Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Carnaval and Wine tasting!

Like every post I make these days, the theme is that it is hard to describe my events because words cannot paint a clear enough picture for how amazing these adventures are, nor can I write enough to even explain them. BUT, the week after London, two great events also took place, and since I am finally recovered from it all, I know will tell you about them. The Tuesday after returning from London, all of Barcelona picked up and went to a small beach town 30 minutes south of BCN, called Sitges. Here at Sitges, a giant festival/celebration took place: Carnaval! The streets were flooded with people, and what made it even more special was that it was also on the beach! The celebration is basically a combination of Halloween/Mardi Gras because there is a giant parade, lots of partying, and everyone is dressed in costumes. This was one of the craziest celebrations I have ever experienced, and definatley a site to see when in Europe.
Later in the week, our program took us on a day excursion to Penedes, Spain for a wine tasting and tour. This again was awesome! We arrived at a vineyard, got a tour where we saw different parts of the vineyard from the grape plants, to the underground barrles, to the bottling section. Then we watched a video explanation of the history of Torres wine, and finally we began a tasting of 4 differnt wines. I personally learned so much from this experience because myself and a few others took advantage of the lady's expertise and asked her question after question about wine. Slowly but surely my skills are picking up in the Vino World!! But yes, anyways, it was extremeley cool to be on the a vineyard and be exposed to so much great tasting and information about such a strong aspect of Europen lifestyle, wine. I am glad we are all caught up, and I apologize for any delay, but life does not slow down when in Barcelonaaaa, so stay tuned, because I am sure some more exciting adventures are not too far away!

PS- if my English seems to be getting worse, it is because I am living in SPAIN, I apologize but please understand :).
Picadilly Circus and a Sad Sunday Farewell!!!!


Abiding the law on Jordan's Birthday, what else?




Just deciding which shades to buy at Harrods.


More market.

Some foooood at the market.

The Camden Market!

A Pub we enjoyed.



The old Roman Tower.


Tower Bridge.

Another Angle + London Eye.


New Angle + Dusk!

The crew at Big Ben/Parliment.



Myself and the birthday boy at the Palace.

Pubbb Life!

Yours truly at Hyde Park!

My host and I enjoying the first night!

Living London, for a longggg weekend!

So I traveled to London, not this past weekend, but the one before. It was my good friend Jordan's golden 21st birthday weekend, and lets just say, everything about the weekend was perfect. Despite losing a friend in Madrid while connecting to a new flight, and Jordan nearly losing his bag in Heathrow Airport, the first leg of the trip was great. We went Thursday the 19th- to Sunday the 22nd. Upon arriving in amazing LondonTown, we met our good friend from school, and immediately went and grabbed our first Pint at a Pub. After a pint, or maybe a few, we grabbed some Fish n Chips, and then finally got to our buddies amazing flat at Primrose Hill . From that point on, we did London like no one could imagine. We woke up Friday, did a walking tour throughout the entire city for 7 hours touching tons of sites, ranging from Hyde and Green park, To Buckingham Palace, to Big Ben, the London Eye, and both the London Bridge, Tower Bridge, and the old Roman Tower. These were just a few of the breathtaking sites we saw! Then, after the tour, we proceeded to another pub for the night where we enjoyed Pints of various beers fresh on Tap all night and of course the presence of one another. It was AMAZING! London has an incredible vibe, and somehow, we had a sun-filled weekend which is not common at all. Then Saturday came around, and we woke up at went to an amazing outdoor open public market, called the Camden Market. At this market one could shop at outdoor sites, or eat any type of authentic international cuisine they pleased. We all tried a little bit of everything, ranging from Mexican, to Chinese, to deserts, and some fresh squeezed OJ, and it was great. Continuing on with Saturday, lets not forget today was the golden birthday of our buddy Jordan, so we were truly having an amazing day! We did more and more walking and sponging in of London, then at night time, we went to Picadilly Circus for a bar/club in a very crazy but cool area of the city, and we had a blast! Each day got better and better, and London kept feeling more and more amazing. It was sad to see Sunday come after such an amazing weekend in London, but between the birthday weekend being present, us seeing the entire city, eating great food and having amazing beer (pub life=awesome), or simply hearing English, London blew me away and I truly had the time of my life. London has it all, it is a big city, but with tons of culture and so much appeal that I could definatley see myself lodging there for longer than a weekend! Adios all!!