Barcelona 3/7-5/7 & 7/7-12/7 2010

after madrid, me n dear come barcelona..

we travel by plane, 1hr 10min flight..

abt S$150/pax

we decide to come earlier cos we'll not have much free time during the convention date..

this is our hotel "Hesperia Ramblas"..

its just at La Ramblas..

La Ramblas is a must walk street in Barcelona..

see the beautiful simple room..

love this hotel cos got free internet n the "feel/aura" is just rite..

inside safe got main plug...

how thoughful ah..

can charge hp or ipad while kept inside

our 1st meal of the day..

we 2 drink a jug of "sangria"..

its a famous cocktail drink..

must try...

me n dear got abit high by drinking 1 jug..

ordered tapas..

this is the restaurant..

"Taller de Tapas"

specially recommended by the hotel recep..

this is another must go place..

"Sagrada Familia"

its been built over 100 yrs..

n now is still building..

its main architect is Antoni Gaudi..

one side of the catheral..

i like this side.. very antique, old look..

we borrowed headset to listen to the history...

they have guided tour...

got stn 1,2,3 etc...

the other side of the catheral...

more modern structured...

i think its only 2/3 built...

probably another 20-30 yrs then can finish ba..

inside of catheral...

i like the ceiling...

below is the REAL ceiling..

the ceiling below is a mock up structure to portray the real building..

when light shine from outside, it'll go thru the "lotus" pattern and create a very natural n beautiful lighting for the church..

see dear standing at the mock up bldg..

very real hor..

the pillars..

still in construction..

go up the bldg..

construction inside..

the artifact..

the office where they do up the mock up structure..

this shd be the full structure..
now is only like half the height..

the famous antoni gaudi..

another amazing structure by gaudi..

i call it the flintstone bldg..

haha..

look like flintstone hses hor..

their wet mkt..

the yucky salty smell..

colourful man...

fruits so colourful..

sweets..

seafood..

flea mkt...

old time roller blades..

the famoud street..

"La Ramblas"..

got arts..

silence performance..

idea hor..

no head?!

ewww...

must donate $ to take pics..

they also poor thing la..

so hot still have to wear so much..

cute "mushroom" tortise

florist...

fruit juice

on 5/7, me n dear proceed to Valencia..

on 7/7, we r back to barcelona again..

our convention hotel is at "Hilton Diagonal Mar Barcelona"... 

 

our train from Barcelona to Valencia..

seat is like airplane 1st class hor..

so spacious..

can eat inside...

 

shopping spree at barcelona..

bought LV..

keke..

hotel recommend us meal at "Cats"..

quite full one..

need to call book 1st..

they serve tradtional catalunya food.

black ink squid paella.. nice..

after eating this, shit also black one..

duck...

steak..

my LV buys...

high heel 490Euro (S$882)

flats 290Euro (S$522)

belt 290euro

bag for dear's mum 560euro (S$1000)

suddenly a noty face pops out..

anyway LV shoe really cannot buy one..

my paris bought one after some time expanded..

now its 1 size bigger...

hard to wear cos keep slip out.. 

n this brown heels is comfy but too stiff to walk fast..

behind keep slip out too..

argg..

saw icebar brochure.. so told dear i wana go..

i've always wanted to chk out such place..

this icebar is along the beach..

the sagrada familia ice structure..

yeah..

the look like DJ waiter..

ice glasses..

really will melt one..

ice curtain..

north pole bear... keke

noty dear put ice glass on my face.. he wana stick it on my face..

the temperature..

anyway they only provide gloves n jacket..

no pants...

so in case u wana go, rem dun wear skirt..

the chill out place n restaurant along the beach..

Pru brought us tour winery...

olden times machinery..

brew wine seems like a long process of tilting the bottle at different angle to settle down the residue..

the amazing underground wine storage place..

its natural cooling! no aircon one..

its like a maze... will get lost one.. cos too big..

got train to bring us to tour inside the tunnel..

see how long the bottle has been lying here..

all the thick thick dust..

wine tasting..

i super enjoy this tour cos its rather exclusive n i always wanted to visit winery..

then we go montserrat..

its at high altitude..

is also a tourist attraction to see the scenary n black virgin mary..

lunch...

not nice one...

queueing up to see black virgin mary..

this is the black virgin..

nice view!

scary too...

this is Executive FC dinner..

exclusive to those who do well only..

we have more n more long term successful FC..

this is the place..

quite nice hor..

this kind of setting is standard one..

small token of appreciation from pru..

PTO lunch place...

simple outlay..

its the best meal in spain...

its in a inner lane along La Ramblas..

strongly recommend!

menu..

unique n nice..

one of the best steak i ever have!

Pru Gala dinner place..

us...

love love..

i like the interior colour n lighting..

romantic n soothing..

us giving support to new qualifiers

Pru games...

this is their traditional way of drinking?!

doing gaudi inspired project..

its fun!

we broke the tiles n mix n match to make it into nice pic...

its really not ez leh...

tada...

our gp's result..
can u see the fish n sun..

this is another gp's project.

this one got the best cos its really very nice n very well done
can see the seaweed?

some other ppl's..
simple hor..

finally got the chance to try riding the bull!

hey not ez leh..

i fall in less than 20s..

n easily got bruise..

am shopping and saw their "legal" protest..

history is ppl there recognise themselves as catalunya and NOT as spanish..

then i realise this place is taken over by spain..

originally they r catalun..

see the crowd..

its really alot of ppl..

nespresso..

zp n fen bought their coffee machine..
S$300+.

sg sell $500+

can sit there test their coffee when u buy something..

there are different coffee beans where u can smell the fragrance..

the different coffee powder...

nice colour..

i dun fancy coffee so din buy..

dear acting...

saw this lion dog in paris trip too..

finally...

my buys for the whole trip..

Loewe necklace (S$200) n belt (S$300+)..

dear gucci belt..

S$350

LVs

dear 2 pairs of prada shoe..

S$400+ each

finally home sweet home...

n surprisingly, the return flight got tv!

getting ready for the 10+hrs flight..

total damage:

dear hp bill $500

my hp bill $200+

deviation cost $900+ and $800+

shopping ard $5000

hotels, rent cars etc $2200

food $1000+

total ard S$10k for 2 person for 12 days..

heartpain oh..