Barcelona

We arrived in Barcelona just after midnight on Thursday, 15 May and proceeded directly to our apartment in Barceloneta. We were staying in a neighborhood near the beach and our apartment was just a few minutes walk.

On Thursday we walked around the Gothic Quarter; went into the Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar and the Barcelona Cathedral; saw Roman ruins in the City Museum of Barcelona; and toured the Palau de la Música Catalana - this is the stained glass ceiling, shaped like a water droplet.

On Friday we walked up and down La Rambla, saw a few Modernista buildings in the Block of Discord, and checked out La Pedrera on the way to Gaudí's Sagrada Família, which was by far the best part of the trip. This building is indescribably beautiful, and the photos in no way do it justice.

On Saturday we relaxed a bit. We went to La Boqueria, wandering the market and eating everything in sight. Well, I did. Andrew was a bit under the weather this weekend, and so didn't get to enjoy as much of the local cuisine. I certainly ate more churros. We sat on the beach and enjoyed the sun for a while before getting ready to leave on Sunday.

One of the best parts of the trip was getting to eat so much wonderful food. In particular, we found two small tapas bars with cheap drink and delicious food. The first served wine and deep-fried sardines. The second served cava, croquettes, and sausage.

 

I'm packing my bags. Check out our photos on flickr and I'll bet you want to come, too.

We're Baaaaccckk....

It's been a while. I know. We've been in Northern Ireland about a year and a half now (about the same amount of time we were in Denmark) and I suppose we've been busy. Andrew loves his job and he now has three semesters of teaching under his belt. I'm working and making friends (Andrew's doing that, too) and we're much more settled.

I'll catch you up quickly on what we've been up to in the last year and a half.

December 2012: Home for Christmas and to pack up our worldly possessions to have shipped to Northern Ireland. Hooray! We're reunited with our KitchenAid!

March/April 2013: Home to New York for Easter and to retrieve the cats - this didn't happen just yet.

May 2013: Back to Aalborg for a visit with friends - photos on flickr. Also, the cats arrive! Thanks, Mom & Dad!

June 2013: A weekend in London. Some old friends are passing through and it's such a short flight - how could we say no? Photos on flickr.

July 2013: Germany! Andrew has a conference in Potsdam (beautiful!) and then a long weekend in Berlin to visit with Justin. Photos on flickr.

August 2013: We welcome the Hamiltons and Lapps to Belfast. A wonderful week showing everyone around Northern Ireland (Giant's Causeway, Titanic Museum, etc.). Also a quick ride across the sea to visit family in Scotland. And Mom and Dad make contact with the Irish relatives. It's nice to know we do have some family nearby. Photos on flickr.

October 2013: No trick-or-treaters and funny looks when I greet everyone with a "Happy Halloween!" at work.

November 2013: We go to work on Thanksgiving. No turkey.

December 2013: We host the Moravecs for Christmas! We have a wonderful time showing them around Ireland! Up the coast to the causeway, a Christmas dinner with crackers and crowns, and a fabulous time in Dublin. Photos on flickr.

January/February 2014: It's very dark.

March 2014: Hiking Slieve Donard with some friends. I'm pretty out of shape, as you can see in the photos on flickr.

May 2014: Barcelona! More about that in the next post.

At Home in Bangor

Andrew and I moved in to our new apartment (which is actually part of an old estate home that has been broken up into six separate apartments) in Bangor last week.  Bangor is a suburb of Belfast, to the east of the city, and right on the Irish Sea. It is a cute little town with a nice harbor/marina - a lot of people sail here. I got a great shot of the town at sunrise the other morning, and you can see a lot of the ships.

As I mentioned, we are right on the Irish Sea, with gorgeous views of the water. The best feature of our apartment is our bay window which faces right out to the water. Looking out the windows, you can see Belfast to the left, Scotland straight ahead, and Bangor to the right. You'll have to come for a visit to get a better look!

We are really loving it here so far. Andrew takes the train in to work every morning (about a 20-30 minute ride to the University) and I've been getting us settled in: cleaning, organizing, unpacking, and now packing for our trip back to the US on Friday. We can't wait to be home to see everyone!

Of course, we get a lot of rainbows here in Northern Ireland!

Lagan Meadows

On Sunday morning, Andrew and I set out for a walk to the Lagan Meadows, a large nature reserve in the south of Belfast, surrounding the Lagan River and towpath.

It was a cold morning and we got there early enough to see frost on many of the leaves and grass and we didn't see very many people out. As the day went by, though, it got much busier on the paths and it seemed like a popular place for people to go out walking or running. It was a beautiful morning and there are plenty of pictures on our flickr page.

Our New Home

Andrew and I arrived in Belfast last Wednesday, on Halloween! Our apartment is just minutes from Queen's, so Andrew's walk to work is relatively short for the time being. We're happy to be here and we're already starting to feel settled in. Here's a few pictures of our apartment:

Back to the Big City

Andrew and I were in Copenhagen last week - just a short, two-day trip - and we had a wonderful time, as always. We arrived on Sunday afternoon in time for an early dinner down in the Nyhavn neighborhood (a very charming little street on the water with shops and restaurants). We were having some wonderful late-summer weather, so we ate outside and spent some time wandering before stopping at the Mikkeller bar before bed (I think this may be one of Andrew's favorite places in the city).

On Monday, we hit the Strøget in the morning, had a pølser for lunch, and then went to a quick meeting at the UK embassy before another early dinner. We arrived at Ved Stranden 10 Vinhandel & Bar (that's the Ved Stranden winebar) just before 5, as I had read several places that this was the place to be in Copenhagen on Monday nights. If you've ever been to Copenhagen (or any other big European city), you'll know that many places are closed on Mondays, so it's often hard to find good places to eat. Knowing this, the owner of Ved Stranden 10 decided that he'd stay open on Monday nights, in order to give his staff (and actually the staff of several other restaurants in town) a place to eat. Each week, a different chef prepares the meal and it's available to everyone at the bar for as long as the meal lasts. This past week, someone brought in a very delicious bouillabaisse which we devoured along with some excellent wine.

On Tuesday, Andrew and I went back to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek (an excellent art museum) for a few hours before touring the Carlsberg Brewery, something which has been on Andrew's to-do list since before we arrived in Denmark.

It was a day well spent, but we were happy to fly back to Aalborg on Tuesday evening. Photos of our short trip are on flickr here.

Belfast

Andrew and I were in Belfast last week - from Wednesday to Monday - and we had a wonderful time. We spent Thursday and Friday at Queen's University, and all day Saturday exploring the city, which is actually a very short walk from the university. We saw the Titanic Quarter, St. Anne's Cathedral, and got a fantastic (free!) tour of Belfast City Hall in the afternoon.

On Sunday, we ventured outside the city on a bus tour up to Giant's Causeway, stopping at a few small towns on the way. It was a great way to spend the day out in the Irish countryside.

 

As always, more pictures of our trip are on flickr.