2005-11-06

2 Month Anniversary!

Well, Patrick and I have just had some fun filled days in Barcelona, I tell ya.

Enjoy some pictures before we really get this party started. Excited for this one, I know, the first is the FACE UPDATE!Then, Patrick and me being sweet, and then Patrick and I being really pathetically sweet.

First off, some things to get out of the way before our filled recap begins.

1. I'm sick. Ill. Coughing. Sniffling. Fever.

Once again, Patrick is taking care of me. I think this is my bodies way of letting me know that I'm allergic to him.

2. The hotel room.

Oooooooh shit. I can't begin to tell you about this.

It's heaven. For reallies. The hotel is so nice that when I walked in I felt so out of place you'd think I was eating lunch at a monastary or something. The place is just... beautiful!

The bed is the size of... well... my dorm room. No joke. And the bathtub! I HAD A BATH!!! And everything is... beautiful and wood and marble and awesome. It's 4 star living folks. This means more than you know, because hostels... well, they are just plain no stars. How do you like that?? Right. So the hotel is like... well shit. I seriously had tears in my eyes when we walked in the room. Oh the possiblities for baths and sleeping and everything were just too overwhelming. And at night, it's like Patrick and I are so far apart that we're in seperate countries. When we meet in the middle, it's like a UN meeting. Thats how big it is.

You could almost say that Canada has relocated to right above Scotland on the earth. We're doing wonderful things for international relations.

SO ANYWAYS.

Now, I bring you, the Barcelona Wrap Up!

Wednesday, the 2nd.

So I took an overnight train from Nice to Barcelona, leaving on the 1st. My first overnighter! I now know what all the Australians have been talking about-- aside from a couple french black guys, the train was all Canadians.

I got into Barcelona at about 10, so I got my way to the airport, and had about four hours to wait for Patrick.

I swear, I thought it was going to take alot longer. NOT THE CASE.

So for that next four hours, I did clever things like make Patrick a crossword and fashion a clever sign to hold up for him in the Arrivals area that said 'Canadian Backpacker Assistant'.

IIIIII thought it was clever.

So anyways, Patrick FINALLY arrived. I was the dirtiest person you've ever seen in your life (due to the bad morning, that meant I hadn't showered in like, three days) but yet, Pat was a trooper and still gave me a nice big much needed hug.

We found our way to the Hotel Of Dreams and checked in and the like.

That night, we had a walk towards to beaches and on the coast, got some tapas at a nice restaurant and just took some photos and pretty much wandered. Patrick knows his way around, so he kind of showed me my way, and then I'm pretty sure we went to bed at 8pm. We are an old married couple. I'm not exaggerating.

Thursday, the 3nd.

I think we shall sum this up as the Barcelona Church Morning.

Really, it wasn't a morning at all really, but it was mostly the whole day, and it was mostly awesome [aside from this being the day I actually started to get a bit sick].

We went to a three churches in Barcelona, including the cathedral, where Patrick and I watched a couple of turtles doing it, but my absolute favourite was the Sagrada Familia.

Oh man, it was just SO amazing. You don't understand how much I love it. The... the everything is unreal. The colours, the sculpture, the general organic idea of it all... but most of all the fact that this massive, beautiful church is being built in our time. It's overwhleming, really. I think Patrick was probably sick of hearing me say 'This is so beautiful', over and over and over again. The doors, the pillars... oh man!! I can't even put it into words.

We made a pact that if in 25 years, when they expect it to be finished, that if neither Patrick or I are married, we're going to get married in that church. Because trust me, you WANT this to happen. Going to a wedding in this church would be RETARDED. Let's hope and pray that we both have a life of loneliness ahead of us so that in 25 years, we can unite and you all can share the experience of that place. We'll even fly you over. Swear it.

AND THEN!

That night, after giving my head and tummy a rest, we went out to this really nice jazz club for dinner.

When it was the actual eating portion of it all, we both had speghetti and pesto, and for our main course, Patrick got duck and I got... well...

So I decided to risk it on the main course, because i wasn't really hungry, and everything else was 20 EU and up, so I went for this cheaper thing just incase I didn't eat it. It had apples, and really, I had no idea what it was.

I was kinda grossed out, I didn't eat the whole thing...

Then, we looked up what 'foie' was? Well... It's freakin GOOSE LIVER AND TRUFFLE PATE.

I nearly died. You guys! I ate goose liver! LIVER! OF A GOOSE!

BAH!

But we got free champagne.

So anyways, after that, this jazz trio started playing, and they were actually really good. They made for a great night. But there were some crazy characters up in there.

Character #1:
In the trio there was a drummer, who was GREAT at looking cool, a piano player who made faces that were fantastic [the photo below is my impression of his brilliant smile] and then the bass player.

Oh man the bass player.

He was playing a big old stand up bass, but seriously, his face... it was like he was having sex with it. He was the most animated musician I have ever seen in my life. Patrick and I kept laughing because he was just all over the place, he was getting so much pleasure out of playing that instrument. But the best of all was when he would go down to low notes. His eyes would roll back in his head and his mouth would be agape.... and then he would jump to a high note and he would look so shocked! His eyes would light up and go realy big and his mouth into a perfect 'O'. Man, it was classic.

Character #2:
There was this tool sitting beside us that was really getting into the music and smoking like a bloody chimney (at first I attributed the sore throat to his smoking). But the beautiful thing about him was that there was this one song where they kept on pausing for a moment, then continuing.

Well, at the first pause, this guy started applaud and was the only one. He realized that he was and the song wasn't over, so he tried to play it off like he was just clapping along with the song. Dude, the guy kept it up for like 12 minutes. Thinking that no one had noticed. It was hilarious!

Character #3:
This guy I think was everyone's favourite.

He was sitting behind us and he had really raspy, manly deep voice. It was like scratchy and gritty.

He would yell out really enthusiastic 'Yeah!'s and 'Alright!'s at random intervals throughout the night. Patrick and I kept on expecting him to hit us on the shoulder with a punch and say 'American Jazzzzz!'.

I realize that none of this is funny to, but I promise that when I get back home, if you remind me I will do all the voices and faces and you will laugh your heads off and wish that you had been there and be forever jealous for eternity.

Promise!

Friday, the 4th.

So, this day... let me remember.

Oh shit, this was my favourite day ever.

Not joking.

[This is Patrick taking over as Nicole, has a sore head. She is dictating the content though]

In the "morning" we went to Casa Batllo, a house designed by Antonio Gaudi. Unfortunately we had slept in so long it was closed by the time we got there. Then it started to rain, because nikki's flipflops are cursed. To seek shelter we headed off to the Aquarium, but decided to leave it till after dark.

In the meantime we went to Montjuic Park, on a hill over Barcelona. In the time-honoured tradition we took a cable car and lazed about before getting some pizza. We were served by the cutest 3-year-old ever, who kept us entertained while we ate terrible pizza.

I don't understand how to put the aquarium into words really. It was just so good. At first Patrick complained and whined like a big baby. Well that was a lie, but he was unimpressed. Then it ended up being his favourite place in the world. (She is exaggerating a bit!). Here are some photos:

My favourites were: the seahorses above, the angel fish that swam in a circle, the shark tube, and the stingray pool, which you could lie underneath. On the top of the water you can see their little wingies flapping out of the water.

We took some night photos and reminisced about the sweetness of the aquarium. I am considering moving to Edinburgh based on rumours of an Aquarium AND an art school.

[Patrick is getting to write this in his own words, as nikki has slipped into a coma]
The next day we planned to go to Tarragona. We got to a very confusing train station, where Nikki helped a lost Canadian from Invermere. She was quite proud of her worldliness until two minutes before we were due to get on the train, we realised there was no way to open the turnstiles using nikki's railpass. Suddenly the whole adventure was in crisis! Especially as I was the other side of the barrier and not likely to wait around for her. She scurried off, and at the second attempt bought a very cheap ticket to somewhere random. it was for the wrong line, and it was even the wrong colour, but she managed to wing it, and the relationship was saved.

In Tarragona, we saw some Roman ruins, the sites of many famous Patrick pictures that admired the world over, and the big Cathedral. We wandered around the cloisters and considered becoming monks.

After some tapas, we used Nikki's ability to navigate by the sun and noises of calling birds to make our way to the beach to watch a lovely sunset.

For Primo Uncle Danny, I then had the best hamburger in my young Scottish life.

(it's nikki again now)
all in all, Barcelona has been probably one of the best parts of my trip. Due entirely to the aquarium and nothing to do with company. I'm ill, but I'm happy. Tomorrow I don't know where I am headed, but I have one more day with our dear Patrick, and then Viva Espana!

love, nicole 1:45 p.m.

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