My last weekend trip, to Vienna with Allison. Neither of us did much research for this trip, I brought my travel book like I always do but I wasn't as motivated as I usually am to pack everything I can into a weekend. We left Friday night and found our hostel pretty easily. Meininger hostel, my mom's maiden name is Deininger, crazy. We had pastries for breakfast Saturday morning and headed to the main part of town. We wandered around a food market, reminiscent of La Mercat de Boqueria in Barcelona, though less impressive. After that we visited Stephansdom, St. Stephen's Cathedral. Four months later and I'm still not tired of big old churches, they're just incredible. This one was decked out with visages of saints. We followed the sound of a band to a courtyard of the Hofburg and took in a few marches, it took me back to marching band days, except these were cute old German-speaking men and not highschoolers. We took a long walk in a big circle through the city next, taking pictures of impressive buildings along the way. It got hotter and hotter the more we walked. We ended up back at the Hofburg, the Imperial Palace. The tour includes the silver collection, Sisi museum and the palace itself. The silver collection is pretty much a multitude of dishes and silverware that the royal family used throughout the years. They had a LOT of dishes, lemme tell ya. The Sisi museum is dedicated to Empress Elisabeth, wife of Emperor Franz Joseph. She needed some major psychiatric attention, the whole museum was about how she couldn't handle all the public attention or royal duties and was so sad because she wasn't free. She was also incredibly beautiful and spent a huge amount of time maintaining her beauty, hairdressers spent three hours doing her ankle length hair every morning and she was 5'8" and weighed about 100 pounds, she had a 20 inch waist, which is RIDICULOUS! By the end of this part of the museum, I was thoroughly annoyed with Sisi, she needed to just suck it up and get over it, seriously. She ended up being assassinated by some crazy anarchist while on vacation, he stabbed her in the chest and she didn't even realize it, she just collapsed later. The actual palace portion wasn't too impressive after Madrid and Versailles. It wasn't as old either, Franz Joseph reigned in the mid-1800s. Overall, the Hofburg was cool, but not my favorite thing I've seen in Europe. After getting through the museum we went out for coffee. Vienna is basically the home of fancy coffee, but a 16 oz Starbucks is probably a better value, a 16 oz Caribou is definitely a better value. I had a Turkish coffee, it was odd, just hot water mixed with coffee grounds I think and a gelatin cube, I didn't know what to do with it. After this another pastry for dessert and it was time to get in line for the opera. The only thing I really wanted to do in Vienna was go to the opera, you can get a standing section ticket for 4 euro. When you have the chance to see an opera for 4 euro, you take advantage of it. This does involve a long wait in line and you do have to stand through the entirety of the opera, but it's so worth it, at least I think so. Allison wasn't too thrilled about the long wait and wasn't excited about the opera like I was. I tried to keep us entertained with hangman and drawing and whatnot, the wait wasn't that bad. The opera was Tosca by Giacomo Puccini. Basically, Tosca and Mario are lovers, when Mario harbors an escaped political prisoner at their beach house, Scarpio (the bad guy) makes her think he's having an affair and uses her to lead him to the prisoner. They capture Mario but can't find the prisoner, so they torture him to black mail Tosca into revealing the location of the prisoner, which she does. This means death for Mario. Scarpio will let Mario live if Tosca will have an affair with him, of course she agrees to this and bargains for safe passage out of the city for her and Mario afterwards. After he writes up the safe passage, Tosca kills him. Tosca meets Mario before he is scheduled to be executed and tells him about the safe passage but they have to pretend to execute him first for appearances' sake. Shocker, they actually execute him and shout how they're coming for Tosca but she jumps off the building before they can catch her...it was an abrupt ending. There were 3 acts, Allison left after the 1st. I thoroughly enjoyed it, if I lived in Vienna I would probably go to the opera every other week at least, for 4 euro too, that's less than a movie. After talking to a roommate at the hostel, we decided to go to Schloss Schonbrunn the next morning for its hedge-mazes. We didn't actually go inside the palace. It was crazy hot and sunny, felt like August. We wanted to go to the zoo but it was a bit too pricey so we just walked around the palace grounds, they're very extensive. Eventually we made our way back to the center of town to see the uhrenmuseum, the clock museum. It's free on Sundays and Allison's dad own a clock shop, how relevant. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was a nice escape from the heat and the clocks were neat. I wanted to find the gold statue of Strauss afterwards, it's in a park and it just so happened that they were having some kind of food festival. The entire park was filled with booths selling cheese, cured meat, ready to eat food, beer and wine. It was really nice, Allison had a glass of wine and I had a glass of beer and we just relaxed for a little while. A cone of gelato later we were ready to make our way to the airport for our 5:55 flight. By the time we checked in and went through security our flight was delayed to 6:50. We went to the cafe in the terminal for a while and occupied ourselves, then our flight was delayed to 8:30. We decided to exit the terminal and look around the rest of the airport in hopes of finding an asian restaurant. No such luck, we ate at a generic airport restaurant instead. We went back through security and still had to wait a while. When it was finally time to board they informed us that we had a different plane and seating was a free for all, meaning our first row seats were now gone. The plane was unmarked, just white and it was some airline I've never heard of. Oh well, we got home safely, 3 hours later than expected, but safe. And that was my last weekend trip, I can't believe I'm coming home so soon, I really need to start packing but I have finals to study for first...something I should be doing right now, ugh. I wish I had more time (and money) for travelling, but it's been a great semester and I've seen a grand total of 14 countries and grown as a person immensely. I really do feel like there's a world of possibilities at my feet, who knows what the future will bring. Try to live with no regrets and take everything as it comes.
See you in 5 days.
-Lauren :)
Monday, May 11, 2009
Krakow, Auschwitz & Prague and Mary's visit
picking up immediately where I left off...my parents saw me off Thursday morning for our coincidentally ISA trip to Krakow, Auschwitz and Prague. This wasn't part of the program, it just happened that the group who ended up wanting to go was the ISA group. Getting to Krakow was a long venture, we flew into Katowice (cheap airlines for ya) and then had to get on a bus...a 2 hour bus. I don't think it was supposed to be that long, we were in traffic a lot. People were a little cranky by the time we got to the hostel, travelling with the same small group all the time can do that. We had dinner in the main square, got ice cream for dessert and just wandered around the area. Krakow is a nice city, very clean and safe and I swear there's at least one church on every block. Once again I felt connected to my ancestors, even though I know nothing about them besides they were Polish, ha. I'm glad I got to see Poland anyways. The next day we went to Auschwitz. The weather was amazing, perhaps not the right setting for the day. We went on a guided tour, the guide is mic'd and then everyone has a headset so they can hear, but mine was broken so I tried to stay super close to our guide so I could hear him, he probably thought I was a creep. Auschwitz is indescribable, using a positive adjective to describe the experience just feels wrong. One thing that really blew me away were the collections they had of people's belongings - brushes, eye glasses, shoes and even women's hair, in huge quantities, and it wasn't even everything they found when the Russian's conquered the camp. They described the gassing process as well, they could kill 115,000 people in one chamber in 15 minutes. They estimate 1.1million people went through Auschwitz throughout the course of the war, but it's just an estimate and the people who were killed immediately upon arrival were never documented. I am very grateful I had the opportunity to visit Auschwitz.
We had another long bus ride back into Krakow, we were stuck in traffic for a llooonnnggg long time. We meandered around town again until we decided it was time for dinner. Porch swing seats - a good idea in theory, not so much in practice. We decided this before even ordering any food. A few of the others weren't too happy with their meals, and our waitress was a little inept, but my dinner was good, I had pierogies with mushrooms inside. We killed more time, coffee was involved. Poland is not on the Euro, they have zlotych and it's about 4 zlotych = 1 euro. Prices are adjusted somewhat to compensate for the conversion rate, but everything is still pretty cheap. One of the perks of Eastern Europe. Eventually we picked up our bags, went to the train station, bid Dallin farewell (he was off to South Korea, he wrote an essay and it was chosen to be presented at some forum) and boarded our overnight train to Prague. It was super cramped and not very comfortable, we had couchettes, basically our own tiny room with two bench seats facing eachother and a luggage rack on top...well, the backs of the benches fold down and the luggage rack is padded and voila, two benches turn into 6 beds. Thank goodness we only needed 5 because our luggage would not have fit if the 6th bed (aka other side of the luggage rack) had been occupied (not to mention that person having luggage as well). Even though it was uncomfortable, it was a blast (until we actually tried to sleep that is). We arrived in Prague very early, freshened up a bit at the hostel and had breakfast. Sabine told us to go to the castle (she'd already been there) as it would get busier the later we went. It didn't really feel like a castle, we got an amazing view over Prague and a close-up look at the outside of a gorgeous church but that was about it. Our ticket let us into the castle, a basilica and the "golden lane", the castle was pretty much it's view, the basilica wasn't anything spectacular and the "golden lane" was just tourist shops behind cute store fronts, and like Sabine had warned us the place was PACKED with tourists very quickly. I wanted to go in the church (which was free) but the line was insanely long so we opted out. We met Sabine again and tried to see St. Charles bridge, but there was a line to go over it, ridiculous. We went to the Old Town Square and saw the astronomical clock, it was shorter than I was expecting but still cool. After sitting around for a while we went back to the hostel to get ready to meet the ISA-Prague program. ISA has programs throughout South American and Europe, including Prague, so Sabine had arranged for our group to meet up with theirs. Most of the people were out of town, we met one of the girls and 2 of the boys (plus one of their friends) along with the director and her boyfriend. We went to dinner with them and then to a bar after. I was literally falling asleep in my chair I was so tired. More of their friends joined us as the night wore on, we were eventually going to make our way to the famous 5-floor club. I caught a bit of a second wind after we left the bar and started walking to the club, at least to the extent that I could keep my eyes open. We lost the ISA-Prague kids almost as soon as we got into the place, it was pretty sweet though. Each floor had a different theme, a floor for techno, a floor for oldies, a floor for just chilling. We visited all 5 but ultimately ended up on the bottom floor sitting in a booth with the girl from the ISA-Prague program and a number of other people. Allison, Becky and I were not in a dancing mood. Fortunately, we didn't have any plans for the next day besides checking out and flying home. That's basically what we did, had breakfast at the hostel, checked out, hung around the Old Town Square. I visited the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, or Kostel Panny Marie před Týnem if you prefer the Czech, because it was basically in the square and free. If Poland was cheap, the Czech Republic is dirt, 25 czech crowns = 1 euro. Prices are obviously adjusted here as well, but a half liter of beer is about 2 euro which is crazy as a smaller beer in Brussels is usually around 3.50 euro. After 4 months of sightseeing like a madwoman, a more relaxed weekend was welcome and the only thing I really wanted to see in Prague was the astronomical clock chime, I accomplished that goal. I hadn't had time to research things to do in Prague before hand like I usually do, but I probably would've been more disappointed if I had.
We got back Sunday evening and I had to pick up Mary and her friend from the train station Monday morning, not as early as I originally thought, so that was good. Seeing Mary completed my goal of seeing all my friends abroad while in Europe, if you've been counting, all my friends = 3, Christine, Kristin and Mary. That is part of the reason I chose to study in Europe though. I would've been bummed if I hadn't seen Mary so it was great that our schedules coincided so nicely. I showed them around Brussels, we had waffles and frites along the way. My diet is going to need some serious revamping when I get home, lots of vegetables for me this summer. I had class on Tuesday as always, but we met up for lunch and after class. It was a short but sweet visit.
Check you calendars folks, I'll be home in a week.
-Lauren :)
We had another long bus ride back into Krakow, we were stuck in traffic for a llooonnnggg long time. We meandered around town again until we decided it was time for dinner. Porch swing seats - a good idea in theory, not so much in practice. We decided this before even ordering any food. A few of the others weren't too happy with their meals, and our waitress was a little inept, but my dinner was good, I had pierogies with mushrooms inside. We killed more time, coffee was involved. Poland is not on the Euro, they have zlotych and it's about 4 zlotych = 1 euro. Prices are adjusted somewhat to compensate for the conversion rate, but everything is still pretty cheap. One of the perks of Eastern Europe. Eventually we picked up our bags, went to the train station, bid Dallin farewell (he was off to South Korea, he wrote an essay and it was chosen to be presented at some forum) and boarded our overnight train to Prague. It was super cramped and not very comfortable, we had couchettes, basically our own tiny room with two bench seats facing eachother and a luggage rack on top...well, the backs of the benches fold down and the luggage rack is padded and voila, two benches turn into 6 beds. Thank goodness we only needed 5 because our luggage would not have fit if the 6th bed (aka other side of the luggage rack) had been occupied (not to mention that person having luggage as well). Even though it was uncomfortable, it was a blast (until we actually tried to sleep that is). We arrived in Prague very early, freshened up a bit at the hostel and had breakfast. Sabine told us to go to the castle (she'd already been there) as it would get busier the later we went. It didn't really feel like a castle, we got an amazing view over Prague and a close-up look at the outside of a gorgeous church but that was about it. Our ticket let us into the castle, a basilica and the "golden lane", the castle was pretty much it's view, the basilica wasn't anything spectacular and the "golden lane" was just tourist shops behind cute store fronts, and like Sabine had warned us the place was PACKED with tourists very quickly. I wanted to go in the church (which was free) but the line was insanely long so we opted out. We met Sabine again and tried to see St. Charles bridge, but there was a line to go over it, ridiculous. We went to the Old Town Square and saw the astronomical clock, it was shorter than I was expecting but still cool. After sitting around for a while we went back to the hostel to get ready to meet the ISA-Prague program. ISA has programs throughout South American and Europe, including Prague, so Sabine had arranged for our group to meet up with theirs. Most of the people were out of town, we met one of the girls and 2 of the boys (plus one of their friends) along with the director and her boyfriend. We went to dinner with them and then to a bar after. I was literally falling asleep in my chair I was so tired. More of their friends joined us as the night wore on, we were eventually going to make our way to the famous 5-floor club. I caught a bit of a second wind after we left the bar and started walking to the club, at least to the extent that I could keep my eyes open. We lost the ISA-Prague kids almost as soon as we got into the place, it was pretty sweet though. Each floor had a different theme, a floor for techno, a floor for oldies, a floor for just chilling. We visited all 5 but ultimately ended up on the bottom floor sitting in a booth with the girl from the ISA-Prague program and a number of other people. Allison, Becky and I were not in a dancing mood. Fortunately, we didn't have any plans for the next day besides checking out and flying home. That's basically what we did, had breakfast at the hostel, checked out, hung around the Old Town Square. I visited the Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, or Kostel Panny Marie před Týnem if you prefer the Czech, because it was basically in the square and free. If Poland was cheap, the Czech Republic is dirt, 25 czech crowns = 1 euro. Prices are obviously adjusted here as well, but a half liter of beer is about 2 euro which is crazy as a smaller beer in Brussels is usually around 3.50 euro. After 4 months of sightseeing like a madwoman, a more relaxed weekend was welcome and the only thing I really wanted to see in Prague was the astronomical clock chime, I accomplished that goal. I hadn't had time to research things to do in Prague before hand like I usually do, but I probably would've been more disappointed if I had.
We got back Sunday evening and I had to pick up Mary and her friend from the train station Monday morning, not as early as I originally thought, so that was good. Seeing Mary completed my goal of seeing all my friends abroad while in Europe, if you've been counting, all my friends = 3, Christine, Kristin and Mary. That is part of the reason I chose to study in Europe though. I would've been bummed if I hadn't seen Mary so it was great that our schedules coincided so nicely. I showed them around Brussels, we had waffles and frites along the way. My diet is going to need some serious revamping when I get home, lots of vegetables for me this summer. I had class on Tuesday as always, but we met up for lunch and after class. It was a short but sweet visit.
Check you calendars folks, I'll be home in a week.
-Lauren :)
Friday, May 8, 2009
last ISA excursion - The Hague & my parents' visit
I'm a bit behind on my postings, if you haven't noticed. I've had lots of papers and whatnot so I've been pretty busy. The semester is winding down and it's so surreal to think how I'll be home in a little over a week. I was ok with it for a while but now I don't want to leave at all, even though I do miss everybody a lot. It's just going to be weird...ANYWAYS...
The next trip after spring break was our last ISA excursion to The Hague, or Den Haag if you prefer, in the Netherlands. It was our only over night excursion, exciting. It started out somewhat poorly when Dallin missed the train. He had just barely caught the trains for all our other excursions so I suppose this was inevitable. It was quite the hullaballoo. We checked into our HOTEL (NOT hostel) when we arrived and it was wonderful. Hostels are fun and there's nothing wrong with them, but it really makes you appreciate hotel rooms with TVs and big comfy beds and your own bathroom complete with a continuosly running guaranteed to be hot shower. Speaking of showers, this place had a floor length window into the shower and bathroom, it was weird. Fortunately, there were blinds. We went to the Mauritshuis first, the museum where Girl with a Pearl Earring is kept. It was a good size, just two large floors with rooms arranged in a circle. It used to be an actual house. After that, we went to the Escher museum. This is the guy who did the mind-puzzling pictures with stairs that only go up, and the hands drawing eachother, or the birds that morph into fish...trust me, you've seen this stuff. I always thought his art was cheesy, probably because it was always in math teachers' classrooms, but now that I've been to the museum I think it's incredible. He was so talented to be able to think of this stuff, it hurts your brain. By the time we finished seeing the museum, Dallin had caught up to us. We had some dutch snacks at the nearby carnival, olliebollen and poffertjes, probably the least healthy things you can eat. Olliebollen is a ball of fried dough covered in powdered sugar and poffertjes are mini slightly puffy crepes covered in butter and powdered sugar, they are mighty tasty. We went to see the Peace Palace and take some pictures, this is where the International Court of Justice is. Then we went to the beach and took a few more pictures, tried to go to the restaurant they went to the previous semester but it had shut down so ended up at a tex-mex place instead. You don't realize how ingrained tex mex is to American culture until you go to Europe where it's practically unheard of. We went back to the hotel and called it an early night.
Day 2 - We got an excellent breakfast this morning. I always try to eat a lot at the free breakfasts I get so I won't be hungry later. I still took almost everything they had in a plastic wrapper and shoved it in my purse for a snack later. After breakfast we went to Madurodam, aka mini-Holland. It was rainy, that was a bummer, but Madurodam is very cute, models of famous buildings and landmarks in Holland. I think it would have been better if I was more familiar with famous landmarks in Holland though. Allison and I spent a good chunk of time coloring in the sesame street exhibit they had set up for small children to avoid the rain. Next we hopped on the train to Delft, home of Delft porcelain, that blue and white kind with windmills and dutch children on it. The rain died down, we split up for lunch, tried to get into the old church but it was closed (on a Sunday?) and then wandered around waiting for our boat ride. The boat ride was nice. The canals in delft are just completely open, you could easily just hop in and go for a swim, though I would NOT recommend it. Apparently the canals are filled with bikes, people chain them up next to a canal and eventually they just fall in, it's weird. We shopped around a bit after the boat ride and then rode back to The Hague to pick up everyone's bags. More train drama to come...Sabine disappeared right as our train arrived and we didn't know whether she was on the train or not, Dallin called her and she said "get on the train" in a huff and hung up, we were just really confused and stayed off. Well, another call revealed she was ON the train, uh-oh. Basically, a whole mass of confusion and some stress later, during which we thought we had the tickets and then learned she had the tickets, they let us on the next train (in 1st class too) without tickets and we met up with Sabine at the first stop. Phew. When we got home, (after I left my expensive umbrella on the train :( ) I went to meet my parents at their hotel.
My parents probably chose the worst week possible to come visit me, I had The Hague trip the first weekend and then was leaving for Poland on Thursday for the next weekend. On top of that, I had papers galore and a quiz so I couldn't really miss class. Oh well, what can you do. We went out for a late dinner at a swanky restaurant and agreed to meet at the Grand Place the next morning. Good thing I don't have classes on Mondays. They got a bit lost, but I found them and we mostly wandered around the area going in and out of shops for the day. I showed them the Cathedral and the Place Royale and Royal Palace too. We tried to go to mini-Europe, which I've been looking forward to since I got here in January, not kidding, but it was closed. We had a drink nearby instead and then headed back to the main part of town for dinner. I wanted mussels, another thing I'd been looking forward to since I got here in January. We found a cute little restaurant by St. Catherine's and had a delicious meal. We agreed to meet at Art-Lois after my classes the next day. I got done earlier than I thought I would and so went to their hotel instead, and then my phone decided to not work so I couldn't get a hold of them. They waited around Art-Lois for an hour while I waited at their hotel for an hour until I finally found a phone place and got a hold of them. In Brussels, they have places where there are landlines just hooked up in wooden booths in convenience stores or internet cafes, it's very convenient. We had dinner near the Grand Place at a place with very Belgian dishes, mmmm. The next day I only had one class at 3 and I just planned to stop in and drop off some papers, the prof knew my parents were in town and I hadn't missed a class all semester. I finally go to go to mini-Europe, woo! It's expensive but very extensive, all 27 member states of the EU are represented by at least one landmark. It was really cool and we ended up spending almost the entire day there. We had lunch and I realized I wouldn't have time to drop my papers off, oh well. After stopping back at the hotel for a little while we went to my host family's house for dinner. Everyone had a really good time and dinner was (of course) delicious. I decided to spend the night with my parents and so packed my things for the weekend while my parents skyped with my grandma and brother. They didn't have cots at the hotel, so all 3 of us squeezed into the bed. The next morning we had breakfast and then they saw me off at the train station where we caught our bus to the airport. It was a short visit, but sweet. It's bizarre to think that I'm going to be graduating college in a year and officially be out of the house. I don't even know what I'm doing this summer yet, buh. I might have another interview on Monday though so, keep your fingers crossed. I should probably register for my summer class too, which requires an override, oy. AND I have finals to study for.....sigh
-Lauren :)
The next trip after spring break was our last ISA excursion to The Hague, or Den Haag if you prefer, in the Netherlands. It was our only over night excursion, exciting. It started out somewhat poorly when Dallin missed the train. He had just barely caught the trains for all our other excursions so I suppose this was inevitable. It was quite the hullaballoo. We checked into our HOTEL (NOT hostel) when we arrived and it was wonderful. Hostels are fun and there's nothing wrong with them, but it really makes you appreciate hotel rooms with TVs and big comfy beds and your own bathroom complete with a continuosly running guaranteed to be hot shower. Speaking of showers, this place had a floor length window into the shower and bathroom, it was weird. Fortunately, there were blinds. We went to the Mauritshuis first, the museum where Girl with a Pearl Earring is kept. It was a good size, just two large floors with rooms arranged in a circle. It used to be an actual house. After that, we went to the Escher museum. This is the guy who did the mind-puzzling pictures with stairs that only go up, and the hands drawing eachother, or the birds that morph into fish...trust me, you've seen this stuff. I always thought his art was cheesy, probably because it was always in math teachers' classrooms, but now that I've been to the museum I think it's incredible. He was so talented to be able to think of this stuff, it hurts your brain. By the time we finished seeing the museum, Dallin had caught up to us. We had some dutch snacks at the nearby carnival, olliebollen and poffertjes, probably the least healthy things you can eat. Olliebollen is a ball of fried dough covered in powdered sugar and poffertjes are mini slightly puffy crepes covered in butter and powdered sugar, they are mighty tasty. We went to see the Peace Palace and take some pictures, this is where the International Court of Justice is. Then we went to the beach and took a few more pictures, tried to go to the restaurant they went to the previous semester but it had shut down so ended up at a tex-mex place instead. You don't realize how ingrained tex mex is to American culture until you go to Europe where it's practically unheard of. We went back to the hotel and called it an early night.
Day 2 - We got an excellent breakfast this morning. I always try to eat a lot at the free breakfasts I get so I won't be hungry later. I still took almost everything they had in a plastic wrapper and shoved it in my purse for a snack later. After breakfast we went to Madurodam, aka mini-Holland. It was rainy, that was a bummer, but Madurodam is very cute, models of famous buildings and landmarks in Holland. I think it would have been better if I was more familiar with famous landmarks in Holland though. Allison and I spent a good chunk of time coloring in the sesame street exhibit they had set up for small children to avoid the rain. Next we hopped on the train to Delft, home of Delft porcelain, that blue and white kind with windmills and dutch children on it. The rain died down, we split up for lunch, tried to get into the old church but it was closed (on a Sunday?) and then wandered around waiting for our boat ride. The boat ride was nice. The canals in delft are just completely open, you could easily just hop in and go for a swim, though I would NOT recommend it. Apparently the canals are filled with bikes, people chain them up next to a canal and eventually they just fall in, it's weird. We shopped around a bit after the boat ride and then rode back to The Hague to pick up everyone's bags. More train drama to come...Sabine disappeared right as our train arrived and we didn't know whether she was on the train or not, Dallin called her and she said "get on the train" in a huff and hung up, we were just really confused and stayed off. Well, another call revealed she was ON the train, uh-oh. Basically, a whole mass of confusion and some stress later, during which we thought we had the tickets and then learned she had the tickets, they let us on the next train (in 1st class too) without tickets and we met up with Sabine at the first stop. Phew. When we got home, (after I left my expensive umbrella on the train :( ) I went to meet my parents at their hotel.
My parents probably chose the worst week possible to come visit me, I had The Hague trip the first weekend and then was leaving for Poland on Thursday for the next weekend. On top of that, I had papers galore and a quiz so I couldn't really miss class. Oh well, what can you do. We went out for a late dinner at a swanky restaurant and agreed to meet at the Grand Place the next morning. Good thing I don't have classes on Mondays. They got a bit lost, but I found them and we mostly wandered around the area going in and out of shops for the day. I showed them the Cathedral and the Place Royale and Royal Palace too. We tried to go to mini-Europe, which I've been looking forward to since I got here in January, not kidding, but it was closed. We had a drink nearby instead and then headed back to the main part of town for dinner. I wanted mussels, another thing I'd been looking forward to since I got here in January. We found a cute little restaurant by St. Catherine's and had a delicious meal. We agreed to meet at Art-Lois after my classes the next day. I got done earlier than I thought I would and so went to their hotel instead, and then my phone decided to not work so I couldn't get a hold of them. They waited around Art-Lois for an hour while I waited at their hotel for an hour until I finally found a phone place and got a hold of them. In Brussels, they have places where there are landlines just hooked up in wooden booths in convenience stores or internet cafes, it's very convenient. We had dinner near the Grand Place at a place with very Belgian dishes, mmmm. The next day I only had one class at 3 and I just planned to stop in and drop off some papers, the prof knew my parents were in town and I hadn't missed a class all semester. I finally go to go to mini-Europe, woo! It's expensive but very extensive, all 27 member states of the EU are represented by at least one landmark. It was really cool and we ended up spending almost the entire day there. We had lunch and I realized I wouldn't have time to drop my papers off, oh well. After stopping back at the hotel for a little while we went to my host family's house for dinner. Everyone had a really good time and dinner was (of course) delicious. I decided to spend the night with my parents and so packed my things for the weekend while my parents skyped with my grandma and brother. They didn't have cots at the hotel, so all 3 of us squeezed into the bed. The next morning we had breakfast and then they saw me off at the train station where we caught our bus to the airport. It was a short visit, but sweet. It's bizarre to think that I'm going to be graduating college in a year and officially be out of the house. I don't even know what I'm doing this summer yet, buh. I might have another interview on Monday though so, keep your fingers crossed. I should probably register for my summer class too, which requires an override, oy. AND I have finals to study for.....sigh
-Lauren :)
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
(the end of) Spring Break - Paris (Days 15 - 17)
Day 15
Our plane left at 11:20, so no need to wake up super super early, but we still left the hostel at 8, flying takes up so much time. Paris was overcast when we landed, bummer. Kristin was super excited for Paris and had her Rick Steve's guide ready to go. Fortunately, our hostel was a Rick Steve's recommended hostel, so he had a map for us. We still had a teeny tiny bit of difficulty finding it, and there was a protest going on when we got off the metro, non-issues. We met a really nice Canadian girl in our room, she lived at home and worked 2 jobs to save up money for a 3 month solo tour through Europe. I don't think I could live out of a suitcase alone for 3 months, slef planned travelling is pretty tiring, it's easy to get burnt-out, especially when the weather's bad. After talking to her for a while, we headed to the Notre Dame, we had time to kill before the Louvre would be free. It's really beautiful, I love stained glass windows and most of the churches I've been to so far can't hold a candle to the windows of the Notre Dame, they're all stained glass and there are 3 rosette windows, so gorgeous. When we were done admiring the Notre Dame, we wandered through tourist shops. I thought about buying a disposable camera, since my battery had died after the last picture I took in Athens, boo, but they were way too expensive. Eventually we made our way to the Louvre, free after 6 on Fridays, heck yes. Normally, I love museums and could spend all day in them, but I was just exhausted. For some reason the Louvre made both Kristin and I really tired. I saw most of the highlights - Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the cover of Viva La Vida (woo Coldplay) and OF COURSE the Mona Lisa. Maybe it's because I'd heard so many times how disappointing it is, but I really liked the Mona Lisa in person. I'm sure not having grandiose expectations helped. I also sought out the Code of Hamurabi, aka the basis of a lot of our modern laws, proof of civilization existing over 2000 years ago, I think that's pretty cool. After that we were ready to be done with the Louvre, on to the Arc du Triomphe. We did not anticipate the long walk ahead of us, note to self - large monuments are further away than they appear. When we got there, we still had to climb to the top. It was an exhausting and windy climb, but worth it. There's an AMAZING view of the Eiffel Tower and since it was night it was lit up. Plus, every hour on the hour there's a light show and the tower looks like it's glittering. The Eiffel Tower really is incredible. After our long walk down the Champs Elysees (which was lovely at least) and our long climb up and down the Arc, we took the metro home. By this point it was 11 or 11:30 and we still hadn't had dinner. Fortunately, our hostel was on a street essentially dedicated to restaurants and other shops that sell food. It was still lively when we got there. We found some delicious (though pre-made) crepes loaded with savory fillings. Mine had ham, potatoes, sauteed onions, lettuce and tomato insdie, so good. We had dessert too, ice cream in the shape of a rose, pretty cool. Honestly, before we left Athens I wasn't all that excited to see Paris, but by the end of this day Paris had won me over.
Day 16
Uh-oh, rain, ugh. Not changing our plans, which consisted of wandering around different areas of Paris, you know, the perfect thing to do on a rainy day...or not. We started with the Bastille, which is just an obelisk monument these days, a pretty cool monument though. Then we made our way to la Marais and Les Vosges. Les Vosges is a lovely square with a park in the middle, surrounded by red and tan brick buildings. I have this odd obsession with Victor Hugo since I've been in Europe, and I knew his house was around somewhere. We searched and searched and the weather got worse and I'm sure Kristin was ready to kick me in the shins for all my vain perseverence. I finally gave up and we had lunch before heading to Montmarte to find the Moulin Rouge. Unfortunately, the Moulin de la Gallette and NOT the Moulin Rouge was marked on my map, fortunately, after a point in the right direction from some other lost tourists searching for something else, we found it. It wasn't lit up but it was still cool to see. After taking a picture it was time to head out to Versailles, an indoor activity. Getting there wasn't too hard, we realized we had to change platforms at one point at exactly the right moment, and we avoided the rain on the way. I was expecting Versailles to really knock my socks off, it was great, but my socks stayed on. I guess by your 5th palace nothing is overly grandiose anymore. I meant what I said though, it was great and the audioguide was one of the better ones I've used. When we got back into the city we decided to try a Rick Steve's recommended restaurant. Combining the map in his book with my city map we managed to find the place we wanted and had a fantastic photo op right in front of the Eiffel Tower on the Champs des Mars on the way. One of my goals was to have escargot in Paris and yes, I did. I kinda wanted it to be in the shell and have to fork it out but it wasn't, it was delicious nonetheless. I want to be Andrew Zimmern, travelling around the world eating the weirdest things I can find, I'll try anything once, I figure if other people are eating it, it can't be all that bad. After dinner it was time to scale the Eiffel Tower. More stairs, up to the 2nd platform 400 ft up. Just thinking about how we were on the Eiffel Tower in Paris in France was exhilerating. We were expecting the city of lights to be brighter though and it was rather cloudy, but still incredible. We took the escalator down and then waited around for the top of the next hour to take some pictures. Not wanting to spend money on the metro we began the walk back to the hostel. However, after confusing the Hotel des Invalids for the Pantheon we took a wrong turn and ended up on the metro anyways. It was time to try a sweet crepe after savory crepes the night before. This time the crepes were fresh. I had nutella and banana, mmmm. We hoped for better weather the next day.
Day 17
This was it, the last day of spring break. We started it with mass at Notre Dame, in French of course, but there's something about attending mass in a 700 year old church. After mass we walked to Musee D'Orsay, home to many impressionist paintings, among other things. The same thing happened as in the Louvre, we just got really really tired really quickly. I enjoyed the impressionist paintings though. Next we began another quest to find Victor Hugo's house. Again, Kristin wanted to kick me in the shins and rightly so after all our walking. At least the weather had cleared up by this point, it had actually turned into a beautiful day, of course on our last day. Eventually Kristin had to leave to catch her flight, we still hadn't found Victor Hugo's house, even though I had the address this time. We said goodbye and I continued to look, I found it right away after she left. It was free to visit, so obviously I did. There was on room where all the wall and even the ceiling were upholstered in the same busy floral fabric, most of the walls were upholstered in a rich fabric. I like the fabric for wall paper idea, it looks a whole lot better than actual wall paper. Unfortunately, all the information in the house was exclusively in French, so I couldn't read a thing. Still cool to see his house, I want to read the Hunchback of Notre Dame now. Even though he uses way too much off-topic detail, the heart of the story is amazing, that is, for Les Miserables. I'd guess Hunchback is similar. It had turned into such a nice day, I didn't want to go back to Brussels, but I knew I didn't want to head back too late. So I took a leisurely walk back to the hostel and listened to both versions of "April in Paris" on my ipod, seemed appropriate. I checked bus times at the hostel and it looked like one would be leaving at 7:30. I asked the receptionist where to go and he gave me directions, then I picked up a snack and caught the metro to the bus station. Since it's me we're talking about, I had difficulties finding the eurolines station obviously, but I figured it out. I was nervous about getting on the bus, I wasn't even 100% sure there would be a bus in the first place, but it all worked out. The bus was a lot fuller than I was expecting and I had a seatmate. Eventually we started talking and had a long conversation all the way to Brussels. Her name was Sophie and she lives in Berlin. I was on the same route I'd taken to Berlin before, except I was getting off at Brussels instead of getting on. I had no idea that bus had come all the way from Paris. We talked about language a lot. Being in Europe has given me a huge appreciation of being able to speak more than one language because everybody here can. I feel like such a jerk when I go into a store and they can speak my language for me but I can't speak their language in their own country. I actually want to learn Spanish again now, I think I'll work on the cooking thing first. About a quarter after 11, I was back in Brussels, my travels had come to an end.
All in all, I'd say it was a very successful trip. I had a great time and there weren't any major difficulties, everything went pretty smoothly. I didn't suffer major sunburn and I think I even got a little tan, tan for me anyways. There were times I felt burnt out and just wanted to be in my room on the computer, but those times were infrequent. This was the longest amount of time I've lived out of a suitcase. I have a renewed sense of adventure and I feel more independent. The world really isn't such a big scary place. I feel like my life is still a big open book, I have no idea what I'll do after I graduate, but the possibilities seem multiplied now and the ambiguity is exciting. I miss all of you and I wish you were here with me. It's hard to believe the semester isn't over yet but at the same time it's flown by. I have 3.5 weeks left and a lot of school work and more travelling still to do. I'll keep you posted. See you soon.
Our plane left at 11:20, so no need to wake up super super early, but we still left the hostel at 8, flying takes up so much time. Paris was overcast when we landed, bummer. Kristin was super excited for Paris and had her Rick Steve's guide ready to go. Fortunately, our hostel was a Rick Steve's recommended hostel, so he had a map for us. We still had a teeny tiny bit of difficulty finding it, and there was a protest going on when we got off the metro, non-issues. We met a really nice Canadian girl in our room, she lived at home and worked 2 jobs to save up money for a 3 month solo tour through Europe. I don't think I could live out of a suitcase alone for 3 months, slef planned travelling is pretty tiring, it's easy to get burnt-out, especially when the weather's bad. After talking to her for a while, we headed to the Notre Dame, we had time to kill before the Louvre would be free. It's really beautiful, I love stained glass windows and most of the churches I've been to so far can't hold a candle to the windows of the Notre Dame, they're all stained glass and there are 3 rosette windows, so gorgeous. When we were done admiring the Notre Dame, we wandered through tourist shops. I thought about buying a disposable camera, since my battery had died after the last picture I took in Athens, boo, but they were way too expensive. Eventually we made our way to the Louvre, free after 6 on Fridays, heck yes. Normally, I love museums and could spend all day in them, but I was just exhausted. For some reason the Louvre made both Kristin and I really tired. I saw most of the highlights - Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the cover of Viva La Vida (woo Coldplay) and OF COURSE the Mona Lisa. Maybe it's because I'd heard so many times how disappointing it is, but I really liked the Mona Lisa in person. I'm sure not having grandiose expectations helped. I also sought out the Code of Hamurabi, aka the basis of a lot of our modern laws, proof of civilization existing over 2000 years ago, I think that's pretty cool. After that we were ready to be done with the Louvre, on to the Arc du Triomphe. We did not anticipate the long walk ahead of us, note to self - large monuments are further away than they appear. When we got there, we still had to climb to the top. It was an exhausting and windy climb, but worth it. There's an AMAZING view of the Eiffel Tower and since it was night it was lit up. Plus, every hour on the hour there's a light show and the tower looks like it's glittering. The Eiffel Tower really is incredible. After our long walk down the Champs Elysees (which was lovely at least) and our long climb up and down the Arc, we took the metro home. By this point it was 11 or 11:30 and we still hadn't had dinner. Fortunately, our hostel was on a street essentially dedicated to restaurants and other shops that sell food. It was still lively when we got there. We found some delicious (though pre-made) crepes loaded with savory fillings. Mine had ham, potatoes, sauteed onions, lettuce and tomato insdie, so good. We had dessert too, ice cream in the shape of a rose, pretty cool. Honestly, before we left Athens I wasn't all that excited to see Paris, but by the end of this day Paris had won me over.
Day 16
Uh-oh, rain, ugh. Not changing our plans, which consisted of wandering around different areas of Paris, you know, the perfect thing to do on a rainy day...or not. We started with the Bastille, which is just an obelisk monument these days, a pretty cool monument though. Then we made our way to la Marais and Les Vosges. Les Vosges is a lovely square with a park in the middle, surrounded by red and tan brick buildings. I have this odd obsession with Victor Hugo since I've been in Europe, and I knew his house was around somewhere. We searched and searched and the weather got worse and I'm sure Kristin was ready to kick me in the shins for all my vain perseverence. I finally gave up and we had lunch before heading to Montmarte to find the Moulin Rouge. Unfortunately, the Moulin de la Gallette and NOT the Moulin Rouge was marked on my map, fortunately, after a point in the right direction from some other lost tourists searching for something else, we found it. It wasn't lit up but it was still cool to see. After taking a picture it was time to head out to Versailles, an indoor activity. Getting there wasn't too hard, we realized we had to change platforms at one point at exactly the right moment, and we avoided the rain on the way. I was expecting Versailles to really knock my socks off, it was great, but my socks stayed on. I guess by your 5th palace nothing is overly grandiose anymore. I meant what I said though, it was great and the audioguide was one of the better ones I've used. When we got back into the city we decided to try a Rick Steve's recommended restaurant. Combining the map in his book with my city map we managed to find the place we wanted and had a fantastic photo op right in front of the Eiffel Tower on the Champs des Mars on the way. One of my goals was to have escargot in Paris and yes, I did. I kinda wanted it to be in the shell and have to fork it out but it wasn't, it was delicious nonetheless. I want to be Andrew Zimmern, travelling around the world eating the weirdest things I can find, I'll try anything once, I figure if other people are eating it, it can't be all that bad. After dinner it was time to scale the Eiffel Tower. More stairs, up to the 2nd platform 400 ft up. Just thinking about how we were on the Eiffel Tower in Paris in France was exhilerating. We were expecting the city of lights to be brighter though and it was rather cloudy, but still incredible. We took the escalator down and then waited around for the top of the next hour to take some pictures. Not wanting to spend money on the metro we began the walk back to the hostel. However, after confusing the Hotel des Invalids for the Pantheon we took a wrong turn and ended up on the metro anyways. It was time to try a sweet crepe after savory crepes the night before. This time the crepes were fresh. I had nutella and banana, mmmm. We hoped for better weather the next day.
Day 17
This was it, the last day of spring break. We started it with mass at Notre Dame, in French of course, but there's something about attending mass in a 700 year old church. After mass we walked to Musee D'Orsay, home to many impressionist paintings, among other things. The same thing happened as in the Louvre, we just got really really tired really quickly. I enjoyed the impressionist paintings though. Next we began another quest to find Victor Hugo's house. Again, Kristin wanted to kick me in the shins and rightly so after all our walking. At least the weather had cleared up by this point, it had actually turned into a beautiful day, of course on our last day. Eventually Kristin had to leave to catch her flight, we still hadn't found Victor Hugo's house, even though I had the address this time. We said goodbye and I continued to look, I found it right away after she left. It was free to visit, so obviously I did. There was on room where all the wall and even the ceiling were upholstered in the same busy floral fabric, most of the walls were upholstered in a rich fabric. I like the fabric for wall paper idea, it looks a whole lot better than actual wall paper. Unfortunately, all the information in the house was exclusively in French, so I couldn't read a thing. Still cool to see his house, I want to read the Hunchback of Notre Dame now. Even though he uses way too much off-topic detail, the heart of the story is amazing, that is, for Les Miserables. I'd guess Hunchback is similar. It had turned into such a nice day, I didn't want to go back to Brussels, but I knew I didn't want to head back too late. So I took a leisurely walk back to the hostel and listened to both versions of "April in Paris" on my ipod, seemed appropriate. I checked bus times at the hostel and it looked like one would be leaving at 7:30. I asked the receptionist where to go and he gave me directions, then I picked up a snack and caught the metro to the bus station. Since it's me we're talking about, I had difficulties finding the eurolines station obviously, but I figured it out. I was nervous about getting on the bus, I wasn't even 100% sure there would be a bus in the first place, but it all worked out. The bus was a lot fuller than I was expecting and I had a seatmate. Eventually we started talking and had a long conversation all the way to Brussels. Her name was Sophie and she lives in Berlin. I was on the same route I'd taken to Berlin before, except I was getting off at Brussels instead of getting on. I had no idea that bus had come all the way from Paris. We talked about language a lot. Being in Europe has given me a huge appreciation of being able to speak more than one language because everybody here can. I feel like such a jerk when I go into a store and they can speak my language for me but I can't speak their language in their own country. I actually want to learn Spanish again now, I think I'll work on the cooking thing first. About a quarter after 11, I was back in Brussels, my travels had come to an end.
All in all, I'd say it was a very successful trip. I had a great time and there weren't any major difficulties, everything went pretty smoothly. I didn't suffer major sunburn and I think I even got a little tan, tan for me anyways. There were times I felt burnt out and just wanted to be in my room on the computer, but those times were infrequent. This was the longest amount of time I've lived out of a suitcase. I have a renewed sense of adventure and I feel more independent. The world really isn't such a big scary place. I feel like my life is still a big open book, I have no idea what I'll do after I graduate, but the possibilities seem multiplied now and the ambiguity is exciting. I miss all of you and I wish you were here with me. It's hard to believe the semester isn't over yet but at the same time it's flown by. I have 3.5 weeks left and a lot of school work and more travelling still to do. I'll keep you posted. See you soon.
Spring Break - Athens (Days 13 - 14)
Day 13
Greece, WOW. Coming into port was gorgeous. We had to wait around a while for our bus to Athens and it was a little confusing, but no issues. It was a somewhat long drive to Athens, a few hours, and I was in awe the entire time. Greece is the most beautiful country I've ever seen, rocky mountains and clear blue sea, absolutely breathtaking. We had some difficulty finding our hostel when we got into the city. We stopped in a tourism office and got a map, the man working was very helpful and showed us where to go. We weren't far away at all, we probably walked past the place about 3 times, it was on a street just off the main street we were on, google map told me to turn on a street that definitely did not exist. After getting settled we went out to explore the area. We were in a great location, right by the Akropolis and main part of town. We walked down the main shopping street and found some dinner. I had a gyro dish and ouzo. Kristin tried some and liked it and this is a girl who would live on burgers and fries if she could, so that made me happy. We walked around more after dinner and saw the Akropolis lit up at night, beautiful. That was the day, so far we were both really loving Athens.
Day 14
Our one full day in Athens. We saw the Akropolis first. Finding the ticket booth was more difficult than you'd think it would be, we didn't end up going way out of the way or anything, it just wasn't marked very well. We got in for free, score, with our student I.D.s. Turns out all 3 buildings on the hill have been restored to the extent of being disassembled again, there were even some cement copies of things. There was a lot of scaffolding too. It kind of takes away from the authenticity of it all, but they were still really beautiful buildings and they're up on a hill so the view is gorgeous as well. We went down to the Agora next, the lady at the ticket booth wasn't going to let Kristin in with her I.D. at first, but I guess she changed her mind. It's amazing to think how much they could do 2500 years ago, so much had already been discovered and invented and this was the place where the likes of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Homer, et al were writing (or orating) things we still study today, 2500 years later, unbelievable. The weather was perfect too. Dear future husband, we're honeymooning in Greece. We did some souvenir shopping and had lunch after we were done exploring ancient Athens. We sat in the National Gardens before we had to go back to the hostel to meet Regina. Turns out she'd been in Rome the same time we were, she had quite the unpleasant experience with lost reservations and trying to find a place to stay in the middle of the night. I'm so glad this trip has gone smoothly, minus a few minor issues trying to find hostels, overall no major black marks...thus far, knock on wood. We all went to the main square to meet Christine and Angela, friends from Brussles - Bentley kids. We talked for a while and then Kristin and I rode out to olympic stadium, she really wanted to see it - olympic stadium in the place where the olympics started. I think it's kind of odd how they just keep all the stadiums after the games are over, what do they use them for? Oh well. Random note about Athens: there are dogs EVERYWHERE with no owners to speak of. They just wander the streets and they're not mangy or dirty or starved-looking or mean. They don't bother you at all, they're just there. Something I've never seen before. ANYWAYS...after exploring olympic stadium a bit, which Kristin really enjoyed, we went back to the city center for dinner. I had moussaka, a baked dish with ground beef, eggplant, potatoes, tomato sauce and cheese, it was good. I'm going to make an effort to cook more when I go home, this dish can't be that hard to make and I need to build up some skills. Well, we'll see. All in all, Athens was wonderful and I definitely want to see more of Greece. Now off to Paris!
Greece, WOW. Coming into port was gorgeous. We had to wait around a while for our bus to Athens and it was a little confusing, but no issues. It was a somewhat long drive to Athens, a few hours, and I was in awe the entire time. Greece is the most beautiful country I've ever seen, rocky mountains and clear blue sea, absolutely breathtaking. We had some difficulty finding our hostel when we got into the city. We stopped in a tourism office and got a map, the man working was very helpful and showed us where to go. We weren't far away at all, we probably walked past the place about 3 times, it was on a street just off the main street we were on, google map told me to turn on a street that definitely did not exist. After getting settled we went out to explore the area. We were in a great location, right by the Akropolis and main part of town. We walked down the main shopping street and found some dinner. I had a gyro dish and ouzo. Kristin tried some and liked it and this is a girl who would live on burgers and fries if she could, so that made me happy. We walked around more after dinner and saw the Akropolis lit up at night, beautiful. That was the day, so far we were both really loving Athens.
Day 14
Our one full day in Athens. We saw the Akropolis first. Finding the ticket booth was more difficult than you'd think it would be, we didn't end up going way out of the way or anything, it just wasn't marked very well. We got in for free, score, with our student I.D.s. Turns out all 3 buildings on the hill have been restored to the extent of being disassembled again, there were even some cement copies of things. There was a lot of scaffolding too. It kind of takes away from the authenticity of it all, but they were still really beautiful buildings and they're up on a hill so the view is gorgeous as well. We went down to the Agora next, the lady at the ticket booth wasn't going to let Kristin in with her I.D. at first, but I guess she changed her mind. It's amazing to think how much they could do 2500 years ago, so much had already been discovered and invented and this was the place where the likes of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Homer, et al were writing (or orating) things we still study today, 2500 years later, unbelievable. The weather was perfect too. Dear future husband, we're honeymooning in Greece. We did some souvenir shopping and had lunch after we were done exploring ancient Athens. We sat in the National Gardens before we had to go back to the hostel to meet Regina. Turns out she'd been in Rome the same time we were, she had quite the unpleasant experience with lost reservations and trying to find a place to stay in the middle of the night. I'm so glad this trip has gone smoothly, minus a few minor issues trying to find hostels, overall no major black marks...thus far, knock on wood. We all went to the main square to meet Christine and Angela, friends from Brussles - Bentley kids. We talked for a while and then Kristin and I rode out to olympic stadium, she really wanted to see it - olympic stadium in the place where the olympics started. I think it's kind of odd how they just keep all the stadiums after the games are over, what do they use them for? Oh well. Random note about Athens: there are dogs EVERYWHERE with no owners to speak of. They just wander the streets and they're not mangy or dirty or starved-looking or mean. They don't bother you at all, they're just there. Something I've never seen before. ANYWAYS...after exploring olympic stadium a bit, which Kristin really enjoyed, we went back to the city center for dinner. I had moussaka, a baked dish with ground beef, eggplant, potatoes, tomato sauce and cheese, it was good. I'm going to make an effort to cook more when I go home, this dish can't be that hard to make and I need to build up some skills. Well, we'll see. All in all, Athens was wonderful and I definitely want to see more of Greece. Now off to Paris!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Spring Break - Italy - Florence, Rome, Naples and Pompei, Bari (Days 8 - 12)
Day 8
It worked out better for us to fly into Rome and take a train up to Florence, so we bought our tickets when we got in the night before, woke up early and caught the train. I was curious how it would feel to return to Italy and see everything again. It was definitely different, the first time everything was planned out and I could just hop on the bus and it would take me where I needed to go. I also didn't have to worry about expenses then. After all this travelling and planning I really appreciate how easy that trip was. The weather was definitely nicer in Florence this time, last time it was raining, this time it was nice and sunny. I wanted to do things I hadn't done last time, Kristin wanted to see the Duomo which I didn't go inside last time, so that's where we started. We climbed the bell tower first, I've climbed a fair amount during my time in Europe. The view was amazing, of course. Kristin thought we were at the top when we'd reached the first level and I was like "haha, not even close." I guess I just get a real satisfaction out of climbing lots of stairs to be rewarded with an amazing view. After the bell tower, we went inside the church. Now, the outside of the Duomo is STUNNING, definitely one of the most beautiful churches in the world, you'd think the inside would match. I understand why we didn't go inside last time, it's not very impressive, but it's still cool to be able to say I've been inside the Duomo. Next, we made our way to the museum where the real David is kept, which I didn't get to see last time. I thought the wait was going to take hours but it really wasn't that bad. The rest of the museum was all religious art, except this mini-instrument museum it was connected with, where I learned about the invention of the piano. Besides that, it wasn't really my kind of art. Seeing the real 500-year-old David was awesome though. Marble statues fascinate me, thinking about how it used to be a giant block and somebody tunred it into a human replica blows my mind, what talent and skill. I'd accomplished my two big goals for the day and so had Kristin and it was still pretty early. We had some lunch, went to see the fake David standing where the real one used to stand, saw the Ponte Vecchio and the front of the Santa Croce and wandered through a market. Everybody raves about Florence, but I don't know, Florence just doesn't do much for me. It has its beautiful buildings and churches and a whole lotta history, but really, being in Florence just made me want to go to Venice. We encountered some interesting sales techniques in the market. This high-school-aged boy was trying to sell us t-shirts and he says "buy a t-shirt, get a free Italian boyfriend." Then he came next to me and goes "you dropped something...my heart." He was funny. WE go tout train tickets back to Rome after that and had some time for dinner. We wanted some good authentic Italian pizza, but we ran out of time for that and had some fast-food Italian pizza instead. I had anchovies and capers on my pizza, something I probably wouldn't be able to find at home, so I was appeased. Our train ride back to Rome was super long, but the Italian countryside is beautiful and I really love being in transit...unless I'm running late for something. Being in transit is exhilerating and relaxing at the same time. You have a world of possibilities ahead of you but all you can do in the mean time is enjoy the ride. It'll be a while, but eventually I'll take a massive roadtrip somwhere without worrying about catching planes, busses or trains, just go whenever I feel like it, it'll be wonderful.
Day 9
Rome is incredible, the center of an ancient massive empire and still the center of one of the world's largest religions. We started our day at the vatican museum aka where the sistine chapel is. I saw this last time I was in Rome but had no qualms with seeing it again. It's really amazing, the ceilings alone are worth it. We took the wrong exit out of the sistine chapel and had to walk all the way back around to get to St. Peter's, sigh, oh well. Last time I only got to see the inside of St. Peter's for about 10 minutes so I was excited to have time to explore it some more. The inside of St. Peter's makes up for the inside of the Duomo, it's amazing. It really doesn't feel as huge as it actually is and every inch is covered with something to look at. We were going to explore ancient Rome, the Spanish steps and the Trevi fountain next. We made it through Piazza Navona and the inside of the Pantheon, which is a church now apparently, when Kristin got a phone call. She'd been in touch with her neighbor's seminary classmate who's studying in Rome and he had two extra tickets for us to see the pope give Easter vigil mass. After waiting in line for a while to get some AMAZING gelato, we booked it back to the vatican to meet him. The mass started at 9, doors opened at 7:30, we met him at 5:45, seeing the pope is a big deal. We joined other kids from his program in line. This was a super religious bunch, most of the guys were in full priestly garb headed for the priesthood and at least one of the girls was thinking about becoming a nun. Nicer people I will probably never meet, they welcomed us into the group right away and even invited us to their after party and Easter brunch. I have some issues with Catholicism but being around them made me want to be a nicer person. Life goal complete, I got to see the pope! POPE! He's really short and frail. The mass was in Latin and Italian mostly. There were 4 readings each in a different language, Spanish, German, English and French. The English one was read by a girl in the program we'd latched on to. This was definitely the longest mass I've ever been to, but I got to see and hear the pope preside over Easter vigil mass in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome...that's insanely cool. He even waved at us on the procession out. After mass we joined the group at their after party for cupcakes. Kristin found the colloseum keychain in hers and won a prize - a chocolate bar from the states which I got to eat for breakfast the next morning because she doesn't like almonds, score. Not only did Kristin's connection buy us gelato after mass, but another person in the program gave us money for the taxi home.
Day 10
Our second day in Rome, we had to do everything we didn't get done the night before. We had no desire to spend money though. We started with the outside of the colloseum, impressive in its own right. I searched in vain for the mouth of truth and then again for a free entrance to the Roman forum. I remember it being free last time and my guide book also said it was free, but apparently it's not. Oh well, we got a nice view from above. We walked past some impressive buildings on our way to the Trevi fountain to meet Kristin's connection for Easter brunch. We walked past the Spanish steps and the Piazza del Popolo on the way to brunch. The food was delicious, chicken, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, pasta salad, fruit and a hoard of desserts. I even got jelly beans for Easter. We had to grab our bags from the hostel and catch our train to Naples after brunch. All in all, it was a lovely time in Rome.
NAPLES
Public transportation is not very reliable in Naples. The metro takes FOREVER. When we got to our stop, the exit we needed to take out of the station was blocked off, which led us on a big circular trek trying to find our hostel, in the pouring rain too. It was miserable. We did find our hostel eventually. It lifted my spirits, clean modern, not shady in the least, a large improvement over Barcelona and Rome. At this point, we were starving and decided to go search for a place to eat. We'd been trying to have a nice, authentic meal since we arrived in Italy to no avail. This was no different, after almost eating at a kebab place, we found a nice family run bakery with savory things to eat. Not the ideal dinner, but it was mighty tasty. I picked up some limoncello there too. I didn't realize how strong it was, 30% by vol. I'm not sure how you're supposed to drink it, but I mixed it with coke, tasty. It's going to be so weird going back home and still not being able to drink there. Even after I turn 21, it's not going to be the same.
Day 11
The whole reason I wanted to go to Naples was to see Pompei. We didn't get as early of a start as we intended and it took over an hour to get to the train station using the metro, but that wasn't a big deal. We almost missed the stop in Pompei, thank goodness we were sitting across from a girl with a Canadian flag on her backpack reading about Pompei in Rick Steve's Italy who was on top of things. Pompei wasn't really Kristin's thing, but I thought it was incredible. I was expecting more preserved people and animals, but it was mostly just building ruins. Still, seeing a nearly 2000 year old frescoe is pretty impressive. We spent most of the day here then grabbed some pizza before we headed back to Naples. We had to get to Bari the next day to catch our ferry to Greece so we looked into bus times. The only two buses were at 7:20 and 8:20, it would be a 4 hour ride and we didn't have to be in Bari until 6. Well, what can you do, 8:20 bus it was. After finding the bus stop, we decided to walk back to the hostel to see how early we'd have to leave the next morning. We'd been on our feet all day, we were exhausted and everything was still closed for Easter. Trying to find some place for a nice dinner really wasn't too appealing. We decided to buy something at the market and make it instead. I found some interesting looking pasta and cream and Kristin got another pastry at the same pastry shop from the night before. The lady working there gave me my cookies for free too, heck yes. It was a tasty dinner and I liked hanging out in our hostel. We called it an early night since we had to wake up early to catch our bus to Bari. 16 hour overnight ferry ride, here we come.
Day 12
We woke up to a lovely day and walked to the bus stop no probelm with plenty of time to spare. Waiting for the bus was a little nerve wracking, we saw a number of other buses stop and they waited for about 10 seconds while people got on and then rolled out. It wasn't a problem at all though, we caught the right bus and a few hours later we were in Bari. Bari was lovely and sunny, palm trees decorating the streets. We had to ask a few people how to get to the port, the first lday looked at us like we were crazy when we started talking in English. We got a map and directions eventually and had a nice walk to find the port. We didn't have to check-in until 6 and it was around 12:30 at this point. We sat by the water for a while, found exactly where we had to check-in and went out to find a nice lunch. I still wanted my authentic Italian meal before I left. Success! I had some wine and orrechiette pasta - apparently a specialty of the region - with a red sauce and mushrooms. This was apparently the only thing the restaurant had for lunch, there was no menu. Fortunately, it was very tasty. We capped off lunch with our last gelato in Italy. We still had a lot of time to burn so we just went back to the port to wait. I had a phone interview to prepare myself for. I've been conscious of this up coming summer and my need of a paid internship, or SOME kind of job. I made up a resume and made use of Creighton's jobs4jays, submitted it for an application. I got preselected for an interview and arranged an overseas phone interview. It was scheduled for 9 A.M. at home, 4 P.M. in Italy. My phone didn't have much money on it and I was worried I was going to cut out in the middle of the interview, but fortunately that didn't happen. I never know how to judge interviews, but I thought it went well, so we'll see. It would mean living in Omaha this summer, but I have to take what I can get. After the interview I got my boarding pass and we just hung out some more, thankful not to have to stress about catching the ferry. Around 6 we headed down to get on the boat, we had to wait around for a while still. At one point a tampourine and accordian emerged and there was an impromptu dance show, well, an old man and what looked like a son and mother combo danced a bit. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Getting on the boat was really exciting, we felt like we were on a cruise. We had our own bathroom in our room, including a shower which I took full advantage of. Definitely the nicest shower I've had on this trip. We went up to the deck to watch the ferry leave the port, it was beautiful, there's nothing like seeing a city from a distance at night. We explored the ship some more. It had a bar, a cafeteria style restaurant, a little store and lounge areas. We both really want to go on cruises now. There wasn't too much to do without spending money though, and we were pretty tired so we went to sleep. We'd be in Greece in the morning.
It worked out better for us to fly into Rome and take a train up to Florence, so we bought our tickets when we got in the night before, woke up early and caught the train. I was curious how it would feel to return to Italy and see everything again. It was definitely different, the first time everything was planned out and I could just hop on the bus and it would take me where I needed to go. I also didn't have to worry about expenses then. After all this travelling and planning I really appreciate how easy that trip was. The weather was definitely nicer in Florence this time, last time it was raining, this time it was nice and sunny. I wanted to do things I hadn't done last time, Kristin wanted to see the Duomo which I didn't go inside last time, so that's where we started. We climbed the bell tower first, I've climbed a fair amount during my time in Europe. The view was amazing, of course. Kristin thought we were at the top when we'd reached the first level and I was like "haha, not even close." I guess I just get a real satisfaction out of climbing lots of stairs to be rewarded with an amazing view. After the bell tower, we went inside the church. Now, the outside of the Duomo is STUNNING, definitely one of the most beautiful churches in the world, you'd think the inside would match. I understand why we didn't go inside last time, it's not very impressive, but it's still cool to be able to say I've been inside the Duomo. Next, we made our way to the museum where the real David is kept, which I didn't get to see last time. I thought the wait was going to take hours but it really wasn't that bad. The rest of the museum was all religious art, except this mini-instrument museum it was connected with, where I learned about the invention of the piano. Besides that, it wasn't really my kind of art. Seeing the real 500-year-old David was awesome though. Marble statues fascinate me, thinking about how it used to be a giant block and somebody tunred it into a human replica blows my mind, what talent and skill. I'd accomplished my two big goals for the day and so had Kristin and it was still pretty early. We had some lunch, went to see the fake David standing where the real one used to stand, saw the Ponte Vecchio and the front of the Santa Croce and wandered through a market. Everybody raves about Florence, but I don't know, Florence just doesn't do much for me. It has its beautiful buildings and churches and a whole lotta history, but really, being in Florence just made me want to go to Venice. We encountered some interesting sales techniques in the market. This high-school-aged boy was trying to sell us t-shirts and he says "buy a t-shirt, get a free Italian boyfriend." Then he came next to me and goes "you dropped something...my heart." He was funny. WE go tout train tickets back to Rome after that and had some time for dinner. We wanted some good authentic Italian pizza, but we ran out of time for that and had some fast-food Italian pizza instead. I had anchovies and capers on my pizza, something I probably wouldn't be able to find at home, so I was appeased. Our train ride back to Rome was super long, but the Italian countryside is beautiful and I really love being in transit...unless I'm running late for something. Being in transit is exhilerating and relaxing at the same time. You have a world of possibilities ahead of you but all you can do in the mean time is enjoy the ride. It'll be a while, but eventually I'll take a massive roadtrip somwhere without worrying about catching planes, busses or trains, just go whenever I feel like it, it'll be wonderful.
Day 9
Rome is incredible, the center of an ancient massive empire and still the center of one of the world's largest religions. We started our day at the vatican museum aka where the sistine chapel is. I saw this last time I was in Rome but had no qualms with seeing it again. It's really amazing, the ceilings alone are worth it. We took the wrong exit out of the sistine chapel and had to walk all the way back around to get to St. Peter's, sigh, oh well. Last time I only got to see the inside of St. Peter's for about 10 minutes so I was excited to have time to explore it some more. The inside of St. Peter's makes up for the inside of the Duomo, it's amazing. It really doesn't feel as huge as it actually is and every inch is covered with something to look at. We were going to explore ancient Rome, the Spanish steps and the Trevi fountain next. We made it through Piazza Navona and the inside of the Pantheon, which is a church now apparently, when Kristin got a phone call. She'd been in touch with her neighbor's seminary classmate who's studying in Rome and he had two extra tickets for us to see the pope give Easter vigil mass. After waiting in line for a while to get some AMAZING gelato, we booked it back to the vatican to meet him. The mass started at 9, doors opened at 7:30, we met him at 5:45, seeing the pope is a big deal. We joined other kids from his program in line. This was a super religious bunch, most of the guys were in full priestly garb headed for the priesthood and at least one of the girls was thinking about becoming a nun. Nicer people I will probably never meet, they welcomed us into the group right away and even invited us to their after party and Easter brunch. I have some issues with Catholicism but being around them made me want to be a nicer person. Life goal complete, I got to see the pope! POPE! He's really short and frail. The mass was in Latin and Italian mostly. There were 4 readings each in a different language, Spanish, German, English and French. The English one was read by a girl in the program we'd latched on to. This was definitely the longest mass I've ever been to, but I got to see and hear the pope preside over Easter vigil mass in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome...that's insanely cool. He even waved at us on the procession out. After mass we joined the group at their after party for cupcakes. Kristin found the colloseum keychain in hers and won a prize - a chocolate bar from the states which I got to eat for breakfast the next morning because she doesn't like almonds, score. Not only did Kristin's connection buy us gelato after mass, but another person in the program gave us money for the taxi home.
Day 10
Our second day in Rome, we had to do everything we didn't get done the night before. We had no desire to spend money though. We started with the outside of the colloseum, impressive in its own right. I searched in vain for the mouth of truth and then again for a free entrance to the Roman forum. I remember it being free last time and my guide book also said it was free, but apparently it's not. Oh well, we got a nice view from above. We walked past some impressive buildings on our way to the Trevi fountain to meet Kristin's connection for Easter brunch. We walked past the Spanish steps and the Piazza del Popolo on the way to brunch. The food was delicious, chicken, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, pasta salad, fruit and a hoard of desserts. I even got jelly beans for Easter. We had to grab our bags from the hostel and catch our train to Naples after brunch. All in all, it was a lovely time in Rome.
NAPLES
Public transportation is not very reliable in Naples. The metro takes FOREVER. When we got to our stop, the exit we needed to take out of the station was blocked off, which led us on a big circular trek trying to find our hostel, in the pouring rain too. It was miserable. We did find our hostel eventually. It lifted my spirits, clean modern, not shady in the least, a large improvement over Barcelona and Rome. At this point, we were starving and decided to go search for a place to eat. We'd been trying to have a nice, authentic meal since we arrived in Italy to no avail. This was no different, after almost eating at a kebab place, we found a nice family run bakery with savory things to eat. Not the ideal dinner, but it was mighty tasty. I picked up some limoncello there too. I didn't realize how strong it was, 30% by vol. I'm not sure how you're supposed to drink it, but I mixed it with coke, tasty. It's going to be so weird going back home and still not being able to drink there. Even after I turn 21, it's not going to be the same.
Day 11
The whole reason I wanted to go to Naples was to see Pompei. We didn't get as early of a start as we intended and it took over an hour to get to the train station using the metro, but that wasn't a big deal. We almost missed the stop in Pompei, thank goodness we were sitting across from a girl with a Canadian flag on her backpack reading about Pompei in Rick Steve's Italy who was on top of things. Pompei wasn't really Kristin's thing, but I thought it was incredible. I was expecting more preserved people and animals, but it was mostly just building ruins. Still, seeing a nearly 2000 year old frescoe is pretty impressive. We spent most of the day here then grabbed some pizza before we headed back to Naples. We had to get to Bari the next day to catch our ferry to Greece so we looked into bus times. The only two buses were at 7:20 and 8:20, it would be a 4 hour ride and we didn't have to be in Bari until 6. Well, what can you do, 8:20 bus it was. After finding the bus stop, we decided to walk back to the hostel to see how early we'd have to leave the next morning. We'd been on our feet all day, we were exhausted and everything was still closed for Easter. Trying to find some place for a nice dinner really wasn't too appealing. We decided to buy something at the market and make it instead. I found some interesting looking pasta and cream and Kristin got another pastry at the same pastry shop from the night before. The lady working there gave me my cookies for free too, heck yes. It was a tasty dinner and I liked hanging out in our hostel. We called it an early night since we had to wake up early to catch our bus to Bari. 16 hour overnight ferry ride, here we come.
Day 12
We woke up to a lovely day and walked to the bus stop no probelm with plenty of time to spare. Waiting for the bus was a little nerve wracking, we saw a number of other buses stop and they waited for about 10 seconds while people got on and then rolled out. It wasn't a problem at all though, we caught the right bus and a few hours later we were in Bari. Bari was lovely and sunny, palm trees decorating the streets. We had to ask a few people how to get to the port, the first lday looked at us like we were crazy when we started talking in English. We got a map and directions eventually and had a nice walk to find the port. We didn't have to check-in until 6 and it was around 12:30 at this point. We sat by the water for a while, found exactly where we had to check-in and went out to find a nice lunch. I still wanted my authentic Italian meal before I left. Success! I had some wine and orrechiette pasta - apparently a specialty of the region - with a red sauce and mushrooms. This was apparently the only thing the restaurant had for lunch, there was no menu. Fortunately, it was very tasty. We capped off lunch with our last gelato in Italy. We still had a lot of time to burn so we just went back to the port to wait. I had a phone interview to prepare myself for. I've been conscious of this up coming summer and my need of a paid internship, or SOME kind of job. I made up a resume and made use of Creighton's jobs4jays, submitted it for an application. I got preselected for an interview and arranged an overseas phone interview. It was scheduled for 9 A.M. at home, 4 P.M. in Italy. My phone didn't have much money on it and I was worried I was going to cut out in the middle of the interview, but fortunately that didn't happen. I never know how to judge interviews, but I thought it went well, so we'll see. It would mean living in Omaha this summer, but I have to take what I can get. After the interview I got my boarding pass and we just hung out some more, thankful not to have to stress about catching the ferry. Around 6 we headed down to get on the boat, we had to wait around for a while still. At one point a tampourine and accordian emerged and there was an impromptu dance show, well, an old man and what looked like a son and mother combo danced a bit. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Getting on the boat was really exciting, we felt like we were on a cruise. We had our own bathroom in our room, including a shower which I took full advantage of. Definitely the nicest shower I've had on this trip. We went up to the deck to watch the ferry leave the port, it was beautiful, there's nothing like seeing a city from a distance at night. We explored the ship some more. It had a bar, a cafeteria style restaurant, a little store and lounge areas. We both really want to go on cruises now. There wasn't too much to do without spending money though, and we were pretty tired so we went to sleep. We'd be in Greece in the morning.
Spring Break - Barcelona (Days 5 - 7)
Day 5
Our flight wasn't super early, 8:20, but getting to the airport and checking in is always a pain, we had to take a shuttle at 5:15 which fortunately left right from our hostel, that was a welcome surprise. A little more than 5 hours later we landed at the Girona airport, another hour and 15 minute bus ride away from Barcelona. Finding the hostel was a bit difficult, I think we walked past it 3 times before actually finding it, it was raining too. It wasn't anywhere near as nice as the hostel in Madrid, but what can you do, it was fine. As it was raining, we decided to go to the Picasso Museum. It wasn't really what either of us were expecting, a little disappointing. When we were done it was pouring and everything we wanted to do was outside, bummer. After trying to see a movie in English, we ended up at a mall in Part Vell...for HOURS. It poured the entire day. There was a nice view from the Starbucks seating area which we admired for a while. During this time it ocurred to me that Allison might be in BArcelona as well. I sent her a text and turns out I was right. After I got a manicure, very much needed, we met up with her, her sister and two guys they'd met at their hostel at the imax. One of the guys was from South Africa and the other was Irish but living in Canada, they were both pretty cool. We saw "haunted castle" or "castillo encantada" since it was in Spanish. Even though we couldn't understand it and the story line was a bit lame, visually it was really cool, I thought. It was still pouring after the film, we hung out with everybody at their hostel, which was right on the beach - lucky them - for a little bit before we had to catch the metro. Not the best introduction to Barcelona.
Day 6
Still not sunny, but not raining anymore. We had a lot to do today after we'd lost the previous day. We started at Mercat de la Boqueria on La Rambla. It's all food, but really interesting food. Delicious fruit juices, dried fruit and nuts, meat, vegetables and any kind of seafood or fish you could possibly want. I saw sea urchins, squids, octopus, sting ray and a host of other slimy fresh-from-the-sea goods. It was awesome. We both decided we would move to Barcelona just for this market. We wandered up and down La Rambla after, honestly not much to see, they did have live birds, rodents and fish for sale though and a LOT of costumed people trying to earn money from tourists. My navigation skills are pretty poor, my instincts always seem to be wrong when it comes to picking directions. Eventually we found the Guell Palace and a few important Placas. We found the cathedral after a while, initially I wasn't going to go in, it cost money, but I changed my mind. Becky had already seen it so she waited outside for me. It was really beautiful, mostly a series of intricate alcoves along the wall and a courtyard complete with palm trees and geese. We ended up back by Port Vell and started heading toward the beach. Becky decided to call Allison again since we were close to their hostel. We met up with the same group from the previous night and went out for tapas. I had decently priced mussels. We sat and talked for a long time, mostly the boys talked. I learned a bit about African politics. The girls had to leave for their flight after tapas and Becky and I had Gaudi houses to see. Gaudi was amazing, he was so unique, there's nothing else like his work anywhere and it's completely inspired by nature. We went inside La Pedrera, the highlight of it was the roof. I'd always seen pictures of it before but I'd never realized it was a roof. After another Gaudi house exterior it was time to call it a day. I ended up watching The Terminal at the hostel, in English with Spanish subtitles. It was ok, Tom Hanks was really good in it, I thought.
Day 7
Kristin was joining us today and I had to wake up early to pick her up from the bus station. Turns out she got the bus schedule wrong and had been waiting at the station for over an hour. After walking the wrong direction all the way to the beach, which was beautiful at least, we turned around and met Becky at the Sagrada Familia. They started work on it in the late 1800s and it's not scheduled to be finished until 2028. It was way overpriced for what we got to see, and they charged more to go up the tower, not cool. I would really like to see it when it's complete though, which means I'll have to go back to Barcelona in 20 years, if it finishes as planned that is. Next we headed to Guell Park to see more Gaudi amazingness (the Sagrada Familia is Gaudi as well). It was a beautiful day, perfect for a park. Most of it seemed to be fenced off, Kristin and I snuck in as other people were doing but quickly got kicked back out. Fortunately, all the important stuff was out in the open for us to see. Becky had to catch the bus to the airport for her flight back to Brussels pretty early so we split up in the park. Kristin and I began the long walk to the Mercat de la Boqueria and then the beach. There were one or two wrong turns in there but we found it evenutally. Finding the beach took longer than I expected and I'm sure I didn't take the most direct route, but we got there too. We sat on the beach for a good hour and a half in the sun, it was wonderful and actually might be the first time I've ever sat on a beach during spring break, well, at least it was the first time in a long time. We caught the bus for the airport easily. I have to say, not running around in a frantic rush trying to catch something is a nice feeling. Thank goodness for kiosks and not having to check luggage because the check-in line at the airport was ridiculous. Getting to bypass it was pretty great. Farewell, Spain, I was off to Italy.
ITALY
Rome - Arriving in Rome was easy. Finding the shuttle into the city was easy and finding our hostel was easy. The hostel in Rome was pretty similar in quality to the hostel in Barcelona, still, just fine.
Our flight wasn't super early, 8:20, but getting to the airport and checking in is always a pain, we had to take a shuttle at 5:15 which fortunately left right from our hostel, that was a welcome surprise. A little more than 5 hours later we landed at the Girona airport, another hour and 15 minute bus ride away from Barcelona. Finding the hostel was a bit difficult, I think we walked past it 3 times before actually finding it, it was raining too. It wasn't anywhere near as nice as the hostel in Madrid, but what can you do, it was fine. As it was raining, we decided to go to the Picasso Museum. It wasn't really what either of us were expecting, a little disappointing. When we were done it was pouring and everything we wanted to do was outside, bummer. After trying to see a movie in English, we ended up at a mall in Part Vell...for HOURS. It poured the entire day. There was a nice view from the Starbucks seating area which we admired for a while. During this time it ocurred to me that Allison might be in BArcelona as well. I sent her a text and turns out I was right. After I got a manicure, very much needed, we met up with her, her sister and two guys they'd met at their hostel at the imax. One of the guys was from South Africa and the other was Irish but living in Canada, they were both pretty cool. We saw "haunted castle" or "castillo encantada" since it was in Spanish. Even though we couldn't understand it and the story line was a bit lame, visually it was really cool, I thought. It was still pouring after the film, we hung out with everybody at their hostel, which was right on the beach - lucky them - for a little bit before we had to catch the metro. Not the best introduction to Barcelona.
Day 6
Still not sunny, but not raining anymore. We had a lot to do today after we'd lost the previous day. We started at Mercat de la Boqueria on La Rambla. It's all food, but really interesting food. Delicious fruit juices, dried fruit and nuts, meat, vegetables and any kind of seafood or fish you could possibly want. I saw sea urchins, squids, octopus, sting ray and a host of other slimy fresh-from-the-sea goods. It was awesome. We both decided we would move to Barcelona just for this market. We wandered up and down La Rambla after, honestly not much to see, they did have live birds, rodents and fish for sale though and a LOT of costumed people trying to earn money from tourists. My navigation skills are pretty poor, my instincts always seem to be wrong when it comes to picking directions. Eventually we found the Guell Palace and a few important Placas. We found the cathedral after a while, initially I wasn't going to go in, it cost money, but I changed my mind. Becky had already seen it so she waited outside for me. It was really beautiful, mostly a series of intricate alcoves along the wall and a courtyard complete with palm trees and geese. We ended up back by Port Vell and started heading toward the beach. Becky decided to call Allison again since we were close to their hostel. We met up with the same group from the previous night and went out for tapas. I had decently priced mussels. We sat and talked for a long time, mostly the boys talked. I learned a bit about African politics. The girls had to leave for their flight after tapas and Becky and I had Gaudi houses to see. Gaudi was amazing, he was so unique, there's nothing else like his work anywhere and it's completely inspired by nature. We went inside La Pedrera, the highlight of it was the roof. I'd always seen pictures of it before but I'd never realized it was a roof. After another Gaudi house exterior it was time to call it a day. I ended up watching The Terminal at the hostel, in English with Spanish subtitles. It was ok, Tom Hanks was really good in it, I thought.
Day 7
Kristin was joining us today and I had to wake up early to pick her up from the bus station. Turns out she got the bus schedule wrong and had been waiting at the station for over an hour. After walking the wrong direction all the way to the beach, which was beautiful at least, we turned around and met Becky at the Sagrada Familia. They started work on it in the late 1800s and it's not scheduled to be finished until 2028. It was way overpriced for what we got to see, and they charged more to go up the tower, not cool. I would really like to see it when it's complete though, which means I'll have to go back to Barcelona in 20 years, if it finishes as planned that is. Next we headed to Guell Park to see more Gaudi amazingness (the Sagrada Familia is Gaudi as well). It was a beautiful day, perfect for a park. Most of it seemed to be fenced off, Kristin and I snuck in as other people were doing but quickly got kicked back out. Fortunately, all the important stuff was out in the open for us to see. Becky had to catch the bus to the airport for her flight back to Brussels pretty early so we split up in the park. Kristin and I began the long walk to the Mercat de la Boqueria and then the beach. There were one or two wrong turns in there but we found it evenutally. Finding the beach took longer than I expected and I'm sure I didn't take the most direct route, but we got there too. We sat on the beach for a good hour and a half in the sun, it was wonderful and actually might be the first time I've ever sat on a beach during spring break, well, at least it was the first time in a long time. We caught the bus for the airport easily. I have to say, not running around in a frantic rush trying to catch something is a nice feeling. Thank goodness for kiosks and not having to check luggage because the check-in line at the airport was ridiculous. Getting to bypass it was pretty great. Farewell, Spain, I was off to Italy.
ITALY
Rome - Arriving in Rome was easy. Finding the shuttle into the city was easy and finding our hostel was easy. The hostel in Rome was pretty similar in quality to the hostel in Barcelona, still, just fine.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Spring Break - Day 4
Monday, last day in Madrid, still gorgeous. We went to the palace in the morning. It was really beautiful, there was an entire room covered in porcelain. Probably the grandest palace I've seen. After that we went back to the hostel for a tapas tour. Tapas are small dishes you usually have for lunch. Apparently, back in the day the drinking water in Spain was contaminated so they drank wine instead. They ate when they drank and they put the plate on top of their glasses like a lid. The word for lid in Spanish is tapa, hence, tapas. Our guide was very nice and Swedish. She'd only been in Madrid for 2 months taking a year off between high school and college, which is typical in Europe it seems. 18 year olds in Europe definitely have more freedom than 18 year olds in America. I don't think travelling all over America would be half as easy as all the travelling I've done here. After the tapas tour Becky and I were both pretty tired, we had a drink with each tapa...there were 4 tapas. We had some churros and chocolate which were quite tasty and just shopped around the Plaza Mayor area for most of the rest of the day.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Spring Break - Day 3
Yes, another gorgeous day and no alarm. We planned to go to the Prado Museum because it was supposed to be free on Sundays, but signs said that was not the cfase. We decided to go to the botanical gardens right next to the museum instead. WE had another picnic there and enjoyed the weather more. After spending quite a while there it was time to get our tickets for the bullfight. The ticket office was supposed to close at 4 and I was afraid we wouldn't get there in time, again, that learning curve. We rushed there and even though it was after 4 we got our tickets just fine. It was an hour and a half until the bullfight but we didn't want to take any chances so we went to the stadium right away. Our seats were much better than we'd expected for what we paid. Turns out you pay more to sit in shade and the distance from the ring isn't the important part. Now, I went in knowing that bullfights are violent but I didn't know the extent. First, they have the bull chase pink capes around the stadium, then they bring out a man on a horse and the bull charges the horse and the man stabs the bull with basically a big poking stick. After that, some of the men with the pink capes stab these barbed pinata-looking sticks into the bull, it ends up with maybe 10 of those in its back. Finally, it's time for the matador and his red cape. There's a period of the sterotypical bullfighting business and then, the matador gets a special sword, gets the bull to stand still using his cape, and gives a hopefully fatal stab. There are 3 matadors for the fight and they're each supposed to kill 2 bulls. The first matador got injured by the bull though. He could still walk and managed to kill the bull, it was on the news the next 2 days, I was like "hey, we were there!" Really though, kinda serves him right. I probably won't be going to another bullfight, but it was definitely interesting and I can appreciate it as a cultural experience.
After the bullfight we had some tortilla espanola bocadillas for dinner, which is just an egg and potato quiche-type thing on a baguette, it was tasty. I also managed to find Kilometer 0, woohoo! Back at the hostel, after getting ready for bed, one of our roommates started talking to us and invited us down to the hostel bar for a drink. Hanging out in the hostel bar was fun, one of the guys, pretty drunk, climbed under the curtain they put in front of the bar after it closed and got himself kicked out, kinda uncalled for I think since he didn't do anything back there. After all this, we ended up going to bed around 3.
After the bullfight we had some tortilla espanola bocadillas for dinner, which is just an egg and potato quiche-type thing on a baguette, it was tasty. I also managed to find Kilometer 0, woohoo! Back at the hostel, after getting ready for bed, one of our roommates started talking to us and invited us down to the hostel bar for a drink. Hanging out in the hostel bar was fun, one of the guys, pretty drunk, climbed under the curtain they put in front of the bar after it closed and got himself kicked out, kinda uncalled for I think since he didn't do anything back there. After all this, we ended up going to bed around 3.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Spring Break - Day 2 (still in Madrid)
More amazing weather and no alarm clock. We decided to go to the grocery store and get some food for lunch rather than eat at a restaurant. I got a 1.5 L bottle of water for 40 or 60 cents, usually you pay 2 euro for 0.5 L, so that was great. We had a picnic in Plaza Mayor after discovering that Plaza del Villa wasn't really a picnic-having place. Next, we went to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, which is free after 2:30 on Saturdays. This is the museum where Guernica is kept. It's HUGE, we saw a temporary exhibit and the floor with Guernica and were ready to leave, there were two more floors. We didn't want to stay inside on such a nice day though. Afterwards we had no plans so Becky got a Starbucks and we just sat outside for a long time. Then we went up to Puerta del Sol, it wasn't much to see, especially since it had a big construction wall around it. I searched for Kilometer Zero for a while, in vain. Km 0 is the marker from which all distances in Spain are measured, kinda cool I thought, but apparently nobody else cares because there wasn't a mass of people around it. Oh well. There was supposed to be a "paella party" at the hostel so we'd planned on that for dinner. Well, it turned out to be buy-a-drink-and-get-a-scoop-of-paella party, at least it was good paella and I had some sangria. During this we were chatted up by a film major from Ithaca University. After dinner, sitting in the common area, another guy started talking to us. Apparently Becky and I are very approachable people.
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