whatcha thinking? barcelona. oh.

i suppose the beauty of my weekend in barcelona can only be expressed through pictures with witty (or decidedly non, as the case may be) captions about our adventures.

"isn't abroad awful?"

-john betjeman

the church near the sea where we attended easter mass. in catalan. us, and a bunch of old spanish women. catholic alliance 09.

friday night, following tapas and sangria, we drank ourselves ridiculous on the beach.

saturday was beautiful, despite the fateful weather predictions.

maggie, tommy & i enjoyed a walk along the boardwalk.

isn't it the best feeling when, in another country, you hear the music perfectly suitable for your surroundings? in paris, we had an accordion. in barcelona, we had this man.

barcelona loves street art.

el mercat de la boqueria. so epic.

i spared you all the pictures of the giant eel, and the tongues for sale.

on la rambla, i got a bit of a surprise. 

from all the way in nyc, a happy 11-monthaversary greeting via ms. cummings.

la rambla. wanna buy a chipmunk?

la segrada familila. 1909-2026. epic drip-church.

view from the gaudí park.

our easter feast!

on sunday we rented bikes for our picnic/general amusement.

proof that i can actually still ride one.

the weekend echos of shouts for more sangria, broken spanglish, and strains of the stephen sondheim ballad with the appropriate title.

i love españa. siempre.

when i was home, i was in a better place.

my weeks are wonderful and filled with shakespeare.

my weekends are wonderful and filled with travel.

then i combined them.

maggie, kevin, tommy, nathaniel, val & i all set out for stratford-upon-avon. shakespeare's home, and our mecca. nerdalert. it was.. awesome. a "shakespearience," if you will. there were statues and tributes, and shakespeare quotes EVERYWHERE. and anyone who knows me knows how much i love a good shakespeare quote. we spent the day on saturday navigating the train system, gift-shopping, rowing down the river avon, and exploring the countryside. we took in the winter's tale (my absolute favorite shakespeare play) that evening, to mixed reviews by the boys. i was enthralled.. it was beautiful and did total justice to the story that i adore.

sunday morning we did more exploring, got to see the grave, had some ice cream and some delicious treats at shops cleverly named after shakespearean characters. establishments such as "othello's pub," "iago's jewlers," "mistress quickly's bar and restaurant" lined the little cobblestone streets. i liked it because i got all the references and inside jokes. 

again i say: nerdalert.

i made it.

prince hal.. and his biggest fans.

a sad tale's best for winter.

somehow, i just don't think this is a good idea.

foolery.

holy trinity church. shakespeare's final resting place.

springtime in stratford.

i like this place. 

and willingly would waste my time in it.

- as you like it

i travel because i have to see the scene; i can't invent it.

my darlings. please forgive me.

in short: my life is absurd.

i went to vienna 3 weeks ago. i spent an epic, epic friday night in heathrow airport, terminal 2, not sleeping and writing my 10-page paper for 'theatre in london' from approximately 11:30pm - 4:00am. then i fell asleep for 45 minutes, got on my plane, and ended up in vienna. insanity.

 gabi and i found each other, and set off for 2 glorious days of reunions, reminiscing, and marveling at the fact that i was still coherent and standing upright. 

it was weird to see all of the austrians again. and especially without frau p happily spreading sentiments of friendship and bridging the cultural divide. i also, rather unfortunately, do not remember as much german as i'd hoped, so i was left rather in the linguistical darkness for a portion of my stay. but it was lovely, i had fun, and i was glad i got to see vienna, and gabi, most importantly.

vienna.

the stephansdom.

liebschwestern. reunited.