Beinvenida a la España

We woke up at 4:15 this morning to make our 6:15 flight to Barcelona. It seems as though many of my adventures lately consist of getting up before the sun rises! Never the less it was totally worth it. We arrived in sunny, warm Spain at around 9 local time. We droppe our stuff off at the hotel before we set off to explore the city. 

Our first stop was to a covered market which had every type of fruit, fish, meat, and produce you could dream of! 

We then continued more into the heart of the shopping district and grabbed some food at a restaurant with one of the coolest ceilings I have ever seen! 

After our quick bite it was off to more shopping and wandering. I am in awe of all of the beautiful architecture in Spain, it is full of fun colors and beautiful curved lines.

It was the grand opening of the Disney store, the line stretched up and around the block just to get in!

We then headed to the more historic parts of Barcelona where we found a beautiful cathedral that was built off the edge of an old Roman wall. 

We continued down the older parts of Barcelona looking in shops and admiring the wonderful buildings 

The Christmas lights are all set up, but unfortunately we found out later that they are not turned on yet.

We then headed back to the hotel for some siestas an showers before getting ready to go out to dinner. 

View from our room

In Spain, everyone eats really late so our dinner reservations were not until 10, so we left our rooms at around 7:45 to head back into the city. Sally and I stopped to get a quick bite to hold us over until dinner. We went to a sandwich shop where I got my amazing Spanish hot chocolate. Aka melted chocolate in a cup that you have to use a spoon to eat/drink! 

We then stumbled upon a church that just finished mass so we popped our heads inside. They church was spectacular, high ceilings, all stone, beautiful colors, and it even had large people figures which I think must be either the royal family or really important people to the church.

We then headed off to dinner at a nice tapas place. The food was amazing and very filling for such little plates. In Spain they take a long time to eat and we didn't even finish dinner until around 1! No wonder they take siestas!!! It was then finally off to bed to get ready for another great day in Barcelona.

Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red

Today(Friday) it was back to London to meet up with Sally an her parents. We started off the morning by going to the Tower of London. Our timing couldn't have been better as Armenians Day (Veteran's Day) was on Tuesday so the poppies had just been finished. 888,246 ceramic poppies were made and installed to represent each member of the British Forces who died in WWI. The sight was magnificent. They filled the moat of the Tower of London to look like a sea of blood. Each of these poppies are now being removed individually by volunteers.-- The Tower of London was used in WWI to train and house soldiers 

We first walked around the exterior wall of the tower which had exhibits for the exotic animals, dungeon, and living quarters. 

The kings private alter

Live video feed so you can see the ghosts that haunt the dungeon 

The Tower of London has only been breeched once, and that was by peasants

Exotic animals sent as gifts to the king, use to be housed in the Tower of London for anyone to see before the London zoo was built

We met up with some fancy guards and learned that in celebration of Armenians Day, cannons would be fired off over the River Thames. This happens only once a year! (Video to come later)

Ravens were once used to protect the tower from intruders and are still kept on sight today

Next it was off to see the Crown Jewels, though we were not allowed to take any pictures, they were exquisite and we saw the jewels still used today along with the jewels from previous monarchs. The jewels are located in one of the buildings in the Tower of London in a safe like room with lots of guards and no windows. Not to mention they were behind glass cases so they keep it pretty well secure. 

After the Crown Jewels we went to look at the armor through the ages which was really interesting to see. The exhibit showed what the armor looked like through the different ages and how it's changed, for both the men and the horses. It also had the different weapons used and how they effected the soldiers. 

Our last stop in the Tower of London was the bloody tower which is where people were tortured. It's a cramped little building and shows how people would have been tortured and why. 

After the Tower of London it was off to high tea. This time we actually had high tea! High tea comes with an assortment of sandwiches, scones, pastries, and of course, your choice of tea (I had black currant and hibiscus... Tastes just like Starbucks!) it was amazing and beyond delicious!! 

We did some shopping, well looking at Harrods before heading to Liverpool for dinner at a cute little cheese shop. Fun fact it is in the market where Jack the Ripper found some of his victims, and we know this because tours kept coming through all night! 

It was then off to the hotel by the airport to get some sleep before our early flight to Barcelona tomorrow!!

School Comparisons!

So a day late but here is some information I have found about the different schools I have visited!