let the no-pool-pool-parties begin...

On Memorial Day, we fulfilled two of our must-haves upon returning to the US: barbequed meat and a no-pool-pool-party. It would be the first of many to come this summer, and we kicked 'em off right.

Summer did me proud by arranging all the food and drinks, including the newly beloved beverage sangria. She kicked some serious ass. The sangria was phenomenal, particularly when paired with Psycho Donuts as an appetizer. Two versions of my famous Nic Dip, Joyce's clam dip, and the boozy fruit in the sangria further filled our tummies. Dooglass barbequed up some fabulous burgers, and we completely stuffed ourselves.

At typical no-pool-pool-parties, we play kickball and flip cup, but we were in mellow mode for this one. Flip cup ended after three quiet rounds, and kickball just never really materialized. We were whooped, and ready to head up to Casa Saratoga to see KaliLou and get some rest. Little did I know that Summer had a trick up her sleeve to celebrate all the fun things that've happened of late...birthdays and a graduation. She picked up a delicious guava cake, and we all got goodie bags (which may have been even more fun to create than to own...although my new cheerleader-dog notepad rocks). All in all, it was a perfect day and precisely what we needed. Yay for home.

flip cup team B: Jen, John, Katie and Rob

flip cup team A (aka my team): Pay, Fargo, Summer, and me

that's right, you do see a(n): slapbracelet, hamburger/hotdog/blt erasers, pushpop, rubber ducky, popper, doggie notebook, wax lips, Pez dispenser, finger monster, stick on earrings, temporary tattoo, nerds, poprocks, 'let's party' pencil with eraser top, and high school musical stickers on my goodie bag

((not pictured, but in attendance - because we keep attendance at these things: Joyce, Doug, Kellie, and Joe...woot! noteworthy noshows: Whit and Ryno...fail))

Terry & Rebecca are hitched!

On Sunday, our dear friends Terry and Rebecca tied the knot, and are currently on their honeymoon in Thailand.

We landed around 3pm on Saturday, hucked our stuff into a hotel room and booked it over to the rehearsal dinner. I won't lie, it was a rough evening. Since we were super-jetlagged, we crashed around 9pm. Unfortunately, our eyes popped open at the excruciating hour of 4am, and a nap just didn't happen that day. I'm proud to report that, even with little sleep and a screwed up sense of time, Rob and I closed the bar down at the wedding and were among the last group that the shuttle scooped up at night's end. Yes.

The ceremony was gorgeous, followed by a beautiful, sangria-fueled cocktail hour. The entire event was held at Clos La Chance winery in San Martin, near Gilroy, a fantastic setting. Dinner was terrific, and we had a blast dancing our asses off...!

London, England

May 21st
We arrived at Heathrow late on Thursday evening, and took the Tube to our last Euro-hotel. We had a full and busy day planned for our one full day in London, so we knocked out pretty early...

May 22nd
Sorting out your own transportation and acting as your own tourguide for 3-plus weeks becomes exhausting, so we did the tourist-errific thing and joined one of those hop-on/hop-off tours. It included all the main sights (and I didn't have to go into anything I didn't want to!), a boat cruise down the Thames, and a 'spirits' walking tour (a.k.a. a pub crawl). The best part: we had a guide to tell us what things were and why they were important...







It was money well spent, I'll tell you. For a total of 20pounds, we did all of the above, and took a walking tour of the castle guards, which was a bit different than just watching the changing of the guards.

First, we went to Clarence House, where the military practices and where Prince Charles (and more interestingly, Prince William) actually lives. Almost every day, they inspect the regiment before marching to the castle. Things were a little squirrelly on Friday, since it was a holiday weekend and there was to be a massive performance of the humongous military band on Monday. Rather than watch the guards swap spots with the throngs of tourists in front of the castle, we cut through the park, scoped out the tourist-free area of St. James' Palace and the Wellington Barracks, and watched a giant parade of guys in funny hats:

they marched instep to instep, while playing - nuts, I tell you

At the departure of our 'spirits' tour, we were a smidge disappointed to learn that we were down to 20pounds (aside from the money alloted to take the tube to the airport the following morning). 20pounds + 2 people + 5 pubs = not enough cash. Dammit. Soooo, we decided to skip a drink at one or two pubs...no prob. At one pub, Rob asked the price for two pints of Guinness, and received the response of 7pounds20pence. We had 7pounds&19pence. After pouring our Guinness (the proper Irish way!), the bartender quipped, "That'll be 7pounds19pence, please." Yessss. At the second of our planned pub-skips, our hilarous guide Alan (an Englishborn Irishman...or an Irishborn Englishman...crap.) took note of our empty hands and decided to investigate. After explaining that we could change our cash allotment to allow for more pints, he further proceeded to give us money to ensure we'd be well-hydrated. Hilarious. And fantastic.



May 23rd
It's a shame that the trip had to end, but London seemed a nice place to wrap things up...hell, they speak English (um, sorta...)! Our flight out of Heathrow was set to depart at 11:35am, making for a pretty early morning for us. Heathrow = always an adventure. Upon checkin at a kiosk, we were having trouble with our seats, and came across a phenomenal Scottish woman named Jade, who took amazing care of us. She bumped us up to business class and granted us access to the business class lounge. Schweeeet. It was awesome.

After our 11-hour flight, we checked into a hotel, showered/changed and headed to a rehearsal dinner...nothing ends quietly for us, now does it?!

Overall opinion: Since the weather was fantastic, and our tour(s) were great, I loved it. London was (aside from the lackluster food), a perfect way to end our tour...I can't wait to go back!

Lisbon, Portugal

May 18th
Our flight arrived late on Monday night. At initial glance, Lisbon is much like San Francisco: lots of hills, an ocean (and therefore TONS of seafood), and even a Golden Gate-like bridge. We hit the hay in our fantastically spacious room, overlooking one of Lisbon's many plazas, accessorized by a view of its castle.



May 19th
I'd done a teeny bit of research on TripAdvisor.com (if you've never visited the site, do it. Do it now.) on what to do in Lisbon, and read about an old school tram that takes you up to a cute neighborhood near the castle.

We've been at this whole public transportation thing a while now, but had a hellllll of a time finding tram 28E. After 20 minutes of wandering near the alleged stop, we spotted one, and literally followed it to its next stop. Yessss. The tram was just like a cable car, save the outdoor benches. At one point, the tram squeaks through a passage so narrow that I could reach out the window and touch the building. No joke.




People-watching might be our new favorite pastime, and the stellar location of our hostel (and more specifically, our third floor room) make for great seats to watch the world go by. We spotted a group of shifty looking fellas that kept trying to sell a watch or weed or coke (seriously) to random passerby. Quick question: how do these folks determine who they'll offer a given product? And how the hell do you grow the balls to walk up to some random guy and offer to sell him a joint!??!!?

Then, a few older ladies selling sunglasses started an argument with them that kept us entertained for no less than 40 minutes. We spotted their accomplices and watched as they set up later meetings. The police drove by a few times, and it was hilarious to watch them scatter. Its amazing how quickly we forget the world around us...these people had no idea that we were watching them:

the guy in purple in the middle provided the best entertainment, and thought we was waaaay more sly than he actually was

May 20th
On Wednesday, we hopped a train for a little medieval town of Sintra. It was gorgeous, leafy and quiet. We wandered around a few palaces and gardens, and found what could possibly be the most economical meal of our entire trip: a heaping serving of bacalau (a traditional Portuguese cod dish) served with a beer, finished off with a scoop of ice cream and a coffee...all for 8Euros. Win.





Since he needed to be ready to be in a wedding on Sunday, Rob was in desperate need of a haircut, and here's the work of a Portugese barber:

before

after

May 21st
We were scheduled to fly to London in the late afternoon, and busied ourselves during the day by sleeping in, exchanging money (always a treat) and researching the things that we'd do in our short stint in London. We had lunch at a small cafe near our hostel, and finally got our hands on a pasteis de nata, a classic Portuguese custard tartlet. While I'd expected it to be sweeter than it was, with a itty bitty espresso, it was a nice send off for our tastebuds.

Overall opinion: I liked Lisbon, but may be a smidge biased because our hostel there rocked. Bigtime. Sintra was beautiful, and I'd recommend that anyone heading to Portugal take the time to check it out. The city itself was great, although we did tire of the constant haggling from 'street vendors'. Admittedly, we didn't expend enough energy devouring the sights and the culture, and I think I'd like to return someday...

so sorry for the slacking!

We're baaaaaack, and we're healthy-ish. Aside from waking up in the wee hours of the morning and being exhausted by 3pm, and having wonky appetites, we're kicking ass and taking names. I need to finish my Lisbon and London posts (they're in progress, I swear!), as well as a few other goodies I'm baking up.

I go back to work tomorrow, and I'm far from excited. Yes, I'm jazzed to have a job (and therefore money), and it'll be nice to settle somewhere for ten minutes, but I'm not looking forward to getting back on the schedule of the man. Ugh...anyways.....

I reaquainted myself with a little thing called driving today, and hitting 75mph on the freeway felt like I was getting ready for a jet takeoff. Seriously. 75mph isn't that fast...if you've driven in the last four months. I felt like a 16-year old again...neat.

I hope to take a few to work on my blog posts to wrap up the trip in the next few days, if I'm not zonked out by 5pm.

we neeeeeed these in our lives again!

With our trip winding down, Rob and I have been joking about the things we're most excited to see/eat/drink when we get back. Here are a few worth sharing (in no particular order):

Nicole can't wait to...

• hold KaliLou!
• go to Target (I think I heard that their stock has been down since I left)
  
• carry a purse, rather than wear a money belt at all times
  
• eat sushi (four months, folks! FOUR MONTHS!)
• take more than 6 minutes to get ready in the morning, and therefore feel presentable
• visit the delectable java goodness that is Barefoot
• watch Hot Rod
  
• hug people that I know and love (hugging strangers is how you go to jail, you know)
  
• get a haircut
• have a no-pool-pool-party
• send text messages
  
• use an actual closet. with hangers.
  
• go to a farmers market (preferably with a Great Bear iced coffee in hand)
  
• have more than two options for footwear
• be able to use a public restroom without having to pay for it

Rob can't wait to...

• get a Rock Bottom sampler
• just know where things are, rather than needing a map to decipher everything
• see the new Angels & Demons movie
  
• take KaliLou on a balcony
• be able to stand up in the shower
• drink coffee with actual caffeine in it (so he can drop his new 2-espressos-a-day habit)
  
• not need to calculate conversion rates when deciding what to eat or buy
• go to the chiropractor
• understand a menu
• watch real sports on TV...in English!
  
• drink legit milk
• eat barbecue that actually tastes like barbecue
  
• not have to take mass transit with...the masses
• buy Advil, etc over-the-counter
• be able to plug things directly into the wall, instead of hunting for the adaptor
  

Barcelona, Spain

May 16th
On our list of things to do after arriving on Saturday afternoon: sit by the pool and drink sangria. Hopefully simultaneously.

We checked these off of our list, but separately. After buying a bottle of wine to chug by the pool (we're pretty resourceful), we showered and headed to the little (read: less touristy) neighborhood of Gracia, where we found decently priced sangria and tapas. We ordered a vino sangria (made with red wine, as opposed to sangria cava, which is made with champagne and spells headache to me) and three tapas: potato wedges drenched with a spicy-ish mayo/ketchup, pork kebabs, and (allegedly) barbequed chicken wings. Tapas = win. The sangria rocked, and I'm so pleased that it has been dubbed 'the drink' for our upcoming summer.




May 17th
Since Rob had been to Barcelona, and I was a newbie, we took the place by storm. Sorta. If getting out of the hotel at 11am counts as storming. Anyways...

We've done a lot of walking on our trip, and this city would be no exception. We walked and walked and walked to get to a main plaza and the beach. We walked by hookers and druggies, all selling their goods in broad daylight (note: we only walked through this area once...duh.)

safely through hooker-ville

We wandered toward the beach, stopping to people watch as tourists bought counterfeit bags/wallets/sunglasses from guys on the street, and the guys tried to stay one step ahead the cops. Between that and the various fashion faux paux at every turn, its like watching a train wreck...and I love it.

its not often that I'm so moved by an outfit that I actually document it, but there was so much happening here that it is forever ingrained in my memory...and this is the back!

proof that there is an ocean with a sandy beach in Barcelona! the walk was so long, I wasn't sure it actually existed

Craving more sunshine and wanting to make good use of the pool at our hotel, we bought a bottle of rose´wine and a refrigerated pizza, and headed for the pool. I'd never completely understood the point of going on vacation to simply sit at a pool in another country, but I was feeling it in Barcelona.

After a gourmet dinner at McDonald's (hey, sometimes you just need a burger), we headed toward the National Theater to check out the 'Magic Fountains', a huge choreographed (holy crap I spelled that right on the first try! I can't even successfully spell weird on the first shot...) water show, complete with music and lights. Here's a pretty shot and a snippet that I recorded, for memory's sake:

note: the video is like 2 minutes long...I couldn't find a good point in the music to stop recording!

May 18th
Our flight to Lisbon wasn't until the evening, so we slept as late as we could before meandering around along the Ramblas and in the Boqueria. The Ramblas is the shopping area in Barcelona, and you float along down the pedestrian lane, past such beauties as Zara, H&M and Carrefour. The Boqueria is a farmer's market-style outdoor store that hosts stalls and stalls of vendors hawking fruits, veggies, meats, and booze.

Our flight to Portugal may have been stewarded (is that a word?) by the most cheerful staff of all time. TAP Portugal Airlines will get my business in the future, which is more than I can say for RyanAir and Olympic Airlines.

Overall opinion: While I liked Barcelona, I fear we're approaching the point on our tour where everything turns into "just another city". I'm beginning to appreciate the slower pace of travel, even if it means visiting fewer places on each trip. Sangria is a hit with me, and I liked the tapas, too. I enjoyed my visit, but nothing exceptional sits with me. Perhaps I'll visit again to get a better feel for the city...