My favourite iPhone & Instagram photos

I'm fairly new to this iPhone bandwagon thing. Almost two years behind most people in fact, so when I get hyper over Instagram or gaga over Bejweled, I'm usually met with 'yeah, and?!' responses. Back off bozos.

But I confess, I LOVE the camera on my iPhone. I'm over the moon with it, I'm obsessed with it. Twinned with Instagram, I think I love it more than my normal digital camera. Sorry Canon, it's nothing personal.

Here's a selection of my favourites:

 

Hope you like them too!

A sunny Saturday in September

It's September and it's sunny. Last night I drank two bottles of wine. Or so I'm told. This is what I remember:

Oh jeez. Yep, that's a pasta ladle moonlighting as a microphone.

I'm very busy doing my best impression of a solar panel right now, soaking up as much sun as possible before it clears off again.

It's too nice to be indoors on the laptop. I'm going to spend some time catching on some rays, it's about time too England.

A few things I'm excited about before I resume my position on the chair in the garden:

• Meeting up with a friend tonight who I haven't seen in a few years, that's always fun. Plus, the venue is an outside bar overlooking to River Aire in Leeds. Sun, beers, good company. Simple.
• Booking another trip to Kenya - date to be confirmed but it's good to have things in the pipeline!
• The chilled glass of white wine waiting for me as soon as I finish this blog post...

Let's call it a day eh?

Bye from Catty too! It's too hot for him outside.

x

Fundraising for the next generation in Kenya

Last night I held a fundraising evening for the 4kids2live charity in Kenya, you know, for these guys:

It was my first time holding a fundraising evening and I don't think I've had to be that organised since my wedding...

It was an amazing evening, just to have everyone you know and love in one room all together is such a great feeling anyway AND the fact that we were raising money for a great cause topped it all off.

We raised over £400 in one night which is amazing and will be put to great use in Kenya.

I feel so emotional when I look at that picture above and think about all the struggles these children have already had in their short little lives, but how amazing it is that they're safely off the streets, or away from bad parents and that they have bright futures to look forward to.

Look at their faces! They're the bravest little people I've ever met and they're growing in confidence, skills and talent every day. The next generation in Kenya is coming through and I'm happy to say that I'm a teeny tiny part of that, and so is everyone else who came to the fundraiser last night.

I'd better be off before I start wailing on about how much I love everyone and life and how lucky we all are etc. I think I still have some gin in my pipes...

Have a good weekend, no more gin for me...

5 Things you MUST do in Barcelona #5 - Avoid getting pickpocketed

That's right, f*ck you pickpockets, I was in Barcelona for A WEEK AND YOU DIDN'T GET MY PROPERTY. I had that shit nailed DOWN all week.

Mainly because I carried what I needed in my bra, so they'd have to be pretty amazing at stealing for me not to notice THAT happening.

I've got everything I need and you can't get it thieves!

Seriously though, I'm sure it has a high volume of theft, but the reputation Barcelona has is incredible. I got bored of the amount of people who mentioned it when I said I was going there. No reputation a country has would ever stop me from going there.

Apart from Somalia.

And maybe the Congo.

Possibly also Afghanistan too.

BUT ANYWAY. Please don't ever be put off by Barcelona's reputation. Six of us were there together for a week and we didn't have a single incident.

And yes, we did leave the apartment in that week thank you very much.

I have a few suggestions on how you can avoid being targeted in BCN:

1. If you wear a bra, just pop your camera down the sides, but maybe invest in a case if you sweat a lot. If you're a man, I recommend a strapless bra to avoid embarrassment.

2. If you INSIST on carrying things around, get yourself the tattiest looking bag possible so that it doesn't look like it has anything of value in there. One with an over the body strap and a zip is good too.

3. For the love of God keep an eye on your bag at all times. Sounds obvious doesn't it? But you'd be amazed at how quickly people let their guard down as you walk around the city. Street theatres are a hot spot and I saw how easy it would be to swipe a bag or a phone. I didn't do any swiping though guv'.

4. Don't fall for any obvious tricks. My Dad was in BCN on the metro a few years ago and the guy in front of him on the escalator dropped his ticket, my Dad (being the awesome guy he is) bent down to help and the guy behind him jumped him and tried to steal his camera bag - he was working with the fakester who 'dropped' his ticket (I'm still looking for him....) Anyway, long story short my Auntie jumped on this guy and he ran off which was a really stupid thing to do but that's what the heat of the moment will do to you...

Yes there are nasty people in Barcelona and yes crime seems to be fairly high yadayadayada, but I don't know of a single place in the world where this isn't the case. The fact that it's in the press so much can only be a good thing as hopefully something will change as a result.

In the event that it does happen to you though, do me a favour and don't fight back like my Auntie. Everything but your life can be replaced. Maybe not your photos but you can look at mine on Facebook if you like!

5 Things you MUST do in Barcelona #4 - Tapas!

Mmmm tapas. Told you I'd probably write a food related post. Boy I love tapas. You look at those tiny plates of food and think 'that's never going to fill me up' but it does!

You're spoilt for choice in Barcelona when it comes to tapas bars. It's almost overwhelming if you're only there for a short trip and don't have any solid recommendations to go on.

Well I'm here to help. We found a central tapas bar that doesn't look much from the outset but it has a great atmosphere and even better food.

As far as I'm aware it doesn't even have a name that I could give you, I just know it as the yellow tapas bar near the Rambla... well, off you go, what are you waiting for?!!

So, I'll do my best to direct you to this bar.

If you're on La Rambla, head to Carrer del Pintor Fortuny which is a few streets down from Placa Catalunya. Walk along Carrer del Pintor Fortuny until you see a bar with yellow signs, I stole this from Google Maps:

Attractive, non? Anyway it's not the most historical or most beautiful eateries I've been to, but it's in a great location and the food was delicious and fairly inexpensive.

Plus, there was a Spanish girl who was eating alone and had a 3 course meal to herself and then jumped on her moped after eating, that is so rock and roll. I would never dine alone and shamelessly eat a 3 course meal THEN jump on a moped. So European, I love it.

Anywhere that is good enough for her is good enough for me I say.

Good luck finding this place and if you do find it, tell them you heard it from me. They won't have a clue what you're talking about but it'll be fun to say it.

Adios!

5 Things you MUST do in Barcelona #3 - Cable car mayhem!

I love cable cars. I have NO idea how they work and I'd rather not know, a bit like how I feel about flying really. I'm just happy that the plane leaves the tarmac, I don't need to know anything other than that. I put my faith in the pilot and he/she responds by talking in that nice accent and telling me the temperature outside of the plane.

So... cable cars. Here's the deal, I pay to get on a tiny capsule that is suspended between two points by a rusty cable that goes around a big wheel. Fine, everything seems fine with that.

Get the metro to Paral-lel stop and look for the black sign with the handy picture of the funicular train (basically a line drawing of a train going uphill - great!) The trains to the cable car are automatic, there's no driver, so if you're a nervous traveller, just don't freak out when some idiot like me shouts out for a laugh 'THERE IS NO DRIVER ON THIS UPHILL TRAIN' tee hee. Sorry.

Anyway, it's all worth it and the expense when you get views like this:

What a view... oh.
 

You can then choose to either walk back down the hill or take the cable car up even higher but that was high enough for us.

So we chose to get on ANOTHER cable car (because one isn't enough for one day) and this one goes OVER THE SEA. Oh yeah, this was about to get serious.

Again, I think you can justify the expense when you get views like this:

So that's my third recommendation of what to do in Barcelona. Two more to go, I suspect they might be food related...

5 Things you MUST do in Barcelona! #2 - Sagrada Familia

Yawn. I hear ya. This is on EVERY must-see-and-do list and you prefer to get off the beaten track and see the 'real' Barcelona...

Well, I say to you, there's a reason this is on every must-see-and-do list!

For those of you uncultured swines out there, the Sagrada Familia is Antoni Gauid's unfinished masterpiece and is one of Barcelona's biggest tourist attractions. It's supposed to be finished by 2026 or something like that.

What a beauty! The Sagrada Familia that is...

The wonder of Gaudi is present all over Barcelona and it makes my head hurt thinking about what Barcelona might have looked like if Gaudi had thought 'You know what? I think I'm going to be a butcher'

Barcelona = Gaudi.

Once you get over the entrance prices (€16 entry) and the RIDICULOUS queues in the hot sun, I'll guarantee it's worth it.

This was actually my third time to visit the Sagrada Familia (smug) but I haven't been for almost six years. The previous two visits felt like paying to visit an overpriced building site, and I didn't even get to wear a hard hat or hi-vis jacket. Unfair.

The main basilica wasn't even nearly finished the last time I popped over and you had to climb a spiral staircase all the way up those towers in the picture above. Dizzy and sweaty is NOT a look I can pull off that well.

So I even comtemplated sitting it out and sunbathing in the park with a beer ice cream opposite while everyone else queued in the hot sun and slogged it out.

But I didn't, and I'm glad I didn't.

It's amazing. I don't tend to describe things as breathtaking as I'm not in a romance novel, but it really was.

 

 

 

 

There's a noticeable lack of handrail in the middle there...

So all in all, a fun couple of hours and well worth the entrance fee. Visiting the Sagrada Familia should be on your must-see-must-do list in Barcelona.

The only negative point I have is that while Gaudi was an extremely clever man with a huge vision, he didn't think of building a tea room in the entire compound the Sagrada sits in. So if, like us, you queue up mid morning for an hour and then your ticket states that you can't take the lift up to the top of the building for another two hours, you're going to get hungry. And grumpy. You can't leave and come back with your ticket, that would be too helpful.

There's is not a scrap of food to be found once you're inside the gates, trust us, we'd have found it - scavengers that we are.

Gaudi, if you'd have built a tea room, you'd have been able to charge extortionate fees for a sandwich which would have overflowed the cash fund to finish the build a LOT quicker than 2026. Tut tut.

If only my Dad had come to Barcelona with us, he's the king of packed lunches...