Beginning of 2012!

Sorry I'm still a little behind, working to get up to date soon!

I rang in the new year (almost) in typical madrileña fashion.  I decided to avoid the Puerta del Sol, which is Madrid's version of Times Square...so many people around that it is impossible to hear the clock strike 12 was not my thing, so instead I went with my roommate to her friend's apartment and celebrated New Years there.  At the strike of midnight, in Spanish tradition, we ate 12 grapes, at each strike of the clock.  This is a tradition all over Spain, and it has a funny origin. In the 1900s, there was an overproduction of grapes in Valencia, Spain, and in order to avoid losing a great deal of money, the country somehow affiliated 12 grapes with the New Year.  Now, almost everyone eats grapes. 7 hours after toasting the New Year with champagne, we took the metro back to our apartment. I rolled into bed around 8:15 in the morning...

January 2nd I took off for my next adventure--Barcelona and Berlin. One of my New Years resolutions (in addition to cooking more and planning for private lessons) is to take more pictures with people in them.  Unfortunately, that did not happen for this trip.  Oh well, next time...

The beautiful weather in Barcelona was a nice change from the last time I was there. Instead of snow, it was in the 60s and beautiful.  We did a ton of walking all over the city. The architecture is beautiful, and so different throughout different parts of the city. We saw a lot of Gaudi, but also a lot of other more modern buildings by other famous architects.  I didn't know much about most of the things we saw, but the friend I went with studies architecture, so I learned...

We went inside the Sagrada Familia, and I was pleasantly surprised.  I had heard that the outside was cool, but the inside not worth it, but we decided to go anyway. The inside was beautiful and bright and just very interesting.  I felt like it was Alice in Wonderland and outer space and more, all combined into one place. The church has been a work in progress for so many years, but its supposed to be finished by 2030 I think...I wonder what will happen once it's actually done!

Per usual, I enjoyed the food.  We visited 'La Boqueria', the famous market there, about 3 times, sometimes to eat, and sometimes just to walk around and take pictures.  Since I've been in Spain, I've gone to markets a lot more.  There are a couple big ones in Madrid, but I usually frequent smaller ones to buy fresh fruit and vegetables.  My favorite place we went to eat was a place called "Champañería. It was an extremely crowded bar where you buy cheap bottles of champagne and sandwiches.  We bought a bottle of champagne for less than $4, and ate delicious sandwiches all between $2-5 dollars. There were parts of the menu we couldn't read because they were in Catalan and not Spanish, so we just picked random things off the menu. Everything we ate was delicious though.

We also made it to a FC Barcelona football (soccer) game! Our hostel was able to get us cheap tickets to the game and it was an incredible experience. The stadium was huge and although we were waaaay up top, we could still see everything. The game was really fun, and Barcelona won, which was a plus (though not much of a surprise).  I like Barcelona and Madrid, (although I know that is not allowed, think Yankees and Red Sox fan...) though since I'm living in Madrid, they are the ones I root for when I'm out in public...

Parque Guell

Barcelona Pavilion-very important architecturally 

Sagrada Familia 

After a busy 3 days, we were off to Berlin! I had never been there, but had heard from many people that it was a great city.  I really enjoyed it. Its an extremely fascinating city because it has so many different parts. Of course it's an extremely important city historically, and we visited the important historical monuments but it also has a really cool culture.

Our first day we went on a free walking tour, and spent almost 4 hours walking all over East Berlin, learning all about the history and culture, especially during and post WWII.  It was all very powerful.  We visited the 'Memorial of Murdered Jews', the site of Hitler's bunker (unmarked), many parts of the Berlin wall, the Jewish Museum, and many other places.

I found the whole experience pretty surreal. From growing up and throughout all of my schooling, I have learned about the Holocaust and WWII.  Berlin was this place where so many awful things happened, and to be seeing it all in person was pretty crazy.  What else amazed me was the fact that some of what happened was so recent.  I know that there are still terrible things happening in so many parts of the world, but it's hard to believe that I was alive (though very little) when guards in Germany were being told to shoot to kill those trying to cross the border. This was happening just a little over 20 years ago.

We went out a couple of times, and there are some really cool areas. I like finding the little streets with all of the small bars. I found it so funny that you could go to a convenient store, buy a beer and they had a bottle opener right there so you could drink it on the street. And I thought St. Louis with all of its liquor in the grocery store was exciting...

A morning trip to the Reichstag, and I was back on my way to Madrid...the end of my vacation from my vacation and back to 'real life'.

The 'Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe' 

In the Reichstag

I'm Back!

Hello everyone! So sorry it's been a while... December was an incredibly busy month, and even though I've pretty much settled back into my routine, I found it very difficult to discipline myself into writing again.  BUT I'm here, and I have a lot to share! I know this post seems very long, but it's mostly pictures!

With only 11 full days of school in December  (thanks to long weekends and holidays) and a two week Christmas break, I took advantage and did a lot of traveling. In the beginning of the month, I traveled to Porto, Portugal and Rome. In Porto we drank a lot of wine, tried some Sherry (not my favorite I have to say), ate a lot of Cod (their specialty), looked at a lot of tile, visited churches, and walked at the waterfront. The weather was beautiful and the town was small but charming.

Next up, Rome, where I ate my weight in pizza, pasta, and gelato. With the help of personalized lists from friends and family, every meal we ate was delicious! One night, we were seated at a table of 8, with 3 other couples. We all spoke different languages-French, Italian, and possibly German. While we didn't mind, and found the whole situation pretty funny, it probably wasn't their idea of a romantic dinner...

With only 3 full days, we woke up early, walked around a ton, and by the end of the night were absolutely exhausted that I slept extremely well in our hostel, in the top bunk for that matter.  We visited the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Gardens, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Vatican and probably more. We navigated our way around the city using all different types of public transportation, soliciting help from bus drivers, bus-riders, street vendors, other pedestrians, and more, using a combination of Spanish, English, a few Italian words, and miming. The people in Italy were all extremely nice and understanding. Some gave us their map, others walked us to our destination.  All in all, a wonderful (and delicious) adventure!

My family visited me during Abby's winter break, and for the first few days I got to be the tour-guide in Madrid. My dad has told me he is now entrusting all future trip planning to me...not sure if I am up to the task just yet, though aside from some minor complications (for example, the restaurant I booked for Christmas Eve, the one night when everything is closed, ended up being closed) I think I did a good job for those 3 days.  Maybe trip planning is in my future?

Templo de Debod- An Egyptian Temple in the center of the city!

Palacio Real

                                   

Parque Retiro

At our last-minute Christmas Eve Dinner

After 3 days in Madrid, we set off Christmas morning for Paris! This was my first time being there and it was beautiful.  We spent about four and a half days there, and all of them were packed.  Of course, we ate a lot of great food (what would a Shuster trip be if it didn't revolve around food?). From a restaurant that only served steak and french fries, escargot, fondue and too many crepes to count (Nutella, banana and sometimes coconut, yummmm) we were never hungry. The restaurants were great, but I was a big fan of the street food. Especially since we were there during the holidays, there were a lot of Christmas markets. We hit many of the major museums, and I think my favorite was L'Orangerie (with the water Lillies) or the D'orsay. The Louve had a lot of great work, but it was huge and crowded and a little bit overwhelming. We of course went to the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, saw many stained glass windows and churches.  One of my favorite things we did was wander through the different neighborhoods of Monmartre and Marais. Wandering and getting lost is one of the best ways to get to know a city.

(Sorry in advance for the multiple Eiffel Tower pictures...though this is just a small fraction of the ones I have on my camera, oops!)

So this is getting too long already, so I'm going to stop here.  Sorry if this lacked detail or seemed a bit rushed...the next posts will be better!  Next up, the beginning of 2012! New Years, Barcelona, Berlin and more!  And I promise it won't take me over a month to write again...