Before Darren and I met we both had big plans of taking off for Europe after college. He wanted to study art and architecture and I, well I didn’t have a plan really–I just knew I had to see Italy. Darren told me that before we met he had no intentions of getting married before 30. He wanted to study, see the world, and launch his career before he settled into marriage and family.
But life doesn’t often work out the way we plan and the two of us managed to fall in love in college. Darren told me he loved me for the first time the summer after my freshman year when I was only nineteen. As it turns out, I liked him quite a bit too and we married just a couple of months after I finished school. I was 22, he was 24. Somebody should have told us we were just a couple of babies…not that it would have stopped us :]
{This was our second date. Darren cut the picture into the shape of Italy because I talked so much about going there}
All that to say, Europe got put on hold when we decided to start our lives together. We never gave up on it though and Darren actually had a secret little European fund set aside that he had been putting money into for quite some time. I stumbled across his secret stash one time and demanded he tell me what it was for and who his mistress was….but that is a whole other story ;] Darren told me about the whole caper on New Year’s day this year after which I forgave him for not telling me about the money and he forgave me for accusing him of having a mistress ;]
After that we plotted and planned what we would do and where we would go. This is the first post in a series of posts I will be doing about our trip. I hope you enjoy :]
Waiting in the Barcelona airport to begin our trip
Barcelona was our first stop. The sun rising over the Mediterranean and the rugged mountains of Spain were our first glimpse of Europe.
Once we landed in Barcelona we grabbed a coffee and pastry for breakfast before taking off to explore the city. May I just say this coffee and pastry changed my life. It is very sincerely the best thing I have ever tasted in my life. Dunkin Donuts is dead to me. I sit around dreaming about Spanish coffee now. It’s really pathetic.
We only had a few hours in Barcelona before we had to leave for France so we took a bus tour to see as much of the city as possible before we had to leave. Barcelona is beautiful, modern, bustling with the hum of Spanish and mopeds. Like every place we would go after, we tasted just enough of Spain to make us hungry for more. Hopefully someday we’ll be able to return and see Madrid too.
After Spain we went to France; I’ll tell you all about that tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by and sharing in our adventure, friends :]
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Marvelous story!
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Thank you, Shimon. And thank you for always reading and leaving me helpful and encouraging comments.
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Barecelona is one of my favourite cities, shame you only had hours to explore. Although I had only 2 days…
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It was really beautiful and impressive. I viewed it as nothing more than a launch pad to the rest of our trip but it ended up being more than that. Plus Barcelona was the very first stamp in my passport so that was exciting :]
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Yes, that kind of stamp collecting is the best 🙂
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I’ve been to Spain a couple of times when I was younger but don’t remember it very well. Like you, I’ve had a preoccupation with Italy so spend holidays there now. I can’t wait to read about the Italian part of your trip.
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I’ve always been intrigued by Italy for some reason and going there certainly didn’t change my mind. I’m crazier about it now than ever before. We spent the majority of our trip seeing all sorts of places in Italy so I’ll have lots of pictures and stories about it in future posts. Oh, and I’m officially jealous that you live close enough to vacation there. In fact, I hate you now ;]
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Yeh, it’s a privilege I didn’t take advantage of til about three years ago. Before then I would save money and fly far away, to Asia or Africa. Danda is the one who showed me how much amazing stuff is in my back garden, basically. Since then, we’ve holidayed in Europe tons. In February, there was a deal on the trains so Danda and I went to Paris for lunch. Yes, that’s right. A really great Basque restaurant had been recommended to me so we hopped over to Paris. For lunch. That was cool.
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Paris for lunch. Unbelievable :] I hope we make it to Paris and the French countryside someday. Marseilles was beautiful but only just a taste of France.
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Trying fabulous food in a foreign country is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing to have such wonderful food, but a curse if you can’t get the same thing back home.
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You are so right. Now every coffee and pastry I taste is compared to the one in Barcelona…and nothing measures up. But at least I got to try it once :]
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Enjoy your adventure! I cannot wait to see and hear more about your trip. I hope it is everything both of you have dreamed about. Stay safe and enjoy yourselves. DAF
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We are actually already back home safe and sound. We had a wonderful trip and loved Europe…it’s really beautiful and captivating. I’m looking forward to sharing it with everyone here.
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I was wondering why you were commenting and liking my posts when all of Europe was at your fingertips! So glad to know you are back. Cannot wait to see and hear all about it!
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;] No, one of the best things about Europe was getting away from technology for a little while. Funny how you don’t miss it when you’re instead lost in all the beauty of the world around you. Although it is nice to be back in touch with everyone again :]
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you were living life instead of sitting in front of a screen, which, obviously, I am doing today!
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Such a wonderful adventure!
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mmm hmmm! :]
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