Mountain climbing and sunbathing

Last weekend, some friends and I climbed Mount St Victoire, a mountain just outside of Aix that was often painted by Cezanne. It was quite a workout but really great! The path was so steep, it basically was like walking straight up the entire way, which was about 3 hours. The view from the top was beautiful though and so worth it. I definitely want to climb it again sometime!

The next day, I went to the beach in Cassis. It only took about an hour and a half to get there by bus, and it was so pretty! There are calanques at Cassis (google image search!), which I want to return to see and hike, but we just stayed on the beach all day to relax after climbing the mountain. It is so nice being this close to a beach and I am really going to miss that when I get home!

Le Cupcake

At the beginning of the semester, I saw this place called "Le Cupcake" and thought "I want to go there!" (Like most food places I see...) I forgot about it and saw it again the other day, and yesterday I decided I would go for a cupcake. Instantly when I walked in I knew I was going to come back. It is a little cute bakery that has cupcakes and cookies, which aren't very common or easy to find here. I tried the Speculoos cupcake and it was delicious!!! I love Speculoos, which is a sort of spread made out of cookies, and this was quite possibly the best cupcake I have ever eaten! I will definitely be returning to Le Cupcake soon to try all of the other baked goods!

Barcelona!

During Easter weekend, some friends and I went on another George trip to Barcelona for 3 days. The drive was about 7 hours. Our hostel was just off of La Rambla, the main street where they have a little market with jewelry, scarves, bags, etc. The weather was beautiful while we were there with high 60s and 70! There were palm trees everywhere and it felt like a real vacation! In Barcelona they speak Catalan, which is sort of a mix between French and Spanish. We discovered that they say their "c"s like a "th" sound, for example "Barthelona" and "grathias" (gracias). It was really funny to hear and pronounce words this way.

Tons of people!

Ahhh :)

A cathedral

La Rambla

A market!

Plaça de Catalunya

Christopher Columbus statue, pointing towards America

My friend dropped her iPhone off this bridge, into the Mediterranean Sea :(

There was supposed to be a "magic fountains" sort of show with lights, but we waited for over an hour and it never started!

Outdoor escalator

An old colosseum, turned into a shopping center

We went to the top!

We had a tour with George on the second day, where we got to see many neat things including the Sagrada Familia and the Park Guell. The Sagrada Familia was started by Gaudi but unfinished when he died and is still being completed today.

Sagrada Familia, notice the fruits at the top of the towers

Park Guell

He's kind of hard to see, but the guy in the leopard print with the guitar was insane! (not in a good way)

Walking to the beach!

Picasso

Market along the water

Beach!

Sailboats

The last day, before leaving, I went to the Sagrada Familia to see the inside. It was beautiful! I took a ton of pictures and here are a few!

The passion façade, portraying the death of Jesus

The ceiling

I loved all the stained glass and light reflections

An actual mass going on below

Silver was the right choice for the organ!

Ceiling

So much detail!

The nativity façade portrays the birth of Jesus