Tibidabo

Today, I hiked the small mountain (512m or 1679 feet for the non-metric folk) called Tibidabo. It's not a very long or arduous walk, but it was a beautiful one. The mountain overlooks the entire city, and while the amusement park on top of the mountain may not be particularly interesting, the view is probably worth it!

On top of Tibidabo there is a small amusement park and church that date back to the turn of the 20th century. I didn't take any photos of the church/park, mostly because I figured you could find better ones online anyway. :)

Girona

So I went to Girona yesterday, which is a beautiful little town about an hour and a half by train from Barcelona.

The Girona Cathedral has the second largest nave in the world (22m) beaten only by St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City. I wasn't very impressed with the exterior of the cathedral, but that may be due to the fact that it wasn't finished until the 19th century, I believe, and looks quite boxy compared to most gothic cathedrals that I've seen.
The most incredible part of the visit was the choir practicing as I walked into the cathedral. I'd be lying if I said it didn't bring me close to tears. There's something extremely awe-inspiring about the way that choirs sound in cathedrals (special thanks to my pops for making me appreciate cathedrals so much!).







Click on any of the photos to see more images!

So I'm horrible...

...at updating blogs. Mostly because I'm fairly certain that most people don't actually read blogs. At least I don't, really. Skim, maybe. But read? No.
Anyway. I went to the Botanical Gardens and Montjuic yesterday. It was quite a hike to the top, but well worth it. Here are some of my favorite shots from the day:

 

I spent today sunbathing/eating Oreos on the beach with a fellow American.. Not a bad 4th of July! I'm planning on heading to Girona tomorrow, so I hopefully I'll have some interesting things to post about that visit.

Acclimating

Well, I'm over the worst of the jet lag (and it only took one day!), but there is still plenty to get used to. Mostly the heat. Last time I was in Barcelona, it was March and quite cool, and I frequently found myself wishing I had a thicker sweatshirt. It's a little TOO hot now. People don't start skating until around 5 or so, which somewhat puts my picture-taking on hold during the day (not that there aren't other things to take photos of...). To be fair, it's only the second day I've been here, and only the first where I haven't been insanely jet lagged. Thus the post title, of course! Acclimation is in order. Just gotta give it some time. Favorite photos of the day:

THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE

...I'm heading back to Barcelona //June 24th-July 20th\\ and Copenhagen //July 20th-August 8th\\, and adding Bristol //August 8th-August 22nd\\ to the mix. Stay tuned for (mostly photo) updates!

Time Flies in Berlin

Wow. So we head to Denmark on Friday and it's hard to believe. Unfortunately, I didn't get to know Berlin as well as Barcelona (not that I knew Barca quite well, either), partially because the city is so large and partially because we were a lot busier.

BUT I have gotten some cool photos. I went to a skate competition (my first ever) at this youth center called M-Street.




I'm putting together a photo book for the trip. Still haven't decided whether or not I'll make it available to purchase. Of course I'll be posting once it's finished!

Jüterbog and Werder

SO I am now in Berlin, Germany. Hurrah! Already it feels quite massive compared to Barcelona. We had Saturday and Sunday free, so on Saturday evening a friend and I decided to venture to a little town about 65km outside of Berlin.
We took the train to Jüterbog, and were going to hike the 5km to Werder (a population of around 100).


It was beautiful outside and I thoroughly enjoyed the fresh air. And colors. And shadows.

We ended up running into the woman we were staying with, so only ended up walking about 1km rather than the full 5. Werder is a tiny town with literally one road running through it.


There's the road!

The people of Werder had a giant bonfire to celebrate May Day--- they burnt an effigy of a witch. Witch hunts, etc. Still not entirely sure about the history behind it, but something to do with burning witches. And Lutheranism. And paganism. Or something.



Anyway, it was a really great trip and you should check out the photos