my blog

so long...

2010-04-07T14:10:00.000-07:00

Well, i've been so busy lately that i haven't had a chance to write about my trips to soCal and New Orleans, but I just had to take a minute to say goodbye to my beloved pink Roxy luggage.

After nine years and many trips to exciting and far off destinations, I decided it was time to get some more grown up luggage and honestly, it was starting to fall apart (but let's not mention that part to the girl who just bought them off craigslist). i'll miss you, and all the conversations you started at the airport...

:'(

Back in the USA!

2010-01-05T23:04:00.000-08:00

Geez, what a crazy trip back to Seattle! I boarded my flight from Rio to Miami around 10pm excited to get back home in time for the holidays. Unfortunately, shortly after takeoff the woman sitting next to me accidentally smacked me in the face/eye with her seat belt clasp and it nearly knocked me out. No big deal, right? I mean I'm a tough girl, I can deal with this. But as I scarfed my free airplane dinner I realized my vision was a bit blurry in my left eye...flashback to April after I had my Lasik eye surgery and my doctor said "Your vision is now perfect, the only thing that would cause it to change is trauma to your eye"...um, now I'm starting to get nervous and I realize my face is bleeding.

Next thing I know I'm feeling faint and the flight attendants are taking me to the galley...then I wake up on the floor with all of them huddled around me, just in time to hear the voice of the pilot over the loudspeaker asking if there's a doctor on board. Um, I think I'm gonna puke...A girl who's studying to be a doctor comes back and tries to help. The pilot calls back and asks a lot of questions - where have I been traveling, how long, have I been sick, etc....I puke. All better! :) They fuss over me for a while, move the lady next to me so I get the whole row to myself, they bring me lots of tea and pillows and I sleep the rest of the flight. Then just as we're landing a flight attendant tells me that the CDC has been called and I'm going to need to be checked out before anyone can leave the plane. WHAT?! People, I just got practically knocked out and then ate some shitty airplane food - that's it. Apparently getting sick 4 weeks ago in Bolivia and then passing out and puking during the flight is reason enough to detain the entire plane...the pilot makes a vague announcement about a "situation" on the plane and says no one can leave the plane until the "situation" has been resolved. how embarrassing! Some rude guy in full uniform (guns included) boards the plane and escorts me off. He's a complete jerk until he finds out I'm an American citizen. They ask a bunch of questions, take all my vitals and finally let the rest of the people off the plane. THANK GOD!

Two uneventful flights and many hours later I was back in Seattle and ready to enjoy Christmastime in the Pacific Northwest with my family! Whooohooo!

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

2009-12-16T18:35:00.000-08:00

Rio is an amazing city, I just wish it would have been a little nicer weather so I could have taken full advantage of the amazing beaches and the pool at my very chic B&B in the Santa Teresa neighborhood. Luckily my flight arrived on time and it was sunny when I landed so I checked in and headed straight for Corcovado to see Christ the Redeemer. You take a little train up the hill and then walk up the stairs to the statue and the views of the city are incredible. When I was on the train two young girls sat next to me and asked me something in Portuguese and when I said I spoke English and was from the US they gasped then called five or six of their friends over. The two girls sitting in front turned around and one spoke a little English and tried to translate and the family behind joined in the conversation (if you could call it that). For the rest of the train ride all of these girls just sat and stood huddled around me smiling wide eyed, giggling and asking me questions just thrilled to have met someone from the US. It was honestly so much fun!

christ the redeemer

After that I took a taxi to Posto 9 at Impaema beach where all the young and beautiful people hang out and play volleyball. I walked all around the beach and went in all the stores and bought myself the least skimpy Brazilian bikini I could find and it is still very skimpy. (no pictures of that on the blog, you'll have to invite me to the beach to see it!) While I was there I also walked around Santa Teresa the chic bohemian neighborhood, did a walking tour of the city center and stopped off for lunch and pastries at a famous coffee shop - Colombo Coffee, went to an interesting and very risque Carnival-esque show one night, visited the fanciest mall - Shopping Leblon, walked around Copacabana beach, took the cable car to the top of Sugarloaf and splurged on a mani and pedi before catching my 10pm flight to the US. the view of Sugar Loaf from halfway up

the tram from city center to santa teresa neighborhood

Christmas tree on the lake

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Ouro Preto & Mariana, Brazil

2009-12-11T16:15:00.000-08:00

These are two cute little towns with some of the most important historical art and architecture in Brazil. I’m so glad I decided to brave the 11 hours of bus rides to visit! I’m staying at one of the oldest Posada’s in Ouro Preto, originally a Portuguese mansion built in the 18th century, it’s furnished with antiques and candles (oh candles, I have missed you so much!), luckily with updated bathrooms and very comfy beds!

Ouro Preto was a very rich gold mining town and it has 19 very fancy Baroque churches. They are beautiful and extravagant and I walked up and down through the winding, hilly, cobblestone streets to visit about half of them. I enjoyed a buffet of typical food which consists of many different meats (not sure what exactly they were but they were good), rice, beans, something that looks and tastes like overcooked polenta, fried bananas and much more.
one of the churches colored glass on top of the cement walls. much prettier than barbed wire!

Today I took the train to Mariana another mining town with 13 churches! All of the announcements on the train were in Portuguese so I asked the woman sitting in front of me if she spoke English, she didn’t but she was with 6 girls and said they did. They would huddle together and put together a sentence in English and then a delegate would give me the sentence and they would wait anxiously for my response - it was very entertaining. The girls invited me to join their tour of the gold mine and have lunch and how could I resist?! The mine was very cool, it was the biggest in Brazil, 9 km long and has a huge pond inside. One interesting fact the guide told us is that some of the slaves who worked there bought their freedom by smuggling gold out in their hair! After the tour we had lunch - another buffet of typical food - and they had me try Brazilian soda pop which tastes a lot like Ginger ale. I missed my train back and ended up having to take a bus which wasn’t as bad as I had imagined it would be.
the train station in Mariana

the girls from Rio I met on the train
This evening I had a nice walk around the town at dusk and now I’m getting ready to pack up for tomorrows trip to Rio de Janeiro. After the LONG day of travel to get here I decided to take the bus to Belo and then fly to Rio, and I splurged on a very nice B&B. Hope the thunder showers have stopped in Rio, if not the girls today gave me the scoop on the best mall, lol!

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Sao Paulo to Ouro Preto, Brazil

2009-12-10T16:41:00.000-08:00

My plan was to stay a few days in Sao Paulo before heading to Rio but I'd been told by a few people I met in Argentina to skip it because it's just a huge dangerous city. (Apparently it's perfectly legal to not stop at red lights late at night because crime is such an issue). Since my flight was already booked I decided to spend the night in Sao Paulo and take a bus to Ouro Preto (a small colonial town full of very old fancy churches) the next morning.
I didn't see much of the city, basically just a bus ride from the airport to the hotel downtown and then a taxi ride to the bus station in the morning. I'm sure there are really nice parts but what I saw was very dirty, graffiti covered and noisy, and there were favelas (slums) all over. I tried to take a few pictures from the bus but they really don't show the extent of it. I've seen slums in many of the cities I've visited over the last 6 months but nothing compared to this - it was honestly quite shocking.

The next morning after a long sleepless night in a cheap (if you can call $70 a night cheap) rundown hotel (http://www.hotelmoncloa.com.br/ pics on the website do not look like the real thing!) in what appeared to be a not very safe part of town, I made it to the bus station, hopped on the bus and settled in for the 8 hour journey to Belo Horizonte (the third largest city in Brazil). The ride wasn't too bad because we stopped twice for food and bathroom breaks and I listened to all my favorite Christmas music on my ipod. (Bing, Nat and Amy so good to have you back on the playlist!) Then I caught another 2+ hour bus to Ouro Preto and by the end of my 2 days in transit I was extremely excited to shower and sleep in a clean and very comfy bed!

Salvador, Brazil

2009-12-08T08:01:00.000-08:00

First let me start by saying I have never seen so many beautiful sandy beaches with clear water in one place. Everywhere is beach and everyone walks around in swimsuits! Second I have never seen such tiny bikini bottoms! They are pretty much thongs and everyone wears them, all shapes, sizes and ages which makes people watching at the beach very entertaining!! I wore my tiniest bikini bottoms and they covered almost twice as much as the Brazilian bikinis!

I stayed at a Posada a block from the Praia Porto da Barra beach. It is really cute and run by all women who speak only Portuguese (a little difficult to communicate but thank goodness for babelfish!) My first day here was a Saturday and I walked to the beach around 10am and it was completely packed so I decided to take a bus to the Pelourinho instead. Pelo (as the locals call it) is the old city and it’s filled with historic churches, houses, bars and lots of music and dancing. Salvador has heavy African influences because it was a major port during the African slave trade. There were capoeira dancers and lots of drums and reggae. I wandered a bit outside of the tourist area at one point and it became very rough looking so I headed back right away. On my way back I was befriended by a local artist who spoke a bit of English and for the price of one beer (lol) he acted as my tour guide for a few hours. In the evening I walked along the beach to the Christ the Redeemer statue and on the way back joined in a protest to legalize marijuana. Unintentionally at first but they were taking up the entire road along the beach and the reggae was so good I thought I might as well join them. Although once it started to get really dark it got a bit sketchy so I headed back to my posada.
the historic pelourinho

capeoira in pelo square
The next day I joined a tour to Praia do Forte, a beach about 50 km north where there is a turtle preservation project called TAMAR. We did a quick city tour on our way out of town and stopped off at a beautiful lagoon with a white sand beach. While we were there we saw a group performing a Candomble religious ceremony all dressed in white, standing in a circle and chanting. (Candomble, an Afro-Brazilian religion, is the main religion of this area unlike the rest of Brazil where Catholicism is the main religion.) Then we drove to Praia do Forte which a very cute little town on the beach, toured project TAMAR and saw lots of turtles. After that we drove to another beach, had lunch and then swam and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. There was a major important soccer game that evening so you could hear firecrackers, music and cheering all over the city.

religious ceremony at the lagoon
baby turtles at TAMAR
My last day I spent at the beach near my posada and wandered around the neighborhood. I was quite exhausted because the previous night I was awakened at 3am by little tickle on my back. When I got up a 3inch long beetle-looking-thing dropped to the floor and ran away. Needless to say not much sleeping took place after that event! But I took a few naps on the beach and then headed back to the Pelo in the evening for an AMAZING music and dance show full of African slave dances like samba and capoeira. When I read in their brochure that the NY times called it the best and one of the most important folkloric dance companies in the world I was expecting a huge theater, expensive tickets and all the rest. But it was on a tiny stage, the theater held maybe 80 people, it was $15 for a 1 hour show and it was mesmerizing - by far the best live show I’ve ever seen!!

I’m flying to Sao Paulo this afternoon and then heading to Ouro Preto by bus.

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Foz do Iguacu, Brazil

2009-12-08T07:56:00.000-08:00

After crossing over to Brazil and before catching my flight to Salvador, I spent a couple of hours touring the Brazil side of the falls. Totally worth it! It was sunny and the view was much different from the Argentina side.

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Iguazu Falls, Argentina

2009-12-03T12:25:00.000-08:00

My flight to Iguazu was (of course!) two hours delayed and when we finally made it to Iguazu they wouldn’t let us land because of bad weather. After 15 minutes of circling the airport we finally got the okay to land and it was pouring rain but warm and humid. The place I’m staying is really cool; it’s surrounded by rain forest and has a huge deck with a bar and a pool. And they make a very stiff welcome drink!

This morning I woke up early and took the public bus to the falls. It was quite crowded and touristy but the scenery was amazing and so were the falls.
I went on a little tour in a truck through the forest and then took a boat trip up the river and under the falls. I wasn’t planning to the take the boat ride under the falls so I didn’t bring a swimsuit and I had to improvise. I had my rain jacket so I zipped that up and tucked my dress up under my jacket and hoped that no one would notice that i didn't have a swimsuit on underneath. Luckily I was sitting down the whole time so I don’t think anyone noticed. They went under four times and we got completely soaked. It was so much fun! After they let us off on the lower walking trail (there are three), then I spent the rest of the day walking the other tracts, taking way too many pictures and then took a little train back to the entrance.
view from the boat
just prior to going under the falls (and hiking up my dress. lol)
Garganta del Diablo lookout
the train
Looking forward to some swimming and relaxing tonight. In the morning I’m taking a bus to the Brazil side of the falls and then catching an afternoon flight to Salvador!

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El Calafate, Argentina

2009-12-01T12:48:00.000-08:00

Really the only reason I went to El Calafate was to hike the Puerto Moreno Glacier and it was definitely worth it! Once again my LAN flight was delayed by two hours so I didn’t get in until early evening and because I’ve been traveling to warm places I was not prepared for the freezing cold weather. I made it to hotel, which was really just a small inn with 6 or 7 rooms run by a very nice couple. They had hot tea and bread waiting for me, told me where I could rent boots and gloves for the glacier hike and loaned me a huge warm jacket, vest and a backpack.

I headed out the next morning to explore the town and basically it looks like every other ski/mountain town I’ve ever been to. It’s tiny - just a main street filled with outfitters, hotels, tour agencies, banks, souvenir shops and restaurants. The next morning I woke up early and got ready for my glacier hike. I had been debating on whether I should do the Minitrekking hike (about 2 hours of hiking) or Big Ice (all day), because I thought maybe all day would be too much. I ended up doing the Big Ice - I did not come all the way to Patagonia to hike for 2 hours!!

The bus picked me up at 7am and we drove to the glacier. First we did a 45 minute walk along the viewing platforms on the south side of the Glacier. It was huge! The mass above the water is the equivalent of a 25 story building and underneath it goes all the way to the bottom of the lake. While we were walking we were lucky enough to see a huge piece of the glacier fall into the water and it was incredible!
this is right after a huge piece crashed into the lake

Then we drove into the national park and took a boat across the lake to the point where we started the hike. They split us into three groups of about 12 people and we hiked through the forest alongside the glacier for about half an hour and then got our crampons. With our crampons in our backpacks we hiked for another hour through the forest until we got to a place where we could cross over onto the glacier. The first part was very steep (like Mount Si steep) but once we were on the glacier it wasn’t bad. The guides would cut a path through the snow up over ridges and across crevasses, we stopped at a beautiful clear blue pond, squeezed through a tiny cave, under an archway made by the melting snow, stopped at a huge drain, walked straddling over a crevasse (that was scary!) and saw all sorts of amazing things. When we started it was bright and sunny and you could see the huge mountains all around but after lunch it became very dark and cold and the mountains disappeared behind clouds and sheets of snow. When we got back to the boat the guides had whiskey and chocolate waiting for us and then we headed back to El Calafate. We made it back a little after 7pm so it was LONG day and I was completely exhausted but it was an incredible experience and worth every moment!
getting crampons before we start the hike. look how small the people and tents are against the backdrop of the glacier!
so fashionable in my rented and borrowed gear! ;)
view from the center of the glacier
one of the mountains surrounding the glacier

Today I flew back to Buenos Aires and I'm staying at a boutique hotel in Recoleta. I’m looking forward to a very relaxing evening (and possibly a splurge on a massage in the morning) before I catch my flight to Iguazu Falls tomorrow.

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

2009-11-27T15:32:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Buenos Aires! It’s one of my favorite big cities!! It’s made up of unique neighborhoods each with their own style and it’s surprisingly clean. I’m staying at a small hostel called Elefante Rosa just outside of the “mircocenter” in Boedo, a working class neighborhood.
The first day my flight was delayed so I didn’t arrive until evening but I still walked around the neighborhood a bit, found a to-die-for pastry/coffee shop which I’ve become a regular at and stopped in an adorable flower shop from which couldn’t resist buying a bouquet of colorful daisies.
The next morning I dropped off my laundry at a place around the corner and took the subway to the main square. I walked all around, saw the Pink House (the equivalent of our White House), the Bank of Argentina which used to be a famous Theater and the cathedral. Then I walked up the main pedestrian street, Avenue Florida, which is jam packed with stores and restaurants, to the Recoleta neighborhood. Recoleta is one of the more affluent neighborhoods which is noticeable right away because of the restored buildings, fancy hotels and designer stores. I walked all around the neighborhood, through the cemetery where Evita and all rich and famous Argentines are buried, past an enormous Gothic style college, through many parks and to the National Museum of Fine Arts - MNBA. This museum had one of the best collections of art I’ve seen in my travels - Rodin, Degas, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso - to name a few, a section of Argentine artists and the best part was that it was free! Afterwards I had a delicious meal at a restaurant on the edge of Recoleta cemetery, then walked back to my neighborhood, stopping off at the pastry shop for café con leche and a pastry.
outside Recoleta cemetery
The next day I walked across town to San Telmo, the oldest neighborhood in BA with lots of cafes, tango bars, churches, antique shops and Plaza Dorrego which is home to a huge craft market. I found a English bookstore and sold the two terrible books I found at the last hostel and although the selection was limited I got three more - The Joy Luck Club, Emma and Tender is the Night. A little indulgent but I’ve been so desperate for a good read that I’m willing to lug them around. Then I began walking to La Boca, a poor neighborhood home to the La Boca soccer team and Caminito, a strip of reclaimed buildings that have been colorfully painted by artists. However I decided against it once the area became a little too rough looking and opted for a bus instead. I was bit disappointed when I got there because it was very touristy, but still the buildings were interesting and there were lots of tango dancers. When I walked back across town a huge protest I had seen earlier in the morning on the main street of the city was still going strong and had made it’s way into the main intersection blocking traffic in all directions. Apparently this happens all the time so rather than being concerned people were just annoyed despite the masks and large sticks the protesters carried. That evening I celebrated Thanksgiving at a famous Tangueria in my neighborhood by enjoying a delicious steak (yes, I actually ate a steak), loads of (free!) champagne and great live music and dancing.

San Telmo
colorful houses in La Boca
the protesters
kids playing soccer in La Boca me outside the Tangueria
Today I slept late then woke up to thunder, lightening and rain. Determined to make the best of it I walked to my pastry shop and stopped off at a trendy salon to get my hair blow dried and straightened (first in 30 days and only $7!), then took the subway to Avenue Florida and spent the afternoon and evening in various cafés. Tomorrow morning I’m flying to El Calafate in Patagonia!

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happy thanksgiving!

2009-11-25T13:56:00.000-08:00

In honor of Thanksgiving here are 10 things I’m very thankful for this year:

10. Big eye mask that blocks out all possible light.

9. Wifi, skype, gchat, yahoo chat, facebook

8. A backpack that rolls!!

7. Books in English that are not written by Stephen King, Danielle Steel, Nora Roberts or John Grisham (and honestly I'm getting a little sick of Mr. Sparks. gasp!)

6. Friendly, helpful, honest strangers - taxi drivers included.

5. Private bathrooms with 24/7 hot water - level of cleanliness is trivial at this point...

4. Clean, comfy beds! Current and previous hostels have neither :(

3. Lots of clean undies, and clothes in general. Today, after 4 weeks, I FINALLY did laundry!

2. Family and friends and many great memories, especially of my mom.

1. Good health. I can't begin to express how thankful I am that my bites have almost completely healed and that I can eat food without throwing up or feeling nauseous.

Missing family and friends, and wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving!

Mendoza, Argentina

2009-11-23T15:32:00.000-08:00

My last day in Valpo and Vina was wonderful and I was a little sad when I packed up my stuff and headed out, but Mendoza has been wonderful too. It’s quite charming with it’s wide tree-lined streets and many parks and of course, the wine!

I came in late on Saturday so Sunday morning I woke up early and wandered around the town. A lot of the shops and restaurants were closed but there seemed to be a store on every corner selling ice cream - just my kind of town! I sat in the park, read, and people watched and a crowd of college kids started to gather with guitars and sang for a couple hours. Some random grandpa type came up to me and congratulated me on reading - “kids your age just don’t read anymore and I’m a writer so I appreciate people who read”. Then I continued walking and stopped in a little hole-in-the wall bakery. It wasn’t my intention, but the smell was so damn good that it had one of those cartoon effects - it turned me around, lifted me ever so slightly off my feet and right inside. There were two toothless bakers, sacks of flour and sugar and a wall full of delicious looking pastries. Needless to say I had my fill of pastries.

cotton candy stand in the park

Today I went out to Maipu, an area outside of town where the wineries are, and did a bike tour. Honestly it was little misleading - the guy made it sound like it was guided but basically they gave you a bike, a bottle of water and a (very basic, not to scale) map of the wineries, said they’d call the police if you weren’t back by 7:30pm and sent you on your way. At the first winery I somehow got separated from the group I’d left with and started off on my own to the next stop. I’m not gonna lie I was a little lost - and that fact is completely unrelated to the taste (full glass!) I had at the first stop. Luckily I spotted another lost soul up ahead and we became instant tour buddies. It was a blast! He is from Israel and I got to hear all about his country. There was a “scheduled” stop at a super fancy winery/restaurant for lunch but it looked a little too snooty for us since we’d walked through the vineyards and were covered in dust and dirt up to our knees. So we stopped at a roadside stand and he somehow convinced me to eat a hamburger…um, yeah, that‘s right a roadside stand hamburger. “You’ve been in Argentina 3 days and you haven’t eaten meat yet?” And I must admit it was completely delicious!! After the tour we took a verging-on-life threatening taxi ride back to town but thankfully arrived safely.

inside one of the wineries Tal, my tour buddy, at the hamburger stand

me at one of the wineries

I walked back to my hostel and after reading the sign on the bathroom door - do not use these towels to clean your feet or your shoes or you will be charged $60! - (apparently walking through the vineyards is not a novel idea), I took a much needed shower and then walked back in to town. The highlight of the evening was a little trip to the supermarket and I savored every moment, seeing as how it was my first actual grocery store (besides the dazed trips in Santiago) since I left Seattle. At the book exchange here I found a book that isn't by Danielle Steel (thank God!) so I've just begun reading "The Pillars of Earth" and at 976 pages it seems a little daunting. We'll see if I can get through it.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Buenos Aires and I found an inexpensive cute little loft with a kitchen at a hostel there so I'm going to attempt to make a Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday...wish me luck!

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Valparaiso & Vina del Mar, Chile

2009-11-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

Valparaiso really has the possibility of being a cute town - minus the enormous shipping port in the center - because the houses are old bohemian style (think Anthropologie-esque but grimier) and they are all different colors and stacked to the hills with 1880’s era ascensor’s (elevator type things) that go from sea level to the tops of the hills.

It was rainy and cold when I arrived and I still was feeling crappy so I decided to go see an afternoon showing of “This Is It” and I just have to say that, yes, MJ was a weirdo but he was a genius! Truly amazing and they ended with one of my favorite songs - Man in the Mirror. One lady in the theater was sobbing so loud and so hard she had to leave! Anyway…then I walked to a shopping center and hung out there for a while to kill time until the rain stopped.

artwork in valpo

Luckily, today it was sunny and I was feeling much better so I took the metro to Vina del Mar, a beach town about 20 minutes away. It’s more upscale and cleaner and I walked all over, then enjoyed a huge delish salad from a fancy restaurant overlooking the ocean. The first real meal I’ve had since being sick - btw if you think I’m exaggerating about how thin I’ve gotten check out the link with more pictures below. So gross that it inspired me to stop at the pharmacy and pick up some (enormous and hard to swallow) vitamins. Then I took the metro back to Valpo (that’s what the locals call it), walked around a bit and took the rickety old ascensor to my hostel.

park in vina del mar

castle on the ocean in vina del mar

getting ready to acsend

Tomorrow I’m going to enjoy another relaxing day at the ocean and then I’m headed to Mendoza, Argentina.

the sweetie 3 month old puppy at my hostel

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Santiago, Chile

2009-11-19T13:26:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, my time in Santiago consisted of a taxi ride from the airport to the hostel, a couple of dazed walks to the grocery store/pharmacy, a few hours sitting in a park near my hostel and hanging out in my room. So sad because it looked like a great city. I guess it’s something to look forward to for the next trip…

The highlight was when I finally made it to breakfast my last morning and met a couple from Calgary who had done a similar thing - rented their house and went traveling for 8 months - before they had kids in the early 80’s. They traveled to Australia and SE Asia and when they were at a hostel they met an Aussie who had found a loophole and gotten an individual Visa to China. So they went and it was before there were guidebooks and they would draw huge crowds on the street or word would spread on the train and everyone would walk by them and just stare! Amazing stories!! They said they came back to some “financial difficulties” but that it was one of the best experiences of their lives and they were SO encouraging! It’s amazing how life puts people in your path just when you need it the most!

After talking to them I decided to take the bus to Valparaiso - sick or not - because if I was gonna be sick in bed, I might as well be looking at the ocean!

La Paz, Bolivia

2009-11-16T11:06:00.000-08:00

La Paz is big, dirty, polluted and noisy! The streets are filled with vendors selling food and black market goods and it appears that all drivers honk their horns constantly, just because they can.
As we were coming into town there was a huge parade with dancers in colorful costumes and music and families lined up on the sides of the street cheering and clapping. It was pretty amazing to watch and the bus driver told us it was a practice parade for the Carnival.

some of the costumes in the parade

I didn’t really do much in La Paz because I got VERY sick from some food I ate and spent 24+ hours throwing up (as if I wasn’t thin enough already, I now look like a complete anorexic) but at least my hotel bed was comfortable.

I was able to do a half day tour of the city and because I was the only English speaking person who signed up I got a private driver and guide! We went to the rich part of town where the houses are surrounded by walls and have private security in front, we went to Moon Valley which is a park full of interesting formations that look like they're on the moon, we went to the main square and the cathedral, the gold museum, the farmers market filled with fish and meat and vegetables, the black market where they sell electronics and other things smuggled from Chile, and finally we went to the Witches Market where they sell items used to sacrifice once a year when farming season starts. Most of the items are carved wood or sugar replicas of the item they are sacrificing, but they also have lots of dried llama fetuses which, the guide said are for general good luck. I would’ve brought one home but I don’t think it would have made it past customs…

the daily food market on the streets

me at moon valley

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Getting to La Paz

2009-11-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

Since I was already in Bolivia it normally would have been a quick bus trip to get to La Paz, but since there was a bridge strike going on we had to cross back through Peru and then again through Bolivia. So a group of us heading to La Paz took a mini bus to the border went through Bolivian immigration to exit, walked across the border and went through Peru immigration, then we got on a bus and drove towards the other Bolivian border crossing. As we were driving one of the drivers came back and said that everyone needed to pay 2 Soles (about $1 american dollar) and give him their passports so we could get through Peru exit immigration faster because there was a two hour wait. A guy from Demark translated to English and two people refused to pay because they thought the guy was going to pocket the cash. This started a huge fight on the bus and finally everyone agreed to pay and we handed over the cash and our passports. As we approached the border we saw a really long line and the guy jumped out, went right in and 15 minutes later came back with our passports. He tossed the bag of passports to someone in the first row and everyone started clamoring for theirs - it was hilarious! Then they drove us over the border, told us to get off and go through Bolivian immigration and wow, that was insane! A ton of people pushing through one little door and into a dim room with two desks. You literally had to push your way to the front otherwise you would never get through. After my last experience with Bolivian immigration, I made sure that I had my passport open to the page with my Visa and luckily they didn’t hassle me at all. I got my stamp and got the heck out of there!!

Copacabana, Bolivia

2009-11-14T12:57:00.000-08:00

Copacabana is a cute little town on the shores of Lake Titicaca, an enormous and beautiful lake filled with islands. My hotel one block from the Lake and has an awesome view. After wandering around town the first afternoon I arrived, my plan was to take the early boat to Isla del Sol the next morning, however I wasn’t aware of the time change from Peru to Bolivia so I missed the boat by one hour. I was hanging out on the shore and planning to catch the afternoon boat when a guy came up to me and started chatting. He said he was a tour guide and could arrange for a private boat to the island so I thought I might as well since I’d only have 30 minutes at the island if I waited for the afternoon boat. We walked over to one of the boats and as we were getting on he said “you are really brave” and I thought to myself either that or incredibly stupid…but I got on, the driver took us to the island, the guy really was a tour guide and he knew all the locals so we stopped and chatted with them and hiked all around the island. Then we had a delicious lunch and took the public boat back in the afternoon.

the boat & capitan

donkeys carrying supplies to the island

yep, that's how they roll in Bolivia - sheep on the roof rack

One of the best parts was that he told me all about the corruption in the town, although it’s entirely possible he made it all up. Anyway, it’s kinda fun so I’ll tell it: Apparently the guy who owns the boats that run twice a day also owns 7 of the hotels and restaurants in town and a bus company and he is a major drug lord. He uses the businesses to make the drug money legitimate and even the US was investigating him. The reason there is only that one bank in town is because he arranged to have the other bank robbed twice and they didn’t want to deal with it anymore so they closed down. Crazy, huh?

I was supposed to take an afternoon bus to La Paz today but due to some bridge/border strike in Bolivia, I had to take a 10am bus to the Peru border and then another bus back to Bolivia. Details on that adventure coming soon…

click here to see more pictures

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Train to Puno & the Bolivian border

2009-11-14T12:42:00.000-08:00

I headed to the train station in Cusco early in the morning to catch the train to Puno and when I saw the lobby and the live music I knew it was going to be a fancy train ride. OMG! It was SO fancy and so much fun. There was a menu to choose my lunch from, there was afternoon tea and sweets, there was live music and a fashion show of Peruvian made items that you could purchase, and the scenery was amazing! We went from Cusco through the Sacred Valley to Puno, Peru and it took pretty much all day long. The only other people in my car where a group of Russians and I think they had a ton of cash because the women bought stuff from the fashion show and ordered bottles of wine like it was going out of style. Very entertaining!

me on the train :) la raya, one of the stops on the way to Puno

I really didn’t get much time in Puno other than to sleep, have breakfast and catch the bus to Copacabana, Bolivia in the morning. The bus ride was uneventful but when we got to the border that is when the real fun began. The bus driver told the people going to Bolivia to get off the bus, go through immigration and then meet up with another guy who would take us to Copacabana. Well, we went through immigration to exit Peru but the guy was no where to be found. After about 15 minutes of standing around a few people decided to cross the border so the rest of us followed and went to the Bolivia immigration. I was the only American so I needed a Visa and the tour bus company had told me it was going to be a certain amount of Soles (Peruvian $$) so I brought just a little more than that in cash. Um, I was 50 soles short, and let me just add that I watched the immigration guy pocket part of cash a person in front of me had just paid. There is no atm, bank, hotel, restaurant, nothing at the border so the immigration guy told me I would have to leave my passport, take the bus into the city, get more cash and come back. Are you kidding me?!! By that time the rest of the group was already through immigration and had located the guy. I asked him if he would loan me the 50 soles until we got to town and he said no. By the way, 50 soles is about $17 American dollars. He told me the same thing, that I would have to leave my passport and come back…so I did. The bus took us the 8 miles to town and 8 miles is a LONG time when your passport is with some cash pocketing immigration guy.

When we arrived the bus guy pointed me in the direction of the only bank in town, I walked there, located the ATM, only to see a big sign that said this ATM only accepts our bank’s cards, no Mastercard or VISA. Seriously?? So I went inside and saw 3 or four other people with the same problem. Luckily, they were able to give me a cash advance using my driver’s license as ID and I got a taxi to take me back to the border. I paid the money, got my Visa (which is good for 10 years and thank goodness for that cause I’m really wanting to come back here, asap…) and the taxi took me to the my hotel. Whoa, what a day…

Cusco & Machu Picchu, Peru

2009-11-14T12:24:00.000-08:00

I took an overnight bus from Arequipa to Cusco and it was actually really nice. Thank goodness for the loud little girl in the front because the guy sitting next to me couldn’t handle it and moved to the back of the bus and she eventually fell asleep so it wasn’t a problem at all. They had food and bingo and a movie and I was on the second level so my seat practically laid out flat. The only downside was this older, dirty, creep from the UK or Australia who came to sit next to me to “see the movie better” wtf dude your other seat was much better and stop hitting on me and just watch the freakin movie then! Anyhow, we arrived in Cusco around 6am and I went to my hostel hoping that by some miracle my room would be ready and it was. YAY! So I showered, slept for an hour or so, then walked to the main square and people watched for a while. I walked up the hill to a church called “San Blas” but it wasn’t open yet so I found a cute little bakery and had breakfast, went back to the church, walked around town, did a little shopping, visited the cathedral and then in the evening I went to a local Cirque do Soleil-esque show which was quite entertaining. Oh and I must mention that the kids in Peru are adorable - wearing their school uniforms or their tights and skirts and sweaters with their hair in braids and little hats. So cute!

The next morning I woke up early and took a taxi to Poroy to get the train to Machu Picchu. The train ride was fun; very relaxing, there was lots of great scenery and I met a nice couple from Miami. From the train I had to take a bus to Machu Picchu so it was quite a journey but well worth it. Machu Picchu was even better than I imagined it and I completely forgot about arranging a guide so I tagged along behind a group of people who had an English guide -great way to save some cash! My taxi driver from the morning said he would pick me up at the train station that evening which sounded awesome until he took some crazy shortcut on the way back and completely scared the crap out of me. I got back to my hostel just fine though and got ready to head to Puno on the train early the next morning.

me at mp - yep took that one myself ;)

Oh, so when I went to MP I wore leggings that only went to my knees so my calves are completely (and I mean COMPLETELY!) covered in bites and they itch so bad I have to use deep breathing/meditation in order to not scratch my freakin legs off. I’ve taken a picture (more for sympathy then anything else) so if you click the link at the bottom you will see it included there. Just a warning it looks terrible (and it honestly is) so try not to gag when you see it.

click here to see more pictures

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altitude sickness & phantom of the opera face...

2009-11-08T14:05:00.000-08:00

On the bus ride to Colca Canyon I experienced my first bout of altitude sickness and let me tell you, it was NOT fun! I thought I was going to die (okay, that’s a little dramatic, but seriously it was BAD). I woke up after about 3 ½ hours on the bus as we were reaching the highest point of our journey into the Andes. I was hot and dizzy, about to throw up and on the verge of fainting. It’s entirely possible that I was fading in and out of consciousness because the next thing I remember was the bus stopping so we could take pictures. There would be no picture taking for me and when I stumbled to the front of the bus, the guide grabbed a bottle of rubbing alcohol, squirted it into my hands and told me to inhale deeply. HOLY SHIT!! I don’t know which was worse - I think maybe I would have rather thrown up and fainted. I got a little better as the day went on and by the time we started home I only had a bad headache.

And now a little about my Phantom of the Opera face…Due to the position I was seated in on the boat ride to the islands in Colombia, only half of my face was sunburnt. When I say sunburnt, I mean SEVERLY sunburnt. I won’t even try to deny the fact that I looked like a freak, especially because of my big round sunglasses… But that was nothing compared to when it started peeling. Face cream isn’t even working so I’ve taken to slathering a thick layer of intensive hand cream on to one side of my face. It’s either that or have a scaly peeling face - which based on the reaction of the guy who served me breakfast this morning, is not good either. At this point I think it might be better for everyone if I was banished to the dungeon of an opera house (so I could enjoy the music, of course) or maybe I could find a nice half mask with “Peru” embroidered on it…lol!

Arequipa, Peru

2009-11-08T13:49:00.000-08:00

After spending the night at the Lima airport the only thing I wanted to do when I got to Arequipa was shower and sleep. My B&B was wonderful! I had a long hot shower and promptly fell right to sleep. Then I met up with a friends cousin, we walked around a little, had ice cream and coffee and he gave me a ton of great info and contacts in south america. In the evening I wandered around the 400+ year old Santa Catalina Monastero which looked even more beautiful by candlelight, then I had a delicious dinner and Peruvian wine at a fancy restaurant close by.

the main plaza in arequipa

The next morning I was still trying to catch up on sleep so I slept late and then walked around the city to the main square, toured the cathedral, a historic church and relaxed in a small square where I was serenaded by two men with a guitar (almost as good as the flamenco guitar in Sevilla). In the afternoon I went to see Juanita, the 500 year old Inca girl who was frozen on a volcano in the Andes, until she was discovered by hikers in 1995 - pretty incredible! I walked around some more, had ice cream (which has become a bit of an obsession) and tried to get to sleep early so I could be up by 2:30am for my trip to the Colca Canyon the next day.

the cathedral

Around 3am the tour bus picked me up and we started our drive to Colca Canyon. It was a hellish bus ride but definitely worth the trip. The Canyon is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and you could see the terraces that have been used for farming since Inca times. We saw condors and Inca graves on the side of a hill and stopped at a couple small villages to eat typical Peruvian food and wander around. That evening I was still sick from the altitude (that story coming soon) so my B&B ordered me take out and I passed out.

Colca Canyon

This morning I slept late and walked to the plaza which apparently was the place to be on Sunday because it was filled with people taking pictures and feeding the pigeons. Oddly, I was even approached by two families who wanted to take their picture with me! Then I walked across the bridge to a suburb called “Yanahuara” and enjoyed the plaza, the views, delicous food and ice cream, of course. Now I’m getting ready to head to the bus station for an overnight bus to Cuzco.

click here to see more pictures

Cartagena, Colombia

2009-11-06T17:30:00.000-08:00

Cartagena is amazing! The old city is surrounded by huge fortress walls and many of the Spanish style building have been beautifully restored. The first day I walked around, ate a delicious dinner (grilled fish, coconut rice, fried plantains, wine) and relaxed at my adorable hotel. The next day I went on a tour around the city to the huge fortress Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, around Boca Grande - the new section of town, to Las Bovedas - a row of old dungeons that have been turned into artesian shops, a large square where the African slave market was held when Cartagena was the main port for the slave trade, La Popa Convent - up on a hill that overlooks the entire city (my hotel warned me not to walk because there have been reports of armed robberies so I was very happy to be on a tour bus for that one).
the fortress

The next day I took a boat to my hotel’s sister property on a deserted beach with a pool and big gates with barbed wire around the entire place! I pretty much had the place to myself so I relaxed by the pool, read my book and an amazing lunch prepared by the little old lady who stays there (I’m pretty sure the fish had just been caught and it wasn’t even gutted!!). She was so happy when I ate it that she started clapping and hugging me. That night I went on a Chiva bus, which is basically a huge open bus with live music, lots of free drinks and Arepas (cornmeal filled with meat or fruit), and met a lot of cool people from all over South America.
chiva bus

My last day I took a boat to the Rosario islands and Playa Blanca. The boat ride was fun - one of the motors broke twice and the second time we cruised until we reached some shacks on the beach where a bunch of kids were swimming and a few guys were working on a boat. All the kids came over and started hanging on the boat saying “amiga, amiga!“. Once the guys fixed motor we drove for about 45 minutes to beautiful clear water and went snorkeling, then to Playa Blanca for lunch and sunbathing and swimming all afternoon. After that we headed back to Cartagena where I enjoyed my last frap at the Juan Valdez coffee shop, then headed to the airport for my overnight flight to Arequipa, Peru.
playa blanca

click here to see more pictures

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Bogota, Colombia

2009-10-31T18:54:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to be traveling again that I barely slept the two nights before I left, and then put off packing until the morning of my flight when I suddenly realized I needed a new pair of shoes. So I had the taxi driver swing by Nordstrom on the way to the airport and one new pair of black flats, three long flights and almost half way through “The Foutainhead” later, I was in Bogota Colombia.

When I got off the plane I was extremely exhausted and the first thing I noticed were the policemen everywhere. I quickly decided to pass on the bus, found the taxi queue and after 20 minutes of crazy driving through crowded, polluted streets, I was at my hotel. It’s an old house with a interior patio that was turned into a hotel. Very basic but it has a lot of character, the people are friendly, made to order breakfast is included and it seems quite safe.

my cute little room

With the short amount of time I had, I decided to focus it all on La Candelaria, the historic district. I headed out with my (Spanish) map and I figured out right away I was going to need a little help. I approached a couple of policemen, they started speaking wicked fast in Spanish and I didn’t understand a thing so I just walked away in the direction they pointed. I located a bus stop and asked a girl sitting there if she could help me find my bus. She spoke about as much English as I did Spanish but when she found out I was traveling alone, she decided to take me all the way to my destination, Cerro Monserrate. I took a little train up the steep hillside to the summit where there is a famous church, a little local market/shopping area, a restaurant and a panoramic view of the city. After exploring a bit and watching the priest individually bless numerous visitors and then pose for pictures, I took a cable car back down to the city.
the restaurant at Cerro Monserrate

view of the city from the top

Next, I walked to the Museum of Gold which has an impressive collection of 34,000+ pieces of gold from all the pre-Hispanic cultures in Colombia. Just inside the doors I was befriended by a man from Germany who had just finished touring the museum but wanted to go through again with me, then invited himself to come along to my next stop and meet up later for drinks. I ditched him on the way out, in the politest way possible, of course, and then I walked down Carrera 7 to Plaza de Bolivar. I got caught in a torrential downpour, bought a pink umbrella from a vendor on the street (deja vu), went inside the beautiful Cathedral Primada, relaxed in a Juan Valdez Coffee Shop, watched all the kids trick or treating in their Halloween costumes and then tried unsuccessfully to find a bus back to my hotel. After asking many people I found a girl in a store who spoke a little English. She explained to one of the men there what I needed, he took me out to the street and waited for the correct mini van/bus. Then he talked to the driver and cashier, asked them to slide over and instructed me to hop in front with them -much safer that way he said (in Spanish of course).
mueso del oro

a close up of one of the tiny gold pieces

Cathedral Primada in Plaza de Bolivar

i asked so many people if i could take their picture and they all said no. finally these girls said yes!

I was cold, still a little wet from the rain and exhausted when I got back to the hotel so I’ve decided to stay in for the evening (sorry Eric from Germany!), listen to the local music being played on the patio and chat with the guy that works at the front desk. Tomorrow I’m flying to Cartagena which is in the north, right on the beach and I’m really hoping for some sun!

fall in southern Oregon

2009-10-13T16:07:00.000-07:00

I hopped on the Amtrak at King Street Station early Sunday morning and 12 hours, a couple new friends and one disgusting dining car veggie burger later I was in Klamath Falls, Oregon for 10 fun filled days with dear old dad. He’s been crazy busy working on the house since I left – he remodeled the kitchen and the upstairs bathroom, built stairs to connect the downstairs with the main house and tons more. Sadly fishing season was over but he kept me pretty busy fixing the wood blinds, dusting and cleaning, moving furniture around and sorting through old stuff. I found so many cool old documents!! The original loan paperwork from the first land my grandparents bought in southern California – the mortgage payment was $71 per month!! The letter the army sent my grandpa when he was called to active duty in WW2. A copy of a job application and letter of reference from the early 50’s when he moved from Chicago to CA. I know most people don’t care about this stuff but I am fascinated by it. Maybe my next job will be as a historian?

sunrise on Klamath Lake

Friday night I drove to GP to catch up with Jeni and Katie and watch Jeni’s daughter, Gabby, in the Cheer Camp halftime show at the football game. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been in 12 years or so but Friday night high school football games in my hometown are magical! The crisp fall air, all the people dressed in Blue and White, the band playing the fight song, the “Go Cavemen” and “GP” signs all around town. Gabby did awesome in the halftime show and then we all went to Wild River Brewery for dinner afterwards and the next morning Jeni and I woke up early and walked around the Farmers Market.

Katie, Gabby and I before the halftime show

Kristen flew in for the long weekend and I headed back up to the lake for more family time which included pumpkin carving and pumpkin seed making, skip bo playing, walks in woods, and at one point we even broke out the crayons for a little coloring contest. Then I packed up my car and headed back to Seattle to get things in order before I leave for South America on the 29^th!

Me & Kris and Brownie pumpkin carving in the new kitchen

fall, minks and happiness

2009-10-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

It’s October 1st and fall is here! Yay for tall boots, long coats, scarves, fall leaves and homemade pumpkin seeds!!

I’m back in Seattle, catching up with friends, applying for jobs, learning Italian, planning my trip to South America and basically just being happy. In fact today someone actually said that I might be too happy! Mind you, this came from the front desk lady at the public storage office, but still! Is there ever such a thing as being too happy? I think not! If only this lady knew how many days I spent in a tiny cubicle staring at spreadsheets on a computer screen or in pointless meetings daydreaming about how I could escape corporate life (3,285 minus bank holidays and a few weeks vacation here and there). Or if she only knew how many days I cried when my mom was diagnosed with brain cancer and then passed away only 5 months later (150 days + a year or so after + every mother’s day for the rest of my life). You know how they say if you’re in a bad mood just force yourself to smile and you will eventually start to feel better? Well, I’ve been practicing that with Happy for a good 2-3 years now and I finally (finally!!!) am.

Truth be told my happiness did decrease slightly when I opened my storage unit for the first time since May, saw everything packed to the top and thought to myself “how on earth will I ever find those tall boots, long coats, scarves…and more importantly socks, long sleeve shirts, and undergarments”. Then I spent the next two hours trying to move things around with lots of effort and little success. Ok, was it really necessary to keep and store 2 years of Real Simple magazine?? Do I actually need all this ribbon, fabric, paper, glitter, these stamps, and candles?? Why are some boxes labeled “bedroom stuff” or “living room stuff”, while others list every single item? Hey, at least I located the “clutches, scarves, coats, minks and costumes” box. Minks and clutches, really?! (Mad Men party anyone?)

I eventually gave up on clearing a path to my dresser but promised myself that I would give it another shot tomorrow before I throw in the towel and go shopping. Then I made a mental note to do a better job of organizing my stuff next time I throw everything into a tiny storage unit and head off to travel the world on a whim.

Btw, I’ve been seeing this quote a lot lately and thought I better share it…

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? … Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others. -Nelson Mandela, 1994 Inaugural Speech

reflecting on my summer

2009-09-13T23:54:00.000-07:00

My sisters and I have this little thing we do after every event, we call it the “DEBRIEFING” (it’s in all caps because it’s serious business). It started as a joke a few years back after one particularly interesting (awkward/tacky) event we attended and it’s been going strong ever since. In honor of that tradition, let the debriefing begin:

86 days, 13 countries, 14 hotels, 6 hostels (1 very shitty, 2 okay, 3 very chic), 3 delightful B&B’s and 1 friend’s (smallish, cluttered) flat.
One large (and I must say, very heavy) carry-on bag. Only 4 loads of laundry the whole trip (who knew I was that low maintenance?!).
Countless churches, cathedrals, castles, and museums. Botticelli, Michelangelo, Rodin, Degas, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Picasso, Klimt, among others.
A handful of bike rides and many, many miles of walking in a well-worn (but surprisingly comfortable) pair of black flats. More planes, trains, buses, taxis, metros, trams and ferries than I can count.
A few (um, possibly more…) splurges along the way on massages, pedis, ballets, concerts, champagne, Italian jeans (and various other clothes), heels (and those gladiator sandals in Nice) , and one To-Die-For lavender purse.
Hundreds of pictures, lots of blogs, emails, and a few (very expensive) phone calls.

This trip definitely tested my limits. There were days when I was completely lost and didn’t speak the language; nights when I was scared to be walking alone. There were train strikes (and Bastille Day in France), flight delays, strange foods and many bathrooms with no toilet seats (and a few that were just a hole in the ground!).
But there were also a ton of friendly, helpful and welcoming people, beautiful beaches and sunsets, breathtaking stained glass, architecture, sculpture and artwork, many comfy beds and stylish bathrooms, and lots of very delicious food (and drinks) and so many other experiences that made this one of best summers of my life.

I don’t know what’s next for me, but I do know that I am one lucky girl (err, woman) and I can’t wait for my next adventure!

florence

2009-09-09T15:38:00.000-07:00

I spent the last 10 days of my trip in Florence Italy, staying with a friend and his adorable dog. i went to delicious restaurants, visited the Uffizi Museum, Pitti Palace, had an amazing dinner on his friend's sailboat, experienced riding around town on the back of a scooter, got a pedicure, saw a movie in English (and had movie popcorn, yum!), ate gelato, drank wine and champagne, relaxed and shopped. a great ending to an amazing trip.

I fell in love with these shoes...and then another pair, and then another...but i had to be reasonable and only get two pair. then i fell in love with this handmade Italian leather lavender kate spade-esk purse and i just had to have it. thank god it was 50% off...but 50% of at the Pineider store is still quite expensive. oh well, it's only money, right?
me and fadi

paris

2009-09-04T01:31:00.000-07:00

Wow, Paris is amazing! It was definitely one of my favorite places on the trip. I stayed in a beautiful little hotel in the Latin Quarter across from the Pantheon, 2 minutes from the Luxemburg Gardens and 5 minutes from Notre Dam and I even had my own little balcony with a table and flowers!

Paris has so much to see and so many museums that I had to make some tough choices about how to spend my time there. I started with a great 3.5 hour free walking tour that started in the Latin Quarter near my hotel. We saw Notre Dam, The New Bridge (which is actually the oldest bridge), the Louvre, the Palais Royal, the Eiffel Tower, Champs-Elysees, the Arc de Triumph, the Grand and Petit Palais and so much more that it was hard to keep track of everything. The next day I went another walking tour, this one through the Montmarte area which is famous for it’s can-can shows and artist culture. We went to Artists Square, the last Vineyard in Paris, Van Gogh’s House, Café des Deux where Amelie worked in the film, the Basilica Sacre Coeur, past the Moulin Rouge and through the red light district, to Picasso’s studio and then we all had drinks at a cute little café/bar afterwards. Once it was dark I went to the Eiffel Tower and then headed back across town to Montmarte to see the late show at the Moulin Rouge with a girl I met on the walking tour the day before. It was mesmerizing!! So fancy and the costumes and dancers were beautiful and the champagne was delicious! I considered skipping the show because it was so expensive but the experience was completely worth it - a must do if you’re ever in Paris! Afterwards we went with a couple girls we met at our table and some of the waiters and dancers to the club next door. It was a great night…but it took me half the morning to sleep off the champagne so I was only able to make it to one of the museums on my list the next day - the Louvre. It’s massive and extremely crowded but seeing the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo in person was worth fighting the crowds. I can't wait to go back to Paris again!
cute little street in montmarte the goddess Nike at the Louvre

the cafe where Amelie worked in the movie

the eiffel tower at night

the moulin rouge
metro station art

the arches above the entrance to notre dam

amsterdam

2009-08-23T10:37:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam was one of my favorite cities (and no, not because of the “coffee shops” or the red light district). I loved the canals, the flowers, the bicycles, the skinny little houses and the friendly people. My hotel was in the south part of the city and it was really cool/weird - you check yourself in at a computer terminal and make your own key card, the rooms have huge beds and the toilet and shower are in separate little glass pods and each room has this hi tech remote thing called a mood pad that controls the tv, the temp, the blinds, and even the color of the lights.
I did some exploring on my own the first day and figured out pretty quickly that most “coffee shops” sell something other than coffee. =) I went to the Rijksmuseum to see the Dutch painters including Rembrandt and his famous Night Watch. Then I went to the Van Gogh museum and it was amazing to see his paintings in person but it was incredibly crowded and I was disappointed they didn’t have more of this paintings on display. I guess after the seemingly endless works at the Hermitage and the Italian Museums everything else feels kinda small.
Yesterday I did a 3 hour walking tour of the city and saw the red light district which was actually small and much tamer than I imagined it would be. We stopped by a few “coffee shops“, including the one from Ocean’s 12. We went to the Begijnhof Convent, the Royal Palace, the Dutch East India Company, walked past many canals, over the widest bridge and saw the skinniest house (all the houses are really skinny at the street because you used to have to pay taxes on the width of the front of your house). Then I went to the Anne Frank House Museum where her and her family hid. It was moving experience, they had her actual diary and you could still see the pictures she pasted on the wall in her room.
A fun time in another great city and now i'm on the train to Paris!
the shower pod in my hotel room
the skinniest house in amsterdam
sign on a coffee shop (click on it and you can make it bigger)
inside the convent
one of the flower markets lining the canals
to keep men from peeing in the corner of buildings. lol! and they used to have electric current. ouch!!
the Ocean's 12 coffee shop
one of the canal bridges packed with bikes

copenhagen

2009-08-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

I loved Copenhagen! Everyone rides bikes, there was free concert in the evening in the main square, the weather was nice and my hotel was amazing!! I went on a 4 hour bike tour around the city and saw historical Copenhagen, Hans Christian Andersen’s house and grave, the Little Mermaid statue, the Royal Palace, the old Navy housing, the beautiful lakes and canals, Castle Island, and the hippie community Christianshavn. I ate lots of Danishes, did lots of walking through the pedestrian streets and went to a great museum. I also took a day trip to Hillerod, an adorable little town a 40 minute train ride from Copenhagen. It had an enormous beautiful castle on the water and lots of little shops, cafes and flowers.
Denmark is definitely on my list of places to go back to!

the little mermaid statue

one of the canals in copenhagen

church and fountain in copenhagen

the castle in Hillerod

the beautiful little town of Hillerod

free evening outdoor concert

garden inside the Glyptotek Museum

stockholm

2009-08-19T02:05:00.000-07:00

I’m definitely going back to Stockholm someday, I loved it. There’s lots of water, it’s green, the weather is similar to Seattle but I didn’t care for the food, although the chocolate was delicious! So let’s see what did I do in Stockholm. I did some shopping on one of the crowded pedestrian streets. I bought corn on the cob from a street vendor and walked along the water and watched the fancy boats and the fancy people. I went to see the Viking ship museum and then stopped to watch one of the Stockholm Cultural Festival performances (short video clip below) and of course I went to a church.
The thing I most enjoyed was an afternoon spent at the Nordic Museum. The exhibits were on clothing, furniture, textiles, dollhouses (you can actually learn a lot about interior design of the time from a dollhouse made in the 1800s), and old photographs. My two favorites were one on “fair fashion” - sweatshops, recycled clothing, organic textiles, the future of clothing materials and manufacturing, and the other on weddings. They had wedding dresses throughout history displayed with a story about the circumstances of the wedding, why they wore what they did and most with a picture. For example a turquoise suit late 60’s, they took the train to Paris to get married but the student riots happening that weekend made it almost impossible to get to the courthouse. Or flapper wedding dress from the 20s or 30s with a story about her being pregnant at the time. So interesting!! I love to hear peoples stories and look at old photographs. Now, if only I could figure out how to turn that into a paying job…
water and trees and boats everywhere!
inside the Nordic Museum

the wedding exhibit

fashion exhibit. that dress is made entirely from old jeans

traditional swedish folk clothing

the viking ship

another beautiful church

stockholm culture festival was happening while i was in town

st. petersburg

2009-08-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

St. Petersburg is a beautiful city but the weather…not so good. It rained pretty much the whole time I was there but seeing the Winter Palace alone was enough to make the visit worth it.

one of the four Horse Tamer statues on the Anichkov Bridge

the outside of the Winter Palace home to the Hermitage, 3rd largest museum in the world

inside the Winter Palace/Hermitage

SO much to see but this was one of my favorite statues in the Hermitage

church of our savior on spilled blood

near the summer garden

inside st. isaac's cathedral

more from moscow

2009-08-13T06:22:00.001-07:00

My last day in Moscow was all about Red Square and the Kremlin area. It’s enormous and beautiful and full of (mostly) Russian tourists and students. There are massive buildings all around the square - the Kremlin wall on one side, the GUM mall on the other and St. Basil’s cathedral at the far end. I toured the Cathedral and it’s one of the best I’ve seen on this trip, mainly because it’s different than the others. I (of course) went into the mall and it’s 3 stories with all of the high end designers, sports stores, paper stores, fancy restaurants and then there was Dining Room #57. I could not figure why this cafeteria style, blandly decorated, checkered table cloths restaurant would be in the fanciest mall I’ve ever seen and then I saw a small article posted on a board in the corner and the title was “back in the USSR” and realized it was a nostalgia restaurant like our 50’s style dinners. They had lots of cabbage salads, boiled meats and weird things like beef tongue in gelatin (I didn’t try it but the people in front of me both got it - ick!).
It was nice and sunny in the afternoon so I sat in the park at the Kremlin and people watched. It was quite an interesting experience and I am still thoroughly confused by what most Russian women wear. I wish I could have taken pictures…
As I was walking back to my hotel in the evening I heard someone calling to me on the street and it was the concierge from the fancy hotel the other day. We went for a drink and talked about our thoughts on each others countries and he took me to a really old church hidden away in a courtyard. The church was AMAZING! And so was my whole experience in Moscow. If you ever get the chance to go, don’t pass it up. All of stigmas are wrong and it’s not scary at all - it’s full of rich culture and history and architecture and once you get past the language barrier, a lot of friendly people.

view of the Kremlin from the bridge

gardens at the Kremlin

Kremlin walls

red square

the GUM mall (biggest and fanciest I've ever seen!)

USSR nostaglia - Dining room #57 in GUM mall

st. basil's cathedral

the KGB building

moscow

2009-08-13T05:30:00.000-07:00

My second day in Moscow I walked to the world famous Bolshoy Theater to get tickets but unfortunately it’s been closed since 2005 for renovations. I did get tickets for a evening performance of the ballet Carmen at the theater across the street they’ve been using as their temporary stage. Then I decided the city was too big to wander around, especially since I didn’t know Russian so I found the biggest, fanciest hotel, got through the metal detectors and found the concierge. He was very friendly spoke pretty good English, got me a map and told me about an English bus tour. I took the bus tour, which was terrible to be honest, but the ticket was good for two days and went to all the outer areas of the city so I was able to see a lot in a short amount of time.
It went to the beautiful University across the river near a lookout point where you could see how enormous the city was. From there you could see the big new financial district that’s still under construction and will be finished in 2011, the Kremlin and Red Square section and the Olympic stadium area. We saw a bunch of churches and passed lots of stark Soviet era buildings and statues, and surprisingly even more ornate and beautiful pre-Soviet era buildings, the new high fashion fancy section of town, the famous Gorky Park, WWII park and monument, we drove alongside the beautiful green Moscow river bank and saw much more.
It was really interesting - since it was a Saturday in the summer and fairly sunny there were brides and wedding parties all over the city. They were in front of all the big churches, the parks, the bridges with stretch limos and Hummers, champagne and everyone dressed up taking pictures. There were so many that I stopped counting after 20. The guide told us that one bridge was famous for newlyweds because they would come here on their wedding day and attach locks to the trees, then throw the keys in the river for good luck. There’s a picture below. Shortly after passing this bridge she told us that the divorce rate is 67% in Russia…

view of the new financial district under construction

ski jump at the edge of the city!

the university
the wedding bridge where newlyweds go on their wedding day to attach locks to the trees and throw the keys in the river for good luck.

the world famous bloshoy theater

carmen

the oldest fanciest hotel

traditional russian dolls, russian historical figures and...obama?

getting to moscow

2009-08-13T05:07:00.000-07:00

Wow, Moscow has left me practically speechless, it’s that cool. It’s flashy, modern and at the same time traditional and old. For example the airport and airport train station were new and ultra modern but the airport train was VERY old and run down as were the train stations. The metro is huge and crowded and crazy. There are 6 steep escalators at the exits and they are packed with a constant stream of people. Trains arrive literally every minute, and people were moving so fast between the 10 different lines and the 173 stations that it felt like a video game on fast forward. 9million people a day ride the metro!

Even with my map and directions I had a difficult time finding my way around because the names of the streets and metro stations in the hotel’s directions were in English and no one spoke English. After asking many unhelpful people I found a Russian family (who I think were also visiting Moscow) and when I showed them my map they said (in Russian with gestures and pointing) that they were going to in the same direction and would take me. YAY!! So I followed them and when we went separate ways they found another nice person to take me the next leg. Then I got off at the wrong station and all sorts of people tried to help and grandma’s kept coming up and adding their 2 cents and arguing with each other. Eventually by saying “Petrovka” to everyone I passed I got to the right street but couldn’t find the hotel. An older man noticed me looking lost and started telling me something in Russian which I figured out was go down this side street. (I know it sounds sketchy but when you have been lost for hours and are tired and hungry and need a shower …) So I did and I found the hotel, which was really just the top floor of an old apartment building converted into rooms.

The person at the front desk spoke pretty good English and the room was really nice. I didn’t even mind the walk up the 4 flights of stairs or not having a shower in my room. She let me borrow shampoo and conditioner since mine were taken by security at the Berlin airport. It’s a long story but lets just say 1) good idea to arrive at the airport BEFORE your flight is boarding, 2) begging, pleading and crying (even if the Kerastase is worth more than you paid for the flight) doesn’t do anything but get the cop called on you, and 3) DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT snatch anything out of a cop’s hand, even if you are less then 2 minutes from missing your flight!

berlin wall pics

2009-08-07T14:31:00.001-07:00

berlin

2009-08-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

You know you’re in Germany when you arrive at the hostel and right away the owner sits you down with two detailed maps (which include each bus stop, yes I said stop, not route!) and gives you a dissertation on the city, the buses, the S-Bahn trains, the U, the trams, all the places to go and things to see and it’s history. Whew! I need a nap already. I liked the part about the “alternative” culture in east Berlin. He said don’t be afraid or nervous when you pass all the run down buildings covered in graffiti with squatters living there. We have a lot of punks and anarchists living in east Berlin and it’s completely safe. If you see a group of people gathered around a burning car in the middle of the night, nothing to worry about, you are completely safe. Note to self: stay away from burning car section of town at night.

So armed with my maps I headed out to the…um…geez this city is huge, where should I start and should I take the bus, the S, the U, the tram? The wall, of course, I’ll start at the wall! The longest section of the wall is the east side gallery, it’s the part famous for all the paintings. It was in the process of being repainted for the 20th anniversary of the fall so I got to watch some of the artists at work. It's an amazing and emotional thing to see in person and I had a hard time deciding which pictures to post so I made a seperate post. After that I went to the Kaiser Wilhelm church that was severely bombed in WWII and has been turned into a memorial.

one of the paintings on the east side gallery section of the wall

the kaiser wilhelm church. what's left of the old in the middle and the new on either side.

inside the new section of the church

The next day I went on an awesome guided walking tour through the historical east that included stories and information on all of the significant places. We started with Brandenburg Gate, then went to the Holocaust Memorial, the smaller section of the wall that isn’t painted, Hitler’s bunker - which is now just a gravel parking lot, Checkpoint Charlie, the Nazi book burning memorial, Museum island and a few others. And I did make time to venture into the alernative section of the city, but in daylight of course.

the brandenberg gate
checkpoint charlie

the Nazi book burning memorial. a sealed underground room with empty shelf space for the 20,000 books that were burned.

the holocaust memorial

cathedral at museum island

dear leggings...

2009-08-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

Dear Leggings,
This is really difficult so I’m just gonna say it. It’s over. I’ll admit, the last 54 days with you have been wonderful. It’s just…I’ve really been missing Jeans and you’ve been getting on my nerves for a while now. See Jeans and I, we are just so much more compatible. Sure, I might wear you out in public occasionally, maybe under a skirt or a dress, and we can definitely hang out at my place whenever you want but I just can’t handle going out with you all the time. This 5 or 6 days a week thing has got to stop!
You have so many great qualities and I really would like to stay friends. I hope you understand and you will always have a place in my suitcase.
All the best!

my new jeans!!! =)

prague

2009-08-05T13:01:00.001-07:00

I loved Prague - all of the churches, the beautiful architecture of old town, the flowers in Wenceslas Square and the view of the countryside on the train from Vienna was just lovely! I stayed in a sleek, modern hostel/hotel called miss sophie’s near the National Museum just on the edge of the tourist area. Another great shower and close to a couple good, cheap restaurants.

The first day I toured the National Museum, walked through Wenceslas square, around Old Town and stopped to listen to the Prague Jazz Festival for a while in the evening. On my walk back to the hostel I got caught in a rain storm so I ducked into a shopping center and saw a couple coming out of a Thai massage place so I thought, why not? I’ve been walking for 50 days my feet could use it and it is raining pretty hard. Wow! It was awesome…until she started poking (and by poking I mean pressing REALLY hard) my feet with a little pointed object. That part was pretty painful but it only lasted for a few minutes and my feet felt amazing afterwards. I highly recommend it! It was still raining after and I had a long walk back to the hotel but luckily I heard organ music playing a ways down the street so I stopped in and listened to an evening church service. All in Czech so I didn't understand a thing, but the organ music was great!

the national museum with statue of St. Wenceslas
cross in the ground in front of the national museum
amazing church in old town square old town square

The next day I walked through Old Town Square and stopped in one of the churches, then across Charles bridge to the Castle. It had everything - breathtaking churches, beautiful gardens, a huge palace, a great view of the city and a ton of tourists. On the way back I walked through the Jewish quarter, through Wenceslas square, caught up with a cousin over a couple glasses of wine and wandered around the city a little more.

the cathedral at the castle

a hall in the palace

vienna

2009-07-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

Wow my Spanish is not doing me a bit of good here in Austria! Good thing there are a lot of friendly, patient people here!
I realized when I woke up the first morning that I was getting a cold, probably from the less then 4 hours sleep the night before and the two flights to get here, so I treated myself to a visit to H&M. It’s amazing how three shirts and skirt on sale for a grand total of 41.95e can make you feel like a million bucks and help you forget all about an imminent cold. (I did purchase some cold medicine just prior so that probably helped a little too.)
The first day I toured the Schloss Schonbrunn Palace and it’s full of ornate rooms, beautiful artwork and has lovely gardens. Unfortunately no pictures aloud inside but a took a couple below of the outside. While I was there I did the most touristy thing ever, I went to an apple strudel making demonstration. It was actually kinda fun and there were samples - yum! The most interesting thing I learned on the tour was that Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria had 11 daughters (one of them Marie Antoinette) and only one, the youngest, was permitted to marry for love. Now that is some serious favoritism!

the Schonbrunn Palace the palace gardens and fountain

apple strudel making

Today I went to the Belvedere Art Museum and saw the famous Kiss by Gustav Klimt along with some of his other work, Monet and finally a Degas! I’ve always loved Degas, probably because one of his ballerinas hung above my bed when I was a kid. This afternoon I was on the subway headed to a church the guidebook recommended when a very helpful guy who only knew a tiny bit of English told me to go one stop farther to see a dome (that was the jist of it, I really couldn‘t understand because he was speaking mainly in German). I have no idea what the name of the dome or the church down the street were but they were at the Stephansplatz subway stop and they were both beautiful!

the belvedere art museum the church

the dome

The other night I went to an amazing concert at the Schonbrunn Palace. It was a little of everything - orchestra, opera and ballet and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Another splurge but, come on, how can you go to Vienna and not hear Mozart and Strauss?!

Crossing my fingers that I can hold off this cold with more meds and a good nights sleep, and then I'm taking the train to Prague tomorrow morning.

lisbon, cascais & sintra

2009-07-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

Wish I had more time in Portugal! I didn't get time to see Lagos or Porto but there's always next trip.
Lisbon is an awesome city! I’m staying a hostel called the Living Lounge and each room is designed by a different artist and the designs are very chic - I’m told it’s called “radical chic”. There‘s a picture of my room below and the website is www.livingloungehostel.com It’s only 35e for a private room and shared bath, lots of common areas, and little shops and cafes all around. I highly recommend it!
So of course I went to all the historical and touristy places in Lisbon, except the castle because a movie was being filmed there and it was closed to the public.
I spent a day in the beautiful beach town Cascais, a 30 minute train ride from Lisbon. I wandered around, laid on the beach until I was completely sunburnt and then took advantage of the free bikes and rode around town and to the Boca do Inferno. It was an awesome day but I failed to realize that when you're staying in a hostel and take your towel to the beach, well, your towel is basically sandy until it gets washed (not sure how this one slipped my mind) and laundry is only scheduled to take place once every 3 weeks, so I've got two weeks to go...
Today I went to Sintra a 40 minute train ride from Lisbon and the best part was the enormous mansion, Quinta da Regaleira. The grounds were really stunning, lush gardens, grottos, ponds, and it even had it’s own chapel. It’s not a cathedral but close enough.
Tonight I splurged on a mani and pedi at a salon across the street. Come on, I’ve been traveling for almost 7 weeks, I deserve it! Now I’m just relaxing in a café having a cap and eating a divine piece of chocolate cake. Okay, if I keep up this “I deserve it” bit my budget is going to be shot and I’m not going to fit into my clothes…
Tomorrow I'm flying to Vienna!

my room in the hostel. it's called "white dream". the quote on the wall is "all people are dream beings. dream ties all people together." jack kerouac

the cathedral

pretty tile walls

the bullfighting ring in lisbon

one thing i love about spain & portugal - fresh squeezed oj everywhere!

beautiful beach town cascais biking in cacais

the mansion from the gardens
the chapel at the manson in sintra

madrid & toledo

2009-07-26T14:43:00.000-07:00

Love Madrid and Toledo, okay I love all of Spain!!!

The first afternoon I did the usual - exploring, wandering, eating and by 10pm I was exhausted and very lost and saw a movie theater in the distance so I ducked inside and watched The Proposal. Nothing like a good romantic comedy!
Can you guess the first thing I did the next morning? The Cathedral, of course, and it was impressive. The paintings on the dome were different than the others I’ve seen and the view from the top was worth the climb. I toured the palace next door and then walked across the city, stopping off at interesting places along the way, to the Prado Museum and Buen Retiro Park. The museum had a special exhibit of Joaquin Sorolla and it was awesome! Some of the pieces took up entire walls and the way he painted light - wow! Two of my favorites were Walk on the Beach and Sewing the Sail. The park is huge, perfectly landscaped and has it’s own little Greenlake with paddle boat rentals and all.

the dome in the Madrid cathedral

in front of the palace the lake in the park

a lovely little building

That night I stumbled upon this little market (I think it was called Market San Miguel but I can’t remember) and then stopped to have drinks and watch the sunset near the cathedral. (Ok, I’ll admit it. I have a slight obsession with cathedrals, and I don’t even go to church!) Then went to “the most famous flamenco show in the world”…overrated. I liked the little hole in the wall place in Sevilla much better. Some people I met that night told me I must go see Toledo so I took the train the next day. It’s a must see, right out of a fairytale, surrounded by walls and filled with castles and churches.

the market in Madrid the sunset the train station in toledo

the city walls

the entrance to the city

I stayed in a hostel in Madrid - Hostal Santo Domingo. 42e for a private room with bath, very modern, friendly and awesome shower. If you go to Madrid and you’re looking for something cheap and very clean, stay there!

the shower at the hostel

sevilla

2009-07-21T10:25:00.001-07:00

Spanish guitar, flamenco dancing, an exquisite cathedral, a beautiful palace, paella, tapas, sangria, sun…this could be heaven, except it’s hot as hell. Seriously, 100 degrees in the blazing afternoon sun and no breeze, but loving every minute!
I went to a Flamenco show the other night and the dancing was really good, but the guitar was TO DIE FOR. New item to add to my list of must haves - a companion who is an accomplished (spanish style) guitar player…or who has enough cash to fly me to Seville on a whim…or I guess I could settle for someone who will listen to the Gipsy Kings with me and sit on the patio and drink Sangria (but if I’m gonna lower my standards on the guitar playing he better make a great paella!) . Video wasn’t aloud at the show but at least I was able to sneak the clip below of them warming up - audio only.
my hotel in historic santa cruz

flamenco and guitar

The cathedral in Seville is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and I preferred it to St. Peter’s in the Vatican. St. Peter’s is amazing, don’t get me wrong, but I like the Gothic style better. I walked to the top of the bell tower, which has become a must do at each cathedral and was a little easier here because it was a ramp instead of steps. The back part of the cathedral was blocked off, filled with beds and covered in signs because the local miner’s were having a hunger strike. They’ve been living there for 26 days!
Right next to the cathedral is the royal palace, Alcazar. I loved the style - the colors, the tiles, the palm trees, the gardens - so much so that I’m thinking my next house will be this style (or maybe I can marry into the Spanish royal family and just live in the palace).

outside of the cathedral

inside of the cathedral

the miner's on hunger strike

the royal palace

palace gardens

I wasn’t feeling well today (the heat, too much sangria last night, etc) so I took advantage of the bathtub in my hotel room (first in 37 days!), relaxed at a coffee shop for a few hours until I couldn’t handle any more of the unwanted advances from the man sitting next to me (this is really becoming a problem. note to self - don’t smile as much and be rude), then wandered around and did some window shopping.
It's a little after 9pm here and I’m getting ready to head out for tapas and maybe some Flamenco later this evening. Tomorrow I’m taking the train to Madrid.

barcelona

2009-07-19T07:06:00.000-07:00

Barcelona is an amazing city! It’s a great mix of old and modern, has a ton of interesting architecture, is surprisingly clean and seems very livable. My hotel was in an awesome location only 3 blocks from the Placa de Catalunya and La Rambla in the city center but the real reason I loved it was because the shower was big and had one of those huge rain shower heads!
The first couple days I toured the area near the sea where the monument to Columbus is located, along with the World Trade Center, the Aquarium, the old and new ports and beaches. I saw the Olympic Stadium and the Olympic pools that look out over the city. I saw the Parc Guell designed by Gaudi and admired his other work throughout the city, including the church he designed which has been a work-in-progress for 100 years! I also went to the Club Barcelona Futbol stadium and stopped in Nike Barcelona.

the new port near the world trade center

the gaudi church

another gaudi building

Yesterday I went to the Mercat De Sant Josep which is like Pike Place Market but bigger and has a lot more variety of fruits, vegetables and meats. I walked around La Rambla, shopped a bit and I must confess that I stopped in a Starbucks (the first I’ve seen since Mykonos) and thoroughly enjoyed ordering an iced tall non fat no whip mocha.

the market

Oh and one note on fashion - the skater look is definitley popular in Barcelona along with mullet mohawks for both guys and girls. I haven't decided if that look is better or worse than French women in hammer pants and gladiator sandals...

nice

2009-07-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

I think I jinxed myself when I said that each place was better than the last because Nice did not live up to my expectations. It could have been the long train ride, the ordeal getting into my hotel room after reception was closed, the extremely long lines at the train station to use the Eurail pass, the rude French people, the rocky beach with loud American rap music playing, the unusally high number of beggars and bums on the streets, or the hoards of tourists gathered around breakdancers performing in the streets at night...I guess I was expecting something more like the vintage posters and less like spring break in SoCal or Mexico.
Despite all of that, I did enjoy sampling all of the delicous food and shopping a bit. I spent a good 3 hours two different days in line at the train station only to find out that all trains out of Nice were full for the next week which meant I´d have to show up without a reservation and hope to make the 5 train changes to get to Barcelona. Whoever said having a Eurail pass makes train travel easy definitely was not talking about France! Every person I talked to with a Eurail pass had a terrible experience in France, and not just in Nice, all over. So rather than chance the 5 train connections without a reservation, I decided to leave early and head back to Florence to stay with a friend (this journey only required two connections, the first without a reservation). french pastries. delish!
the beach in Nice

Jeans

2009-07-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm writing a whole blog entry about jeans...

Guess jeans cost 180 euros in France?! There must be some mistake, because I don't remember ever paying anything close to $251 for Guess jeans in the states. And no Sevens, Citizens, Hudsons or Paige? Wrangler and Lee instead? Seriously?

Why did I not pack a single pair of jeans? If I have to wear leggings one more day I'm going to scream!! I know, I know they are so stretchy and comfortable for traveling, and they are easy to wash and lightweight. But it's been a whole month without jeans...or heels. I just want to squeeze into some skin tight jeans and put on some really hot, really high heels.

God I miss my jeans...my heels...my dresses...I miss my whole closet! :'(

venice

2009-07-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

I’m not sure how it’s possible but every place I visit seems to be better than the last. I arrived in Venice in the late afternoon and it was sunny and everything looked beautiful - the water, the boats, the buildings. I took the water taxi to the hotel (I wrote down the name, address and directions this time!) and I was starving so I found a nice little restaurant and had a romantic dinner - everything in Venice is romantic.
the streets of venice
the romantic restaurant

The next morning I went on a walking tour of the city which took us inside St. Mark’s church and the areas all around St. Mark’s square. The church is very different from any of the other churches I’ve seen so far, it actually looked more like the mosques and churches I saw in Istanbul. I found out this is because early architects and artists came to Venice mainly from the middle east and they created a new style called Arabic Gothic - very cool!

st. mark's church

the gold and glass artwork on the church

an arabic gothic window

After the tour I had lunch at this cute little restaurant filled with gondola captains and locals. The food was delicious and the company was great too. Since I was by myself I was seated with a two guys from NJ and after they left a couple from NY. The couple was really excited to hear about my trip and they told me their college backpacking stories which included lots of references to drug use and going topless. I think I pretty much watched them fall in love all over again while they were telling their stories. Awh! So cute!

I walked around the rest of the afternoon and stopped at St. Mark’s square in the evening to listen to some live music from Phantom of the Opera. Then later that night headed to Campo Santa Margherita where all the fun outdoor bars are and met up with the guys from NJ. I actually got lost on the way and met a really nice local waiter who showed me the way and then entertained the three of us for the rest of the night. It was fun but I discovered that I don’t know nearly enough about soccer to keep up (unlike American football where I can usually hold my own). I learned that Beckham is a has been, Ronaldo is the best player, Real Madrid is NY Yankees of soccer and Brazil is the best in the world.

the little restaurant filled with gondola captains and locals - tourists are squished in a little area in the back.

evening music in st. mark's square

Today I slept late and then took the boat taxi to Murano to see their famous glass. I spent the afternoon looking through all the glass factories and shops and trying to decide what I should buy. This evening I found another cute little restaurant, walked a bit more and now I’m looking forward to getting some much needed sleep before I head to Nice tomorrow morning.

murano glass ornaments

murano glass

florence

2009-07-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

Tuscany is very charming. On the train in to Florence there were endless fields of sunflowers and beautiful hillside villas, the food is even better than Rome, the streets are small, the buildings are old and well maintained, there’s great shopping and the people are really friendly.

My first afternoon in Florence I walked around and sampled the food and the gelato. I waited out a huge thunder and lighting storm the next morning and then went on a fabulous bike tour around town in the afternoon. It was a small group and we biked all over town for almost 3 hours. We’d stop at landmarks and the tour guide would give us a little history and architecture lesson. One of the stops was at the Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy, the oldest pharmacy in the world (circa 1221), where we sampled their cologne and perfume. I hung out with the tour guide and his cute little dog the rest of the afternoon and he made a homemade dinner - a nice treat after eating on the road for almost a month.

on the bike tour

close up of the cathedral the only bridge in Florence that wasn't burned down by the Germans in WWII

a view of town from Michelangelo Plaza

The next morning I went to the Academia Museum and saw the original David - amazing and much bigger than I expected. That afternoon the tour guide took me to lunch (in a convertible Porsche!) at a trendy restaurant in the countryside near Sienna. The restaurant serves specialty meat from the famous butcher Dario Cecchini (honestly, I had no idea who the guy was but I acted impressed when I was introduced) and some of it was raw - ick! That evening I went to the tour guide’s friend’s wine shop where a group of us enjoyed a few bottles of champagne (my favorite!) and wine. This morning I did some window shopping (came dangerously close to getting in line at the cash register a couple times) and then took an afternoon train to Venice.

the original david

piazza de repubblica

rome

2009-07-04T08:30:00.000-07:00

Strolling through the piazzas, eating pizza and gelato and taking in the splendor and romance of Rome… I felt like I was Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday, except I didn’t cut all my hair off (I did consider it for a brief moment) and didn’t have a tall handsome Gregory Peck following me around.
My first day was spent walking around and enjoying the piazzas and fountains and eating lots of delicious food.

inside a pizzeria

almost every piazza (city square) has a fountain, this was one of my favorites.

Yesterday I went to Vatican City first thing in the morning to beat all the crowds. I started with St. Peter’s Basilica so I could attend Mass and I can honestly say it is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It's huge and awesome and moving and pictures don’t do it justice; I was literally moved to tears. After that I went to the Cupola for a close up view of the inside of Michelangelo’s dome and outside a 360 degree view of the city. I obviously skimmed over the part in the guide book where it says there are 551 winding stairs to the top (that‘s one way people, 1102 in total!). 2 euros extra for the elevator that goes halfway up? Nah, I’ll just take the stairs. OMG! It was 80+ degrees and legs and shoulders must be covered because it’s part of the church. I almost fainted from heat exhaustion on the way down. After a break and lots of water, I toured the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. In the afternoon I went to the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain.

inside st. peter's basilica view of vatican city from the dome

trevi fountain

I spent today in ancient Rome - the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Circus Maximus and stopped at the Mouth of Truth at the church of Santa Maria. I’m getting ready to head out for my last evening of dining and drinking and walking, then tomorrow I’m off to Florence. Happy 4th everyone!
at the colosseum

the colosseum

sticking my hand in the mouth of truth

arriving in rome

2009-07-02T02:06:00.000-07:00

Who knew there are multiple baggage claim areas at the airport in Rome? I sure didn’t and somehow I managed to get myself to the wrong baggage claim and then outside of the airport without my bag…hmmm. Then, of course, I didn’t write down the name or address of the B&B, but I did write down the name of the metro stop I needed to get off at and had the map of the from the guidebook. Apparently I like a good challenge, in the dark, in a new city where most people only speak Italian and all internet signals are password protected.
By the time I got the train and then switched to metro B and then switched to metro A and got off at the Cipro stop it was around 9:30pm. I got above ground, started walking and saw three taxi drivers chatting and having a cigarette break. I stopped and wrote down what I thought the name of the B&B was (I was 3 letters off) and they had no clue. (How is it that I find these obscure little places to stay anyway?) I asked them if there’s a place where I can get WiFi. They don’t speak English so we spend a few minutes gesturing and smiling and they make some phone calls. no luck. More walking, a couple more stops with lots of gesturing and smiling. nothing. Then I see a fruit stand and a bunch of young guys and what appears to be a laptop. Yes! a laptop!! We Google it and two of them take my bag and we walk until they find it. I love Rome already! The B&B kinda feels like staying at my grandma’s house because of all the flowery prints and ruffles, but it’s a 5 minute walk to Vatican City and the owner is wonderful. After he showed me around my room it was almost 11pm and he still took the time to get a map, circle all the places I should visit, write down bus numbers and metro stops and chat for a while. Did i mention i love Rome?

santorini

2009-06-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

i love santorini! the views, the beaches, the sunsets, the little family run restaurants, the donkeys. it's better than i imagined.

the little bars/cafes near the beach/bus stop

me at the beach donkey parking next to the hotel

the port and the town up above

the view is unbelievable
just before sunset

getting to santorini

2009-06-28T06:50:00.000-07:00

What a fun little adventure today!

The Mykonos airport is tiny and very laided back. The flight info never showed up on any of the screens, the boarding pass was a little strip of laminated paper with no name or flight # or gate #, there was no line to get to through security just a mob of people pushing their way through and the flight left about an hour late because the pilots were having a coffee. It was a tiny plane and they left the curtain open to the cockpit - that definitely wouldn’t happen in the US! the boarding pass

inside the cockpit
When I got outside the airport I located the bus stop but all the names of the towns were in Greek so I just got on the first bus that arrived and hoped for the best. Luckily the ticket taker (you buy a ticket on the bus) spoke English and told me that I had to get off in town and take another bus to the beach. I was running short on cash so walked around until I found an ATM but it was all in Greek so I nixed that idea and went to find my next bus. Bus found, 30 minutes to the beach so I start reading and didn't look up again until the bus stopped. I got off at the beach and realized that it is literally just a beach with some bars/cafes and little markets. I went to the nearest bar and asked if they knew where my hotel was. They didn’t but they had WiFi so I showed them the website (the address said “150 meters from Perissa Beach” lol) and they still had no clue. I went to the next place and the woman spoke only Greek so I just kept walking and stopping and asking with no luck for probably close to 45 minutes (and it is HOT here). I was really starting to think the place didn’t exist and then just when I was about to give up, I turned a corner and there it was! A little oasis of white and blue with comfy chairs and fresh juice and friendly conversation.

the outside of the hotel

the lobby

mykonos

2009-06-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

The ferry ride from Athens was about 5 hours and when the boat docked I had no idea where I was going because I’ve gotten in the bad habit of not writing down the name or address of where I’m staying. I asked around with no luck so I started wandering (a life skill I’ve really started to perfect on this trip) and preceded to wander for a good 10 minutes until I noticed a van with the name of a hotel that sounded very familiar. So I told the driver that I thought I might be staying at his hotel and luckily he spoke English and had a printout with my name on it. The hotel is very nice - it’s small, clean, close to the beach and the bus stop, there’s an awesome pool and bar, and I can see the water from my room. Mykonos is really beautiful but VERY expensive, I’m told it’s because all the famous people come here. I haven’t seen any famous people but I have seen a lot of Italians and older men & women who take full of advantage of the nude beaches. (Why don’t all the hot 30 somethings go nude?!)

the hotel, pool & outdoor bar the indoor lounge area (which has been playing MJ constantly)

So let’s see, basically I’ve been sunbathing, swimming, reading and relaxing. The first day I hung out by the hotel pool for a while, then picked up a book at the hotel book exchange and went to the closest beach. Yesterday I took the bus to Mykonos town and walked through all the little narrow cobbled streets, looked through the tourist shops, then came back to the hotel pool and in the evening had dinner at one of the restaurants on the beach. Today I took the boat to Paradise beach and spent the day reading, sunbathing and people watching. Tomorrow morning I'm headed to Santorini.

mykonos town

one of the narrow little streets

paradise beach

the water, almost as clear as bora bora!

athens

2009-06-24T07:07:00.000-07:00

Athens is chaotic, exciting, sweltering and covered in graffiti. I'm staying at the Athens Backpackers hostel and honestly it's pretty shitty. Six bunks in the room and a moldy bathroom that makes me cringe. It takes a lot for a bathroom to make me cringe considering i've been getting ready in questionable public pool bathrooms since I was 12. But, the location and price are awesome!

I found a little market near the hostel and have gotten in the routine of stopping there every morning for yoghurt and fresh fruit. Then at mid-day when it's hotest, I hop on the open top bus, sunbathe and lust after beautiful greek men on motorcycles and high end fashion shops from a safe distance.

My first day here I toured the Acropolis and Ancient Agora. The next day I went to the National Archalogecial Museum which had some pretty spectacular exhibits. The jewerly from the 14th century BC and the gold death mask of Agamemnon from 16th century BC were probably my favorite.

at the acropolis

theater at the acropolis

the guards at the greek parliment

the mask of agamemnon

jewerly 14th century BC

In the evenings I wander around the Plaka, beautiful old town with shaded outdoor restaurants and live music. Last night I stumbled upon an amazing music and light show on the outside walls of the New Acropolis Museum - there's a clip below. It had reopened two days before after a major renovation. There were crowds of people watching and drinking coffee and eating ice cream so I decided I better join them.

the restaurant lined steps of the plaka

Today I took a coastal bus two hours south to Cape Sounion Peninsula to see the Temple of Poseidon. It stopped at a bunch of little beach towns and if the islands are anything like them they will be heaven! I'm getting ready to head out for my last night at the Plaka. Tomorrow I catch a 6am metrotrain to the port to get the ferry to Mykonos.

the coast south of athens at the temple of poseidon

blarney castle

2009-06-20T12:24:00.001-07:00

This morning I slept in (until 8), had delicious breakfast (which, of course, included fresh made scones) and walked to the bus station to catch a bus to Blarney Castle. I brought along my big pink umbrella but it turned out to be a very nice sunny day. The area around the castle was beautiful but there were a ton of tourists since it was a Saturday. I thought the stone would be somewhere fairly accessible but you actually have to climb about 100 steep little spiral steps to get to the top of the castle and it’s in an opening on the floor/wall. So you have to lay down on your back, reach backwards and grab onto two rails and there’s a guy that pulls you backwards until you can touch the stone with your lips. Now I’m not gonna lie, when I got to the top and saw all that was involved I started to have a bit of a panic attack. (dad, heath, kris - not to worry, it was not the same scream hysterically and start to hyperventilate panic attack that I got when we had to jump backwards, in the dark, off a cliff into freezing eel infested water in that cave in New Zealand…this was just some major heart pounding and fleeting self doubt.) By the time I got to the front of the line I pulled myself together and kissed it and ya know, it really wasn’t as bad as it seemed (and neither was that cave jump in New Zealand).(the castle and the watchtower)(steps to get to the top)

(me kissing the blarney stone)

(view from the top of the castle)

cliffs of moher

2009-06-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

Friday I took a bus tour to the Cliffs of Moher which is a few hours drive from Cork. Normally I’m not a fan of bus tours but this one wasn’t too bad and it was much cheaper than renting a car (and safer for everyone that I wasn’t trying to drive on the wrong side of the road). Along the way we stopped at Limerick, the setting for Angela’s Ashes and I did some window shopping, had a cup of tea and saw the castle.

(Limerick Castle on the River Shannon)

The Cliffs were pretty incredible but it was extremely windy. I thought the tour guide was joking when he said a handful of tourist who don’t stay behind the fences get blown off each year and then I saw the memorial when I got to the top and felt the gusts of wind. It was seriously so windy at some points that I could barely walk straight. On the way back we stopped in Doolin for lunch and Galaway Bay for more pictures.

(the cliffs - those tiny little figures on the top are people)

(the tower at the cliffs)

(the countryside in County Clare)

(Galaway Bay)

cork

2009-06-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

Cork is adorable!!! It’s a little college town with lots of shopping and churches and people walking everywhere. The place I’m staying is to die for, seriously. It’s a cute little B&B across the street from the college and when I arrived the woman who runs it greeted me with a pot of tea and fresh made scones and breads. She obviously doesn’t know that my next stop is Greece (which means bikini weather) and she was so happy to serve them to me I just had to eat them.
the b&b the univ

After I settled in to my room, I walked down to the shopping district to have a look around. I found my new favorite store (although I don’t recall the name) - it’s like Nordstrom, but better. I almost bought a D&G dress for 270 euros! (kris, remember the black size 00 club Monaco dress that we both looked wicked hot in? well this one was 10 times hotter). After I came to my senses I somehow ended up in the accessories department and almost spent 42 euro on a chinsy little headband - yeah, a frickin headband! I mean it had a huge bow on it, but still. Whew!another frivolous purchase averted.

I walked out of the store and got caught in a rainstorm so I ran to the pharmacy across the street and bought a bright pink umbrella (and it wasn't the compact kind). Now then, that was much more practical and it only cost 5 euros. Within 15 minutes the rainstorm had passed and it was sunny. Oh well, at least I’ll have an huge pink umbrella, just in case.

dublin cont'd

2009-06-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

The last couple days I’ve spent wandering around, learning about the history of Ireland and drinking tea. I went to the Irish Museum of Modern Art and arrived at the same time as a large group of girls from an elementary school. The art was very modern, some of it too modern for my taste but it was fun to listen to the girls give their opinions. The National Museums of Ireland were both huge and very interesting (and free). My two favorite exhibits were on the history of the Irish Armed Forces and one on prehistoric Ireland. There's lots of great architecture to admire, like Merrion Square the largest Georgian square in the city, the Mansion House built in 1715 and St. Ann's Church where Bram Stoker was married.

Today I toured Kilmainham Goal (jail) where many of the Irish rebellion leaders were imprisoned and most executed. I had lunch on Grafton street (famous for its upscale shops) and then walked through Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and the Long Room which contains 200,000 of the library's oldest books. After that I walked to Dublin Castle and around Temple Bar. Tomorrow morning I say goodbye to Dublin and catch the bus to Cork.

the jail trinity college

dublin castle temple bar

first day in dublin

2009-06-15T19:20:00.000-07:00

My afternoon nap lasted a little longer than planned (all afternoon and through the night) so when I woke up at 5:30 this morning I was starving because I hadn’t eaten in almost 24 hours. The hostel’s free Irish breakfast of eggs, tomatoes, beans, potatoes, toast, porage and coffee was really good (or I was REALLY hungry) so I ate as much as I could and headed to the closest bus stop for the city tour. Apparently I was in a daze from all that eating because I ended up walking the first 8 stops of the bus tour, but found it enjoyable to watch the groups of 30-something guys in pinstripe suits and ties making their way to work in the financial district. After the morning commuters dispersed, I made my way back to the start of the bus tour and got off at St. Patrick’s Cathedral just in time to listen to the boys choir perform.

After that I headed to Guinness for a tour and some tasting, then to the Old Jameson Distillery for lunch, a tour and more tasting.

(bottles of guinness)

In the afternoon I went to Phoenix Park (twice the size of Central Park in NYC) and then across town to Parnell Square to wander around the Dublin Writer’s Museum which covered the lives and works of Ireland’s famous writers like James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, Shaw and Yeats. On the way back to the hostel I stopped at an adorable little pastry shop called the Queen of Tarts for a cup of tea and something sweet.

Dublin has been great so far - the people are friendly, the weather is decent (rained a little but conveniently only while I was inside the tours), the brick buildings are beautiful and there are lots and lots of bright red doors!

made it to dublin!

2009-06-14T03:53:00.000-07:00

kris dropped me at the airport saturday morning and i only cried for a minute or two when we said goodbye (anyone who knows me well would've expected some major bawling). surprisingly enough, i managed to fit everything into one (overstuffed, busting at the seams, too heavy to lift) carry-on bag. the flights seemed quick but i watched Gone With the Wind (one of my all time favorite movies) instead of sleeping so i'm tired and in desperate need of a shower and a nap. my room won't be ready for a while so i'm taking advantage of the big couches and the free wifi at the hostel, and planning my next 4 days in dublin. i'm thinking bus tour to get my barrings and trinity college if it's still sunny later this afternoon. the only issue so far is that my atm card isn't working so i'm waiting for the bank to open to figure that out. (don't worry dad, i have two working credit cards so i'm good for now.)

it's interesting, everyone i've met so far is beside themselves with excitement about this little trip i'm taking. the older women gush on and on about how i'm going to find myself and come back a changed woman. i'm starting to wonder if i look lost