Paris & Berlin
Arrived in Paris and the first thing that surprised us really was seeing houses! There’s really only apartment complexes in Spain (or at least in urban Spain) so when we saw houses from the airport to the city center, that was a big surprise. Another surprise was realizing how little I speak of other languages besides English and Spanish. I didn’t even know thank you, goodbye or please. Luckily, everyone at our hotel spoke English as well as most people we encountered there. Speaking of the hotel, one of my favorite parts of the trip was breakfast. We had an included breakfast with our stay and it was dreamlike. Surrounded by little French couples and families, our waiter asked for our preference: café au lait o chocolate. Then he would scurry off into the little kitchen to prepare our individual breakfast tray of one croissant and one French loaf each, as well as an array of jams and honeys. It worked as the best alarm clock for Coop and I—as soon as we got up, we got ready as soon as possible to go get breakfast.
As far as the main sites go, Paris is not overrated in the least. We purchased the Paris Museum Pass and really got our money out of it. We saw Versailles (palace outside of Paris), Orsay Museum (art with great Impressionist collection), Louvre (Mona Lisa), Saint Chapelle (church), Notre Dame, Conciergie (prison where Marie Antoinette was held), Napoleon’s Tomb, Arc de Triumf (arch at the end of the Champs de Elysees where you can see the whole city) and L’Orangerie (Monet art collection). I wish I could say I have a refined taste but I really don’t care to see any art for a while.
Personally, I think the best sites don’t require an entry fee. I have definitely learned that you can get burnt out on sightseeing if you’re not careful. Walking along the Seine River is relaxing and beautiful and gives great views of the city. Sitting and drinking coffee in one of the cafes is part of the culture. One of the best things Coop and I did was go to Pere LaChase (sp?) cemetery. Among the various creative minds buried there is Jim Morrison. The graves, or rather tombs, are actually very elaborate and strolling around the cemetery wasn’t morbid like I thought it would be when Coop suggested going. Also, Coop and I bought coffees in the Tuilleries Gardens outside the Louvre and sat in reclining chairs near a pond.
And, of course, the Eiffel Tower. I really thought that I would be disappointed because everyone talks about the Eiffel Tower and how great it is and usually when things are talked up too much, they never can live up to your expectations. The Eiffel Tower is breathtaking from faraway and up-close. I learned two things while I was climbing the tower. One, the Eiffel Tower sparkles at night for ten minutes every hour. Two, I have a fear of heights. We hadn’t even made it to the first viewpoint (there’s three) before I started to feel like I was going to pass out. However, in my defense, I’m usually never scared of heights and you can really imagine yourself falling when all you can see supporting you are the beams underneath you and you can feel the tower swaying in the wind. We made it to the second viewpoint before I had to call it quits. According to Rick Steves, it’s the best area for sights of the city in the first place.
Finally, as always, I have to give my review of the food. We ate a lot of paninis in the streets, we had Donor Kebap twice (not very good in Paris), we tried the one true Parisian cuisine item, French onion soup (tasted the same as Campbells to me) and also had CREPES. Crepes are the best thing to happen to me. Or the worst. Depends on how you look at it. A crepe, for those of you who aren’t sure, is a very thin pancake filled with your choice of sweet or salty foods. So it can be a dessert crepe or more of a snack crepe. When I ordered my first crepe of banana and nutella (chocolate) and took the first bite, I was immediately angry at myself for waiting until the last day to try them. They are absolutely delicious. So even if you’re not going to Paris and you haven’t had a crepe before, I highly recommend investigating where you can get one. I had one in Berlin as well and it was almost as good.
Berlin!!!
Berlin was my favorite and I’m not even sure why. There’s no Eiffel Tower, no spectacular art and no palaces. However, there is a certain relaxed and welcoming feeling there. The weather was beautiful; everyone we encountered seemed so happy and excited to be where they are.
The hostel we stayed at was incredible. There was a kitchen and a beautiful garden to eat in or stroll around in. There was a German beer happy hour from 8 to 10 every night (for Coop) and a coffee happy hour from 7 to 10 every morning (for me). The man at the front was so welcoming, telling us where everything was in the city, what was going on that weekend, etc. So we heard from him that there was going to be a free walking tour around the city so we jumped on that.
Our tour guide was a British guy who had been living in Berlin for five years giving tours around the city. They do a free tour (of course, accepting tips) in order to persuade you to go on their other non-free tours. I always like stuff like this because if you have a good product or service, you should be able to prove it and then gain people’s trust to come back. Anyhow, it was fabulous. We learned so much about the city while simultaneously being entertained by his humorous anecdotes in his British accent (that always seems to make things funnier).
A few interesting stories/facts we learned:
• Outside the city museum where Hitler used to give speeches, etc, a movie producer was trying to reproduce a Nazi rally. He hired extras, put up Nazi flags, everything. As soon as they got everything set up, a snowstorm blew in and they were only able to grab the movie production things and clear the extras. So after the snow calmed down, all people saw were Nazi flags all over their government buildings.
• Berlin Wall escape stories:
o One man zip lined his family to the other side by hiding his family in the bathroom at his work that was located next to the wall and then used his pants to zipline to the other side with his two kids hanging on to his legs. His wife used her skirt.
o One man borrowed a forklift and rammed through the first wall and then lifted up on the forklift on the other side.
o A young man’s girlfriend was on the East Berlin side and in order to get her to the West side, he told her to do some extreme dieting. Once she got to be little more than skin and bones, he took the stuffing out of his passenger seat chair and put her in it. They never found her.
o Similarly, another young man’s girlfriend was on the East Berlin side and he was trying to smuggle her past the borders. He dated a girl who lived on the West Berlin side that looked very similar to her for two years and then took her to the East Berlin side for a weekend trip. One day while they were at lunch, she went to the bathroom. When she came back, her passport and papers were missing. The man had switched her out for his true love and left her stranded. True documented story.
o One man catapulted himself to the other side.
o One of the biggest Catholic churches in Berlin has Coca-Cola endorsements posted outside. When parishioners complained, they replaced them with Mercedes Benz endorsements.
o The soldier posted outside Checkpoint Charlie isn’t real. He works for an exotic dancing company and is just there to make money off of taking pictures with him.
o It was a fad for a while to graffiti David Hasselhoff Save the World onto buildings.
o Berlin has numbered all of their trees.
o Hitler’s bunker and “suicide spot” is located outside a random apartment building in a parking lot. The German government didn’t want anyone to make a memorial or a display about it so no one really knows about it. We were there on the anniversary of Hitler’s death.
o Berlin created a memorial for the Jews that died in the Holocaust that are blocks of granite coated in a chemical that makes it easy to wipe off graffiti. The same company that produces this chemical produced the gases that killed the Jews. Therefore, they profited from the death of the Jews and are now profiting off their memorial.
o Gobles (sp?), the man who devised the plan to exterminate the Jews, had Jewish family.
We also met three people our age on the tour—Megan, Sam and Ross. Megan and Sam’s dad told them when they graduated that he wasn’t going to pay for college but would pay for them to travel until they didn’t want to or until they wanted to settle down. They’ve basically been travelling for the past three and a half years across Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia. Ross was a bartender from Washington state who was staying with a friend in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was interesting to meet people who were actively avoiding the 9-5.
The one night that Coop and I went out for a nice meal, we had one of the traditional German drinks—something Weiss. It’s flavored beer. Mine was cranberry and Coop was herbal or something. Coop ordered schnitzel (fried veal) and throughout the next couple of days, we had a couple of currywursts (hot dogs/sausages covered in curry and ketchup). I loved it. I loved Berlin and hope to go back one day to see more of Germany because they are really great people!
As far as traveling goes, however, I’ve learned several things.
-Don’t overdo the sightseeing. If you’re too worried about seeing everything, you won’t enjoy your time at the places you do get to see.
-Half the fun of traveling to other countries is getting to know the people and their culture. And their coffee.
-It’s worth it to pay the extra money to avoid long bus rides/to go the most direct route. The 7 hour bus ride from Sevilla to Madrid is pretty bad….
Monday, May 4, 2009
Madrid...Again!
We’ve started having get-togethers on our roof. See the pics and the roof. My favorite part of them are Keith’s 90s music playlist.
Coop and I have started our way to Paris. So I have learned my lesson hard. I thought we would save money by bussing it to Madrid and flying from a major airport. But after paying for a hotel and going out last night in Madrid, I think the plan was a bust. Oh well. We had a great time in Madrid last night. So far, probably my favorite city in Spain.
So we head out on a 6 hour bus ride from Seville to Madrid. What I would like to consider some quality bonding time. Before the trip I see a Brady Bunchesque family and am praying they’re not sitting near us. They’re not but instead we have two Jamaican guys who are drunk sitting right behind us and who occasionally sit up and just hover over us. They were sharing some philosophical thoughts however. Such as, “Moneh mon. It jus papa, ya know.” We had the lunches our senoras packed for us and I brought the American 100 calorie pack snacks my mom brought me. I feel like such a soccer mom bringing snacks with me. That or a fat kid.
Anyhow, after eternity, we arrive in Madrid and make it to the hostel. I borrowed a rolly bag from my senora but because its canvas and it’s full, it drags on the ground. Coop has had the pleasure of lugging it around. Drop our stuff off and beeline to the calamari sandwich shop. Love the place—we get the same seats at the bar, the same bartender, same sandwiches, same beers. I’ve always wanted to be a regular at a place and walk in and say the regular. If I lived in Madrid, this could’ve been my place. So after that, we pretty much hit up all the good places we went to before in Madrid. The Bar Andaluz that has all the pictures of bullfighting and the Sevilla soccer teams (I struck up conversation with the bartender about how Real Betis is the better of the two) and then we went to get the amazing mushrooms at Meson Championes or Mushroom Bar with some red wine. If you go to Madrid, you should definitely go to the place. Whenever I’ve had a few drinks, I like to pretend I know the bartender and we talked about the signs on the wall that said “A pretty woman is dangerous. A ugly woman is dangerous but also disgraceful,” and “A good mother-in-law keeps her mouth shut and her purse open.” Personally, I don’t know why I laughed at these as they’re vaguely condescending to women. After we paid and were heading out the door, we kept looking back to say goodbye and Debbie Downer Coop suggested that probably after we’ve paid, they just don’t care about us. I think they were just busy.
We headed towards home but not before stopping at a Mexican bar to pay 3.75 euros for a Corona. But it’s okay because….they had swings for seats at the bar. To me, this was the coolest thing ever. Needless to say, Coop was embarrassed but either way, it was a good experience. I suggest the innovation to all restaurant entrepreneurs.
Decided to sleep in this morning. Prob a bad idea. I’m yelling at Coop because I’m freaking out that Ryanair, the cheapest airline that’s notorious for charging exorbitant amounts of money to people who bring bags weighing too much and he’s freaking out that we’re not going to leave the hotel on time. On top of this, the line to the two bathroom is 6 people long and we have to leave in 40 minutes. Everything works out fine after a) we repacked the bags to more evenly distribute the weight b) I washed my hair in the sink.
My favorite moment of the morning is Coop telling me I don’t even know what I’ve packed and pulling out a Burger King happy meal toy out of the backpack. No comment.
Off to Paris….CAN NOT WAIT.
Coop and I have started our way to Paris. So I have learned my lesson hard. I thought we would save money by bussing it to Madrid and flying from a major airport. But after paying for a hotel and going out last night in Madrid, I think the plan was a bust. Oh well. We had a great time in Madrid last night. So far, probably my favorite city in Spain.
So we head out on a 6 hour bus ride from Seville to Madrid. What I would like to consider some quality bonding time. Before the trip I see a Brady Bunchesque family and am praying they’re not sitting near us. They’re not but instead we have two Jamaican guys who are drunk sitting right behind us and who occasionally sit up and just hover over us. They were sharing some philosophical thoughts however. Such as, “Moneh mon. It jus papa, ya know.” We had the lunches our senoras packed for us and I brought the American 100 calorie pack snacks my mom brought me. I feel like such a soccer mom bringing snacks with me. That or a fat kid.
Anyhow, after eternity, we arrive in Madrid and make it to the hostel. I borrowed a rolly bag from my senora but because its canvas and it’s full, it drags on the ground. Coop has had the pleasure of lugging it around. Drop our stuff off and beeline to the calamari sandwich shop. Love the place—we get the same seats at the bar, the same bartender, same sandwiches, same beers. I’ve always wanted to be a regular at a place and walk in and say the regular. If I lived in Madrid, this could’ve been my place. So after that, we pretty much hit up all the good places we went to before in Madrid. The Bar Andaluz that has all the pictures of bullfighting and the Sevilla soccer teams (I struck up conversation with the bartender about how Real Betis is the better of the two) and then we went to get the amazing mushrooms at Meson Championes or Mushroom Bar with some red wine. If you go to Madrid, you should definitely go to the place. Whenever I’ve had a few drinks, I like to pretend I know the bartender and we talked about the signs on the wall that said “A pretty woman is dangerous. A ugly woman is dangerous but also disgraceful,” and “A good mother-in-law keeps her mouth shut and her purse open.” Personally, I don’t know why I laughed at these as they’re vaguely condescending to women. After we paid and were heading out the door, we kept looking back to say goodbye and Debbie Downer Coop suggested that probably after we’ve paid, they just don’t care about us. I think they were just busy.
We headed towards home but not before stopping at a Mexican bar to pay 3.75 euros for a Corona. But it’s okay because….they had swings for seats at the bar. To me, this was the coolest thing ever. Needless to say, Coop was embarrassed but either way, it was a good experience. I suggest the innovation to all restaurant entrepreneurs.
Decided to sleep in this morning. Prob a bad idea. I’m yelling at Coop because I’m freaking out that Ryanair, the cheapest airline that’s notorious for charging exorbitant amounts of money to people who bring bags weighing too much and he’s freaking out that we’re not going to leave the hotel on time. On top of this, the line to the two bathroom is 6 people long and we have to leave in 40 minutes. Everything works out fine after a) we repacked the bags to more evenly distribute the weight b) I washed my hair in the sink.
My favorite moment of the morning is Coop telling me I don’t even know what I’ve packed and pulling out a Burger King happy meal toy out of the backpack. No comment.
Off to Paris….CAN NOT WAIT.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
I’m so excited because I finally got my Sevici card---which is a bike pass for the city. To most it probably wouldn’t be that exciting but I think this will be much better than walking all the time and will save me a lot of time. I got on the bike yesterday and realized how long its been since I’ve rode a bike….we’ll see how me weaving in and out of pedestrians works out…
Bomba (the dog) is sick. I generally end up walking him at night to help the family out some and it seriously took the dog 15 minutes to attempt to pee. When we were in Mijas, we saw a bulldog puppy that cost 1100 euros. I never realized how much people were willing to pay for a dog….there’s plenty at the animal shelter
I have found out that my exams end June 3rdish and I can either go home, stay in Sevilla or go travel. Problem is that I’m not sure how many people will be staying in Sevilla and I’m not sure where I’d travel to. Andrea wants to go to London and Meagan is going to Greece but I’m not sure if the dates will work out. Travel plans can be stressful.
Later...
So I tried to use the Sevici card today and check out a bike. After using a card that's supposed to last six months for one day, it has apparently expired. I'm not sure if that's a testament to things not working properly in Spain or my bad luck.
Went to what seemed like hours of class today and realized that I'm going on a week of vacation to Italy and getting back the day before my history exam. Hopefully what the professor says is true and 80% of our grade is attendance...TIS (also known as This Is Spain, meaning only this could happen in Spain.)
Finished a very good book today---The Glass Castle. All should read it.
We went out to The Sweet Party at Caramelo's tonight. Sure they had free beer. But they also had waiters walking around with free candy, which was way better. Except for the fact that the marshmallows kept getting squished onto my boots. I can deal with that if I'm getting free sour patch. Just about everyone from our group was there tonight dancing. I think everyone is starting to get the feeling that we're running out of time. Especially the LSCS students who are here one month less than us. I can't decide if I'm ready to go back or not. While I am very comfortable and accustomed here, I still yearn for American culture. I'm forever going to be stuck in between wanting to be in Spain or traveling and wanting to be with my family and friends in the U.S. Anyhow, I have Paris, Berlin and Italy still to go....no more complaining from me. I'm going to travel in more countries in two weeks than I have the rest of my life.
Bomba (the dog) is sick. I generally end up walking him at night to help the family out some and it seriously took the dog 15 minutes to attempt to pee. When we were in Mijas, we saw a bulldog puppy that cost 1100 euros. I never realized how much people were willing to pay for a dog….there’s plenty at the animal shelter
I have found out that my exams end June 3rdish and I can either go home, stay in Sevilla or go travel. Problem is that I’m not sure how many people will be staying in Sevilla and I’m not sure where I’d travel to. Andrea wants to go to London and Meagan is going to Greece but I’m not sure if the dates will work out. Travel plans can be stressful.
Later...
So I tried to use the Sevici card today and check out a bike. After using a card that's supposed to last six months for one day, it has apparently expired. I'm not sure if that's a testament to things not working properly in Spain or my bad luck.
Went to what seemed like hours of class today and realized that I'm going on a week of vacation to Italy and getting back the day before my history exam. Hopefully what the professor says is true and 80% of our grade is attendance...TIS (also known as This Is Spain, meaning only this could happen in Spain.)
Finished a very good book today---The Glass Castle. All should read it.
We went out to The Sweet Party at Caramelo's tonight. Sure they had free beer. But they also had waiters walking around with free candy, which was way better. Except for the fact that the marshmallows kept getting squished onto my boots. I can deal with that if I'm getting free sour patch. Just about everyone from our group was there tonight dancing. I think everyone is starting to get the feeling that we're running out of time. Especially the LSCS students who are here one month less than us. I can't decide if I'm ready to go back or not. While I am very comfortable and accustomed here, I still yearn for American culture. I'm forever going to be stuck in between wanting to be in Spain or traveling and wanting to be with my family and friends in the U.S. Anyhow, I have Paris, Berlin and Italy still to go....no more complaining from me. I'm going to travel in more countries in two weeks than I have the rest of my life.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Semana Santa
So the fam has come and gone. Alas, it was quite the adventure. Coop and I backtracked to all of the places nearby that we had visited and showed my parents around Ronda, Gibraltar and Granada. Finally for the last two days we came back to Sevilla to see the pasos and my family came to meet my Senora on Easter and enjoyed a very nice meal with them.
Highlights of the week:
-UNC WINNING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
-Coop learning how to play cards with my family….ending with a rather violent game of spoons
-me being terrified and simultaneously fascinated by monkeys at Gibraltar
-Coop being chased and surrounded by monkeys at Gibraltar
-watching my mom speak English to my Spanish senora like she’s speaking to someone mentally handicapped
-watching my dad take caramel shots with my senora’s friend after she insisted
-Philip refusing suntan lotion and getting a very awkward and intense burn on his back
-Coop and I swimming in the Mediterranean and then not being able to feel my body afterwards I’m so cold
-receiving much needed supplies from America including DVDS, books, easy mac and Dr. Scholl’s gel foot pads
-Dad going mute after a very stressful drive to and from Gibraltar….
-Chelsea beating Liverpool
-escaping Granada just in time to beat the crowds of the parade
-eating a meal of donor kebap on more than one occasion with my family
-riding a cybersport bike with the whole family and Coop…disappointment of a lifetime was not being able to reach the pedals
-playing charades with the family. Dad goes up to act his out and forgets the third word in the name of the movie halfway through…..Aliens vs. Predator. The performance was needless to say, unforgettable.
-my mom getting claustrophobic in her hotel room….
-supermarkets in general….first my dad confuses the word mercadona (market) with Madonna then we discover that tortillas are not really carried at Spanish grocery stores after getting everything for Mexican. And finally all grocery stores close at around 9 and are completely closed Sunday, Maundy Thursday but not Good Friday.
Highlights of the week:
-UNC WINNING THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
-Coop learning how to play cards with my family….ending with a rather violent game of spoons
-me being terrified and simultaneously fascinated by monkeys at Gibraltar
-Coop being chased and surrounded by monkeys at Gibraltar
-watching my mom speak English to my Spanish senora like she’s speaking to someone mentally handicapped
-watching my dad take caramel shots with my senora’s friend after she insisted
-Philip refusing suntan lotion and getting a very awkward and intense burn on his back
-Coop and I swimming in the Mediterranean and then not being able to feel my body afterwards I’m so cold
-receiving much needed supplies from America including DVDS, books, easy mac and Dr. Scholl’s gel foot pads
-Dad going mute after a very stressful drive to and from Gibraltar….
-Chelsea beating Liverpool
-escaping Granada just in time to beat the crowds of the parade
-eating a meal of donor kebap on more than one occasion with my family
-riding a cybersport bike with the whole family and Coop…disappointment of a lifetime was not being able to reach the pedals
-playing charades with the family. Dad goes up to act his out and forgets the third word in the name of the movie halfway through…..Aliens vs. Predator. The performance was needless to say, unforgettable.
-my mom getting claustrophobic in her hotel room….
-supermarkets in general….first my dad confuses the word mercadona (market) with Madonna then we discover that tortillas are not really carried at Spanish grocery stores after getting everything for Mexican. And finally all grocery stores close at around 9 and are completely closed Sunday, Maundy Thursday but not Good Friday.
Random Commentary
I’ve noted that I have gone far too long without commenting on the regular happenings of Sevilla, which is quite the injustice since it is really a wonderful place to “study” abroad. Some of the latest and greatest:
Food: Food here has been interesting to say the least. Since this is such an important subject to me, I will note a few of the phenomena.
1) I have the exact same breakfast of toast with garlic and oil every morning. Bread is also present at EVERY meal of the day. I’ve never had a single meal here without bread.
2) I have some sort of bean soup two or three days a week for lunch. Spaniards must have the strongest digestion systems ever.
3) Lamburgers. No explanation needed.
4) Dessert=fruit or yogurt
5) You always drink water with the meal, which is good because I think I’ve broken my addiction to diet pepsi.
6) Mexican food is rationed. The portions are TINY compared to the U.S. Also, no free chips and salsa.
7) Burger King and McDonald’s are always very crowded. While they don’t have the breakfast menu because they don’t open until oneish, both BK and McDonald’s serve beer. So I guess they kinda counter each other.
8) Donor Kebap is the greatest thing to happen to Coop and I. So far the city with the best DK has been Madrid…Although we did find one on the other side of town that was pretty good…
9) I am not a fan of fish here. But my Spanish family tries to get me to eat it because it’s good for me, which of course is very nice. However, their last attempt of frying fish and saying it was chicken was unsuccessful.
10) The best sandwich to get is a Spanish tortilla (potato omelet) on bread. But it does need ketchup.
11) If you go out for breakfast, the best thing to get is either churros con chocolate for obvious reasons or bread spread with oil and tomato juice. Sounds gross but it’s very good.
12) TGIF is alive and happening in Sevilla. Our group frequents happy hour but unfortunately only drinks are half off so we just sit there salivating over all the American foods we wish we could order.
13) Drinks here are MUCH stronger than in the U.S. A mixed drink is about half alcohol. On the flip side, the coffees are MUCH smaller. But of course, Starbucks is ever present for anyone’s caffeine fix.
Off the food subject…
• So everyone is getting ready for Semana Santa—except the large majority of UNC-Sevilla students are traveling to Morocco. The Moore family, however, is coming to reconquer Spain. We’re hoping to make it to Morocco for a day at some point, but on the whole we’ll be spending our time in the tourist hotspot, Costa del Sol. I’ve very interested to see how they will like Spain…..the only disappointment about the upcoming trip is that Cosmo couldn’t come. Similar to his twin Baxter, he can speak Spanish.
• I read For Whom the Bell Tolls. It’s a good book, especially to read in Spain. Spain has an interesting history…
• Spaniards are obsessed with game shows. Everything that is on television: game shows, reruns of Smallville, a few reality shows, CSI and the news. And then the other fifteen channels are dedicated to palm reading/fortune telling.
• I went on a class trip to see the churches that have pasos leave from them. Pasos are like foundations with the Virgen or Christ on them that are made of gold or silver and are carried through the streets by 40 or 50 strong men on a specific day of Semana Santa. Then they are surrounded by men who wear costumes similar to the KKK except sometimes in different colors: black, purple, etc. Everyone in Spain is Catholic so this is a very respected ceremony and the whole city pretty much shuts down for it. They even turn the stoplights off at night to avoid any distractions.
Food: Food here has been interesting to say the least. Since this is such an important subject to me, I will note a few of the phenomena.
1) I have the exact same breakfast of toast with garlic and oil every morning. Bread is also present at EVERY meal of the day. I’ve never had a single meal here without bread.
2) I have some sort of bean soup two or three days a week for lunch. Spaniards must have the strongest digestion systems ever.
3) Lamburgers. No explanation needed.
4) Dessert=fruit or yogurt
5) You always drink water with the meal, which is good because I think I’ve broken my addiction to diet pepsi.
6) Mexican food is rationed. The portions are TINY compared to the U.S. Also, no free chips and salsa.
7) Burger King and McDonald’s are always very crowded. While they don’t have the breakfast menu because they don’t open until oneish, both BK and McDonald’s serve beer. So I guess they kinda counter each other.
8) Donor Kebap is the greatest thing to happen to Coop and I. So far the city with the best DK has been Madrid…Although we did find one on the other side of town that was pretty good…
9) I am not a fan of fish here. But my Spanish family tries to get me to eat it because it’s good for me, which of course is very nice. However, their last attempt of frying fish and saying it was chicken was unsuccessful.
10) The best sandwich to get is a Spanish tortilla (potato omelet) on bread. But it does need ketchup.
11) If you go out for breakfast, the best thing to get is either churros con chocolate for obvious reasons or bread spread with oil and tomato juice. Sounds gross but it’s very good.
12) TGIF is alive and happening in Sevilla. Our group frequents happy hour but unfortunately only drinks are half off so we just sit there salivating over all the American foods we wish we could order.
13) Drinks here are MUCH stronger than in the U.S. A mixed drink is about half alcohol. On the flip side, the coffees are MUCH smaller. But of course, Starbucks is ever present for anyone’s caffeine fix.
Off the food subject…
• So everyone is getting ready for Semana Santa—except the large majority of UNC-Sevilla students are traveling to Morocco. The Moore family, however, is coming to reconquer Spain. We’re hoping to make it to Morocco for a day at some point, but on the whole we’ll be spending our time in the tourist hotspot, Costa del Sol. I’ve very interested to see how they will like Spain…..the only disappointment about the upcoming trip is that Cosmo couldn’t come. Similar to his twin Baxter, he can speak Spanish.
• I read For Whom the Bell Tolls. It’s a good book, especially to read in Spain. Spain has an interesting history…
• Spaniards are obsessed with game shows. Everything that is on television: game shows, reruns of Smallville, a few reality shows, CSI and the news. And then the other fifteen channels are dedicated to palm reading/fortune telling.
• I went on a class trip to see the churches that have pasos leave from them. Pasos are like foundations with the Virgen or Christ on them that are made of gold or silver and are carried through the streets by 40 or 50 strong men on a specific day of Semana Santa. Then they are surrounded by men who wear costumes similar to the KKK except sometimes in different colors: black, purple, etc. Everyone in Spain is Catholic so this is a very respected ceremony and the whole city pretty much shuts down for it. They even turn the stoplights off at night to avoid any distractions.
Picture Links
Most of these have already been posted but I thought I'd make it more convenient and put it in one collective spot. Many more to come...
Barcelona Pictures
Semana Santa Pictures
Lisbon Pictures
Madrid Pictures
General Random Spain Pictures
Barcelona Pictures
Semana Santa Pictures
Lisbon Pictures
Madrid Pictures
General Random Spain Pictures
Monday, March 16, 2009
bArCeLoNa
Being the wonderful girlfriend I am, I booked Coop and I a cheap round trip flight to Barcelona for this weekend….however, both flights left at 6:30 a.m. Based on the look on Coop’s face this morning at 5:00 on the bus shuttle to the Barcelona airport, I don’t think he’ll ever forgive me.
We left at 5:30 a.m. on Friday to go to the Sevilla airport. The flight was quick, about an hour and half, and went smoothly. Only problem was that the woman at the security checkpoint confiscated my lotion and conditioner. I think she had it out for me. Although I must say, I’ve been stopped at almost every security checkpoint for every flight I’ve taken….at my 5”1 stature, I’m quite the threat apparently. It was kinda funny though because they took the conditioner while staring right at my razor. ????
Took the metro into the city and called the apartment place for the key. For Barcelona, I chose a place called Casa Diagonal (located in the richer section of town called L-Eixample) in which travelers share an apartment with a kitchen, a living room, etc. It was very nice! A little hard to find though—I called the man on his phone and he’s spelling out Catalon street names (they speak Catalon in Barcelona—about as different from Spanish as French or Italian; however, everyone there also speaks Castellano, the normal Spanish we know so it wasn’t really a problem) on a bad cell phone. Anyhow, it was worth the trouble. Not too expensive and we were able to do a lot of eating in the house instead of spending money to go out to eat. Barcelona may be the culinary capital of the world right now but not for starving college students. On the note of expenses, Barcelona is supposed to be much more expensive than any other city in Spain but I didn’t find it to be that different. Perhaps because we didn’t really go out to eat. ????
After we dropped our stuff off and ate our bocadillo sandwiches that our senoras packed for us and Coop made some terrible coffee, we headed out for Gaudi’s Parc Guell. Gaudi is my hero. I’m not very artsy like the majority of my friends (now thinking about it, most of my friends are either musicians or artists of some type), I really appreciated Gaudi’s melting ice cream designs. He was an absolute genius.
Side note: I have to brag that my sense of direction is improving immensely in the cities of Spain and that out of the two of us, I’m definitely the navigator. NEVER saw that coming.
We finally make it up to Parc Guell in the heat of the day trekking up a very steep incline. Parc Guell was supposed to be a 60-acre gated community in the early 1900s. However, Gaudi was way ahead of his time and it was a major flop. Instead the government bought it and now it’s a public park—full of screaming kids on field trips on Fridays. Also full of talented artists. Coop almost peed his pants when he saw a man playing the sitar. I recorded a woman playing Asian music on some instrument…Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
After we strolled through Parc Guell, we made it down to near where we lived to find Casa Mila, another work by Gaudi. We debated on whether to go in because it was a bit pricey, about 10 euros, but I’m so glad we followed Rick’s advice to go in. It’s a modernista flat that Gaudi designed for a rich couple . I would hire Gaudi too. Not only does he make everything look cool, but he was so innovative in using architecture to solve problems like ventilation, etc. I wasn’t aware but Coop was bored. Oh well. We saw a lot of the models that Gaudi made for his buildings, learned about his life, the rooms in the apartment and then….headed out to the amazinggggg rooftop. Quite impressive—just look at these pictures!!!!
So we decided we were done with art for the day and went off to Las Ramblas, the main social spot off of Plaza Catalunya. There’s everything on Las Ramblas from tourist shops to exotic pet shop stands to hookers (only at night) to fresh markets. Coop and I actually saw several men purchasing hookers at night. It was shocking to say the least. Also, speaking of exotic pet shops, we saw so many ferrets on walks with their owners. Coop has decided he’s getting one. It’s funny because we’ve both noticed that once he gets stuck on something, he gets really into it. Like this past weekend, it was ferrets and coke in a bottle. In Sevilla, the ham legs hanging from the walls. In his defense though, the ferrets were awesome. Side note: there was a dog wandering away from its owner towards the street and I seriously screaming because I thought it was about to get hit about a car. And then I realized it was a parked car…..
For lunch, we went to La Boqueria, a fresh market with fish, meats, cheeses and best of all, FRUITS! Coop and I spent 5 euros on a loaf of bread, some cheese and some fruit and went for a picnic. Lovely Barcelona actually turned out to be a pretty romantic city with the sea and the fountains at night, etc. At the end of Las Ramblas, we saw the Mediterranean Sea and the pier with tons of beautiful sailboats and yachts. $$$$ We headed back towards the apartment but stopped on the way back to pick up 2 mini frozen pizzas, strawberries and some 1 euros Don Simon red wine (impressive cardboard carton of wine) Somehow, this minimal amount of food lasted us for like 3 meals.
After grocery shopping, we thought we would “swing by” the magic fountains before heading home. This turned out to be an adventure. I don’t know how far we walked but after walking the city all day on 4 hours of sleep with two grocery bags in tote, it was miserable. However, the fountains were worth the trouble. See this video! I hope you can hear the Mariah Carey music that the fountains are “choreographed” with in the background. Good part about bringing the groceries is that we got to eat some of the strawberries in front of the fountains. I like to think that Coop schemed all of this. It was really perfect.
Headed home on the Metro—absolutely exhausted. We ate and knew that there was no way we were leaving the apartment that night. But we did get to meet some of the other people living/staying there which was nice.
Day 2
Started the day at a very nice breakfast place in which I discovered a new Spanish breakfast item I love. Pan tostado con queso manchego. It reminds me of the tomato sandwiches my Grandma used to make. Minus the oregano and instead of the whole tomato, just tomato spread (not ketchup, sorta the juice from the tomato). Again, Coop and I thought we had found a perfect little UNIQUE breakfast spot but then we realized 10 minutes after leaving that it’s a chain. Oh well. We can’t escape globalization.
Off to Sagrada Familia. I think it speaks for itself. Our friends told us it wasn’t worth going in because it’s under construction. I kept thinking how nervous I would be if I was handling one of the cranes because everyone would hate you if you knocked something over. Interesting fact: Gaudi worked on La Sagrada Familia from 1883 to 1926. The church is still not expected to be completed for another 50 years. Gaudi’s famous quote, “My client (God) is in no hurry.” Coop said this to me and I was very impressed until I realized it was in Rick Steve’s description.
From far away we saw a big dome building and decided to walk towards it. Turns out its called Torre Agbar and has no historic significance whatsoever. But it was cool. Looks like a big metal finger. Saturday we seriously walked through every neighborhood in Barcelona. Found Park Ciutadel (biggest, greenest park in Barcelona), the chocolate museum (only regret from Barcelona was not going in the choc. Museum), the arc de triumf, the Cathedral (I’m so done with cathedrals though), Barri Gotica,…..
Barceloneta -the beach all of the young people go to.
We got some Calamari sandwiches at a local place and then laid in the sand eavesdropping some Americans and some Frenchies. Pretty much the Frenchies making fun of the Americans (football? You don’t even use your foot in American football…) The Americans were pretty cool except that they aren’t even taking their classes in Spanish in Barcelona. To me, it’s kinda like what’s the point? Anyhow, we’re listening to the Americans when one of the many Asian women who are offering beach massages agrees to give one of the guys a massage for 3 euros. Now I know this sounds creepy but I actually think it’s a good idea. And when she was done giving him a 25 minute massage for 3 euros, I decided, what the heck and bargained for the same deal. best massage ever. It was so long and I smelled like cinnamon afterwards and felt so relaxed. I highly recommend it……
Sunday:
Started the day off badly with an expensive and not that great breakfast. Improved the day greatly with a GOFRE! A waffle with chocolate and whipped cream. We went to Park Ciutadel, which was my favorite part of the whole trip. It was jam-packed full of happy picnickers, families and SWING DANCERS. There was a gazebo full of very talented swing dancers and then we continued on to find ROWBOATS! I loved this little charming park. It reminded me of Mary Poppins. Video of the rowboats!!!
Those are most of the highlights from the trip!
We left at 5:30 a.m. on Friday to go to the Sevilla airport. The flight was quick, about an hour and half, and went smoothly. Only problem was that the woman at the security checkpoint confiscated my lotion and conditioner. I think she had it out for me. Although I must say, I’ve been stopped at almost every security checkpoint for every flight I’ve taken….at my 5”1 stature, I’m quite the threat apparently. It was kinda funny though because they took the conditioner while staring right at my razor. ????
Took the metro into the city and called the apartment place for the key. For Barcelona, I chose a place called Casa Diagonal (located in the richer section of town called L-Eixample) in which travelers share an apartment with a kitchen, a living room, etc. It was very nice! A little hard to find though—I called the man on his phone and he’s spelling out Catalon street names (they speak Catalon in Barcelona—about as different from Spanish as French or Italian; however, everyone there also speaks Castellano, the normal Spanish we know so it wasn’t really a problem) on a bad cell phone. Anyhow, it was worth the trouble. Not too expensive and we were able to do a lot of eating in the house instead of spending money to go out to eat. Barcelona may be the culinary capital of the world right now but not for starving college students. On the note of expenses, Barcelona is supposed to be much more expensive than any other city in Spain but I didn’t find it to be that different. Perhaps because we didn’t really go out to eat. ????
After we dropped our stuff off and ate our bocadillo sandwiches that our senoras packed for us and Coop made some terrible coffee, we headed out for Gaudi’s Parc Guell. Gaudi is my hero. I’m not very artsy like the majority of my friends (now thinking about it, most of my friends are either musicians or artists of some type), I really appreciated Gaudi’s melting ice cream designs. He was an absolute genius.
Side note: I have to brag that my sense of direction is improving immensely in the cities of Spain and that out of the two of us, I’m definitely the navigator. NEVER saw that coming.
We finally make it up to Parc Guell in the heat of the day trekking up a very steep incline. Parc Guell was supposed to be a 60-acre gated community in the early 1900s. However, Gaudi was way ahead of his time and it was a major flop. Instead the government bought it and now it’s a public park—full of screaming kids on field trips on Fridays. Also full of talented artists. Coop almost peed his pants when he saw a man playing the sitar. I recorded a woman playing Asian music on some instrument…Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
After we strolled through Parc Guell, we made it down to near where we lived to find Casa Mila, another work by Gaudi. We debated on whether to go in because it was a bit pricey, about 10 euros, but I’m so glad we followed Rick’s advice to go in. It’s a modernista flat that Gaudi designed for a rich couple . I would hire Gaudi too. Not only does he make everything look cool, but he was so innovative in using architecture to solve problems like ventilation, etc. I wasn’t aware but Coop was bored. Oh well. We saw a lot of the models that Gaudi made for his buildings, learned about his life, the rooms in the apartment and then….headed out to the amazinggggg rooftop. Quite impressive—just look at these pictures!!!!
So we decided we were done with art for the day and went off to Las Ramblas, the main social spot off of Plaza Catalunya. There’s everything on Las Ramblas from tourist shops to exotic pet shop stands to hookers (only at night) to fresh markets. Coop and I actually saw several men purchasing hookers at night. It was shocking to say the least. Also, speaking of exotic pet shops, we saw so many ferrets on walks with their owners. Coop has decided he’s getting one. It’s funny because we’ve both noticed that once he gets stuck on something, he gets really into it. Like this past weekend, it was ferrets and coke in a bottle. In Sevilla, the ham legs hanging from the walls. In his defense though, the ferrets were awesome. Side note: there was a dog wandering away from its owner towards the street and I seriously screaming because I thought it was about to get hit about a car. And then I realized it was a parked car…..
For lunch, we went to La Boqueria, a fresh market with fish, meats, cheeses and best of all, FRUITS! Coop and I spent 5 euros on a loaf of bread, some cheese and some fruit and went for a picnic. Lovely Barcelona actually turned out to be a pretty romantic city with the sea and the fountains at night, etc. At the end of Las Ramblas, we saw the Mediterranean Sea and the pier with tons of beautiful sailboats and yachts. $$$$ We headed back towards the apartment but stopped on the way back to pick up 2 mini frozen pizzas, strawberries and some 1 euros Don Simon red wine (impressive cardboard carton of wine) Somehow, this minimal amount of food lasted us for like 3 meals.
After grocery shopping, we thought we would “swing by” the magic fountains before heading home. This turned out to be an adventure. I don’t know how far we walked but after walking the city all day on 4 hours of sleep with two grocery bags in tote, it was miserable. However, the fountains were worth the trouble. See this video! I hope you can hear the Mariah Carey music that the fountains are “choreographed” with in the background. Good part about bringing the groceries is that we got to eat some of the strawberries in front of the fountains. I like to think that Coop schemed all of this. It was really perfect.
Headed home on the Metro—absolutely exhausted. We ate and knew that there was no way we were leaving the apartment that night. But we did get to meet some of the other people living/staying there which was nice.
Day 2
Started the day at a very nice breakfast place in which I discovered a new Spanish breakfast item I love. Pan tostado con queso manchego. It reminds me of the tomato sandwiches my Grandma used to make. Minus the oregano and instead of the whole tomato, just tomato spread (not ketchup, sorta the juice from the tomato). Again, Coop and I thought we had found a perfect little UNIQUE breakfast spot but then we realized 10 minutes after leaving that it’s a chain. Oh well. We can’t escape globalization.
Off to Sagrada Familia. I think it speaks for itself. Our friends told us it wasn’t worth going in because it’s under construction. I kept thinking how nervous I would be if I was handling one of the cranes because everyone would hate you if you knocked something over. Interesting fact: Gaudi worked on La Sagrada Familia from 1883 to 1926. The church is still not expected to be completed for another 50 years. Gaudi’s famous quote, “My client (God) is in no hurry.” Coop said this to me and I was very impressed until I realized it was in Rick Steve’s description.
From far away we saw a big dome building and decided to walk towards it. Turns out its called Torre Agbar and has no historic significance whatsoever. But it was cool. Looks like a big metal finger. Saturday we seriously walked through every neighborhood in Barcelona. Found Park Ciutadel (biggest, greenest park in Barcelona), the chocolate museum (only regret from Barcelona was not going in the choc. Museum), the arc de triumf, the Cathedral (I’m so done with cathedrals though), Barri Gotica,…..
Barceloneta -the beach all of the young people go to.
We got some Calamari sandwiches at a local place and then laid in the sand eavesdropping some Americans and some Frenchies. Pretty much the Frenchies making fun of the Americans (football? You don’t even use your foot in American football…) The Americans were pretty cool except that they aren’t even taking their classes in Spanish in Barcelona. To me, it’s kinda like what’s the point? Anyhow, we’re listening to the Americans when one of the many Asian women who are offering beach massages agrees to give one of the guys a massage for 3 euros. Now I know this sounds creepy but I actually think it’s a good idea. And when she was done giving him a 25 minute massage for 3 euros, I decided, what the heck and bargained for the same deal. best massage ever. It was so long and I smelled like cinnamon afterwards and felt so relaxed. I highly recommend it……
Sunday:
Started the day off badly with an expensive and not that great breakfast. Improved the day greatly with a GOFRE! A waffle with chocolate and whipped cream. We went to Park Ciutadel, which was my favorite part of the whole trip. It was jam-packed full of happy picnickers, families and SWING DANCERS. There was a gazebo full of very talented swing dancers and then we continued on to find ROWBOATS! I loved this little charming park. It reminded me of Mary Poppins. Video of the rowboats!!!
Those are most of the highlights from the trip!
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