Madrid

So, I know that I have been a bit quiet lately, but I've had exams, so had to be diligent and study a lot. I wrote 4 exams over 3 weeks, and I had to go to Madrid for them. Write at the embassy! What a pain in travelling, not to mention the expense, and being away from my boy! But, it's over for now, so I am glad for that.

While I was there, I did take some pictures, as I walked around a lot in between exam writing and studying! Here are a few:
This is where I stayed...

Arc de Triomphe (seems like there's one in every town)

Painting and playing in the Jardine del Retiro

More park...

And just for Kai, because I thought of him at the time!

Oh, and this is where I really stayed, third floor, room in the corner, shared with another 13 people!

So, because there is NO studying this weekend, we have decided to do absolutely NOTHING! Pure awesomeness! We are going to go up the coast tomorrow though, and put our feet in the Med. Looking forward to that!

Till next time.

Out and about in Sant Cugat

We went out last night for a quiet evening, to the town hall for the wecoming of EU people to Sant Cugat by the mayor, dinner afterwards with Steve and Rachel. Nothing over the top was planned...
During dinner Rachel asked where there would be a Salsa club in Sant Cugat. Well, we were told that there is a karaoke bar! Because that's the same thing!!! So off we went...

Sean and Rachel having some fun along the way

After much searching, we finally found this karaoke place, which had a different decor theme going on.

We sat down to watch the others sing in Spanish. It was entertaining, until they asked us to choose a song!!! By this stage we had had 2 bottles of red wine, and we were on our third drink of the night, so we chose a song!!!

We chose a song for the boys too, but Steve chickened out!!!

All in all, I think a good night was had by everyone. It's not often anymore that I only get to bed at 3am!!!

Sometimes we go to France...

One of the reasons that we are excited to be living in Barcelona is the proximity to Europe. This past weekend was our first trip out of the country! We booked a car, Sean took Friday off work, and Thursday evening we were on our way to visit Lynne and Jeff in France! Left Barcelona at 19:30, and by 22:30 we were sitting round their table enjoying a glass of wine. Good times!

Lynne and Jeff have a farm in a town called St Paul de Fenouillet, near Perpignan, south France. A gorgeous flat attached to the cellar, and a beautiful vineyard just 5 minutes drive away...

Seriously lovely there. Anyway, St Paul is a really small town, the most popular place being this...

Sean and I laughed everytime, but Lynne and Jeff are used to it by now! The whole family of Pousses, would be great if they moved to SA!

Lynne took Sean and I up Gorge de Galamus on Friday morning. It's a church built into the rock. Worth it, for sure. We took the road along the Gorge back from dinner on Saturday night, narrow and winding, only two metres wide in places where the rock overhangs just above the car, it's quite something. Unfortuntely, I didn't get any pics of that, but we will have to go back sometime so that we can.

We drove around the area a lot, and saw a lot of small villages, which were lovely. This one was interesting, named Maury. It was raining, but the murals were fantastic.

There were a few odd attachments to some doors that we saw.

Also, there were Poppies everywhere...

And then there were picnics...

Where we had the delicious Domaine Grier bubbly!!! Looking forward to more of that sometime. All in all, it was a fantastic weekend, with great company! I look forward to many more! Thanks so much Lynne and Jeff.