Hailey Schellin's Barcelona Adventures!

Friday April 13: Arrived to Nice! We got dinner and drink at the hostal since we got in late. Our hostal was SO COOL! There’s a big bar area that everyone goes to, and can lounge, eat, and use the computers down there! Before we went to bed, I talked to the owner of the hostal who explained exactly the sights and cities we should see! Get excitedddd

Sat April 14: Train to to city of Antibes! Once we got out of the train, there was a straight DOWNPOUR of rain coming down. So much so that it was impossible to find a cab because they were all on call! By the time we got in a cab, we wondered if we should just have it drive through the city and drop us back off at the train station so we wouldn’t risk missing the train! Anyways, we got the big fruit and flower market which was beautiful. They even were selling herbs and spices, packs of lavender, and handmade soaps - some things I am not generally used to seeing in these markets! Then we walked through the downpour back to the train station and got on our train to Cannes! Because it was raining, we decided to walk around and shop, and then obviously see the pretty sandy beach! After all of this, we headed back to the hostal to prepare for the night ahead of us - Monaco/Monte Carlo! We took the train to Monaco, and then a lady from our train guided us to the famous Monte Carlo casino. Just walking around, you could tell everything was the richy rich (the cars, the stores, the hotels). We then got some dinner at Restaurant Alextony and then got ready to head inside the casino! No pictures or cellphones are allowed once you enter the Monte Carlo Casino (not even at the bar), so we took care of pictures on the outside! Once we got in, we went to this incredibly nice bar area that was all blue. It was carpeted blue, had extravagant curtains, blue couches, walls made out of silk, gold on the ceiling..you name the nicest things - they were there. Everything looked untouchable. There were some people sitting around like this was their normal routine, yet there were also some that looked like tourists. As much as we wanted to take pictures of everything, it made sense why there are no pictures or cellphones allowed. It made the whole experience seem so much more exclusive and VIP than anything in Vegas. Then we walked in the room of slot machines, and then to the room of tables. I was sooo nervous I couldn’t gamble! Lindsey went to play roulette, and the guy next to her put down a 500 euro bill while she put down a 10 euro bill (bc the table said it was a 10 euro minumum)! Turns out that the stakes were higher at that point in the game! It was honestly just hilarious to watch the two different bills placed on the table! I even saw on some other tables that the maximum bet was 50,000 euro - LIKE WHAT! After observing and walking around, we walked to the next door “Hotel de Paris” - which is in the movie Monte Carlo (Jessie and I watched it before we went to the French Riviera!). We heard they could stamp our passports for the country of Monaco, however we were wrong. Jessie and I saw the sign for the pool upstairs, so we went to go see it when we then got in trouble because we were not guests of the hotel! As we were giggling walking away, I asked Jessie “how close were you?” and she responded “literally saw the door that said swimming pool on it” HAHAHA. 

Sun April 15: Took the bus to Eze Village! Thank goodness it wasn’t raining today! This Village is a 15th century village on the top of a hill that views all of the French Riviera. Once we got off the bus, we went in a perfumerie and then walked around a small market. After, we started walking up the small cobblestone streets, in order to get to the top view point. Once we reached the viewpoint, we were all speechless. UTTERLY AMAZED. I can honestly say, that is the best view I have ever seen in my lifetime. There was cactus all along the area of the top view point as well. Once we got all the way down, we took the bus back to Nice, and got off for lunch near the port. This was something I enjoyed so much because I was able to wander and look at all the boats and yachts. We spotted a HUGE YACHT, like this thing should almost be recognized as a cruise ship for heavens sake. After all this touring, we headed back to the hostal for happy hour, where we met some fun New Zealanders (kiwi’s) and South Africans that work on the yachts in Nice and Monaco. Overall, successful day and night!

Monday April 16: Now it was time to tour Nice! We walked along Nice’s coastline, and then went down to the water to touch the Mediterranean for the first time! Afterwards, we made our way to the Antique market. Let me tell you, I have never seen such an EXPENSIVE antique market. This market was set up like a Swap Meet, yet there were women selling REAL, vintage Chanel jewelry & handbags, Hermes, Louis Vuitton! I WANTED EVERYTHING. Once we walked all through the market, we got our bags from the hostal, headed to the Russian Cathedral, and then got to the airport!

April 12: Stephanie’s family is in town and they decided to get a table at Opium for the whole crew! So, we all met up at our apartment and then headed to the bar Taberna for some “Shakira’s” and popcorn! After, we headed to Opium and had SOOO MUCH FUNNN! I’m gonna miss these Opium nights :( <3

April 10: Me, Michelle, and Lindsey hiked Tibidabo! It was quite the trek but it was so worth it! It rained on us for a little, but we managed! Once we got to the top, we went in the church that has Jesus with open hands on the top! In fact, we went up the towers and got to be right at the base of Jesus! It was  sooooo cool but I was starting to get a bit frightful, so we got our pics and got outta there! Then we went and looked at all the rides, and ate a popsicle while looking the view of all of Barcelona! Now, it was the opposite view point of the W hotel! Then we went to George Payne’s later that night to watch the soccer match!

Just drinkin and loungin at the W hotel!

So, I know it has been awhile (for those of you who read my blog), but here’s the update!

March 29: My parents finally arrived..ahemm on the day of the biggest strike in Spain! Their luggage got lost due to the strike too! Regardless, I WAS SO EXCITED TO SEE THEM! We went to my mother and my favorite Sangria restaurant called Rossello on La Rambla for dinner! Limoncello shots on the house! Mom and I split a calzone that was ginormous! Afterwards, the whole crew went bar hopping (me, mom, dad, Michelle, & Jessie)..just trying to fulfill my dads desires for his trip to visit me: “I’m only drinking alcohol and getting dehydrated”! Adventures, adventures…

March 30: Showed fabio the famous “La rambla”! We ate some lunch while on La rambla and then decided to do the Barcelona bus tour! We saw so much stuff on the bus, even stuff that I had not yet seen (and I live here for gosh sake)! We got off the bus on “passeig de gracia” and did some shopping damage in Zara! This was enough shopping for daddyo sooo off to a bar (Bar International to be precise)! We met Michelle in the Born District for some Mexican beers/margaritas and dinner at “la hacienda”! We did some bar hopping in the born district after! Our final bar hop, near our hotel on La Rambla, was a cervezeria where I tried some garlic prawns for daddyo! Since i tried that, he tried the Spanish appetizer of patatas bravas- aka it was NOT a fair deal haha!

March 31: Took the fam to Bo de b! Had a victorious lunch with some brews!Showed the fam around Port Vell and then went back to the hotel for a little siesta due to their jetlag! After taking a siesta just as the Spaniards do, we went shopping around the gothic district and found mommy some espadrille shoes! After some shopping, it was time for a drank! We went to a bar on La Rambla called Maximum that gives extraaaa large beverages! By that time it was dinner time, so meesh and I took them to De Greco (an Italian restaurant that gives a side dish of everyone’s meal so the rest of the table can try what you ordered)! HAD THE BEST EXPERIENCE EVER THERE! First of all, THE father of “De Greco (aka the chef) was our waiter! Then, while simply enjoying our meal we ordered, the waitress brought out a new dish that the chef wanted us to try! Ohhh this only happened a mere 7 times! Yes, I repeat, 7 extra dishes! Needless to say, the chef loved us! We were extremely full and thanked THE De greco chef in person!

April 1: Depart Barcelona and arrive into Memminghem, Germany! We saw the most beautiful views outside our plane window while landing in Germany! Personally, I thought it was more green coming into Germany than it was for Dublin! Got picked up at the airport by the most German looking man everrr holding up a sign saying my daddy’s name (michelle’s dream come true)! We arrived to our hotel in Munich..(which had mini Haribo gummy bear packs on our pillows because Haribo is a german company) & then walked to the main square of Munich where we stopped for some lunch! Lunch was at the Augistiner Brewery..funny moment: jay says to the waiter, “what kind of beer do you guys have?” the waiter chuckles and gives us the look that we are stupid Americans and says, “Augistiners”. Lunch was all around German- pretzels on the table and my “cold” ‘salad’, as stated by the waiter, actually consisted of purely cold raw-looking meat. After lunch we hopped on the Munich tour bus which wasn’t all that swell, so we decided to get crazzzzy and get off at daddy’s favorite: the Hofbrauhaus! The Hofbrauhaus was unlike anything I have seen before! Basically, it was a bunch of picnic style tables of strangers sitting together and drinking beer together! Once the german music started, people were dancing and singing in extremely German outfits! I thought it was a joke but it was people actually wearing those outfits! We had a grand old time drinking out of mugs bigger than my face! Fun fact: my dad told me that in order to work there as a woman, you have to hold 4 beer mugs per hand! Now, these aren’t just any mugs-each of these mugs has to weigh 2 lbs, and that’s without beer in it! We met a german older couple who was trying to talk to us and it was so funny bc they knew like 3 words in english and we know like 3 words in german! They kept telling me I looked like Lindsey Von and it took me the longest time to understand! Nana was texting my mom and told us to go see our family street name, yet my Dad thought it was 2 hours away from Munich. How wrong was he….I pull out the map to look, and there it is - one of the main streets listed on the map: Schelling! Dad bought a couple mugs for the office and then peaced out!

April 2: Got up n adam to take a tour to the Neuschwanstein castle where King Ludwig wanted to be separated from his people(2 hours away from Munich)! Waking up from our previous fun-filled night, mom thought we missed our tour Hahah! We met our Persian tour guide who used to be a history professor at a university in Switzerland, and is from Switzerland! He started off the tour by getting into a fight with this Asian man that needed to go the restroom while the train was sitting at the station, however it’s law that you cannot (due to the gross fact that the toilet is basically just a opening to the train tracks!)! We took pictures(that look like postcards!) along this rickety bridge that overlooked the castle and towns surrounding the castle! Once we got into the castle, we learned all about the EVIL King Ludwig who put Germany into debt by building several castles for himself, some of which he didn’t even live in! There exists the whole mystery of whether King Ludwigs drowning death was a murder or suicide since he and his doctor(whom found Ludwig to be insane) we’re found floating together! The castle was obviously very extravagant on the inside and tried to look medieval but it was really not that old! Mom and I noticed that King Ludwigs favorite animal was a swan-pretty on the outside but mean on the inside- just like Ludwig! After all our time at the castle, we ventured off to the very nearby city of Fussen! Fussen is a small town that is absolutely precious! We had the most amazing dinner in Fussen; mom wants to go back! Once we trained back to Munich, we caught a cab to Schelling street to take a couple pics(for those of you that do not know, Schelling changed to Schellin when they came to states)! This was such a highlight for all 3 of us! I would definitely have to say we were in shock seeing OUR NAME on a street sign in Germany! Just tracing back the family heritage i guesssss!

April 3: Off to Salzburg! We took the same tour company as the Neuschwanstein castle! Once again, another 2 hour train ride! Once we arrived, I was in shock! I can understand why my Dad loved Salzburg so much because it is such a pretty, cute, and quaint town! We walked through the gardens outside the palace where many scenes of “The Sound Of Music” was filmed…unfortunately I have yet to see the movie (YES, i know thats weird), but now when I watch it, it will have so much more meaning since I have been there! We also saw where Mozart lived and grew up! We were lucky enough to see these BEAUTIFUL trees that are generally only in bloom for 10 days - perfect timing! We crossed over the huge and fast river to head to the old town. There was a street that is required to keep all the old wrought-iron signs for the shops (Getreidegasse). My man, Rick Steves, even mentioned how the McDonald’s on that street, of course, made their sign the largest on the street! We went and looked inside the Cathedral (which was STUNNING), the cemetery (which was a scene from Sound of Music), and then hiked up to the bottom of the Fortress (since Salzburg is surrounded by Roman Ruin walls)! We went to a lunch where we sat outside in the middle of the street and the waiter was super rude (which we heard might happen in Austria). We bought some hand-made pretzels for the train ride the next day, went to Cafe Bazar for a glass of wine (which overlooks the bridge and river), and then re-grouped at the hotel for dinner and the purchase of our train tickets to Venice. After getting our tickets, we went to the nearby Steigelbrau Hotel (the beer of Salzburg) for some dinner! Went back to the hotel and was casually watching some tv, when on the international news they showed DALLAS BEING BOMBARDED BY TORNADO’s THAT WERE LIFTING HUGE TRUCKS! Needless to say, the Cour is safe and sound! pheeeew

April 4: Off to Venice! We took a 2 hour train and a 3 hour bus ride..it was sorta funny but sorta miserable! Mommy was NOT too happy about that travel route. Obviously I was starting to get delirious on the last portion of the drive…it just happens! Then we got on the large boat that shuttles people to Venice from the mainland. Once we got off, we decided to take a well-needed small dinner break since we were starting to get a little frustrated from a long day of traveling. As we started to find our way to the Hotel, it was a bit confusing and we were a tad lost because the sign to our hotel was facing the opposite direction we were coming! So, as mom and I tried to pinpoint the exact location of the hotel (because we knew we were SO CLOSE), we set Dad at a nearby pub with the the luggage to come back and find him. They showed us to our hotel room which was across the way, down a super narrow street, and viewed the main street we were on. Mom and I walked down to the nearby grocery store to concoct some rum ‘n’ cokes. We got ready for the night out, walked to rialto bridge, and walked around for awhile when we got SUPER lost according to our map! haha so we stopped for a wine break, and then had the server point us in the right direction of the big boat to take us back to the hotel! 

April 5: Woke up for our hotel free breakfast! After breakfast we headed to St Marks Square, St. Marks Basilica and the Doge’s Palace. We only went on the mini inside part of the Basilica because there was a mass going on, but then we proceeded onto Doge’s Palace. Doge’s Palace was SUPER big and SUPER intricately designed—SO Italy. As mom said, if Italy would get rid of all the gold off their ceilings and walls, there would be less poor people! We went and saw the prison inside the Doge’s Palace which was connected by the “Bridge of Sighs”. The Bridge of Sighs was the bridge that prisoners walked across in the palace, while being escorted to prison. They would take one last look outside the small window to see the beauty of Venice, and then sigh in sadness. Apparently it has now become a good luck charm to kiss under the bridge while on a gondola, however, we decided thats just a bit too weird to believe. Our Gondola driver said the same. YES, WE WENT ON A GONDOLA RIDE IN VENICE! Mom and I spotted our favorite and most beautiful black and gold Gondola, and we became set on that EXACT one. First we drank a bottle of vino and tried some italian tiramisu, where we also met who would be water taxiing us to the airport the following day! Then, we went back to the place we spotted our Gondola, and he was still there! Mom and I were literally so excited our hearts were racing! IT WAS A HUGE HIGHLIGHT FOR ME! The gondola driver was full of so many facts and told us that the gondola business is something that is family tradition passed down from father to son (he was 6th generation)! He also showed us this church that has steps that lead into the water where some people get married, and ride in on a white gondola - i was set on it, sooo our gondola driver said he could do all this for me if I married him, and it then became an agreement! ;) After this, mom and I went out to do some damage - shoppinggggg! 

April 6: Woke up and attended the free breakfast again. Then, mom and I decided to finish up our handbag shopping for friends and family! Mom became convinced that she wants to sell italian purses in the states…she literally asked my Dad how she could do it! After some more damage, we met up with our water taxi - which ended up being a water limo! IT WAS BEAUTIFUL! ANOTHER HIGHLIGHT OF MINE! It was a huge wooden boat, with an underneath section of leather seats. It felt like we were roalty. The water limo driver shot down all my hopes and dreams by telling me that there is no women water taxi drivers! whaaaaaaaaat - lame. Its okay because I came up with a new proposition for him saying that I would be the bartender or assistant of the vessel! duhhhhh les party peopleeee!

April 7: Mommy and Daddy leaveee! wahhh! Its okay, my other family was in town! I met up with the Loftus family and we shopped around the Gothic District. Then, later on, we went to the W Hotel for a drink on their top floor. Let me tell you, it was the most spectacular view of Barcelona I have EVER seen. & the drinks were great! I wish my parents went as well to see it, but we just thought the hotel was SO far away, when really it’s closer than we thought! After hanging up there for awhile, we went down to the bottom of the hotel where there were some restaurants along the sand. We ordered some paella, and then we were given some limoncello shots on the house - after we had just been raving on how gross limoncello is! Mr Loftus and I took the shooter like champs!

April 8: EASTER SUNDAY! Went with the Loftus family to Easter mass at Sagrada Familia. It was aaaamazing. They had volunteers do the mass in each language, which made it that much more beautiful. I swear, I get the chills each and every time I go to mass in that place. Afterwards, we went up to Parc Guell which was the most crowded I have ever seen it! Once we completed Parc Guell, we took the train to Sitges to show her family around. We went to dinner at a chicken place there, got some easter candy for the train ride home, and then went home!

VALENCIA, ESPANYA

friday, march 23: Yaaaaa lets sit on a bus for 4 hours to go to valencia. Considering I only had 2 hours of sleep from the night before, it felt like it was going to be the start of an interesting adventure haha. On the bus, Michelle and I started getting into some high school remembrances. In fact, we created a game where we had to remember: each dress we wore to each dance, who we went with, how we got asked, & how we asked our date! It was quite hilarious and people sleeping probably wanted to kill us blabbermouths hahah. Once arriving into Valencia, we decided to partake in the CEA provided walking tour and bus tour that happens at each location they take us to. (fun fact: someone told me that CEA was mentioned on the website betcheslovethissite.com as the most BETCH program…..sooo true, i admit-were spoiled!) The city ended up being quite small; small enough to understand the area and figure your way around. The bus tour ended at the Museum of Arts and Sciences & the aquarium (aka one of the most famous aquariums of Europe!) Now, we all know the love that I hold in my heart for aquariums, sea world, etc. However, it was decided that we can go to any aquariums while at home…gotta prioritize my time in order to see the world..DUH! Anyways, in this area we got amazing pictures that almost looked fake. It was beautiful. The structure kind of reminded me of the famous Sydney Opera House that everyone thinks of when they think of Australia. After all of this, we decided to do some bar hopping in the Barrio de Carmen area! The first place we went to, that our walking tour guide advised us to, was Cafe Lisboa. After this, Michelle, our friend Justin, and I ran into some more of our friends at a close-by Mexican restaurant and bar! We decided to get some chips’n’guac as well as their minty mojitosss! Next was two irish pubs! This night was so fun, and to hangout with some peeps that we generally don’t get to hang out with that much!

saturday, march 24: started the day off with the glorious free breakfast of the hotels! Now, when I say glorious..i mean it…aka i was drinking mimosas at breakfast sluuuuurppp! After breakfast, we went to another tour provided by CEA that was of the Roman Ruins that existed within the city of Valencia. This was cool seeing intricate foundations, and even some SKELETONS of that time period! One skeleton was of a soldier that had been brutally beaten & tortured, legs amputated n all….some other skeletons we got to see were of a family in a tomb: a mother, father, and baby. On those skeletons were some of their most prized possessions that they wanted buried with them: belt buckles, jewelry (a gold ring-looked timeless)! After the roman ruins, we went to the central market which is very similar to la bouqueria (barcelona) & san miguel market (madrid)! Tried one of the juices, as usual some interesting arrangements of meat- including a pigs head! like what do people really do with the pigs head?! ewwww. Following this, we proceeded on to the Saint Mary of Valencia Cathedral that holds the Holy Grail (now, if your like my mom and know your supposed to know what that is, yet you forgot….its the chalice that Jesus drank out of at the Last Supper!)! I was fascinated! Apparently there are several churches that say they hold the true Holy Grail, soo some confusion exist, but this one is supposebly the truest one! However, there are some other forms of the Holy Grail including the plate that Jesus ate off of at the Last Supper. Following all of these touristy things we had to see, we went to a nearby pub to watch the Barca game vs Mallorca! We won, obviouslyyyyy. But even more importantly, this pub had a LIGHT BEER! The first light beer I have seen in all of Spain..no joke. I was clearly excited! For dinner, we went to Wok to Walk to have something warm! Ya, well, michelle and i got spicy sauce like we did last time, however it was sooo spicy it was almost impossible to enjoy it! the lady warned us, but we must have thought we were invincible….Not only did we die of spicy sauce, we died because thats just not the best type of food on our stomachs…end of story: we ruined it, were terrible at doing wok, i am never doing it again for how much pain i was in..hahha. Got some frozen yogurt to calm our mouths down (PS valencia has SO much frozen yogurt..like on every corner! get with it barcelona!) went back to the hotel, watched the haunted mansion on television, and went to sleep!

Sunday, march 25: morning mimosas, and back to barcelona! yayyyyyyyyy

EVERY DAY I’M DUB-LIN!

Friday, March 16: Arrive into Dublin Ireland! I was already greenly prepared and started the trip out by wearing my green flats! We took a cab to our hotel & had the most hilarious, nice, Irish older man taxi driver! He was joking with us the entire cab ride..Michelle, Sachi & I were literally in laughter the entire way. Upon arriving to the hotel, us sketch balls made sure to not get caught for fitting 6 of us into a 2 person room! Now, in Europe, a 2 person room literally means a 2 person room…sooooo you can imagine our funny difficulties. After settling in and getting some lunch, we found the famous store “Carroll’s” where you could find any and every Irish souvenir possible! We went crazzzzzy in there getting gifts and costumes for the following day-ST PATTYS! We continued to walk around and shop..we found a forever 21! Now that we got our girlie time, it was time to do our own pub crawlin! After some brewskis, it was time for meesh, brooke, & I to head to the Guinness brewery! Found out that the St. James Guinness is the largest brewery in the world, Guinness is the #1 stout beer, and that mr Guinness himself had signed a 9000 year lease for the building when starting the beer! All facts that we were completely surprised by! And if these facts weren’t enough to surprise us…there was 1 more big one. THE GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS IS CREATED BY GUINNESS! like why didn’t I ever put that together-i have no idea? Anyways, the book was started bc Guinness was interested in hunting fast birds, and which bird he found to be the fastest of all game. He had a dispute with a friend about this, which led him to the idea of creating a book that listed records that bartenders would have to settle disputes that their customers would have while in their bars! Sooo, he created the Guinness book of world records…fun fact #2 about that was that the 1st book published didn’t even have the fastest bird game listed (aka the whole reason he created the book) haha! Continuing on, we completed our “Guinness certification” and then headed to the “badass cafe” for dinner with the rest of the crew! After some live music and dinner we headed to the infamous “temple bar”! If you don’t already know, temple bar is the famous street packed with bars! Our favorite bar of the entire weekend was gitzsimmons! This is bar where basically all of U of A was reunited! This bar was 5 stories, with a top deck—where Sachi broke a beer glass and the ENTIRE bar clapped at her! HILARIOUS!

Saturday, March 17:

MERRY ST PATTY’S DAY! We have been anxious for this day since January. Time is flying. Pause: WE ARE CELEBRATING ST PATRICK’S DAY IN DUBLIN IRELAND….like what?! I GET TO WEAR ME SOME GREEN PANTS yayyyyy! Now, we had heard that Dublin had bagels, soooo we were all pretty pumped about that. We started off at “the bagel shop” for some breakfast & then headed to a small restaurant for some irish coffee with Baileys (yummm!) ! I would have to say we were starting the morning off right! After this, we headed to a pub near the parade, so we would know when the parade started! We ended up running into some of our guy friends in the pub, & then continued on to the parade with them, as well as some other nearby pubs! Just so you can get a visual of all of this…just think of the color green. Anyone you walk by, any bar you walk into, any decoration around the city…EVERYTHING WAS GREEN. it was amazing! everyone was so enthusiastic & everyone was dressed up in costume-like attire to show off their green! IT WAS SOO FUN! The rest of the day we went on to Temple Bar which was flooded with people, and obviously all the U of A peeps that are studying abroad! For the small piece of irish heritage that’s in my blood, I have never been more proud! There is merely no other way to describe this St. Patty’s day as utterly amazing! Guess you will just have to see it yourself to truly understand what I mean..until then, you will just have to take my word on it ;)

Sunday, March 18:

Had an early flight home, got some subway for lunch (making Daddy proud!) in Barcelona & thoroughly enjoyed it! MEESH FINALLY FOUND HER RANCH!..the only place so far that we have seen that had ranch! Nomssssssss