Spain, Part 3: Madrid
We arrived in Madrid at around ten at night. After a quick change in the station bathroom, we went to stare at the map in the Metro station. Fortunately, a nearby guy came and took pity on us, and told us where the good clubs were, and that if we bought a ten-trip pass, it was cheaper. So we followed his advice, and rode to Sol-- the city center. And it was, of course, packed. Throngs of people everywhere, just walking around. We finally found a club, and started dancing. And we didn't stop until they closed, at around 2.30. Fortunately, we were in Madrid-- there were still at least ten clubs nearby that were still open. So we moved on. Finally, at about 6.30, this one closed as well. Fortunately for us, in our wanderings, we had already found a chocolate cafe. Not like we could miss it now: the place was filled beyond its capacity. After a battle to secure seats and two cups of chocolate, we found out why: Spanish hot chocolate is a whole other matter entirely. It is amazing. It's like-- really rich pudding. The people at our table were a nice French couple, and they shared their churros with us.
So of course, once we found our hostel that afternoon, we napped. In fact, we napped until the next morning. To our dismay, we discovered that the Prado is closed on Mondays! Fortunately, the Park de Retiros is right next door. After wandering through it a bit, we stumbled across a sort of pool-- with boating! So we rowed around, until it started raining. After finally maneuvering to the dock again, we took flight to pick up our bullfighting tickets and try squid sandwiches. Then tapas. Then Burger King, because we were still hungry, but also running low on money. Finally we headed over to the bullfighting arena.
It was a regular circus: some protesters, some people who yelled at the protesters, some police who just stood around calmly. I won't go into the details of the fight-- there are pictures, and there is blood, so you are warned. The whole thing had the air of a football game: a band played, people cheered. It was very interesting to watch, though. I can certainly respect anyone who stands in the path of a charging bull. We even got to see one of the matadors get a little trampled before he managed to get away (and was then carried out of the stadium to deafening cheers).
And then our time in Madrid was almost over: a little more dancing, a little more hot chocolate, and we managed a train back home.
Pictures
here.
Spain, Part 2: Alhambra
So Alhambra is an old fortress in Granada, which is down in the south of Spain. We got to Granada early in the morning, and soon discovered that was not early enough: there were already lines (Alhambra only lets a set number of people inside every day, and most of the specific parts have assigned entrance times). But we still got in.
So we were restrained from going into most places until our specific times, but we could do others: Palacio Carlos V, which houses a museum of artifacts from Alhambra (though no pictures allowed, which means I didn't remember a whit of it); the mosque baths, the outer wall.
Then we got into Generalife. To get there, you pass a lot of ruins-- what used to be a market place, other traces of a city. Then you get to the gardens. Here's an analogy: If Disneyworld is the happiest place on earth, then the gardens of Generalife are the Disneyworld of beauty. I've never seen so many flowers-- and they're all perfect. Just
piles of snapdragons, roses. Orange trees. Fountains and bright green reflecting pools with bright orange fish. The buildings were just a taste of what we'd see in the main palace, but they're all decorated with a mix of Spanish and Moorish-- I've never seen anything so elaborate. There are birds living within the carvings of the building. And from the walls, you can see the rest of Alhambra-- bits of white stone among the trees. It's so pretty there, it's almost too much.
From there, we did Alcazaba, which was the dungeon tower. Much more sparse, of course. Not a bit of decoration, but what a view! Once you get to the top of the main tower, you can see for miles-- the view just keeps going and going.
Finally, we had to wait in line to get into the main part: Palacios Nazaries. Now that is a palace. Just skip to the pictures, I won't even try.
Unfortunately, we had to rush a little to catch our train to Madrid-- but you could stay there for years (Washinton Irving actually did stay there awhile while it was still ruins--) and still not see everything.
Pictures
here.
Spain, Part 1: Barcelona
So Kayce had some days off after coming back, so we decided to do a whirlwind tour of Spain.
First stop was Barcelona. After a wise investment in some lockers at the station and a ten-use Metro pass, we were on our way to Parc Güell-- the one designed by Gaudi. Well, after walking about an extra mile from signs that wanted us to go in a big circle, and asking for directions, we made it to the park. Well, it was pretty, but there wasn't much to it. We climbed to the top of the hill, and were treated with an expansive, if foggy, view of the whole city. Also a rock bench that strangely resembled railroad spike. While we rested, an old man came up to us, offered to take our picture, and rambled on a bit about how he'd grown up in Barcelona and loved it so much. Then he told us to be sure not to miss the park designed by Gaudi-- on the other side of the hill. Of course. So we were on our way again. The first thing you can see of the park from above is the plaza-- home of the world's longest park bench, according to some other Americans we met there. It's full of tourists, artists, pickpockets (we were warned by one of the vendors, though we didn't have any problems), and even a saxophonist halfheartedly playing some old jazz standards. If you walk around a bit, you can see Gaudi's house. There are side tunnels and walkways that look like they've been created by dragons or volcanoes. Below the main plaza is a space with pillars and a sort of undersea feeling-- tentacles coming out of the ceiling, and all that. Then there's the front entrance, with the dragon, and a church that looks like it belongs in Candyland. It was packed with people. Gaudi was a genius, but it was like being in a completely different world.
After that, we went to the Church de Sagrada Familia, which Gaudi worked on for the last 40 years of his life, giving up everything else. It's been "in progress" for over 100 years now. There's no way to describe it: we walked out of the Metro station, disoriented in the light, turned around, and there it is. It's massive. Every inch is decorated. Inside, there's scaffolding everywhere, the whole center filled with workers listening to hip-hop. The pillars are designed like trees, are bright white. Out front, you could waste hours finding details in the stone. And it's full of tourists. But pretty impressive.
We walked the Gothic Quarter, down Las Ramblas, the main avenue. Lots of booths with souvenirs and postcards, and every type of street performer imaginable: magician with white bunny, silver Medusa, copper lady, zombie, Samurai in black paint who attacked passers-by, invisible man, skull in a box that barked at passing dogs, a couple Indians. It was pretty crazy.
Our last stop in the city was Labyrinth Park-- the oldest in Barcelona. And home to a hedge maze! So we got sufficiently lost, found the center. The park also has a fake cemetery-- something about balancing the beauty of the neoclassical with mortality. But a cool stop.
And then we got on our train-- ooh, a sleeper! Perhaps the smallest bed I've been on-- and headed down to Granada.
Pictures
here.
Marburg
(FYI, this entry is about three weeks behind what I'm actually doing. This is because I care enough to organize pictures and put them up at the same time. So there.)
So Marburg: city of the Grimm Brothers, Martin Luther, and a lot of steps. Now, due to the tourist center not offering English tours, the Julia experience was a bit more of the "Botanical Garden, castle, and a lot of steps" version.
But there is St Elizabeth's Church, which might be my favorite so far, on account of it being the most peaceful. There was also a wedding going on there, and I kept seeing the bride and groom all over the city later, getting pictures done. Oh, the tourists had a field day with that one.
The Botanical Gardens were lovely, of course, but reminded me how much Marburg is a college town (technically, the city is just one big university)-- students hanging out all over the place. The city itself is a bit of a trip to walk through, because you start out at McD's, and go up, and then you find yourself by a castle surrounded by old buildings. It was a lovely day trip. Pictures are, as usual,
here.
An Accidental Adventure: Mühltal
OK, so I thought I'd be clever and go visit the Frankenstein Castle on my own. There are sources on getting to it from the train station, and hey, I can walk. So I get off in Mühltal. I walk down to the town, and there's nothing. Can't even find any signs, except for the closet approximation: Frankenhausen. Well, it sounds about right, doesn't it? It was about 7 km away, so I reshouldered my bag and set off.
The path went through the town. Through huge fields, some of which I laid around in for awhile; deep gorgeous forest, some of which I laid around in for awhile. More fields, me feeling like I was lost and climbing onto bales of hay to get my bearings, climbing strange watchtower-like structures they've got all over the place.
Finally, I get to my destination-- except that, it turns out, Frankenhausen is a town. Definitely not the castle. Yeah, you can laugh if you saw that coming. And, of course, it's a town without a train station. So I had to walk all 7 km back to make sure I'd get home all right.
Oh, well. It was a very tiring, but certainly peaceful day. And
pictures.
Strasbourg
After Wittlich, Emily and I took a late weekend in Strasbourg. After getting only slightly lost on the autobahn system, we arrived, and proceeded to get slightly lost in Strasbourg-- a city of one ways and narrow cobblestone roads and dead ends (we actually had to drive over the city train tracks and over the sidewalk for a dozen yards before we could get into the parking garage!). The best part of Strasbourg, though, is the river.
Our first night, we wandered through Petit France, the old part of town, which includes a cathedral. The specialty of the region is tartes flambées-- a sort of very thin-crusted pizza, with créme fraîche and various toppings (we split a cheese and ham and mushroom as well as a vegetarian one that was covered with gobs of melted brie). Oh, wow.
The next morning, we picked up breakfast from the supermarket: bread, cheese, ham, juice, and champagne. We sat on a wall right by the river watching the tourist boats pass by. Then we did some more touristing-- hopscotch by the carousel, and looking at the astronomical clock in the cathedral. After a nap, we had some more tarte flambée, watched a movie, and walked around the city at night, checking out the bridges.
A final cool thing about Strasbourg: since it's pretty much on the border of France and Germany, it's a strange mix of the two countries. While I got to finally feel useful using my French, everybody seemed to speak German as well. The region is also famous for its cranes, and while we didn't see any nests, we did get to see one flying, which was pretty cool.
Pictures are up
here.
Wittlich and Trier
So a couple weeks ago I went up to visit Emily. She lives in Wittlich, a fairly small town a ways west of Frankfurt. We went to a Greek restaurant near her apartment, where the owner came to talk to us, and tried to convince us to stay longer. And May first is their labor day, so there was a cute little festival in the town square. Some sort of raffle, a guy doing balloon art, kids running around with labor party flags, and, of course, a stand selling bratwurst, and one selling beer. We just sat around enjoying the beautiful weather and the people watching.
On Friday, we went down to Trier, the oldest city in Germany. There are still some Roman ruins, the throne room of Constantine. We did most of our walking on Saturday, down the main market street. It was just lined with people selling jewelry and all sorts of things. There was a guy that made wire sculptures right there on the street (I'll put a picture of the one I got up-- only two euros!), right next to the guy carving wooden statues. A woman making wire jewelry, a guy making those wire hanging ornaments. And, of course, the ubiquitous gelato stands. Good times.
