Current post being sent from an internet cafe in Bonn. Yes, the same one that deceptively didn't let me use the USB cable. It's cheap - whatever.
Just an update to say that England photos and stories are forthcoming - hopefully to be posted this weekend. This weekend begins the journey up to Hamburg (yet again) before heading home. No worries, fun stuff from Hamburg is also to be displayed on this blog! I am very sure there will be some crazy photos and manic behavior seeing as I'm staying with Maria... Although, not too manic since I'm also... me. :)
Ciao for now!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
England
Sigh. The plane ride from Frankfurt to Stansted was as fine as fine can be. And for the first time since arriving from Chicago, I had to go through passport control. Nothing out of the ordinary, except I didn't know what to write for my address while in England. Oops. Cousin Stephen's home phone will have to do. Grin.
From there, a bus to Victoria station, two trains out to Weybridge, and a two hour wait in Weybridge. I could have waited a long time in Victoria, but I actually forgot that I didn't have to be in Weybridge until 6 in the evening. Another oops. Got a lot of reading done in those two hours. And some writing.
And then the fun began. Stephen and Becky (cousin and cousin-in-law) were visiting friends Kerrie and Gareth. So, I got to visit too. Smile. We had wonderfully yummy food all weekend. We went to Wisley Gardens and I took lots of arty photos and some not-so-arty. We played with their Wii. It's not as dirty as it sounds. It was quite funny, especially since we were drinking at the time. We went for a walk with Bonnie. Everyone else played poker and drank port while I slept. Apparently, I needed it, but I still insist that I should have been woken up! But yes, all in all, a very fun and alcoholically advanced weekend!
This is a FERN!
Uh... No comment?
From there, a bus to Victoria station, two trains out to Weybridge, and a two hour wait in Weybridge. I could have waited a long time in Victoria, but I actually forgot that I didn't have to be in Weybridge until 6 in the evening. Another oops. Got a lot of reading done in those two hours. And some writing.
And then the fun began. Stephen and Becky (cousin and cousin-in-law) were visiting friends Kerrie and Gareth. So, I got to visit too. Smile. We had wonderfully yummy food all weekend. We went to Wisley Gardens and I took lots of arty photos and some not-so-arty. We played with their Wii. It's not as dirty as it sounds. It was quite funny, especially since we were drinking at the time. We went for a walk with Bonnie. Everyone else played poker and drank port while I slept. Apparently, I needed it, but I still insist that I should have been woken up! But yes, all in all, a very fun and alcoholically advanced weekend!
This is a FERN!
Uh... No comment?
Friday, August 24, 2007
Storkow/Guben/Greifswald
After my many days in Hamburg, I decided to nag good friend Felix. Felix was a YFU exchange student to Ohio a few years back and now studies in Greifswald, but he was interning in Portland last summer - loyal friends will remember him from the Seattle blog. That's how we met.....
Well, while I was in Hamburg, he was in Freiburg. We both were supposed to end up in Storkow (near Berlin) on Friday afternoon (the 10th). Well, thank goodness Felix got there before me. Although - he got there WAY before me. Like three hours! His travel day from near Freiburg started at 5am and he got to Storkow around 5pm. Twelve hours! Yikes indeed - although my journey was shorter, I was very late showing up.
Left Hamburg at 1pm, bus to Berlin. Traffic. Got there one hour late at 5pm. Streetcar from bus station to Konigs Winterhausen (suburb of Berlin). That leg alone was one hour. Bus from Konigs Winterhausen to Friedenshafen, which was a substitute for the train, which doesn't go that late in the evenings anymore. Train from Friedenshafen to Storkow, only took twenty minutes. Walked from Storkow train station to where festival was being held. Finally! Close to 8:30 I was at Mama!
Right - I didn't tell you why I had to travel to Storkow. Oops. Mamallapuram was the festival's name. It's tiny, only a couple hundred people in tents and ten bands, all German, but sometimes they sang in English. Very off the beaten path. Felix knows the organizer's, so it was cool to feel like part of the in crowd. His friends Chrissi, Franziska, Andreas, Gorden, Gunnar, and Sascha were there as well. And we got along pretty well. Sascha, Chrissi, Andreas, and I got along very well! Andreas mooched ibuprofen from me, Sascha danced with me, and Chrissi and I - well, we just got along in the old-fashioned girlie way. Giggling, etc.
We were camped there for two nights. Lots of beer and water, very yummy creative breakfasts and snacks.....
Here we are next to the caravan. People must have been jealous - we had the van, two tents, and one of those giant parasol things with legs... so we had an area that was somewhat drier than elsewhere.
Here's Felix in the tent we shared for the two nights. It wasn't really cramped, but Felix is a bit taller than me, so... it was a bit cramped for him. And the second night, Chrissi joined us, which didn't make Felix happy.
It did rain throughout the weekend, although there was a nice bit of sun. We had a dip in the local lake (thank goodness I brought my bikini right?). But the snails and slugs were out in full force. This one got fresh with Gorden's tent.
Here's Andreas covering himself up. He did the ear thing on his own - for a laugh, of course. I mean, I was teasing him right and left, which was fairly easy to be honest. He left so much open for ridicule.
Chrissi and Franzi bet against Felix. I think it was about the changed order of bands. Felix lost and had to kiss their dirtiest foot.
Here's a nice picture of Felix. Handsome devil, wouldn't you say? (He paid me to say that. You owe me ten bucks, Flex.)
But after Mama, Felix and I caught a ride (very German thing - www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de if you're interested) with two girls driving to Cottbus. We weren't going that far, but they drove us straight to Felix's parent's house in Guben, which is right on the Polish border. We stayed there two nights, mainly taking showers and doing laundry. We did walk around and over to Poland. They didn't care to see passports going into Poland, but coming back into Germany, they were suddenly red in the face that I didn't have a stamp in my passport for crossing the border two hours previously. Oops.
The time in Guben was nice though, because it gave Felix and I some time to ourselves to just talk. We haven't seen each other since last summer, so there was some stuff to catch up on. That and meeting his grandparents (who are super sweet!) were the highlights of Guben.
Here's me after a well-deserved nap....
We took the train from Guben up to Greifswald, where Felix studies. I stayed there another two nights before heading down to Cologne for my flight to England. Greifswald is a cute city and Felix lives really central, which was nice. Andreas (from the festival) and his girlfriend, Anna, live across the street. First night there, I cooked! Apple-honey curry with chicken and walnuts over rice. Everyone loved it, but it didn't sit well in my tummy. :(
I got to visit with Andreas and Chrissi again, which was really great! After not feeling well from my curry, we watched the Simpsons Movie (very happy it was only 80 minutes). During Wednesday, Felix took me up to the top of the cathedral. Extremely windy stairs, sometimes very steep also. He was a gentleman and did NOT make fun of my fear of heights. And he has a cute picture of us at the top... (read: where is it Felix?) The next night, we went to the beach! Finally, some good weather for beer and volleyball. Apparently, those two things go together....
Here's the beach - the Baltic Sea beach!
Chrissi and Anna sitting on our blanket. Anna can do amazing things with her feet, as can I, so were satisfied while Felix and Chrissi played some volleyball. Then, we finally got dragged over.
The sunset over the Baltic Sea. I'm so interested.....
So, then I caught a ride Thursday morning with two different girls driving to Cologne. It took me forever to get there, so I missed Morice's birthday party. Harumph. But I did meet and talk with Maria's mother, which was worth the ten hours of travel. Yes, ten hours of travel. Traffic sucks. From Cologne, I caught the bus to Frankfurt Hahn and flew to England. But that's another post....
Felix and I will see each other again in Hamburg in September. And did I mention he was a DJ - so he'll know all the good places to party at?
Well, while I was in Hamburg, he was in Freiburg. We both were supposed to end up in Storkow (near Berlin) on Friday afternoon (the 10th). Well, thank goodness Felix got there before me. Although - he got there WAY before me. Like three hours! His travel day from near Freiburg started at 5am and he got to Storkow around 5pm. Twelve hours! Yikes indeed - although my journey was shorter, I was very late showing up.
Left Hamburg at 1pm, bus to Berlin. Traffic. Got there one hour late at 5pm. Streetcar from bus station to Konigs Winterhausen (suburb of Berlin). That leg alone was one hour. Bus from Konigs Winterhausen to Friedenshafen, which was a substitute for the train, which doesn't go that late in the evenings anymore. Train from Friedenshafen to Storkow, only took twenty minutes. Walked from Storkow train station to where festival was being held. Finally! Close to 8:30 I was at Mama!
Right - I didn't tell you why I had to travel to Storkow. Oops. Mamallapuram was the festival's name. It's tiny, only a couple hundred people in tents and ten bands, all German, but sometimes they sang in English. Very off the beaten path. Felix knows the organizer's, so it was cool to feel like part of the in crowd. His friends Chrissi, Franziska, Andreas, Gorden, Gunnar, and Sascha were there as well. And we got along pretty well. Sascha, Chrissi, Andreas, and I got along very well! Andreas mooched ibuprofen from me, Sascha danced with me, and Chrissi and I - well, we just got along in the old-fashioned girlie way. Giggling, etc.
We were camped there for two nights. Lots of beer and water, very yummy creative breakfasts and snacks.....
Here we are next to the caravan. People must have been jealous - we had the van, two tents, and one of those giant parasol things with legs... so we had an area that was somewhat drier than elsewhere.
Here's Felix in the tent we shared for the two nights. It wasn't really cramped, but Felix is a bit taller than me, so... it was a bit cramped for him. And the second night, Chrissi joined us, which didn't make Felix happy.
It did rain throughout the weekend, although there was a nice bit of sun. We had a dip in the local lake (thank goodness I brought my bikini right?). But the snails and slugs were out in full force. This one got fresh with Gorden's tent.
Here's Andreas covering himself up. He did the ear thing on his own - for a laugh, of course. I mean, I was teasing him right and left, which was fairly easy to be honest. He left so much open for ridicule.
Chrissi and Franzi bet against Felix. I think it was about the changed order of bands. Felix lost and had to kiss their dirtiest foot.
Here's a nice picture of Felix. Handsome devil, wouldn't you say? (He paid me to say that. You owe me ten bucks, Flex.)
But after Mama, Felix and I caught a ride (very German thing - www.mitfahrgelegenheit.de if you're interested) with two girls driving to Cottbus. We weren't going that far, but they drove us straight to Felix's parent's house in Guben, which is right on the Polish border. We stayed there two nights, mainly taking showers and doing laundry. We did walk around and over to Poland. They didn't care to see passports going into Poland, but coming back into Germany, they were suddenly red in the face that I didn't have a stamp in my passport for crossing the border two hours previously. Oops.
The time in Guben was nice though, because it gave Felix and I some time to ourselves to just talk. We haven't seen each other since last summer, so there was some stuff to catch up on. That and meeting his grandparents (who are super sweet!) were the highlights of Guben.
Here's me after a well-deserved nap....
We took the train from Guben up to Greifswald, where Felix studies. I stayed there another two nights before heading down to Cologne for my flight to England. Greifswald is a cute city and Felix lives really central, which was nice. Andreas (from the festival) and his girlfriend, Anna, live across the street. First night there, I cooked! Apple-honey curry with chicken and walnuts over rice. Everyone loved it, but it didn't sit well in my tummy. :(
I got to visit with Andreas and Chrissi again, which was really great! After not feeling well from my curry, we watched the Simpsons Movie (very happy it was only 80 minutes). During Wednesday, Felix took me up to the top of the cathedral. Extremely windy stairs, sometimes very steep also. He was a gentleman and did NOT make fun of my fear of heights. And he has a cute picture of us at the top... (read: where is it Felix?) The next night, we went to the beach! Finally, some good weather for beer and volleyball. Apparently, those two things go together....
Here's the beach - the Baltic Sea beach!
Chrissi and Anna sitting on our blanket. Anna can do amazing things with her feet, as can I, so were satisfied while Felix and Chrissi played some volleyball. Then, we finally got dragged over.
The sunset over the Baltic Sea. I'm so interested.....
So, then I caught a ride Thursday morning with two different girls driving to Cologne. It took me forever to get there, so I missed Morice's birthday party. Harumph. But I did meet and talk with Maria's mother, which was worth the ten hours of travel. Yes, ten hours of travel. Traffic sucks. From Cologne, I caught the bus to Frankfurt Hahn and flew to England. But that's another post....
Felix and I will see each other again in Hamburg in September. And did I mention he was a DJ - so he'll know all the good places to party at?
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Update
There is more on the way, to be sure. Just wanted to update everyone that I am feeling really well - even though this week has been a lot of travelling! My next post will probably be from England, when I will have more time to upload pictures et al.
Every day, my trip gets better. Not only because of where I am, but because of the people I am meeting. A quick hello to a lot of new friends:
Steffi, Chrissi, Andreas, Anne, Maria, Morice, Sascha, Julien, Ertu, Frederik, Michael, Katrin, Alex, Mario, and Maxim!!!
I will divulge all in my next post, of what I've been up to, but tomorrow I'm off to Köln/Bonn to celebrate the birthday of new friend Morice! I will find out tomorrow how old he is, but in the meantime I have to go find some Polish or East German candy to bring as a birthday present....
P.S. Does anyone have any good Yo-Momma jokes? It's been all the rage here with Felix and company...
Every day, my trip gets better. Not only because of where I am, but because of the people I am meeting. A quick hello to a lot of new friends:
Steffi, Chrissi, Andreas, Anne, Maria, Morice, Sascha, Julien, Ertu, Frederik, Michael, Katrin, Alex, Mario, and Maxim!!!
I will divulge all in my next post, of what I've been up to, but tomorrow I'm off to Köln/Bonn to celebrate the birthday of new friend Morice! I will find out tomorrow how old he is, but in the meantime I have to go find some Polish or East German candy to bring as a birthday present....
P.S. Does anyone have any good Yo-Momma jokes? It's been all the rage here with Felix and company...
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Hamburg: Part One
Ah, the city by the... no, not sea. But there is a copious amount of water in and around Hamburg! Two connecting lakes in the heart of the city, the river Elbe - Hamburg has the most amount of bridges for a city. I think in the world....So, you can see why I like it so much here.
That, and you meet really fun people! I arrived in Hamburg Friday afternoon, where Stefanie picked me up. She was very excited to see me and I was, well, tired. We were talking our way back to her apartment (which is very cozy and neat) and got to know each other better. She works for the Green Party, as well as helping organize couchsurfing activities! She has an old cat named Maffi. And I can say old because she's eighteen! Yes, old.....
We had time for lunch (lasagna), a nap, and a shower before heading over to the couchsurfing activities for the night - a tour of Hamburg's St. Pauli neighborhood. Steffi told us all about how the neighborhood got its start and what it means to Hamburg today. I can't remember it all right now, so look it up if you like. We walked down the Reeperbahn, where all the glitzy clubs and theaters are located. It used to be run down, but since the 80's it's turned a corner and the big shows are here as well - Mamma Mia, the gay revues, etc. We walked past the place where the Beatles first played, which is now a barber shop. And we walked past Herbertstrasse.
Only men can go there... Hmmm....
Women and children not allowed. I wonder why. Could it be because the Reeperbahn is famous for its red-light district? But this is the only street blocked off like this. Oh, and curiously enough, if big groups (including women) go on a tour led by Hamburg's own well-known drag queen, they are allowed in. Cheaters.
As we walked, I got to know some of the other surfers. Maxim from Hamburg, Ano from Finland, and Julien from Reunion. (Look it up - very interesting!) Well, Julien kept borrowing my pen for God knows what. He very graciously let me have some sips of his beer in return. As he asked to have his beer back, I pretended to be deaf. You would too - don't deny it.... But as I was walking, and drinking, the beer got all foamed up. I gave it back to him and the war had begun. Snicker. The rest of the weekend was spent trying to one-up the other.
Friday went smoothly enough, so Saturday was the day of the rally. No cars. No bicycles. Just a good old-fashioned scavenger hunt through the city. On my team were Morice from Montreal, Mario from Hamburg, and Ose from Bremen (originally from South Africa). The four of us set out, on a deceptively cloudy afternoon, to figure out each question. They were nice and gave us directions, but as we all know (especially when it's warm and there's four people) that doesn't always work.
Here is my team picking some old dude's nose - it's very creepy that they're all smiling, don't you think?
Everyone got along and we had lots of fun, except towards the end of the day. Liz got really tired and lacked for water, while others on the team wanted to finish everything before going to dinner at Cafe Knallhart. Morice and I were very much wanting to skip the last question or two in order to get to dinner. I didn't care which team won or lost, I just needed to sit down and eat something!! And we all know how Liz gets when she's tired and cranky. :) Mario didn't seem to notice...
Finally, we ended up at Knallhart and ate some food! And shortly thereafter the party began. Oh yes, and which team actually won the little rally - ours!!! So, yes the party truly had started! Giggle.
My prizes! The champagne was shared by Morice and myself - neither Mario or Ose wanted any. Straight from the bottle, like champs that we are. :) The pirate flag is really the Jolly Roger flag, which is the flag and symbol of the St. Pauli soccer team. Lots of people wear shirts with this pirate symbol on them when the team plays at home.
Of course, this was a flag, not a shirt....
....but I found an appropriate place for it.
Morice and I celebrating our win!
I think Morice really likes the idea of being a pirate....
Drinking!
Frederik very kindly played some of his music for us. He's quite the talent!
Maria and I got along very well. Originally from Köln, she's studying to be a chocolatier here in Hamburg... Can you imagine knowing how to make chocolate! So glad she's my friend!
Here's Maxim giving me, well, I'm not sure what look this is. He wasn't prepared for the photo, but he looks like he wants to beat me up! :( (And all the other pictures of him aren't that great either... hmmm...) But he's actually a big sweetheart... He used to be a soccer player - like he got paid to play! Until a knee injury sidelined him. So, he went to Cali and Arizona for a school year and did volunteer work. Now he's back for...whatever comes his way.
Maria and Morice know each other from when Morice spent time in Köln. I just think this picture is so cute...
There was a group of us, who stayed up all night, went to a club on the Reeperbahn and ended up at the Fischmarkt at 6am, continuing to drink until 8am. But I was not one of them. I got tired around 2:30 and went home with Steffi. I'm really glad I did too. It meant I was not at all tired at brunch on Sunday at noon! And I had showered!
After brunch, a group of us walked to a nearby park, Planten un Blumen, and sat around in the sun being lazy. I took some great candid shots of everyone. (Hint: I badly want one of those really nice Canon digital cameras that are like thousands of dollars!)
This is Ertu from Istanbul. We dig the same music, so it was extremely easy to talk to him.
Frederik. Great guitar player, little bit of a unibrow problem. Extremely sweet though!
Here's Julien. The excellent joke teller, but unhappy beer drinker. Well, at least if I'm involved. Giggle.
Ryan from Toronto. He's doing an internship in Frankfurt, but was able to come up here for the weekend. Really nice guy... and someone I know has a little crush on him. And from what she tells me, he might have a crush on her too! Oooh, gossip!
After being lazy at the park, Maria and I went in search of some cheap yummy food. We ended up at the Christopher Street Day Parade celebrations. Hamburg's Gay Pride, so to speak.
Let's just say Maria got into the spirit of things.....
It looks real, but this rainbow stayed there way too long to be real. I found it fitting nonetheless.
And that ended Sunday. I woke up the next morning to a sore throat and a headache. :( I felt realy tired and assumed it was from the fun of the weekend. I met Maxim for an ice cream and we walked around the big lake in Hamburg. But when I got home, I didn't feel better. Tuesday, I woke up and it was a bit hard to talk. Steffi and I decided that I couldn't risk getting really sick, so she took me to her doctor. The doctor was very nice and said I had a small infection in my throat, but that it didn't look very bad at all. Yeah! She gave me some antibiotics and I spent the rest of the day in bed. Yesterday, I woke up feeling ten times better! I spent the afternoon with Alex, who is incredibly funny and has been to SF, so we talked a lot about that. Then, I met up with Steffi at a friend's place for some handmade pizza, salad, and apple pie. Everything tasted a bit burnt, but it was extremely yummy. Today - well, it's my last day in Hamburg for a while. I plan on coming back in September....
That, and you meet really fun people! I arrived in Hamburg Friday afternoon, where Stefanie picked me up. She was very excited to see me and I was, well, tired. We were talking our way back to her apartment (which is very cozy and neat) and got to know each other better. She works for the Green Party, as well as helping organize couchsurfing activities! She has an old cat named Maffi. And I can say old because she's eighteen! Yes, old.....
We had time for lunch (lasagna), a nap, and a shower before heading over to the couchsurfing activities for the night - a tour of Hamburg's St. Pauli neighborhood. Steffi told us all about how the neighborhood got its start and what it means to Hamburg today. I can't remember it all right now, so look it up if you like. We walked down the Reeperbahn, where all the glitzy clubs and theaters are located. It used to be run down, but since the 80's it's turned a corner and the big shows are here as well - Mamma Mia, the gay revues, etc. We walked past the place where the Beatles first played, which is now a barber shop. And we walked past Herbertstrasse.
Only men can go there... Hmmm....
Women and children not allowed. I wonder why. Could it be because the Reeperbahn is famous for its red-light district? But this is the only street blocked off like this. Oh, and curiously enough, if big groups (including women) go on a tour led by Hamburg's own well-known drag queen, they are allowed in. Cheaters.
As we walked, I got to know some of the other surfers. Maxim from Hamburg, Ano from Finland, and Julien from Reunion. (Look it up - very interesting!) Well, Julien kept borrowing my pen for God knows what. He very graciously let me have some sips of his beer in return. As he asked to have his beer back, I pretended to be deaf. You would too - don't deny it.... But as I was walking, and drinking, the beer got all foamed up. I gave it back to him and the war had begun. Snicker. The rest of the weekend was spent trying to one-up the other.
Friday went smoothly enough, so Saturday was the day of the rally. No cars. No bicycles. Just a good old-fashioned scavenger hunt through the city. On my team were Morice from Montreal, Mario from Hamburg, and Ose from Bremen (originally from South Africa). The four of us set out, on a deceptively cloudy afternoon, to figure out each question. They were nice and gave us directions, but as we all know (especially when it's warm and there's four people) that doesn't always work.
Here is my team picking some old dude's nose - it's very creepy that they're all smiling, don't you think?
Everyone got along and we had lots of fun, except towards the end of the day. Liz got really tired and lacked for water, while others on the team wanted to finish everything before going to dinner at Cafe Knallhart. Morice and I were very much wanting to skip the last question or two in order to get to dinner. I didn't care which team won or lost, I just needed to sit down and eat something!! And we all know how Liz gets when she's tired and cranky. :) Mario didn't seem to notice...
Finally, we ended up at Knallhart and ate some food! And shortly thereafter the party began. Oh yes, and which team actually won the little rally - ours!!! So, yes the party truly had started! Giggle.
My prizes! The champagne was shared by Morice and myself - neither Mario or Ose wanted any. Straight from the bottle, like champs that we are. :) The pirate flag is really the Jolly Roger flag, which is the flag and symbol of the St. Pauli soccer team. Lots of people wear shirts with this pirate symbol on them when the team plays at home.
Of course, this was a flag, not a shirt....
....but I found an appropriate place for it.
Morice and I celebrating our win!
I think Morice really likes the idea of being a pirate....
Drinking!
Frederik very kindly played some of his music for us. He's quite the talent!
Maria and I got along very well. Originally from Köln, she's studying to be a chocolatier here in Hamburg... Can you imagine knowing how to make chocolate! So glad she's my friend!
Here's Maxim giving me, well, I'm not sure what look this is. He wasn't prepared for the photo, but he looks like he wants to beat me up! :( (And all the other pictures of him aren't that great either... hmmm...) But he's actually a big sweetheart... He used to be a soccer player - like he got paid to play! Until a knee injury sidelined him. So, he went to Cali and Arizona for a school year and did volunteer work. Now he's back for...whatever comes his way.
Maria and Morice know each other from when Morice spent time in Köln. I just think this picture is so cute...
There was a group of us, who stayed up all night, went to a club on the Reeperbahn and ended up at the Fischmarkt at 6am, continuing to drink until 8am. But I was not one of them. I got tired around 2:30 and went home with Steffi. I'm really glad I did too. It meant I was not at all tired at brunch on Sunday at noon! And I had showered!
After brunch, a group of us walked to a nearby park, Planten un Blumen, and sat around in the sun being lazy. I took some great candid shots of everyone. (Hint: I badly want one of those really nice Canon digital cameras that are like thousands of dollars!)
This is Ertu from Istanbul. We dig the same music, so it was extremely easy to talk to him.
Frederik. Great guitar player, little bit of a unibrow problem. Extremely sweet though!
Here's Julien. The excellent joke teller, but unhappy beer drinker. Well, at least if I'm involved. Giggle.
Ryan from Toronto. He's doing an internship in Frankfurt, but was able to come up here for the weekend. Really nice guy... and someone I know has a little crush on him. And from what she tells me, he might have a crush on her too! Oooh, gossip!
After being lazy at the park, Maria and I went in search of some cheap yummy food. We ended up at the Christopher Street Day Parade celebrations. Hamburg's Gay Pride, so to speak.
Let's just say Maria got into the spirit of things.....
It looks real, but this rainbow stayed there way too long to be real. I found it fitting nonetheless.
And that ended Sunday. I woke up the next morning to a sore throat and a headache. :( I felt realy tired and assumed it was from the fun of the weekend. I met Maxim for an ice cream and we walked around the big lake in Hamburg. But when I got home, I didn't feel better. Tuesday, I woke up and it was a bit hard to talk. Steffi and I decided that I couldn't risk getting really sick, so she took me to her doctor. The doctor was very nice and said I had a small infection in my throat, but that it didn't look very bad at all. Yeah! She gave me some antibiotics and I spent the rest of the day in bed. Yesterday, I woke up feeling ten times better! I spent the afternoon with Alex, who is incredibly funny and has been to SF, so we talked a lot about that. Then, I met up with Steffi at a friend's place for some handmade pizza, salad, and apple pie. Everything tasted a bit burnt, but it was extremely yummy. Today - well, it's my last day in Hamburg for a while. I plan on coming back in September....
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Norway
My week in Oslo was very relaxing. Camilla is quite pregnant. Well, maybe not as I type this - she might have a new little daughter by now. But her and Joel are extremely cute together and definitely gave me a warm welcome when I arrived Friday evening. They don't know how to say no - they're having a baby, selling their current apartment, and moving into their new apartment all within a month's time.
Excuse me?
Saturday it rained a lot, so I read the other book I bought in Bonn and took a nap while Camilla got stuck huddling in a cafe during her errands. Because of the rain, it took her twice as long to come back home. Poor girl! :( But when she did come back, she showed off her shopping spree goodies. Her fave store was having a half-off of half-off sale. Really nice clothes for a fraction of the price! I would have done the same!
Sunday we went on a long hike through some local woods - Oslo is a very green capital! Camilla was getting worn out, and frankly so was I. But at the top of the hills were some fresh raspberries alongside the path. So, that gave us the extra little kick we needed to get back down the hill to the tiny ice cream shop before heading home.
Here she is taking a little break, while I took a great shot of the city....
...Oslo in all her beauty!
Raspberries are not my favorite, but that's when they're fully grown and plump at the grocery store. Little tart fresh raspberries are something else.
Yummy! If it was blackberries, I would have been in heaven.
Since all the moving was going on at Camilla and Joel's, I stayed with Trond for the rest of the week. I met up with Hanne and spent some wonderful time with her in great weather! I tried meeting up with Linda and Therese, but they were both extremely busy. Therese was up in northern Norway for the week and Linda has a job helping to produce a reality show on TV - so as lowly PA, she gets all the mindless, yet time-consuming jobs. I did manage to see Trine, who had a baby five months ago...
His name is Eirik and I don't have a picture of him. But we had a lovely dinner and chat before my train to Hamburg left Thursday evening. And what a great train ride it was! Four Swiss and me! Swiss German - if you didn't know - is quite different from standard German. Luckily, two girls (Rahel and Eva) spoke standard German with me, while the other two from Bern (an even harder dialect of German) chatted away on the bottom bunks. I nearly missed the damn train too! Had like one minute left before it pulled away. Sigh...
Everything went smoothly getting in to Hamburg, where Stefanie met me at the train station.
Excuse me?
Saturday it rained a lot, so I read the other book I bought in Bonn and took a nap while Camilla got stuck huddling in a cafe during her errands. Because of the rain, it took her twice as long to come back home. Poor girl! :( But when she did come back, she showed off her shopping spree goodies. Her fave store was having a half-off of half-off sale. Really nice clothes for a fraction of the price! I would have done the same!
Sunday we went on a long hike through some local woods - Oslo is a very green capital! Camilla was getting worn out, and frankly so was I. But at the top of the hills were some fresh raspberries alongside the path. So, that gave us the extra little kick we needed to get back down the hill to the tiny ice cream shop before heading home.
Here she is taking a little break, while I took a great shot of the city....
...Oslo in all her beauty!
Raspberries are not my favorite, but that's when they're fully grown and plump at the grocery store. Little tart fresh raspberries are something else.
Yummy! If it was blackberries, I would have been in heaven.
Since all the moving was going on at Camilla and Joel's, I stayed with Trond for the rest of the week. I met up with Hanne and spent some wonderful time with her in great weather! I tried meeting up with Linda and Therese, but they were both extremely busy. Therese was up in northern Norway for the week and Linda has a job helping to produce a reality show on TV - so as lowly PA, she gets all the mindless, yet time-consuming jobs. I did manage to see Trine, who had a baby five months ago...
His name is Eirik and I don't have a picture of him. But we had a lovely dinner and chat before my train to Hamburg left Thursday evening. And what a great train ride it was! Four Swiss and me! Swiss German - if you didn't know - is quite different from standard German. Luckily, two girls (Rahel and Eva) spoke standard German with me, while the other two from Bern (an even harder dialect of German) chatted away on the bottom bunks. I nearly missed the damn train too! Had like one minute left before it pulled away. Sigh...
Everything went smoothly getting in to Hamburg, where Stefanie met me at the train station.
Bonn: Part One
Michelle's current apartment seems much bigger than her old one. Even though, it probably isn't. But I spent most of my time eating dinner with her when she got home from work, walking around the city during the day, and even getting out to the Birkenstock warehouse in Bad Honnef.
No worries - I'm going back! Peopl who have made orders will get their shoes! :)
I even bought the last installment of Harry Potter and finished it by the time I got to Oslo on the 27th. Michelle and I watched the 5th film in its original English - because sometimes you just can't deal with dubbing or even subtitles. I devoured the last HP book and will not be happy if they leave any single part of that book out of the film that is not yet made.
Michelle and I were so relaxed and easy going during the four nights I was there, that I forgot to take pictures. Hence the title of this post... Part One. I do plan on going back, just not sure when that will be. :)
No worries - I'm going back! Peopl who have made orders will get their shoes! :)
I even bought the last installment of Harry Potter and finished it by the time I got to Oslo on the 27th. Michelle and I watched the 5th film in its original English - because sometimes you just can't deal with dubbing or even subtitles. I devoured the last HP book and will not be happy if they leave any single part of that book out of the film that is not yet made.
Michelle and I were so relaxed and easy going during the four nights I was there, that I forgot to take pictures. Hence the title of this post... Part One. I do plan on going back, just not sure when that will be. :)
Monday, July 30, 2007
Barcelona
I met two American girls on the night train from Sevilla to Barcelona. Which was not odd, since you tend to meet a lot of people when you travel. But they were intending to sit on the beach all day for three days while in Barcelona.
Meh.
So, I never did meet up with them... for even tapas. And I'm glad I didn't because I met some much more interesting people while in the city by the sea. The first thing you notice is the language. Everything is in Catalan, then Spanish, then English. Catalan is a sort of mixture of Spanish and French, although it's decidedly more French than Spanish and it is its own language, just like Basque. For example, the difference between "please" in Catalan and Spanish is miles apart. Spanish - por favor. Catalan - si us plau. But then again, you have other simple words which are exactly the same.
I arrived at 8am and sought the hostel, which is a less than desirable neighborhood, but the hostel was fantastic, albeit a bit pricey. But what isn't pricey in a large city like BCN? Well, the beer, but we'll get back to that. You can't check in until 11, so I had lots of time to eat some breakfast and sleep on the little futon in the common room. But I also saw Cassie (from couchsurfing) who sort of works at the hostel and she told me about some fun activities that were going on. So, I signed up for a bike tour and a cooking class. And that night, she said a bunch of her friends were going to an open air movie on Montjuic (Mountain for the Jews). "Corpse Bride" was playing in original English and it would be shown on a screen next to the Montjuic castle\fort. Four Euros and you bring your own food and drink? I'm there!
But first, I slept on my really high bunk bed made of metal, had a shower and met two Portuguese guys also in my room. Guy and Fernan from Rio. Great guys! Covered in tattoos and really energetic people. They were only around for one night, before heading off to Ibiza to party.
Here's Guy and me at Parc Guell....
Parc Guell was owned by the Guell family, who were quite wealthy. They loved Gaudi and asked him to start a housing project on a hillside. Well, it never got finished (like everything else Gaudi touched) and was made into a park instead. You might remember some of Parc Guell if you ever saw the final episodes of ANTM when they came to Barcelona. It's where they did their advert and runway show. I totally recognized the place, although I said ABSOLUTELY nothing to Guy and Fernan.
And from the top of the Parc Guell hill, you could see great views of the whole city, although the only good picture I could get was of the Sagrada Familia construction site....
...all the other pictures were kinda hazy since the city is just that big.
The bike tour is run by a really cool Aussie guy who moved to BCN a while back. All the people who work there are international types who like to travel and meet new people, so I was game. But the bike tour was Saturday morning at 11am, which not many people could make. For obvious alcoholic reason the night before. So, our tour was four Americans and Laia, our tour guide. She's from Barcelona, so it felt like our guide was not just telling us rehearsed lines, it felt like she knew her city and just wanted to share.
If you must know, I didn't fall off once, nor did I hit any passing pedestrians! I triumphed and got sunburned! A pyrrhic victory I must say....
He gave two kids a ride on his chopper.... His bikes were very cool and I felt extremely cool while riding them. :)
On our tour, we stopped at the Christopher Columbus statue, which although points towards the water, isn't pointing towards America.... it's actually Africa he's pointing to, but if he was pointing the correct way, he'd be pointing towards land... and he was a sailor. So... yeah...
We also stopped at the beach and had lunch!
And we stopped at the bullring, which had its last fight ever the day after our tour. Catalunyans don't believe that bullfighting is part of their culture, it's Spanish culture, so they voted to have the fights stopped for their inhumane treatment of the bulls. Nobody ever goes to the fights anyway in Barcelona, except perhaps tourists. So, they'll make the bullring into a shopping plaza.
I invited Laia out for tapas that night, and we met up later, walked down....
...La Rambla...
to a very nice tapas bar, where we ate to our hearts' content. Man, I was stuffed!
The next day, I went back to Sagrada Familia (it was on our tour) to go inside and get better pictures. I met a new room addition, Guy (again!), from Israel, Tel Aviv to be exact.
The Nativity facade done by Gaudi....
...such great detail, right?
But the other facade was done by a Cubist artist - the Passion. It was eerily creepy the way the sculptures looked...
...these are the three women weeping over Jesus' dead body, once cut down from the cross. They totally look like the hooded black ghost things from LOTR, right?
And Judas didn't fare any better. Although, this sculpture doesn't creep me out as much as the three women...
...the cryptogram (is that what they're called) is for the number 33, which is the age Christ was when he died.
And inside the cathedral is just as interesting. The way the columns are shaped, the fact that they're using computer programming to hasten the building process... it's kinda cool to have seen older cathedrals and know that they were built over hundreds of years. (Example: Cologne's cathedral was built in about a thousand years because money would run out and then additions would occur, etc.) Well, Sagrada Familia is the modern-day version of that process. And it's paid for not by the state or city, but by the admission ticket prices and private donations. It's how the project started way back in 1882 and that's how the Catalunyans want to finish it. So, it's worth the eight Euro just to know that you're building a cathedral.
Great guy, Guy was, but his Spanish was just dismal. So, we went to Sagrada Familia together and talked about the history and architecture of Gaudi and after taking lots of pictures, which do no justice as you can see, walked to Parc de la Cuitadella and had an ice cream. After that, it was time for my cooking class....
I have recipes for paella, gazpacho, sangria, flan, and tapas. The huge irony of the class? All these recipes originated in Andalucia.... :) I know - irony is a part of my life, so I'm used to it.
But I met some fun people at my table...
...I have their names somewhere in my journal, as well as their emails.
That night I went home relatively early and slept well, since I had to wake up early ro catch a bus to the airport. Then.... Germany. Sigh of relief. My feet were definitely anxious to be pampered! Michelle welcomed my into her little apartment, but I'll wait to post that until a later date... The photos of Spain will have to tide you over until then. :)
Meh.
So, I never did meet up with them... for even tapas. And I'm glad I didn't because I met some much more interesting people while in the city by the sea. The first thing you notice is the language. Everything is in Catalan, then Spanish, then English. Catalan is a sort of mixture of Spanish and French, although it's decidedly more French than Spanish and it is its own language, just like Basque. For example, the difference between "please" in Catalan and Spanish is miles apart. Spanish - por favor. Catalan - si us plau. But then again, you have other simple words which are exactly the same.
I arrived at 8am and sought the hostel, which is a less than desirable neighborhood, but the hostel was fantastic, albeit a bit pricey. But what isn't pricey in a large city like BCN? Well, the beer, but we'll get back to that. You can't check in until 11, so I had lots of time to eat some breakfast and sleep on the little futon in the common room. But I also saw Cassie (from couchsurfing) who sort of works at the hostel and she told me about some fun activities that were going on. So, I signed up for a bike tour and a cooking class. And that night, she said a bunch of her friends were going to an open air movie on Montjuic (Mountain for the Jews). "Corpse Bride" was playing in original English and it would be shown on a screen next to the Montjuic castle\fort. Four Euros and you bring your own food and drink? I'm there!
But first, I slept on my really high bunk bed made of metal, had a shower and met two Portuguese guys also in my room. Guy and Fernan from Rio. Great guys! Covered in tattoos and really energetic people. They were only around for one night, before heading off to Ibiza to party.
Here's Guy and me at Parc Guell....
Parc Guell was owned by the Guell family, who were quite wealthy. They loved Gaudi and asked him to start a housing project on a hillside. Well, it never got finished (like everything else Gaudi touched) and was made into a park instead. You might remember some of Parc Guell if you ever saw the final episodes of ANTM when they came to Barcelona. It's where they did their advert and runway show. I totally recognized the place, although I said ABSOLUTELY nothing to Guy and Fernan.
And from the top of the Parc Guell hill, you could see great views of the whole city, although the only good picture I could get was of the Sagrada Familia construction site....
...all the other pictures were kinda hazy since the city is just that big.
The bike tour is run by a really cool Aussie guy who moved to BCN a while back. All the people who work there are international types who like to travel and meet new people, so I was game. But the bike tour was Saturday morning at 11am, which not many people could make. For obvious alcoholic reason the night before. So, our tour was four Americans and Laia, our tour guide. She's from Barcelona, so it felt like our guide was not just telling us rehearsed lines, it felt like she knew her city and just wanted to share.
If you must know, I didn't fall off once, nor did I hit any passing pedestrians! I triumphed and got sunburned! A pyrrhic victory I must say....
He gave two kids a ride on his chopper.... His bikes were very cool and I felt extremely cool while riding them. :)
On our tour, we stopped at the Christopher Columbus statue, which although points towards the water, isn't pointing towards America.... it's actually Africa he's pointing to, but if he was pointing the correct way, he'd be pointing towards land... and he was a sailor. So... yeah...
We also stopped at the beach and had lunch!
And we stopped at the bullring, which had its last fight ever the day after our tour. Catalunyans don't believe that bullfighting is part of their culture, it's Spanish culture, so they voted to have the fights stopped for their inhumane treatment of the bulls. Nobody ever goes to the fights anyway in Barcelona, except perhaps tourists. So, they'll make the bullring into a shopping plaza.
I invited Laia out for tapas that night, and we met up later, walked down....
...La Rambla...
to a very nice tapas bar, where we ate to our hearts' content. Man, I was stuffed!
The next day, I went back to Sagrada Familia (it was on our tour) to go inside and get better pictures. I met a new room addition, Guy (again!), from Israel, Tel Aviv to be exact.
The Nativity facade done by Gaudi....
...such great detail, right?
But the other facade was done by a Cubist artist - the Passion. It was eerily creepy the way the sculptures looked...
...these are the three women weeping over Jesus' dead body, once cut down from the cross. They totally look like the hooded black ghost things from LOTR, right?
And Judas didn't fare any better. Although, this sculpture doesn't creep me out as much as the three women...
...the cryptogram (is that what they're called) is for the number 33, which is the age Christ was when he died.
And inside the cathedral is just as interesting. The way the columns are shaped, the fact that they're using computer programming to hasten the building process... it's kinda cool to have seen older cathedrals and know that they were built over hundreds of years. (Example: Cologne's cathedral was built in about a thousand years because money would run out and then additions would occur, etc.) Well, Sagrada Familia is the modern-day version of that process. And it's paid for not by the state or city, but by the admission ticket prices and private donations. It's how the project started way back in 1882 and that's how the Catalunyans want to finish it. So, it's worth the eight Euro just to know that you're building a cathedral.
Great guy, Guy was, but his Spanish was just dismal. So, we went to Sagrada Familia together and talked about the history and architecture of Gaudi and after taking lots of pictures, which do no justice as you can see, walked to Parc de la Cuitadella and had an ice cream. After that, it was time for my cooking class....
I have recipes for paella, gazpacho, sangria, flan, and tapas. The huge irony of the class? All these recipes originated in Andalucia.... :) I know - irony is a part of my life, so I'm used to it.
But I met some fun people at my table...
...I have their names somewhere in my journal, as well as their emails.
That night I went home relatively early and slept well, since I had to wake up early ro catch a bus to the airport. Then.... Germany. Sigh of relief. My feet were definitely anxious to be pampered! Michelle welcomed my into her little apartment, but I'll wait to post that until a later date... The photos of Spain will have to tide you over until then. :)
Sevilla and Cordoba
Well, my plans changed once I met Aoife, as I have written before. Instead of Madrid, which I've heard conflicting reports on, I went to Sevilla and Cordoba. Cordoba was a quick morning trip from the bustling city of Sevilla. Sevilla is by far the most typically Spanish city you'll ever come across. Bullfights, flamenco, sangria, colonial passageways, winding roads in the Jewish quarter, short siestas, paella... the list goes on and on.
It was once again very hot, since this is still Andalucia. But somehow, maybe I'd just gotten used to it already, but it seemed a tad cooler. Sevilla boasts the largest Gothic cathedral on the planet and the third largest cathedral in the world, all rolled into one. It's massive and you feel very humble. Even the builders, way back when, stated that they'd build a cathedral so big people would say they were mad. They're words, not mine. This cathedral fits into the landscape of Sevilla, however. Unlike the mismatch of Granada's Renaissance cathedral which the mighty Alhambra overlooks.....
Sevilla's streets all seem to blend together as well, which is why we got lost finding the free flamenco bar. Well, the flamenco was free, not the bar. Please, people, this is Spain! People still pay for alcohol! But I must say that Sevilla's nightlife is less energetic than Granada's. Granada is a small city, whereas Sevilla is a bit bigger, making it easier for good tapas bars to be far apart from each other.
The hostel in Sevilla was also a really good find, both for location and price. They didn't have any activities, but you met a LOT of great people. Aoife and I met lots of Aussies, mostly from Melbourne. We went out as a big group the first night we were there, did flamenco as a smaller group the second night. Lots of fun, except for the feet, which had to remain unhappy until I got to Bonn last week. Man, I don't think I've ever had so many blisters or raw skin in my life. But at least I didn't have bugs after me. Aoife had that honor!
So... pictures!
Here is colonial Sevilla in her subtle beauty. A totally different feel from Granada, which still had tastes of the Moors everywhere you turned. Sevilla had more time to be christianized I suppose....
The mighty Gothic cathedral! I really couldn't get a good picture of the whole thing since it's that big. And there isn't a big front door or facade either. The inside was half under construction, but it didn't matter. There was still sooooo much to see.
Like this! This is the main nave (?) of the cathedral, which was just kilometers long it seemed.
Holy golden high altar, Batman!
The streets in the Santa Cruz (tr: Holy Cross) neighborhood are sometimes so close, that they are called kissing streets. The Santa Cruz used to be the Jewish Quarter. Then they changed the name to Santa Cruz and took down a lot of religious work done by the Jews, set up plazas inside some of the narrow streets to erect crosses and.... suddenly, nobody was Jewish anymore! Voila!
Aoife and I were so tired after the long cathedral march (you'd think large stone walls would keep out heat, but no), so we sat down (ironically at a Irish pub, we didn't know it until you got inside) and had tapas. We had tortilla espanyola and papas arrugadas. The papas are actually little new potatoes that you dip in a spicy red sauce. The sauce itself needs mixing or else the oils are all you get. Well.... Aoife found this out the hard way. :)
At the free flamenco, there was a semi-drunk sitting next to our group, as well as a really arrogant couple who I think were from Madrid. The arrogant man of the couple kept smoking a cigar, which is prohibited while the flamenco is going on. But oh - how maginificent the flamenco was! Just pure energy coming from the dancer, hypnotic singing and masterful guitar playing..... It was really hard to get a good photo, but I think I got a good enough one. Sometimes flamenco is sung only, sometimes a dance accompanies. The finale was a song and dance about Sevilla the city. Sevilla as a city is a flower, always blooming. Sevilla is a little child, always making mistakes. Sevilla is the center of the world, sometimes nothing at all. It was beautiful. Really inspiring.... made me want to pay money!
Our morning trip to Cordoba proved tiring (we were just worn out by then) and awesome at the same time. We shared an audioguide and found the nearest bench to sit down on while listening, before moving on to the next sight to see. But literally, La Mezquita is one giant mosque-cathedral-hall. It had three separate additions by both Muslims and Christians.
The columns were re-used from the Roman walls around the city, as well as the red and white bricks. The first part of the mosque was built in only 70 years and it's roughly the size of half a football field!
The two religions come together in a way I've never seen before. If I went to Israel I might see something comparable, but the cathedral is in the middle of the mosque actually. This wall hides the royal chapel of the mosque. And then a fourth and final addition to the building centered itself on building chapels surrounding the cathedral. So, you're walking around with the red and white arches above you with chapels flanking your walk towards the mihrab, which is the most holy corner of a mosque because it point the way to Mecca. History and religion and culture in one giant hall..... crazy cool!
Here is the inner part of the mihrab, and it definitely reminds you of Granada, right? But the fourth and more christian addition of the building left the mihrab off-centered, so... the building feels a bit unfinished. :(
Every cathedral has a Treasury and this is one of the treasures in Cordoba. It is literally carried - yes, carried - through the streets on a specific day of the Catholic calendar. I can't remember exactly the holiday, but throngs of people line the narrow streets and give praise to a certain saint, while carrying the burden of the treasures of the church. This thing must weigh... too much, that's for sure!
The tower not only has bells, which the Christians added, but it was originally a medina, where the Islamic prayers of the hours were called out. Sevilla has a tower as well, which Aoife and I went up. It's not steps, but ramps up to the top, wide enough for a man on horseback to ride, in order to call the prayers or ring the bells.
After two nights in Sevilla, and a morning trip to Cordoba, I left Andalucia with anticipation. I skipped Madrid, but I wasnæt about to ignore Barcelona, the second largest city in Spain. It sprawls out in a valley by the Mediterrean kinda like Los Angeles. With sights like Sagrada Familia and other Gaudi creations, I was NOT missiong out on that for anything.
It was once again very hot, since this is still Andalucia. But somehow, maybe I'd just gotten used to it already, but it seemed a tad cooler. Sevilla boasts the largest Gothic cathedral on the planet and the third largest cathedral in the world, all rolled into one. It's massive and you feel very humble. Even the builders, way back when, stated that they'd build a cathedral so big people would say they were mad. They're words, not mine. This cathedral fits into the landscape of Sevilla, however. Unlike the mismatch of Granada's Renaissance cathedral which the mighty Alhambra overlooks.....
Sevilla's streets all seem to blend together as well, which is why we got lost finding the free flamenco bar. Well, the flamenco was free, not the bar. Please, people, this is Spain! People still pay for alcohol! But I must say that Sevilla's nightlife is less energetic than Granada's. Granada is a small city, whereas Sevilla is a bit bigger, making it easier for good tapas bars to be far apart from each other.
The hostel in Sevilla was also a really good find, both for location and price. They didn't have any activities, but you met a LOT of great people. Aoife and I met lots of Aussies, mostly from Melbourne. We went out as a big group the first night we were there, did flamenco as a smaller group the second night. Lots of fun, except for the feet, which had to remain unhappy until I got to Bonn last week. Man, I don't think I've ever had so many blisters or raw skin in my life. But at least I didn't have bugs after me. Aoife had that honor!
So... pictures!
Here is colonial Sevilla in her subtle beauty. A totally different feel from Granada, which still had tastes of the Moors everywhere you turned. Sevilla had more time to be christianized I suppose....
The mighty Gothic cathedral! I really couldn't get a good picture of the whole thing since it's that big. And there isn't a big front door or facade either. The inside was half under construction, but it didn't matter. There was still sooooo much to see.
Like this! This is the main nave (?) of the cathedral, which was just kilometers long it seemed.
Holy golden high altar, Batman!
The streets in the Santa Cruz (tr: Holy Cross) neighborhood are sometimes so close, that they are called kissing streets. The Santa Cruz used to be the Jewish Quarter. Then they changed the name to Santa Cruz and took down a lot of religious work done by the Jews, set up plazas inside some of the narrow streets to erect crosses and.... suddenly, nobody was Jewish anymore! Voila!
Aoife and I were so tired after the long cathedral march (you'd think large stone walls would keep out heat, but no), so we sat down (ironically at a Irish pub, we didn't know it until you got inside) and had tapas. We had tortilla espanyola and papas arrugadas. The papas are actually little new potatoes that you dip in a spicy red sauce. The sauce itself needs mixing or else the oils are all you get. Well.... Aoife found this out the hard way. :)
At the free flamenco, there was a semi-drunk sitting next to our group, as well as a really arrogant couple who I think were from Madrid. The arrogant man of the couple kept smoking a cigar, which is prohibited while the flamenco is going on. But oh - how maginificent the flamenco was! Just pure energy coming from the dancer, hypnotic singing and masterful guitar playing..... It was really hard to get a good photo, but I think I got a good enough one. Sometimes flamenco is sung only, sometimes a dance accompanies. The finale was a song and dance about Sevilla the city. Sevilla as a city is a flower, always blooming. Sevilla is a little child, always making mistakes. Sevilla is the center of the world, sometimes nothing at all. It was beautiful. Really inspiring.... made me want to pay money!
Our morning trip to Cordoba proved tiring (we were just worn out by then) and awesome at the same time. We shared an audioguide and found the nearest bench to sit down on while listening, before moving on to the next sight to see. But literally, La Mezquita is one giant mosque-cathedral-hall. It had three separate additions by both Muslims and Christians.
The columns were re-used from the Roman walls around the city, as well as the red and white bricks. The first part of the mosque was built in only 70 years and it's roughly the size of half a football field!
The two religions come together in a way I've never seen before. If I went to Israel I might see something comparable, but the cathedral is in the middle of the mosque actually. This wall hides the royal chapel of the mosque. And then a fourth and final addition to the building centered itself on building chapels surrounding the cathedral. So, you're walking around with the red and white arches above you with chapels flanking your walk towards the mihrab, which is the most holy corner of a mosque because it point the way to Mecca. History and religion and culture in one giant hall..... crazy cool!
Here is the inner part of the mihrab, and it definitely reminds you of Granada, right? But the fourth and more christian addition of the building left the mihrab off-centered, so... the building feels a bit unfinished. :(
Every cathedral has a Treasury and this is one of the treasures in Cordoba. It is literally carried - yes, carried - through the streets on a specific day of the Catholic calendar. I can't remember exactly the holiday, but throngs of people line the narrow streets and give praise to a certain saint, while carrying the burden of the treasures of the church. This thing must weigh... too much, that's for sure!
The tower not only has bells, which the Christians added, but it was originally a medina, where the Islamic prayers of the hours were called out. Sevilla has a tower as well, which Aoife and I went up. It's not steps, but ramps up to the top, wide enough for a man on horseback to ride, in order to call the prayers or ring the bells.
After two nights in Sevilla, and a morning trip to Cordoba, I left Andalucia with anticipation. I skipped Madrid, but I wasnæt about to ignore Barcelona, the second largest city in Spain. It sprawls out in a valley by the Mediterrean kinda like Los Angeles. With sights like Sagrada Familia and other Gaudi creations, I was NOT missiong out on that for anything.
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