Today we ventured up north to the town of Girona. It was about an hour and a half train ride, and man, was it lovely. The weather was perfect, and because this town is inland a bit, they were having fall (with a little color and everything!). We explored the old city and this cathedral (which was stunning) and then hiked along the wall marking the historic town's border. We had several other adventures today (even involving a Spanish wedding!), so you can follow the journey over here. Enjoy!

This afternoon we ventured over to check out La Sagrada Familia. It's a giant church that is being built, and has been "being built" since the 1800s. Yeah. Think on that for a minute. It's considered to be Gaudi's masterpiece, and he is buried in a crypt below the church.Anyway, we toured the inside (or the extremely small portion that wasn't under construction) and then paid to ride the elevator to the top for views of the city. Because I am a wuss and terrified of heights, I would normally skip this. But my buddy Steve told me to check it out, and although I do detest being up high, it usually makes for good photos. So up we went (after a 90 minute wait in line to do so). See what I do for you people? ;)The views were pretty good, but it was super crowded up there, and, um, it was really high up. So after waiting 90 minutes to take the elevator, we might have stayed for 15 minutes. Have I mentioned that I don't like heights?So anyway, that's where this photo was taken. I love how you can see the city AND the sea. And it's always interesting to me (especially when staying in historic quarters of town) to see the modern skyscrapers as well. The giant phallic building there is like the one in London. I don't get those at all.More photos from the day are up over here, including a few more of this church, which I suggest you check out if you've never seen it before. It reminded me of a temple from an alien planet. Jamie thought it was like Superman's Fortress of Solitude (made from ice).Oh! And here I am rambling about history and churches and architecture, and I haven't even mentioned that Steve and Amanda arrived today! It's so good to see them and we are having a ton of laughs and adventures. I've never met up with friends in a foreign land before, but good times are ahead. I can feel it.

Hola todos de mis amigos! And if you speak Spanish, please do not bother correcting my grammer in my second language! Gracias!We arrived in Barcelona this morning around 8:15, and by the time we cleared customs and found our way into the city via the train, it was just before 10 am. We checked into our apartment and proceeded to spend the next three hours working as hard as we could to stay awake. Finally, a little after 1, when we realized the city was about to close down for the afternoon siesta, we decided to embrace the culture and go to sleep. BEST. DECISION. EVER.The photo above is from the Mediterranean coast. I never thought I would see this body of water in my lifetime, and I feel so fortunate to be here on this amazing trip. If you want more photos and details from our day, I've posted a small summary over here. I'll try to keep this up each day. Enjoy!

 

Well, hello JFK airport. I'm so sorry this is such a lame post, but we are jumping on a flight in a few hours, upon which (hopefully) we will be served a warm dinner and then (hopefully) fall fast asleep, waking up (hopefully) at 8 am Barcelona time.And once that happens, I'm gonna want to head out and explore the city and stay away from any room with a bed in it, for fear of Jet Lag catching me by the ankles and dragging me under the covers and into a warm, cozy bed. So this is all you get today, a photo of the airport that I'm in right now. But tomorrow kittens, it should be MUCH more interesting around here.

Tonight was Lucero with Social Distortion and Frank Turner at First Avenue. I was so excited for this show that I moved my travels a day back so I wouldn't miss it. Crazy.I had never seen Social D before, but I am a big fan. And I had heard great things about Frank Turner (man alive, are they true) and of course, Lucero is a fave. So this was really a no-brainer. The best part of the night was probably getting to shoot Social D with no monitors on stage. Yay for expensive in-ear monitors! The most disappointing part might have been the shortness of the Lucero set... and their sobriety. I just love a liquored up band who banters with the crowd. What can I say?This photo is of Mike Ness of Social D. It's technically not at all what I was going for, but damn do I love good lens flare. I'm like JJ Abrams when it comes to that. And you know what else I loved about this? All that spittle! I guess it's the mistakes in this photo that draw me to it. You can see more of the concert shots over here.Also, I should warn y'all. Tomorrow I will be traveling for just under 24 hours. I'm not sure if I'll have time to post... or if I do what sort of lovely airport shot I will get. But be patient the next few days. I'm not sure WiFi is so prevalent where I'm going...

I love it when the morning sunrise filters through the leaves like this. I mean, seriously. Look at this color! I know you are probably getting tired of the "Hey Look! It's Fall!" photos. But this is my very favorite time of year, and I suspect that when I get back from vacation, it will all be over. So this is me enjoying it while I've got it.Oh. And did I mention? Today was my last day at work until NOVEMBER. So that's awesome.

This morning we rolled out of bed, started the coffee, put out a ton of delicious food (mango, kiwi, strawberries, pineapple, pumpkin pudding cake, quiche -- you get the idea) and had a few close friends over for a casual brunch. Some brought their slippers (see above), and others delicious food (pumpkin bread! croissants!), and we all settled in for some good old trash television. This morning was just one more reminder of how lucky I am to have such amazing people in my life. Man, did we have some good laughs.