Spring Break Part 2: Firenze

I had been to Florence twice before in my life. I went once between 10th grade and 11th grade with my family, and it was wonderful- everyone spoke English, we saw wonderful art, we were able to walk everywhere, we ate great food. Then I went back with my friends when I studied abroad in Perugia, Italy (about an hour and a half south), and I just wasn't very impressed. I didn't get to speak Italian there because it was too touristy, the quality of the food I ate wasn't as good as Perugia's, the gelato overpriced, the night life non-existant, and I felt like I had already seen all of the city and its artwork (don't get me wrong, the David, Duomo, Pitti Palace and all that are amazing and I could spend hours looking at them, but I wanted something new to look at, too). In comparison to Rome, which I have found to be tourist-friendly, very Italian, and novel everytime, Florence was too small, overpriced, and too touristy. Needless to say, I had low expectations for my Spring Break trip to Florence. I had no idea what was coming.

You may be wondering why I decided to go to Florence if I had such low expecations. Well, one of my best friends, Andrea (roommate from TCU), is studying there, and Devin has seven friends from Penn State studying there who let us crash in their apartment. Turns out, life in Florence is a million times better if you can get off the beaten path a little bit. The Penn State girls' apartment was literally right next to the Duomo.

View from the top of the Duomo- we stayed in the yellow building on the bottom left!

I don't care if you've seen the Duomo a billion times, with its white, green and rose facade and soaring dome, its stunning every time. It also happens to be right in the heart of Florence, and a two minute walk away from some of the best gelato in Florence at a place called GROM (weird name, great icecream).



After flying over what I'm pretty sure were the Italian Alps as well as the beautiful Tuscan countryside, we arrived at the Florence airport (Leonardo DaVinci) in the late afternoon. We did some wandering for a bit to figure out where the train was that would take us to Santa Maria Novella train station in the heart of Florence. Then we figured out that there wasn't one, and that we could either take a bus for 4euros to Santa Maria Novella or take that same bus to the train station that would take us to Santa Maria Novella. We did the first, and it worked out beautifully. Since I've been to Florence a few times, I knew the way from Santa Maria Novella to Il Duomo (look for the big red dome and walk towards it), where we were staying. The Penn State girls had two really cozy/homey apartments, one on top of the other. They were all really nice and excited to show us around that evening and give us a place to stay. The one drawback to their apartment was their internet connection, which was incredibly slow. After they left for Barcelona the next day, the speed got a little better, but not much. I couldn't believe they were paying (a fair amount) extra for it in addition to their program fees. Aah the beauty of a homestay in the 17th arrondissement!

That night the Penn State girls took us to dinner around 9:30pm at a pretty well-known Florentinian restaurant called Acqua al 2 (the 2 is pronounced doo-ay). I was really happy to go there because my friend Brittany, with whom I studied abroad in Perugia, had tried to get everyone to go there when we visited Florence during our study abroad time (sadly, almost everyone opted for what they thought would be a cheaper dinner, only to find out that we spent almost as much as they did for not very good food). I ordered the Assaggio di Primi (a sample of first course pasta dishes), meaning I got to have a decent helping of five different delicious pasta dishes like Maccheroni alla Vodka (pink sauce), Fusilli Cord agli Spinaci (incredible spinach sauce), something spicy, gnocchi, and something else that I don't remember at the moment. Every pasta that came out was delicious, and it was a really good way to not have to choose from the never-ending list of pastas. I also got the Assaggio di Dolci (a sample of desserts). Since we were there at the end of the night, they had run out of the panna cotta and the tiramisu, so I made sure they gave me extra big helpings of the flourless chocolate cake and (I think it was) the Italian cheesecake. Either way, I definitely got my money's worth, because I got heaping helpings of really tasty dolci fatti in casa (homemade desserts). This place was really well priced- 12euros for the Assaggio di Primi and I think 4.50euros for the Assaggio di Dolci- for being such a nice place. I didn't get any of the Secondi Piatti (what we call entrées in the US) because the pasta was enough, but apparently there is a really good blueberry steak, and I also tasted someone's balsamic steak that was perfect. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone going to Florence, or San Diego, for that matter, since they have opened up a restaurant in downtown San Diego (which I plan on going to).

It just so happens that Andrea lives literally across the street from Acqua al 2, so while we were waiting to sit down, I went and saw her and her place. I buzzed her apartment and she stuck her head out the 4th floor window and shouted "Ellie!!" and we ran up/down the stairs to meet each other. It was really nice to see the familiar face of a best friend from home. She was making dinner for herself, so she came and met us down in the basement of Acqua al 2 where we were eating after dinner. The Penn State girls had some place they wanted to take Devin, and Nikki went with them. I decided to go with Andrea because, aside from the fact that she's a good friend of mine, she is a lot more into Italian culture and language than the Penn State girls, and that's right up my alley.

Andrea took me to see a Beatles cover band that plays every Tuesday night at a club/lounge called Be Bop. It was definitely a student hang out, but there was such a mix of students there- Italian, American, Hispanic, etc. Andrea is Mexican, and she has made friends with a couple of girls from Colombia (I think), and all three are very good at Italian, so I heard a lot of Spanish and Italian that evening, which was fine by me. The cover band was, well, a cover band. We had fun dancing to a mix of Beatles songs as well as some Green Day and Rolling Stones, among others. At one point, a middle-aged American couple walked in. I think they were expecting to find a joint filled with people their age reminiscing about the good old days :) or something- they seemed a little out of place amongst a whole bunch of college students. But I was happy to see them decide to stick it out and actually really get into the music they had found. We heard some good ol' Revolution, Can't Buy Me Love, and Hey Jude, so I was happy.

Then Andrea and her friends and I went to this club called Full Up because we were supposed to meet my friends from Paris and the Penn State girls there. We didn't stay there all that long because I didn't want to stay up really late and be tired for the next day. So around 2am, we left Full Up and Andrea led our little group to a tiny side street. When we got to the alley (off of Via de' Neri, after some googling), absolutely nothing was happening or lit up, so Andrea thought she had taken a wrong turn. But a minute later, a few men on scooters pulled up and lifted a metal gate to reveal a little baking warehouse known as the "Secret Bakery": the bakery that gets started in the wee hours of the morning to make most of the pastries found in the bars and bakeries around Florence. With no counter, nor cash register, nor greeter, this was definitely not retail.

Andrea picking out our pastries at the "Secret Bakery"

The bakers barely addressed us, but they weren't mean at all. They just had a job to do. Andrea picked out a couple of chocolate croissants, we paid our 80-ish euro cents, and then we sat down on the curb to enjoy our treats. This was the warmest, most meltiest croissant I have ever had. Parisian pain au chocolat has a hard chocolate center, but the chocolate in this pastry was more like the consistancy of warm nutella. Aaah it was wonderful! After an American couple poked their heads out of their apartment and told us to pipe down, we went home to our respective (and very close) sleeping quarters. A great beginning.

Nikki, Devin and I woke up to a beautiful sunny day. We decided it was a perfect day to climb Il Duomo.

Brunelleschi's Duomo

But first, a walk around Florence and lunch were in order. We walked through the ever-extending market filled with leather jackets, purses, and wallets, as well as touristy trinkets and ceramics, all the way to Il Mercato Centrale, a building which houses a gigantic food market.

A pasta and wine (and other things) stand in Il Mercato Centrale

We had a lot of fun browsing through things, and Nikki made it her goal to leave Florence with a leather jacket. We headed over to a restaurant that the Penn State girls had recommended called Trattoria Zàzà, right near the Mercato Centrale. We sat on the covered patio in the sun (because at the time, it was a little cool, but by the end it was a little too warm), above which were strung colorful lights. I'm sure ZàZà is a really fun and colorful place to be at night. I ate a really delicious plate of tagliatelle al cinghiale (very wide and thin flat pasta with ground boar sausage) that I could go for at this very moment. Eat at this place, too.

Trattoria ZàZà for lunch

Next it was off to see the Duomo. Devin and I had both seen it before, but Nikki had never been to Italy before, so we decided to go in on the ground level and climb it. I had actually never entered the church on the ground level as far as I recall, so that was a new experience that I really liked (plus it was free, so why not?). Devin's shoulders, unfortunately, weren't covered, so she couldn't go enter the sanctuary. Nikki and I quickly looked around, and then we all got in line to start our ascent to the top of the dome.

Brunelleschi's Dome from a different perspective

On our way home we decided to stop for the first time at GROM for gelato. Although there was a line out the door, it didn't take long for us to get up to the counter so we could order our crema di GROM (cream with random chocolaty things mixed in- really good) with whatever other flavors we so desired. I got crema di GROM with bacio (hazelnut chocolate) and panna montata (whipped cream- but better than you can imagine). Then Andrea arrived. I got back in line with her and got another helping, but this time it was limone e fragola (lemon and strawberry). I got this combo a lot on hot days in Perugia, and this was all that small-town gelato flavor and maybe more. It was fantastic. Devin, Nikki and Andrea all tried it and subsequently got it during future visits to GROM. Lemon and strawberry just go so well together (in fact, my favorite Sonic drink is the Lemon Berry Cream Slush).

Interesting graffiti I saw between GROM and the apartment

Even more interesting graffiti

The Penn State girls left soon after we got back from GROM, so we had the apartment (and faster internet) to ourselves for the afternoon. After her classes were over for the day, Andrea came over to lead us on a walk up to the Piazza Michelangelo to watch the sunset. On our way, we passed by the beautiful Basilica di Santa Croce, where Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Galileo and Rossini are buried.

La Basilica di Santa Croce (Basilica of the Holy Cross)

Then we crossed il Ponte alle Grazie (the Bridge of Thanks) over the Arno river, just downstream from the Ponte Vecchio, so we had a wonderful view.

Il Ponte Vecchio (the old bridge)

Any good sunset viewing spot requires a little effort; we had a pretty good number of stairs to climb. But Andrea said that some people call what we did a "hike." I cannot agree with that, because it was really pleasant and really easy. Not like much of the hiking I've done in my life.

Climbing the stairs up to Piazza Michelangelo to watch the sun go down

No matter the level of difficulty (or lack thereof), the journey to Piazza Michelangelo was worth it. We arrived right as the sun began to light up the sky. It wasn't particularly crowded, either, but we did manage to bump into a fellow IES Paris student named Alex, a guy who was taking in Florence on his own for the evening before his girlfriend arrived from Rouen. We grabbed some plastic cups from the vendor nearby and passed around the bottle of chianti Andrea had brought. Sitting on steps above the city in (a reproduction of the) David's presence drinking chianti made me feel really Italian. I swear an Italian would sit on any step and drink wine all the time if he could. At least, that's what the Perugini do.

The beautiful sunset above Florence from the Piazza Michelangelo (pictures are never as good as the real thing- you should just go there yourself!)

After sunset, we walked back down the hill and crossed back over the river to go to dinner at a place that everyone called Il Gatto, but which I think is officially called Osteria del Gatto e la Volpe (The Cat and the Fox, like the ones in Pinocchio), on Via Ghibellina. Andrea had made reservations for us earlier in the day, but they weren't particularly necessary for this time of year. Our waiter was from somewhere like Kosovo (I can't really remember), but he had a nearly perfect American accent, and he was wearing a Boston Redsox hat. I thought he was part American at first. I asked him what his favorite pizza was and he said that it wasn't on the menu, but that he could probably get the kitchen to make it for me. I told him to do it, and he brought out a fabulous pizza covered in dry parma ham, arugala, mozzarella, and something else. It was exactly what I wanted, and I didn't even know it. He told us after dinner that he could have added chili peppers or something like that, which I would have gotten and I know Andrea would have wanted, but oh well. We had a great pizza. Although Il Gatto is a nice, pleasant, clean place, the prices there are almost ridiculousy cheap. They had a full size margarita pizza for 4euros, and they didn't mind people sharing. I paid a little more for mine- like 11euros- but it was worth it. I would definitely recommend this place.

My pizza, made especially for me courtesy of our waiter- sooo good!

On Thursday, we awoke to grey skies and imminent rain- we were so happy we had done the Duomo and the sunset at Piazza Michelangelo the day before. We went over to the Mercato Centrale to pick up lunch and some final souvenirs. Just outside the doors of the Mercato Centrale, Nikki found her ideal jacket at a stand in the Mercato San Lorenzo. We followed the vendor to the official store and I started chatting with him in Italian about Paris and Florence and all that. I think he was impressed with that. He proceeded to tell us that the jacket Nikki wanted was originally something outrageous, like 260euros or something, because it was "baby lamb skin" (apparently baby lamb skin is better than one year-old lamb skin?). But since Nikki was a student, he said he would lower it to 130euros. We were prepared to bargain. Nikki told the guy she had been in the same store the day before and had picked out an almost identical jacket that the guy was going to give her for 110 (which was all true), so we got the vendor to finally lower his price a little more. He wasn't too happy about it, but whatever. Nikki was :)

Then we went to the Accademia to see Michelangelo's Il Davide. The wait was about 15 minutes. Lines can be so unpredictable. One time I waited in that line for an hour and a half. If you go in the summer, make reservations. I think it's a few euros more, but just in case. After that we walked over to the Ponte Vecchio to actually walk across it and take in all the jewelry in the windows of the shops. Nikki and Devin went fairly quickly, but Andrea and I took our time and picked out our favorite piece of jewelry in every window. I loved not having to be anywhere, so I was happy to go at my own pace in the company of such a good friend.

The Ponte Vecchio during the (gray) day

We had thought about going to dinner that night at a place called Il Giostra that the Penn State girls had recommended to us. We walked by it to make reservations and look at their menu, but it was totally closed up. We had been told that it was a little pricier than Acqua al 2, so we didn't really want to go there without knowing what the menu was. Plus, this was our last meal of Spring Break, and we were all kind of low on funds, so we decided to go back to a place we knew and really really liked. I ordered the same Assagi, but they were different because the chef picks out new pastas every night. Definitely worth it.

During a break at the apartment that last full day, Devin had figured out that her flight (she booked it after Nikki and I did so it was supposed to leave a few hours before ours from Leonardo DaVinci) had been moved to the Pisa Airport. We were all really shocked at this- we had booked on AirFrance to avoid such (last minute) things. It meant that Devin had to catch a bus from Santa Maria Novella train station to get to Pisa, which is about an hour away from Florence. She made it fine, but I think this really stressed her out. I'm just really glad she checked when she did, or else she would have been toast. Nikki and my flight wasn't changed at all- we were still scheduled to leave from Leonardo DaVinci around 4pm. We found out when we got to the airport why everything was in disarray; there was a baggage handlers' strike that lasted until 4pm that day. We thought we had escaped the strikes by leaving France, but no! The Italians love to strike as well. What it meant for us was that we couldn't give our checked luggage to the people at the desk until 4pm exactly, so we had to just go sit somewhere outside of security with our bags for a couple of hours, and our flight was pushed back about half an hour. Not a big deal for us. But we sat next to a nice middle-aged couple from Birmingham (or somewhere like that), England, who were traveling with their elderly mothers. Because of their delayed flight, they had missed their connection in Zurich to get back that evening. They were going to have to either spend the night in Zurich (on the airline's bill, because European airlines don't fault customers for strikes) or pay a lot of extra money to connect through Amsterdam and get in ridiculously late. I felt sorry for them, but I loved how the man was just throwing these wonderful names of cities around like nothing. I mean, I'll connect through Atlanta or Pheonix or what have you, but those are American cities, not Zurich or Amsterdam. Crazy. Anyway, it all turned out fine, and Nikki and I got back to France safely.

Evidence of Lo Sciopero (the strike)

New experience on the plane: eating a tuna sandwich. I have never been a canned tuna fan at all. But for some reason or other, the ham sandwich didn't sound good- too dry or too hammy or something. I decided to go for the tuna with a glass of white wine, and I was very satisfied. I don't know if I'll ever be able to actually buy a can of tuna and eat it or anything (the smell overwhelms me), but at least I know I can eat it at a potluck or up at Taylor's grandparents' house. I'm growing every day here!

À bientôt, j'espère (Soon, I hope),
Ellie

Spring Break Part 1: Barthelona, Ethpaña

I skipped class for the first time on Thursday, April 9th to make it to the airport for my 2:30pm flight to Barcelona. I met my friends, Devin and Nikki, at Charles de Gaulle Airport, ate a macaron (becoming a theme here), and got really excited about 6 days in the sun and on the beach. Leaving Charles de Gaulle, we flew over Paris, so I got to see the Eiffel Tower from the sky, as well as Ile-de-la-Cité (where Notre Dame is), Ile-St-Louis (the other island in the Seine), L'Arc de la Defénse and Les Invalides.

The view of Paris from the sky

The view of Barcelona from the sky

We arrived to a sunny, warm Barcelona, where none of us could speak the language. We asked in super broken Spanish "donde esta el treno?" to get to the train that would take us into the city and to our hostel. Once we found the train, we realized we didn't know how to read the metro map or read the Spanish/Catalan to buy the tickets. Luckily, some Americans living in Amsterdam helped us out as much as they could, and we got on the train with them (young newlyweds--she was transferred to Amsterdam right after they got married less than a year ago). Somehow, we had gotten on a train that went directly to our hostel (I asked "questo treno va a Clot [our metro stop]?" to which I got "si" and lots of other things, and then I said "No hablo espanol?" in question form :). The first thing we saw when we exited the metro station was a churreria- a churro stand. So yes, the first thing we did was buy and eat fresh Spanish churros. They were totally worth the 1.20 euros I paid for them that time and the two other times we went back.

We stopped to eat churros at the churreria right outside of our metro station with all of our luggage

Spanish churros are ten times better than Taco Bell/amusement park churros. They crank dough out of a machine and fry them right there. A traditional way to eat them is to dunk them in thick hot chocolate, but we never found the chocolate.

For the first three nights we stayed at a hostel called Urbany, which was about a half hour walk/a few metro stops away from the center of town, but it was such a nice hostel that it ended up being totally worth it. The outside was very modern looking, the rooms were all furnished with new Ikea furniture, and every room had it's own nice bathroom. The beds were really comfortable, and each one had its own reading light and plug set up. We also each had individual electronically-locked lockers. Urbany had access to a gym and a lap pool, it had an adequate free breakfast, and it offered really cheap beer, sangria and wine every night from 8pm to 1am (like 1 euro for 25l of beer). We stayed in a 6-bed room. The first two nights we were there, the other two people were two girls from somewhere like Indiana or something. We didn't interact with them that much because one had thrown up in the bathroom and passed out in the fetal position on her bed before we got home the first night (the nice bathroom was thereafter ruined for us), and the other one hadn't taken care of her friend and had stayed out late partying. Luckily, she didn't throw up. Then they got up really early to go sightseeing (poor hungover throw up girl). The last night we were there, two French guys had their stuff in our room (I know they were French because I looked at their luggage tags), but they didn't come home until 7am, and then only one of them actually stayed in our room. So all in all, we were pretty much alone, which was fine by us. And Urbany did have a maid service, so the throw up was pretty much, though not all the way, cleaned up the next day. Our last night at Urbany they had a "paella party," where they gave you free paella if you bought a drink. So we bought our dollar drinks and got a free mixture of rice and seafood that was fresh out of the oven and that was delicious! It was even more tasty because it was 1 euro :). Even though Urbany was a little out of the way, there was one landmark that was very close, and we could see it from our window: the Torre Agbar, a skyscraper covered in LEDs that very much resembled a bullet, or other more phallic things. We never really figured out its significance, but it was fun to look at and make fun of.

The Torre Agbar

Our first evening we went for a walk from our hostel to Passeig de Gracia, which, along with La Rambla (pronounced Las Ramblas), is a main thoroughfare with a lot of upscale shopping and some Gaudi architecture. The Gaudi architecture made me think of mermaids, but in fact the Casa Battló (shown below) was apparently inspired by the human skeleton. I guess I need to warn everyone here that we did not do any historical or tourist research before going to Barcelona--we simply arrived and did almost everything impromtu.

Gaudi's Casa Batlló on Passeig de Gracia (aka the Mermaid Place)

On our way to Passeig de Gracia, we saw what we think was a bullfighting ring (it advertised a bullfight from a few days before), but that confused us since we had been told that there is no bullfighting in Barcelona. We also caught our first glimpse of the Sagrada Famila, Gaudi's famous church that is still being constructed after over 100 years. We had some sangria and then found ourselves a tapas place for dinner.

The next day, Good Friday, we realized that we had been fooled by the sunny weather from the day before. The rain started coming down, and it wouldn't let up until Sunday night. We decided to try to find a Mexican food restaurant that had been recommended to us. We botched that attempt and ended up at a little hole in the wall tapas place that wasn't awesome, but it wasn't too bad. We tried our first Spanish tortillas with potato there. Spanish tortillas are not made of corn or flour but with egg, and whatever else you order in it. It's basically like an omelet, but more like an egg pancake. It was really good! At this meal, we thought we'd go with a tortilla for each, plus four tapas. Waaaaay to much food, considering we ate the bread before (which wasn't free). We learned our lesson, and we were thereafter very conscious of ordering less than thought we should have.

My Spanish tortilla with potato, along with our other tapas (of which there were too many): olives, some kind of bean thing, meatballs in some orange sauce, and calamari

It turned out we were fairly close to La Rambla, so we headed that way and started walking down the famous crowded street. We saw all kinds of street performers. Let me tell you, these Barcelonian street performers go all out. We saw a woman dressed as a fruit stand, we saw gold centaurs that neighed, and angels with huge wings. I am pretty sure one of the silver angels we saw was a kid, so it left me wondering about child labor, but he didn't seem too put out. I appreciate all the effort that these people put into it, but at the same time street performers like that scare me a little bit. We saw a brass band dressed in maroon start up, so we followed them to a church, where they went in and the gates were promptly closed after them. I thought they were to attract people to a Good Friday service, so I was a little confused that people weren't invited into the church, but whatever. We wandered through a lot of little streets on the Gotchic Quarter side of La Rambla, and we even saw a dama wearing one of those big comb things with lace over it in her hair! There were also a lot of different stands on La Rambla selling things-- flowers, jewelry, tourist trinkets. The flowers were a little interesting...

I've never thought of cotton as a decorative plant, but then I've never seen blue roses, so what do I know?

We walked all the way down La Rambla to the statue on top of a huge pillar of our good friend Chris (topher Colombus, but we called him Chris the whole time), who was pointing the way to the New World. We took turns taking pictures pointing with surprise at the New World, as well as on the huge bronze lions that surrounded his column. We walked to the end of the pier, where there was some mall, and we watched the pier we had just been on split so that a sailboat could pass through. Back over by Chris there was a daily antique fair, where I bought some stuff that certain people will get to see in less than a month.

That evening we took the metro over the the Parc de Montjuic (the Park of the Jewish Mountain) to see the Font Màgica (Magic Fountain) that we had been told about. This was probably my favorite thing in all of Barcelona. Every Friday and Saturday nights at 7, 7:30, 8, and 8:30 (more often after April 31st I think), the fountain has shows. Music is played while the water changes shape ("water acrobatics"). After dark, the fountain lights up and changes colors and shape as the music plays. I was just in awe of it the whole time. We basically sat and watched all of the shows. The daytime music was beautiful and fun-- the Theme from Tara from Gone With the Wind, Tchaikovsky's Waltz from Sleeping Beauty, William Tell Overture, the theme from ET, the theme from Star Wars, etc. The music chosen for the after-dark light show was pretty lame--lots of bad 80s movie themes. I didn't really understand it, because it would have been really good with the ones I've already mentioned or with Disney music like my friend said she got to hear when she was there.

The Magic Fountain of Montjuic (infront of the Palau Nacional that houses the National Art Museum of Catalonia)

The after-dark light show

More of the fountain

More of the fountain (and me!)

Friday night, we found some place to eat near the fountain and headed back to the hostel to take a nap before going out. Spaniards are the weirdest-- their nights start at 2am at the earliest. Clubs don't even open until at least 1am and they don't get full until around 3. We napped from about midnight until 1:30am, forced ourselves to get back up (we didn't really feel like going out at this point, but this was really the only night we had the opportunity to "go out Spanish-style"), got ready, and started walking over to Razzmatazz, a club that was relatively close to our hostel and that was supposed to have four different clubs in it. After a little while, we started seeing a lot of women by themselves on the street in short shorts and skirts, looking like they were simply waiting. It wasn't long before we figured out they were hookers and hailed a cab (which passed us often), to take us to the club, which wasn't very far at all. We were very weirded out by all of the hookers we saw, because we weren't staying in a particularly bad area, and there was a fair amount of traffic activity in the area but nobody looked twice at these hookers. We later learned that prostitution is perfectly legal in Spain, but that pimping is not. Good for the prostitutes, but we didn't want to get too close to it. Razzmatazz was a 15euro cover charge. I don't go to a lot of clubs, but I have never paid that much to get in to those I've been to, and I hope to never pay that much again. The cover charge did include, however, a copa, which is a mixed drink with the liquor of your choice and the mixer of your choice. That still didn't really make it worth it to me, but I guess the whole clubbing-Spanish-style thing was worth it. There were in fact four clubs in one, although I couldn't really tell you the difference between them, because they were all basically playing some kind of techno or other. We all felt a little out of place because everyone at the club was dressed like they were straight out of the 80s, and we were dressed like, well, Americans. It was fun dancing with Nikki and Devin, but we didn't want to pay to check our coats and we are definitely not on the Spanish sleep cycle, so we gave up around 3:30am, just when the place was starting to fill up. While we failed to really go out Spanish-style, we can still say we gave it a shot.

When we woke up on Saturday, it was a little chilly, but the sun was out. We ate breakfast, put on our bathing suits, bought some churros, and took the metro out to the beach, where the sky was gray. We stopped at a cabana called Princesa 23 (it was the cabana version of a restaurant that our friend loves), where we had nachos, paella, and margaritas. It was so good to have nachos! And the paella (our first time) was delicious--it's a rice and seafood mixture that's just awesome. As soon as our food came, it started to rain, and there was no cover above us. Luckily, we were sitting next to two Americans (from Silicon Valley, and one goes to SMU), who were in the same boat as us, swimsuits and everything, so we laughed our way through the rainfall. We decided it just wasn't the day for the beach and started walking again. The weather wavered between sunny and rainy all day, so we got some nice pictures of us at the harbor.

That night was the paella party at our hostel. We ate that and then went to the 10pm Easter Vigil Mass at Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's Roman Catholic church that has been under construction since 1882 and will continue to be until at least 2026. The church is huge, but most of it was blocked off for construction, so we had mass in a little sectioned off area. The mass was really nice, with around seven scripture readings about the creation of Earth, Abraham, Moses, and others. We were each given candles, and they didn't have anymore English programs (wrong vocabulary, I know, but I forgot the word), so I took a French one. I was surprised at how well I was able to follow the Spanish scripture readings in the French program. Then, since Easter is, for the Catholic Church, a time for family to come together, people from different places went up and read a specific scripture in their native language. The priest pointed out all the different people from different places multiple times, so it was cool that he realized how international the mass was. But I'd say about 98% of the mass was in Spanish.

So normally if I go to mass with a friend, I'll just go up to the front during communion and, not wanting to break any rules, I'll just cross my arms and the priest will bless me. This has worked for me every time I've ever tried it. Not this time. I waited in line like everyone else, and then when my turn came, I crossed my arms. The priest took a wafer and dipped it in the (white) wine and then slowly started bringing it to my (closed) mouth. I realized that there was no stopping this guy-- 1) I didn't know enough Spanish to tell him to stop, 2) I'm scared of Catholic rules in the first place so I probably wouldn't have said anything even if it was all in English, and 3) I really didn't have time to think or do anything. So I opened my mouth and ate the transubstantiated, real body and blood of Christ. I went back to my seat completely weirded out. Nikki and Devin, both Catholic, died laughing when I told them what had just happened. Nikki explained to me that she and her friends used to make fun of the old people in her church who would stubbornly cross their arms and make the priest feed the communion to them. Basically, only super traditional old Catholics still take communion that way in her church. We came to the conclusion that the priest would wake up the next day on Easter morning, smack himself in the head, and say "I gave that heathen, Ellie Nash, communion! Forgive me, Lord, for I have sinned!" Who knows if he'll ever get into Catholic heaven. Communion or no communion, the mass was beautiful, and it was a really unique (and free, although that's not why we did it) way to see one of the most touristy sites in Barcelona. After the service, we were given some kind of Easter bread that was flat and had cinnamon and sugar all over it-yum! That evening will definitely stand out in my memory of Barcelona.

Sagrada Familia at night before the Easter Vigil Mass

On Easter Sunday we checked out of Urbany hostel and checked into our new hostel, Sea Point Hostel, which was right on la Playa de la Barceloneta (Barceloneta Beach). It was shabbier that Urbany. You had to rent your top sheet and blanket, there was no heating or ac (not a big deal at this time of year), and you had to buy a lock for the locker, but it did have free wireless, and the shower was bigger than Urbany's (although not as new). Most importantly, it was located on the beach.

We rented bikes for the day and started out towards Sagrada Familia. We bought a student pass for 11euros at Sagrada Familia that allowed us entry into the church as well as the Gaudi House and Museum in Parc Güell. Sagrada Familia is going to be awesome when it's finished, but right now there is so much under construction that it's hard to appreciate its entirety. The basement, which is where we really wanted to go based on a recommendation to see this weight system, was recently closed off, so we didn't get to see that. Also, coming from museum-packed Paris, we weren't really in the mood to listen to the audio guide or read up about the significance of every little detail (apparently there is a lot of significance). I'll do Sagrada Familia the right way the next time I go to Barcelona. Anyway, I felt like I really got a lot out of the Easter Vigil Mass, so I wasn't too disappointed. Don't get me wrong, Sagrada Familia is incredible, but we liked the mass better than the daytime visit.

The other facade of Sagrada Familia, during the day

The ceiling of Sagrada Familia (sorry this one is turned, I'll get back to it soon)

A miniature replica of the weight system in the basement that we didn't get to see

After Sagrada Familia, we continued our bike adventure to Parc Güell, designed and lived in by Gaudi. Turns out this park is on top of a hill, so it wasn't the best bike ride of our lives, but we did get to see a lot of the city we wouldn't have seen otherwise (wasn't too impressive). I guess we didn't see very much of the park, but that's because the skies opened up on us as soon as we got there. We tried to wait the rain out by grabbing some lunch at a not-so-great tapas place around the corner. The only reason this place was any good was because they had Louisiana Hot Sauce--the first spicy sauce from home I've had in three months! At the park, we saw the famous things, which included the Doric columns under the central terrace, the mosaic serpentine benches on the central terrace, the colonnaded footpath with slanting columns, the mosaic dragon fountain, and Gaudi's house (which was not designed by him). My favorite thing was probably the mosaic serpentine benches.

The colonnaded footpath with slanting columns (America's Next Top Model had a finale runway show here, btw)

The view of the colonnaded footpath from outside the tunnel

Me on the mosaic serpentine benches, with the entrance gate (the thing that looks like a gingerbread house) and the Mediterranean behind me.

After the park, we biked with one destination in mind: the sea. We didn't take out any maps, we didn't plan at all, we just headed for the water because the rain was really coming down. Before the rain started that day, I had suggested biking down La Rambla amongst all the people, just to see it from a different viewpoint. At the outset of our return to the hostel, we all agreed that this wasn't a great idea, since it was out of the way. But by the time we got to the point where we had to choose, Nikki and Devin surprised me and asked if we could bike down La Rambla. That was an adventure in itself- weaving through people and cars while trying to take in the beautiful trees and the toursity shops, all in the rain. All in all, I think we biked about 8 miles that day-- two flat, two uphill, and four in the pouring rain. We had a really good time that day, and we were very proud of ourselves.

That night, we met up with a friend of Devin's who is studying in Barcelona for dinner. We tried to go to this one cerveseria (brewery)/tapas restaurant, but it was going to take two hours. So we found another tapas place (called Tapa Tapa) and ate more tapas for dinner on Passeig de Gracia. Although the menu was all in Catalan and he couldn't read it, it was good to have a translator there to talk to the waiters and such. I don't remember what I got, but I remember it was good :)

We woke up the next day to sunshine. Since our hostel was on the beach, we threw on our suits, ate breakfast, and went out to enjoy our last day in Barcelona in the most relaxing way possible on a beautiful beach.

La Playa de la Barceloneta at 9:30am

Little did we know that there were about seven little asian women (not sure from where) who would bother us all day long with their constant "Massa-hey?! Massagie?! Fi euro!" It was like they thought massagie was the English way to say massage--bizarre. But seriously we heard this about every minute, all day long; the same women passing us over and over and over. I don't know why they thought we'd suddenly change our minds. The gross thing was, between massaging someone's feet and massaging someone's head, they never washed their hands. We started off nicely saying "No, thank you," but seven hours later we were coming up with all kinds of ways to say no, knowing that they understood none of it. We were also bombarded with offers of beer, water, tattoos, bracelets, sarongs, everything. This was the only bad part about Barceloneta beach. The only thing I gave money to all day was a group of African drummers who got together near us, and it seemed like they were doing it more for their own pleasure than for anything else. The guy that asked us for money asked for anything we had. I said I had 10 cents (because that was really all I had), and he said that was good enough and he sincerely thanked me, so I was content with this donation.

The Asian massagie women beginning their day next to us

I ended the day with sunburned shins and insteps, because I had been really careful about putting French sunblock on everything but my shins and feet (they don't usually burn). It was a wonderful (if a little annoying thanks to all of the offers) day.

That night we met up with Devin's friend again to go to the original tapas place we had tried to go the night before. Instead of going at the busy hour of 9:30pm, we went at 7pm, and there was already a 45 minute wait! While waiting, I ordered a four-cheese-on-a-toasted-piece-of-bread tapa at the bar, and while it was only a bite, it was fantastic. It was a mix of French and Spanish cheese for around 1.10euros. I asked the hostess for a drink menu (in Spanish), and she immediately took a liking to me. She hounded the bar tenders for me, and complimented me on my not-so-great Spanish. I think the fact that I had tried in Spanish gave me some real credit, and I think we might have been moved up in the line because of that. Excellent.

This place was by far the best tapas restaurant we we went to. I got a tapa that had something like cod grits (it was mashed up cod or something, but it tasted exactly like grits) with an orange sauce. It sounded a lot better than that on the menu, but I can't remember what it was. It was really good. The other plate I had was simply pan fried peppers with a little high quality salt. I was excited about the possibility of eating hot peppers, but I was pleasantly surprised to taste just really good, flavorful peppers. My friends, who are from New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, were a little freaked out at the thought of eating straight peppers, but they really liked them after they tried them. Devin's friend from Barcelona ordered us a plate of this bread that it rubbed with tomatoes and olive oil that sounds really simple but it's delicious. To drink I got Damm Lemon beer, which I think is the Spanish beer, Estrella Damm, with lemonade in it. I got one before dinner and all of us girls really liked it, so we all got them for dinner. For dessert, I had crema catalana, which, as far as I can tell, is crème brûlée, but I'm sure there's some difference.

My Damm Lemon, some tomato-olive oil bread, my pepper tapa, and my cod-grits with cheese and sauce tapa

After that, Devin's friend took us to this cafe called El Bosc de les Fades (The Forest of the Fairies) behind the Museu de Cera (wax museum) on La Rambla. You literally had to walk through the gates of the wax museum and through a front faux-bar filled with wax figures like John Wayne and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler to get to the actual cafe. The cafe was like an intimate fantasy version of the Rain Forest Cafe. It was really cool and relaxed. I had a glass of cava (Spanish sparkling wine) there that was good. As we were flying out of Barcelona around 3:30 the next day, we went back to the hostel and called it a night.

The next morning, I got up around 7:30am to eat breakfast and make it to la Boqueria (the famous food market on La Rambla that had been closed all weekend and Monday for Easter) and to La Manual Alpargatera, the originator of espadrilles. La Boqueria was really cool, even if I was there before a lot of things opened up. There were all kinds of stands that included candy stands, meat stands, fruit stands, dried fruit stands, fruit juice stands, nut stands, olive stands, wine bars, milk stands, and egg stands. That's right, egg stands.

They only sold eggs. So strange.

Fruit juice stand, where I bought something like Strawberry and Pineapple

I never really knew what espadrilles were, but now I know what the originals are. They are canvas and rope-soled shoes that are incredible comfortable, and really cheap. I got my lilac-colored espadrilles for 8euros. Mine also have a little more to the sole (plastic or rubber or something). The shoes are no longer made at that workshop, but they are still made in Barcelona.

A wall full of espadrilles

I walked back to the hostel, where Devin and Nikki were eating breakfast. We headed to the airport via metro. One final word about the metro: a wonderful, clean system, but it doesn't have the most clear directions to the airport train, and it was not made for people with baggage (or handicapps, for that matter).

I left Barcelona with every intention of returning as soon as I can. The next time I go, I hope to do some research ahead of time. But this time, I got what I wanted out of my trip--relaxation, entertainment, pretty things, and experiencing a new culture. Oh, and I really want to learn Spanish now.

Hasta luego,
Ellie

Next Blog

The Spring Break blog will be posted Sunday. Sorry to disappoint, but I am going to Mont St. Michel and St. Malo!

A dimanche,
Ellie

Slowly Catching You Up to Speed

Wow it has been a long time since I last wrote- and a lot has happened since then! The biggest news: I am, as of April 7th, 21!

So real quick, since it's fresh in my mind: I spent this evening at the Opéra Garnier watching Onéguine (Onegin), the ballet. I'm sure you know all about Onegin, but I had no clue what it was. Onegin is a ballet that is based on a famous Russian novel by Alexander Pushkin. It's about young love and rejection and societal expectations and such. I know I just made it sound really lame but believe me, the ballet was incredible. The music was by Tchaikovsky, although it actually is not the music he wrote for his opera Onegin. Honestly, I was expecting some weird modern ballet thing, which suited me fine because I just wanted to be inside the Opéra Garnier. I was extremely pleased to realize that I was getting to see a classical ballet performed by an incredible ballet company to beautiful classical music in one of the most gorgeous opera houses in the world. I loved the idea that I was in the very room where the Phantom fell in love with Christine Daaé. I sat right across the room from the infamous Box 5! Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed this evening, and I really wish my family could have gotten to go to a ballet at the Opéra Garnier.

The interior of the Opera Garnier (chandelier, empty Box 5 up on the left, beautiful modern ceiling)

Curtain calls for the Paris Opera Ballet with the orchestra below after a great performance

Just kind of an artsy-fartsy picture

Our Box 9

Ok so I have a lot to cover. I guess I left off right before my birthday. Nikki's parents arrived in Paris on March 28th. Nikki and I have traveled everywhere together and we have gotten to be good friends. So for my birthday and to be able to meet all of Nikki's friends, her parents invited all of us over to their apartment (with an awesome view of the Eiffel Tower) for hors d'oeuvres, drinks and cake on the Wednesday before my birthday.

About half the group at Nikki's parents' apartment for a little celebration (Me, Devin, Sarah, Cathy, Erik)

It was really perfect- it was a beautiful day and almost all of my Paris friends were there. Having stuff like that helped me forget the fact that I didn't get to spend my 21st birthday in Texas with the people I love. The next day, my friend Erik and I wandered through the 14th arrondissement, where we walked through the Cimetière du Montparnasse (Montparnasse Cemetary) and saw the Dreyfus tomb and had apéritifs (Kir), to the 7th arrondissement, ending up at Le Bon Marché (The Good Market), the first department store in the world. Actually, we went to Le Bon Marché to go to the adjoining épicerie (grocery store) which has food from all over the world (as well as other goodies- see below!). I came out with ranch dressing, sharp cheddar cheese, and a macaron (I've fallen in love with macarons, which are not our coconutty macaroons).

Montparnasse Cemetary is surprisingly beautiful- they really honor their dead here

The Dreyfus Family tombstone- as in Alfred Dreyfus, as in the infamous Dreyfus Affair


Now tell me the épicerie du Bon Marché isn't awesome!

On Friday the 3rd, I met up with one of my best friends and roommates from TCU, Andrea, who is studying in Florence and who came to visit me and her other friend in Paris. Andrea wanted to see Paris from a more local perspective (because I'm sooo local), so we spent all day Friday just wandering around Paris- we shopped and ate lunch at Galleries Lafayette, got macarons at Printemps (Springtime; like Galeries Lafayette and Le Bon Marché, but patronized more by locals), saw Notre Dame, and met up with her friend for a nice afternoon on the Champ de Mars under the Eiffel Tower. It was really great to see her and just have a relaxing day while still experiencing Paris.

On Saturday, I went with Nikki and her parents on a bike trip to Monet's home at Giverny where he painted Les Nymphéas (the Water Lilies). We took the TGV to Vernon, where we picked up our bikes as well as a picnic lunch at this huge outdoor market in the middle of town on Place de la République.

Rabbits being sold at the market in Vernon. Not sure if they were being sold as pets or as food...

We biked over the Seine and ate our picnic on a bank next to Le vieux-moulin (the old windmill), a house that was built in the 16th century on a medieval bridge that dates from the 12th century. All you can see of that bridge now are the pillars that once held it up.

Le vieux-moulin, with no moulin

Then we biked from there down a little road past the American Art Museum and l'Hôtel Baudy to Monet's home. The American Art Museum (now called Le Musée des Impressionnismes Giverny) and the Baudy Hotel have an interesting background- apparently some American painters discovered Giverny and really liked it. Then they discovered that Monet was already there and they liked it even more, and they started painting like him. The Baudy Hotel started out as a tiny tiny little cafe, but all the American painters started hanging out there and needed places to stay (because there was, and still is, no where to stay in Giverny), so it expanded some and became a hotel. We stopped by for drinks after visiting the house- they have a pleasant courtyard thing across the little road that overlooks the countryside around there. The countryside is actually what got Monet interested in Giverny, because he could see it from the train.

Turns out the little road we biked down was Rue Claude Monet!

Our tour guide said there are some famous Monet paintings of this hill (help me out here guys!)

Monet's gardens were incredible, and that was at the very beginning of spring. I really want to go back after everything is in full bloom. He planted them all himself and put in a river that runs through the whole thing. His neighbors got mad at him for bringing in Japanese (and other foreign) plants because they thought they would ruin the native plants. Fortunately, he got to keep his plants. However, his gardens were destroyed in World War II. Luckily he had tons of designs of exact species and sizes of beds and how the river worked and all that so the gardens were created exactly how they were before. Half of his gardens are the Japanese gardens with the lily pads and footbridge and river. The other half are more traditional and symmetrical. In both, everything was arranged by color. Even though it was pretty cloudy, I loved the gardens, and I know that my grandmother would have really loved them.

Monet's Japanese Gardens- look familiar?

Monet's symmetrical gardens (there might be a better name for them than that)

Monet's house was interesting because everything was arranged by color in it as well. Each room had it's own color scheme- pale blue, yellow, purple, etc. It reminded me of the spinning teacups at Disneyland. Also, he loved Japanese prints, so they were everywhere. There are no original Monet paintings in his house, because when his grandson died the government of France picked them up in armored vehicles and transported them to Paris. This country really loves its art. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures inside the house. Guess you're gonna have to go for yourself!

For my birthday, most of my friends came up to the 17th arrondissement where I live to have aperitifs and eat Italian food at this place called Fuxia. It was pretty low key, but basically exactly what I wanted. I had delicious pasta puttanesca, wine, panna cotta and limoncello. Perfetto! Taylor and I discovered Fuxia when he and my family were here. It is right down the street from the apartment my family rented, and every time we walked by it was packed and smelled incredible. So we went there for dinner one of his last nights and had great food and great service for a good price. I think my friends really liked having something other than French food for a change (not that French food is bad, but we Americans are used to every kind of cuisine in the world. Eating baguettes and camambert all day every day is not as easy as it sounds). I also loved the fact that I got to walk home after dinner. I live so far away from everyone else that I usually have to spend the night with a friend if I want to be able to take my time anywhere. Not your typical American 21st birthday, but I'm not really in your typical American place!

Well that's all for the moment. I'll write about my spring break in Barcelona and Florence tomorrow!

Bonsoir,
Ellie