Barcelona

After the 8+ hour flight from NYC, we couldn't wait to check out Barcelona--being jet-lagged didn't even faze us! We took a cab to our hotel, checked-in, dropped our bags, and headed out. We stayed at Hotel Royal Ramblas right on Las Ramblas Blvd., and our room actually overlooked Las Ramblas (a Lincoln Road-style street where millions of people roam, dine, drink and shop). Check out the view!

We were here 5 days and 4 nights which is plenty! The best thing we did was take the hop-on, hop-off bus for about 20 euros per person and it takes you to all of the main attractions and landmarks of the city all day. The bus comes and goes from each spot every 15 minutes, and it includes earphones for a guided tour. We were able to see all of Barcelona this way.
La Sagrada Familia was definitely a must-see. It's amazing how this soon-to-be cathedral has been under construction for over 100 years and the completion date is still so far away. It was truly one of the most amazing sites we saw on our trip.
We also window-shopped at the Rodeo Drive-ish blvd called Passieg de Gracia (and at every El Corte Ingles, Zara, TopShop and H&M in town); and strolled along the boardwalk of Barceloneta Beach. But the best attraction of Barcelona i.m.h.o. was the food! (Ok, ok, this was the best attraction in all the places we visited...) My parents suggested this amazing restaurant located in the Gothic district called Los Caracoles. It was so worth getting lost and almost getting pick-pocketed! And the one day we were able to get internet at our hotel (25 euros per day!) Nelson found a highly-recommended restaurant called El Convent. It's an old nun's convent converted to one of the yummiest places I've ever been.

I can go on and on about Barcelona, but I don't want to bore you with too many details so I'll just give you snippets of our favorites. All in all, Barcelona was a beautiful, OLD city with lots of history, great food and sangria, and snobbish people. They purposely do not speak a lick of Spanish and turn up their noses to Americans. But we didn't care...we're on our honeymoon!

Blogging Hiatus is OVER!

We're back to business baby! I'm all settled in (well, sorta...) as a brand new Mrs. and have taken a long-enough break from my blog. It's time to share the deets!

I have been dying to share my reviews about our wedding but I wanted to fill them in with pretty pictures and they're just not ready yet. So therefore, I'll be working backwards and I'll share the honeymoon reviews first!

Our honeymoon was dreamy :) It was planned many moons ago back in February. I knew I wanted to get away as far as possible and after doing lots and lots and lots of research, we decided on a 7-day Mediterranean cruise filled with lots of stops so that we can see as much as possible while we're there (while on a budget of course). We sailed on the NCL Jade, and with the help of NCL employee friends (that's you Gabriel and Louis!), we were able to book the balcony suite at a great price! We're so glad we did--Waking up to see a beautiful new land from our balcony was amazing!

Next up was booking the flights. (Here's where I'm most proud of my budget-brain!) We had racked up enough AA miles to fly to Europe and back FOR FREE! Well, not entirely free--we paid $60 each for taxes. But besides that, FREE!!! A little pre-planning goes a long way, people! We flew out to NYC and Barcelona 5 days before our cruise, flew to Madrid for 2 days after the cruise, then unfortunately returned to Miami.

The Mr. is working on a cute lil video montage to post on here, but in the meantime I'll give you post-by-post reviews of all the wonderful places we visited.

Stay tuned...