Girona

After the sea kayaking, Charles and Tracy dropped us off in Girona, which is a city an hour north of Barcelona. They had booked the hotel for us, and even paid for it upfront to secure it. So nice of them! The hotel (Bellmirall) was SO CUTE! We would have never gone to Girona except that we had booked a really cheap flight to Germany on Ryan Air, and they fly out of Girona to keep the fares low. We stayed in Girona because the flight was early in the morning, and I am so glad we did! It was such a cute town. Our Hotel was right near the huge Cathedral in middle of the old, walled city. It was full of narrow lanes and cobblestones and all of that cute stuff. The best thing was that it was not over run with tourists. Girona is a university town so there were tons of young people and cool little restaurants and shops.

The owner of the Bellmirall was so friendly and helpful. She took us up to our room, which was a very tastefully decorated room with stone walls. She recommended a walking route for us around the old walls and by the cathedral, and also a very delicious restaurant filled with college students. When she found out that we weren't going to be there for breakfast in the lovely courtyard of the hotel, she put a delicious tray of fruits and cheeses in our room and got up early enough to have taxi waiting for us! It was so thoughtful.

I would definitely love to go back to Girona, but I can see that in such a small town there might not be enough things to do to sustain a multi-day visit. It is a very convenient place to stay if you are flying out of the Girona Airport, and the best part was that it was only 70 euros.

For my own future reference:
Bellmirall Hotel
Bellmirall 3, Girona 17004, Spain


Our restaurant in the old part of Girona, right next to our hotel 


Meagan in front of the Cathedral in Girona 


Meagan on the city wall in Girona 

Sea Kayaking

The very first day we were in Barcelona, we were wandering through the Gothic Quarter near our hotel, the Hotel Canton, searching for flip flops for Matt. We walked into a store that sold and started to talk to the owner, who happened to be from Oregon. His wife was from Alaska and they run a tour company called Spanish Trails. They ended up helping us in a lot of ways, some of which back fired! First of all, they warned us about the El Canton and offered for us to stay at their friend's apartment who was out of town. That was what led to the hotel switch on Saturday right before Kelly's wedding. It turned out badly because Charles had an emergency and didn't bring us the keys until 2, but we had to check out of the El Canton at 12! So we were running on no sleep, and lugging our bags through the slightly seedy gothic quarter. Then there were no sheets on the bed and the owner came home while we were still staying there...but that is another story!

In addition to offering us this apartment, they booked a hotel room for us in Girona and put us on their list for a sea kayaking trip in the Costa Brava area. We had a wonderful time: the weather was sunny and gorgeous, the water was clean and cool, the cliffs were beautiful and our guide Olaf was really nice. Also on the tour was a family from Minnesota. They were very friendly and nice, but the mother fell out of the kayak within the first ten minutes and turned back. Then the her husband and child did too. The woman's sister was there with her two twin daughters and she was slightly stressed and had never been out of the US before. She was extremely up tight the whole time...she wouldn't let her daughters swim in the water and she wouldn't leave the kayaks on the beach, she stood right next to them to guard them. Then she wanted to leave, so we had to cut our trip short. So we went back to the beach and had lunch and the family left and went back to their cruise ship. The owners of Spanish Trails, Charles and Stacy, came to the beach and hung out with Matt and I. It was a great day! Any time you are in the sun, swimming and doing active things, it is really hard to have a bad time. They brought 2 girls with them who were my age and from Canada who were working in Barcelona for the summer. That was real treat for me cause it is not often I run across anyone my own age any more, let alone girls that I like and have fun with. At least not in Hong Kong. We went hiking up on the cliffs. The terrain looked a lot like Torrey Pines Park to me. It was so much fun! It was extremely crowded though, I guess the Costa Brava is popular with lots of extremely tan, naked, Europeans who own luxury boats.


Kayaks on the beach in Costa Brava 


Our Guide Olaf 


Pretty Alcove with Boats 


Meagan, a very happy girl after a day of kayaking in the sun 


Matt (in his Fuji Rock shirt) and Meagan 


Tour Company Owner Charles and his son Jake 

Hotel Canton
(34) 933-173-019
C/ Nou de St. Francesc, 40
Barcelona 08002
Spain

Kelly's Wedding

Kelly's wedding was gorgeous. Unfortunately, I was completely tired and frazzled on the day of the wedding because we didn't get back from the club (CDLC)the night before until early in the morning and then we changed hotels and so didn't get to sleep in. Somehow, we dragged ourselves up to the Gran Hotel La Florida on Mt. Tibidabo in time for the wedding at 7. It was a stunning view from the mountain and the hotel was gorgeous, but the sky was stormy and soon it started to rain! This was not good because the ceremony was supposed to be outside. Raul and his groomsmen were walking around very anxiously in their off white linen suits with pinkish shirts. Their clothes definitely didn't fit the weather. They were planning on a hot, Spanish August wedding! The funny thing is, Spain has been having the worst draught it has had in years, and it rained only one day while we were in Barcelona. It rained the day of the wedding, but luckily, during the ceremony there was a perfect little circle of blue sky right above us during the ceremony. It actually turned out to be very dramatic and romantic looking!

The bridesmaids wore pale purple dresses with dark purple trip and held these round styrofoam balls covered with pink flowers instead of a traditional bouquet. The groomsmen had on linen suits like I described previously, and Kelly wore a sparkly white dress and veil. She looked gorgeous, and very nervous about the weather. The man that conducted the ceremony was this crazy Dutch guy. I am not sure where they found him, he sort of rambled on and seemed to not know what he was going to say next. He read a poem by Khalil Gibran about how you must stay separate to maintain your love and then he told the responses of the wedding couple when he had asked the earlier why they loved each other. Kelly later told me that he had walked in while she was getting her make up done and asked her why she loved Raul...she just sort of answered and didn't know he would tell everyone! This was what Kelly said about Raul: "When I am with him I know everything will be ok and he just doesn't know how great he is." Raul said about Kelly: "She is kind and sweet and loyal and beautiful. She orders everything on the menu and then doesn't eat any of it so that I can finish it for her. She makes Cubans look punctual." I am guessing that Raul was surprised by the question on the day of the wedding too. It was pretty funny and I think both of their answers were honest and interesting to hear. When I get married I think I would like to know what the person who is conducting the ceremony will say!

After the ceremony, we had a cocktail hour with appetizers and then we sat down for a five course meal. It was excellent and very elegant. The highlight was the salad, which had a piece of foie terrine the size of a brick of butter! To go with it were mesclun greens and an apricot sponge cake slice. It was yummy and decadent. Another highlight was the first dessert, which was fresh berries with mascarpone ice cream on top. Mascarpone ice cream...how elegant and delicious is that? Kelly had a cupcake wedding cake, and the cup cakes were more like little cubes of chocolate mousse with powdered sugar on top. Yummy!

After dinner there was lots of dancing and then at 2 there was a candy buffet. I am ashamed to say that matt and I left at 4. Kelly and Raul had invited everyone to their wedding suite after the reception to go in the hot tub, but I was so tired after all the clubbing we had been doing. Matt and I were running on about 4 hours of sleep, and not muchmore the night before, plus the jet lag...I couldn't have handled another night of staying up past 4.

We went home and slept and the next morning we were supposed to go back up for a brunch at the hotel. I am sure it would have been delicious but we woke up late and didn't want to rush to trek up to the hotel. I guess we were lazy and should have gone but we would have missed most of it, and we weren't even sure if they were going to be there. There had been wedding events for the past 3 days and I guess we were burnt out! We decided to go relax by the beach instead.

Kelly and Raul's wedding was a lot of fun, and I am glad that we went. The whole time though I was thinking, "I am so glad it is not me." Kelly seemed like a shell of herself, worried about the details and she seemed sort of tired. It seems like a lot of work and stress to plan a wedding like that and I don't like stress. Maybe I will never be ready for a wedding like that!


Kelly with Matt, one of the Groomsmen 


Gran Hotel la Florida 


Raul with wedding guest at CDLC 


View of Barcelona from the hotel 


The Wedding Ceremony 


Matt and Meagan at the Wedding 


Some Bridesmaids 


The Room the Reception was Held In 


Meagan at the Table, Awaiting her Foie Terrine 


The Cupcake Wedding Cake 


The Center Piece 

Spain

Matt and I are in Spain. Woo hoo! Vacation! The sun, the beach, the sangria! Well, actually, it is overcast and chilly in comparison to Hong Kong. And, we haven´t been to the beach yet since the weather isn´t great. We have an amazing time so far -- our flight on Swiss Air was nice and we slept the whole time so it went by really quickly. We were checked into our hotel by 11 and went for some yummy pastries and cappucinos. They have the most glorious pastries here. The look beautiful, and best of all, they taste beautiful too. We cruised around the Gothic Quarter and Las Ramblas for a while before we met up with Kelly and Raul for the Tapas Dinner they were holding to welcome their wedding guests to Spain.

The dinner was held in a little restaurant called La Tinaja on Carrer de Esparteria. Kelly´s family and friends were super nice and welcoming. The food was amazing...lots of good cheeses and bread and different kinds of sausages and meats. It was delicious. And of course, we had lots of sangria. I hadn´t seen Kelly for 3 months, but she has lost a lot of weight in that time! She was already tiny, but I think the wedding must be stressing her. I can see why, it is a four day, over the top extravaganza held in Barcelona but that she organized while living in Hong Kong! After dinner we all got on a bus that Kelly and Raul had hired and headed out to a club. It was pretty empty but since we had the whole wedding with us we filled the place up.

The next day we went to Parc Guell, which was designed by Gaudi. Matt and I have both been to Barcelona before but had been there. It was really cool, but VERY crowded. After that we headed to the rehearsal dinner for Kelly and Raul´s wedding. They decided to invite all of their guests, not just the wedding party, because everyone had come so far to celebrate their wedding. It was held at a place called CDLC, right on the beach in Barcoloneta. It was very hip and it turned into a club afterwards. We were served a 4 course meal, with the main course being a huge steak. I can´t imagine how much this wedding must have cost them! After dinner we went inside to club part of the restaurant, where the wedding planner had booked us four of the beds that lined the perimeter of the room. It was pretty fantastic. After CDLC closed we went to another club. Matt and I made the mistake of staying till the club closed, and when we left the building with all of the other people, it turned into a huge mob of people struggling over taxis. The taxis would ask where you were going and if they didn´t want to take you there, they would move on to the next person. We ended up walking home and didn´t get back till 7. It was a huge mistake considering we had the wedding to go to the next day.

Barcelona is so different from Hong Kong! We would have never had the taxi problem in Hong Kong...In Hong Kong people que up in a very orderly fashion and there are a kajillion taxis. Also, people in Hong Kong are much more conservative. The women here in Barcelona dress so revealingly, no matter what size they are! It is sort of inspiring in a way, in terms of accepting your own body.


A crowded day at Parc Guell 


Cool Balcony Area 


Matt thinking hard at Parc Guell 


Parc Guell 


Meagan at Parc Guell