Bon Jour de Paris!

Bon Jour!

What a great trip to Paris, France!!! It was so much fun. The only problem we had was some cold weather that I hadn’t packed sufficiently for, but other than that it was pretty amazing.

Kristen and I left Seville at about 9am on Friday, and after a layover in Barcelona, arrived in Paris. After taking the bus into town, the metro to our area, then trying to find our hostel and get checked in, we went for a walk around the streets of Paris. It was pretty cold and raining a little, so we just bought some French cookies at a local grocery store, and then went to get some sleep in our 10 bed mixed dorm room. Luckily we shared the room with 7 other girls from the CIEE program in Seville who were all from the USA. The other guy in the room we didn’t really see. The hostel was pretty clean, but it was still a hostel.


For breakfast, we got cereal, coffee, orange juice and baguettes with Nutella. That was a GREAT breakfast. Then we set off for a free walking tour around Paris leaving from our hotel and meeting the tour guides near St. Michael’s fountain. We walked around getting to see the Seine River, bridges, the Louvre, the Obelisk, and the Champs-Elysees. We got to hear a lot of interesting stories and history as well as get a feel for the city. After the tour, Kristen and I went to go see the Eiffel Tower up close! It was so great.



After standing in line for about 45 minutes, (and eating some French fries, lol) we started to climb the steps to the top (because it was cheaper than the elevator). It was really cold and windy up there, but so cool to get to see Paris from that high up. We decided to pay the extra amount to go to the very top, but after standing in line for about an hour, we found out that you had to buy tickets BEFORE standing in line, and the booth was already closed.  so we only got to go up to the 2nd level, but honestly the tower is cooler to look at than be on. Although it was a great view of the city. ;) At a little café outside of the Louvre, we stopped in to try our first French crepes. I think so far it is the best thing I have tasted in Europe. We tried a ham and cheese one (which was sooooooooooooo delicious) and a Nutella with whipped cream one, which made me realize just how much I now love Nutella. It was such a fun meal.

After taking about a hundred pictures of and with the Eiffel Tower, we headed back to our hostel, taking the confusing Paris metro. By the end of the weekend, we were pros at the metro.

The next morning, we set off for the Louvre! That was a fun experience, especially since we got library cards from the University of Seville, so they let us in for free! It was really fun to get to see all this famous art in a famous place, but it really was an art overload; I wasn’t really able to appreciate the art, and I definitely wasn’t able to see it all. I did, however, fight the crowds and saw the Mona Lisa, from about 20 feet away, since it was blocked off. It was also fun getting to see the halls and glass pyramids like in one of my favorite Dan Brown books The Da Vinci Code. After the Louvre ad the gardens, we walked over to the cathedral of Notre Dame! That was fun too, getting to see this famous church. I even heard the bells ring! After waiting in line for about an hour and a half, we got to walk up the 400 steps to the bell towers! (we also got in free to this, thanks to our library card). It was fun getting that view of Paris and getting to see the gargoyles and bell up close. Although we were there on Palm Sunday, we were still able to go inside the church and see it. I LOVED seeing all the stained glass in there, but since I’ve seen so many gothic Cathedrals already, it wasn’t as impressive as some of the others that I’ve seen. After going through the cathedral, we walked over and saw the Arch de Triumph. We walked down the famous Avenue de Champs-Elysees. There were so many people on that street, it was hard to walk. It was filled with outdoor cafes and stores like Louis Vitton, Chanel, and many other name brands that I can’t afford. In order to safely cross the most dangerous round-a-bout in Europe, we walked through the underground passage to the Arch de Triumph. Although we had to pay to go up, it was worth it. After only a few hundred more steps, we had a great view of Paris.

That evening, we went and ate some more crepes, where we actually got to see the guy making the crepes. It was fun to see how it’s done, as well as eat the delicious bacon, egg, and cheese crepe and the apple cinnamon crepe. They are sooooooo good!!! We then went across the river from the Eiffel Tower so that we could get a great view of it at night. Although it was cold and windy up on the steps of the building across from the tower, it was worth the wait. We got to see the tower light up, then we even got to see it sparkle, like it does every hour on the hour at night. It was so spectacular to get to see. Of all the things in Paris that weren’t as majestic in real life as I originally imagined (and as I had seen in movies), seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up at night was truly amazing; one of my favorite memories of Paris.
Monday we set out early to go see the Museum de Orsay, that houses Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, and many others. The only problem was that Monday is the day the museum is closed.  I was very disappointed by this, but we ended up walking around and really having a fun time in Paris. I tried French coffee along with a croissant and a French raisin bun. We had fun shopping and seeing the streets of Paris. That afternoon we took a group tour of the neighborhood of Montmatre (mountain of the martyrs). This is a gorgeous area of Paris where Picasso lived and worked, as well as many other artists. I saw the Moulin Rouge nightclub (where the can-can originated as well as the strip tease). This area of Paris really fits the ideas of Paris: beautiful houses covered in vines, cobblestone streets, outdoor cafes, artists selling their work, history, and so much more. Because it is built on the hill, by the time we walked all the way to the Sacre Dote, (church on the hill), we had another great view of Paris. I even stopped by a street vendor and tried something that I had seen in many stores, which turned out to be just a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with more cheese on top. It was really good though. That was such a fun tour. After that, we hopped on the metro, got a little turned around at the station trying to figure out which one to take to the airport, then finally boarded the right one and headed out to Orly airport. As we flew out over Paris at 9pm, I got my last view of Paris. I was really glad we had a late flight, because getting to see Paris lit up at night from the air was amazing as well. There were golden lights everywhere, we could see the Eiffel Tower, and we got to appreciate just how huge Paris is. We also got to see the moonlight on the clouds from a different angle than ever before.

It was such a fun trip, getting to see all this historic and famous stuff. Although we knew Paris was in France, we forgot that they speak French there; a language neither one of us spoke. I hope to go back someday and be able to show other people the greatness of Paris, but I’m glad I don’t live there. We were able to get along fine, but it was nice to get back to Seville where we knew where things were, how things were done, and we could read the signs and understand the people talk. It was an amazing trip, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget it. :)

Au Revoir!


French phrases I’ve learned: (don’t really know how to spell them though)

Bon Jour- hello
Au Revoir- goodbye
Je tem- I love you
Toilettes- toilets (bathroom)
Boisson- drink
Je suis contao- I’m content
Merci- thank you
SVP- sil vous plais- please
Café- coffee
Oui- yes
Non- no
Rue- street
Musee- museum
Moulin Rouge- red windmill
Femmes- girls

Spring Break in Madrid, Toledo, and Segovia

What a great week in Spain! This past week for Spring break I went with my group to Toledo, Segovia, then to Madrid! It was soooo much fun. Summary: On Tuesday we went to Toledo, which was a gorgeous city. Wednesday, I took the train into Madrid to meet up with a friend, her dad, and my high school Spanish teacher who were all in Madrid for their spring break with a group from my high school. we then went to Segovia, one of my favorite cities so far. I got to visit the castle there, from which the Walt Disney castle was modeled and saw a first-century Roman aqueduct that is still standing. Then we went to the valley of the fallen, which is a church built into the side of a mountain and a really tall cross to commemorate those who lost their lives during the Spanish Civil War. From there, we visited the palace of El Escorial. It was huge and really cool to see. After that, we met back up with our group from Tech. Being that it was also St. Patty’s day, me and my friend went to an Irish pub and drank a guiness and met a guy from Iceland named Raggy.


Thursday, our group went to La Granja, which is another Spanish palace about an hour outside of Madrid. After seeing that, we went to Segovia (the city I had gone to the previous day with the other group). I got to see the Cathedral there and try their famous suckling pig dish. Friday we went to the Prado in Madrid, where I got to see tons of cool art including Diego Velasquez’ “Las Meninas.” After that, we went to the Hard Rock Café where I had a cheeseburger, guacamole, and ice tea. It really hit the spot to eat good American food. The rest of that day was filled with walking around Madrid shopping and enjoying the city. Saturday we visited the Royal Palace in Madrid, which was yet another beautiful palace of Spain. We ate at a Cuban restaurant for lunch, then I saw a Monet exhibit. That night, me and a friend went to go see Star Wars in Concert!!!! It was so amazing; the London Philharmonic Orchestra was spectacular, and the whole thing was narrated by Anthony Daniels, aka C3PO. Sunday morning we visited the Reina Sophia museum where I saw Picasso’s “Guernica” and a few paintings by Dali and Magritte. Then we boarded the train and home to Seville!

So that’s a basic recap of my great week in Spain. Now I’m going to write more detail about each, more for myself so I can try to remember it all than for anyone’s leisure reading. So read it if you want or if you’re interested, if not, you can just look at facebook pictures which I hope to have up soon!! That’s it for now. 



Calatrava: On Tuesday after getting on the bus at 6:30am, we headed off for Toledo. About 4 hours later, we arrived at the old Spanish fortress of Calatrava. It is basically a castle built of stone that used to protect Spain. It was really cool to see, built entirely out of stone.

Almagro: After Calatrava, we went to the city of Almagro for lunch. There we visited the theater that the famous Spanish playwright Lope de Vega wrote and performed many of his plays. Almagro is famous for their handmade lace, although I didn’t buy any. After Almagro, we visited the windmills of La Mancha, where the famous scene from Don Quijote takes place.

Toledo: City about an hour outside of Madrid. It was really hilly, but beautiful. It’s known for its blades, they were making steel before they knew what it was. I got to see replicas of Lord of the Rings swords, although I only bought a mini one. We ate dinner at an outdoor café, then returned to the hotel because we were so tired.

Meeting Friends: On Wednesday, Julie Hartsfield and I rode the train into Madrid and met up with a group from our high school led by our Spanish teacher. Her sister was in the group, as was my friend Maddie Stockwell and her dad. So I got the spend the day with them going around on their bus.

Segovia: A small town about an hour away from Madrid. It has a first-century aqueduct built by the romans that is still functional today, although it’s not being used. It was gorgeous to see, and really cool to know that it was built without any cement: it’s just rocks. Then we walked by the Cathedral, which was so cold inside because of all the stones. It was brighter than the Cathedral at Seville and had more side chapels. Then I tried a pastry from Segovia, which was sticky but delicious. We got to tour the Castle of Segovia, for which Walt Disney’s Snow White castle was based. It was really like a medieval castle, complete with moat.  We even got to go up on the high tower, up the steep winding staircase. It was such a beautiful view of Segovia. When I visited Segovia again the next day with my group, we tried the famous suckling pig dish. It’s basically a baby pig cooked to where it’s so tender, they don’t cut it with a knife, they just use the plate. It was very delicious. I drank a white wine with the meal that I liked so much I bought a bottle of. It’s actually made in Segovia, which I thought was fun.

Valle de los Caidos: Valley of the fallen. Up in the mountains around Segovia there’s a church carved into one of the mountains with a huge cross built on top. It is basically a monument built to honor those who died in the Spanish Civil War, and is also the resting place of the king who commissioned the work done. It also had a great view of the landscape around that area, along with the snow on the snow topped mountains surrounding it.

El Escorial: Spanish Palace about an hour and a half outside of Madrid. It is a massive building with thousands of rooms used as the summer palace for the royal family. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures, but it was beautiful. My favorite parts were the marble floors and the German inlaid wooden doorframes. We also got to go down into the crypts, where most of the royals are buried. Each of the kings along with the mother of the next king are buried there, with only enough open spaces for the remaining king. There is also one women buried among the kings, because she was the ruler. Therefore, her husband is buried on the side with all the women. I find that funny. There are also hundreds more tombs down there, most made of beautiful marble. I got to see Don Juan, who apparently was a very handsome noble of the Austrian line who won over many ladies. There was also a special crypt shaped like a wedding cake where they buried all the royal children who died before the age of 8. The good thing is, it’s not full. So not that many children died, although the infant mortality rate was really high. After seeing the palace, we walked around the city a bit, where our tour guide took us to a place to try the locally made almond liqueur and hold a locally made rosary made out of rose pedals. It made your hands smell nice too. 

St. Patty’s Day: Since it was Saint Patrick’s day when we got back, my friend Ashley and I decided that we shouldn’t just stay in the hotel, so we went out and stopped at an irish-style pub. We ordered a pint of Guiness beer each, and because we did that we got a free hat. I didn’t like the Guiness all that much, but I’m not really a beer fan. I did finish the whole pint, however. Then we had a guy come up to us and start talking to us. Turns out, he’s from Iceland studied theater in Spain. He was really cool. He also introduced us to his friend from England Rose and a friend from Madrid Ruben. They invited us to go to a discoteca with them, but it was late already and we had an excursion the next morning. It was a really fun experience getting to meet new people from all over the world.

La Granja: On Thursday, we headed for La Granja, about a 20 minute bus ride from Madrid. It is a summer palace for the royal family. The palace was covered in marble floors, frescoed ceilings, and crystal chandeliers. Many of the chandeliers were made in La Granja in the crystal and galss-blowing factory that they had there. I didn’t’ have time to visit the factory, but it was fun seeing the crystal in the palace. It also had a nice clock collection from Charles V. The gardens were pretty, but I didn’t’ get to see much of them because of the little bit of rain we had that morning. The palace also had a lot of statues that were fun to look at. I also bought some Spanish chocolate, which I actually haven’t tried yet.

Walking in Madrid: On Thursday night I decided to go for a walk by myself in Madrid. I walked by the Palace and Cathedral, then just started walking. Because of the construction that was going on, I ended up getting a little lost. I finally found my way back to familiar streets. It was a fun experience.

The Prado Museum: Friday morning we went to check out the famous Prado Museum. We ended up staying there for about 4 hours looking at all the paintings. There was just so much to look at, I really enjoyed it. I got to see lots of Goya, El Greco, and Velazquez. I saw Velasquez’ “Las Meninas,” Bosche’s famous triptych, and Goya’s “2nd of May” and “3rd of May.” I also say some other paintings that I really liked, as well as some marble-inlaid tables. I wish I could have one of those, they were so beautiful.

Hard Rock Café Madrid: Yes, we couldn’t help ourselves, we went to Hard Rock café. It was really expensive, but I got to eat delicious American food: a cheeseburger with guacamole (that actually had a little something spicy in it) and ice tea. I even bought a t-shirt. 

Discotecas: Friday night me, Josh, and Ashley tried out a few different wines. I loved josh’s white wine, and I bought a rose wine. Ashley didn’t drink much, so Josh and I pretty much drank the rest. I was feeling pretty good. Then Ashley and I decided to go try to find a discoteca in Madrid, and fun adventure. Turns out they were all charging 12 or 15 euros entry because it was the weekend, so we ended up just walking around Madrid and got some French fries at Burger King.

The Palace of Madrid: Saturday morning we woke up bright and early again and walked over to the Palace in Madrid. We waited in line then went inside for the tour. We got to walk through the old pharmacy, as well as other parts of the palace. Again, it was just another cool palace, but this one had a lot of embroidered walls, frescoed ceilings, more clocks, more marble, more chandeliers, and more beautiful woodwork. Each of the palaces all had at least one room decorated in an Asian style because the queen liked it. Outside in a little courtyard we saw a peacock, although it didn’t’ have its tail up. 

Cathedral: We walked around inside the Cathedral for awhile. It seemed much newer and modern than the other cathedrals I’ve seen, but it was still similar. It was gothic style with high pillars, stained glass, and chapels all along the sides.

Cuban Food: We ate a Cuban restaurant recommended by our professor for lunch. We shared some fried plantains (which were basically fried bananas) which were Sooooooooooooooooooooooo delicious. I also had “typical cuban rice” (yes, that’s what it said on the menu) which was white rice with fried eggs and a tomato sauce. It was actually pretty good.

Monet Exhibit: That afternoon I went to a small museum near our hotel that was showing a Monet exhibit. I really like Monet, so I enjoyed getting to see some of his waterlily paintings and others. I even saw a painting of his called “Weeping Willow” that is usually housed in the art museum in Fort Worth.

Star Wars in Concert: We got to see Star Wars in Concert!!! It was so much fun. There were thousands of people in this giant Plaza de Deportes, and we had seats in the VERY top row. But it was still great, I LOVED hearing the London Philharmonic Orchestra play and have Anthony Daniels (aka C3PO) narrate the story in English (with Spanish subtitles). It was just so much fun. AND I bought a really expensive t-shirt, but it only had the dates of the European tour on it, so Lubbock isn’t written on it. But that’s ok. It was so worth it. 

Reina Sophia Museum: This morning after taking my luggage to the Atocha Train station to put with the group luggage, we went to the museum of modern art called the Reina Sophia. I got to see “Guernica” by Picasso! I also say a few other Picasso paintings as well as a Magritte and a few Dali paintings. It was a cool experience, although the other pieces of “modern art” I didn’t understand and don’t know why they are in a museum at all.

Atocha Train Station: Sunday morning I walked from the Hotel to the train station (about a 30 minute walk for me). We went to the museum, then grabbed a snack and boarded the train. 2 and a half hours later I was getting off the train in Seville, where it was about 25⁰C (about 70⁰F). On board we watched “Surrogates” a movie with Bruce Willis. It wasn’t my favorite movie. Anyway, then I took a nap and we were home! (When I say home, I mean my Spanish home in Sevilla).

Anyway. That was my weekend in detail, although I know there are more details that I’ve already forgotten. But I have plenty of pictures to remind me of this trip. Hope you like them. :D

Weekend in Seville with un poquito of sun

So it was a pretty boring week in Seville for me. I’ve been trying to get over being sick, and it’s been raining a lot (still) so I’ve pretty much just gone to class then stayed inside reading and watching Lord of the Rings. However, Saturday was a pretty fun day. First, Kristen and I went walking around and went to the Anthropology museum. Although it was raining as we were walking, it was still fun. Then, Saturday night, we had a great girl’s night out. We went to a bar and shared a bottle of rose wine, then went to a pasteleria and got some chocolate pastries which were DELICIOUS. Then we went to the Arab bathes of Seville.
The Arab bathes are basically an Arabic spa. We made appointments for midnight, because that was the only time they had left. We got there a little early and shared a pot of Sevilla Te, which was basically an orange flavored black tea. Then we changed into our bathing suits, put on the provided non-slip slipper things, then went for our hour and a half in the warm underground bathes of the bathhouse. It felt so relaxing just to be in warm water, then going into the hotter bath, with short stays in the cool bath just to cool down a bit in between. There were about 30 people in our group, but the place was big enough that there was plenty of room. In the middle of our soaking, we got a 15 minute massage. Although it wasn’t nearly hard or long enough, it still felt great. I got to have a good-looking Spanish guy rub oil on my bare back in the dark aromatherapy-filled room, then back to the bathes for the rest of our time. It was so relaxing and such a great girl’s night. That’s that I call a Saturday night in Spain. So worth the money and the cab ride home.
Today, after mass, THERE WAS SUN!!!!! We got a cup of coffee (I tired coffee with cinnamon, which was pretty good), and we got to sit outside the café at a table in the sun. It was so great being able to sit outside in just a t-shirt. And right now, it’s still sunny! I can definitely get used to this weather. Please pray that it stays like this and NO MORE RAIN!!! And, I think I’m finally getting better. I’m coughing less, although there is still a little bit of gunk in my lungs, but I think it’s almost gone. And my back is starting to feel better too, although that may just be from the prescription pain killers PLUS ibuprofen.  Either way, it’s been a great weekend in Spain. :D

Portugal

This past weekend, we traveled to Portugal. It would have been really fun, had it not been rainy and had I not been coughing and in pain all weekend. These things aside, it was fun being able to see another country really close to Spain.
We left Thursday morning, the day after finals were over for the classes in the first half of the semester. After checking into the hotel, we went and visited the Tower or Belém. It is a pretty small tower built many years ago (I can’t remember the actual year) and since then, the coast of Lisbon has never been successfully attacked. We got to climb the stairs and look out the top, which gave us a beautiful view of Lisbon, included the April 28th Bridge, which was built by the same people who built the Golden Gate Bridge, so it looked pretty similar. Then we went to a monastery, which was really pretty. That night, we went and ate at a Brazilian steakhouse, where we ate delicious fried bananas, a wide variety of wonderful meats (chicken, sausage, roast beef, other types of beef) and topped it off with Vino Verde, aka green wine. It’s basically carbonated white wine made in Portugal, and it was DELICIOUS. Throughout the weekend, I also got to try port, which was too strong for my taste, madero , which is another Portuguese wine that was too sweet for me, and ginja, which is a Portuguese cherry liqueur, which I liked.
Friday morning, we went to the Christo del Rey, which is a giant statue at the entrance to Lisbon. We got to go to the top and look out, seeing pretty much all of Lisbon. The only bad thing was it cost 4 euro to go to the top, but it was worth it. Afterwards, we went to the Oceanarium, which was a giant aquarium that was a really cool experience. We took the metro from there (another new experience for me) to the biggest mall in Europe. The stores were pretty average, on the expensive end of stores, but it was a 3 storey mall with hundreds of stores and a large food court. There was a lot of art and things to look at around the mall too, so it was more than just stores.
Saturday we went souvenir shopping and walking around Portugal. Then we went to the art museum, then back to the hotel to rest. So overall, it was a fun trip, aside from being sick and the rain.

Port- sweet wine made in Portugal, I saw a few bottles from 1900 that cost 1600 euros!!!
Madero- fortified wine made in Portugal that has a roasted flavor.
Ginja- cherry liqueur made in Portugal
Vino Verde- green wine, basically carbonated white wine.