Tommy Travels to Barcelona

The last full day of the trip to Sevilla was spent in the southern coastal city of Cadiz. We got up early and caught a 9:05 AM train from the station and traveled for two hours. The city was quite beautiful and had plenty of beaches to roam around on. We picked the one that was farthest from the train station (30 min walk). It was located on the west side of the peninsula and was called La Playa de la Caleta. If you have seen the James Bond movie, Die Another Day, this is the beach where Halle Berry comes out of that water in that orange bikini and...Whoa, getting off topic. We spent that night at P. Flaherty's Bar with our favorite Irish bartenders and then caught a plant home the following morning.

Snoozing away...

Roman cathedral

Think Halle Berry walking up this beach

Someone needed more water

This violinist was making a killing

The bartenders

Until next time Sevilla!

Upon getting back to Barcelona, I only had a number of hours before Tommy, my senior year roommate, was to come to visit from Switzerland where he is interning. He arrived after a little delay and we set off on the town for a fun evening. Unfortunately we got started a little later than I thought and we forced to get Turkish food for dinner. Not the intended plan, but delicious nonetheless.

The following day, Alli, Tommy, and I went to La Sagrada Familia. For those of you who do not know, it is a cathedral being built in the heart of Barcelona. It is privately owned and was designed by Antoni Gaudi. Work began over 100 years ago and it only crossed the halfway point about a decade ago. These delays have been cause by a number of things but the main one is the fact that the construction is privately funded. When the money stops flowing, everything stops. The church was declared a place of worship in the Fall of 2010 by the Pope and now holds regular Masses every week. To try and explain what this cathedral looked like could not do it justice, so I will simply post a large amount of photos below. It was absolutely stunning!

The final product

 After we left, we went and grabbed a quick lunch and walked Alli to her school to drop her off for orientation. So far, so good in regards to her classes for those wondering.

Tommy and I went down to Las Rambles for the evening. It started off with liter beers, was followed by wine and tapas, then a couple shots with a British couple in a really cool shot bar, then some more beers at a pirate bar and few more stops from there. Lets just say I made sure Tommy had a great night out!

The following day was spent on the beach, where the water was pleasantly warm and the waves were rolling in. Tommy and I stayed there for between 5-6 hours and followed that up with Paella in Plaza Catalunya. However, it was not as good as the 60 Euro price tag for dinner would indicate. And the waiter was a pig. Just saying.

The plaza, minus the hippies who were camped there for months

Christopher Columbus and I discovering....something?

Mr. DDR Master

The view down my street

Yesterday was the 4th of July and believe it or not, they shot no fireworks off here! What is up with that?! However, Alli and I did go out for a beer and some sandwiches and acted very American in nature. Take that as you want.

I am in a new section of Spanish classes now but I am not enjoying it as much as I had been so this may be my last week of classes. This means that I may plan a small trip to somewhere(London, Dublin, Zurich,...) and can focus more on my Ironman training. Training has been going quite well. Turns out a week off in Sevilla helped my body recover. Today I had a nice morning run followed by an ocean swim in the afternoon. I also picked up a pair of calf compression sleeves. Not the best money can buy but they are a trial run and have been working great.

Hope all is well!

Adios!