Have you met the love of my life? His name is Gaudí

Day two of Barcelona started off nice and relaxing.  Wake up at around 9-ish, free breakfast... nice and easy.

 But the day didn't stay like that!  We took the metro up to the Sagrada Família, Antoni Gaudí's unfinished cathedral.  I have to say it's the most beautiful construction site I've ever seen!  Gaudí was a Spanish architect during the Art Nouveau period (late 1800's/early 1900's).  He started building in 1882 and they still haven't finished the thing!  But it truly is amazing. 

It hast three facades dedicated to Jesus: the Nativity, the Passion, and the Glory (which we didn't get to see because it's not finished).  The Nativity is so detailed with what I can only describe as little nubbly bits.  See the picture if you don't believe me.  The Passion has these slanted columns.  The statues themselves were designed in the 1980's and are very square and angular.  

 
Inside it feels like a marble version of the California Redwood Forest.  The white columns are huge (around and tall) and even though there are tons of people, it's still so peaceful.  Unlike other cathedrals, the stained glass windows aren't pictures of religious figures, but these panels of color and everything is brightly lit.

 

We even got to go up the super skinny spiral stairs up to the top (and when they say don't go up if you have vertigo, they mean it!).   The view of Barcelona was incredible.

After the Sagrada Família, we walked down Passeig de Gràcia; a wide street with more Gaudí houses and lots of ritzy shops.  We went into one of the apartments called La Perdrera.  The face is all wiggly and it's topped with these strange stone and mosaic structures on the roof.  Inside, there isn't one sharp corner (even where the walls meet has been rounded off).  

Continuing along, we passed the Casa Batilló, but didn't go in.  Instead, we took a short soda break before making our way to the Parc de la Ciutadella.  It was nice to get out of the city and walk around for a bit.  There was also a Gaudí fountain which was a great end to our Gaudí day.

For dinner we went to a small bar for tapas and we enjoyed authentic flamenco music.  Very different than what I expected (one singer, one guitar), but they were really talented.  Though, without some kind of drum I felt something was missing.  The songs I liked the best were the ones where several audience members joined in with clapping.

Stay Tuned For...  Why don't I speak Spanish?!  I can't say this name.

For pictures of Day 2, click on the swankiest Golden Arches below:

España!

Wow!  Back from an *A*M*A*Z*I*N*G* week in Spain!  My friend Ellie and I went to Barcelona and Sevilla for our winter break (and yes, we get a two week spring break later in April!).

Please bear with me as this trip might take several posts.  To put it in perspective, I took about 600 pictures.

DAY 1: 

We left Montpellier for Barcelona by bus (eurolines.com very easy and inexpensive) at 8:30-ish and arrived in Barcelona around one.  It took us probably another hour to get to our hostel because we got off at the wrong station in Barcelona.  Not a big deal, but we did have to re-orient ourselves.  We stayed at Itaca hostel and it was really great - the people at the desk were super helpful, free wine and chips on Friday and Saturday nights so that people could meet each other, free breakfast.  Ellie and I had a private double bed with a shared bathroom (shared with three other doubles) and everything was really clean. 

So after getting settled, Ellie and I set out for the day (which turned out to be kind of on the short side because we were both tired from the long bus ride).  Barcelona is a pretty large metropolitan city.  There is a super efficient metro (literally every 2-4 minutes, really clean and modern, and the train spans the entire length of the platform so it's never that crowded) which is great for getting to some of the farther monuments or just for saving some time.  

We started at La Catedral because it was right next to our hostel.  It was really pretty with super tall columns, arcing ceilings, and TONS of gold everywhere!  And we got to go onto the roof and see the city. 

After La Catedral, we took a stroll down by the Mediterranean and just kind of hung out at the beach.  Before dinner we went back to the hostel for the wine and chips and met some really nice girls from Cornell and talked for a bit before dinner.

 

Dinner was awesome!  We went to kind of the Spanish equivalent of a diner, but it was just good, basic food that fit our budget.  We each ordered paella.  Ellie ordered typical paella (rice, seafood, meat, some veggies, in a kind of tomato-y based sauce) and I ordered paella with black rice.  Now when I got my meal, I was terrified because it looked like I was about to eat tar, but I kind of closed my eyes (and ignored the fact that parts of my meal had eyes) and dug in.  Oh my god it was delicious!  It tasted like seafood (duh) but it didn't have that super salty taste.  So delicious!

We decided not to go out but to just go to bed because we knew that there would be a lot of touring ahead of us.

Stay tuned for: Saturday must mean Gaudí

Click on the paella to see more pictures from Day 1:

Marseille: The Only City Without Rain

What a weekend!  It started on Friday (because I have no class on Friday).  I had lunch with my friend Cassandre (she's a student hired by the program to run activities for us, but she invited me to her apartment for lunch).  Really simple pasta but the sauce was good - it was a small can of tomato paste and "crême frais" which I can sort of describe as cream cheese.

Then, because I didn't enough of mountains last weekend, I went rock climbing!  Fun, but a little scary.  Not the biggest fan of heights.  But I did make it to the top.

 

But the best part of the weekend was Marseille!  Apparently, it rained everywhere in France... Except Marseille!  It was the nicest weather I think I've ever seen in my life.  And this is considered "Winter"!!

(Click on any of the pictures to see them full sized)

We took the train in (a TGV... Train Grande Vitesse = Very Fast Train) into Marseille and it only took about an hour and a half.  It took us a little time to get oriented because Rick Steves didn't have any info on Marseille in his travel book (shame on you, Rick!).  But we found a map at the train station and found our way to the tourist office.  After we figured out what we were doing for the day, we had an excellent crêpe lunch.  Delicious!

Then we went to Château D'If.  Oh my god, was it AMAZING!  First, a little back story on the place:  Château D'If was a fortess and then prison in the 1500's.  It is the setting of the novel, The Count of Monte Cristo (which, Carl gave me for Christmas and I regret to say I didn't get to finish yet.  It's on my to do list).

As for the fortress, it was so cool!  The only way to get there is by boat, which was 10 euros, but the fortress itself is free for students (if you have a European school ID... which I do!  It also got us into Carcassonne for free!).  The fortress was so cool - all the stones are bleached white from the sun, which was so warm.  And even though it's on an island, it wasn't windy at all!  I wish we could have brought a picnic because there were some great sunny and grassy spots around the fortress.

Inside the fortress was fun too.  Lots of old prison cells to explore and you could go up to the roof/ramparts and see all of Marseille!  The boats, the ocean, the sun - it was beautiful!

We only stayed for an hour and a half (though I would have loved to have brought a book and a snack and sat there all day) because we had to get the boat back to shore.  After Château D'If, we went up to the big church, Notre Dame de Garde (it's so big and high up that we could see it on the boat ride).

Notre Dame was so pretty!  And the hill was so high up!  I'm glad we took the bus because the hill is apparently 147.85 meters high (around 485.5 feet) and we could see EVERYTHING from up there!  The church was also really tall: the tower is 33.8 meters (111 feet) and the statue at the top is 9.72 meters (32 feet).  Yeah... the statue weighs 9,796 kg (21, 596 pounds).  How they got it up there, I can only guess.

On the outside, the church was black and white stones and inside the roof was domed and covered in gold.  The walls (when they weren't covered in gold) had tons of framed pictures of boats!  It was a nautical themed church!  And the arches were made of red and white stones.  The place looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book!  (I wish we could have wandered around the basilica more, but there was mass going on).

 

After the church it was already time to go back to the train station and on the way, we passed a marching band!

It was such an amazing day!  I wish we could have spent more time wandering the city itself because Marseille is HUGE!  I would have loved to get a café at the harbor or done some shopping or visited some of the other historic sights.  Well, I might just have to go back :)


Stay Tuned For: Winter Break... Donde esta el banyo?

Click on the picture to see more pics from Marseille:

Le Weekend du Ski

I am proud to say that I have done something that most people never get to cross off their bucket lists: I skied in the French Alps!

Day 1: Fairly uneventful.  A loooong bus ride with some food and bathroom breaks.  We got in.  Got to bed.  Done.

Day 2: AMAZING!  I literally was on a ski-high.  We woke up at 8.  Our Chalet/Hostel was pretty basic, but nice (cozy lobby, great view, shower that you had to keep pushing a button to get water, bring your own sheets/towels) and all the food/lodging/tickets were included in the cost.  As for gear, I had my winter coat, bought gloves and socks, and I borrowed my host mom's ski pants (lucky she's pretty small!).  Once we got fitted for skis and stuff we hit the snow!  Well, I signed up for the two hour lesson first.  It was great!  Two of the people in the group really needed some help with the teacher but I felt pretty confident in myself (despite my complete lack of ski experience).  It was really funny though, because the slope we ended on was the easiest of the easiest (the order of difficulty goes: green, blue, red, black) and everyone else on the hill was either an instructor or under two feet tall.  I swear, there were some kids who could barely walk but could ski better than I can.

The lesson ended perfectly at noon and we ate our bag lunches from the hotel.  After practicing on the easiest hill, I moved up to the harder of the green trails, which was still quite steep.  I had a little trouble controlling my speed but had a lot of fun ZOOMING down the hill!  (don't worry, mom, I wore a helmet).  It was such a rush and I felt really great at the end of the day!

Also, all day the weather was really warm!  I kept my jacket unzipped for most of it and only wore my gloves when I was worried I might fall.  The only problem was that the heat of the sun made the snow kind of slushy and then when the sun moved and the mountain was in shadows, it turned into ice.  Luckily that marked the end of our day anyway.

That evening it took me and my three roommates only 40 minutes to get showed, dried, and dressed... that's averaging 10 minutes a girl!  I think that's a record.  Then the group went to the village which looked straight out of Beauty and the Beast!

When we got back, we had dinner (a cheesy/potato/pork dish) and an AMAZING chocolate mousse!  There was an extra at the table next to ours so my table stole it (unfortunately we had already gotten rid of our spoons so we had to improvise a bit... it was a good laugh).

After dinner, some people had little parties in their rooms, but after a long day of skiing and another day of skiing ahead, my friends and I decided that drinking probably wasn't the best idea so we played cards in the lounge with some of the French students who came on the trip with us.

Day 3: Similar start, but a little more sleeping in because they didn't need to spend time fitting us for skis.  I was a little sore (still am as I'm writing this) in my shoulders, upper butt, thighs, and calves but excited for more skiing.  We got there and a few of us decided to go up the HUGE ski lift to see the top of the mountain (don't worry, they let you ride it back down too).  I decided to try a short blue trail while I was up there because the study abroad director (who is a good skier and very nice) was going.  Fun, but I think I fell 50 times and it took some serious effort to get down the slope.  The director was so helpful coaching me down (I figured before hand that if I were to try, I'd want to have her there in case I needed help... which I definitely did).  Luckily, I could catch the ski lift half way down the mountain and ride that back down to the bottom.  I kept a very positive attitude through the whole thing, but realized that I probably wasn't ready for that yet.  I also realized that I needed to practice on the green to learn how to control my speed.

When I got down, it was lunch, which was great because my body needed a rest.  After lunch, I decided to take it easy.  I did the green hill a little then went back to the top of the mountain with a friend for a drink (we had Perrier Menth which is sparkling water with mint syrup in it) and the amazing view!  When we came back down, I did the green hill again and then it was time to go back to the hotel.

Unfortunately, the bus ride back kind of put a dent into the trip.  To get the full extent of my frustration, here's an excerpt from my journal written on the bus:

I'm pissed this amazing weekend tarnished by this crazy ending.  So we left at 5.  Everyone was starving so they started eating on the bus and were dismayed that they had been given smoked salmon and goat cheese sandwiches.  Now, I had heard enough complaining about the food when they gave us tuna for lunch on Saturday (which, I'll add, was the best tuna sandwich I've ever eaten).  I agree that when dealing with a group, fish is probably not the safest choice, but please, don't call my sandwich "disgusting" because I'm going to eat that!

Most people now have calmed down and I just had a great conversation with a girl, Meryn, who I've really gotten to know well over this weekend.  Then we stop for our dinner break at this dark roadside stop on the high way.  The bathroom was (apparently... I didn't venture in) gross and there were only outside benches so it was a little cold.  At this point someone goes around polling us if we'd like to stop at a fast food place on the way home.  She got shut down by the tour director anyway, but this situation makes me upset on two levels: 1.  It's not right to starve people after a full day of skiing.  Fish isn't the most basic flavors.  BUT 2.  I have a tram to catch and don't want to walk back with a lot of stuff really late.  That's not safe.  Sticking to the schedule is important.  Whatever.  It was a non-issue anyway.

Then, the two kids who had gone to the hospital (they're ok, just a little banged up) met us at the road side stop which was good, but it meant that I had to move away from my friends to give them the seat near the door which kind of sucked.

So, I'm on a bus with a bunch of crabby, hungry, tired, college kids who don't know to deal with travel set backs.  I wish they could just deal and not make it miserable for the rest of us.  At this point, I'd like to thank Carl Mitchell for giving me songs by Explosions in the Sky -- awesome music without lyrics so that I can drown out the terrible movie and just relax.

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But, to end this on a good note, I really enjoyed the trip, even with its bumps, because I got to ski here:

Check out the rest of the photos here!