Feeling excited at the Terrace airport

Leftover cake that we packed along - breakfast of champions

Enjoying a celebratory glass of pink bubbly!

Pretty decent noodle bar in the lounge

After a 5.5 hour layover in Vancouver, we boarded our KLM flight to Amsterdam. It was a 9 hour flight and somehow we luckily ended up in premium economy which was a lovely treat! We even got Haagen Daaz ice cream bars for dessert!!

Super excited! All new territory from here!

Cute windmills on the KLM napkins

We arrived in Amsterdam at noon local time. They are 9 hours ahead of B.C. time… we were very tired. We had a lovely cup of coffee from Amsterdam Bread Co. And then rented a day room from Yotelair so we could sleep and shower. A great option and I would highly recommend this!

Finally we boarded our final flight - a 9 hour flight to Nairobi on Kenya Airways. It’s getting real!!!

We landed in Nairobi just after sunrise at 6am on Oct 21. Our driver met us before customs and welcomed us very warmly to the country. All of our luggage made it! We passed through customs so quickly and met our transport to our hotel.

It was an interesting drive - not as wild as I thought it would be. Lots of poverty and shanty towns at different points along the way. We drove by the Nairobi National park which houses 4/5 of the big five animals (including over 50 black rhinos) right in city limits! An incredible conservation effort here in Kenya. In about 35 minutes we arrived at our hotel - Hemingways Nairobi - a lovely boutique hotel in the suburb of Karen. It is a stunning property!

We had a private checkin, breakfast at the restaurant and then were whisked away to our gorgeous room.

We saw at least 3 monkeys at breakfasts! They are pesky critters and the servers did their best to scare them off. There was also another hotel worker who walked around with a slingshot to keep the monkeys under control. 😂😂😂

We were pretty boring people on the 21st all day. We wandered around the property and explored all the new to us plants. We napped a lot in our beautiful room and we ordered room service lunch and dinner. We watched the iconic movie “out of Africa” as parts of it were filmed on our hotel property.

Yummy beef burger!

Watermelon, halloumi and avocado salad

Our room!

We went to bed around 9pm and we were both exhausted - even after napping a couple times during the day!

We enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the hotel and lingered over the delish Kenyan coffee. Definitely ate too much!

Our goal was to have a restful down day and just enjoy the beautiful property we are staying at.

We read books and listened to some podcasts in our beautiful room, spent some time in the sunshine by the pool and took a little afternoon nap too.

After my nap, we headed up to the restaurant for dinner. We timed it perfectly and managed to watch the beautiful sunset. Sunset hits a little different in Kenya. 🇰🇪 we enjoyed a lovely dinner - lamb Rogan Josh and some paneer and corn mahkani.

The people watching at the hotel was interesting today! A large corporate group came in and another group that looks like a mix of family and friends.

Peanut butter raspberry log dessert

We arrived back to our room and turndown service was done - mosquito net around the bed, water and chocolates on the bedside tables and our slippers placed at the foot of the bed. Feeling pretty spoiled!!

That’s all for today! We are really excited for tomorrow - we get to visit the elephant orphanage and the giraffe sanctuary!!

After breakfast we had a bit of down time while we waited for our guide to arrive for our 10am pickup. We enjoyed some time on our patio in the sunshine.

Our guide, David, picked us up at 10am sharp and we hopped in his very cool safari rig to head to our first stop - the sheldrick elephant orphanage. It is located inside the Nairobi national park and we saw some wildlife enroute - including some naughty baboons who had jumped the fence 😂

David was a great driver and we arrived at the elephant orphanage about 5 minutes before the gate opened and we got a great front row spot to watch the elephants. It was soooo cool! The work the orphanage does to rescue and rehabilitate these beautiful creatures back into the wild is really special and something we felt so good about supporting!

Next up, we went to the Giraffe Center which has played a key part in rebuilding the population for the endangered Rothschild giraffes.🦒 we got to climb up on a platform and feed these amazing, gentle giants some pellets. They stick their big black tongues out and wrap around the pellets and gently take them out of your fingers. What a cool experience to be up close and personal with these beautiful creatures.

And last up, David took us to lunch. I wasn’t expecting to get to eat at such an incredible place!! We had the pleasure of eating lunch at the Karen Blixen Hotel “the garden restaurant”. It was such a lovely experience and dining amidst the spectacular gardens brought out my inner plant nerd for sure.

After eating way too much food, David brought us back to our hotel around 3:30pm. It was such a great day!! Up close and personal experiences with these very special creatures will not soon be forgotten.

We finished our day watching another lovely Kenyan sunset from our patio. Tomorrow, we head onward to our first safari camp!!

So excited for our plane ride!

Views of Nairobi from the air

First view of Elsa’s Kopji from the air

If you look close, you can see giraffes!

Dirt landing strip

We received a very warm welcome from our guide Martin including delicious drinks, beautiful snacks and lovely conversation.

Martin always smiling!

After snacks and drinks, our first game drive started on the way to camp!

Impala

1400 year old baobab tree

Waterbuck

Plains zebras

Our camp is on the hill in front of us

Main lodge at camp

When we got to camp we were warmly greeted by the rest of the team. WOW, we were so impressed at how warm and welcoming the Kenyan people are. We were checked in very expediently, given a brief orientation and then taken away to see our room. Wow wow wow! Our room was just amazing! Built right into the rocks on the edge of the hill with amazing views of the park!

Our room!

House gecko! Soooo many of these little friends! They eat the bugs in the room.

After getting settled in our room we were taken to the dining room/ bar area for a delicious lunch.

View from our lunch table

The food was so good, I forgot to photograph half of it lol!

We had a lovely rest after lunch in preparation for the evening game drive. At 4pm everyone meets in the main lodge for iced coffee and a sweet treat before departing on the evening game drive. It was so delicious!! Martin picked us up around 4:15 and off we went! He treated us to aim incredible (and very knowledgeable) wildlife experience!

Dikdiks

Giraffe

Great views in every direction

Jackal

Buffalo

Elephant

Monkeys

Waterbuck

Waterbuck

Cool birds that I can’t remember the name of!

Tylor is so happy!!

Our guide, Martin

Sundowners with Kenyan rose gin

As the sun set on a beautiful evening, we headed back for camp. At camp we were treated to a spectacular dinner after which we fell into bed exhausted after such a fun and exciting day!!

Sunrise from our patio

Rock hyrax family that lives right outside our room

Buffalo and egrets

Bustard

African sausage tree

Rhino sanctuary!

Momma rhino with a very big horn

Momma and baby rhino

We watched an old bull and a young bull elephant fighting

Another big old bull elephant

Another fiesty bull elephant! We were blocking his way and he wasn’t happy

Fiesty bull elephant

Another momma and baby rhino

The amazing team from Elsa’s surprised us with an epic bush breakfast, complete with mimosas! We couldn’t believe it. We felt so special and spoiled!

After our amazing breakfast we continued on our game drive and saw lots more wildlife.

Buffalo killed by the lions about two days prior

\240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 \240 Lots of giraffes

We arrived back at camp in time for lunch and were once again spoiled with an incredibly delicious and fresh lunch prepared by chef Joshua.

After lunch it was around 36 degrees and way to hot to do anything except hang out in the pool. So that’s what we did! Elsa’s has a gorgeous infinity pool built right into the rock on the edge of the hillside. Absolutely stunning!

After pool time we went back to our room to chill out and get organized for the evening game drive.

It was a pretty quiet evening for game - lots of animals we had already seen, lots of good views and of course lovely conversation with our guide Martin! We ended the night with sundowners at a very beautiful location. Our team had set up an incredible little bar and appetizer spread for us and another couple of guests from our camp - Barbara and Roger from Perth. It was a lovely chat while we drank our drinks and watched the sun go down on another day in Meru.

Back in camp it was already dark! William escorted us to dinner under the stars. Security must escort all guests between their room and any area of camp we wish to go between 6:30pm-6am as there are many wild animals that come into camp often. William had soooo many questions for us about bears and moose and he just loved seeing our wildlife pictures from back home.

Our dinner was amazing and once again we crawled back into bed totally happy and exhausted.

We met Martin at 6:15 for a lovely, but very sweaty hike up Mwango hill - a very nice viewpoint above camp. Great views over all of Meru NP!

While at the top of the hill Martin received a phone call from a fellow guide - they had found the lions that everyone had been looking for the last few days. Martin was very, very excited!! We ran down the hill as quickly as we could. Hopped in the Land Rover and raced out to the location where the lions were. It was a very exciting day! All the guides and guests were absolutely stoked! Two females from the local pride were on the hunt for some more food as their last kill had been about three days prior.

After watching the lions for a little while, we headed back to camp for breakfast. It was sooooo good! The fresh fruit and fresh fruit juice here is addictive!!!

After breakfast, we collected the rest of our things and hopped into the Land Rover with Martin for one last game drive enroute to the airstrip. We looked really hard for the leopard and saw some signs of where it had been, but sadly didn’t get a glimpse. Not for lack of trying!

Fish eagle and some gorey evidence the leopard had been close by

We made a quick stop at the hippo pond on the way to the airstrip, they are such strange creatures! Their little ears are so cute.

We were incredibly sad to leave Martin. Tylor gave him the first leather sunglasses case he had ever made and Martin seemed thrilled. We hugged goodbye and flew off in our private plane enroute to loisaba conservancy. About 45 minute flight from Meru. It was a pretty bumpy flight, but we had some nice views from the air.

Upon arrival at the loisaba airstrip, we were met by our new guide Jackson. He was a younger fella and very friendly right from the start. A very quick drive had us arriving at the Loisaba Tented Camp in time for lunch.

Loisaba Conservstory building at the airstrip

Lunch views

After lunch, we got settled in our “tent” which was absolutely luxurious with stunning views. We felt so lucky and spoiled!

After getting settled we headed out with Jackson on our evening game drive. What a game drive it was! It started off quiet, but got very exciting when we found two young male lions who had been trying to take over the local pride. They were hunting the last female and her cubs with the intent to kill her cubs and adopt her into their new pride.

They were young boys, but absolutely huge! Very intimidating to be so close to them in an open vehicle!! It was clear they were on the hunt.

We spotted momma nearby - she had hidden her cubs well and was trying to trick the males into following her away from the cubs. It was evident she was stressed and working hard to protect her babies.

We missed sundowners to hang out with the lions, but boy was it worth it. What a cool experience!

Upon arrival back to camp, we had an incredible dinner under the stars and then fell asleep - happy and tired from another exciting safari day!

Mount Kenya is the second highest peak in Africa. Second only to Kilimanjaro

After our coffee we went out to meet Jackson for an early morning game drive! Jackson is soooo good at finding the animals and he really focused on getting us animals we hadn’t seen much of or animals specific to Loisaba. He was also a lot of fun to spend time with!!

We started out with the baby lions! Momma was looking for a new hiding spot for them and we were lucky enough to spot them and enjoy some time watching them. They are about 3 months old and just sooooo sweet! Very beautiful creatures.

We also saw another variety of guinea fowl that we hadn’t yet seen. These ones were a beautiful blue color and there were soooo many of them.

We went to a really scenic spot for another bush breakfast - complete with mimosas!! Only downside was that there were millions of honey bees swarming around. They don’t want to sting you if you stay calm, but they were a bit pesky! Some groups wanted to leave as they were too worried about the bees. Us Canadians were like “they’re only honeybees” lol. To which the manager roared with laughter and was like wow, Canadians are soooo chill!! lol

Rosti with scrambled egg, feta and tomato chili jam

After breakfast we continued on our game drive! We finally got to see the grevy’s zebras which look quite different from the common (plains) zebras! They are soooo cute. They have massive ears that they use to shade their eyes when it’s bright out 😂

We finished up our game drive and returned to camp for lunch!! It was a delicious lunch and we enjoyed an epic view and goofy company - the zazu bird! He was so funny!

After lunch we headed back to our room for massages on our patio. It was the most magical experience!!! Can’t believe how spoiled we were. The massage ended with our masseuse using a rain stick over our heads and it was such a lovely way to end the service.

After our massages we headed out with Jackson to drive to a local Samburu village to get some cultural insight. Jackson is from this village and we got to meet his wife and daughter. It was really special and he was sooooo happy to see them!

Beautiful view on the drive to the village

The people were incredibly welcoming! They shared about their culture and traditions and answered our many questions. They had a little market of goods the ladies had made and it was hard not to buy everything!

It was also cool to learn that the hotel company that runs the safari we booked with gives 100% of the tour proceeds to the village. We are so happy to spend our money with a company that gives back to the local communities!

We did a little game drive on the way back to camp and found a beautiful male lion and an incredible female leopard. What an incredible experience! We were almost late for sundowners, but thanks to Jackson’s crazy driving we made it in time for a glass of wine and a tusker!

We did the drive back to camp in the dark and enjoyed the most delicious dinner!! We fell into bed, all ready to do it again tomorrow!

We saw another giraffe! They are so beautiful.

Bustard

We also saw a warthog family that didn’t run away! So we spent some time watching them. The piglets are very cute!! So small still.

And on our way back, we saw a tortoise! One of the small five in Africa.

We enjoyed breakfast in camp and then packed for our flight to the Masai Mara - our final safari destination.

Tylor filmed our takeoff on the dirt runway!

The views from the flight were spectacular! We noted a very distinct difference between the landscape in Loisaba and the Masai Mara.

Loisaba tented camp from the air

We arrived at the Masai Mara airstrip and were warmly welcomed by our new guide Mark. He is Maasai and during our time together he shared a lot about his culture. We so appreciated learning from him! He also knew a lot about the animals and was very good at tracking them down!

On our way to camp we saw a lot of wildlife!! He was determined to help us see as much as possible during our short time together.

Beautiful and lush landscape in the Mara

Masai bustards - part of the ugly five

Masai bustard - very ugly lol

Baboon family

Baboons grooming each other

Elephant family

One got very close! It was an incredible experience.

No zoom needed when they are this close

We saw a pride of lions - they were very lazy and sleepy!

We saw a hyena too which was so cool! They are very interesting creatures!

We saw a tawny eagle!

We finally arrived at Sand River Camp and it was absolutely beautiful! We were warmly welcomed by the team and manager Nicolene. Our “tent” was amazing and so luxurious- complete with a gorgeous tub and an outdoor shower!

We had to use a special latching system to keep the zippers on the tent closed! Otherwise the baboons can get in and wreak havoc 😂😂😂

We watched the sun set on another lovely day and then radioed for an escort to dinner. Camp is not fenced, so escorts by camp security are required after dark. Safety was taken very seriously which we appreciated! We heard lions, elephants, baboons and buffalo all in close proximity to camp!

Walk through camp to get some coffee!

Beautiful sunrise over sand river

We hit the mother load on animals today!! I’m going to just share pics and some captions because at this point in safari it seems redundant to keep writing about the same thing lol.

Warthog

Eland - these guys are shy. Biggest antelope species in Kenya!

Topi

Huge herd of buffalo

3 big boys!

We saw like a million zebras - as far as the eye could see. And then further.

These two were so stuffed full of buffalo they looked pregnant!

Grooming himself between naps!

Jakal

Buffalo the big lions had feasted on the night before! Time for the scavengers to move in.

Jakal chasing off the vultures

Tawny eagle

Vulture

Young boy encroaching on the big boys territory. They chased him off very ferociously!

The chase is on

Very ferocious boy! A little too close to the jeep for comfort. He is warning off the young boy encroaching on his territory. Young boy ran off pretty quick after this!

Beautiful spot for breakfast

Coolest picnic trunk! I want one!

Breakfast!

Crocodiles

Crocodiles

Hippos in the Mara river

Lots of hippos

Close up! Lol

Cheetah- she was vv sleepy

Napping sitting up

Napping

Leopard sighting! She was very hard to spot!

Male ostrich

Big paws!

We returned to camp around 4:30pm and had time for a glass of wine before dinner. It was a full day and we were both pretty tired!

We were treated to dinner under the stars complete with a fire, delicious wine and delicious food! And let’s not forget the amazing service from Boniface and Jeremiah! We were totally spoiled.

We came back to our room and found hot water bottles tucked into our bed! What a lovely touch and very needed - it got pretty chilly at night in the Masai Mara!

That was the end of another lovely day on safari.

We watched some lions hanging out. Two of the females went into full hunting mode when they saw some topis, but the topis spotted them and ran away. The lions didn’t chase them as it would have expended too much energy!

We followed the lions down to the water and got to watch them drink! It was so neat to see them like this. They are super noisy drinkers!

Lilac breasted roller

Cool flowers

After a nice game drive, we came back to camp for breakfast. We got to eat right on the riverbank and it was so nice! Our server, Boniface was so funny and we enjoyed chatting with him a lot!

Carmelized banana French toast

Cute mongoose all over the camp

After breakfast, we packed our bags and rested a bit. We did some souvenir shopping at the cute gift shop and then headed to the restaurant for a glass of wine and our final lunch at Sand River camp. It was delicious as always!

After lunch, we hit the road with Mark to drive the 45 mins to the airstrip.

We flew drive from the Masai Mara to JOmo Kenyatta airport in Nairobi. We were met by Jeph who transferred us and got us all checked in for our domestic flight to Mombasa. Jeph stored our luggage for us while we were in Mombasa as well which was so helpful!

We sat in the Kenya Airways lounge for a couple hours before our flight and enjoyed a couple drinks. Then when it was time to board it was a total gong show lol! No flight information displayed on the screen, no flight announcements, no zone numbers etc. once we figured out it was time to board we went through and they proceeded to load all the passengers into busses and drive us to our plane. 😂😂😂 it was mayhem and felt like being cattle being herded! A rude awakening after our last few flights being private charters haha first world problems I know lol.

Our flight to Mombasa was about 1 hour long. We were met by our driver at the airport who drove us out to Diani beach - about 45-50 minute drive. It was a CRAZY drive!!! Motorbikes, scooters, bicycles and tuktuk’s all over the road - lots without lights. Somewhat disconcerting when it’s pitch dark and our driver was going fast lol. But he seemed to see everything just find and got us to our hotel in one piece!

It was soooooo hot in Mombasa! About 30 degrees at 9pm at night and very humid!

We stayed at Almanara Luxury Suites and it was a very beautiful property. We had an expedited check in and the chef came out to take our dinner orders!

We went up to our room to drop our things and headed down for a very quick and delicious dinner! It was late and we both fell into bed afterwards with plans of sleeping in the next morning - it would be our first sleep in the whole trip!!

Door to our room

Our room

The suites were massive!! Beautifully appointed and had a massive patio too. We were excited to see more in the morning. There are only five suites at this hotel.

Hotel entrance

Looking back at hotel entrance from the lobby

Hotel lobby

Upstairs at hotel

Lounge area at hotel

Chandelier in our room

View from breakfast

After a yummy breakfast, we headed down to the beach for some relaxation. After watching the waves, I had to go out for a swim! The water was warm like bath water and soooo clear. It was so wonderful! What a treat!

View from my lounge chair

Loving life!!

Walk back to the hotel for lunch. It’s a tough life!

We popped back up to the hotel for a lovely lunch! Some yummy pasta and chocolate profiteroles for dessert.

We headed back to the beach for some more relaxation and swimming! This time even Tylor joined me in the water. The breeze off the ocean was so pleasant and really kept the heat at bay.

We booked a couples massage late in the afternoon and we really enjoyed it! After our massage, we headed back to our room and sat on the patio to enjoy some cold ginger beers.

View from bed!

Ginger beer!

We relaxed a bit more and then headed for dinner! It was epic - there is soooo much delicious seafood here on the coast. We had crab Au gratin with rice and veggies! It was presented beautifully and tasted way too good. We both ate too much!!

We went to bed after dinner and watched the new animated version of the lion king which was very well done and enjoyable!

More beach views

Lobster lunch

Crepe Suzette for dessert!!

We had a private transfer to the airport. It was cool to do the drive in the day time and very different than our transfer at night!! Our driver was a young fella who spoke incredible English and we had a wonderful visit with him.

We arrived at the airport way too early and waited in line to check in. After a few power outages, we finally got through! We made it through security which seemed pretty lax and unstructured compared to our airport security. Our flight was delayed a couple of times and the airport in Mombasa was crazy!! But we finally boarded our flight to Nairobi.

We arrived at the Nairobi airport an hour later and were picked up by the shuttle driver for Crown Plaza Nairobi.

When we arrived at the hotel there was insane security to get through the front gates and then more security to get into the hotel itself. It seemed like that was where all the pilots and flight attendants stay on their stop overs.

By this time it was about 10pm and we hadn’t eaten dinner, so we ordered room service, got organized for our flight the next day and hit the hay. Our 1:30am wake up call was going to come early.

We had a three hour layover at the Istanbul airport. We filled our water bottles, ate some lunch (not good food and ridiculously overpriced lol) and tried to sort out our seat assignments for our next flight. Turkish airlines decided to unassign seats we paid for and give us worse seats. They wouldn’t fix it, so we let them know we would be reporting the transaction to Mastercard as a fraudulent transaction. Fun times lol. Some days I really don’t enjoy travel!

We boarded our next flight for Barcelona and weren’t seated together which was a bummer. But it was only a four hour flight and the food was much better on this flight!

I really enjoyed flying over Greece and Italy! It looks like \240absolutely beautiful countryside. The descent into Barcelona was soooo turbulent! The water was super rough, lots of clouds, rain and wind! But we made it and touched down without any trouble!

We made it through customs no problem! Got some Euros while we waited for our bags and then we were on our way! We easily caught a cab and headed to our hotel - the Grand Hyatt. We were warmly welcomed to the hotel, assisted with our bags and checked in very expediently!

Our room was nice - very modern! But very small! I always forget how small everything is in Europe. We almost didn’t have room for all our luggage in the room.

We were utterly exhausted! So we ordered room service, showered and hopped into bed.

Holy room service!!!

Breakfast of champions lol

After breakfast we got organized and figured out how to take transit to Sagrada Familia. It was surprisingly easy and after going the wrong way on the metro once, we got it figured out! We arrived early, so we went to find a cup of coffee to enjoy before our tour.

We found a cute little place with very strong coffee and enjoyed it on the terrace.

Tylor getting sick of me taking his pic lol

After our coffee, we went back to Sagrada Familia for our tour. I wish we didn’t book the guided tour as it was pretty heavy on the catholic koolaid- not exactly what we were interested in. I spent enough time getting quizzed about the Bible in school growing up - don’t need it from a tour guide lol! But it was still very cool to see the amazing building and architecture of the church. The opulence of the building does make one wonder why it’s necessary to direct funds toward such an extravagant project when money could be put toward those in need, but I guess this is why I’m not in charge of churches 😂😬

Park across the road from the church

Sagrada Familia - to be completed by 2033

We had booked a tour of the Passion Tower, but it was closed because of the rain. We asked about our refund and then headed on our way to find some lunch!

We found a great jamon shop where we ordered some simple, but delicious food and some really cheap beer and sangria! It was a lovely little spot to hang out.

We meandered our way back to the metro and found our way back to the hotel. We enjoyed a bit of down time and then got ready for the 2024 Agm welcome reception. It was very nice - the theme was a taste of Barcelona and there was a lovely assortment of Spanish food available to sample. We enjoyed some drinks, some food and some great conversation with some colleagues and their spouses and then we headed to bed around 10pm.

I’m terrible and didn’t take any pics of the welcome reception. Oops! 😬

We did our first stop - a meat and cheese tasting at a Jamon shop. It was soooo delicious!! 🤤

After our tasting, we started walking to our next stop when our guide received a phone call. The weather was dangerous, there had been a flash flooding warning issued by the government and we were to return to the hotel asap. By this time it was pouring out and starting to run down the streets and sidewalks. We were absolutely soaked by the time we got back to the bus. After the floods that happened in Valencia, everyone was very on edge and very cautious. Rightly so- there were several areas that flooded, had washouts etc.

we made it back to the hotel without issue and had hot showers to warm up. We were both super chilled!!

Rain while waiting for our bus

All tours were cancelled for all 2500 of our group!! Our organizers scrambled to make the most of the day after the flood risk had subsided. They ended up sending us out to several locations for lunch. The place we were sent was lovely! A traditional Spanish tapas place. Great service, great food and great company!

Lunch menu

Tylor at lunch

Lunch restaurant building was beautiful!

After lunch we returned to the hotel for a bit and got some rest! Then we headed out for a group dinner - a random selection of 8 people from across the firm. We went to another tapas restaurant and had a fantastic time! What a great group we had!

We didn’t leave the restaurant until around 10:30pm and got back to the hotel around 11:15pm. It was a late night! We both fell into bed exhausted and full!!

Vigoros - theme of this year’s AGM

Our meetings were good! Very inspiring and created lots of excitement for the upcoming year. We also celebrated the success of our past year.

Omg! So many people! Approx 1300 partners at the business meetings

The meetings went from 8:30am-12:30pm. As soon as we finished, I walked back to the hotel and met up with Ty. We headed out on a little exploration around the neighborhood. We checked out the gardens at Palau des Pedraibes and enjoyed walking around the residential area where many locals live. Lots of university students live in this area.

We found a cute burger place and had some lunch! Tylor had beef tacos and I had a bacon and cheese burger!

After lunch we meandered our way back to the hotel. We made a quick stop at a pharmacy (called farmacia) and grabbed some cold meds and lozenges as I had a bit of a sore throat. Between the little bit of Spanish I can speak, little bit of English the pharmacist spoke and some hand gestures, we managed to get the right meds picked out!

We enjoyed a quick rest at the hotel and then got ready for the evening festivities! We were really excited to go to Cava Codorniu for an evening soirée. This is one of the oldest cava makers in the region - over 450 years of operating!

The venue was beautiful!! The wine was fantastic! And there was soooooo much food! Themed for four different regions in Spain.

The party was very loud and very crowded though, so we made our rounds, visited with some of our friends and then headed out for the night around 10pm.

We heard from some others that on the busses headed back to the water front hotels, people were getting really sick on the drive. At first we thought maybe too much to drink, but apparently it was either a stomach flu or food poisoning. It seemed to pass quickly though and we never did get it! We were very grateful!!

Ancient city wall and gate

La ramblas

Our cooking class was at La Boqueria market just off La Ramblas street. We had to climb four flights of stairs to get to the cooking class! After all the drinking and eating we’ve been doing, we definitely felt it lol. Diet time as soon as we get home 😂😂😂

Our cooking class was fantastic!! We made many authentic Spanish dishes including:

Tomato bread

Empanadas

Spanish omelette (tortilla)

Paella - two varieties

Creme catalan infused with orange and cinnamon

After we finished cooking, we all sat down and ate the food we cooked for lunch. It was so delicious!

After we finished eating, we walked back to the bus and drove back to the hotel. It was a very enjoyable day!

Patatas bravas

Nachos

Tylor’s new fav ipa

Cool old door we saw

After finishing our meal, we wandered for a bit longer and then headed back to the hotel for a little nap. It was going to be a late night!

Our gala dinner was at the stock exchange and it was a stunning venue! The food and drinks were excellent!!

Little write up about the venue

We enjoyed the live violin music while we had a couple drinks and some appetizers at the cocktail reception. When we were seated at our table we enjoyed the company of those seated around us!

After dinner we were transferred to the Spanish village and it was absolutely magical! Each area is modeled after streets/ villages in Spain. It was an amazing venue for our after party! We ended up staying way later than planned because we were enjoying ourselves so much! Around each corner was something new to explore and try!

Churro with hot chocolate

This stuff was sooooo good!

Cutest plant wall

Guess we clean up ok!

What a beautiful and special night it was!! We got back to the hotel around 12:30 and fell into bed. We had another full day planned tomorrow!