Traveling (in general)

We're on our way to Rome!
(sort of.)

We're actually.. quite literally.. on our way to Madrid via bus. Via very-expensive-yet-comfortable-express-bus. Via very-expensive-yet-comfortable-express-bus-which-has-wifi. (Nice.)

Not much to say. It's 11:30 pm. Another half an hour before we get to the bus station, and another very-slow-metro-ride to get to the Airport.

I never properly gave an account of the stresses involved in my return from Paris last week. I wanted to forget about it. I'll give one now, on the subject of traveling.

I was in Paris all alone- quite content. I had 6 hours at my leisure and planned on regressing to my Hostel to pick up my backpack about 1.5 hours before my bus was to leave to take me to the airport.
I got lost on my way, of course, and went out of the way to get a crepe so that I was feeling a bit antsy by the time I was on the METRO that would take me to the Paris Bus Station.  It was one metro line. Metro Line 1 to be percise. But it was a slowwww Metro line. Much slower than I bargained for..and I began to stressssss and stresss. I still needed to by my bus ticket for the proper bus that would take me to the airport 2 hours early for my flight.  And I had no idea if there was another bus- they time the buses to coincide with the airlines. I was sure I'd figure something out if I missed it... but I would have rather not had to worry.

I started counting the seconds between Metro stops. About 1.5 minutes from one stop to the other. 90 seconds, give or take a few.  This counted the opening and closing of doors. I figured I would have time. I *did* have time.. i got to the bus station and got my ticket and was scolded a little bit by the ticket-man for being kind of not-early but i had 5 minutes to spare once on the bus. No biggy.

And I get to the airport, go through bag checking and security (Takes an hour) and worry about getting a good seat on the plane and low-and-behold it's been delayed.

Let me put this in better context:
My flight was to leave at 7:10 pm from Paris and I was to arrive after 9 in Madrid.  I was then, it was planned, to go to the Bus station in Madrid (A metro line away) and make the earliest bus possible to get to Salamanca. I had 3 plausible bus lines I could easily make: a 10:00, a 10:30 and an 11:00.   I had prepared for this.  I gave my self more than an hour to get to the station in due time.

This is what happened:
My flight was delayed. UBER delayed. Uber-over-an-hour-delayed. Which would put me in Madrid right before 10. Which would give me about an hour to navigate myself out of the airport and into the Metro and then to the bus station where i would by my ticket and get on the bus.
Major Stress.

I got on the plane. I sat near the front so i could get out in due time. I figured I was safe. I had an hour. I could do it in an hour.

I bolted off the airplane. I flat-out-sprinted down the terminal complete with backpack and heavy coat. Sprinted. Gasping-for-breath-kind-of-sprinting.

You know who I simply can't abide by? People who use the cool airport-moving-walk-way-things  but who decide to just stand on it and chill. They block the pathway so i have to break my sprint.

You know what's pretty cool? Sprinting down the cool airport-moving-walk-way-things. You go SO Fast. But  I was too stressed. I arrived at the METRO and put my coins in the thing... took too much time for my liking, but I got on the first train and was horrified as I saw the number of stops were between that station and the transfer station.  I started counting seconds again. It did not bode well. The Madrid METRO trains are rather.... insufferably slow.

As soon as the door opened, I sprinted down the station to find the tunnel that connected the two lines. It was longer than I could ever have imagined it to be. (Longer than I had remembered it being 2 days ago, that is.) And escalators and stairs were conquered with record speeed... and I probably looked like a frazzled and crazy person.. but I felt the pressure to make that 11:00 bus. If I didn't make that 11:00 bus, I would have been stuck in madrid allll night by myself.

I arrived at the New METRO pickup and waited. I waited a painful amount of time. I had so many.. unpleasant thoughts go through my head along the lines of ... "you know... this probably isn't going to work. You always think that things are going to turn out just fine, don't you? It's like.. optimism. But it's dangerous to be this optimistic, because... things don't always turn out perfectly. They really don't. There is every chance in the world that you won't make this bus, and you'll be stuck in Madrid.. and you really just have to deal with this."

And the METRO came, and it was SLOWER than the one before it. The minutes disappeared. 5 minutes left by the time it arrived at the station. I sprinted Faster, getting anxious and hysterical by now, down the tunnel following the AUTOBUS signs. I arrived at the gate and put my ticket in it, trying to get out to go to the bus station.  It wouldn't accept my ticket. I was freaking out by this point, speaking horribly incoherent spanish.

Katherine: "It won't work!!"
Guard: Tranquilla. what do you want.
Katheirne: I need to get to the bus station.. i'm going to miss it...
Gaurd: what? what where?
Katherine: I'm late, i'm going to miss it.
Guard: *points in opposite direction. that doesn't have an exit gate*
Katherine:Oh.

I took a picture of it while on the way to Rome. Lol.

SO i have to climb uber stairs, and I see my bus! and I run up to it, 2 minutes left by now, and say "Please please please wait for me to get a ticket, where do I buy tickets?" and the bus driver shrugs and points at his watch. And then points up more stairs.

I sprint up those stairs, to the ticket man.. am practically crying by now because I want so badly for it to work and i'm so close.. and the ticket man.. is incredibly difficult. He tells me there's not time. I tell him to please hurry. He is insufferably slow. Glacierly slow. Molasses on a glacier kind of slow. And he asks for my card.. i give it to him all the while saying "Please hurry"(in spanish) and he says "This doesn't work" after a minute, in a very rude and unsympathetic sort of way. I then realize that i can give him cash, do so, take my ticket and run downstairs (past departure time by now.)

I get turned around, can't find my bus.. start runnign to every bus asking for the one that goes to Salamanca.. they point. There are 2 buses and both are about to leave. I go to one, they won't accept my ticket. (The ticket master of death gave me one for the next morning. :Lkajsd;lfkjasd.) and I go to the second bus, and he takes pity on my sad and pathetic face and lets me on.

It wouldn't have been a huge deal if I hadn't come from france that day. I was exhausted. I had not eaten much at all, had walked all day, had been on my own, was just... so tired. And i got to Salamanca at 2am and the kitchen was closed and I ate crackers that I had in my room and thought about how lucky i was.

It turns out that my travel buddy was in the same situation as me: She was suppose to catch a flight out of paris 9 hours earlier than my flight. She didn't even make it to the first bus station in Paris. She got lost on the Paris metro. I felt horrible, especially considering I had no idea of this until 2 days after. My travel buddy ended up getting on MY flight (The late one) after paying 100 Euros. And then she didn't make it to the Bus station in time and... had to stay in Madrid over night. I didn't see her at all.

Traveling. Scary and stressful. I'm with 4 others so i'm not worried this time at all. If i get stuck in Madrid this time, I'll be in good company.

Anyway. that's that stressful story. I'm going to Rome, though, so expect more later.

Paris

NOTE: pictures are warped, but you can click on them for full effect, I think


Day 1: 

We, that is to say, Hyuen and I arrived in Paris around 2:30 p.m. on Friday the.... 6th. And we got there via autobus after a smooth flight from Madrid (where we slept on the floor of the airport, on chairs of the airport, and on the plane, and on the bus.... probably a total of 5 hours of sleep.. not awful.)

Anyway, after going to our Hostel and unpacking and taking a quick shower we headed off to the Louvre. Hyuen's camera actually worked.. in that.. she could switch her settings and actually SEE what she was taking a picture of.

My camera, on the other hand, is broken and I cannot do any of the above. These things considered, I took a few pretty photos of the Louvre.

Oh, before the Louvre, however, we went down the Opera Boulevard and saw the Opera de Garnier... the phantom of the opera opera. And.... apparently there are actual sewage system passageways underneath it so that reclusive people, like phantoms, can hide.

[Until Hyuen gives me some of her pictures, I won't be able to illustrate all of this. nor do I have pictures of myself. Ah well.]

LOUVRE:

I saw the Mona Lisa, of course. And..... she was beautiful. And I just wanted to stare at the portrait for awhile, but while I was taking it in two girls approached me and asked me to take a photo of them in front of it. Sighhhhhhh.

And what else. We walked a lot that night afterwards.... to our Hostel which took about an hour. We walked along the Seins... past Notre Dame and other pretty churches.

Day 2:

Huyen and I split up in the morning: She went to Versaille Palace and I explored the city on my own. I got caught up in the Latin Quarter.. just walking around impulsively. I also forgot my camera that day. But I took notes in a notebook of what I did, trying to keep track of streets I went down and such. I went into St. Paul's Cathedral- I noticed the chairs were different in French churches.. compared to in Spanish ones. They were individual wicker seats, connected by a plank of wood.. and the chadeliers were super low from the ceiling, very touchable if you were to stand on one of the wicker chairs. There were also two organs.

I found myself wandering in the St. Paul Village which had a secluded sort of Antique Market Place that was hidden in an alleyway. There sort of old and quirky looking French people were selling old letter presses (For typing, I imagine... you know.. metal alphabets?) and old post cards.. thousands of old post cards... I was going to by one for each of you, but I couldn't decide and I got stressed out trying to pick the perfect one so I just left.... and  lots of table cloths and lace and glass figurines. One of the vendors was playing cool jazz music and it was quite picturesque.

Afterwards I walked along the Seins.. over the Seins to the other side and saw people doing Yoga in a park. I found another church, listened to someone tune an organ.. I walked past a University that looked rather old and saw that they were giving tours of it. I didn't want a tour, and when I went inside i tried to figure out if the entrance was free. The inside was surprisingly modern... black retro sort of front desk.. chic lighting. I'll find a picture for you.. aha! it's called "College des Bernardins"...

well.. this is the inside of it anyway. I can't find a picture of the modernish classrooms that clash with this. but know they exist. Anyway, it was interesting because the old-lady-French-woman at the desk took pity on my inability to speak French, and gave me a an unofficial look-around at the University Classrooms for free. She seemed sheepish as she tried to explain things in broken Frenglish. She sort of pointed, and tried to say something, and I'd  try to reply in French, and I'd nod to pretend I understood so she wouldn't feel bad. And it was very awkward, but still very nice of her to personally show me around and point. "Class" "Study" "No class.. umm..... porquoi.. umm" and I'd finish "Oui, samedi je comprende" .

Interesting and nice.

I'm consulting my notebook. Ah! I walked past the University of Paris, was disappointed in its locked and fenced campus, so I went to a sculpture garden along the Seine. And then I found an entrance to the Jardin de Plantes and... saw a Wallaby and Ostrich and was very surprised. They were in a fenced in area. There were lots of Wallabies, actually. I don't know why I'm capitalizing Wallaby. Proper Wallabies.

OH! And I walked up and down many streets with lovely and tres cher cafes, but it was beautiful and lovely. And I saw a farmer's market where they were actually preparing raw meat. There was a Turkish booth where they were selling pita with all sorts of spread, including Hummus. I was sorely tempted. There was a booth with brightly colored table cloths that I almost bought also, but remembered the dining room table in Chico is too big. There was also a honey booth with 40 types of honey in little glass jars with a pretty piece of cloth underneath the lid. It also had beeswax candles. All of this plus the normal fruits and vegitables and bakeries.

I think the bakeries were the best part. I never bought anything from one, but whenever i'd pass one I'd go inside to get out of the 3 degree C weather and to get a whiff of the lovely and comforting aroma. mm.

I got lost a bit in the Latin Quarter, stopped at a cafe and had a Quiche Lorrain (expensive and unexpectedly full of ham, but still good) and I sat and watched people out of the window. I then met up with Huyen after trying to find her for 20 minutes in the designated meeting spot- failing because she misunderstood me- and ended up calling her cell phone on a payphone. Everything worked out.

We, together, went on a 3.5 hour FREE walking tour where we learned about Henry IV, Napoleon, the Louies, the Siene, the start of Paris the Isle-of-Paris (I love Paris), the Louvre, etc. We walked all over the main sights and listened to a hilarious man from Liverpool make awkward and witty bantering about French History and it was very enjoyable.

After the tour, Huyen and I walked down Champ de'Elysees  and climped the Arc de Triomphe which has more than 250 spiraling stairs which I sprinted up. I will eventually post pictures from this. But the view was amazing and although it was entirely freezing up top we stayed there for awhile watching the Eifel Tower's celebratory-Laser-show as well as the traffic of Paris.

We next went to the Red Light District to see the Moulin Rouge and it was pretty epic looking. We FINALLY ate dinner, consisting of a crepe a piece and then went back to our hostel very tired from our 13 hour walking day.

Day 3

In which I was completely alone in Paris. Huyen had a 10:30 am flight (mine was to be at 7:10 pm) and so she left at 7:00 am and I wandered around Paris by myself.

I had an agenda for the day, and started the morning off at 8:30 by going to see Notre Dame up close. While meandering from the Metro Stop walking towards the Cathedral, a man approached me and asked me something in French, to which I replied "je ne parle pas francaise"

Man: What time is it?

Me: oh! Neuf.

Man: no no no.. Nueseur (trying to do this phonetically)

Me: oh

Man: Anglais?

Me: No.. de.. Etats....... unis...........

Man: *looks entirely shocked*

and then he asked if i was going to Notre Dame, to which I replied yes (all in French) and he took me over there and started telling me that he was a mime in a spectacle that was going to happen later on in the day... and someone was going to climb up the tower. we had a nice conversation that consisted of him saying things, and me saying 'oui' and then we parted ways.

It was cool because this makes 3 mimes that I've "conversed" with in Europe so far.

Anyway, I went into Notre Dame while mass was going on. I listened to the Cantor- she had perfect pitch it seemed... very enchanting and lulling and eerie. And the Organ piece during communion was entirely creepy and cool. It was very epic, the whole thing.

hmm hmm. After Mass I METROD very very far away to where the tiny statue of liberty was, behind the Eifel tower. It was tiny and I didn't get a good picture of it. But I made quite the pilgramage towards the Eiffel Tower along the Seine, past boats and boat cafes, past running-french-people and lots of business buildings and trees... and watched the Eiffel Tower get larger and larger and taller and taller. So epic to look up at. I tried to get a picture in front of it, and failed.. but here is my attempt as well as some neato photos of it.

Um... and then I tried to see Napoleon's tomb- too expensive.. but I went around the museum of war or wheaponry or something that he is buried in. Cool photos that might be posted later.. but here is one

And lots more walking ensued. I didn't make it to the Musee d'orsay because the line was about an hour long and I didn't have time. I had to be at my Hostel at 3 so i could properly Metro to the bus stop by 4 and I still wanted to visit the Amelie village. (Montmartre). Getting to Montmartre .. i can't spell it..? It was difficult. I walked the wrong way out of the Metro station for about 20 minutes before figuring it out, and ended up taking the Metro back to save time.

I was practically running up the 100 or so stairs to the big church on top of the hill.... so much exercise that day..... and wheezing I finally made it... and it was so beautiful. Here's a favorite picture...

And the little town of Montmatre was easily my favorite thing.. it was too bad I only could pass through it. But there were lots of art displays.. cobble stoned pathways... adorable cafes, colorful everything. People kept asking if they could paint my portrait..there was a park and lovely art shops and ivy covered cottages... and I wanted to stay longer but couldn't.

I instead went back to the Hostel, feeling so pressed for time, and ran to the Metro with my luggage and barely made it to my bus. This event forshadowed the rest of my voyage to Salamanca, but that will be for tomorrow's post. I don't want to taint this one with stress.

This was long, but necessary.

J'aime Paris

A Paris

Bonjour mon amies,

Je vais aller a Paris!

Itinerary:

Salamanca Time

Wednesday November 5:

8:30 p.m. Go to Bus Station in Salamanca

bus to Madrid arriving at 11:30 p.m.

Via Metro, arrive at airport whenever. Sleep at airport. (Gross).

Thursday November 6:

10:30 Am: flight to Paris

arrive in Paris at 12:40 p.m.

Bus to Central Paris: 1:00 p.m.. Metro to Hostel

JE NE SAIS PAS.

Sunday November 8:

4:10 p.m. Bus to airport

7:10 p.m. Fly to Madrid

9:23 Arrive in Madrid

10:30 Bus to Salamanca

1:35 am arrive. gross.

THINGS I SHOULD PROBABLY NOT FORGET TO PACK/DO

1. Passport

2. Broken Camera. (Scowl.)

3. Ipod

4. Quodlibet

5. Cellphone that won't work in Paris

6. Traveler's Checks

7. Other Money

8. Pillow for Airport

9. Tooth Brush

10. Charge Ipod, Camera, phone

11. Buy Umbrella

12. Check Weather

13. Download enterntainment from internet to amuse me whilst i'm in Airport sans internet

14. Diary

15. Books

16. Study Guides for the Two Midterms I have upon return

OH good. it will be raining. Il fait pluuuuuus. no no. that's snow. I forget how to say rain.

17. Go over basic french

18. Bring Itenarary

19. TOWEL. (oh Ford Prefect).

FYI

I posted entires about Madrid and Segovia and the Bull Ranch. They are embedded below as I back dated them.

SEGOVIA

MADRID AND PRADO

Horse Back Riding

Today ... Sasha, Anne, Matt, Alison, Araceli, Kelley, Janneth and I went horseback riding in El Campo. And it was terrifying for some reason. Trust me to get the horse who's the weird one. Good lord. It would walk slowly, nibble the ground, then realize that it was worlds behind the horse behind it (Named Amigo) and the go at a full gallop to catch up. Down a hill. Over rocks. And then it would practically crash into Amigo and I'd have to make it stop by pulling the reigns and then it would flail it's head because it was upset at me telling it to stop. And I hated it. And it foamed at the moth... froth.... lots of foamy white froth which would fly through the air when it would flail it's foaming mouth and land on my arm.

Also we had to go through rivers. 3 of them. I didn't know we were going to do this. And.... every time my horse would decide to chill and just sort of meander down stream a bit. And It was awful. It took ages to get it to get out of the river, and when it did it decided to climb up the river bank at full speed into a branch which was going to hit my head except I blocked it with my arm.

Horses.

OH, but where we road our horses.. it looked just like Bidwell Park. Uncannily like Bidwell Park.

Segovia/Bull Ranch

THIS IS WHERE WE WENT ON OCTOBER 24 and 25:

(Catch up)

October 24: SEGOVIA:

is a town a few hours from Salamanca:

Segovia is known for it's Castle and Aqueduct. The Aqueduct, built in the late 1st Century (!!!!) was used by the Romans to bring water into the city.

There was also this cool Castle that the Disney Castle was modeled after. Called the Alcazar Castle, it was originally built by Arabs and was converted by King Alfonso the 11th C.

Pictures:

.

We next traveled to the Palace Grounds, a bit aways from the Catedral and Aqueduct . It was beautiful. Finally we found some autumn, after days of Salamanca which only yields tall tall old old buildings. I really was pleased to have some greenery. and yellowery. There was also a labyrinth which was kind of dying and dead but it was pretty cool.

We also went to this Bull Ranch- the 24:

It was about a 30 min. drive from Salamanca, and we arrived at the ranch, piled into Safari-like Cars and drove around the ranch right up near the bulls. We saw baby bulls, mommy bulls, Castrated bulls, Weak bulls, and bulls which were going to die. A common thing I yelled at them was "I'm sorry you are going to die." Poor Torros.

Here are some Pictures:

Big Bull

Harmless Bulls:(aw.)

Scary Bull:

Family Bulls:

Still Slacking on the updating ughh...

This week happenings:

School. i suppose I'll make this an update about classes.

My classes:

1) Literature:

Is very very difficult as it is in Spanish and most of the people in the class either speak fluently or have taken Spanish for 4 or 5 years. So far we've been studying poetry.. medieval poetry. And most of the topics are surprisingly crude, as a lot of the poems are religious based.

Example: There is a type of poetry called Cuaderno Via, and we studied a poem of this type written in the genre of Mester de Clerecia. In historical context, these poems were very important because they were a mechanism of religious scholars who wanted to educate people who were illiterate. They were spoken, written in verse, had biblical context, and were painstakingly difficult to write. (Apparently). Rhyming sequennces I guess were hard.

Anyway, our Proffesor read one of these poems aloud to us, and the story was about a Friar who was going on a Pilgrimage to Santiago... it was actually a story about a Miracal that happened to the Friar but it was such a strange, strange story. I thought I completely mishearing or mistranslating it until I sat down with the poem and a dictionary and found that I was correct. The story goes something like this: A friar wants to go to Santiago for a Pilgramage, but the day before he goes he sleeps with a woman he is not married to. So on his pilgramage the devil (or many devils) decide to play a trick on him and disguise themselves as Santiago (The saint...) and tell him he has to dismember himself if he wants to be forgiven. He does so and dies of blood loss. And then the Virgin Mary and the real Santiago decide to help the friar because he was tricked and they forgive him and he lives the rest of his life completely devoted to God. He is not tempted to commit adultary anymore as he has not the capacity for it.

Strange strange strange.

All of them are that strange.

My Professor is entertaining, though. He speaks too quickly for me to understand, but he does well at using gestures to describe what is going on. It's diverting.

We are now learning about tragedies, I think. I'm not sure. I have to use my dictionary again.

2. Language

Is just a normal grammar class. (By the way, because you don't use subjects in Spanish sentence because the verb conjugation indicates the subject.... I am inclined to drop it in English. "Is just a normal grammar class." It's weird.).

Anyway, I don't care for my Professor too much. She is very nice and patient and is amused by our horribly rowdy and disrespectful class, but she doesn't teach very well. It's ok, though, because I can figure out the rules eventually. I like grammar a lot. I can understand it, I just am bad at implementing it in my speech.

3. Translation

SO DIFFICULT. We are learning allllll of the verb forms and tenses and it's so complex and I love it. But I am definitely not able to incorporate it into my speech. It's far more advanced than my own spanish speaking level, but it's a learning class. We really aren't graded, we are just practicing translation. There is no pressure, so i'm just absorbing what I can. I'm learning more grammar there than I will learn in my actual grammar class. The professor is very hyper and crazy and dramatic. It's hard to take her seriously.

4. European Union

This class is taught in English. The Professor is an old Spanish man who is very wry and is the one Spaniard who i've encountered who has a sense of irony and sarcasm. (Doesn't exist here, normally.) His poking fun at some of the more-obnoxious members of our group is amusing to watch, especially because his comments tend to go over the heads of those he is mocking. It's very clever.

About the class, though. The European Union (27 member states) seems like a good thing. It unifies most of Europe in such a way that there is transparency amongst its member states and there is no potential for war over, say, the economy or territory because the economy and the land is shared amongst its member states. It does, however, seem to take away the sovereignty of the people within individual member states. I don't know if I value sovereignty. The EU requires that its nation states be democratic, not apply the death penalty, and generally follow what is thought in Western Civilization to be "humane rules".

It's thought provoking. Yesterday we watched videos of people protesting the EU because decisions made to make it more Federal (less sovereignty for the people) were not passed by the people directly. There was no referendum, so people feel like they have no say in the matter. It's complex.

Random facts about the EU:

12 stars of gold on a blue field simply because 12 is a historically sound number. (27 member states now.. so the number has nothing to do with the member states).

The national anthem is "Ode to Joy"

Current President of EU is from Portugal

They are about to pass a new treaty called "Lisbon Treaty" because they finally got Ireland and Poland's signatures. They are waiting on the signature from the Czech Republic.

5. Spanish Cinema:

Is very fun and diverting, and i love our Professor. He is very guapo and intelligent and makes watching movies very fun. He has a good and unique sense of humor. So far we've watched a movie called "La nino de sus Ojos" and "Bienvenido Mister Marshall".

The first movie was about Spanish film makers making two versions of the same film: One in Spanish, one in Germany. (For about 3 years in the 1930s, film makers actually filmed the same movie with two different casts in order to market it to other countries... they didn't figure out dubbing.) It was pretty funny seeing an epic Spanish love story with German voices. It was also a movie about the role of the Spaniard in the context of WWII. The main "actress" in the Spanish version of the film was played by Penelope Cruz and she was seduced by Gerbils... awkward and gross.

The second film was an old Spanish film that had the same sort of charming tone as our old movies. It was about a small Peublo whose inhabitants were preparing for the Americans to come visit and give them gifts because of the Marshall plan. It was nostalgically hilarious and had very subtle humor. My friend Justin and I decided that Blazing Saddles was heavily influenced by it.

You really should watch this: It doesn't require English because the spanish in it is Slurred because it's a dream. It's not even real Spanish. This scene is the Mayor's dream the day before of the American's visit. Thus it's supposedly in American style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmXpvQePlyw&hl=es

It really, in my opinion, is sort of their impression of our westerns. Anyway, enjoy.

Promises To Keep

Ugh, I'm neglecting this.

First of all, I think i somehow did something which emails some of you whenever I post. If you are getting this as an email, don't be confused i'm not just sending it to you. I don't know how to fix this yet, but I will try to eventually.

Secondly, a list of the posts I need to post which I will post as soon as I properly steal some pictures from my friends.

1. Seville! (From ages and ages ago. Like.. a month ago. The Palace, the Cathedral, the Gardens, the city.)

2. Granada: The Alhambra

3. PICTURES FROM BOTH

4. Ciudad Rodrigo: Just a random city in spain that I visited randomly with Ann last weekend. We got on a bus and saw it then bused back.

5. Madrid (The second visit, although I don't think I took any picutres...) but I have lots to say about the Prado.

6. Toledo: a bit about Toledo

7. Mime deaf mute painter I met in Sabor Salsa club

8. Classes

But now I'm actually sleeping.

First: Here's Us in Toledo, where i was on Saturday (The... 17)

Madrid/El Prado

Madrid, Spain: Sunday October 18, 2009:

(I think you can click on the Pictures to actually see the whole frame)

We toured Madrid on an a bus and saw the Royal Palace an Egyptian "Temple" called Temple of Debod which was rebuilt in Madrid for some reason. (?!?) Actually, I know why. Wikipedia is the best. It was built because of Spain helped Egypt preserve some other temples, and it was a gift of gratitude from Egypt to Spain.

Anyway... I spent 4 hours in The Prado Museum, and while I saw ..... 4 hours worth of paintings (Nearly every single room in this 3 story museum. . lots and lots.) I took notes when we were on our tour, and will explain here what I was taught.

Painting 1:

Ok. This one is by Goya: It's a portrait of the royal family of King Charles IV and Family. Interesting thing about this portrait and Goya: He didn't like the royal family. The King, he felt, was not a good King so he did not flatter the portraits. None of his portraits of the royal family are painted with flattery- he drew them as they were: slightly deformed. They Bourbon family, for instance, had big noses. Another family had elongated necks, which Goya always was willing to expose. (The Royal families in Spain were very inbred, sickly, and slightly deformed.) About the Queen in this portrait: She supposedly looks hideous, but she was pleased with the Painting even though he painted her exactly as she was. She was vain enough to think it beautiful.

Goya also did this one: it is part of his dark works. It's a painting of Saturn eating his sons because he heard that one of them would usurp him as ruler. Dark..... in the Prado it's located in a Dark room and is amongst many other gruesome paintings.

Valazquez is another extremely famous Spanish Artist:

This one of the crucifixion scene is probably one of the most beautiful:

Out of the hundreds (well, maybe just 100) crucifixion depictions... this one is probably my favorite. Against the black it's simple, ominous and at the same time rather unearthly. Ironically, this Painting was commissioned as a bribe-gift. The King of Spain had tried to seduce a nun in a local convent, and the nun went to her sisters for protection. The King was scolded and he felt guilty, so he asked Valazquez to paint this for their convent. odd.

Other than Religious scenes and portraits, another subject for many painters were Greek Myths.

This painting depicts the moment when Apollo (glowing one) tells Vulcan that his wife (Venus) has had an affair with Mars. I don't know. It's obvious once you look at it, but I wouldn't have thought that this is what was going on in the painting unless I was told. I like the expressions on the faces of the observers. The one in the background looks as if he already knew. The others look shocked. And of course, Vulcan is rather appalled.

Valazquez's most famous painting is Las meninas:

This work is said to be the most famous painting for execllence in composition. There are many ways to inturpret it: What is basically going on, however, is the Infanta Magarita with her ladies in waiting. She is in the Royal Palace of her father King Phillip IV of Spain. It also has, in a mirror perhaps, a depiction of the King and Queen. They are sitting at their thrones, and perhaps the princess is visiting them. It is, therefore, a family portrait. It's interesting because the painting depicts Valazquez perhaps painting it. Meta-painting. Another interpretation is that the Valazquez is actually painting the King and Queen on their thrones and we are watching a snap shot of the scene. Confusing.

Ciudad Rodrigo

(Just another reminder to the few who are getting this as email, it's not an email it's a blog notification.)


Ann and I were stranded, roommate less, friendless, in Salamanca the weekend of October 9-12. Saturday, October 10, was spent roaming around Salamanca, quite aimlessly but actually for 7 hours. Lots of roaming. Lots of Museums. (ok, 2 museums...). But lots of walking.

One museum was very modern and had confusing videos for us to watch. I disliked it. It made me irritable in an irrational sort of way. Just annoying, pointless, "artsy" videos.

Video Example One:

Starts off with music: Jazz saxophone. Then you see a room, black and white coloring. The room is dingy, it's vacated. It looks as if it's in the upstairs of an abandoned building. Old. Dark. Dusty. And full of shoes. Lots and lots of shoes. And there are ladders. about 4 ladders. And a man in a sort of 20s outfit.. film noir style... is walking, sneaking, while a black saxaphonist walks through the hallway outside of the room. We see his silohette through the door, through windows. And this woman, wearing a white dress, comes in with a gun and starts shooting the man. He performs some sort of ballet spin and falls to the ground. Then he gets up, gets shot again, and falls. THIS GOES ON FOR 10 MINUTES. And there is reddish dust that comes from his shirt that is supposed to be blood. But it's so weird. He keeps running and getting shot. and shot and shot. And the woman laughs in a non-convincingly-evil-annoying sort of way. And it was awful.

That is that story.

We also saw a movie called Agora. Very good. I saw it in Spanish, missed a lot of it I'm sure, but got enough to like it. Very pretty cinematography at least.

anyway. SUNDAY OCTOBER 11

We had decided to take a day trip to Bejar, went to the bus stop and then saw that the bus was confused and left early. SO we randomly picked a bus, well not randomly because we went on the first bus to depart, and we ended up in this place called Ciudad Rodrigo.

Very pretty place.

Here are some nice pictures.

The Cathedral:

The Robin Hood

The View from the Wall

And the wall

The wall surrounds the inner city... is very cool looking. I felt epic while walking around it.. getting sun burnt... but you can see lots of things. And it was so warm to look at. Warm colors. Castilla Leon generally seems to have warmish looking stones. Even the Cathedrals.

Anyway: New Album for Ciudad Rodrigo. Seville and Granada and London in the process of being made.

NEW ALBUM HERE

Escuela

I'm in school now. Well, I'm off now for the weekend (Fridays have no school!) and am sleepily dragging myself out to be sociable. Today was productiveish.

Here's my school Schedule/Classes I am taking:

Monday:

11:00-1:00 Salamanca time:

Literature

In which we, I suppose, learn the history of Spanish literature starting in year 1000. Lots of Arabic right now, translated for us into Spanish. The whole thing is in Spanish so it's a bit confusing. My professor has a very soothing voice, and it's a very sleepy sort of class.

7:30-9:30 pm

Spanish Cinema

In which we watch Spanish movies and discuss, in Spanish, their historical significance. I suppose we'll also study about technique. Woo, new jargon.

Tuesday

11:00-1:00

Spanish Grammar

One class today. I like Thursdays.

Wednesday

9:00-11:00

Translation

Taught in English and Spanish... in that we are translating English texts into Spanish and are learning about Grammar

11:00-1:00

Grammar

4:30-6:30

European Union

This one is in English. We are learning about the function and processes of the European Union and the politics and economics incorporated. It's also a class that encourages us to read the news and keep up with things.

Only 6 hours of class on Wednesdays. Hmm.

Thursdays

9:00-11:00

Translation

11:00-1:00

Literature

4:30-6:30

European Union

7:30-9:30

Spanish Cinema

Ugh. 8 hours of class.

Friday

no school!

Not too bad.

I'm also planning a trip to Rome, for November 19-22. So far, if we get all of our bookings right, we only are going to spend 150 dollars per person for flights, board, buses, and more buses. Includes: 2 nights in hostel, flight there and back, bus ride to Madrid and Back to Salamanca, buses to and from airport.

Not too shabby. Very excited.

I'm also trying to plan a weekend trip to Paris.

:-)!!!!

Explanation:

The following 4 posts are in order of convenience rather than actuality. You can read the introduction note, then scroll down to read about my most recent excursions in the order that they occurred: Madrid, Venice,

That's all.

More about Salamanca Observations to come in a few days.

Home Again: And now, An account of the last week

9 Days of traveling, 2 countries, 8 cities delved into.

At the beginning there was a big group, but by Sunday evening it was cut down to me and my two house mates: Esther and Kelley.

General Musings:
I've been in Europe for a month now, and I think I've finally gotten straight the explorer's mentality. You can always go in with a plan: I certainly had my whole trip pla

nned out, itinerary and all.

However, I've learned that plan

s change incredibly and that it is important to be able to be flexible, to think on the spot, and to be spontaneous occasionally. This breaking-free-from-the-plan can be intentional or not, but regardless, there are serious benefits to simply showing up to a city and simply looking around. This is method worked beautifully in Madrid and in Venice. In my wanderings, I found impromptu musical performances, met some interesting people, and felt as if I were more independent for discovering the cities' wondrous secrets on my own in lieu of being told by a guide.

This attitude, however backfired a bit in Milan when we showed up in the city far after the major museums closed. I was very disappointed, but also could have easily remedied the matter if I had been aggressive about getting to Milan earlier rather than sleeping in. Such is life.

General Musings, Continued: Katherine's List of Musts Upon First Arriving in New Destination

1) Orientate. Get a Map, usually found at the nearest bus station, train station, or Hotel. In the last week, I made use of all of these resources.

2) Determine or Find where you are going to stay: (Map helps.) If you are only meandering through the city for the day, find a locker for you baggage. Museums and Bus stations have baggage checks, generally; Venice was the only city which I went into not knowing where I was going to sleep that night. Matters were made worse by the fact that I arrived at Midnight far away from any potentially cheap hostel. Luckily I had done some research

3). Determine Best Means to travel: Madrid, Milan, and London (4 weeks ago i visited), all have very cheap metro systems. In Madrid and London I did not take full advantage of them, but in Milan I figured out the trick and managed to make full use of the system.

Walking, however, is also very beneficial in that it allows you the freedom of exploration and spontaneity; In Madrid and London (And in Salamanca, Granada, Seville for that matter) I walked everywhere and by the end of the day was completely exhausted. I'm sure there is a happy medium between the two.

4). Look For Cheaper Restaurants Throughout the Whole day: And mark them on your map. It's way too easy to forget exactly where that one cheap restaurant was, and in the process of looking for it, you look over all the other moderately cheap restaurants until you are so tired of looking for a place to eat

that you settle for something far more expensive; I did this everywhere.

5) Decide What Sort of Tourist You Want to Be: The Stereotypical tourist follows the map legends and gets a day full of only the best sights. The drawback, I find, is that there are far too many people everywhere and you tend to hang around tourist traps and expensive-ish restaurants that seem reasonably priced until you find something cheaper 5 blocks away. However, there is of course a reason for the people. A more artistic/historic tourist sticks to the big sights, but probably hits some that are not as popular; in Madrid we evaded the Prada and hit the less popular museums. (we go to the Prada in October with AIFS). The Vagabond Tourist of course just wanders aimlessly, and does what is most convenient for the moment; we had to be this kind out of financial necessity. The cheaper everything was farther away from touristy areas, and so we basically just made do with the new sights in our areas, albeit it being less spectacular. In Venice, for example, we stayed in a campsite 20 min. away from the water by bus. Vagabond tourism, however, is also less stressful and even relaxing. (See detailed day in Venice below).

6). Observe City's Quirks:

Examples: Madrid, Salamanca, and Valladolid have traffic signals that flash green before immediately turning red, while Milan has very very very long green lights before the yellow. Venice Taxi service was actually a fleet of motor boats. It took about an hour to realize the fact. Also, Museums in Milan have "Last admission" times before they actually close (Grr). Italy has a sunflower motif: On trashcans, napkins in restaurants, painted on buildings. Italy also has a pretty substantial cover charge upon entering restaurants. Madrid tries to get girls into its bars by offering them free drinks on the house in order to have them attract more business.

7). ON that note: Keep your eyes open for Unusual Events and Opportunities:

Entertainment geared towards locals can be free and more culturally enrichingt; In Seville we found that the museums were hosting free concerts and plays all night. In Venice th

ere were chamber music rotations around the city plaza. In Milan there was a professional fashion show we got to watch. Free entertainment= somehow more rewarding.

Soon To Come (one at a time): Individual Entires

Cordoba

Madrid

Venice

Milan

La Mancha

Seville

Granada Alhambra

Or you can just scroll down.

Or you can click on the side bar for my albums to view specific cities.

Madrid

Sunday the 20th of September:

We arrived in Madrid via AIFS Bus and got dropped off in the city center. I was in Madrid for about 30 minutes when we flew in 4 weeks ago from London, but not the actual city part.

We arrived with only an address of our reserved hostel, and immediately went in search of a map. I felt as if we were on.. what's that show called? Oh yeah. "the Amazing Race" in that we were also dropped off with 3 others from our AIFS group who were staying in a different hotel, flying to a different city. Anyway, we separated into two directions, piled with our luggage (one bulging backpack a piece), and sort of sped walked in search of information. The METRO failed us, but the Mall Tourism Office did not.

We headed off in the direction Kelley told us was correct, and about 20 minutes later discovered it was the wrong direction. (This is when I established a new group rule: always double check each other's instincts). We were all very toasty and exhausted and overwhelmed at the end of our search.

We found our hostel, located to the left of a star bucks building in a sort of narrow building three stories up. After buzzing in to open the door, we ascended the millions of stairs, panting, regretting that we were afraid of the sketchy elevator.

It was my first independent Hostel experience. I was a bit aprehensive, I must admit, especially when I saw how small the facility was. It was an interesting process, passports required at the desk, only cash accepted, shared bathroom and kitchen. Our room slept about 14 people and was co-ed. We put our things in a locker, at the expense of 2 Euro. (Luckily my laptop Quodlibet was small enough to fit in it, aww).

Picture of different kinds of moneys, displayed on Hostel wall:

The first night, we went out to dinner (mexican food! we finally found some! it was awful! but it somewhat sated our craving. We found the restaurant serendipitously because we decided to follow an accordian player around the city in case he was going to a gig. He lead us to a McDonalds where he played at people until they paid him to go away. We didn't want to go to McDonalds, but there was the Mexican restaurant right next door, and Kelley was very disappointed in the spiciness scale of her food. (not at all spicey.)

Also, we wanted to go see an opera, but no tickets were available. There was, however, a Spanish version of Spamalot... which we almost saw. We decided the puns wouldn't be funny enough in Spanish.

.

After a late night out (getting back around 3am.... ugh.. ) we didn't really sleep in. We were up for our included "breakfast" consisting of Toast and coffee. Spainiards. Sigh. There was a Turkish man in the Hostel too.. (amongst many others) and I found him in the kitchen looking through the fridge. I said "hola" not knowing he was Turkishand he looked at me and said ... "I am looking for the Cheese." Except "cheese" was pronounced "ches" and I was very confused, because I thought he didn't know english and so i only spoke Spanish at him until it was figured out that he did, in fact, know English. He is looking to get a job in New York eventually (or did I make that up? so many new people ...) and he is going to send me his research he's done in foreign studies (maybe).

Anyway, in Madrid, we were trying to be historical tourists and go to museums but they were all closed because it was Monday. (ughh. poor planning!). So we went to this lovely lovely park, called "Parque de Retiro" i think, and we went in a boat around the lake.

That day, we also discovered that we would probably not make our train trip to Venice, and we discovered that there was no way to refund and rebuy. I was all for trying to get a later ticket, but it was eventually decided that it would be too expensive, so we CANCELLED all of our hostel reservations with the new plan that we would play everything by ear. IF we could BY THE SMALLEST CHANCE make our train ride (which was unlikely because we had 1 hour 20 minutes to get off the plane, go through boarder check, get on a bus that leaves every 20 minutes which takes an hour to get to the station.... ) then we would play it by ear. As soon as we knew for certain that we would not make it to Venice (Ie, our flight being delayed, us getting to the airport to find that we missed the first bus to leave...) then we would directly make reservations in a place in Milan.

Stress levels and Disappointment levels were very high, and we needed some serious down time. So I decided to go back to the park to read, and Kelley and Ester decided to go shopping. Kelley and Esther got separated while shopping, and didn't make it to the meeting spot until 45 minutes after they said they would. I was very worried and was only consoled by the fact that there were very charming British people to talk to. (i think i wrote about this already.)

Anyway, this is where I waited :( also in the Park)

That night, we went out for dinner in a Turkish Restaurant and I ate hummus and bread. It was glorious. Then on the way back, I had my wallet stolen out of my pocket, immediately after I had taken it out to give some money to a cellist playing on the street. -__-. Panic ensued, of course, but I dealt with it in such a way that I was called "admirable" by my friends. It mostly involved me stealing Esther's phone, calling my parents so that they could cancel my credit card and forward me money via Western Union. I was up until 3 in the morning that night as well, even though we fully intended to go to sleep early that day. Also, I was still voiceless.. not the best of days.

The next morning, I went in search of the Western Union bank... walked about 6 blocks to the addressed building and walked up 5 stories only to find (after a lot of awkward Spanish) that it had moved to an unknown place. -__-. So I went next door to an exchange place to get cash from my travelors checks, just so I could pay for food in Italy in case I couldn't find a WU. It was a dreadfully stressful morning, in that I knew I had to figure things out before my 4:00 flight to Italy. Luckily we had an afternoon flight! After I had given up and started walking back to the Hostel to check out and look online for a WU, I found one only a block away from our Hostel. Silly me. It all worked out, (thank you padres.)

In the afternoon we went to the not-the-prada museum and we sped walked throughout the 3 stories of art. I liked the Flemish portraits the best. I was surprised by this fact.

We then METROd to the airport (were surprised to find out how cheap the tickets were, cursing the hours and hours spent walking across town) and had 3 hours to spare in the airport.

Es todo para Madrid :P

PHOTO ALBUM UPDATED: Access HERE or go to the right of the page and find it amongst other albums.

Venice

Venezia: September 22-24

Our adventure to Venice, as hinted at in my Madrid post, was indeed very stressful. The day before our trip we had fully believed that it wasn't going to happen, but we still had our train ticket for a 8:25 pm departure from Milano Central to Venezia station if we happened to be at the station in time.

Here were all the things that had to happen to enable us to make our train:

1) Our 30 Euro RyanAir flight to Venice had to not be delayed. (Cheap=unreliable??)

---> If it was, in fact, delayed, we agreed then and there to just not even try to get to Milan in time and instead go in the opposite direction to Bergamon (Spelling?) where we would enjoy the Italian countryside.

2) We would have to get seats in the front of the plane because we had 20 minutes to get to our bus

3) We would have to get off the plane and make it through passport stuff in under 20 minutes

4) The bus would have to leave at exactly 7:20 to make the advertised hour-long-50-km journey from airport to milano central (one stop in between.)

5) The bus would have to not get stuck in traffic and make it in that time frame

6) Given that we get to the station on time, we'd have to be able to navigate ourselves to our platform in 5 minutes.

7) The train might have to leave a bit late

8) Our Printed online tickets would suffice as proper evidence of payment- we were not sure of this.

Here is what happened:

-Our flight was not delayed

-We sat it the front-most seats

-Our flight got in 15 minutes early

-There was no passport check and we made it to the bus terminal in 3 minutes

-There was an unexpected early bus that left at 7:00 instead of 7:25

-We were ecstatic on the bus Evidence of this excitement

-We got on the train with our tickets and were off

[Side note about plane: I was so content about getting front seats and was feeling very optimistic. And I was charmed by the Mozart (Eine Kleine Nachtmusik) playing in the background very elegantly, accentuated by the Irish-accented-voice-overs telling me how great RyanAir traveling is. However, after settling happily in my seat, I noticed that they only played section I of the piece over, and over and over and over and over and over and over. I heard it about 30 times. It reminded me of that one part in the Douglas Adam's Restaurant at The End of The Universe in which the passengers on the plane are stuck on the grounded plane for 900 years hearing the following message periodically: “Transtellar Cruise Lines would like to apologize to passengers for the continuing delay to this flight. We are currently awaiting the loading of our complement of small lemon-soaked paper napkins for your comfort, refreshment and hygiene during our journey. Meanwhile we thank you for your patience. The cabin crew will shortly be serving coffee and biscuits again.” ]

I wrote about our view upon exiting the station already, and i have pictoral evidence that does no justice to it. But really. Looking out from one end of the trainstation through the archway on the other end.... seeing a glassy surface of water sparkling with the reflection of the building lights and the lamposts, with little boats floating mildly down it.... just that one glimpse made the whole thing worth it.

Our night was hectic, scattered, and our we did things very inefficiently. Meandering from one end of the street to the other, over the same monstrous bridge about 10 times, talking in broken spanish to the italian, receiving answers in broken english, we finally gleaned the information we needed. All the while taking frantic pictures, trying to preserve the beauty that we were experiencing.

We paid too much for a taxi when we could have taken a bus had it not been 1 in the morning and had we actually known about them. We arrived at this hostel called "Camping Jolly!" which was actually a campsite, and we could have stayed in a tent for 12 Euros each but didn't have bedding so we rented a little "Bungalo" which consisted of two rooms, three beds, on bathroom, no towels. My solution to this problem was to use an extra bed sheet.

The man in charge of the campsite spoke no English. The Senegalese night guard spoke some English and French. It was a complicated process booking everything. However, we eventually were escorted by the Senagalese guard riding a bicycle. He stopped, however, midway to yell at some Americans who were playing music on their laptop while sitting at a picnic table.

Guard: *gestures with hand in downward sort of way* alto alto! too loud! turn it down!

Pompous American Boy: We did already

Guard: Too loud!

PAB: Alright, geeze.

Guard: It's not for me. *points to self* it's for them *gestures around* people are sleeping.

Then he proceeds to escort us all the while fuming and shaking his head, making sort of high-pitched-exasperated sigh. And when he finished showing us our little room, he added... "Don't play music loud." and we said "yeah, we know." and then "In Senegal, if you act like that..." and then he makes this sort of gesture that resembles hitting someone in the head with a bat. we assured him once more that we would not play our music loudly.

Anyway, the next day we decided to simply meander around the city with the idea that we would only consult our map if we wanted to get to a particular part. Venice has about 6-7 sections or rather... island groupings. I don't understand it. I guess they are like neighborhoods. It also has a taxi fleet of tugboats which will take passengers to different island groupings. We didn't go on one, mostly because I felt the deisel engine would ruin my romantic view.

We explored shops, which unfortunately all contained much of the same sort of tourist-trap items. There were a ridiculous amount of Paper/journal/letter stores. I thought about buying some fragile, expensive,writing paper but i decided I didn't have enough room in my suitecase. I also almost bought Travis a glass octopus (with five legs) but I concluded that I would probably break it or lose it by the end of the trip. (I bought myself a Venetian Blown-Glass Necklace.)

One of my favorite parts of Venice were these Chamber musicians who took turns playing a few pieces at a time around a large Plaza. I was amused that Ein Klein Nacht Musik was a part of one of the medleys. One of the Chamber groups was sort of an.. impromptu folky group consisting of instruments piano, accordion, bassist, some-other-stringed one. It was cool because they took requests and improvised their way through the song. And apparently most of the songs had words, because random Italians in the crowd started singing along and one woman actually was prompted to stand up and sing to the crowd. It was very enchanting.

Other things about Italy:

The people were gentle, and kind. They were always willing to help with directions and with other information and they did so with such a happy and bubbly sort of demeanor. I have a theory about it: To live in such a beautiful place, perhaps, induces a sort of relaxed and optimistic view about life. My host-brother, Jose, told me today that he thought Italia was "como una cuenta"... a story. I bet it helps.

mmm. Like.

I also ate Gelatto and it was glorious. (I might have mixed the Spanish name with the real name, don't know.)

I'm so glad I went. I'd recommend it to anyone. Seriously.

PHOTO ALBUM

(feel free to comment on this entry, any other entry, or any of the photos. ;) :) . )

Milan

Milan: September 24

Milan was at the end of the journey. I was absolutely exhausted. And very very sick. Over the week I had lost about 4 pounds just from walking, I had averaged about 4 hours of sleep, and still had no voice. Frustrated, tired, hungry, sore, and ill, exploring Milan thoroughly was not an option.

We arrived in Milan around 2pm (3 hour train from Venice put us in late).

We found the Metro station, bought a 24-hour pass to get around the city for 3 Euro (SO cheap!) and we Metrod to where we thought our booked hostel was. (We had booked it that morning online.. We didn't want to deal with confusing translation problems.)

Anyway. Our Hostel man was the kindest person ever ever. And spoke perfect English, and it was overwhelmingly welcoming. Our Hostel room was bizzare. Three beds, one sink, a bathroom down the hall. No towels. Of course. No extra sheets, either... in fact.. no sheets! ugh!

Not that it mattered- we had a 3:45 am wake up time, so our sleep was going to be non-existent.

We relaxed for about 15 minutes... washed up a bit. We then decided to go to the main touristy area.. with the Duro and everything. We got there... milled around aimlessly... tempers very very strained. I was still horribly sick and dead. We were hungry, dehydrated, and kelley was in need of a cash machine. An hour later we had found one, had found something snack on, and decided to tour the cathedral. I had to use Esther's shawl to cover my bare shoulders to be permitted into it. Here's a cool video of the Cathedral... albeit creepy ish: Here.

After the Cathedral we decided to tackle the list of museums we wanted to see. I really really wanted to see the Divinci Invention Museum but it was closed. As was the Astronomy Museum, as were all the others. At 4:30 pm. ugh. And "The Last Supper" required a reservation. Ugh again. There was one art museum open and it didn't look to spectacular on paper... but we searched for it anyway. After going not-the-most-direct-rout we found it and were turned away because we were not EU citizens. I was sure there was something we could do about it, but patience was thin and we didn't really care at that point. We instead took pictures in the foyer of the museum, which we pretended were artsy, but they weren't. Lol. Example. (I look kind of angry... it's hard to tell maybe if you don't know it ahead of time.)

I pouted for about an hour afterwards, and then decided that it would be best to get some coffee to ensure that I didn't collapse or something. (Very tired and dehydrated).

We stopped in a cafe... I ordered Tea AND coffee, which confused our bartender-ess. She thought I was paying for Esther's coffee and when I demonstrated to her that my throat was in fact made of death, she conceptualized the idea I needed lots of warm beverage. While zoning out drinking my beverage, I observed how annoyed she was with her fellow bartender. She kept arguing with him in Italian, being very exasperated, and once smacked him on the back of his head in a sort of patronizing way. He made eyecontact with me and seemed to plea for some sort of recognition that he was being abused. It was amusing.

Perked up a bit, we decided to go shopping afterwards. I found no clothing I liked. It's convenient that I am so picky. So far in all of my traveling in the past month I've bought a necklace and a purple dress. Not bad.

We left shopping early because Kelley wanted to ensure that we would get a good spot to view the fashion show that was going to take place in the main plaza. (This was the only thing that seemed to be going for us... this fashion show. We had no idea of its occuring until we got off the METRO and saw the stage.)

After waiting and standing for over an hour, the show began and it was very interesting. I have lots of videos on my Milan Picture Album. They utilized dancing, singing, weird weird weird instruments, lighting effects, etc. Very entertaining, and I suppose a good exhibition of Modern Milan. (Fashion capital of the world, or something.)

I was disappointed that I didn't get to experience the artistic/historic parts of the city, but I was assured that I wasn't missing out on too much. Sigh.

Dinner was lovely. We found a relatively fancy, yet inexpensive, restaurant in another part of the city (called 'Little Venice') and I ate yummy pizza and drank yummy wine.

Around 1:00 am we finally made it to our Hostel (After navigating 3 METRO lines, and walking about 40 minutes) I took a shower, and laid on my bed in my clothes I was going to wear on our trip back. I didn't have a blanket and only slept because I simply had to. (Dramatic, I apologize.)

I was the first to wake up in the morning (as always ..I just get so insomniac when I travel!) and I roused everyone and encouraged them to hurry. We barely made it to our 4:30 bus. Actually, I think we missed it and took a later one. Ah! don't remember. But while rushing to the bus stop (walking more than a half hour in the middle of Milan in the early early morning... ) We found a very nice Italian who knew exactly where the bus was and he helped us get there. He apparently lived in New York for about a year, and might move back. He has two houses in Italy, and was on his way to a flight to... ah, well I don't even know. But I loved his kindness.

Bus to Airport. (I slept and coughed.) Boarded Airplane (After hearing Eine Kleine Nachtmusik section I about 4 times in a row, I dozed off and woke up to find that I was in the air. Completely slept through takeoff. Ridiculous.) Airport Shuttle To Bus Stop in Valladolid, Spain. Bus in Valladolid to Salamanca.

Long Long Long Day. We arrived in Salamanca at 1:00 pm ish and I didn't take a nap because i was just .... wired.

It was fun though.

<3

Picture Album!!