21st Birthday in Netzbach, Germany!

Life here in Madrid is keeping me so busy, I have hardly had time to post pictures and call home, let alone write this long overdue blog post to share my 21st birthday experience with everyone back in the States!    I think now that we are down to just over three weeks remaining here in Madrid and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, we are becoming hyper-active tourists again, roaming the city, looking for interesting things and attractions, hidden bars and good food.  We have to get it all done before we leave and doing so has left very little time for other things.  Not to mention, since my birthday a couple weeks ago, Lauren's mom and sister visited Madrid, which took us all around the city sightseeing and even on a day trip to Segovia (which was incredible and I hope to share in another post!).  Thanksgiving was last weekend, shockingly the Spanish people don't really care about the pilgrims nor the food-laden holiday, so we were forced to go out to eat at TGI Friday's for the most American food we could find, although there was no turkey or pumpkin pie.  For lunch that day, I ate microwave mashed potatoes from Jenna's care package with a side of jellied cranberries (from the American store), that I literally tore out of the can after not finding a basic can opener in my host mother's ill-equipped kitchen.  It was painful to see all of the Thanksgiving photos posted on Facebook, to Skype all of my family and to hear about their holiday, but I know it will make it that much sweeter to return home for Christmas!!

Back to Germany.  I knew when I decided to come to Spain last year, that I would undoubtedly make at least one trip back to the little town of Netzbach, Germany to stay with Bettina and Stephan Scholl and their family, Gayle's relatives whom I have visited and stayed with 4 times now!!  They have always been nothing but gracious hosts and I knew this opportunity would make for a perfect weekend away from Madrid and the hustle and bustle of big city travel that I have definitely grown to dread.  Bettina suggested the weekend of my birthday in November to be a good time to go.  She is super-busy, so no time was a good time, but she was willing to work us in.  I was able to convince Dan and Ross to join me, so we booked our tickets and headed off to Germany.  This trip was the last one in a series of five weeks of traveling; Palma Mallorca, Sevilla, London, Amsterdam and then Netzbach!!  We were worn out from traveling and definitely looking forward to the homey change of pace.  We ended up separated on the plane, because for some reason they can never just keep the seats you choose... so Ross and I sat next to a very nice, kind of strange woman who talked to us the whole time.  She worked for a German telecom company and had traveled and managed technology businesses all around the world.  She had met really interesting people, like the founders of Skype and Spotify, and had a really interesting life to tell us about.  On the plane she was pilfering through resumes to hire a new employee.  haha!  I had a terrible time with my sinuses on the flight, my head and chest had been congested for about a week and the pressure on the plane nearly popped my eyeballs out of my head.  It was actually really painful and pretty scary, but luckily only happened on the descent, making for about 15 minutes of discomfort, then 18 hours of screwed up hearing... ugh!!  In Frankfurt, since we arrived pretty late, we connected to the huge, airport train station and boarded a high-speed train to Limburg (a larger, small town about 10 minutes from Netzbach).  The ride was 17 minutes and the same trip in a car could easily take over an hour!  Super fast!!  There, Bettina picked us up and took us home.  It was so nice to be chauffeured around in a nice car, versus trapped at the mercy of untimely and miserable public transportation.  Once we got to their home, she did what she always does, cracked open a bottle of German, white wine and prepared some appetizers for us, since we were starving!!  We spent the evening drinking wine, snacking and chatting with Bettina and Stephan.  Having been there so many times, it really felt like being back at home and definitely more comfortable than any other accommodations we have had.  I think Ross and Dan were immediately impressed with the whole situation!  Since it was my birthday weekend, of course, Bettina gave me the entire guest bedroom and large queen-size bed.  It was the first time since arriving in Europe, that I had had my own room and a bed larger than a rickety twin.  Therefore, I didn't even feel bad that the boys were put upstairs on a (really nice) pull out mattress, outfitted with a clean set of towels, bottled water (without gas for the Americans) and welcome chocolate!

Bettina and Dan - talking Euro politics 

Getting the "red light" treatment

One of Bettina's biggest concerns of the trip was to make sure we got plenty of R&R, per my request.  Therefore, on Friday morning, we got to sleep in late, until around 11, and then ate breakfast.  If you have read my previous Blake News from Germany, you can probably guess the breakfast we had.  Ross and Dan were so surprised, since in Spain "breakfast" consists of coffee and a piece of toast or a small pastry if anything, but while guests in Netzbach we had a basket full of delicious croissants, Nutella, jam, lunch meat, bottomless coffee and countless other things.  After breakfast we got ready for our tour of the old town of Limburg.  We left shortly after, but not before Bettina convinced me to try a "red light" infrared treatment for my sinus issues.  She had pumped me full of holistic drugs, as well as some real chemical medication and said that her dad, Fredrich, swears by the red light.  It did feel good and I think helped to reduce the sinus pressure!  This was now the fourth time I had been to Limburg, but did really enjoy it again.  Bettina said that every time she comes to the US, she goes to the state capitol, the St. Louis Arch and to Farmersville, I guess therefore I had to do the same while in Germany. haha!  Ross and Dan really enjoyed seeing the traditional district with the half-timbered houses and the beautiful cathedral.  Dan got plenty of pictures and even got filled up with his favorite German wheat beer, Paulaner.  The three of us stopped into a little Paulaner biergarten, while Bettina did some shopping for the secret party on Friday night.  She had emailed me a couple weeks before and said that she had been invited to a James Bond Skyfall themed party at a friend's house and that we would come and would have to dress accordingly.  I was working hard to pry more information from her, but she quickly shut me down, saying that we would all go to the party, no questions asked and she would not say anything more.  After her shopping spree, we were telling her that we would likely not be dressed too accurately, since we simply did not bring the proper attire to Europe.  She suggested that we stop into H&M to pick up some cheap formalwear to make ourselves look right, blend in and be more comfortable.  I picked up some black pants, a belt and some dress shoes for just 50 euros, while Ross and Dan only needed the pants.  We had already equipped ourselves with bow ties back in Madrid!  After the clothing stop, we grabbed some "fast food" at a seafood stand.  Fish sandwiches, shrimp, etc.  We took that to go in the car, then headed home to regroup and prepare for the evening.  I took Dan and Ross on a little walking tour of the 900 year old, rural, village of Netzbach and they were super-intrigued.  It is so quaint, smelled of winter and bonfires, and is just unlike any other place we have visited.  I am so glad they got to experience it!  We got to squeeze in a little power nap before showering and dressing for the party.  Bettina still had not caved on the party information, but I had some speculations after some accidental name dropping on her part.  We got into the car and headed to an unknown location, the three of us and Bettina's sister in law, Susanne.  As we were approaching the house, she said, "Well Blake, now do you know where we are?" And I absolutely did!  Bettina's friend Tania has an incredibly beautiful home in a town called Wallmerod.  I have been to one party there before in 2009 and was taken aback by the lavish decorations, great food, classy waitstaff and kind guests.  As it turns out, Tania had arranged this James Bond party in conjunction with the new Skyfall movie release, since she celebrated her birthday away from Germany at her home on the Spanish island of Mallorca.  The party was nothing more than impressive and I think Dan and Ross were absolutely shocked!!  Once again, we were greeted by formal waitstaff, who took our coat and promptly filled our hands with our choice of a vodka or gin martini (shaken not stirred, I imagine).  Or largest problem was trying to meander through the party guests while balancing a martini in one hand and finger food in the other.  The "warm-up" party took place upstairs in the foyer, kitchen and dining rooms, while the real party progressed downstairs into the indoor pool and full bar, once people had eaten.  There was a chef in the kitchen preparing James Bond inspired dishes, like Goldfinger sausages (with real edible gold on top), another Octopussy item and a filet (we ate that, plus the sausages... haha!).  There was flaming desert and bottomless drinks all night.  I asked Tania's daughter, Carlotta, and her friends to take Dan, Ross and I on a tour of the home, so they could see the place.  At around midnight, right as my birthday was about to roll around, Bettina mysteriously disappeared and Carlotta requested that we all make our way downstairs to join the rest of the party.  I was nervous, suspecting that something shady was going on!  Next thing I know I am in the doorway to the packed bar, with Carlotta whispering in the DJ's ear and him beginning to speak in German, I assume about my birthday, while interviewing me over the microphone.  What's your name? where are you from? How old are you? etc... Then the crowd began to sing German happy birthday as Bettina and Susanne came down the hallway with a birthday cake, loaded with candles for me to blow out!  A line formed as people came to say hello, congratulations and wish me a happy birthday.  I was overwhelmed, but will never forget such a unique birthday celebration!! I could not thank Bettina enough for her obvious planning and Tania for letting me crash her top-class party for my 21st birthday!!  WOW!  What a night.  We stayed there, drinking and mingling for a couple more hours and headed home, back to Netzbach, around 3.

Half-Timbered Houses of Limburg

James Bond Skyfall and Madamme Goldfinger

"Shaken, not stirred"

Happy 21st Geburtstag

Classy Partiers

Needless to say, we slept in late on Saturday!  Bettina had piano students around 11 and we had planned lunch her her mom, Helga's, for noon.  Stephan woke be at 11:55 telling me I could "stand up" and shower, clearly Ross and Dan hadn't woken me like they said they would.  We were all scrambling to get ready, but made it over (two houses) to Helga's not too late actually!  She served a fantastic salad, along with two different types of schnitzel, some sort of potato casserole, spaetzle and dessert.  I was stuffed and still queazy from the celebration the night before.  We left Helga and Frederich's to return to Bettina to get ready to leave once again, this time for an outing with her brother Johannes.  He had planned to take the three of us on a nature walk with his friend and their younger sons.  It was actually a lot of fun.  We dressed like we were going mountain climbing and it turned out to just be a leisurely stroll along a farming path from their small village to a neighboring one.  His friend, Kai, had three bottles of pretty terrible German schnapps and each time we passed a park bench we had to take a shot alternating the flavors... there were SIX stops along the way!!  The kümel, carroway, was the absolute worst, while the peppermint and johannisberren got better and better.  We ended the walk at a little bar where we stopped for more beer and pizza to watch the Dortmund soccer match.  Saturday night was Bettina's choir concert that she had had planned long before I crashed the weekend.  We said she wanted us to come and experience a little culture during our weekend, so I was happy to do so.  We returned from the walk and drinking (thank God) to get ready to leave with Stephan and Paulina for Flacht where the concert would take place in a church.  The concert was called Voices and Light, it featured five choirs, three of which were under Bettina's direction, in a church outfitted with colored lights.  As the concert was beginning, I got the same shady feeling as the night before at Tania's party.  I began to recognize words like, United States, St. Louis University and Geburtstag, birthday.  Of course, Bettina had arranged the guy opening the concert to acknowledge my birthday as well as the three guys from SLU who had traveled the furthest to attend the concert - and the crowd laughed!  The concert was very good, with several German songs that we didn't know, but a few American songs, which were interesting to hear in a different light.  After the concert, we left with Stephan to go back to Johannes and Sonja's for his birthday party!  They had three nice fires out front, traditional German sausages with round buns, along with Bitburger beer and warm glühwein, a spiced, heated wine drunk in the winter.  After that party, we were dead-tired, still from the night before I imagine.  But regardless, we returned to Netzbach just to head next door to another neighbor's birthday party.  Sabrina had just celebrated her 20th birthday and was having the party on the night of my birthday.  It was strange to go to two other birthday parties on my actual birthday and even weirder to receive gifts at them, but it was a ton of fun.  The guests at the second party were more our age and a lot of fun to hang out with.  They have always been so kind to me when I visit, it was great to get to see them again!

Country walk with Johannes

Bettina's Concert in Flacht

Happy Birthday, Sabrina

Sunday turned out to be a completely relaxed, cozy Sunday in the house.  We had discussed a trip to Frankfurt, or to Weisbaden for Sushi, but we all just agreed to stay home, lounge around the house and enjoy the final day in Germany.  We had a huge brunch around 11 or 12, with coffee, bread, croissants, Nutella, meats, cheeses, etc.  We laid around for the next few hours, Dan and Ross watched TV shows, I chatted with Bettina and Stephan, and used Stephan's iPad to check all of my Facebook birthday notifications.  Around 5PM Stephan began to make his awesome homemade pizzas.  He prepared the dough and sauce and we got to choose the toppings... it was a lot of fun!  We did the same thing last summer with Jenna and we really enjoyed it!  After dinner, some of their family and friends came over for a little get together in honor of my birthday... again.  We all sat around and chatted, drank some German wine and enjoyed the company.  After everyone left, Bettina decided it would be fun to call Gayle, so we did.  We both got to talk to her and laugh with her, as usual!!  After one last red-light treatment, we all went to bed to rest up for the return home on Monday.

Sophia, me and Paulina

Renate!! 

Us with Sonja, Leon, Johannes and Yamila

Die Oma Helga

Susanne, Marcus, the boys and me

It was a nice change of pace to have a later flight on Monday.  Fortunately, we got to eat one last good breakfast before heading to the airport relaxed.  No rushing, fighting public transportation, etc.  Just a smooth ride at 600 MPH on the Autobahn.  It was sad, as always, to leave Germany (to see Bettina shed a couple tears) and return to Madrid, but I left knowing that I will, of course, return and that I spent a very special birthday there, surrounded by great friends and near family, which was the absolute next best thing to being at home!!  

Brussels and Amsterdam

Last weekend's trip took us to The Netherlands and, rather unexpectedly, to Brussels, Belgium, both on the northern coast of the European continent, between France and Germany.  We had all really wanted to make it to Amsterdam during this semester abroad to check out the world-famous and extremely unique city.  Dan and Lauren booked a flight a couple months ago and got a great price, but when the rest of us looked and attempted to book, the price had shot up and it was virtually impossible to pay to fly there for the weekend.  After talking to our friend Carly, the one we met up with in Paris and who is studying abroad in Brussels, she told me that we should consider flying to Brussels and then taking a cheap train or bus to Amsterdam for the rest of the weekend.  We were able to get great flight into Brussels, the capitol of the European Union, and then even cheaper Megabus tickets to Amsterdam and a nice train back to Brussels in order to fly out on Monday.

Ross and I, as well as our two friends Emily and Jordan, booked the travel together and headed out for Brussels very early Friday morning.  We landed in a very inconveniently located airport, Charleroi, around 9 AM and had to then find transportation for the 1 hour journey into the city.  Carly had arranged to entertain us in Brussels for the day and then see us off to our bus ride at 3 PM.  There was a shuttle bus system running fro Charleori to the city center, but it quickly filled with people and we were approached by a cab driver, who told us that if we could find 4 other people, 8 total, we could take a taxi van into the city for only 13 euros per person, the same price as the crowded bus, and only a 35 minute ride!  We did it without a doubt, got into the station, payed to go pee and then met up Carly.  She led us onto the metro system and directly to the city center.  There we walked through the downtown, the central square, and later met up with her friend Courtney, also from SLU and also joined us in Paris.  From there, we went straight for a delicious, Belgian waffle.  They were incredible! I got just the plain sugar waffle, with no toppings, but the others got Nutella, strawberries and more.  The waffles were thick and had little sugar crystals baked into the dough.  We ate them while sitting on the curb of the square, overlooking the town hall.  Later, we walked to the Royal Palace and on the way passed some sort of motorcade with police motorcycles parting the streets for a couple black mercedes to pass through.  We are not sure who was inside, but Carly and Courtney said it is a rather common occurrence in Brussels.  The capitol of the European Union is there in the city and the enormous office building, which houses the European Commission, was the next stop on our tour.  They told us that more than half of the residents of Brussels now work for the commission... sounds like Springfield.  haha!  On the way to the Commission, we walked through a beautiful park.  It has been awhile since we have been out and about in Madrid enough to notice the changing and nice fall scenery.  The aforementioned office building was certainly impressive.  It was a huge X shape and definitely looks like a place that would manage all of the EU countries.  We saw some other sights nearby, then got on the metro illegally, through a construction zone, which doesn't charge (and Carly and Courtney knew it!).  We took the metro to the city center once again, since the initial walk was much longer than anticipated.  Our next stop was for some famous Belgian frites, or french fries.  Carly explained that the fried there are double fried.  So they are super crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They are served with a selection of sauces, but they recommended we try the Andalouse.  A sort of spicy mayo-based sauce.  Delicious!  We too the fries into a well-known cafe called Delirium.  The place is known for its beer selection and they told us that on some nights it is so packed, you can hardly walk down the street to get in.  We, of course, had to try they infamous 9 or 10% beers, so basically we only needed one before heading to catch our Megabus for Amsterdam.  It was a great stopover in Brussels and so nice to be reunited with Carly and Courtney over here in Europe!

The Belgian Waffle

Courtney, Emily, Carly, Jordan, Ross and I at the Royal Palace of Brussels

The Enormous European Commission 

Emily and I with Frites

Au Revoir to Carly in Brussels

We arrived in Amsterdam around 6 PM, but it was already completely dark and it is always terribly disorienting arriving into these cities at night with no sense of direction or location.  We followed onto the crowd onto a tram heading towards the city center, Emily and I evaded paying since the ticket man shooed us away.  Once there, we parted ways from the girls, who were forced to book in a separate hostel, and Ross and I searched out our, StayOkay hostel.  There we met Dan and Lauren, checked in, made our beds and went out to find something to eat.  The hostel reception recommended Lauren to go to the "little China" area for Chinese food, so we did.  Little China over here was not quite what I had in mind, with the roasting ducks and chickens hanging in the windows, overpriced, crappy buffets and generally weird (probably authentic) Chinese food.. ugh.  We picked the least threatening looking place and were not too happy with the food.  Dan got some dumplings, which were awful and the rest of us ordered a chicken dish, which was certainly edible, but nothing like you can find at home!  After eating, we went to meet up with Emily and Jordan, but first meandered though the unbelievable Red Light District, which was conveniently located just a couple blocks from out hostel.  This place was one of the craziest places I have seen.  Window after window of prostitutes standing and dancing for the passersby.  It was like a disgusting zoo.  Some of the girls were actually disgusting, while others were not too bad looking, but just so weird.  Needless to say we were all pretty creeped out, so kept on moving and met up with the girls in Dam square.  We walked around the streets together, got a few drinks and then ended up in a bar downtown, when randomly three friends from SLU walk into the same place!  The guys were also in Amsterdam for the weekend and just happened to run into us there. We hung out for as long we as could manage, then went back to go to sleep.

On Saturday, we woke up and took advantage of the free breakfast in the hostel.  We had made 12 o'clock reservations for the Anne Frank House tour, so we headed out, stopped for coffee at a cafe, then went directly to the house.  Anne Frank was a German Jew during the Nazi Holocaust and fled to Holland with her family to avoid capture.  The house they hid in was incredible, very secretive and intricate.  We got to walk through the home, reading excerpts from Anne's journals along the way and experiencing how they lived in complete secrecy, until their eventual capture and deaths at Auschwitz.  Next, we went to see one the hundreds of coffeehouses in Amsterdam, which are famous for selling pot!  The one we went to was featured in Ocean's Twelve and therefore drew a pretty big crowd.  They had awesome hot chocolate though!  We got some more fries like in Brussels afterwards and even had the same Andalouse sauce.  Without a doubt, the ones in Brussels were much better!  The Next we walked to a huge flower market along one of the canals and along the way, stopped into a cheese store, sampling every kind possible, and then into a couple souvenir shops to stock up on Amsterdam stuff!  After, we had to make an appearance at the famous I AMsterdam sign.  It was oddly difficult to find, but made for some fun pictures.  We separated from the girls once again, to head back to our hostels and regroup for the evening.  We met them at bar again in Dam square and then moved to another area where Emily was planning to meet up with a couple friends from highschool.  That never happened, but a repeat of the previous night occurred instead when the same three guys from SLU walked into the bar and joined us for the rest of the evening.  How fun!  We ended up leaving there later to go to a different place and I managed to escape with a pretty cool Amsterdam beer glass!!  We didn't stay out much later at the next place, but rather left to grab a snack at a place called Wok to Walk, a chain I did not know existed here in Spain, but it does and I am eager to find it!! They make fresh sitr-fried noodles on the spot and throw them into a cardboard box to take away!  So great!!

The Anne Frank House

Sunday was a more relaxed day, as it was our final day in Amsterdam.  We were returning to Brussels that evening to fly back to Madrid on Monday morning.  We met the girls at our hostel, as the four of us were storing our bags in Dan and Lauren's lockers there.  We went to breakfast, since we missed the free one, at a place for "pancakes."  The Amsterdam pancakes are much thinner and more like crepes, but we ended up getting "American" breakfasts, with bacon, eggs, a couple pancakes and juice and coffee.  Of course, nothing beats the Cracker Barrel or the Hen House, but this did come pretty close.  Despite the terrible service, it was a good start to the morning.  We had bought tickets to take a canal tour boat ride, so we went to the boat afterwards.  It wound through all of the little canals of the city, pointing out several landmarks and interesting things.  To burn the rest of the afternoon, we walked back through the city, again through the red light district (we had heard that all of the big girls are out in the day light -- very true!) and then went into the Bulldog.  The world's first "coffeeshop," according to them.  We got some drinks there a then went to the Hostel to collect our things.  Before catching the train, we stopped back through Wok to Walk for another serving of those delicious noodles!  Our train departed around 6:30 and arrived in Brussels three hours later.  We got some good sleep in on the train and I got to study a little for the two quizzes I had on Monday!  We were planning to meet up with Carly again on Sunday night, but considering the time, our exhaustion, my and Ross' quizzes and the fact that we couldn't get ahold of her, we just went to our hostel, checked in for the few hours we would stay there and went to sleep.

Dan, Emily and Lauren on our Canal Cruise 

Famous Seven Bridges of Amsterdam

I am not sure what happened to my alarm that was supposed to my alarm that was supposed to go off at 5 AM, but I woke to a very frustrated Emily and Jordan at 5:30 as Ross and I were scrambling out of bed to dress for the trip to the airport.  We struggled getting into the metro and ended up entering it illegally once again, made it to the train station (though going the wrong, much longer way on the metro) and into the same 8 person cab that we arrived in.  Despite all of the confusion of the early morning, we arrived to the airport earlier than we would have by taking the shuttle bus as we planned.  A two hour flight landed us safely back into Madrid after a long and eventful weekend.  We will rest for a couple days then head off to Netzbach, Germany for my birthday this coming weekend!

London, England

Sitting here writing this blog post, I am killing two birds with one stone - knocking out this daunting task for the second time this week, as well as keeping a watchful eye over a pot of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese on Mamá's scary, gas stove.  She has left for the weekend to go to her country house in Zaragoza, Spain, so we have decided to risk it and use the kitchen or the first time this semester.  Nancy B. sent me some Velveeta Mac and Cheese in her care package, which I am saving that for a later date!!

Last weekend was a long one in Spain, we had Thursday off of class due to All Saints Day, which made for a full 4 day weekend.  Bearing that in mind, we booked that weekend for London, which we expected would be well-deserving of the extra time - and were we correct!!  The city was amazing.  Every part of it was captivating and exciting.  The people were friendly, the food and beer was fantastic, the sights were breathtaking and the English language was such a welcomed change (something I did not expect to say as Spanish major, but boy was it nice!).  I could have done without the misty, cold, London weather, but that was to be expected.  

Dan and I arrived early on Thursday morning, after taking a 4 AM cab with Ross to the airport.  Ross was going to Rome, after visiting London this summer with his family.  We got to London and took a 1.5 hour bus ride into the city center from the crappy airport that the discount airlines fly into - so basically, we save a little on the fare and spend 20+ euros on transportation to and from the airport... Since the rest of our group would be arriving later, Dan and I had virtually the whole day to ourselves to explore the city and get our bearings.  Although, we didn't do anything that we would not repeat, since Lauren would have killed us.  London is her favorite city of all time.  When we arrived, we ended up convincing the hotel, which we would stay in on Saturday and Sunday nights, to store our two measly backpacks for the day, since we did not want to be weighed down by them.  They were reluctant to do it, but the nice concierge stepped in and helped us out.  Freed from the bags, we started waking towards the river from the Victoria Station area and after stopping at McDonalds for some delicious chicken nuggets and stumbling upon a mass for the religious holiday in Westmister Cathedral, we walked smack-dad into Westminster Abbey and Big Ben!! We were shocked and easily spent an hour or more walking around and taking pictures.  We crossed Westminster Bridge for beautiful views of the  House of Parliament and the entire city down the River Thames.  The London eye was just to our left, so there was plenty to see.  Once we had taken shots from every angle, we decided to go find a little English pub to weather the inclement weather which had moved in (our only rain of the entire trip, very atypical for London).  We found a nice place called The Clarence.  The bartender was friendly and chatted with us, while offering us samples of several English ales.  I learned that a real ale, pulled from the tap, is not really fizzy nor really cold, very different from a lager.  We had a few beers there... then had to leave to meet Lauren at the underground metro - called "The Tube" in London.  We returned to The Clarence for some more ales and a traditional English meal.  Dan ordered the Fish and Chips and Lauren and I got a really good Chicken Pie!!  We even saw a little mouse run across the floor of the restaurant.  At home, disgusting; but in London, quaint and traditional feeling.  Haha!!  To explain the lodging situation would be a very long story, so in a nutshell, our friend Amanda and five of our girl fiends from SLU had arranged to stay in a hotel in London using Amanda's mom's reward points.  Their hotel was upgraded at the last minute, to a presidential suite with 3 king beds, 3 bathrooms and countless other amenities.  Amanda messaged and said to cancel the hostel and stay with them for free - so we did!!  Upon arriving there, it turned out there was mistake and the presidential suite was not offered, but due to the confusion, they still offered her a very large Balmoral suite, with several free cots and some wine.  Dan and I ended up on the just-too-short couches, but hey, it was free and filled with friends, so we made due.  

The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben!

Jordan, Brenna, Emily, Callie and Lauren in the Balmoral Suite!

On Friday, the three of us went first to the Tower of London.  A very old fortress that dates back centuries and has played a major role in battles, English monarchs and historical events.  We discovered that you could pre-arrange tickets online, so we did and ended up jumping a line of hundreds of people and saved money!!  Quite lucky!   The inside was very cool, but swarming with tourists.  It was midterm in England, so all of the schools were on a week long break and evidentially flocked to the city for "holiday" ugh... We ate lunch in the tower, which we stole from the breakfast buffet at Amanda's hotel.  First, we took a tour with a traditional Beefeater, one of the Royal Guards of the tower, and learned a lot about its history and significance.  Then, we waited in another long line to enter the stronghold of the Crown Jewels - all of the monarchy's riches.  There they are kept in a massive safe-room, which can be entered for viewing the jewels, though photography is strictly prohibited.  We meandered though, looking at the massive diamonds, some over 500 carats and the size of my fist!!  Crowns, rings, plates, flatware, scepters, and orbs - many of which are still used in coronations and official ceremonies today.  Dan, along with Annie, could not bare to miss this great photo-op and snapped pics "discretely" left and right inside the room.  As we were leaving, a guard chased us down yelling "Camera Check" and demanded to see Dan's camera, watching as he was forced to delete each and every photo and video of the jewels from his memory card!  HAHAH!  He was shaking in his British boots and Lauren and I could barely hold back our laughter.  What a shame, but a good lesson - do not mess with Her Majesty's riches.  We toured the tower complex a bit more, then crossed the famous Tower Bridge to the south bank of the River Thames.  The bridge was incredible to see in person, this was the one displaying the Olympic Rings last summer.  The south bank boasts impressive new construction and architecture and was named the "Queen's Walk".  We made our way back into the city and to Trafalgar Square and Picadilly Circus at night, which were very cool all lit up. We finally got a seat at a great bar and the bartender would not serve Lauren, since she did not have proof of age, aside from a photocopy of her passport - isn't this Europe??  So, we left and ended up just going back to the hotel to sleep, since we had trouble getting ahold of the other girls.  We were ready for bed without a doubt!

The White Tower - The Tower of London

Tower Bridge

Closest I got to the Queen... 

On Saturday, our friends were leaving London and going to a smaller town in the country, so we had to change hotels.  Luckily for us, to another one, which Dan's dad booked with more hotel points.  We were two for two in terms of hotels this trip!  This same hotel recognized us this second time around and were more than willing to store our bags for the day.  We headed straight for Buckingham Palace to catch the 11:30 changing of the guards.  Well... we were not the only one's with that on our agenda and since in the winter, they only do the full ceremony every other day, I think the crowd was almost doubled.  We managed to weasel our way up to a gate, right as the police were separating the crowd and making a pathway for the procession.  We found ourselves next to a couple very nice American ladies, who were happy to speak to us about the U.S. and even happier for our American-style respect of personal space!  We talked the whole time - well I did... haha!  They were very interesting and one had been a high-end watch buyer for Tiffany and Co. and had been to London, I think she said 50+ times, and had seen the changing of the guards over a dozen. They gave us their email address and wanted us to send them some photos (which they took with my camera from a better vantage point) and also to remind them to talk to their friend who owns an Irish pub in Boston and is the largest distributer of Guinness in the city, with the hope of her getting us a private tour of the Guiness factory in a couple weeks.  How cool!  After the ceremony, we got some photos of the palace, spoke to a guard who said that the Queen was out at a private residence (go figure) and then moved on back to Trafalgar square for photos in a Traditional London phone booth and with the famous, giant, bronze Lions of the plaza.  We stopped into a cafe for hot chocolate and a breather, then continued to St. Paul's cathedral.  We had intended to go up the cathedral for incredible views of the city, but it was closed for a confirmation, so we headed back across the Thames, using the very modern pedestrian bridge, which is seen in one of the Harry Potter movies.  We walked past Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on our way to the Borough Market.  This is a famous market in London on Saturdays with every imaginable food item.  I had a burger type thing with onions and English mustard (which is unbelievably strong/spicy) and Lauren had a thanksgiving plate on a bun, which was also great!  There, we met up with our friends Jordan and Sara, whom we had been with the nights before and were now going to squeeze into the hotel with us.  We left the market and stopped into a cool little pub on the river.  They left later for a Michael Jackson show (wish I had gone), while Dan and Lauren and I stayed to continue with the ales and to argue about languages and anything else imaginable before returning to the hotel, back along the Queen's Walk, with more beautiful night views of the city and the Tower Bridge... 

Changing of the Guards

Buckingham Palace babayyy

On the tele

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

St. Paul's Cathedral in the Distance

St. Paul's and London Bridge (not falling down) from the Queen's Walk

Tower Bridge

Sunday, was another busy day.  The five of us woke up and went straight to the train station (across the street) to arrange travel to the town of Windsor, the home of Windsor Castle.  Two train rides and a couple hours later, we were walking down the quaint streets of the town and staring at the impressive castle, which the royal family still frequents.  The castle is the largest one still in use today and was actually expecting Her Majesty's arrival (as they said) while we were there, but she never showed up.  We guessed her private helicopter or military escort must have been delayed... The castle was awesome!  So much more interesting when you can imagine people living there, state dinners being served there and foreign officials being entertained there.  We had lunch at a cool little restaurant and I finally broke down and ordered the famous Fish and Chips of London.  It was wonderful!!!  Seriously the best beer-battered fish of my life.  The rumors are all true!  From Winsor, we went back to London city to check out Harrod's the world-famous shopping center, but since it was Sunday, it was closed by the time we arrived.  Regardless, it offered impressive window displays and beautiful lights.  Next, we took the metro all the way to to King's Cross Station, from Harry Potter, to get a photo with the Platform 9 3/4 from the movies.  There is a goofy little set prepared there for tourists to take photos and pretend to be where Harry Potter entered the magical world.  Before going back to go to bed, we stopped into Shakespeare's Pub near the hotel to burn our remaining British pounds on snacks and drinks, when unbelievably the entire rest of our group walked into the same bar for the same reason!  We all sat and laughed and shared our stories, until it was time to hit the hay for yet another, miserable, early-morning departure for Madrid.  

Windsor Castle

Harrod's

I was super sad to have to wake up and go to the airport on Monday morning (gets worse each week), but I was even sadder to leave the wonderful city of London.  I highly recommend it and cannot wait to go back.  The time is flying here.  Only 3 trips and 6 more weeks left before I will be home for Christmas.  I hope all is well over there.  Cherio!

Sevilla, Spain

Two weekends ago, Ross and I took an impromptu trip to the famous, Spanish city of Sevilla. Sevilla is located in southern Spain, a 6 hour bus ride from Madrid, in the region of Andalucia. It is known for being home to the birthplace of Flamenco music and dance, due to its historic gypsie population, as well as the third largest gothic cathedral in the world and tapas at every turn. 

We left on a night bus from Madrid last Thursday night at 1 AM, scheduled to arrive in Sevilla at 7:30. The bus ride was nice, but we did not get as much sleep as we had planned and were super tired upon arriving in Sevilla. We made a pit stop  half-way from Madrid and as I was inside using the bathroom (maybe around 4AM) the bus pulled away to refuel. So, as you can expect, I walked out of the rest-stop with a few other people, all in a panic looking for the stupid bus! Fortunately, someone had been through this before and remembered that the bus refuels and then returns for the people who left. Whew! Crisis averted! 

First, we went to our hostel, The Traveler's Inn, to store our bags and inquire about checking in early for a little shut-eye before beginning our day. They took the bags, but could not offer us a room until midday since the place was full. Therefore, we were forced out into Sevilla bright and early to explore and to get our bearings. We stopped for some coffee and pastries near the hostel, then navigated through the windy, cobblestone streets to the historical center with the cathedral and other attractions. We actually ran into some fellow SLU students who had been on our bus, they were burning time to catch another bus to Morocco for a weekend in the desert!  Instead of going in the attractions, we decided just to tour around and save the admissions for the next two days. However, our next stop, the Torre de Oro, (the golden tower) was open and worth entering. It was an old lighthouse situated on the river, which now houses a maritime museum and can be climbed up for views of the city. For the record, Christopher Columbus is from Sevilla and there is much dedicated to him, his crews and the discovery of the Americas. We opted to take a bus tour of the city afterwards, since we were tired and it seemed like a great way to feel out the town without having to walk. It was a hop-on-hop-off tour, though we never really hopped off!!  It toured us around, highlighting the major sights and areas. We returned to our hostel for a much needed siesta and then after a few hours, went back out for an early tapas dinner.  Afterwards we visited the beautiful Plaza de España. This huge building and extravagant plaza was constructed for an international exhibition in Sevilla, but now attracts visitors for the architecture and beauty. We left there, passing through the old Tobacco factory, which once processed all the tobacco entering into Spain from the New World, but is now home to the University of Seville.  Later we stublmed across a tapas and wine bar called Vinela, which came to be one of our favorite stops in Seville.  They had fantastic Rioja, red wine and really good breaded shrimp tapas.  

Cathedral of Sevilla

Torre de Oro

Plaza de España

On Saturday, we got moving early, took advantage of the free breakfast at the hostel and went straight to the cathedral to begin seeing the sights that we had just glanced at the day before. Bathe cathedral was incredible, we took a look at all the small chapels, the impressive treasure room, loaded with gold and jewels, as well as the tomb of Columbus, while trying to eavesdrop on some Spanish tour guides to pick up a little information. The place was swarming with Costa cruise ship passengers (seriously, the cruises haunt me!). We ended the tour of the cathedral by climbing the tall bell tower for unmatched views of the city. It required walking 35 ramps and then 17 steps, but was really cool at the top and worth the workout.  Next, we stopped for a small lunch of some tapas and beer, then proceeded to the Royal Alcazar. This structure was once a Moorish fort, but was later inhabited by the Spanish royal family. It was rather empty, but boasted impressive architecture, mosaics and gardens. After burning some time there, we moved on to the Plaza de Toros of Seville, the bullring, which my mom told me to check out (she did some Seville research for me).  The tour of the ring was interesting, we got to see the hidden areas of the ring, where the bulls enter, where the royal family sits and where the matadors pray before each fight, as well as  a couple museum exhibits of bullfighting paraphernalia and art.  My sociology teacher had informed me that an interesting area, called Tirana, was situated just across the river in Sevilla, this place was once home to the city's gypsy population and therefore became the birthplace of Flamenco music and culture. We walked into Tirana just for a drink and some sightseeing, but walked back to the city center after nabbing a couple nice Cruzcampo beer glasses from the unfriendly bar. It has become a game to collect as many of these unique glasses from all around Europe as possible. Dan is undoubtedly winning, since he has no shame or fear of embarrassment, but I am not that talented of a clepto (now, hotel toiletries on the other hand, that's my expertise!) As it turns out, upon returning to Madrid, only one of our two glasses was even printed with the beer logo... I am fairly certain the good one is mine. Haha!  After Tirana and making a run for it with out hot glasses, we walked back along the river to our standby, Vinela, for some more wine and shrimp.  There, we decided to look into changing our return bus ticket for the following day, Sunday.  We had planned to take the same 1 AM bus home from Sevilla, but at that point felt like we had seem most all of the city and could afford leaving earlier in order to get back to Madrid as a more reasonable time.    Luckily, the lady at the bus station was super-friendly and helped us choose a new departure time of 5 PM with nothing more than a 1 euro fee to change.  Afterwards, we regrouped again at the hostel and headed out for a visit to the world largest wooden structure for the evening, Metropol Parasol.  This place was designed by a German engineer and takes up most of the plaza that it sits in.  It looks like six large mushrooms, and houses shopping, restaurants, a pedestrian plaza and a observation deck on the top.  There was some sort of festival going on, with live music and tons of people.  For just 1.30 euro we took an elevator to the top of the mushrooms for a scenic views over Seville, including the Cathedral and other buildings lit up at night.  It was awesome!  Before leaving, we stopped into the tapas bar up there, Gastrosol, for a couple beers and croquettas tapas as a snack, since we intended to find something good for dinner later.  We left Plaza de la Emancipación and headed for Plaza Neuva, an areas bustling with bars and restaurants.  After walking around for some time, we settled on Ginos, a nice italian place, since we were tapas-ed out and ready for a big plate of pasta.  I got a really great pesto with green noodles and we washed it down with three glasses of red vino!  Before going to sleep in the hostel, I had an interesting conversation with a couple Australian girls staying in our room.  We were talking about the differences between American English and Australian English -- they say things like sunnies (sunglasses), rubbish (trash) and thongs (flip flops), that we just don't say!  Too funny!  

Tomb of Christopher Columbus

View of Sevilla from the Cathedral Tower

Royal Alcazar

Plaza de Toros de Sevilla

Metropol Parasol

Ross and I atop Metropol Parasol

Sunday was spent simply by checking out the few places that we had missed in Sevilla.  We headed west from our hostel, after eating breakfast, to an area called Macarena.  Despite ho badly I was actually looking forward to doing the Macarena there, I never heard the song nor had the chance. Bummer!  There is a an awesome church there devoted to the Virgin Mary and it has an extravagant altar with a larger than life size Mary mannequin/statue/doll thing set into the ornate golden facade.  Even though mass was about to start, we were able to walk behind the altar in a line of tourists to enter the chamber where the Mary stands and view her from behind, while looking out over the assembling congregation.  It was pretty cool!!  They had creepy mirrors set up, so that you could see around her head and get a look at her face from the back.  We left there, walked back to the river, through a couple interesting plazas and just happened to stumble upon an awesome place for lunch.  Going along with the tapas theme, this place specialized in pinchos, which are a form of tapas, where some sort of meat, cheese, etc. is prepared and served stop a slice of french bread.  The place was self-serve, so we could fill up a plate with various pinchos and then get charged based upon how many toothpicks we had in the end. Very cool and fun idea!  We ended up walking back though the town center and the cathedral to a small plaza near our hostel, which was loaded with people hanging out drinking beer on the nice Sunday afternoon.  So, we grabbed a beer and spent some time there before collecting our bags and hitting the long road back to Madrid!  

Virgin Mary of Macarena 

For such an unexpected and quick trip, Sevilla turned out to be a travel great destination and a whole lot of fun!!