Comfort food...
I just had some good japanese ramen at Asahi Ramen on Sawtelle in LA. Goodness..talk about eating comfort food. Food that just makes you want to get into your pajamas right afterwards and sleep. There wasn't even any room for boba! anyways, random thought as i blog here...

Barcelona...

National Museum of Art of Catalunya MNAC

is definitely a city I want to go back to. The people there are beautiful - the men and women. The fashion, the romantic aspect of it (I caught 8 couples making out in the streets like it was nothing), the history, and sense of spirituality there is amazing. I was immediately in love with it.


La Padrera - Casa by Antonio Gaudi

Oh i forgot to mention Anne and I did make a list of things that we learned on our first trip to Europe:

1. Lunch is at 2 pm, dinner is no earlier than 8 pm

2. Cars are like the size of a Geometro or Mini Cooper - good for the narrow roads in Portugal



3. There are way too many rotundas in Portugal (but I didn't get in any accidents in them here thank god!)

4. Mercedez Benz is the manufacturer of many public transportation vehicles - taxis, company vehicles

5. Hola means hello in both Portuguese and Spanish, although they are two very different languages.

6. Portuguese people don't just tell you how to get somewhere when you're lost, more often than not they'll actually show you

7. High school spanish gets you to hello.

8. There is a difference between a castle and a palace - a castle has towers and drawbridges surrounded by water. A palace is a big mansion or house from back in the day.


Pena Palace in Sintra, Portugal

9. Tile is more valuable in Portugal than in the U.S. They use it in their churches and we use in our bathrooms...is that why they call it the royal throne?

10. It seems that Europeans travel between European countries like Americans travel between different states.

11. The diversity is amazing in Europe. Probably similar to NY.

12. Just because they give you bread and olives before your meal doesn't mean it's free.



13. Tipping is not expected

14. I had more 3+ hour meals during these two weeks than I've had all together in my lifetime. You don't ever feel rushed out of a restaurant.



15. Don't wear high heels in the cobblestone streets of Lisbon, Portugal unless you want to buy a new pair of shoes.



16. There aren't many obese people in Europe.

17. I haven't eaten as many fries as I did in both Portugal and Barcelona in my lifetime - seems to be a staple there.

18. Don't ever equate spanish paella with portuguese seafood rice. It's like saying that chinese food and japanese food are the same.


Paella


Seafood rice

Overall we had a great time!