Barcelona! (9/17/15-9/19/15)

I can't believe we just went to Spain ... for the weekend! I think I'm gonna like this whole European adventure, if only we can figure out a way to have friends meet us for every weekend...then we'd really have it made.

Barcelona was a fabulous city! We just loved it. We were there for a quick trip, celebrating this girl's bday in style.

The first day consisted of lots of sangrias...you know, celebrating. We were so excited to see friends from home, we cheers-ed with a sangria. The Cooks had a fab hotel with 360 rooftop view of the city, so we thought what better way to continue the celebrations than with more sangrias...?! :)

We ended the night with a fantastic dinner at Cera 23 in one of the alleys. These alleys were so fun! I had no idea where I was at any given time, good thing Cook and Okeefe were there to lead us around.

Friday was filled with Sangrada Familia tours, more Gaudi buildings, more alleys and great tapas dinner at Sensi Bistro Tapas. Seriously great tapas. We walked out of the restaurant and there were literally fireworks going off and a huge parade going by, it was the perfect night cap to TCook's big day!

On our last day... breakfast at the Milk Bar, Picasso Museum and dipping our toes in the Mediterranean. The Picasso museum was one of my favorites, I was so impressed with the transformation of his work, especially the Las Meninas. Ending the trip with a quick walk to the beach was very fitting. Fun fact: Barcelona beach is a-okay with the nudes. So I'll leave you with that.

Two Weeks!

This week marked two weeks of living in London! Honestly, it's surreal. I'm a bit in disbelief that we actually live here. Perhaps it's the fact that we are still sitting on the floor (Ikea couch was too big, on to the next one...) or the fact that we walk out our front door everyday to this great city. In just a few short weeks, I've learned quite a bit about London and city living. Thought I'd share a few:

Setting Up a Flat is Hard Work: Everyone told me before we left that it was going to take me a while to get the flat set up. I was all like, nah, I totally got this. What I didn't take into consideration was in a city with no car, you can't just pull up to your local shop and haul your house home. I spent a day at Ikea (that's another whole blog in and of itself) and left carrying loads of household goods....walking to the Tram, riding the Tram, walking to the Tube, riding the Tube and then walking all of it home. I felt very city like. Also, Okeefe and I finally found a sofa bed on Gumtree (London's version of Craigslist). We love it, it's cheaper and it's great. That whole not having a car thing....well it comes into play here. Oh and the couch is up 6 flights of stairs....so guess what we are doing this weekend?!

(Side Note: Our stuff came! It was like Christmas! And Okeefe brought me flowers and wine to celebrate :)

UK Bank Accounts are for the Birds: Michael has been trying for over a month to set up a UK bank account. The process is insane. It's not because we are Americans either, it's just that antiquated. I relate it to when I first set up a bank account in 1996...19 years ago. But even that was easy compared to this.

Crumpets are Buttery Goodness: What I'm LOVING about this city is the food. Well, getting to know the food. I literally go the market or grocery everyday and buy our dinner. It's great. We have a local butcher, local fruit/veggie market and a great grocery. (I compare grocery to Harris Teeter....which is still such a shame that Kroger bought them...ok ok, I digress) I bought crumpets. I love crumpets. Even though I'm walking like 12,000 steps a day...I'm going to have a crumpet belly. And I'm going to love it.

Brits love to party. Period. However, I've found all the Americans love to have a pint or two or three or four as well. Everyone I've met says the same thing...there's something about this city. You want to go out all the time. And people do.

More to come....

Oh and Falc...he's doing great. I think he's still adjusting a bit. Next week we go to Spain and Falcor has a cat sitter. Oh the things we do for that little, ahem I mean big, guy. (Thanks Kristen!)

1st Weekend In London! Well, we survived....from the Ikea trip to the Notting Hill Carnival, the first weekend proved to be lots of "new" adventures for us.

Friday was an exciting night in the world of Ikea. I could go into all the details, but this picture sums it up nicely.

Saturday was filled with more furniture shopping, Dwell and Habitat. We quickly learned the fun of hauling furniture through the Tube, but we have a coffee table! The rest of the furniture is being delivered Tuesday. Can. Not. Wait.

Sunday morning, we awoke to the sounds of Carnival, excited for the days ahead, but really ... more excited that we only have 2 more nights on that air mattress. We stepped outside and literally on our street was the Carnival. People were lined up waiting for the parade, most with drinks in hand already. We grabbed some coffee and settled in with the crowd. The 1st parade was gorgeous...ladies dressed in bright colors, feathers, the whole nine yards. The ones that followed, well let's just say that things changed. Think speakers....very loud speakers, like trucks of speakers...and Caribbean reggae rap (is there such a thing?!) So many speakers. After a quick jaunt around the carnival, we decided to get out of our neighborhood and go see a show. (More speakers.) Went to London Roundhouse to see TV on the Radio, super cool venue.

Monday morning ...Bank Holiday in UK, Okeefe gets a day off! Woo hoo! Oh, and there's more carnival, more speakers. We were secretly hoping the rain would hold off the carnival. Yep, we are officially old.

And so now, Tuesday, I sit. And I wait. For furniture. I don't think I've ever been this excited to put together furniture.

P.S. -- We were woken up in the wee hours of the morning to a crazy sound in our back garden. Turned on the lights, it was a fox. A fox. In our garden. In the middle of London. I can't.