Barcelona

On holiday, we did a day trip to Barcelona. We picked an interesting time to go with the illegal referendum on the Sunday and protests and strikes on the Tuesday. But when we went on the Wednesday, we didn't see any troubles or signs of them.

It was an early morning, which made neither of us happy, but it meant we got in the city for around 10.30am. The city lies between 2 mountains and first stop was the one on the far side of the city, Tibidabo. There is the Church of the Sacred Heart up there, next to a theme park. 

And there were supposed to be amazing views over the city. But Caroline and I seem to have an issue with getting views. (Have a look at our views from the top of the empire state building when we went to New York.) 

Church of the scared Heart

There is giant bronze Jesus on the top apparently.

Inside.

Black Jesus and Mary.

Tiny glimpse of the city.

We couldn't even see most of the fair ground. The most popular/famous attraction is a plane attached to an arm which propels itself out over the cliff side.

Plane

The second stop was Parc Guell. It was supposed to be an upper class housing site, designed by Antonio Gaudi, but it failed and was opened as a public park. He did finish a couple of the houses.

Tiled roofs.

You can around the park for free but have to pay to go into the house and Hall of One Hundred columns. We were only there for an hour though so just wandered around the park.

The most famous bit is the serpentine bench which we could just see from the park. Apparently the seats are very comfortable and Gaudi has the builders drop there pants and used them to hold the seats.

They are doing so work on it so we couldn't see a lot.

At the top of the park are the colonnaded pathways. The acoustics are great and there were street artists playing inside. 

The walkway at the top has 50 cement/stone balls that make up a rosary. Gaudi was very religious and used to walk along the path each night. Now there are loads of street sellers along the walkway. Every so often, they would quickly other up everything and run into the trees. Shortly before the police walked by. :)

We treated ourselves to some earrings from one of them, which may turn our ears green but they were very pretty!

out over the city

At the top of the parc

After Parc Guell, we headed towards the sea and stopped at the Unfinished Church, Sangrada Familia. This is another one of Gaudi's designs. It was started in 1882. Work stopped on it when Gaudi was killed (by a tram when he tried to cross the road aged 74) and started again after the Spanish Civil war. It should be done by 2026. Again you can go inside (it's on our list for next visit) but we just walked around. 

Only 2 side are finished. The left side is dedicated to the birth of Christ. And is very chaotic.

The right side is dedicated to his death and much more stark and harsh.

As for the rest, I'm not sure. They are going to have to knock down a city block and build a bridge for the road for the front of the church. 

Our final stop was some free time. We were dropped at El Port Vell by the aquarium and told about the fabulous shopping centre with a Starbucks and a Subway and all the shops like Lush and H&M. We were not impressed with that idea, so Caroline and I legged it over the bridge to the Las Ramblas. 

The street stretches 1km and has lots of street artists, stalls and restaurants. We stopped there for some tapas and a glass of wine (so much better than Subway).

Drassanes Plaza.

La Farola (by Gaudi of course)

After lunch we wandered around some of the squares and back streets and found a great little jewellery shop where Caroline picked out her present.

We had to power walk it back to the bus to get there in time and managed a bathroom break. My feet were very unhappy with me at this point. 

We took some more sights in from the bus but we seemed to be on the wrong side of the bus for all of them. It was about 8pm when we got home so we got some wine and a cake and made pasta back at the apartment. And rested our poor aching feet! :)

Celia Brooks Food Tour

Last weekend I went on a food tour around the Belgravia and South Kensington area, with a chef/author Celia Brooks the tour started in a chocolate shop called Rococo which some very tasty chocolates. 

Over the road, the second stop was a cheese shop for a short cheese tasting. I did think about getting one cheese but s I am away next week, didn't seem like a good plan however tasty.

Lunch was at a Lebanese restaurant and then to Harrods food hall for a quick trip around and to pick up some macaroons. The food hall is very impressive but after seeing some the prices I wasn't so impressed. £5 for a punt of Strawberries. Insane. 

Harrods macaroons.

They do impressive cakes

Only for the rich

 The last stop was wine tasting. The shop was very cool with a lot of variety.

And they cater to some very rich clients apparently.  This Cristal is worth over £8000. I dared not get any closer, but the feet give some perspective.

After we grabs some bottles and went to a cook shop for a drink and chat. I was very restrained and did not purchase any cooking gadgets. (I refused too look - my kitchen is way too small for anything else and I am saving the last little bit of room for a blender.)

The tour came with some discounts at the shops so I got some chocolate and some gin. They didn't have the one I have been looking for but this one was intriguing. 

new bottle in my gin collection.

Tower of London

I had Monday off work as I was supposed to still be on holiday down south. So I figured I would use my day for London tourist things and went to the Tower of London. It was a gorgeous day and apparently everyone else thought so. The place was full of tourists. :)

From the tower to the bridge.

Tower of London.

They have lots of animals sculptures around the grounds. In King Edward IV and Richard III era, there was a zoo on the grounds. The young Prices would have seen in from their rooms.

They have a very small area devoted to torture. Apparently despite what you see in films, there was very little torture in England compared to other countries. Though we did have the rack.

The rack.

Some of the many cannons. 

The white tower (armoury)

The white tower contains the armoury and a large display. Including the line of kings which has been there for a few centuries, a display of rumour and model horses.

They had a couple of King Henry VIIIs suits of armour, from when he was young and old. Apparently when he was older, he got rather ... excited about battle. While I was waiting, a little girl, about 5, asked her mom, "What is that thing between his legs?" Her mom pulled her away very quickly.

The bit I really wanted to see more of as where the 2 princes were kept. When Edward IV died unexpectedly early, his brother Richard took over until Edwards two young sons were old enough to rule. They were 12 and 9 at the time. He placed them under "protection" in the tower of London. He then instead declared them illegitimate and crowned himself King Richard III (and apparently spent a lot of time lusting after his niece Elizabeth of York). 

The boys disappeared. No one really knows but it is believed Richard had them killed. Though some hoped they just went into hiding and lived out their lives in peace. This was in the 16th century. A few centuries later, bones were discovered under the White Tower when they did some refurbishments. They have recently been identified as the bones of 2 boys, aged 9 and 12. :(

Unfortunately I knew most of this before I went there. (I love that period in history. There are some many plots and schemes. And Game of Thrones is basically based on it!) There was little information about. I guess they wanted you to pay extra for the audio guides. 

Monument to Henry VIIIs poor wives. 

I am glad I went even though it wasn't what I hoped. (The guide book is good.)

After I sat by the river with an iced coffee and enjoyed the sun. It has finally become summer. I have just got back from sitting in the park with a glass of wine, chatting with friends.