It is so nice of Jules to set me up a log-in for his blog, I guess I better act a bit more grateful and actually utilise it. We have had precious little time to actually upload photos and write anything but on holidays that is a good thing. So, from my perspective the following things are worth mentioning:
Barcelona
Gaudi of course lived up to my expectations and thoroughly delighted me. See pictures in the gallery. For those of you who don’t know the work of Gaudi, he designed the gingerbread looking houses that you can see in our photos.
Mardi in Barcelona. My effervescent friend Mardi came with us to Barcelona and it was wonderful to spend time with her there. The experience would have been completely different with out her. She befriended Oscar the local that Jules mentioned earlier and he spent a couple of days with us as our personal tour guide.
Valencia
Thank god for the Moto GP! I can’t believe that I am saying that but if it weren’t for the Motor Bike race in Valencia (Jules’ write up here) we would not have gone to Valencia or possibly even Spain! I loved Valencia it was so charming and a little more sophisticated than Barcelona. No tourists at all (except for Europeans on motor bikes). Definitely no annoying Brits or Americans milling around.
Gatos(say “gah toss”) is the Spanish word for “cats”. Incredibly the Botanical Gardens have dozens of resident gatos that are encouraged to stay there. In fact the entry fee of 0.60€ is donated entirely to the welfare of the cats. It was so much fun to keep an eye out for cats at every corner. They are so friendly and come running to rub up against your leg or sit on your lap if you are that way inclined.
London
I have left this to last which means that I won’t have enough energy to do it justice. Last night we went out for dinner with all of Jules’ family for his grandfather’s 88th birthday at Rules in Covent Garden. Rules is reputedly the oldest restarant in London and is full of amazing memorabilia from all the famous politicians, playwrights, artists etc that have frequented the place over 200 years. We had a private room with our own personal waiter for the 7 of us and it was just wonderful. The food was divine and very English.
Ok, I’ve had enough. I look forward to boring you all silly with a personal commentary on all our photos when we get back.
Adios,
Jess
Sounds like you two are having a great time. The photos are lovely! :)