Lund, Sweden

One great thing about being here in Europe is a lot of my friends are out here in Europe too! My freshman and sophomore roommate at Redlands moved to Lund, Sweden to pursue her masters and I've been waiting for the weather to get warm to finally visit her. I left for a weekend May 21st and headed towards Sweden. My flight went to Copenhagen (where I visited in the Fall to visit my high school friend Anna) and I took a train to Lund. I met Ashley at the train station and we had a slice of (very expensive) pizza and headed to her dormitory. Ashley's dorm was a lot different than the dorm room we shared in college. She had a nice single room with her own shower and bathroom. It was also furnished and down the hall had a full kitchen and den. She lives with 8 other students (all are anti-social except one). That night, we went out to a club or "frat party" called Nations. It is a LOT different than Prague because A) You get ID'd B)Alcohol is extremely expensive and hard to get ahold of in Sweden C)COVER charge??!?! I bought one beer and with the cover that pretty much ended my night. It was neat tho seeing Swedish people and how beautiful they are. The men have perfect blonde hair styled like something you would see in an Abercrombie and Fitch poster, same type of clothing (very peppy/socal beach attire), and Ray bans made a killing here.

The next day, Ashley took me around the town Lund. The architecture had a lot of brick buildings and very steep rooftops. I kept thinking about how much SNOW this place must get in the winter. The town was small but very quant. The people were friendly and there were lots of people sitting in the parks and enjoying the sunshine. I tried swedish meatballs for a street vendor and it had with it lingonberries and mash potatoes. It was DELISH! We then walked around the farmers market and it was nice to see fresh fish again.

Later we walked around her campus and it was very pretty. We then headed to a lake/pond where RedBull was having a Wakefest. Basically people wakeboarding on a very small pond trying to do tricks. Problem was was that the pond was so small, they could not get enough speed to land their tricks. So we just watched people belly flop when they landed and listened to very loud house music. They love techno in Sweden and love being "hip".

That evening, we had a bbq on her balcony and stayed in to watch movies and catch up. I brought over some Butter cookies from Denmark and pretty much finished off the whole container. SO GOOD YUM!

Sunday, I had to head back to Prague and good timing since a big rain storm had come. Sweden was really nice and the people were really pretty as well. It was great visiting my good friend Ashley and happy we could experience each others adventures abroad!

Next stop: PARIS

Begur

Barcelona Pictures

Back to Barcelona

We left back for Barcelona that Friday and sadly left Begur. The drive back was a lot less stressful since we just had to go the way we came.

We arrived back in Barcelona and back at the same hostel off Ramblas. We decided to go to the farmers market again for lunch and go to a place Rick Steve's suggest. Pinotxo Bar. I LOVED IT! It is run by a 76 year old man and his sons are the chefs. He is famous as a chef and his hospitality at his walk up restaurant. He does his signature two thumbs up with a big smile. Then he asks what you want and you simply reply, "What's good today?". Amazing food comes out of that kitchen. I had delicious toasts with ham, cheese, fresh clams, chikpeas, and Chucha (which is a fried dough covered in sugar YUM). He was so friendly we ate all our meals at his little stand.

We went then to the Picasso Museum and saw the life of Picasso and his amazing works of art. It was interesting to see how he began as a more realist painter (very good) and now how he is the king of abstract art. We really enjoyed his museum.

We then went to a place that Rick Steve's recommended for hot chocolate and churros. The hot chocolate was so thick that my spoon was tough to push through. Then I would dip the hot churro into the hot chocolate and don't need me to explain how great that was, I think I made you jealous enough.

To conclude our trip to Barcelona, we sat on the harbor and enjoyed the views. I got to thinking, Barcelona is very very similar to California. It was also comforting to hear Spanish since I am used to it back home. I think I have picked up more Spanish in one week than Czech where I have been there for 9 months! As I said, Czech is a very difficult language as I recently just learned how to count to 10!

I loved loved loved Spain and had a magical time. I can see why so many of you voted for me to go to Spain this spring break! Great suggestion and if you haven't been, that should be your next vacation!

Thanks for reading about my trip to Spain! Next stop.....SWEDEN to visit my good friend Ashley!

Begur

The next day, we decided to drive down the coast to explore other beaches. Of course, this is easier to say then to do as there is tremendous stress trying to find your way around. We drove for 30 minutes and found a spot by a trail that takes you down to the water. It was a beautiful small beach but instead of sand was pebbles. I do not like pebbles as it's killer to walk with bare feet. Of course, Sarka went in and was even applauded by two french men. The french men just jumped in as Sarka has to prep herself for 15 minutes to convince herself to get in the water.

After our fun at that beach, there was a hiking trail down the coast. Once again, spectacular look outs. We found another sandy beach where we relaxed and Sarka rented a snorkel. She went in and swam around. She said she saw lots of fish but could only do it for a little bit since it's so cold.

We then went back to our car and drove to the supermarket to get dinner. I bought guacamole ingredients and made fresh guac. back at the hotel. We had such a great time at this hotel and it was so peaceful since there were no other tourists. Tourist season begins in June and prices go way up and LOTS of people everywhere. We were happy to be alone and it was the most relaxing place I have been to.

After dinner, we hiked along the cliffs and explored. We just enjoyed sitting and enjoying the views of the ocean. I really miss the ocean since I have been in the center of Europe. You really appreciate how beautiful it is and I know San Diego is for me because I need to ocean again.

Begur, I love you

We slept with our windows open to hear the ocean waves crashing. Woke up to a beautiful sunrise and headed to breakfast. The buffet was included in my room and it was a very generous buffet. We had hot food, fruits, coffee, pasteries, cereal, teas, fresh juice...it was a breakfast for a king. We filled our bellies and headed back to the room to get our swimsuit on.

We walked along the trail of the beach and had spectacular look outs. Sarka was getting tired of me asking her to take my picture all the time, or stopping to take loads of pictures. I told her I wanted them for a screensaver it was so pretty. We found the beach to lay on and just soaked up the sun. The beach was beautiful, however, the water was FREEZING! It didn't stop Sarka, she went in a few times! Brrr... We did that til early afternoon then headed back to the hotel where we wanted to play tennis.

Sarka and I played for an hour (not competitively as she would whoop my butt) and had a blast. We knew our tennis instructor Marek would be so proud.

That evening we went back to our balcony (favorite spot) and drank some wine and made our ham sandwiches. We were excited because that night, Barcelona was playing Madrid and it was a huge soccer match. We watched it on TV.

In the middle of the night, I woke up and saw how bright the stars were. I got up and deliriously walked to the balcony. Wow! I can't remember the last time I saw all those stars before. I thought to myself, "I am in heaven here in Begur".

Costa Brava, Begur

In the morning, we headed back to the airport to pick up our rental car. We got our little Ford and plugged in our GPS to head to Begur! Little did we know the stress that was about to hit us while on the road. Driving in a country you don't know is never easy, especially a city. We were stressed if we were going the right way, where to pay in the toll booth, other drivers wizzing by us, and not getting lost. We lucked out that we found the highway which we just had to stay on for 2 hours. We found the exit to Begur when Sarka's GPS could not locate our hotel. That's when the problem happened as we went to another location! We called the hotel and they told us we are away from Begur and how to get back. It was so hard understanding their accent and street names. We were both terribly stressed and lost. Oye! So luckily my spanish skills kicked in and I asked a lady how to get to Begur. She said she would show us the way. We were doing great until Sarka stalled on a hill. The area was VERY hilly! She kept rolling backwards and not having a good time. Thanks to all my experience over the summers in college in valet, I told her throw the E brake on and switch. I hoped in and threw it into first with the e brake. Slowly releasing it as I let go of the cluth. I DID IT! Sarka was so happy and thankful! On the top of the hill the lady asked if we were ok and probably thought dumb blondes but we didnt care! Sarka got back in the drivers seat and finally we reached our hotel.

With all the stress of driving, it was totally worth it. The hotel was incredible with views of the ocean! They took us to our room (which I paid for a parking lot view since it was the cheapest) and they opened the window to see we had a 180 view of the ocean! I screamed as it was incredible! We had a balcony with seats and a view that was breathtaking.

We both agreed with all the stress to just sit on our balcony and order sangria and just sit there to relax. We soaked up the sun all day and it was everything and more.

We got the courage again to get back into the car and drive to a supermarket where we bought sandwiches and snacks and drinks. That saved us with our budget and was actually quite tasty. I knew I would never want to leave this place!

Hola Barcelona

In the morning we went to the famous Farmers market La Boqueria. The market is full of fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, fish, smoothies, chocolate, you name it, it was there. It was funny to see Sarka's expression of seeing fish and shellfish (even when it's still alive) since she is not accustomed to eating seafood.

After exploring the market, it began to rain :(. We found an indoor mall where we just browsed around a bit. We sat in Starbucks, which overlooked the harbor, to map out what to do as the weather outside was getting better. We decided to spoil our sweet tooth and went to the chocolate museum! There we learned about the history of chocolate and how popular it has become all over the world. They gave you a bar of chocolate as your ticket to the museum and watch better way to learn about chocolate as you eat chocolate. We then headed to a small place for dinner and enjoyed more tapas and Spanish wine.

Luckily, the weather was perfect for the rest of our trip and the next day, we were off to Costa Brava Begur!

Adios Praha, HOLA Barcelona

My Spring Break vacation has finally arrived and on April 30th, Sarka and I headed on Wizz Air to spend a week in Spain. We checked in at the Prague Airport and read in Rick Steve's what to do in Barcelona and started mapping out ideas. While reading our tour book, to our surprise, the guy sitting in our row, whose name is Alberto was from Barcelona area. He gave us lots of helpful suggestions, even wrote them in my Rick Steve's book of foods to order and places to stay away (too touristy). When we landed, Alberto helped us find the train into Barcelona and told us the stop to get off of. He was so VERY helpful, especially since we arrived at 10pm. Our hostel was off the big street Ramblas. We walked down Ramblas and overwhelmed by all the tourists and street sellers trying to sell you junk. May I add they are quite aggressive so we had to be cautious of making eye contact. We found our hostel and dropped off our baggage. It was tempting to just crash for the night, but we are in Barcelona so we HAD to explore. We walked down the busy Ramblas street towards the harbor. I must have great visual memory because I saw the Christopher Columbus statue I watched on Rick Steve's tv show. I told Sarka the history of the statue and how it was a memorial for him (even tho he destroyed the trade market in Barcelona. ) We walked down the board walk and stumbled across a concert! They had beer booths and lots of people just hanging out enjoying the music. We grabbed a spanish beer and stood and listened. It was a lot of fun as things like that always are when they are unexpected. Around 1 am we headed back to our hostel to sleep anxious for our Barcelona travels the next day.

We woke up early and headed to the Sangrada Familia Church. Being in Europe for almost a year, I have seen a great deal of churches but none like this one. The line (as Rick Steve's predicted) lined up around the church. While we waited in line, I read all the information Rick Steve's had about this Cathedral. Gaudi built this magnificent Cathedral and like all great pieces of art work, he died before it was finished in 1926. To this very day, they are still constructing this masterpiece. You have to pay a 10 Euro enterance fee to go in but what is neat is that you can say you helped contribute to the building of this Cathedral. We walked inside and it was amazing. The style was something you can hardly imagine. We walked around marveling and went outside to find a little festival. They had entertainers outside and music to entertain the large crowds. We then explored the museum downstairs and learned more about Gaudi and all the artists after him to help finish his dream. It is very fascinating and if you look at my photos, you will see what they want the finished building to look like. Hope I get a chance to see it when it's complete!

After touring the Cathedral, we walked to Park Guell. It was a beautiful warm sunny day and we decided for lunch we would have a picnic in the park, so we grabbed two sandwiches. The buildings at the park were built by Gaudi and of course, his style is very eccentric. We sat and people watched in the shade while enjoying our sandwiches and also enjoyed the stunning views. After lunch, we walked around climbing higher in the park. We got great pictures of the landscape of Barcelona. It was a great first day in Barcelona!

For dinner, we went back to Ramblas and walked down to the harbor. We ate at a restaurant Tapas and Tapas. We ordered lots of different tapas and shared Sangria. It was delicious and oh how I've missed fresh seafood.