESTAURANT EVER called Cal Pep. It is a really popular tapas bar in the Born Ribera area of Barcelona next to Santa Maria del Mar. It really was some of the best food I have ever had. We had fried calamari, clams, tuna tartar, pan con tomate, sea bass and some wine. It was so good - definitely recommend it! I told everyone about it.
Today, March 14th, Molly and I returned to our humble abode from London. It was so fun! We left on thursday night and got to our hostal around 130, 2 in the morning. Our hostal was good, but kind of sketchy. But the room where we slept was actually decet and the people in there were really nice. They were from Finland. On Friday afternoon we ate lunch at this London chain called Pret a Manger - they have some of the best sandwiches ever. We went to Harrods and just awe'd over everything in there. We then made our way to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, and then to Fortnum and Mason's - one of my favorite stores in London and I know many people who would agree with me! Molly got a pair of Fortnum and Mason's authentic Hunter boots - rainboots - they are so pretty, the perfect blue color with stripes on the inside. I got some honey for my dad, but they threw it away at security in the airport. Not very smart thinking on my part :( We then made our way to Liberty's, the oldest shopping mall in London, and spent an hour in there just looking around.
Friday night, we met up with my mom's friend Andreas, who is a fabulous piano player, and his girlfriend Jessica. They were SO nice and Molly and I were so lucky to have some locals showing us around. We went out for drinks and then went to a restaurant called Sofra's which had a tapas mix of different foods and it was so good. My favorite was the lamb. We then walked around Covent Garden and Soho where we passed the theater for one of my favorite Broadway/Westend plays - Jersey Boys. I took a picture and tagged Katie in it.
On Saturday, Molly and I went to Portabello Markets and as cool as it was - it was so crowded that it was extremely overwhelming. We decided to take the tube over to the London Bridge and the London Towers where we walked around but the tickts to tour were 18 pounds, so we passed it up and I hadalready sen it once before. Then we went down to Oxford Circus and passed St. Paul's Cathedral on our way which is a very beautiful church. We shopped around Oxford and Regent Street and tried to buy some Westend tickets but every thing was sold out. We kind of wished that we saw a day show, but oh well - you live, you learn! We went out to eat at this great Italian restaurant and I got pizza and Molly got a Ceasar salad. We went to bed pretty early because we had a 5 AM wake up call because of our 730 AM flight. But it was good because we got back to Barcelona around 1230.
Well this weekend I am off to Valencia with some friends for Las Fallas - a fire festival! It's with a travel agency called Stoke Travel who caters to students. It should be a lot of fun, we are staying in tents! However, I have to get through TWO midterms this week. AHHHHHHHH HELP ME! No more tests. I am so ready to see my FAMILY! 11 DAYS AND COUNTING! Can't wait. Well I really do apologize for the delay on my blog, but I promise I will be more frequent. Talk to you all soon, Hasta luego!
Love,
Mimi
