the sweetest

Alright, so as I promised here are a few photos from Barcelona. I was there last weekend and absolutely adored the city. There was so much life in the buildings that you rarely see in cities nowadays. The balconies and terraces put the stunning Italian villas to shame. This will be a three part set because I have a terrible habit of taking just a tad too many photos.
Firstly, the thing that struck me most was the cityscape. It was so unusual, different from Madrid where I visited three years ago. I had no idea what to expect and was completely blown away. It seemed as though every single apartment had its own balcony, terrace, or enclosed nook overlooking the streets. The entire city is more or less a constant eye-gasm. Fascinating colors, textures, patterns, it just never gives up. 

Komick monastery is the highest village accessible by Jeep, one of the highest in all of Asia, with an altitude of 4,500 meters. The views there are unbelievable, mountain upon mountain as far as the eye can see.
This was the original location for Dash to be teaching, but the monks didn’t move from Kaza until after we left. It’s a small and supremely isolated monastery above an incredibly tiny village.
A few gems of the trip were driving up with Lama Pema, who as a monk knows no bounds or speed limits regardless of the terrain, the mythical “Komick griffin”, a hilarious stuffed snow leopard at the entrance to one of the shrines, and an hour long conversation about Buddhism in Spiti Valley.

Our quick visit up to Komick might be the most genuine and educational cultural exchange we had during our entire time in Spiti. Pema sat with us in the temple while we took tea and went through the history of Buddhism in Spiti, its related culture and traditions, what means what, and answering infinite questions of “Why?”. In the end we learned a lot about our students, our new friends, and where we were living. We were exceptionally lucky to have such a patient teacher.

Tashi delek,
Hannah

Oktoberfest in München, Deutschland 

Swiss, or possibly German cows along the way

Basel city center

Then to Büsserach!

And then Kate and I were off to Solothurn!