Feliz Navidad!

Hello World.  

Today I’m writing to you from Barcelona.  Yes, you read correctly, BARCELONA.  Right now you’re thinking, “I didn’t know she spoke Spanish too...”  My response to that is you’re right.  I don’t.  So let me rewind a few days and bring you up to speed.

Soooo, Friday after work I left for Strasbourg.  TER into Paris Austerlitz then a TGV from Paris East to Strasbourg.  My train was about 2 hours late into Strasbourg, so I did my 40 minute trek to my hotel into the snow.   Great.

The next day I had an overpriced breakfast buffet at the hotel, stole some pastries that would later be my lunch, then got ready for my day.  I walked around for several hours, just following wherever large crowds of people were going.  From marché to marché.  

For those that are not familiar with Christmas in France, they have these things called Marchés de Noël, basically Christmas markets.  You can find food, gourmet things, hats, scarves, tree ornaments, jewlery, and last but not least vin chaud.  Not to my surprise, Strasbourg is the Christmas Capital of the World.  I think something like 500,000 people come into town each weekend for the festivities.


This town was so gorgeous, especially at night.  Walking down a street during the day, holds no comparison to what it looks like at night.  I took some video too for you guys out there.  I’ll make a video creation a little later for you all.

This next paragraph will be dedicated to the best pretzel I’ve ever had in my life.  I’m gonna call him “Mr. Bacon Bits”. For three days meeeeeee annnnddddd Mr..... Mr. Bacon Bits (if you missed it, its sung to the melody Me and Mrs. Jones) flirted back and forth.  At first I said, no I will not buy you, you are no good for me.  But clearly I gave in.  This pretzel rocked my world.  Cheesy, gooey, salty, and warm.....uhhhhh.  Words really don’t express the awesomeness of this pretzel.  


On to beverages.  Each day there I had a different beverage.  Vin Chaud on Saturday.  Vin Blanc Chaud on Sunday (major disappointment), and Jus d’Orange Chaud on Monday.  I washed my Mr. Bacon Bits down with the hot orange juice.  Sweet and Salty, yum.

My last day in Strasbourg I visited the Institutions of the European Union.  I couldn’t go in because you need a reservation, and as you will see in my pictures, I had to keep my distance from some of the buildings because I didn’t want to look suspicious.  

So now, I’ll move on to my travel dibacle.  Originally, I was to leave Strasbourg for Perpignan, then head from Perpignan to Barcelona.  This is what happened instead....

The train to Perpignan stopped in Marseille because it had to wait for another train, so everyone had to get off.  I found this out at 5am when the conductor slammed open the door to tell me this.  Talk about a great way to wake up.  Sooooo, I had to take a train from Marseille to Montpellier because I would have a better chance at getting to Perpignan from that stop.  Then I took a train from Montpellier to Perpignan.  THEN, I took a train from Perpignan to Figueres, Spain.  THEEENNNN, I took a train from Figueres to Barcelona. RI-DIC-U-LOUS.  I would tell SNCF to go kick rocks, but I still love them dearly.

Then by nothing but the grace of GOD, I made my way from the train station, on a local train, to the neighborhood where I am staying.  Boy do I tell you, never underestimate the importance of gestures.  I made it to my destination with little to no Spanish.  WHEW.

Barcelona is gorgeous though.  I want to learn Spanish now.  And Italian.  And Portuguese. LOL.

I’ll update you all later with the rest of my trip, or whatever I feel like talking about.  TTYL.

Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Gajan Kristnakon, Buones Natalizie, Bones Fetes, Feliz Natal, and Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah!!!