What Kate Did... Went to Barcelona

I went to Barcelona in July with my mum. These are quite late but I've been looking at so many blogs lately I felt inspired to post more often.


Monument a Colom. It's only a few Euros to go to the top and the views are spectacular.




View of the Ramblas


Mercat de La Boqueria


Mama buying fruit



The seafront is wonderful. Barcelona is a great mix of city and beach, an ideal compromise if you can't decide what kind of trip you fancy.


Market in Placa de la Sau


This amazing Baileys pudding was the highlight of our meal at one of the vegetarian restaurants we were really excited about. It was called Restaurante Sesamo, and although it was fairly priced our mains were a bit disappointing. I had a mushroom curry and my mum had a pastry. It was actually really hard to find veggie food in Barcelona, partly because most of the restaurants only sell seafood and partly because so many places literally had no options on their menus. That was quite a shock coming from the UK where everywhere has at least one vegetarian meal on offer, even if it is only a lifeless vegetable lasagne or an uninspiring baked potato.


Parc Guell. You might recognise it was it was one of the finale catwalks on America's Next Top Model. That show was my guilty pleasure when I was at school.


Parc Guell was my favourite place to visit in Barcelona. The Picasso Museum was also brilliant, but expensive and crowded which might not be everyone's cup of tea.

Overall, Barcelona is a wonderful city. The perfect location if your travel partner fancies a beach holiday and you want a city break. You will have plenty of time to see the highlights if you stay for three nights. 

What Kate Did... Went to St.Ives, Cornwall

I took this photograph out of the train window, it's one of the prettiest railway journeys I've been on! I'd recommend travelling to St Ives and Carbis Bay by train as parking is really, really limited and pretty expensive! St Ives is made up of narrow, winding streets and a slightly confusing one way system. So for a few pounds I would hop on the train or drive to Lelant Saltings and catch the park and ride.


Once we left the train we headed straight to Porthminster to devour the picnic we had brought with us. But beware! The seagulls in St Ives have a nasty reputation, they are incredibly bold and will try and steal your food. Tom almost lost his sandwich which was hilarious but also slightly terrifying (gulls are a lot bigger than you expect when they are flying towards your face!). If you fancy a pasty for lunch then Pengenna are the best in the West Country, according to my Devonian boyfriend. The cheese and onion one is mostly filled with potato but it's still pretty good, and they do a vegan Cornish pasty too.





Then we walked round to Porthmeor beach via the harbour to visit the Tate gallery there. I'm sure most readers are aware of the St Ives art movement and it was exciting to get up close to some of the sculptures. Student discount was a bonus (£3 entry to all exhibitions).









We spent the next couple of hours milling around the shops. There are so many galleries like you would expect as well as quaint boutiques and Tom had the ladies in Cath Kidston in fits musing "is there anything in this shop that isn't covered in flowers?"

The Barbara Hepworth sculpture gardens are also brilliant, and a must visit. If the weather is nice I am sure you will enjoy having a wander around, even if art isn't really your thing. You can get a combined ticket for both Barbara Hepworth and the Tate which is slightly cheaper.

Then we hopped in the train to Carbis Bay (3 minutes, and free with our return tickets) to The Bean Inn vegetarian restaurant. It is one of the best I've been to and I have not eaten meat since I was at primary school so I've had my share of sloppy vegetable lasagne and bean burgers when eating out! To start we shared a selection of homemade organic breads with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The one with sun dried tomato bits was our favourite. Then I had a Moroccan casserole with couscous which was lovely and so filling and Tom had Thai red curry which came with noodles and a bean sprout salad.

What Kate Did... Went to Prague

In August I went to the Czech Republic with 3 friends to drink pivo and take our minds off results day.

We spent the week lazing in the sunshine in parks across Prague and laughing lots.





We stayed in Arpacay Hostel, which was cheap and cheerful and came with a free breakfast each morning and transfers to the airport. There was a metro and tram station nearby. It looks like it has been renovated since we went in 2010.







Make sure you give yourself an afternoon to wander around the Old Town Square. It is beautiful and there is always something going on. Mostly of the restaurants and bars around here cater for tourists, so the staff speak English.



The weather was wonderful and we engjoyed a picnic in the Rose Gardens.





Karlův Most










Josefov is the Jewish Quarter. We bought a ticket that allowed us to visit the museum as well as the Old-New Synagogue. Visiting this part of Prague was a highlight of our trip.






Another must visit place is the castle, we took a bus to the top of the hill where it is located and then walked back down admiring the view. I recall the entry ticket being fairly expensive but we all enjoyed it.

Overall, Prague is a really cheap city. Everything was good value. It's so beautiful and there are plenty of things to see and do. We managed to avoid rowdy stag dos the whole time we were there. Eating out as a vegetarian in Prague can be tricky. We had one awkward moment where the 'vegetarian pasta dish' I ordered came up with chunks of bacon in it, and then trying to explain why this was a problem in our rubbish German as the waitress spoke no English was interesting! For the most part though you will be able to eat, although perhaps not very inspiring dishes. The best place we visited (and my 3 meat eating companions agreed) was a vegetarian restaurant in Prague called Lehka Hlava. Public transport in Prague is really cheap and fairly easy to use. You can buy tickets for the tram, buses and metro at newsagents and then 'check in' by getting them stamped in a machine when you start your journey. We got stopped by ticket inspectors who checked we had done this, so make sure you remember to avoid a fine! 

What Kate Did... Went to New York City

New York is the home to pretty much everything I have ever loved: Andy Warhol's factory, Blonde on Blonde, Breakfast at Tiffanys, Bright Eyes 2005 and Snapple to name a few. This was my first visit, and I went with my mum to celebrate my 18th and her 50th birthday.

Day one:

We landed on the morning of 4th July 2010, giving us plenty of time to get settled in and enjoy the Independence Day celebrations. The fireworks over the Hudson River were spectacular and although it's really hot there in July I would recommend arranging your trip so you are in New York for 4th July if you are going in the summer.



After we checked into our hotel (we started at the Holiday Inn near Times Square, we got a great deal and it included a hot buffet breakfast which so it was good value too) we headed to the Museum of Modern Art. It was everything I hoped it would be and it has taken its place as my favourite museum in the world. It is so light and bright, with plenty of outside space. The photo below is of an interactive piece by Yoko Ono, you wrote down your wish and added it to the tree. There's also a pretty amazing rooftop bar.

Day two:

We woke up bright and early the next day and caught the subway to Battery Park to catch the ferry to Liberty Island. If you do one thing before you go it should be to prebook your tickets for this! Especially if you want to climb the Statue of Liberty (a fun experience, but not essential!). There are lots of dodgy websites around so make sure you book using the official Statue Cruises website.

On the way back the boat stops off at Ellis Island and I don't know why but so many people didn't bother to get off. It's definitely worth it though! The Immigration Museum is beautiful and really interesting. There are great views of Manhattan from there too.


Next we headed over the 9/11 memorial which was very moving.

After a quick snoop around Century 21 (a bit like an American TK Maxx, full of bargains!) we wandered over to South Seaport. We had dinner here overlooking the East River and my mum quickly learnt that American measures are bigger than British ones when she nearly fell over after one cocktail!

We walked off our dinner by crossing the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge and then it was so pretty to walk back towards Manhattan at 10PM with all the city lights coming on. I think this is a must do for any trip to NY. It was unforgettable.

Day three:

We spent the morning doing the 'Top of the Rock'. I'd recommend this over the Empire State as it's cheaper, you can see Central Park and you get the great view of the ESB!

We then went for a walk to see some of the sights. It's not far to walk to the Chrysler building, New York Public Library, Grand Central and the UN HQ.

After an iced tea break we explored the Guggenheim, which is such an interesting building. After having a wander through Central Park we escaped the midday sun in the lovely air conditioned museums including the Natural History Museum (go and see the blue whale!). All the museums in NY have a suggested donation of about $23, but the minimum donation is one cent. So don't be put off by the price on the sign, just pay what you can afford.

That night we went to see She & Him and Zooey Deschnnel gave me her setlist!



The next day we swapped hotels. We had both really wanted to stay in The Chelsea Hotel after that Leonard Cohen song but it was too expensive to spend the whole holiday there so we went for our last two nights. It was absolutely amazing and worth every penny. The maids even let me snoop around Bob Dylan's old room!



Day four:

We escaped the buzz of downtown Manhattan for a morning at The Cloisters. We emerged from the subway and it was like we were in another world. If you have time I would really recommend spending the day here.





On the way back to Chelsea we bought some fresh fruit from a market and ate it in the cinema. Everything is bigger on this side of the Atlantic, even the cinemas!

Day five:

We spent our final day close to the hotel before heading to the airport. The nearby Chelsea Market is brilliant, and there are lots of amazing independent shops and galleries to explore nearby.

Washington Square Park is wonderful and so full of history. There were brilliant musicians playing there every time we passed through. It was one of my favourite spots in the city.

It was such a brilliant trip. I can't wait to go back! If we had time I would have liked to explored Brooklyn and visited Coney Island.

Top tips:

- Check the menu for vegetarian options before you enter a restaurant, we had to walk out more than once from places that had literally no choices!
- Prebook the boat trip to the Statue of Liberty.
- Visit the Rockerfeller Centre, and try and prebook if you can.