Spring Break Part 3: Madrid

Tuesday morning we headed to the bus station, crossing our fingers, that we could catch a ride to Madrid. We got lucky and hopped on a 6 hour bus ride for only 20 euro! Unfortunately, due to our lack of planning ahead—none of us got to sit together and it was a long ride sitting next to strangers who didn’t speak our language. We also passed through a blizzard on the ride—it was safe to say we were dreading Madrid… Once we got to the city, we were cold and missing Seville—it seemed like the only appropriate thing to do was have a bucket of Cervezas! After a few drinks we headed to check out one of Madrid’s most famous areas, Plaza Mayor. It was actually quite dead because of the rain so we decided to grocery shop and cook our meals here since we spent way too much money on the rest of our trip. After dinner, we got ready and headed back out into the rain to explore the nightlife.

We woke up the next morning to the same weather, blah! We went to check out a cathedral, stopped for churros con chocolate and did some shopping. Walking home, we passed a threatre advertising for a cabaret show that night called The Hole. Since it was inside and not too expensive, we bought tickets--anything to get out of the rain! The Hole ended up being a really fun show, while it was in Spanish and I didn't understand anything, it seemed to be a mix of Rocky Horror and Moulan Rouge. There were fun costumes, dance and song numbers in English and some crazy acrobatics, I wish I had taken pictures! When we got back to our hostel, we had plans to go to the bar but ended up hanging out with an Australian couple who have been traveling the world together for 7 months listening to their adventurous tales until 3am. The group woke up the next morning and had a few hours to kill so we hung out in Plaza Del Sol, another famous Piazza in Madrid and people watched until it was time to catch our flight. While I fell in love with Seville and Barcelona, it was safe to say that everyone was ready to get back to home sweet Rome!

Spring Break Part 2: Seville

We arrived in Seville on Sunday morning and it was love at first sight. People told us that Barcelona was the least Spanish city in Spain and I felt like I was in a different world once I set foot in Seville. The air was hot, flowers and trees were blooming and the pace was s l o w. If I could have bottled up the scent and wore it as a perfume, I would have—I was seriously in heaven! Seville’s streets are horribly labeled, terribly windy and confusing & I absolutely loved it. If we saw a restaurant we wanted to eat at or a store we wanted to stop in, we did it right then because the chances of finding the same spot twice are slim to none. An English-speaking stranger offered to help us find our hostel and like everything else in this tiny town, I was obsessed. It was a really funky, eclectic place with 2 balconies and a rooftop terrace with a hammock—I never wanted to leave. Amanda, Alysa & I finally dragged ourselves off of the rooftop and went out for some delicious tapas! Amanda got this seafood stuffed avocado and it was amazing:

After our meal, we headed back to the hostel to relax on the terrace and read for a while before heading out for the night. We ended up at a place just down the street for a glass of sangria and a lesson on cooking Paella—I’ll make it when I get home, Thomas you will love it!

Monday morning, we woke up early and headed to check out the largest gothic church in the world, Seville Cathedral, which also happens to be the place where Christopher Columbus is buried. We actually bought the information guides (a first!) so we could understand what was going on. It was pretty interesting to learn about the church, but it still didn’t compare to La Sagrada Familia! We climbed to the top of the dome afterwards and had incredible views of the city, which made it worth our while.

Like I said, the weather was hot, hot, hot so we headed back to our hostel, threw on our swimsuits and roasted in the sun with a bag of oranges and a bottle of wine. I enjoyed every second of that sunburn I earned!

A little crispy, we headed to Seville’s other main attraction: the largest wooden structure in the world… It looks like a waffle and was less than spectacular but we enjoyed hiking to the top nonetheless and enjoyed another beautiful view of my favorite city.

That night, we cooked up a delicious Italian meal and surprised our fellow hostel mates. Everyone that came into the kitchen was shocked that Americans were cooking! Apparently that’s a pretty common stereotype. We stayed in the rest of the night just hanging out and wishing we never had to leave the sunshine in Seville…

Spring Break Part 1: Barcelona

The girls of Portuense 100 all went their separate ways for Spring Break... Bridget headed to Greece and Turkey with her dad, Molly went to Brussels & the Amalfi Coast, I think Talia may have headed to Switzerland?! Too many incredible adventures to keep track of! My plan was to head to Spain with some girlfriends from school for the week. One week, one backpack. Camera, clothes, toiletries, shoes, purse etc. all had to magically fit into the backpack that RyanAir allows you to carry on the flight. Hello struggle city! After a packing fiasco Thursday night, we headed out early Friday morning and landed in the Barcelona sunshine! We wasted no time after finding our hostel (incredibly nice--balcony, electronic door locks and free breakfast!) and headed to Park Guell, also known as Gaudi Park. Almost everything we managed to see in Barcelona was the work of Antoni Gaudi--all mind boggling and fantastic! You might be able to tell from the pictures that this is where the term 'gaudy' originated...

After our trip to the park, we went out for a delicious meal by the marina and feasted on Paella, a Valencian rice dish with all sorts of interesting seafood. After dinner we sat and enjoyed the sunset before heading back to our hostel and then out again for the evening on a (lame) pub crawl put on by our hostel.

Saturday morning, we started the day of with a healthy breakfast of churros con chocolato and cappuccinos--this was the first of many churro experiences in Spain. It's a good thing they don't have these in Roma or I would be in serious trouble :)

Following breakfast, we headed to another one of Gaudi's masterpieces, La Sagrada Familia, the most incredible church I have ever seen in my entire life. It's been a work in progress for over a century since Gaudi was hit by a tram and died during his work on the building!

After gawking at the church for a few hours, we headed to the most colorful fresh food market in Europe: La Boqueria. We gorged ourselves on cheap papaya, pineapple, mangos and pureed fruit smoothies--yum!!

We hung out on the dock at the pier for awhile before seeing one of Gaudi's last treasures, Casa Batllo. He designed and created the building for a middle class family in 1877--but today it's more of a tourist destination... The outside is covered in mosaic tiles and my pictures don't do any of his work justice!

Amanda, Alysa and I stopped at our hostel for showers (far and few between on this trip!) and went out for a typical tapas dinner. Most restaurants in Spain don't serve main courses but you order a few mini dishes (tapas) and share. Someone at our hostel explained to us that tapas means 'to cover' and restaurants used to serve them in plates that fit right over the top of your drink. Since many Spanish drinks like Sangria are so sweet, it was meant to keep the bugs out of your cup while you enjoyed your food! We celebrated St. Patty's Day in Barcelona with a few beers and then headed home before our early flight to Seville!

Roman Sunshine

We got so lucky these past few days in Roma! It was supposed to rain all week but Mother Nature changed her mind and we got hot sunshine Wednesday, Thursday and Friday :) I had class/exams all day on Tuesday but Adam went to the Vatican Museum (he ended up going twice this week because he didn't realize the Sistine Chapel was in there and it's a definite must-see, whoops!) We made delicious pasta from scratch for dinner on Tuesday evening and spent the rest of the night relaxing at home. On Wednesday, Adam and I went to St. Peter's Basilica and climbed the dome! It wasn't quite as claustrophobic as climbing the Duomo in Florence, but the halls were still tight and the walls were completely slanted:

The view from the top was breathtaking--Mom & Dad, you need to do this when you come in April!

After our climb, we stopped for gelato at my favorite place; Old Bridge--delicious! While I finished my gelato, Adam made his second trip to the Vatican Museum to see Michelangelo's handiwork. From there, we tried to go into the Colosseum but it closed earlier than we thought so we made our way to the Trevi Fountain to toss our coins (I'm working on my "plan B" skills)! Next, we went to see the Pantheon which might be one of my favorite monuments in the city & it's free!

Thursday, Adam met me at school between my classes so I could show him around the AUR campus and bring him to the best. sandwich. shop. ever. He didn't get there quite when we were supposed to meet up so I left campus to go look for him... I found him sitting in the sunshine at a cafe having a beer, typical Roman! The only logical thing to do seemed like joining him, drinks between classes? I could get used to that! After we got sandwiches, we sat in a park by school just hanging out and enjoying the sunshine. Adam met me at school again after I was done with classes for the day so we could walk to my favorite view of the city on the Janiculum (second tallest hill in Rome) and went out for a delicious dinner with Tiramisu for dessert (sorry, Amber!)

Friday was Adam's last day in town so we made it count and saw inside the Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. We had a little bit of time to spare and headed to the Spanish Steps as the sun went down to enjoy a glass of vino and some delicious berry dessert thing:

I even managed to get some flowers on the way home, lucky girl!

After we went home and got cleaned up, we went back to city center for an amazing dinner outside right next to the Pantheon (thanks, mom!) and didn't finish until 11:30! It was the perfect way to end a pretty incredible trip. Adam left for Michigan this morning and it was hard--goodbyes are never easy but I'm sure these next few months will fly by. Love you!

Paris with my love!

Adam landed in Rome on Friday evening with just enough time to go out for a pasta dinner and then unpack/repack for Paris! We had to wake up at 4:30 am in order to take a cab to the airport--but my roommates didn't get home until 4:00, so we were running on very little sleep! We got our tickets to Paris for 10 euro each way from RyanAir so we were pleasantly surprised when we made it safely and on time! We stayed in a little boutique hotel called Hotel du Champs de Mars and was right next to the Eiffel Tower and a little fresh food market right outside our window--tres chic et tres Parisian!

Our first day we managed to walk down the Champs Elysees, stand under the Arc de Triomphe, and watch the Eiffel Tower glitter all night. For dinner, we tracked down an amazing restaurant that I ate at a few years ago with my mom, Jen & Chris when I stayed the summer with them--it definitely lived up to our expectations!

On Sunday, Adam and I hiked up the stairs to Sacre Couer and explored a little bit into the very touristy but exciting area, Montemarte. From there, we headed to Notre Dame and even saw a protest happening in front of St. Michael's regarding the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad--there were police and military everywhere! We ended up ducking inside the Louvre when it started to rain again and it happened to be the first Sunday of the month so entrance was free! We checked out the major must-sees like Winged Victory, Mona Lisa and Venus de Milos before it closed and we were sent back out into the rain. If you're gonna be stuck in the rain and cold, it's not so bad to do it in Paris because there are warm cafes on every corner with cappuccino's, espresso & vino to drink while you watch the rest of the world go by.

We also found this bridge in Paris covered in "love locks." Couple latch the locks to the bridge and throw the keys in the water to symbolize their hearts being permanently locked together.

On our last (windy!) morning, we climbed the Eiffel Tower (something I never did when I was there for the summer) for a pretty gorgeous view of the entire city. We spent the rest of our time in a cafe in front of the Great Lady, sipping wine and enjoying each other before we headed home. It was a late night of travel (we didn't get home till 1 am) and I had a momentary freak-out over my two exams the next morning--eek but we made it back in one piece.

Overall, the weather was pretty chilly and rainy & as Adam said, it put a bit of a damper on things haha :) But despite the temps, we had an fantastic trip, ate way too much fantastic food (pain au chocolat will be the end of me & Adam tried escargot!) and saw some pretty incredible sights. Feeling pretty lucky that I got to experience the City of Love with Adam!