Barcelona

After 3 amazing days in Rome, Emily and I flew to Barcelona for the remainder of our spring break. There are sometimes really cheap flights within Europe, which is what made all of this possible. One of the flights we got cost nothing; we only had to pay the tax (I think it was around 20 Euros).

Rome was definitely my favorite, but there were some nice things about Barcelona too, like the beach! We rented bicycles and rode along the beach one day- that was probably my favorite part. And the last day we were there it was warm enough for me to wear my flip-flops!

More pictures can be found HERE.






This is one of the buildings by architect Antoni Gaudi.


There was a lot of live music by the beach. Here's a clip from a band called Made In Barcelona:

ROME!!!

So, I got home from Austria late Sunday night, and had just enough time to unpack, repack, sleep a little, return my snowboarding boots, and hop on a plane to meet my friend Emily in Rome on Monday. I could spend hours talking about Rome. I loved it so much!! It was beautiful- everywhere you looked. It was so green! The food was delicious!! Lasagna, spaghetti, pizza... And the wine was delicious too. We went to a lot of the main tourist attractions: the Vatican, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon...and we spent the rest of the time just wandering- until we found a nice shop or a good place to eat or, of course, some gelato :) I loved every minute. Here are just a few of the hundreds of pictures that I took- and you can see more HERE.

The Alps

At the end of February I was able to go the Austrian Alps with Young Life- the organization that I volunteer with. What an awesome time! The snow was great, the weather was great, I got to snowboard for 5 days, need I say more??

I really didn't know how good the conditions would be- being from Colorado, I have high expectations :) - but I should have known the Alps would be GREAT. And I've been told that they're even better in Italy and France.

There were a couple of "perks" that I have not seen at the resorts in Colorado: First, the main chair lift had a big plastic (or maybe glass) cover that came down to keep you warm. Very nice! Second, I never had to take my pass out of my pocket to have someone scan it- I just went right up to the turnstile and it would detect it and let me through (kind of like the Express Toll).

While on the trip I tried snow-shoeing for the first time. It was cool, but much more work than snowboarding. I must admit that at one point I said, "Where's the chair lift?" I also learned an important lesson: When asked whether you want to go in the 1st snow-shoeing group or the 2nd, always choose the 2nd. Let the 1st group make the path!! ;)

Here are some pictures- and you can see more by clicking HERE.