On day 7 (Saturday) we had a flight from the tiny little Grenada airport to Barcelona. The flight was only about an hour, but there really doesn't seem to be any other way to go between the two cities.
This time, we didn't stay at a hotel, but in a private apartment. I really liked the freedom of this. Obvious draw backs are that you only get one set of towels for your stay, so no fresh towles every day. But it had a cute little balcony and two twin beds and a futon, so it fit all of us comfortably. The freedom was really great as well. We had a full kitchen! And next door was a cheap little grocery store, so we kind of went to town on the food. Kristen's a great cook as well, and I enjoy cooking with her, so we did a TON of cooking, as you'll see.
Mom had bought a beautiful tapas recipe book in Grenada, and the first thing we did in Barcelona was take advantage of it. The first things we made in Barcelona (because there is a lot more cooking to be done) were: york ham and Manchego cheese (cheese from the La Mancha region) tortilla; stuffed red peppers with crab meat and cream cheese; a dish of garbanzo beans, chorizo, onion, and bell pepper (which I loved to call a salad, and Kristen continually pointed out that it is not, in fact, a salad); and sauteed zucchini.
To curb our wino appetite, we drank cava on the side. Cava is a sparkling wine from the Catalonia region, which is the region where Barcelona is found. Even the most expensive cava is cheaper than the cheapest champagne it seemed. And it was delicious! I'm starting to question why I chose to study French and not Spanish...
It was already night time, so we figured we would go out for a bit to see the town. We walked down a large boulevard just at the corner of our street, called Las Ramblas. In the distance ahead of us, hovering in the sky above the city, we could always see this lighted church that looked kind of like a castle; I couldn't take my eyes off it. We stopped in a cool lounge for another glass of cava, though after getting our order, we watched the bar tender making another drink that was sangria made with cava and fresh fruits. Definitely should have gotten that!
The next day (day 8 of our trip), we slept “in” (9am). For breakfast we had strawberries, left over tortilla, oranges, and coffee. Since it was the first Sunday of the month, many museums were free. We went to the beautiful Catalan museum (Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya) which was located in the National Palace, which was built for the 1929 World's Fair. The museum covered art throughout history from the Catalunyan region. In it there was a gorgeous exhibit on Romanesque church frescos. These frescos had been isolated in the Pyrenees which caused them to be cut off from the Spanish style and take more from the south and central French style and they were similar to a style used in manuscripts. All of the art was found in old churches and what makes the exhibit unique is how they try to recreate the outline of the churches so that when you look at the frescos you can try and envision how they were meant to look.
There was also a great Gothic and Renaissance art collection. There were beautiful altar pieces and artwork from these time periods. We were all astounded by the attention to detail in the pieces. There were some paintings where the fabric on the clothing looked so real, you could almost touch it.
The view from the museum was also great. It’s up on a hill overlooking the city. It’s also located near the metro stop Espayna where there is the city’s bull ring.
We then hopped back on the metro and headed to the gothic quarter. There was a cool little market selling organic and locally produced products. Some of the things they sold were marmalades, jams, artisanal chocolates, organic cava, bees wax, and honey. The market was located in a pretty little square under the Basilica del Pi.
Then, we went for Basque tapas at a place called Irati that was delicious! I ate crab and mayo on bread with shredded hardboiled egg whites, red sweet bell pepper stuffed with cod and breaded and fried and served on toast, and shrimp wrapped in melted cheese and ham and breaded and deep fried and served on toast. For drinks we had Txocoli, a sparkling wine from the Basque region.
Afterwards, we headed back to the apartment to rest up. Kristen and I used left over crab and creamcheese with mixed pepper mixed in from the night before and, inspired by the tapa I had, we boiled eggs and sliced and chopped them and pan fried some bread and served the crab on the bread with the egg on top. So delicious and very, very easy!
We tried to go to the Picasson Museum but since it was free the line was massive so we couldn’t go in. So instead we headed to the marina around sunset. There was another street market where we got to try really yummy handmade candies (kind of like the Haribo candies, but much, much nicer). It was jelly-like on the inside.
We then walked down to the beach. I put my toes in the Mediterranean Sea for the second time!
We then walked to the gothic quarter. There is a cool little bridge in this quarter on the Carrer del Bisbe Irurita. The buildings also have gargoyles coming off of them and the streets are winding, so you really do get the feeling the area came from medieval times, which is when many of the buildings were built.
Randomly, we stumbled on two male opera singers who were just unbelievable. There was a whole crowd around them, filling the tiny narrow streets surrounding the small square they were singing in. With the stone buildings and gargoyles hanging above them, it was quite an unbelievable sight.
We then continued to wander through the gothic quarter and headed back towards the apartment. On the walk back, we passed the Basilica del Pi, where we had seen the food market earlier. There was a line outside the church, so we asked a young Spanish guy at the front what was going on. Apparently there was going to be a concert in twenty minutes. The musician Xavier Coll was to be performing on several different classical Spanish guitars. I convinced everyone to go, even though there seemed to be some uncertainty. Well, it was absolutely amazing!!! It was in a small gothic chapel in the church, so it was a very intimate setting and also very cool, with stone walls and high vaulted arches. Coll is apparently a very famous classical guitarist. He played on four different guitars from four different time periods: Vihuela (Renaissance), Guitarra barroca (Baroque), Guitarra romantica, and Guitarra modernia. The whole thing was so wonderful and spur of the moment. We were all so glad we decided to do it! How lucky!
The ninth day of our trip, Monday, was a more relaxed day. Just to make you jealous, I’ll tell you what we had for breakfast: fruit, scrambled eggs with brie and ham, and toasted baguette with salmon and cream cheese. We then headed to the Sagrada Familia (“Sacred/Holy Family”). This basilica is the master work of Antoni Gaudi, the great artist and architect of Barcelona. You can see many apartments and parks done by Gaudi, but the Sagrada Familia is his most ambitious work.
Gaudi began working on the Sagrada Familia in 1883. Gaudi died in 1926 and less than a quarter of the basilica was actually completed. After his death, there was some dispute about whether or not to complete the basilica at all or to leave it as is. Finally, after the Spanish Civil War, building began to recommence. The pretty expensive fees you pay to enter are “donations” to the construction and completion of the cathedral. The cathedral is built through private donations only and it is believed to be completed in 2026, the centennial of Gaudi’s death. We took a tour that was very interesting, and the guide explained to us that while it may seem that the progress has thus far been very slow and therefore it is not possible to complete the basilica by 2026, in fact thanks to findings of Gaudi’s drawings and new technologies, they are able to build at a much faster rate than Gaudi was able to build it.
Gaudi had a very unique and interesting style of art. The Sagrada Familia was both gothic and Art Nouveau. The outside of the building is quite cool. The oldest part of the basilica is my favorite- it looks as if the structure is made of wax and is melting in the sun. Inside, the massive columns spread out above you, like giant trees. In fact, Gaudi was greatly influence by nature and the columns are meant to look like trees and give the impression that one is inside a great forest.
There are many interesting and great details about the basilica, and if you do go, I greatly suggest getting an audio guide or taking the tour. There is a video in the crypt/basement of the church, where you will also find an exhibit on Gaudi’s method and the science behind his architecture. If you don’t have a tour, I would suggest going straight to the movie and watching it first. It gives a lot on the history of the basilica and Gaudi’s methods.
We also did the climb up to the top of the basilica. It is also extra, but well worth it. Up there, you have an amazing view of Barcelona and an up close look at the top of the basilica. You can also see just how high the builders go to continue the construction of this massive piece of architecture.
After, we headed to the apartment for lunch. We made some shrimp and had leftovers. I don’t think I’ve talked about shrimp yet. Apparently we Americans eat our shrimp very differently from the rest of the world. We like our shrimp without the shell, the head, the legs, and the intestines. If you’re having a meal that has a need for small shrimps (such as the Basque tapas I had had earlier in the week), they will already be all cleaned up. But, for the most part, when you buy shrimp, they have the whole thing, and if you get a seafood platter, it will also generally include the works. It’s quite messy business, and I have friends here who tell me “sucking out the brains from the head is the best part!” It makes eating shrimp quite a bit of work, but it’s still just as yummy! Besides shrimp, we also had the chickpeas and chorizo “salad,” stuffed red peppers (still more!), hand cut potato chips with an aioli sauce that Aunt Martha bought at the market. Oh, and we topped off 2 bottles of wine!
Feeling happy, we decided to walk towards the water by going down side streets instead of Las Ramblas. There was a cool market similar to the Mercado San Miguel in Madrid, except a little more “grungy” and less high class. There were some cool and yummy things there, like fruit drinks, gelato (I had a gelato with cookie and Kinder egg!), and cool candies. There was also a meat stand with very strange/different kinds of meat: bull balls, penis, and tongue!
We continued down the side streets, passing the statue of Columbus, heading towards the marina for sunset. We then headed back up to the apartment to have more wine and to pack. So sad to leave Mom and Aunt Martha! There is still one more part of my trip in Spain to come! Kristen and I spend two more days in Barcelona and then head off to Madrid, where I do a day trip to Segovia.
Photos of Part 3: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150631869626319.383812.544216318&type=3&l=de4c94d003
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
Spain Trip, Part 2: Madrid and Grenada
When I left you guys off, we were on day 4 in Toldedo. I’m sorry it’s take so long for the update! I’ve been having problems with my computer. Part 3 will be up soon, I’ve already gotten a jump on it.
The next day, Thursday, we were back in Madrid. First, we headed to the Templo Debod. This old Egyptian temple was given to Spain in 1968 after Spain had helped to salvage many Egyptian artifacts that were to be lost as a result of the creation of the dam Aswan. It’s a really cool feature of Madrid. You can go inside and see old hieroglyphs (though all the information was in Spanish). If you go around the back of the temple, there is a beautiful view of the west side of Madrid and if you look to the left you can see the cathedral and palace.
We then headed over to the Malasaña area of Madrid to look at cool boutiques, such as Kristen’s favorite, Biscuit. We had lunch at a restaurant right nearby called La Musa. This was our favorite restaurant of the trip by far. For a starter our choices were either a delicious salad or lasagna. For the main course Aunt Martha ordered the spinach and fish with a creamy pea sauce. Mom & I ordered the curry on skewers with vegetables. Aunt Martha and I looked at each other’s plates and immediately wanted the others’! So we ended up sharing. Both options were excellent! Then, for dessert we all split three things: fried banana with chocolate drizzle, tiramisu, and arroz con leche (Spanish rice pudding). Soooooooooo good! And the atmosphere of the restaurant was excellent as well. Would highly recommend.
Afterwards, we walked around for a few more hours, went back to the hotel to rest, and then at night we went out for tapas and drinks. We passed a giant protest in the Plaza del Sol, thought I’m not too sure what the protest was about. Then we headed to Calle Baja and Alta and one of the streets (I think Alta?) was pretty dead with no bars, but the other had tapas bar after tapas bar. The best one we went to (can’t remember the name) was delicious. We had a bunch of tapas there, but one that sticks out in my mind is the goat cheese with grilled veggies on a slice of toasted bread. After, we had more tapas at a bar where there were pictures of bull fighters all over the walls. Our server was very sweet- he was from Latin America and had moved to Madrid many years ago and was not engaged to an American girl and was going to move to Texas with her! So sweet.
On the walk back we stopped at Malaspiña for a final drink before heading back to the hotel to meet with Kristen!
The next morning we took a bus to Granada. The ride was about 5 hours or so, but it really went by quickly. We stayed at the hotel Alixares right near the Alhambra (will talk more about that later, but what you need to know now is that it is a beautiful palace that had been built by the Muslims when the had conquered Spain). The hotel was super comfortable with a delicious buffet breakfast.
After settling into the hotel, we walked down the foot path past the Alhambra towards town. We walked a bit through the beautiful town and walked up the hill to try and get to the vista, Mirador San Nicolas. It was a bit of a hike up a steep hill, but the view was totally worth it. Because it is the end of winter, the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the distance behind the Alhambra were snowcapped. We got there before sunset, so we were able to get both photos of the Alhambra during the day and light up at night. We went to a nearby terrace café with a view of the Alhambra for some drinks and patatas bravas (yummy French fries with a spicy tomato sauce).
We then headed off to the Plaza Nueva for some more drinks and tapas. At one amazing tapas bar (if you ever go, you’ll recognize it because there are actually two of them across the street from each other) we had ship in a garlic sauce and tortilla with ham and lima beans. We finished off at the end of the plaza in a really gorgeous restaurant for dessert. Here we had a nuts and raspberry “cake.” This wasn’t a regular cake (it did not have dough or anything). Instead, the nuts were used as“dough” with yummy raspberry on top. It had a very unique texture and flavor and was delicious!
The next day we visited the Alhambra. Here is some quick info on the Alhambra, thanks to Wikipedia. The Alhambra, “is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada,Andalusia, Spain. It was constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada in al-Andalus… After the Reconquista (reconquest) by the Reyes Católicos ("Catholic Monarchs") in 1492, some portions were used by the Christian rulers. The Palace of Charles V, built by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1527, was inserted in the Alhambra within the Nasrid fortifications. After being allowed to fall into disrepair for centuries, the Alhambra was "discovered" in the 19th century by European scholars and travelers, with restorations commencing. It is now one of Spain's major tourist attractions, exhibiting the country's most significant and well known Islamic architecture, together with 16th-century and later Christian building and garden interventions. The Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the inspiration for many songs and stories.”
The actual visit includes a ton of stuff and can easily take the entire time you have there (you MUST reserve a time slot in advance online). I think our time slot was something to the tune of 9am to 1pm. And then you also get a time slot to visit the palace, which is the highlight of the trip. Our time slot was 10am. You need to arrive to the Alhambra gates at least half an hour before your palace time slot so you have enough time to walk to the palace and everything. I would also DEFINITELY recommend the audio guide, since there is pretty much no information on the entire visit. The audio was great too- I really liked how they used the American writer Washington Irving’s “character” to guide you through. Irving had lived in the Alhambra and wrote Tales of the Alhambra, and the audio guide used quotes from his book as well as other quotes, music, description, and facts to give you a great sense of how awe inspiring this palace really is. The Alhambra palace is also interesting because, when it was taken over by Queen Ferdinand and Isabella, it was where it is believe that Columbus was sent to discover the Americas. We pretty much took the entire hour and a half you get in the palace. Afterwards, we saw the gardens, fortified wall, and palace that was used for when the king and his family wanted to have a little vacation from their regal roles.
We rested for a while and then headed out to lunch. We took a little shuttle bus down to the Christopher Columbus statue in the town. For lunch we had a salad with hard boiled eggs, corn, white asparagus (apparently very popular in Spain), heart of palm and more. Then we split a lima beans and ham tortilla, croquettes (round, small, fried rolls containing potato and vegetables), and slicked and fried eggplant (called aubergine in the UK!).
After, we headed off to the cathedral of the city. The cathedral was built over the main mosque of the city to show that the Reconquista was done in honor of God and Christianity and not for the personal glory of the king and queen. The cathedral took 180 years to build! It is absolutely massive. While we were in the cathedral, there was a study abroad group being led by their teacher on a tour. Most of them weren’t even paying attention to the guide and were just off to the side. Meanwhile, we tried to stand off to the side of them, snooping in on the information. I learned that the two giant organs that are there are done in the Spanish style and that you can tell because the organ pipes stick straight out. I also learned that it was built as a Renaissance style church, but there are gothic arches. Either way, it’s so embarrassing to me when you see American study abroad program. Usually they couldn’t give less of a damn about the culture or language of the city they’re in and they have no shame in being completely ignorant about their country of study.
Next, we headed to another part of the church, but there is a separate entrance way and entrance fee. It is the tomb of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. When Ferdinand ordered the making of this cathedral, it was intended to be the resting place of the bodies of all the subsequent kings of Spain. However, after his son Philip I and his wife Juana la Loca (Joanna the Mad) were buried there, the official burial place of all subsequent kings and queens became just outside of Madrid (And it still is! You can go there to see it, though I didn’t have enough time). Anyway, you can see this burial site of Ferdinand, Isabella, Philip I and Juana. There are the death statues (that’s not the correct term for them, I’m sure, but they’re huge marble carvings of the king and queen laying to rest peacefully). What is interesting about this is they say that the reason Isabella’s head lies deeper into the pillow (which you can actually see) is because she was the real brains of the royal couple. Beneath, you can actually walk down and see the coffins of Ferdinand, Isabella, Philip, Juana, and I think their child who must have died at a young age or even birth. Pretty strange actually seeing a 500+ year old coffin and knowing that famous kings and queens are lying in there.
The reason why Juana is called la Loca, FYI, is because apparently after her husband Philip I (known as “the beautiful” because of his fair skin and light hair)she was so in love with him and mourned for him so much that she had his casket carried around behind her until her death. Slightly romantic, slightly creepy. Her son found this more on the side of creepy and had her banished to a nunnery, which is pretty sad.
Besides this morbid stuff, there are also cool artifacts. There is the scepter of Isabella and the crown and sword of Ferdinand. You can also see Isabella’s bible and the case for it. And there are lots of nice paintings.
After leaving this, we stumbled on an art school (I think that’s what it was) that had its doors open and you can go in and see the only remains of the mosque that the cathedral was built over/the only remains of any ancient mosque built by the Muslim conquerors. We were so glad we stumbled on that- it was so cool, and Kristen had been to Granada 3 other times and had never seen that! Plus, they have a really nice, free art gallery by some artist named Vivaldi (I only remember his name because it’s the same as the music composer). Definitely a fun, cool find!
We then headed over to the Arabic quarter. This “quarter” is really just a street full of shops and tea/hooka houses. They all have this really cool feel that you’ve been transported to the middle east. Our first stop was a tea house. We tried some delicious middle eastern/north African tea some baklava. Baklava is a pastry known to be from North Africa and (according to Wikipedia) is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey.
We also ordered a hooka for the novelty of it. Afterwards, we walked along the shops, which had a lot of trinkets and cool hippie clothing. I got a pair of cool balloon pants (I don’t actually think they’re called that, but they are basically huge, wide pants that are cinched at each ankle).
We also find a ceramics store just a little off this street. Ceramics are big in Spain. Each area/ region has their own style. Kristen loves Spanish pottery, especially the style from Granada. The style is usually hand painted blue and white lines on white pottery, usually around a bird or a pomegranate (Pomegranate is actually what Granada means in Spanish and it is the symbol of Granada and can be seen all around the city).
We then rushed to the hotel, ate a snack, got dressed, and we were off to the races! Or really, a flamenco show. The show provided a shuttle that picked us up right from the hotel and a walking tour of the area the show is in, though we were so beat, we opted to go straight to the place where the show is to have a drink. The place was called Los Tarantos and it’s built into the rock wall of the hill. Flamenco, according to Kristen, was brought to Spain by the gypsies who migrated all the way from India (there are different types of gypsies, so not all gypsies are of the same culture and origin in different countries). Therefore, flamenco has a lot of hand motions that look similar to motions made in Indian dance. Also, the tones are in a different style from the traditional western style and are identifiable with Indian music. There is also a heavy presence of the beat and sort of syncopation that was not really seen in western music until the modern era. Anyway, we got to the show early and had a chance to chat with the public relations manager of the show. He was very sweet and had actually once lived in California. We talked with him and he offered us our first round of drinks on him!
Afterwards, we went inside to see the show. The place where the show is, is very tiny and has a cool intimate atmosphere. You also get a free drink. If you decide to go, get the strong liquor or beer- the wine they use for the sangria is super cheap and no bueno. The show was fantastic and they tried to get someone from the audience to come up on stage and give it a whirl. One person who went up seems to have actually studied it or something and was quite good (show off!). After the amazing show, we headed to the hotel to rest. Up next: Barcelona!!!
For photos, check out: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150591342716319.378084.544216318&type=3&l=05e391bbbb
The next day, Thursday, we were back in Madrid. First, we headed to the Templo Debod. This old Egyptian temple was given to Spain in 1968 after Spain had helped to salvage many Egyptian artifacts that were to be lost as a result of the creation of the dam Aswan. It’s a really cool feature of Madrid. You can go inside and see old hieroglyphs (though all the information was in Spanish). If you go around the back of the temple, there is a beautiful view of the west side of Madrid and if you look to the left you can see the cathedral and palace.
We then headed over to the Malasaña area of Madrid to look at cool boutiques, such as Kristen’s favorite, Biscuit. We had lunch at a restaurant right nearby called La Musa. This was our favorite restaurant of the trip by far. For a starter our choices were either a delicious salad or lasagna. For the main course Aunt Martha ordered the spinach and fish with a creamy pea sauce. Mom & I ordered the curry on skewers with vegetables. Aunt Martha and I looked at each other’s plates and immediately wanted the others’! So we ended up sharing. Both options were excellent! Then, for dessert we all split three things: fried banana with chocolate drizzle, tiramisu, and arroz con leche (Spanish rice pudding). Soooooooooo good! And the atmosphere of the restaurant was excellent as well. Would highly recommend.
Afterwards, we walked around for a few more hours, went back to the hotel to rest, and then at night we went out for tapas and drinks. We passed a giant protest in the Plaza del Sol, thought I’m not too sure what the protest was about. Then we headed to Calle Baja and Alta and one of the streets (I think Alta?) was pretty dead with no bars, but the other had tapas bar after tapas bar. The best one we went to (can’t remember the name) was delicious. We had a bunch of tapas there, but one that sticks out in my mind is the goat cheese with grilled veggies on a slice of toasted bread. After, we had more tapas at a bar where there were pictures of bull fighters all over the walls. Our server was very sweet- he was from Latin America and had moved to Madrid many years ago and was not engaged to an American girl and was going to move to Texas with her! So sweet.
On the walk back we stopped at Malaspiña for a final drink before heading back to the hotel to meet with Kristen!
The next morning we took a bus to Granada. The ride was about 5 hours or so, but it really went by quickly. We stayed at the hotel Alixares right near the Alhambra (will talk more about that later, but what you need to know now is that it is a beautiful palace that had been built by the Muslims when the had conquered Spain). The hotel was super comfortable with a delicious buffet breakfast.
After settling into the hotel, we walked down the foot path past the Alhambra towards town. We walked a bit through the beautiful town and walked up the hill to try and get to the vista, Mirador San Nicolas. It was a bit of a hike up a steep hill, but the view was totally worth it. Because it is the end of winter, the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the distance behind the Alhambra were snowcapped. We got there before sunset, so we were able to get both photos of the Alhambra during the day and light up at night. We went to a nearby terrace café with a view of the Alhambra for some drinks and patatas bravas (yummy French fries with a spicy tomato sauce).
We then headed off to the Plaza Nueva for some more drinks and tapas. At one amazing tapas bar (if you ever go, you’ll recognize it because there are actually two of them across the street from each other) we had ship in a garlic sauce and tortilla with ham and lima beans. We finished off at the end of the plaza in a really gorgeous restaurant for dessert. Here we had a nuts and raspberry “cake.” This wasn’t a regular cake (it did not have dough or anything). Instead, the nuts were used as“dough” with yummy raspberry on top. It had a very unique texture and flavor and was delicious!
The next day we visited the Alhambra. Here is some quick info on the Alhambra, thanks to Wikipedia. The Alhambra, “is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada,Andalusia, Spain. It was constructed during the mid 14th century by the Moorish rulers of the Emirate of Granada in al-Andalus… After the Reconquista (reconquest) by the Reyes Católicos ("Catholic Monarchs") in 1492, some portions were used by the Christian rulers. The Palace of Charles V, built by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in 1527, was inserted in the Alhambra within the Nasrid fortifications. After being allowed to fall into disrepair for centuries, the Alhambra was "discovered" in the 19th century by European scholars and travelers, with restorations commencing. It is now one of Spain's major tourist attractions, exhibiting the country's most significant and well known Islamic architecture, together with 16th-century and later Christian building and garden interventions. The Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the inspiration for many songs and stories.”
The actual visit includes a ton of stuff and can easily take the entire time you have there (you MUST reserve a time slot in advance online). I think our time slot was something to the tune of 9am to 1pm. And then you also get a time slot to visit the palace, which is the highlight of the trip. Our time slot was 10am. You need to arrive to the Alhambra gates at least half an hour before your palace time slot so you have enough time to walk to the palace and everything. I would also DEFINITELY recommend the audio guide, since there is pretty much no information on the entire visit. The audio was great too- I really liked how they used the American writer Washington Irving’s “character” to guide you through. Irving had lived in the Alhambra and wrote Tales of the Alhambra, and the audio guide used quotes from his book as well as other quotes, music, description, and facts to give you a great sense of how awe inspiring this palace really is. The Alhambra palace is also interesting because, when it was taken over by Queen Ferdinand and Isabella, it was where it is believe that Columbus was sent to discover the Americas. We pretty much took the entire hour and a half you get in the palace. Afterwards, we saw the gardens, fortified wall, and palace that was used for when the king and his family wanted to have a little vacation from their regal roles.
We rested for a while and then headed out to lunch. We took a little shuttle bus down to the Christopher Columbus statue in the town. For lunch we had a salad with hard boiled eggs, corn, white asparagus (apparently very popular in Spain), heart of palm and more. Then we split a lima beans and ham tortilla, croquettes (round, small, fried rolls containing potato and vegetables), and slicked and fried eggplant (called aubergine in the UK!).
After, we headed off to the cathedral of the city. The cathedral was built over the main mosque of the city to show that the Reconquista was done in honor of God and Christianity and not for the personal glory of the king and queen. The cathedral took 180 years to build! It is absolutely massive. While we were in the cathedral, there was a study abroad group being led by their teacher on a tour. Most of them weren’t even paying attention to the guide and were just off to the side. Meanwhile, we tried to stand off to the side of them, snooping in on the information. I learned that the two giant organs that are there are done in the Spanish style and that you can tell because the organ pipes stick straight out. I also learned that it was built as a Renaissance style church, but there are gothic arches. Either way, it’s so embarrassing to me when you see American study abroad program. Usually they couldn’t give less of a damn about the culture or language of the city they’re in and they have no shame in being completely ignorant about their country of study.
Next, we headed to another part of the church, but there is a separate entrance way and entrance fee. It is the tomb of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. When Ferdinand ordered the making of this cathedral, it was intended to be the resting place of the bodies of all the subsequent kings of Spain. However, after his son Philip I and his wife Juana la Loca (Joanna the Mad) were buried there, the official burial place of all subsequent kings and queens became just outside of Madrid (And it still is! You can go there to see it, though I didn’t have enough time). Anyway, you can see this burial site of Ferdinand, Isabella, Philip I and Juana. There are the death statues (that’s not the correct term for them, I’m sure, but they’re huge marble carvings of the king and queen laying to rest peacefully). What is interesting about this is they say that the reason Isabella’s head lies deeper into the pillow (which you can actually see) is because she was the real brains of the royal couple. Beneath, you can actually walk down and see the coffins of Ferdinand, Isabella, Philip, Juana, and I think their child who must have died at a young age or even birth. Pretty strange actually seeing a 500+ year old coffin and knowing that famous kings and queens are lying in there.
The reason why Juana is called la Loca, FYI, is because apparently after her husband Philip I (known as “the beautiful” because of his fair skin and light hair)she was so in love with him and mourned for him so much that she had his casket carried around behind her until her death. Slightly romantic, slightly creepy. Her son found this more on the side of creepy and had her banished to a nunnery, which is pretty sad.
Besides this morbid stuff, there are also cool artifacts. There is the scepter of Isabella and the crown and sword of Ferdinand. You can also see Isabella’s bible and the case for it. And there are lots of nice paintings.
After leaving this, we stumbled on an art school (I think that’s what it was) that had its doors open and you can go in and see the only remains of the mosque that the cathedral was built over/the only remains of any ancient mosque built by the Muslim conquerors. We were so glad we stumbled on that- it was so cool, and Kristen had been to Granada 3 other times and had never seen that! Plus, they have a really nice, free art gallery by some artist named Vivaldi (I only remember his name because it’s the same as the music composer). Definitely a fun, cool find!
We then headed over to the Arabic quarter. This “quarter” is really just a street full of shops and tea/hooka houses. They all have this really cool feel that you’ve been transported to the middle east. Our first stop was a tea house. We tried some delicious middle eastern/north African tea some baklava. Baklava is a pastry known to be from North Africa and (according to Wikipedia) is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey.
We also ordered a hooka for the novelty of it. Afterwards, we walked along the shops, which had a lot of trinkets and cool hippie clothing. I got a pair of cool balloon pants (I don’t actually think they’re called that, but they are basically huge, wide pants that are cinched at each ankle).
We also find a ceramics store just a little off this street. Ceramics are big in Spain. Each area/ region has their own style. Kristen loves Spanish pottery, especially the style from Granada. The style is usually hand painted blue and white lines on white pottery, usually around a bird or a pomegranate (Pomegranate is actually what Granada means in Spanish and it is the symbol of Granada and can be seen all around the city).
We then rushed to the hotel, ate a snack, got dressed, and we were off to the races! Or really, a flamenco show. The show provided a shuttle that picked us up right from the hotel and a walking tour of the area the show is in, though we were so beat, we opted to go straight to the place where the show is to have a drink. The place was called Los Tarantos and it’s built into the rock wall of the hill. Flamenco, according to Kristen, was brought to Spain by the gypsies who migrated all the way from India (there are different types of gypsies, so not all gypsies are of the same culture and origin in different countries). Therefore, flamenco has a lot of hand motions that look similar to motions made in Indian dance. Also, the tones are in a different style from the traditional western style and are identifiable with Indian music. There is also a heavy presence of the beat and sort of syncopation that was not really seen in western music until the modern era. Anyway, we got to the show early and had a chance to chat with the public relations manager of the show. He was very sweet and had actually once lived in California. We talked with him and he offered us our first round of drinks on him!
Afterwards, we went inside to see the show. The place where the show is, is very tiny and has a cool intimate atmosphere. You also get a free drink. If you decide to go, get the strong liquor or beer- the wine they use for the sangria is super cheap and no bueno. The show was fantastic and they tried to get someone from the audience to come up on stage and give it a whirl. One person who went up seems to have actually studied it or something and was quite good (show off!). After the amazing show, we headed to the hotel to rest. Up next: Barcelona!!!
For photos, check out: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150591342716319.378084.544216318&type=3&l=05e391bbbb
Friday, March 16, 2012
Spain trip part 1: Madrid and Toledo!
This is a lot after the fact, but I took notes while in Spain, and we were there for TWO WEEKS so there will be a lot of stuff to talk about. Please bear with me. I will probably have to post in chunks.
Upon arrival, after a little siesta, mom, Aunt Martha and I went to lunch at a fabulous paella place called Albur in the Malasana area of Madrid. It was our first meal and it was excellent! For starter, we split a delicious salad that had bacon and goat cheese. After, we shared one paella for two, which was more than enough food! Kristen had recommended this place to me as “the best paella in Madrid.” You may remember, I had been here the last time I came to Madrid. It was just as great!
After, we walked around the park on the west side of Madrid, searching for the Temple Debod. Somehow we over shot it and were too far down hill to get to it. However, the park was nice and included a rose garden that was out of season, but I can only imagine how beautiful it is when all the roses are in bloom.
We continued south through Madrid towards the Royal Palace. Did you know Madrid has a king and queen? They don’t really use the palace any more, but it is definitely a symbol of their royal history and grandeur. Apparently Spain’s is the longest running royal blood line. Anyway, we saw a bit of the gardens behind the palace, and then walked up to see the front of the palace and the cathedral, which face each other (representing the tie between royalty and religion). We then hooked east and had tapas for dinner at the Mercado del San Miguel. I had a pinxto with gamba (a thin slice of nice bread with shrimp) and a green sauce (I imagine pesto possibly mixed with a mayonnaise?) as well as an empanada con carne (thickly breaded and baked ground beef).
One thing you will quickly notice about our trip is how much delicious food we ate! The sites in Spain are beautiful, but the food and wine is equally spectacular, and cheap! The main meal is at lunch from 2-4pm and for just 10-15euro (about $12-20) you can have a wonderful 3-course meal with a glass of wine. At night they have a late and light dinner, usually of tapas, which is a small piece of food for one. Traditionally, tapas should come when you order a drink and is meant to compliment the drink. This is quite common in the south of Spain. In Madrid, you still will find that you’ll get a snack with your drink, but often when someone goes out for tapas, they can buy really yummy ones for about $5 each. Often people will go “tapas hopping” meaning they will have one tapa (I think you say “tapa” for the singular, but it could also always be “tapas,” I’m not too sure) and drink (usually a glass of wine) at a bar and then carry on to the next one. So, as you see, you can eat and drink really well for less than $30 per day. In France, that would be completely unheard of!
The next day was Monday. After having some coffee, the weather was gorgeous, so we headed to Retiro Park on the east side of Madrid. This park is famous for being absolutely gorgeous. There is a beautiful spot with a small pond and elaborate fountain with stairs that you can sit on. You can paddle boat in the pond, and therefore it reminds me a bit of Central Park. We continued walking down the park and stopped in a small gallery that is a part of the Reina Sophia. The Reina Sophia is the modern art museum in Madrid and is famous for its Dali’s and Picasso’s (specifically the Guernica, which I’ll talk a bit about later). The exhibit is small, simple, and nice. Better still, we got free entry to the museum Reina Sophia, which is a bit south of the park and usually costs about $10-15 per person. Just a little further on is the Glass Palace. The Glass Palace used to be a green house and now is just a pretty little glass room. Nearby, there was a film crew and it seemed they were shooting a film, though I didn’t recognize anyone there…
We finished walked through the lovely park and headed over to the Reina Sophia. As I mentioned, we had free tickets, so even though none of us really love modern art, we figured we might as well check it out. We saw a few Dali’s, which is always a bit bizarre, and then pretty much headed for the most famous piece: Picasso’s Guernica. For those of you who are really into modern art, I’m sure your cringing and thinking, what tourists! Sorry, that’s just how it is. The Guernica was cool. It is impressive how massive it is. Something new that was there was this huge camera scanner that they apparently use to analyze the piece in a really high-tech way, to see if he had altered it originally and what types of materials he used. It’s great for preserving the piece, analyzing it closely without tampering with it, and understanding Picasso’s artistic process. After, we headed to the rooftop, which has a nice view of Madrid.
Then, we popped over to the Atocha train station, which is just across the street. The train station was really amazing. It’s very clean and modern, and there is a really amazing little forest in the middle of it.
After, we were on the hunt to find a restaurant that was recommended to Aunt Martha, but we just couldn’t find it. So we headed to Plaza Santa Anna, which is a quaint little plaza, and sat at a restaurant called Vina P. Here I had peas sautéed in ham and a grilled salmon. The peas were wonderful and apparently pretty traditional in Spain. It was still so lovely out that we got to eat out on the terrace and worry about sunburn.
Then we meandered about on the lovely streets of Spain. One thing I love about Spain is the architecture: it’s just so magnificent. We wandered into the Ritz to see how much a cup of coffee costs (10euro!!!) and to see how gorgeous it is. On another recommendation of Aunt Martha’s, we went to the Centro de Bellas Artes. For only 2euro, you get to go on the rooftop for a beautiful view of Madrid. Normally it also includes a viewing of the wonderful exhibits there, but they failed to mention to us that on Mondays the exhibits are closed. So we sat in the lovely café there and had a coffee, a hot chocolate, and a milk shake. One thing that surprised Aunt Martha about her hot chocolate was how thick it was. In Spain hot chocolate is so thick, it’s like a dessert and not really a drink. Often you eat it with a spoon or by dipping churros into it.
We then headed to the other very famous museum in Madrid: the Prado. The last two hours it is open, it is free, so we also got to go to that museum for free! Famous artists in the museum include Goya, Valasquez, Ruben and el Greco. It is very impressive how large the museum is; we only spent time on one floor!
For dinner, we had tapas at the Cerverceria Cervantes, which was recommended in our Fodor’s book. We had tapas with cod, salmon, and shrimp. The shrimp one is specifically known and is highly recommended!
After, we headed to Malaspina, near Plaza del Sol, to have a few more tapas. Here we had a bit of chorizo and an empanada de carne. They also brought us real tapas with our drinks (ie, FREE!): Spanish tortilla (egg with potatoes) and olives. I highly recommend this tapas place. The tapas are about 5euro each (which is a bit pricey for tapas) but they are quite large and for three people 2 is definitely enough (but if you’re hungry, three is good!).
The next day, Tuesday, we went to Toledo. Toledo is a quick 30 minute high-speed train ride from Madrid and great for a day trip. If you do go, be sure to book your tickets in advance as the train often fills up. It is only 20euro each roundtrip to take the train and I would suggest leaving early in the morning and taking an evening train back as there is a lot to see in this beautiful, former capital of Spain! Also to note: your train ticket has assigned seats! We didn’t know that and only realized on the return trip that we must have stolen peoples’ seats!
Toledo is a wonderful city because it was the first capital of Spain and was the head of the Spanish church. It was known as the city of the three cultures where Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together peacefully. Toledo was often fought over between the Muslims and Christians as the seat of power. (That’s the history of Toledo very, very generally! You might want to look up more info!!!)
First, after leaving the beautiful Atocha train station, we arrived at the beautiful Toledo train station. This station has gorgeous tiles and brown, earthy walls. We then took a bus for 2euro into town (it’s is definitely too far to walk). The town is extremely beautiful with earthy hues and old fortified walls.
We headed to the cathedral there which is expensive, but not to be missed. At first we were really shocked by the price, but once inside we realized it was well worth it. The cathedral is massive and breath-taking. No cost was spared in building this. Not to be skipped are the sacristy and treasury. In the sacristy there are incredible works of art, particularly by el Greco, who came from Toledo. In the back rooms there are beautiful tapestries and garb that had been worn by different high members of the clergy. In the treasury are astounding gold and jewels. There is also a lovely cloister where the monks could walk and contemplate the mysteries of the world. In it, there are orange trees and frescos that I believe were being refurbished.
After the cathedral, we went to one of the two synagogues there. At one time, the Jews, Christians, and Muslims all cohabitated in Toledo (and Spain in general) quite peacefully. The one synagogue we went to was made into a museum and is fairly interesting, though a little disappointing after seeing the massive cathedral. Kristen tells me the other synagogue is better. Oh well… Anyway, the synagogue has several artifacts from the traditions of the former Jewry here and the style of the building is interesting. There is a small courtyard with the stone sarcophaguses of passed Jews.
After, we walked a bit in the Jewish quarter to look at the shops. One shop we liked was small and run by a father and son. You could actually watch the son making the different pieces for the shop as the father deftly brings you through his shop. They recommended to us a restaurant across the alley. The food was not the best, but not bad, however the courtyard where we sat was beautiful. It was really an atrium type of room: it was in the middle of the building but had an open roof. The whole room had beautiful tile work and I found it to be quite peaceful. It was also really cheap: for about 10euro we got a bottle of wine for the three of us plus a three course meal. I enjoyed a lunch of paella for appetizer and quail for the meal, which was quite interesting. We also had delicious marzipan and chocolate mousse for dessert.
Already we had to start thinking about getting the bus to the train station. We wandered the streets, stopping in a marzipan shop where nuns made the marzipan. We also mailed postcards from the post office (also very beautiful) and window shopped. I think we could have definitely spent more time in Toledo. It would have been nice to see the fortified walls that you can actually walk on, and there is a fort/ castle there as well.
Check out photos at : http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150584315046319.377054.544216318&type=3&l=ec6a1a5500
Upon arrival, after a little siesta, mom, Aunt Martha and I went to lunch at a fabulous paella place called Albur in the Malasana area of Madrid. It was our first meal and it was excellent! For starter, we split a delicious salad that had bacon and goat cheese. After, we shared one paella for two, which was more than enough food! Kristen had recommended this place to me as “the best paella in Madrid.” You may remember, I had been here the last time I came to Madrid. It was just as great!
After, we walked around the park on the west side of Madrid, searching for the Temple Debod. Somehow we over shot it and were too far down hill to get to it. However, the park was nice and included a rose garden that was out of season, but I can only imagine how beautiful it is when all the roses are in bloom.
We continued south through Madrid towards the Royal Palace. Did you know Madrid has a king and queen? They don’t really use the palace any more, but it is definitely a symbol of their royal history and grandeur. Apparently Spain’s is the longest running royal blood line. Anyway, we saw a bit of the gardens behind the palace, and then walked up to see the front of the palace and the cathedral, which face each other (representing the tie between royalty and religion). We then hooked east and had tapas for dinner at the Mercado del San Miguel. I had a pinxto with gamba (a thin slice of nice bread with shrimp) and a green sauce (I imagine pesto possibly mixed with a mayonnaise?) as well as an empanada con carne (thickly breaded and baked ground beef).
One thing you will quickly notice about our trip is how much delicious food we ate! The sites in Spain are beautiful, but the food and wine is equally spectacular, and cheap! The main meal is at lunch from 2-4pm and for just 10-15euro (about $12-20) you can have a wonderful 3-course meal with a glass of wine. At night they have a late and light dinner, usually of tapas, which is a small piece of food for one. Traditionally, tapas should come when you order a drink and is meant to compliment the drink. This is quite common in the south of Spain. In Madrid, you still will find that you’ll get a snack with your drink, but often when someone goes out for tapas, they can buy really yummy ones for about $5 each. Often people will go “tapas hopping” meaning they will have one tapa (I think you say “tapa” for the singular, but it could also always be “tapas,” I’m not too sure) and drink (usually a glass of wine) at a bar and then carry on to the next one. So, as you see, you can eat and drink really well for less than $30 per day. In France, that would be completely unheard of!
The next day was Monday. After having some coffee, the weather was gorgeous, so we headed to Retiro Park on the east side of Madrid. This park is famous for being absolutely gorgeous. There is a beautiful spot with a small pond and elaborate fountain with stairs that you can sit on. You can paddle boat in the pond, and therefore it reminds me a bit of Central Park. We continued walking down the park and stopped in a small gallery that is a part of the Reina Sophia. The Reina Sophia is the modern art museum in Madrid and is famous for its Dali’s and Picasso’s (specifically the Guernica, which I’ll talk a bit about later). The exhibit is small, simple, and nice. Better still, we got free entry to the museum Reina Sophia, which is a bit south of the park and usually costs about $10-15 per person. Just a little further on is the Glass Palace. The Glass Palace used to be a green house and now is just a pretty little glass room. Nearby, there was a film crew and it seemed they were shooting a film, though I didn’t recognize anyone there…
We finished walked through the lovely park and headed over to the Reina Sophia. As I mentioned, we had free tickets, so even though none of us really love modern art, we figured we might as well check it out. We saw a few Dali’s, which is always a bit bizarre, and then pretty much headed for the most famous piece: Picasso’s Guernica. For those of you who are really into modern art, I’m sure your cringing and thinking, what tourists! Sorry, that’s just how it is. The Guernica was cool. It is impressive how massive it is. Something new that was there was this huge camera scanner that they apparently use to analyze the piece in a really high-tech way, to see if he had altered it originally and what types of materials he used. It’s great for preserving the piece, analyzing it closely without tampering with it, and understanding Picasso’s artistic process. After, we headed to the rooftop, which has a nice view of Madrid.
Then, we popped over to the Atocha train station, which is just across the street. The train station was really amazing. It’s very clean and modern, and there is a really amazing little forest in the middle of it.
After, we were on the hunt to find a restaurant that was recommended to Aunt Martha, but we just couldn’t find it. So we headed to Plaza Santa Anna, which is a quaint little plaza, and sat at a restaurant called Vina P. Here I had peas sautéed in ham and a grilled salmon. The peas were wonderful and apparently pretty traditional in Spain. It was still so lovely out that we got to eat out on the terrace and worry about sunburn.
Then we meandered about on the lovely streets of Spain. One thing I love about Spain is the architecture: it’s just so magnificent. We wandered into the Ritz to see how much a cup of coffee costs (10euro!!!) and to see how gorgeous it is. On another recommendation of Aunt Martha’s, we went to the Centro de Bellas Artes. For only 2euro, you get to go on the rooftop for a beautiful view of Madrid. Normally it also includes a viewing of the wonderful exhibits there, but they failed to mention to us that on Mondays the exhibits are closed. So we sat in the lovely café there and had a coffee, a hot chocolate, and a milk shake. One thing that surprised Aunt Martha about her hot chocolate was how thick it was. In Spain hot chocolate is so thick, it’s like a dessert and not really a drink. Often you eat it with a spoon or by dipping churros into it.
We then headed to the other very famous museum in Madrid: the Prado. The last two hours it is open, it is free, so we also got to go to that museum for free! Famous artists in the museum include Goya, Valasquez, Ruben and el Greco. It is very impressive how large the museum is; we only spent time on one floor!
For dinner, we had tapas at the Cerverceria Cervantes, which was recommended in our Fodor’s book. We had tapas with cod, salmon, and shrimp. The shrimp one is specifically known and is highly recommended!
After, we headed to Malaspina, near Plaza del Sol, to have a few more tapas. Here we had a bit of chorizo and an empanada de carne. They also brought us real tapas with our drinks (ie, FREE!): Spanish tortilla (egg with potatoes) and olives. I highly recommend this tapas place. The tapas are about 5euro each (which is a bit pricey for tapas) but they are quite large and for three people 2 is definitely enough (but if you’re hungry, three is good!).
The next day, Tuesday, we went to Toledo. Toledo is a quick 30 minute high-speed train ride from Madrid and great for a day trip. If you do go, be sure to book your tickets in advance as the train often fills up. It is only 20euro each roundtrip to take the train and I would suggest leaving early in the morning and taking an evening train back as there is a lot to see in this beautiful, former capital of Spain! Also to note: your train ticket has assigned seats! We didn’t know that and only realized on the return trip that we must have stolen peoples’ seats!
Toledo is a wonderful city because it was the first capital of Spain and was the head of the Spanish church. It was known as the city of the three cultures where Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived together peacefully. Toledo was often fought over between the Muslims and Christians as the seat of power. (That’s the history of Toledo very, very generally! You might want to look up more info!!!)
First, after leaving the beautiful Atocha train station, we arrived at the beautiful Toledo train station. This station has gorgeous tiles and brown, earthy walls. We then took a bus for 2euro into town (it’s is definitely too far to walk). The town is extremely beautiful with earthy hues and old fortified walls.
We headed to the cathedral there which is expensive, but not to be missed. At first we were really shocked by the price, but once inside we realized it was well worth it. The cathedral is massive and breath-taking. No cost was spared in building this. Not to be skipped are the sacristy and treasury. In the sacristy there are incredible works of art, particularly by el Greco, who came from Toledo. In the back rooms there are beautiful tapestries and garb that had been worn by different high members of the clergy. In the treasury are astounding gold and jewels. There is also a lovely cloister where the monks could walk and contemplate the mysteries of the world. In it, there are orange trees and frescos that I believe were being refurbished.
After the cathedral, we went to one of the two synagogues there. At one time, the Jews, Christians, and Muslims all cohabitated in Toledo (and Spain in general) quite peacefully. The one synagogue we went to was made into a museum and is fairly interesting, though a little disappointing after seeing the massive cathedral. Kristen tells me the other synagogue is better. Oh well… Anyway, the synagogue has several artifacts from the traditions of the former Jewry here and the style of the building is interesting. There is a small courtyard with the stone sarcophaguses of passed Jews.
After, we walked a bit in the Jewish quarter to look at the shops. One shop we liked was small and run by a father and son. You could actually watch the son making the different pieces for the shop as the father deftly brings you through his shop. They recommended to us a restaurant across the alley. The food was not the best, but not bad, however the courtyard where we sat was beautiful. It was really an atrium type of room: it was in the middle of the building but had an open roof. The whole room had beautiful tile work and I found it to be quite peaceful. It was also really cheap: for about 10euro we got a bottle of wine for the three of us plus a three course meal. I enjoyed a lunch of paella for appetizer and quail for the meal, which was quite interesting. We also had delicious marzipan and chocolate mousse for dessert.
Already we had to start thinking about getting the bus to the train station. We wandered the streets, stopping in a marzipan shop where nuns made the marzipan. We also mailed postcards from the post office (also very beautiful) and window shopped. I think we could have definitely spent more time in Toledo. It would have been nice to see the fortified walls that you can actually walk on, and there is a fort/ castle there as well.
Check out photos at : http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150584315046319.377054.544216318&type=3&l=ec6a1a5500
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Mardi Gras!!!
Happy mardi gras! This past weekend I went to celebrate carnival for real in a small coastal town called Granville. It was the 138th anniversary of the festival! I was exactly how I imagined carnival in France to be! We arrived Saturday evening and hung out with my roommates friends. We then put on our costume and headed out. In the streets there were a lot of drum lines/ marching bands performing and EVERYONE was in costume. I was like an even bigger and better Halloween. There was also a real carnival (ie, spinning rides and games) and I rode on the bumper cars, which was crazy because I swear they could get up to 15 mi/hr and if both cars were going full speed head on you felt it. Of course, there were no seat belts. And everyone was drunk. It was obviously very, very safe. Not. It was a lawsuit waiting to happen, but apparently the French aren’t so sue-crazy like us Americans and my friends and I lived, so it was ok, and actually really fun. There were also all your typical rides and games, just like you’d see in the US (though I didn’t spot a whack-a-mole unfortunately).
It was a pretty small town with narrow, winding streets, so I think the actual number of people wasn’t a lot but it seemed like a lot. It was small enough that we saw the same people several times and were able to talk with them which was really cool. Even better, they often wore the same costumes for the whole week (carnival goes from about Thursday until Tuesday) so you could easily spot them again and rekindle your friendship.
On Sunday afternoon Kristen and I woke up to watch the parade. The parade was over two hours long, with all homemade floats that were very clever and well thought out. Kristen and I camped out in the main square, where there was a huge throng of people and we were able to get pretty close to see the floats. There was tons of confetti as well. Literally, tons. Apparently something like 10 tons of confetti were brought in for the event. Amazing. You’ll see in the pictures I posted that it was everywhere. So amazing! I can’t recall ever going to a real confetti parade like that. Luckily the day was gorgeous and the whole town came out and it really felt like mardi gras. Kristen and I then wandered the city, looking at different costumes, stopping in different bars and sandwich shops to dance to music (yes, sandwich shops!). It really was an amazing weekend, and we even conspired to stay an extra night as Sunday night is when they have fireworks apparently. Unfortunately, I had work the next day so we grudgingly left at 8:30pm.
I originally took over 300 photos. I tried to narrow it down, but it is still over 200! I hope you enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150545148681319.371538.544216318&type=1&aft=10150545276611319&l=7ee050126c
It was a pretty small town with narrow, winding streets, so I think the actual number of people wasn’t a lot but it seemed like a lot. It was small enough that we saw the same people several times and were able to talk with them which was really cool. Even better, they often wore the same costumes for the whole week (carnival goes from about Thursday until Tuesday) so you could easily spot them again and rekindle your friendship.
On Sunday afternoon Kristen and I woke up to watch the parade. The parade was over two hours long, with all homemade floats that were very clever and well thought out. Kristen and I camped out in the main square, where there was a huge throng of people and we were able to get pretty close to see the floats. There was tons of confetti as well. Literally, tons. Apparently something like 10 tons of confetti were brought in for the event. Amazing. You’ll see in the pictures I posted that it was everywhere. So amazing! I can’t recall ever going to a real confetti parade like that. Luckily the day was gorgeous and the whole town came out and it really felt like mardi gras. Kristen and I then wandered the city, looking at different costumes, stopping in different bars and sandwich shops to dance to music (yes, sandwich shops!). It really was an amazing weekend, and we even conspired to stay an extra night as Sunday night is when they have fireworks apparently. Unfortunately, I had work the next day so we grudgingly left at 8:30pm.
I originally took over 300 photos. I tried to narrow it down, but it is still over 200! I hope you enjoy!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150545148681319.371538.544216318&type=1&aft=10150545276611319&l=7ee050126c
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Allie visits, other updates, and LOTS OF PHOTOS!
Last time I posted, my friend Allie was visiting. We spent some time in Etretat and Honfleur. But I found the most interesting part of her visit was when we visited the Museum of Natural History of Le Havre. I honestly did not expect much of it since no one had mentioned it to me as a must-see and the building looks a bit dilapidated from the outside. However, the exhibit inside was incredible. They are currently featuring an exposition on the savannah so I figured I’d take Allie for an hour to check it out. Turns out the exhibit is unbelievably beautiful. It is two floors of gorgeous pictures of animals and local peoples from the region in Tanzania and Kenya. They also had a section for children with stuffed animals and great learning tools. The exhibit was especially nice because I had been to the savannah and seen all those people and animals live.
On Friday, January 27th a bunch of friends and I went to see a very amazing concert. The band was called the Orchestre National de Barbès and they use many different instruments from around the world, such as guitars, bagpipes, and traditional African instruments, to play music with a North African feel. They’re style was undoubtedly fresh and funky and kept people dancing the whole time. The concert was free and sponsored by Le Havre for the literary festival that was meant to highlight diversity in French literature. I was highly impressed.
On Sunday January 28th, I babysat for a little girl. It was just for a day because her dad had a Magic tournament to go to. I spent the whole day with the little girl. She was about seven years old and didn’t speak much English, just the basics (colors and numbers). I was her first babysitter, so she was pretty excited. We played all kinds of card games and I taught her how to play “Go Fish” in English. We also played dolls and put on a little make up. She was very sweet and easy going. Very fun! One thing I thought was strange is that for a snack she had hot chocolate with chocolate cereal. It’s strange because that is what my roommate has for breakfast every day. It must be some bizarre French thing; do they not realize that the milk becomes chocolaty from the chocolate cereal?!
For a few days, the region of Seine-maritime (kind of like a county) had a few special days where all the movie theaters were 3euro to see a movie. So I went many times and saw the films Le Havre, Sherlock Holmes (dubbed in French), La Vérié si je mens (“The truth if I lie,” a French comedy), J. Edgar.
In the film Le Havre all of the dialogue is very slow so all of myself and my foreign friends really enjoyed the movie because we understood all of it, but all of my French friends hated it because they found it to be boring and slow. What I like about the film is its very artsy. It plays with time really well, showing the main character in a very old fashioned car, but then in the background you can see contemporary cars. There are also interesting time juxtapositions such as a scene with someone on a cell phone, but then another scene with someone smoking in a hospital. Clearly two different time periods. I really enjoyed this play with time and found that it made the theme of the film seem timeless. Simultaneously classic yet modern. The film itself is about a group of Africans who are discovered when trying to go get to English by containerships. One of the boys escapes and the main character tries to help save him and send him to England.
J. Edgar was quite good but also quite awkward. There were many scenes that made me cringe from the brutal reality and awkwardness. I truly felt ill at ease a lot of the time and at the end had a sense of, “What did I just watch?” It was very raw and intimate, but almost too much so for me. I also wonder how true life it was.
I was also lucky enough to have dinner with two of the teachers I work with. They invited me over to dinner with their husbands and children. In typical French fashion, we got together around 8:30pm to have a few finger foods and chat. The children were then put to bed by the fathers and we continued chatting. Around 10pm we had dinner. Kristen and I were there until 1am! The home was beautiful, with a sitting room that was all glass and the home was on a hill that over looked the center of Le Havre. While we were there, it began to snow around midnight!
This was the first snow of the year, and it was pretty serious. I understand that Le Havre doesn’t usually get very cold and if it snows, it rarely sticks. There were maybe about 6inches of snow here and it stuck for quite a while. I got to see the snow on the beach and all of the beautiful buildings. I will post pictures, because it’s better to see it than to describe it.
Up until now, that’s just about it… Not too much going on here. I’m just relaxing at the moment and not travelling much, but I believe in the next month that should change. Will try and keep you posted!
Pictures from Christmas and Berlin: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150530090656319.369691.544216318&type=3&l=458fde62a3
Pictures from a bike ride with Kristen, Allie’s visit, and the Orchestre national concert: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150530373616319.369717.544216318&type=3&l=9c31183086
Pictures from Winter in Le Havre:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150530147061319.369696.544216318&type=1&l=decd012c6d
And general photos of LH:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150530432406319.369729.544216318&type=3&l=0c8e460ca8
On Friday, January 27th a bunch of friends and I went to see a very amazing concert. The band was called the Orchestre National de Barbès and they use many different instruments from around the world, such as guitars, bagpipes, and traditional African instruments, to play music with a North African feel. They’re style was undoubtedly fresh and funky and kept people dancing the whole time. The concert was free and sponsored by Le Havre for the literary festival that was meant to highlight diversity in French literature. I was highly impressed.
On Sunday January 28th, I babysat for a little girl. It was just for a day because her dad had a Magic tournament to go to. I spent the whole day with the little girl. She was about seven years old and didn’t speak much English, just the basics (colors and numbers). I was her first babysitter, so she was pretty excited. We played all kinds of card games and I taught her how to play “Go Fish” in English. We also played dolls and put on a little make up. She was very sweet and easy going. Very fun! One thing I thought was strange is that for a snack she had hot chocolate with chocolate cereal. It’s strange because that is what my roommate has for breakfast every day. It must be some bizarre French thing; do they not realize that the milk becomes chocolaty from the chocolate cereal?!
For a few days, the region of Seine-maritime (kind of like a county) had a few special days where all the movie theaters were 3euro to see a movie. So I went many times and saw the films Le Havre, Sherlock Holmes (dubbed in French), La Vérié si je mens (“The truth if I lie,” a French comedy), J. Edgar.
In the film Le Havre all of the dialogue is very slow so all of myself and my foreign friends really enjoyed the movie because we understood all of it, but all of my French friends hated it because they found it to be boring and slow. What I like about the film is its very artsy. It plays with time really well, showing the main character in a very old fashioned car, but then in the background you can see contemporary cars. There are also interesting time juxtapositions such as a scene with someone on a cell phone, but then another scene with someone smoking in a hospital. Clearly two different time periods. I really enjoyed this play with time and found that it made the theme of the film seem timeless. Simultaneously classic yet modern. The film itself is about a group of Africans who are discovered when trying to go get to English by containerships. One of the boys escapes and the main character tries to help save him and send him to England.
J. Edgar was quite good but also quite awkward. There were many scenes that made me cringe from the brutal reality and awkwardness. I truly felt ill at ease a lot of the time and at the end had a sense of, “What did I just watch?” It was very raw and intimate, but almost too much so for me. I also wonder how true life it was.
I was also lucky enough to have dinner with two of the teachers I work with. They invited me over to dinner with their husbands and children. In typical French fashion, we got together around 8:30pm to have a few finger foods and chat. The children were then put to bed by the fathers and we continued chatting. Around 10pm we had dinner. Kristen and I were there until 1am! The home was beautiful, with a sitting room that was all glass and the home was on a hill that over looked the center of Le Havre. While we were there, it began to snow around midnight!
This was the first snow of the year, and it was pretty serious. I understand that Le Havre doesn’t usually get very cold and if it snows, it rarely sticks. There were maybe about 6inches of snow here and it stuck for quite a while. I got to see the snow on the beach and all of the beautiful buildings. I will post pictures, because it’s better to see it than to describe it.
Up until now, that’s just about it… Not too much going on here. I’m just relaxing at the moment and not travelling much, but I believe in the next month that should change. Will try and keep you posted!
Pictures from Christmas and Berlin: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150530090656319.369691.544216318&type=3&l=458fde62a3
Pictures from a bike ride with Kristen, Allie’s visit, and the Orchestre national concert: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150530373616319.369717.544216318&type=3&l=9c31183086
Pictures from Winter in Le Havre:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150530147061319.369696.544216318&type=1&l=decd012c6d
And general photos of LH:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150530432406319.369729.544216318&type=3&l=0c8e460ca8
Monday, January 23, 2012
Berlin, Paris, and Le Havre!
Berlin was pretty cool, but to be fair I didn’t get to see a lot of it. I went on a walking tour on the first day and saw checkpoint Charlie (apparently the spot in the past where you crossed from East to West Berlin), Museum Island (where most of the main museums are located), the remains of the Berlin wall, and a cool memorial to the Jews who were killed during the holocaust (it is uneven squares in a pretty large area and the ground is uneven as well; it’s meant to give you the impression of graves).
I did go to one museum where there were beautiful buildings from ancient times inside of it. That’s right, buildings inside buildings. Somehow, the Germans figured out how to get whole ancient buildings from Greece, Rome, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. It’s unbelievable!
Besides all this cool stuff to see, Berlin also has a crazy nightlife. I really believe it is more of the city that never sleeps than New York is. I was there on a Tuesday to Friday, not usually the best time to go to a city if you want to party. But in Berlin, there’s always a party and the music there is my favorite kind: electronic music. There is one specific area where there is an abandoned train station and the whole area seems so shady, but it’s actually awesome and full of clubs and bars. One of the nights when we arrived, we found a party set up under a bridge: it seemed that some people just brought their dj speakers and lights and set up a party and there were now over 100 people there dancing in the street. It was unreal. I’m told that if I had been there on a weekend, you can literally party from Thursday night until Sunday night; the clubs and bars never close, even during the day!
The hostel I stayed in was called the Circus Hostel. It was one of the more expensive ones in Berlin, but it was still pretty reasonable since Berlin is so cheap. I decided to go there because the guy I was Couchsurfing with in Strasbourg told me that he had stayed there and it was great and the reviews for it were excellent. The hostel was super nice, with a really nice front lounge and a cool bar at night. One of the nights there was a local band playing and they were pretty good. The beers in Germany in general are much cheaper than in France (about half the price!) and I made a good few friends in the hostel and we would split a boot of beer between us! Very stereotypical, but so awesome. One of the people I met in the hostel was a girl who is from Bellmore, just a few towns over from Massapeqeua! I also made friends with two guys who are professional divers; the kind that live in a decompression chamber for 3 months at a time and go deep down in the water to work on wells and what not.
I only stayed in Berlin for three days and then was off again back to Paris. I spent most of my time in Paris with my friends from Le Havre. New Year’s Eve wasn’t anything too crazy or exciting. We just went to a few bars in a part of Paris that I knew well and had been to a lot when I was studying there. Then we returned to Le Havre and I spent the next few days recovering from travelling.
Since New Year’s Eve, I’ve been staying in Le Havre, trying to save up money and research what to do with my life after I finish teaching. I think because of the New Year’s resolutions thing, I got into a bit of a health kick as well and have started running, swimming, and biking. I’m training to run a marathon with a friend (we’re splitting the marathon) and I’ve also gotten a ten hour card to a local pool. The pool is very modern. The architecture is all white and geometric. The pool is also half indoor and half outdoor. You enter the pool in the indoor portion and then go under a plastic kind of divider and then your outside. The pool is heated and once you start swimming it’s really warm and it’s actually really refreshing to have the fresh, crisp air while you swim. Unfortunately, I imagine it’s not very efficient in terms of energy use and I’ve heard that they built it too quickly and not well and now it leaks water into the ground and they can’t fix it. Not terribly eco-friendly I suppose.
My birthday also passed on January 12th. Had a great time seeing all of my friends. The festivities started on midnight when it turned my birthday (Wednesday) until Saturday night! During the week I had a Couchsurfer from Quebec, so lucky him, he got to see the most fun side of Le Havre. He left on Saturday morning and Saturday night was the big night where I had all of my friends out for dinner at a couscous restaurant. The restaurant was great and the woman who owned the place knew us and she gave me a bottle of champagne!
I also went to see a burlesque circus. The circus was from Australia and did cool acrobatics and contortion tricks. I really loved the theme of an adult circus; it made circus arts seem a bit more serious and artistic. The music that they performed to was also all live. I think the best trick they had was a girl lined up bottles of champagne on a piano and then walked on the tops of them on her toes! And because I am registered as a student at the university here, the tickets were 1/3 of the price!
I went to a improv comedy show here as well. I had gone with Kristen way back in October and it was hilarious because they had some funny skits that were a lot of miming, but this time there was a lot more talking so it was a bit difficult for us, as we didn’t understand a lot of it.
In other news, I got a roommate! The upstairs to my apartment is quite large so I have rented it out for low cost to a French guy. He is 27 and works for the soccer team here. He’s very nice and fun and can get me free tickets to the home soccer games! Apparently Le Havre has a great soccer team for its division. He has met all my friends and we all love him. It’s especially great for me because I speak only in French with him, and I really think that in the last week that he’s been here I’ve improved a lot in my speaking. His sister came over yesterday to visit him and see the apartment and she brought us food his mom made! It was veal wrapped in what looked like bacon but it was from the cow. And for dessert his aunt had sent us some real ginger bread.
I have also started tutoring two adorable little boys for an hour on Wednesdays in English. Last week we worked on telling time and saying numbers. Today I met a father about babysitting his daughter on Sunday. He has a Magic the Gathering tournament (it’s a card game) this Sunday and he needs me to watch her. The girl is super cute and 7 years old. She was very shy when meeting me, but I think she liked me. I’ll be her first sitter! I also got an email that someone from the business college here would like tutoring in English! Woo! Makin’ money!!
I have a friend Ali from the US visiting me now! I’ll write all about her trip soon!
I did go to one museum where there were beautiful buildings from ancient times inside of it. That’s right, buildings inside buildings. Somehow, the Germans figured out how to get whole ancient buildings from Greece, Rome, the Middle East, and Northern Africa. It’s unbelievable!
Besides all this cool stuff to see, Berlin also has a crazy nightlife. I really believe it is more of the city that never sleeps than New York is. I was there on a Tuesday to Friday, not usually the best time to go to a city if you want to party. But in Berlin, there’s always a party and the music there is my favorite kind: electronic music. There is one specific area where there is an abandoned train station and the whole area seems so shady, but it’s actually awesome and full of clubs and bars. One of the nights when we arrived, we found a party set up under a bridge: it seemed that some people just brought their dj speakers and lights and set up a party and there were now over 100 people there dancing in the street. It was unreal. I’m told that if I had been there on a weekend, you can literally party from Thursday night until Sunday night; the clubs and bars never close, even during the day!
The hostel I stayed in was called the Circus Hostel. It was one of the more expensive ones in Berlin, but it was still pretty reasonable since Berlin is so cheap. I decided to go there because the guy I was Couchsurfing with in Strasbourg told me that he had stayed there and it was great and the reviews for it were excellent. The hostel was super nice, with a really nice front lounge and a cool bar at night. One of the nights there was a local band playing and they were pretty good. The beers in Germany in general are much cheaper than in France (about half the price!) and I made a good few friends in the hostel and we would split a boot of beer between us! Very stereotypical, but so awesome. One of the people I met in the hostel was a girl who is from Bellmore, just a few towns over from Massapeqeua! I also made friends with two guys who are professional divers; the kind that live in a decompression chamber for 3 months at a time and go deep down in the water to work on wells and what not.
I only stayed in Berlin for three days and then was off again back to Paris. I spent most of my time in Paris with my friends from Le Havre. New Year’s Eve wasn’t anything too crazy or exciting. We just went to a few bars in a part of Paris that I knew well and had been to a lot when I was studying there. Then we returned to Le Havre and I spent the next few days recovering from travelling.
Since New Year’s Eve, I’ve been staying in Le Havre, trying to save up money and research what to do with my life after I finish teaching. I think because of the New Year’s resolutions thing, I got into a bit of a health kick as well and have started running, swimming, and biking. I’m training to run a marathon with a friend (we’re splitting the marathon) and I’ve also gotten a ten hour card to a local pool. The pool is very modern. The architecture is all white and geometric. The pool is also half indoor and half outdoor. You enter the pool in the indoor portion and then go under a plastic kind of divider and then your outside. The pool is heated and once you start swimming it’s really warm and it’s actually really refreshing to have the fresh, crisp air while you swim. Unfortunately, I imagine it’s not very efficient in terms of energy use and I’ve heard that they built it too quickly and not well and now it leaks water into the ground and they can’t fix it. Not terribly eco-friendly I suppose.
My birthday also passed on January 12th. Had a great time seeing all of my friends. The festivities started on midnight when it turned my birthday (Wednesday) until Saturday night! During the week I had a Couchsurfer from Quebec, so lucky him, he got to see the most fun side of Le Havre. He left on Saturday morning and Saturday night was the big night where I had all of my friends out for dinner at a couscous restaurant. The restaurant was great and the woman who owned the place knew us and she gave me a bottle of champagne!
I also went to see a burlesque circus. The circus was from Australia and did cool acrobatics and contortion tricks. I really loved the theme of an adult circus; it made circus arts seem a bit more serious and artistic. The music that they performed to was also all live. I think the best trick they had was a girl lined up bottles of champagne on a piano and then walked on the tops of them on her toes! And because I am registered as a student at the university here, the tickets were 1/3 of the price!
I went to a improv comedy show here as well. I had gone with Kristen way back in October and it was hilarious because they had some funny skits that were a lot of miming, but this time there was a lot more talking so it was a bit difficult for us, as we didn’t understand a lot of it.
In other news, I got a roommate! The upstairs to my apartment is quite large so I have rented it out for low cost to a French guy. He is 27 and works for the soccer team here. He’s very nice and fun and can get me free tickets to the home soccer games! Apparently Le Havre has a great soccer team for its division. He has met all my friends and we all love him. It’s especially great for me because I speak only in French with him, and I really think that in the last week that he’s been here I’ve improved a lot in my speaking. His sister came over yesterday to visit him and see the apartment and she brought us food his mom made! It was veal wrapped in what looked like bacon but it was from the cow. And for dessert his aunt had sent us some real ginger bread.
I have also started tutoring two adorable little boys for an hour on Wednesdays in English. Last week we worked on telling time and saying numbers. Today I met a father about babysitting his daughter on Sunday. He has a Magic the Gathering tournament (it’s a card game) this Sunday and he needs me to watch her. The girl is super cute and 7 years old. She was very shy when meeting me, but I think she liked me. I’ll be her first sitter! I also got an email that someone from the business college here would like tutoring in English! Woo! Makin’ money!!
I have a friend Ali from the US visiting me now! I’ll write all about her trip soon!
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Manchester for Christmas!
Sorry I’ve again slacked off and failed to write for ages! Luckily, after this post, I go back to Le Havre and I’m just kind of relaxing so there’s not terribly much to write about…
When I left off, I had been heading off to Manchester to visit my friend Gemma. The journey was long. I left Le Havre early in the morning doing a Covoiturage. Unfortunately, the night before, my French friends in Le Havre and I had a big night since it was the last time we’d see each other for a while. Slightly hungover is not the best way to go about Covoiturage, since you’re expected to talk, not puke in their car- haha. Luckily, I pulled through and made it to the Champs Elysees (that’s the famous street in Paris with the Arc du Triomphe in the middle of it). It was the first time I had been on the roundabout around the Arc du Triomphe in a car. To give you an idea of the chaos that is that roundabout, one time my mom was looking down from the Arc and witnessed an accident. Another time, a friend was being driven to Paris as well and the driver said, “If you’re a little afraid, it’s ok. I am too.”
After getting dropped off, I went and met my friend Kristen who was on vacation with her mom and grandma. They had a really charming hotel called the Hotel de Nice (I think) right near the Hotel de Ville (town hall). The area is an awesome location- right near the Marais, the gay and Jewish quarter, and also a very lively one with winding streets and cool shops and restaurants. I met them for a little breakfast and then chatted with them in their hotel for a bit. It was very sweet to meet them! Then, they were off to the Louvre and I headed to Charles de Gaulle airport.
I happened to be travelling at the end of a week of major strikes in the airport by the security checkers. I got their early, but the airline I was flying on was small and I was misdirected to the wrong terminal (good thing I was very early!) and I happened to pass the strikers. They just suddenly came out of nowhere and accumulated, banging on drums, and with loads of cops surrounding them. Quite interesting.
Luckily, despite the strike, getting through security was a breeze. After a quick litter hour and a half flight, I was in Manchester airport. I took a train into Manchester city and met Gemma’s sister, Ellie, at her shop. Ellie makes clothing and has a shop in this old warehouse building that has been converted into this epic kinda vintage and handmade clothing mall called Afflecks Palace. Then we took the train out to Congleton and drove to Gemma’s house. Overall, took nearly twelve hours. But so worth it! I love spending time with Gemma’s family! They are so warm and inviting.
I spent most of the weekend eating and relaxing. Food highlights are: pigs in a blanket (sausage wrapped in bacon), toasties (grilled cheese made in a kind of Forman’s grill), turkey, sprouts… and real milk that is delivered by a milk man!
One of the first days, we went on a beautiful hike around a lake with all of Gemma’s friends. Can’t remember the name of the lake, but it was a beautiful hike and she has very sweet friends.
Overall, I’ll just let you know how Christmas goes in England. Christmas Eve isn’t really the big deal like it is in the States. We just relaxed at Gemma’s house. The Christmas Day is the big day. Gemma’s brother, sister-in-law, and nephew came over and we exchanged gifts, had loads of wine, and ate tons of food. Their Christmas Day meal is usually Turkey with sprouts and cranberry sauce; very much like Thanksgiving! They also have Christmas pudding, which is a kind of fruit cake that has a lot of brandy or something in it and you pour some liquor on top of it and light it on fire! It’s very traditional, and traditionally not well liked!
That was pretty much a summary of the four days in Manchester… On the last day, we had lunch near Leeds at her aunt and uncle’s home, and then Gemma put me on a bus to London at 6pm. I arrived at around 10:30pm. Hung out in a pub until about midnight, then took a bus to Stansted airport and waited there for a few hours until my flight at 6:30am to Berlin! That was a crazy trek.
Ok, I think that’s enough for one day! I will tell you all about Berlin next time!!!
When I left off, I had been heading off to Manchester to visit my friend Gemma. The journey was long. I left Le Havre early in the morning doing a Covoiturage. Unfortunately, the night before, my French friends in Le Havre and I had a big night since it was the last time we’d see each other for a while. Slightly hungover is not the best way to go about Covoiturage, since you’re expected to talk, not puke in their car- haha. Luckily, I pulled through and made it to the Champs Elysees (that’s the famous street in Paris with the Arc du Triomphe in the middle of it). It was the first time I had been on the roundabout around the Arc du Triomphe in a car. To give you an idea of the chaos that is that roundabout, one time my mom was looking down from the Arc and witnessed an accident. Another time, a friend was being driven to Paris as well and the driver said, “If you’re a little afraid, it’s ok. I am too.”
After getting dropped off, I went and met my friend Kristen who was on vacation with her mom and grandma. They had a really charming hotel called the Hotel de Nice (I think) right near the Hotel de Ville (town hall). The area is an awesome location- right near the Marais, the gay and Jewish quarter, and also a very lively one with winding streets and cool shops and restaurants. I met them for a little breakfast and then chatted with them in their hotel for a bit. It was very sweet to meet them! Then, they were off to the Louvre and I headed to Charles de Gaulle airport.
I happened to be travelling at the end of a week of major strikes in the airport by the security checkers. I got their early, but the airline I was flying on was small and I was misdirected to the wrong terminal (good thing I was very early!) and I happened to pass the strikers. They just suddenly came out of nowhere and accumulated, banging on drums, and with loads of cops surrounding them. Quite interesting.
Luckily, despite the strike, getting through security was a breeze. After a quick litter hour and a half flight, I was in Manchester airport. I took a train into Manchester city and met Gemma’s sister, Ellie, at her shop. Ellie makes clothing and has a shop in this old warehouse building that has been converted into this epic kinda vintage and handmade clothing mall called Afflecks Palace. Then we took the train out to Congleton and drove to Gemma’s house. Overall, took nearly twelve hours. But so worth it! I love spending time with Gemma’s family! They are so warm and inviting.
I spent most of the weekend eating and relaxing. Food highlights are: pigs in a blanket (sausage wrapped in bacon), toasties (grilled cheese made in a kind of Forman’s grill), turkey, sprouts… and real milk that is delivered by a milk man!
One of the first days, we went on a beautiful hike around a lake with all of Gemma’s friends. Can’t remember the name of the lake, but it was a beautiful hike and she has very sweet friends.
Overall, I’ll just let you know how Christmas goes in England. Christmas Eve isn’t really the big deal like it is in the States. We just relaxed at Gemma’s house. The Christmas Day is the big day. Gemma’s brother, sister-in-law, and nephew came over and we exchanged gifts, had loads of wine, and ate tons of food. Their Christmas Day meal is usually Turkey with sprouts and cranberry sauce; very much like Thanksgiving! They also have Christmas pudding, which is a kind of fruit cake that has a lot of brandy or something in it and you pour some liquor on top of it and light it on fire! It’s very traditional, and traditionally not well liked!
That was pretty much a summary of the four days in Manchester… On the last day, we had lunch near Leeds at her aunt and uncle’s home, and then Gemma put me on a bus to London at 6pm. I arrived at around 10:30pm. Hung out in a pub until about midnight, then took a bus to Stansted airport and waited there for a few hours until my flight at 6:30am to Berlin! That was a crazy trek.
Ok, I think that’s enough for one day! I will tell you all about Berlin next time!!!
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