Tapas, Sangrias and... Coke? When in Barcelona!

As one would do in Barcelona, here I take a moment to say cheers to sun, friendship and, of course, good food! If I had a drink in hand it would be all too similar to the many moments that we had in the antique, lively and colourful city. There was so much to be celebrated, even in the short 5 days that we were there. The holiday was greatly anticipated as Tim and I had both been flat out at work and our itch for the sun was starting to kick in.

We arrived at the airport and headed straight out the doors to immediately hop onto a bus that drove us into the main city. With our wheelie bags trailing behind us, we began our short journey to our accommodation and upon arrival we were giddy with excitement to explore the eclectic, inviting streets that surrounded us and almost beckoned us. Our accommodation was another great win; we stayed in an apartment that sat at the top of an enchantingly stunning staircase, and throughout the apartment it carried on the theme of coloured tiles and quaint European décor. Our bedroom was adorned with big double doors that streamed in the sunlight… ahhh the sunlight!

Our first mission was to discover the food markets, ‘La Boqueria’ on the main strip, La Rambla. Whilst this strip is famous for the swarms of tourists and the slightly annoying locals trying to sell you everything, it was most definitely worth walking down here every morning to indulge in the fresh fruit juices, and fruit salads that the markets boasted. The flavours were endless and the tastes were too delicious. Tim stopped off at the little bakery on the way through and purchased himself a chocolate croissant and the meandering through the markets was made perfect with a juice in hand, flavours dancing on the taste-buds and many delicacies to taunt the eyes and nose.

Our first day consisted of food grazing, wandering around and a spot of sun soaking. The unwinding didn’t take long and the permanent smiles were in place. I have picked up an obsession for backstreets of all the towns I visit, and if they do their backstreets well I tend to enjoy getting lost amongst them. Barcelona delivered on her backstreets and with the smell of the bakeries guiding the way we zigzagged in and out of the old town, quickly falling in love with the town and with each other all over again.

The next day saw the arrival of our fun-filled and greatly loved friends, Mark and Terri. Honestly, the fun was intensified the second they arrived and it made the trip so memorable. We managed to fit a lot in with the 3 days we had together. We visited the Olympic city where the boys were daring each other to swiftly sneak into the arena and run the 100m sprint. It didn’t happen. But what did happen, and what most certainly deserves a big dedicated mention, was the visiting of Montserrat. This place has a huge monastery on the top of a hill, about 1 hour north of Barcelona’s Old Town. This deserves a mention for two categorical reasons; firstly, it was absolutely stunning and here words will fail to be able to explain the sights and the wonder of this place; secondly, Tez is afraid of heights and with Montserrat being 1236 meters above the valley floor we had to travel upwards on a somewhat steady cable car and then proceeded to climb the cliffs surrounding the small town. What a legend! It was crazily beautiful but the highlight of the excursion for me was a moment when Terri and I were sitting in front of a tiny stone chapel, looking out for thousands of kilometres. I suddenly felt overwhelmed, trying to take the view in but also realising how precious it is to be spending that moment with a new, but greatly treasured friend. Whilst Terri and I were enjoying the breathtaking views, the boys were proving their manliness by climbing to the top of a summit, which I will admit was epically high.

A stopover in Barcelona is no success without an encounter of a Gaudi wonder. Boy, it was a wonder! La Sagrada Familia was unbelievable! The enormity and the detail had our necks craned for a good few minutes, until every tourist saw Tim’s gigantic camera and kept asking him to take their photos. The Gaudi expedition continued on towards Park Guell, where again the architecture was simply amazing.

On our final night we put on something a little more elegant and classy than what the past few days of hiking around Barcelona entitled. We hit the town ready to create some memories over sangria, coronas (for the boys) and tapas, all followed by some live Spanish music.  On arrival at our little back street restaurant, Tim confidently stepped forward and offered up his services to speak some Española with the locals.  The 2 years he spent studying Spanish in high school surely paid off as he proceeded to boldly order our drinks in Spanish… “Ah, dos sangrias and dos coronas. Gracias!” He turned to us, avoiding immediate eye contact but evidently showed off the biggest, cheesy proud grin, which confidently assured us he knew what he was doing. A few minutes later our waiter arrived with our drinks that Tim had done so well at ordering in Spanish, however something must have been lost in translation.  2 Sangrias… yup! 2 Cokes…? Ah... Rather than contesting the order with the little Spanish that Tim knew, he swallowed his pride along with the taste of poison (coke).

After we worked off the delicious food with the endless laughing over dinner, we went to a tiny music venue and watched every local waltz in the door, kiss each other on the cheek and then dance with such ease as we all had a geezer at them, looking quite out of place. What a fun little hub of a place, the Harlem Jazz Club.

Every day was incredible and enriched by the tasty food we indulged in, the sangria or two that was consumed and the company of amazing, quality friends. Thank you Mark and Terri! Gracias Spain!!

An Easter Road Trip and 5 month update...

As I excitedly write these long overdue words to you, I look out the window of our aircraft awaiting its departure from Gatwick Airport. Destination: Dubrovnik, Croatia. The most common response from any Londoner discussing our summer trip goes something along the lines of, “Wow, I bet you’re looking forward to some sun!” to which we would respond, “My gosh, yes! We can’t wait for some summer weather”. Everyone involved in the conversation would roll their eyes, look out the window to gaze at the ever-changing grey formations in the sky and then pull their jacket closer to their chest. Summer in London is a slight oxymoron, majority of the time. However, as I sit here with the humming of the plane and the parade of passengers jolting around awkwardly with their bags, London has turned on its most gorgeous, glistening sun with warm rays of 27 degrees. I am certain it is just to tease and taunt us, slightly resentful of us deserting what has now become our home. Whilst we do feel strong sentiments towards London, despite the unreliable weather, we take off with enormous smiles on our faces and our biggest touristy, straw summer hats on our heads as we embark on yet another adventure together.

When you last heard from us, we were sharing our stories from the marvellous city, Paris. So much has happened since this time. We have fallen behind with our blogging - our deepest apologies to you - but we can put this down to us settling into busy but joyful lives. Before I disclose the next part of the chapter in our travels (which is 3 months previous to our current journey), here I will provide a quick update as to what we have been doing. I hope your tea is in hand.

With the difficult economic climate over her, both Tim and I have been extremely fortunate to find ourselves busy with steady jobs, even if at times they are rather testing, providing unexpected diversions in the road. Tim has been working as a freelance photographer, spending most of his days working for a company called Datography. This company hires Tim to take interior and exterior photos of properties, as well as draw up floor plans in order to put them on the market. He gets on with his day mostly on foot, so has been busy roaming around London. But, don’t feel too sorry for him as I would often come home to stories of him meeting cute little old ladies that make him cups of tea and feed him bikkies and cake. He has taken photos of all sorts of houses including some of the wealthiest in London, not to mention the neighbour of Freddie Mercury’s house. My amazing husband has been diligent and consistently high-spirited as he works hard in his job with the most admiring attitude. Everyday he encourages me to look at life with zeal and to laugh in all situations.

Amongst this, he has also had the amazing opportunity to take photos of a movie premier, “Tooting Broadway” (not sure if it’s hit the Aussie cinema’s yet…?) (I make a joke here. If you knew Tooting Broadway you would laugh along with me. It’s a suburb about 15min away from where we live. The movie is about the gang-life in Tooting Broadway). He has also booked a wedding in Bath, for next summer and has shot Alex Lloyd’s newest music video! He also shared his 27^th birthday with our incredible friends that we have made. Whilst we were all gathered in a typical English pub munching on chips and watching the Wimbledon final, it was hard not to look around and take note of the amazing people that were gathered in the room to celebrate my husband. For this I give credit to Tim for his ease in making friends and surrounding himself with good quality people. For this I am also grateful for friendships, as they have been a huge part in making this new place home.

There are so many stories we could tell of Tim’s encounters with interesting characters through his job, but here I digress as this is already becoming a lengthy catch up – however it has been some time so I hope you’re pleased with the quality time with us, as we have been longing to tell you all how we’ve been. I myself have just spent 3 months teaching in a school, which I have now found out to be one of the most unstable schools in London. It was incredibly tough at times, but I feel so proud of myself to get through each day and come home feeling a little bit more accomplished than the previous day. I would definitely hold this up as one of my biggest successes in my career as I developed a reputable rapport with both students and staff. As well as this, I met another Aussie teacher, Mark, who started and finished at the same time as me. In working together, we decidedly supported each other through the unknown and have now become wonderful friends. His beautiful girlfriend, Terri (Tez, Tezza, Tezlaham, Tezalinko) has become one of my dearest friends as we have gotten to know each other and now all share parts of our journey together. Tim and Mark are officially a “cute couple” with matching watches that they wear with pride to show off their friendship. 

The job at this school was just for one term for a maternity leave and I finished up last Friday with pride and an enormous sigh of relief. On the Monday before I finished at this school I had an interview for another school, not far from Wimbledon and got the job instantly, securing in a year of work for the next academic year. God is good! I had the opportunity to work 3 days at my new school this week, and loved it. The staff members are immensely friendly and supportive and the kids seem quite meek and mild in comparison to my zoo-keeping job I have just finished.

Which brings us to the start of our summer shenanigans. Two and a half weeks in Croatia and Slovenia, here we come. The story of this adventure will come in due time (hopefully not so vast a gap in our updates as this one). As our previous blog detailed, mum and dad were over for their Great Adventure in March/April and we gallivanted in Paris. Our gallivanting indeed continued with increased joy and wonder as we headed on a road-trip from London – Brighton – Stonehenge – Bath – Cotswolds – Oxford – Windsor. I cant decide whether it was just the simple fact that we were in the best company, or the sheer luck of impeccable weather the entire trip, or even perhaps our most fortunate stumbling upon incredible food… whatever it was, this was the most enjoyable and amazing time we have had, and I frequently revisit the memories of this trip.

Our first visit to Brighton quickly begged for another visit as soon as possible, as the sun was shining, the water was glistening and the quaintly inviting “Lanes” had us in awe the entire time. We wandered about, tempted by the fudge shops, the corner pubs, the candle stores and the endless jewellery windows. Our accommodation added to the vintage character of the town as we stayed in “The Old Ship” and enjoyed the sightliest and delicious breakfast you could imagine.

From Brighton, we jumped in the car and travelled northwest towards Stonehenge, eagerly stopping the car and jumping out to see the amazing towns along the way. We were charmed with the sunshine and amazed that every town had on show a glorious church or castle or architectural wonder to see. Stonehenge, whilst an absolute must on an English road trip, took but a few minutes to view and then we were on our way to my favourite city – Bath. I was so excited to share this beauty with my parents, as it held so much about what I love in traveling and exploring new parts of the world. The rich, ancient history seeping around every corner and delicately displayed on each stone and brick building; the stunning views and juxtaposition of old buildings with open, luscious green parks; amazing food and shopping; and just time to stroll through lanes and alley ways finding good cake and coffee. I love it so much, I wish for you all to come right away and I would whisk you off to see for yourselves. Oh, the bridges and the views. It’s all a bit much to try to explain.

After spending two fantastic days in Bath, we had to move on to the famous Cotswolds. England did not disappoint. With fields of Canola flowers gloriously waiting for our arrival via the winding country roads; we were in no hurry to get anywhere as every moment had us in disbelief that our journey could continue to astound us. The Cotswolds had us, all of us, as we slowly walked through the neat, old towns, each one different in its character and charm. We stopped off at Stratford-Upon-Avon and Stow-on-the-Wold catching up with Mr Shakespeare himself and of course finding ourselves a good cuppa to indulge in.

Oxford was a short stopover and was mostly enjoyed admiring the library and a spot of shopping. This day was the only day where the weather was of a disappointment as we were freezing and wet trying to explore the town. We went on to lay our heads in a town called “Rugby”, known for the invention of a game you may all be familiar with… Rugby! Funnily enough, this town that doesn’t have a huge amount of sightseeing to offer, provided us with an absolute blast as we stayed in a cute apartment and ate the best Indian we had ever tasted in our lives!

Next stop was Windsor. A saying that I have picked up from the darling students I have had the privilege in teaching is, “Oh my dayyyys!”. This is an exclamation of disbelief, usually used in the context of responding to getting in trouble for something they most definitely did do but believe it to be permissible. However, here I use it to exclaim by disbelief in the enormity of the amazing Windsor castle… OH MY DAYYYYS! This incredible building had us all walking around with an audio tour in our ears and intense interest to learn about the castle’s history and current use. The cathedral was just indescribably stunning.

We really did have a brilliant time. It has yet again been an immense pleasure revisiting this trip, as it is so close to my heart. Sharing adventures with loved ones makes for the most treasured moments in life.