Prague 12/7

Today was the last full day of our trip! We decided to start the day by heading up to the castle. 

Walking there was harder than it seemed because there weren't any roads straight there and lots of little ones that went every which way with quite a few dead ends. Along the way we saw some very pretty views and the town is precious. On the side of the river where we were staying it felt much more like a city, but on this side going up the hill it was much more of a cute little town.

We also found a jewelry store that we went in selling mostly garnet, the famous stone from here. After looking a while Laura picked out some pretty earrings for her mom. Farther along the hike up the hill we passed a little shop with polish pottery that was all hand painted and finished in a little town just outside of Prague. Then we got to the castle. It is always entertaining to see the outfits of the royal guards in different places because they are quite different than normal clothes in many countries.

Inside there was a giant gothic baroque cathedral and also an older romanesque style church. But were very impressive. Inside the cathedral there was a statue on top of a tomb that they say has a ton of silver in it. It was very large and long with a lot of stained glass. The older church was made of stone and most of the paintings on the curved ceilings had faded except for a small room off to the side.

Our tickets also got us into 2 of the palaces. The first one we went in had a very large hall with big windows looking out over the city. There used to be jousts in the hall, and it was where they elected the ruler up until recently. The doors to enter are also large enough for a man on horseback. The palace was an entire area enclosed by walls with castles, palaces and many other buildings for people to live and work in. My favorite part of the whole thing was the view from the part at the end. It took 3 pictures to get the main idea of the panorama, but the city is absolutely beautiful.

We took the tram back down the hill instead of taking our chances slipping on ice or getting lost on the way back. We were dropped off a ways from our hotel not knowing before where the tram would take us exactly so got to explore more of the city on our way back. It is a lot of fun and I always really enjoy exploring cities walking through the streets not knowing what I'll see. Midday called for another rest at the hotel. With it being so close, and so cold during the day with freezing feet, it made sense to go back and warm up.

Following that short break we headed back out before it started to get cold and dark again. We headed in the direction we hadn't gone before where we had seen a big building that was lit up as an advent calendar. They were big indoor shopping malls (and warm) so we wandered around and explored that for a while.

In the central market we had seen lots of little booths with different types of food that we hadn't seen before so we decided to head there for dinner. We shared a dish that had a combination of potatoes, their type of sausage, sauerkraut and some other things that I don't know to give it more flavor and substance along with a plate of little potato pancake type things that were cooked/fried in muffin tins. All very yummy.

Then Prague is also known for its beer so we had to try that before we left. Next to our hotel there was a pub called the Prague Beer Museum. On each table and the counters they had very thick books that had on each page a different type of beer and descriptions of it. I really know nothing about beer, so we decided to do a sampler to getter smaller amounts of different kinds. Lauren picked two flavors and then we let the waitress pick the other three getting a combination of dark and light beers with more light. I think I like the light beer more but after getting past the first few sips of each I enjoyed the rest of them.

That was a lot of fun just hanging out and enjoying our beers then we headed back out to one of the malls we went earlier for Laura to buy some fancy chocolates for one of her friends at home because it was the last chance for us to go out and buy things before we left. 

The next morning we just woke up, ate, got ready and headed to the airport to go back to Madrid! My last trip outside of Madrid and we have only a few days left there! I've enjoyed my time so much here in Europe but I'm also excited and looking forward to going home just in time for Christmas and the holidays to get to spend a lot of time with my family and then going out to see River in Fargo and New York after.

Prague 12/6

Today was our first of 2 full days in Prague! We started off with breakfast included with the room at the hotel and then headed into town. On the train over I had read through the Prague part of the guide book and we compared our recommendations from different people so we were able to plan what we wanted to do for the different days.

We first headed to the central square. It was a lot closer and a little smaller than I was expecting. But then again I have been traveling around to large cities throughout all of Europe. There we found... yet another Christmas market. We didn't stop there then, because we had read about a street with lots of crafts and shops that gets crowded later in the day so we headed in that direction. 

In the center square there is a famous astrological shop that tells different astrological things along with the time and there is a little march of apostles at the top of each hour. We saw it later in the day and it was very cute. Following the chimes of the hour there is also a trumpet player that plays a little song at the tower.

Then we headed to the street right off of the main square. I was expecting more of hand made crafts and interesting traditional things like that, but it was mostly tourist stuff. The majority of the stores were cheesy tourist things. There were some crystal stores too that were very pretty but very expensive. Laura said that someone had told her that crystal is very famous from here too. Another Christmas market was along the side of there but was mostly touristy stuff. Laura did buy a typical Czech hat from the market there that she regretted later but hopefully with think of as a joke after a while.

From there we came to another street that was a lot larger and had a lot of the major clothing shops on it. We went in H&M for a while looking for a coat for Laura but ended up leaving without anything. At the end of the street there was a magnificent building that I later found out was a National Museum. 

We grabbed lunch of kielbasas off of a stand that felt like very typical food from there. Then they also had these dessert things everywhere. They were made of dough that was rolled out into a line, then wrapped into a cylinder around a think wood rod then cooked over coals and rolled in sugar after. They were okay, but the ones we had were a little over-cooked. 

Heading back we checked out the central square Christmas market which was very pretty and had lots of fun booths to look at. It has a very large decorated tree with lots of lights and a big stage next to it that we saw a children's show going on on it the following night. 

After that we headed back to the hotel and I got to skype with my grandma for her 90th birthday! I was really excited about it because it would be a surprise for her that she would really like. One of the last times we were visiting her, we told her about ipods and she was amazed by them and told her friends about the. So I thought it would be a great gift and surprise to get to talk to her from close to the other side of the world. 

After a break and relaxing we headed back out. Prague has a lot of synagogs and a famous Jewish cemetery. The cemetery is very full of tomb stones since there are layers and layers of tombs upon each other. There are about 12,000 tomb stones visible and possible 100,000 people buried there. The tomb stones aren't all straight and in rows either because the ground has settles and changed some over time. 

We also went and saw the Charles Bridge at night as we were advised by multiple people. It was magnificent and extremely beautiful. It had a big tower at the start of it, and then was a very grand stone bridge going across the river with lights and statues on both sides. It was absolutely beautiful with the lights and the snow and the city on each side. We could also see the palace on the hill next to there and that was quite a sight to see. 

After that we went out to find a typical Czech dinner. On the way we passed a store with hand made typical Czech crafts. It was a store for tourists but had a lot higher quality of good. Most of the other places had cheesy tourist trinkets but this actually had crafts. They had some hand painted eggs ornaments there that were really pretty and Laura and I each got a couple. 

We found a place for dinner that had a generally more expensive menu but they had a special on a board outside for borscht and dumplings for a discounted price so we went there. Luckily the nicer menu lead to very yummy food. My friend Katie studied abroad in Prague last semester, and she told me that pickled cheese was her favorite food from there. That was on the menu, so we tried that and it was really good! It didn't taste pickled like pickles but a yummy cheese. 

After that we headed back to the hotel after a very fun and full day. 

Vienna and Prague 12/5

After breakfast in the apartment we went took the ubon to the Shonbrunn Palace. This is a huge palace just a few stops outside of the city, and the guide book says that it rivals Versailles. We didn't go inside which would have been really nice but from the outside it was spectacular. Both in front of it and behind it it has very grand and beautiful gardens. However, they were both covered in snow and it was very very cold so we didn't go and explore them. 

In front of the palace there was another Christmas market that we explored. Except for being completely full of people, and hard to see a couple of the stands, this one was my favorite. There were many different themes and types of art in the stands. It was a good mix of hand made crafts and Christmas gifts, but not of a super high quality so that they were really expensive. There was one booth that was crowded the entire time we were there, but was full of very nice ornaments that were all hand made and seemed to be made only of natural materials and different spices. In comparison with the hand painted glass ornaments we had seen earlier these were a lot more reasonably prices and I bought a couple for gifts. 

There were also quite a few booths with really good looking food but alas none of us were hungry because we had eaten so recently. Below is a booth that has donuts that they cook right there for you and then you can pick the filling you want in it. 

After that our feet were completely freezing, so we took the train back to Sally's house, made some tea and relaxed until we had to head off to the train. I expected a larger train station because it was a train between two large cities in different countries, but it was just a platform with a vending machine. So because of that my lunch ended up consisting of a large snickers bar. We decided to go during the day so we could see some of the countryside. It was gorgeous. Not too far out of the city we were out in the countryside and everything was beautiful and pure and blanketed in white. 

It got dark while we were on our way there, but Prague was also covered in snow when we got there. I guess I get a lot more excited compared to other people in my program about the snow because for most of them from the north east they get a lot of it, but it is something very special for me. We changed our money in the station to crowns because we needed some to buy dinner and get to our hotel, but that probably wasn't the best place to do it. There they charged a 15% commission (that we found out about later) and Prague is covered with places to change money. 

It was a bit difficult for us to find the hotel. The directions were really good. Tram from next to the train station 3 stops and then take a left and on the left. Except for the fact that we walked by it twice because we were looking for a sign sticking out but it was just a labeled door. When we got in it was a very nice hotel. Our room was huge with a little kitchen area with a microwave and mini-fridge too. 3 star hotel, close to the middle of the city, and only 51 euros each for 3 nights there. Definitely a win. 

Vienna 12/4

Today was our big day in Vienna. When we got up in the morning, Sally went out to the grocery store and the bakery and came back with breakfast. She prepared for us a very typical breakfast with an egg eaten out of the shell with a little spoon, cut up veggies, multigrain rolls, thinly sliced meats, nutella, and then croissants and an apple filled pastry. 

From there we headed out to explore the city. The first place we went was to Flohmarkt which is a little flea market on Saturday mornings near her house. It had  bunch of old and antique type things that people were selling or just second hand stuff. They had a quite a few of those really old watches on chains too. From there we went to the Naschmarkt right next to his which has a lot of exotic foods and spices. Usually they give out a lot of samples to people going by, but it was crowded so they weren't doing it. 

After that we went to the main shopping street we went in a little jewelry store, and a bunch of cool clothing stores too. Some of the stores are the same as what they have in Madrid, but a lot were really different. I didn't buy anything there, but it was still fun to go and look at the clothes and styles there, which I do like a lot. 

Following that we went to St. Stevens cathedral which is the really famous church in the middle of the city. Some of the outside was covered because they were fixing it, but it was huge, amazing, and beautiful. It was really crowded and difficult to get in but worth it. It was very baroque with lots of decorations, and inside it had many paintings and large stained glass windows. It was a very long church but we could only get into the very front part of it, also adding to how tightly packed all of the people were. 

Near there we stopped into a little tea shop where one of Sally's friends works and she had worked for a bit once during the holiday season. There were many many different kinds of green, black, and fruit teas in large containers on the walls. The people working there could let you smell them or decide which kind you wanted, and then they would pour them into big fancy gold scales to weigh out a certain amount, and then they packaged them up into little cute bags. They had some christmas teas and I really liked the smell of the Wintertraum one.

After that we headed to Demel which is a famous pastry shop and chocolatier. We probably wouldn't have gone there, since Sally didn't know much about it before, but I received a mandate from my grandmother that I had to make sure to go there while I was in Vienna and have their hot chocolate with whipped cream. So we went there, got a spot at the cafe, and my grandmother treated the three of us to this treat. It was absolutely delicious. Sally hadn't heard much about the place before so was very surprised, and the three of us agreed that it was the best hot chocolate we had ever had in our lives.

After that we wandered around the city a bit more and then headed back to Sally's apartment to relax. I was going to have a surprise skype date with my grandma via my dad who was there visiting her, but we changed it to Monday, her 90th birthday, instead. The city, in all the beautiful snow, is one of the prettiest things I have seen in my entire life. Even without the snow, many of the buildings are grand and magnificent on their own. Here are a couple pictures of walk around town:

                                              

After relaxing for a while, Laura and I headed out to the opera. Vienna is famous for classical music and they have a famous and very nice opera house. All of the normal tickets we sold out both nights we were there and very expensive. However, if you go 1-2 hours before the show, the night of the show (there is a different show every night) you can buy standing room tickets for 3.50 euros- very cheap. We got, got our tickets, and then went and claimed our spot by tying our scarves to the pole. Not knowing what opera we were going to see, Laura recognized it as the Barber of Seville from the opening music, which is I guess a famous opera. It was really good and a lot of fun, even though we had to stand the whole time. Oh and one thing that was really cool was that in front of each seat (or standing spot) they had little screens where you could pick the language and it would tell you what the people were singing in your own language) 

In our free time before the opera we wandered around the different floors and explored. In my jeans and black sweater (the nicest clothes I had) I felt extremely underdressed walking around with all the rich people in their very nice clothes for going to the opera in Vienna. Everything was exquisitely decorated and felt very rich. We even walked through a ballroom and I just had to stop and picture a ball going on in the olden days and all the pretty ladies in their beautiful music dancing to a live orchestra. 

Vienna 12/3

Vienna was amazing! We couldn't see much most of the flight there, but when we broke through the clouds just before we landed the entire countryside was completely covered in snow. It was incredibly beautiful and I got very excited. 

Sally, the girl I met in Sevilla who lives in Vienna, had sent me directions on how to meet up with her at the metro near her house. It wasn't a problem at all taking the train then the ubon and then we met her and Will at the station. Will was heading up to Munich to record a CD with his band so there was space for us to stay with Sally. Everything was covered in about 4 inches of fresh snow and it was gorgeous. We headed back to her apartment, which is adorable, and then made tea and figured out what we wanted to do in our 2 days there (2 half days on each end and 1 full day). The Christmas markets there were at the top of our list. It isn't just one Christmas market, but a bunch of little ones all over the city that are each a little bit different.

Sally took us to her favorite ones our first night there. The first place we went we were able to walk to, and it was very cute. In the winter wonderland of the city, it was a circle of little booths in a plaza in front of a giant church. This was the artsiest and craftiest of all the markets we went to. It has very nice and high quality hand made gifts ranging from wood carvings, to hand painted ornaments to many other things. 

One of the things they have at all the markets is "punsch". It is a type of hot punch that comes in many different flavors and has alcohol in it. I think the majority of the flavors were different kinds or combinations of fruit. We went to three Christmas markets, and at each one got a mug of punsch. It not only warms you up being a hot liquid in your hands and while drinking it, but the bit of alcohol it has in it helps keep people warm there too because it is really cold. The first type of punsch I got was apple-pear (Sally had to translate everything for us) which was really good like hot apple cider, then at the next Christmas market we all tried hot coco punsch which was also incredibly delicious and tasted like Christmas, and then the last one I got was eggnog punsch which had a very strong flavor of grenadine with a little eggnog flavoring on top of the whipped cream. Another cool thing about the punsch was that it came in cute little christmas mugs. You had to pay a deposit on the mugs that you got back when you returned the mug but it made it so you could walk around the market with it. There can also be good cheap souvenirs for some people too. 

The next Christmas Market that we went to was the one in front of the Town Hall. The town hall building is huge and magnificent. The market there is probably also one of the larger and more popular ones. There were a couple tour busses there even. Sally told us that people who live outside of the city will take busses in to go to the markets too. These weren't the high levels of individual craftsmanship booths like we had seen before, but each one had its own little theme or type of goods it had there. It was so incredible to be walking around in such a beautiful place filled with so much Christmas spirit. 

One of the things that was absolutely adorable there was what they had inside the City Hall. In there there were many different areas for kids to make their own Christmas presents. There were different little enclosures for painting a cover for a photo album, or making cookies, or different types of arts and crafts things. It was very much something where the kids went in (after their parents paid a little bit of money) and they got to make something completely on their own having everything they need all around them. It seemed like such a great thing and the kids all looked like they were having tons of fun.

We went and explored yet another Christmas market after that and then went out to dinner. Sally took us to a brewery where they make all their own beers and have really good and authentic Viennese food. I got a small mug of their light beer and it was quite good, along with Viennese schnitzel that came with potato salad. Both were delicious. Two of Sally's friends met up with us there and then after that all of us headed back to Sally's apartment. 

Sally made a round of her special cocktail for all of us and we all just hung out there and it was a lot of fun. Another one of her friends came later to hang out too. Around midnight Sally and her three friends all went out to a club to go dancing, but Laura and I just went to bed since we were so exhausted from such a long day having to get up at about 5:30 am this morning to catch our flight.  

Upcoming Events

We only have one more day of classes here. It is amazing how quickly the time has flown by. Starting tomorrow (Friday) we have a 6 day break because we don't have classes on Fridays, and Monday and Wednesday are holidays so everyone just takes Tuesday off too. For this break I'm going to Vienna and Prague with Laura who I went to Paris with. I'm so excited!

However, one more day of classes also means that finals are coming up. I have a lot to do here too. In total I have 3 finals, 3 final projects, 2 presentations and one dance show. The dance show was last night (I'll write more about it later and post pictures) and we already turned in the anthropology paper, but the rest are coming up after the break. It would be really nice to have it a bit calmer at the end of the semester to be able to enjoy the last of my time here and get to do everything I've wanted to do but haven't had time for, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. At the same time I'm excited to go home and spend lots of time with my family, especially getting there just in time for the holiday season.

Past Weekends

Sorry that there haven't been many posts recently- I've just been in Madrid this whole time! The weekend after Paris I devoted to working on a project for Anthropology. It is a project with a partner and I was worried at first because my partner is a lot better at Spanish than me, but I definitely made up for it and a lot more with working really hard and doing a lot more than I needed to. That project is worth 40% of our grade in that class, the final is worth 25% and then there is also a midterm and participation but I'm not sure how heavily those weigh. 

Then this past weekend (Thanksgiving weekend) River came to visit! His birthday present (in October) from his parents was a trip out to see me and he took the red eye flight after his classes on Tuesday and stayed until Sunday. Unfortunately he was feeling sick for a lot of his time here but it was still really nice to get to see him and spend time with him. We do talk on skype a lot doing video chats but it just isn't the same as in person.

Alas I still had classes while he was here and being the good student I am I went to them. We usually don't have classes on Fridays, but I had 2 different teachers who had make up classes on that day. I was thinking of not going, but River wanted to see me dance flamenco while he was here so we got up early and went to my flamenco and then art history class. Well I went to the second and he did his homework.
The class was only one class before our final performance so it was a great time for River to get to see it since it was like a dress rehearsal and he got to see all but one of the dances. And we got there early so I got him to take pictures of me spinning around in my pretty skirt.

Our big events for the long weekend were going to explore the Parque del Buen Retiro, going to the museum el Reina Sofia, and going to a soccer game.

El Parque del Buen Retiro (a giant park) is my favorite place in Madrid where I've gone running a lot and walk back through there on my way home from my internship. We stopped by the Museo de Jamon and picked up a traditional Spanish food: a bocadillo. These are sandwiches where the bread is a baguette and they can have different combinations of meats and cheeses or there are some with tortillas españolas, calamari or other types of food on them. The ones we got had ham. Then we walked to and through the park until we got to the lake where we rented a row boat and rowed around which was a lot of fun. We also had our picnic on the boat and River got to feed ducks for the first time. It was a really cold day but at least the sun was out.

While he was here we also went to the Reina Sofia which is one of the three big museums in Madrid. Well there are a lot of museums here, but one of the top three. It is the modern art museum near the park and I've walked by it many many times wanting to go in, so having River here was an excuse as good as any to go. We didn't spend a ton of time there, but it was still really interesting. The most famous piece of art there is Guernica by Picasso and there was also a bunch of other Picasso and Dali along with many other famous painters. The temporary exhibit was also quite random but a lot of fun.

Then our other big event was going to a soccer game for the Atletica de Madrid which is one of the three teams in Madrid. The most famous is Real Madrid and I don't know much about the other one. Atletica de Madrid usually looses, but their stadium is really close to where I live and they are the team my host family roots for. It is really cool when there is a game going on because all the streets are lined with parked cars (lines of cars parked in the middle of the street too) and the bars of full of people there to watch the game and running by the stadium during a game is always really cool too.

I'm really glad that I finally got to go to a soccer game here- it feels very European and is a lot different than in the States because people care a lot more about it here and get a lot more into it. The stadiums are also a lot larger with a lot more people. In the entire section behind the goal at the other end from where we were sitting, everyone there was standing for the entire game singing songs and doing cheers. A few had giant flags and hearing them the whole time was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the game itself too. I think having played soccer a lot in the past helped too with understanding everything that was going on and what they were doing.

The crowd was quite enjoyable to watch too. I've never heard so much swearing, in English or Spanish, in my life. Whenever the ref made a call or if someone was pretending to be hurt, which happened a lot, people would be yelling. There was a little tiny group of about 15 people there rooting for the other team located in a section completely empty except for them in the middle. Whenever the other team scored, which happened three times, everyone would be sitting except for them who were yelling, jumping, and waving flags.

Then one more big difference- the food. In the US they check your bags to make sure that you don't bring any food in, but here, at halftime, pretty much everyone in the stadium pulled out their bocadillo wrapped in aluminum foil and started eating it. It was very comical for us and I think we might have been some of the only people there without a shiny sandwich, since we went out for tapas right before.

They ended up loosing 3-2, but each time they scored the entire stadium would be up on their feet yelling and cheering. One of the goals took 3 tries with the goalie or someone else blocking it twice and them finally getting it in. It was such a fun and good experience to get to do while I was here. Oh and one thing that I'm extremely thankful for in the US is that people aren't allowed to smoke in stadiums, it really makes the experience so much better.

Having River come to visit was so wonderful and I'm so glad that he was able to be here.

My 21st Birthday!

This past weekend was my 21st birthday! It is funny to think about, but in the US, someone's 21st birthday is a really big deal because then they can drink legally and go out to bars. However, in Spain we can all already drink legally and one's 21st birthday means that lots of things get more expensive because we don't get the youth discounts anymore.

I considered Paris my birthday present but still did a little celebrating here. I hadn't really mentioned it to my host family much because I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but I mentioned it at lunch and Maria's son and Maria both got very excited for me. Maria said that we would celebrate that night when Pilar, her daughter, got home. Dinner is usually small and I can ask Maria to make something for me but usually just do something on my own. But tonight she made chicken Mexican fajitas which she had made before and were absolutely delicious. Better than some I've had in the US before. I think it is the salsa she has and the very fresh veggies and her use of spices.

She also gave me a little gift which is a silver necklace with the Tibetan symbol for peace on it. It is very pretty and that was very cool. Then after she brought out a cake she had bought for me from the bakery and dessert shop near by that had candles with the numbers 2 and 1 on it. It was in the shape of a flower and had lots of different layers and different types of chocolate. They sang me Happy Birthday in Spanish, and I was surprised, although I shouldn't have been, that the words were different than the English version just translated into Spanish. Her daughter was also very excited for my and gave me lots of birthday wishes.

Then Thursday night I went out with some friends to dinner. I decided not to on Wednesday because most of us had class early the next morning. I met up with Rachel, Emma, Kevin and Jaja and we headed to Peggy Sue's American Diner which I had seen before and seemed like it would be really fun to try. There were only people at 2 of the tables when we got there and so I was really surprised when she asked if we had a reservation. It was on a back street and a little hard to find, and a Thursday night, but I guess they were all booked up starting at 9:30.

A disappointment but we headed out to find somewhere else. There was an Indian restaurant near by that looked good so we went in. All the people working there were Indian and it had a really cool ambiance. We ended up sharing 4 dishes and naan and rice among the 5 of us and it was delicious! The food in Spain isn't spicy at all (they mention how spicy something is when it doesn't seem spicy to me at all) so it was really nice to get more strong flavors and spices for a night.

In Spain everything is a lot more relaxed and they take their time at meal. And they don't bring you the check- you have to ask for it. Therefore we got to just hang out for a long time just talking and enjoying the food and it was a great night and a lot of fun.

Harry Potter also comes out on Friday, so with some other friends from the school, we bought tickets for Friday at 00:20. One would think that this means 12:20 am on Friday, but I guess here it actually means 12:20 am on Saturday. I went to the theatre at midnight to meet up with people there and get my ticket from Charlie who had bought four online. However, I didn't know at that time that it was for the next night because the last I heard was that we were going to meet at the theatre.

I called them and they were all somewhere else so I took the metro and met up with them (Audrey, Thea, Sophie, Brinna, Charlie, and Ross) and found them at a jazz club where we had to pay a 6 euro entrance fee but it came with a free beer. So my first drink as a 21 year old was a beer in a really cool jazz club. The funny thing to me though was that I didn't realize that it was my first drink of legal US age until about half way through. We stayed there until just before the metro closed at 1:30 just hanging out, relaxing and having fun.

Paris! 11/14

Today was our last day in Paris, but we still fit in a lot. We started out early by going to the Louvre. I was really excited about going there but Laura doesn't really like museums but felt like it was a place she had to go when she was in Paris.

We started out together heading first to the Mona Lisa. It is interesting how some pieces of art get so famous and if someone didn't know what it was they might not look twice at it. I remember hearing at one point too that the man who it was painted for refused to pay for it because he didn't like it and now it is one of the most famous paintings of all times. There was a false wall in front of it and barriers keeping the many people away from it at a distance but it was still really cool to get to see.

After that we wandered around and saw a bunch of French paintings. One of the really big differences for me between the Louvre and the Prado is that almost all of the paintings I saw here were of a very large size and with more similarities, and the Prado has a lot more paintings of different sizes and varieties. It could also be that I didn't get to see as much of the Louvre so didn't see those parts.

Then we split up because I am more interested in paintings but Laura wanted to see more of the sculptures. I saw some Italian paintings and a few Spanish paintings and then headed over to the area of Napoleon's Apartments. That was very impressive and very grandiose and lavishy decorated with a lot of details and gold covering absolutely all of it.

There are four floors and three large wings in the museum. After being there for just 2 hours, going through getting a general view without stopping to look closely at many paintings I only saw a third of it. I would have been happy to stay for a lot longer but we didn't have that much time today. After that we headed out and walked across the river to find the Luxembourg Gardens. It is the largest public park in Paris with a palace next to it and was very pretty. It is a place that would be absolutely amazing in the spring or when more flowers are blooming and the trees have leaves. I'm still a fan of the Parque de Retiro in Madrid though and it is a lot larger and better for running.

Then we headed back toward the hostel. It was very disappointing that almost all the shops were closed on Sunday too like Madrid but then when we were on a street behind our hostel where we hadn't been before we suddenly found all the people. We had stumbled upon streets filled with all the little boutiques Paris is famous for. I don't really understand stores like that because they have just one of each thing. If you like something do you have to hope that the one thing they have is in your size or do they have more in the back? All of the clothes were very stylish and I really enjoyed going through all the stores, but the 400 euro price tags for a t-shirt just made me laugh. I'm sure as soon as I walked in they knew that I wasn't the type of person who would be buying stuff there.

We took the metro back to the airport, and it is a lot less clear here and not as easy to use like the one in Madrid. It was difficult to figure out how to get to where we wanted to go, and we actually ended up on a metro and got almost all the way to the airport at the north end of Paris when we were trying to go to the airport at the south end. That was a little bit scary being that far away and having a plane to catch, but some people on the metro helped us and we got headed in the right direction. Their signage is really bad. We got to the airport and got our boarding passes, went through security and got to the gate just as they were starting to board. We left the hostel with lots of extra time and I'm really glad that we did.

Overall it was a great time in Paris for my 21st birthday and I'm so glad that I went!

Paris! 11/13

Today was our big monument day. We got up early, had breakfast in the hostel, and then walked along the river Seine to the Eiffel Tower. The receptionist guessed that it would take about an hour to walk there but it was probably closer to an hour and a half. We could have taken the metro, but I like walking through places I'm visiting because then we got to see so much more and get more of a feel for the city. We could see it at one point off in the distance and then it slowly got larger and larger as we got glimpses of it through the buildings. It is an amazing structure just so big and grand and an icon in the world.

I really wanted to do a four hour bike tour of Paris that was recommended to me by old tour guides in my hostel in Cadiz, but it goes until some point in November and with the cold and rainy weather forecast for today they weren't there so I didn't get to do it. We did however take the stairs up to the second level of the Eiffel tower and walk around there and see the views. They are actually better from the second level than the top because we are closer to the monuments and it was really cool to look out onto the city in all different directions. As you can see it was rainy and overcast the whole time we were there without any sun, but Paris was still a great city despite that.

From there we walked up the road some more and onto a different one to head to the Arc de Triumph. This I remembered seeing too but it was still very impressive to me. So large with lots of different sculptures and decorations. We didn't go up it but took the tunnel under to road to get to the base of it and the inside was really interesting too but I really like the large flag blowing in the wind under the arch.

The we walked down the Avenue des Champs-Elysées which is a very famous and large street with expensive shops and car dealerships on each side. We went in a few stores along there, way out of my price range, and went in Ladurée the place famous for macarons in Paris. We didn't get anything there because of the long line and likely very high prices, but I did get a macaroon later in the day at a fancy chocolate store. I had never had one before and didn't really know what to expect but it was delicious! Three of four different layers and a fudgy frosting type center and an egg-shell like crust.

The road took us back into more of the heart of the city and into the really expensive stores that we didn't even try to go in and just did more window shopping. After that we split up with Laura doing some more shopping and going back to the hostel to work on a paper. I was going to go to the Orsay Museum that we passed earlier in the day but then felt like walking around and exploring more. It was raining lightly and almost everyone was using umbrellas, but being from the northwest with my raincoat and already being a little bit wet it didn't bother me at all.

I put away my map and just wandered wherever I wanted to go and wherever seemed interesting. There were some building with light decorations flashing on and off on the sides and it was just really calm, relaxing and fun to go around exploring the city on my own.

I wandered upon the Opera House by chance all lit up during the night and that was a really cool surprise. I saw it as I looked down a street and then realized how grand and elegant it was so doubled back to get a better look.

Later I started heading back to the hotel to meet up with Laura again. I decided to take a road parallel to the main one so I could see a part of the city I hadn't seen before. This however did not work because the roads aren't in a regular pattern or system so I ended up quite a bit off. The people I asked who worked in the stores couldn't really point to where they were on my map but I eventually found my way back. One of the streets I ended up on was pedestrian only and lined with little stores, restaurants, and some places that I'm pretty sure were strip clubs.

I did some work when I got back to the hostel and then went to bed early at 11 pm. Yesterday we went to bed at 10. It is kind of funny to me that we go to bed on weekend trips so much earlier than we do in Madrid, but it's good because then we can get up and start our days earlier.

Paris! 11/12

This past weekend I took a trip to Paris with my friend Laura from school here and it was tons of fun! My 21st birthday is also on November 17 so I considered it my birthday present to myself and from my parents. Our flight left at 8:15 am, but the metro doesn't open until 6 am here and it takes an hour to get to the airport on the metro from my house. Taking the metro would have been cutting the timing a little too close but fortunately I found a train from the station near my house that gets to a metro station closer to the airport at 6:04 getting me there early enough. It took me a little longer in the morning to get ready than I thought it would and I ended up running to the station and getting to the platform exactly at the same time as the train. What luck.

After we got to Paris we took the metro to a station near our hostel and walked there. It was located right in the center very close to Notre Dame. We dropped off out bags in the room and then started doing the Rick Steves walking tour and got through about half of it until we just stared exploring more on our own. It started at Notre Dame and then wandered around the Latin Quarter and old part of the city. I think the old parts of cities are my favorite for the small pedestrian roads and all the fun stuff that can be found there.

At Notre Dame I remembered being there when I was 10 on our first big family trip but it was still really cool to see it again. Especially since I've started taking my art history class I feel like I can understand it and appreciate it a lot more along with knowing a lot better what I'm looking at. The inside seemed new to me though, not remembering it, and really big old churches just impress me so much. There were lots of arches and art and stained glass. I would love to go to a service there, and I think that is something I want to do in Spain while I am here- go to a church service in a big cathedral.

The tour brought us to places like the Deportation Memorial, which was closed, the Latin quarter which had a bunch of book stores and cute little shops, Sainte-Chapelle, a cathedral of glass that is said to be amazing but had a long line and an 8 euro entrance fee, and then an old metro entrance that looks very spooky and a flower market. From there we just wandered around in the streets and explored on our own also seeing the very interesting exterior of the modern art museum only finding out later what it was.

Laura and I definitely have different styles of traveling. I'm a lot more into the museums and sights and learning all about what I'm seeing and the history of the city while she was more interested in going shopping after checking off the 3 big things she felt like she had to see. After exploring the old area of the city we did some shopping on a street near the hostel. She had a goal of at least needing to get something from Paris, but I was the one who ended up finding and buying a dress in H&M. It is a store in the US too and Madrid, so I'm just hoping that they have different clothes for different countries so it can feel a little more special having a dress from Paris. I was a lot less excited about going shopping there too because all of the stores around there they also have in Madrid.

Then we headed back to the hostel and were able to check into our room. It was a simple little room with 2 twin beds, a shower and sink, a window that looked out onto a road below and the back of a church, and the toilet just across the hall. They didn't however have towels to use for a deposit like every other hostel I've stayed in so showering was a bit more difficult, wet and cold after. We looked at maps and guide books to figure out what we wanted to do with the rest of our time there and then took a nap since both of us had gotten up so early and then dressed up a little bit to go our for our nice birthday dinner in Paris.

We asked the receptionist for a recommendation nearby and she pointed us to a place a short walk away. I was surprised by how much more difficult it is here not being able to speak French especially being used to communicating so easily in Spain. I had no idea what most of the stuff on the menu was and so chose the option for the two course dinner with limited selections and then just went with what the waiter recommended. Definitely a good choice. The first plate was a tomato tart that had a bunch of rosemary and other vegetables, herbs and flavors that all went together so well.

The second plate was steak au poivre which was equally as delicious. It was a cute little restaurant and we were sitting next to a big window looking out on the street so it was almost equivalent to sitting outside and being able to watch life on the street go by, just without the cold. Dinner was a lot of fun and definitely a great place to go for my 21st birthday.