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After a jam packed and awesome 2 1/2 days in London we got home yesterday afternoon and were totally wiped.

Wanted to give you all a London recap, as we really did have an awesome time, despite the cold and rainy weather.

We landed on Monday and got to Brandon and Will's flat around 4. Their place is great, they are in the finishing steps of remodeling so we didn't get to see the finished product, but hope to get back to London soon to check it out!

After throwing our bags down we immediately headed out and walked through Soho to Piccadilly circus and then on to Buckingham Palace.

Will's first sighting of a informal changing of the guards.


Will loving watching the guards changing.


In front of Buckingham Palace, the balcony behind us is where William and Kate kissed.


Loving London!

That night Will and Brandon took us to one of their favorite neighborhood pubs, then to a very cool bar for a drink before dinner. We had amazing Japanese food and this little local place, looking around you felt like you were in Japan, not too many Americans/Brits in this place which made it awesome! We ended the night with more cocktails at this cool bar, Bamboo.

We really blew it out our first night which made for a slow morning the next day!

Once we got going we headed for the London Bridge and then walked around the financial/legal areas. It's so cool how all the offices are in these beautiful old buildings that are at most 10 stories tall, not the kind of Downtown we're used to. We then walked to St. Paul's cathedral, peeked in and kept moving.


View of the tower bridge from the London bridge.



That afternoon we rented bikes and road to Westminster Abbey and walked around that neighborhood and the headed to do some shopping. If you are eve in London you have to go to the department store Liberty, mostly because of the amazing building it's in. You feel like you are walking into a massive cottage in the countryside, it's beautiful. If you want to do some MAJOR shopping check out Selfridges, its amazing! Literally the biggest women's shoe department I have ever seen, pretty much I was in HEAVEN! For dinner we headed to Brick Lane for so e fabulous Indian food, I swear it's better in London then in India.

Our last day we worm up early for our Buckingham Palace tour. We didn't even know that Buckingham palace was open and luckily stumbled upon a flyer that said the staterooms were open and Kate's wedding dress was on display. Sadly I dont have any pictures To share (they make you put your camera I. A p,astir bag so no one can take pictures), but the whole experience was one of my highlights from the trip. Her dress/veil/earrings/shoes are even more incredible in person.

We ended the afternoon by walking through Hyde Park and then to the top of Primrose Hill for a view of the city.


Taking a rest at the top of Primrose Hill, think we walked about 10 miles that day.

We had another amazing dinner at this little Tapas place by Brandon and Will's flat.

Sad for our trip to be over but happy to be home with Stels sleeping in our own bed!

Until next time...

Adios Spain

We are now in London spending our last few days of the trip with our great friends Brandon and Will. We had a great time in Madrid, the weather again was incredible (not so much in London), the end of August is definitely the time to go to Spain

Here are pics from our last day Barcelona

Will standing in the middle of Las Ramblas


Pinotxo Bar in the Mercat de la Boqueria. My parents recommended this little gem, the tapas are incredible and the whole experience is a blast. Its a must if you go to Barcelona.


Spending our last afternoon relaxing by the pool!



We had another amazing dinner at a small tapas restaurant, Tapas 24. This picture is from our seat at the bar looking Into the kitchen. Favorites for us: the bikini sandwich, it's a ham and provolone with black truffles, the burger, patatas bravas, and this chocolate mouse with olive oil and sea salt dessert.

Madrid recap, Day 1



Plaza Sol



El Mercado San Miguel. It's the coolest place. You walk in and there are lots of little stands everywhere with everything from paella, to prosciutto sandwiches, to fresh shucker oysters. And best pasty, there are little wine stands everywhere so you can grad your class of wine and some food and have s perfect little lunch.





The Madrid Cathedral. It is right next door to the Palacio Real.


Will checking out the Cathedral


Palace Real


All of the ceilings in the Palace were painted with different murals.


Will inside the Palace grounds with the Madrid Cathedral behind him


The view from the Palace over Old Madrid

That night we grabbed drinks and dinner with the couple we had met in the wine country in Chile. They live in Madrid and we had a great time seeing a more local/less touristy (or as Will says, no big red double decker busses) neighborhood.

Day 2 recap:

We decided we needed to check out a museum, Madrid has some incredible one. Since neither of us are big on very traditional art we decided not to go to the Museo Prado and instead check out the Reina Sophia Museum, which has all modern art. The museum was beautiful and home to a lot of Picassos and Dalis. It was great!

We spent a lot of time just walking around, the architecture in Madrid is Incredible, the buildings are all beautiful. There are also tons of plazas and parks everywhere and the city is incredibly clean. It's great! We loved Retiro Park, similar to a central park, plaza opera, plaza sol, and this very cool Egyptian temple, temple el debod.

That night we decided to head to a bullfight and then to keep up with Spanish tradition we went flamenco show. The Plaza de Toros is beautiful but It must have been amateur night at the bullfight because these bullfighters seemed a little scared of the whole thing. There was one great guy!






The Flamenco show at the Coral de la Moreria was amazing, I have never seen dancers click their feet that fast. Thinks River Dance without the tap shoes. We got lucky and were seated at a table in front. The whole experience was great.

Loving Barcelona

Sorry for not posting the past few days, we've been falling in love with Barcelona. Already sad to leave Saturday (but excited about Madrid). We got here Monday afternoon after a long travel day and we were greeted with 85 degree weather and gorgeous blue skies. We decided to take it easy that afternoon and sat by the pool and then walked down to a little bar in the beach. Man the people at this beach take it farther than topless, wish I had a picture of Will's face when he saw that people were totally naked, it was priceless. We had some wonderful Sangria at the beach and grabbed dinner at this tiny little restaurant we found on Zagat, amazing.

Day 2, we were a bit jet lagged and sleep deprived so we ended up waking up around 1:30 and decided to take it easy, stroll on the beach and hang by the pool, day 3 would be our sight seeing day and man was it.

Day 3, we got up early and rented bikes and rode around the city, definitely the best way to do it. Barcelona is probably the most bike friendly city we've been to, our day wad just wonderful! And we ended it by grabbing tapas at Cal Pep, this little local place where you wait in line for a seat at the bar, tell the waiter any food allergies you ave and then they just start bringing out food. Apparently this is how tapas should be done. It was great!

Sitting at the beach bar on Barceloneta Beach.



Posted earlier, view from out hotel room at the W Barcelona. Love this hotel!



Sagrada Familia, the outside of the church was begun in 1882 and designed mainly by Antoni Gaudi.


The other side of Sagrada Familia.


Sagrada Familia covered in scaffolding to keep it in it's perfect condition.







In front of the Arc de Triomf





The Barcelona Cathedral



Inside of the Mercat de la Boqueria, such a cool place.



Will getting candy.


Waiting in line with my glass of wine at Cal Pep. We got there around 9:30 and it was packed, we waited about an hour for our seats, well worth the wait!

Today we were lazy again, the pool and beach with this weather is just too enticing. We're about to head out for I'm sure another fabulous meal, the food has been amazing, will need to go on a major diet when I get home!