¡Mi Primavera en España!: 2010

My last few weeks in Madrid were busy. Alicia and I saw Alicia en el Pais de Maravillas (Alice In Wonderland) in 3D. We also took the blue line on the Metro to the outskirts of Madrid to see Casa De Campo, an enormous park, vibrantly green in Spring (Left). We spent weekdays after school in El Retiro Park or around the city, I wanted to soak up as much as I could.

Mom and Dad came for a visit, consider it Mom's birthday present? I took them around the city and we went for drinks and tapas on a regular basis. Marta even had them over for tapas and summer wine! I had to translate everything. Good practice I guess. See more photos below from around Madrid in the last couple of weeks:

Above, top-down:
Street Performers, Madrid
El Retiro Park, Madrid
Gran Vía, Madrid
Alicia playing in a Suffolk Soccer game, Madrid
Tapas at Marta's for my Parents, Madrid
Birthday Sunday, Madrid
Dad bought a new string for Marta's guitar, Madrid

It has been five months since I last wrote on this blog! After Spring Break, school and life in Madrid really picked up and, for lack of a better phrase, I got over it. Back in California, my life in Europe feels like a dream, yet the stories and memories are alive so vividly in my brain and my heart I want to continue to share them.

For the second half of our holiday Alicia flew north to Ireland to meet John and Danielle flew south from London to meet me in Barcelona; it was a romantic, sunny reunion to say the least. We had a healthy amount of time there and were in no rush to be tourists.

Over the course of five days we accomplished a suitable self-guided tour of the city. First thing we went to the beach because Danielle was anxious to get some sun on her skin. We didn’t stay long, it wasn’t beach season besides it being the least attractive beach I had been to, especially having come from the Algarve in Portugal. Excited to introduce Danielle to Spanish gastronomy we ingested a great sampling of Paella, Sangria, Tapas and churros con chocolate over the course of our stay. We saw several of Gaudi’s works, including my favorite, colorful Park GÜell with a beautiful view of the city; the energy was good and the sounds were melodic.

Below: Barcelona's Magic Fountain

We took the metro to the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc around dusk, a dazzling show of lights, color, and water acrobatics. That night Sebastian - our friend from Lagos, Portugal - who was living and playing hockey in Barcelona introduced us through facebook to some of his teammates and friends. Although Seb wasn’t there his local entourage took us out dancing.

Below: Club Opium, Barcelona

On Easter morning it felt as if the whole city was out. Danielle and I walked La Rambla and ducked into a little restaurant before a downpour hit. We seemed to be in company of only a few others so took a table for two by the window and watched lightening and water gush down the streets while thunder reverberated on the other side of the wall. Several hours passed nicely with an abundance of wine and various orders of tapas. Sunday I was headed west… saying goodbye to Danielle was hard but saying goodbye to Barcelona was not so. I was ready to get back home; Madrid remains my favored Spanish city.

Some more photos from Barcelona: