Madrid
So, I started out this long
vacation in Madrid by myself for a day. We rented this uh, well, “cozy”
apartment for Christmas in the Plaza de Santa Ana. When I arrived it was
gorgeous outside and all of the restaurants in the Plaza had they’re tables set
up outside and waiters welcoming me to come in for a menu of the day special.
It was a very lax day because I had already seen some of the things I wanted to
in Madrid and I also had to figure out how to pick up the family and such.
Regardless of the slow day, I did go to the Reina Sofia Museum, which is one of
the three big art museums in town. This one in particular is important because
it has one of the most important pieces in Spanish history which was created by
this little-known guy named Picasso. The piece is called “Guernica” which is
the name of a town that was bombed in northern Spain during World War II. I
didn’t know what to make of it, but what was really interesting was that they
had pictures of the stages of its painting and you could see how many times
Picasso switched things before he finished his masterpiece. The rest of the
museum was too abstract for me and I peaced out before I hit the third floor.
The
following day was the 24th and I went to pick up my family! I was so
happy to see them after 4 months. Skype is a wonderful invention, but there’s
nothing like seeing someone you love in the flesh. After a great little
breakfast in my favorite restaurant with the fam we headed out to kill the
town! Except we didn’t at all. Jetlag hit hard and everyone paid homage to the
Spanish culture and took a four hour siesta. We went out for a bit to look at
the Christmas markets going on in the Plaza Mayor and other small little plazas
but the rain put a damper on that. We also went to the Mercado de San Miguel
which is this cool little indoor market where you can buy a bunch of different
fresh baked goods, olives, and of course, wine. We grabbed some cheap wine and
went back to flat to dry out and watch the Schultz family classic, Elf.
Christmas
day came and Charlie, Pete and I got these really nice sweaters from my
parents. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to fit mine in my luggage to London so
she’ll be waiting for me back in the States. We headed of to mass at la Iglesia
de San Sebastian, which is the most I’ve understood at a Spanish mass so far.
The priest talked about how we need to find the light in our life like the Magi
found Jesus and other things that I had a tough time completely translating to
the fam. After that, we just kind of bummed around the city in a light rain
until we met up with Marina, Charlie’s Spanish friend from a couple years back.
We stopped into a nice little café and caught up whilst having some café con
leche (coffee with milk for you n00bs). After that we made our way to an
Argentinian steak house and had an awesome Christmas dinner. Nothing welcomes
baby Jesus to the world like a perfectly-cooked Kobe steak.
Valencia
The next
morning we figured out the Metro to get to our train. I must say, I was
extremely impressed by the high-speed trains in Spain. We were cruising at a
cool 180 MPH and it didn’t feel like we were going much faster than 60. No
matter how we got there, we arrived to our hotel in the old part of the city
and found some breakfast. It may have been the fact that we were in the Old
City or it may have been the first blue skies we had seen since my family
arrived but Valencia was gorgeous. It was filled with beautiful little plazas,
each with their own little churches and orange trees. Again we took a nice
siesta after walking about the city while I tried to figure out my iPhone
situation. After the failure which continues to be getting a new iPhone, we
headed down to the more modern section of town with the Oceanarium and the
Museum of Natural Sciences and Sports. These buildings are ridiculous in both
size and form. I don’t know how to explain the time in Valencia, but the city
was gorgeous and the pictures that Charlie and Pete will/have put up will be a
testament to that. We ended up in this nice little restaurant off the main
strip of the old town and got some paella. Valencia is supposed to have the
best paella in all of Spain and I have to agree. It was easily the best paella
that I’ve had in my time in this country.
After
dinner we ate some helado (it’s just gelato, but Spanish) and walked down to
the Town Hall. They had an ice rink out and boy did we have some fun watching
these Spaniards try to skate. The best way to describe it was tiptoeing on
blades and somehow catching enough of an edge to lose balance. We then grabbed
a few more drinks and talked for a while before heading back to the hotel.
Charlie, Pete and I headed out to a Cien Montaditos, which is a small little
chain restaurant with cheap food and just talked a bit.
Barçelona
Barcelona was an awesome city,
there’s no denying that. Unfortunately, I don’t think we saw all of the things
it has to offer. The only thing that was saw worth seeing was la Sagrada
Familia (The Sacred Family), and boy was it worth it. If you’ve never heard of
this church it’s been in construction since the late 1800’s and it is the
masterpiece of a catalan architect named
Antoní Gaudí. I don’t quite think I can do it justice so I’ll just put up some
pictures of the amazingly complex things that he was able to think of.
These pictures really don't show how beautiful it is.
We went
through the little museum inside the church and we read about some of his
inspiration for La Sagrada Familia and he seemed to much more than just an
architect. He studied the forms of a bunch of plants and took their best and
most rigid aspects and was able to incorporate them into the church and some of
the other buildings and parks he made in the city. For example, the inside of
the church looks like a canopy in the Amazon forest and he took some ideas from
trees and other parts of nature to make this image really come out. Some people
think that the church is just ugly, and I think if you didn’t know what Gaudí
wanted to with it you would think that too, but after you understand his
thinking you realize just how incredible it really is. I’m planning to be back
in Barça very soon so I’ll write some more after being there.
Zaragoza
Zaragoza
was a complete surprise to me. I asked multiple people, including my host
family and my professors here, but no one knew much about it. It’s located
right in between Barcelona and Madrid, so you’d have to figure it was a pretty
important city. On top of that, one of the most important artists in Spanish
history was born here named Francisco de
Goya AND there’s a church where Saint James saw the Virgin Mary come down from
a pillar. All of that is in this tiny town in Aragon and no one knew anything
about it!
It was a
gorgeous day with blue skies and plenty of sun when we arrived. We made our way
from the train station to our hotel and along the way we saw many museums and
actually one of the first bull fighting rings that has a retractable roof.
Cooler than any of this was that we were situated just outside of the Old City
of Zaragoza and was only about 5 minutes in walking. We got some helado and
some coffee and then made our way into that old part to explore. We quickly
found ourselves next to Nuestra Señora del Pilar (Our Lady of the Pillar),
which was a massive and stunning church on the river. We went inside and saw
some of the early paintings of Goya and some by Velázquez, many of which were
being restored. What was amazing was seeing a part of the pillar that St. James
saw Mary come down from during his pilgrimage but to be honest where the altar
was, was stunning. It was all carved wood so it was dark, which was in stark
contrast to the rest of the very bright church.
We took a
short time to rest after shopping and walking around during dusk and headed out
a bit later. I was so surprised how full the streets were in such a small town,
especially because it seemed like there was barely any people during the day.
For dinner we went to a tapas bar that had Michelin star ratings only to find
it was full. This is was no problem because right next door was another tapas
bar that was just impressive, yet another problem: the kitchen was on fire. So
with our tummies rumbling and feeling as if we were never going to find a
restaurant my mom said that she saw some place that had some promise. It was
phenomenal, we had many different types of croquetas, seafood, ham and clams
and it was amazing. We left full and decided to go find a quick bar as it was
my last few hours with my family. We chatted for a while and made our way back
a bit late in the night and I caught a quick nap before I left in the early
morning.
London
London was
insane. We stayed in a hostel right next to St. Pauls’ Cathedral and it was
extremely impressive. It didn’t matter that it took me close to 12 hours to get
there from Spain, I was just happy to see many of my friends again from all
over world again in one place. It’s hard to categorize what we did during this
week long experience so I thinks it’s just easier to list them and then you’re
welcome to ask me about it later:
- Saw the fireworks during NYE behind the London Eye (it was such an awesome show, one of the best I’ve ever seen!)
- Went to Shakespeare’s Globe (unfortunately I didn’t have the cash at the time to go in)
- Walked over Tower Bridge
- London Tower
- We went to Fly Emirates Stadium (Arsenal Football Club’s stadium and Aleks went to a game…)
- Attempted to go the Winston Churchill War Rooms
- Buckingham Palace
- Saw many of the homes of the English Royalty
- Went through the British Museum (I FORGOT THE ROSETTA STONE WAS THERE AND DIDN’T SEE IT)
- Trafalgar Square
- Parliament and Big Ben
- Westminster Abbey
There were a few other smaller things that we did, but I
can’t remember them off the top of my head. It was just so amazing to see Parliament
on the River Thames and more or less just see the river. Since there aren’t
many bodies of water where I’m staying in Spain, I get excited when ever
there’s one running right through the city.
That more or less caps off my
Winter Break adventure. I just finished up my exams and my large cultural
research project this month. There were a few times I didn’t think I was going
to finish everything in time but some people got me back on track. I’m now
sitting here with a mere 1 day left in Cáceres and I can’t believe it. Five
months seemed so long on paper and now I’m packing my suitcase and not coming
back in any foreseeable future. I feel like I’ve made my second home here, and
possibly a second family. Between my friends from Kalamazoo struggling and
succeeding here and the family that I live with, Cáceres will always be a part
of me and I’ll always make sure to visit it if I happen to be in Spain. I
couldn’t be happier to spend my time abroad here.
With all of that being said, I
still have a month of travel here so be ready for some more frequent blogging.
I’m traveling until March 2nd with my friends Mauro, Aleks, Tyler
and our English friend, Robert. Although we don’t have everything set in stone,
I’m thrilled to get to spend my last month with these guys and seeing places
that I’ve always dreamed of seeing. Keep your eyes on facebook or this page to
see if I’ll post anything new! Also sorry Kate, I know you told Charlie to tell
me I need to post more and I did the exact opposite, but I hope this helps! One more thing: I just bought a camera so I'll have more pics and more of my own more importantly!
