Since Jack headed back to the states Mom and I have been traveling on our own and this is a bit of what we have been up to...
Thurs, July 9
Jack left this morning for home, Mom and I spent the morning by doing the Rick Steve’s guided tour, which ended at the Royal Palace. During the tour we stopped by a convent for narajines, small somewhat orange flavored cookies, before moving on. The royal palace had a bit of a wait, but was probably worth it just to have been there. Being a palace of course it was over-the-top-amazing, but what was even more interesting was the fact that it is still used for royal events. They also had a section of the royal pharmacy and armory, though we didn’t go see the armory since it cost more and both of us were getting tired. After our visit we headed back to the hotel with two stops: one at the marketplace for some “fizzies” (blended fruit and carbonated water) and the second for some sweets/food to hold us over on the train
Taxi and uneventful train ride to Ávila, though we did get to see El Escritorial in passing. Upon arrival had somewhat of a surprise to find all the trains to Alicante on Friday were sold out. The best we could arrange was leaving early Saturday morning so we settled on that. When we got to the hotel we found there was another problem…mom had booked the Velada hotel in Madrid, not Ávila. Fortunately they had a room available for two nights and the other reservation was canceled without charge.
We spent the afternoon wandering the town and figuring out where things were. Called Juan to tell him the change of plans. Stopped by the hotel and had dinner at place recommended by Rick Steve’s, but it had terrible service. Came back to the hotel chatted a bit and went to bed.
Friday, July 10
We slept in as long as we could since we knew the next night would be short on sleep and then had a quick breakfast at a café in the old town. Then headed to the convent to see the church, museum and briefly the reliquary of St. Teresa de Ávila. We then headed to the Cathedral and visited. It was simple, almost plain, but it was still a Cathedral. We then stopped by a café for some lunch and headed back to the hotel for a few minutes.
After a quick break we went back to the convent to purchase some things for family etc. (And got some ice cream when we had to go to the bank) After that we decided to go see the wall that surrounds the old town and visited two of the three sections that are open. We then decided to get a drink in the town square and ended up with more sangria than we knew what to do with and so remedied the problem with two sweets from a nearby pastry shop.
We then went back to the hotel for a brief break and then returned to church of St. Teresa for a mass and to have the medallions/rosaries that we bought blessed. We then headed back to the hotel, had a fantastic dinner in the hotel café and packed up for the night.
Sat, July 11
Today we woke up very early (5 or so) to catch a train from Ávila to Madrid, Madrid to Alicante and arrived in Alicante at about 13:00. Juan met us at the station and then we headed to his sister-in-law’s apartment to drop off the bags. After a short break we then went to Juan’s apartment so mom could meet the rest of Juan’s family and had some ‘dinner’. After that we chatted over some granizado and then went to the park to meet Carmela and her family. Mom and I ducked out at about 9 to go to Corte Inglés to buy a suitcase for the things that we had been planning on mailing home (because it turned out that the post office was closed and wasn’t going to open Sunday) and put that back in the apartment. We then went to go back and meet the others in the park, but by the time we got there they had left so mom and I went for a walk to see the marina and a little bit of the boardwalk before crashing for the night.
Sun, July 12
Today we woke up and met Juan in the morning and then decided to go visit Moncho and his wife Vinceta (sp?). We took a train there, which was about an hour and then Moncho picked us up so that we didn’t have to catch the second train. We walked around Altea for a little, had some drinks, and then went to a restaurant where they had mad some reservations. It turned out to be very good, we got Paella de Huerta (veggies) and a few appetizers. Turns out that I actually like natural anchovies! Who knew! I’d never smelled them outside anything in the can so it was like it was a totally different animal. Not to say I’m ready to put them on pizza…..dad! (Way to ruin something good…) But anyways, the food was great. Then we headed back to Moncho’s and just spent some time chatting and hanging out with Tor (their lovable guard dog). We were talking for so long that we actually missed our train back to Moncho and Vinceta decided to drive us back to Alicante which, while being an inconvenience to them I’m sure, was nice because it meant that everyone (Juan, Carmela, Ana, Moncho, Carmelita, spouses, kids (minus Carmela) and us) could all have some drinks and ice cream together. It also gave mom and I a chance to show the others some pictures from Grandma and Grandpa’s 50th anniversary and Thanksgiving, which was nice because they didn’t have any pictures of mom’s side of the family together for years. After that we headed back to the apartment and stayed up (somewhat) late packing, but managed to make things work.
Mon, July 13
Today Juan and Rosa picked us up bright and early and took us to the Alicante airport to catch a fight to Barcelona, Barcelona to Santiago de Compestella. After arriving in Santiago we had to wait an hour to catch a bus to Lugo, which is about 2 hours long. Once we arrived in Lugo we checked into the hotel, relaxed a few minutes and headed to visit Alicita. We went just to chat, but it turns out that she cooked us both dinner (which was really really good!) and we got a chance to meet Ramón, her husband who suffers from Alzheimers. All-in-all even though it was a long day, it was worth it to go to Alicita just because she was so so happy to see us.
Tues, July 14
Today we slept in late and then met Alicita at her home and looked through some pictures (both hers and on my computer). Afterwards we met Gracita and husband for lunch. We visited, and I had the chance to try “pulpo”, which is what Galicia is known for (aka HUGE purple octopus) and I have to admit that it was pretty good though it certainly is not a new favorite. After some more chatting we headed back to Alicita’s to walk her home and went back to our hotel to mail some things home (aka my textbooks and other large heavy things). After successfully doing that we went for a walk (got some ice cream) and went along the village wall for some time. The wall in Lugo is well-known because I believe it is the longest continues/oldest wall in Spain (though the Ávila wall is more impressive). We poked our head into the Cathedral, which was something that Mom turned out to recognize which was kinda neat. We then hung out a little more and ended up getting some cokes at a café and reading for a while and mom got some pizza for a late-night dinner. After that we both were pretty tired for some reason and crashed.
Wed, July 15
Today we woke up in time to catch the 9:30 bus to Santiago from Lugo and then checked into the hotel. We weren’t allowed into our room yet so we left our baggage and went exploring. We stopped by a fresh fruit market and a bakery and got some food for a schmorgasborg lunch in front of a seminary. We did a little halfway shopping and then went to the Cathedral.
The Cathedral was packed with people, backpackers, visitors, tourists…I have to admit it was a bit disappointing in that everyone was talking like it was just another tourist site, there wasn’t very much respect for it being a church. Nonetheless we did see St. James’ tomb and wandered around using Rick Steve’s mini-tour. After that we walked back towards the hotel and stopped by a little garden café for some cokes in which I decided to stay and read in for a little. We then spent some time relaxing in the hotel room and then went back out for a little shopping and then had dinner at a crepería for dinner, which may not have been French, but was fantastic!! After that we walked around the city a little more and headed back to the hotel. And, for the first time since I left the states, I was able to go on instant messenger and had a nice chat with Mary Elizabeth and Jesse…silly yes I know, but quite exciting to have ‘real-life conversations’!
Thurs, July 16
This morning we woke up in time to say goodbye to Spain and to catch our flight from Santiago de Compestella to Dublin. Or rather flight to Madrid, layover in Madrid, Madrid to Dublin. After arriving in Dublin we managed to catch the 2:30 bus (thanks to an hour time change) to Waterford and checked into the hotel. After checking in we went downstairs and grabbed some much needed food, which actually turned out to be very good. And had our first truly Irish beers in Ireland. (Though mom’s may have been a German beer, who’s checking) I had fantastic seafood chowder (among other things). After dinner we went for a short walk around Waterford and then grabbed our books and went downstairs for some Bailey Hot Chocolate and desert. Very satisfying dinner! After desert we were both exhausted and crashed fairly early.
Fri, July 17
Today we got up, sent a few things to laundry and had breakfast in the hotel. Then we went over to the tourist information and the “Museum of Lost Treasures” to see an overview of the history of Ireland. While a little cheesy, it did give some interesting information about Waterford. (Such as it is the oldest known city in Ireland, was home to Nordic Vikings from 914 A.D. on and home to Meagher, leader of the Irish Brigade during the US Civil War.)
After the museum we took the bus to the Waterford Factory and spent a long time in the visitor’s center looking through displays, the shop and many demonstrations of craftsmanship. Sadly they don’t give tours anymore after recent changes in ownership and economic situation, but we still enjoyed ourselves.
Then we took the bus back and headed to the Reginald’s Tower, which is the oldest in Ireland and tagged-along on a guided tour by one of the guys who work there. It was actually fairly interesting; there were a lot of things about castle-building/military building from medieval times, which I had noticed in other buildings, but never fully appreciated previously. In case you were wondering Waterford was the only city sieged by Cromwell, which failed to fall to him.
More Info: http://www.waterfordtourism.org/
After the tower we headed back to the room for a little bit before dinner.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Sorry...
Life in Spain! So I've been more than terrible with my updates of what's going on, but I do have somewhat of a reason. 1. Jack was keeping a log and it was a little nice to take a break from teh bast 8 weeks or so and 2. The internet connections we did have were ok, but not really good enough to be able to upload pictures. SORRY! I'm working on it. And I will put up some pictures as I can, but until then (from the perspective of Jack) these have been some of the more recent travels of my brother and I:
Thurs, June 25
I woke up early and wasn’t able to fall back to sleep because I was a bit stressed about finishing packing for the trip as well as the mess of boxes in Jules and my new apartment. Corby and I walked Jules to the bus stop, swung by Dunkin Donuts and then returned to the apartment to finish packing.
It took me about an hour trip total riding the blue line to O’Hare. Shortly before my plane was supposed to board they announced that there was a mechanical problem with the plane. After I realized that I was going to miss my connection in Miami I got on the phone with American Airlines. It took 30 minutes of talking, but the airline gods graced me. I was bumped to Business Class on Iberia a late afternoon flight direct from O’Hare into Madrid – perfect.
The plane had nice fold flat seats, though the TVs were out dated and the service…well Spanish. It took 2 hours to get through dinner and though I enjoyed the wine, helado, and a rum night cap, it only left a few hours to sleep since the flight was only 7.5 hours.
Fri, June 26
My flight arrived into Madrid about 45 minutes late, but still earlier than the flight from Miami would have arrived. I slept well but it was only for 3 or 4 hours. It was a breeze to get through customs and pickup my ticket to Alicante; however, the airport monitor did not have a gate for my flight, only the terminal. In the meantime I headed to a electronics store where I was able to get a staple to open my iPhone and fix it. About 30 minutes before my plane was supposed to board the message board showed my flight in another terminal so I had to hop the train and ride out there. Upon arriving my flight was still not listed. Eventually it did get listed and I boarded the flight only to discover that my seat did not exist on the plane!
I passed out on the flight to Alicante and arrived just before landing an hour later. I wandered around and eventually found an ATM and got a hold of Marisa on the phone. Rather than fuss with trying to figure out the bus from the airport into the city, I grabbed a cab to the bus station and arrived 5 minutes before the next bus to Alcoy, which worked out perfect.
It was a bit confusing as to when to get off the bus, but I ended up riding it until the last stop in Alcoy and Marisa and her RA Pau were there to pick me up. He drove us to a Tapas place for a late lunch. From there we went back to Marisa’s residence to drop off my bags and take a quick shower. Pau met back up with us and we went to a museum that while very cheesy, provided me a good overview of Alcoy.
Pau showed us around the Valencia Polytechnic University in Alcoy where Marisa had been studying and then we walked over to the Plaza de Dina for some ice cream. I went crazy and ordered something usual “After Eight” (mint choclate chip). Marisa’s other RA, Rocío, met up with us just as we were leaving and suggested a few place for us to eat. I took a quick nap and caught up on email back at Marisa’s residence before we headed out for dinner, which almost proved to be disasterous. We struggled to find anywhere to eat but eventually ended up back at the Plaza de Dina where we found a place to have some bocadillas, drinks, and dessert. When we got back to the residencia I emailed a few hotels in Pamplona before heading to bed.
Sat, June 27
Happy Birthday to me – 2nd time in two years celebrating my birthday in Spain! Marisa and I went to a little market and bought a ham and cheese and chocolate croissant, which we split for breakfast on our way to meet up with Rocío. She showed us to the base of the hike to the Alcoy Cross where we parted ways. The hike was somewhat strenuous, but nothing too bad and we made it to the top in about 40 minutes. We enjoyed the view, took pictures, climbed up to the cross and then decided to start hiking towards the St. George’s gap. Unfortunately we decided there wasn’t enough time to make it so we headed back into town. After a quick stop at the pharmacy and a little confusion on directions in the city we made it back to the hostal, took showers, and got ready to leave. Shortly before we were supposed to catch a cab the lady at the front desk called and told us our cab wasn’t coming. We scrambled and were not sure if we could make it to the bus stop in time with all of Marisa’s stuff. Thankfully she was able to find another cab for us and with some bocadillas in hand, we headed off to the bus station.
The bus took about 1.5 hours and Juan, our 2nd cousin, picked us up and walked us to his sister-in-law’s apartment where we were staying for the next two nights. An hour or so later we met back up and had met up with the rest of the family over some some horchata, ice cream (para los ninos!), y cafe para otros. Carmita, Grandma Luby’s sister, and her daughters Anita, Carmela, and their familes were there.
We parted ways once again and met back up around 11PM to go see fireworks. On our way we walked through a large medevial fair and then watched the fireworks over the ocean which reminded me of Chicago with all the boats lined up off shore. A little early for the 4th of July, but at least we got to see fireworks. On the walk back we stopped for a drink and returned to the apartment around 2AM.
Sun, June 28
Juan met us at the apartment around 11:30 with Lucía and his wife Rosa picked us up in the car. We headed north to a small beach town, which we explored a bit, but unfortunately the boardwalk was pretty torn up for construction.
We got back in the car and drove to another cousin, Moncho, and his wife’s place which was in the countryside near Altea. Their house was a large ranch style house, with a large old bread oven, as well as orange, lemon, and olive trees in the yard.
Marisa, Juan, Moncho, and I left after a drink and went to nearby restaurant where we waited to pickup the paella. While waiting the bartender gave us some [name of dried tuna] which tasted similar to hamón serrano. Lunch also included salad, bread, wine, muscles, and other food. We finished with watermelon and ice cream, an amazing feast. We walked a bit of it off by hiking up a small hill nearby which provided great views of Altea and the surrounding area. We hung out for a whlle longer, picked some oranges, and lemons and said our goodbyes.
On the way back we stopped in Altea to walk around and see the cathedral and the views. The beach looked gorgeous and it was clear that there were many tourists in town for the weather. We poked our heads into a few shops including one where we saw candles being made and then headed for home. Despite napping in the car we were pretty beat and decided to just hang out in the apartment when we returned.
Mon, June 29
Marisa and I caught up on sleep and woke up after 11AM. We had breakfast at the apartment and then headed out to walk around a bit. We walked along the beach and then took an elevator up to the Sant Barbara Castilla (castle). The views of the city were breathtaking even though the castle was a bit run down and under construction.
We walked down and explored some gardens that Marisa knew about and passed some neat fountains. Alicante’s cathedral was near by, but unfortunately closed so we began making our way back to the apartment with a quick stop at Pan and Company for lunch. We ran into Juan at the grocery store and then cleaned up at the apartment and took off for the train. We loaded up on candy and then boarded for the ride to Cordoba via Ciudad – Real. Unfortunately our seats were behind a group of HS boys who were loud and working quite hard at flirting with a group of girls on the train.
We arriving in Cordoba and taking a cab to the Hotel it was 11:30PM so we decided to call it a night and just get an early start the next morning. The Hotel Mezquita proved to be quite nice with art on the wall and an awesome view of the Cathedral from our hallway window.
Tue, June 30
We woke up early and walked…across the street and into the Mezquita. If you enter before 9:30 (morning mass), entrance is free. The Mezquita is a Mosque that was built in 9???. 120 years after the Christians conquered Cordoba they ripped out the center of the Mosqure and built a Cathedral. The building was very impressive, with hundreds of thin pillars holding up the mosqure and then a large cathedral rising out of the center of the building. Definitely worth the visit.
After leaving the Mezquita it was starting to get hot and we strolled down towards the Roman Arch and the bridge across the river. Unfortunately when we looked back at the Mezquita the picturesque view was partially obstructed by a construction crane.
Alcazar, Jewish Neighborhood, Homeboy, Synagogue, Old Wall, Came back
Burger King
Booked stuff
Short nap
Walked around again, Homeboy 2, weird people in fountain, 40 degress shade, 44 degress sun, Sant Marina, walked back down to the water to see water wheel, but construction blocking, stopped at some stores and headed back to hotel.
Showered, dinner at El Churassco, wild boar, 5 pepper meat, bottle of tinto, brownie, ice cream along way home
Wed, July 1
Woke up early, cab to train station, booked a few train rides, not enough time to book all, no time for food, time for coke,
Arrived Sevilla and took a cab to Husa Los Seises
Dropped off bags and headed to check out cathedral, sat down for bocadillas and sangria, met Concepcion for Cathedral tour, wandered ourselves, tower
Went to see if we could get food from Nuns, napped for 1hr, rick steeves tour of Sant Barbara, then Lonely Planet walking tour of city through the shopping district, along water, past tower day oro, and back to hotel
Quick dip in pool and looked at cathedral from pool, showered, decided for a relaxing night and went to San Miquel? Pizzaría, pitcher sangria, walked to free internet spot, booked hostel for Segovia and emailed San Sebastian, grabbed 40 of beer on way back to hotel, relaxed
Thurs, July 2
Got breakfast at spot that’s been around for since 1300’s
Tried to get cookies from Nuns
Went to meet with Concepcion for cultural tour, she was late b/c of hospital
Walked along shopping district, city hall, and she started to faint, layed down, said she was fine but by cathedral it was clear she was not
Abondoned tour, went to lunch at same place as yesterday, booked flamenco for the evening, cookies from nuns, came back and did alcazar tour with her partner, very good, walked around gardens
bocadillas and sangria, Walked over to plaza espana, got VERY hot
2 hour nap back at hotel
Went to city hall to get free WiFi and continue booking hotels
Tried to get tapas at a palce listed in the book, looked authentic, but not sit down place, tired so went back to Square and had tapas at a place we’d passed a number of times
Went to Los Gallos Flamenco show at 10:30, it was a smaller venue than the one I had gone to in Barcelona. Trade off of guy girl, then finally of group, probably could have been 30 minutes shorter, but good overcall
Fri, July 3
KTmack in Sevilla, but the timing didn’t really workout to meat up. MTG and I took a taxi to the Las Armas Bus Station and then took the bus to Italica to see the Roman ruins. The ruins were alright, but the real winner was the forum which reportedly could have set somewhere between 20-30,000 people and was one of the largest in the roman empire.
We took the bus back to the bus station, grabbed lunch across the street in what appeared to be an old railway station, before grabbing a cab to the train station. Booked tickets for the rest of the trip and moved on.
Relaxed in the hot station before boarding the Ave to Madrid, had to get to Chmaartin train station, turned out not to be free, but managed to get there all right, train station a bit crowded…but managed to get on train to Segovia
Arrived Segovia, boarded bus to downtown, wasn’t quite sure when to get off, but figured it out. Walked up to the top of the aqueduct with packs on, took picture continued though old town to main square and checked in to our hotel.
Showered, shaved, and walked to castle for sunset, returned to main square to look for a place to get dinner, finally settled on a place and mtg and I both had Italian. Walked around a bit more, grabbed some ice cream, and called it a night after trying to email / call mom / dad.
Sat, July 4
Segovia
Woke up, emailed mom, looked into some train info for Mom and MTG’s later. Got pastries at a shop rick steves had mentioned and then put bags in storage and checked out of hotel.
Saw cathedral, walked down to Alcazar, toured, walked back to Aqueduct, pictures, sandwiches, walked back to hotel, got in touch with mom, walked back to aqueduct and found bus. Bus almost rolled away! Boarded train for San Sebastian, train running late, saved guy from getting off at wrong stop, finally figured out that the trai was running ~35 minutes late
Walked from train to hotel
Arrived, had dinner on main square walked around a bit, to harbor, lots of HS aged kids drinking, kinda weird, explored as much as we felt comfortable, but eventually just called it a night
Sun, July 5
Still overcast in the morning, but headed out, explored the castle for most of the morning including museum, great views of the harbor and surrounding area
Walked down the long way and continued exploring
Walked along beach boardwalk, had lunch overlooking the harbor
Talked to Americans who were headed to Pamplona, word was that it was going to be a crowded bus, went to bus station and bought tickets
Returned to hotel, booked Madrid hotels, napped, went out on boardwalk and read for a bit
Came back to hotel, showered, headed to main square, tapas, beer, then went for a walk and got ice cream, saw an area of the city we hadn’t seen, walked around board walk back to hotel, came back, played on internet, called it a night
Mon, July 6
MTG and I woke up early and walked about 20 minutes to the Bus station
It was a zoo, difficult to figure out which bus was ours to Pamplona, but eventually figured it out after some pushing and shoving
1hr bus ride was noisy, particularly one loud spainard
Arrived and with a little difficulty found our hotel, nice, but A/C not working and right on the main strip of bars – loud
Headed out for 12:00 start of festivities, people already hammered, switched from linen shirt to one we just purchased, cheap 6 euro,
Sprayed with shaving cream, sangria, champagne, beer, mustard, etc as festivities began, big jumbo tron, thousands of people,
Finished off 1.5 liter bottle of sangria, wandered and found grocery store where we found supplies and made our selves sandwiches w/ little school boy cookies for dessert
Headed back to hotel, napped, I showered, checked email and headed back out
Wandered the route of the bulls, tried to find possible spots for watching, found running of bulls statue, got food watched big heads, street performers, etc found candy, popcorn and drinks, tried to go see bull fight
Headed back to hotel, watched wall-e, put on warmer clothes, went out and watched amazing fireworks, came back and attempted to sleep
Tue, July 7
Rough night of sleep, very loud, people partying all night, woke up at 5:40 to get ready to find a spot, grabbed some bocadillas at the candy place, and headed to find a spot.
Went through a few places before deciding on the far side of the course near the city call, MTG got a seat on the fence and I secured a spot at the post, waited 1.5 2 hours, people filled the middle area, getting ready to run, made friends with girls next to us, unfortunately they weren’t going to have as good of a spot, tthey talked to a drunk guy who they sort of blew off who ended up having a balcony overlooking it all!
Bulls went quickly, steer a minute or so later, then walked path behind everything. Walked around, saw a handful of people get carted off in ambulances, returned to hotel,
MTG, napped, I downloaded picts and took a quick nap, showered, gathered our stuff up and headed out to 10am San Fermin procession, big heads, clergy, and others. Stopped in at bakery, wanderd back to grocery store, but it was closed, not much else we wanted to see, gathered bags, hung out at hotel briefly and then headed to train to try to change tickets – expensive so we napped in park, but ultimately decided that we didn’t want to wait 6.5hrs for our train so we upgrade to preferente class and grabbed a burger
Turns our they serve food in 1st class trains, but probably not worth the extra cost
Arrived, took the metro to Plaza del Sol and found hotel, metup with mom
Took a nap and had dinner on Plaza Mayor, not great, but nice to have some sangria overlooking the plaza
Came back to the hotel and played on the internet looking up a few things
Wed, July 8
Breakfast chocolate and churros at Sin Grado We went to Prado, park, break, shopping, dinner in the square
Thurs, June 25
I woke up early and wasn’t able to fall back to sleep because I was a bit stressed about finishing packing for the trip as well as the mess of boxes in Jules and my new apartment. Corby and I walked Jules to the bus stop, swung by Dunkin Donuts and then returned to the apartment to finish packing.
It took me about an hour trip total riding the blue line to O’Hare. Shortly before my plane was supposed to board they announced that there was a mechanical problem with the plane. After I realized that I was going to miss my connection in Miami I got on the phone with American Airlines. It took 30 minutes of talking, but the airline gods graced me. I was bumped to Business Class on Iberia a late afternoon flight direct from O’Hare into Madrid – perfect.
The plane had nice fold flat seats, though the TVs were out dated and the service…well Spanish. It took 2 hours to get through dinner and though I enjoyed the wine, helado, and a rum night cap, it only left a few hours to sleep since the flight was only 7.5 hours.
Fri, June 26
My flight arrived into Madrid about 45 minutes late, but still earlier than the flight from Miami would have arrived. I slept well but it was only for 3 or 4 hours. It was a breeze to get through customs and pickup my ticket to Alicante; however, the airport monitor did not have a gate for my flight, only the terminal. In the meantime I headed to a electronics store where I was able to get a staple to open my iPhone and fix it. About 30 minutes before my plane was supposed to board the message board showed my flight in another terminal so I had to hop the train and ride out there. Upon arriving my flight was still not listed. Eventually it did get listed and I boarded the flight only to discover that my seat did not exist on the plane!
I passed out on the flight to Alicante and arrived just before landing an hour later. I wandered around and eventually found an ATM and got a hold of Marisa on the phone. Rather than fuss with trying to figure out the bus from the airport into the city, I grabbed a cab to the bus station and arrived 5 minutes before the next bus to Alcoy, which worked out perfect.
It was a bit confusing as to when to get off the bus, but I ended up riding it until the last stop in Alcoy and Marisa and her RA Pau were there to pick me up. He drove us to a Tapas place for a late lunch. From there we went back to Marisa’s residence to drop off my bags and take a quick shower. Pau met back up with us and we went to a museum that while very cheesy, provided me a good overview of Alcoy.
Pau showed us around the Valencia Polytechnic University in Alcoy where Marisa had been studying and then we walked over to the Plaza de Dina for some ice cream. I went crazy and ordered something usual “After Eight” (mint choclate chip). Marisa’s other RA, Rocío, met up with us just as we were leaving and suggested a few place for us to eat. I took a quick nap and caught up on email back at Marisa’s residence before we headed out for dinner, which almost proved to be disasterous. We struggled to find anywhere to eat but eventually ended up back at the Plaza de Dina where we found a place to have some bocadillas, drinks, and dessert. When we got back to the residencia I emailed a few hotels in Pamplona before heading to bed.
Sat, June 27
Happy Birthday to me – 2nd time in two years celebrating my birthday in Spain! Marisa and I went to a little market and bought a ham and cheese and chocolate croissant, which we split for breakfast on our way to meet up with Rocío. She showed us to the base of the hike to the Alcoy Cross where we parted ways. The hike was somewhat strenuous, but nothing too bad and we made it to the top in about 40 minutes. We enjoyed the view, took pictures, climbed up to the cross and then decided to start hiking towards the St. George’s gap. Unfortunately we decided there wasn’t enough time to make it so we headed back into town. After a quick stop at the pharmacy and a little confusion on directions in the city we made it back to the hostal, took showers, and got ready to leave. Shortly before we were supposed to catch a cab the lady at the front desk called and told us our cab wasn’t coming. We scrambled and were not sure if we could make it to the bus stop in time with all of Marisa’s stuff. Thankfully she was able to find another cab for us and with some bocadillas in hand, we headed off to the bus station.
The bus took about 1.5 hours and Juan, our 2nd cousin, picked us up and walked us to his sister-in-law’s apartment where we were staying for the next two nights. An hour or so later we met back up and had met up with the rest of the family over some some horchata, ice cream (para los ninos!), y cafe para otros. Carmita, Grandma Luby’s sister, and her daughters Anita, Carmela, and their familes were there.
We parted ways once again and met back up around 11PM to go see fireworks. On our way we walked through a large medevial fair and then watched the fireworks over the ocean which reminded me of Chicago with all the boats lined up off shore. A little early for the 4th of July, but at least we got to see fireworks. On the walk back we stopped for a drink and returned to the apartment around 2AM.
Sun, June 28
Juan met us at the apartment around 11:30 with Lucía and his wife Rosa picked us up in the car. We headed north to a small beach town, which we explored a bit, but unfortunately the boardwalk was pretty torn up for construction.
We got back in the car and drove to another cousin, Moncho, and his wife’s place which was in the countryside near Altea. Their house was a large ranch style house, with a large old bread oven, as well as orange, lemon, and olive trees in the yard.
Marisa, Juan, Moncho, and I left after a drink and went to nearby restaurant where we waited to pickup the paella. While waiting the bartender gave us some [name of dried tuna] which tasted similar to hamón serrano. Lunch also included salad, bread, wine, muscles, and other food. We finished with watermelon and ice cream, an amazing feast. We walked a bit of it off by hiking up a small hill nearby which provided great views of Altea and the surrounding area. We hung out for a whlle longer, picked some oranges, and lemons and said our goodbyes.
On the way back we stopped in Altea to walk around and see the cathedral and the views. The beach looked gorgeous and it was clear that there were many tourists in town for the weather. We poked our heads into a few shops including one where we saw candles being made and then headed for home. Despite napping in the car we were pretty beat and decided to just hang out in the apartment when we returned.
Mon, June 29
Marisa and I caught up on sleep and woke up after 11AM. We had breakfast at the apartment and then headed out to walk around a bit. We walked along the beach and then took an elevator up to the Sant Barbara Castilla (castle). The views of the city were breathtaking even though the castle was a bit run down and under construction.
We walked down and explored some gardens that Marisa knew about and passed some neat fountains. Alicante’s cathedral was near by, but unfortunately closed so we began making our way back to the apartment with a quick stop at Pan and Company for lunch. We ran into Juan at the grocery store and then cleaned up at the apartment and took off for the train. We loaded up on candy and then boarded for the ride to Cordoba via Ciudad – Real. Unfortunately our seats were behind a group of HS boys who were loud and working quite hard at flirting with a group of girls on the train.
We arriving in Cordoba and taking a cab to the Hotel it was 11:30PM so we decided to call it a night and just get an early start the next morning. The Hotel Mezquita proved to be quite nice with art on the wall and an awesome view of the Cathedral from our hallway window.
Tue, June 30
We woke up early and walked…across the street and into the Mezquita. If you enter before 9:30 (morning mass), entrance is free. The Mezquita is a Mosque that was built in 9???. 120 years after the Christians conquered Cordoba they ripped out the center of the Mosqure and built a Cathedral. The building was very impressive, with hundreds of thin pillars holding up the mosqure and then a large cathedral rising out of the center of the building. Definitely worth the visit.
After leaving the Mezquita it was starting to get hot and we strolled down towards the Roman Arch and the bridge across the river. Unfortunately when we looked back at the Mezquita the picturesque view was partially obstructed by a construction crane.
Alcazar, Jewish Neighborhood, Homeboy, Synagogue, Old Wall, Came back
Burger King
Booked stuff
Short nap
Walked around again, Homeboy 2, weird people in fountain, 40 degress shade, 44 degress sun, Sant Marina, walked back down to the water to see water wheel, but construction blocking, stopped at some stores and headed back to hotel.
Showered, dinner at El Churassco, wild boar, 5 pepper meat, bottle of tinto, brownie, ice cream along way home
Wed, July 1
Woke up early, cab to train station, booked a few train rides, not enough time to book all, no time for food, time for coke,
Arrived Sevilla and took a cab to Husa Los Seises
Dropped off bags and headed to check out cathedral, sat down for bocadillas and sangria, met Concepcion for Cathedral tour, wandered ourselves, tower
Went to see if we could get food from Nuns, napped for 1hr, rick steeves tour of Sant Barbara, then Lonely Planet walking tour of city through the shopping district, along water, past tower day oro, and back to hotel
Quick dip in pool and looked at cathedral from pool, showered, decided for a relaxing night and went to San Miquel? Pizzaría, pitcher sangria, walked to free internet spot, booked hostel for Segovia and emailed San Sebastian, grabbed 40 of beer on way back to hotel, relaxed
Thurs, July 2
Got breakfast at spot that’s been around for since 1300’s
Tried to get cookies from Nuns
Went to meet with Concepcion for cultural tour, she was late b/c of hospital
Walked along shopping district, city hall, and she started to faint, layed down, said she was fine but by cathedral it was clear she was not
Abondoned tour, went to lunch at same place as yesterday, booked flamenco for the evening, cookies from nuns, came back and did alcazar tour with her partner, very good, walked around gardens
bocadillas and sangria, Walked over to plaza espana, got VERY hot
2 hour nap back at hotel
Went to city hall to get free WiFi and continue booking hotels
Tried to get tapas at a palce listed in the book, looked authentic, but not sit down place, tired so went back to Square and had tapas at a place we’d passed a number of times
Went to Los Gallos Flamenco show at 10:30, it was a smaller venue than the one I had gone to in Barcelona. Trade off of guy girl, then finally of group, probably could have been 30 minutes shorter, but good overcall
Fri, July 3
KTmack in Sevilla, but the timing didn’t really workout to meat up. MTG and I took a taxi to the Las Armas Bus Station and then took the bus to Italica to see the Roman ruins. The ruins were alright, but the real winner was the forum which reportedly could have set somewhere between 20-30,000 people and was one of the largest in the roman empire.
We took the bus back to the bus station, grabbed lunch across the street in what appeared to be an old railway station, before grabbing a cab to the train station. Booked tickets for the rest of the trip and moved on.
Relaxed in the hot station before boarding the Ave to Madrid, had to get to Chmaartin train station, turned out not to be free, but managed to get there all right, train station a bit crowded…but managed to get on train to Segovia
Arrived Segovia, boarded bus to downtown, wasn’t quite sure when to get off, but figured it out. Walked up to the top of the aqueduct with packs on, took picture continued though old town to main square and checked in to our hotel.
Showered, shaved, and walked to castle for sunset, returned to main square to look for a place to get dinner, finally settled on a place and mtg and I both had Italian. Walked around a bit more, grabbed some ice cream, and called it a night after trying to email / call mom / dad.
Sat, July 4
Segovia
Woke up, emailed mom, looked into some train info for Mom and MTG’s later. Got pastries at a shop rick steves had mentioned and then put bags in storage and checked out of hotel.
Saw cathedral, walked down to Alcazar, toured, walked back to Aqueduct, pictures, sandwiches, walked back to hotel, got in touch with mom, walked back to aqueduct and found bus. Bus almost rolled away! Boarded train for San Sebastian, train running late, saved guy from getting off at wrong stop, finally figured out that the trai was running ~35 minutes late
Walked from train to hotel
Arrived, had dinner on main square walked around a bit, to harbor, lots of HS aged kids drinking, kinda weird, explored as much as we felt comfortable, but eventually just called it a night
Sun, July 5
Still overcast in the morning, but headed out, explored the castle for most of the morning including museum, great views of the harbor and surrounding area
Walked down the long way and continued exploring
Walked along beach boardwalk, had lunch overlooking the harbor
Talked to Americans who were headed to Pamplona, word was that it was going to be a crowded bus, went to bus station and bought tickets
Returned to hotel, booked Madrid hotels, napped, went out on boardwalk and read for a bit
Came back to hotel, showered, headed to main square, tapas, beer, then went for a walk and got ice cream, saw an area of the city we hadn’t seen, walked around board walk back to hotel, came back, played on internet, called it a night
Mon, July 6
MTG and I woke up early and walked about 20 minutes to the Bus station
It was a zoo, difficult to figure out which bus was ours to Pamplona, but eventually figured it out after some pushing and shoving
1hr bus ride was noisy, particularly one loud spainard
Arrived and with a little difficulty found our hotel, nice, but A/C not working and right on the main strip of bars – loud
Headed out for 12:00 start of festivities, people already hammered, switched from linen shirt to one we just purchased, cheap 6 euro,
Sprayed with shaving cream, sangria, champagne, beer, mustard, etc as festivities began, big jumbo tron, thousands of people,
Finished off 1.5 liter bottle of sangria, wandered and found grocery store where we found supplies and made our selves sandwiches w/ little school boy cookies for dessert
Headed back to hotel, napped, I showered, checked email and headed back out
Wandered the route of the bulls, tried to find possible spots for watching, found running of bulls statue, got food watched big heads, street performers, etc found candy, popcorn and drinks, tried to go see bull fight
Headed back to hotel, watched wall-e, put on warmer clothes, went out and watched amazing fireworks, came back and attempted to sleep
Tue, July 7
Rough night of sleep, very loud, people partying all night, woke up at 5:40 to get ready to find a spot, grabbed some bocadillas at the candy place, and headed to find a spot.
Went through a few places before deciding on the far side of the course near the city call, MTG got a seat on the fence and I secured a spot at the post, waited 1.5 2 hours, people filled the middle area, getting ready to run, made friends with girls next to us, unfortunately they weren’t going to have as good of a spot, tthey talked to a drunk guy who they sort of blew off who ended up having a balcony overlooking it all!
Bulls went quickly, steer a minute or so later, then walked path behind everything. Walked around, saw a handful of people get carted off in ambulances, returned to hotel,
MTG, napped, I downloaded picts and took a quick nap, showered, gathered our stuff up and headed out to 10am San Fermin procession, big heads, clergy, and others. Stopped in at bakery, wanderd back to grocery store, but it was closed, not much else we wanted to see, gathered bags, hung out at hotel briefly and then headed to train to try to change tickets – expensive so we napped in park, but ultimately decided that we didn’t want to wait 6.5hrs for our train so we upgrade to preferente class and grabbed a burger
Turns our they serve food in 1st class trains, but probably not worth the extra cost
Arrived, took the metro to Plaza del Sol and found hotel, metup with mom
Took a nap and had dinner on Plaza Mayor, not great, but nice to have some sangria overlooking the plaza
Came back to the hotel and played on the internet looking up a few things
Wed, July 8
Breakfast chocolate and churros at Sin Grado We went to Prado, park, break, shopping, dinner in the square
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Mr. Acord...
Hi Mr. Acord, I know this is somewhat of a strange way to get in touch, but could you email me your address? Kathryn left quite a few things in the room...
thanks! Marisa
thanks! Marisa
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A ship...
"Un buque en el puerto es seguro - pero que no es lo que son para los buques. "- John A. 
SheddSunday after the beach a group headed to Caravaca bright and early to go see the church and the True Cross. Caravaca is apparently one of the holy cities in the Catholic church because of this. In my last post I linked the story of how the fragments of the True Cross came to Caravaca. In any event, we arrived with 3 minutes to spare to make it to mass and trucked up the hill an made it just in time after a little confusion as to where we were going. And then after the mass we were given the opportunity to kiss the True Cross...Inside the church after mass:
We obviously couldn't take a picture of the cross that contains the fragments, but this is a picture of a picture? Sorry, best I could do: 
The thing that Caravaca is best known for (besides the True Cross obviously) is their depiction of the cross with two horizontal pieces:
After a really good lunch we headed to Elche to see the gardens. No one quite knows who first planted them, and we saw only a small section of them, but there is somewhere between 200,000-300,000 palm trees in the surrounding area. In the middle of the garden is one which is named The Imperial
which is over 165 years old. I will write some more information later on the gardens if I get the chance. I realize that this has much less than I have written about other places that we've visited. But long and short, it was a very neat side trip.
There was also a peacock!....and peacock babys? peacocklings?
As we headed out of Elche we ran into some bus trouble, but ended up getting a few taxis to bring us to Alicante to see the hogueras (explained later). But we went up to the top of the castle and watched the sunset and generally hung out for a while, which was nice.
Hogueras are HUGE float-like looking things made out of wood and paper (but don't move, they stay put in different parts of the city) and are built for a Festival of St. George I believe? I'm not quite sure what the full story is. This one is contributed to dance and music...
This one was very politcal devoted to politics and the "chess game" that they are...
In any event, they're built to tell a story of sorts, many of them have political commentaries. We even saw one that looked familiar to us as well...
Keep in mind these these structures are as large as the buildings that surround them! After looking at a few we headed to a very very good dinner, which turned out to be the treat of Carles Cortès Orts, he is the Secretariat de Cultura at the University of Alicante and then finally headed back to Alcoy after a late night..."A ship in harbor is safe -- but that is not what ships are for." -John A. Shedd
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Always arriving, always departing....
" Si estamos siempre llegando y saliendo, también es cierto que estamos eternamente anclado. El destino nunca es un lugar sino una nueva manera de ver las cosas" -Henry Miller 
Since it's the last weekend Rocio got reservations at a very fancy restaurant for all of us an was able to figure out a deal so that we had 6 appetizers, dinner, coffee and desert as well as unlimited beverages (until coffee) fro 40 euro, which sounds like a lot of money, but it was a very very good meal :) Starting out with a toast to Rocio, Pau and being in Alcoy:
Mid appetizers:
Everyone all dressed up!
It was/currently is Kary's birthday so that was a nice way to start out a birthday for him. So after the amazing food, we stopped by a karaoke place in honor of Kary's birthday:
And then headed out to go dancing :) This morning we got up early and caught a bus to Alicante to spend the day at the beach. It was pretty relaxed, nothing too special besides the fact that Betty decided to buy a tweety bird floatie for some reason...
But the weather was absolutely perfect all day. Somehow even with putting sunscreen on 3 times I still managed to get burned though :( Such as life, I suppose I should have expected it.
Tonight we're heading to a club named Gaudi because there is this DJ (DJ Josh) who is very famous (he usually works at Ibiza all summer) and is going to play his music for the summer for the first time, which is a big deal. It should be a ton of fun and a LOT of dancing :)It's crazy to be thinking about trying to pin down what Jack and I will be doing after next week....just because it's hard to believe it's been 6 weeks already! I feel like I've been here a long time, but it's quite strange to think that half of the summer is over already. I have so many more things I'd like to get done!
Tomorrow we will be going to Caravaca, Elche and then back to Alicante. Caravaca is known for having some relics of the True Cross, so tomorow is going to be a pretty big deal. Caravaca is known also for the double armed cross, which some may have seen. And then Elche is famous for it's gardens. We're heading back to Alicante because there is a big festival this weekend and we're hoping to get into the celebration dinner :)
It's going to be a great weekend!
"If we are always arriving and departing it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things" -Henry Miller
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Twenty years from now...
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover"- Mark Twain
This is a quote that I've always loved. Not only because of the sailing reference, but also because Mark Twain has a way of speaking to the common man with vivid images. I do not know quite how this one will translate so I'm getting a little help from google...forgive me if it's not the best.
These past two days we've been busy working on our notebooks for our Ethics class like crazy so we've had to skip out on a few things that Rocio and Pau suggested, but hopefully we'll be able to make up for that later. Also I've been trying to figure out how to add links to the sidebar, but for those who have asked here is:
On a more exciting note, beginning yesterday and lasting until tomorrow afternoon, the University has been playing host to The 3rd Manufacturing Engineering Society International Conference. See! It's official!
But this is a pretty neat thing to be having while we're here. Here are links to a general description of the conference and the conference's website if you'd like to learn more about it. Professor Schmid was the opening lecture, which many of us attended;
Unfortunately I didn't make it into the picture, I was sitting to the left in the picture (I swear!) but Miguel said that once things are only slight less insane (considering the number of things that he seems to do here, I guess I can forgive him!) he'll send along a few pictures that I can put up later. The reason that we are wearing headphones is to translate the opening speeches by the mayor and other prominent citizens of Alcoy.
Another plus to having "the author of the second most famous author of a manufacturing textbook" as professor is that he is that he has lots of friends at this conference. So long story short, we had the opportunity to have a lecture from Professor Jack Jeswiet from Queens University this morning on basically the information that he is going to present at the conference (although probably somewhat dumbed down for us considering we don't have nearly comparable technical knowledge as the people attending the conference) on calculating carbon footprints and implications of energy use.For those who know of my interests, I'm sure that you can image how neat that was for me. For those who do not, I have two main interests that I would like to pursue in engineering:
1) The viability of taking existing technology in terms of energy and making it more viable for economically developing countries (and therefore, also renewable/alternative/implications of existing energy technologies. That was one of the reasons that coming to Spain was so attractive to me: wind technology! Speaking of which this is more information on the wind farm we visited and the company that runs it (I meant to put the info up last week, sorry) and
2) The aerospace aspect of engineering in the expression of fluid dynamics, in particular air flow (anything from cars to NASA...I was a wannabe astronaut as a kid and went to Space Camp three times), although we'll see if I'm so intrigued with this after taking fluid dynamics next semester.
So long story short, I was pretty excited to have had the opportunity to hear a lecture from someone who is so prominent in his field. The other lecture that I went to this afternoon was by Professor Thomas R. Kurfess from Clemson University (there is a link to his website from the school site I linked to). He is the Chair in Manufacturing for BMW and I believe he said he was based in Greensboro, NC although I believe the the manufacturing plant is in Spartanburg, SC so I probably misunderstood. Long and short, I'm sure Dad is intrigued by this point :). He gave a lecture on the Direction of Inspection (he does a lot inspection for companies), which presented a lot of information on the everything from the wear on manufacturing parts to methods of testing at the BMW plant.
So that was a pretty neat thing to have the opportunity to see as break on working on the notebook.Sounds like from the brief emails that I've gotten from mom, things are really starting to pull together as far as planning for our travels in June, which is pretty exciting! Juan and Rosa came to Alcoy yesterday to go over some documentation and have me sign some papers for the bank, but I hope that we do get the chance to spend some time in Alicante this weekend, it sounds like the festival if going to be great!
"Veinte años a partir de ahora le será más decepcionado por las cosas que no hiciste que por las que no hacer. Así que fuera de la bowlines. Navega lejos del puerto seguro. Captura los vientos alisios en sus velas. Explorar. Soñar. Descubre" -Mark Twain
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
"Todo lo que no es oro brillo no todos los que vagan están perdidos." J.R.R. Tolkien
Qué bonito es no hacer nada y luego descansar después. -Spanish Proverb.
Ok, sorry sorry! I know that I haven't written anything for about a week, but I have good reason, it's been ridiculously busy!Thursday we had class in the morning and then caught a bus at 3:30 to Valencia. We meant to take a train shortly thereafter to get to Barcelona, but since it takes about three 3x the amount of time it should for our group to go anywhere (because there are so many of us) we skipped the stress and decided to take a break in Valencia and grab some food. Joe, Kathryn, Priscilla, Bill, Betty and I walked all the way to the square in front of the Cathedral because I really wanted to get some chocolate and churros a few other people had been raging about how ridiculously good they were there. And I was completely satisfied, they were great! Definitely worth the walk over :)
After that we caught a 8:20 train to Barcelona and were able to find the hostal with only about 10 minutes of walking in the wrong direction (which actually truly is not that bad for us!). We checked in and it turned out that we had to all pay up front for the 4 days in cash, and that we were going to be in two different buildings, which was frustratings, but it worked out alright. The hostals weren't that terrible, but after the last one that we had stayed in I think there certainly were some unreasonably high expectations for this one. Ah well, such as life. We all survived just fine :) And we made some friends with the neighbors staying in the same flat. The night was saved by finding a decently priced dinner, which turned out to be pretty good with some fantastic sangria.
The next day we started out early after some breakfast at the hostal. First we headed to the Picasso Museum since we figured that it would be a good way to ease into things after a day of travel. We weren't able to take pictures, but we were able to negotiate a group price. To see some pictures from the museum visit here. One of the things that is neat about Barcelona is the artistic history. It is most famous for the work that Picasso and Gaudi did throughout the city, as both spent much time there.
After the visit at the Picasso museum we walked to the Church of Santa Maria which was known for being constructed by ship builders. Ship captains would put models of their ships at the feet of Mary at the high altar to ask for a safe travel. The other thing that is remarkable about this church is the columnns shown below. Gaudi used to visit here and the columns, which almost have almost a nature-like aspect to them, inspired Gaudi in later works.
After a quick lunch we headed to the Sagrada Familia which was/is Gaudi's most famous work. It is a church that Gaudi designed but died while still working on it. There is some controversy over continued construction of the church since most of Gaudi's designs were destroyed in the Spanish Civil War, but Barcelona has decided that it is something that needs to be done. I personally have to agree though I know that the building has come on and off, but though unfinished it had some of the most interesting and intriguing architecture that we've seen on the trip so far. Below is the Passion facade which was completed recently (and was not designed by Gaudi). If you follow the progression of pictures in a reverse "Z" starting at the bottom left of the picture it shows Jesus's life ending in the figure perched on the bridge that is meant to portray Jesus's spirt ascending into heaven.
The next two pictures are from the interior of the church (or the Nave), the most unfinished section of the church. Most of this was covered in scaffolding so we couldn't see that much, but the size was still impressive. All the white windows have plans to be changed to stained glass in the future.
The ceiling:
The nativity facade on the opposite side of the church from the passion facade. This side was completely designed and finished by Gaudi first. Part of the purpose of it was to inspire investors to continue funding since Gaudi knew that it would be a challenge to have consistant funds for the building of such an extravagant church.
More work that was finished on the church. We had to pay 2.50 euro to go to the top of the tower, but I think it was worth it, we got to see many other parts of the church that we otherwise would not have noticed.
Look how high up we are! Notice the shadow on the ground :) 
After the Sagrada Familia we headed over to Parc Guell which is a park which was originally designed to be a residential housing district for the upper classs. Designed by Gaudi it is quite extravagant and intriguing. It didn't end up being sucessful as an elite neighborhood because it was so far away for the inner social circles. Main entrance:
Part of one of the side walks:
On the ceiling in an area with many columns, shown below:
The girls! We're sitting on the famous bench that Gaudi designed. It wraps all the way around a large open area and is completely covered in mosaics.
The boys as well:
The view:
After Parc Guell everyone was pretty tired. We headed back towards the hostal after getting some information for the traveler's center and walked part of Las Ramblas. The building that I stayed in was right on Las Ramblas (one of the main streets of Barcelona. The best shopping is at one end, the port at the other), which made for a nice view, though it was somewhat loud at times. We grabbed some food and then ended up going out for a bit. I actually left early and headed to bed after our first stop, I was tired!Saturday we woke up and headed out on a Barri Gotic walk, which is an area of the city. After seeing a few churches we stopped by the Cathedral, which was very neat. It has an enclosed courtyard attached to the church, and is home to 13 geese. The geese were once used a cheap "burgler alarm" for the monks, and as tradition, still live there today. I didn't get great pictures, but to see some more, and for more information visit here.
The outer courtyard:
The inner Cathedral
The geese! 
After seeing the Cathedral we headed to Camp Nou,
which is the stadium that FCBarcelona plays at. Unfortunately there will be a U2 concert there on July 4th so they were building the stage on the field while we were there, but it was still pretty neat. I went into it excited, but not expecting much, but the tour was fantastic. We got to walk almost right up the the field
and see everything from the chapel, the press box 
to the presidential seats. The tour ended in the museum.After spending some time in the museum, and a thorough inspection of the store,
we headed back towards the inner city to see some more of Gaudi's work. Casa Mila is one of his most famous, but we also go to see a few other's on a guided tour by Rick Steve's.
After a short nap and dinner we ended up having a mini-fiesta in our room with our new-found neighbors (there were Americans, a few English and some Italians) and basically just had a good time all-around, and headed to a dance club.The next morning we went to church at the Cathedral and while some spent some time sleeping and shopping, the rest headed to see Montjuic. We walked to the port (yay!)
and then took a Gondola 
up to the Montuic area. 
While we didn't go see the castle, we did go see the Olympic Stadium
and the Catalan Art Museum. 
We made good use of the grass nearby and took a 20 minute nap since it was so ridiculously hot out. After that, and a short metro ride, we went to see a bull fight!The bull fight was intense....fascinating...and a little confusing. Long story short, 3 matadors fight two bulls each, which ends up in the bull getting killed. If you'd like to know more about bull fights, this is the wiki opinion.
By the time the bull fight was over we were starving, but managed to find a Dominoes and so were quite pleased with ourselves. We were going to take the metro to a club that we had heard about, but found out the metro was closed. So after a short night we all crashed and caught up on a bit of sleep.Monday morning we all slept in a bit and spent some time trinket shopping before spending the rest of the day taking the train back to Alcoy. (We even did some homework on the way :p) Rocio and Pau were nice enough to delay dinner for us, so we were lucky enough to have food to greet us so we were all happy.
Today class was moved until the afternoon so we all (for the most part) caught up on some sleep and worked on our Notebooks all day until class. After some dinner, El Internado and some intense catchup on email, SLEEP!
"All that is gold does not glitter not all those who wander are lost." J.R.R. Tolkien
How beautiful it is to do nothing and then rest afterwards. -Spanish Proverb
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