We finally have our vacation photos uploaded and captioned:
London/Cambridge and
Barcelona/Sitges.
We met up in London with Mae, Tina, and Mark, and spent about 3 days there, taking the Tube to various sites: Hyde Park, London Bridge, Westminster Abbey, the Eye of London, The Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, Covent Garden, Harrod's, and Piccadilly Circus. London reminds me of New York City: dense, crowded, busy, and fun. I love visiting, but I wouldn't want to live there. For one thing, it's incredibly expensive, especially since the dollar is so weak against the pound. We had to stop doing the mental conversions because they were killing us. We'd packed some cooler weather clothing for this portion of the trip, but woe to us, it was HOT. France played its way into the finals of the World Cup while we were there and we got to see the French fans swarm Piccadilly Circus to celebrate. I'm sure the English loved that. We also got to meet up with some friends who had just moved from NYC to London, which was cool. After 3 1/2 days in London, we retreated to the relative calm of Cambridge. Mae took us punting on the River Cam, which is more difficult than it looks. Chris had a hard time with it, I got a foot cramp from trying to grip the boat with my toes (I was convinced I was going to fall right into the not-so-clean Cam), and Mark finally got the hang of it, once he started thinking (thoughtful advice, courtesy of Mae). No one fell into the river (at least not from our boat), but I did step into a small stand of stinging nettles. Ouch.
The next day, Chris and I proceeded to Barcelona/Sitges. (Mae joined us a few days later.) We actually flew into Girona and picked up a rental car to drive to Sitges. We didn't have a map, just two sets of somewhat conflicting directions. What we learned on that drive: when given choices in a roundabout, don't just go with the exit that's just the most like your directions. You should stop and figure out exactly which exit to take. Otherwise, you might get your stupid asses lost. Also, Americans are not the only people who think speaking loudly and gesturing wildly will convey meaning when speaking a foreign language. The Sitges garbage collectors also subscribe to this theory. The Spain leg of our vacation was meant to be relaxing, and it was. I am a fan of any country that practices
siesta. We spent two days seeing the sights in Barcelona: mostly Gaudi stuff, but also taking a walk down La Rambla, exploring Montjuic, and enjoying tapas at sidewalk cafes.
Before we came to Barcelona, people raved to me about Gaudi's work. I was mildly interested but didn't really have any idea what it was about. Seeing La Sagrada Familia changed that right quick: he was a genius. If you ever get to go to Barcelona, don't miss this half-completed cathedral or the on-site museum. He was heavily inspired by naturally occurring structures (spatial orientation of leaves, the spiral of a nautilus) and it's so cool to see his renditions of nature. We also saw some of his other work: Park Guell, Casa Batllo (just the exterior), and Casa Mila--all amazing and totally different.
The rest of the time in Spain was spent relaxing at the beach in
Sitges, taking leisurely walks in the old town, enjoying relaxed meals on our private terrace, and just forgetting about real life. We shared an apartment with a couple from Sweden: Par (Chris's badminton buddy from his days in Gothenburg) and Lisa. They had their one-year-old daughter, Elsa, with them. I was a little wary of vacationing with an infant, but in the end, it was great. One of the benefits is that being with Elsa forced us to slow down our pace. Instead of rushing from site to site, we had to sit down occasionally so Elsa could eat or nap, and I think we enjoyed our time in Spain more because of the relaxed pace.
We found Barcelona to be a gorgeous city and the people were very warm and welcoming. In fact, given the chance, I would absolutely move there. It's more relaxed than London, with broader avenues, wide sidewalks and numerous cafes, and beautiful architecture. And: siesta!
So that's about it. This was a really broad sketch of our time there. We enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and came home revived and refreshed ... and to two yowling beasties who seemed happy enough to have us home.
