I'm hiring a writer to notetake my vacay memoirs for all future posts. Legit, I question my sensibility in declaring I would share anything through this blog, considering I'm facing 5000 pics/vid to sift through and commentary to add. I would give up, but I am going to maintain the mark family history and record these mems while I can remember! Ole!
Left YYZ at some time on Saturday July 16th and landed in Barcelona reppin’ the Jays and already oblivious to times or dates. Hola muchchas, donde es la fiesta?
When we got the hotel and dropped off our bags, we were stoked to get our food on so we headed toward Las Ramblas which is a long and busy strip of restaurants, street vendors, and entertainment. First lesson: don't stop/shop at the first store/restaurant you find. #commonsense Sheesh, tourists! Granted, we were cranky and starved, so we were more than willing to drop a couple extra euros for some immediate gastronomic satisfaction. As expected, seafood, meat and carbs were plentiful. The paella was hearty and aromatic, but the grilled calamari was my favourite - light, lemony, perfectly seasoned and gently grilled. Uno más por favor. It’s a beautiful city. Physically speaking (how shallow! Of course…), it’s architecture is fantastically maintained, or maybe that’s just me being a Canadian grateful to see anything built before 1800-1900. But again, Barcelona is atmospherically, wonderful to take in, won’t even attempt to put my finger on it, you’ll just have to go!
[[posterous-content:pid___4]]This was also the only destination we were exploring tour guide free! Of course, cruises are packed with activites, and you only have so much time at each port, so guided excursions are your best bet at seeing the gems of each city. We took advantage of our dos dias and uno noche in Barcelona and went out on our ownsomes! Getting lost is necessarily part of the fun and story making! And it was such a wonderful city get lost in, outside of the touristy street artists, freaky mimes and hustlers selling goop and annoying whistles, it’s an entertaining city in the day or night. Tiny side streets lead to large squares and…oh there’s Gaudi’s cathedral. #truestory
On the art note, I should mention that at times throughout the trip I felt it necessary to justify reasons for choosing certain countries, cities or excursions. Gaudi, was my first experience in professing ones love for an artist to convince those around you that their trek is worth it. I mean, you’d think that Gaudi is a pretty popular guy, maybe not has ubiquitous as Van Gogh. Nonetheless, Gaudi did good, the Marks were impressed after Casa Batlló, so we set forth to Casa Milà, and hit up some highly photographed stores by tourists gawking outside.
[[posterous-content:pid___0]]And then it was time, to set for the port and board the boat! I was of course excited to see my living quarters for the next 12 days, but sad to be leaving Barcelona. Also, between us, I was a smidge pouty that I hadn’t seen Sagrada Familia and Park Güell (to name a few). But, I’m thinking there’s a reason, perhaps I’ll be returning some time very soon? #iwish
[[posterous-content:pid___2]]Next up, Nice, France!
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...No, France is not included in this post, because apparently I can't upload more than 100MB of media per post. #icant #jokesonme
