Baptized - Barcelona Style

Last weekend, eight women ventured to spend a three/four day weekend in Barcelona! That should be enough said about our trip but I will explain a little more! We skipped the Picasso and much of the Gaudi and instead focused on the nightlife, beach, and food! 

After a short flight, we landed and met up with Shelly at the Market.  It was a wonderful place that we visited the following day. Tapas, fresh fruit, and smoothie! So much meat and seafood (much of which was still moving). 

As you will notice, there is a large gap in my pictures! I didn't carry my camera with me most of the time so I have pictures when we first arrived and then sitting on the beach on Sunday! It was raining when we got to Barcelona so we spent some time in our apartment drinking some wine and getting ready to go out. 

We wandered the city and came across some great Tapas, Sangria, and weird old men.  Then met up with a friend of a friend and all of his friends for a drink and then finally grabbed dinner. We ended up at a club called CatWalk.  The music was awesome and we danced the night away! 

After a late night we slept in and made some eggs and bacon for breakfast while we waited for Nicole to arrive. Once she got there we wandered the city a bit more, returned the the market, and enjoyed the sunshine. Anna and I headed to the police station, as we were baptized in Barcelona by being robbed.  And once we arrived at the police station we discovered that it is a great place to meet other tourists! 

After getting ready, having a fabulous birthday dinner for Anna's BIG 2-0! We surprised her with a cake and some Cava! Then we were ready for our second night out.  This time we were going to see a DJ of some sort with that friend of a friend. Instead of the DJ, we ended up seeing an AWESOME Ramones coverband. As it turned out the original drummer from the Ramones was playing and the lead singer was from the Misfits. It was another amazing night of dancing!

Sunday we headed to the beach. There was napping, some Swedish cider (absolutely delicious!), and some time in the sea. It was wonderful to be on a beach. There were people constantly wondering around selling everything from body shawls (which sounded like body shots) and my favorite man who was saying co-co-co--coa-nut. In a way that you couldn't figure it out until you saw what he was actually selling. We also decided to get some matching henna tattoos so we could remember our wonderful weekend until it is washed away!

The Birthday Girl!

We ended the weekend with a delicious meal and some more sangria.  We walked back and chatted in the apartment for the rest of the night. It was really a great weekend with some great girls! I am so glad we got to get in a big trip together before we all start to head off in different directions! 

Weekend Adventures

I had an absolutely fabulous weekend! The weather was as perfect as it could be for a mid-November weekend and there was plenty to do!

After a relaxing Friday night out with some friends, I worked for a couple hours on Saturday morning, went swimming myself, and then heading into Zurich to relax by the lake.  Some of my friends wanted to paint/draw as we sat there. Let's just say some people had some talent, others were just enjoying themselves!

Then we were off to the Wine Expo.  It was 4,000 wines from all over the world on yachts right on the lake! It was a really fun night. We got a bit dressed up, hoping people serving wine would take us more seriously, which was only semi-successful.

Rachel, me, Whitney, Shelly

Me, Shelly, Rachel, Kristina, Whitney, and Karah

I have really enjoyed trying wines since I have gotten here. While I still can't pick out the different flavors within a wine, I can tell you a little about different regions and what I like. I think my favorite wines of the night were from Portugal and from outside of Geneva.  I usually don't like white wine because they are very sweet but the winery outside of Geneva had some dry whites which were delicious!  It is a slow process but my knowledge of wine has increased 10 fold since I moved to Europe! 

Sunday, we headed off to Liechtenstein for the day! That's right the sixth smallest country in the world is just a mere hour and half train ride away.  The train ride was gorgeous. The lake we were on was a stunning blue with the mountains surrounding it.  There were wind surfers everywhere because it was nearly 16 degrees out! It is a very small country with not much going on. They are known for their stamps and are the world's largest dencher producer.  They do not have a king, but a prince and princess.  That is just as high as their leadership goes! 

After hitting up the Post Museum, we took a lovely stroll up the mountain to the castle.  It was really quite pretty. On the walk up the path led you through the history of the country. While I don't remember most of the little facts, I do know that they abolished their army in 1906 and have treaties with Austria and Switzerland (the countries it shares borders with).  

It was a near perfect weekend! 

Unfortunately, my camera wasn't charged so I don't have pictures from Liechtenstein but will add them when I get them from friends!