Antibes, France

This lovely couple, Charles and Carmelita saved our visit to Antibes, France. Erin and I traveled to Antibes, France based on some google images and the recommendation of a new friend we met at the hostel in Barcelona (Garden House, if you're headed there and looking for a place to stay). We booked a hotel online which said it was close to the beach. Well, we got there and it wasn't actually close to anything. We were getting ready to make the long hike to the beach when Carmelita, who works at the hotel, got picked up by her husband Charles, and they very generously offered us a ride into town. They did far more than just give us a ride. Charles gives people tours of the city, and he gave us a free tour. He shows us all around town with stops at photo opportunities.
This is the view from the very top of the hill where the lighthouse is located in Antibes. There is also a church, built by sailors and very popular with sailors. Charles brought us up the hill and parked the car so we could take photos, and I got someone to take our photo with Charles and Carmelita. At the end of the tour Charles dropped us back off near the city wall and the artesan's market. We had had several very negative experiences in France, but Charles and Carmelita made me believe maybe France isn't so bad.
Here's a photo of me reading a book on a train. There's a lot of this because we take a lot of trains and I don't get motion sick on trains, so I can read. I love the trains!

Cadaques, Spain

This is Hostal Cristina in Cadaques, Spain. We took a bus here from Figueres, Spain (again several weeks ago, I'm behind) and it went through beautiful mountains and showed us amazing coastal views. We arrived with no map and no reservations.
We walked UP this hill and back DOWN this hill following signs from the bus station to the tourism office. We got to the tourist office and got a list of lodging, walked half a block and there was Hostal Cristina, and we stayed there. Turns out, the next day when we went back to the bus station, the tourist office is a ten minute walk on pretty flat ground from the bus station, or, you can take the scenic route over the hill, like we did. These little pebbly streets were hard on my bag though, and one of the wheels cracked, I spent the next 10 days or so duct taping it. It made it as long as I needed it to though, it was only $20 so I guess I got what I paid for :)
This is the coast. We sat at a café and had some wine as the sun set. We found a lovely little restaurant and ate a very yummy dinner. We walked up and down the beach a lot. It was a tiny, gorgeous little village. We really enjoyed it. Now, getting from here to France (our next destination) was a bit tricky, but we loved Cadaques and I would definitely go back.

Figueres, Spain

On our way out of Spain toward France (a few weeks ago now, sorry I'm so delayed) we stopped in Figueres Spain to visit the Salvador Dalí museum there. The museum is in an old theatre which was mostly destroyed in the Civil War and Dalí agreed to rebuild it if it could be a museum for his work. It was really amazing. Dalí's work is sometimes beautiful, sometimes disgusting
but always interesting. The painting above looks like Abraham Lincoln from a distance....but look closer. Cool huh? He has an entire room designed to look like Mae West when viewed from a platform. The boat he and his wife used to use is in the museum made into a sculpture with blue condoms dripping from the bottom. Erin and I and a new friend, Nadia (from Russia who we met at the hostel in Barcelona) took the train to Figueres for the day. After an afternoon gazing at Dalí's creations, Erin and I headed to Cadaques, Spain near Dalí's house. More information on that later.

Breast Cancer Awareness Day

I have been to France and Italy since I've had a chance to blog and I will catch everyone up sometime, but not right now.  Tonight was my friend Erin's last night in Europe.  We have been traveling for 2 weeks and have had some amazing adventures.  Tonight we are in Barcelona and went to see the "Magic Fountain" where the fountain is lit and 'dances' in time with music Thursday through Sunday evenings.  Well, tonight it was lit up in pink before the 'show' for Breast Cancer Awareness.  We got handed pink ribbons and heard people talk about the importance of breast cancer research and prevention (at least that's what we think they were talking about, it was mostly in Catalan, which neither of us speaks).  It was really neat, and we both got T-shirts and just really enjoyed it. I hope you like the video!

Barcelona

I made it to Barcelona.  I took a super fancy bus.  They gave me a goodie bag and they showed a movie (Casanova, dubbed in Spanish) and they had wifi on the bus.  Very nice.  Then I had to schlep all my crap through metro stations in Barcelona.  Down stairs, up stairs, down stairs, up stairs.  That's my European fitness plan.  Every few days I haul like 100 pounds of crap all over God's creation.  

I'm staying at a hostel and have been talking to other travelers.  This one girl is from Boston, lived in LA and worked on Grey's Anatomy and has been traveling solita for 8 months.  She's been in emergency rooms in Budapest and Brussels.  She's says it's better to be injured in Hungary than Belgium, just FYI.

England and Wales

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I spent a lovely week in England with Sarah and then a night with Katherine, but as I said in my last post, no internet access.  Now I'm back in Valencia with fairly reliable internet access in a 'funky' youth hostel (the quotation marks are because yes, the paint and decor are funky in a fun way, some of the odors are funky in the not so fun way) so I thought I'd give y'all an update. 

Sarah and Andy's house in Bristol, cute huh?

Sarah and I visited the S.S. Great Britain which was in service from 1845 to 1931 and it took travelers and immigrants from the UK to Australia and from theUK to New York.  It also carried coal and wheat.  It was pretty fascinating exhibit actually and the audio tour was fun.  Sarah and I in front of the ship.

That evening we went to a concert at the Colston Hall in Bristol which has just had a major renovation and a huge new lobby put in.  We went out for dinner at a pub called Slug and Lettuce.  They had Strong Bow on tap which I enjoyed.  This is Sarah and I at the Slug and Lettuce.

Andy (Sarah's boyfriend), Sarah and I at Colston Hall in the new lobby.

The main act was Beth Rowley, her style and voice reminded me a little of Brandi Carlile.  The opening act was Phantom Limb.  They were really good as well and I got their CD.

On Friday we visited Cardiff Castle in Cardiff, Wales.  It was pretty neat.  It was originally a Roman fort and then was used as a fort or castle by every group of marauding conquerors in that corner of the world until the final family who owned it gave it to the city of Cardiff in 1947.  This is me sitting on the top of the wall.

During the war the walls were used as air raid shelters.  We walked through one of these 'lovely' tunnels...and then discovered it was one-way and we had to turn around and re-trace our steps to get out.  

This photo is the living quarters of the castle which were significantly added to and renovated in the mid-1800s

Sarah and I on the steps to the Norman Keep portion of the castle grounds

We did meet some falcons and owls in the castle's falconry.  The sign said they were tethered for their own protection...he doesn't look terribly happy about it though

Saturday we visited the English seaside at Weston and somewhere else I can't remember the name of :(  It was a lovely day.  I love the sea.  You can see Wales from the shore.  The tidal difference is huge and we were there at low tide so the water was a LONG way away.  

Andy, Sarah and me on top of a hill and behind us you can see Bristol, I think.

Saturday evening we went out for Curry with Sarah's Canadian friend Debra.  Poor Sarah was out-numbered by the North Americans.  It was interesting to sit with someone who sounds sort of American, but not quite and I kept wanting to make comments about Robyn from How I Met your Mother, but of course they haven't even heard of it.  The food was very nice and afterward we stopped at the local pub.  I had a local cider, which was...interesting.  No carbonation and a strange aftertaste.  But it's good to sample the local specialties, right?

Sunday, like good, intelligent women, we went shopping.  I did end up buying a good pair of merrell shoes, which should be good for all the walking I plan to do in the next two months.  Also, it was chilly in Bristol so we went to Primark (which is a bargain shopper's DREAM by the way) and I bought 3 long-sleeved shirts and a light sweater.  Now, how I'm going to fit these in my luggage I have no idea, but I'm sure I'll find a way.

Monday Sarah had to work but I met her for lunch and then Monday evening we went to a horse rescue farm which was very nice and then out for a proper English Roast Dinner.  This consists of roasted meat and tons of vegetables.  Also yorkshire pudding.  Now, I had heard yorkshire pudding was not good.  People, it is wonderful, and coated in gravy?  Even better!  Throughout all our adventures we did find time to sit around and read trash novels (the original love that brought Sarah and I together) and watch movies and British Reality TV (there's this show where 5 people host a dinner party and whoever gets rated the highest by the others wins 1000 pounds, strangely addicting that).  It was a fabulous visit!

Tuesday I caught the bus to London.  Katherine (a fellow SLP with whom I went to graduate school) emailed me perfect directions to her place and left me a key to her flat so I dropped off my bags and then just wandered around London.  I got out of the tube by Big Ben and walked through St. James Park, Green Park and Hyde Park.  I love the parks in London.

Buckingham Palace as viewed from St. James Park (I think, I know it's Buckingham Palace, I'm just not sure if I took the photo from St. James or Green Park)

 

Cormorants in the Long Water in Hyde Park

When Katherine got off work I met her for dinner at a cute little place and we shared a bottle of wine and caught up.  It was nice to see her. Wednesday morning I got up at 4:30 to get to the airport to get a plane back to Valencia.  Turns out those shirts and shoes put me over the limit, I had to take 3 kilos of stuff out of my bag before I could check it.  

I made it back to Valencia and checked into a youth hostel for my last few days here.  It's not bad, but I sure do feel old.  Wednesday night there's a language exchange at a bar owned by some Americans so I went to that and ran into a Spanish guy I had met before, Paco.  Paco very kindly helped me work on my Spanish and we together helped an English couple who is here teaching at an international school (they taught in Thailand for 2 years and Rome for 2 years) and an Irish girl who is here at the University for a semester exchange taking fine arts classes in Spanish, even though she doesn't speak any Spanish.  Poor kid!  Paco invited me out for lunch on Thursday and we did the traditional Spanish thing and ordered from the menú del día (menu of the day).  I've been too intimidated to do it before because I'm not sure what I'm going to get, but Paco helped me.  Which was good, because I nearly ordered a whole fish, head, bones and all.  

Sorry for the long post, that's my update for the last week :)  Tomorrow I'm heading to Barcelona to wait for my friend Erin to come from Austin on the 7th.  

Cheers love!

I'm in Bristol visiting my friend Sarah. Unfortunately her wireless internet won't let me on with my computer, so no photos. We visited the SS Great Britain yesterday. It's a ship built in Bristol in 1845 that took people and goods all over the seas. It was really neat. Then last night we saw Beth Rowley in concert at the Colston Hall, she's a little like Bristol's version of Brandi Carlile, who I love, so I really enjoyed it. The opening band was Phantom Limb, they were very good. I got their CD. Today we went to Cardiff in Wales and visited Cardiff Castle. So far it's been a wonderful visit!

El Oceanográfico

The day started out a little strangely, I walked down to the street to walk to the aquarium and there were hundreds, probably thousands, of bicycles going up the street.  I couldn't find anywhere what kind of race or event it was, there were people in cycling specific clothes but there were also a lot of people in street clothes, and with baby seats, and lots of kids riding too.  That hindered my progress to the aquarium a little, but it was cool to watch.

I got to El Oceanográfico and I was very glad I had purchased my ticket last week, the line to buy tickets was 90 minutes long.  Instead, I went straight in. 
 I sprung for the audio tour (which turned out to be a waste of money, but oh well) and the girl said I should go to the Dolphin show which was about to start.  It was awesome.  They had 10 dolphins and 4 trainers.  Very cool.  

Can you see all the dolphins jumping?  They were very impressive

They have exhibits for all the oceans and regions and most of the aquariums and displays are underground, which I would imagine, makes it easier to maintain the temperature.  I saw walruses and beluga whales.  I love the Belugas. 

 Then onto the antarctic penguins.  They were very boring and just stood around (although I did learn all penguins live in the southern hemisphere).  

Being a good herd animal I got in a line outside the red sea auditorium, and I was  glad I did.  They had a short program with videos about the behind the scenes operations of the aquarium, how they filter the water (it all comes straight from the beach 4 km down the road), how they take care of the animals (they train the sea mammals to do things that assist in their medical exams, like opening their mouths and rolling over to expose their bellies), and how they prepare the food for them.  You can see the instructor in the tank teaching us things.

They have a wetlands display, which wasn't terribly impressive but the Mediterranean exhibits were pretty cool. Lots of starfish, and I love starfish.

 The Oceans exhibit has several different kinds of sharks and a tunnel where you can walk 'through' the huge shark tank.  How cool is it to take a photo from under the shark?  They have a summer program where kids can come and spend the night on the floor of the shark tunnel.

This guy is the coolest.  He's a Mola Mola or sunfish.  He's huge and crazy looking, so I had to take a picture.

The coolest part was probably the connected displays of the temperate zone seas and the tropical seas.  You start on one end with displays of the different sea life that lives there and then there's a 70 meter (229 foot) tunnel where you again walk 'through' the aquariums and it's supposed to demonstrate examples of what you'd see if you could walk across the bottom of the ocean from England to the caribbean.

 Very cool!  Then they have two huge coral reef habitats.  There were no sea turtles, unfortunately.  They have a sea turtle rehabilitation program, so they only have turtles when they're being rehabilitated and then they release them back into the wild, usually at the end of their summer school program.  It was a fun day, I love aquariums!

The Beach

So, it's been a few days, mostly because I moved closer to the beach, and I LOVE the beach.  Today was the perfect beach day, hot and sunny and not too windy and not very many waves.  

That's right. I'm wearing a ridiculous hat and eating an ice cream bar.  It's hard to be me!
The view from my beach chair, the mediterranean ocean, it's too awesome to capture in a photo.

I have been doing something other than sitting at the beach (although not much, and mostly only when it's raining).  Yesterday (it was cool and gray out) I spent the day at the Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe (Prince Felipe Museum of the Sciences  www.cac.es).  It's a great science museum with lots of interactive exhibits, and luckily most of the signs describing the exhibits were in English as well as Valenciano (the local dialect) and Castilian. My science vocabulary in Spanish is sadly lacking.  They have a great exhibit on the human genome with separate displays for each of the 23 chromosome pairs with an explanation of what information is carried on each and then interactive activities related to that information.  So, for the chromosomes which are related to sight there were activities related to visual acuity.  It was fascinating.  They also had an exhibit on Marvel Comics superheroes with interactive activities related to the different super heroes and their powers.   It's a really good museum.  I went to the Imax too and saw a movie about the sea, they have the real imax with the dome screen and everything.  Very cool.  In the same complex there's an aquarium, that is supposedly the biggest in Europe, I'm going there tomorrow (it's supposed to rain all day).

I did go out one night and interact with the locals.  The guy who owns this pension is American (from Des Moines of all places) and he invited me out with him and his friends on Wednesday.  Everyone says I sound like a Mexican :)

PS Thanks to Sarah and Kari for the advice on how to add more than one photo!

Walking in the Rain

There are things I remember from when I studied in Spain in college in '98 that I don't realize I remember until I see them again.  It rained today and tonight it was still cloudy so when I stepped out of my pension about 8 everyone was out walking, as usual, only carrying big black umbrellas.  None of those wimpy compact jobs around here, oh no.  Only the cane handle full length, beat off an attacker kind of umbrella.  I'd forgotten their popularity here.  It started raining again while I was out and my flip flops got slippery and the sidewalks aren't all cement, a lot are like granite so they're slick so I'm walking very carefully and all these little old ladies in their heels with their giant black umbrellas just go striding by.

This is one of my favorite things about walking around exploring in Spain. You can be walking down any random street and all of a sudden turn a corner and find a very old building or church with a lovely fountain in front.  I turned another corner and was in a little plaza and I could hear someone practicing a flute in an apartment above, and I could here Maná playing in a bar down below.  

Sorry!  I still can't figure out how to put more than one picture in per post, so all you get today is a fountain.

Meeting the Locals

Today I bought some stuff at El Corte Ingles to make a 'picnic' lunch and I took my book and went and sat in La Plaza de La Reina (the plaza of the Queen).  This is the view from my bench 

The cathedral is from the 13th century and built over a former mosque (the Spanish pushed the muslims out of places, but being a practical people they used what the muslims had left and built on top of or inside of existing structures, the one in Cordoba is the best). I kept changing benches until I had the best shade that looked like it would last the longest.  Which, put me close to the bus stop.  So, an older gentleman (turns out he's 79 until November) asked if he could share my shade, I said of course.  He sat down and just started talking to me.  I had forgotten this.  When this would happen to me when I was in Valladolid in college it would freak me out because I didn't actually speak Spanish and I would feel rude for not responding appropriately and I never really understood what was being said to me.  Well, for all of you who were wondering, it turns out I actually DO speak Spanish now, so I really did understand most of what he said to me.  Nice to know I actually speak the language huh?  He recognized that I did not know Spanish from here but it turns out he LOVES Texas and watches Walker, Texas Ranger every night (at 8:00 PM on channel 1 if you were wondering).  Another thing that used to freak me out when Spaniards would talk to me is that, unlike Americans, they happily talk about politics and religion all the time.  So, once this man learned I'm from the US he told me how much he hated Yankees and that all republicans are fascists and that he likes Obama but thinks it's ridiculous that people don't have access to healthcare in the US.  I used to take these types of comments as attacks on me, because I just didn't understand the culture.  Anyway, the most interesting part is that this man was 7 when the Spanish civil war started and his older brother fought for the republican army (against Franco).  He told me some pretty gory stuff about bayonet fighting.  He does not have a very high opinion of Franco or of the Catholic church and he's a communist.  He showed me pictures of his granddaughters and told me his son speaks very good English and his daughter is independent and doesn't need any help from a man.  It was a fun afternoon and an interesting history lesson.  Then I got a ice cream cone and walked back to my room.

 

Mediterranean Ocean

Seriously, doesn't the title of this post kinda say it all?  That's right people, I'm a 15 minute city bus ride from the Mediterranean Ocean!  How awesome is that?  I finally made it to the beach today.  It's beautiful, soft sand and wasn't crowded at all.  It's nearly the off season after all.  I volunteered to take a photo of this cute couple together and then got them to take this one of me in front of a fountain on the 'boardwalk' or 'paseo maritimo'.   It was also comfortingly familiar, because people at the beach look about the same anywhere, except of course that all Spanish beaches are topless.  I kept my top on, as did most of the people around me, but not everyone did.    The water was warm and the sand was soft, it was a lovely afternoon.

When I walked out of my pension this morning there was a big to-do in the main plaza.  There was some sort of handball competition going on on the street in front of the beautiful old 'city hall' building and they had ice cream samples and bouncy houses for the kids.  It was neat to see so many people out enjoying the day.  

Some sights

This is the Estación del Norte, the train station in Valencia.  To the left you can see the bull ring.  Under the bull ring they have little like stalls of people selling touristy stuff and beachy dresses and stuff.  They do not however sell Valencia pens.  I came all the way to Spain with only 1 pen so I went out walking last night to buy a pen!  I finally ended up at El Corte Ingles, which is a massive Spanish department store.  They sell everything from groceries to electronics.  

Today, I moved to my new, much less expensive pension.  I am on the 4th floor and there is no elevator so I started my day by lugging my two 40 pound suitcases and my very full backpack up 4 flights of very old stairs.  Luckily, they do have internet here.  It's not as reliable, but it works ok.  Hooray!  After moving in I went for a walk to the big park in town, El Jardin del Túria.  I sat in the shade by a fountain and read a book.  It was lovely.  I would post a picture of the fountain but evidently I'm only allowed 1 photo per post.  On the way to the park I came across the Mercado Central, that's right Texans, a Central Market right here in Valencia.  Ok, it's slightly different from Central Market back home but it was neat to walk around and see all the different food.  Hams, hams everywhere!  And lots of sausage.  I just got some bread and a chocolate croissant.  It was yummy.  

The view from my terrace

This is the view from my 8th floor terrace outside my hotel. This place is really nice and has free wi-fi, but it's expensive so tomorrow I'm moving to a more moderately priced place with a less impressive view and no internet.  The big building on the opposite side of the square is the post office.  It's 7 PM and people are starting to be out and about dando paseos.  

Bienvenida a España

I made it!  27 hours traveling door to door but now I am in Valencia, Spain.  I flew from Austin to Chicago to Madrid to Barcelona and took a train to Valencia.  I thought the train was gonna take 3 hours, it took 4.5. I love train travel though because I don't usually get motion sickness on them even if I'm reading.  Things are going more or less smoothly, I had a few little hiccups using the pay phones to try to reserve a place to stay.  The ring tone and the busy signal here all sound different than at home and I didn't recognize the busy signal.  I finally decided when I got here and I hadn't found anything I would splurge on a Rick Steves pick.    http://www.hotelvenecia.com/  My room is HUGE and has air conditioning and they have free wifi.

So far my Spanish language skills are holding up to the challenge.  Tomorrow should be easier since I should get some decent sleep.  In Spanish in Spain any word with a C or Z that in other places would make an S sound, here they use the th sound. That's gonna take some getting used to, but I'm gonna keep practicing.  Also, I've already gotten a compliment on my Spanish.  Of course, that's because I'm so obviously a freckle-faced American people are impressed I can speak Spanish at all.  I helped a bunch of Americans make our connection in Madrid because they woman just told everyone the gate in Spanish and very few people knew what jota meant.

I've also done some pretty ridiculous people watching. I've seen tons of girls wearing super skinny jeans or short shorts but also several women in wild colored palazzo pants that have elastic at the ankles.

Tomorrow I'm gonna explore a little and try to find longer term lodgings :)

Truly unemployed

So, beginning yesterday I was truly unemployed.  All my friends and co-workers went back to work, and I slept until 11.  I miss it somewhat, and I'm glad I didn't have to go back too.  I'm going to see Wicked tonight, which is very exciting and then tomorrow I leave for a Southwestern Adventure!  We're going to Santa Fe, NM and Durango, CO and Ouray, CO and then back to Roswell, NM (for the alien museum) and then on to Balmorhea state park before heading back to Austin.  It should be a wonderful adventure!

Wisconsin in July

I made it to Wisconsin Wednesday evening. I spent the weekend with friends at a cottage in Iola, which was fabulous. Sunday I finally booked my flight to Spain. I leave September 9th. Today I got a tattoo. Two major goals checked off my list. I'm gonna try to put up a photo but my blogging skills are pretty limited at this point, and my Dad's internet is the slowest EVER.

Unemployment

So, I started my unemployment today. I slept 'til 9. It was lovely. Now I am working on my LONG to do list. The current item on the list is buy a laptop. My apple loving brother is trying to talk me into a macbook. With the macbook I get free tech support from my loving brother, that is by far the biggest selling point.

I'm starting this blog so people can keep track of me on my adventures in unemployment and abroad.