Leaving Europe, living summer!
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009
All the ”Chiringuitos” are closing in the coming days. The small beach-bars at the northern beaches of Barceloneta are preparing for their winter sleep while the Catalans enjoy their last San Miguel at the beach. It’s a great feeling to realize that crossing the ocean all the way South-west to Buenos Aires in a couple days will reset my seasonal clock to the end of spring. 25 degrees celsius and a long upcoming summer again, it’s like cheating and I love it!
I feel like I don’t have too much interesting to share as far as cultural experiences or nature sights go, But I really had a very good time here in Barcelona the last two months. A lot of friends came to visit so it’s been a good mix of work, nightlife and checking out the cultural heritage of the Catalonian capital, which I’m sure most of you have seen many times already. (either in pictures or in person)
The first month we had an apartment in Gracia, a very local neighborhood more uphill in the city.It was nice but the second apartment in Barceloneta was by far my favourite. It was right at the beach with a great view over both the sea and the city.
View towards the centre of Barceloneta… the sunsets were fantastic!
Just a 50 metres walk to the beach 
And the view over the city from the right window, I will miss this
Phil and Ivey came over for a week of partying, beach, wining, dining and… clicking buttons…
At the end of September I made a very nice side trip to Paris with Ksenia. We had a great time together and the city exceeded all our expectations. The French were also very friendly and eager to help no matter what silly sounding French/Spanish question I came up with. Anyway, I added some very touristy pictures:
View from some random tower in central Paris
The Seine boulevards around the Notre Dame are very vibrant at night. And instead of eating fish and chips, or Miller light and high-fiving, the French have cheese and wine and listen to live saxophone…
Back to Barcelona. For the few of you that may not know yet, without Antoni Gaudi this city would have been a boring piece of brick. The Catalans are humble enough to call him ”the most universal genius of all times” And, I mean, that sounds about right. I can’t really think of anybody else and the man did make a lot of buildings!
Casa Batllo at Passeig de Gracia
La Sagrada Familia. Under construction, as always. The Spanish are planning to finish the church before 2025. If anybody is willing to bet on that allowing me to take the over, send me an e-mail and I’m sure we can work something out
Park Güell
hanging out in Gaudi’s garden!
Next updates I promise to be a bit more creative with the blog instead of just throwing out a bunch of pictures. I am planning to get more adventurous so there should be plenty to write about next month.
Hope you’re all doing well….
Hasta pronto,
Veron