Barcelona! My favorite city so far. I think the main reason might be that there were so many amazing street musicians. The first day there, I stepped onto the metro and was met with Vivaldi's Four Seasons. The violinist played through several movements, moving up and down seats between each one. I wanted to close my eyes and just listen to it, but I didn't because it was so amazing that this wonderful music was happening in the middle of public transportation. I think I could have ridden the metro all day, just listening to the music, and I would have been perfectly happy.
It is probably a good thing that I did not do this, because there was so much to see! I was surprisingly not too tired on the first day, even though Ellie and I slept in the airport the night before (or really, stayed up to talk and then tried to doze first on the floor and then on some rather narrow chairs). The hour of sleep I got on the plane must have been enough, though, because I made it through the day without a siesta. We walked down Las Ramblas (a street filled with stands of souvenirs, sweets, and small animals), stopped by a market and brought fresh juice, and sat on a bench to look at the ocean. Barcelona also has a lot of cute little shops, so we stopped in a few to look at jewlery and little souvenirs. That night, we went to an interesting bar called Dow Jones, where the prices of drinks rose and fell according to the "market." People crowded around the bar, waiting to buy a drink at the right price.
I decided to skip the discoteca (since the lack of sleep was finally hitting me), which turned out to be a good choice since the next day was almost all walking. Barcelona is very spread out, so even though we took the metro several times, we still ended up walking quite a bit. We started the day at a park designed by Gaudi. It was originally intended to be a housing development for rich people, but at the time (I believe Gaudi lived in the beginning of the 20th century) no one wanted to live there. Which worked out well for the rest of us, because now it is an amazing public park! I wish I could decribe his architecture, but I really don't know what words to use. The houses looked like gingerbread houses, and there were a lot of mosaics. Mostly, I couldn't believe that it had been built that long ago, because it seemed so modern even by today's standards (but not modern in a bad way-- in an extremely interesting and creative way). And the best part was that there were more musicians, this time a piano player, bass player, and violinist. I made the group stop so that we could listen to them finish a song.
We walked from the park to the Sagrada Familia, a cathedral designed by Gaudi but still being built (when you see the building, and Gaudi's plans for the building, you can understand why it has taken them so long). We picnicked in the park before touring the inside, and it was truly amazing. I usually don't like modern or ornate churches, and I don't know how I'd feel about going to mass in such a huge space, but it was incredibly to see. The pillars stretch up so high and end in swoops on the ceiling, and the sun was peeking through the stained glass and giving everything a warm and distant glow. The museum below showed Gaudi's other work and plans for the cathedral. I do not understand how architects think, but it was fascinating to imagine.
Instead of heading straight back to Toledo on Sunday, a group of us stayed in Madrid to go to the Real Madrid game. I spent the afternoon with Raquel and Pat while Raquel worked on some essays for class. There really weren't many good study places in Madrid, so we sat in a Starbucks for a few hours and Raquel hand-wrote a draft of her first essay. After a quick stop at a shop for some snacks and a hat and gloves for Raquel, we took the metro to the stadium, packed with fans headed in the same direction. After Valencia, I have been a bit wary about being too cold, and this time I set a new record for number of layers. I was wearing: a raincoat on top of my corduroy jacket on top of my Lewis sweatshirt on top of a short-sleeve t-shirt on top of a long sleeve t-shirt over a thin cardigan over (finally) a Spanish national team jersey that I bought in Barcelona. In total: 2 jackets, 2 sweatshirts, and 3 shirts, for a total of 7 layers. By the end of the night, the buttons on my raincoat had begun to pop loose (and the top button has since fallen off), but I was not cold at all during the game! Our seats were the first row in the very highest section of the stadium, but we still had a great view. Raquel's camera had a very good zoom, and so she got a few shots of Ronaldo (I am not a Ronaldo fan, but still. It was amazing to see him play). Madrid won 4-2, so it was an exciting game with a lot of scoring.
After the game, we took a bus back to Toledo. The buses don't actually run that late, so the Fundacion organized a bus to take everyone back. It made 4 stops in different barrios (neighborhoods) on the way back: Buenavista, the casco (the historic part of the city where the Fund is), Santa Barbara (where my host family lives), and Poligano (the farthest from the casco, about 20 minutes away). I decided to get off at Santa Barbara instead of the casco, which was really a terrible idea since I'd never been to the Santa Barbara stop before (I blame the late hour for my poor decision making!) I thought that the bus would approach Santa Barbara in the same direction that the city bus does, passing my family's apartment before stopping and making it easy for me to retrace the route. For some reason, however, it swung around from the other side, and stopped in a place I had never been before. Luckily, I had seen a map of the stop before, so I had a general idea of where we were, and it helped that my running route comes out on the main road in Santa Barbara. Still, given my poor sense of direction I was surprised that I was able to walk directly to the apartment without any confusion (the first and probably last time this will happen). I was in bed by 2 in the morning, and woke up in time for a full day of classes. But if any trip was worth the tiredness, it was this one!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Catching Up: El Prado y Valencia
So, my camera ran out of batteries 2 weeks ago, just before our trip to Valencia, and then I ran out of time and didn't stop to write about the travelling. I've since purchased some batteries, visited Barcelona, taken some pictures, attended my first ever professional soccer game, turned in some papers-- a lot to cram into one post, so here is the SparkNotes version of the first weekend:
First, the Prado: Two weekends ago, I joined the Master Painter's class on their field trip to the Prado. It's huge! I wandered around for two hours and probably didn't see half of it, but what I did see was amazing. I didn't think I liked El Greco until I saw his paintings right there in front of me. There is something that doesn't quite get captured in pictures of the paintings, and after seeing rooms and rooms of paintings in the same style, you could really see how unique his paintings are. Towards the end of the trip, I went back and just sat in front of some of my favorite paintings.
After the Prado, Ellie, Molly, Anna, and I stayed in Madrid to catch a 1:00am bus to Valencia. It seemed like a good idea at the time-- sleep on the bus, save on money for a hostel. In hindsight: maybe not the best plan. We were fine in Madrid, though it was a little chilly, and the bus ride itself wasn't bad, but we arrived in Valencia at 5:00 in the morning: sleep-deprived, cold, and in a new city. Luckily, we found the hostel quickly and even though we couldn't check-in, the receptionist let us grab some tea and coffee in the kitchen. We waited around for awhile and then went back out to see the market nearby. It was huge (and contained everything from dried fruit to a large pig's head), and we bought bread and cheese to eat for dinner later. It was still freezing when we left, and we were all a little crabby from the lack of sleep, so we went back to the hostel and took a nap on their couch before trying once again. It was a lot warmer (and we were in better moods after the nap) and we spent a couple of hours in an art museum. I'm not sure what we liked more: the fact that the museum was heated, the cushioned seating in front of the paintings, or the art itself (hint: it probably wasn't the art).
The weather was pretty chilly for the entire weekend, so we decided that it would be a good idea to do some "inside" activities. Translation: we ate a lot of food and played a lot of cards. Here are some of the things that we ate:
Fried eggs, french fries, and chorizo: We actually ate this in Madrid because we needed a warm place (and dinner) before the bus arrived. We split it four ways and it was absolutely delicious! And if I never learn to make any other Spanish dishes, at least I know that this one would be pretty simple.
Paella: This was actually on the list of things to do even before the weather was bad. My host mother told me that Valencia has the best paella (which makes sense since it's close to the ocean). It was very good, especially after walking around in the cold.
Bread and cheese: A staple for every weekend of travelling, but this was the best so far. We bought "queso fresco" at the market, and it was even better than the kind my host family has. We also warmed the bread in the microwave, so it was soft and warm. Some strawberries and oranges (also from the market) and some hot tea made a really good, simple, and cheap meal.
Juice: We had plans to go out to a bar Saturday night, but we stopped at a juice place instead. They had both alcoholic and non-alcoholic fruit drinks. Ellie and I split an orange-carrot-lemon juice, which was so fresh and unlike anything I'd ever had before. The place itself was also really cute. We sat on wicker chairs around a short little table, and the colors looked like something you would find at a beach.
Chocolate: We had chocolate in a lot of forms, including (of course) hot chocolate with churros. We also tried a croissant filled with chocolate, and this was also very good.
In between eating, we did get around to see parts of Valencia. On Sunday morning, we went to church in the cathedral and then climbed the tower to get a view of the city from above. We didn't make it to the ocean (after walking for about an hour, we realized that it was much farther away than we thought) but we did get to see an amazing park along the way. There was once a river that ran through Valencia, but because it often flooded, they decided to divert it away from the city. Now, there is a huge park that follows the path that the river once took. We climbed a rope jungle gym, posed by some musical sculptures, and saw some of the other museums from the outside. After giving up on the ocean, we walked back to the bus stop (an even longer walk). It started to rain, but luckily not too hard, and we stopped at a small grocery store to pick up some food before catching the bus (unlike the rest of the food we ate, this cheese was flavorless and disgusting, but we were so hungry from the walk that we ate it anyway).
In summary: though the trip was a little hampered by the cold and our lack of sleep, the food and friends made up for it!
First, the Prado: Two weekends ago, I joined the Master Painter's class on their field trip to the Prado. It's huge! I wandered around for two hours and probably didn't see half of it, but what I did see was amazing. I didn't think I liked El Greco until I saw his paintings right there in front of me. There is something that doesn't quite get captured in pictures of the paintings, and after seeing rooms and rooms of paintings in the same style, you could really see how unique his paintings are. Towards the end of the trip, I went back and just sat in front of some of my favorite paintings.
After the Prado, Ellie, Molly, Anna, and I stayed in Madrid to catch a 1:00am bus to Valencia. It seemed like a good idea at the time-- sleep on the bus, save on money for a hostel. In hindsight: maybe not the best plan. We were fine in Madrid, though it was a little chilly, and the bus ride itself wasn't bad, but we arrived in Valencia at 5:00 in the morning: sleep-deprived, cold, and in a new city. Luckily, we found the hostel quickly and even though we couldn't check-in, the receptionist let us grab some tea and coffee in the kitchen. We waited around for awhile and then went back out to see the market nearby. It was huge (and contained everything from dried fruit to a large pig's head), and we bought bread and cheese to eat for dinner later. It was still freezing when we left, and we were all a little crabby from the lack of sleep, so we went back to the hostel and took a nap on their couch before trying once again. It was a lot warmer (and we were in better moods after the nap) and we spent a couple of hours in an art museum. I'm not sure what we liked more: the fact that the museum was heated, the cushioned seating in front of the paintings, or the art itself (hint: it probably wasn't the art).
The weather was pretty chilly for the entire weekend, so we decided that it would be a good idea to do some "inside" activities. Translation: we ate a lot of food and played a lot of cards. Here are some of the things that we ate:
Fried eggs, french fries, and chorizo: We actually ate this in Madrid because we needed a warm place (and dinner) before the bus arrived. We split it four ways and it was absolutely delicious! And if I never learn to make any other Spanish dishes, at least I know that this one would be pretty simple.
Paella: This was actually on the list of things to do even before the weather was bad. My host mother told me that Valencia has the best paella (which makes sense since it's close to the ocean). It was very good, especially after walking around in the cold.
Bread and cheese: A staple for every weekend of travelling, but this was the best so far. We bought "queso fresco" at the market, and it was even better than the kind my host family has. We also warmed the bread in the microwave, so it was soft and warm. Some strawberries and oranges (also from the market) and some hot tea made a really good, simple, and cheap meal.
Juice: We had plans to go out to a bar Saturday night, but we stopped at a juice place instead. They had both alcoholic and non-alcoholic fruit drinks. Ellie and I split an orange-carrot-lemon juice, which was so fresh and unlike anything I'd ever had before. The place itself was also really cute. We sat on wicker chairs around a short little table, and the colors looked like something you would find at a beach.
Chocolate: We had chocolate in a lot of forms, including (of course) hot chocolate with churros. We also tried a croissant filled with chocolate, and this was also very good.
In between eating, we did get around to see parts of Valencia. On Sunday morning, we went to church in the cathedral and then climbed the tower to get a view of the city from above. We didn't make it to the ocean (after walking for about an hour, we realized that it was much farther away than we thought) but we did get to see an amazing park along the way. There was once a river that ran through Valencia, but because it often flooded, they decided to divert it away from the city. Now, there is a huge park that follows the path that the river once took. We climbed a rope jungle gym, posed by some musical sculptures, and saw some of the other museums from the outside. After giving up on the ocean, we walked back to the bus stop (an even longer walk). It started to rain, but luckily not too hard, and we stopped at a small grocery store to pick up some food before catching the bus (unlike the rest of the food we ate, this cheese was flavorless and disgusting, but we were so hungry from the walk that we ate it anyway).
In summary: though the trip was a little hampered by the cold and our lack of sleep, the food and friends made up for it!
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