Barcelona Day One

Date of this trip: April 18-21, 2013

In the midst of a long and dreary Scottish winter, a warm trip to Spain was just what we needed!

Welcome to Barcelona!

View of Barcelona from our hotel

I was very thankful that our hotel had a lift in addition to these neat stairs!

We started our first day in Barcelona walking Las Ramblas. Las Ramblas is a popular primarily pedestrian street lined with shops, markets, and filled with plenty of kiosks. At the southern end of the Ramblas is Port Vell (near the cruise port terminal). At the northern end of the Ramblas is Plaça Catalunya, a large square in central Barcelona. 

Las Ramblas is a must-see for first time visitors of the city.

It didn't take long before we stopped for a Catalunyan cream-filled pastry. 

La Boqueria was one of my favorite places in Barcelona!

It is basically a large public food market filled with the most amazing fruit I have ever seen.

The market is so photogenic.

The fresh fruit juice was amazing! They have just about any flavor combination you can think of. Be brave with your choices; it was worth it.

"The first mention of the Boqueria market in Barcelona dates from 1217, when tables were installed near the old city gate to sell meat."

We managed to snag a couple of tasty cod fritters. Thanks for the recommendation, Vicki!

So. Fresh.

Mark Twain describes this fruit "the most delicious fruit known to men." Maybe we should have tried one!  They are also known as "custard apples."

Clever serving dishes

Much of the produce was conveniently cut and packaged for immediate consumption.

The aisle after aisle could leave me wandering for days.

We left La Boqueria (with intentions of returning the following day) and continued our stroll down Las Ramblas.

Placa del Portal de la Pau

Catamaran Orsom

This Christopher Columbus monument serves as a reminder that Columbus first reported back to the king and queen in Barcelona after his first trip to the new continent.

Aduana building

Port Vell

Love the reflections on the water

James went to get a closer look at the water while I snapped more photos.

"Port Vell" in English is literally "old harbour."

Plaça Catalunya

La Barceloneta

Enjoying a pleasant stroll while watching the Spanish sunset

The beaches were very calm and peaceful. The following day was a completely different story. (More on that later...)

Barcelona's wildlife!

A bit of contemporary art 

We ventured over to the Palau Nacional in Montjuic to watch the magic fountain perform its colorful light display and water acrobatics. Unfortunately, the magic fountain only performs on certain nights so we had to plan on going back the next evening to watch it instead.

Nighttime in Barcelona

Placa Espanya

After spending a day warming up in Barcelona, we could already tell we loved the lively city!

Living in London

Right.

So I've been on a blogging hiatus for quite some time now.
I have plenty of excuses, but I won't bore you with those today.

James and I are quite settled in our new London life now. And it's definitely time for me to carry on writing about our adventures.

Before I go back in time to share what we have been doing all spring and summer, I figured you'd like to see where we are in London.

I'll start with where we are living.

We debated whether we should live in Woking, where James works, (located in Surrey which is southwest of London) or in London proper. With the thought "How could we pass up the opportunity to live in London?" we asked our relocation agency to show us properties in London first. Whew! It is competitive to find a place to live in London! After visiting about 20 houses/flats, we were quite exhausted at the end of the day. James viewed a few properties in Woking the following day while I headed back into London to do a little more searching on my own. (More on London house-hunting in a later blog post...) After lengthy negotiations, we finally had a place to live in LONDON!!!

We are living in a Victorian period conversion maisonette in the Borough of Battersea which is located very near Clapham Junction (the train station James uses every morning to get to work). We chose this area because it has a direct train to the town in Surrey where James works. From what I hear, a twenty minute train ride is quite a stellar commute compared to the hours that Londoners seem to travel to get to and from work every day.

Ours is the white-grey house on the right!

Walking up the stairs into our house

Our lovely kitchen (the pink and grey is probably James' favorite thing about the house)

Walking out of the kitchen

Little loo with the tiniest sink I've ever seen

(love those subway tiles!)

Guest bedroom (This is where you will stay when you come to visit us!)

Guest bedroom window view

Walking into the reception room

a.k.a. living room

View from the living room bay window

Walking out of the living room

Master bathroom

Master bedroom

Views from the master bedroom window

We. Love. London.

Much more about London to come! Check back soon.