adventure

La Sagrada Familia

7:55 PM

We got on the Hop on-Hop Off tour bus from Plaza Catalunya to get to La Sagrada Familia (no. 5 on TripAdvisor's recent Traveler's Choice list of Top 25 Landmarks of the World!)

Even if you see all the pictures, nothing compares to standing in front of Antoni Gaudi's masterpiece (still incomplete...decades later)

We stepped off the bus and our mouths were just hanging open the whole time. It is an impressive Catalan Modernist building with all the ceramic, carpentry, spots of bright colour and sculptures and gorgeous stonework on the outside. (all unedited photos, also I'm learning the setting on my camera ok. Still a newbie but I'm obsessed. Obviously...)

The Nativity
Directly above baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph you'll see the tree of life. It looks like a real life tree!

THEN YOU STEP INSIDE


The whole building is like a living, breathing thing. Trees instead columns stretch to the ceiling which is covered in stone vegetation. Gaudi was inspired by three passions: architecture, nature and religion.

An interesting thing I read about him: he preferred to create 3-D models of his designs and rarely drew any plans, molding the details as it came to him. He followed the organic forms found in nature.

And can we just talk about the stained glass for a minute?
There is so much light allowed to flow through this giant main room that the feeling is unlike any other cathedral/abbey/basilica that I have ever visited.


Colours and light refracted everywhere.

I'm a stained glass lover. Taylor didn't even get mad about the dozens of photos I took. :)

He thought of every single detail, down to the thickness of the glass; varying the thickness to control the light's intensity.


It's not hard to see why it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, 5th on the World's Top Landmarks. I see a Gaudi-specific trip in our future....

Christmas

Winter Wonderland 2015!

11:52 PM

Taylor has been talking to anyone who would listen about Winter Wonderland since we went last Christmas.
And it's definitely bigger and better than last year!
It's free to get in and open from 10-10 but we definitely went at a good time. 2pm on a Saturday and stayed until 5:30 when the masses really started rolling in. 

We made a beeline direct to our favourite ride from last year. WILDE MAUS
Tokens are steep but worth it.



The smell of German bratwurst is everywhere. We grabbed some sweet potato fries and watched a long line of men try their hands at one of those impossible carnival games: 'Hang on a bar for 2 minutes to win £20.' It was so entertaining to watch the big, burly men try to hang on and the crowd groaning with them when they fell short of the 2 minute mark.

Every kind of Haribo! Extremely fitting in a German market and sure made Taylor a happy guy.





Bratwurst served with soooo much sauerkraut. But smells oh so good.

Creepy, creepy man in Bavaria Town.

Walking away from the park toward the Knightsbridge underground station. London is such a gloriously beautiful place.

Harrods Christmas Lights.
London Black Cabs.
Tourists clogging up the sidewalk. 
(I added to the chaos by taking some photos myself and I don't feel that badly about it)

We ended the night with some hot chocolate at Le Pain Quotidien.
I've written about our favourite hot chocolates around London but here's the quick recap: steamed bowl of milk and a small jug of Belgian chocolate to stir in for your chocolatey delight.

I love Christmas in London.

Europe

Taking in the London View

3:16 PM

We moved into a new flat a few months back. The major highlight for me (besides massive amounts of light which is a MUST for me) is the view from the balcony!

I snap a picture nearly every day because there some really stunning moments right outside our window. Rainbows after the rain, sunsets, sunrises, and foggy days! 

The big tower that is seen in most of the pictures is the BT Tower. 
It has an interesting history, as so many London icons do. The tower just turned 50 about a week ago, opening in 1965. It was the tallest building in Britain at the time and was designed to support telecommunications aerials, which was handled by the General Post Office back then. During its first year the tower was open to the public and was visited by nearly one million visitors, 105,000 of them dined in the revolving restaurant.

MOST INTERESTING BIT: Upon completion, the Post Office Tower was designated an OFFICIAL SECRET and did not appear on Ordinance Survey maps until after it was 'officially revealed' under parliamentary privilege in 1993!
Despite being 177 metres, seen from most of London and open to the public for about 15 years, the telecommunications mast was label CLASSIFIED by the Government who may have had to use its technology in the even of a nuclear attack.

In some photos you can see the Shard very clearly, even the silhouettes of the Gherkin (30 St Mary Axe) and other Central London buildings. On the foggy day, you can't even see the BT Tower.

Come visit us and see the views for yourselves ;)














adventure

We Have Big News!

3:02 AM

We've been sitting on this information for a few days because it wasn't official but now it's time to share!

....I'm not pregnant. We've only been married for two seconds. Give us at least a minute....



TAYLOR GOT A JOB!

And guess where?



.....in their LONDON, ENGLAND office!

WHAAAA? No, really. London.

We're pretty stinking excited. After graduation we'll figure out where we'll be living and all that jazz and go to New York for training in July. London in the fall!
So many adventures and we are so happy to know where we'll be and what we have to look forward to in the next couple of years.
We have offered so many prayers and I know that our families have joined us in those prayers, so thank you! It's not quite what we were expecting but then again, we weren't too specific when we prayed for our Father in Heaven to bless us to be where we needed to be, for ourselves and for those that we could serve.

Stay tuned for updates on our adventures.
(Melissa, when you read this, I would love to talk to you about your life and how you do it!) :)

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