We woke up after a nap and made it to the airport without issues. Flight was uneventful, got breakfast from the Giraffe something or other in Heathrow, then boarded the plane home. We flew coach, but were towards the rear on the upper deck of the A380, so we had two seats to ourselves. We slept some, but not as much as either of us would have liked. As nice as the trip was, walking in the front door felt amazing.
We woke up late (maybe around 11), sleeping off everything from the previous day. The four of us walked over to Slow Mov, then to , an oyster bar, for lunch. Walked around a bit more, did some shopping, got coffee from L0t. The space there was super cool, so it was nice hanging out there for a bit. I would have loved to try more of their chocolate, but I was still stuffed from the previous day. We headed over to Tierra Tragame, then laid low for a minute.
Dinner was at Sartoria Panatieri, which lived up to the reputation of having the best pizza in europe outside of Italy (and honestly was better than a lot of the pizza we’ve had in Italy). Stuffed to the gills, we tried for a cocktail at 14 de la Rosa, but they were packed, so we settled for churros from Xurreria Trebol/ and a little Mario Kart.
We woke up (relatively) early, after a night I spent trying to sleep and instead heard the church bells chime out the hours (maybe it was the espresso martini from Sips, maybe it was the bright light). Chris walked Katie and I over to Jaç for coffee (I would have loved to hang out there for an hour). In line we made friends with a dog named Boomer and his owners, who had recently moved from LA and chatted with us about the dog immigration process.
We took our coffees to go and headed to La Sagrada Familia. Words still fail. This time, we went up the Passion Tower, which gave us a good view of the city all the way to the ocean. Post, we got another coffee from Blackbird, and struck up a conversation with a group from Milwaukee. Two couples with about twenty years apart—One from the bay originally.
Katie and I got lunch a second time from La Balabusta, and it was just as good as the first.
Following lunch, we went to Casa Batillo, a house Gaudi designed. It had an incredibly strong aquatic theme, with almost every surface curved. Really cool to see.
We then headed back to Chris and Ivees and laid low for a bit. Dinner was a prix fixe at Can Cortada, what seemed to be a super traditional catalan meal:
Completely stuffed, we went home and watched 10 Things I Hate About You, and went to bed.
We woke up, got coffee at Nomad, breakfast at the hotel, and checked out. We got coffee again at Nomad, then headed over to Chris and Ivees. We dropped our bags, and headed to the Joan Miro Foundation. Got some great pics. Post that, we wandered vaguely in the direction of the magic fountain via a park, and posted up there for a while. Then we met up with Chris and Ivee at Sips, then dinner at Planxa del Bisbe, which 100% lived up to our memory of it from last time.
Time shifter recommended I stay up and get bright light, so I’m writing this now, but will head to bed shortly.
We woke up late, lounged around, then got coffee at Nomad. Still fantastic. Got lunch (Croquettes, tuna tartar, shrimp, and bread) at Pimento, then spa and massages.
Post massage, we met up with Ivee and Chris at Lluritu for dinner. Fantastic stuff. Post dinner, we walked back to the hotel (with a slight detoure to a gelato place), and then bed.
We woke up late, then met Chris for a coffee (at Onis, which was cute as hell and tasty) and mini walking tour of Barcelona. It was great catching up. We got lunch at La Balabusta, which was fantastic. Ivee joined us, then we wandered back towwards their apartment. We stopped at Chocolate Amatller, then hung out at their place while Ivee got some work done. For dinner, we went to Bar Brutal, got gelato on the walk home, then bed.
For our last day, we woke up and got coffee at Bonjour Jacob then walked Melissa to her dental appointment. Even though it was only a short bit away, the cold and wind made the walk a bit of a journey. After dropping her off, we went to the largest “para” pharmacie in Paris and stocked up on a few things.
Melissa’s appointment was super fast (thanks nationalized medicine), and then we ended up walking around the 6th some more. We grabbed a brioche chocolat from Aux Marveilluex de Fred, then back to L’Avant Comptoir (de la terre this time). Hunger sated, we gathered our stuff at the hotel and headed to the airport.
By this point, it had started snowing in earnest, and we were glad we had built in a bit of an extra buffer. Even though we didn’t need it, had we left later, the chances that we’d have ended up stuck in traffic due to the first significant snow in nearly a decade was real. Our flight was delayed an hour, but was otherwise uneventful.
Once we landed in Barcelona, it was a quick trip to the hotel. The streets were packed with people out and about for the Cavalcade of Magi, which we had no idea was a thing, but it didn’t cause any issues.
We dropped our bags, and got dinner at Can Framis, a sister restaurant to Casa Lolea. Touristy, but whatever, it’s tasty. Post food, we went to bed.
We took it slow in the morning, wandering through Passage Dauphin to Bonjour Joacob for coffee. Had a nice conversation with a couple from Amsterdam living in Paris with their shiba inu Yuki (which apparently means “snow” and is a common name for female shiba inus). We then attempted to get viennoise from La Maison d’Isabelle, but the line was (predicatbly) nuts so we got some stuff from Bo&Mie. We walked around, eventually ending up on Ile Saint Louis. Got gallets from Creperie Ils Saint Louis (again! completely as good as we remembered). We then ended up at the Musée Carnavalet, got a beer at some brasserie, then headed back to the hotel to rest up for dinner.
Dinner was at Roger La Grenouille, an adorable little psot tucked back inside a little alleyway. I had the boeuf bourguignon, Katie had steak frites, and Melissa had a sausage and cabbage salad. Everything was great. We then ended up back at Le Hibou for a cognac nightcap and discussed the difference between an “hibou” and a “chouette” (chouettes have rounded heads, while hibou have feathery tufts like ears) before bed.
Had a nice slow morning, then got up and walked along Luxembourg Gardins to get coffee from Araku Coffee. It snowed overnight, so the grounds were dusted and white. They were totally undisturbed because the gardins were closed due to some security threat. Post coffee, we got Japanese sandwiches from Yabaï.
We met up with Melissa and did a bit of shopping at the christmas markets au Bon Marche We got dinner at Le Petit Bal Perdu (our waiter Thomas was fantastic, as was the food), then tried to get post-dinner drinks at Grouvie. It was closed for a private event, and some guy in the alleyway tried to get Katie to kiss him…at which point both Melissa and I swooped in. I managed a « Je suis desole! C’est ma mari » (I’m sorry! That’s my husband), which either confused them or got the point across enough to give him pause. Instead we ended up at Pub Saint Germain. Post drinks, we ended up back at the hotel and went to bed. Except we didn’t and instead went to town on the butter, cheese, and bread we had purchased earlier.
Woke up, wandered around! We walked by City Hall which was still decked out with Christmas decorations: pine trees, hot chocolate stands, and a double decker carousel! We hit up a few shops (RSVP, Acne Studios). The Picasso Museum was cool, the building itself is GORGEOUS.
After we came back to the hotel, got drinks at Le Hibou, then a lobster roll and avocado grilled cheese from Homer Lobster.