Busy in Barcelona

September 10, 2016September 10, 2016 adventuresofhamadventure, art, Barcelona, city, Europe, Eurotrip, HAMadventures, mosaic, museum, park, Spain, sunset, The Adventures of HAM, tour, travel, Walk, walkingLeave a comment

To follow up our relaxing time in Tamariu we jam packed our adventure in Barcelona. To be quite honest though, we really did not start off on the right foot. The two of us took a taxi from our seaside oasis to the train station in Girona (super clean) and headed down to the big city. We had a bit of time to kill so we wandered around with our huge backpacks on. Ended up taking a seat in España Industrial Park. It had the sweetest metal dragon slide! It was massive! I truly regret not giving it a try.

So while were just chilling this odd guy comes up to us… he seemed friendly at first but got increasingly upset as he tried to communicate with us and I had no idea what he was saying. I could not tell weather he wanted my shoes or backpack, but he was pointing at them both? A few other people watching this go down. He sat across from us in a huff muttering to himself. It was quite uncomfortable and not a very good first impression. We just went back to the station to find out what train we needed to take. Trying to get to Terrassa, we ended up at the beach in Badalona. In case you might not be familiar with the area… this is in the complete opposite direction! Our mistake corrected, (even though I really was tempted to just stroll the sandy shoreline) we arrived on time to meet our neighbour’s cousin. She was graciously hosting us for two nights. In the hustle, I ended up losing my ticket to swipe out of the underground. While frantically searching my Fit Bit came off. Matt and I had both gone through the gates on his ticket before I realized. I looked back and could see it on the seat. I made eye contact with the only person seated there and started pointing like a crazy person. Thankfully the young guy noticed and brought it to me. My faith was restored!

So, enough of my whining! After a late evening of sight seeing suggestions, Matt and I got an early start the following day. My ever precious fitness tracker tells me we had over 30,000 steps by the end of it. We started of with Park Güell. It is one of the major displays of Antoni Gaudí’s work in Barcelona, boasting over 100 years of history. Although the architecture is very over the top, it was definitely something to see. The colourful mosaic work was stunning.

A funny little story about the park… and I apologize if it is one of those “had to be there” kind of things. There were a few musical groups and individuals selling souvenirs along the many pathways. The rows of salesmen had all of their trinkets placed out on blankets. A few on the ends had earrings on umbrellas. After walking a good deal of the park, we took a quick rest in a picnic area with a great view of the different tiers. Some upbeat tunes in the distance. It became apparent that the merchants were not supposed to be there. About twenty of them had snatched up their sheets by the four corners, tied them up and tossed them over their shoulder in a hurry. The whole scene resembled a fast paced Charlie Chaplin style film as they quickly scattered throughout the area in different directions. Two community police officers in quick pursuit, never quite catching any of them. Music still playing in the background! It was just one of those fantastic stand out moments. I don’t even know which side I was rooting for!?

From there we walked, what felt like, the entire city! We checked out the infamous construction zone that is the Sagrada Familia, cruised by the Cathedral of Barcelona, strolled the streets of Old Town and perused the Picasso Museum. Though I can’t say I was a huge fan of the mythological print collection, I really enjoyed some of the paintings from the Blue Period and a lot of his earlier work. At some point we ate lunch, made our way to the harbour front and back up La Rambla. We viewed the city from the top of the Arenas shopping centre. It was converted from an old bull fighting ring. So cool! We ended our day watching the sunset from the Catalan National Art Museum with hopes to catch the beginning of the Magic Fountain of Montjuic. So did everyone else! Needless to say, were we happy to take our shoes off at the end of the day. A good nights sleep and off to the airport (it could honestly put all of our shopping malls to shame) in the morning.

Catalan National Art Museum

Cathedral of Barcelona

The Magic Fountain show is about to get started!

Magic Fountain of Montjuïc

Pillars at Park Güell

BONUS! Can you spot the owl?

e-img_9574 — A view of Barcelona from the park.

Tranquil Tamariu

August 22, 2016August 23, 2016 adventuresofham2016, adventure, Beach, Europe, Eurotrip, HAMadventures, Spain, The Adventures of HAM, travelLeave a comment

So our next stop on the grand Euro-adventure was Spain. To ease the stress of our arrival Matt hired a driver to take us from Girona to Tamariu. Fantastic idea! Even though we miscalculated our arrival time by an hour due to a zone change our guy was there name sign in hand. Now… every time you get off a plane there’s a bunch of people with those signs waiting for their lucky passengers. I always look for mine just to pretend I am cool enough to have a driver. This time I WAS… except it was actually Matt’s name, same difference. The little things, right? He seemed a bit surprised when we approached him… our backpacker look and super casual clothing probably caught him off guard. He loaded our stuff, we hopped in the Mercedes and enjoyed the ride.

BEAUTIFUL! This little costal cove village was absolutely beautiful with it’s white buildings, rust coloured cliffs and turquoise waters. I am pretty sure we had the best balcony view in the house at Hotel Hostalillo. Check it out!

E-IMG_9460

We started our first of three nights off with a bang. And by bang, I mean, I drank too much and was nursing a wine fever well into the afternoon the next day. Blah… I hate wasting days! Unfortunately, I was unconscious while Matt was having beers on the balcony with his feet up. There was no one to remind him that sunscreen is a thing. By the time awoke he had a wicked short burn from the knee down.

Things seem to be a lot more relaxed here. It really jives with my inner clock. I enjoy starting my (non-hangover) days at 8-10 as opposed to 6-8 in the morning. And dinner at 8:00 PM is status quo! Though we quickly accepted this new mentality, it did throw us for a loop when we never received our dinner bill. After our dessert and coffee and over an hour of waiting… we ended up just paying at the till. We kept trying to flag a waitress or make eye contact to no avail. We didn’t want to be rude, and maybe there was a language barrier. Maybe this is normal? Anyways, it seemed to be the case at a few different destinations in the coming weeks, so whatever.

Our perfect beach day happened on day two. The coolest thing about the shoreline was the sand. It wasn’t really sand at all! It was tiny rocks. If any stuck to you, they could easily be brushed off. It was awesome! Strolls along a cliff side trail, walks along the beach, relaxing with a book, swimming in the sea and a topless lady partaking in a game of badminton. We were sad to say goodbye to the little town of Tamariu.

London Calling

March 7, 2016March 8, 2016 adventuresofham2013, biking, England, Eurotrip, London, museum, The Adventures of HAM, theatre, underground4 Comments

Our flight to Europe is booked! No, Harley does not get to come.

We will be starting our Eurotrip in London and it has me reminiscing about the last time we were there in 2013. Being a very small town girl, the country is more my thing… so I never expected to love this city so much! We stayed in a small suite (smaller bathroom) at Studios2Let near Kings Cross Station and using the overwhelming yet efficient underground, got around fairly easily. One time we passed on taking the claustrophobic, cattle car elevator and used the stairs (disregarding the “This staircase has 175 steps, equivalent to 15 floors. Do not use except in an emergency” signs). It was quite the workout!

We only had three days to spend but obviously wanted to see everything. Given our love for biking, we decided to try out a recommended Fat Tire Bike Tour. On the first day we chose to do the Royal London one. It took us by all the hot spots: The Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, The Royal Parks, Big Ben, Kensington Palace and Trafalgar Square. We even got to see the changing of the guard. The weather was beautiful, spring was in the air and the flowers were just beginning to bloom. We loved it so much we decided to do one on our second day as well. (Had to work of all the meat pies and ale somehow.)

Although the weather was a bit gloomier and a little cold, the River Thames Bike Tour was also totally worth it. I thought we had seen it all the day before but this tour took us by The London Eye, Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Shakespeare’s Globe, London Bridge, The Tower of London, Borough Market, The Monument and Leadenhall Market (AKA… DIAGON ALLEY HP Fans!!!) The best part of this one was, however, St. Dunstan in the East. Is was not officially part of the tour, just a place our tour guide happened to love. From the outside you could see the steeple and entrance of a medieval church but when you when through the door it opened up into a beautiful garden with a not so beautiful, yet interesting, story. It was originally built in the 1100s, was damaged in the Great Fire of London, rebuilt and then bombed in the Blitz of the Second World War. An amazing oasis in the middle of a busy city. My only wish is that I could have curled up on a bench with a book for the afternoon. Instead, we spent some time at the stunning V&A Museum. The line to get into the Natural History Museum was a little bit too long but this was definitely an acceptable alternative.

Our evenings were as busy as our days. We did a bit of grocery shopping and cooked a lot of our meals in our studio but did head out to the theatre for two of the three nights. We had the chance to see The Lion King at the grand Lyceum Theatre and Matilda at the smaller, Cambridge Theatre. Both shows were great.

We had an absolutely spectacular time in London. Though we didn’t get into too many places during out short visit, we really did SEE everything. I would definitefly recommend it all, right up until our Eurostar departure to Paris. Dubbed the $600 mistake, it is a story in itself. I am not sure how long we be in London this time around, if at all, but am glad that I have some very great memories.