Ireland, Germany, & Amsterdam

Hello! So much has happened since my last blog post, I've been too busy to post!


Irlanda

Mom and I said goodbye to the boys on the 5th and headed to Ireland, which is one of my new favorite places in the world. We stayed at this old-fashioned yet super classy hotel called The Gresham in the heart of Dublin. It was lovely - I kept telling Mom that I thought we were on the Titanic ;) Our first night in, we didn't do a whole lot except get Mom a coat so she could stop freezing her butt off. We went out for sushi (the first time for me in a long time) and had some wine in the bar downstairs when we got back.

Cooking class in Howth

Zuppe di pesce 

The next morning we got up and took the Dart out to Howth (a little town on the coast) for our cooking class in a castle!! Our class was Italian themed so we made Zuppe di pesce, lemon roasted potatoes, stuffed and baked aubergine (the fancy european word for 'eggplant'), panzanella stuffed chicken breasts, and a raspberry and chocolate semi-freddo. Yum! And we met some cool people from Ireland who were all super sweet and gave us advice on places to go in Dublin.

Howth

The castle!  

Dublin

St. Patrick's Cathedral

High Tea

I found Dublin as a sort of smaller, quaint little London. I loved it. Unfortunately, Mom and I had some issues with the museums; a lot of the ones we wanted to visit were closed and/or being renovated. We did go to part of the Modern Art Museum (the part that wasn't closed), and the National Museum which had tons of cool stuff (Viking ships, medieval artifacts, and creepy bog bodies, to name a few). We also saw a bit of Trinity College, toured around a bit in Temple Bar (the hipper part of town), and ate at Queen of Tarts which had scrumptious food. We went inside St. Patrick's Cathedral, saw a movie in theaters (another thing I hadn't done in forever), went on a tour in Kilmainham Prison, and went to a pub! One of my favorite parts of the trip was Afternoon Tea with champagne (Mom went all out and spoiled me).

Powercourt Estate

Pet Cemetery 

To get away from the city, we went out to Enniskerry one day to see Powerscourt Estate. Today the mansion that remains has been renovated into a nice cafeteria and cute, but over-priced shops. But the gardens were the reason we went. We didn't quite hit it at the right time, but the Japenese gardens were still pretty and we saw some things starting to come into bloom. My personal favorite was the Pet Cemetery where, literally, the family had burried all of their pets (dogs, horses, cows, you name it...).




Alemania

After Ireland, Mom and I headed to Germany. We stayed just outside Munich's city center in a cute little apartment. Munich wasn't all we'd hoped for but that's okay, because the real reason for the trip was so that Mom could go to her favorite yarn store for the first, and maybe only, time in her life.

Munich

Let me first just say that Munich's transportation system was a pain in the a**. I think we spent more time figuring out the transportation system then doing much of anything else. I've done London and Paris' transportation systems, but man, something about Munich's was just not super straightforward.

Anywho, when were weren't trying to read subway maps in German, Mom and I explored a couple of Museums and the streets of Munich. We went to the Deutsch Museum which honestly was kind of lame. It said it was an interactive science and technology museum, but all the exhibits that I tried to play with were broken. I felt like a sad little kid. But it had a couple of cool exhibits like the Gutenberg printing presses and a super neat "photography through the years" exhibit. We also went to a Modern Art museum which was supposed to have a bunch of impressionist works. Instead it was mostly dark and creepy German paintings with a few impressionist paintings, that clearly weren't good enough for bigger art museums. That was a bit disappointing. We also went to the Royal palace which was cool, yet somewhat overwhelming that Mom and I finally had to just run for the exit. We decided we didn't want to go to the overly touristy Hofbrauhaus for a beer so we went to Augustinier Brew house instead which was phenomenal and the beer was fantastic!

The Palace

Crown Jewels!

Pfaffenhofen

Mom in buying her yarn.

Things got better when we left the city for a day to go out to Pfaffenhofen for Mom's yarn shopping spree. We took a train out and got to see the beautiful Bavarian countryside. And Pfaffenhofen is a just a little gem of a city. It was tiny but so cute, and the people couldn't have been friendlier. Mom bought loads of yarn and we chatted it up with the yarn shop's owner's friend, Dani, who spoke such perfect English, I couldn't believe it. She gave us a recommedation for lunch so we ended up having wiener shnitzel, a very typical Bavarian dish (which I have to say is quite delicious). 

Wiener Schnitzel 

Vuelto a Alicante

After about 3 and a half days in Munich, we had to return to Alicante because I had to go back to school (and because Mom's rusty German and my absolute inability to speak German just wasn't working out). I showed Mom around the town a bit more, we went to a super cool art museum, and she did some touring around on her own as well when I was in class. She stayed with my host family and I, and even despite language differences both of my "moms" adored each other. My host mom went all out with meals and even made paella so my mom could try it. Mom even met Pepa and the other ladies who work for my program and I showed her around the University of Alicante a bit. It was fun showing my mom my new world.

Amsterdam

The day after Mom left, Kiersten, Tonada, and I  jetted off to Amsterdam (as my host mom says, "I never stop moving"). I think Amsterdam may have moved to the top of my list of my favorite cities in Europe (London is close though!). And we hit it on such a beautiful weekend, it was so sunny and beautiful (still cold, but the sun was brilliant). We had looked on Airbnb for an apartment and ended up staying in this guys second half of an apartment. He was so chill and great to have around to answer all of our questions and give us tips. He even invited us out to a music gig and offered us some of his dinner one night.

We got in on Friday and after settling in, we headed straight to Anne Frank's house which was of course sad but very interesting. Afterwards, we went back to the apartment and made a nice dinner with wine. On Saturday we went the Hermitage museum which is temporarily hosting the Van Gogh museum because the actual one is being renovated. From there we walked to this area with all sorts of Asian cuisines because we had all been craving Thai food. Lunch was fabulous and we got our fix. Were were near the Red Light District so we took a stroll through there...yeah. We went to the NEMO which is a science museum (aimed at kids but we enjoyed it!). And we of course passed many a "coffee shop" when walking through town. And we totally had to stop and get fries which are everywhere in Amsterdam and come with delicious sauces. Yum.

Fries!!!

Tonada and I at the NEMO working on genetics

Thai food! 

Botanical Gardens

Tulip Museum

On Sunday, we tried to find the Purse and Bag museum but ended up stumbling upon a bunch of street artists so we all bought some art. We decided then to just head to the Botanical Gardens which were really pretty. We had lunch at a bagel place (another food item we'd been craving). Afterwards, we went over to this cute and hip little neighborhood called the Jordaan. We walked around. We went to the Tulip Museum and the Cheese Museum in the Jordaan (two of our best decisions). Then we headed to Leidseplein where lots of bars and restaurants are but that's also where we got tickets for a canal boat tour of the city. While we waited for our tour, we walked over to the Rijksmuseum just to see it (we all decided we'd have to come back to fully enjoy it because it would've eaten up our whole day to go inside). We took pictures in front of the 'I Amsterdam' sign and grabbed a Heineken before getting on the boat. Our tour was at sunset, so it was absolutely stunning passing through the canals. After the tour, we made friends with a Greek guy who talked us into eating at his restaurant and even gave us free alcohol as part of our meal. It was a good day. But the end of the trip came all too soon and we went back to Alicante on Monday.

Leidseplein

Our Greek Friend

Visitas, Portugal, Córdoba y Toledo

 La visita de Vicente

Two days after I got back from London, my friend Vincent (the same one who met me in London), came to visit me in Alicante (he's currently studying art in Barcelona this semester). He stayed with my host family and I, and my host parents adored him. I’m assuming part of the reason they loved him was because he ate more than I typically do, so that thrilled them, naturally. He got in on a Friday night so we couldn’t do much. But on Saturday I took him out to Villa Joyosa where the Valor Chocolate Factory is situated.  We actually ended up meeting with my speaking exchange partner, Virginia, who lives there so she showed us around her little town a bit and then we all toured the factory together, had samples, and bought some treats.  Afterwards, we went back to my place and my host mom made paella for lunch. We took a siesta and then met up with Kiersten and her boyfriend Tyler, who had also come to visit on his spring break. The four of us climbed the castle in Alicante and Vincent took lots of silly pictures of us on his fancy camera (I'll try to remember to add them later when he gets around to sending them to me). Then we all went back home, had dinner, met back up, and we went out to some bars and clubs with some of my other friends.

On Sunday, we had a more relaxing day and stayed around the house. We took a walk in the late afternoon and saw some Easter related parades and climbed the other smaller castle in Alicante, which also has great views at sunset. 

On Monday and Tuesday, Vincent accompanied me to the colegio where we did presentations about our trip in London together. It was fun having him along and sharing the experience with him. He told me he thought it was interesting and a neat experience. The kids really liked him too, and asked him a bazillion questions just like they asked me at the beginning. Everyone thought he looked like Real Madrid's soccer team player, Angel Di' Maria (which he does). So that was the laughable, running joke while he was here...and apparently everywhere else in Spain for him too. On Monday night he came to tutoring with me, we went to Kiersten's house for a bagel party (Tyler brought bagels all the way from the US!), and then we went out for beers later that night. It was a fun weekend, I'm glad he came out :)

La llegada de mi familia

And just a few days later my parents and brother rolled into town after they spent the first week of their vacation in Paris and Madrid. I met them at their hotel on Friday and then they came over to meet my host family which was quite entertaining. My host sister was home and speaks some English so she and I were doing lots of translating and both of us were dying of laughter when my host dad kept wanting me to translate bad or inappropriate spanish words to my family. After we left my host family, I showed my real family (weird that I have to distinguish them as my "real" family) around Alicante and introduced them to a Kebap which is a Middle Eastern food most similar to a Greek gyro (or for me the closest thing to a burrito, sadly). They're delicious and I got them hooked! After dinner, we went out for dessert and then Sean and I headed back to my house, where we both stayed, while my parents went back to their hotel. The next morning both families and I went out for a traditional Spanish breakfast which was actually really fun. I really wish all members could truly communicate because I really think everyone would get along super well. I feel like we meshed well as families. When we finished, I showed my parents around a bit more and then we headed off to Granada!

Granada

We got to Granada on Saturday and it basically poured the entire time we were there. We had tickets for the palaces in the famous Alhambra at night which was spectacular. I had been there in October with my program during the day, but seeing it at night was a totally different experience. The next day (Easter) we toured the rest of the Alhambra and decided to head towards Lagos, Portugal because nothing was really open and we wanted to get to Lagos at a reasonable hour. 

Portugal

The view of Dona Ana Beach

Portugal was a lovely country with wonderful people. I can't exactly say that of our apartment that we stayed in, however. That part of the trip was an adventure in itself. We arrived to the advertised "lovely family apartment by the sea" that we rented but found it less than what was described online. The furniture was old and falling apart, the heater was broken (it was cold and rainy the first night, so this was a let-down), the dishwasher was full of dishes covered in one inch thick mold, the washing machine was full of water that spilled out all over the floor, and my parent's bed literally broke on day two. The plus side of this was that we made a Canadian friend: the woman who was renting the apartment upstairs came down and helped us

 figure things out (get in touch with the owner and caretakers). She was kind enough to invite us in at 1 a.m. and let us sit by the fire. Things improved on Monday (i.e. the sun came out and we left the apartment). We explored the little town, walked along our beach, went out to Sagres which used to be considered "the end of the world" before Columbus discovered the Americas, and had a lovely dinner in a small fishing town called Salema. Mom and I ordered the Cataplana which is traditional seafood stew in Portugal, and it was scrumptious. The restaurant was clearly run by a bunch of cousins or something and we had a blast joking around with them, as they playfully made fun of the fact that we're foreigners. On Tuesday, the morning the bed collapsed, we lied out on the beach and got some sun while they brought us a new bed, then we headed back out to Sagres to tour the Fort/Museum at the end of world which had closed by the time we had gotten there on Monday. We had a super good dinner at a beachfront restaurant near our place. Mom and Dad got grilled tuna while Sean and I had grilled swordfish. Portugal is also known for having superb grilled fresh fish, and I concur.

Salema, Portugal

Cataplana

The end of the world!

The good news at the end of the story here is that we got a full refund for our stay! Yipee! I guess the experience really "paid" off.  ;)

Córdoba y Toledo

Museo de Santa Cruz

Typical flan from Córdoba, or so we were told.

Yesterday we made a four hour drive back into Spain and stayed in Córdoba which is in Andalusia and isn't too far from Sevilla. We walked around the old medieval city a bit and went out for tapas at really fun and traditional Spanish restaurant. Our waiter liked us so much that he gave us two glasses of after dinner liquor. The folks and I walked away full and buzzed. Always good in Spain. Today we got up and drove another three hours to Toledo where we stopped for a few hours. Toledo is an hour outside of Madrid and is also an old medieval city held within what used to be castle walls. Toledo was so picturesque, I swear we were in a fairytale. We went the the Santa Cruz museum which had lots of art and really old artifacts.

We walked around and saw the town's Cathedral but couldn't spend much more time there because we wanted to get settled in Madrid at a reasonable hour. Mom and  I fly to Ireland tomorrow morning and Dad and Sean fly home to Sacramento.

It was really fun having my family here, I feel really fortunate that they came to visit me, and it felt really special to show them my life here in Spain. Thank you guys so much for coming :)

Toledo, Spain