[Budapest] in a Splash- Part I

Dear pipsqueaks,

Apart from the near miss of our flight due to the train's delayed departure from Barcelona Sants, the morning went relative as expected. The heat didn't make transporting our luggage any easier, but we survived the 10 minute drag from our hotel. Despite it's hiddenness within the network of Barcelona streets, I adored our stay at the Live&Dream. Definitely Jessy recommended for our next trip here. You will be missed, Barcelona.

The rush was as quick to leave as it was quick to come. We were soon waiting in line to board our plane to, you guessed it, Budapest! I didn't really have much of a chance to become all excited because I was too busy looking for a postbox, except, none could be found. So, I activated the last resort: ask someone local to post them for us. That moment, the scene of the sales girl texting on her phone panned across my view as I skimmed for a potential person to do the job. I observed a little while before approaching, noting her smile and friendliness. There was a good chance she would grant the favour, so I made the move. What great profiling- all she asked was, "are they all ready to send?", and accepted the request in no time. Phew! Done and done. That's one more reason why I hate being in a rush, because imagine how much it would suck to have a stash of postcards all written and ready to go, but no where to post it?! *nightmare* But anyway, no need to freak out- it has been taken care of...this time. Now, the worry is that the girl forgets to mail them or lost them in the process of posting them. Oh, stay positive!

(could this get ANY MORE sketch than Air Asia?) 

Gaudilona aka. [Barcelona]- Part III

Dear pipsqueaks,

The first order of business today was- of course- rush to Sagrada Familia as we were told the wait can be up to a couple of hours long. Oh boy, was it a scary scene by the time we reached there! Suppose the entry begins at 9am in the morning, the line up would have started about 8~8:30am. So imagine the crowd of people when we got there at 9:15am! From our first view of the "Sand Castle"- doesn't it look like a humongous sand castle?!- as we walked out the station (we decided to take public transit because taking our hop-on-hop-off bus would have been way too late to beat the crowd, so we took it straight there from our closest metro), it was literally O-M-G. The end of the line could not be seen because it curved two corners of this gigantic artwork. Weather was also a challenge as the sky was crystal clear of clouds, so the sunlight beamed proudly. I would have loved this weather if we weren't waiting in line. Though, surprisingly, the line moved quite quickly, and within 45 minutes, we were picking up our tickets and headphones preparing to enter! How exciting after a long wait~

The exterior was already an eye opener, with three façades- Nativity, Passion, and Glory- each with their own stories to tell. Even for someone non-religious, it stopped me in my path with its intricate detailing of each element. Construction began in 1882, taken over by Gaudi in 1883, and was only 20% complete at the time of Gaudi's death in 1926, it is STILL incomplete. Suppose its scheduled to be completed in the year 2020? I'll definitely pay a visit to Barcelona just to see the finished presentation. Oh, and how crazy is this?! This is also where Gaudi forever rests, down at the crypt! Story goes, he got hit by a street tram and mistaken for a poor. Upon being taken to a hospital for the poor, he refused to be relocated because he "belonged among the poor". He died three days after the accident and was mourned by all. How unfortunate to have lost such a gem. For the most part, I will leave it up to the photos to speak for themselves...

(finally tracked down the END of the line up! so began the 45min wait...) 

Gaudilona aka. [Barcelona]- Part II

Dear pipsqueaks,

What better way to start the morning than with a fulfilling breakfast? Actually, we weren't sure what to expect but we figured it would be more troublesome to find breakfast outside of the hotel anyway, so we dealt with it at Live&Dream. Surprisingly, it was better than I expected. Though they didn't have a large selection, the tiny breakfast lounge catered the necessary: toast, tea/coffee, sliced sausages, fresh fruits, cereal, and a mini fridge with fresh milk, juice and several cups of yogurt. As usual, we took a little bit of everything, filling up the table to the maximum. But no worries, nothing was wasted except that weird hot chocolate which tasted so funky no matter how much water I put in it- or maybe I put too much. Anyway, summary: don't try their hot chocolate powder.

(such a cute & simple set up- love it!)

("That's where we're going tomorrow!" said le sister) 

(Yes, we finished ALL that...)