Trip Part Dos!

So, part two starts out, actually with a trip to a museum of some kind, but for some reason (plus, my pictures are in Labuan right now, but more about that later), but I do not remember a whole lot about it, however, it was probably a blast! However, after the museum we took a trip to the zoo!!

My friend Tracy, who previously lived in Europe, told me that it was a huge zoo and would be a good idea. As Adam and I both like zoos, we decided to check it out. It was incredible! The layout was fun and wander-y. The little food booth where we had lunch had menacing pigeons waiting eagerly for unwary visitors who left their trays for more than 12 seconds. The exhibits were attractive and it felt like if I was an animal I would actually enjoy living in one of them. Also, there was such a variety of animals!

Some of my favorites :
1) The vulture that does a creepy wing/dracula thing when it is intimidating others. Just the thought of the creepy hunch-walk just gave me the shivers.
2) A cheetah that was feverishly pacing the fence area where he could best attempt to stalk the numerous rambunctious 7 yr olds running rampant in the grass near his cage.
3) The exhibit-house for ton of different types of tiny monkeys. They were so adorable! Also, apparently I am not allowed to use flash in there...oops.
4) The hippos! There were two different exhibits for them and they were so close. And friendly. I want one!
5) The elephant, of course. My favorite animal ever. :)

It was such a good afternoon, but our feet were pretty sore, so we headed back to the hotel, relaxed for a bit, then headed to dinner. For dinner we walked for about 15 minutes looking for a cafe that looked just right, and happened upon a cozy one that had both spanish/english/catalan translations in menu. Woot! We lingered over some sangria, pizza, and lasagna, but eventually decided against a club and ended up going back to watch Big Bang Theory instead. There, after watching several hours of Big Bang Theory, as most of you already know,  Adam surprised me by getting down on a knee and asking me to marry him!! It was a awesome moment, in the perfect place, and the ring fit perfectly even though I've never told him my finger size. :) It is crazy because I feel like the realization of this is still just hitting me. And though it may sound cheesy, I never expected to be this happy with someone, regardless of where he and I are located and I keep on waiting for this to be just a dream. However, life rocks because I know that it is not!

Ok. Done gushing. I know you don't actually read this blog for the gushing, so I really do try to keep it to a minimum :)

Anyway, the next day we got to do one of Adam's favorite things of the trip : Take a cable car up to Castle Montjuic! However, there was only one problem...when we got off the metro, there was no cable car tower in sight. I did see one about 3/4 of a mile away, so I dragged Adam toward it. It was not the right one. However, we did see some cool supposed-to-be-there graffiti on a wall along the way. We gamely turned around and walked back, changing our strategy slightly to involve asking for directions at a hotel. We found out that there was a metro car in the very metro station we came in, that would take us to the cable car station on the side of the mountain. It was my (and I believe his as well) first cable car ride! So fun!!!

The castle itself was gorgeous. There were gardens, a drawbridge, ramparts, cannons, a high walls, arches, and stairways. The view from the top of the castle was inspiring and beautiful, and we took way too many pictures of everything. I'm not sure it would it be the coziest place to live, but it would be pretty incredible. The people we saw all around were interesting as well. There was a soprano sax player who played a lovely rendition of Auld Lang Syne. There were also some men illegally selling scarves that the Catalan police had to chase down as they ran away with scarves trailing behind them. The joggers impressed me the most, as I am pretty sure they ran from the bottom of the trails up to the top of the mountain.

Next we went to the National Museum of Art, which not only was huge and had some incredible art, but also included  A LOT of steps going to the top. There was a lot of art directly regarding saints, but this makes sense, considering the history in Spain and the time-periods that the art came from. I don't adore art museums, but this one was actually really  nice. By the end we were both ready to give up on the feet business. So sore!!! After 2 or 3 days of constant walking everywhere, our out of shape feet needed a rest. This was highlighted even more the next day, when I some how got an incredibly painful ingrown toenail (another first!) and we spent that afternoon packing stuff up, downloading pictures, and getting ready to head off for our respective destinations.

So, an amazing week, in a great location, with a wonderful traveling companion, and now.....my fiance!!

And now, I am in Brunei waiting to head to my first rig! Things happen pretty fast in my life sometimes (after months of going slow), and I am enjoying the change of pace. We'll see how it goes :)

Love you guys,

Becca