Well, I have about twenty minutes to attempt an update (the computers here are timed), so I will see what I can do. My final days in Barcelona were good, but more of an attempt to get healthy and relax more than anything. I probably missed out on a few things, but I also got to walk around, doing my own thing, and sleeping to get healthy. I went to the Sagrada Familia one of those days, walked around the outside. I didn't feel like paying to go in, I'll probably doing that at enough churches, plus the mystique of the project not being completed I think adds to it more than anything. It does make me wonder if they ever do actually finish it in 15 years, I think that would take something away from the attraction that's been created. After that I walked around Las Ramblas, had a solid meal of fried boquarones and some meat thing that I once again didn't know what I was getting, but was fine. I must admit by the end of all the random pig, I was ready to move on to other animal meats. Afterwards I headed back to my hostel for a nap since I was still sick (on Friday). I got to my room where new roommates existed. A girl was passed out cold on the top bunk, so it looked like a good idea and I took a siesta on my own (it would've been awkward to hop in the bed with her). Later on I woke up, met her, she had just arrived from New York and traveling on her own. My other roommates were the Belgians that had already been there previous nights, but had a room change. We all went to dinner, got some more paella and talked. Everyone was going out that night, but there was no way with the smoke and the 5 a.m nights of Barcelona I could've survived. I did enjoy one of the receptionists trying to get me to come out. Heavily reminded me of Hank Azaria playing Claude in the movie Along Came Polly. Every time he'd see me he'd say the same thing, "You go party Benjie" "nah not tonight" okay then, you should party. About 20 minutes later the same exact conversation, just subsitute party for scuba and you have your character. Another thing I found entertaining, however, was the story the girl told at dinner before coming to Europe. She said a big reason was she freaked out when her boyfriend asked her to move in. She regrets it and think she made a huge mistake, but just didn't want to move in so didn't know how to react. Fast forward to 5 a.m when people are getting back from the bar and you can clearly hear her drunk in the hall being hit on and making out with the irritating English dude down the hall. Irritating because it was 5, I was trying to sleep and dude was loud as hell trying to get in the room, luckily she did have enough respect for me to say there is a sick kid in the room. I know things happen, people get drunk, but for some reason I think girls like that (and the drunk English guy who wouldn't take no) are the ones who make it hard for a normal guy like myself to get a girl in this world. For the dude who is probably depressed at home, I hope she doesn't try to get back with him and he is able to do his own thing. To end my time in Spain I decided to check out all the local markets open on Saturday. There is a Catalunyan one (basically I was semi-lost and stumbled into it) that was big time for the locals. Lots of meats, cheeses, less touristy restaurants inside the market, solid fish and seafood, as well as a lot less people who could speak English. I wanted to get some cheese from there, but being that I barely speak Spanish, don't speak any Cataylun (or whatever the hell they want to call their own language in a country that already has a language), I was unable to get past people to actually attempt to order. I decided I'd walk around some more and stumbled into the Las ramblas food market. It was semi for tourists and semi for locals. Probably a bit more pricey than the other one, but a lot more stands and options overall, plus more English. I walked around, gazing at the goat brains, whole pig heads, hearts, eye balls and what I think were skinned rabbits. I wasn't able to find really any of that stuff at restaurants, but probably for the better. I finally found a place with a nice cheese stand that I figured I should order, I found a cheap mini garroxta wheel, bout a kg worth of cheese for 10 euros. Figured it'd be a nice treat for the overnight train. I headed back, got some dinner and then the next train ride began.
I didn't have a sleeper car this time, just a reclining seat on the train. I was fine with that, assuming it'd make things better and I wouldn't get freaked out. I wasn't freaked out in the sense of the people around me, but once again I was doomed with nightmares. The movement on the train apparently rattles my mind (and probably eating a ton of cheese before sleeping didn't help) as dreams of being chased, stormy weather, and girls of my past (semi-kidding, I mean they were in some of the nightmares, but I just found it funny to add in that in a nightmare way, clearly taking away from it with this long explanation). I was able to get more sleep this time in a regular seat than sleeper car, so hopefully any remaining overnight trains can be taken in this manner. I arrived in Paris at around 8 a.m, pretty tired, but with a feeling that my cold was nearing its end point. I jumped on the metro, headed right to my hostel and found it with ease. I checked in, but there is a policy of not being in the building from 11-4, so I immediately had to store my bags and depart from the vicinity.
I decided I'd go on a walking tour that I saw posted. They're free and they were offered in other cities I had been in, so I went for it this time. It worked out well, an Australian chick led the way on the tour, which lasted about 4 hours. On the tour we all had to mention where we were from, 2 people said Detroit or so I thought, but I was too far away to hear and the tour guide thought they said Sweden so I ignored that. Finally like 20 minutes later she asked them again and this time Detroit was correct. It turned out there were EMU students studying abroad. I ended up striking up a conversation with them and after the tour we all hung out around Paris. We started at the Louvre to check out the Mona Lisa, Venus di Milo and other historical pieces there. I enjoyed the place (the 1/4 of art work that I probably actually saw) and we continued on from there. We walked around, got some ice cream and finally made the trek over to the Eiffel tour. I was really excited to climb it. We got in line, only about a 30 minute wait (not bad at all). In line we met a woman from the UK, I had never heard someone talk so much in my life. She was extremely nice and had good stories, but nobody else was able to get a word in for much of the next four hours. On the way through the line we got to the security checkpoint. Everyone got through, except me. I started beeping like crazy. First I took out my phone, then my camera, still went off, then took off my watch and took some change out, still went off, took off my glasses and finally didn;t go off. The best part of the whole thing is the swiss army knife in my pocket that did not beep. I had been using it to cut cheese and forgot it was in there til after. I'm glad a camera and phone will go off, but not a knife. We got our ticket and turned out we were in the wrong line to walk. I tried to convince the others to walk up, but to no avail we took the lift up. We went up, took pictures, went up some more, took some more pictures. It is a pretty incredible view and I was satisfied with seeing it and being up there. I'm glad I had a few people with me, although it'd be fun on my own as well, it was good having some company. By the end I definitely made sure we would at the very least walk down. We did it, didn't take long at all. The English girl went her way after another 30 minutes of conversation. The good thing about her talking so much was the ability to witness a rare feat. With so many people trying to sell shit and follow you on the streets, she was able to out talk them to the point where they ran away from her. She started telling the man to sell condoms, I've never seen someone more terrified in my life. The Persian ran away and it wasn't from the cops. Afterwards I walked back to the main city with the others. We got to watch the Eiffel tower light up, see all the other monuments lit up at night and went to get some food. Unfortunately it was late, we were all together and once again I gave in to peer pressure, we went to mcdonalds. Now although the burger was more real beef and tasted fine, I was still disappointed in the end result. After that we hung out some more, walked the fancy streets, and called it a night.
Today I met up with them for a bit, went to the Arc de Triumphe with a nice view from top. I did the Notre Dame, very nice on the inside (I didn't want to go to the top, wasn't worth it). We walked by the Statue of Liberty the French one, nothing special, but semi-entertaining to look at. A few museums we intended to go to today were unfortunately closed (I'll do them tomorrow), but on the way my glasses randomly broke. The screw fell out, into a bunch of dirt and I was pissed. We were walking, first tried a mall pharmacy, but although they had glasses no screw. From there I saw a high end glasses shop. I went in and the guy could not understand what I was saying. Finally I pointed to the 2 screw holes and showed him one was missing. He fixed it immediately and I was semi shocked there was no charge. I also finally got an ipod/phone charger from a local store that has an "Apple in-store area" which worked out well. Afterwards they got some fast food again, a place called Quick, essentially a French mcdonalds with a different name, I refused this time. I picked up a croissant and after we broke up I got some solid French onion soup (which irritates me that some places actually call it French Onion soup here, just call it onion soup, we know it's yours!) and a solid lemon citrus crepe. It was expensive, but so worth it. Tonight I envision myself splurging on a good meal, I can't be in France and not start eating random good shit even if nobody else will do it with me and even if it costs a ton. Not sure if I'm going to meet up with them again or do my own thing. I kind of want to be on my own and explore places at night, so we shall see if I'm able to reject them.
Anyway I extended my internet time, stole an extra password and luckily they haven't noticed it's been 45 minutes, but now I must go. I'm gonna head to the train station, book my dream train right to the land of drugs and hoes for Wednesday and then see where the night takes me, hopefully to a world with lots of food.
Hollerin-
BK
Monday, April 20, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Barcelonaaaa
What up my people. I am in currently in Barcelona, I arrived on Wednesday evening after leaving Madrid. The train was great, it's one of those bullet trains, goes 300 km per hour. The scenery on the train ride was incredible though in the open country. They were showing High School Musical 3, shockingly the one Ive never seen, but I resisted watching it and wouldnt have understood it in Spanish anyway. I listened to my ipod, tried to sleep a little and take in the atmosphere.
When I got to Barcelona I came straight to my hostel. It's a little far out from the main portions of Barcelona, but not terrible. Its definitely the worst of the hostels so far, but not even that bad, rooms are tiny and not great lockers to store stuff in, but what can you do. I immediately went and got some food after checking in because I was starved at that point. I went to this BraCafe (I thought it meant all the waitresses would be in bras, not that it was a Brazillian Cafe!). It was good, I ordered something random, turned out to be an omelet, with a side of some sort of ham, potatoes, and bruschetta. Not bad at all. Afterwards came back to the hostel and there were signs for a party that night where the hostel was taking everyone out to a club and bar. I figured I'd go because it'd be a good way to meet people.
I met my roommates who were all going to this club thing before we left. I wasnt a huge fan, they were nice, but typical college I want to get fucked up type kids, not my crowd as many of you know. They were all about "pregaming" and I knew at that point they just werent going to be my style. I showed up around 10:30, we all headed out around 11. I met a bunch of people from Belgium who were real nice, some guy from the UK, I think he was Malaysian, and one more guy who I had no idea what country he was from, maybe Russia/I had no idea what he was saying (and we talked for about 3 hours that night, high comedy for me). We went to this first bar called el Gato Negro (the black cat), it specializes in over 500 different types of shots, including many flaming ones. It was entertaining. I took 2 shots. First shot I took I looked randomly and picked one. I went with Casper, hes a friendly ghost and I figured shot wise itd be pretty easy. It was very easy, however, I think at that point it was determined I may be gay by the whip cream on top of the shot. It was easy though and thats all I cared about. I did have one other shot after with the dude who couldnt speak English. I had him order it (not the best idea) and when I went to pay for mine, the woman thought I had paid for both, so essentially I bought this dude a shot and I was stuck. I think he set me up! I have no idea what the shot was, mixed some kind of red and blue thing together. Then you swish it in your mouth for 10 seconds like mouth wash and suck it in, making you cough. Ouch. That shit burned and luckily at that point we were heading to the club.
We got to the club around 12:30, but everyone kept saying it was early. There were Spanisher rappers up on stage, one wearing a tshirt saying I'm the new black, pretty funny. They were whatever, nobody enjoyed them and when they left and the DJ started the place started "bumping." I had a drink when I got there cause we all got free drinks. Made the same mistake again, however, as I let the Belgium kids just get me a drink so I didnt have to cut through. They got me what they were drinking, vodka and pepsi. It was fucking sick, what kind of animals are they! Afterwards everyone wanted to dance, so I went to the floor, danced for a while, talked to the dude from the UK and the one I didnt understand a word he was saying. I thought to myself if I cant pick up a girl in the US, no chance could I pick up one where I dont speak their language. I was right, every time I'd even get remotely close to a girl as I danced she moved away and I wasn't even trying to dance with them, I'm not that outgoing yet! I always enjoyed that form of rejection though, it happens often. I was getting pretty tired, the dude from the UK was almost passed out, and the dude who couldnt speak English said he wanted to go at 3:30. So we planned on that. Around 3:30 I left with the UK guy, the non-English speaking dude was having fun again I guess. We got back around 3:45, I was exhausted. My roommates werent back yet and so I knew I'd be woken up at some point soon. I passed out and starting at about 5:30 a.m until 8 a.m they kept coming in and out of the room. Finally they went to sleep at 8, I slept for another hour, looked at my watch and thought it was 4 p.m. I freaked out, then I realized I'm an idiot and saw what I thought was 11, so a little better, but not much. I immediately got up to start my day and turns out it was only like 9:30, whoops.
I decided first to buy soap since I had left it at the last hostel and figured I should shower at some point here. I went to the drug places right next to here, bought a random soap and then figured Id walk to Las Ramblas. Its 5.3 kms away, if I knew this I probably would not have walked. It was sunny the whole time at least, I had to make it the train station to get my ticket for Paris. I did that and it was perfect because as soon as I got inside a huge hail/thunderstorm came crashing down. I waited it out for a little and then headed on my way to get lunch. I had read somewhere about a great Paella place, so I walked around Las Ramblas, took some photos and ended up at La Fonda. I had the special 3 course menu del dia with some paella, some pork and potato thing I ordered (I took a guess, was still good), and some chocolate pie. The Paella was great, lots of fresh seafood, good rice and good vegetables. It also came with a drink so I got a glass of red wine. Wasnt bad at all. I had a nice relaxing meal, went on my way and headed around the area. I stumbled to the picasso museum (I was slightly drunk), decided why not go in since it was still raining off and on and checked it out. About 10 minutes in though I started feeling sick. A cold was coming on strong. I started sneezing out of control, semi-rushed through the rest and tried to figure out the quickest way back. In the end, I walked about 6 kms back to the hostel, not the best idea for someone who is sick. I made it back and immediately tried to take a nap. That didnt last long with the roommates coming in and out constantly. I decided I'd do laundry for 5 euros, but turns out they do it for you, so that was a bonus. I pretty much laid in bed the rest of the day, got a quick dinner next to the hostel (a bacon bocadillo and a plate of manchego cheese). Got back to the hostel and laid around. Finally my rommates left around 12 to go out. I turned off the light and slept until they got back and did the in and out thing at around 6 again. Luckily they were checking out so they were gone by 8. I slept til 10, then the housecleaning woke me to clean up their beds for the next person, oh well.
I still have a cold this morning and dont feel the best, but I'm going to try to see a few more things to make Barcelona more worth it. I do like it better than madrid, lot more room on streets and overall a nice city. I'd rather rest and not be sick for the rest of the trip though than ruin it all on Barcelona. Hopefully one more good nights sleep and I'll be fine to explore on Saturday (I have all day until my train at 10 at night, so at least I should sneak a few things in without killing myself). I won't walk today though, try to take buses and metros.
Anyway, I will see you in Paris!
BK
When I got to Barcelona I came straight to my hostel. It's a little far out from the main portions of Barcelona, but not terrible. Its definitely the worst of the hostels so far, but not even that bad, rooms are tiny and not great lockers to store stuff in, but what can you do. I immediately went and got some food after checking in because I was starved at that point. I went to this BraCafe (I thought it meant all the waitresses would be in bras, not that it was a Brazillian Cafe!). It was good, I ordered something random, turned out to be an omelet, with a side of some sort of ham, potatoes, and bruschetta. Not bad at all. Afterwards came back to the hostel and there were signs for a party that night where the hostel was taking everyone out to a club and bar. I figured I'd go because it'd be a good way to meet people.
I met my roommates who were all going to this club thing before we left. I wasnt a huge fan, they were nice, but typical college I want to get fucked up type kids, not my crowd as many of you know. They were all about "pregaming" and I knew at that point they just werent going to be my style. I showed up around 10:30, we all headed out around 11. I met a bunch of people from Belgium who were real nice, some guy from the UK, I think he was Malaysian, and one more guy who I had no idea what country he was from, maybe Russia/I had no idea what he was saying (and we talked for about 3 hours that night, high comedy for me). We went to this first bar called el Gato Negro (the black cat), it specializes in over 500 different types of shots, including many flaming ones. It was entertaining. I took 2 shots. First shot I took I looked randomly and picked one. I went with Casper, hes a friendly ghost and I figured shot wise itd be pretty easy. It was very easy, however, I think at that point it was determined I may be gay by the whip cream on top of the shot. It was easy though and thats all I cared about. I did have one other shot after with the dude who couldnt speak English. I had him order it (not the best idea) and when I went to pay for mine, the woman thought I had paid for both, so essentially I bought this dude a shot and I was stuck. I think he set me up! I have no idea what the shot was, mixed some kind of red and blue thing together. Then you swish it in your mouth for 10 seconds like mouth wash and suck it in, making you cough. Ouch. That shit burned and luckily at that point we were heading to the club.
We got to the club around 12:30, but everyone kept saying it was early. There were Spanisher rappers up on stage, one wearing a tshirt saying I'm the new black, pretty funny. They were whatever, nobody enjoyed them and when they left and the DJ started the place started "bumping." I had a drink when I got there cause we all got free drinks. Made the same mistake again, however, as I let the Belgium kids just get me a drink so I didnt have to cut through. They got me what they were drinking, vodka and pepsi. It was fucking sick, what kind of animals are they! Afterwards everyone wanted to dance, so I went to the floor, danced for a while, talked to the dude from the UK and the one I didnt understand a word he was saying. I thought to myself if I cant pick up a girl in the US, no chance could I pick up one where I dont speak their language. I was right, every time I'd even get remotely close to a girl as I danced she moved away and I wasn't even trying to dance with them, I'm not that outgoing yet! I always enjoyed that form of rejection though, it happens often. I was getting pretty tired, the dude from the UK was almost passed out, and the dude who couldnt speak English said he wanted to go at 3:30. So we planned on that. Around 3:30 I left with the UK guy, the non-English speaking dude was having fun again I guess. We got back around 3:45, I was exhausted. My roommates werent back yet and so I knew I'd be woken up at some point soon. I passed out and starting at about 5:30 a.m until 8 a.m they kept coming in and out of the room. Finally they went to sleep at 8, I slept for another hour, looked at my watch and thought it was 4 p.m. I freaked out, then I realized I'm an idiot and saw what I thought was 11, so a little better, but not much. I immediately got up to start my day and turns out it was only like 9:30, whoops.
I decided first to buy soap since I had left it at the last hostel and figured I should shower at some point here. I went to the drug places right next to here, bought a random soap and then figured Id walk to Las Ramblas. Its 5.3 kms away, if I knew this I probably would not have walked. It was sunny the whole time at least, I had to make it the train station to get my ticket for Paris. I did that and it was perfect because as soon as I got inside a huge hail/thunderstorm came crashing down. I waited it out for a little and then headed on my way to get lunch. I had read somewhere about a great Paella place, so I walked around Las Ramblas, took some photos and ended up at La Fonda. I had the special 3 course menu del dia with some paella, some pork and potato thing I ordered (I took a guess, was still good), and some chocolate pie. The Paella was great, lots of fresh seafood, good rice and good vegetables. It also came with a drink so I got a glass of red wine. Wasnt bad at all. I had a nice relaxing meal, went on my way and headed around the area. I stumbled to the picasso museum (I was slightly drunk), decided why not go in since it was still raining off and on and checked it out. About 10 minutes in though I started feeling sick. A cold was coming on strong. I started sneezing out of control, semi-rushed through the rest and tried to figure out the quickest way back. In the end, I walked about 6 kms back to the hostel, not the best idea for someone who is sick. I made it back and immediately tried to take a nap. That didnt last long with the roommates coming in and out constantly. I decided I'd do laundry for 5 euros, but turns out they do it for you, so that was a bonus. I pretty much laid in bed the rest of the day, got a quick dinner next to the hostel (a bacon bocadillo and a plate of manchego cheese). Got back to the hostel and laid around. Finally my rommates left around 12 to go out. I turned off the light and slept until they got back and did the in and out thing at around 6 again. Luckily they were checking out so they were gone by 8. I slept til 10, then the housecleaning woke me to clean up their beds for the next person, oh well.
I still have a cold this morning and dont feel the best, but I'm going to try to see a few more things to make Barcelona more worth it. I do like it better than madrid, lot more room on streets and overall a nice city. I'd rather rest and not be sick for the rest of the trip though than ruin it all on Barcelona. Hopefully one more good nights sleep and I'll be fine to explore on Saturday (I have all day until my train at 10 at night, so at least I should sneak a few things in without killing myself). I won't walk today though, try to take buses and metros.
Anyway, I will see you in Paris!
BK
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Madridito
My last night in Madrid is for the most part complete, so I thought why not update on the past couple days. You'll be glad to know that this will be my first semi-drunk post of the tour (three beers is a lot), but hey if I can make it back to my hostel after getting lost semi-drunk, then I think I can get through this as well! Before posting I gotta say, I love listening to people try and hit on girls in hostels. Oh the movie 13 days, that's my favorite! You're from New Mexico, I've never been, but I heard it's just so incredible around there. It's cute.
On Monday (after posting to the blog) I went right to the Reina Sofia (modern art museum) in Spain. It was quite mind blowing. I decided to get fancy and even go with a headset to find out what I was actually looking at. (quick note: it's now Wednesday, they closed the computer room last night for some reason so I couldn't finish, so here is the rest, in completely sober and rested form). I really enjoyed the museum, I had my ipod going for most of it taking breaks in between the paintings that had talks about them. The special exhibitions they had weren't anything special, but the building itself and the permanent collections were very much worth seeing. Afterwards I decided to get my first meal, there was a small restaurant across from the art museum. I went with a jamon iberico sandwich, was a fantastic choice if I must say. From there I just walked the streets, went back to the hostel to take a shower since I had been on that train and couldn't check in when I got here at that point. I met a few people in my room and then did some more walking. Went to Plaza Mayor, a big touristy area, but was nice to see. The weather was pretty decent Monday so I wanted to take advantage. I went back to the hostel after a while to look up a good place to eat. I ran into one of the people staying in my hostel who was also going to grab some dinner, so I asked her if she wanted to join me. No idea how old she is, but she is from Argentina as well as a Jew, so we went to one of the places that serve Doner Kebabs. Basically just cheap kebabs and middle eastern type food. We had a good conversation talked about our respective countries, a little bit of Judaism (and how neither of us could even consider keeping passover in Europe, more specifically Spain where it's 100% pig, bread, and cheese around here). After eating we just headed back to the hostel. I was exhausted from the train etc. so I was just going to hang out. I went and sat on the couches in the main room where I started talking to a couple Americans who were here. One was studying abroad, the other quit her job and was traveling (it's extremely common apparently, I've met numerous people who are doing that and even a tour guide from America who did that). We all talked, watched some TV, which is pretty funny all in Spanish. Then we started flipping through channels more and the disney channel was showing the best show ever, in Spanish, but I know it well enough that I was able to describe and even say some lines as to what was happening on Boy Meets World! I was a little too excited, they didn't understand. One of the kids was like 20, so BMW is before his time.
On Tuesday I woke up excited to go to the Prado, I got there around 10, the line for the permanent collection wasn't too terrible, but the special Francis Bacon exhibit line was already around the corner so I decided I'd be skipping that. I went to get my student ticket and the guy asked to see my ID, showed him it, then he asked for my passport. Looked at my age and refused to let me have the student discount, saying only students 24 or under get the discount, such a fucking lie! I was so pissed, it kind of put a tamper on my experience. I didn't get the headphones this time, which was fine, they have a lot more English descriptions of important pieces around there. I walked around for a little over 2 hours, I was impressed with a lot of the paintings and real old sculptures, though I think I may have enjoyed the Reina Sofia a little more for my tastes. After that I went and got some food. Went with a morcilla de burgos bocadilla or a blood sausage (with rice mixed in) sub sandwich and a beer. It was good, I liked the rice and whole concotion they had with it. Afterwards I headed back to the hostel for a few and decided I better book my train ride to Barcelona and also my hostel since I was planning on going the next day. I went to the train station, got my reservation (it cost me 10 euros, but the actual train ride is 110 euros, so I'm glad I got this rail pass or it'd be bus riding for me!). From there I decided I wanted to go on a tapas tour offered. I went to the subway cause no way could I walk in time, got on and didn't pay close enough attention so I started heading the opposite way. I quickly changed directions got to the Tapas tour and it was just me and one other person, who turned out was staying at my hostel. The tour guide said he'd take us around for an hour instead of the full tour (saved me 14 euros). We got some beers, tapas, and got a small tour of the city for free (outside of the beer).
When I got back I had an email from a person from Lisbon as to where to meet up. So I got ready for that an headed to an Irish pub to watch the Liverpool vs. Chelsea soccer game. It was actually a pretty entertaining game. We had a few beers and talked for a while. It was a real good conversation, he's one of the UM people, but not a bad person at all. We had seemingly been through similar situations in different aspects of life and had a good understanding of each other, I always enjoy meeting genuinely nice people. So maybe I'll hang out with him when we're both back in Michigan or something. Afterwards I knew where I was going, but I realized that was during the day. It was pouring rain so I got soaked, kept venturing around and finally arrived at my hostel after a few turns here and there. I knew I'd be fine though, it's not that big of a city umm. Anyway, I must check out and get ready to explore for a few hours before Barcelona. Have a good one all!
'BK
On Monday (after posting to the blog) I went right to the Reina Sofia (modern art museum) in Spain. It was quite mind blowing. I decided to get fancy and even go with a headset to find out what I was actually looking at. (quick note: it's now Wednesday, they closed the computer room last night for some reason so I couldn't finish, so here is the rest, in completely sober and rested form). I really enjoyed the museum, I had my ipod going for most of it taking breaks in between the paintings that had talks about them. The special exhibitions they had weren't anything special, but the building itself and the permanent collections were very much worth seeing. Afterwards I decided to get my first meal, there was a small restaurant across from the art museum. I went with a jamon iberico sandwich, was a fantastic choice if I must say. From there I just walked the streets, went back to the hostel to take a shower since I had been on that train and couldn't check in when I got here at that point. I met a few people in my room and then did some more walking. Went to Plaza Mayor, a big touristy area, but was nice to see. The weather was pretty decent Monday so I wanted to take advantage. I went back to the hostel after a while to look up a good place to eat. I ran into one of the people staying in my hostel who was also going to grab some dinner, so I asked her if she wanted to join me. No idea how old she is, but she is from Argentina as well as a Jew, so we went to one of the places that serve Doner Kebabs. Basically just cheap kebabs and middle eastern type food. We had a good conversation talked about our respective countries, a little bit of Judaism (and how neither of us could even consider keeping passover in Europe, more specifically Spain where it's 100% pig, bread, and cheese around here). After eating we just headed back to the hostel. I was exhausted from the train etc. so I was just going to hang out. I went and sat on the couches in the main room where I started talking to a couple Americans who were here. One was studying abroad, the other quit her job and was traveling (it's extremely common apparently, I've met numerous people who are doing that and even a tour guide from America who did that). We all talked, watched some TV, which is pretty funny all in Spanish. Then we started flipping through channels more and the disney channel was showing the best show ever, in Spanish, but I know it well enough that I was able to describe and even say some lines as to what was happening on Boy Meets World! I was a little too excited, they didn't understand. One of the kids was like 20, so BMW is before his time.
On Tuesday I woke up excited to go to the Prado, I got there around 10, the line for the permanent collection wasn't too terrible, but the special Francis Bacon exhibit line was already around the corner so I decided I'd be skipping that. I went to get my student ticket and the guy asked to see my ID, showed him it, then he asked for my passport. Looked at my age and refused to let me have the student discount, saying only students 24 or under get the discount, such a fucking lie! I was so pissed, it kind of put a tamper on my experience. I didn't get the headphones this time, which was fine, they have a lot more English descriptions of important pieces around there. I walked around for a little over 2 hours, I was impressed with a lot of the paintings and real old sculptures, though I think I may have enjoyed the Reina Sofia a little more for my tastes. After that I went and got some food. Went with a morcilla de burgos bocadilla or a blood sausage (with rice mixed in) sub sandwich and a beer. It was good, I liked the rice and whole concotion they had with it. Afterwards I headed back to the hostel for a few and decided I better book my train ride to Barcelona and also my hostel since I was planning on going the next day. I went to the train station, got my reservation (it cost me 10 euros, but the actual train ride is 110 euros, so I'm glad I got this rail pass or it'd be bus riding for me!). From there I decided I wanted to go on a tapas tour offered. I went to the subway cause no way could I walk in time, got on and didn't pay close enough attention so I started heading the opposite way. I quickly changed directions got to the Tapas tour and it was just me and one other person, who turned out was staying at my hostel. The tour guide said he'd take us around for an hour instead of the full tour (saved me 14 euros). We got some beers, tapas, and got a small tour of the city for free (outside of the beer).
When I got back I had an email from a person from Lisbon as to where to meet up. So I got ready for that an headed to an Irish pub to watch the Liverpool vs. Chelsea soccer game. It was actually a pretty entertaining game. We had a few beers and talked for a while. It was a real good conversation, he's one of the UM people, but not a bad person at all. We had seemingly been through similar situations in different aspects of life and had a good understanding of each other, I always enjoy meeting genuinely nice people. So maybe I'll hang out with him when we're both back in Michigan or something. Afterwards I knew where I was going, but I realized that was during the day. It was pouring rain so I got soaked, kept venturing around and finally arrived at my hostel after a few turns here and there. I knew I'd be fine though, it's not that big of a city umm. Anyway, I must check out and get ready to explore for a few hours before Barcelona. Have a good one all!
'BK
Monday, April 13, 2009
Holiday in Spain
I arrived in Spain this morning and thought I'd give a quick update about the final two days in Lisbon and the train ride here before I begin my day. Saturday I was planning on going to Sintra, but unfortunately that tour got cancelled. For some reason I woke up semi-depressed and was not sure what I was going to do with my day. Since I was planning on going to Sintra on Saturday, some of the college students I met left the morning, and the English and Swiss girls were already gone for the day I was on my own. It worked out well, I went to Sao Sebastio a different part of Lisboa where there are a lot of parks, a huge mall, and the Calouste Gulbenkian museum consisting of his art collection, a temporary Darwin Exhibit, and a modern art museum attached. I took the metro over to the area, thought it was about time I get used to public transportation. It was pretty simple getting there and Lisbon's metro is very clean and not very busy. It drops you off in the mall in Sao Sebastio, which is great, but with 20 exits possible it was tough to find where I was going. So tough in fact that I got lost walking to the museums and instead ended up at a couple different parks and by a couple different parks I mean the same park, just different ends of it (which worked out besides the rain with amazing views of the city and river). Finally after about an hour of wandering the world I broke it down on the map as to where I had to go. I made it back to the mall and got to the museums. The modern art museum was small and for the most part unnoteworthy, but cheap to see with a "student" discount. The actual Gulbenkian was real nice. I put on my ipod and just looked at art all day. By the end of my art exploration I was feeling better about myself and where I was. Since it was already 3 and I still hadn't eaten due to not knowing what time museums closed on a holiday weekend I went to the mall and ate in their food court at "Sopa." I realize I have fun with ordering food because I don't have any idea what it is I'm ordering. I pointed to a soup that a couple people in front of me got, then to a piece of quiche with Spinach and tomatoes (turned out they were weird lookin carrots), and a bottle of water and paid. I found a place to sit. The soup was fine, pretty plain, but seemed to have a slight seafood base, but no actual seafood. The quiche caught me off guard cause it was pretty cold and after hot soup it was unexpected. Finally after about the 6th switch between soup and quiche I got the temp change down. Then I got back on the metro and headed back.
I got back around 6:30, knocked on the room of the girls I knew were still there and we planned on eating dinner at 9. We went to some Italian place, it was close, one of them was sick, and it was semi-cold out. The food was pretty good, though we all forgot about the classic Portugees move of putting down bread and appetizers on the table in what would in anywhere else appear to be free, instead you eat you pay. We all some bread, but what can you do, we knew for the next night. My food was good, just some Wild mushroom risotta (they were out of what I originally ordered) and a nice cheese appetizer that I can't remember the name of right now with tomato sauce etc. Afterwards we went back to the hostel, started hangin out and then we saw a bunch of new people hanging out at the hostel. Turns out it was a bunch of University of Michigan kids. They seemed very excited to hear I was from (the state of) Michigan. All were real nice down to earth kids so we all hung out the rest of the night. Most the city was shutdown with Easter preparations the next day and we just watched a movie. Went to bed after and the next day was set to begin.
I knew I had a long day ahead of me on Sunday so no clue what I was going to do. I just had to be at the train station by 10:30 p.m to get to Madrid. I got downstairs in the morning and saw the UM kids and asked what they were up to for the day. Everyone was planning on heading to Sintra. There were a lot of us who ended up going. The girl from Switzerland, about 5 UM kids, myself and 2 girls I met in the morning from St. Johns University. We got to Sintra around 12:45, bout a 40 minute train ride outside of Lisbon. The city was full of what were presumably tourists. We started walking and heading towards the castles and palaces the city was known for. After finding a small palace first, and walking around the area we were split on what to do next. The main Castle and Palace are on mountains, we looked up and I've never seen something that seemed further away in my life. You think Everest is bad, try walking to the top of Castelo de Mouros or Palacia Pena! We got some food, the group ended up getting split up afterwards and we went our own ways. It was me, St Johns, one UM kid separated from his crew, and the Swiss. I had a lot of fun walking to the top and learning about each person. After a little more than an hour walk or swim if you consider the sweat I was drenched in we reached the castle. And then realized we needed a ticket. Instead of just going to the door to see if we could buy a ticket we asked a random tourists. They sent us to a ticket office about 10 minutes away. We were able to buy both Palace and Castle tickets from there. We met back up with the other part of the group, and then quickly got separated into our mini groups again once we reached the castle. We realized there was only one more thing to do, conquer the castle. Just like Mario, I wanted though 5,000 points to get on top of the flag pole! I kept climbing higher until we all reached the pinnacle. There were incredible views of the city, the Palace across on a totally other mountain just leading to a feeling of not again, and the look down of what could only be considered a terrifying 50,000 foot fall or like 3,000. We all took pictures, walked around and then headed to the Palace. We were told it was about 10 minutes away. We arrived to the entrance, and they were about right. The true walk, however, was about 15 more minutes of step climbing and paths to walk up the mountain to get there. We arrived at this Palace that looked pretty incredible with a multi-colored outside, awesome architecture, great statues, and more incredible views. We took some more pictures, went inside to look at the history (no pictures allowed in there) and felt relieved that we completed the journey. Afterwards we decided maybe we would take the bus down, but after a while we knew the true feeling of accomplishment wouldn't be the same without getting lost in Sintra for over an hour trying to find a way back to the train station. Random dogs popped up scaring the shit out of me, cars came flying down winding roads we were walking on with no sidewalks, and thinking we remembered walking past a certain house when we clearly did not led to an enjoyable, yet nerve racking time. It was already 6, the last train leaves at 8, we were hungry, I had to get to Madrid and we didn't know where we were. Finally though after just sticking to the belief of keep going down the mountain and we'd be golden, we saw familiar structures in the distance.
We got back to Lisboa, I was drenched in sweat still (technically still am), and relaxed for about 5 minutes. It was almost 8 so we went to eat before I left. The restaurant was okay, had some grilled sole and tomato soup. It took a long time though so by 9:15 I asked for my check separately, paid, took a picture of the table, and said my goodbyes. I headed right to the hostel to pick up my luggage and knew I could take the metro two stops down to the train station. I ran down the steps, walked to the station, knew I had little cash or the rest was in my bag I couldn't go through a the moment, but it shouldn't cost me much I thought. I got my ticket and try to scan my metro pass and look up and see crazy lines and lots of x's. Apparently the metro got shutdown for the night. I was freaked out. I had about 45 minutes still, rushed back to the hostel, asked if she could get me a cab and how much it'd be. She said it'd be about $5 euros. I had about 9 on me. I was a little terrified because being not from there I knew it was possible I'd get ripped off. After about 10 minutes the taxi showed up, I get in and immediately the total on the meter was already 5 euros from some $2.40 service charge. Didn't care to ask just hoped I had enough to make it. Luckily it only was about 7.40 in the end so I was okay for that and the metro in Madrid when I'd make it.
The train was interesting, I had a small bed on the top of a bunk type deal. There were 3 others in my room, though only 2 others seemingly were in there the whole night. I finished my book, one of the men asked to turn off the lights and I tried to get some sleep. I passed out pretty easily, which led to some crazy nightmares. I think all the movement and noises of the train really got my mind going. I dreamt of being on falling planes and of all sorts of random people. I woke up a lot, including one point where I thought my future killer was staring at me. It was pitch black and all I could see were eyes looking in my direction. In the dark, with no glasses, I couldn't tell if it was one of my normal cabin mates so I decided if I close my eyes he'd go away. About 10 minutes later I opened them and he was thankfully gone. I slept on and off for the rest of the night, but no more killers. The cabin crew woke us with 30 minutes to go and I had officially arrived in Spain.
The metro was very easy, finding the hostel when I got off was not. It took a solid 30 minutes of walking in circles to finally find Jesus y Maria, the street I was staying on. Got in, met some people who were leaving from my room and now I'm about to head off to eat, get some money, and visit the art museum open today (the others are closed on Monday).
Thanks for reading, thanks for email, have a good one, I will update soon
'BK
p.s I'll try to get a few pictures up soon if I can.
I got back around 6:30, knocked on the room of the girls I knew were still there and we planned on eating dinner at 9. We went to some Italian place, it was close, one of them was sick, and it was semi-cold out. The food was pretty good, though we all forgot about the classic Portugees move of putting down bread and appetizers on the table in what would in anywhere else appear to be free, instead you eat you pay. We all some bread, but what can you do, we knew for the next night. My food was good, just some Wild mushroom risotta (they were out of what I originally ordered) and a nice cheese appetizer that I can't remember the name of right now with tomato sauce etc. Afterwards we went back to the hostel, started hangin out and then we saw a bunch of new people hanging out at the hostel. Turns out it was a bunch of University of Michigan kids. They seemed very excited to hear I was from (the state of) Michigan. All were real nice down to earth kids so we all hung out the rest of the night. Most the city was shutdown with Easter preparations the next day and we just watched a movie. Went to bed after and the next day was set to begin.
I knew I had a long day ahead of me on Sunday so no clue what I was going to do. I just had to be at the train station by 10:30 p.m to get to Madrid. I got downstairs in the morning and saw the UM kids and asked what they were up to for the day. Everyone was planning on heading to Sintra. There were a lot of us who ended up going. The girl from Switzerland, about 5 UM kids, myself and 2 girls I met in the morning from St. Johns University. We got to Sintra around 12:45, bout a 40 minute train ride outside of Lisbon. The city was full of what were presumably tourists. We started walking and heading towards the castles and palaces the city was known for. After finding a small palace first, and walking around the area we were split on what to do next. The main Castle and Palace are on mountains, we looked up and I've never seen something that seemed further away in my life. You think Everest is bad, try walking to the top of Castelo de Mouros or Palacia Pena! We got some food, the group ended up getting split up afterwards and we went our own ways. It was me, St Johns, one UM kid separated from his crew, and the Swiss. I had a lot of fun walking to the top and learning about each person. After a little more than an hour walk or swim if you consider the sweat I was drenched in we reached the castle. And then realized we needed a ticket. Instead of just going to the door to see if we could buy a ticket we asked a random tourists. They sent us to a ticket office about 10 minutes away. We were able to buy both Palace and Castle tickets from there. We met back up with the other part of the group, and then quickly got separated into our mini groups again once we reached the castle. We realized there was only one more thing to do, conquer the castle. Just like Mario, I wanted though 5,000 points to get on top of the flag pole! I kept climbing higher until we all reached the pinnacle. There were incredible views of the city, the Palace across on a totally other mountain just leading to a feeling of not again, and the look down of what could only be considered a terrifying 50,000 foot fall or like 3,000. We all took pictures, walked around and then headed to the Palace. We were told it was about 10 minutes away. We arrived to the entrance, and they were about right. The true walk, however, was about 15 more minutes of step climbing and paths to walk up the mountain to get there. We arrived at this Palace that looked pretty incredible with a multi-colored outside, awesome architecture, great statues, and more incredible views. We took some more pictures, went inside to look at the history (no pictures allowed in there) and felt relieved that we completed the journey. Afterwards we decided maybe we would take the bus down, but after a while we knew the true feeling of accomplishment wouldn't be the same without getting lost in Sintra for over an hour trying to find a way back to the train station. Random dogs popped up scaring the shit out of me, cars came flying down winding roads we were walking on with no sidewalks, and thinking we remembered walking past a certain house when we clearly did not led to an enjoyable, yet nerve racking time. It was already 6, the last train leaves at 8, we were hungry, I had to get to Madrid and we didn't know where we were. Finally though after just sticking to the belief of keep going down the mountain and we'd be golden, we saw familiar structures in the distance.
We got back to Lisboa, I was drenched in sweat still (technically still am), and relaxed for about 5 minutes. It was almost 8 so we went to eat before I left. The restaurant was okay, had some grilled sole and tomato soup. It took a long time though so by 9:15 I asked for my check separately, paid, took a picture of the table, and said my goodbyes. I headed right to the hostel to pick up my luggage and knew I could take the metro two stops down to the train station. I ran down the steps, walked to the station, knew I had little cash or the rest was in my bag I couldn't go through a the moment, but it shouldn't cost me much I thought. I got my ticket and try to scan my metro pass and look up and see crazy lines and lots of x's. Apparently the metro got shutdown for the night. I was freaked out. I had about 45 minutes still, rushed back to the hostel, asked if she could get me a cab and how much it'd be. She said it'd be about $5 euros. I had about 9 on me. I was a little terrified because being not from there I knew it was possible I'd get ripped off. After about 10 minutes the taxi showed up, I get in and immediately the total on the meter was already 5 euros from some $2.40 service charge. Didn't care to ask just hoped I had enough to make it. Luckily it only was about 7.40 in the end so I was okay for that and the metro in Madrid when I'd make it.
The train was interesting, I had a small bed on the top of a bunk type deal. There were 3 others in my room, though only 2 others seemingly were in there the whole night. I finished my book, one of the men asked to turn off the lights and I tried to get some sleep. I passed out pretty easily, which led to some crazy nightmares. I think all the movement and noises of the train really got my mind going. I dreamt of being on falling planes and of all sorts of random people. I woke up a lot, including one point where I thought my future killer was staring at me. It was pitch black and all I could see were eyes looking in my direction. In the dark, with no glasses, I couldn't tell if it was one of my normal cabin mates so I decided if I close my eyes he'd go away. About 10 minutes later I opened them and he was thankfully gone. I slept on and off for the rest of the night, but no more killers. The cabin crew woke us with 30 minutes to go and I had officially arrived in Spain.
The metro was very easy, finding the hostel when I got off was not. It took a solid 30 minutes of walking in circles to finally find Jesus y Maria, the street I was staying on. Got in, met some people who were leaving from my room and now I'm about to head off to eat, get some money, and visit the art museum open today (the others are closed on Monday).
Thanks for reading, thanks for email, have a good one, I will update soon
'BK
p.s I'll try to get a few pictures up soon if I can.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Pick a language!
I just got back from a small Lisbon city tour via the hostel and figured while it rains a bit (and it's only in the 50s, false advertising Lisbon!) I'd attempt to navigate through this European keyboard and update my journey thus far. The day I left got off to a hectic start, I wasn't sure if they were tiny signs to delay my trip or just an example of the trials and tribulations ahead. Starting from the beginning where I got out of my mom's car and left my cell phone to being told my flight to New Jersey was supposed to be delayed until 5 p.m the nerves were kicking. I was switched to the flight before mine, slated to take off at 1:02 (it was already 1:20) and felt a little uneasy about that whole thing. They assured me the flight wouldn't be taking off anytime soon. I took a little gander at the departure screen and did not see my flight, I did a mildly-fast paced walk to the C gate at McNamara, find the gate and I hear "final call for all rows." So instead of taking my time, eating something, I rush on to the plane only to sit for over an hour after leaving the gate. We took off at 3:15 (my regularly scheduled flight time) and got to Lisbon with tons of time to kill and for me to finally eat. Got on the plane around 8:15 for Lisbon, passed out immediately and woke up 20 minutes later yet to take off. There was no real delay besides the fact that it was New Jersey and they are always delayed there. The 20 minute nap meant only one thing, that would probably be the only 20 minutes I'd sleep for the whole day.
The plane ride was fine, a few bumps, but nothing insane. I first watched Yes Man and Bedtime Stories, two movies that I thought were real good, especially Yes Man. I kind of used it as mini inspiration to take as many chances and say yes to pretty much everything. I feel there may be some foreshadowing with that movie in the future in my own story. After those movies I watched Harry Potter for about an hour, felt I could get to sleep and bam I was out cold. Only problem was 10 minutes later the lights came back on and we were an hour away.
We landed in Lisbon at 8 a.m, customs took over an hour to get through the line, then the line for the informational desk and aerobus to the hostel took another hour, and finally around 11 I arrived. I wasn't able to check in til 2 (probably a good thing), so it forced me to walk through the city and stay awake. I was extremely dehydrated and had to pee, so I found a Mcdonalds to pee in (I have a non-American food and especially no fast food rule while here) and grabbed a water. I walked to the river, started taking some pictures and immediately got offered hash by 3 different men selling glasses. Being that I felt the need to say yes to everything, I quickly nixed that plan and got away from them. The architecture, statues, and general art around the city are real awesome. It is not hard to navigate either at least for me. The only bad part about coming now is with Easter it's high travel season leading to the city being a lot more crowded (public transportation during the day near impossible without waiting 20 minutes), places to visit having strange hours or being closed like most places will be on Sunday. I got myself some lunch around 1 knowing it'd go slowly and I had one more hour to kill. I went to a restaurant nearby and went with a seafood salad full of shrimp, clams, snails, octopus, crab some kind of cooked potato, lettuce and a million carrots. I was a fan, though I did get a weird look from the waitress. The problem is portugees is too much like Spanish, but they try so hard not to be that only half the words are actually Spanish. So the minimal Spanish I try speakin with people just get me a confused and dirty look. What's the point of stealing half a language??? Just use Spanish, you don't need a language! I did finally get down "Obrigado" for thanks, but I'm positive in 2 days that will just mess me up more.
The hostel itself is extremely nice, I'm expecting this to be the nicest of them all, it's nicer than some hotels, the beds are surprisingly comfortable and the bathrooms are clean. The location itself is right around the Rossio downtown area, one of the more popular places for restaurants etc. When I finally was able to check in around 2 p.m I came back so I could get more of a tour, use the bathroom, and get situated. I got to the room, tried to use the locker I was given, but it was impossible to lock. I wasn't going anywhere so I took a break from trying and decided to plug in my phone to charge. I take out my trust international plugs, do it up and eeek crazy spark. It wouldn't work and the light seemed to not turn on anymore. I assume the fuse blew in the room, my bad, I told the guy the lights weren't working and he fixed it about 5 minutes later so nobody has to know. From there I did more walking, I read the train station I needed to get to was 100m off the map I had. Apparently that map is for overweight people who need deception to force them to exercise. Forty minutes later and now knowing I will not be walking to this train station when I leave, I made a reservation to head to Madrid overnight on Sunday since it's real busy everywhere (and people get Monday off after Easter still). I started my walk back but after another 40 minutes started getting extremely hungry. I looked out for the best possible foods and right there in front of me with a bakery featuring these pastries with baked custard on top. They were called natas, worth trying. I knew that would hold me over until dinner. It was 6 p.m at that point, but dinner is a late night affair round these parts.
Got back to the hostel went to my room and finally had people in it to talk too. Spoke briefly with the 2 girls in the room, both on Spring Break while they study abroad. One goes to PSU, the other Southwestern, nice people, was good having a legit conversation with someone after 24 hours almost. They left after, I began to read for a bit. The hostel offers a cheap dinner each night and I figured it'd be a good way to meet people and may not be that bad of a meal. I read for about 20 minutes until I literally almost fell asleep on the seat I was reading. I knew there was only one resort to attempt to stay awake, espresso. I figured the shaking from the coffee would keep me going throughout the night, I just may scare everyone off. I ran to the nearest coffee house, too a shot of espresso and headed back. I was definitely shaky. Dinner came, I met a bunch of people, but mainly spoke with this woman from Switzerland with a British accent (she's never been there before, but even the people from London here thought she was, so I'm not just bad with accent guessing). We spoke a lot, she thought I was 18, I thought she was like 26. Turns out I'm 25 and she's 37. I then thought if my cousin Jordan can go for an older woman, I can too! Just kiddin. She challenged me to trivial pursuit, I thought I'd have a chance, but she's a law clerk in Zurich and apparently smarter, even in the American version. It was good to have real socialization though, stayed up with her and her friend she came with (who is 38, but also looks in her 20s, maybe they're lying). I went up talked with the two people actually in the room who weren't out, attempted to write in my personal journal and passed out while writing.
I won't bore you with too much more, I swear. Today I went on the tour with the Hostel of Lisbon. City was too busy to do things they intended, but was a good one nonetheless. I hung out with the people I met last night and spoke with this girl and her brother from the UK for most of it, very nice, and closer to my age. I had a full octopus for lunch (it was great, best I've had). The head semi-freaked me out, but I got over it and Octopi brains ain't bad. Went to a port tasting after and then the weather went downhill. Lisbon got cold and rainy, so we rushed back. Got some great photos from amazing highpoints in the city and saw the outside of one of their big castles. After the tour, came back here and then went out with the Swiss and her English friend from the night before. We went to a recommended Austrian coffee/cake place, then walked to a mini bar that specializes in a cherry drink called Ginja (a portuguese cherry brandy type deal) and had some seni-hard goat cheese from Portugal (I tried to find out the name, but the old women just kept saying it's goat cheese). After 2 drinks of the Ginja (took it as a shot the first time, apparently you sip it. Tasted like robitussin, semi disappointed I didn't start hallucinating to confirm it actually was). Went to dinner, had sting ray, it was good, but very boney. Then just headed back to the hostel where I'm bout to watch a movie with a couple of people. I'm still exhausted, jet laggin a bit. Longest update ever, going to Sintra tomorrow for the day (small city outside of Lisbon) and then Madrid Sunday night. Maybe I'll see you on Sunday when the city is shutdown before Madrid.
Thanks for stopping by and if you made it to the end, I know you really are a fan!
'BK
The plane ride was fine, a few bumps, but nothing insane. I first watched Yes Man and Bedtime Stories, two movies that I thought were real good, especially Yes Man. I kind of used it as mini inspiration to take as many chances and say yes to pretty much everything. I feel there may be some foreshadowing with that movie in the future in my own story. After those movies I watched Harry Potter for about an hour, felt I could get to sleep and bam I was out cold. Only problem was 10 minutes later the lights came back on and we were an hour away.
We landed in Lisbon at 8 a.m, customs took over an hour to get through the line, then the line for the informational desk and aerobus to the hostel took another hour, and finally around 11 I arrived. I wasn't able to check in til 2 (probably a good thing), so it forced me to walk through the city and stay awake. I was extremely dehydrated and had to pee, so I found a Mcdonalds to pee in (I have a non-American food and especially no fast food rule while here) and grabbed a water. I walked to the river, started taking some pictures and immediately got offered hash by 3 different men selling glasses. Being that I felt the need to say yes to everything, I quickly nixed that plan and got away from them. The architecture, statues, and general art around the city are real awesome. It is not hard to navigate either at least for me. The only bad part about coming now is with Easter it's high travel season leading to the city being a lot more crowded (public transportation during the day near impossible without waiting 20 minutes), places to visit having strange hours or being closed like most places will be on Sunday. I got myself some lunch around 1 knowing it'd go slowly and I had one more hour to kill. I went to a restaurant nearby and went with a seafood salad full of shrimp, clams, snails, octopus, crab some kind of cooked potato, lettuce and a million carrots. I was a fan, though I did get a weird look from the waitress. The problem is portugees is too much like Spanish, but they try so hard not to be that only half the words are actually Spanish. So the minimal Spanish I try speakin with people just get me a confused and dirty look. What's the point of stealing half a language??? Just use Spanish, you don't need a language! I did finally get down "Obrigado" for thanks, but I'm positive in 2 days that will just mess me up more.
The hostel itself is extremely nice, I'm expecting this to be the nicest of them all, it's nicer than some hotels, the beds are surprisingly comfortable and the bathrooms are clean. The location itself is right around the Rossio downtown area, one of the more popular places for restaurants etc. When I finally was able to check in around 2 p.m I came back so I could get more of a tour, use the bathroom, and get situated. I got to the room, tried to use the locker I was given, but it was impossible to lock. I wasn't going anywhere so I took a break from trying and decided to plug in my phone to charge. I take out my trust international plugs, do it up and eeek crazy spark. It wouldn't work and the light seemed to not turn on anymore. I assume the fuse blew in the room, my bad, I told the guy the lights weren't working and he fixed it about 5 minutes later so nobody has to know. From there I did more walking, I read the train station I needed to get to was 100m off the map I had. Apparently that map is for overweight people who need deception to force them to exercise. Forty minutes later and now knowing I will not be walking to this train station when I leave, I made a reservation to head to Madrid overnight on Sunday since it's real busy everywhere (and people get Monday off after Easter still). I started my walk back but after another 40 minutes started getting extremely hungry. I looked out for the best possible foods and right there in front of me with a bakery featuring these pastries with baked custard on top. They were called natas, worth trying. I knew that would hold me over until dinner. It was 6 p.m at that point, but dinner is a late night affair round these parts.
Got back to the hostel went to my room and finally had people in it to talk too. Spoke briefly with the 2 girls in the room, both on Spring Break while they study abroad. One goes to PSU, the other Southwestern, nice people, was good having a legit conversation with someone after 24 hours almost. They left after, I began to read for a bit. The hostel offers a cheap dinner each night and I figured it'd be a good way to meet people and may not be that bad of a meal. I read for about 20 minutes until I literally almost fell asleep on the seat I was reading. I knew there was only one resort to attempt to stay awake, espresso. I figured the shaking from the coffee would keep me going throughout the night, I just may scare everyone off. I ran to the nearest coffee house, too a shot of espresso and headed back. I was definitely shaky. Dinner came, I met a bunch of people, but mainly spoke with this woman from Switzerland with a British accent (she's never been there before, but even the people from London here thought she was, so I'm not just bad with accent guessing). We spoke a lot, she thought I was 18, I thought she was like 26. Turns out I'm 25 and she's 37. I then thought if my cousin Jordan can go for an older woman, I can too! Just kiddin. She challenged me to trivial pursuit, I thought I'd have a chance, but she's a law clerk in Zurich and apparently smarter, even in the American version. It was good to have real socialization though, stayed up with her and her friend she came with (who is 38, but also looks in her 20s, maybe they're lying). I went up talked with the two people actually in the room who weren't out, attempted to write in my personal journal and passed out while writing.
I won't bore you with too much more, I swear. Today I went on the tour with the Hostel of Lisbon. City was too busy to do things they intended, but was a good one nonetheless. I hung out with the people I met last night and spoke with this girl and her brother from the UK for most of it, very nice, and closer to my age. I had a full octopus for lunch (it was great, best I've had). The head semi-freaked me out, but I got over it and Octopi brains ain't bad. Went to a port tasting after and then the weather went downhill. Lisbon got cold and rainy, so we rushed back. Got some great photos from amazing highpoints in the city and saw the outside of one of their big castles. After the tour, came back here and then went out with the Swiss and her English friend from the night before. We went to a recommended Austrian coffee/cake place, then walked to a mini bar that specializes in a cherry drink called Ginja (a portuguese cherry brandy type deal) and had some seni-hard goat cheese from Portugal (I tried to find out the name, but the old women just kept saying it's goat cheese). After 2 drinks of the Ginja (took it as a shot the first time, apparently you sip it. Tasted like robitussin, semi disappointed I didn't start hallucinating to confirm it actually was). Went to dinner, had sting ray, it was good, but very boney. Then just headed back to the hostel where I'm bout to watch a movie with a couple of people. I'm still exhausted, jet laggin a bit. Longest update ever, going to Sintra tomorrow for the day (small city outside of Lisbon) and then Madrid Sunday night. Maybe I'll see you on Sunday when the city is shutdown before Madrid.
Thanks for stopping by and if you made it to the end, I know you really are a fan!
'BK
Monday, April 6, 2009
And now, I'm gone...
In less than 12 hours I'll be headed to New Jersey for a 3 hour layover en route to Lisbon to begin a journey of challenges, enlightenment, highs, and (hopefully minimal) lows. This was an extremely busy week filled with more goodbyes, attempts to pack, and thoughts racing through my mind. On Friday night there was a going away party, to all who were there thank you, it meant a lot. For the second time in my life I had a going away party, one was when I left my job at the Tigers and in both instances more people showed up than I could ever imagine. Makes me wonder, do people genuinely like and appreciate me or just love to see me leave. Just kidding, who doesn't love me. Over the weekend the final four commenced and although the final game result wasn't what I hoped for, the entire experience meant a lot to me. I've been to every major pro sporting event, but the environment, the Saturday game, and most importantly a weekend spent with my dad before I go puts it near the top.
And now here I am, a little more than 12 hours to go before heading off on the journey of a lifetime. I've had many mental ups and downs throughout the day including a solid case of IBS. I woke up with a terrified feeling of how real this is about to be. I think with the final four, and consistently being busy for the past 2 months I haven't had a day to truly grasp the concept of my journey. As the day went on and the shock began to wear off I became more comfortable with what lies ahead. As I spoke to people throughout the day and said more and more goodbyes I realized this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. From the beginning I'll be doing something I wouldn't have envisioned doing as little as 6 months ago. Life takes you on many small journeys that you can't control, but I finally know the ones you have the opportunity to create yourself shouldn't even be questioned.
I purchased a book of mainly poetry by singer/songwriter Ryan Adams for my journey, I've only read the foreword, but it's an explanation of why I enjoy writing.
"Once in a life, if a person chooses to go through these things, then maybe the act of writing them down could be a gift, so that others might know that should they suffer their romancers or their love of things, they're not alone."
As much as I want people to read what I'm doing, if you can take something out of this with me, the trip can only mean more. One of the greatest compliments I ever received was 5 years ago when someone randomly stumbled upon an old blog of mine and sent me an email telling me they never knew people felt the same in certain aspects of life. You just never know what is out there.
I'm very comfortable with my decision to take this chance, today went by slowly, but in a good way. The whole picture slowed down and now there's little to do, but get ready to step on that plane. I'm all packed (yet don't really know if it's too much or too little yet), have my travel books, notes, and information from those who have experienced firsthand traveling printed or memorized. I know I'll have forgotten something, probably minor that I won't even notice for a week, but I'm sure Europe can sell me whatever I lack. I bought my ticket to the Counting Crows concert in Dublin, no clue if I'll be able to make it there or not, but why not go for it.
I arrive in Lisbon 8:20 a.m on Thursday April 9th. No idea what time that is in other parts in the world, but that's when it all officially begins. Tomorrow will be a day full of flying, probably recycling many nervous thoughts in my mind throughout the day. I figure since I can barely sleep at home, the plane ride won't be much better. I intend on hitting the ground running, go to the hostel and begin seeing all that I can see. It probably won't be a late night, but no use getting off to a slow start. From Lisbon I'll head to Spain, then France, Amsterdam, Germany, and depending on timing places like Prague, Vienna, Switzerland, other parts of southern France, or Dublin will be explored. I finish in Italy and Greece, when I fly home May 27th.
I'll leave you with a picture of what I look like as I take on the world and go off the leash...
Maybe my face will age, maybe the 2 month beard and long hair will make me look like Donnie Whalberg in Saw IV, or maybe I'll just come back lookin the same, but I can't envision things being the same again.
And now here I am, a little more than 12 hours to go before heading off on the journey of a lifetime. I've had many mental ups and downs throughout the day including a solid case of IBS. I woke up with a terrified feeling of how real this is about to be. I think with the final four, and consistently being busy for the past 2 months I haven't had a day to truly grasp the concept of my journey. As the day went on and the shock began to wear off I became more comfortable with what lies ahead. As I spoke to people throughout the day and said more and more goodbyes I realized this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. From the beginning I'll be doing something I wouldn't have envisioned doing as little as 6 months ago. Life takes you on many small journeys that you can't control, but I finally know the ones you have the opportunity to create yourself shouldn't even be questioned.
I purchased a book of mainly poetry by singer/songwriter Ryan Adams for my journey, I've only read the foreword, but it's an explanation of why I enjoy writing.
"Once in a life, if a person chooses to go through these things, then maybe the act of writing them down could be a gift, so that others might know that should they suffer their romancers or their love of things, they're not alone."
As much as I want people to read what I'm doing, if you can take something out of this with me, the trip can only mean more. One of the greatest compliments I ever received was 5 years ago when someone randomly stumbled upon an old blog of mine and sent me an email telling me they never knew people felt the same in certain aspects of life. You just never know what is out there.
I'm very comfortable with my decision to take this chance, today went by slowly, but in a good way. The whole picture slowed down and now there's little to do, but get ready to step on that plane. I'm all packed (yet don't really know if it's too much or too little yet), have my travel books, notes, and information from those who have experienced firsthand traveling printed or memorized. I know I'll have forgotten something, probably minor that I won't even notice for a week, but I'm sure Europe can sell me whatever I lack. I bought my ticket to the Counting Crows concert in Dublin, no clue if I'll be able to make it there or not, but why not go for it.
I arrive in Lisbon 8:20 a.m on Thursday April 9th. No idea what time that is in other parts in the world, but that's when it all officially begins. Tomorrow will be a day full of flying, probably recycling many nervous thoughts in my mind throughout the day. I figure since I can barely sleep at home, the plane ride won't be much better. I intend on hitting the ground running, go to the hostel and begin seeing all that I can see. It probably won't be a late night, but no use getting off to a slow start. From Lisbon I'll head to Spain, then France, Amsterdam, Germany, and depending on timing places like Prague, Vienna, Switzerland, other parts of southern France, or Dublin will be explored. I finish in Italy and Greece, when I fly home May 27th.
I'll leave you with a picture of what I look like as I take on the world and go off the leash...
Maybe my face will age, maybe the 2 month beard and long hair will make me look like Donnie Whalberg in Saw IV, or maybe I'll just come back lookin the same, but I can't envision things being the same again.
I will try to be as honest as possible with events in the blog, so for those adults like my parents who aren't sure if they should be reading at certain points, maybe I'll throw in a disclaimer. Not that there's anything wrong with doin drugs, hookers, and sleepin on the street.
I asked the magic eight ball if this will be the best experience of my life, the response "It is certain."
Email me at BK5000@gmail.com, leave comments, or read silently, but I hope you enjoy yourselves as much as I.
-BK
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
One week to go
The goodbyes have begun, the anxiety levels have rapidly increased, and the amount of time originally free of obligations now throbs for extra minutes. This time next week I'll be panicking on a plane wondering if skipping Passover Seder was really worth flying to Europe for. Just kidding about that part, but foreign languages, unfamiliar transportation, and being alone for 2 months with only my thoughts (the scariest of all) may be crossing my mind over the Atlantic. I'm still not packed, but have taken a trip around the neighborhood with 20 pounds of weights loaded into a backpack. I've come up with a list of the top 4 hostels per city that I will attempt to stay at, and come up with a rough sketch of things I'd like to see in each city. I have become more fearful of the limited amount of time I have to see everything I want. On paper the idea of 13 cities in 50 days sounds fantastic, but train times, sites, day trips, the people, the costs, and the truly unknown may shrink the list. I want to see as much as possible, but I want to prevent the trapped and structured feeling that I have to see certain things or go to certain cities before the end.
There are only two definite places, Lisbon because I start there and Athens because I fly home from there. The goal is to see definitely see the following cities in addition to those two: Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Rome. With those cities I hope to have at least one day trip to a nearby smaller town while visiting that particular area.
Additional cities at the top of my list include: Dublin, Venice, Florence, Prague, Vienna. These cities are also part of the main plan and may include day trips themselves. They are up there on the high priority list and if the rarity of plans actually seems to sail smoothly these all should be destinations at some point.
Additional cities and places I'd like to/would consider venturing to based on time, people I've met with, and mood of the day: Interlaken, Greek Isles, Sevilla, Nice.
I believe some cities that don't appear above will be added, while others disappear from all lists as the trip continues. My want to explore different styles of European life, escape certain areas, try the suggested food of an obscure small town, or following the path of a cute girl I met at a hostel (kidding, probably) will all factor into the final outline.
I've begun the process of toughening up my thoughts, preparing myself for challenges, and focusing on the task ahead. It's not that I don't think I can survive, but I feel in a situation like this I can be my best friend, worst enemy, and guide. Whether it's a coincidence or something more I'm the dude who has been able to use sports to help gain the proper tough mindset as the Michigan State basketball team with all their talk has helped mold my mind with a clearer look at the focus necessary to make things great. It may sound cheesy, but their run to the final four coinciding with my preparation has been a tremendous aid. Of course my final few days here could only be garnered perfect with the National Championship, but it's been an incredible journey that I'm glad I could take additional lessons.
Speaking of universities I have officially let the University of Wisconsin know they have a new student in fall 2009. I probably won't be able to find a place until June, move until August, or meet more than a few people til October, but it's what I had to do. I never heard from Maryland or Colorado, which doesn't bother me at all, helping me think I made the right decision.
As for the new design of this blog, I have received complaints that the white writing on black background has caused hallucinations and the ability to see my blog at all times during the day so I decided to be a man of the people and change it, but just this once. Depending on how many drugs I do in Amsterdam, however, the color scheme may change for my enjoyment (j slash k). Anyway, although this is another short entry, I don't envision getting used to them. I plan on extensive food reviews, city and sight reviews, the pontifications of Benjie Klein, and whatever else pops in my head. I'll mention this again next week in my final before I leave entry, but please email me while I am gone, BK5000@gmail.com. I will respond to you personally, however, I will not be initiating any email conversations, so if you want to talk to me drop me a line there or leave a comment here and if you need something I'll let you know.
Hope you all enjoy the new background if you complain again I hunt you down.
Benjamin Klein
There are only two definite places, Lisbon because I start there and Athens because I fly home from there. The goal is to see definitely see the following cities in addition to those two: Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Rome. With those cities I hope to have at least one day trip to a nearby smaller town while visiting that particular area.
Additional cities at the top of my list include: Dublin, Venice, Florence, Prague, Vienna. These cities are also part of the main plan and may include day trips themselves. They are up there on the high priority list and if the rarity of plans actually seems to sail smoothly these all should be destinations at some point.
Additional cities and places I'd like to/would consider venturing to based on time, people I've met with, and mood of the day: Interlaken, Greek Isles, Sevilla, Nice.
I believe some cities that don't appear above will be added, while others disappear from all lists as the trip continues. My want to explore different styles of European life, escape certain areas, try the suggested food of an obscure small town, or following the path of a cute girl I met at a hostel (kidding, probably) will all factor into the final outline.
I've begun the process of toughening up my thoughts, preparing myself for challenges, and focusing on the task ahead. It's not that I don't think I can survive, but I feel in a situation like this I can be my best friend, worst enemy, and guide. Whether it's a coincidence or something more I'm the dude who has been able to use sports to help gain the proper tough mindset as the Michigan State basketball team with all their talk has helped mold my mind with a clearer look at the focus necessary to make things great. It may sound cheesy, but their run to the final four coinciding with my preparation has been a tremendous aid. Of course my final few days here could only be garnered perfect with the National Championship, but it's been an incredible journey that I'm glad I could take additional lessons.
Speaking of universities I have officially let the University of Wisconsin know they have a new student in fall 2009. I probably won't be able to find a place until June, move until August, or meet more than a few people til October, but it's what I had to do. I never heard from Maryland or Colorado, which doesn't bother me at all, helping me think I made the right decision.
As for the new design of this blog, I have received complaints that the white writing on black background has caused hallucinations and the ability to see my blog at all times during the day so I decided to be a man of the people and change it, but just this once. Depending on how many drugs I do in Amsterdam, however, the color scheme may change for my enjoyment (j slash k). Anyway, although this is another short entry, I don't envision getting used to them. I plan on extensive food reviews, city and sight reviews, the pontifications of Benjie Klein, and whatever else pops in my head. I'll mention this again next week in my final before I leave entry, but please email me while I am gone, BK5000@gmail.com. I will respond to you personally, however, I will not be initiating any email conversations, so if you want to talk to me drop me a line there or leave a comment here and if you need something I'll let you know.
Hope you all enjoy the new background if you complain again I hunt you down.
Benjamin Klein
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