Cologne-Barcelona-Stockholm

I am writing this as Tricia is on her way back to the US. She was here from May 12th till today, May 22nd. During her stay we toured Cologne on the first day, went to Barcelona on the 13th for 3 days, then flew to Stockholm for 4 days and finally made it back to Cologne on the 19th.

Köln

Having Tricia here was awesome. On the day she came in we walked all over Cologne. May 12th was some sort of Holiday in Germany so pretty much everything was closed, except for restaurants and bars. I showed Tricia the main city attractions, like the Dom, so I will not delve into describing these sites again and running the risk of being associated with the expression of “sounding like a broken record”.
It was a beautiful day out. Most of Germany was enjoying great weather for a week. In fact it was so warm that it was big news around here how Cologne had better weather than southern parts of Europe. So, Tricia and I took the opportunity to enjoy the sun and relax, while being able to see the city. A few weeks ago I noticed this cool club on Rhine’s east bank. It is nothing more than a summer patio style bar except that they filled the area with white sand, added surf boards to décor and of course the beach chairs and beds. Once inside, one can relax feeling like being on a beach, have a view of the river and more importantly of the city’s west side skyline, which includes the Dom (of course) and its old city. It is quite picturesque, and you can judge it from the pictures I posted along with this blog although they don’t do great justice, but you’ll get the sense of it.
After hanging out at the beach club for a couple of hours, we headed back to the city center and walked through the old town. Tricia’s first impression of Cologne was that it was extremely quiet but this was a holiday and Germans (like anyone else) like to sleep in on Holidays. By the time we made it back to the city in the early afternoon, the atmosphere was definitely more vibrant. Although, the areas we walked through were touristy, Kölners like to come to the Rhine and enjoy the beautiful weather as well.
We had dinner in middle of the Belgian district, a few blocks away from where I live. Cologne, if I have not mentioned this before, is a very diverse city, and as a consequence food choices are infinite. We settled for Thai food, which was good but I have come to realize that German Asian restaurants make their food even more bland than their Minnesotan counterparts. Fortunately they give you a variety of spices to season your meal to your own preferences.
We made it an early night as the next day we were flying to Barcelona.

Cologne Pictures:


Barcelona

We booked our tickets well in advance, while I was still in Minnesota. The good of this decision is that we probably got a great deal on airfare, the bad is that I didn’t know that in Ryanair lingo, Düsseldorf (a city ½ hour away from Cologne) is actually Weeze (a city 2.5 hours away from Cologne). Lesson learned I guess; not only did it take long to get to the airport, but the bus fare was 20 EUR. So money saved on airfare is money spent on something else, plus the time it took to get there. I am starting to sound like an economist but just be aware of using low cost airlines in Europe; they’ll say they fly out of Paris but what they really mean is some small village 2.5 hours away.
The trip, besides my ranting in the previous paragraph, was not bad. We made it to Barcelona fine; found our lodging and settled in. We stayed at an apartment a couple of blocks away from La Rambla (main walking street and attraction in Barcelona). We had a full kitchen and shared the living spaces with others (although the place was pretty much empty), while having our own bedroom.
Right after settling in, we proceeded to discover Barcelona. Since it was already around 6pm, we decided to just go for a walk on the beach. Barceloneta is a part of the city close to the water and it features an extensive beachfront. Within 20 minutes we were there. Barcelona in many respects felt like Naples but with fewer people. Crazy traffic, the ocean smell, the architecture and a language (Catalan which is a mix of Spanish, French and Italian) that is different than the rest of Spain.
On our walk back we ventured into tiny streets of Barri Gòtic, and this part of the city is very similar to Naples’ “Centro Storico”, however the Gothic architecture dominates with its impressive statues sticking out of the buildings at a ninety degree angle giving the impression that they’re constantly staring at the passerby’s. We found a couple of cool restaurants and decided to return to this area later for dinner.
In Spain it is normal to have dinner very late; but apparently not as late as Tricia and I decided to do. We got sidetracked by enjoying some good Rioja wine back at the apartment that we didn’t make it out of there till well after 11pm. By the time we made it back to the Gothic Quarters, it was almost midnight. Thankfully, we found a couple of open places on a Tuesday night, and settled for some Seafood Paella. The restaurant owner spoke only Catalan, so even though both Tricia and I (well mostly Tricia, I only pretend) speak Spanish, we had a hard time understanding the guy. But we did get our food, which was good. After dinner, since it was already so late, we decided to go back to our apartment and sleep.
On our first full day in Barcelona we went sightseeing. And when I say sightseeing I mean we went all over the place. We started with Barri Gòtic again and visited the Cathedral (well the outside of it since in Barcelona even to see a Church you need to pay a fee), the side streets and nice little squares. From there we proceeded to the Picasso Museum, which is in the same general area. The museum features the progression of Picasso’s work throughout his life. Each gallery has a wall dedicated to the description of the time period and Picasso’s influences. I was particularly impressed with some of his early work, which was far from what people know about Picasso as it was more Classical than Impressionist. In particular there is a painting he composed as a 15 year-old, which was so well done that it is almost scary. The rest of the museum also focused on Picasso’s willingness to explore and experiment with various media and techniques. It was definitely a worthwhile visit and money well spent.
Right outside of Picasso’s museum Tricia noticed this little Tapas bar/restaurant and suggested we go in. We did and it was great. This was a family-owned restaurant that had character. The inside was decorated with antiques that accumulated throughout the years as I believe this place has been around for a while. There were black and white pictures, old wine barrels, wine skins hanging from the walls, etc. We had all sorts of tapas, including Serrano ham and salted cod, which are typical of this area.
After the late lunch, we took the metro to the main city attraction, La Sagrada Familia. This is a Catholic Church that has been under construction since 1882. Antoni Gaudi, a famous architect whose works are all over Barcelona, pretty much dedicated most of his life to this building. The sight is awesome from outside designed very intricate style with a lot of décor that one gets lost in trying to decipher its meaning; definitely a sight worth seeing. However, to go inside one must pay 8 or 10 Euros, and once inside there is nothing but scaffolding and people working on the Church. I was pretty disappointed to say the least and wish I had just seen the place from the outside and had this great image of it.
After visiting Sagrada Familia, we proceeded to go see other works/buildings by Gaudi, mainly Casa Milà and Casa Batlò. These buildings feature small mosaics made out of colored clay tiles and interesting architectural shapes. Casa Batlò for example features balconies in the shape of a skull. These sights were awesome and very representative of this entire city. Unfortunately, some other buildings were being renovated and we weren’t able to see.
At the end of the day we went to a hill overlooking Barcelona by taking the bus to Tibidabo. There is a restaurant called Mirablau, which is located on this hill with a great view of the entire city. We decided to have Cuba Libres on the terrace and enjoy the view. Unfortunately, the weather at this point was not cooperating as it was overcast and hazy; we still were able to see most of the city but I am certain the view gets even more spectacular on a clear day.
On our third day in Barcelona, we went to Park Güell, which is another work of Antoni Gaudì. It is located on another hill and hence it has a great view of the city. As his other works, this park has a few interesting buildings with a lot of colored tile mosaics. After seeing all of his works, in my mind Barcelona is Gaudì.
Since the weather was nicer we decided to spend the afternoon on the beach. It was nice just to lie on the beach and relax. To help the level of relaxation one can get a back massage for 5 Euros by trained masseuses walking on the beach offering their services. I decided to get one and nearly fell asleep on the beach; it was great.
For our last night in Barça we decided to have a nice seafood dinner on the beach. We went to a place called Aqua in Barceloneta. It was great; we didn’t have reservations but the host ushered us to the restaurant bar inside and offered us a couple of cocktails on the house. Shortly thereafter he came back and showed us our table on the patio with a view of the beach. We had some great food and good wine. It was really a great way to end our stay in this city. Stockholm was next.

Barcelona Pictures:


Stockholm

On Friday, May 16th, we arrived at Stockholm’s Skavsta airport. Our friends Martin and Matilda (and their three month old daughter Liv) came to meet us. This was our first time seeing their baby and we were really excited. This was also Tricia’s first time in Sweden.
The first part of our stay we spent at my friend’s Tom’s cabin. His family owns two tiny islands southeast of Stockholm and it is literally one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. It is so quiet and pristine. And even though it was quite colder than Barcelona, it was still a nice place. We met Tom and his girlfriend Zandra just outside the islands. The only way to access them is by private boat, which is another intrigue about this place.
Zandra and Tom cooked us dinner and we enjoyed the company. Martin, Tom and I know each other from our Gustavus days. I’ve known Matilda almost for as long; so it was really nice to catch up and also for both Tom and I to introduce Zandra and Tricia to each other.
On the following day we decided to take a little fishing trip around the other islands in the area. I had no great expectations but I just knew that cruising around in a boat would give us a chance to see more of this beautiful place. We tried a couple of spots without much luck. At this point Tom called his brother, who apparently had gone out fishing the week before, and asked where the good spots were. With his instruction we went to a place near the islands. Within minutes Martin, the fisherman of the hour, caught 3 huge Pikes (see in the pictures). It was amazing. He would literally cast the line and reel them in right away without waiting. I guess Tom’s brother was correct on the fishing location.
We headed back to the cabin to clean the fish. Tom then looked up some recipes and fixed lunch with freshly caught fish. We also tasted some Crawfish that Martin had brought up with him as well. It was just a great experience.
I must add that during this whole time Liv, Martin and Matilda’s daughter, was constantly by our side (yes she came fishing with us too). She’s a sweetheart; doesn’t complain much except when she’s hungry and just a joy to have around. Seeing our friends going through the joy of parenthood is simply indescribable.
After the late lunch we packed up as it was time to leave the islands and head to Stockholm. Unfortunately, Martin and Matilda couldn’t join us as they had to head back to Växjo, their home town. So we said good bye to them and Liv.
In Stockholm we stayed at Tom and Zandra’s condo. They have this beautiful place near the city center. I was impressed. Once we got there we had some dinner and a few drinks. Then it was time to go out and show Tricia a bit of Swedish nightlife. We ended up going to a place called “Cliff Barns”. It was super fun. They played old school American (and some Swedish) songs and everyone was dancing and having a great time. Tricia loved it.
On Sunday we walked through Stockholm’s city center. It was extremely cold so our stroll was cut short as it was not that enjoyable. Tricia and I knew we had another day to see the rest of Stockholm with hopefully better weather. Back home we made dinner and watched a movie: The Hunting Party. Interestingly enough, this movie is mostly based on a true story about Bosnia and was filmed there. Both Tricia and I recognized many of the places, especially the ones shot in Sarajevo. I am still not sure how I feel about the movie; I am ok with its message but the way it was shot it is a bit cheesy.
On Monday morning, Tricia and I were lucky to be able to walk through Stockholm on a beautiful sunny day. We went through the old city, saw the Royal Palace as well as guard ceremony. We then walked on the shore and took some great pictures. Stockholm is a beautiful city.
We met Tom and Zandra for lunch. They took us to the top floor of a department store (kind of like the Skyroom at Minneapolis downtown Macy’s except the open terrace seating). We enjoyed the lunch outdoors and chatted with our friends. Tom is turning 30 next week and was making last minute arrangements for his birthday party. I was trying to attend as well but on the same day I have my first exam in Germany and getting on a flight in time was not feasible; too bad as I really wanted to go to his party and hang out with Martin and Erik (another friend of mine from Gustavus). Oh well, can’t really do everything I want to do.

Stockholm (and islands) pictures:


Well, I am glad I was able to spit out this blog post today as tomorrow I am heading to Prague for 4 days. Till next time.

Stasha