La Sagrada Familia

There was an insanely long line when we arrived.  Trekking across town (ard 40 mins in total) from our hostel, with me pointing excitedly to the structure from a distance, we arrived and were told not to join the queue as it was getting too long and advised to book the tickets online. We attempted to log onto the net at the Macs nearby but it was insanely crappy.  We ditched Mac and headed to a Starbucks nearby (NO GREENTEA LATTES WOE IS ME) and booked online tickets so that we can skip the insanely long queue.  And then we realised that we had to print out the documents and there was no internet cafes to be seen. I told to the gf to bare her boobs (mine was close to non existent) if necessary to get ourselves in because no way in hell I am going to be denied entry. I know I know, i am such a great friend.

Luckily for us, no boobs baring was necessary. Via the amazing device called iphone, we showed our virtual tickets and tadah! we are in.  Btw, audioguide is a must to understand the significance of some of the carvings around the structure and inside the La Sagrada Familia.  The view from the top was of course breath-taking and then you will take a winding staircase all the way down. FYL if you were stuck behind am overenthusiastic photographer who wants to take pictures every 3 steps down.  We were behind a family who had a really cute daughter.

I wonder when will it ever complete construction.

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I am adding David Sedaris to my favourite authors list. HE IS SO FUNNY I CANT EVEN. I have finished reading 3 books and I have lost count of the times where I wanted to laugh out loud on the bus while reading his books. Gosh I wish I could speak old english and drive my colleagues absolutely nuts.

Barcelona x Port Vell

Unhealthy obsession with time travelling to the past, dating the emperor, writing letters old school style (i.e. chinese calligraphy), crying prettily drama serial. This is the third time re-watching it and I bet that I am going to bawl my eyes out again for the third time watching the last 2 eps. I can't wait.

barcelona photodiaries

When the blogpost title is named something as vague as photodiaries, it can only mean one thing. I can't remember the goddamn names. And I am too lazy to pull out the itinerary to check. Hence aptly titled Barcelona photodiaries. Since I can't remember the exact names of the places, i can only make really vague descriptions as follows below.

Simple sandwich at a cafe near our hostel

Hello kid with forlorn eyes

I remember that the portable toilet at this park is surprisingly clean #uselesstouristinfo

but it may not be so useless if you constantly need a toilet (like me). Cold weather + small bladder = WHERE IS THE GODDAMN TOILET.  Note to self to never travel during cold season (although spring  time shouldn't be considered "cold")

kids on a tree

this dude looks kind of peadophile-ish.

I think i just ruined the above photo with my caption.

 

someone looking not too happy at a parhtey

barcelona x park guell x its all in progress

After around half an hour of metro-ing and climbing upslope, we arrived at Park Guell.  Free entrance is a major plus since admission prices for Spain attractions are pretty steep. As usual, i got us lost inside the massive park. *Note to self - Strangers that look non-tourist are not human GPS navigators. I spotted an ang moh dude and somehow decided that he is the way back to civilisation. We ended up at another exit of the park completely at the other side of the park.  Attempted to read the map again before letting le gf lead the way.  Gf = human GPS strangers = DO NOT FOLLOW.

I finally developed the photos, used the vouchers to get a scrapbook and some markers. Now it is sorting out all the tickets and pamphlets and getting the dates and destinations right.  My Loewe is back in the dust bag after discovering a few scratch marks kinda marks on it.  This is the result of taking a crowded bus home from work where my poor bag got assaulted by passengers bent on squeezing their way up on a already packed like sardine bus. I did everything in my power to shelter my back like a valiant soldier but sadly my bag did not emerge unscathed.  My heart bleeds so now it is reserved for special occasions. In its place, my MJ bag again! Speaking of which, the MK bag has yet to make an appearance. Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Salvador Dali Museum x Around Figueres

Feeling very meh-ish today, like a robot going through motions. Jabbing at the calculator, Excel, Word, files, files and more files and then 5 30! Freedom!

The s. manager commented that I looked very formal today and was asking if I had a client meeting. I was like "eh?!?" I was wearing a very t-shirt like Massimo Dutti top, Zara pants, Ferragamo shoes. Okaaaaaaaaay maybe other times I was too casual -_-|||

 And sooner or later I will probably kill myself in office. As in death by tripping over the files on the floor. So much for telling the ex-manager over Whatsapp proudly that my table is now very neat. Well, i dont think she bought that at all.

 

useless updates #102392

1. Spamming my nephew's pictures to the whole world (basically to a grand total of 9 people) has cemented auntiehood for me. To me, 99% of the asian babies look the same and too few would elicit the high pitched / falsetto "soooooo cute!". But I was instantly reduced to complete mush when the sis sent over pics of the nephew. The reduction from solid human shape to mush could have taken place earlier if that stubborn little shit fella had popped out of my sis by the supposed due date. Since I can't extend my stay, I had to make do with cooing over the baby pics through a plastic screen.

Throughout the day, I would randomly flick through the nephew's pictures and feel all fuzzy inside.

 

this is how i imagine the fuzzified look will be

 I kind of got pass the initial mush stage which would swing to the other spectrum of emotions, i.e. the violent urge to want to crush that helpless little thing  as a result of an overdose of cuteness attacking my brains. Like crush him in a loving way. Like AWWW SO CUTE I WANT TO CRUSH YOU WITH MAH BARE FINGERS.

Why do I feel that I am just making things worse by attempting to justify the violent urges? Never mind.

2. I am done with editing all my pictures for Europe! Now is getting down to doing up the scrapbook which I always tell myself I will do after every long trip overseas. Which is ...... never. The tickets stubs, maps and whatever scraps of stuff which I painstakingly collect always end up in the rubbish bin. *Looks at the pile of tickets stubs, maps, pamphlets on the desk* *Cue crickets soundeffect*

3. First time ever bringing home the work laptop. At this juncture, I have typed a grand total of 2 words. And some lameass formatting. Oh, the laptop is new but it has been nothing but a pain in the ass. Wasted hours (I kid you not, I waited at least 2.5 hours at the IT dept *shake fist*) to repair the stupid printing function and the stupid touchpad. Why give me the false hope that it is going to be awesome since it is new!!!! The old laptop worked perfectly fine with the exception of the Ctrl button falling off.

4. I should really finish the piece of advice due to the client this week instead of wasting time providing updates which are useless.

5. I need to peel myself away from Youtube, one of the most evil creations on the Net. 

6. Okay feed dog then get the damn advice done and over with. Out!

Spain x Barcelona x MNAC

disgruntled kid forced to take a touristy pic by the mother. i feel you kid i do.

WOOOAAAAHHH was the reaction when we got off the train and headed to MNAC. It was sitting on the top of a hill with a huge fountain in front of it. I didn't expect the museum to look so grand and if you didn't tell me, i would think it was the parliament or something. After climbing around 10 bajillion steps, we arrived at the entrance. The view from the top was gorgeous and of course resulted in phototaking frenzy. The museum has a wide variety of paintings from different eras and places.

 To be really honest, I can't really remember any paintings in there that particularly stood out but it had a pretty good collection and was pretty enjoyable. Funny, but i could distinctly remember whipping out my umbrella while walking under the scorching sun to the museum (and of course drawing weird looks from the ang mohs).