The last month in Brussels was really really busy! The first visitor that we had was my friend Lisa from Boston. She came to visit for the week and we immediately took off for a weekend in Barcelona :)
When we got in, we decided to check into the hotel quick and then start with the Tapa hopping. And tapa hopping we did! Our hotel was right on the Ramblas which made it quite easy to check the cool places out. We headed to the L'Eixample neighborhood. The first tapa spot was amazing and my favorite tapa was this dish of razor clams! Lisa also was able to try a Belgium specialty right in Spain, some waffles with ice cream, yum!
The next day was our full day to explore. We started off the day at La Boqueria - by far the COOLEST food market in all of Europe. We walked around and found so many cool things and stopped at a bar inside the market to get some coffees and an amazing breakfast. The best was watching a grandma go to the bar, chug a beer, and continue with her market shopping, she's living the life.
From there we headed down the Ramblas to the waterfront and the Barcelonita area, we went up to the top of the Christopher Columbus Monument to see an amazing view of Barcelona. As I'm writing, I'm forgetting to tell you the best part of Barcelona - in the middle of winter, we got a little bit of summer! It was in the high 50's and low 60's so just a great day to be outside.
We then headed to check out the beach and found a restaurant where we could sit right on the beach and then of course we tapa hopped back to our hotel.
That night we headed out to a very well recommended restaurant, if you go to Barcelona, you must go here... Les Quinz Nits http://www.lesquinzenits.com/. There was a long line to get in, but we were able to skip it and grab a great table outside. Everything on the menu was so cheap for Europe we just kept ordering... the food was amazing! We then went to a cool Irish pub up the street, we were way too full for more tapas!
The next morning we headed over to La Sagrada Familia (famous church) and it was under so much construction, we decided not to go in. We then headed over to take the gondola up to the Montjuïc Castle to get a great view of the city and spend the rest of our beautiful weekend. We then went back to the hotel, grabbed the bags and aimed to have a paella dinner before we headed back to the airport. Note to tourists, do not eat on the Ramblas... you can eat off the Ramblas but not at the touristy places on the Ramblas, enough said.
Unfortunately when we returned to Brussels, I had to work, but Lisa was able to play the rest of the week in Belgium. On Wednesday I had scheduled an office visit to the Paris office, so we rode the train in together and then met up for dinner at the cutest restaurant on the Champs Elysses, Ladurée.
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/paris/D48224.html
I highly recommend this restaurant for women - its a little like having a very very upscale tea party and has chick night all over it, but I wouldn't be opposed to a date night there either...
We ended Lisa's visit with a night out on the town with my Dad whose visit was starting for his 60th bday celebration week. We started the night at happy hour at me and Jay's favorite neighborhood British pub. We then went into town to grab dinner by the Grand Place and of course head over to Delirium so Lisa could get a taste.
I'll leave my Dad's 60th birthday bonanza for the next post.... coming soon!
