01.12.21 - 31.12.21

I´m like suuuuuper late with this December post. There was just so many things happening and then I got so lazy all of a sudden, but better late than never 😄 😊 Hope you like the post! 

01.12.21: I finally had the MRI, which I wanted from the beginning 👍 I was explained that it´s not the best idea to take the photo right away after the accident, so I had to wait for some time. My mother had to drive me to another city since there weren´t any available options in Tartu. My leg was put into the machine for 20 minutes and then we drove back home. I had another doctor´s appointment in a few days so we were supposed to get the answer then 💪

04.12.21: I spent the day with my friends, we talked, watched movies and had a lot of fun. In the evening we decided to check out the Christmas tree in the city 🎄 We drove to the city, walked around for some time.. as much as I could and decided to sit down in a café.

Hedi and Triin by the Christmas tree 🎄💚

We went to our favourite place called Werner 😁 It´s been our go-to place for some years already and it never disappoints. We ordered some cake and warm drinks.

Our cakes 😋

Time flew by when talking about everything. It wasn´t too late, but definitely late enough, so we drove back home and decided to continue our discussions the next day.

13.12.21: Hedi wanted a photo with the Christmas tree so we drove to the city again 🚗 We were supposed to go to the shopping centre real quick and then to the tree, but my Christmas present for Àlex took longer than I expected so we stayed at Lõunakeskus😄

Hedi and a Christmas tree

Hedi got some cool pics and me and Triinu joked around. Later on we drove back home and Hedi showed us the Hamilton. It´s a musical about the same named guy and talks about his life. It was surprisingly interesting, but rather long, so we didn´t get to finish it that night 

14.12.21: The day before my flight my mother and I spent some time in the city. She had to take care of some business she had in the city so it gave me a chance to check out the book stores 😁 I found new poetry books that I liked and managed to buy one for the flight 💪 Later on I met up with the girls again. I was dying to get back to Hedi´s house. She had a new cat, who was as white as snow and as soft as a feather 🐈😻😻😻😻

This is Snow, Hedi´s little kitten 😍💛

I just wanted to cuddle up beside him and pet him the whole day. The cat was rather shy at first, but I spent some time getting to know him the day before so he was fine with sitting on my lap already. We took some photos with the lovely kitty and let him rest. I played with him later in the evening and he seemed to enjoy getting all the attention 😁

15.12.21: We landed in Barcelona at 15. It was the second time in the city for my mom. We had to leave the house very early in the morning so we were both quite tired when we finally arrived at the house. Àlex´s parents were still there, we got to say quick hellos and off they went to Brussels. I was a bit sad that both of our parents couldn´t spend much time together, but at least they finally got a chance to meet 💛

The weather was fantastic when we arrived, and the sunset.. wow😍

After we´d rested for a bit we went out and I showed Passeig de Gracia to my mom. It was super crowded, even more noisy than usually, but extremely beautiful in Christmas lights 😍

Christmas lights in Passeig de Gracia

We took some photos and moved on to the next street. I took her to see where Àlex works, spent some time at the restaurant and went back home. It was a long day for both of us and we were very tired 😴

16.12.21: It was finally time for my Spanish class after a month of being away 😆 I tried to do as much as I could back at home, but it wasn´t the same as being in the class with others. Most of the class didn´t know I´m coming back already, so they were quite surprised to see me there and without the crutches 💪 They continued with a new part which I didn´t know too much about, so I listened and made some notes. Later on my teacher gave me a lot of worksheets so I could catch up on everything.

After the class me and my mother went to Placa Catalunya and barrio Gótico. We walked around, I showed her the cathedral and decided to buy tickets to enter the cathedral some day. I showed her the carrer del Bisbe and explained the story about the knife in the scull under the bridge. 

Carrer del Bisbe bridge

Under the bridge you can find a human skull with a dagger piercing though it. Nobody knows what´s it doing there, but there´s an urban legend saying that if the knife is removed from the skull, Barcelona will crumble to the ground.

17.12.21: In the morning my mom and I went out for a quick walk around the neighbourhood. My mom wanted to see every part there was, she asked a lot of questions about everything and I felt like I was a local guide 😄 It was so fun for me actually, I didn´t know every answer, but the interest to know made me search the answers,  so I got to learn something new while getting to know every little corner of Vallcarca. 

Flowers blooming and pigeons nesting

For lunch we had a reservation for our favourite sushi place Kyoka 😋🍣 I absolutely love the food there. I would literally go there every day if I could 😂 It was so funny this time, when we entered a waitress came toward us and started scolding Àlex, she said that it´s been too long since she last saw us. Usually we eat there 2-4 times a month, but this time we had a little longer gap. Anyway we were seated in the back where we ate when we came the first time.

SUSHIII 😍😋😋

We ordered a lot of different things and had a lot of fun. The food was super delicious as always 😋 I´m getting hungry already thinking about it.. 😂

In the evening we returned to Lesseps, walked around, bought some clothes and ended up in Passeig de Gracia. Since we were walking by the best croquetas stand I know, we decided to buy some and also churros 😋😍 I showed the fanciest stores to my mother and we took some photos of her with Casa Milà and Casa Batlló 📸 🏰 

The streets look just amazing 😍

18.12.21: The last time I visited Tibidabo was in 2020. Since you can see it on the bridge when walking home, I also showed it to my mom the first day when we arrived. We decided to go and see this magnificent building 😁 We took a metro to Placa Catalunya, then a train till Peu del Funicular, then the funicular from Vallvidrera Inferior to Vallvidrera Superior. After that it was supposed to be a quick bus ride up till the mountain, but there were soooo many people that we ended up waiting maybe 40 minutes. 😱 The buses had like a 12-15 person limit, and we were positioned by the stop, but bus stopped before the sign so we didn´t manage to get on the first 2 buses. After some time we finally got on the bus and drove up the hill. The weather was perfect on the lower floors, but a bit foggy to see everything from the roof. I climbed up till the second level and stayed there with Àlex till my mom checked out the higher parts. It was really fun! 😊😊

In front of Sacred Heart Church with my mom and a view from the second level

After that it was time to start looking for the restaurant we´d made reservation for 🥘 It´s the season of calçots so that´s what we were eating. 

12 calçots for everyone with romesco or allioli sauce, croquetas, and then meat with beans and potatoes

Calçots - which are like a mix of scallion and leek- and a lot of meat. YUM 😋 Eating calçots is quite a show actually, you need gloves and an apron and a lot of tissues 😄 It´s rather messy, but very fun. I usually don´t like vegetables, but calçots with the romesco sauce is great.

Our desserts were accompanied by this magnificent view

We had some dessert and it was time to get back home. It was quite late already and we were very very full, gladly we didn´t have to walk for too long and got on the train we used in the morning and a metro 👍

19.12.21: It was time for Park Güell!! I was so excited 😆😍💪 I hadn´t been there since February of 2020. We bought the tickets (10€) and got on our way.  

The sky was clear so we could see everything till the sea

The way there is all uphill and it was so funny for me because I´m always complaining about the hills here and finally my mother got to see what I´ve been talking about 😄 We entered the park from a side I´ve used only once with Àlex in 2019, so I wasn´t too sure about where we were exactly, but it ended up being for the best. We saw parts I hadn´t seen before and slowly moved towards the lower levels.

These parts I already knew, but are one of my favourites

To my surprise we could enter the mirador part and everything underneath also. Usually the park was free and you had to pay 35€ for the mirador and the lower part, but the way they have it now is actually better!

Underneath the mirador

At the mirador

I got to see the El Drac - the lizard, who´s the symbol of Barcelona and for Gaudí- it´s a lot smaller than I thought, but beautiful anyway 😊

The famous El Drac

After the park we had a quick bite from café I knew close by and started walking towards the city centre. 

I got so cold suddenly, that I had to go buy myself new clothes 😬😂 We found a little store close to Placa Milans where we were headed and bought a coat and a sweater for me.

Me at town hall with the new coat and Placa Milans

Later on I showed the town hall to my mom, we bought some turrón and visited the last place on our list for the day - the Picasso museum. It was interesting, but my ankle was hurting like hell from all the walking, so I sat down when I finally saw a bench. My mom was touring around the museum and I rested. I felt a bit sad that I couldn´t see the rest of the museum, but I just wasn´t able to stand anymore 😕 My back was aching because I was still limping and my ankle was in burning pain. So I waited till my mother finished the tour and we went home. 

On our way to Picasso museum there was this interesting building

20.12.21: We´d bought the tickets for the cathedral like we planned 😁 It was pretty big from the inside and very elegant. 

Interior of Barcelona Cathedral

There was a lift that took us to the roof, the stairs there didn´t seem the safest for me, but at least there was a handrail which I could use.

On the rooftop

We enjoyed the view, took some photos..of every corner and went back downstairs. With the ticket we had, we could enter another museum right next to the cathedral. I can´t remember the name, but to be honest there wasn´t much to look at. The best part was the 3rd or 4th floor maybe where they had chairs and a view of the outside 😄 It looked like this part wasn´t open for the public, but at the same time we didn´t see any signs which didn´t allow us to enter the room. So we sat there for 10 minutes and went back outside. 

After that we went to see Arc de Triomf and Parc de la Ciutadella. We witnessed a beautiful sunset and after some time we started walking back. It was getting cold for me and my foot was tired. 

At Arc de Triomf and Parc de la Ciutadella

21.12.21: One of the last things my mother wanted to see were the MNAC and Olympic stadium. We took a metro to Placa Espanya and walked to Palau Nacional. It was already the 3rd or 4th time there for me in 6 months, but it was interesting nevertheless 😊

View from the rooftop of MNAC

They´d changed the the exhibition in the big white room for rows of chairs and a stage. There was supposed to be some kind of a concert in the evening, but I couldn´t find out whose. After the museum we went to the Arenas shopping centre, walked around on the roof top (there´s a 360° view), had a quick bite and then it was time for us to go. 

View from the rooftop of Arenas shopping centre

When we got back home my mom packed her suitcase and I ordered a taxi for us. I also bought my ticket to fly back home in February for the doctor´s visit 😇

23.12.21: In the morning I had an appointment in the city hall. I had to go in to get myself registered again, because the last registration had an expiration date as I found out in November 😑 I hope there won´t be problems with this one, but to be honest I won´t be surprised if something´s wrong again. The city hall´s web page already has like 3 different dates till the empadronamiento is valid for, so I don´t know what to believe anymore and what not 😬

24.12.21: Christmas has arrived!!! It´s my first Christmas in Barcelona 🎄🎅 The city is looking wonderful and the lights.. oh how I love the Christmas lights here 😍😍 They´re soooo pretty!! Only weird thing for me is that they don´t have one huge Christmas tree in the city centre. I saw some little trees all over the town, but nothing like we have in Tartu.

The traditions here are a bit different than in Estonia and in my home. For example we always open the presents on 24th during breakfast and the presents are brought by Santa Claus. But in Catalunya they have Caga Tió or pooping log in English, who poops presents in the evening of 24th or in morning of 25th of December. During the month of December every family feeds their Caga Tió, usually with mandarins, bread and beans. At nighttime the log is covered with a blanket so it won´t get cold. And then on Christmas Day or, in some house holds Christmas Eve, they put a blanket on Caga Tió and start hitting the log with a stick while singing songs of Tió de Nadal. After that Caga Tió poops little presents like turrón, nuts or candies. The gifts are usually shared with everyone and children get bigger presents in January when the Three Wise men visit.

The Christmas food is also different here. Usually on 24th the locals eat a lot of seafood, so in our house we had this HUGE basket filled with oysters, crab, shrimp, clams, and other things that I didn´t even know the name for. I ate a bit of shrimp and dried some kind of crab salad, but the rest was a bit too much for me 😃

The seafood

27.12.21: Àlex´s parents live most of the time in Brussels and they´ve been inviting us to visit since August. So out of nowhere we just bought the tickets finally 😆💪 It was so sudden, but I was very excited for the trip. Right away I let my friend from Netherland know that we´re coming and started making plans 😁

28.12.21: I didn´t have much to do and Àlex was working so I decided to go to the city centre. I wanted to check out the Palau de la Musica. We´ve been planning to go there with Triinu so I wanted to be sure I know exactly where it is.

Palau de la Música Catalana

I walked around the building and the barrió and was quite surprised to see that it was a lot smaller than it looked like on the photos. You have to buy a ticket to enter the building so I chose to better go there with Triinu when she arrives 👍

30.12.21: I hadn´t used my nail kit in quite some time and Àlex´s mother was painting her nails, so I decided to join her. I didn´t have any ideas what to do, so I looked up some examples on Pinterest. I found something cute, but changed the colour palette.

I decided to add some crystals too 😜😎

It took me 2 hours or a bit more, because I had to do like 3  light pink base layers and be really careful with the top layers.  In the end I was surprised that it actually looked quite similar to the photo, but I definitely should´ve chosen different colour for the lines. It looked a bit like I had blood on my nails when I looked at my hands from far away 😬😂

31.12.21: New Years´s Eve in Barcelona is also A BIT different from what I´m used to 😃 We had a huge lunch/dinner with almost the whole family and everyone stayed over till midnight. 10 minutes before the clock stroke we put on these carnival hats and hair.

There were clown noses and clip-on lips and other stuff. Then we sat down by the TV and waited for the campanadas - bells.

My 12 grapes

Everyone had their bag of grapes and when the first bell rang, everyone started eating their grapes one by one along with the bell strokes. This is a local tradition and is done for good luck. And if you want even better luck for the new year, then it´s advised to wear red underwear 🔴

After all that I wanted to see fireworks, but to my surprise there weren´t too many. I saw some by the sea and behind Park Güell, but it seemed like fireworks are not that much of a thing here.

View of Park Güell in the dark and lights of MNAC

Hasta la próxima! 😊