Okay so I know it’s been ages since I’ve written sadly… been
a crazy month preparing for Christmas break and planning my trip with Jeremy,
along with many other things. I also started using my kindle, which deters me
from writing myself. I get so into the books I’m reading! But now only a few
days until our Christmas travels!
Speaking of traveling, I thought it was time to update on a
few of my trips before heading out on any others. I’ll start with those I’ve
taken out of the country, most recent one first and heading back in time after
that. So much to catch up on! Sorry for a long post! I’ll keep them shorter
from now on.
PARIS
A few weeks ago Ivana was in Paris celebrating her 21st
birthday on a Europe trip with her mom. Being that it’s so cheap to get from
one country to another in Europe, I thought I’d go and visit while I had the
chance! Since she’s moving away from Orange after graduation in May, this may
be the last chance to meet up for awhile. Ended up being that we could only see
each other for one day. But we made the most of it! My roommates, Jamie &
Kim, wanted to come along too, which was perfect so that we could do things
together Sunday and Monday.
November 23 –
Friday after work, the three of us hurried home to pack our
bags and leave for the airport. We took the Cercanias (trains within central
Madrid) up to the airport, and then took the metro to our terminal. We arrive
at our gate to find out that our flight has been delayed two hours, which would
put us in Paris at 11-something and we still had to catch a train or bus into
the city after that. Problem is… Paris doesn’t have trains/buses that regularly
run that late from the airport. Makes no sense! Anyways, we weren’t worrying
too much – we could relax, read, check emails (since our phones still worked
being that we were still in Spain). All was going well until EasyJet decided
everyone needed to board. We thought okay, awesome! Our plane won’t be leaving
too late after all! Wrong.
They boarded us all onto a small airport shuttle bus, crammed
the bus to the brim and then shut the door on us. Little de we know that we’d
be standing there – everyone and their luggage all on top of each other for
OVER AN HOUR!! My legs had gone numb by the end of it. An old lady next to me
started making a scene after awhile because there was hardly any air
circulation inside, they wouldn’t open the doors, and the bus driver was just
sitting outside have a smoke while everyone stood inside, squished. After an
hour or so they finally drove us somewhere – to the middle of the runway where
are plane was. We thought great, time to get out! Nope. They made us stay
standing in there another half hour before letting us out and onto the plane.
And even then it took another 45 minutes before our plane even thought about
taking off.
We ended up in Paris at 11:30, much too late for normal
trains or buses into the city. We wandered around the airport before being
pointed in the direction of a night bus. Luckily this bus took only about 45
minutes to get us into the city center. From there we had no idea where we were,
and it was after midnight. So taxi to our apartment was the best solution! As soon as we arrived we all jumped into bed, much needed
after all the commotion.
November 24-
Saturday was my only day with Ivana, so I got up by 8 to go
meet her for breakfast. We saw the flea market near her place and stopped at a
cute restaurant called “Le Sancerre” for breakfast. I had my first
Croque-Madame (bread, ham, cheese, and an egg on top) with the classic café au lait. It was delicious! The service was great and the waitress really
nice surprisingly! My experience in Paris a few years ago was not the best… so
I had high hopes for making this trip better!
Afterwards, we headed up to Montmartre, the area of town
where Sacre Coeur (the big cathedral) is. We took beautiful pictures of the
city after climbing tons of stairs. The little town was neat, lots of artists
painting in the main square and yummy things to eat. Took a gelato pit stop
even though it was cold!
We walked a lot after that and made it to the Arc de
Triomphe on the Champs-Élysées. We wandered down the avenue
looking into all the shops. Once we got to the end of the shops the
Christmas markets started!! We got all excited and stopped for our first crepe
of the weekend. They were serving them out of this old car!
Once it started getting darker and the markets got all lit
up, we went over to look at the different stalls. For dinner we got German
sausages in a French baguette – best of both worlds! We stopped and watched ice
skaters, a high school band, and ended at the Ferris wheel all lit up. I tried
vin chaud (mulled wine), and Ivana stopped for tea. We started to get super
cold and it took us awhile to get out of the crowded area, but we finally made
it to the metro. Back at Ivana’s apartment, we had a girls’ night since it was
our last few hours together. We ate ice cream and watched a chick flick! Was so
hard to say goodbye though…
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| View of the city from Sacre Couer with Ivana |
November 25-
The next day my roommates and I woke up early again to take
a train out to Versailles. We wandered about looking for breakfast, forgetting
that not much would be open on a Sunday morning. We finally found a place next
to the train station, and I got a croissant and coffee. It was alright (found
much better later!) We ended up having to go to a different station because the
train line there was temporarily closed. But after a couple hours we finally
made it to Versailles! It was certainly beautiful. We were greeted with big
golden gates as we walked up. We got to see so many of the rooms and the
interior… it took awhile. After stopping for a snack we made the effort to go
walk to the Trianon – the summer palace and Marie Antoinette’s apartments. I
would have enjoyed the walk more had it not been so cold and windy with painful
blisters on my feet. Poor Jamie’s feet started bleeding from all the walking
and standing we’d been doing. The gardens were absolutely amazing though. We
could have spent an entire day just doing that! One day I’ll go back in better weather.
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| The Versailles Gardens |
We headed back to the apartment after awhile. I had a snack
and took a quick nap. Kim went and got some pizza and we had another relaxing
night watching a movie. Needed more sleep for our final day!
November 26-
Slept in and packed up. Went to the nearby bakery and got a
delicious mini broccoli quiche and chocolate-filled croissant! We went to the
Arc de Triomphe and paid to go to the top. The views of the city were fabulous!
Then we walked down the Champs-Élysées again and took a last look at
the Christmas markets. So glad we got there late enough in November for them to
be up!
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| View atop the Arc de Triomphe |
Then it was travel time – back to the airport! Unfortunately
it took much longer to get there than we expected… we ended up having to get
off at the first stop the airport bus dropped us at and ran through the big
parking lot to get to the right terminal. I had a strange moment in the parking
lot – it reminded me of being at LAX back home in California for some reason, I
guess because of the way it looked. I got homesick all the sudden… I think the
holiday season is making me feel that way more.
Luckily we made it to our gate just as they were boarding.
The flight home wasn’t too bad. At the end of a travel-filled weekend it’s nice
to arrive back in Madrid!
BRUSSELS & AMSTERDAM
At the beginning of November we had a long weekend for All
Saints Day. Luckily since the holiday was on a Thursday (November 1st),
we got Friday off too! I went with my roommates (Jamie and Kim), my friend
Christie, and Angela (another TA at my school). It was a great girls’ weekend
eating lots of chocolate, yummy foods, and exploring!
November 1-
We spent the morning packing and took the train to the
airport. Sadly Kim didn’t make the train and got on the wrong one, it was quite
a mess. We were afraid we were going to miss the flight, but she was able to
get a taxi and made it!! This was my first RyanAir flight, and it wasn’t too
bad actually for being so cheap. I was sitting next to Angela, and neither of
us like flying, but we had some gummy bears to snack on and magazines to look
through!
We arrived at Brussels around 6:30 and had to take an
hour-long bus to get to Brussels. Who would have thought that in such a tiny
country the Brussels airport would be so far away from the city! While we were waiting
for the bus we all got some French fries to share, and boy were they good!
Along with waffles, fries are a Belgian specialty!
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| Waiting for our bus to the city |
Once we arrived in Brussels, we attempted to find the tram
to our hostel. The trams were a bit confusing… they ended up having them in
Amsterdam too. You always feel like you’re going to get run over at some point!
They always seem to be crossing over pedestrian walking areas. Anyways, we made
it to our hostel only to find out we had to lug all our luggage to another part
of the town to find the hostel we were assigned to. We were sharing the room
with two other girls and a guy that was way over the “under 30” limit most
hostels have. He was always up at strange times and made packing our last
morning difficult since we couldn’t turn on the light. Also he snored super
loud and made sleeping difficult! Let’s just say we didn’t get much sleep…
Our first night there was fun. We got pizzas to share, and
Kim and I decided to try out kriek, the cherry-flavored beer made in breweries
in and around Brussels. It was delicious, and I don’t even like beer! After
that we of course had to try out our first, true Belgian waffle. It was to die
for!! Decided to go all-out and get chocolate and ice cream on top – perfect
way to end the night!
November 2-
We started out our day getting a quick breakfast and then
heading to the chocolate museum! It was neat seeing so many things made out of
chocolate. And with our tour we got samples too! There was a demonstration, but
mainly in French. The five of us together knew 6 languages: Spanish, Italian,
Korean, bit of German, bit of Danish, and of course English. But not a single
one of us knew any French! Made talking to people a bit difficult at times, but
most everyone in Brussels knew English luckily.
After the museum we walked through town to the Coudenberg
Palace. It was basically the ruins of a palace from long ago…. It was neat but
not the best I’ve ever seen. We stopped to get soup for lunch since it was cold
and rainy out. This was the first trip I had to bring out my big, fluffy coat!
We headed to the Parliamentarium at the EU headquarters. It was a wonderful
exhibit, full of history and so much to learn. We could have spent hours and
hours there had we not all needed a nap!
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| Angela and I huddled in our furry coats to keep us warm! |
After napping for a bit, we headed out in search of a
Belgian restaurant for dinner. We decided on a place in the Gran Place (main
square). The square was right next to our hostel and absolutely beautiful.
Dinner was good, and of course more waffles for dessert!
November 3-
My favorite thing about Brussels was how quaint and
beautiful it is. It’s a small town and there isn’t a ton of touristy things to
do and see, but that’s what I liked about it. We spent a lot of our time
wandering the cute cobblestone streets and stopping for hot chocolate or
waffles to warm us up. We spent the first part of our day getting our final Belgian
waffle of the trip and then wandered around in souvenir shops for a couple
hours. We bought lots of chocolate and gifts to send back to family and
friends. It was a relaxing morning!
At about noon we headed to the bus station for our bus to
Amsterdam. Angela had to go to the airport because of work Monday and decided
not to come to Amsterdam with us. It was sad to say goodbye! Luckily we see
each other everyday at work J
The bus from Brussels to Amsterdam was super cheap – only 6
or 7 euros. Go MegaBus! It was a beautiful drive too. We saw the classic
windmills of Holland and oh so many cows!
Our bus dropped us off in the middle of nowhere though… we
hopped on the nearest tram and hoped it sent us in the right direction. Luckily
we ended up at the main station. We picked up our Holland Pass (gets us into
the big tourist attractions for cheaper), and went to find the tram to take us
to the houseboat we’d rented for two nights. This was quite an adventure… not
only was figuring out the trams difficult (there are a set of A trams and a set
of B trams), but once we got off at the right stop it was a bunch of walking in
circles before we found some houseboats tucked away on a canal between
buildings. The inside of it was great though, especially for being on a boat!
We had a nice bathroom, kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms!
We decided to go out for the night and see what the Red
Light District’s really like. First we went through the Green Light District,
which eventually led us into the Red Light area. It was interesting to say the
least… prostitutes were standing in windows of buildings, and interspersed
between all the bars and prostitute rooms were “coffee shops”, also known as
places to get the infamous pot brownies or smoke of course. After a bit of
wandering we stopped at a crowded bar for a while. Then we took another walk
outside but it started to rain. We wandered out of the district and back
towards the city center, stopping at a German beer place. Unfortunately we were
tired from all our travels and called it a fairly early night. Lots to see the
next day!
November 4-
Day two in Amsterdam started out at Sara’s Pancake House!!
They make their pancakes super thin in Holland, more like crepes. Which for me
is perfect! I got a cinnamon apple pancake that was delicious. Sadly they don’t
have syrup anywhere to be found… but it was good enough just with powdered sugar!
Next on our itinerary was the canal boat tour. But first… a
coffee was much needed by this point, sadly it didn’t help much! The canal tour
was neat in the sense that I got to take a lot of pictures and see pretty boats
and homes. However an hour was a bit long for seeing the same thing over and
over again. It was beautiful though!
Then for the Van Gogh Museum! Something I’ve wanted to see
since I was a kid. The exhibit was temporarily moved to the Hermitage museum,
but it was done wonderfully! There was also an entire area of the museum
devoted to other impressionist painters. All were so beautiful... I was amazed
to see it all in person.
Christie had to go to the airport to fly back to Madrid for
work the next morning, so after that we took it easy for the night. We got some
dinner and a pastry for dessert and wandered around a bit. Then bed early for
once!
November 5-
After breakfast, I split from Jamie and Kim to be able to
see the Flower Market. They wanted to go to another museum, but I figured this
would be my one chance to see the market! It was beautiful. I loved seeing all
the flowers and bulbs. I picked out some seeds for my mom and aunt for
Christmas (if either of you are reading this they’re coming your way when
Jeremy comes back!) And I got myself a cheese slicer. Thought Holland would be
a good place to get one! The rest of the day I spent wandering and taking
photos. I had the BEST chai tea later ever (other than one in Hamburg last
summer). The guy even had his own homemade topping to put on top!
I met up with Jamie and Kim for dinner and then we left for
the airport. We were weary of what was ahead. We received a message from
Christie earlier in the day saying that her flight the night before was delayed
several hours due to a strike at the Madrid airport. She was there until after
2 am trying to get her luggage, which never came (the people who take luggage
off the planes were the ones striking). So she was a bit worried about ever
getting it back. We decided to put all our valuables in our carry-on and leave
only clothes in our checked bags to be safe. Our flight turned out to be
delayed too, but instead of letting us wait at outside the gate like normal
people they made us all jam in a room for over an hour before letting us board
the plane. When we exited the plane in Madrid we saw piles of suitcases lying
in the middle of the corridor. I decided to take a look through them by chance,
and guess what I found?? Christie’s suitcase!! I picked it up and took it with
us and no one noticed or cared. Luckily our luggage didn’t take ages and did
finally arrive (they must have figured out a solution to having the workers on
strike). We made it just in time for the last metro back to our apartment!
MUNICH – OKTOBERFEST!!
So how did I decide to spend my 21st birthday in
Europe?? Well since I couldn’t be home going to Vegas with my friends… decided
to make it epic and go to Oktoberfest!! Figured if I have the opportunity… why
not?! Flights we a bit expensive ordering only a week before, but on
studentuniverse it wasn’t too bad! And… I got to fly Lufthansa, which was super
nice. The meals on the flights were amazing for only a 3-hour trip! And since I
had friends living there I could stay with, even better! By the way, before I
get started… Oktoberfest is a 16-day festival starting in late September and
ending the first weekend in October. It’s the largest fair in the world, and
over 6 million people go to it every year!
September 22-
My flight to Munich was at 7 am… much too early to take the
metro. I had to figure out how to get the night bus to the airport at 4:30 in
the morning, not a pleasant experience. Of course I was up till after 2 am
packing and being anxious and excited about the next day. So when my alarm went
off at 4 I slept through it… poor Jeremy knew I should have been up already and
was calling my cell and landline… no luck. However, I did wake up in time to
not miss my flight! Had to catch a taxi instead of a bus to Plaza Cibeles
(where the night shuttle leaves from), but I made it!!
The flight was good, drank lots of coffee. My friend Chen
was nice enough to meet me at the airport and show me which train to take into
the city. It was nice to catch up after having not seen each other in over a
year. Well other than Skype dates every so often so that I could practice
German!
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| Hofgarten near Odeonsplatz |
We went to lunch at Paulaner Im Tal – a bit pricey but
delicious, authentic food. I got my favorite – spätzle! It’s a type of egg noodle covered in cheese and popular in
Bavaria. Afterwards, Chen changed into his lederhosen (what all the guys wear to
Oktoberfest). We wandered around Hofgarten near Odeonsplatz. The flowers and greenery are so beautiful in Germany! Within hours I’d realized how much I’d missed it. Then Oktoberfeset time!! We took the metro to Thereisenwiese – I can’t believe that entire
section of Munich is completely empty except for that time of year! It was
packed full of people when we arrived… the biggest carnival or fair I’d ever
seen! All the rides and food and people amazed me. It smelled soooo good too
because of all the treats and fair food!
We met up with our friends Ashlee and Teilo briefly, they
were getting ready to go back for the night since they’d been out all day. Then
we met with the group Chen had reservations with, the Rotary club. There were
people from Rotary clubs all over Germany there, really neat! Luckily Chen had
bought an extra ticket so that he could take a friend. I had no idea you had to
reserve tables almost a year in advance!! He was nice enough to let me use his
second ticket J
The ticket came with two steins of beer and an entrée!
At first I felt a bit awkward because everyone was speaking
German, and I don’t know it well enough to actually converse much. So I stood
there looking like an idiot for a while. But soon people started talking to me
in English and we got to know each other, and it was great from there! The
girls and guy sitting next to me at our table were named Daniel, Sabine, and
Flow. They were wonderful! It’s amazing that the people you meet by chance end
up leading to so many more adventures. I met Teilo, Ashlee, and Chen back in
2011 during my travels after studying in Florence. Wouldn’t have gotten the
chance to go to Oktoberfest without them! And then Daniel was the reason I had
plans my second night at Oktoberfest, and Sabine turns out will be who Jeremy
and I spend New Years with in Munich this year!! So it all works out somehow!
That’s my favorite thing about traveling and living in Europe – you meet people
from all over the place and get to experience and see more than you ever
imagine!
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| Me and Sabine with our beer steins! |
Anyways… that night after having some beer, everyone started
standing up on the tables and dancing and singing. They all loved to teach me
the songs and explain to me what they meant. After a couple of hours I had some
of them memorized already! It was quite the experience. So many videos and
photos to record what a crazy, lively place Oktoberfest is! There are just
soooo many people. I tried going to the bathroom at one point and it took me
almost an hour to get through the line. There was pushing and shoving and
people all over each other. But I finally made it through alive!
I decided for my entrée to get a dish called Kaiserschmarrn.
It’s a caramelized pancake with raisins in it all cut up into pieces, covered
in powdered sugar, and served with applesauce. It’s amazingly delicious! Not
the healthiest dinner ever… but it’s my birthday weekend right??
After over 5 hours of craziness, our tent was closing up for
the night. I forgot to mention this earlier – each brewery has its own huge
tent. You either have to have reservations for a specific table to get in, or
you have to get there by 7 am and stand in line for when it opens at 8,
otherwise you can hardly ever get a table. There are 14 large tents (holding
anywhere from 3,000 – 9,000 people each!!), as well as 20 smaller tents. The
first night we were at Armbrustschützenzelt, the tent for Paulaner brewery.
After leaving Oktoberfest we went to Hacher-Pscharr Brähaus,
a restaurant/bar they’d turned into a place for dancing for people wanting to
stay out later after Oktoberfest closes up. I got to hear more traditional
Bavarian music and dance, dance, dance! Everyone was commenting on where my “dirndl”
was (the outfits girls wear to Oktoberfest). Of course I hadn’t the chance to
buy one... and they’re very expensive. But all night I was wishing I had one!
Next time, next time.
While we were dancing, Chen got a call from Teilo saying
that the trains to his place stop running earlier than the rest of the metro
(he lives just under an hour outside of the city center, and that’s where I’d
planned to stay the night). Well, turns out I wouldn’t be able to make it to
Haupbahnhof (the central station) to get my luggage out of a locker there and
make it to Teilo’s… so Chen offered that I could stay at his place that first
night. Plus that meant I could stay out later… although at that point I felt
like collapsing after hardly any sleep in 48 hours! But everyone kept
persuading me to stay out since it was for my birthday J
Someone in the group had a girlfriend that worked at what is
supposedly the best club in Munich called P1. He’d gotten her to put us on the
list somehow, so we all headed that way. At this point I was really lagging
from sleep deprivation… Daniel and I were walking a little slower talking, and
at one point we lost sight of the rest of the group and the road had forked. We
picked the wrong street unfortunately. We couldn’t have gotten to the club more
than 5 minutes later that the rest of the group, but we’d already missed our
entrance in. Chen had waited for us and we tried calling but it was no use. I
really didn’t mind because it was already 2-something, and I was very ready for
bed. So Chen and I took the night bus back to his place.
September 23-
Bedtime ended up being about 4 am… and I’d planned to meet
up with Teilo and Ashlee to get in line at Oktoberfest at 7:30 am. That
definitely didn’t happen. I slept in and had lots of bread and Nutella for
breakfast! Chen let me borrow his phone for the day (mine doesn’t work outside
of Spain unless I have Wi-Fi). I went to finally get my luggage out of
Haupbahnhof and change clothes, but when I went back for a locker there was
none left. I waited for an hour with no hope, when luckily Daniel befriended me
on Facebook. I remembered he lived near Oktoberfest, so I asked if I could keep
my bag at his place for the day (hooray for the benefits of social media!). He
didn’t mind at all, so we walked over to Oktoberfest together and found Teilo
and Ashlee. At that point they’d been up for hours and were heading home. Since
I’d just gotten there, Daniel offered to try sneaking me into his reservation
at Schottenhamel. Amazingly we snuck in a side door when the guards weren’t
looking, and I waited around a bit before reservations started. Their
reservation was under BMW, so we had a great table up on the balcony, with a
wonderful view of the whole place! Daniel wasn’t feeling that great still from
the night before, so we ended up splitting the entrée and steins that came with
his ticket. More Kaiserschmarrn... so good!
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| View from the balcony of everyone dancing on tables! |
The people were again super friendly. It was a fun night!
Luckily I knew the words to a lot of the songs by then too. From the balcony
there was a great view of the whole festival. Before heading to Teilo’s I got
one of the classic heart cookies they sell everywhere called Lebkuchenherz.
Couldn’t leave without one to remember the experience!
I got to Teilo’s by 11. He lives out in Wolfratshausen, a
more residential area but still close enough to take public transport to the
center. His neighborhood is gorgeous, full of greenery and a river runs just
past his backyard. At midnight, we started off my birthday with a cake Ashlee
had brought back from Vienna!
September 24-
In the morning we walked to the bakery for bread and made a
huge, traditional German breakfast. Then we took the car and went on yes, the
Autobahn!! It was a bit rainy, but still a beautiful day. I decided I wanted to
drive out to Starnberg See, a pretty lake near when Teilo lives. In a
restaurant with a great view of the water, we got champagne and dessert (Apfelstrudel
and Schokoladenkuchen) to celebrate my birthday. It was a fun last few hours in
Germany. Wish I could have stayed longer, but needed to get back to Madrid to
start teaching!
I arrived home with a surprise little cake and a gift from
my roommates – my first Spanish cookbook! It really made my night. Perfect way
to end a 21st birthday weekend I’ll never forget.
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