London, Brussels & Barcelona

Next, I flew on to London, where the famed weather did not disappoint, and I was very glad to have brought my rain boots with me from Australia (it seems short retro dresses, tights & rainboots are the combination to sport in London this winter). We stayed with my friend Christina (picture left), who was far too kind and gave us her bedroom for the week (Thank you Stina!), which I thoroughly slept in (recovering from NY food poisoning, which delayed my trip by a day). Raph worked with his company in London, while I skipped the tourist sites for a look at Hackney Life (the part of London where we were staying): I caught up with Stina and another high school friend, Esther at Gossip and Foyle's, had breakfast at Hackney Farm (with real live filthy and happy animals, in the middle of the city), went grocery shopping in markets large and small, and helped cook for the fabulous "Murder Mystery Party" Christina's roomates threw (role play and 'whodunit' combined with dinner, see Raph as the murderous French cook, right). In the evenings, I caved into some tourism and went to see "History Boys" (interesting if unrealistic) and "Stomp" (fun and creative) in the West End, and joined Raph in some pub crawls with his friends and workmates. Most importantly, we had a lovely visit with Raph's brother Johnny, and his two children in Notting Hill.

Early to rise for our flight to Brussels, with Raph's sister Sara, and her partner Jos waiting on the other end. I immediately immersed myself in the chocolate spirit of Belgium, and even went as decadent as a belgian waffle with powdered sugar and pommes frites with mayonnaise at one point. Jos made us wonderful, healthy, from-scratch-meals to make it up to my stomach, and Sarah ensured a luxurious, aesthetic, comfortable and calming environment (Thank you Sara & Jos!). Sara, Jos, Raph and I (left) caught up on the last 2 years, talked meaning of marriage and wedding schedules (with both couples having planned to get married in 2009), and listened to world music in the evenings, adding our own drumming and movement styles. Brussels also gave us the chance to catch up with Marie (who now lives in Luxembourg, picture right), Andre (who now lives in the Netherlands) and Jenny (who was on a business trip from Prague, both picture right), with the five of us up to no good in the Grand Place, the Mannequin Pis, a chocolate cafe, and (of course) a belgian beer bar, after an amazing brunch with Sara & Jos at an out of the way place called "Bla Bla".

OK, Barcelona is so cool!! We were only there one day and two nights, and didn't see but a glimpse of it, but all the Gaudi buildings and influence gives it a character and color where other European cities have only gray. We stayed at a nice hostal called "Hostal Avinyo" which was literally across the street from where Raphael's sister, Tamar, lived (picture left). In the mornings, they would talk to each other from their balconies! Tamar's roommate cooked us authentic Spanish "tortilla patata" and luckily, we got along fine with Spanish, and no one made us speak in Catalan:) Although we had breakfasts and dinners in Barcelona, and even made a night visit to "Sagrada Familla" (sacred family gothic church), most of our one day in Barcelona was spent at Monserrat, a stunning natural wonder of unique rock formations and man-made cloisters about an hour away from Barcelona-- it was breathtaking, and we all wanted to become monks after that (pictures above and below).