A little bit of MoMA

Yesterday afternoon was spent taking in some beauty at MoMA.  Here's a little bit of what we saw:

These pictures do not do them justice at all.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Sunshine, Blue Sky, Sunflowers:

All taken on the road from Seicq to Neuvic Le Chateau in Charente, France.

En vacances

I am on holiday in French France at my parents house.  The trip so far has mostly consisted of reading, eating, drinking and relaxing.

Not  a bad life.

Last Christmas........

I wrote this yesterday but didn't post it for some reason......

As I sit here in three layers of clothing hoping that The Boy gets back downstairs and clears the fire out and get's it going again, with the outside temperature at a bracing -6 degrees and snow and ice all around I can't help but think about what we did Last year.

Up until last year we have always spent Christmas with my family Christmas Day at one house, Boxing day at another.  Full Family Christmas with Champagne, presents, late lunches, wine, games, sleeping on the sofa and (more recently) Dr Who.  Unfortunately, Gramps passed away last year so Christmas was never going to be the same.  M&D were in the process of selling their house and moving to France, Brothers were settled in Greenwich and me & The Boy were knackered after a full on year and his work was a nightmare.

When Gramps died he left a bit of money for us all and with my share I decided to buy a fancy watch (I wanted something that would last forever but would be something I would use all the time to remind me of him and keep him near) and take The Boy on a brilliant holiday.  So after a bit of a play around we decided to go back to Mexico, for a completely relaxing sun break and to come back Via New York for a quick shopping trip.

I booked with Trail Finders and we flew Upper Class with Virgin from Heathrow to JFK then down to Cancun.  The Upper Class lounge was fab as was the flight - but that's a whole other post and as it was before I was doing this I have no pictures.

We stayed at The Royal Cancun again - we had been there 18 months previously and decided to go back there as we wanted to not have to think.  To be honest we could have been anywhere but it's a lovely hotel with about 280 rooms, five restaurants, 3 bars, beach butlers, spa & gym, all inclusive heaven.

The rooms are a great size with massive beds

This was our room from the first visit in 2007

Each room has a jacuzzi in it

Which looks out over the balcony

Days were spent lazing around by the beach or the pool

Looking at the pictures I can almost feel the heat.   Each day was spent lazing around and we went to the hotel gala dinner on NYE, which was surprisingly good fun.

After a difficult year it would be wonderful to be there again but instead we will be home then off to France to see M&D (if Eurostar has defrosted in time - fingers crossed) so a different style of family Christmas and I can't wait.

December 7th - this time last year (almost)

Last December we went to Mexico for New Year - this was not an unusual way to spend late afternoon....

Our Barcelona Adventure

So as I said The Boy and I went on a whistle-stop visit to Barcelona to see a football match. It was a great trip, topped off by a win for Manchester City so all good.

We set off on the Wednesday morning about 10 after The Boy had been for a run and I had finished my teleconference with work. We flew from East Midlands which is a great little airport. Easy parking, plenty of security check points and plenty of staff (are you reading this Leeds Bradford - this is a real area where you Fail). A few shops to get the essentials (though no MAC in Duty Free which is a bit of a shame but not the end of). Good coffee and bright and clean. We boarded the flight (Easy Jet - interesting scramble for seats but we got on quite near the end and had two good seats in the emergency exit isle so plenty of room) and no fuss about the size of my carry on it was on of these Herve Chapelier but in their largest size (and not that colour).

Flight was on time and no fuss; The Boy was asleep before we even took off (no surprises there). I had been listening to the Learn Spanish CDs that came free with The Guardian & The Observer in the week leading up to our trip so had polished up my limited Spanish a little and managed to get a Taxi easily and inform him where we wanted to be.

The hotel was actually quite nice, very modern with a lot of chrome and glass but in the ridiculous heat the cool and air conditioning was very welcome. So we dumped our belongings and made our way to a Tapas bar the concierge recommended and booked for us. Barcelona in August is empty - it's just to darn hot. So the restaurant was not busy but the food was lovely - the only downside was they has no Pimientos de Padron (I had been dreaming about them) but otherwise very good.

We then went for a wander, had a few drinks and headed back to the hotel to get ready to go to the football. The Hotel was walking distance to the Camp Nou (about 20 mins on a straight road - I do plan sometimes) so we just followed the crowds. This was at about 7pm - kick off was not until 10.15pm but the atmosphere was buzzing with fans all around.

We stopped for a quick drink along the way and then we went in - WOW. I had been to the Camp Nou on a tour when we went there a few years ago but hadn't really appreciated the size. The stadium fits 98,000 in it we were on the top tier. It's one hell of a walk but the view at the top was amazing. The ground quickly filled with 94,000 people and the show commenced. They started by introducing the whole of the Barcelona squad - which was great. Then Puyol and Pep Guardiola said a few words to the crowd and they all erupted.

We eventually kicked off at 10.30pm ish - here are some photo's:

It was a little bit like watching subbuteo at times:

We headed back to the hotel after the game (I was still full of cold and quite fluey) but the next day went for a wander into the centre and had lunch at my favourite Tapas bar (where Lady P & KBW and I spent a lot of time last time we were in Barca) where we found my pimientos and I went home happy:

Gutted that Easy Jet are pulling out of East Midlands - hopefully Doncaster Sheffield airport will get more routes.