Christmas Sights

Over the last week or so, Ry and I have been doing our own little London Christmas tours to take in some of the festive sights around the city. The Londoners love their skating and there are rinks everywhere. The one below is at the Natural History Museum and is accompanied by one of the many mini-carnivals that are also all around the city.





This is a picture of London tobogganing - so funny! They build a big ramp, cover it in white carpet and send kids down on inner tubes.

Ryland enjoying his first mulled wined at the German Christmas Market, which is part of the Hyde Park "Winter Wonderland" festival . . .

Christmas shopping on Oxford Street - absolute insanity!!

There are beautiful Christmas decorations on every corner.

Ry and I at Covent Garden . . .

There are aerialist performances at Covent Garden on the hour and they are amazing!

This walk across the Thames from the South Bank is one of my favourite views in London. It's not particularly Christmassy, but I just love it!

You can't really see it in the picture, but they have Christmas trees lit around the base of Parliament.

This giant tree is in Trafalger Square. Every year, as a gift to Britain, Norway picks one of its best Christmas trees to cut down and send over. They just lit it on Thursday and it really is amazing - the picture doesn't do it justice.

So - that's a quick review of some of the London Christmas sights. I have to admit, it still feels a bit strange to have all the Christmas stuff without any snow - not that I'm complaining! (especially when I know the temperatures all of you back home have been enjoying) Ry is already back in Canada and I'll be following next weekend. This will likely be the last post of 2007 but hopefully we'll be catching up with all of you in person very soon!

To anyone we don't see over the break, we hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a very happy new year!!

Barcelona

Barcelona

Ahhh Barcelona...palm trees, beach, bloody cold! I don't want to seem negative so that is the last negative aspect of the weather i will mention because as you can see from the photos the sun was a shining bright for our brief visit to this gorgeous city.

We have no photo's of Friday, we got in pretty late, went for dinner and drinks and then went to sleep in the zoo that was named Santa Maria Hostel. Seriously, there were two dogs, two or three cats, a symphony of birds. I slept fine, as gravol and sangria make a beautiful sleeping potion, but Amy no sleep so good...birds squawking equals no sleep for Amy.

Saturday started off with a walk down Las Ramblas (the main drag) to check out the sights and sounds. We found this super-neato market.
Tonnes of fresh seafood and produce. The market had all things fresh; meat, fish, veggies, fruit, Spanish men...it was pretty cool.
Crazy Giant Fish Head! It reminds me of a song by Barnes and Barnes entitled fish heads, I think they must have been a Spanish band.

Las Ramblas. It is a great street. This is a giant boulevard that goes down the entirety of the street made specifically for pedestrian traffic, cafes, human statues, and mini businesses.

Pet shop. Lots of pets shops on Las Ramblas, I figure this is where the hostel was getting their mascots from.

Spanish things are crazy...like this crazy lobster thingy...it seemed pretty happy though.
I love the Architecture of Barcelona. Every building around the core of the city was worth looking at. I took a photo of this building because people on a tour bus were taking photos of this building. I am guessing it is famous - I blame my lack of Spanish for being unable to figure out what it was.
Me in Barcelona in a winter coat. It may not look it but I was quite sick. Visited a whole lot of Farmacia's to get me better.
Giant Statue of Christopher Columbus, the Spanish believed he was from Spain...I think they got it wrong. They then decided to build a giant monument in honour of him pointing to the new world. The guide book informed me he is actually pointing towards Libya not the Americas...I think they got that wrong too.
pretty circle things near the port.

Big bridge in the port. We really liked this bridge and took some time hanging out on it.
We looked at boats.
And giant buoys. talk about a brown noser...
Amy was actually sitting like this! It isn't a set up pose.
Amy's boot and tonnes of fish.

After walking around Las Ramblas and the Port for awhile we decided to head to the La Sagrada Familia to check out some Guadi Architecture. Photography can't capture it fully...one of those things better seen in real life. Felt really blessed to see this first hand. It is so crazy!



Being here and trying to get a photo makes me understand how Gaudi could get hit by a car trying to get a good look at it. I almost did the same thing.

We felt inspired and decided to walk around finding more of Guadi's architecture. I love it. Could see why some hate it though.

For the rest of the day we decided to to a tapas crawl and ate our way through the city. We had a lot of really good food and really good drink. Photos became sparse and blurry as did my vision.

Next morning on the way to the bus we passed by the Arc De Triomphe. Every big European city seems to have one. I liked the red brick of this one quite a bit.




All in all it was a great day and a half. I highly recommend it as a city to visit, but I'd visit in spring or summer cause it was seriously chilly. But even with the cold the sights, sounds, and smells were amazing.

Girona

Girona

We loved this place. We arrived at the hostal (via Amy's fantastic navigational skills) and decided that the city was much more interesting than the room. It was a beautiful day! Cold - I was only in Spain for three days, and it was in November, but if someone was to ask me what the weather is like in Spain I would say cold. However, there were beautiful sunny skies as well.
Girona is a surprisingly difficult city to photograph. It is like two cities combined in one, half medieval town, half modern city. The medieval town is brilliant - tiny little pathways intertwining through the city in a circuitous manner with cobblestone stairways leading up and down and all over the place. It was fantastic to explore and get lost; but, as I said it was very difficult to capture via photographic means.

The heart of the medieval area is a stunning Cathedral (again the photos don't do it justice)

Cloisters and garden inside the Cathedral.

Leading out from the Cathedral is a medieval wall that surrounds the town (the medieval portion of the town) which you are able to walk along the top of.

A view of the back of the Cathedral from the wall.



On top of the wall with Cathedral in the background.
p.s. I'm not wearing lipstick but the cold medication I was on dehydrated me to the extent that my lips would crack at the hint of a smile. very sore lips indeed.

I managed to catch a view of a very hot girl on top of the wall. I had to take this photo when she wasn't looking to prevent creeping her out.

A Medieval Toilet! This is like a 50 foot drop. Makes me think there were numerous poo like practical jokes performed in medieval times. I took a lot of photo's of this toilet but Amy would only allow for one to be uploaded. Boo Amy!

I forgive her cause she's so darn cute on this wall. This is actually a great shot! If you look close you can see how the wall winds it's way through the city. It's a really big wall. It also displays all of the "murder holes" that lined the wall as a form of defense. There would have been the ability to have an archer ever four to five feet along the entire length of this beast. Methinks archers must have been very short.

Girona from the inside of town. An example of winding streets. I believe this is the University there.


A river divides the city, medieval to the right modern to the left. Although it doesn't look like that in this photo, that is the way it works.

There are around 5000 birds in this photo but again didn't quite capture it. Amy really liked the friendly birds (the birds might have prevented us from exploring a couple of streets).
We finished off the day with a beautiful sunset. Perfect end to a perfect day.


The only thing that I would advise to future travelers is to go to Girona on a day that isn't a Sunday. Lot's of very cute shops and stores that we couldn't explore because the city is pretty much a ghost town on Sundays. It made for great exploring, but I think we missed a certain amount of the vibe of the City.