My adventures over the last few weeks

I know it's been a while since I have posted! The last few weeks have been very busy with Mom & Dad's visit, then mid-terms, then John's visit. So I'll catch you up on the last few weeks now!

Barcelona with Mom & Dad
When my parents got into Spain, I met them in Barcelona for the weekend. We stayed at the very nice Hotel Arts on the beach in Port Olimpic. Our first afternoon we spent walking around the beach and Las Ramblas, then back through the Placa Catalunya and the center to our hotel.

On Saturday morning, we woke up to torrential rain, so we decided to use the hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus to get around the city. Our first stops were to see some of Gaudi's residential works in L'Eixample.

Later we went to La Sagrada Familia, by far the most impressive church (and one of the most impressive buildings, period) that I have ever seen. I always knew the level of detail that it has on the outside, but I never knew how spectacular it is inside! The museum below the church was also really interesting.

Then we had lunch in the Boqueria market. The market itself is huge with loads of fresh fish, fruit, vegetables and meat. It would definitely be a good place to shop if you lived there. And the menu del dia for lunch was delicious!

On Sunday we headed to the opposite side of town to go to Parc Güell. We hiked around up there and saw some awesome views of the city out to the sea. It was a great way to end my weekend in Barcelona!

Mom & Dad's weekend in Sevilla

The next weekend my parents came to Sevilla and I showed them all of the sights - La Catedral, Real Alcazar, Plaza de España, etc. I left most of the photo-taking up to them, so I don't have many pictures to show for it.

We did do something that was new for me as well. We took a tour of the Plaza de Toros, the bullfighting arena of Sevilla. It was really interesting and we learned a lot about the history of bullfighting in Sevilla, which is one of the premier locations in the world for this. I'm hoping to see a fight once the season starts on Easter Sunday, even though I think it may be difficult to watch.

John's visit to Sevilla

This weekend, John came for a very brief but fun trip to Sevilla. Over the course of the weekend I also showed him all the major sights in Sevilla. On Friday afternoon, we took the train down to Cadiz and spent the day on the beach. There were some weird deja-vu moments from Carnival, but the city really is beautiful and I'm glad we went down there.

I had a great time having everyone in town, and I'm so glad that they were able to come and visit! It was great seeing everyone! This weekend I'm headed to the Canary Islands, so look for a post about that trip next week!

Cádiz Carnival

On Saturday I headed to Cádiz (a city on the coast about a 1 1/2 hour drive from Sevilla) for what is one of the world's largest Carnival celebrations.

My friends and I bought some wigs and face paint to be our costumes for the night. The costumes range from very well thought-out and intricate homemade ones, to typical store-bought outfits, to just face paint. Halloween isn't really celebrated much in Spain, so Carnival is their main opportunity to get all dressed up in costume.

We left for Cádiz around eight o'clock on Saturday and got back around 8:00 a.m. Sunday morning, so it was a long night, but I had an awesome time! Our bus dropped us off in one of the main plazas of the city, where hundreds of buses full of people from Sevilla, Granada, Malaga and other close cities come in for the night. The whole city shuts down to host the celebration, and it really is something cool to experience.

During the day there are parades and other events, and there is a stage with performances during the day and night. At night, the whole city becomes one big botellón, which pretty much just means drinking in the streets. We wandered around the city until we reached the main plaza of the celebration, near the catedral. We also took a little trip up to the beach, which was nice. I can't wait to come back to the beach in a few weeks and enjoy it!

Our night at Carnival in Cádiz was so much fun and it was definitely a night I will always remember! And I think I look pretty good with long purple hair!

Paris by Night

I saw this video online and just loved it. As beautiful as Paris is during the day, it was even more special at night! It is made up of thousands of images to create a time-lapse video of some of the city's monuments at night. It's like taking a little mini-tour of the city at night!

(It is originally posted here.)

Le Flâneur (music by The XX) from Luke Shepard on Vimeo.

Paris, J'taime!

This past weekend a few friends and I jetted off to Paris for 4 days of sightseeing, baguettes, pastries, and French boys. As we flew over the city Thursday night and got our first glimpse of the sparkling Eiffel Tower and the Seine, I knew I was going to love the city! It is easier to understand why people talk about Paris so much and romanticize it. There is just something very special about it that is unlike any other city I've visited.

The French
Of course I went to French knowing the stereotypes that French people hate Americans and won't speak English to you. Thankfully, I found both of these to be entirely false. I found the Parisians to be incredibly friendly and helpful. And with a little "Excusez-moi. Je ne parle pas français. Parlez-vous anglais?" people were more than willing to speak English with us and try to help us out.


Sightseeing
We packed a whole lot of activity into our long weekend, so I will warn you that this will be a long post! You can click the pictures to see a larger version!

The Chocolate Tour
We kicked off the weekend with a chocolate tour run by Paris Walks. They took us to four specialty chocolate and pastry shops, mostly on Rue St. Honore. By the end we had more than enough chocolate. It was a great tour and I would highly recommend it!

Ile-de-Cite & Quartier Latin
Later that afternoon, we walked across the bridge to Notre Dame, and then through the Quartier Latin to Jardins du Luxembourg. I really enjoyed Quartier Latin. It seems like a really cool neighborhood and I wish we had time to explore it more!

Le Tour Eiffel
Our next stop was the Eiffel Tower. We took dozens of pictures from the ground and then climbed up the stairs to the second level. The views were beautiful! And who knew there was an ice skating rink up there?

Arc De Triomphe & Shopping
We started Saturday morning at the Arc de Triomphe and then spent the rest of the morning shopping along the Champs Elysees, Rue Faubourg and Rue St. Honore. We window shopped at Hermes and Cartier, and tried to keep ourselves from spending too much money!

Cemeterie Montmartre
In the afternoon we walked through the neighborhood of Montmartre (where we stayed throughout the weekend at Le Village Hostel - highly recommend it!). We visited the Cemeterie Montmartre, which was actually very interesting to see. The cemetery had a couple of really sad but beautiful statues that you can see below. This cemetery is home of the grave of Alexandre Dumas, among others.

Musee du Louvre
Sunday morning we went straight to the Louvre after breakfast. The museum itself is housed in what was formerly the French royal palace, before the king moved the palace to Versailles. It is absolutely gigantic, and it would be easy to spend hours and hours in there if you wanted to see everything. We mostly just went for the more famous works since we were short on time. My favorite part of the museum was the atriums filled with sculptures on the first floor. I have always been amazed by the level of detail and realism that sculptors are able to put forth in their pieces. What about the Mona Lisa? Well, I think it's a nice painting, but that's about it. It does not intrigue me nearly so much as it seems to for many people. There are also some rooms in the Louvre that are still decorated as Napoleon III's palace. I also really enjoyed this part of the museum and the incredibly lavish and ornate furnishings in the apartments. After a few hours in the Louvre, we were hungry and ready to get back outside.

A Word on Parisian Macarons
Before coming to Paris, I had heard of macarons, but didn't understand what they were. I knew I loved coconut macaroons, and, for some reason, thought the two were related in some way. They aren't. But man oh man are French macarons delicious. According to Wikipedia, a macaron is "a sweet confectionery made with egg whites, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond powder or ground almond, and food coloring. The macaron is commonly filled with buttercream or jam filling sandwiched between two cookies."

I sampled the macarons at Gosselin and Michel Cluizel and both were incredible. I have to give Gosselin the win though, for having fresh raspberries around the outside!

Cemeterie Pere Lachaise
On our way back to Montmartre, we stopped at another cemetery, Pere Lachaise, to see the famous graves of Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde. I found Oscar Wilde's particularly cool, because people had written some of his famous quotes on it in all different languages. It was interesting to see the worldwide scope of his fans who have been touched by his writings, not just among English speakers.

Basilique Sacre Coeur
Back in Montmartre, we climbed the hill just behind our hostel to go up to the beautiful Sacre Coeur basilica, which is located on the highest point in Paris. You can see the whole city from up there and it is a beautiful view.

Refuge des Fondues
For dinner, we went to Refuge des Fondues, on Rue Trois Freres in Montmartre. Their fixed priced menu includes a charcuterie and cheese plate, baby bottles of wine (yes - served in baby bottles), your choice of cheese or meat fondue, and a dessert. The fondue was yummy and the whole atmosphere of the place was a lot of fun.

Eiffel Tower at Night
Our last activity of the trip was to go see the Eiffel Tower lit up on Sunday night. For as pretty as it looks during the day, it is so much more special at night time. Every hour on the hour, the lights on the tower sparkle and it is a beautiful sight. It is interesting to think what Paris would be like without its most recognizable symbol!