Tuesday, July 8, 2014

June

June means the official beginning of summer, and despite the fact that the days are already getting shorter, my energy levels are only increasing at the prospect of 2.5 official more months of summer. Summer wakes me up in a way that only summer knows how to do. And June started out perfectly with Alex and Lauren's visit. All four of us had so much fun on our adventure, and it will surely be a trip we will always remember. Our trip took us from Barcelona to Asturias to Cornwall to London, and it was a whirlwind 10 days. We took virtually every form of transportation (plane, train, subway, bus, car, foot, bicycle) and saw an incredible amount. 

To start off the journey, Alex and Lauren arrived into Barcelona at 11:30pm on a Friday, and yet they still had the energy to stay up and chat with Dave over pizza before heading off to bed. The next morning everyone woke up energized, despite the jet lag, for a long day out and about. Dave and I took Alex and Lauren on a lengthy walking tour of the city and they were such good sports about the distance. We saw Rambla de Catalunya, La Rambla (and La Boqueria), then wandered around the old town (Barrio Gotico y el Born), and then out for a lovely meal at the veggie restaurant Dave took me to for my birthday. Then it was time for meandering home and chilling out before our evening out at the Magic Fountain and Parallel for tapas. 

Day two entailed more of the same, long walks, picnics in La Ciutadella park, and visits to the beach at Barceloneta for some good people watching. And then in the evening we had the lovely send off dinner back at home that I briefly mentioned in my last post. Getting to show Alex and Lauren around was a perfect way to wrap up my time in Barcelona. Day three was spent entirely driving to Dave's house in Asturias, but the drive is absolutely gorgeous, and was filled with lots of naps, music, and chats about everything and nothing. When we finally arrived in CerezalĂ©u, we had enough energy to make a bit of food and sit around chatting by candlelight and music. 

Maqsum is constantly making new friends, especially ones who appreciate all black, all of the time as much as he does.
Wandering through el Barrio Gotico.
Dave tells me all of his secrets.
Polar opposites when placed in the sun :-)
Just taking the obligatory selfie outside of la Sagrada Familia.
Naps on the way to Asturias.
Back to basics.
Day 4 was spent admiring the countryside of Asturias. Alex went out trying to make friends with the cows, and I made some breakfast/lunch. Then we set off to explore the nearby town of Lastres, where you can get impeccable views of the sea. After our galavanting around the beach, we drove on back home to make a taco dinner. We had a lovely evening dining out in the garden and then having a bonfire. Day 5 was a tad similar to day 3, largely spent driving to Santander, but we drove through the Picos de Europa instead of taking the highway, to ensure a far more scenic view. We made a stop in Covadonga to admire the scenic cathedral and to stretch our legs, and one somewhere near Comillas for the obligatory patatas bravas experience that everyone must have while in Spain. Once we reached Santander it was quite a bit of waiting around since our ferry left a tad tardy, but then finally around 11pm we set off to Plymouth!
Who knew that Alex's future lied in being a shepherd?
Beautiful Lastres
Playing on the beach.
Self timed taco dinner!
When the bonfire gets boring, simply add a piece of furniture and the flame will surely take off.
We had a blaze of a time.
Despite how it looks, we never got rained on. This is the cathedral in Covadonga.
Arriving in Plymouth, Dave shows our chick that we've finally made it.
While Day 6 was largely spent on the ferry, the never-ending ferry, we did finally arrive in Plymouth some time around 7pm, where Dave's dad graciously picked us up and drove us back to Woolley. When we arrived to Woolley, we shared a lovely meal with Dave's parents, and before we knew it everyone was exhausted and ready for a good night's sleep. We woke up on Day 7, ready to see Cornwall, but first and foremost came a pasty tour! Dave was really eager to hear Alex and Lauren's thoughts about how the true Cornish pasty stood up against the infamous pastys of Tempe. After trying 3 different types of pastys, the verdict was in, and the Cornish pastys of Tempe are equally as delicious, but the end decision was that everything always tastes better in its proper home, especially when the meal is had by the sea with a big basket of 'chips' (i.e. french fries). Post the Tour de Pasty, we checked out the graveyard in Kilkhampton before going out for a walk in Clovelly, the village I mentioned last summer that you can't get down to by car, but you rather must walk. This was because another theme of the trip was checking out cool, old graveyards. Post Clovelly we spent an evening at home and Dave's sisters and kids came around.
Walk up the cliffs at Duckpool before heading to Bude on the pasty quest.
Happy face for pastys and chips at the beach.
The graveyard at Kilkhampton.
Day 8 began with a gorgeous walk along the cliffs and down in the valley winding up at a tea room for cream teas. Pete, Mary, Barry, Rae and Connor joined in on this adventure, but sadly Alex, Lauren and I were riddled with runny noses and sneezing because of the absurdly high pollen count. Nonetheless, the walk was beautiful, and we all powered through and enjoyed our cream teas. We came back for a rest post sneeze fest, and then had a nice meal before going out for the tour de local pubs. There are two cool pubs nearby and we needed to check out both on our last night. We were also excited because the neighbor is in a folk band that plays around the local pubs, and they were playing this particular evening, so that rounded out our trip to Cornwall nicely. Despite the early morning to come, we had a nice night out with Dave's family. 
Pete, Mary, Rae and myself checking out the views from Hawker's hut.
Dave and his uncanny ability to take gorgeous photos.
I offered to give Rae a piggy back ride because the grass was so tall.
We did it! Despite our red eyes from hay fever ;-)
Connor and I are excited for our cream teas, clearly.
Day 9 began with an early drive to Exeter to catch a bus to London. We were all sleepy, but that's okay, because we had an extra long bus ride to nap on because of road blocks around London for some kind of event. At any rate, once we got to London we checked into our hotel, and then made our way to Brick Lane for Indian Food. London has a notoriously good Indian food scene, and simultaneously Brick Lane has both Indian food and superb people watching. We had a really nice meal in a restaurant where Alex managed to finagle getting us 20% off our bill and a free round of drinks. After our meal we headed towards Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. After taking in those sights we naturally had to see Buckingham Palace, and then followed that with Piccadilly Circus. By the time we saw all of those things everyone was exhausted and ready for bed. We got back to the hotel and crashed.

We awoke on the final morning with heavy hearts at the prospect of having to say goodbye, but we didn't let that deter the few hours we had together in the morning. We wandered through Hyde Park, and after getting to the other side we said our goodbyes and before I knew it, the long anticipated trip had come and went. Dave and I spent the remainder of the day checking out Camden Town, a really alternative part of the city where there is all kinds of delicious street food. And then we headed to his buddy from home's house for the night. We spent the evening with Anthony, his wife Emily, and their daughter. It was nice to finally meet Dave's other good friend from home since we never managed to connect last summer. The following morning we leisurely walked to Waterloo Station to catch our train back to Exeter.
We found the London Eye.
Hyde Park hangouts.
He climbs.
Camden Street shenanigans.
Sunny views of the Palace of Westminster.
Since getting back from London, June seemed to fly by shockingly fast. Dave's buddy Bart arrived on the evening of Father's Day, and we spent 2.5 days enjoying his company before he was off to collect his tandem bike in Liverpool. We have also had some nice evenings with Dave's other good friend from home, Gareth, and Gareth was even so kind to let me try his motorbike out around the block. Other happenings have included evenings at the pub, sunsets, trips to the beach, an afternoon in Calstock to visit Dave's uncle Jonny who was over from Spain, a Dolly Parton party (watching her live performance at Glastonbury), and lots of evenings by the fire.
Beach bonfire with Bart, Dave, and Gareth.
Sunsets over the Atlantic.
Dave teaches Ned and Olive how to skimboard.
Gareth teaches me how to ride a motorbike...
Walks by the aqueduct in Calstock.
Dolly Parton brought lots of laughter.
Stopping to pet the horses on the way to Marsland.
The rest of my time spent during June was divided between writing the second draft of my thesis (which will hopefully be my last), feigning interest in World Cup matches (but alas no more since the U.S. is out), and working in the neighbor's garden. I have graciously been given another grant from the University of Helsinki to do an internship, and I've worked down at the neighbor's in their vegetable garden; I will have to upload a few pictures next time. But that more or less sums up the month of June for me, and July is already off to a good start. I hope summer is treating everyone equally as well in their respective parts of the world!