So, I'm going to take a page out of Lise's book (er...blog) and give you a bit of an itinerary of my trip to Italy with Lauren and Megan! I'm leaving in just a few short hours! I'm nervous, but very excited :)
So here we go -
Tuesday (today!) - Train from Pamplona to Madrid at 7:55
Bus from Madrid to Seville at 1:00 a.m. (ouch)
Wednesday - Arrive in Seville at 7:00-ish in the morning
Check into hostel and start exploring/watching processions
Thursday - More exploring and processions
Friday - Finish up things in Seville and fly to Rome in the evening!
Get to Rome around 9:00, check into hostel, and possibly go see the Good
Friday procession
Saturday - To the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica
Sunday - To the Colosseum, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, etc.
Monday - Train to Florence in the morning
Arrive in Florence around noon
See Il Duomo
Tuesday - Explore Florence and see the David and perhaps a museum
Wednesday - Leave Florence
Pisa and the leaning tower in the morning
Train to Cinque Terre, arrive by 1:00 or so
Explore Cinque Terre
Night train to Venice
Thursday - Arrive in Venice in the morning
Check into hotel, freshen up, perhaps sleep??
Go to the island to explore
Come back and relax in hotel
Friday - Explore mainland Venice
Plane to Girona in the evening
Arrive in Girona in the evening
Bus to Barcelona bus station
Bus to Pamplona (yes, this is our third night-time travel day. We're not
actually trying to kill ourselves, I promise :-S)
Saturday - Arrive in Pamplona early in the morning
Sleep!
So there you have it! It'll be a full two weeks, but it's gonna be great. You'll hear all about it when I get back! Have a great Easter, everyone :)God bless!
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
"Home Sweet Home"
After so much travelling recently, I’ve enjoyed sticking around Pamplona this week. It’s been nice to stay close to home. Or the closest thing I have to it, anyway. Especially since, on Tuesday, I’ll be leaving for a ten-day trip to Sevilla and Italy (read: Rome, Florence, and Venice), so I definitely need the time to relax. I’m super excited for my Semana Santa trip, but I have a feeling that I’ll be more than happy to be done traveling for a while once I get back to Pamplona again.
Even though this week was a little more chill, there were definitely some fun things going on! On Monday night, I went with Julie and Maja to a play at the university. There was a theatre festival these last two weeks with a different play every night, and the one we picked was called “La Cantante Calva,” (The Bald Singer). Apparently, it was originally a French play, but we saw it in Spanish, obviously. We loved it! For my dear fellow English majors (if any of you are actually reading this…), the play was very Samuel Beckett-esque. It was absurdist theater, and it was hilarious! It seemed to have Beckett’s postmodern theme of the simultaneous necessity and impossibility of communication (okay, I’ll stop being a nerd now, I promise). For example, there was a part where the characters were all telling stories, but the listeners would have the wrong reaction; someone would tell a sad story and the others would all laugh, or someone would tell a funny story and they’d get scared or start crying. So funny! And I understood the play for the most part, which was nice. There were moments when everyone else in the crowd was laughing except for Julie, Maja, and I because we didn’t quite get a few of the jokes, but still, we were able to get some of the humor. That was a good feeling – when you can understand the humor in a language, you know you’re doing well.
Tuesday was also lots of fun – I went to Barañain (a part of Pamplona that used to be a pueblo but is now connected) with Kristen M. and Lise to see the market there and visit them at their host home. The market was cool – there were lots of fun things to look at, and it was neat to hear the vendors calling out to passersby to try to convince them to look and buy. We even got some little muffins for free from a (very attractive) young man at a bakery stall – when we were eyeing the yummy-looking sweets, he was like, “Oh, you guys are Erasmus students, right? Here, these are for you!” Hehe! Such fun. We’re not strictly Erasmus students, since that’s the European exchange student program and we’re part of a different one, but that’s how the people of Pamplona know the exchange students, so it’s just easier not to correct people.
After the market, I went with Kristen M. and Lise to their house. The place they live in here is gorgeous! It’s the most regular house-like place I’ve been in since coming here. The houses in Barañain are all connected to each other, so it still doesn’t look much like an American neighborhood, but it definitely feels a lot more residential than the part of town I live in. The house is huge and really pretty, and it was fun to see Kristen and Lise’s room and kitchen and bathroom and all that good stuff. We even got to watch part of an episode of “Sin Tetas No Hay Paraíso,” a really awesome TV series that the girls watch with their host family most nights. Their host sister bought some of the seasons on DVD, since the show isn’t currently running on TV. Which is a shame, because it looks really cool! After that, it was time for lunch with the girls’ host parents, Antonio and Peñi. The meal was delicious, and Antonio and Peñi were so much fun! I found them very easy to talk to (why is it that I can talk in Spanish better with everyone besides my own host family? I don’t get it), and they were really nice. Peñi had us in stitches with her funny stories, and both of them taught us some new words and such. A very fun time
:-)
Wednesday wasn’t too eventful, other than the fact that I got to watch a historical romance movie! In English!!! I was stoked. A friend of mine sent it to me, and I will be eternally grateful to her. And that same night there was a little thunderstorm, which made me super happy. I’ve missed the sound of thunder! And I have a feeling that it doesn’t come around a lot in Spain, so I made sure to enjoy it to the fullest.
On Thursday, we had our last dance class, which made Kristen M. and Lauren and I pretty sad. Taking that class is one of the best decisions we’ve made here! We learned so much (much more than dancing, as well) and made lots of friends. It was so nice to do an activity other than class for a while, and made us feel like we were a part of real Spanish life and that we were taking advantage of one of the many wonderful things this city has to offer. Pretty much the best 32 euro I ever spent
:-)
Also on Thursday, Lise and I had a fun little moment – we were walking through campus after class, and we saw this little tiny bird hanging out on the sidewalk. Instead of flying away when we got closer, like we would have expected, it just sat there, unperturbed. We got closer and bent down to look at it – I even touched it – and it still didn’t do anything! We were amazed. We thought it must have a hurt wing or something, so we thought we’d better move it to the grass where no one would step on it. So I picked it up, and it just chilled in my hands for a bit – not trying to get away, not pecking at me – just sitting. When I went to put it down, it perched on my finger for a moment, and then all the sudden, it just flew up into the tree nearby! So it wasn’t hurt after all. So crazy! I felt like Snow White or something :-P It totally made my day!
On Friday, I got together with Julie and Maja again and we went to Julie’s flat to make lunch together – she taught us how to make veggie pâtè, tortilla de patata and tortilla with vegetables (Maja is a vegetarian and Julie doesn’t eat meat that often, so…). It was so yummy! And it was so much fun to hang out and talk with those gals – we’re all pretty low-energy, calm sort of people (most of the time :-P) so it was a quiet and relaxed afternoon, which was nice. We had a great time talking about the differences and similarities between our countries and learning about each other. It’s cool that all three of us are from different countries, and yet we have a lot of common ground.
Today has been pretty relaxed – some more planning for Italy and some homework, and that’s about it. Oh, and I got to sleep in for the first time in about three weeks! That was heavenly. Tomorrow I think I’m going to go to the Palm Sunday procession with Kristen M. and Lise – I’m really excited to see what that will be like!
This will probably be my last blog post until after I get back from Italy. Just so you all know. So in two weeks, expect to see way more than you ever wanted to know about my fabulous tour of Italy! Hee hee :-) I send my affection to you all, and I’ll talk with you again soon!
Even though this week was a little more chill, there were definitely some fun things going on! On Monday night, I went with Julie and Maja to a play at the university. There was a theatre festival these last two weeks with a different play every night, and the one we picked was called “La Cantante Calva,” (The Bald Singer). Apparently, it was originally a French play, but we saw it in Spanish, obviously. We loved it! For my dear fellow English majors (if any of you are actually reading this…), the play was very Samuel Beckett-esque. It was absurdist theater, and it was hilarious! It seemed to have Beckett’s postmodern theme of the simultaneous necessity and impossibility of communication (okay, I’ll stop being a nerd now, I promise). For example, there was a part where the characters were all telling stories, but the listeners would have the wrong reaction; someone would tell a sad story and the others would all laugh, or someone would tell a funny story and they’d get scared or start crying. So funny! And I understood the play for the most part, which was nice. There were moments when everyone else in the crowd was laughing except for Julie, Maja, and I because we didn’t quite get a few of the jokes, but still, we were able to get some of the humor. That was a good feeling – when you can understand the humor in a language, you know you’re doing well.
Tuesday was also lots of fun – I went to Barañain (a part of Pamplona that used to be a pueblo but is now connected) with Kristen M. and Lise to see the market there and visit them at their host home. The market was cool – there were lots of fun things to look at, and it was neat to hear the vendors calling out to passersby to try to convince them to look and buy. We even got some little muffins for free from a (very attractive) young man at a bakery stall – when we were eyeing the yummy-looking sweets, he was like, “Oh, you guys are Erasmus students, right? Here, these are for you!” Hehe! Such fun. We’re not strictly Erasmus students, since that’s the European exchange student program and we’re part of a different one, but that’s how the people of Pamplona know the exchange students, so it’s just easier not to correct people.
After the market, I went with Kristen M. and Lise to their house. The place they live in here is gorgeous! It’s the most regular house-like place I’ve been in since coming here. The houses in Barañain are all connected to each other, so it still doesn’t look much like an American neighborhood, but it definitely feels a lot more residential than the part of town I live in. The house is huge and really pretty, and it was fun to see Kristen and Lise’s room and kitchen and bathroom and all that good stuff. We even got to watch part of an episode of “Sin Tetas No Hay Paraíso,” a really awesome TV series that the girls watch with their host family most nights. Their host sister bought some of the seasons on DVD, since the show isn’t currently running on TV. Which is a shame, because it looks really cool! After that, it was time for lunch with the girls’ host parents, Antonio and Peñi. The meal was delicious, and Antonio and Peñi were so much fun! I found them very easy to talk to (why is it that I can talk in Spanish better with everyone besides my own host family? I don’t get it), and they were really nice. Peñi had us in stitches with her funny stories, and both of them taught us some new words and such. A very fun time
:-)
Wednesday wasn’t too eventful, other than the fact that I got to watch a historical romance movie! In English!!! I was stoked. A friend of mine sent it to me, and I will be eternally grateful to her. And that same night there was a little thunderstorm, which made me super happy. I’ve missed the sound of thunder! And I have a feeling that it doesn’t come around a lot in Spain, so I made sure to enjoy it to the fullest.
On Thursday, we had our last dance class, which made Kristen M. and Lauren and I pretty sad. Taking that class is one of the best decisions we’ve made here! We learned so much (much more than dancing, as well) and made lots of friends. It was so nice to do an activity other than class for a while, and made us feel like we were a part of real Spanish life and that we were taking advantage of one of the many wonderful things this city has to offer. Pretty much the best 32 euro I ever spent
:-)
Also on Thursday, Lise and I had a fun little moment – we were walking through campus after class, and we saw this little tiny bird hanging out on the sidewalk. Instead of flying away when we got closer, like we would have expected, it just sat there, unperturbed. We got closer and bent down to look at it – I even touched it – and it still didn’t do anything! We were amazed. We thought it must have a hurt wing or something, so we thought we’d better move it to the grass where no one would step on it. So I picked it up, and it just chilled in my hands for a bit – not trying to get away, not pecking at me – just sitting. When I went to put it down, it perched on my finger for a moment, and then all the sudden, it just flew up into the tree nearby! So it wasn’t hurt after all. So crazy! I felt like Snow White or something :-P It totally made my day!
On Friday, I got together with Julie and Maja again and we went to Julie’s flat to make lunch together – she taught us how to make veggie pâtè, tortilla de patata and tortilla with vegetables (Maja is a vegetarian and Julie doesn’t eat meat that often, so…). It was so yummy! And it was so much fun to hang out and talk with those gals – we’re all pretty low-energy, calm sort of people (most of the time :-P) so it was a quiet and relaxed afternoon, which was nice. We had a great time talking about the differences and similarities between our countries and learning about each other. It’s cool that all three of us are from different countries, and yet we have a lot of common ground.
Today has been pretty relaxed – some more planning for Italy and some homework, and that’s about it. Oh, and I got to sleep in for the first time in about three weeks! That was heavenly. Tomorrow I think I’m going to go to the Palm Sunday procession with Kristen M. and Lise – I’m really excited to see what that will be like!
This will probably be my last blog post until after I get back from Italy. Just so you all know. So in two weeks, expect to see way more than you ever wanted to know about my fabulous tour of Italy! Hee hee :-) I send my affection to you all, and I’ll talk with you again soon!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Three
This last weekend was a weekend of threes, it seems. Three days off (Friday was a saint’s day), three girls traveling together, three Spanish provinces, and three amazing cities!
Since we had a long weekend, Kristen M. and Lauren and I decided to take advantage of the extra time to take a weekend trip to Madrid, Toledo, and Segovia. We had traveled the weekend before and again on Wednesday for the class trip, so we weren’t necessarily excited to spend another ten hours on a bus. But we put a good face on it and decided it’d be worth our while, and this weekend was a good time to go. It might have been nice to spread it out a bit, but that’s just how the dates fall sometimes.
Anyway, we had a fantastic time and were so glad we went! On Friday, we left on the 7:00 a.m. bus (erg…so early. It was really entertaining, though, to see all the young people coming back from their night of partying) in order to get to Madrid in a decent amount of time. We got there at close to 1:00 and set off to find our hostel. This proved to be rather tougher than we thought it would be, because our hostel was in the old part of town. And we all know how great the Medieval Spaniards were at making streets that follow any sort of logic…ahem. So after about an hour of walking around and a couple of phone calls to the hostel, we found it. It wasn’t so bad, though…one quickly learns that these things just happen with European travel. I’ve learned to roll with it; we always get there eventually. No pasa nada, as we say here.
Our hostel was nice; one of the best we’ve stayed in so far (which is a grand total of three, but whatever). The staff was super helpful and nice, and we got a pretty good breakfast the two mornings we stayed there. And as we found out later on Friday, what we thought would be a room that we were going to have to share with two other random people turned out to be a private triple. As I’m sure you will be glad to know, Mom and Dad :-P But yeah, we were so happy! What a blessing to not have to worry about potentially sketchy people staying with us/causing us to worry about the safety of our luggage. God is so good to us, as always.
Anyway, on Friday afternoon, we headed off on our first side trip. We had been planning on going to Segovia first, but since it was nearing 4:00 by this time and since we wouldn’t be able to get to either town until 5:00, we ended up deciding to go to Toledo at the last minute, because we felt like we wouldn’t have time to do the sites of Segovia justice before it got dark, or before they closed. So off to Toledo it was. Incidentally, this turned out to be a simply brilliant decision! We couldn’t have imagined a more perfect way to spend an evening than in that city. Our first impression of the city was a fantastic one – the old bridge, murales (stone walls, like those of the Ciudadela) and rocky hills were so striking and beautiful! The whole place looked so darn Spanish-y to me…just the sort of place where I could picture Don Quijote and Sancho Panza gallivanting about on some harebrained adventure. Well, we were in Castilla-La Mancha, after all.
We set off right away to explore the city. We fell more in love with the place with every step! We climbed up the walls and saw a wonderful view of the city (as well as some gorgeous flowering trees! In March!). From there, we came to the old part of the town, where we were enchanted by the typical narrow streets and antique surroundings. We saw the gorgeous cathedral, bought some very delicious marzipan – or mázapan, as it’s called in Spanish (Toledo is apparently famous for this, which I didn’t know before going there), and did some shopping in the best tourist shops I’ve seen so far. It was here that we finally found authentic Spanish merchandise, the likes of which we’ve wanted to find ever since we came. Needless to say, we all found a number of items that we couldn’t live without. And I had a great time looking at all the medieval-style swords and daggers that were sold in practically all of the shops. Apparently, Toledo is as famous for metalworking and sword-making as it is for marzipan; which is something else I learned for the first time that day. I was fascinated by it all! I wanted to buy a dagger soooo badly. But then I remembered that I should spend my money on stuff that’s actually useful/isn’t going to weigh down my suitcase unduly. I had fun geeking out over it though, at any rate. Oh, the joys of having read Lord of the Rings and the like way too many times. And I couldn’t resist having Kristen M. take a picture of me with one of the Monty-Python-esque suits of armor. Umm…what obsession?
Later, we even found some turrón in one of the nice little chocolate shops there. Kristen M. took advantage of the opportunity and bought a big bar of it – I hadn’t heard about it much before this, but apparently it’s a type of chocolate that is super hard to find except around Christmastime. And boy, is it yummy! This experience was made even better by the fact that we had a great conversation with the store’s very kind, grandfatherly proprietor. While we were eating the sample of the turrón he’d given us before we bought some, Lauren asked him if he’d lived in Toledo all his life. He said yes, he had, and said, “But you ladies have lived in America for all of your lives.” We affirmed this, and then he said, “You’re from Minnesota, aren’t you?” We were shocked! We asked him how he knew that, and he said that, last year, he became friends with a Minnesotan girl who was studying in Toledo and who used to come to his shop all the time. She had left for home in May, and the shop owner told us that they had both cried buckets when she left! He even had a text from her still saved on his phone. But yeah, we’re guessing that he asked us if we were from Minnesota because he probably doesn’t know many other states besides that one. But still! What are the chances? It was such a cool moment. How wonderful to meet such an amazing person!
After finishing up our shopping, we climbed back down the hill and took our time enjoying the beautiful city lights (it was dark by this time) and the warm weather. We then headed back to Madrid to look for an inexpensive place to eat not-bocadillos for dinner. We were quite successful in this endeavour – we found a neat little place not too far from our hostel, and right on the edge of the famous Puerta del Sol. It was even right by the hotel that Kristen M., Lise, and I stayed at on our first night in Spain! That sure brought back some memories. Anyway, the restaurant was great, and pretty reasonable. We shared a pitcher of some amazing sangria (gosh…I’m gonna miss that stuff), and I had a vegetable sandwich that was piled high with lots of lovely things. I always seem to crave vegetables like a sailor with scurvy whenever I’m on these trips. After that, we headed back to the hostel to rest up for another big day.
On Saturday, we got up early again to catch the bus to Segovia. We headed straight to the acueducto (the Roman aqueduct, for you English-speakers) and took lots of pictures. After that, it was off to the cathedral (we didn’t feel like spending 3 euros to see the inside of yet another gothic cathedral, so we looked around the outside, which was pretty darn cool anyway), and then to the Alcázar, Segovia’s castle, after which Sleeping Beauty’s castle was modeled, I’m told. We liked it a lot – it was a lot more decorated and interesting inside than the castle at Olite. After this, we did a little bit more shopping, stopped at Eroski to pick up some provisions, and rushed to catch the 12:30 bus; all while trying not to get blown away by the sudden gale-force winds. It was a fun morning, and Segovia’s a neat little town. I have to say, though; I was more struck by Toledo, for some reason (no offense, A.J. and Leanne…). Though, in Segovia’s defense, it was a very quiet Saturday morning, with few things open and not-so-nice weather, so that may have had something to do with it.
Once we got back to Madrid, we went to see the Palacio Real, the huge palace where Spain’s royal family used to live (Rey Juan Carlos and his peeps live in a different, smaller place now). Lauren wasn’t feeling the whole go-in-and-look-at-old-stuff thing just then (which I can well understand…a person just becomes arted-out after a while, with so much to see), so she ended up going on a walk instead. Kristen M. and I decided to go for it, though, and went to look around for about an hour. We didn’t feel the need to stay and ponder anything, but it was cool to see it. It was an extremely luxurious place, as you may well imagine, and we enjoyed seeing the huge crystal chandeliers and the opulently furnished rooms.
After that, we got on the metro and headed to the other side of town, to the bullring! We decided that we couldn’t go to Madrid and not take advantage of the opportunity to go to a bullfight. And of course, it was something we’ve all wanted to do since coming to Spain. And we definitely weren’t sorry we did it! For 2.20 euro, we got a two-and-a-half-hour show in seats that were rather high up (but we could see everything just fine, so that was alright). It was so cool! There were three matadors, and they killed six bulls in all. I thought I would be bothered by the violence involved, but I was too busy being fascinated with the whole affair. I guess I’m more bloodthirsty than I thought. Anyway, it was so cool to finally see something I’ve heard so much about. There are actually a lot more people involved in these things than I knew. After the initial procession of all the different guys in the bullfight, they let out the first bull, and a group of toreros waved around their capes and taunted the bull for a while. Next came two horsemen with long spears, and they poked the bull a few times and made it start bleeding a bit. After that came another torero with a couple of short sticks with hooks on the ends that he stuck into the bull’s back. The bull had about four or five of these hanging from him by the end of that part. And finally, the matador came out with his red cape and sword. He threw his cap on the ground and proceeded to do a very dangerous sort of dance with the bull and strike a few manly poses to draw cheers from the crowd. Then, at the opportune moment, he drove his sword as deep as he could into the bull’s back. Once the sword is in, the bull generally dies in a couple of minutes (the last one took rather longer, and it took a lot more tries before the sword went into it…that was rather weird), and a couple of other toreros come to finish it off if need be. I could have done without the times when they stuck a sharp object into the bull’s brain and jimmied it around for a while, causing the bull to twitch rather dramatically. I felt rather less desensitized at these moments. But whatever. After the bull is dead, some men lead some mules with belled harnesses out to drag the bull’s body away, and then the next one comes out shortly after and the whole process begins again. The most exciting one was the fifth bull – one of the toreros definitely got gored by the bull – he was tossed in the air like a rag doll. O.o We rather feared for his life for a moment, but he made it out okay and didn’t seem to be bleeding. I’m sure he didn’t feel too great in the morning, however. Also, with this bull, the matador was the most daring and did some pretty tricky and skilled moves. It was a lot of fun to watch! The whole experience was definitely one of the most unique I’ve had. I really liked it! It was fun to do something so uniquely Spanish. I really wished that my dad and brother could have been there, though. I think they’d really like it! Someday, perhaps.
So, that pretty much wrapped up our Saturday. After another delicious dinner at the same restaurant as before (same waitress, even), we were done for the day. We had yet another early morning on Sunday, during which we went to El Rastro, the gigantic market that Madrid has every week. It was a neat experience – tons of booths with all manner of interesting things. We found a few little things to buy there, and then went to do the art museum thing. We saw some of both the Prado and the Reina Sofia. They were very cool, though, as I’ve said, I’m pretty good to go as far as art is concerned, so I wasn’t as into it as you might expect. It’s sad…I’m starting to feel like such a snob. I mean really, who gets bored with great art? Leave it to me, I guess. Really, though, I did enjoy it. My favorite part was seeing Picasso’s famous Guernica painting. So huge, and very compelling.
After this, we ended up in the huge Parque del Retiro. It was a beautiful place – a nice, quiet piece of nature in the middle of an enormous, bustling city. It was nice to relax there for a while and enjoy the springy-ness. We spent rather longer there than we should have done, though…when we started to walk back, we realized it was already after 3:00, so we’d have to book it to make our 4:00 bus. We walked sooo fast over rather hilly ground, and I felt like I was going to collapse by the time it was all over. Just when I thought I couldn’t gain any more leg muscle…anyway, we made it in time to catch our bus, thankfully. Since everyone and their abuela was trying to get back to Pamplona at the same time we were, we couldn’t get onto our (very packed) bus until about 10 minutes later than scheduled. So it all worked out in the end. After yet another five-hour bus ride (they played Cyrano de Bergerac during it, which I’m sure I would have enjoyed had I not lost track of the Spanish dialogue about halfway through), we were very ready to be back in Pamplona. It’s weird, though…I always feel like I want to be in my real home (wherever that is…) after these trips, and not just Pamplona. But for now, Pamplona is home enough.
And I’ll be plenty happy to spend the rest of the week here, enjoying this town to the fullest. After Semana Santa, I’m gonna be pretty O.D.’ed on traveling. But oh well, I’ll get to see some more amazing things, regardless. And I daresay it’ll make my last three (or so) weeks in Pamplona all the sweeter.
Since we had a long weekend, Kristen M. and Lauren and I decided to take advantage of the extra time to take a weekend trip to Madrid, Toledo, and Segovia. We had traveled the weekend before and again on Wednesday for the class trip, so we weren’t necessarily excited to spend another ten hours on a bus. But we put a good face on it and decided it’d be worth our while, and this weekend was a good time to go. It might have been nice to spread it out a bit, but that’s just how the dates fall sometimes.
Anyway, we had a fantastic time and were so glad we went! On Friday, we left on the 7:00 a.m. bus (erg…so early. It was really entertaining, though, to see all the young people coming back from their night of partying) in order to get to Madrid in a decent amount of time. We got there at close to 1:00 and set off to find our hostel. This proved to be rather tougher than we thought it would be, because our hostel was in the old part of town. And we all know how great the Medieval Spaniards were at making streets that follow any sort of logic…ahem. So after about an hour of walking around and a couple of phone calls to the hostel, we found it. It wasn’t so bad, though…one quickly learns that these things just happen with European travel. I’ve learned to roll with it; we always get there eventually. No pasa nada, as we say here.
Our hostel was nice; one of the best we’ve stayed in so far (which is a grand total of three, but whatever). The staff was super helpful and nice, and we got a pretty good breakfast the two mornings we stayed there. And as we found out later on Friday, what we thought would be a room that we were going to have to share with two other random people turned out to be a private triple. As I’m sure you will be glad to know, Mom and Dad :-P But yeah, we were so happy! What a blessing to not have to worry about potentially sketchy people staying with us/causing us to worry about the safety of our luggage. God is so good to us, as always.
Anyway, on Friday afternoon, we headed off on our first side trip. We had been planning on going to Segovia first, but since it was nearing 4:00 by this time and since we wouldn’t be able to get to either town until 5:00, we ended up deciding to go to Toledo at the last minute, because we felt like we wouldn’t have time to do the sites of Segovia justice before it got dark, or before they closed. So off to Toledo it was. Incidentally, this turned out to be a simply brilliant decision! We couldn’t have imagined a more perfect way to spend an evening than in that city. Our first impression of the city was a fantastic one – the old bridge, murales (stone walls, like those of the Ciudadela) and rocky hills were so striking and beautiful! The whole place looked so darn Spanish-y to me…just the sort of place where I could picture Don Quijote and Sancho Panza gallivanting about on some harebrained adventure. Well, we were in Castilla-La Mancha, after all.
We set off right away to explore the city. We fell more in love with the place with every step! We climbed up the walls and saw a wonderful view of the city (as well as some gorgeous flowering trees! In March!). From there, we came to the old part of the town, where we were enchanted by the typical narrow streets and antique surroundings. We saw the gorgeous cathedral, bought some very delicious marzipan – or mázapan, as it’s called in Spanish (Toledo is apparently famous for this, which I didn’t know before going there), and did some shopping in the best tourist shops I’ve seen so far. It was here that we finally found authentic Spanish merchandise, the likes of which we’ve wanted to find ever since we came. Needless to say, we all found a number of items that we couldn’t live without. And I had a great time looking at all the medieval-style swords and daggers that were sold in practically all of the shops. Apparently, Toledo is as famous for metalworking and sword-making as it is for marzipan; which is something else I learned for the first time that day. I was fascinated by it all! I wanted to buy a dagger soooo badly. But then I remembered that I should spend my money on stuff that’s actually useful/isn’t going to weigh down my suitcase unduly. I had fun geeking out over it though, at any rate. Oh, the joys of having read Lord of the Rings and the like way too many times. And I couldn’t resist having Kristen M. take a picture of me with one of the Monty-Python-esque suits of armor. Umm…what obsession?
Later, we even found some turrón in one of the nice little chocolate shops there. Kristen M. took advantage of the opportunity and bought a big bar of it – I hadn’t heard about it much before this, but apparently it’s a type of chocolate that is super hard to find except around Christmastime. And boy, is it yummy! This experience was made even better by the fact that we had a great conversation with the store’s very kind, grandfatherly proprietor. While we were eating the sample of the turrón he’d given us before we bought some, Lauren asked him if he’d lived in Toledo all his life. He said yes, he had, and said, “But you ladies have lived in America for all of your lives.” We affirmed this, and then he said, “You’re from Minnesota, aren’t you?” We were shocked! We asked him how he knew that, and he said that, last year, he became friends with a Minnesotan girl who was studying in Toledo and who used to come to his shop all the time. She had left for home in May, and the shop owner told us that they had both cried buckets when she left! He even had a text from her still saved on his phone. But yeah, we’re guessing that he asked us if we were from Minnesota because he probably doesn’t know many other states besides that one. But still! What are the chances? It was such a cool moment. How wonderful to meet such an amazing person!
After finishing up our shopping, we climbed back down the hill and took our time enjoying the beautiful city lights (it was dark by this time) and the warm weather. We then headed back to Madrid to look for an inexpensive place to eat not-bocadillos for dinner. We were quite successful in this endeavour – we found a neat little place not too far from our hostel, and right on the edge of the famous Puerta del Sol. It was even right by the hotel that Kristen M., Lise, and I stayed at on our first night in Spain! That sure brought back some memories. Anyway, the restaurant was great, and pretty reasonable. We shared a pitcher of some amazing sangria (gosh…I’m gonna miss that stuff), and I had a vegetable sandwich that was piled high with lots of lovely things. I always seem to crave vegetables like a sailor with scurvy whenever I’m on these trips. After that, we headed back to the hostel to rest up for another big day.
On Saturday, we got up early again to catch the bus to Segovia. We headed straight to the acueducto (the Roman aqueduct, for you English-speakers) and took lots of pictures. After that, it was off to the cathedral (we didn’t feel like spending 3 euros to see the inside of yet another gothic cathedral, so we looked around the outside, which was pretty darn cool anyway), and then to the Alcázar, Segovia’s castle, after which Sleeping Beauty’s castle was modeled, I’m told. We liked it a lot – it was a lot more decorated and interesting inside than the castle at Olite. After this, we did a little bit more shopping, stopped at Eroski to pick up some provisions, and rushed to catch the 12:30 bus; all while trying not to get blown away by the sudden gale-force winds. It was a fun morning, and Segovia’s a neat little town. I have to say, though; I was more struck by Toledo, for some reason (no offense, A.J. and Leanne…). Though, in Segovia’s defense, it was a very quiet Saturday morning, with few things open and not-so-nice weather, so that may have had something to do with it.
Once we got back to Madrid, we went to see the Palacio Real, the huge palace where Spain’s royal family used to live (Rey Juan Carlos and his peeps live in a different, smaller place now). Lauren wasn’t feeling the whole go-in-and-look-at-old-stuff thing just then (which I can well understand…a person just becomes arted-out after a while, with so much to see), so she ended up going on a walk instead. Kristen M. and I decided to go for it, though, and went to look around for about an hour. We didn’t feel the need to stay and ponder anything, but it was cool to see it. It was an extremely luxurious place, as you may well imagine, and we enjoyed seeing the huge crystal chandeliers and the opulently furnished rooms.
After that, we got on the metro and headed to the other side of town, to the bullring! We decided that we couldn’t go to Madrid and not take advantage of the opportunity to go to a bullfight. And of course, it was something we’ve all wanted to do since coming to Spain. And we definitely weren’t sorry we did it! For 2.20 euro, we got a two-and-a-half-hour show in seats that were rather high up (but we could see everything just fine, so that was alright). It was so cool! There were three matadors, and they killed six bulls in all. I thought I would be bothered by the violence involved, but I was too busy being fascinated with the whole affair. I guess I’m more bloodthirsty than I thought. Anyway, it was so cool to finally see something I’ve heard so much about. There are actually a lot more people involved in these things than I knew. After the initial procession of all the different guys in the bullfight, they let out the first bull, and a group of toreros waved around their capes and taunted the bull for a while. Next came two horsemen with long spears, and they poked the bull a few times and made it start bleeding a bit. After that came another torero with a couple of short sticks with hooks on the ends that he stuck into the bull’s back. The bull had about four or five of these hanging from him by the end of that part. And finally, the matador came out with his red cape and sword. He threw his cap on the ground and proceeded to do a very dangerous sort of dance with the bull and strike a few manly poses to draw cheers from the crowd. Then, at the opportune moment, he drove his sword as deep as he could into the bull’s back. Once the sword is in, the bull generally dies in a couple of minutes (the last one took rather longer, and it took a lot more tries before the sword went into it…that was rather weird), and a couple of other toreros come to finish it off if need be. I could have done without the times when they stuck a sharp object into the bull’s brain and jimmied it around for a while, causing the bull to twitch rather dramatically. I felt rather less desensitized at these moments. But whatever. After the bull is dead, some men lead some mules with belled harnesses out to drag the bull’s body away, and then the next one comes out shortly after and the whole process begins again. The most exciting one was the fifth bull – one of the toreros definitely got gored by the bull – he was tossed in the air like a rag doll. O.o We rather feared for his life for a moment, but he made it out okay and didn’t seem to be bleeding. I’m sure he didn’t feel too great in the morning, however. Also, with this bull, the matador was the most daring and did some pretty tricky and skilled moves. It was a lot of fun to watch! The whole experience was definitely one of the most unique I’ve had. I really liked it! It was fun to do something so uniquely Spanish. I really wished that my dad and brother could have been there, though. I think they’d really like it! Someday, perhaps.
So, that pretty much wrapped up our Saturday. After another delicious dinner at the same restaurant as before (same waitress, even), we were done for the day. We had yet another early morning on Sunday, during which we went to El Rastro, the gigantic market that Madrid has every week. It was a neat experience – tons of booths with all manner of interesting things. We found a few little things to buy there, and then went to do the art museum thing. We saw some of both the Prado and the Reina Sofia. They were very cool, though, as I’ve said, I’m pretty good to go as far as art is concerned, so I wasn’t as into it as you might expect. It’s sad…I’m starting to feel like such a snob. I mean really, who gets bored with great art? Leave it to me, I guess. Really, though, I did enjoy it. My favorite part was seeing Picasso’s famous Guernica painting. So huge, and very compelling.
After this, we ended up in the huge Parque del Retiro. It was a beautiful place – a nice, quiet piece of nature in the middle of an enormous, bustling city. It was nice to relax there for a while and enjoy the springy-ness. We spent rather longer there than we should have done, though…when we started to walk back, we realized it was already after 3:00, so we’d have to book it to make our 4:00 bus. We walked sooo fast over rather hilly ground, and I felt like I was going to collapse by the time it was all over. Just when I thought I couldn’t gain any more leg muscle…anyway, we made it in time to catch our bus, thankfully. Since everyone and their abuela was trying to get back to Pamplona at the same time we were, we couldn’t get onto our (very packed) bus until about 10 minutes later than scheduled. So it all worked out in the end. After yet another five-hour bus ride (they played Cyrano de Bergerac during it, which I’m sure I would have enjoyed had I not lost track of the Spanish dialogue about halfway through), we were very ready to be back in Pamplona. It’s weird, though…I always feel like I want to be in my real home (wherever that is…) after these trips, and not just Pamplona. But for now, Pamplona is home enough.
And I’ll be plenty happy to spend the rest of the week here, enjoying this town to the fullest. After Semana Santa, I’m gonna be pretty O.D.’ed on traveling. But oh well, I’ll get to see some more amazing things, regardless. And I daresay it’ll make my last three (or so) weeks in Pamplona all the sweeter.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
A Capital Day in the Capital
Yesterday was a long and quite amazing day! Our Civilization and Culture class (well, all the girls from it, anyway) took a day trip to Madrid to see some of the sites that are pertinent to our class. I wasn’t sure at first whether it would be worth riding 10 hours on a bus in one day just to spend a few hours in Madrid, but as I was happy to discover, it definitely was!
Before stopping at the first place on the docket, we drove around the city a bit. What a great place! It rivals Barcelona for beauty, in my opinion – what little I’ve seen of it, anyway. After my longer trip there this weekend, I’ll be able to give you a more definitive answer. Anyway, the first stop was the Senado, which is the building in which Spain’s senate meets to do their thing. This ended up being my favorite of the places we went to. I wasn’t really sure what to expect here, but I was very pleasantly surprised with big-as-life paintings, some very Spanish-y looking portraits, and some cool statues; some of the most expressive I’ve seen so far here. And of course, all the furnishings were very posh. My favorite part was the little library inside – it was full of beautiful old books, and you all know how obsessed I am with that sort of thing. And the architecture was so neat; two floors, with all the books behind metal doors with big glass panels. I’m having a hard time explaining it…but believe me, it was cool. And when we left the Senado, the tour guide gave us all a gift! We each got a wooden box that had a pretty journal and a little bag with a pencil, eraser, and sharpener inside! I was excited.
After the Senado, it was time for a lunch break. We headed to our next stop, the Biblioteca Nacional de España, and just chilled in the front yard and enjoyed the sun. I never saw the temperature, but it felt close to 70 degrees Fahrenheit! Absolutely wonderful. We had the very agreeable problem of being too warm! Kristen M. and I even bought some delicious Haagen-Dasz ice cream, feeling very celebratory about the summery-ness of the day.
Once we’d had enough calories to spur us onward, we went into the Biblioteca. This place is essentially the equivalent to our Library of Congress in the States. It was pretty interesting, though not really what I was expecting. It was a lot more ordinary-looking than I thought it would be. And we actually didn’t even really see that many books, though we did get to see a display of some really cool facsimiles. There was a tiny book full of illuminations and miniatures, which I of course loved, as any of you who know about my English project last semester can very well guess. There were even two of Leonardo Da Vinci’s design books, which sported his famous backwards handwriting! And beyond these, it was nice to enjoy the quietness of the library (it’s a rare moment when I find myself in complete silence in Spain) to see all the old-fashioned rooms and such. We took a look at their old card-catalog system…that brought me back a few years, since I haven’t used one of those since about the third grade. And it made me think about how weird it is that I’m old enough to remember when libraries didn’t use an internet cataloguing system.
When our tour of the Biblioteca was through, we were starting to get rather fatigued, but we pressed on. Our last stop was a quick trip to the Museo de Antropología. We only had about an hour or so to spend here, since our library tour had run long (our tour guide was good, but she seemed to really enjoy talking…that’s okay, though, because we learned a lot). We were kind of glad that it wasn’t any longer, though; there wasn’t a ton to see there. What was there was fascinating, though! We saw the Dama de Elche, a statue which is apparently the most famous/recognizable piece of Iberian art. All that remains of it is the head and shoulders, though the experts think that it was originally a full-body statue. There were lots of other cool things in the museum, like some Grecian urns (which of course made me think of Keats), some incredibly detailed ivory sculptures – my favorite was the one of God kicking all the fallen angels down to hell…so intricate and intriguing – lots of old coins, a few statues, and other things of that sort. It was nice that there wasn’t a ton there, because we had the time to really look at things, which one doesn’t always get in big museums because one feels as though it’s necessary to see as much as possible in the little time there is, which ends up as a focus on quantity, not quality. That’s all right in its own way, but it’s nice to be able to take the time to really ponder what’s going on in a piece of art.
After the museum, it was time to head home. We took one last turn around the city to see a few more places of interest. Lauren and Kristen M. are so excited to go back this weekend and see some of those places up close and personal! They look astounding. We didn’t spend too long with this, though, since we were more than ready to get back to Pamplona to rest. The bus ride was rather long, but not too boring. We watched our second movie of the day (the first had been a cute Spanish chick flick called Mia Sarah…might have to look for that one on the web or something), which was a fun little Audrey Hepburn flick by the name of Sabrina. Besides the fact that the movie was really cute with lots of funny moments (many of which were due to over-acting), it was the first movie I’ve seen in English since before I left for Spain! That was exciting. It was nice to not have to strain to understand it the whole time. Don’t get me wrong, watching Spanish TV/movies is probably my favorite way to practice understanding the language, but it’s nice to have a break.
And now I’m off to try to remember what productivity is! We have tomorrow off from school, but there’s a lot to do today before our weekend trip to Madrid, Segovia, and Toledo. But more about that later. I’m so excited to see yet more wonderful Spanish cities!
Before stopping at the first place on the docket, we drove around the city a bit. What a great place! It rivals Barcelona for beauty, in my opinion – what little I’ve seen of it, anyway. After my longer trip there this weekend, I’ll be able to give you a more definitive answer. Anyway, the first stop was the Senado, which is the building in which Spain’s senate meets to do their thing. This ended up being my favorite of the places we went to. I wasn’t really sure what to expect here, but I was very pleasantly surprised with big-as-life paintings, some very Spanish-y looking portraits, and some cool statues; some of the most expressive I’ve seen so far here. And of course, all the furnishings were very posh. My favorite part was the little library inside – it was full of beautiful old books, and you all know how obsessed I am with that sort of thing. And the architecture was so neat; two floors, with all the books behind metal doors with big glass panels. I’m having a hard time explaining it…but believe me, it was cool. And when we left the Senado, the tour guide gave us all a gift! We each got a wooden box that had a pretty journal and a little bag with a pencil, eraser, and sharpener inside! I was excited.
After the Senado, it was time for a lunch break. We headed to our next stop, the Biblioteca Nacional de España, and just chilled in the front yard and enjoyed the sun. I never saw the temperature, but it felt close to 70 degrees Fahrenheit! Absolutely wonderful. We had the very agreeable problem of being too warm! Kristen M. and I even bought some delicious Haagen-Dasz ice cream, feeling very celebratory about the summery-ness of the day.
Once we’d had enough calories to spur us onward, we went into the Biblioteca. This place is essentially the equivalent to our Library of Congress in the States. It was pretty interesting, though not really what I was expecting. It was a lot more ordinary-looking than I thought it would be. And we actually didn’t even really see that many books, though we did get to see a display of some really cool facsimiles. There was a tiny book full of illuminations and miniatures, which I of course loved, as any of you who know about my English project last semester can very well guess. There were even two of Leonardo Da Vinci’s design books, which sported his famous backwards handwriting! And beyond these, it was nice to enjoy the quietness of the library (it’s a rare moment when I find myself in complete silence in Spain) to see all the old-fashioned rooms and such. We took a look at their old card-catalog system…that brought me back a few years, since I haven’t used one of those since about the third grade. And it made me think about how weird it is that I’m old enough to remember when libraries didn’t use an internet cataloguing system.
When our tour of the Biblioteca was through, we were starting to get rather fatigued, but we pressed on. Our last stop was a quick trip to the Museo de Antropología. We only had about an hour or so to spend here, since our library tour had run long (our tour guide was good, but she seemed to really enjoy talking…that’s okay, though, because we learned a lot). We were kind of glad that it wasn’t any longer, though; there wasn’t a ton to see there. What was there was fascinating, though! We saw the Dama de Elche, a statue which is apparently the most famous/recognizable piece of Iberian art. All that remains of it is the head and shoulders, though the experts think that it was originally a full-body statue. There were lots of other cool things in the museum, like some Grecian urns (which of course made me think of Keats), some incredibly detailed ivory sculptures – my favorite was the one of God kicking all the fallen angels down to hell…so intricate and intriguing – lots of old coins, a few statues, and other things of that sort. It was nice that there wasn’t a ton there, because we had the time to really look at things, which one doesn’t always get in big museums because one feels as though it’s necessary to see as much as possible in the little time there is, which ends up as a focus on quantity, not quality. That’s all right in its own way, but it’s nice to be able to take the time to really ponder what’s going on in a piece of art.
After the museum, it was time to head home. We took one last turn around the city to see a few more places of interest. Lauren and Kristen M. are so excited to go back this weekend and see some of those places up close and personal! They look astounding. We didn’t spend too long with this, though, since we were more than ready to get back to Pamplona to rest. The bus ride was rather long, but not too boring. We watched our second movie of the day (the first had been a cute Spanish chick flick called Mia Sarah…might have to look for that one on the web or something), which was a fun little Audrey Hepburn flick by the name of Sabrina. Besides the fact that the movie was really cute with lots of funny moments (many of which were due to over-acting), it was the first movie I’ve seen in English since before I left for Spain! That was exciting. It was nice to not have to strain to understand it the whole time. Don’t get me wrong, watching Spanish TV/movies is probably my favorite way to practice understanding the language, but it’s nice to have a break.
And now I’m off to try to remember what productivity is! We have tomorrow off from school, but there’s a lot to do today before our weekend trip to Madrid, Segovia, and Toledo. But more about that later. I’m so excited to see yet more wonderful Spanish cities!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Bellisima Barcelona
I’m back from my adventure in Barcelona! There’s a lot to say about this beautiful city. Lots of images are crowding my head right now and I want to pick all of them at once, but let’s start from the beginning.
On Friday, we all skipped class to get a good start on the weekend. About 15 of us from the Pamplona campus (mostly girls) met the bus of about 17 students from the San Sebastian campus (mostly boys, and all from the engineering program). At the typical half-hour after the predetermined time (and after John – our group leader – proved his love for the bus’s microphone once again) we were on the bus and heading east to Barcelona. And one pleasant, though long, bus ride later, we were there! We were struck by the impressive architecture and overall richness of the place. Just like in Paris, everything was art. In any direction I looked, I saw sculptures and spires and statues. Oh my! And I couldn’t help but notice that there were more signs in Catalán than there were in Spanish. Catalán is the language spoken by many people in Cataluña, the province in which Barcelona is located. It’s basically Spanish, with French influences, so if you know Spanish you can generally understand what a sign in Catalán is trying to tell you without any trouble. Definitely intriguing, though.
The first thing we did was head to our hostel to unload. And what a hostel it was – despite the paintings of creepy children with huge eyes (from some recent exhibition, apparently) in the entryway, we were immediately impressed by the curvy marble staircase and the general posh-ness of the place. Our rooms were quite nice – the guys and girls stayed in different hostels (a requirement of Opus Dei, I think, which is the conservative Catholic organization that funds the university), so I was in a room with several other girls. The beds were comfy, and the room had a great view of a gorgeous building beside the hostel. The only issue was that there was only one toilet and one shower for about ten girls. But I woke up early to take a shower both mornings, so it worked out fine. Anyway, it was a great place – they served a delicious breakfast (with toast and cereal! I hardly ever get those here, so I was excited), and we felt safe and comfortable there the whole time. Which is more than I can say about our Paris hostel – but then, I think this one was a little more expensive. You get what you pay for sometimes, I guess.
Once we were settled in our hostel, we met in the gorgeous Plaza de Catalunya, where there were huge, beautiful fountains and some obligatory classical statues. Oh, and about a million and one pigeons. I’m beginning to really dislike those things – they’re so dirty and nasty, and they’re everywhere in cities. Sometimes a big flock of them would fly up suddenly, causing us girls to shriek and shield our eyeballs. Alfred Hitchcock, anyone (Okay, so I haven’t actually seen The Birds. But still.)? But I digress. After the boys came, we headed out on a little tour of the main parts of the city. We went to Las Ramblas, the main street in Barcelona, which has all sorts of vendors, a market, and lots of other interesting things to see. We were surprised to see lots of booths that were apparently miniature pet shops, sporting cages of birds, rabbits, and other little animals. Sooo weird. Not the souvenir I would choose, but whatever. There were also people displaying their talents in hopes of collecting money from passersby. These people were everywhere – way more than in Paris, even. However, this may have been because it was frigid and not very street-performer-friendly when we were in Paris. But it got to the point where, whenever I saw someone doing something out-of-the-ordinary, I could pretty much assume that they were doing it to get money. There were men making extremely life-like bird noises with their mouths, gypsy women wheedling away at people, and men throwing glow-in-the-dark objects high into the air to get people’s attention. And my favorite, the living statues; Las Ramblas was lined with people standing stock-still on platforms, wearing elaborate costumes and paint. I took a few pictures of them, enchanted. As a chronic fidgeter, I can’t imagine standing so still for twenty minutes, let alone hours. Some of them did move, though, in order to get into their character more. For example, a guy dressed up as Edward Scissorhands had Johnny Depp’s facial expressions down to a tee. It was definitely the coolest way to solicit tourists that I’ve ever seen.
We also went into the huge market for a bit while walking down Las Ramblas. They were selling every kind of food you could imagine – meat, gorgeous and exotic fruits (both fresh and dried), exquisite chocolates, and a dazzling array of colorful gominolas (gummy candies). I was sorely tempted to buy some of the candy, but I figured it was rather too rich for my blood, so I went for a delicious ice cream cone instead. We went to another plaza after that, with yet another pretty fountain and lots of cool buildings. There was a guy sitting in one of the upper windows, playing guitar and singing enthusiastically, but not very beautifully. You come across the most random people sometimes!
Next, we headed down to the port, where we saw the harbor and a ton of little boats. We crossed the gorgeous bridge and watched a big yacht coming in to dock. I even caught a couple whiffs of ocean air! Pretty soon, we were off to find some dinner. At the first bar/restaurant, the kitchen was closed, but we had something to drink – water for me, as I was feeling severely dehydrated at this point – and sat talking for a while. After waiting for another group leader (who we seemed to be waiting for during most of the trip), we left to find another bar, deeper within the city. It was really cool, because we were probably the only tourists in there, so it was very authentic. It was a seafood bar, and they had their specialty – octopus – lying around on the countertop in a bin, still intact. We all ordered our food and drinks and sat talking at a long row of tables in the back. I wasn’t very hungry and I had a sandwich with me, but it was one of those situations where I felt obligated to order something, and I couldn’t very well whip out my bocadillo (sandwich) in the middle of a restaurant, so I got some little breaded shrimp-like things. Still not sure what they were, but they were good. They were a lot more than I was expecting to pay, however, which made me kind of angry. And I paid even more because I felt I couldn’t say no to helping the group pay for a bunch of little things that we all went together on. And besides, I wanted some of the octopus pieces and the wine (which was delicious). But if there’s anything I’ve learned throughout my travels thus far, it’s that sometimes you just have to let things go. Sometimes you’re going to have to pay more than you thought you would or wanted to. Sometimes you’re going to miss out on something you wanted to see. Sometimes you’re going to run out of time before you get to everywhere you want to get to. But you just have to let it go.
After the bar, it was time for us tired travelers to go to bed, so we went to the hostel to get some rest for the long day on Saturday. And it certainly was quite a day. We started off with a tour of the old Gothic part of town. We had a tour guide who was the friend of one of the leaders, and I’m sure she did a great job, but I have no way of knowing because I could hardly hear a word she said the entire time – she was great at leading us around, but a normal speaking voice that doesn’t carry at all just didn’t work so well for a crowd of thirty kids who are sometimes talking amongst themselves. Oh well. We got to see an amazing Gothic cathedral, so I was happy. I wasn’t really paying attention when we walked in the door, so when I looked up to see a huge arched ceiling, a looong aisle, and a bunch of gorgeous stained-glass windows, I was taken completely by surprise! I think I almost liked it better than Notre Dame. It didn’t have the same sadness that seemed to hang over our dear Parisian cathedral, and the clean, elegant simplicity of the place was breathtaking. After the tour, we walked a little on Las Ramblas and down towards the port again, where some of us girls got crepes at a booth we had been eyeing the night before. Not as good as the ones we had in Paris, but still worth it. With the insides of our tummies sufficiently sugary, we basked in the sun for a while as we decided what to do next. I ended up going with a few of the girls to find the beach. It was a bit of a walk, but we made it! My first view of the Mediterranean Sea was a fantastic one. And I couldn’t resist taking off my shoes and wading in the cold, cold water. So worth it! I’ve learned to take full advantage of every opportunity I have to see the ocean or sea, because they don’t come around very often.
By this time, it was nearing lunchtime, so we went to find an inexpensive place to eat. I didn’t end up ordering anything because I was still kind of full from my crepe and I was sick of spending money just then, but I enjoyed the beautiful seaside view! After lunch, we took a different way back to the Plaza to meet the group, and we saw Barcelona’s smaller, red-brick version of the Arc de Triomf (Yes, I know that’s an “f;” that’s how they spelled it) on the way. From the Plaza de Catalunya, we were off to see the Sagrada Familia, the cathedral that Gaudí designed which is still under construction. As Maite said, we had to go, because not seeing it would have been like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower. And it was certainly worth it. We didn’t go inside because they were closing soon and it costs 10 euro to get in. And we heard that there’s not a lot to see inside anyway, because it’s still being built. That was fine, though, the outside was impressive enough. However, I still can’t decide whether I liked it or not. It wasn’t so much beautiful as it was striking. It was too out there to be aesthetically pleasing, in my opinion – it looked like a Gothic Catalán cathedral and an aliens’ sculpture museum had a baby. Very weird. But I enjoyed seeing it, at any rate.
Next on the agenda was Gaudí’s house, also designed by him, called la Pedrera. It was also very different-looking, but cool. We had a hard time deciding whether or not to go in, since it cost us six euros, but we ended up going for it. I’m glad we did, because the inside was really neat. There’s not a single sharp corner in the entire place, and some parts were positively labyrinthine. It was cool to see the old furniture in the rooms, as well. And my favorite part was the roof – lots of smooth, twisty stone sculptures looking gorgeous in the light of the setting sun. And the view from the top was amazing! We could even see the Sagrada Familia sticking up in the distance.
After Gaudí’s house, we broke up into smaller groups, and I walked around Las Ramblas again with Megan, Lauren, and Lise. We got some snacks to eat at the very crowded Carrefour Express, and then headed back to the Plaza again. The group was planning to go to a bar called La Oveja Negra (The Black Sheep), but when Megan and I found out that we’d have to take the metro to get there because it was so far away, we decided that we would just go back to the hostel since we were pretty much dead on our feet at this point and weren’t very hungry anyway. We hung out and relaxed on my bunk for a bit, and then headed to bed for some much-needed rest. I slept like the proverbial rock…it kind of scares me when I sleep that deeply because it can be kind of tough to drag myself back out of it. Ah well, I daresay I needed it.
Sunday, our last day in Barcelona, was my favorite day of the trip! We took things a little slower, our only main stop being the Parque Guell, a park designed by – you guessed it – Gaudí. That guy went crazy on that town, let me tell you. Anyway, the park was by far the prettiest of his designs, in my opinion. It was full of mosaic walls and stone tunnels and palm trees and buildings that looked like they were straight out of Candyland. Of course, we all started taking pictures of everything. After a few minutes of this, Megan and I realized that it was going to take forever if we went with a big group, so we decided to go explore on our own. After a little direction from John as to how to get to the coolest parts, we were off. It was such fun to walk around and see all the outstanding architecture and gardens, enjoying the sun and the different types of music floating around the park – every time we rounded a bend, we heard something different: a mandolin, a classical Spanish guitar, a Chinese dulcimer, a digeridoo (which I have no idea how to spell), a reggae band, etc. So fantastic! And there were more of the ever-present living statues, of course.
After a while, we ended up chilling in the sun for a while on the rooftop of one of the structures, which had another wonderful view of the city. We could even see the Sea from up there! And the roof was surrounded by wavy mosaic walls – I’ve seen a picture of them on the back of one of my high school Spanish textbooks. Little did I know back then that I’d be seeing them in person one day! I was rather impressed by this.
A bit later, we met up with the group again here, and found out that it was time to split up for lunch. Megan and I had been thinking of going with a bigger group of girls, but we had already decided that we wanted to go to Las Ramblas one last time to look for souvenirs and gifts, since we hadn’t had time to do that before. And since we knew that waiting for the group would probably mean that we wouldn’t get the chance to do that, we struck out on our own once again. We knew (or should I say, Megan knew…I greatly envy her sense of direction!) where to go, and we got to our destination without any problems. We had about an hour and a half to make some very satisfying purchases (one of them being the most delicious gelato I’ve ever had in my life), and then it was time to go back to the hostel, load up on the bus, and head for home.
The bus ride was very pleasant, and I had a great time listening to music and my audiobook, and just zoning out and enjoying the beautiful sunset and landscape. It was funny – once it got dark, it reminded me of any other bus trip I’ve taken in the States, so I didn’t really feel like I was in Spain. But I didn’t really feel like I was in the U.S., either. I just felt like I was in no-place. It wasn’t unpleasant, really, but definitely a little bit strange. And after about five hours in the bus, we were all quite ready to be back to Pamplona. It had been a fantastic time, but I was excited to eat homemade dinner and crash in my own (well, sort of my own) bed.
What a great weekend! I’ve fallen in love with yet another wonderful Spanish city. Besides all the beautiful things in it, there’s just something about the atmosphere of the place that just makes you feel really nice inside. It’s almost relaxing, even though it’s a bustling city full of people. I’ll definitely never forget it. But I’m starting to use the same adjectives over and over again, so I’ll leave you with yet another novel, and the wish that you could have been there with me to experience such a great three days.
On Friday, we all skipped class to get a good start on the weekend. About 15 of us from the Pamplona campus (mostly girls) met the bus of about 17 students from the San Sebastian campus (mostly boys, and all from the engineering program). At the typical half-hour after the predetermined time (and after John – our group leader – proved his love for the bus’s microphone once again) we were on the bus and heading east to Barcelona. And one pleasant, though long, bus ride later, we were there! We were struck by the impressive architecture and overall richness of the place. Just like in Paris, everything was art. In any direction I looked, I saw sculptures and spires and statues. Oh my! And I couldn’t help but notice that there were more signs in Catalán than there were in Spanish. Catalán is the language spoken by many people in Cataluña, the province in which Barcelona is located. It’s basically Spanish, with French influences, so if you know Spanish you can generally understand what a sign in Catalán is trying to tell you without any trouble. Definitely intriguing, though.
The first thing we did was head to our hostel to unload. And what a hostel it was – despite the paintings of creepy children with huge eyes (from some recent exhibition, apparently) in the entryway, we were immediately impressed by the curvy marble staircase and the general posh-ness of the place. Our rooms were quite nice – the guys and girls stayed in different hostels (a requirement of Opus Dei, I think, which is the conservative Catholic organization that funds the university), so I was in a room with several other girls. The beds were comfy, and the room had a great view of a gorgeous building beside the hostel. The only issue was that there was only one toilet and one shower for about ten girls. But I woke up early to take a shower both mornings, so it worked out fine. Anyway, it was a great place – they served a delicious breakfast (with toast and cereal! I hardly ever get those here, so I was excited), and we felt safe and comfortable there the whole time. Which is more than I can say about our Paris hostel – but then, I think this one was a little more expensive. You get what you pay for sometimes, I guess.
Once we were settled in our hostel, we met in the gorgeous Plaza de Catalunya, where there were huge, beautiful fountains and some obligatory classical statues. Oh, and about a million and one pigeons. I’m beginning to really dislike those things – they’re so dirty and nasty, and they’re everywhere in cities. Sometimes a big flock of them would fly up suddenly, causing us girls to shriek and shield our eyeballs. Alfred Hitchcock, anyone (Okay, so I haven’t actually seen The Birds. But still.)? But I digress. After the boys came, we headed out on a little tour of the main parts of the city. We went to Las Ramblas, the main street in Barcelona, which has all sorts of vendors, a market, and lots of other interesting things to see. We were surprised to see lots of booths that were apparently miniature pet shops, sporting cages of birds, rabbits, and other little animals. Sooo weird. Not the souvenir I would choose, but whatever. There were also people displaying their talents in hopes of collecting money from passersby. These people were everywhere – way more than in Paris, even. However, this may have been because it was frigid and not very street-performer-friendly when we were in Paris. But it got to the point where, whenever I saw someone doing something out-of-the-ordinary, I could pretty much assume that they were doing it to get money. There were men making extremely life-like bird noises with their mouths, gypsy women wheedling away at people, and men throwing glow-in-the-dark objects high into the air to get people’s attention. And my favorite, the living statues; Las Ramblas was lined with people standing stock-still on platforms, wearing elaborate costumes and paint. I took a few pictures of them, enchanted. As a chronic fidgeter, I can’t imagine standing so still for twenty minutes, let alone hours. Some of them did move, though, in order to get into their character more. For example, a guy dressed up as Edward Scissorhands had Johnny Depp’s facial expressions down to a tee. It was definitely the coolest way to solicit tourists that I’ve ever seen.
We also went into the huge market for a bit while walking down Las Ramblas. They were selling every kind of food you could imagine – meat, gorgeous and exotic fruits (both fresh and dried), exquisite chocolates, and a dazzling array of colorful gominolas (gummy candies). I was sorely tempted to buy some of the candy, but I figured it was rather too rich for my blood, so I went for a delicious ice cream cone instead. We went to another plaza after that, with yet another pretty fountain and lots of cool buildings. There was a guy sitting in one of the upper windows, playing guitar and singing enthusiastically, but not very beautifully. You come across the most random people sometimes!
Next, we headed down to the port, where we saw the harbor and a ton of little boats. We crossed the gorgeous bridge and watched a big yacht coming in to dock. I even caught a couple whiffs of ocean air! Pretty soon, we were off to find some dinner. At the first bar/restaurant, the kitchen was closed, but we had something to drink – water for me, as I was feeling severely dehydrated at this point – and sat talking for a while. After waiting for another group leader (who we seemed to be waiting for during most of the trip), we left to find another bar, deeper within the city. It was really cool, because we were probably the only tourists in there, so it was very authentic. It was a seafood bar, and they had their specialty – octopus – lying around on the countertop in a bin, still intact. We all ordered our food and drinks and sat talking at a long row of tables in the back. I wasn’t very hungry and I had a sandwich with me, but it was one of those situations where I felt obligated to order something, and I couldn’t very well whip out my bocadillo (sandwich) in the middle of a restaurant, so I got some little breaded shrimp-like things. Still not sure what they were, but they were good. They were a lot more than I was expecting to pay, however, which made me kind of angry. And I paid even more because I felt I couldn’t say no to helping the group pay for a bunch of little things that we all went together on. And besides, I wanted some of the octopus pieces and the wine (which was delicious). But if there’s anything I’ve learned throughout my travels thus far, it’s that sometimes you just have to let things go. Sometimes you’re going to have to pay more than you thought you would or wanted to. Sometimes you’re going to miss out on something you wanted to see. Sometimes you’re going to run out of time before you get to everywhere you want to get to. But you just have to let it go.
After the bar, it was time for us tired travelers to go to bed, so we went to the hostel to get some rest for the long day on Saturday. And it certainly was quite a day. We started off with a tour of the old Gothic part of town. We had a tour guide who was the friend of one of the leaders, and I’m sure she did a great job, but I have no way of knowing because I could hardly hear a word she said the entire time – she was great at leading us around, but a normal speaking voice that doesn’t carry at all just didn’t work so well for a crowd of thirty kids who are sometimes talking amongst themselves. Oh well. We got to see an amazing Gothic cathedral, so I was happy. I wasn’t really paying attention when we walked in the door, so when I looked up to see a huge arched ceiling, a looong aisle, and a bunch of gorgeous stained-glass windows, I was taken completely by surprise! I think I almost liked it better than Notre Dame. It didn’t have the same sadness that seemed to hang over our dear Parisian cathedral, and the clean, elegant simplicity of the place was breathtaking. After the tour, we walked a little on Las Ramblas and down towards the port again, where some of us girls got crepes at a booth we had been eyeing the night before. Not as good as the ones we had in Paris, but still worth it. With the insides of our tummies sufficiently sugary, we basked in the sun for a while as we decided what to do next. I ended up going with a few of the girls to find the beach. It was a bit of a walk, but we made it! My first view of the Mediterranean Sea was a fantastic one. And I couldn’t resist taking off my shoes and wading in the cold, cold water. So worth it! I’ve learned to take full advantage of every opportunity I have to see the ocean or sea, because they don’t come around very often.
By this time, it was nearing lunchtime, so we went to find an inexpensive place to eat. I didn’t end up ordering anything because I was still kind of full from my crepe and I was sick of spending money just then, but I enjoyed the beautiful seaside view! After lunch, we took a different way back to the Plaza to meet the group, and we saw Barcelona’s smaller, red-brick version of the Arc de Triomf (Yes, I know that’s an “f;” that’s how they spelled it) on the way. From the Plaza de Catalunya, we were off to see the Sagrada Familia, the cathedral that Gaudí designed which is still under construction. As Maite said, we had to go, because not seeing it would have been like going to Paris and not seeing the Eiffel Tower. And it was certainly worth it. We didn’t go inside because they were closing soon and it costs 10 euro to get in. And we heard that there’s not a lot to see inside anyway, because it’s still being built. That was fine, though, the outside was impressive enough. However, I still can’t decide whether I liked it or not. It wasn’t so much beautiful as it was striking. It was too out there to be aesthetically pleasing, in my opinion – it looked like a Gothic Catalán cathedral and an aliens’ sculpture museum had a baby. Very weird. But I enjoyed seeing it, at any rate.
Next on the agenda was Gaudí’s house, also designed by him, called la Pedrera. It was also very different-looking, but cool. We had a hard time deciding whether or not to go in, since it cost us six euros, but we ended up going for it. I’m glad we did, because the inside was really neat. There’s not a single sharp corner in the entire place, and some parts were positively labyrinthine. It was cool to see the old furniture in the rooms, as well. And my favorite part was the roof – lots of smooth, twisty stone sculptures looking gorgeous in the light of the setting sun. And the view from the top was amazing! We could even see the Sagrada Familia sticking up in the distance.
After Gaudí’s house, we broke up into smaller groups, and I walked around Las Ramblas again with Megan, Lauren, and Lise. We got some snacks to eat at the very crowded Carrefour Express, and then headed back to the Plaza again. The group was planning to go to a bar called La Oveja Negra (The Black Sheep), but when Megan and I found out that we’d have to take the metro to get there because it was so far away, we decided that we would just go back to the hostel since we were pretty much dead on our feet at this point and weren’t very hungry anyway. We hung out and relaxed on my bunk for a bit, and then headed to bed for some much-needed rest. I slept like the proverbial rock…it kind of scares me when I sleep that deeply because it can be kind of tough to drag myself back out of it. Ah well, I daresay I needed it.
Sunday, our last day in Barcelona, was my favorite day of the trip! We took things a little slower, our only main stop being the Parque Guell, a park designed by – you guessed it – Gaudí. That guy went crazy on that town, let me tell you. Anyway, the park was by far the prettiest of his designs, in my opinion. It was full of mosaic walls and stone tunnels and palm trees and buildings that looked like they were straight out of Candyland. Of course, we all started taking pictures of everything. After a few minutes of this, Megan and I realized that it was going to take forever if we went with a big group, so we decided to go explore on our own. After a little direction from John as to how to get to the coolest parts, we were off. It was such fun to walk around and see all the outstanding architecture and gardens, enjoying the sun and the different types of music floating around the park – every time we rounded a bend, we heard something different: a mandolin, a classical Spanish guitar, a Chinese dulcimer, a digeridoo (which I have no idea how to spell), a reggae band, etc. So fantastic! And there were more of the ever-present living statues, of course.
After a while, we ended up chilling in the sun for a while on the rooftop of one of the structures, which had another wonderful view of the city. We could even see the Sea from up there! And the roof was surrounded by wavy mosaic walls – I’ve seen a picture of them on the back of one of my high school Spanish textbooks. Little did I know back then that I’d be seeing them in person one day! I was rather impressed by this.
A bit later, we met up with the group again here, and found out that it was time to split up for lunch. Megan and I had been thinking of going with a bigger group of girls, but we had already decided that we wanted to go to Las Ramblas one last time to look for souvenirs and gifts, since we hadn’t had time to do that before. And since we knew that waiting for the group would probably mean that we wouldn’t get the chance to do that, we struck out on our own once again. We knew (or should I say, Megan knew…I greatly envy her sense of direction!) where to go, and we got to our destination without any problems. We had about an hour and a half to make some very satisfying purchases (one of them being the most delicious gelato I’ve ever had in my life), and then it was time to go back to the hostel, load up on the bus, and head for home.
The bus ride was very pleasant, and I had a great time listening to music and my audiobook, and just zoning out and enjoying the beautiful sunset and landscape. It was funny – once it got dark, it reminded me of any other bus trip I’ve taken in the States, so I didn’t really feel like I was in Spain. But I didn’t really feel like I was in the U.S., either. I just felt like I was in no-place. It wasn’t unpleasant, really, but definitely a little bit strange. And after about five hours in the bus, we were all quite ready to be back to Pamplona. It had been a fantastic time, but I was excited to eat homemade dinner and crash in my own (well, sort of my own) bed.
What a great weekend! I’ve fallen in love with yet another wonderful Spanish city. Besides all the beautiful things in it, there’s just something about the atmosphere of the place that just makes you feel really nice inside. It’s almost relaxing, even though it’s a bustling city full of people. I’ll definitely never forget it. But I’m starting to use the same adjectives over and over again, so I’ll leave you with yet another novel, and the wish that you could have been there with me to experience such a great three days.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Laughing, Dancing, and Loving Life
So I’ve been meaning to write on here for the last couple of days, but kept running out of time. But I find myself with a free afternoon, so here’s to a little pre-nap blogging! I should be doing literature homework, but oh well. Cortázar is just gonna have to wait.
Last week was alucinante (really awesome)! You already know about my grand adventure in the park and beyond. I’m afraid I waxed a bit maudlin during that post, but I’m sure you’ll get over it. Anyway, we’ll skip to Thursday – what a fantastic day! I kept feeling like I might explode, I was so happy. After our two classes, we Concordia gals (sans Lauren) went to Carrefour to buy some delicious chocolate to give to Lauren, because Thursday was her birthday! After lunch, we all met at the Café Florida to have café con leche and give Lauren her gifts. She loved them, and seemed staggered by the amount of chocolate now in her possession! She’ll be set for a while. And we had such a great time at the café – I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard! What with all the funny stories about host family shenanigans and with Skyla entertaining us with “the Classic” Skyla-expression (I’ll have to get a pic of that at some point…it may be one of those you-had-to-be-there things, though :-P), the other patrons were no doubt wondering what the waiter had slipped into the crazy American girls’ coffee. But we didn’t care; we were having way too much fun! We decided that we definitely need to get together as a group more often – it seems like we’re hardly ever all together, but whenever we are we have a blast.
After our coffee, we headed to dance. It was fantastic, as usual – it was a small group that night, and we always seem to have so much fun when that happens, probably because it’s more casual and we can switch things up if we feel like it. For example, instead of working on the tango, we learned the base for the salsa! That was such fun. It’s pretty similar to the cha-cha, so it wasn’t too hard to catch on. Some of the turns were a little tougher, though – we were struggling with one where the guy (or rather, in everyone but Ruben and Javi’s case, the girl who’s leading) has to put their arm out nearly straight to direct the girl around. This proved difficult for all of us, for some reason, and then Kristen M. decided to really get into the move by thrusting her arm out forcefully, Power-Ranger style, and singing part of the theme song under her breath…oh man. Lauren and I nearly died laughing!
When class was over, Lauren interviewed Ruben for her conversation class, and Kristen M. and I hung out with them since we were going to Lauren’s piso afterward. We all talked for a while, and had fun getting to know each other a bit better. After that, we girls went to Lauren’s and had some delicious tarta (cake) that Lauren’s host mom made for her. So yummy! Julia (Lauren’s host mom) even gave us a little alcohol to go with it, so that was fun. I had something that I believe was peach schnapps, or at least really similar. And I discovered (re-discovered? I’ve had it once before) that schnapps and I don’t get along so well – i.e., I get really red-cheeked and a bit dizzy. Something to remember for the future…Anyway, after a bit, Julia’s daughter Maribel and grandson Iñaki came over to visit, and we had a great time meeting them and talking with them. Maribel is one of the nicest people I’ve met here, and we all seemed to hit it off right away! And I was having one of those moments where I can speak pretty darn fast and well in Spanish. Always a great feeling :-) I’m hoping that will start to happen more often.
Friday was not too shabby either – I recited my poem for literature without any problems, so I was pretty proud of myself. And I got a fair bit of homework done in the afternoon. We seem to be getting a little more lately, but it’s still nothing compared to back home, so I can’t complain one bit. And it’s sort of nice to have something to apply myself to.
Friday evening was a bit of an adventure – Kristen M., Lauren, and I went to a play in which Nerea, our dance teacher, was one of the actresses. She had told us about it a week or so before, and we thought it would be fun to take in some Spanish theatre and go support Nerea. The play was called Lisistrata and was in the theatre in Ansoain, which is a little pueblo just to the north of Pamplona (I think it’s actually what I was seeing when I found that great view on my walk), so we went with Leire (pronounced “Lay-ray,” more or less) and Kova, two other friends from dance, who drove us there in Leire’s car. It felt so weird to be riding in a car – something I hadn’t done since mid-January, believe it or not. It felt kinda nice, though. However, riding on the roundabouts was a rather new experience; I’m just glad I don’t have to drive on them. Anyway, we found the theatre without much trouble and got our tickets (a bit expensive at 10 euro, but we figured it would be worth it). We also saw two other people from the dance class there – Javi and his girlfriend whose name I can’t remember – so that was kinda fun. After figuring out the hard way that the theatre seats were assigned (oops…) – a couple told us that we were in one of their seats, but they were nice about it – we found our spots and waited for the play to begin. Nerea had told us that it was a cabaret-type production, but other than that we weren’t really sure what to expect. The set looked cool, at any rate; it was a Greek theme and had a big curtain with the words “Club Acropolis” painted above it.
The play consisted of five actors – two men and three women – with two other guys who made up the band (one played guitar and piano and the other was on drums). The play was…rather raunchier than we were expecting. We’ll leave it at that. But it was still really fun – we understood most of what was going on, which was nice. It was apparently about soldiers who went off to war at the same time that some feminist ideas were cropping up, and the ensuing tomfoolery. Though we didn’t get some of the jokes - they say that you know you’re really fluent when you start understanding the humor in a foreign language…apparently we’re not quite there yet. But Nerea was such a hoot! We couldn’t believe some of the funny voices and mannerisms that she could affect. It was definitely worth the money just to see her. We laughed so hard! And we decided that Nerea looks like the Spanish version of Kirstie Allie sometimes. And she also has a phenomenal singing voice! That was cool. After the play, we were able to talk with her a little and get a picture with her. She seemed really happy to see us!
On Saturday, we did a bit of traveling – Lauren, Megan, and I headed to Olite for the day. Olite is a pueblo about half an hour from Pamplona by bus. Since it’s so small, it’s not necessary to go for more than a day to see the main attractions, so we decided it’d be a nice way to spend a Saturday. We saw the castle there, built circa 1400. It was so gorgeous! It reminded me of a Disney-ish castle from the outside. And there were lots of spiral staircases, towers, and courtyards inside. We had a great time exploring for over three hours. After a lunch of bocadillos, pastry, and a glass of wine in a cute little café, we headed to the Museo del Vino (Museum of Wine). Olite has a big vineyard, which I’m guessing is the town’s primary source of employment, and so they have a little museum dedicated to all things wine-related. It was really neat – the displays were beautiful and it was a lot of fun to learn more about wine. There was a room with displays about wine and the senses – it told all the different ways that wine affects our bodies, and had a section about the proper way to do wine tasting. There were even little candies in there to show the difference between sweet, salty, bitter, and sour, of which we took full advantage, of course. There were also rooms about the history of wine, different types of grapes, the planting, maintenance, and harvest process, and the methods for making wine. It was all so interesting! Definitely worth our time. And we got free bottles of wine at the end, so that was pretty exciting. After the museum, we were able to catch the 5:00 bus back to Pamplona. And we happened to meet a really nice Australian man when we were waiting for the bus to come. He told us that he’s teaching English for a semester in Bilbao but was visiting Pamplona and the surrounding area for the weekend. It was fun learning a bit about his family and his perspective on Spain. It just goes to show that you never know when you’ll meet someone really neat.
On Saturday night, we went out to celebrate Lauren’s birthday since we hadn’t been able to do so on Thursday. We had tons of fun! I went with Lauren, Megan, Skyla, Silvia, Valentina, and also Davíd and Rafael, who are two of Sivlia and Valentina’s Colombian friends. We also met up with Marion, Saskia, Eva, Ellen, and Janic (I hope I spelled his name right…) later on. Quite a group! We went to a couple three different bars and I decided that Bailey’s is my new favorite drink. Sooo yummy! We talked and danced and just generally had a good time. Most of the group was going strong long into the night, but Skyla and I were ready to leave by around two, so we walked back together. I slept quite well that night, though I only got about 5 hours or so. Ah well, that’s what these long afternoons are for, I guess.
Sunday was fairly chill; I went to church with Megan in the morning. It was pretty nice, and I like that church (and the fact that it takes me like, two minutes to get there), but the fact that the Sunday service is three hours long just seemed a liiiittle excessive to me. Especially since I was fighting sleep for most of it. I probably won’t be making it a weekly occurrence, but I’m glad it’s there when I want it.
And today was…well, Monday. I’ve been feeling none too well, so it’s time for me to take a nap and check out of life for an hour or two. But at least I’ve only got four days of class this week! I’m going to Barcelona for the weekend on a school excursion and we leave on Friday. Can’t wait! Everyone says that Barcelona is pretty much the most gorgeous place ever, so I’m so excited to see it for myself! If I don’t post before then, stay tuned for some lovely adventures in Barcelona :-)
Last week was alucinante (really awesome)! You already know about my grand adventure in the park and beyond. I’m afraid I waxed a bit maudlin during that post, but I’m sure you’ll get over it. Anyway, we’ll skip to Thursday – what a fantastic day! I kept feeling like I might explode, I was so happy. After our two classes, we Concordia gals (sans Lauren) went to Carrefour to buy some delicious chocolate to give to Lauren, because Thursday was her birthday! After lunch, we all met at the Café Florida to have café con leche and give Lauren her gifts. She loved them, and seemed staggered by the amount of chocolate now in her possession! She’ll be set for a while. And we had such a great time at the café – I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard! What with all the funny stories about host family shenanigans and with Skyla entertaining us with “the Classic” Skyla-expression (I’ll have to get a pic of that at some point…it may be one of those you-had-to-be-there things, though :-P), the other patrons were no doubt wondering what the waiter had slipped into the crazy American girls’ coffee. But we didn’t care; we were having way too much fun! We decided that we definitely need to get together as a group more often – it seems like we’re hardly ever all together, but whenever we are we have a blast.
After our coffee, we headed to dance. It was fantastic, as usual – it was a small group that night, and we always seem to have so much fun when that happens, probably because it’s more casual and we can switch things up if we feel like it. For example, instead of working on the tango, we learned the base for the salsa! That was such fun. It’s pretty similar to the cha-cha, so it wasn’t too hard to catch on. Some of the turns were a little tougher, though – we were struggling with one where the guy (or rather, in everyone but Ruben and Javi’s case, the girl who’s leading) has to put their arm out nearly straight to direct the girl around. This proved difficult for all of us, for some reason, and then Kristen M. decided to really get into the move by thrusting her arm out forcefully, Power-Ranger style, and singing part of the theme song under her breath…oh man. Lauren and I nearly died laughing!
When class was over, Lauren interviewed Ruben for her conversation class, and Kristen M. and I hung out with them since we were going to Lauren’s piso afterward. We all talked for a while, and had fun getting to know each other a bit better. After that, we girls went to Lauren’s and had some delicious tarta (cake) that Lauren’s host mom made for her. So yummy! Julia (Lauren’s host mom) even gave us a little alcohol to go with it, so that was fun. I had something that I believe was peach schnapps, or at least really similar. And I discovered (re-discovered? I’ve had it once before) that schnapps and I don’t get along so well – i.e., I get really red-cheeked and a bit dizzy. Something to remember for the future…Anyway, after a bit, Julia’s daughter Maribel and grandson Iñaki came over to visit, and we had a great time meeting them and talking with them. Maribel is one of the nicest people I’ve met here, and we all seemed to hit it off right away! And I was having one of those moments where I can speak pretty darn fast and well in Spanish. Always a great feeling :-) I’m hoping that will start to happen more often.
Friday was not too shabby either – I recited my poem for literature without any problems, so I was pretty proud of myself. And I got a fair bit of homework done in the afternoon. We seem to be getting a little more lately, but it’s still nothing compared to back home, so I can’t complain one bit. And it’s sort of nice to have something to apply myself to.
Friday evening was a bit of an adventure – Kristen M., Lauren, and I went to a play in which Nerea, our dance teacher, was one of the actresses. She had told us about it a week or so before, and we thought it would be fun to take in some Spanish theatre and go support Nerea. The play was called Lisistrata and was in the theatre in Ansoain, which is a little pueblo just to the north of Pamplona (I think it’s actually what I was seeing when I found that great view on my walk), so we went with Leire (pronounced “Lay-ray,” more or less) and Kova, two other friends from dance, who drove us there in Leire’s car. It felt so weird to be riding in a car – something I hadn’t done since mid-January, believe it or not. It felt kinda nice, though. However, riding on the roundabouts was a rather new experience; I’m just glad I don’t have to drive on them. Anyway, we found the theatre without much trouble and got our tickets (a bit expensive at 10 euro, but we figured it would be worth it). We also saw two other people from the dance class there – Javi and his girlfriend whose name I can’t remember – so that was kinda fun. After figuring out the hard way that the theatre seats were assigned (oops…) – a couple told us that we were in one of their seats, but they were nice about it – we found our spots and waited for the play to begin. Nerea had told us that it was a cabaret-type production, but other than that we weren’t really sure what to expect. The set looked cool, at any rate; it was a Greek theme and had a big curtain with the words “Club Acropolis” painted above it.
The play consisted of five actors – two men and three women – with two other guys who made up the band (one played guitar and piano and the other was on drums). The play was…rather raunchier than we were expecting. We’ll leave it at that. But it was still really fun – we understood most of what was going on, which was nice. It was apparently about soldiers who went off to war at the same time that some feminist ideas were cropping up, and the ensuing tomfoolery. Though we didn’t get some of the jokes - they say that you know you’re really fluent when you start understanding the humor in a foreign language…apparently we’re not quite there yet. But Nerea was such a hoot! We couldn’t believe some of the funny voices and mannerisms that she could affect. It was definitely worth the money just to see her. We laughed so hard! And we decided that Nerea looks like the Spanish version of Kirstie Allie sometimes. And she also has a phenomenal singing voice! That was cool. After the play, we were able to talk with her a little and get a picture with her. She seemed really happy to see us!
On Saturday, we did a bit of traveling – Lauren, Megan, and I headed to Olite for the day. Olite is a pueblo about half an hour from Pamplona by bus. Since it’s so small, it’s not necessary to go for more than a day to see the main attractions, so we decided it’d be a nice way to spend a Saturday. We saw the castle there, built circa 1400. It was so gorgeous! It reminded me of a Disney-ish castle from the outside. And there were lots of spiral staircases, towers, and courtyards inside. We had a great time exploring for over three hours. After a lunch of bocadillos, pastry, and a glass of wine in a cute little café, we headed to the Museo del Vino (Museum of Wine). Olite has a big vineyard, which I’m guessing is the town’s primary source of employment, and so they have a little museum dedicated to all things wine-related. It was really neat – the displays were beautiful and it was a lot of fun to learn more about wine. There was a room with displays about wine and the senses – it told all the different ways that wine affects our bodies, and had a section about the proper way to do wine tasting. There were even little candies in there to show the difference between sweet, salty, bitter, and sour, of which we took full advantage, of course. There were also rooms about the history of wine, different types of grapes, the planting, maintenance, and harvest process, and the methods for making wine. It was all so interesting! Definitely worth our time. And we got free bottles of wine at the end, so that was pretty exciting. After the museum, we were able to catch the 5:00 bus back to Pamplona. And we happened to meet a really nice Australian man when we were waiting for the bus to come. He told us that he’s teaching English for a semester in Bilbao but was visiting Pamplona and the surrounding area for the weekend. It was fun learning a bit about his family and his perspective on Spain. It just goes to show that you never know when you’ll meet someone really neat.
On Saturday night, we went out to celebrate Lauren’s birthday since we hadn’t been able to do so on Thursday. We had tons of fun! I went with Lauren, Megan, Skyla, Silvia, Valentina, and also Davíd and Rafael, who are two of Sivlia and Valentina’s Colombian friends. We also met up with Marion, Saskia, Eva, Ellen, and Janic (I hope I spelled his name right…) later on. Quite a group! We went to a couple three different bars and I decided that Bailey’s is my new favorite drink. Sooo yummy! We talked and danced and just generally had a good time. Most of the group was going strong long into the night, but Skyla and I were ready to leave by around two, so we walked back together. I slept quite well that night, though I only got about 5 hours or so. Ah well, that’s what these long afternoons are for, I guess.
Sunday was fairly chill; I went to church with Megan in the morning. It was pretty nice, and I like that church (and the fact that it takes me like, two minutes to get there), but the fact that the Sunday service is three hours long just seemed a liiiittle excessive to me. Especially since I was fighting sleep for most of it. I probably won’t be making it a weekly occurrence, but I’m glad it’s there when I want it.
And today was…well, Monday. I’ve been feeling none too well, so it’s time for me to take a nap and check out of life for an hour or two. But at least I’ve only got four days of class this week! I’m going to Barcelona for the weekend on a school excursion and we leave on Friday. Can’t wait! Everyone says that Barcelona is pretty much the most gorgeous place ever, so I’m so excited to see it for myself! If I don’t post before then, stay tuned for some lovely adventures in Barcelona :-)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
It Is Refreshing, After Sitting for So Long in One Attitude
I’ve been feeling extremely restless lately. It’s gotta be all this walking…it seems sort of ironic – walking a good 4 kilometers every day ought to make me more tired, not less. But now that I’m in good shape, my muscles are often positively screaming for more exercise. When I’m walking, I feel like the Energizer bunny, like I could just go and go and go forever. And when I’m sitting…imagine a wind-up doll that somebody gave a few good cranks to and then held in place with their hand on its head. The ensuing jitters are a good analogy for what I feel like sometimes.
Because of this, I decided to take a nice, long (about two and a half hours, in fact) walk today, not having much else to do. So, with umbrella and mp3 player in tow (I found the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack to be very fitting for the romantic rainy-ness) I set off. And oh man, was it a good decision! I’ve wanted to explore one of Pamplona’s parks, called the Parque de Taconera, for a long time now. It’s really close to my flat, and today I ran out of excuses not to go look around. I’m so very glad I went! The park is gigantic, and so astoundingly gorgeous! I only saw a small portion of it, because I got distracted…more about that in a moment. But what I did see, I loved! There are some of the obligatory old Spanish buildings (the park melts into Casco Antiguo further on), some lovely fountains and statues, and lots of shrubberies, hedge mazes, and such. And there are a ton of little areas with benches or playground equipment where people can go to chill or have a picnic or whatever they please. And there’s even an animal enclosure inside the park! Nothing very exotic, but it was fun to see the mountain goats, peacocks, various fowl, and gorgeous deer. I feel like this park is the kind of place you could spend all day in!
I didn’t go too deeply into the park since I was alone and didn’t want to get lost in all the twisty passageways. I’ll venture farther in another day. I stayed somewhat around the perimeter this time, partly because I remembered a friend of mine talking about this path that takes you all the way around the city, and I’m not sure why but I had it in my head that you can get to it from Taconera, and I wanted to look for it. The outer edge seemed to be a likely place to start.
Anyway, I rounded a bend on the path I was walking on, and there, right before my eyes, was one of the most wonderful views I’ve seen since coming to Europe! The path was perpendicular to a stone walkway lined by a fence. Just beyond the fence was a steep drop-off, and beyond that, a huge section of Pamplona that I never even knew existed was laid out before me! To me, it looked more typically “Spanish” than any other place I’ve seen in town, save Casco Antiguo. All of the roofs were that quintessential rusty red color that evidently appears on houses all over Europe, and there were a few spires and domes and mossy stone bridges. There was even a river, with some kayakers paddling serenely along. Some of the houses dotted the spectacular hills in the background, tucked in among the evergreens that cover the mounds. How lucky their residents are! And the hills themselves made me want to cry with happiness – those dark shapes with their drifting veils of clouds were better than the ones I dream about when the vast, endless flatness of the North Dakotan plains fill me with boredom and agoraphobia.
I kept walking along the path, which appeared to me to be an extension of the Ciudadela – same mossy gray stones, same slanted walls. The whole thing reminded me of the battlements of some old fortress – which may well be what they are. Along the way, there were little paths that lead to sections of the wall that sticks out a little farther (my inner medieval nerd is telling me that there is probably an actual name for these, but I can’t currently remember what it is), where you can get an even better look at the view. The path branches off onto bigger roads as well, and I took these when the fancy struck me. And along the way, I saw a few signs that said “Paseo Ronda,” with a map that gave me reason to believe I had indeed found the path around the city. I didn’t walk the entire length of it, but I did visit a few of its tributaries. One of them led me up to a higher road, on the right side of which were the most European-looking houses that you could wish to see – stucco buildings of different colors built so close to one another that they touch, with the occasional narrow alleyway or wrought-iron balcony. Another path brought me to a place I recognized – a section of the Encierro, which is the route on which those crazy San Fermín-celebrators run for their lives from a herd of angry bulls. I even saw a building or two that looked very much like castles – if I ignored the customary Euskerran (the language of the Basque people) graffiti that appeared here and there, I felt like I had stepped back in time a few hundred years. The beauty and character of the whole area just astounded me! I can’t wait to go back. It's experiences like this that make me feel as though I've stepped into a movie or a novel...sometimes I just can't help but ask myself, "Is this actually happening?" I can hardly fathom how blessed I am.
It still amazes me that I continue to find such gems as this part of the city all the time in Pamplona. It just goes to show that with a little daring (and a touch of boredom as well), there are so many adventures to be had, and some of them are just a few steps away from home!
Because of this, I decided to take a nice, long (about two and a half hours, in fact) walk today, not having much else to do. So, with umbrella and mp3 player in tow (I found the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack to be very fitting for the romantic rainy-ness) I set off. And oh man, was it a good decision! I’ve wanted to explore one of Pamplona’s parks, called the Parque de Taconera, for a long time now. It’s really close to my flat, and today I ran out of excuses not to go look around. I’m so very glad I went! The park is gigantic, and so astoundingly gorgeous! I only saw a small portion of it, because I got distracted…more about that in a moment. But what I did see, I loved! There are some of the obligatory old Spanish buildings (the park melts into Casco Antiguo further on), some lovely fountains and statues, and lots of shrubberies, hedge mazes, and such. And there are a ton of little areas with benches or playground equipment where people can go to chill or have a picnic or whatever they please. And there’s even an animal enclosure inside the park! Nothing very exotic, but it was fun to see the mountain goats, peacocks, various fowl, and gorgeous deer. I feel like this park is the kind of place you could spend all day in!
I didn’t go too deeply into the park since I was alone and didn’t want to get lost in all the twisty passageways. I’ll venture farther in another day. I stayed somewhat around the perimeter this time, partly because I remembered a friend of mine talking about this path that takes you all the way around the city, and I’m not sure why but I had it in my head that you can get to it from Taconera, and I wanted to look for it. The outer edge seemed to be a likely place to start.
Anyway, I rounded a bend on the path I was walking on, and there, right before my eyes, was one of the most wonderful views I’ve seen since coming to Europe! The path was perpendicular to a stone walkway lined by a fence. Just beyond the fence was a steep drop-off, and beyond that, a huge section of Pamplona that I never even knew existed was laid out before me! To me, it looked more typically “Spanish” than any other place I’ve seen in town, save Casco Antiguo. All of the roofs were that quintessential rusty red color that evidently appears on houses all over Europe, and there were a few spires and domes and mossy stone bridges. There was even a river, with some kayakers paddling serenely along. Some of the houses dotted the spectacular hills in the background, tucked in among the evergreens that cover the mounds. How lucky their residents are! And the hills themselves made me want to cry with happiness – those dark shapes with their drifting veils of clouds were better than the ones I dream about when the vast, endless flatness of the North Dakotan plains fill me with boredom and agoraphobia.
I kept walking along the path, which appeared to me to be an extension of the Ciudadela – same mossy gray stones, same slanted walls. The whole thing reminded me of the battlements of some old fortress – which may well be what they are. Along the way, there were little paths that lead to sections of the wall that sticks out a little farther (my inner medieval nerd is telling me that there is probably an actual name for these, but I can’t currently remember what it is), where you can get an even better look at the view. The path branches off onto bigger roads as well, and I took these when the fancy struck me. And along the way, I saw a few signs that said “Paseo Ronda,” with a map that gave me reason to believe I had indeed found the path around the city. I didn’t walk the entire length of it, but I did visit a few of its tributaries. One of them led me up to a higher road, on the right side of which were the most European-looking houses that you could wish to see – stucco buildings of different colors built so close to one another that they touch, with the occasional narrow alleyway or wrought-iron balcony. Another path brought me to a place I recognized – a section of the Encierro, which is the route on which those crazy San Fermín-celebrators run for their lives from a herd of angry bulls. I even saw a building or two that looked very much like castles – if I ignored the customary Euskerran (the language of the Basque people) graffiti that appeared here and there, I felt like I had stepped back in time a few hundred years. The beauty and character of the whole area just astounded me! I can’t wait to go back. It's experiences like this that make me feel as though I've stepped into a movie or a novel...sometimes I just can't help but ask myself, "Is this actually happening?" I can hardly fathom how blessed I am.
It still amazes me that I continue to find such gems as this part of the city all the time in Pamplona. It just goes to show that with a little daring (and a touch of boredom as well), there are so many adventures to be had, and some of them are just a few steps away from home!
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