Barcelona 2009

After our visit to Paris, Elizabeth and I hopped on a low fare jet to Barcelona where Miguel Angel "Miki" picked us up and our fabulous tour of Barcelona and Sitges began. We fell in love with the tapas, architecture, cafe culture and general life style of the Catalan. What a blast. I'd have to say we did most of the typical tourist things and a few of our favorites were the chocolate and churros, Mirablau on the hill, the various Gaudi tours, and Tapas!



Mike and his girlfriend Anna are wonderful people and great friends. We enjoyed our time with them tremendously. Miki does like to make fun of my Spanish (he calls me the Gringo Mexicano) since i have a latin american accent...so maybe one day i'll get over the lisp thing that the Spaniards do and adapt the accent...just not sure i can go there. :) But i love miki nonetheless!!



Our visit to Sitges was great - what a nice beach town. Our favorite dinner spot was a Tapas restaurant that Miki took us to...chistorra was our favorite sausage...good stuff.



After the visit to Sitges we made our way down to Sevilla and explored that area for some time. Spain is a very interesting country and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Europe 2009 - Paris

The trip has been excellent! Elizabeth and I are into the final stage of our three part european "tour" and i am finally posting! After arriving in Paris, we had a wonderful four day visit with the highlights including climbing the Eiffel tower (using the stairs to get to the second level rather than the elevator), a wonderful picnic on the Seine with Christophe and his girlfriend Adeline, and visits to several very nice areas of Paris including Montparnasse and Montmartre.

The metro seemed very manageable compared to previous visits, nice to feel like you know how to get around. The bus system is another story, much more complex! As usual, Paris delivered a fantastic experience with great food, wonderful bread, beautiful architecture, and lots of fun experiences. We danced swing in the Caveau de St. Michel at 1:30 AM, visited the Catacombs for a look at a few centuries of bones, strolled through the touristic yet interesting and inviting streets of Montmartre.

Elizabeth was in heaven with the cheese and charcuterie plates and i helped out a little too :)

Of course, it is so nice to have local contacts. Adeline had us meet her and Christophe at Le Baron Rouge, a local pub where they serve wine out of wood barrels. A very unique approach...one of the few apparently left in Paris (if not the only one). Great unique and fun experience...that was family style with families and kids hanging out as well.

The espresso was delicious...and helped power us through all the walking we did....which was extensive. We stayed at Christophe's flat in Vincennes which is on the 6th floor of the building and...does not have an elevator. So, we certainly appreciated the opportunity to get our legs back into shape.

Paris was an A+ despite the torrential downpour that we managed to mostly evade.