Barcelona

Barcelona was probably my favorite city of the whole trip.  It might have been because I could actually speak to people but really, it's just a beautiful place.  The first day we were there we basically went on a Antoni Gaudi tour.  We started off on a tour of Casa Mila. It was definitely worth the wait to go in.  My favorite part was the terrace with the Star Wars like chimneys. After that we took a nice walk to the Sagrada Familia, the most famous building of Gaudi.  It is still unfinished and is projected to be done in 2026. Last time I was in Barcelona, I was with a friend and since neither one of us wanted to spend that much money to go into the church so we just looked at it from outside. Well, this time, since I was with my parents I got to go in.  If I could do my first trip to Barcelona again, I would have paid the money to go in.  I honestly think it is much prettier on the inside than it is on the outside.  We also got to go into a chapel attached to the main church and that is where Gaudi is buried.  It will be really interesting to see it when it's done.  Maybe I'll have to make another trip to Barcelona in about 20 years.  Our last stop of the day was the Picasso Museum.  I had already been there but I liked it so much the first time that I thought it was something my parents should see. I love the way the museum is organized.  It's all in chronological order so it starts out with his painting as a child, when he had a really good, realistic style and you can see how his technique slowly gets weirder and weirder through out his life.

The next day, we spent pretty much the whole day outside, starting in Mont Juic where we walked to the Olympic Stadium.  In December, the stadium was closed so we had to peek through gates to see anything inside.  This time it was open!!! Being at the stadium got me really excited for the London Olympics this year. We also took a sky lift up to a castle on top of the hill.  I personally think the coolest part of the castle is the view of the city and the sea.  After that, we had lunch on the beach and then went to Park Guell, another Gaudi creation.  I was a little disappointed with how overcrowded the park was.  I think I probably overheard at least ten different people saying that Gaudi most likely wouldn't be too happy if he knew his park was this overcrowded. 

And that was the end of my trip.  The next day, we went back to Granada and I had to go back to school.  I had a great time traveling with my parents, but I was glad to be back in my town.

Rome

Unlike Paris, where I never really wanted to go and ended up really liking it,  Rome is a place that I was expecting so much out of it and was a little let down. I have been wanting to go to Rome since the Lizzie McGuire movie came out when I was like 10 or 11.  It was still pretty awesome and I would definitely go again.  The only real problem I had with Rome is that it was way over crowded, everywhere.  Our hotel was in a great spot, right down the street from the Colosseum and the Forum.  My favorite part about Rome is that the city is built around the ruins.  I feel like if the United States was where ancient Rome was, but we had the same government that we currently have,  they would be like "This really old building is falling apart and no one can live or work here, it's just taking up space," and they would destroy it so a thousand condos can be built. Wednesday we went to the Vatican.  We ended up getting there right as they were settting up for the Popes weekly talk.  One of my biggest hopes for this whole trip was to see the Pope...and we saw him!!!! The Vatican muesums were very interesting, but probably the most uncomfortable part of the whole trip just due to how many people were standing in not very large spaces. 

Italian food was exactly what I was expecting.  I don't think a day went by when we didn't eat pasta.  I think my favorite was the Carbonara.  We also got our fill of tiramisu.  A little fun fact I learned in my Italian class: "tiramisu" literally translates to "you lift me up".  It is called that because it lifts your mood.

Paris

A few weeks ago I had a whole week of school to celebrate Holy Week.   I started of my vacation meeting my parents in Paris.  I have to say,  except for maybe when I was really young, Paris was always one of those cities that I wouldn't say no to, but never really considered a must see city.  Well, after actually going to Paris, I think I've changed my mind.   I would probably say, it is one of my favorite cities that I've visited.  Now, what exactly I liked so much about it, I can't really tell you, it definitely wasn't the food.  The first day, we didn't do much because we were all tired.  We went to see the Hunger Games (in English) and then went to see the Eiffel Tower all lit up.  The next day we went to the Louvre.  I was actually kind of disappointed with the Mona Lisa.  It was probably because there were so many tourist, standing right in front of the painting and never moving, so that my little 5'2" self never saw more than the top half of the painting.  Other than that I really did enjoy the museum.  I think my favorite thing was the Venus de Milo.  Now for the food.  The most interesting meal, probably of the whole trip, was lunch after the Louvre.  The place we ate was beautiful, but they did not have an English menu and seeing as no one in my family speaks French, we had no idea what we were ordering.  We ended up with a lot of raw meat.  I had raw salmon which was basically just like eating sushi. My dads plate of raw beef was a little weirder.  Once I got past the "ew it's raw" feeling, it was actually quite tasty.  Dinner that night was  really good.  My mom and I both had French onion soup (tasted even better than Julia Child's) some sort of mushroom dish and escargot.  I was a little worried about the snails at first but really, what's the difference between a snail and an oyster? 

I'm alive!

Hi guys.  I just wanted to share that I am in fact alive and back in Granada.  I had a great time traveling with my parents the past couple of weeks and getting back into the schedule of school as been a little difficult for me this week.  I don't really have time to say more right now, I've kind of overstayed my welcome at this cafe, but I'll post more about my trip in the next week or so.