Sunday, August 12, 2012

Zurich Street Parade 2012

Good news!  People in Zurich CAN party.  Apparently only once a year though.

They have an annual event here called the Street Parade.  They had six stages set up throughout the city and 28 "Love Mobiles" that paraded through the city throughout the day.  It was basically a massive rave.  It was really quite a sight.  I'll let the pictures do the talking:

they estimate that 950k people attended
check out the love buses
one of the stages

love bus up close



that guy must have been HOT

go vols!!!

this was an especially popular love bus

color of the day = NEON!

In other news, for the folks who are sitting around wishing for more pictures of Sophie, check these out!





Have a great week!  Come visit!!!

Friday, August 10, 2012

Barcelona - Where bras and bikini tops are optional!

That's my proposed new slogan for the Barcelona Tourism Industry.  For anyone wondering, it's true that European women don't wear tops at the beach.  At least in Barcelona...  And no, I don't have pictures.  Pervs  :)

I do, of course, have plenty of other pictures.

We really enjoyed Barcelona.  It was nice and sunny and warm.  We also enjoyed that there were people out and about well into the night.  Switzerland lacks a certain "social" atmosphere to it and I think after visiting Barcelona we realized how much we miss that.  It was great to be able to walk around, have some drinks, have dinner a bit later in the evening and talk to other people.  The waiters talk to you, the other patrons talk to you - so nice.  It was also nice to finally be in a country where one of us understood the language.  Hooray for being able to communicate!  I'm tempted to travel in only Spanish and English speaking countries from now on.

Naturally, we checked out the Sagrada de Familia.  We also checked out a park and a bunch of other buildings designed by architect Antoni Gaudi.  Gaudi be one gaudy dude.  Nerk nerk.  Admit it, you laughed.

The thing I enjoyed the best was a bike tour we did.  While out walking Sophie one morning (while I was still sleeping) Andre found a guy who offered e-bike tours of Barcelona.  We decided to do the 3 hour night tour that started at 8pm.  It was fantastic.  The tour guide was really knowledgeable about the city and was able to show us all the touristy stuff and take us through some of the more local neighborhoods.  He even had us try a drink called Orxata.  It's delicious.  Anyway, should you ever find yourselves in Barcelona, I really highly recommend that you do the e-bike tour.

And now, for the pictures!  A few highlights and the rest included in albums below.

Sophie is ready for her bike tour!

Sagrada Familia

Casa Mila (or La Pedrera)

the beach at sunset

some really old Roman columns

Chimneys on the top of Palau Guell



bwuhahahahaha!

Photos from our trip:
Barcelona - Aug 2 - 5