Spring Break!

      Starting tomorrow we officially have Semana Santa, aka Spring Break! In Spain, almost everyone gets off for Semana Santa, the entire week! I will be spending 10 days in Italy and I am so excited! I will be going to Florence, Venice, Naples, and Rome. I am really excited to see artwork in Florence, the sinking city of Venice, Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii in Naples, the coast in Sorrento (and hopefully ride a horse, I'm a little desperate for some horse time), experience Rome (on a tour led by Andy Steves - Rick Steves' son!), and go to mass with the Pope for Easter mass in Rome (yay Pope Francis!...or Papa Francisco as they call him here in Spain).
        I'll do a short recap of last weekend, since I don't have time to do a long post! Last weekend (March 15-18) I went to Munich, Germany. I loved Munich and Germany! The people were nice (though not as nice as in Ireland where they really went out of their way to help you), and the food was so great. I think I had a pretzel almost everyday, and I also had really good pork and bratwurst. On Friday we got into Munich and took a tour around the city with a tour company, led by a cool Australian guy. It was great to see the city and hear some history, even though it started snowing halfway through our tour! We also went to the Olympic park and the BMW museum. That night we found a little German restaurant near our hostel and ate Kaesespaetzle, really good mac and cheese. On Saturday we went on a tour of Salzburg, which was beautiful! The ride out there on the train was amazing, and we could see the Alps! On our tour we saw some Sound of Music sights, learned some history again, and did some shopping. For dinner we tried to go to the Hofbräuhaus, but it was so crowded and we couldn't find anywhere to sit! So we found another beer garden German restaurant and I had pork (I think from the shoulder) braised in beer, with potato cakes, and it was amazing! Spain take a lesson from Germany on how to cook pork. The next day we went on a tour of the Dachau concentration camp, with the same touring company as the Munich tour. Our tour guide was really cool, and knew a lot about Germany, the Nazis, and concentration camps (his name was Marcin, here is his website: http://marcinonabike.com/index.php). About 2 or 3 years ago he biked from Berlin to Africa, exploring different kinds of concentration camps and internment camps. The tour wasn't fun, but it was very informative and gave you a small glimpse into the lives of people in Dachau, and what they went through. That night we were able to get into the Hofbräuhaus, and I had bratwurst, a basket of bread (2 small pretzels, a roll and a slice of bread), and potato salad....a typical German dinner! The next day (Monday) I went to Neuschwanstein Castle, but unfortunately it was snowing and I couldn't see it very well...so that gives me an excuse to go back (it was kind of like last year when I went to Mt. St. Helens on an EAS department trip at SLU...it was so foggy you couldn't even see it, but you knew it was there and looked awesome). But I was able to look at some shops in the town and see all the cute German wooden Christmas ornaments, beer steins, and other German souvenirs. 
      So that was my trip to Germany! When I get back I will make a full post about Germany, and then Italy too!

The Alps! on the way to Salzburg

Adios!/Auf Wiedersehen!/Ciao!

Valencia! Sun and the Beach

Saturday March 9 and Sunday March 10
       On Friday March 8, Claire and I decided we wanted to go to Valencia, so we got tickets, booked a hostel, and went! Ok, so it wasn't that easy, we ended up going to 3 different train stations trying to get tickets..but now we know it is easiest to buy train tickets at Atocha! We found the ticket counter, got a number, and waited, and bought our tickets! We took the train there and a bus back.
       Saturday March 9 we woke up early (not terribly early though) to take the train to Valencia. It was a 6 hour train ride, because we didn't want to spend extra money on the high-speed train, and took the slow train that stopped at like every stop. The scenery was pretty, although the train was a little bumpy! When we got off the train, it was 60 degrees and sunny! We took the metro and found our hostel (technically it was a guesthouse), and dropped our stuff off. We then walked around Valencia. This past weekend (March 15-17) was Las Fallas, a big celebration in Valencia. Every area (or people forming a group) makes a big float, and then at the end everyone decides which on is the best. The others get burned in a huge bonfire and the one that is the best gets put in a museum. Fireworks and lights decorating the streets are also involved. We walked around Valencia, which the city center is really compact. We found a place to eat lunch/dinner and had pizza and some ice cream, yum! Before we went to mass at St. Mary's Cathedral (Cathedral of Valencia), we climbed the bell tower to get a view of Valencia, it was so pretty! After mass we walked around some more and got chocolate and churros, and bonuelos, something similar to a churro but round, kind of like a doughnut. We then went back to our hostel, taking pictures of the lights around the city as we went. We also came across a boy that was lighting a firecracker/sparkler thing in the street...I guess that is legal in Valencia! All night we heard firecrackers and at midnight there was a big firework display! We couldn't see it from our window, but we could definitely hear it!

Bull fighting ring

 

St. Mary's Cathedral (Cathedral of Valencia), and the bell tower we climbed

View of Valencia from bell tower.

Lights on the streets for Las Fallas

          On Sunday March 10 we got up, ate breakfast, and made our way to the beach. We took the metro and this little tram thing to get there. It was so pretty there! But the Mediterranean is really cold. Everyone was out and enjoying the weather (mid 60s, maybe 70s) but people were still dressed like it was 30 or 40 degrees out! I took off my jacket and walked around in short sleeves for a while and people were giving me funny looks. But it was really nice to be on the beach and walk around for a little bit. We saw a group of men playing soccer, and one of them told us (in Spanish) that next Sunday we should bring our shorts and come play with them. We ate at a Pans & co. for lunch, and I had a ham and cheese warm sandwich with fries. So good! We then got ice cream and found the bus station to go back to Madrid. The bus ride back was about 4 hours, and during it they played the movie Monte Carlo, in Spanish. It has Selena Gomez in it and she and her friend and sister go to Paris and she gets mistaken for this rich girl and she goes to Monte Carlo and falls in love with this guy...kind of like the Lizzie McGuire movie. It was a good movie, even though I couldn't tell what they were saying sometimes. 

The beach!

Hotels and restaurants near the beach

Awesome sand castle!

Things I learned in Valencia:

• Even when it is 60 or 70 degrees out, people still wear jackets with fur and act like its really cold...when it is definitely not
• I love the beach!
• Valencia is really small and compact compared to Madrid
• Valencia has Las Fallas and La Tomatina...it must always be a party!
• The Mediterranean coast has absolutely no waves...at least not in Valenica

 Adios! 

Madrid: Reina Sofia, Cable Car, and El Rastro

Weekend of March 1-3
       On Friday March 1, some friends and I went to the Reina Sofia museum, which is an art museum with modern art. It was a very interesting museum, as it didn't make you walk through galleries, but you got to choose what areas you wanted to go into. Today my art history teacher said that the new director of the Reina Sofia moved things around recently...that might explain why we couldn't find anything. The first thing to see was Pablo Picasso's Guernica, which is very large and painted in black and white. It was painted during the Spanish Civil war, and is supposed to reflect the tragedy and suffering of war. It is a very interesting piece, and I didn't realize how large it was until I stood in front of it. You could see where Picasso painted over lines, and made changes. We walked around to different parts of the museum, and I tried to find some of Dali's paintings (since he is Spanish), but I couldn't find very many....I might have to look up their location online and then go and find them. We walked into some temporary exhibits, some of which were quite bizarre, and some of which were pretty neat. There was one exhibit that had hanging walls of eucalyptus leaves, and other hanging walls, and also a fountain. I'm not sure how I feel about modern art, but I definitely like the Prado better! For lunch we stopped at a little pizza restaurant, that turned out to be really cute on the inside and really cheap!

Pablo Picasso's Guernica. Of course this painting was one of the only ones you couldn't take pictures of! so this image is from wikipedia. 

 

         On Saturday March 2, some friends and I went on the Teleferico cable car, a gondola type thing that takes you from Parque de Oeste to Casa de Campo. We got a view of the city, and Palacio from the cable cars. When we got on, somehow the man working the cable cars knew we spoke English and turned on the English audio guide for us. The ride was about 10-12 minutes, and then we got off and walked around Casa de Campo a little bit. Casa de Campo is a really big park on the outskirts of Madrid, and it has an amusement park inside it! 

View from cable car, with mountains in background

View of Royal Palace and Cathedral from Casa de Campo

        On Sunday March 3 we went to El Rastro. I bought a leather purse! Since the boot hunt is going so well, I decided to get a leather purse instead (real leather, handmade in Spain) and not worrying about getting boots here anymore...they would take a up a lot of space in my suitcase coming back. And besides, the only ones that I see that I like are the $300-$400 Frye boots! I'll have to save up so I can buy a pair some day.
         The week of March 3, I had a cold and it started getting worse. Since I have been here I have had 3 colds! I finally went to the English speaking doctor the University recommends, and he said I had a sinus infection...eww. But the doctor was really nice, and the hardest part was trying to find his office. But I got on some antibiotics and after I took them I felt better (and still do). I'm really glad I went, and fingers crossed I won't get sick anymore!

Things I have learned in Spain:

• Visiting the doctor here is not a big deal...and with the University we get some sort of health insurance that we don't have to pay for doctor's visits
• I don't know how I feel about modern art
• The amusement park in Casa de Campo is huge! We could see it from the cable car and I didn't know it was a legit amusement park!
• Sometimes our senora likes to sit after dinner for a long time...normally we just sit there and watch TV, with Spanish conversations about what we are watching
• It is hard to catch up on blog posts when you fall behind!

Adios!       

London Day 4: British Museum, Harrods, Tower Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, and King's Cross Station

Schoolwork and a bad cold put me behind in my blog posts, but here is my final post about London! Hurray!

London Day 4, Sunday February 24
        After a good night's rest we woke up and had breakfast at the B&B. It was extra to have the traditional English Breakfast, so we ate the continental breakfast which was the best continental breakfast I have ever had! I had a croissant, yogurt, egg/omelet, and a banana. I was very happy after that (I miss big breakfasts), and didn't get hungry an hour or 2 after I had eaten, unlike here in Spain!
         We took the Tube (Underground/Metro) to the British Museum. I might be getting better at figuring out Metro systems, but museums are so difficult! All of them have different layouts, and floors, and rooms, and its really confusing! The British Museum was not as bad as the Louvre, but if you have a limited amount of time and you know what you want to see, look up what room it is in before you go. It will save you a lot of time! I had written down what I wanted to see and what floor and section it was on, but a lot of sections were big and the room number would have helped. 

 The Rosetta Stone! It has Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphs and Demotic. This has been the key to deciphering hieroglyphs, and learning about the ancient Egyptians.

 

Parthenon Sculptures. These sculptures were in the pediment of the Parthenon in Athens, built by the Greeks in mid 400s BC. Around 500 AD, the Parthenon was turned into a Christian church by the Romans, and some of the sculptures were removed or destroyed. Then during the Ottoman Empire, in the mid 1400s the Parthenon was turned into a mosque, resulting in further changes. In the late 1600s, the Ottoman Turks were using the Parthenon to store gun powder (sounds like a great idea, right?) while under attack from the Venetians. Then the Parthenon was attacked by the Venetians with canons and destroyed. After this, people started taking pieces of the Parthenon, and in the late 1800s the Earl of Elgin (British) took a large collection of the sculptures and marbles and later sold them to the British government, which is why they are in the British Museum. There is much debate over whether these pieces (and many other important pieces of art) should be returned to the country they were found in. Today, the Parthenon is slowly being rebuilt.

Egyptian Mummies

A pyramid of British pounds!

Easter Island statue...it reminded me of the Night at the Museum!

Turquoise Aztec serpent

         After our time at the British Museum, we looked for lunch. We ate Pret a Manger, which are sandwich places/cafes that were all over London. I had a sandwich (with mayonnaise! They don't put anything besides meat and cheese on sandwiches in Spain), water, and popcorn (actual popcorn!). It was a good, fast meal. 
          Our next stop was Harrods! Harrods is a really upscale department store, so like Saks Fifth Avenue, or Neiman Marcus. Wow, Harrods was fancy, that is all I can say! Some of the rooms looked like exhibits, like you weren't supposed to touch anything, just look at everything and its expensiveness. We found the gift shop area, and looked around. They had so many teddy bears, purses, and bags that said Harrods on them. I decided to buy a Harrods bear! Now I can say I shopped at Harrods!

My Harrods bear, isn't he cute!?

 

           After our shopping trip to Harrods, we tried to get to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. We didn't realize that one of the lines on the Tube was under repair, and there was no other way to get there, so we had walk about 15 minutes. Once we found the Tower of London, it was closing! Apparently they have 2 sets of hours (winter and summer) and I looked at the wrong times online....I was so sad! A lot of other people thought the same thing, so I wasn't the only one. That's ok though, now I have an excuse to go to London again... I didn't get to see the Crown Jewels! Or go inside Buckingham Palace. We walked around the Tower of London, and also walked on Tower Bridge (aka where they hung the Olympic rings during the 2012 Olympics). 

Tower of London

On the Tower Bridge...perfect timing with double-decker bus and a taxi

Tower Bridge

         After going to Tower Bridge, while trying to find an Underground station we just kind of came upon St. Paul's Cathedral, which is what we were trying to take the metro to, so that worked out nicely. The scene from Mary Poppins with the lady feeding the birds, and selling bags of crumbs for "tuppence" (two pence), was supposed to be outside of St. Paul's, and I realized that once I got there!

St. Paul's Cathedral. It was hard to get a good picture since it was dark out!

         After we went to St. Paul's Cathedral, we went back to the area near our B&B and found a Chipotle! That's right, a Chipotle! I was so excited! Even though they gave you smaller portions than in the US, it was still pretty much the same. It tasted really good! 
          After our delicious dinner, we went back to our B&B to figure out how we were going to get to the airport the next day. We were flying out of Stansted airport, which was kind of far away from London. The desk person recommended a bus to take, so we booked it online and were ready to go!
         Then we were off to King's Cross Station! Yay for being a Harry Potter lover! So we got on the metro to the station, and then found the actual train station. We saw platforms 8-11, and then platforms 1-7 (or something like that) but we couldn't actually go on the platforms unless you had a train ticket! We were so confused. Claire tried to get on Wi-Fi to look it up, and I found a map. We had literally passed where it was like 2 times, it wasn't on the platforms, but between shops in the middle of the 2 sets of platforms. But we finally found Platform 9 3/4! We bought tickets in the Platform 9 3/4 shop and then took our pictures. There was a line (or queue as they like to say in England) to take pictures, it was really funny!

See you later, I have to catch my train to the Hogwarts Express!

Things I learned in London

• I need to go back to see the Crown Jewels, go inside Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Highclere Castle (aka Downton Abbey), Harry Potter set tour thing, and go horseback riding. And have Prince Harry or William teach me polo and then have tea with Duchess Kate and her baby (I can dream, right?)
• Two days might have been enough for Paris, but for me it wasn't enough for London!
• I was determined to find something to buy with the Queen's corgi's on it, but I couldn't find anything! Nothing! I guess I will put that on my to do list for next time too...Look how cute they are! 

Cheers!

London Day 3: Big Ben, Parliament, Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey

London Day 3, Saturday February 23
        Late Friday night we went to the bus station to take a bus from Paris to London. We thought that the bus we had chosen was going to go through the Chunnel (tunnel under the English Channel), but instead we went on a ferry over the Channel. It was hard to get any sleep, as we drove for 2-3 hours, then had to get out for customs, drove a little more and had to wait in line for the ferry for like 2 hours, and once we got on the ferry we had get off the bus, and then it was about 2 hours to London. And our bus driver did not speak much English. If anyone ever plans on doing this, if you have enough money I would pay to take the train, or be prepared for a sleepless night! And the border control for the UK was different. Most of the time they just ask how long you are staying and what your purpose of coming into their country is. but instead they had you fill out this card of your name and all this stuff, including where you were staying. There were no pens available, so bring your own pen! It was frustrating, especially at like 1:00 in the morning.
        Once we actually got to London at 7:00 (an hour later than we should have arrived), we got out pounds (terrible exchange rate when compared to the US dollar), found the metro, (or Tube or Underground) bought a daily pass, and found our bed and breakfast. It was a nice little place, and we had the front desk worker hold our luggage. We found a Starbucks to get breakfast, Wi-Fi, and plan out our day. I had never had a croissant from Starbucks before, but it was so good! And the nice worker helped explain to us the different pounds and coins. The coins were especially confusing because they were all of different sizes, and the largest wasn't the highest amount.
          We went on the Tube again and found Big Ben, Parliament, and the London Eye. It was quite cloudy, and a little snowy the entire day, so all my pictures look pretty dark!

Big Ben! Attached to Parliament. It also goes by Elizabeth Tower to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Year.

The London Eye

              After that, we made our way to Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, the Palace is only open to visitors during 2 or 3 months during the summer, when the Queen goes on vacation...I would have loved to go in! Here are some things I saw on my way there:

Iconic London telephone booth

Just looking out for your safety! As in Ireland, the entire time I was confused on which way the cars were coming from, and one-way streets are just as confusing.

Double-decker bus!

The Queen's Guard! They kind of remind of the Winkies in the Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch's army.We passed by the Wellington Barracks, where the Guards were coming from, and then they walked into the park that is near the Palace to go to the Changing of the Guard. I really wanted to follow them!

          We got to Buckingham Palace, and took some pictures. Then we found a spot near the fountain and monument in front of the Palace to see the Changing of the Guard.  We had to wait for an hour in the cold and snow, but it was worth it! The Changing of the Guard took about 45 minutes, and was very extravagant. The Guards stand behind the gates of Buckingham Palace, so you can't see them up close. First, the new Guard came in, and the old Guard members and the new guard members started to do their changing ritual. Then, the  the Mounted Guard and Queen's Guard Band came by, the band going into the gates of the Palace. The Guard finished doing their changing, and the band played some songs, including some Beatles', and the old Guard was joined by the Mounted Guard and Band and processed out while the new Guard was left to keep watch of the Palace.

Buckingham Palace

Queen's Guard Band processing out of the Buckingham Palace gates at the end of the Changing of the Guard

The old Guard leaving Buckingham Palace

The Mounted Guard in the procession after the Changing of the Guard

 

      We found pizza for lunch at Pizza Express, which were all over London. From the name, you think it would be a cheesy (ha ha that's punny) place to go, but it was actually a nice sit-down restaurant, similar to Dewey's in St. Louis. Claire and I split a pizza, and it was so good! We went back to our bed and breakfast, checked in, and got our stuff settled in our room, which was quite spacious and nice. 
        We then went to Westminster Abbey for Evensong...hopefully that counted as kind of going to mass, and it was a free way to see Westminister Abbey. Westminster Abbey is an Anglican/Episcopal/Church of England church, and is where all of the coronations and royal weddings take place.The service was really nice, basically a prayer service with a lot of singing. It was a similar layout to a Catholic mass, except without the Eucharist. I really enjoyed going to a pretty church and hearing music and singing...I have missed that since I have been in Madrid!

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

         After that, we went to Picadilly Circus, which is a big area of shops and restaurants. It was packed full of people! We went into some souvenir stores, and then walked to Trafalgar Square. It was dark, so I didn't get a very good picture of it. We tried to find somewhere to eat, but it was too crowded, so we just went to Victoria Station, where they had all kinds of restaurants. We had fish and chips, and then a Krispy Kreme doughnut for dessert! By this time we were exhausted, and I was very happy to get back to the bed and breakfast, take a shower, and go to bed!

Things I learned in London:

• Most everything is named after the Queen or the Royal Family
• Parliament, London Eye, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey are in the same place
• On the Tube they always say "Please mind the gap", meaning watch your step when you get off the metro
• I should have brought my Uggs...there were so many people wearing Uggs!
• It was cold, but not as cold as Paris
• British pounds are confusing

Cheerio! 
(I am not sure if people actually say this anymore, but I'm going to use it anyway!)