OK, I’ll be quick about today. Basically…it can be summed up into our modes of transportation getting back to our flat in Swansea:
Taxi…to airport
Plane…to London Stansted
Bus…to London Liverpool St.
Tube…to London Paddington
Train…to Swansea
Walk…a long 30 minute hike up to our flat
And, we’re home! Well, “home”, but you know what I mean. Thanks for reading everyone, and I hope you enjoyed it. Our trip of a lifetime has come to an end. ☺
Monday, 23 April 2007
Day #28 - Ending at the Alhambra
Once again hard to believe, but today is our last actual day of the trip. This is it…
We started the day off bright and early – at 6:30 am! We got up, ate, and sped-walked a steep 15-minute hike up the Alhambra to stand in the ticket line, which was already a couple hundred people long by the time we got there. You see, at the Alhambra, you have to book reservations months in advance, which we didn’t do, so the only alternative is to wait in line the day of. It’s wasn’t so bad though, once the ticket office opened at 8, since the line kept moving. I think we got in right at 9.
Some background (courtesy of Rick Steves, of course): The Alhambra itself was the last Moorish stronghold in Europe, and over 2,000 people used to live within its walls. Then in 1492 – quite the prolific year here in Spain - the Christians defeats the Muslims, and seven centuries of Muslim rule in Spain came to an end. Sucks to be them.
Our first stop was the biggie: the Palacios Nazaries. This was the exquisite royal palace, with room after room of amazing Moorish architecture and decorations. Lots of patterned ceramic tiles, Arabic-scripted walls, and carved ceilings. We saw the Sultans’s room, the fountain of the lions - minus the lions (why does every museum we go to have the cool stuff under restoration?!), some cool reflecting pools, and some more cool hexagon-ily domed rooms with great views of Granada. We had to battle past countless tour groups of 80 year olds to see everything, but it was worth it. ☺
After the palace, we explored the other buildings inside the Alhambra walls, including the Alzcaba fort, with more city views, and Charles V’s palace, which had a big, circular courtyard. Finally, we checked out the perfectly-manicured Generalife Gardens, which had lots of stray cats for us to pet. ☺
We finished everything at the Alhambra around noon, and walked back downhill to finish up a bit more souvenir shopping. This is our last stop, after all. I got a bunch of good stuff for people here. ☺ We ate lunch at a fun little restaurant with a great menu del dia – we got salad and croquettes for first course, pork & fries and flamenquones and fries for second course, and oranges for dessert (which I think is a Granada thing). Muy bueno naranajas! Hahaha…right, Katie? We also ran into some other travelers who I recognized from Swansea! They were also study abroad students and had been on the Paris trip. How random is that? 3 random run-ins in the same trip.
This afternoon it was SIESTA time! Our first siesta done the right way, in the afternoon. We almost kept sleeping into the evening, but managed to wake up at 6. Happy hour again, which meant more delicious spring rolls and hanging out with our hostel friends. At 10, we decided to go on our hostel’s tapas tour, led by this crazy Dutch guy, Mateo. He took us to 4 different places, each with free tapas, which is almost unheard of in the rest of Spain anymore. We met some more cool people tonight – a Finnish couple studying in Valencia, an Iranian-American med student, and some random American college-dropout friends of Mateos. I had fun discussing the controversy of bullfighting with the Finns, as well as asking them what Finnish culture is like, and learning that they also have Swedish as a national language. Meaning, they spoke 4 languages each. Mateo spoke 5 – sure puts us Americans to shame. ☺ Katie and I also talked to the Iranian girl a lot, she was really interesting to talk to. We asked if her life was like Grey’s Anatomy at all since she was in med school. ☺ Unfortunately not, though she did have plenty of other good stories to tell.
And such ends our last night in mainland Europe. It’s been a good one, and now all good things much come to an end.
We started the day off bright and early – at 6:30 am! We got up, ate, and sped-walked a steep 15-minute hike up the Alhambra to stand in the ticket line, which was already a couple hundred people long by the time we got there. You see, at the Alhambra, you have to book reservations months in advance, which we didn’t do, so the only alternative is to wait in line the day of. It’s wasn’t so bad though, once the ticket office opened at 8, since the line kept moving. I think we got in right at 9.
Some background (courtesy of Rick Steves, of course): The Alhambra itself was the last Moorish stronghold in Europe, and over 2,000 people used to live within its walls. Then in 1492 – quite the prolific year here in Spain - the Christians defeats the Muslims, and seven centuries of Muslim rule in Spain came to an end. Sucks to be them.
Our first stop was the biggie: the Palacios Nazaries. This was the exquisite royal palace, with room after room of amazing Moorish architecture and decorations. Lots of patterned ceramic tiles, Arabic-scripted walls, and carved ceilings. We saw the Sultans’s room, the fountain of the lions - minus the lions (why does every museum we go to have the cool stuff under restoration?!), some cool reflecting pools, and some more cool hexagon-ily domed rooms with great views of Granada. We had to battle past countless tour groups of 80 year olds to see everything, but it was worth it. ☺
After the palace, we explored the other buildings inside the Alhambra walls, including the Alzcaba fort, with more city views, and Charles V’s palace, which had a big, circular courtyard. Finally, we checked out the perfectly-manicured Generalife Gardens, which had lots of stray cats for us to pet. ☺
We finished everything at the Alhambra around noon, and walked back downhill to finish up a bit more souvenir shopping. This is our last stop, after all. I got a bunch of good stuff for people here. ☺ We ate lunch at a fun little restaurant with a great menu del dia – we got salad and croquettes for first course, pork & fries and flamenquones and fries for second course, and oranges for dessert (which I think is a Granada thing). Muy bueno naranajas! Hahaha…right, Katie? We also ran into some other travelers who I recognized from Swansea! They were also study abroad students and had been on the Paris trip. How random is that? 3 random run-ins in the same trip.
This afternoon it was SIESTA time! Our first siesta done the right way, in the afternoon. We almost kept sleeping into the evening, but managed to wake up at 6. Happy hour again, which meant more delicious spring rolls and hanging out with our hostel friends. At 10, we decided to go on our hostel’s tapas tour, led by this crazy Dutch guy, Mateo. He took us to 4 different places, each with free tapas, which is almost unheard of in the rest of Spain anymore. We met some more cool people tonight – a Finnish couple studying in Valencia, an Iranian-American med student, and some random American college-dropout friends of Mateos. I had fun discussing the controversy of bullfighting with the Finns, as well as asking them what Finnish culture is like, and learning that they also have Swedish as a national language. Meaning, they spoke 4 languages each. Mateo spoke 5 – sure puts us Americans to shame. ☺ Katie and I also talked to the Iranian girl a lot, she was really interesting to talk to. We asked if her life was like Grey’s Anatomy at all since she was in med school. ☺ Unfortunately not, though she did have plenty of other good stories to tell.
And such ends our last night in mainland Europe. It’s been a good one, and now all good things much come to an end.
Day #27 - The beginning of the end... in Granada
Buenos dias, everyone! Katie and I are starting to freak out a bit with the fact that we moved on today to our LAST city of the trip…it’s so surreal to us that this whole thing has all been the same trip – Pisa and Italy just seem like ages ago to us. It seriously feels like a time warp or something. At the beginning, we never thought we’d reach the end, and now here we are, looking back at all we’ve done. It’s been quite the adventure. ☺
This morning we had a train for Granada at 11:50, so it wasn’t too stressful to catch the bus to the station and get there on time. Again, an easy train ride, we’re pros by now so it’s old hat. I usually just sleep the whole time anyway (err, unless you’re reading, Dad, in which case I mean I watch the scenery). ☺
We found our hostel in Granada, tucked away in some curvy backstreet right by the Alhambra. It’s called “Funky’s”, and so far it lives up to its name…our “private” room is actually attached to a 6-bed dorm that we have to walk through to get to it, and the bathroom door has windowpanes on it, that are only semi-tinted. Hmmm. But, the rooftop terrace is amazing, with great views of the city and lots of friendly people to talk to. This is definitely a true “backpacker” hostel.
We did a little sightseeing this afternoon – have to meet the daily touristy quota! – by going to the Royal Chapel. There we saw the tombs of King Ferdinand and Isabella, and said “thank you” to Isabella for sponsoring Columbus. Otherwise, we decided, things in America probably wouldn’t be the same. ☺ Outside the chapel, there was a really interesting old Moorish neighborhood, the Alcaiceria, that used to be a silk and jewelry market, but apparently now is all touristy shops. Lots of fun, dark, narrow alleyways to explore though. Good thing it was daytime. ☺
Back at the hostel, we had some cheap appetizers for “happy hour” – these amazing spring rolls that came with lots of greasy chips. We met a bunch of people too – a couple Austrailians (they’re everywhere), two people from Seattle, and a guy named Christian from Toronto. Most of them have been traveling by themselves, for a lot longer than we have – 7 months for one guy.
Katie and I decided to go for dinner tonight in the area of town called the Albayzin, which is a twisty hilltop old Moorish neighborhood, which instead of streets has mostly rocky footpaths that wind their way uphill. We wandered the backstreets until we found a good sidewalk restaurant with fish, which is what we wanted to try. We ordered a menu, and for my first course I tried gazpacho soup, another Andalusian specialty I had wanted to try. It was basically chilled tomato soup with herbs…which was not bad, but so hard to eat because I’m not used to cold soup! Then, our fish plates arrived…and they were whole fish. Yep, heads, tails, and all. It looked like they had been caught, just dipped in batter, and fried. We tried a little bit at first, unsure. There were 2 big fish, with all the bones to pick out, and a bunch of little fish, which we’re pretty sure were sardines. Then, there were some onion-ring-type things that I think were squid rings. Well, we sucked it up and ate all of our fish, trying not to think about it. I’ll admit that they were actually pretty tasty (minus the sardines though…which had this “weird” flavor). Again, a dining experience not to forget. ☺
On our way back after dinner, we stopped to admire the view from San Nicolas’s viewpoint. Right across the valley from us was the giant Alhambra, towering on the hill, all lit up at dusk. It was just gorgeous.
Back at the hostel, we had a low-key night, just hanging out with the people we’d met this afternoon on the rooftop terrace. One of the Australians played some Australian music on a guitar, and we all shared travel stories and ideas, and discussed such deep topics as why Australians also drive on the “wrong” side of the road. Well, that’s what I call it. ☺ To them, driving on the left is the “right” side of the road. Those crazy Australians.
This morning we had a train for Granada at 11:50, so it wasn’t too stressful to catch the bus to the station and get there on time. Again, an easy train ride, we’re pros by now so it’s old hat. I usually just sleep the whole time anyway (err, unless you’re reading, Dad, in which case I mean I watch the scenery). ☺
We found our hostel in Granada, tucked away in some curvy backstreet right by the Alhambra. It’s called “Funky’s”, and so far it lives up to its name…our “private” room is actually attached to a 6-bed dorm that we have to walk through to get to it, and the bathroom door has windowpanes on it, that are only semi-tinted. Hmmm. But, the rooftop terrace is amazing, with great views of the city and lots of friendly people to talk to. This is definitely a true “backpacker” hostel.
We did a little sightseeing this afternoon – have to meet the daily touristy quota! – by going to the Royal Chapel. There we saw the tombs of King Ferdinand and Isabella, and said “thank you” to Isabella for sponsoring Columbus. Otherwise, we decided, things in America probably wouldn’t be the same. ☺ Outside the chapel, there was a really interesting old Moorish neighborhood, the Alcaiceria, that used to be a silk and jewelry market, but apparently now is all touristy shops. Lots of fun, dark, narrow alleyways to explore though. Good thing it was daytime. ☺
Back at the hostel, we had some cheap appetizers for “happy hour” – these amazing spring rolls that came with lots of greasy chips. We met a bunch of people too – a couple Austrailians (they’re everywhere), two people from Seattle, and a guy named Christian from Toronto. Most of them have been traveling by themselves, for a lot longer than we have – 7 months for one guy.
Katie and I decided to go for dinner tonight in the area of town called the Albayzin, which is a twisty hilltop old Moorish neighborhood, which instead of streets has mostly rocky footpaths that wind their way uphill. We wandered the backstreets until we found a good sidewalk restaurant with fish, which is what we wanted to try. We ordered a menu, and for my first course I tried gazpacho soup, another Andalusian specialty I had wanted to try. It was basically chilled tomato soup with herbs…which was not bad, but so hard to eat because I’m not used to cold soup! Then, our fish plates arrived…and they were whole fish. Yep, heads, tails, and all. It looked like they had been caught, just dipped in batter, and fried. We tried a little bit at first, unsure. There were 2 big fish, with all the bones to pick out, and a bunch of little fish, which we’re pretty sure were sardines. Then, there were some onion-ring-type things that I think were squid rings. Well, we sucked it up and ate all of our fish, trying not to think about it. I’ll admit that they were actually pretty tasty (minus the sardines though…which had this “weird” flavor). Again, a dining experience not to forget. ☺
On our way back after dinner, we stopped to admire the view from San Nicolas’s viewpoint. Right across the valley from us was the giant Alhambra, towering on the hill, all lit up at dusk. It was just gorgeous.
Back at the hostel, we had a low-key night, just hanging out with the people we’d met this afternoon on the rooftop terrace. One of the Australians played some Australian music on a guitar, and we all shared travel stories and ideas, and discussed such deep topics as why Australians also drive on the “wrong” side of the road. Well, that’s what I call it. ☺ To them, driving on the left is the “right” side of the road. Those crazy Australians.
Sunday, 22 April 2007
Day #26 - A day in the park
Leisurely day today...and again a pretty decent day of weather. Hey, it didn't rain!
We slept in (because we can!) and then headed to the Alcazar, Sevilla's other main tourist attraction. Oh, and we got into the Alcazar free too - thank you Spain for actually having good student discounts! The Alcazar was a Moorish fort/palace back in the day, so has lots of Islamic-style art, which was really cool and a refreshing change from most of the art we've seen all trip. There were a couple palace buildings to tour, but for me the fun part was the amazing gardens surrounding the place – with countless fountains, blooming roses, splashing waterfalls, gazebos, palm trees, and green green everywhere. It was a photo-op heaven. :) We wandered around for more than an hour, goofing off "getting lost" in the man-made bush maze, stopping to watch the cutest ducklings run all over the sidewalk after their mother, and soaking up the sun. Not a bad way to start the day.
For our traditional large Spanish lunch, we searched for a place with a menu del dia, but everywhere here seemed to just have tapas. So, we found a random place with raciones, which are like plate-sized tapas, so more food. After several minutes staring blankly at the all-Spanish menu, when the waiter came we just pointed to what the people around us were eating, which looked good, and ordered that. :) Katie ended up getting chicken in a bechamel sauce, and I got flamenquones, which were ham and cheese, I think, rolled up and fried. I also had some pasta with what we think was spinach dip on it. Anyway, it was good. Dining here is always an experience, that’s for sure.
After lunch, we mosey-ed over to the Plaza de Espanya, which is a huge, empty square with a big fountain, which was apparently built for a World’s Fair in 1929 that never happened because of the stock market crash. The building hasn’t really been used or finished completely since then. We sat by the fountain, enjoying the only real sun of the day (the rest of the day was pretty cloudy).
Next we went to the park right across the street, the massive Maria Luisa park. We were going to just walk around it, but then saw some pedal-powered cars there that you could rent, so randomly we did that! It was kind of like a Flintstones car – had a steering wheel and handbrake and all - but instead you pedal. ☺ The owner, who spoke absolutely no English, gave us a bunch of instructions in Spanish and we just nodded like we understood…hope it was nothing important! We had a hilarious time navigating the park, avoiding a couple close encounters with the many horse buggies as well as the police. Haha. Not to mention the group of high school Spanish boys who liked to chase us and play Chicken in their car, or our near-crash when we attempted to go “off-roading”… The funniest moment though, was when a little Spanish boy came up to us and started talking to us. “No habla espanol”, I said, and he immediately started laughing. He went back to his friends and was pointing and laughing at us, when I realized I pretty much said, “The bike does not speak Spanish”. ☺ Whoops. OK, so my Spanish isn’t quite perfect…
After that, we grabbed a snack and went over to the TI for some more free internet time. (Where I blogged about Barcelona I think, I’m so far behind). Then, since we were close by to all the shopping streets, we just wandered around there for awhile, looking for more trendy European fashions that we had no room for in our backpacks. ☺ I only bought jewelry this time, which was good. The streets were really packed in Sevilla too, people definitely will just stroll even if they’re not shopping I think. The stores were really cool here though too, because they had so many selling traditional items like flamenco dresses, fans, and shawls.
We ate dinner at this unmemorable place out on a sidewalk table. I think we’ve eaten most of our Spanish and French meals outside, which I like. The best part of the meal tonight was the bread – have I mentioned how much bread we eat, since you get it with EVERY meal? Katie keeps swearing she’s going to give up carbs… ☺ The thing we do like though is bread with olive oil…we use soooo much oil with our bread every night that I’ve started just pouring it directly on the bread because it’s easier. ☺ We probably drink at least a couple jars each per week…
We were going to get waffle sundaes at Ben & Jerry’s tonight but they were freaking closed at 9! What kind of Spanish hours are those?! So, we settled for more McDonalds, getting Kit Kat McFlurrys again. Do you have those in the States? Well, you should, because they’re good.
That’s all for tonight!
We slept in (because we can!) and then headed to the Alcazar, Sevilla's other main tourist attraction. Oh, and we got into the Alcazar free too - thank you Spain for actually having good student discounts! The Alcazar was a Moorish fort/palace back in the day, so has lots of Islamic-style art, which was really cool and a refreshing change from most of the art we've seen all trip. There were a couple palace buildings to tour, but for me the fun part was the amazing gardens surrounding the place – with countless fountains, blooming roses, splashing waterfalls, gazebos, palm trees, and green green everywhere. It was a photo-op heaven. :) We wandered around for more than an hour, goofing off "getting lost" in the man-made bush maze, stopping to watch the cutest ducklings run all over the sidewalk after their mother, and soaking up the sun. Not a bad way to start the day.
For our traditional large Spanish lunch, we searched for a place with a menu del dia, but everywhere here seemed to just have tapas. So, we found a random place with raciones, which are like plate-sized tapas, so more food. After several minutes staring blankly at the all-Spanish menu, when the waiter came we just pointed to what the people around us were eating, which looked good, and ordered that. :) Katie ended up getting chicken in a bechamel sauce, and I got flamenquones, which were ham and cheese, I think, rolled up and fried. I also had some pasta with what we think was spinach dip on it. Anyway, it was good. Dining here is always an experience, that’s for sure.
After lunch, we mosey-ed over to the Plaza de Espanya, which is a huge, empty square with a big fountain, which was apparently built for a World’s Fair in 1929 that never happened because of the stock market crash. The building hasn’t really been used or finished completely since then. We sat by the fountain, enjoying the only real sun of the day (the rest of the day was pretty cloudy).
Next we went to the park right across the street, the massive Maria Luisa park. We were going to just walk around it, but then saw some pedal-powered cars there that you could rent, so randomly we did that! It was kind of like a Flintstones car – had a steering wheel and handbrake and all - but instead you pedal. ☺ The owner, who spoke absolutely no English, gave us a bunch of instructions in Spanish and we just nodded like we understood…hope it was nothing important! We had a hilarious time navigating the park, avoiding a couple close encounters with the many horse buggies as well as the police. Haha. Not to mention the group of high school Spanish boys who liked to chase us and play Chicken in their car, or our near-crash when we attempted to go “off-roading”… The funniest moment though, was when a little Spanish boy came up to us and started talking to us. “No habla espanol”, I said, and he immediately started laughing. He went back to his friends and was pointing and laughing at us, when I realized I pretty much said, “The bike does not speak Spanish”. ☺ Whoops. OK, so my Spanish isn’t quite perfect…
After that, we grabbed a snack and went over to the TI for some more free internet time. (Where I blogged about Barcelona I think, I’m so far behind). Then, since we were close by to all the shopping streets, we just wandered around there for awhile, looking for more trendy European fashions that we had no room for in our backpacks. ☺ I only bought jewelry this time, which was good. The streets were really packed in Sevilla too, people definitely will just stroll even if they’re not shopping I think. The stores were really cool here though too, because they had so many selling traditional items like flamenco dresses, fans, and shawls.
We ate dinner at this unmemorable place out on a sidewalk table. I think we’ve eaten most of our Spanish and French meals outside, which I like. The best part of the meal tonight was the bread – have I mentioned how much bread we eat, since you get it with EVERY meal? Katie keeps swearing she’s going to give up carbs… ☺ The thing we do like though is bread with olive oil…we use soooo much oil with our bread every night that I’ve started just pouring it directly on the bread because it’s easier. ☺ We probably drink at least a couple jars each per week…
We were going to get waffle sundaes at Ben & Jerry’s tonight but they were freaking closed at 9! What kind of Spanish hours are those?! So, we settled for more McDonalds, getting Kit Kat McFlurrys again. Do you have those in the States? Well, you should, because they’re good.
That’s all for tonight!
Friday, 20 April 2007
Day #25 - Sunny Sevilla
Today we took a morning train to Sevilla, again a super-speed AVE train that zipped us there in 3 hours. Once there, we had to take a bus closer to our hostel, and then walk a ways - which was brutal in the heat - it was actually 80 degrees here! (Finally, though, good weather!)
We found the hostel, then set off to explore the sights (the Catedral and Alcazar), which were literally two blocks away. We ate jamón sandwiches for lunch first outside in a park...enjoying the glorious sun. Then, we went to the cathedral, which is I guess the third largest in Europe. This means I have now seen all of the top 4 - St. Peters in Rome, St. Pauls in London, here, and Duomo in Milan. What's #5? I really want to know now!
Anyways, the cathedral was really cool. It had an intricate golden altar, a huge organ, cracking pillars, and coolest of all, Columbus's tomb, supported in the air by 4 statues. Inside the cathedral, as I read to Katie out loud from the Rick Steves book (yes, I am a dork like that), we were approached by some middle aged people who saw us, and were on a Rick Steves guided tour! Haha...Rick Steves fans, unite! :)
The cathedral also had a tower to climb (of course), with views of the city. This one had a ramp instead of narrow stairs though, which was nice. There was a good view of all the orange trees in the courtyard down below. Orange trees are everywhere here! (We hear that they're too bitter for eating though - they are only used for 'perfumes and cat food'). Haha.
We didn't have much else we wanted to see today, so we just wandered the neighborhood, finding Sevilla's bullring. We were going to go inside to see the bullfight museum there, but apparently they were filming a movie there that day - or so we think. Sort of confusing, but we saw cameras an a guy with a shirt saying "Actor" something, so that's what we assumed. So, instead of going there, we walked along the river, stopping to get some super-greasy churros con chocolate from a shady-looking sidewalk stand (for me), and a Kit-Kat McFlurry from McDonalds (for Katie). :)
To kill some time, we found the TI nearby which had free internet - hooray! After that, we just sat in the park for awhile, people watching, enjoying the sun, and seeing an interesting street performer who was wearing a costume to make it look like he was really two people dancing...I know, doesn't make sense unless you see a picture.
We ate a somewhat-earlier dinner tonight, at a more traditional Italian restaurant called San Marco. We split a 4-cheese pizza and a salad but were still hungry, so actually sprung for dessert too - which was amazing! Katie got a pistachio-chocolate mousse pie, and I got lemon mousse pie with strawberry sauce. Mmm mmm. :)
We actually managed to get our check in a decent amount of time, which was good, because we had a flamenco show to get to! We had bought tickets earlier for one of the shows which we had heard was pretty good. It took place in a small room with small uncomfortable chairs lined up in front of a small stage. There were 6 acts or so, each with two singers, a guitarist, and 1 dancer. Between each set, they'd switch dancers and usually singers. I could see why - the flamenco dancers definitely worked up a sweat after dancing for 20 minutes - it's quite the workout. The show was good, and probably more professional than the shorter show we'd seen in Barcelona, but something about it didn't feel as passionate to me. Maybe they're just more touristy here.
We walked back after the show, enjoying seeing the Cathedral lit up at dark. Sevilla, at least the part we were in, was really quiet at night, so we did what we like to do and got some sleep!
We found the hostel, then set off to explore the sights (the Catedral and Alcazar), which were literally two blocks away. We ate jamón sandwiches for lunch first outside in a park...enjoying the glorious sun. Then, we went to the cathedral, which is I guess the third largest in Europe. This means I have now seen all of the top 4 - St. Peters in Rome, St. Pauls in London, here, and Duomo in Milan. What's #5? I really want to know now!
Anyways, the cathedral was really cool. It had an intricate golden altar, a huge organ, cracking pillars, and coolest of all, Columbus's tomb, supported in the air by 4 statues. Inside the cathedral, as I read to Katie out loud from the Rick Steves book (yes, I am a dork like that), we were approached by some middle aged people who saw us, and were on a Rick Steves guided tour! Haha...Rick Steves fans, unite! :)
The cathedral also had a tower to climb (of course), with views of the city. This one had a ramp instead of narrow stairs though, which was nice. There was a good view of all the orange trees in the courtyard down below. Orange trees are everywhere here! (We hear that they're too bitter for eating though - they are only used for 'perfumes and cat food'). Haha.
We didn't have much else we wanted to see today, so we just wandered the neighborhood, finding Sevilla's bullring. We were going to go inside to see the bullfight museum there, but apparently they were filming a movie there that day - or so we think. Sort of confusing, but we saw cameras an a guy with a shirt saying "Actor" something, so that's what we assumed. So, instead of going there, we walked along the river, stopping to get some super-greasy churros con chocolate from a shady-looking sidewalk stand (for me), and a Kit-Kat McFlurry from McDonalds (for Katie). :)
To kill some time, we found the TI nearby which had free internet - hooray! After that, we just sat in the park for awhile, people watching, enjoying the sun, and seeing an interesting street performer who was wearing a costume to make it look like he was really two people dancing...I know, doesn't make sense unless you see a picture.
We ate a somewhat-earlier dinner tonight, at a more traditional Italian restaurant called San Marco. We split a 4-cheese pizza and a salad but were still hungry, so actually sprung for dessert too - which was amazing! Katie got a pistachio-chocolate mousse pie, and I got lemon mousse pie with strawberry sauce. Mmm mmm. :)
We actually managed to get our check in a decent amount of time, which was good, because we had a flamenco show to get to! We had bought tickets earlier for one of the shows which we had heard was pretty good. It took place in a small room with small uncomfortable chairs lined up in front of a small stage. There were 6 acts or so, each with two singers, a guitarist, and 1 dancer. Between each set, they'd switch dancers and usually singers. I could see why - the flamenco dancers definitely worked up a sweat after dancing for 20 minutes - it's quite the workout. The show was good, and probably more professional than the shorter show we'd seen in Barcelona, but something about it didn't feel as passionate to me. Maybe they're just more touristy here.
We walked back after the show, enjoying seeing the Cathedral lit up at dark. Sevilla, at least the part we were in, was really quiet at night, so we did what we like to do and got some sleep!
Day #24 - OK, we've had enough of Madrid
After another sleepy morning, we got up in time for some lunch...ah the wonderfulness of being on holiday. :)
We decided to eat lunch at a random restaurant with a decently-priced menu del día, which before had always worked out pretty well for us. However...this place was not the same. First, we ordered alcochofas for one of our first courses, which for some reason we thought was peas but ended up being artichokes...gross. The server was kind of mad when we didn't eat most of it. Then, after we were finished, we waited for the bill, as usual. Here, they never bring it to you right away, so you normally have to ask. However, here it seemed like they were purposefully avoiding us, bringing the bills to everyone else around us but not acknowledging us. It was ridiculous! After nearly a half hour of them ignoring us, we finally flagged them down, asking for the bill, and 10 minutes later had to physically hand them the money so they wouldn't breeze by us again. It was the worst cold shoulder ever...we left dazed, wondering what if anything we did wrong, or if they just didn't like Americans? Frustrating to say the least.
SO, moving on to happier things. This afternoon we went to the Royal Palace, which is Spain's version of Versailles, with room after room of tapestries, fancy wallpaper, mile-long dinner tables, and too-friendly guards...haha. They also had 5 Stradivarius violins, of only 300 remaining today. Overall, pretty cool.
Before dinner, we just wandered the shopping streets a bit...the whole area is packed with common clothes stores...Bershka, Mango, H&M, El Corte Ingles, etc. It seems like a pretty common pasttime here to just stroll the streets at nighttime too - the streets are always packed.
Tonight we did tapas again for dinner - going to cute little restaurant at a square close by where we got much better service than earlier. :) We shared several plates, of croquettes (our definite favorite), empanadillas (meat-filled pastries), and potato omelet.
Back at the hostel, we had a new roommate, a guy named Killian from Ireland. He was really fun to talk to, and compare stories of Dublin from St. Patrick's Day. We also told him stories about the U.S. and what Iowa is like...which I feel we have to do a LOT. :)
Tonight, we were ready to leave Madrid. Compared to Barcelona, it just didn't have the same feeling to it. Not as touristy, not as fun, not as much culture, not as pretty. And, bad waiters. :P
Time to move on...Sevilla here we come!
We decided to eat lunch at a random restaurant with a decently-priced menu del día, which before had always worked out pretty well for us. However...this place was not the same. First, we ordered alcochofas for one of our first courses, which for some reason we thought was peas but ended up being artichokes...gross. The server was kind of mad when we didn't eat most of it. Then, after we were finished, we waited for the bill, as usual. Here, they never bring it to you right away, so you normally have to ask. However, here it seemed like they were purposefully avoiding us, bringing the bills to everyone else around us but not acknowledging us. It was ridiculous! After nearly a half hour of them ignoring us, we finally flagged them down, asking for the bill, and 10 minutes later had to physically hand them the money so they wouldn't breeze by us again. It was the worst cold shoulder ever...we left dazed, wondering what if anything we did wrong, or if they just didn't like Americans? Frustrating to say the least.
SO, moving on to happier things. This afternoon we went to the Royal Palace, which is Spain's version of Versailles, with room after room of tapestries, fancy wallpaper, mile-long dinner tables, and too-friendly guards...haha. They also had 5 Stradivarius violins, of only 300 remaining today. Overall, pretty cool.
Before dinner, we just wandered the shopping streets a bit...the whole area is packed with common clothes stores...Bershka, Mango, H&M, El Corte Ingles, etc. It seems like a pretty common pasttime here to just stroll the streets at nighttime too - the streets are always packed.
Tonight we did tapas again for dinner - going to cute little restaurant at a square close by where we got much better service than earlier. :) We shared several plates, of croquettes (our definite favorite), empanadillas (meat-filled pastries), and potato omelet.
Back at the hostel, we had a new roommate, a guy named Killian from Ireland. He was really fun to talk to, and compare stories of Dublin from St. Patrick's Day. We also told him stories about the U.S. and what Iowa is like...which I feel we have to do a LOT. :)
Tonight, we were ready to leave Madrid. Compared to Barcelona, it just didn't have the same feeling to it. Not as touristy, not as fun, not as much culture, not as pretty. And, bad waiters. :P
Time to move on...Sevilla here we come!
Day #23 - A day in the life of a Madrileño
It was Sunday today...and we spent it the perfect way, doing all the things a typical Madrileño would probably do - went to the market, strolled in the park, and of course - saw a bullfight! I'll get to that interesting experience later...
First - after sleeping in plenty, we started the day wandering the El Rastro flea market, which is a huge street market taking up probably half a mile of city blocks. They had lots of handmade crafts, beaded jewelry, touristy stuff, and inappropriate t-shirts. :) The market was just packed with people, so it took us awhile just to navigate through it all! I ended up getting some pretty blue earrings for €3 and a new pair of sunglasses to replace my pair that broke in Monaco.
After the market, we walked through town (everything is so close in downtown Madrid!) to El Retiro park, which is the expansive, Central-park like place which gets really busy on weekend afternoons with families and kids. Today was no exception, since it was so nice and sunny out. We strolled through the park a ways until we found the lake area, which was definitely the place to be. It had rowboats to rent, sidewalk cafés, street vendors, and puppeteers performing puppet shows to audiences of hundreds of enthralled toddlers. :) So cute. We were hungry, so got some lunch at a lakefront cafe. I finally tried the Spanish specialty of tortilla española, which is a potato omelet, served on a baguette. It was amazing, the perfect brunch. :)
Right next to the park was the Prado Museum, where we headed next. The Prado is a HUGE museum, with famous works by Italian, French, and Spanish painters, and much more. Since we were a bit tired of Italian Renaissance paintings, we just stuck to the Spanish painters here: Francisco de Goya, Diego Velázquez, and some others. We really enjoyed seeing Las Meninas in person, which is Velázquez's most famous masterpiece, and what some consider the best piece of art, ever, because of it's visual tricks and use of perspective. (See a picture of it here) We also enjoyed de Goya's, artwork, especially his crazier paintings from his later "dark period". Is it just me, or do a lot of painters go crazy later in life? :)
From the Prado, we left and took the Metro to Las Ventas - the bullring! The subway was packed with tourists, and when we got there, we exited and it was right there. We bought some candy (Peachies, our favorite!) from a vendor outside, and went in to find our seats. The inside was so cool to see in person - one of those "Am I really here?" moments. The bullring is circular, so every seat is a good seat. The only advantage to more expensive tickets is that all the action happens in front of you...but as we saw later I think we were OK with not having that. :)
As we soon learned, the "sport" of bullfighting is very repetitive, done the same way each time. There were 6 bulls (2 bulls per matador), and each bull took around 20 minutes (to kill). Each bullfight has 3 acts: first, the bull runs out, full-steam ahead, and the matador uses his cape to size up the bull and tire him out a bit. Next, a man on a horse comes in, and spears the bull at the muscle at the back of its next. This is the most suspenseful part I thought, since the bull often rams the horse, nearly making it fall over. On the second bull, the man actually fell off the horse! He nearly was gored by the bull, but narrowly escaped... Next, the matadors assistants stab the bull's neck with a total of 6 barbed sticks, which further weaken the bull. Then, the matador steps in, in all his arrogant glory, and showily waves his cape at the bull. If the bull passes successfully close, the crowd cheers Olé. If he sucks, they whistle or do the slow clap. :) Finally, the matador takes a long sword and stabs the bull in the neck...if he's good, it only takes once. If he's bad (like the second bull), you have to sit there and watch him repeatedly try to kill it...not fun to watch. When the bull is dead, mules come in and parade him out...and the next bull comes out a minute later to repeat it all again.
And...that's about it. Gory as it sounds, it wasn't as bloody as you would think...just more surreal to watch and realize what you're seeing. The more that I've thought about it though, since that day, I realize just how wrong and disgusting I think it was. Watching an animal suffer is not my idea of entertainment...but in Spain, it's part their culture I guess, as controversial as it may be.
After the bullfight, we got some dinner at a restaurant we found called "Nebraska". We thought it was fitting. :) However, we did NOT order beef. :) I'm going to stay away from beef for awhile...
Tonight we met some more fun people at our hostel - some local Madrid ex-pats, two guys from Australia (who were kind of jerks though), and our new friend Manny, from Mexico. Meeting other travelers is definitely one of the best parts of the experience...make it memorable.
First - after sleeping in plenty, we started the day wandering the El Rastro flea market, which is a huge street market taking up probably half a mile of city blocks. They had lots of handmade crafts, beaded jewelry, touristy stuff, and inappropriate t-shirts. :) The market was just packed with people, so it took us awhile just to navigate through it all! I ended up getting some pretty blue earrings for €3 and a new pair of sunglasses to replace my pair that broke in Monaco.
After the market, we walked through town (everything is so close in downtown Madrid!) to El Retiro park, which is the expansive, Central-park like place which gets really busy on weekend afternoons with families and kids. Today was no exception, since it was so nice and sunny out. We strolled through the park a ways until we found the lake area, which was definitely the place to be. It had rowboats to rent, sidewalk cafés, street vendors, and puppeteers performing puppet shows to audiences of hundreds of enthralled toddlers. :) So cute. We were hungry, so got some lunch at a lakefront cafe. I finally tried the Spanish specialty of tortilla española, which is a potato omelet, served on a baguette. It was amazing, the perfect brunch. :)
Right next to the park was the Prado Museum, where we headed next. The Prado is a HUGE museum, with famous works by Italian, French, and Spanish painters, and much more. Since we were a bit tired of Italian Renaissance paintings, we just stuck to the Spanish painters here: Francisco de Goya, Diego Velázquez, and some others. We really enjoyed seeing Las Meninas in person, which is Velázquez's most famous masterpiece, and what some consider the best piece of art, ever, because of it's visual tricks and use of perspective. (See a picture of it here) We also enjoyed de Goya's, artwork, especially his crazier paintings from his later "dark period". Is it just me, or do a lot of painters go crazy later in life? :)
From the Prado, we left and took the Metro to Las Ventas - the bullring! The subway was packed with tourists, and when we got there, we exited and it was right there. We bought some candy (Peachies, our favorite!) from a vendor outside, and went in to find our seats. The inside was so cool to see in person - one of those "Am I really here?" moments. The bullring is circular, so every seat is a good seat. The only advantage to more expensive tickets is that all the action happens in front of you...but as we saw later I think we were OK with not having that. :)
As we soon learned, the "sport" of bullfighting is very repetitive, done the same way each time. There were 6 bulls (2 bulls per matador), and each bull took around 20 minutes (to kill). Each bullfight has 3 acts: first, the bull runs out, full-steam ahead, and the matador uses his cape to size up the bull and tire him out a bit. Next, a man on a horse comes in, and spears the bull at the muscle at the back of its next. This is the most suspenseful part I thought, since the bull often rams the horse, nearly making it fall over. On the second bull, the man actually fell off the horse! He nearly was gored by the bull, but narrowly escaped... Next, the matadors assistants stab the bull's neck with a total of 6 barbed sticks, which further weaken the bull. Then, the matador steps in, in all his arrogant glory, and showily waves his cape at the bull. If the bull passes successfully close, the crowd cheers Olé. If he sucks, they whistle or do the slow clap. :) Finally, the matador takes a long sword and stabs the bull in the neck...if he's good, it only takes once. If he's bad (like the second bull), you have to sit there and watch him repeatedly try to kill it...not fun to watch. When the bull is dead, mules come in and parade him out...and the next bull comes out a minute later to repeat it all again.
And...that's about it. Gory as it sounds, it wasn't as bloody as you would think...just more surreal to watch and realize what you're seeing. The more that I've thought about it though, since that day, I realize just how wrong and disgusting I think it was. Watching an animal suffer is not my idea of entertainment...but in Spain, it's part their culture I guess, as controversial as it may be.
After the bullfight, we got some dinner at a restaurant we found called "Nebraska". We thought it was fitting. :) However, we did NOT order beef. :) I'm going to stay away from beef for awhile...
Tonight we met some more fun people at our hostel - some local Madrid ex-pats, two guys from Australia (who were kind of jerks though), and our new friend Manny, from Mexico. Meeting other travelers is definitely one of the best parts of the experience...make it memorable.
Wednesday, 18 April 2007
Day #22 - ¡Madrid Mika Madness!
A new day, a new city. Today we took the 10:00 train to Madrid. I was a bit uneasy, knowing that the 2004 terrorist bombing happened in Madrid´s train station, but what can you do. The train ride was around 4.5 hours, but went really fast. The AVE trains here in Spain are quite nice, with the comfiest seats yet, and movies to watch on board.
Once in Madrid, we took the Metro to our hostel, which was centrally located right off of Madrid´s main square, Puerta del Sol. We didn´t stay there long, but set out to find tickets to Sunday´s bullfight at a booking office nearby. We actually used mostly Spanish (and a bit of charades of acting out ¨bullfight¨) to get the tickets. It was pretty hilarious...just ask Katie for her "bull" impression. :)
Sidebar - Once again, it rocks actually understanding some of the language here...we´re attempting to speak it whenever we can. I think the only thing really tripping me up though is the word for "thanks" - gracias. We always learned to pronounce it "Grah-see-ahs, but here it´s "grah-thee-uhs." It feels like you have a lisp if you say it that way!
Anyways, next we headed for the Reina Sofia art museum, since it was free on Saturday afternoons. We realized that we totally picked the perfect days to come to Madrid, since everything we want to see is free on the weekends, or only held on the weekends (like the bullfight).
The Reina Sofia was a modern art museum, which meant we got to play our made-up game of "art or not art?" to decide which artworks counted as legit. Many of the canvases with just scribbles or paint thrown on them didn´t pass our test. :) The best part of the museum though, besides the room of art by Dali and a very disturbing surrealistic black and white film, was Picasso´s masterpiece, Guernica. It´s a huge, black and white painting showing the horrors of war, in a very graphic, emotional way. It was very moving to see and understand in person.
After the museum, we did something a little crazy...ok I'll start at the beginning of the story. So as you should know from reading the blog, we have become a tad bit obsessed with Mika and his song "Grace Kelly" during the trip...what with seeing the video on MTV Italia repeatedly, hearing the playing song EVERYWHERE we go, going to Grace Kelly's home in Monaco, etc etc. So, while in Barcelona, we found out that Mika was performing in Madrid, today. Craziness! So of course, we decided we had to go, even though it was sold out, to try to find some scalped tickets. :) It would just make the whole Mika saga complete. Well, we take the subway there and finally find the club it's at, which was way outside the city center in the more modern, suburban part of town. There was a huge line of people with tickets waiting to get in, but no scalpers... So, we just hung out, waiting to see what would happen. We did see three girls buy two tickets from someone, and then watched a soap-opera like drama unfold before our eyes as they tried to get a third by asking everybody around if they could get another ticket. It was pretty funny, but we definitely weren't that desperate.
We were there for quite awhile, hoping to at least hear Mika when he got onstage, but eventually gave up on that too since it was getting late. So, we took the subway back to Puerta del Sol and found the restaurant we wanted to go to, called "The Real Paella Restaurante." Paella (saffron rice with meat or seafood mixed in) is really big here in Spain, but apparently this place cooks it the proper way so it's even better. It was a really fancy restaurant too, so we got all these "interesting" extras with our meal...including some cold shrimp as an appetizer - with the head, antennas, legs, and tail still attached. Again, interesting. The paella was excellent though - they dish it out right in front of you from a big pan, and it was sooo much food. :) Then, for a dessert I guess, they gave us a little jar of some drink, which we think was some type of liqueur...again, not sure, but we tried a little at least. Overall, a very fun experience :)
This was our latest dinner yet, from 10:00 until like 11:30, so after that we just went to bed at our hostel. We're in a 4 person dorm here so we talked to our roommates a bit, they're both American so it was cool to chat with them.
Once in Madrid, we took the Metro to our hostel, which was centrally located right off of Madrid´s main square, Puerta del Sol. We didn´t stay there long, but set out to find tickets to Sunday´s bullfight at a booking office nearby. We actually used mostly Spanish (and a bit of charades of acting out ¨bullfight¨) to get the tickets. It was pretty hilarious...just ask Katie for her "bull" impression. :)
Sidebar - Once again, it rocks actually understanding some of the language here...we´re attempting to speak it whenever we can. I think the only thing really tripping me up though is the word for "thanks" - gracias. We always learned to pronounce it "Grah-see-ahs, but here it´s "grah-thee-uhs." It feels like you have a lisp if you say it that way!
Anyways, next we headed for the Reina Sofia art museum, since it was free on Saturday afternoons. We realized that we totally picked the perfect days to come to Madrid, since everything we want to see is free on the weekends, or only held on the weekends (like the bullfight).
The Reina Sofia was a modern art museum, which meant we got to play our made-up game of "art or not art?" to decide which artworks counted as legit. Many of the canvases with just scribbles or paint thrown on them didn´t pass our test. :) The best part of the museum though, besides the room of art by Dali and a very disturbing surrealistic black and white film, was Picasso´s masterpiece, Guernica. It´s a huge, black and white painting showing the horrors of war, in a very graphic, emotional way. It was very moving to see and understand in person.
After the museum, we did something a little crazy...ok I'll start at the beginning of the story. So as you should know from reading the blog, we have become a tad bit obsessed with Mika and his song "Grace Kelly" during the trip...what with seeing the video on MTV Italia repeatedly, hearing the playing song EVERYWHERE we go, going to Grace Kelly's home in Monaco, etc etc. So, while in Barcelona, we found out that Mika was performing in Madrid, today. Craziness! So of course, we decided we had to go, even though it was sold out, to try to find some scalped tickets. :) It would just make the whole Mika saga complete. Well, we take the subway there and finally find the club it's at, which was way outside the city center in the more modern, suburban part of town. There was a huge line of people with tickets waiting to get in, but no scalpers... So, we just hung out, waiting to see what would happen. We did see three girls buy two tickets from someone, and then watched a soap-opera like drama unfold before our eyes as they tried to get a third by asking everybody around if they could get another ticket. It was pretty funny, but we definitely weren't that desperate.
We were there for quite awhile, hoping to at least hear Mika when he got onstage, but eventually gave up on that too since it was getting late. So, we took the subway back to Puerta del Sol and found the restaurant we wanted to go to, called "The Real Paella Restaurante." Paella (saffron rice with meat or seafood mixed in) is really big here in Spain, but apparently this place cooks it the proper way so it's even better. It was a really fancy restaurant too, so we got all these "interesting" extras with our meal...including some cold shrimp as an appetizer - with the head, antennas, legs, and tail still attached. Again, interesting. The paella was excellent though - they dish it out right in front of you from a big pan, and it was sooo much food. :) Then, for a dessert I guess, they gave us a little jar of some drink, which we think was some type of liqueur...again, not sure, but we tried a little at least. Overall, a very fun experience :)
This was our latest dinner yet, from 10:00 until like 11:30, so after that we just went to bed at our hostel. We're in a 4 person dorm here so we talked to our roommates a bit, they're both American so it was cool to chat with them.
Day #21 - The rain in Spain falls mainly on...us
Our final day in Barcelona...and it´s rainy of course. Eh. We were pretty tired and out of it this morning anyway, so ended up sleeping in until like noon. :) We finally dragged ourselves outside around 2, and headed to the train station to get our reservations to Madrid. Apparently in Spain, they don´t have the same concept of customer service, because we ended up waiting over an hour in line... Luckily though, you get a ticket for your place in line, so we did that, and then went and got some lunch in the meantime. We ate at a Pans & Company, which is Spain´s popular chain of fast-food, but with baguettes - much healthier than McDonalds. :) I got a "fun burger", which had shredded cheese and a slab of ham on it. Interesting.
For our only sightseeing of the day, we went to Parc Guell, which is a huge park also designed by Gaudi (couldn´t quite fit it in our Gaudi day yesterday). It had this giant mosaic lizard statue, which was the popular photo op of the place. There were also some curvy mosaic benches with a great overlook of the city. We just meandered a bit as we do in parks, and took plenty of pictures. Very relaxing.
Even though it was raining off and on, we decided to still check out Barcelona´s beach, just to see it. We took the metro there, and then walked through Barcelona´s former Olympic Village to get there...and found nothing. The beach was completely deserted because of the weather, but at least we got to see where we could have sunbathed. Ah, such is life.
We went from there to the area at the base of the Montjuic hill, which on weekend nights has "Magic Fountain" shows with lights and music. We stayed for two of the 10 minute long shows, which were really cool, especially at dusk. They played classical music timed with the fountains, which I really liked.
For dinner tonight, we finally got the traditional Spanish meal of tapas, which are basically small portions of appetizer-like foods such as olives, anchovies, or the more normal cheeses, mushrooms, or slices of ham. We split 5 dishes - meatballs, tomato bread, ham croquettes, (cold) potatoes with garlic sauce, and something else...
We were tired tonight so just packed up our stuff and went to bed pretty early. Hasta luego, Barcelona.
For our only sightseeing of the day, we went to Parc Guell, which is a huge park also designed by Gaudi (couldn´t quite fit it in our Gaudi day yesterday). It had this giant mosaic lizard statue, which was the popular photo op of the place. There were also some curvy mosaic benches with a great overlook of the city. We just meandered a bit as we do in parks, and took plenty of pictures. Very relaxing.
Even though it was raining off and on, we decided to still check out Barcelona´s beach, just to see it. We took the metro there, and then walked through Barcelona´s former Olympic Village to get there...and found nothing. The beach was completely deserted because of the weather, but at least we got to see where we could have sunbathed. Ah, such is life.
We went from there to the area at the base of the Montjuic hill, which on weekend nights has "Magic Fountain" shows with lights and music. We stayed for two of the 10 minute long shows, which were really cool, especially at dusk. They played classical music timed with the fountains, which I really liked.
For dinner tonight, we finally got the traditional Spanish meal of tapas, which are basically small portions of appetizer-like foods such as olives, anchovies, or the more normal cheeses, mushrooms, or slices of ham. We split 5 dishes - meatballs, tomato bread, ham croquettes, (cold) potatoes with garlic sauce, and something else...
We were tired tonight so just packed up our stuff and went to bed pretty early. Hasta luego, Barcelona.
Tuesday, 17 April 2007
Day #20 - The day of Gaudi
Another amazing day in Barcelona...so many fun things to talk about. :) We slept in a bit this morning, and then took the Metro to the Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family) church, which is this crazy ornate church designed by Gaudi. Gaudi was an architect from Barcelona who died in 1926, and his buildings are everywhere throughout the city. His style is just so unique and artistic, with lots of curves, mosaics, and fun shapes. His plans for the church were so high-reaching that the church still isn´t completed, and probably won´t be for another 50 years. After seeing all these massive cathedrals all over Europe, it was cool to see one still under construction and to realize just what a huge commitment building one is. The church had a spire to climb, of course, for yet another city view, and cool exhibits comparing Gaudi´s architectural elements to things found in nature, like trees, seashells, and ocean waves.
We didn´t get done at the Sagrada Familia until 3 or so, since the lines there had been sooo long. We were just starting to get hungry for lunch (we´ve adjusted nicely to the Spanish times), so we found a recommended restaurant from Rick Steves with a cheap menu del dia (menu of the day). Menus are definitely one of the fun things about Spain - you get 3 courses, of usually salad, meat, and dessert, plus bread and a drink for only €8-10. This place we went to was even more amazing because it was so popular with the locals - at 3:30 it was packed with a 20 minute wait! For our 3 courses we split everything in half so we could try a little bit of everything...we got peas and ham and a salad for the 1st course, steak and fries and pork and fries for the second course, and cake and creme caramel for dessert. It was so good...everything but the pork that is, which seemed like 90% fat and 10% meat. Maybe that´s how they like it here though...who knows.
Next we headed to Casa Mila, which is another building by Gaudi, but this time an apartment. We got to tour the cool rooftop, which has swirly designs that look like ice cream, and the attic, with special <> arches that he invented. (Fun fact of the day: << >> these are quotes in Spanish and German). There was also a tour of the insides of the apartments, as they would have looked 100 years ago. The whole museum was really fun because of all the interactive videos and the free audioguide...helped me appreciate Gaudí's genius that much more.
For our final Gaudi creation of the day, we walked a few blocks to the Block of Discord. It was called that because three different architects all built highly ornate houses on the same street - so it´s a total clash of styles. We didn´t go in, but I´d love to go back someday and see Casa Battlo from the inside.
By then it was 6 or so, so we headed back to the hostel and got some free dinner again. Tonight, it was tri-color pasta with tomatoes and peppers, and roast chicken. Again, awesome considering it was free! We also met more people tonight, this time 3 nice guys from Austrailia. I told them how I can never tell British and Austrailian accents apart, which they thought was funny. I did notice that they say "heaps and heaps" instead of the British "loads and loads", or the American "lots and lots". That´s all I´ve figured out for now...
We had fun hanging out tonight with the Austrailians. We also finally talked and got to know our our roommates tonight, which was good (we´re staying in a 6 person dorm). They're all from France and go to med school there, it was really interesting talking to them. It was a good night. :)
We didn´t get done at the Sagrada Familia until 3 or so, since the lines there had been sooo long. We were just starting to get hungry for lunch (we´ve adjusted nicely to the Spanish times), so we found a recommended restaurant from Rick Steves with a cheap menu del dia (menu of the day). Menus are definitely one of the fun things about Spain - you get 3 courses, of usually salad, meat, and dessert, plus bread and a drink for only €8-10. This place we went to was even more amazing because it was so popular with the locals - at 3:30 it was packed with a 20 minute wait! For our 3 courses we split everything in half so we could try a little bit of everything...we got peas and ham and a salad for the 1st course, steak and fries and pork and fries for the second course, and cake and creme caramel for dessert. It was so good...everything but the pork that is, which seemed like 90% fat and 10% meat. Maybe that´s how they like it here though...who knows.
Next we headed to Casa Mila, which is another building by Gaudi, but this time an apartment. We got to tour the cool rooftop, which has swirly designs that look like ice cream, and the attic, with special <
For our final Gaudi creation of the day, we walked a few blocks to the Block of Discord. It was called that because three different architects all built highly ornate houses on the same street - so it´s a total clash of styles. We didn´t go in, but I´d love to go back someday and see Casa Battlo from the inside.
By then it was 6 or so, so we headed back to the hostel and got some free dinner again. Tonight, it was tri-color pasta with tomatoes and peppers, and roast chicken. Again, awesome considering it was free! We also met more people tonight, this time 3 nice guys from Austrailia. I told them how I can never tell British and Austrailian accents apart, which they thought was funny. I did notice that they say "heaps and heaps" instead of the British "loads and loads", or the American "lots and lots". That´s all I´ve figured out for now...
We had fun hanging out tonight with the Austrailians. We also finally talked and got to know our our roommates tonight, which was good (we´re staying in a 6 person dorm). They're all from France and go to med school there, it was really interesting talking to them. It was a good night. :)
Wednesday, 11 April 2007
Day #19 - Living it up, Barcelona-style
So, it´s only our first day in Barcelona, and already I´m in love. This seriously might be my favorite city yet...it´s got it all - art, culture, great food, nightlife, amazing shopping, beaches, pretty much everything you could want. Barcelona is just fun, wherever you look.
We started today by a stroll down Las Ramblas, which was completely different during the day than it was last night! We walked down to the harbor area and across the pier to a modern indoor shopping center where I finally found a pair of shoes! I´ve been looking the entire trip for a certain style of shoes, and could never find them until now. Anyways, mission accomplished.
After that, we wandered back up the Ramblas until we found the La Bouqeria market, which was probably my favorite market we´ve been to yet - it was just packed with fresh produce, vegetables, and of course whole legs of pigs with the hoof still attached. (Spainiards are pretty much obsessed with jamon). The best part was the fresh fruit juice they had - they blended the fruit right there so you know it´s good. Katie got strawberry coconut and I got strawberry pineapple...pretty much amazing. :)
It was probably 2 pm or so by then, which meant time to start finding some lunch! We decided to try changing our eating schedule from now on to fit with the culture...which means eating lunch between 1 and 4, siesta style. Also, lunch in Spain is the biggest meal of the day, since dinner is only a small sandwich or tapas at 9 pm or later. We found the perfect place to stuff ourselves for lunch at a buffet called Fresc Co´s - we got a huge salad, and unlimited pizza, pasta, soup, and dessert for only €8. We were SO full after that...
After a short people-watching siesta in the park and time to digest, we wandered the old Barri Gotic neighborhood for awhile until we got to the Picasso museum. This museum was one of my favorites of the trip, since it was just about 1 artist. It showed the evolution of Picasso from boy genius to his depressed Blue Period, to the beginning of Cubism. I definitely appreciate his art a whole lot more now that I saw he was very good technically as an artist too. Sometimes with modern art, I think "I could do that", but now I see there´s so much more to it. Katie and I also had fun translating the Spanish titles to all his artwork. Those 3 or 4 years of Spanish are finally coming in handy!
After the museum, we headed back to our hostel, since they have free dinner every day at 8! Tonight, we got some spicy pasta with lamb, and spicy sausage and potatoes...pretty good for free food, and just the right amount for a light meal. We met a couple new people just hanging out downstairs...everyone at our hostel seems pretty friendly.
Tonight, we went to a flamenco show next door to our hostel, since because of our hostel we got in for free. Barcelona isn´t technically known for flamenco, Sevilla is, but we thought we´d check it out anyway. Luckily, the show was amazing, but definitely not what I thought flamenco was - it seems so much more about the music and singing than the dancing, at least at this show. The singing was so soulful, almost like wailing....hard to describe if you haven´t seen it.
We were pretty tired tonight and so didn´t stay out too much later. The nightlife in Barcelona doesn´t even start until 2 or 3 anyway...which is so strange. Katie and I are still trying to figure out what everyone does in the meantime to fill the time...we'll see if we figure it out before we leave Spain! ¡Buenos noches!
We started today by a stroll down Las Ramblas, which was completely different during the day than it was last night! We walked down to the harbor area and across the pier to a modern indoor shopping center where I finally found a pair of shoes! I´ve been looking the entire trip for a certain style of shoes, and could never find them until now. Anyways, mission accomplished.
After that, we wandered back up the Ramblas until we found the La Bouqeria market, which was probably my favorite market we´ve been to yet - it was just packed with fresh produce, vegetables, and of course whole legs of pigs with the hoof still attached. (Spainiards are pretty much obsessed with jamon). The best part was the fresh fruit juice they had - they blended the fruit right there so you know it´s good. Katie got strawberry coconut and I got strawberry pineapple...pretty much amazing. :)
It was probably 2 pm or so by then, which meant time to start finding some lunch! We decided to try changing our eating schedule from now on to fit with the culture...which means eating lunch between 1 and 4, siesta style. Also, lunch in Spain is the biggest meal of the day, since dinner is only a small sandwich or tapas at 9 pm or later. We found the perfect place to stuff ourselves for lunch at a buffet called Fresc Co´s - we got a huge salad, and unlimited pizza, pasta, soup, and dessert for only €8. We were SO full after that...
After a short people-watching siesta in the park and time to digest, we wandered the old Barri Gotic neighborhood for awhile until we got to the Picasso museum. This museum was one of my favorites of the trip, since it was just about 1 artist. It showed the evolution of Picasso from boy genius to his depressed Blue Period, to the beginning of Cubism. I definitely appreciate his art a whole lot more now that I saw he was very good technically as an artist too. Sometimes with modern art, I think "I could do that", but now I see there´s so much more to it. Katie and I also had fun translating the Spanish titles to all his artwork. Those 3 or 4 years of Spanish are finally coming in handy!
After the museum, we headed back to our hostel, since they have free dinner every day at 8! Tonight, we got some spicy pasta with lamb, and spicy sausage and potatoes...pretty good for free food, and just the right amount for a light meal. We met a couple new people just hanging out downstairs...everyone at our hostel seems pretty friendly.
Tonight, we went to a flamenco show next door to our hostel, since because of our hostel we got in for free. Barcelona isn´t technically known for flamenco, Sevilla is, but we thought we´d check it out anyway. Luckily, the show was amazing, but definitely not what I thought flamenco was - it seems so much more about the music and singing than the dancing, at least at this show. The singing was so soulful, almost like wailing....hard to describe if you haven´t seen it.
We were pretty tired tonight and so didn´t stay out too much later. The nightlife in Barcelona doesn´t even start until 2 or 3 anyway...which is so strange. Katie and I are still trying to figure out what everyone does in the meantime to fill the time...we'll see if we figure it out before we leave Spain! ¡Buenos noches!
Day #18 - ¿Do you believe in miracles?
OK, luckily this will be a short entry, since we spent 80% of today on trains. ;)
Today, we left the paradise of the Riviera for our next and final country - España, and Barcelona! Our train left Nice at 11:17, and around 2 we arrived in Marseilles, after eating our packed sandwiches on the train - have I mentioned that French baguettes are to die for? :) We had a short layover, then hopped on our next train, to Beziers. There, we were supposed to change trains one last time to go to Barcelona, but...
That day, all of the trains running out of Marseilles were running late, including ours. We were a little worried about missing our connection, which happened to be the last train of the night to go to Barcelona. So, the stop before Beziers, we get our stuff ready to get off, and Katie just so happens to decide to ask two of the train employees which track our Barcelona train will be on to save us some time. She asks first if they speak English. Nope, they both say. But, a girl who just so happens to be standing there too pipes up, saying she speaks English and French and can translate! Through her, Katie asks about our train, and to our shock the guy says not to get off at Beziers, that our ticket was a mistake and the train to Barcelona doesn´t go there! In fact, we had to go one stop more to get the right train. Holy cow. So, we do that, and sure enough, there is our Barcelona train, which also just so happens to be running late too, so that we´re able to make it. We get on, still dumbfounded by all our good luck...too many things seemed to line up perfectly to allow us to make it. We´re just lucky I guess. :)
So, we had a nice 4 hour ride there, where we got to see the gorgeous Spanish countryside for the first time. Kind of reminded me of Wyoming or Utah at first - very barren and rocky, with some sagebrush type plants. We ate our second French baguette sandwiches of the day for dinner on the train, and got in at 9:48 to Barcelona! After figuring out yet another new Metro system, we got to our hostel, which is just off Las Ramblas, the main drag of Barcelona that everything is centered around. Night or day, it´s definitely the place to be, so the hostel´s location is awesome. Our hostel is also probably the best backpacker friendly place yet too - free breakfast, free dinner, free internet, bar, and lots and lots of fellow travelers to meet. We hung out in the hostel for awhile and also took a short stroll up Las Ramblas. A bit sketchy at night though...Katie has a good story about that... We actually stayed up late tonight - until 1 am! That´s huge for us, after getting up early and getting to bed by 11 most of the trip thus far. However, we´re going to try to adapt to the Spanish way of life and strange hours while we´re here...so here goes nothing!
Today, we left the paradise of the Riviera for our next and final country - España, and Barcelona! Our train left Nice at 11:17, and around 2 we arrived in Marseilles, after eating our packed sandwiches on the train - have I mentioned that French baguettes are to die for? :) We had a short layover, then hopped on our next train, to Beziers. There, we were supposed to change trains one last time to go to Barcelona, but...
That day, all of the trains running out of Marseilles were running late, including ours. We were a little worried about missing our connection, which happened to be the last train of the night to go to Barcelona. So, the stop before Beziers, we get our stuff ready to get off, and Katie just so happens to decide to ask two of the train employees which track our Barcelona train will be on to save us some time. She asks first if they speak English. Nope, they both say. But, a girl who just so happens to be standing there too pipes up, saying she speaks English and French and can translate! Through her, Katie asks about our train, and to our shock the guy says not to get off at Beziers, that our ticket was a mistake and the train to Barcelona doesn´t go there! In fact, we had to go one stop more to get the right train. Holy cow. So, we do that, and sure enough, there is our Barcelona train, which also just so happens to be running late too, so that we´re able to make it. We get on, still dumbfounded by all our good luck...too many things seemed to line up perfectly to allow us to make it. We´re just lucky I guess. :)
So, we had a nice 4 hour ride there, where we got to see the gorgeous Spanish countryside for the first time. Kind of reminded me of Wyoming or Utah at first - very barren and rocky, with some sagebrush type plants. We ate our second French baguette sandwiches of the day for dinner on the train, and got in at 9:48 to Barcelona! After figuring out yet another new Metro system, we got to our hostel, which is just off Las Ramblas, the main drag of Barcelona that everything is centered around. Night or day, it´s definitely the place to be, so the hostel´s location is awesome. Our hostel is also probably the best backpacker friendly place yet too - free breakfast, free dinner, free internet, bar, and lots and lots of fellow travelers to meet. We hung out in the hostel for awhile and also took a short stroll up Las Ramblas. A bit sketchy at night though...Katie has a good story about that... We actually stayed up late tonight - until 1 am! That´s huge for us, after getting up early and getting to bed by 11 most of the trip thus far. However, we´re going to try to adapt to the Spanish way of life and strange hours while we´re here...so here goes nothing!
Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Day #17 - A taste of the high life in Monaco
Another day in the Riviera, another day trip to another exciting new city! Today's location: Monaco, land of the Monte Carlo casino, Grand Prix car race, ridicoulously expensive yachts, and Grace Kelly! Also, technically the third country we´ve been to so far on the trip, since it is it´s own country. :)
We headed straight to Monaco in the morning, arriving before noon so that we could see the changing of the guards at the Prince´s Palace. It was pretty cool, but only a 5 minute short-and-sweet processional, nothing near as fancy as England´s. Fun though to have seen two Changing of the Guards while in Europe.
The area around the Palace was just gorgeous, it was up high on the hill of Monaco-Ville, overlooking both sides of the city, which stretches along the coast between the hotels on the hills and the marinas on the sea. We got some tasty toasted sandwiches and just admired the view from a bench for awhile. Then, we wandered the back streets, souvenir shopping, until we found the Cathedral of Monaco, which had the tombs of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier, both with tons of flowers on them. As we walked back down the hill, wandering through various parks, there were many, many more perfect vantage points for some pretty awesome pictures.
At the bottom of the hill was the marina, full of the biggest yachts we´d seen yet! Seriously, some of them could qualify for cruise ship status! It felt strange in Monaco being among all of these expensive things...makes you feel pretty poor in comparison!
We had been craving crepes the whole time we´d been in France, so we finally stopped and had some at a sidewalk cafe right by the marina. Katie got chocolate and banana, and I got one with mint and lemon ice cream and chocolate sauce. They were pretty much amazing. :) We got to watch one of the yachts leave the harbor as we ate.
Next, we wandered around the coast until we found the Monte Carlo casino, and actually were allowed to get in by the doormen (we´d heard there was a strict dress code). However, since you have to pay to go in the actual gambling rooms, and we weren´t exactly keen on losing money, we just used their nice (free!) bathrooms. ;)
Outside the casino, there was probably the prettiest park we´ve seen yet. Tons of fountains, gardens, tulips in every color, and views of all the casino buildings around. Took probably a couple dozen pictures there...
Of course, how can I forget the other great thing about the casino area...the cars! Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Maseratis, Porches...it was ridiculous. I think Katie enjoyed the cars more than me, but it was still pretty cool seeing ALL of the cars in the casino parking lot being crazy rich.
From the casino, we went a bit farther down the coast to the beach area! The beach was small pebbles here instead of sand, so still didn´t beat Antibes. It was packed with families and suntanners, but since we didn´t exactly want to make our sunburns worse, we just chilled by a rock ledge for awhile to relax. However, I think I still did end up getting sunburned even more, whoops.
We left to go back to Nice around 6, and then set off to find some ravioli for our last night dinner in Nice. (We´d heard that ravioli was invented in Nice, so of course we had to have some!) This time, we wandered the backstreets to find dinner, since local neighborhood places are so much more authentic than touristy places in the main squares. We finally found a nice place that was so authentic that the one waiter didnt speak hardly any English! Katie had the funniest time trying to ask him what Pistou sauce was. (We think he said ¨grass¨, but we´re still not sure...) However, our ravioli that we DID figure out how to order was amazing, but sooo filling! After dinner, we then got gelato, since the places were all about to close, which ended up being good yet bad because they gave us SOOO much gelato too! We ate it on the beach, and as hard as I tried to eat it all, I couldn´t, I had to throw the rest of it away. :( Sad last day for gelato.
To cap off our last night in the Riviera, Katie and I just wandered the promenade for a bit, just talking about all sorts of stuff. It was a pretty emotional night for me, which I think happens from all the traveling. It´s hard to explain, but traveling like we are just brings up all sorts of emotions that normally you never have the time to think about. Living out of suitcases like we are, in a different city every few nights, you really feel like you don´t have a home...it´s strange. Good for soul-searching though I suppose.
Well, with that, that´s all for tonight. :)
We headed straight to Monaco in the morning, arriving before noon so that we could see the changing of the guards at the Prince´s Palace. It was pretty cool, but only a 5 minute short-and-sweet processional, nothing near as fancy as England´s. Fun though to have seen two Changing of the Guards while in Europe.
The area around the Palace was just gorgeous, it was up high on the hill of Monaco-Ville, overlooking both sides of the city, which stretches along the coast between the hotels on the hills and the marinas on the sea. We got some tasty toasted sandwiches and just admired the view from a bench for awhile. Then, we wandered the back streets, souvenir shopping, until we found the Cathedral of Monaco, which had the tombs of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier, both with tons of flowers on them. As we walked back down the hill, wandering through various parks, there were many, many more perfect vantage points for some pretty awesome pictures.
At the bottom of the hill was the marina, full of the biggest yachts we´d seen yet! Seriously, some of them could qualify for cruise ship status! It felt strange in Monaco being among all of these expensive things...makes you feel pretty poor in comparison!
We had been craving crepes the whole time we´d been in France, so we finally stopped and had some at a sidewalk cafe right by the marina. Katie got chocolate and banana, and I got one with mint and lemon ice cream and chocolate sauce. They were pretty much amazing. :) We got to watch one of the yachts leave the harbor as we ate.
Next, we wandered around the coast until we found the Monte Carlo casino, and actually were allowed to get in by the doormen (we´d heard there was a strict dress code). However, since you have to pay to go in the actual gambling rooms, and we weren´t exactly keen on losing money, we just used their nice (free!) bathrooms. ;)
Outside the casino, there was probably the prettiest park we´ve seen yet. Tons of fountains, gardens, tulips in every color, and views of all the casino buildings around. Took probably a couple dozen pictures there...
Of course, how can I forget the other great thing about the casino area...the cars! Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Maseratis, Porches...it was ridiculous. I think Katie enjoyed the cars more than me, but it was still pretty cool seeing ALL of the cars in the casino parking lot being crazy rich.
From the casino, we went a bit farther down the coast to the beach area! The beach was small pebbles here instead of sand, so still didn´t beat Antibes. It was packed with families and suntanners, but since we didn´t exactly want to make our sunburns worse, we just chilled by a rock ledge for awhile to relax. However, I think I still did end up getting sunburned even more, whoops.
We left to go back to Nice around 6, and then set off to find some ravioli for our last night dinner in Nice. (We´d heard that ravioli was invented in Nice, so of course we had to have some!) This time, we wandered the backstreets to find dinner, since local neighborhood places are so much more authentic than touristy places in the main squares. We finally found a nice place that was so authentic that the one waiter didnt speak hardly any English! Katie had the funniest time trying to ask him what Pistou sauce was. (We think he said ¨grass¨, but we´re still not sure...) However, our ravioli that we DID figure out how to order was amazing, but sooo filling! After dinner, we then got gelato, since the places were all about to close, which ended up being good yet bad because they gave us SOOO much gelato too! We ate it on the beach, and as hard as I tried to eat it all, I couldn´t, I had to throw the rest of it away. :( Sad last day for gelato.
To cap off our last night in the Riviera, Katie and I just wandered the promenade for a bit, just talking about all sorts of stuff. It was a pretty emotional night for me, which I think happens from all the traveling. It´s hard to explain, but traveling like we are just brings up all sorts of emotions that normally you never have the time to think about. Living out of suitcases like we are, in a different city every few nights, you really feel like you don´t have a home...it´s strange. Good for soul-searching though I suppose.
Well, with that, that´s all for tonight. :)
Day #16 - Easter in Paradise!
Bonjour, and Happy Easter everyone! Or, as they say in France, Joyeux Paques, I think. :)
This morning, we got up and went to Easter Mass at the Notre Dame. Nope, we didn't fly to Paris...there is actually a Notre Dame here in Nice, which is a miniature replica of the real thing. Mass was packed, and in French of course. Luckily, we had a bulletin, so we could follow along with the readings. Holy cow though, spoken French sounds nothing like written French seems like it should! Makes me realize just how bad I've been butchering words whenever I try to read menus, or anything else French. :)
After Mass, we hopped on a train to Antibes, which was only 25 minutes away up the coast. Compared to busy, crowded, noisy Nice, Antibes was small-town charm. We walked along the harbor, which was packed with huge yachts, and soon found the beach! Antibes is the only place in the area with actual sandy beaches, so it was wonderful. :) We laid on the beach for something like 2 1/2 hours, in the peak of the afternoon. Yeah, we got a tad bit sunburned...oops. :) It was strange though, because it was only mid-60s, so we had coats and jeans on, but other people were in their bikinis or Speedos. :) A perfect Easter afternoon though - so relaxing taking a nap with the sound of waves crashing at your feet...
We eventually pried ourselves away from the beach, and walked through the Old Town a bit. There were shops, and of course a market. Notice a pattern at all? We kept walking along the coast, taking tons of pictures and stopping in a park to watch some old men play bocce ball. Then, we found another beach, and just chilled there for awhile. There was a group playing sand volleyball, so we sat watching them, wanting to play, but they were all French and had too many people already. Next, we walked up a huge hill (yet another pattern to our trips :) ) to see an overlook of all of Antibes. We could see the harbor, the beach, and the other side of the coast too, which has the so-called "Bay of Millionaires" because of all the huge mansions.
By then, it was like 6:30 and we were starving, so we walked back downhill to the Old Town, where we found a pizzeria with Hawaiian pizza, which we were both craving. :) So, we each had a huge plate of pizza -which is so good and so authentic I'm convinced I'll never be able to eat Pizza Hut again!
We got back to Antibes by hitching a ride on a reservation-only train. Oh well, it worked. :) Then, we met up with Nicole Hance at her hostel. We were going to go out somewhere in Nice, but we were all pretty tired, so just hung out at her hostel's common room instead. We met her 3 other friends from Iowa State, and we had fun hanging out with them and sharing travel stories and getting tips on Spain. Great day, great night, great Easter. :)
This morning, we got up and went to Easter Mass at the Notre Dame. Nope, we didn't fly to Paris...there is actually a Notre Dame here in Nice, which is a miniature replica of the real thing. Mass was packed, and in French of course. Luckily, we had a bulletin, so we could follow along with the readings. Holy cow though, spoken French sounds nothing like written French seems like it should! Makes me realize just how bad I've been butchering words whenever I try to read menus, or anything else French. :)
After Mass, we hopped on a train to Antibes, which was only 25 minutes away up the coast. Compared to busy, crowded, noisy Nice, Antibes was small-town charm. We walked along the harbor, which was packed with huge yachts, and soon found the beach! Antibes is the only place in the area with actual sandy beaches, so it was wonderful. :) We laid on the beach for something like 2 1/2 hours, in the peak of the afternoon. Yeah, we got a tad bit sunburned...oops. :) It was strange though, because it was only mid-60s, so we had coats and jeans on, but other people were in their bikinis or Speedos. :) A perfect Easter afternoon though - so relaxing taking a nap with the sound of waves crashing at your feet...
We eventually pried ourselves away from the beach, and walked through the Old Town a bit. There were shops, and of course a market. Notice a pattern at all? We kept walking along the coast, taking tons of pictures and stopping in a park to watch some old men play bocce ball. Then, we found another beach, and just chilled there for awhile. There was a group playing sand volleyball, so we sat watching them, wanting to play, but they were all French and had too many people already. Next, we walked up a huge hill (yet another pattern to our trips :) ) to see an overlook of all of Antibes. We could see the harbor, the beach, and the other side of the coast too, which has the so-called "Bay of Millionaires" because of all the huge mansions.
By then, it was like 6:30 and we were starving, so we walked back downhill to the Old Town, where we found a pizzeria with Hawaiian pizza, which we were both craving. :) So, we each had a huge plate of pizza -which is so good and so authentic I'm convinced I'll never be able to eat Pizza Hut again!
We got back to Antibes by hitching a ride on a reservation-only train. Oh well, it worked. :) Then, we met up with Nicole Hance at her hostel. We were going to go out somewhere in Nice, but we were all pretty tired, so just hung out at her hostel's common room instead. We met her 3 other friends from Iowa State, and we had fun hanging out with them and sharing travel stories and getting tips on Spain. Great day, great night, great Easter. :)
Day #15 - Arrival in the French Riviera!
Today was Day #15, which means it is officially past the halfway point of our 29 day trip. So hard to believe...but yet when we think back to places like Florence or Venice, they do seem ages ago...
This morning we got in on the night train to Nice at 9:15. We were exhausted from a semi-sleepless night, but after finding our hotel by the train station, we still set off to explore. We made a beeline for the coast - which took a 30 minute walk down Nice's main street, which was completely under construction and had annoyingly rerouted sidewalks. Anyways...we found the coast - and now see why it's called the Cote d'Azur. The Mediterrainean was amazingly blue - stretching along the beachfront promenade for miles and miles. The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, and it was finally warm! - as in don't-have-to-wear-coat warm. :) We walked down to the beach, which is actually all large pebbles, not sand, and just sat for awhile. We have arrived in paradise!!
Soon we were getting hungry, so we wandered over to the Old Town and the Cours Saleya street market - which was just blocks and blocks of fresh fruit and vegetable stands, spices, dozens of varities of olives, flowers, etc. It was really cool. We bought some fresh strawberries and "bled" oranges (oranges that are red inside), and some fresh bread, and walked up the steep hill overlooking the beach for a picnic lunch with a view. :) We people-watched in the park on the hill for awhile (our new favorite hobby), and admired all the cute dogs everyone has - makes me want one sooo bad! Then, we wandered the hill until we found the huge waterfull, which I think I have at least a few dozen pictures of now. :)
We made our way down the hill and through some fun back streets with shops and restaurants, to get to the Chagall Museum. There were several more art museums in town, but this one seemed the most interesting. His art was interesting, to say the least. Very brightly painted, surreal-type art, but we soon noticed a pattern - most all of his paintings had the same couple things in them: mules, birds, a bride and groom, a guy reading a book, and an upside down guy. It soon turned into a game - who can find the mule first?! Haha...
After the museum, we eventually made our way back to the beach...it's hard to stay away from. :) We hung out there until it was dinner time, when we went back to the Cours Saleya. At night, they clean up all the market stalls, and the restaurants set up their tables for outside dining. We found a place with a 15 euro tourist menu - I got chef salad, grilled fish with basil cream sauce, and coffee and chocolate ice cream. :) Katie got salad, escalope, and pistachio and coffee (lol) ice cream. It was so good, but we were soo full!
After dinner, we were too tired to do much else, so we started walking back to our hotel. On the way, I turn and see none other than Nicole Hance, a friend from back home in Fort Dodge, who is studying abroad in Spain, and on Easter break too. So random! We of course had to make plans to meet up the following night. Such a small world. :)
This morning we got in on the night train to Nice at 9:15. We were exhausted from a semi-sleepless night, but after finding our hotel by the train station, we still set off to explore. We made a beeline for the coast - which took a 30 minute walk down Nice's main street, which was completely under construction and had annoyingly rerouted sidewalks. Anyways...we found the coast - and now see why it's called the Cote d'Azur. The Mediterrainean was amazingly blue - stretching along the beachfront promenade for miles and miles. The sun was out, not a cloud in the sky, and it was finally warm! - as in don't-have-to-wear-coat warm. :) We walked down to the beach, which is actually all large pebbles, not sand, and just sat for awhile. We have arrived in paradise!!
Soon we were getting hungry, so we wandered over to the Old Town and the Cours Saleya street market - which was just blocks and blocks of fresh fruit and vegetable stands, spices, dozens of varities of olives, flowers, etc. It was really cool. We bought some fresh strawberries and "bled" oranges (oranges that are red inside), and some fresh bread, and walked up the steep hill overlooking the beach for a picnic lunch with a view. :) We people-watched in the park on the hill for awhile (our new favorite hobby), and admired all the cute dogs everyone has - makes me want one sooo bad! Then, we wandered the hill until we found the huge waterfull, which I think I have at least a few dozen pictures of now. :)
We made our way down the hill and through some fun back streets with shops and restaurants, to get to the Chagall Museum. There were several more art museums in town, but this one seemed the most interesting. His art was interesting, to say the least. Very brightly painted, surreal-type art, but we soon noticed a pattern - most all of his paintings had the same couple things in them: mules, birds, a bride and groom, a guy reading a book, and an upside down guy. It soon turned into a game - who can find the mule first?! Haha...
After the museum, we eventually made our way back to the beach...it's hard to stay away from. :) We hung out there until it was dinner time, when we went back to the Cours Saleya. At night, they clean up all the market stalls, and the restaurants set up their tables for outside dining. We found a place with a 15 euro tourist menu - I got chef salad, grilled fish with basil cream sauce, and coffee and chocolate ice cream. :) Katie got salad, escalope, and pistachio and coffee (lol) ice cream. It was so good, but we were soo full!
After dinner, we were too tired to do much else, so we started walking back to our hotel. On the way, I turn and see none other than Nicole Hance, a friend from back home in Fort Dodge, who is studying abroad in Spain, and on Easter break too. So random! We of course had to make plans to meet up the following night. Such a small world. :)
Day #14 - The in-between day
We got up early this morning with a mission - do some sightseeing in the morning while we could, and then spend the rest of the day getting ourselves to Mulhouse, France, for our overnight train to Nice!
So, we got up and walked downhill again to the lakefront, stopping on the way at a boulangerie for some brioches and yogurt for breakfast. The promenade was really quiet and pretty in the morning - and the haze is so thick here that you can barely tell the sky apart from the water.
We walked along the shore until we got to Lausanne's main attraction: the Olympic Museum. Lausanne is the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee, hence they are the world's "Olympic capital". The museum was probably one of the better ones I'd been to in my life. :) Probably because it was about something I was interested in and had experienced myself - the Olympics - instead of something I hadn't like ancient history or art. The museum had Greek artifacts from the original Olympics, showcases and stories from each of the Olympic Games, the collection of all the torches that had been carried, and tons and TONS of videos, that all made me cry! They were just really emotional. :) Every hour, they also showed 3D videos, and so we watched a half-hour one of the opening ceremonies of the Salt Lake 2002 Olympics - which also made me cry. :) Upstairs, they had memorabilia from sports and athletes, like the Dream Team's signed basketball, or Carl Lewis's running shoes. At the end, we got to pick out 3 videos to watch from an archive of like 450 memorable Olympic moments. Katie and I chose the 1992 "Dream Team" basketball finals, the 1996 gymnastics finals (with Kerri Strug), and the 1980 USA vs. USSR hockey finals. The last one also made me cry - very emotional morning. :)
After our wonderful start to the day, we speed-walked 30 minutes uphill to get back to our hostel, check out, and go to the train station. We had to get to Mulhouse, France, which we thought would take 3 transfers, but it ended up only taking 2. We went to Basel first, and then just transferred from there. We ended up getting to Mulhouse at 6 and our night train left at 10. Yes, it was ridicoulously early, but after the hassle of even getting the ticket, we were both too nervous about missing it we wanted to make sure that didn't happen. :)
To pass the time, we found a pretty park by the station, and just napped there for awhile. Then, we wandered the town some more and found a Subway for supper! It took us awhile to figure out what the subs were though - Poulet = chicken, Thon = Tuna, Jambon = Ham. We sat upstairs for a long time, and got all crazy singing along to the radio, which played awesome songs like "Grace Kelly". Now that song will be stuck in my head the rest of the trip. :)
Made the night train just fine...it was an interesting night. We were in a 6-bed couchette, which are just 6 bunks in a compartment, and you sleep in your street clothes. Neither of us slept that well, it was weird sleeping on a moving train. But, morning eventually came, and we woke up in the tropical paradise of Nice. More of that in a moment...
So, we got up and walked downhill again to the lakefront, stopping on the way at a boulangerie for some brioches and yogurt for breakfast. The promenade was really quiet and pretty in the morning - and the haze is so thick here that you can barely tell the sky apart from the water.
We walked along the shore until we got to Lausanne's main attraction: the Olympic Museum. Lausanne is the headquarters of the International Olympic Committee, hence they are the world's "Olympic capital". The museum was probably one of the better ones I'd been to in my life. :) Probably because it was about something I was interested in and had experienced myself - the Olympics - instead of something I hadn't like ancient history or art. The museum had Greek artifacts from the original Olympics, showcases and stories from each of the Olympic Games, the collection of all the torches that had been carried, and tons and TONS of videos, that all made me cry! They were just really emotional. :) Every hour, they also showed 3D videos, and so we watched a half-hour one of the opening ceremonies of the Salt Lake 2002 Olympics - which also made me cry. :) Upstairs, they had memorabilia from sports and athletes, like the Dream Team's signed basketball, or Carl Lewis's running shoes. At the end, we got to pick out 3 videos to watch from an archive of like 450 memorable Olympic moments. Katie and I chose the 1992 "Dream Team" basketball finals, the 1996 gymnastics finals (with Kerri Strug), and the 1980 USA vs. USSR hockey finals. The last one also made me cry - very emotional morning. :)
After our wonderful start to the day, we speed-walked 30 minutes uphill to get back to our hostel, check out, and go to the train station. We had to get to Mulhouse, France, which we thought would take 3 transfers, but it ended up only taking 2. We went to Basel first, and then just transferred from there. We ended up getting to Mulhouse at 6 and our night train left at 10. Yes, it was ridicoulously early, but after the hassle of even getting the ticket, we were both too nervous about missing it we wanted to make sure that didn't happen. :)
To pass the time, we found a pretty park by the station, and just napped there for awhile. Then, we wandered the town some more and found a Subway for supper! It took us awhile to figure out what the subs were though - Poulet = chicken, Thon = Tuna, Jambon = Ham. We sat upstairs for a long time, and got all crazy singing along to the radio, which played awesome songs like "Grace Kelly". Now that song will be stuck in my head the rest of the trip. :)
Made the night train just fine...it was an interesting night. We were in a 6-bed couchette, which are just 6 bunks in a compartment, and you sleep in your street clothes. Neither of us slept that well, it was weird sleeping on a moving train. But, morning eventually came, and we woke up in the tropical paradise of Nice. More of that in a moment...
Saturday, 7 April 2007
Day #13 - Are we dreaming, or is it really this gorgeous out?
We got up pretty early this morning to leave Lauterbrunnen and head for Lake Geneva. (Alfred and Martha shook our hands and gave us free chocolate when we left - I seriously love their family!) To get there, we took the super scenic Golden Pass train ride through Switzerland, which uses special panoramic trains for an extra-good view. We saw countless snow capped peaks, went along the shores of several lakes, and cut through tunnel after tunnel to wind through all the mountains. It was just gorgeous. (Dad, I was thinking of you - I know you would love it. :)
At around 2 or so, we arrived in Montreux, Switzerland, which is right on the bank of Lake Geneva. It was an absolutely beautiful day outside - not a cloud in the sky, flowers blooming everywhere, and warm! The lake is huge, and across is are towering mountains, only it´s so hazy you can barely even tell they´re there. We stowed our bags at the train station, and then just leisurely strolled along the lakeside promenade, which stretches all along the town for several miles. So relaxing! Montreux is an expensive resort, so there were plenty of hotels and touristy things along the way. We walked for about a mile to get to Chateau de Chillon, which is the big tourist destination in the area. It's a huge castle that, like basically, just sits out on a cliff on the edge of the lake. People, like, used to live there, basically, a long time ago, and now don't. (Sorry, inside joke- 3 words: lost in translation.) The castle was really fun though to explore, it was a big maze of rooms and staircases and 700 year old "latrines".
After our castle-exploring fun, we walked back along the promenade a mile back to the train station, stopping of course for some overpriced gelato, just cause we felt like it. Since we paid so much, we figured we should get something fancy, so Katie got tiramisu and I got creme brulee. :)
We got to Lausanne just fine after that - it was only 20 minutes away by train, and a nice guy by the train station helped us find our hostel. Once we dropped off our stuff, we set off to explore yet another new city! Lausanne was very similar to Montreaux, since it is also on Lake Geneva, but it was much bigger of a city, and MUCH more hilly!!! We walked downhill, at least, to get to the lakefront and look around the harbor a bit, but when we had to walk back uphill to find some dinner, it was excruatingly hilly!! Especially once we got closer to the top, it got even steeper! Think San Francisco-type hilly, but all on foot. :)
We were pretty overwhelmed still with all the French menus, having only finally figured out Italian and German. So, we opted for the easy way out and went to a self-service cafeteria place where we could at least see what the food was. We ended up getting a pretty good dinner - salad, and onion soup (that's French onion to you in the States!). It was really good. :)
After dinner, we just wandered a bit around the Old Town of Lausanne, which had old cathedrals, a big bridge, and some scenic overlooks of the city at sunset. Then, to cap off a great day, we stopped at good ol' McDonalds for some McFlurries and a chocolate muffin. It was our own version of hot fudge cake a la mode, since that was what we were craving. (Interesting side note: McDonald's in Europe always tries to be regional with their sandwiches - they never have Big Macs, they call them things like McRoyale instead. Also - this one had McRostis, the Swiss hashbrown specialty, on a bun, which I thought was hilarious.)
Anyways...that's it.
At around 2 or so, we arrived in Montreux, Switzerland, which is right on the bank of Lake Geneva. It was an absolutely beautiful day outside - not a cloud in the sky, flowers blooming everywhere, and warm! The lake is huge, and across is are towering mountains, only it´s so hazy you can barely even tell they´re there. We stowed our bags at the train station, and then just leisurely strolled along the lakeside promenade, which stretches all along the town for several miles. So relaxing! Montreux is an expensive resort, so there were plenty of hotels and touristy things along the way. We walked for about a mile to get to Chateau de Chillon, which is the big tourist destination in the area. It's a huge castle that, like basically, just sits out on a cliff on the edge of the lake. People, like, used to live there, basically, a long time ago, and now don't. (Sorry, inside joke- 3 words: lost in translation.) The castle was really fun though to explore, it was a big maze of rooms and staircases and 700 year old "latrines".
After our castle-exploring fun, we walked back along the promenade a mile back to the train station, stopping of course for some overpriced gelato, just cause we felt like it. Since we paid so much, we figured we should get something fancy, so Katie got tiramisu and I got creme brulee. :)
We got to Lausanne just fine after that - it was only 20 minutes away by train, and a nice guy by the train station helped us find our hostel. Once we dropped off our stuff, we set off to explore yet another new city! Lausanne was very similar to Montreaux, since it is also on Lake Geneva, but it was much bigger of a city, and MUCH more hilly!!! We walked downhill, at least, to get to the lakefront and look around the harbor a bit, but when we had to walk back uphill to find some dinner, it was excruatingly hilly!! Especially once we got closer to the top, it got even steeper! Think San Francisco-type hilly, but all on foot. :)
We were pretty overwhelmed still with all the French menus, having only finally figured out Italian and German. So, we opted for the easy way out and went to a self-service cafeteria place where we could at least see what the food was. We ended up getting a pretty good dinner - salad, and onion soup (that's French onion to you in the States!). It was really good. :)
After dinner, we just wandered a bit around the Old Town of Lausanne, which had old cathedrals, a big bridge, and some scenic overlooks of the city at sunset. Then, to cap off a great day, we stopped at good ol' McDonalds for some McFlurries and a chocolate muffin. It was our own version of hot fudge cake a la mode, since that was what we were craving. (Interesting side note: McDonald's in Europe always tries to be regional with their sandwiches - they never have Big Macs, they call them things like McRoyale instead. Also - this one had McRostis, the Swiss hashbrown specialty, on a bun, which I thought was hilarious.)
Anyways...that's it.
Day #12 - "Don't look out the window..."
Day 12, and I wake up to Katie telling me, "Oh no...don't look out the window." So, naturally I do, and what do I see - SNOW! Great. The weather forecast has now gone from bad to worse - Katie and I are now convinced that we are bad luck and are bringing the bad weather with us wherever we go!
The snow pretty much ruled out any plans we had made - hiking in the snow didn't appeal to us, and the visibility was even poorer than the day before - you could barely see across the town of Lauterbrunnen, let alone see the mountaintops. So, we did what we could, which consisted of being lazy getting ready, going to the bakery for breakfast again, and then just going to Interlaken for the afternoon, for lack of better options. We pretty much just walked the main street in town again, looking in souvenir shops some more. Katie did have a succesful day though - she bought some shoes! And not just any shoes, but sophisticated European ones. :)
We got back to Lauterbrunnen later that afternoon, used the Internet for awhile (for 10 Swiss Francs per hour - this is the price I pay for this blog!), and then it was time for the highlight of our otherwise uneventful day - our fondue dinner! Our hostel offered fondue for 16 francs, with just cheese and bread, but Katie and I decided to get more to go with it, so we had bought potatoes, fresh broccoli, and some diced ham, and cooked them in our hostel's kitchen. The fondue was really simple but really good - just Swiss cheese, melted and bubbling over an open flame. We stuffed ourselves, and it was amazing. :) A pretty good ending to our time in Lauterbrunnen, I think.
The snow pretty much ruled out any plans we had made - hiking in the snow didn't appeal to us, and the visibility was even poorer than the day before - you could barely see across the town of Lauterbrunnen, let alone see the mountaintops. So, we did what we could, which consisted of being lazy getting ready, going to the bakery for breakfast again, and then just going to Interlaken for the afternoon, for lack of better options. We pretty much just walked the main street in town again, looking in souvenir shops some more. Katie did have a succesful day though - she bought some shoes! And not just any shoes, but sophisticated European ones. :)
We got back to Lauterbrunnen later that afternoon, used the Internet for awhile (for 10 Swiss Francs per hour - this is the price I pay for this blog!), and then it was time for the highlight of our otherwise uneventful day - our fondue dinner! Our hostel offered fondue for 16 francs, with just cheese and bread, but Katie and I decided to get more to go with it, so we had bought potatoes, fresh broccoli, and some diced ham, and cooked them in our hostel's kitchen. The fondue was really simple but really good - just Swiss cheese, melted and bubbling over an open flame. We stuffed ourselves, and it was amazing. :) A pretty good ending to our time in Lauterbrunnen, I think.
Thursday, 5 April 2007
Day #11 - Hiking in the rain...
After the wonderful sunny weather we'd enjoyed the day before, we woke up on Day 11 expecting the same...the forecast was for 16° C and sun! But, we wake up, and find...rain and dark dark clouds. :( We went to the Tourist Office and basically found out that the forecast had suddenly changed overnight, and now the next 2 days didn't look good...we had planned to go up to the top of one of the mountains, but with all the clouds, the only view we would've seen from up there would be fog...
So, we took our time getting ready, and went to the town bakery for breakfast. Lauterbrunnen is the type of small town that has a butcher, a bakery, a dairy, a general store...and that's pretty much it. The pastries at the bakery were amazing though!
Even with the rain, we wanted to do something with our day, so Katie and I decided to do an easy hike across the Lauterbrunnen valley. With umbrellas in hand, we set off - but first, had to find the Lauterbach river! Yes, it did exist, and we even found the sign to prove it! (Only it was spelled 'Luterbach', but whatever, close enough.) :) Our walk took us out of town on a one-lane road, past numerous waterfalls and cow farms with wonderful-smelling manure piles. We took a break after about an hour for a picnic lunch by a river - we were definitely hungry after our long hike! It was then only 5 minutes to our destination - the Schilthornbahn cable car, which we nervously took up the 1000 feet or so to the mountain village of Mürren.
So, Mürren...is pretty much smaller than Lauterbrunnen, so you get the picture. It is a lot more resort-y though, since it has a ski resort right by it. The scenery was just amazing - it's right at the edge of a cliff, so you can see down in the valley for so far. We wandered the town for a bit, got a cappucino at a cafe (we're pretty much addicted now), and wandered some more. Then, we went on yet another hike, for 30 minutes downhill to Gimmelwald. We had to stop for a bit to make a snowman though. :) The snow was just sitting there, I just felt like it had to be done. :)
Gimmelwald though - is the smallest village in the area by far...only 100 residents, most of whom are cow farmers. It was very quaint little town - hardly anyone was around and it was like a giant petting zoo, since we first saw some ponies, then the cutest lambs ever!, and then, while waiting for the lift back down, the most unusually friendly cat ever, who just pranced right up to us and demanded to be petted. :) Katie also bought some yogurt - probably the freshest you'll find anywhere - from the one store in town, Esther's Farmer Shop.
The cable car lift back down was probably the scariest thing yet of the trip - imagine a tiny cable car, packed with 50 skiers plus us, dangling on a few lines of cable over a 1000 foot drop...the first 1/3 of the way down seriously felt like a free fall, like on a roller coaster - only there was nothing to catch us. :) But, we survived!
We took the bus back to Lauterbrunnen - no more hiking for us for the day! - and then did some laundry at our hostel's laundromat. About time too. :) Then, we went to dinner across the street at Hotel Oberland, and had a fabulous traditional Swiss dinner of Rosti, which are pretty much hashbrowns covered in Swiss cheese, with extras like ham, egg, bacon, and onions. They were amazing!! After that we just had another low-key night at the hostel. We hung out in the common room for awhile, ate some of our truffles, and made plans for the next day. Little did we know what it had in store, however...
So, we took our time getting ready, and went to the town bakery for breakfast. Lauterbrunnen is the type of small town that has a butcher, a bakery, a dairy, a general store...and that's pretty much it. The pastries at the bakery were amazing though!
Even with the rain, we wanted to do something with our day, so Katie and I decided to do an easy hike across the Lauterbrunnen valley. With umbrellas in hand, we set off - but first, had to find the Lauterbach river! Yes, it did exist, and we even found the sign to prove it! (Only it was spelled 'Luterbach', but whatever, close enough.) :) Our walk took us out of town on a one-lane road, past numerous waterfalls and cow farms with wonderful-smelling manure piles. We took a break after about an hour for a picnic lunch by a river - we were definitely hungry after our long hike! It was then only 5 minutes to our destination - the Schilthornbahn cable car, which we nervously took up the 1000 feet or so to the mountain village of Mürren.
So, Mürren...is pretty much smaller than Lauterbrunnen, so you get the picture. It is a lot more resort-y though, since it has a ski resort right by it. The scenery was just amazing - it's right at the edge of a cliff, so you can see down in the valley for so far. We wandered the town for a bit, got a cappucino at a cafe (we're pretty much addicted now), and wandered some more. Then, we went on yet another hike, for 30 minutes downhill to Gimmelwald. We had to stop for a bit to make a snowman though. :) The snow was just sitting there, I just felt like it had to be done. :)
Gimmelwald though - is the smallest village in the area by far...only 100 residents, most of whom are cow farmers. It was very quaint little town - hardly anyone was around and it was like a giant petting zoo, since we first saw some ponies, then the cutest lambs ever!, and then, while waiting for the lift back down, the most unusually friendly cat ever, who just pranced right up to us and demanded to be petted. :) Katie also bought some yogurt - probably the freshest you'll find anywhere - from the one store in town, Esther's Farmer Shop.
The cable car lift back down was probably the scariest thing yet of the trip - imagine a tiny cable car, packed with 50 skiers plus us, dangling on a few lines of cable over a 1000 foot drop...the first 1/3 of the way down seriously felt like a free fall, like on a roller coaster - only there was nothing to catch us. :) But, we survived!
We took the bus back to Lauterbrunnen - no more hiking for us for the day! - and then did some laundry at our hostel's laundromat. About time too. :) Then, we went to dinner across the street at Hotel Oberland, and had a fabulous traditional Swiss dinner of Rosti, which are pretty much hashbrowns covered in Swiss cheese, with extras like ham, egg, bacon, and onions. They were amazing!! After that we just had another low-key night at the hostel. We hung out in the common room for awhile, ate some of our truffles, and made plans for the next day. Little did we know what it had in store, however...
Wednesday, 4 April 2007
Day #10 - A warm day at last! ...in Switzerland
Day #10 of our trip, we said arrivaderci to Milan, and all of Italy as well! Time to leave the land of pasta, Renaissance art, and Italian MTV for our next country: Switzerland. Our train left at like 11 something, and it was a gorgeous 3 hour ride there, including going past Lake Como, and tons of other mountain scenery. We arrived in Interlaken around 2ish, where it was actually warm and sunny! The nicest day yet of our trip- which is kind of ironic. Who would have expected Switzerland to be warmer than Italy?!
We stowed our backpacks in a locker at the train station, and then got some cash in Swiss Francs - which is the ONLY European currency which the dollar is stronger than, hooray! However, everything in Switzerland is expensive, so it pretty much balances out. We then went to make our train reservations to get to Nice on Friday the 6th...only to find out that all the trains we wanted to take were booked!!! Apparently Nice is popular over Easter, who knew. :p Katie and I had a bit of a panic attack, realizing we'd have to change our plans, but we found a good compromise by booking a night train from Mulhouse (France), to Nice, which allowed us to only have to cancel our hotel for that one night. Whew.
After that fiasco was over, we set off to explore Interlaken a bit. Interlaken was just gorgeous - it's at the bottom of a valley, surrounded by several mountains and two lakes. It's only about 5,500 people, but gets plenty of tourists, so there were lots of shops with tacky souvenirs to check out. :) We also happened to find the Schuh chocolate shop, which my cousin Sarah had told me about their fabulous chocolate shows. So, we did that, and got to learn how chocolate is made from the shop's chocolate 'chef', and even create and try some samples of our own. Mmm mmm :) Katie and I each splurged and got a box of 9 truffles from their shop - with flavors ranging from latte macciato, to toffee, to champagne.
We ate dinner at a quaint little restaurant by the West train station, and had what I think was some traditional German food. We're really confused here as to which language to speak - the menus and signs are in German, but lots of people speak French, Spanish, and Italian too! So...we're going with English. :)
Around 8, we took the train up the mountain to Lauterbrunnen, which is also in a valley sandwiched between several colossal mountains. It was just gorgeous at night. We sat on the balcony of our little alpine chalet of a hostel and stared out at the mountains...everything is so quiet here at night because NOTHING is going on. And sometimes, I like it that way. :)
Our hostel here, Valley Hostel, is just amazing too. It´s an alpine chalet, just like every other house here, with cozy rooms, and awesome owners - the Abbeglen family - Alfred, Martha, Franzi, and Stefan, who also live there. They´re all super nice, we talked to Stefan for awhile tonight, and asked him if he´d met Rick Steves. :) We also met their cat, Diggy, who is 15 years old and lives half outside, but is definitely friendly and let me pet it for a long time. It´s just like home now, I have cat hair all over my coat again...
We stowed our backpacks in a locker at the train station, and then got some cash in Swiss Francs - which is the ONLY European currency which the dollar is stronger than, hooray! However, everything in Switzerland is expensive, so it pretty much balances out. We then went to make our train reservations to get to Nice on Friday the 6th...only to find out that all the trains we wanted to take were booked!!! Apparently Nice is popular over Easter, who knew. :p Katie and I had a bit of a panic attack, realizing we'd have to change our plans, but we found a good compromise by booking a night train from Mulhouse (France), to Nice, which allowed us to only have to cancel our hotel for that one night. Whew.
After that fiasco was over, we set off to explore Interlaken a bit. Interlaken was just gorgeous - it's at the bottom of a valley, surrounded by several mountains and two lakes. It's only about 5,500 people, but gets plenty of tourists, so there were lots of shops with tacky souvenirs to check out. :) We also happened to find the Schuh chocolate shop, which my cousin Sarah had told me about their fabulous chocolate shows. So, we did that, and got to learn how chocolate is made from the shop's chocolate 'chef', and even create and try some samples of our own. Mmm mmm :) Katie and I each splurged and got a box of 9 truffles from their shop - with flavors ranging from latte macciato, to toffee, to champagne.
We ate dinner at a quaint little restaurant by the West train station, and had what I think was some traditional German food. We're really confused here as to which language to speak - the menus and signs are in German, but lots of people speak French, Spanish, and Italian too! So...we're going with English. :)
Around 8, we took the train up the mountain to Lauterbrunnen, which is also in a valley sandwiched between several colossal mountains. It was just gorgeous at night. We sat on the balcony of our little alpine chalet of a hostel and stared out at the mountains...everything is so quiet here at night because NOTHING is going on. And sometimes, I like it that way. :)
Our hostel here, Valley Hostel, is just amazing too. It´s an alpine chalet, just like every other house here, with cozy rooms, and awesome owners - the Abbeglen family - Alfred, Martha, Franzi, and Stefan, who also live there. They´re all super nice, we talked to Stefan for awhile tonight, and asked him if he´d met Rick Steves. :) We also met their cat, Diggy, who is 15 years old and lives half outside, but is definitely friendly and let me pet it for a long time. It´s just like home now, I have cat hair all over my coat again...
Day #9 Happy Times and Hour in Milano
We decided we deserved to sleep in yet again. After a hotel breakfast of a croissant and cappacino we took the Metro to the main square. We went into the beautifully ornate Duomo (Cathedral) where we missed the start of Palm Sunday mass by a half hour. The palms were wonderfully different than in the States and there were so many people. After taking everything in from the inside, we did our daily stairs and climbed to the roof. We got to walk on the actual roof. We explored the entire roof and saw Milan from every angle. After the Duomo, we decided to find the Italian MTV studios which just happened to be in that very square! Unfortunately it was the weekend so we couldn't get on TV. So we took pictures what we decided was the MTV studio. We went in search of the Torino (little bull) in the Galleria so we could join in the tradition of spinning on the mosaic tile Torino and get good luck. We each had our turns spinning and giving ourselves 'good luck'.
Afterwards, we walked to the Sforcia Castle and continued down the street in search of Brera street where we would later have our Happy Hour dinner. Having done an extensive amount of walking around we decided to continue our walk and go down the Monte Napoleone Street and admire the famous designer stores. We then continued our way to more affordable stores so we could actually shop.
We went back to the Sforcia and found the unfinished Michealangelo sculpture, 'Pieta'. It was very somber but still cool to see the last sculpture that Michealangelo worked on before he died. Afterwards we found our way back to La Brera street and went to Bar Brera for happy hour. We each got a beer (London Pride :) and a antipasta bar came with it!
Afterwards, we walked to the Sforcia Castle and continued down the street in search of Brera street where we would later have our Happy Hour dinner. Having done an extensive amount of walking around we decided to continue our walk and go down the Monte Napoleone Street and admire the famous designer stores. We then continued our way to more affordable stores so we could actually shop.
We went back to the Sforcia and found the unfinished Michealangelo sculpture, 'Pieta'. It was very somber but still cool to see the last sculpture that Michealangelo worked on before he died. Afterwards we found our way back to La Brera street and went to Bar Brera for happy hour. We each got a beer (London Pride :) and a antipasta bar came with it!
Tuesday, 3 April 2007
Day #8 - A high class arrival in Milan!
OK, so moving right along - on our final morning in Venice, we didn't leave for Milan until 11:17, it was a nice unstressful morning of getting ready and checking out. Our train didn't have reservations, so we could sit anywhere we wanted, which was nice. We ate our packed lunches on the train - proscuitto and mozzarella sandwiches as usual - and got into Milan around 2:30. Our hotel was a bit outside of central Milan, but no worries - Milan has an awesome Metro system, which we definitely made the most of while we were there. Our hotel was super nice, and even had a TV again - yay for more Italian MTV!
Anyway...so once we had thrown our stuff in the room, we headed out again for central Milan. Everything in Milan is pretty much centered around the Duomo (cathedral) area, which makes sightseeing easy. There is the Duomo, the huge public square in front of it, and the Galleria Victorio Emmanuele across the street, with super classy shopping. And, of course, there were tons of pigeons everywhere, except here in Milan, they have street sellers trying to sell you birdseed out of their pockets, kind of like drug pushers. Creepy. But, despite that, we both decided that we really like Milan - it felt a lot like London in how big-city, industrialized, and fashion-conscious it was, and was totally night-and-day from other Italian cities like Rome or Venice, which are more laid-back and disorganized.
So - our goal for the day, was to head to La Scala opera house to see about getting tickets for that night's closing night performance of the ballet. We had heard that they give out cheap gallery tickets on the day of every performance, and luckily, we got there right as they were doing just that. It was pretty much a mob scene though, with everyone speaking Italian, so it took awhile before we figured out what they were doing. We ended up getting tickets #116 and 117 out of 140, so we barely made it! An hour later, we had to come back and pick up and pay for the actual tickets - which were amazingly only 10 euro. We ate a quick pasta dinner at a nearby self-service cafeteria place, as well as the best tiramisu ever! Then, it was back to La Scala for the show at 8:00!
So...how to describe La Scala...it was pretty much amazing. :) One of the largest and most elegant theaters in Europe, the La Scala has 6 levels of box seats arranged in a semicircle around the stage. The whole theater is decked out in fancy red velvet and gold, and has a massive chandelier in the middle of the ceiling. Our seats were WAY up in the 6th-level gallery, pretty much directly over the left side of the stage. We had to lean over the railing a bit to see, but for 10 euros, it was worth it. :) The ballet itself - "La Dame aux Camelias" - was incredible!! Packed house, full orchestra with a score by Chopin, and world-class ballet dancers in the most intricate costumes you've ever seen. We didn't quite understand the "plot" of the ballet - something about two lovers whose family keeps them apart - but the two lead dancers were amazing...I think the applause went on for like 20 minutes at the end! This night was one of my favorite moments from the trip thus far...and definitely one I know I'll never forget. :)
Debra
Anyway...so once we had thrown our stuff in the room, we headed out again for central Milan. Everything in Milan is pretty much centered around the Duomo (cathedral) area, which makes sightseeing easy. There is the Duomo, the huge public square in front of it, and the Galleria Victorio Emmanuele across the street, with super classy shopping. And, of course, there were tons of pigeons everywhere, except here in Milan, they have street sellers trying to sell you birdseed out of their pockets, kind of like drug pushers. Creepy. But, despite that, we both decided that we really like Milan - it felt a lot like London in how big-city, industrialized, and fashion-conscious it was, and was totally night-and-day from other Italian cities like Rome or Venice, which are more laid-back and disorganized.
So - our goal for the day, was to head to La Scala opera house to see about getting tickets for that night's closing night performance of the ballet. We had heard that they give out cheap gallery tickets on the day of every performance, and luckily, we got there right as they were doing just that. It was pretty much a mob scene though, with everyone speaking Italian, so it took awhile before we figured out what they were doing. We ended up getting tickets #116 and 117 out of 140, so we barely made it! An hour later, we had to come back and pick up and pay for the actual tickets - which were amazingly only 10 euro. We ate a quick pasta dinner at a nearby self-service cafeteria place, as well as the best tiramisu ever! Then, it was back to La Scala for the show at 8:00!
So...how to describe La Scala...it was pretty much amazing. :) One of the largest and most elegant theaters in Europe, the La Scala has 6 levels of box seats arranged in a semicircle around the stage. The whole theater is decked out in fancy red velvet and gold, and has a massive chandelier in the middle of the ceiling. Our seats were WAY up in the 6th-level gallery, pretty much directly over the left side of the stage. We had to lean over the railing a bit to see, but for 10 euros, it was worth it. :) The ballet itself - "La Dame aux Camelias" - was incredible!! Packed house, full orchestra with a score by Chopin, and world-class ballet dancers in the most intricate costumes you've ever seen. We didn't quite understand the "plot" of the ballet - something about two lovers whose family keeps them apart - but the two lead dancers were amazing...I think the applause went on for like 20 minutes at the end! This night was one of my favorite moments from the trip thus far...and definitely one I know I'll never forget. :)
Debra
Day #7 - A rainy day in Venice
Alright...so we're now 5 days behind in the blog - time for a mondo update!
So...back to our last day in Venice. Well, we woke up that day, and it was raining. :( No more nice weather for us. It kind of dampened the mood a bit, but we still decided to go see the Accademia, which is Venice's best museum of art. On the way there, we stopped over by the Rialto bridge to shop a bit at the street markets. They have plenty of fun souvenirs in Venice, but everyone will just have to wait and see because we won't tell what we got for you all. :) Once we got to the Accademia, we were surprised because we had heard there would be lines, but there actually weren't that many people were there. It was only so-so art though - and the same type we'd seen a LOT of on the trip already, of Italian religious works and some landscapes and such. It sure made us appreciate the other art museums we'd already seen a lot better. :)
After the museum, we grabbed some lunch at the cafe on the corner. Our food was amazing - definitely the highlight of the day probably. We both got toasted sandwiches at the cafe, and then ate our fresh fruit mix that we had gotten that day at the market - fresh pineapple, kiwi, strawberries, grapes...oh it was so good. :)
After lunch, we just shopped a bit more, but didn't buy much. We went back to the hotel pretty early in the afternoon, and just hung out there, reading a bit and - of course - watching some Italian MTV. :) We LOVE the music videos here, our favorite is "Grace Kelly" by Mika - look it up if you haven't heard it - we guarantee it WILL get stuck in your head!
For dinner, we just ate at the self-service cafeteria-type restaurant nearby. We have both decided that we are sick of Italian food! Not so much the food itself, but just the way it's served in Italy - the whole custom of getting a bread basket, then pretty much the same type of overpriced pasta anywhere you go, then waiting 45 minutes to get your check and pay. So, paying 5 euros for cheap, quick food - I even got a hamburger and fries! - was a nice change of pace.
That night, we still wanted to do something, so we decided to just go to a place in the neighborhood to hang out and read a bit. We found a nice restaurant/cafe place, and stayed there for 3 hours or so, and got a cappucino and later some gelato. The two guys working there were really friendly and talked with us a bit, and asked me for a kiss on the cheek. It was funny. So, all in all, not the most eventful sightseeing day, but sometimes I guess you'll have that. A good day nonetheless.
So...back to our last day in Venice. Well, we woke up that day, and it was raining. :( No more nice weather for us. It kind of dampened the mood a bit, but we still decided to go see the Accademia, which is Venice's best museum of art. On the way there, we stopped over by the Rialto bridge to shop a bit at the street markets. They have plenty of fun souvenirs in Venice, but everyone will just have to wait and see because we won't tell what we got for you all. :) Once we got to the Accademia, we were surprised because we had heard there would be lines, but there actually weren't that many people were there. It was only so-so art though - and the same type we'd seen a LOT of on the trip already, of Italian religious works and some landscapes and such. It sure made us appreciate the other art museums we'd already seen a lot better. :)
After the museum, we grabbed some lunch at the cafe on the corner. Our food was amazing - definitely the highlight of the day probably. We both got toasted sandwiches at the cafe, and then ate our fresh fruit mix that we had gotten that day at the market - fresh pineapple, kiwi, strawberries, grapes...oh it was so good. :)
After lunch, we just shopped a bit more, but didn't buy much. We went back to the hotel pretty early in the afternoon, and just hung out there, reading a bit and - of course - watching some Italian MTV. :) We LOVE the music videos here, our favorite is "Grace Kelly" by Mika - look it up if you haven't heard it - we guarantee it WILL get stuck in your head!
For dinner, we just ate at the self-service cafeteria-type restaurant nearby. We have both decided that we are sick of Italian food! Not so much the food itself, but just the way it's served in Italy - the whole custom of getting a bread basket, then pretty much the same type of overpriced pasta anywhere you go, then waiting 45 minutes to get your check and pay. So, paying 5 euros for cheap, quick food - I even got a hamburger and fries! - was a nice change of pace.
That night, we still wanted to do something, so we decided to just go to a place in the neighborhood to hang out and read a bit. We found a nice restaurant/cafe place, and stayed there for 3 hours or so, and got a cappucino and later some gelato. The two guys working there were really friendly and talked with us a bit, and asked me for a kiss on the cheek. It was funny. So, all in all, not the most eventful sightseeing day, but sometimes I guess you'll have that. A good day nonetheless.
Sunday, 1 April 2007
Day #6 - The perfect day in Venice
Hello again! I'm now writing this post from Milan - the internet cafe in Venice was just too expensive to use for too long! So, now to catch up from 3 days ago...
Thursday was a great day in Venice. Not a cloud in the sky - even though all the weather reports we have been obsessively checking had said it would be rainy and cold. We grabbed a brioche (Italian croissant) and bought bananas from the fruit market on the street for breakfast - perfect way to start the day like a local. We headed to St. Marks square again, but this time took the street - luckily there is a main road that goes from our hotel to there, so you don't always have to take the vaporetto. However, the street system in Venice is definitely the craziest we've experienced to date - the streets go every which way, and you have to cross about a dozen canals to get there - but, if you just follow the signs that say Per San Marco, you're just fine.
At St. Marks, we started off in the Correr Museum, which is a semi-boring museum of Venetian history. However, it was included in the ticket for other things we wanted to see, so we figured we might as well get our money's worth. Our proudest moment of the day, however, was successfully getting the student discount for our tickets - normally only European students qualified, but when he asked, we said we were studying in Wales and it worked! So, we saved 6 euros on a normally 12 euro ticket. :)
After the Correr, we headed across the square to Doge's Palace. A Doge was basically the Duke of Venice back in the day - an appointment made for life, that meant they got to live in the cool palace. The rooms were really cool - lots of painted and gold-covered ceilings, huge ornate halls and rooms used for different political departments, and then below the palace, the prisons where the Doges got to keep prisoners pretty much at their will.
We grabbed some lunch from a take-away pizzeria type place and ate it on the square, just people watching. There's enough people there we could spend all day doing just that... But then, after lunch, we did what we both agree has been the most "fun" part of the trip so far - feeding the pigeons!!! You see, there are literally THOUSANDS of pigeons in the square (as mentioned yesterday), so naturally there are plenty of street vendors with bird food. We bought some, and, still a bit timid, stuck our hands out with some food,... and five seconds later were mobbed by 10 pigeons each landing all over our arms and shoulders! :) It took us awhile to get used to it and stop shrieking every time a pigeon landed on us...but man was it fun. We definitely got some GREAT pictures of it too.
OK, so after crazy pigeon feeding time, we washed our hands REALLY well and went on to St. Marks cathedral itself. We used Rick Steves' helpful hint to avoid the long line by checking my bag, which meant we got to skip the line. Thank you, Rick Steves. Inside St. Marks we paid to see the treasury, which had cool treasures that had been stolen from Constantinople.
After that, we used another Rick Steves tip to see a free glassblowing demonstration. You see, glass is a huge thing in Venice - all the souvenirs are glass items, and they have a whole other little island nearby that is pretty much their glass-making center. But, we saved ourselves a trip to the island by flashing our Rick Steves book and getting our OWN glassmaking show. Then, we got shown into the showroom, where they had all sorts of fancy handmade blown-glass objects for sale. The most expensive thing we saw was this glass horse - for 52,000 euro. Just a bit out of our price range...
With all our main sightseeing goals out of the way, we decided to just wander Venice a bit. As Rick Steves says, "80% of the tourists never leave the main path of Venice....but 80% of Venice is in fact not touristy." So, our goal was to see these back streets ... and we definitely did. Narrow streets with no tourists, people hanging their laundry outside their windows...neighborhood shops without tourist trinkets. It was really cool. We made it to the north bank of the island and just sat on a bridge in the sun for a bit. It was really relaxing. We just sat and thought for awhile, and I realized that if I had been home, I would be at Google for the conference right now...but here I am in Venice. Ironic, but I'm definitely happy this way. :)We went back to our hotel for a short siesta and some Italian-MTV watching after that (yes, we do seem to watch a lot of MTV, I know, but it's only because it's the only channel halfway in English!) Then, we went to dinner close to our hotel - and I got the strangest dish I've had yet...I really wanted fish, so I got pasta with fish. But, it ended up having clams in it - still in the shells! I had like 6 shells that I had to pick out of my pasta, and several other unidentifiable seafood objects... hmm.
I know this is getting long, but it was that type of day... Next we went to a back street place we had found earlier, that had live swing music that night. It was a cool atmosphere, so we got some house wine (for only 1 euro), and hung out there a bit. Then, we walked back to St. Marks, because we heard it was really cool at night. We got there and it was pretty quiet, but just gorgeous all lit up at night. I bought a crepe, which looked good but I probably shouldn't have - I was sooo full. :)
Finally got back at like 11, so it was still a pretty early night. Definitely the perfect day in Venice. :)
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