Holy Toledo!

Sunday I arrived in Madrid, dumped my bag at the hostel and headed straight for the Museo del Prado. Home of hundreds of delicious paintings. Bosch's "Garden of Earthly Delights" is a favorite.

After chilling out in the atrium in my hostel (it's a converted "palace", aka "big house" with a moorish style fountain in the center and islamic writing carved into wood panels on the walls.) I met two Vancouver girls in my dorm room. Been spending the last couple days with them.

Yesterday we headed to Toledo. Neat place. Small and medieval-ish with twisting streets and outrageous sword displays in the tourist shops. Apparently sword craft is a toledo thing. But why all the Lord of the Rings stuff? Frodo doesn't exactly scream spanish. It took all our willpower not to break out into a sword fight. And yes... I did get to shout "Holy Toledo!". Unfortunately it was when about 15 men decided to voice their appreciation for blonds. Was actually a bad day for that. When we got back to the bus station in Madrid more men made with the cat calls and the rude gestures. All time best one had to be when I walked by a guy I assume as northern african and all he said was "Hey... I fuck you." Well at least it's the most direct pick-up line I've ever received!

Today we pretty much just wandered around in a daze. It's Tawney (one of the above mentioned Vancouver girls) birthday today so last night we went out to sample some of Madrid's night life. And well... most venues don't really open in Spain until at least 1am. So it ended up being quite the late night. Got some good dancing in though and have the sore abs to prove it!

"I Told Him We Already Got One..."

The last couple days have been gorgeous and sunny. However today the weather has decided to throw a small temper tantrum and it's raining buckets. (Funny... it never goes half mesures here in Spain. It's either all out sun or pissing rain.) But this just means it's a perfect time for a recap!

Tried out another beach the other day as the La Malvarossa city beach left me wanting. So a girl from my hostel and I trotted off to discover... El Saler! Dun, dun dun! Directions were hazy. Our grasp of the language was more shaky than an earthquake. And we failed to bring adequate provisions. (aka Water). But after much waiting, wandering, and even a bit of bushwacking through a sea of mini holly bushes, pine trees, and every other sort of prickly plant we reached the beach at last. And it was much much nicer than the city beach. Hardly any tourists, which was lovely. Definitely a locals beach.

Prior to that adventure, I'd done a bit of wandering around town. Valencia's just a regular city, with regular people, doing regular things. But it still has a neat Spanish-ness which was neat to see. But DAMN do I hate the siesta! Don't get me wrong. I enjoy a mid day nap as much as the next girl. But 5 hours is pushing it. Especially in the middle of the day (anywhere between noon and 6pm) when you're trying to get things done. Oh well... just gotta go with the flow.

So to fill up my time during one of these prolonged siestas I went and saw... wait for it... the HOLY GRAIL! (Weren't expecting that one were you?) That's right, Valencia is home to the only holy grail officially recognized by the Vatican, albeit tentatively. They've got it locked up behind glass pretty tightly, but here's what I could make out (with a bit of help from the postcards!). The cup is maybe 8-9 inches tall, with the cup part made out of carved agate (this is the part that is supposed to be from the 1st century). The stem and handles are gold, riddled with rubies and emeralds, and probably a few other gems. (This part is from the middle ages.) Near as I can figure the cup's validity owes a lot to it's apperance is certain famous renaissance paintings of the last supper. But who knows, maybe the papal powers have super grail detection skills that we mere plebs are unaware of. Either way it was neat to see, even if I did have Monty Python running through my head the entire time. "I Told Him We Already Got One..."

Just Beachy

So my suspicions were unfounded and I indeed got my day at the beach in the sun. Valencia's beach is not the loveliest I've seen. But provided you keep your eyes away from the construction cranes, port buildings, and some of the ugliest residential appartments I've ever seen, then the beach is just lovely! Rolling blue waves and pretty sea shells littering the shore. There were a few sail boats out on the water too. Still haven't gotten used to the topless sunbathers though. Almost always warrants a double take when I realize that wasn't a beige top that woman had on. Maybe by Portugal I'll get used to it.

Was great to just flake out. Can't actually say I did anything today, which was exactly what I needed. Got some sun. Read a bit. And otherwise flopped out on the sand. And it really was proper sand. I haven't seen good grainy gets-in-your-shorts sand since I left Vancouver. Feel a bit like I've just been exfoliated at the spa actually. Which considering how long I've been travelling and using crappy showers is probably a very good thing! :P

Tomorrow will be the culture day. It'll give my pink burnt face a chance to calm down!

The Rain in Spain...

"The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain"... No it bloody well does not!!!
I landed in Barcelona on Tuesday and was treated to a torrential downpour. The skies crackled with lightning, thunder boomed across the house tops, and it rained so hard that my wee guesthouse was nearly flooded. (More to do with frankenstein like building additions than the storm, but still!) And here I left 27 degrees in Berlin for 15 and pouring rain. You could swim through this stuff!

What's a girl to do? Well... put some proper shoes on, tough it out, and make sure she's not wearing a white top. :P I did not come all this way to stay in some manky hostel. So with that attitude I proceeded to get myself thoroughly soaked. But I did managed to take in the Picaso Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and a million wee churches. Also saw the big gothic Cathedral. Which actually is probably best seen in a huge storm like that. It suits the Gothicy feel to have flashes of lightning illuminate the faces of the demons and bizzare stone creatures carved into the walls. And it was quite the sight to see the roof gargoyles bursting water out of their mouths with a force that would rival most fire hoses. So there you go, had the weather not been determined to drown me, I never would have seen that.

But things are improving. The weather has decided to cast a few rays of sun during the day. (Still rains at night though.) And I've switched hostels to a more central location, which will make it easier to get around. Though that had more to do with the aforementioned guesthouse screwing up my reservation than anything else... Still, gotta look on the bright side. At least now I won't have to lug my 18kg pack as far when I catch the train!

And I'm enjoying Barcelona. In fact, I'm even toying with the idea of coming back here for a Catalan Fiesta that's happening next weekend. Apparently the whole city erupts into a giant party. Music on every corner. Events for free. That sort of thing.

But for the moment the plan is to spend a few more days here and then head off to Valencia in search of warm weather and toasty beaches. I remain skeptical. :P

Friends, Finds, and Fotos

Berlin has been good to me.
Yes I'm only thinking of the good. Like a new lover I've got a permanant set of rosy eyeballs through which I'm seeing everything. But even the bog stench of the city isn't enough to deter my affections.

And so as the saying goes, time has flown while I had fun. It helps that I had two good buddies to hang out with (and made a few more along the way!). Simone and Corrina have headed off to Prague after four rediculously fun days. Thanks guys! It was awesome.

But here's a quick recap to cover my Berlin-capades.
Have done all the touristy things such as the Brandenburg Gate, Memorial the Murdered Jews of Europe (not exactly a happy title, but effective, and isn't that the point?), Museum Island, Bableplatz (Nazi book burning square), and the redone modern glass dome on the Reichstag (soooo cool!). Even took a boat ride down the river Spree (pernounced like "spray" but with a bit more phlegmy rasp).

Really enjoyed the Reichstag. Too cool of a building. Read more about it here. But the best part had to be running into Elizabeth a PhD student of Archaelogy at Cambridge. Brillant that she is, she even managed to instruct a lout like me on how to use my camera properly. She had exactly the same one, but with a million better lenses. Now have many delicious photos of reflective glass and interesting modern architecture. Thanks Elizabeth!

Yesterday all of us were feeling a bit damaged from the night previous (I curse you red wine! Curse you!). So with slow plodding steps headed over to one of three flea markets that Berlin hosts ever Sunday. Holy heck! This place was amazing. If you're ever in Berlin on a Sunday, go. You won't regret it. And unlike flea markets back home, there was plenty of new things as well. I managed to pick up a neat shirt by a local graffiti artist. (Not to mention picking his brains on how he made them!) Also scored a super cheap copy of Edgar Allen Poe's short stories. Neatest bit was that the guy selling them made me pick a random bookmark card from a deck. After I selected a pretty blue one, he turned it over and translated the poem written on the other side. (Poem was in german despite being by a South American poet.) The basic jist of the poem is "Don't run too fast, your inner child won't be able to keep up." Good idea to live by I think.

Today all the museums I wanted to see are all closed (Damn you Europe and your weird museum closed days!). So I spent it shopping instead! The damage? Six Copic markers (have been drooling over these for years.) and a pair of black and white Onitsuka Tiger runners (have been lusting over these since Genoa). Yes it cost a bit. But it could have been WAY worse as there are a billion stores near my hostel that I would be quite happy to completely deprive of merchandise. Oh well, next time Berlin!

Tomorrow I hop a plane for Barcelona, Spain. Time to chase the warmer weather. I'm so done with this Autumn thing. :P

You look familiar...

Strange things happen when you're travelling. Call in coincidence. Call it fate. Call it damn weird. Whatever you call it, it happens... a lot. People say it's a small world. Well... it's not if you've ever been on a torturously slow Polish train. But at the same time it is.

This morning I woke up. Groggily rubbed the sleep from my eyes. Dragged my body up to a sitting position and started blinking furiously. There in the bed across the room, also blinking furiously, was Simone. My kiwi friend who I met on the boat from Bari to Dubrovnik. One of several people that I spent a little over a week with in Croatia. What where the chances? My sleepy brain certainly couldn't compute it, try as it might. So with hushed steps and barely audible whispers we crept out of our beds and into the hallway... Where we promptly squeeled like two little piglets at meal time and hugged ourselves silly. (No doubt undoing all the delicate quietness we'd been so careful to preserve!) I knew our mutual friend Corrina was due to arrive in Berlin soon, but I had no idea about Simone. Let alone waking up in not only the same hostel, but the same damn dorm!

Call it coincidence. Call it fate. Call it awesome.

Bangin Berlin

I love Berlin.

I'm going to be honest about it. I am in love with this city. I want one of those rediculous "I heart Berlin" buttons because it's true.

The one benefit of having a city completely obliterated by bombs (a la WWII) is that the reconstruction makes the city almost entirely modern. Glass and steel everywhere. But the people are pretty modern too. The average age of those living in Berlin is 27. This means you have a energetic lively population obsessed with things like fashion, music, computers, underground culture, and everything else guaranteed to make me drool like one of Pavlov's dogs.

But lest you think that Berlin is nothing but a city overrun with punky unruly masses, rest assured it has more than enough "proper" culture to appease the most diehard fan of the classics. After all, the Germans were only second to the British in their tendency to "borrow" the treasures of other cultures. As such, they've got a class A museum in the Pergammon. They also have a thing for Opera here, so it's possible for those with a student card (sadly not me) to see the fat lady sing for the low low price of 8 euro. Not too shabby.

And as for art galleries, you can't get away from them. They are quite literally everywhere. Can't guarantee the quallity of all of them as some really go for that far out weird installation stuff. But the will is there and I love it.

Now I'm off to check out the ultra modern redone glass dome on the Riechstag (zee German parliament) because it's cool and best of all... it's free!