mallorca

On Wednesday morning, we headed to the island, Mallorca. Instead of spending the rest of the week in the city, we headed east to a small village called Canyamel. As if we didn't get enough sun in Barcelona, the last few days were spent in swim suits just taking in the breathtaking clear blue waters.

We did visit Cuevas de Arta, the caves, one morning. I hadn't visited caves for a long time; I had forgotten how crazy stalagmites and stalactites are formed. At the end of the tour, the guide asked us where we were from. We got quite the surprised look when we said we were American. I suppose they don't get many tourists from the U.S. to this island in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Spain gets a lot of visitors from Germany so for most our time there we were asked "English or Deutsch" before each meal. When we said English, sometimes they looked surprised. When we arrived to our hotel, we were quickly greeted with "Guten Tag"... I guess our blonde hair and Mark's height is a bit confusing!

Sun kissed, freckly and refreshed, we headed back to fall-like temps in Paris...

sagrada família

 

We visited La Sagrada Familia, a huge church that started being built in 1882. The work was taken over by Gaudi in 1883 and he worked on it until he died in 1926. The church is still under construction and is planned to be finished in 2026. We've toured so many European churches; it was strange to see one so new with bright, clean stained glass!

We also visited Park Güell where Gaudi's house was located. It used to be free to walk around his house and see all the mosaic detail that he was known for but unfortunately, very recently you have to pay. We had other plans for the afternoon so we just walked around the park and looked in on his house from afar.

por favor y gracias

In March, before any of our other trips were booked, we decided to take a week to explore Spain. Paris is almost empty in August. Almost all of France is empty in August. It's like the month doesn't exist; everyone is on vacances. On Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early for a flight to Barcelona; arriving before 9:00am.

It was fun to get there early before too many people were roaming the streets. It was really a laid back vacation where most afternoons were spent at the beach.

On Saturday night we took in a Flamenco dinner and show on Montjuïc. We decided to head back up the mountain a couple days later to see it in the daylight and take a funicular down to the beach.

One afternoon was spent at the Picasso museum and most evenings were spent eating as many tapas as we could fit into our stomachs.

au picnic... again

We've learned to fit in with the locals, we should really be picnicking every night... it's the thing to do in the summer months. We returned from Spain Saturday morning just in time to shower, change and buy some goods before heading to picnic for a friend's birthday. A good time was had by all!

One of our friends, a chef, made some not so typical picnic food to add to the spread... green chili mac-n-cheese and ribs. It was delicious! And Mark made a new buddy, probably because he shared a bite of ribs!

We've made some awesome friends here. It's a weird life, really... you meet people, you become great friends because we're all living this strange "fly by the seat of our pants" lifestyle, then some leave; some stay, and you wonder when you'll meet again. But it sure makes time fly by when you've got them around!

The chef friend's wife is a photographer - talented couple, I know! - so she brought some hilarious props for the birthday celebration. This is where we were probably not looking so French!

je reviens

After a little time stateside, I welcomed myself back to French culture with a picnic

au Champ de Mars until the sun went down and the lights twinkled.