As promised Barcelona by day. So what can I say Barcelona is apart from Berlin of course, one of my favourite cities. It's like a hybrid of sea and City. One one hand you have the perfect holiday combination of sea and sand yet just a short walk from Barcelona beach is a great city with plenty of sights and culture. Famous for its art and the strong connection to Gaudi with the fabulous buildings and sculptures not forgetting the Sagrada Familia. The park Guell and the gaudi house are also other visual spectacles not to be missed. 

The city centre is something to marvel at, shops and cafes galore. The typical high street and designer shops but Barcelona also offers plenty of trinket shops. In these are the beautiful crystal shops there shells dazzling with precious stones and then the Inca shops with handcrafted souvenirs for the more bohemian tourists.

Besides the architecture there is a beach perfect for relaxing after a hard night of dancing. When the heat all got too much there was chance for a quick dip in the sea before carrying on with tanning. 

However much to the disgust of many what me and the girls really paid attention to was the food. For a start Spanish traditional tapas was eaten plenty. Fried white fish, Callamare, patas Bravas. The churros con chocolate in the cafes. Not forgetting the ice cream along Las Ramblas. Numerous favours including Kinder, gin and tonic and Cocunut all great to cool us down mid day on the walk to the beach. Last but not least I must pay particular attention to the pastry a. In particular a shop named Boldu that had what I have no doubt the best praline filled doughnut in the world.

And that's about it .

M.

This summer I was lucky enough to go to Sonar music festival in Barcelona with some of my friends. For those of you who are wondering what type of festival it it, it's the annual festival of progressive arts and multimedia. Basically in our case it was great music and great parties coupled with a beach a city and some amazing weather. We couldn't afford the day passes as like most music festivals these days they were quite on the pricey side. Therefore we did Off Sonar. This was a series of events and parties hosted by resident DJ's from around the world.

The amazing part of the parties apart from the music was the venues. Most were set in locations with pools and fairy lights to keep you partying to the early hours. One was in an idyllic castle overlooking the whole of the city at night. The atmosphere in the places was simply electric, everyone there had a love for deep house and techno music and everyone had come to just enjoy the party without any issues as you would usually find in England.

We were lucky enough with careful planning to see DJ's such as Nick Curly, Tale of Us, Seth Troxler and the famous in house resident of Berghain Berlin Marcel Dettmann. The music was mystical and you could easily loose yourself, forget your troubles and dance the night away with the never ending perfectly blended mixes. 

As it was a city event the parties didn't stop. One night we were lucky enough to go to Metric Market, a small restaurant/bar just like you would find in Manchester's Northern Quarter. However hidden away in the back were the Adana Twins doing a set for free. With an eclectic crowd partying away till the early hours.

Barcelona by night was something all together amazing, it felt like for that week the city didn't stop. It probably didn't people come from all over the world to attend Sonar, it is clearly a festival to watch. 

Look out for Barcelona by day to follow soon.

M

She sells sea shells on the sea shore.

Ever since I can remember my favourite place to visit was the good old English seaside. It may have something to do with the hot sugared doughnuts rather than that fresh sea air. None the less there is something so simple yet so happy about the English seaside. 

As I've already said I have a new addition Finley the dog. My mum was overly keen to take him to the British shore line and see him run through the sand and hop about in the sea. Off we all go to Southport the most English seaside of them all.

Established in the Victorian era as a holiday retreat for the wealthy city folk Southport has managed to keep all its old fashioned charm. Whilst combining the modern seaside thrills such as the arcade, and some fancy ice cream. Yet the charm is still there with a long pier, boat lake and a carousel. 

So one seaside visit later a portion of fish and chips and a long beach run me and the pooch truly enjoyed the seaside and had a pretty chilled Sunday before the busy week that awaits me.

Pooch

I would like to introduce everyone to a new addition in my life. He's cute, manly and a looker. Yes Finley, my new pooch is a little bundle of fluff and a little cuddle monster.

A cross between a Maltese and a Chuiaua with a bit of everything else in him makes him a mongrel. However I have never seen such a cute dog and decided upon seeing him in real life he was mine. I made no mistake here, he is a little dream, apart from when it comes to going to the toilet in the right place. However just one look into the pups big eyes and he is forgiven. Life is so much sweeter with a little fury companion and I have no doubt you guys will be seeing plenty more of Mr Finny.

M

Long Time, No Blog

Firstly I need to apologise for the neglect that I have shown since September 2013. It's been a year but for good reason.

I finally finished my history degree and little old me finally graduated with a 2:1 degree. It was a lot of hard a lot of stress and a lot of drama. Mostly my mum and dad got the bare brunt of it. But the graduate life with a solid degree is a huge weight off my shoulders.

This summer has been somewhat underwhelming compared to the highs and lows of travelling Europe last year. A brief interlude in Barcelona for the famous tech music festival Sonar, was amazing but short. The rest of summer was spent working, partying and travelling between the hometown of Barnsley and my habitual home Manchester.

Then to the here and now. September 2014 and for some crazy reason I have decided to undertake a MA in Public Relations, therefor I am probably going to have little to no life for the next year. But hopefully what I will have is a shiny new degree certificate and a great career opportunity. Fingers crossed it will be worth no going out!

Also I now have a dog....

Keep Posted guys 

M

Berlin....

So I know I said that I would try and keep more on top of this blog but I ave recently been so busy. I managed to somehow blag an interview for a stylist position at All Saints. I know there is no way in hell that I will get the job, however I figured the experience at the interview would be good and give me more confidence in the future. So moving on....

My travels the second place that I visited was Berlin. It was the most amazing experience of my life. I fell in love with the city and it completely felt like home to me. If I could do anything with my life right this instant it would be move to Berlin and just walk around the endless streets taking in the atmosphere of the city. On arrival in Berlin I was pretty shocked, I am a history student so it probably should of occurred to me that the city had been rebuilt after War in 45. However I was expecting a quaint little German city. Instead I was greeted by huge buildings, long streets and very harsh corners. From the Brandenburg gate to the Berlin wall it was all over powering and spoke volumes for the history that Germany holds. 

As a friend was already in Berlin when we arrived he recommended an area named Friedrichshain. This was a trendy area with lots of cool bars. One was called Palm Beach, in the style of a beach complete with sand covering the floor and amazing but cheap cocktails. We spent our first night sipping Pina Coladas in the smoky atmosphere. The second night we found an amazing club on the east side of town. White Trash, Fast Food. Words can not explain how much I fell in love with this place. The combination of live bands, friendly people and an amazing atmosphere made it worth visiting again on our return trip to Berlin.

The final experience that I feel I must share is my visit to Spree Park again in the East which I have decided is defiantly the place to be in Berlin. An abandoned theme park. In all fairness I did have to take on board the illicit illegal activity of breaking and entering, but so did the other 20 or so people we saw wondering around. The place was amazing but in an eerie way, the plants were twisting around the structures and the Ferris wheel rotated in the wind. Without a doubt it was my favorite experience of Berlin just because it was something that you can't do all the time.

There you go a whistle stop post on my time in Berlin, to me the most amazing place in the world.

Amsterdam..

Like I said in my previous post, I spent the month of July traveling around Europe. This involved many long hours on trains but in the most lots of laughing and amazing experiences. I went with my friend Faye and luckily we were on the same page throughout the Holiday. 

After an extremely painful and long mega bus journey which involved us for the most starving we arrived on the other side of the Chanel in the Dutch paradise. Amsterdam is one of the cutest places I have ever visited, I've been a few times and everything is perfect and petite. The houses are traditional and the canals give the city the quirkiness which draw in the tourists. I'm sure that's not the only tourist attraction with weed and paying for sex being legal.

The red light district and many sex museums, peep shows and live sex shows are all kind of odd but in a funny way. The least I can say about Amsterdam's red light district is its a funny place and not something I really agree with, the many stag parties oogling the girls in windows drive my distaste. But like with many things its a choice and a way of earning money. I just personally wish I would have found the male version. 

However although Amsterdam is famous for its laxed laws, there is plenty more that the city offers. From history to nice parks, boat rides to great nightlife. There is plenty to see and do. We were only there for a day but managed to fit a lot in. Everything to stroking a giant penis to relaxing with a cup of coffee.