Barcelona!

Barcelona was the first stop on my week-long expedition some call Fall Break. In a word I would call this city vibrant: lots of bright colors, strange architecture, creative street performers, and good food.

Towards the end of my week I went on an architectural walk, with the help of my handy-dandy guide book. I found that Barcelona has this interesting combination of Gothic streets and churches from the Middle Ages next to extremely modern and creative complexes from the 20th century.

This is the cathedral La Sagrada Familia, designed by the big dog of the modernistas Antoni Gaudi.

Some funky architectural elements on the cathedral.


An apartment complex by Gaudi






Market continues outside of a Gothic church


The stark white contemporary art museum is nestled between "old world" apartment buildings with colorful laundry out the windows.



traditionalism vs. modernity - aww it sounds like an Occidental humanities paper!


Skateboarders take over the museum's plaza after hours.


Speaking of tradition... I was wandering around the Barric Gothic in Barcelona when I happened upon a large group of Barcelonans practicing the local Catalan dance the "Sardana." It's one of those cutesy circle dances where they all hold hands and kick their feet in the air. I kind of wanted to join in but held myself back. Here are some photos of the pros:





the hot band keeping it funky fresh...









One of the cool things about Barcelona is their open markets. There are several throughout the city as well as vendors along the main street La Rambla. Here are some photos of the two:



Mercat de la Boqueria





Note the pig's head.



Good times.

Paris Holds the Key to My Heart!

So I definitely was singing that song the whole time I was in Paris. Unfortunately there weren't any other hardcore Anastasia fans in my group so it was often just a solo performance.

Anyway, after arriving Wednesday morning from our 6am Ryanair flight (meaning we had to get up at 2:30am to catch it), and taking a well-deserved nap, we decided to go for a walk around the city. Without knowing it, my Dad's genes resurfaced and I ended up taking the friends on a "death march" around Paris. (For anyone familiar with Paris: we started in the Latin Quarter, walked by Notre Dame, then to the Louvre, then down Champs-Elysees, across the river by the Eiffel Tower, and all the way back to the Latin Quarter along the Seine... basically circling central Paris and then some)

Despite the fact that I made lots of enemies that night, I had a good time wandering around and seeing how beautiful Paris is at night. Still working on my night photo skills...

The Louvre and pyramid.

The Eiffel Tower

Then one morning I got up early and climbed the North Tower of Notre Dame Cathedral! What a beautiful view! I took tons of photos of the gargoyles too, because I'm cool like that.

Sun peaking out behind Notre Dame

South end of Notre Dame and River Seine

More quasi-aerial photos of Paris:

On to the Gargoyles:

mmm... tasty

... looming over the square

is he vomiting?

The pensive, sentimental one - isn't he cute?

Then one night I went to a classical music concert in the church of Sainte Chappelle with amazingly beautiful blue stained glass windows. The concert was great too - they played lots of recognizable songs which made it more fun (some Mozart, an Ave Maria, you know the drill)

I spent some time wandering around the gardens in front of the Louvre called Jardin de Carrousel...

Yes, I guess this is an act of vanity. But I really like the green-grass background and I was having fun playing with my camera settings (right Caroline.)

Lots of garden time in Paris. I also went twice to Luxembourg Gardens which was closer to our hotel. It really is a phenomenal place - very refined though (no sitting on the grass allowed, everyone sits on chairs NEAR the grass.)

See? Its just begging for a romantic walk. Unfortunately, Josh wasn't there for me to torture.

So I wanted a photo of me walking through the garden, but I didn't want to ask someone because that would be weird. So instead, I walked back and forth along this path taking photos of myself - definitely less weird Caroline!

more of the garden:

Au revoir Paris!

There are many many more photos, and countless more stories, but this will do for now :)

The Ridiculous Food Post

Well I'm back in Rome, munching on some verdura after a week of cheese, butter, ham, sugar, and more butter. Needless to say, I ate pretty well in Barcelona and Paris. And since food has played such a central role in my travels, I decided I would devote an entire post to my gastronomical adventures over Fall Break.

Beginning with Barcelona:

This is what the Barcelonans like to call "chocolate mousse" - in reality it was the darkest, richest, most intense chocolate pudding of my life!! But of course I ate it, I didn't want to be disrespectful :)

Some sangria I shared with the girls... this stuff tastes so light and refreshing you would think it was just juice, but therein lies the danger my friends. I had to stop myself after one glass.

Ok, these Barcelonans really like their dark chocolate (it made me think of you Ari!) This is their version of hot chocolate, called "xocolata calenta" in Catalan - it basically tastes like really good hot fudge and you have to eat with a spoon its so thick!

Then on our last full night in Barcelona, I went out to dinner with my travel buds to this very chic (but not very expensive) restaurant called Origens 99.9%. On the left is an apple stuffed with meat (sounds weird, tastes delish) and on the right is a fruit and nut salad. Both were fantastic!!

Then for dessert I had this fantastic almondy cake - and I forget the name! But it was really tasty.

chocolate covered churros! (or xurro if you're Barcelonan)

Spanish tortilla with leek!

Now on to Paris...
this is where it gets pretty treacherous.

First let me introduce you to my new favorite place: any French bakery

I just wish I had more time to try all these

And this is my new best friend: any French baker. Right now he is lovingly wrapping up my tarts with ribbon. Too cute.

Another very French experience: the cafe au lait! I usually am not a coffee fan, but this stuff was pretty nice.

Picnic in Luxembourg Gardens: baguette, brie, chocolate mousse, strawberry tart, chocolate tart. We don't mess around.

The 'rents would be proud of this: pomme frittes and Chimay Blonde (beer made by Trappist monks!)

Sampling a raspberry tart- I had to try as many as I could!

Croque Monsieur (grilled ham and cheese) and green salad at a pub in the Latin Quarter.

And for some reason I don't have any photos of me eating crepes, but those were certainly a very significant part of my French experience considering they were so darn yummy and the cheapest thing to eat in spendy Paris! My favorite was nutella and banana, although I had quite a few with just butter and sugar.