Saturday, October 16, 2010
Italy Pictures!
Hey everyone, just a quick update. I've posted my photos from Italy online. They are viewable here. They are also up on Facebook, if you're a Facebook user. Enjoy!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Madrid Day 4: Retiro
On my fourth day in Madrid, I spent the day rather lazily. I got up and spent some time on the computer, booking hostels for the rest of my trip and reserving tickets for the Alhamabra in Granada. I then headed out to the Museo Reina Sofia, which is Madrid's modern art museum. I've been to MoMA several times and enjoyed it, so I figured I would enjoy this museum, but I did not. I was rather tired, and just didn't "get" most of the art. I did enjoy the Picasso works they had, especially Guernica. I ended up being so tired that I only toured one floor of the four floor museum. I bailed from the museum, and got a mediocre lunch nearby.
After lunch, I decided to go to Retiro, which is a 350 acre park near the museum. It used to be the private grounds of the royal family, but was opened up as a public park. It was beautiful. I wandered around the park, and eventually found a good spot to read my book. I settled in for a while and read, until it started raining a bit, so I decided to head back.
That evening, Astrid and I went out to dinner. I received a recommendation from April (my friend that I met in Rome) which happened to be just around the corner from our hostel. It was actually a really awesome little place... it was kind of dive-y, but it was on the top floor of a 6 or 7 story building, so it had a great view. We were able to sit outside on a balcony and enjoy the sunset, along with copious amounts of fried foods. After dinner, we headed back to the hostel and shared music recommendations and talked. We both decided to call it an early evening.
The funny watches the hostel gave us that were actually keys to our rooms and lockers.
Shots of the hostel common room.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Madrid Day 3: Botin
Yes, I have made my triumphant return to the States. Over the next couple days, I'm going to finish writing about my trip, both for everyone reading, as well as my own memories. So...
The next day I got up a bit late, since we were out until 3:30 or 4 getting churros the night before. I lounged about for a while, and then eventually met up with the guys I had gone out with the night before. We had discussed tryingto get reservations at Restaurante Botin, which is the Guinness Book of World Records holder for oldest restaurant in the world. We attempted to call over to get a reservation, but could not figure out how to use the pay phones at the hostel. Making phone calls in Europe is very confusing. We eventually decided to just go over for lunch, and hopefully be able to get a table. (Since it is a famous restaurant, we figured it would be very difficult to get in.)
We walked over and arrived just as they were opening, and were able to get a seat right away. We were seated in the wine cellar, which was lovely. It was niceand quiet down there and very charming.
I had done some reading online ahead of time, and decided to get all the dishes that they are known for (what a tourist!) I was not disappointed. We shared a pitcher of sangria, which was far and away the best I've ever had. And it was cheap too (about 10€ for the pitcher). Then I had the gazpacho, followed by the roast suckling pig, which is what they are most famous for. I ended the meal with the flan. Everything was to die for. The gazpacho was rich and creamy and had so many complex flavors. And the pig was simply amazing... crisp, crunchy skin and unbelievably moist and tender on the inside. And don't get me started on the flan.
I was pretty much in a food coma afterwards, but somehow I managed to exit the restaurant and do some window shopping for a while. I spent some time in the afternoon trying to find an internet cafe where I could upload the photos from my camera. I was very paranoid it would be stolen or break somehow and I would lose all my photos from my trip. I was unsuccessful yet again, and so I gave up and went back to the hostel. I found Astrid hanging out with some Irish guys, and sat with them for a while. They regaled us with their tales of drunken antics from the night before. Apparently they were also the hostel guests who had returned from the football match with vuvuzelas that made me want to strangle someone.
Eventually they left, and Astrid and I decided to go find a bar and grab some drinks. We wandered around near the hostel for a bit and finally found this cool bar that seemed to be only locals. The place was really sweet, and the drinks were strong. We hung out there for a while and talked, then walked back to the hostel in the rain.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Madrid Day 2
Day 2 in Madrid was quite nice. I got up and ate the hostel breakfast (a croissant and a tiny cup of coffee... very unimpressive) and did some laundry. Oh yeah, and managed to spill my cup of coffee all over my back while walking up the stairs. It was especially tragic since everything else I had to wear was in the wash, so I had to sit in wet coffee stained clothes for an hour.
Once my laundry was finished and I had changed my clothes, I set off to explore Madrid. I decided to do another Rick Steves self guided tour, so I wandered from Puerta del Sol around the city. I stopped and grabbed a Napolitana pastry at this famous little pastry shop... it was kind of like bread with lots of cream in the middle, topped with copious amounts of powdered sugar. Messy and delicious. I then wandered up Calle San Cristobal, up to Plaza Mayor. This square was a kind of public theater area in the 17th century, and now is a pedestrian only area with lots of bars and such. I stopped at Casa Rúa, a tiny little bar that is famous for their bocadillos de calamares: calamari sandwiches. I stood at the bar and had a beer and a sandwich for 3,50€.
I then went and strolled through Mercado de San Miguel, a recently renovated covered market that now houses a gourmet food market. Too full to sample anything, I strolled around and took lots of photos, which are trapped on my camera until I get home. I kept walking until I got to the Royal Palace, but the line was much longer than I cared to stand in.
I decided to hit the Prado Museum next. I walked over there, and finally figured out where the entrance was. It was a nice museum, and I really enjoyed their Goya collection, especially his "dark period" works. By this time, I was pretty tired, and caught the metro back to the hostel.
I spent some time trying to upload my photos from my camera, very unsuccessfully. Then I met up with Erica and Astrid, the two girls I had met the night before. We ended up going out for Thai food (I know, I know) which was delicious. After dinner, we went and hung out at Sol, which turns into an arena for street performers at night. We watched a fire dancer for a while...
Then we watched some roller bladers do tricks. One of which included jumping over Astrid. (Photo quality not so great, but its the thought that counts.)
We then headed back to the hostel, where Erica and Astrid headed to bed. I wasn't quite tired yet, and it was early by Spanish standards (12ish) so I met a couple guys from New York and we went out for drinks. One of them took us to this great little hole in the wall bar, where we had amazing mojitos. We were the only ones there, so we chatted (as best we could) with the bartender, and he played us Spanish rock albums. Then, I took the group to this place that Erica had pointed out earlier, a 24 hour churro place. For those who don't know, churros are fried dough that you dip in a mug of melted chocolate. AKA heaven.
Delicious. We then headed back to the hostel, full of sugar, and went to bed.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Off to Spain
On September 14th (I'm showing how far behind I am) I got up bright and early to catch my flight to Madrid. I gave myself a ridiculously long amount of time to get to the airport, since we all know my tendency to get very, very lost. And this day was no exception. I caught the bus into town, and I was supposed to go to the train station to catch the shuttle that runs to the airport. At some point, for whatever reason, I became convinced that I had missed my stop. So I just got off the bus and started walking. Of course, this was much too early. It ended up taking me about 45 minutes to get to the train station, about twice as long as it should have. But I caught the shuttle, and made it to the airport with plenty of time. I actually ended up sitting at the gate for at least an hour.
My flight was with Ryanair. For those unfamiliar with Ryanair, they are a discount airline that flies throughout Europe (and maybe other places, I'm not sure). They are very, very cheap (my flight was 25€, including the fee for a checked bag). But I've heard that they can be pretty sketchy, I suppose because they're so cheap. I noticed two things that really struck me as funny. The first was how they had people board. Maybe its this way all over Europe, I don't know. But instead of having boarding sections, or at least an orderly line, everyone just sort of swarmed the gate. They would wave their boarding passes at the ticket agent, hoping to be picked next to board. It was very odd. The other thing I noticed, that I've never seen before, was how much stuff they tried to sell during the flight. Some of it was normal, like food and drinks, but they had random stuff too. About every 10 minutes thoughout the flight, they would come over the loudspeakers and announce something else in Spanish. I saw them come around at one point with smokeless cigarettes that people could smoke on the plane. I guess that's how they stay so cheap, squeezing every last dollar out of people during the flight.
The flight was uneventful, and once I had collected my backpack, I did my usual mental preparation to do battle with a new public transit system. The place I've been have all had quite good transit systems, but it usually takes a while to get the hang of it. Not so in Madrid. They have a wonderful, top of the line Metro system that runs all over the city. It was very easy to figure out where I needed to go and which trains to take to get there. I was very impressed.
Now for the eventful part of my trip... As you may have seen in my Twitter feed, my wallet was stollen. Here's how it happened. While on my second train (of three that I took to get to the hostel), it got very crowded, very quickly. So, I decided to be polite and take off my backpack to make more room. With my backpack off, I had to keep one hand on the pack, and the other was holding my purse and the pole to keep my balance. At the time I knew it was a bad situation to be in, but there wasn't much I could do about it. Besides, my purse was zippered, so I figured I'd feel someone unzipping it. I was wrong. I looked away, and when I looked back a couple minutes later my purse was open. When I got off at my stop, I checked and sure enough, my wallet was gone. I wasn't too upset, as it only had about 15€ in it. All my cards were in my money belt, thankfully. I was almost just impressed by how smooth they were. So, I carried on and got to my hostel in one piece.
The new hostel was very nice. It was called Cat's Hostel, and was in some sort of 18th century palace. The common room had a skylight made of beautiful stained glass. I could also already tell that this was a party hostel. It was big, everyone was young and social, and there was a bar in the lobby. I assumed this meant that I wouldn't meet anyone interesting, just the usual vapid "I came to Europe to drink myself stupid" types. But about 20 minutes after arriving, I had met two really cool girls. I couldn't get my door to open, and enlisted their help.
The three of us went out for tapas that night, and it was quite nice, because one of the girls (Erica) had previously lived in Madrid for a year. So she took us to a nice place. This place was a sort of self serve tapas place. Everything is in glass cases, and you pick out the items you want. The waiters know what you took based upon the number of toothpicks you have leftover. Pretty cool huh?
My flight was with Ryanair. For those unfamiliar with Ryanair, they are a discount airline that flies throughout Europe (and maybe other places, I'm not sure). They are very, very cheap (my flight was 25€, including the fee for a checked bag). But I've heard that they can be pretty sketchy, I suppose because they're so cheap. I noticed two things that really struck me as funny. The first was how they had people board. Maybe its this way all over Europe, I don't know. But instead of having boarding sections, or at least an orderly line, everyone just sort of swarmed the gate. They would wave their boarding passes at the ticket agent, hoping to be picked next to board. It was very odd. The other thing I noticed, that I've never seen before, was how much stuff they tried to sell during the flight. Some of it was normal, like food and drinks, but they had random stuff too. About every 10 minutes thoughout the flight, they would come over the loudspeakers and announce something else in Spanish. I saw them come around at one point with smokeless cigarettes that people could smoke on the plane. I guess that's how they stay so cheap, squeezing every last dollar out of people during the flight.
The flight was uneventful, and once I had collected my backpack, I did my usual mental preparation to do battle with a new public transit system. The place I've been have all had quite good transit systems, but it usually takes a while to get the hang of it. Not so in Madrid. They have a wonderful, top of the line Metro system that runs all over the city. It was very easy to figure out where I needed to go and which trains to take to get there. I was very impressed.
Now for the eventful part of my trip... As you may have seen in my Twitter feed, my wallet was stollen. Here's how it happened. While on my second train (of three that I took to get to the hostel), it got very crowded, very quickly. So, I decided to be polite and take off my backpack to make more room. With my backpack off, I had to keep one hand on the pack, and the other was holding my purse and the pole to keep my balance. At the time I knew it was a bad situation to be in, but there wasn't much I could do about it. Besides, my purse was zippered, so I figured I'd feel someone unzipping it. I was wrong. I looked away, and when I looked back a couple minutes later my purse was open. When I got off at my stop, I checked and sure enough, my wallet was gone. I wasn't too upset, as it only had about 15€ in it. All my cards were in my money belt, thankfully. I was almost just impressed by how smooth they were. So, I carried on and got to my hostel in one piece.
The new hostel was very nice. It was called Cat's Hostel, and was in some sort of 18th century palace. The common room had a skylight made of beautiful stained glass. I could also already tell that this was a party hostel. It was big, everyone was young and social, and there was a bar in the lobby. I assumed this meant that I wouldn't meet anyone interesting, just the usual vapid "I came to Europe to drink myself stupid" types. But about 20 minutes after arriving, I had met two really cool girls. I couldn't get my door to open, and enlisted their help.
The three of us went out for tapas that night, and it was quite nice, because one of the girls (Erica) had previously lived in Madrid for a year. So she took us to a nice place. This place was a sort of self serve tapas place. Everything is in glass cases, and you pick out the items you want. The waiters know what you took based upon the number of toothpicks you have leftover. Pretty cool huh?
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Travel Day/ Bologna
The next day, I arose, got packed, and checked out of the hostel. Before I went to the train station, I decided to set out on a hunt for some coral jewelry. Apparently, red coral is a local product in Italy, since it grows in the Mediterranean. I had seen it all over the place in Venice, and decided that I would really look good with a coral necklace. So, I set off toward Saint Mark's in search of jewelry. On the way, I found a fabulous little pastry shop and got breakfast. Oh my word, it was delicious. I had this almond turnover sort of thing that was warm out of the oven, and it was mind blowing. (Mom, it tasted just like those almond ball cookies we make at Christmas, except it was kind of gooey in the center. Mmmm.) I finally found a shop that had nice, quality jewelry, and the shopkeeper helped me pick out the perfect necklace. And earrings. (Oops.)
I returned to the hostel to pick up my bag, then hit the train station. The train to Bologna left 10 minutes after I arrived, so my timing was perfect. This train wasn't quite as nice as the other trains, perhaps because it was a regional train instead of long distance. But the ticket was only 8€, so what do I care?
When I arrived in Bologna it was starting to rain. I tried to figure out the bus directions the hostel had given, but I couldn't figure it out. Not wanting a repeat of the Siena incident, I grabbed a taxi and rode out to the hostel. I'm glad I did, because it was a little ways outside the city center, and I doubt I would have known which stop to get off the bus at. This hostel was another of the official youth hostel association hostels, and was similarly institutional to the last one. At least this time people were speaking English.
I dropped my stuff off, then decided to spend the rest of the afternoon seeing Bologna. I only had the one evening, since I was catching a flight to Spain the next morning. So, I headed out in the rain, and caught the bus into the city. The city seems pretty cool, from what I saw. It has the oldest university in the world, so its very much a college town. There were lots of students on the streets. I got off the bus much earlier than I should have to get to the historical part of town, so I spent a good hour or two wandering around in the rain. By the time I got to the historical center, it was about 6pm, and I didn't much feel like touring any monuments. So, I just looked around a bit, and saw the Fountain of Neptune. Apparently, Neptune is the symbol of Bologna.
I decided to get a nice meal, as I've heard that Bologna is the food capital of Italy. I checked my guidebook, and found a place that was right up the street and had held the title of 'best restaurant in Bologna'. I think it was called Diana's. Of course, it was closed Mondays. So, I just wandered around until I found a place that looked nice, and then killed time until they actually opened for dinner.
The meal I had there was wonderful. I had a first course of spaghetti Bolognese, which was delicious. And then I had something called Bolognese Cutlet, which I think was a veal cutlet in a sort of white wine cream sauce.
And then for dessert I had a pistachio tarte.
I also chatted up a couple sitting next to me when I heard them mention a desire to visit Charleston. Towards the end of my meal, they sent me a glass of champagne. It was quite a nice evening.
After my meal, it was late and I was a little buzzed, so I decided I would take another cab instead of trying to figure out the bus again. This was a good decision. When back at the hostel, I spent some time trying to get my boarding pass for the next day's flight printed. Apparently, if you print it at the airport, Ryanair charges you 40€ (which is close to DOUBLE what I paid for the ticket itself.) I ended up having my mom fax it to me at the hostel. Very odd.
I returned to the hostel to pick up my bag, then hit the train station. The train to Bologna left 10 minutes after I arrived, so my timing was perfect. This train wasn't quite as nice as the other trains, perhaps because it was a regional train instead of long distance. But the ticket was only 8€, so what do I care?
When I arrived in Bologna it was starting to rain. I tried to figure out the bus directions the hostel had given, but I couldn't figure it out. Not wanting a repeat of the Siena incident, I grabbed a taxi and rode out to the hostel. I'm glad I did, because it was a little ways outside the city center, and I doubt I would have known which stop to get off the bus at. This hostel was another of the official youth hostel association hostels, and was similarly institutional to the last one. At least this time people were speaking English.
I dropped my stuff off, then decided to spend the rest of the afternoon seeing Bologna. I only had the one evening, since I was catching a flight to Spain the next morning. So, I headed out in the rain, and caught the bus into the city. The city seems pretty cool, from what I saw. It has the oldest university in the world, so its very much a college town. There were lots of students on the streets. I got off the bus much earlier than I should have to get to the historical part of town, so I spent a good hour or two wandering around in the rain. By the time I got to the historical center, it was about 6pm, and I didn't much feel like touring any monuments. So, I just looked around a bit, and saw the Fountain of Neptune. Apparently, Neptune is the symbol of Bologna.
I decided to get a nice meal, as I've heard that Bologna is the food capital of Italy. I checked my guidebook, and found a place that was right up the street and had held the title of 'best restaurant in Bologna'. I think it was called Diana's. Of course, it was closed Mondays. So, I just wandered around until I found a place that looked nice, and then killed time until they actually opened for dinner.
The meal I had there was wonderful. I had a first course of spaghetti Bolognese, which was delicious. And then I had something called Bolognese Cutlet, which I think was a veal cutlet in a sort of white wine cream sauce.
And then for dessert I had a pistachio tarte.
I also chatted up a couple sitting next to me when I heard them mention a desire to visit Charleston. Towards the end of my meal, they sent me a glass of champagne. It was quite a nice evening.
After my meal, it was late and I was a little buzzed, so I decided I would take another cab instead of trying to figure out the bus again. This was a good decision. When back at the hostel, I spent some time trying to get my boarding pass for the next day's flight printed. Apparently, if you print it at the airport, Ryanair charges you 40€ (which is close to DOUBLE what I paid for the ticket itself.) I ended up having my mom fax it to me at the hostel. Very odd.
Relaxing
My third day in Venice was spent in a lovely fashion. I got up and spent the morning trying to find a jewelry shop that I had purchased a souvenir from the day before. I decided the recipient would like some earrings to match the necklace I had already purchased. Of course, I never found the shop again. Venice is much too twisted and confusing, and having neglected to take note of where the shop was, it was lost to me. I settled for picking out something similar in another glass shop, then decided to just wander.
I spent the rest of the morning and all afternoon just wandering the streets of Venice, shooting photos and taking it in. The city is really amazing, especially when you get away from the crush of the tourist scene. Because there is no automobile traffic in the city, it is wonderfully quiet when you are alone. I took a seat near a small canal that led to open water, and sat for hours reading my book. It was so calm and relaxing.
I eventually wandered back to the hostel, getting lost along the way (of course). I had another pasta dinner with the folks at the hostel, and then we went out for drinks after dinner. We had a nice quiet evening. I met a girl who loved Joss Whedon as much as I do, so we had a great discussion about pop culture, and tried to convince this German guy why Dead Like Me was a great show. It amazes me how ubiquitous American television and pop culture is. At one bar, I was talking to an Australian guy, and somehow the Second Amendment came up in conversation, and we both quoted the same joke from Family Guy about the right to bear arms (as in the animal). He said its his favorite show. So funny.
I spent the rest of the morning and all afternoon just wandering the streets of Venice, shooting photos and taking it in. The city is really amazing, especially when you get away from the crush of the tourist scene. Because there is no automobile traffic in the city, it is wonderfully quiet when you are alone. I took a seat near a small canal that led to open water, and sat for hours reading my book. It was so calm and relaxing.
I eventually wandered back to the hostel, getting lost along the way (of course). I had another pasta dinner with the folks at the hostel, and then we went out for drinks after dinner. We had a nice quiet evening. I met a girl who loved Joss Whedon as much as I do, so we had a great discussion about pop culture, and tried to convince this German guy why Dead Like Me was a great show. It amazes me how ubiquitous American television and pop culture is. At one bar, I was talking to an Australian guy, and somehow the Second Amendment came up in conversation, and we both quoted the same joke from Family Guy about the right to bear arms (as in the animal). He said its his favorite show. So funny.
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