Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminister....WOW: London Day 2

Each one of us slept in, which was well needed. Therefore we were super energetic to see the the notorious sights that London has to offer. We first took the tube (London's metro) to the area closest to Buckingham palace. I was absolutely astounded when I saw Buckingham palace itself. But Big Ben and the Parliament building were even more spectacular. I have seen these sights in movies my entire life, like Shanghai Nights with Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan, but I couldn't believe that I was actually looking at them in person. Incredible feeling. I think that I could stare at Big Ben for an entire day. Later on, because we were in London, Anton and I decided to get some Earl grey tea along the Thames river; hit the spot. After that we walked to Hyde Park, which was actually King Henry VII's hunting grounds in the 1500's. More modernly, it served as the body of water that held the crew races during the Olympics in London last summer. We decided to have some afternoon beers and cider there which was extremely relaxing.

One thing that I found very strange about London is that fried chicken is EXTREMELY popular. There are KFCs every where, and most other fried chicken restaurants just put another name in front of the fc, so we saw PFCs, HFCs, etc. Very strange, but because of this we decided to go to a fried chicken chain called Chicken Cottage (surprisingly one of the few without ending in FC). It was no different of KFC though haha, and made us way to full. After we had gotten dressed for the night, we headed to an area of London called Convent Gardens and went to a few bars there. All around great day.

Barcelona to London; Not a bad switch

Well, because we wanted to save money, we decided to use Ryan Air to get to London, out of Girona which is an hour bus ride from Barcelona. We went to sleep around 6am the night before and had to get up by 8 am, so obviously, we ran a little late. We had to pack super fast and run to the metro and ended up missing our bus. We couldn't wait for the next one, so we had to take a Taxi....I will not disclose how much that cost us haha. Learning experience. We ended up getting in London-Stansted airport around 2pm and got to our hostel (St Christopher's-Hammersmith) around 3 or 4. Driving into London was quite an experience. It went from typical rolling hills with little transition in London itself. From what I have observed London is enormous large city in area, but not nearly as dense as a city like New York. The mix of new and old architecture is a whole new experience for me.

Because we had only got a couple of hours of sleep and were tired from traveling we hung around the hostel for little bit and then decided to take the metro to a cool part of the city called Liverpool street. We walked around the area, checking the cool architecture and what not. Found a couple cool pubs to go to, and a cool young club scene area. For those of you who know what it means, extremely "hipster". Later we decided to get some fish in chips, of course, when in London. We decided to call the night early and get some sleep so we could enjoy the next day.

London is a lot cooler than I would have imagined. 

Last Day in Barcelona: The Market

Last Day in Barcelona: those words are sad to write. The city has been more and more incredible than I could have ever imagined. The first thing we did on the Saturday was walk to the Gaudi house near downtown which was quite cool. Then we decided to go to the world famous market on Las Ramblas called La Boqueria. Absolutely stunning; all these amazing foods that many of us had never seen before. Only pictures do it justice ( will be uploaded later). We spent a few hours there, then had a couple of beers at a restaurant on the outskirts of the market. We had planned on going on this boat cruise, but they over booked so we had to make other plans. In the process of getting jipped out of going on the cruise, we met a group of cool Australians from Adele; Sarah, Richie, Kristine. We ended up having a few beers with them at a bar on the beach in the late afternoon. Super relaxing, tons of laughs, great time. Then we decided for a last night we would do a Bar crawl. Ended up being a great time; mets tons of people from all over the world.

Barcelona; probably the coolest city I have ever been too. Definitely coming back at some point, hopefully for longer than 4 days.

* Photos will be updated later

Barcelona Day 3: Park Guell

We started Day 3 by walking to the infamous Park Guell which was about a 3-4 mile walk from our hostel. It was very relaxing and allowed us to see a lot more of the city instead of just taking the metro there like everyone else. The view from the park at the top of the hill was incredible; definition of panoramic views. Originally we thought that we would only be there for less than an hour, but we discovered more and more at the park and stayed there for almost 3 hours. Afterwards we hopped onto the metro back to the hostel and then went to the beach to swim and enjoy the warm afternoon. When we got back we got dressed and hung in the lobby and met a bunch of new people from France, Australia, and even Wisconsin while playing kings cup haha. Afterwards a group of 20 of us walked to the beach clubs. Great day in Barcelona.

2nd Day in Barcelona

We wake up in the morning (very tired, extremely jet-lagged), and have breakfast on the hostel terrace, which only consist of strange cereal and bread. But then we decided to head to the beach which was even more incredible then I had imagined. Then around 2pm, we got a recommendation for this little authentic restaurant where we were by far the only tourists eating at, which was the goal. We had paella, steak, wine, helado, and expresso to finish off the meal. Definitely a cultural experience. After we walked all around the city and got to see the infamous La Sagrada Familia. We preceded to have a casual beer over looking the city. We finally realized that it was pretty late already (9:00) and headed back, stopping for dinner on the way back. I had a pork-loin sandwich and another draft Estrella (which is the most common beer in the city). Pork products are extremely popular in the city I have noticed. Then Sam, Anton, and I went out to the bars in Las Ramblas again and had another fun night. Got back at 4am haha. Nothing beats casually walking around the city, in and out of alley ways. I never want to leave.

First Day in Barcelona

We got dropped off in the middle of the city from the airport shuttle and were immediately astounded by our surrounding. Barcelona is a gorgeous city, far from what I previously comprehended. Our hostel is amazing, meeting people from all over the world; Germany, France, Australia, etc. We walked down some little alley ways from our hostel and found the coolest little tapas place. One of the best dishes we had was called Bombas, which I can't even find a definition online for haha. Then we made friends with a couple of Australian girls named Kirley and Hannah in our hostel and went to some cool clubs in the Las Ramblas part of Barcelona. Good times. 

Layover #2: Oslo, Norway

Finishing up my short stay in Oslo, Norway. Awesome city, very different from any American city I've ever been too. It's very futuristic with its high-speed rail systems and out of the box architecture, all mixed with its old world charm. Very very expensive though; I spent 25 american dollars on a normal lunch in the heart of downtown. It is what it is....I'm happy that I had to the chance to spend time in the land of my ancestors though.

First Layover: New Jersey

Just sitting in the Newark, NJ airport on our first layover. Will be leaving at 7pm eastern time on our way to the land of my ancestors: Oslo, Norway. Can't wait.

Preparation

Getting ready for my trip. Less than 24 hours before I leave