First of all, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!
The last two weeks were wonderful. I lounged in a car, snacked, and lazily watched the countryside out the window. I didn't have to worry about how or when we were getting where we were going. Of course, it being a D'Agostino trip, there was also a fair amount of last-minute scrambling for everything from dinner reservations to ghost tours to ticket scrounging for plays in London. Not to mention the natural tensions that arise when six people are crammed in a car for seven hours. It was fantastic. I say that without a grain of sarcasm. For one thing, gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous weather. That's right, three gorgeous'. We also stayed in lovely lovely hotels (exponentially decadent by comparison to the hostels I've been surviving in) and we saw beautiful scenery and we hit all the major attractions everywhere we went. Megan might argue that we missed one: New Look, a cheap but fashionable superstore here.
A review:
Wednesday, April 13: Meet-up day
Early solo train Glasgow to London (finally got my picture of platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross! A very bemused guard showed me the way).
Portrait Gallery (which helped me finally get the correct sequence of the English monarchy in my head).
An inventive dinner at Heathrow while waiting for Nana and Papa to arrive (it consisted of a plain baked potato from a airport fast-food venue, and raw peppers and ready-to-eat chicken from the grocery store).
Thursday, 4/14: A stroll with Nana
Kensington Gardens
Kensington Palace (a fairytale of a palace, designed for kids and immature adults like me to enjoy).
The Victoria and Albert Museum (complete with a Rodin exhibit and a coffee break)
Harrods (a simultaneously terrifying and captivating experience)
Lovely pub dinner
Quick dip in the hotel pool (first swim I've had in five months!)
Friday, 4/15: A tour bus and three stops
Starbucks breakfast too early in the morning to have been properly awake
Warwick Castle (complete with costumed staff members and medieval food-carts)
Stratford upon Avon (the birthplace of shakespeare! and a very pleasant little town).
Pub Lunch the White Hart
Christ Church College in Oxford (I now know where I'd study if I could go anywhere in the world. Think of how many secret passageways!)
A repeated pub dinner (good once, good again!)
Saturday, 4/16: The rest of the clan arrives! Minus Kerry. (Who we missed very much throughout the trip).
A solo run to the British Museum (I'll be back there again, considering I saw...10 percent of it? 5?)
Mom, Dad, and Meg meet with us at the hotel
Starbucks lunch (gluten free sandwhiches and pastries! Yet another reason to love it.)
Hampton Court Palace (where I successfully intrigued Megan into listening to me lecture on the wives of Henry XIII!)
Resort outside London, down a backroad. I don't remember any of the hotel names, but this one had a pretty garden that we strolled in.)
Sunday, 4/17: The drive to Edinburgh
A stop for an introduction to Marks and Spencer and Costa, two of my favorite UK chain food places, for roadside picnic essentials.
Dinner at the Witchery next to Edinburgh Castle (gluten free veggie lasagna!)
Monday, 4/18: Edinburgh Exploration
The Castle (third times a charm!)
Mary Kings Close (third time there as well!)
A People's Story Museum
Dinner at Bella Italia (it's remarkable how much of our trip surrounded gluten free eateries...the pizza was delicious!)
Tuesday, 4/19: Glasgow!
Botanic Gardens
A Play, A Pie, and a Pint (just a tiny bit scandalous...and by that I mean I now actually hold the most-inappropriate-play-finder crown instead of my dad.)
Introduction to the Old Campus of the University
A tour of the Glasgow School of Art
Dinner at La Tasca (mmm)
A sprint for a late night ghost tour in Edinburgh (which I was relieved to find wasn't as scary as the one Kerry and Ariana and I did).
Wednesday, 4/20: to Inverness!
A quick stop in Edinburgh to simultaneously visit St. Giles Cathedral, win a parking ticket battle, and get a free juice smoothie. How is that for efficiency?
Drive to Inverness
Loch Ness Exhibition Center (does Nessie exist? After 11 display rooms, you get a nice big literal question mark.)
3 Island Walk on the River Ness (A big hit with Mom, Nana, and Meg! Mom and Nana for the scenery, Megan for the dozens of dogs frolicking in the gorgeous weather.)
Dinner at "The Mustard Seed" (funny how I remember restaurant names, but not hotel names. Or people's names, for the matter).
A sprint to catch the last 20 minutes at the pool. Mmhm jacuzzi.
Thursday, 4/21: To the Lake District!
Megan got her scenic horse gallop while the rest of us saw Urquhart Castle
A drive through Loch Lomond (so pretty! If I can muster the energy, that is a last day trip I want to make.)
A quick stop in Glasgow for me to unload some more excess crud I've acquired on my family
Dinner at "Three Fat Ladies" in Glasgow- fun place.
Late late arrival in the Lake District. One potential near catastrophe involved dark, windy, narrow roads and a poorly lit quarry).
Friday, 4/22: To London!
Scenic drive out of the Lake District (sailboats and sun and rapeseed fields- bright yellow flowers).
Lunch in York at "El Piano"- a wholly gluten free spanish/mexican restaurant!!! Complete with GF carrot cake desert!
Dropping off Nana and Papa
Racing the clock to get to London and find tickets to a play with twenty minutes until start time. But, since we are the D'Agostino's, success! Dirty Dancing. Really really enjoyable. As was the ice cream we got after.
Saturday, 4/23: A Partial Parting of the Ways
A quick walk along the river with Megan and Mom, with coffee in hand
I caught my train for York, and the other three headed for Heathrow
After some confusion on both ends, I found Nana and Papa and Mom, Dad, and Meg found New York.
Dinner at the "New York Grill" (I didn't even get the York-New York relation until Nana pointed it out)
Sunday, 4/24: Easter!
A dress up day! I love dress up days.
Mass at 11
Picnic lunch along the river Ouse
The Railway Museum
Evensong at Minster Cathedral
Dinner at the Old White Swan (pub dating back to 16th century, home to multiple ghosts and host to the world's tallest man- 8 feet- in the 1700s.)
Folk Music at the Anglican Parish Church (yes, that's three masses in one day!)
Monday, 4/25: York exploration day
The Castle Museum- completely recreated Victorian and Georgian rooms, streets, and newspapers. Very well done. Also a section on the 60s and a tour of the old castle jail. Well deserving of Rick Steves' three stars.
Lunch in the sun
Solo trip to the Yorkshire Museum (with a little added time for sun-basking and coffee-drinking).
Exploring the Shambles (and finding some very cool shops nestled into the haphazard winding cobbled ways)
Final dinner at the New York Grill
Tuesday, 4/26: Mom's birthday! And a final parting of the ways.
After a quick early-morning train-station breakfast, Nana and Papa headed to London and I to Glasgow.
I got in midafternoon, and I've kind of been futzing around since then. I'm not quite sure what to do with myself, but I'm thinking the finals glaring on the horizon should probably start factoring into my plans.
But I'll deal with that tomorrow. For now, a shower and some tv are sounding pretty good.
Pooh quote: "While you wonder what to do, sing a song."
Much love,
Erin
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
A month in review
Alright so the pics are en route to facebook as we speak. And, by that I mean, as I write and hope someone is reading. I say that because I know that my most loyal fans (that's a shout-out to you, nana and papa!) are otherwise occupied currently getting ready for their trans-atlantic trip to visit me. Hurray! I'm meeting them tomorrow night at Heathrow. Ahh! Then the rest of the family (Kerry excluded, because she's too much of a nerd to skip her lame classes for a week). Whatever it's only Harvard.
Anyway I'm uploading the pics, categorized by city. I'm intending to go through them and label them more specifically, but let's see how determined I end up being. And by that I mean how much caffeine I get into my system. Despite the fact that I've spent the last 3 days lazing in the periodic scottish sun and doing nothing, I still manage to find myself procrastinating.
So, a profile on each of the major cities (just my crazy perspective, mind you):
Glasgow: a "real" city. It's got grit under its fingernails because it's seen a hard days work. The personification that comes to mind is kind of like an old man with gnarled hands and missing teeth, but friendly and with a wicked sense of humor. Also totally unintelligible with that thick scottish accent. Not a tourist city. It's got a busy-purposeful vibe. And a colorful vibrancy. Cf. New York City.
Edinburgh: a pretty little city. Charming and friendly. A lovely place to visit or to go to high tea or to explore. Below the touristy facade is a rich history, with street sewage as well as gold filigree. Castles and closes. A great place to get lost. Cf. Florence.
Paris: A lovely mixture of cosmopolitan verve and quaint antiquity. Cute little cafes and grand boulevards. Clean cut functionality and windowsills teeming with homegrown flowers. A people that walk the fine line between aloof and urban-purposeful. Cf. Rome, Barcelona.
Berlin: German. Functional-efficient-clean-industrious. But also very pretty as a result. Spacious. A people with a social conscience (world war II inherited guilt?). Germans don't litter, J-walk, or cat-call. Below the surface, that awesome artsy vibe. Back alley wall graffiti and artist communes. Cf. Glasgow.
Prague: Delightfully touristy. Winding cobbled streets and lamp-posts and flowerboxes. Castle turrets around every corner. A souvenir city, but one perfectly designed as one. Friendly people and great history and great art. Cf. Florence.
Barcelona: A multi level city. The touristy "ramblas" and the beach scene and the fantastic museums and the cobbled backalleys and the fashionista boulevards and the Gaudi insanity and the nightclubs and the tapas elegance. A city with a literal pace of its own (eat absurdly late and up absurdly late, with a siesta to make it humanly possible). At once fun, sophisticated, historic, and modern. Seriously chill people. Cf. Paris.
Favorite cities: Paris and Barcelona.
Favorite (most relatable) people: the French. They're just so COOL.
Okay off to finish up with the pictures!
Later gators!
Much love,
Erin
Anyway I'm uploading the pics, categorized by city. I'm intending to go through them and label them more specifically, but let's see how determined I end up being. And by that I mean how much caffeine I get into my system. Despite the fact that I've spent the last 3 days lazing in the periodic scottish sun and doing nothing, I still manage to find myself procrastinating.
So, a profile on each of the major cities (just my crazy perspective, mind you):
Glasgow: a "real" city. It's got grit under its fingernails because it's seen a hard days work. The personification that comes to mind is kind of like an old man with gnarled hands and missing teeth, but friendly and with a wicked sense of humor. Also totally unintelligible with that thick scottish accent. Not a tourist city. It's got a busy-purposeful vibe. And a colorful vibrancy. Cf. New York City.
Edinburgh: a pretty little city. Charming and friendly. A lovely place to visit or to go to high tea or to explore. Below the touristy facade is a rich history, with street sewage as well as gold filigree. Castles and closes. A great place to get lost. Cf. Florence.
Paris: A lovely mixture of cosmopolitan verve and quaint antiquity. Cute little cafes and grand boulevards. Clean cut functionality and windowsills teeming with homegrown flowers. A people that walk the fine line between aloof and urban-purposeful. Cf. Rome, Barcelona.
Berlin: German. Functional-efficient-clean-industrious. But also very pretty as a result. Spacious. A people with a social conscience (world war II inherited guilt?). Germans don't litter, J-walk, or cat-call. Below the surface, that awesome artsy vibe. Back alley wall graffiti and artist communes. Cf. Glasgow.
Prague: Delightfully touristy. Winding cobbled streets and lamp-posts and flowerboxes. Castle turrets around every corner. A souvenir city, but one perfectly designed as one. Friendly people and great history and great art. Cf. Florence.
Barcelona: A multi level city. The touristy "ramblas" and the beach scene and the fantastic museums and the cobbled backalleys and the fashionista boulevards and the Gaudi insanity and the nightclubs and the tapas elegance. A city with a literal pace of its own (eat absurdly late and up absurdly late, with a siesta to make it humanly possible). At once fun, sophisticated, historic, and modern. Seriously chill people. Cf. Paris.
Favorite cities: Paris and Barcelona.
Favorite (most relatable) people: the French. They're just so COOL.
Okay off to finish up with the pictures!
Later gators!
Much love,
Erin
Friday, April 8, 2011
Gawking in Glasgow
Today, I got off the plane and found myself in complete, uninhibited sunshine. In glasgow. It's like I've come back to Glasgow with a face-lift. Spring has sprung! It was about 60 degrees and so lovely that there were ice cream advertisements outside of shops! And tables for outdoor seating! I had my first iced coffee in scotland today!
It was a very welcoming experience, I actually felt like I was coming home. Got back to my cozy little room in time for dinner at the dining hall (which wasn't empty! I sat with some of the scottish kids that apparently don't go home for the month).
Also the sun only just went down officially. It's 8:30 pm. I went outside and read on the lawn for a while AFTER DINNER. Scotland may have a disgusting winter, but it knows how to do spring.
Oh- as for a quick review: Yesterday evening I did manage to meet up with primo and tommy, though all three of us only had enough time to do Parc Guell together, after which primo ran to class and tommy and I had a very funny fake-date tapas dinner. I totally immasculinated him by paying for both of us with my credit card (after which he paid me his portion). Parc Guell was incredible- Gaudi at his most insane. Undulating mosaic arches and columns intentionally put ever-so-slightly askew and towering views over all of Barcelona. Also the world's longest bench! Who knew? And the tapas dinner was DELICIOUS! We got one plate of artfully stacked eggplant, peppers, and goat cheese that was pretty much the most scrumptious thing I've ever eaten in my life. Also I don't know if I've ever used the world scrumptious in my entire life...first time for everything, I guess!
This morning I woke up bright and early so that I would have enough time for a last trip to the market and a walk to find the infamous "Barceloneta" or beach section, which I had yet to visit. I walked about an hour with my enormous hiking bag on, which was not fun, but I did make it there! And still caught my bus to the airport. Success.
Oh, sidebar. I flew ryanair today, which is always slightly stressful. They can be very very finicky, shall we say, about what bags they allow on board and which restrictions they are going to randomly enforce. I was carrying two bags (my giant hiking bag and my purse), which is more than the alotted one-bag-per-person. So, my brilliant idea was to hide my purse under my big snowboarding jacket. It has worked before perfectly. Only problem? I wasn't waiting in line outside in 80 degree weather before. In the open sun. It was a truly rough 20 minutes.
Anyway my plan for the rest of the night is to sit back and chill. Watch some tv- TV! Haven't done that in AGES. I'll start working on updating the pictures tomorrow.
Pooh quote (now that I've got my little book again!): "Like Rabbit, never let things come to you, always go out and fetch them."
Much love,
Erin
It was a very welcoming experience, I actually felt like I was coming home. Got back to my cozy little room in time for dinner at the dining hall (which wasn't empty! I sat with some of the scottish kids that apparently don't go home for the month).
Also the sun only just went down officially. It's 8:30 pm. I went outside and read on the lawn for a while AFTER DINNER. Scotland may have a disgusting winter, but it knows how to do spring.
Oh- as for a quick review: Yesterday evening I did manage to meet up with primo and tommy, though all three of us only had enough time to do Parc Guell together, after which primo ran to class and tommy and I had a very funny fake-date tapas dinner. I totally immasculinated him by paying for both of us with my credit card (after which he paid me his portion). Parc Guell was incredible- Gaudi at his most insane. Undulating mosaic arches and columns intentionally put ever-so-slightly askew and towering views over all of Barcelona. Also the world's longest bench! Who knew? And the tapas dinner was DELICIOUS! We got one plate of artfully stacked eggplant, peppers, and goat cheese that was pretty much the most scrumptious thing I've ever eaten in my life. Also I don't know if I've ever used the world scrumptious in my entire life...first time for everything, I guess!
This morning I woke up bright and early so that I would have enough time for a last trip to the market and a walk to find the infamous "Barceloneta" or beach section, which I had yet to visit. I walked about an hour with my enormous hiking bag on, which was not fun, but I did make it there! And still caught my bus to the airport. Success.
Oh, sidebar. I flew ryanair today, which is always slightly stressful. They can be very very finicky, shall we say, about what bags they allow on board and which restrictions they are going to randomly enforce. I was carrying two bags (my giant hiking bag and my purse), which is more than the alotted one-bag-per-person. So, my brilliant idea was to hide my purse under my big snowboarding jacket. It has worked before perfectly. Only problem? I wasn't waiting in line outside in 80 degree weather before. In the open sun. It was a truly rough 20 minutes.
Anyway my plan for the rest of the night is to sit back and chill. Watch some tv- TV! Haven't done that in AGES. I'll start working on updating the pictures tomorrow.
Pooh quote (now that I've got my little book again!): "Like Rabbit, never let things come to you, always go out and fetch them."
Much love,
Erin
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Burning in Barcelona
Yeah, it finally happened. Ive been here for four days and it took until today for me to finally get sunburned. Not too too bad, only one arm is really painful. Go figure.
Anyway this is actually an odd time for me to be blogging- around 5:15 pm here. The only reason I am is because I'm waiting for Tommy and primo so we can have our final evening in Barcelona together. A bit stressful when primo has class at seven. Not that basking in the sun outside the hostel is really such a tragedy.
Today (especially compared to yesterday) was extremely relaxing. Went to the market, explored some more, walked down to the pier, sketched a bit, then met primo for a trip to the chocolate museum- yum!- then meandered my way back to the hostel.
Took me four days but I may have achieved just a bit of spanish-ness. Let's see how long that lasts- laziness doesn't exactly run in my bloodstream.
When the boys get here the plan is to head up to parc Guell, which gaudi designed. I'm excited! Then hopefully a tapas dinner. Mm.
Tomorrow morning back to Glasgow! Be back by dinner! Haven't had baked potato in forever! I'm actually starting to miss is a little.
Later!
Much love,
Erin
Anyway this is actually an odd time for me to be blogging- around 5:15 pm here. The only reason I am is because I'm waiting for Tommy and primo so we can have our final evening in Barcelona together. A bit stressful when primo has class at seven. Not that basking in the sun outside the hostel is really such a tragedy.
Today (especially compared to yesterday) was extremely relaxing. Went to the market, explored some more, walked down to the pier, sketched a bit, then met primo for a trip to the chocolate museum- yum!- then meandered my way back to the hostel.
Took me four days but I may have achieved just a bit of spanish-ness. Let's see how long that lasts- laziness doesn't exactly run in my bloodstream.
When the boys get here the plan is to head up to parc Guell, which gaudi designed. I'm excited! Then hopefully a tapas dinner. Mm.
Tomorrow morning back to Glasgow! Be back by dinner! Haven't had baked potato in forever! I'm actually starting to miss is a little.
Later!
Much love,
Erin
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Bumbling in Barcelona
Twice in the last two days I've been a complete idiot and bumbled my way through this beautiful city, and twice now I've been one lucky idiot.
Incident number 1: it's not as great so I'll get it out of the way. Basically, I ended up walked in a giant triangle around the entire city. Down the whole ramblas to the beach, then across and up into the montjuic parc, then down the gran via all the way to la sagrada familia cathedral. It's worth looking at a map to see what that epic bumble looks like.
Incident number 2: Waiting to meet primo outside of the city museum, I ate my lunch and enjoyed the sun. Simple, right? Wrong. Looked down and realized my beautiful beautiful camera had vanished. Instant panic. For future reference, I'm do not keep my head in a chaotic situation. I ran to the museum. No luck. Ran back to my lunch spot. No luck. Realized that the only thing I'd done in the space between was throw out my lunch. I had THROWN OUT my gorgeous memory filled camera. Except, it wasn't there. At this point I burst into tears. Then a group of Spanish schoolchildren started tapping me on the shoulder and jabbering in Spanish excitedly. I was totally gone at this point, so it wasn't until one of them in the back ran up, waving my dear camera aloft, that I understood. They found my camera in the trash, and waited to give it back. I was so ecstatic that they got infected with my energy and one of them started to cheer. And because one of them did, all of them started to. Including the rest of the schoolchildren in the yard, probably not having any idea what they were cheering for. Yeah. No kidding.
After that I went and gave all my change to st. Rita, patron saint of hopeless causes.
Anyway. The rest of my day(s).
Yesterday (Tuesday):
Boqueria market and the discovery of DELICIOUS spinach dishes to grab for lunch and INSANELY GOOD fresh coconut/banana juice. Amazing. Almost overdosed on fruit yesterday...had like 8 or 9 pieces, total.
Discovery of some cool back alley shops
Museum of city life. Barcelona's formative history in a series of empires: native peoples to roman to Visigoth to moors (cordoba) to carolingian. Cool museum (roman ruins under the cathedral).
Camera trauma followed by restoration of faith in humanity.
Quick stop at some roman ruins
Scarf purchase- blue and green!
Picasso Museum: AWESOME. Loving the mariquitas (that's totally not spelled right at all) because they delineate the segue from academic classicism to cubist craziness.
Coffee outside in the sun
Santa Maria del mar- surprisigly big!
Met w Tommy and primo and study abroad cohort for Indian food
Today (Wednesday):
Exact repeat of boqueria stop for tasty fruit and lunch. As in, they remembered me for how excited I was about the coconut banana drink. Yeah, I'm that cool.
Bumbling walk to montjuic- oh included in the bumble was a hunt for the "font de cat" which i discovered after 45 minutes was, in fact, about 5 feet across with a little cats head in the middle and served as an advertising gimmick for a little cafe in the middle of a giant garden.
The musei national del art Catalan- fantastic. In a incredible old palace with arching stadium sized rooms, no decoration beyond white marble floors and enormous windows. Great collection- represented everything from about 1300 to 1950- and all barcelonan artists! New faves: casas and ribera.
2 hour walk across the city, desperately searching for iced coffee (aka Starbucks, nobody else does it!) along the way. Eventually gave up and stopped at a cafe. Walked out, turned a corner, and naturally found a Starbucks 15 feet away.
La sagrada familia: my jaw actually dropped open on walking inside. Like an absurd little cartoon. I was expecting the crazy architecture, but nothing prepared me for the colors. The streaming multicolored light that just set everything in the cathedral alive. It was unlike and beyond anything I've ever seen before.
Walked back and met Tommy and primo for dinner in the bohemian quarter of the city. Had a nice cafe-on-cute-little-plaza meal while watching dogs play.
I love Barcelona.
One more day, then back to Glasgow!
Much love,
Erin
Incident number 1: it's not as great so I'll get it out of the way. Basically, I ended up walked in a giant triangle around the entire city. Down the whole ramblas to the beach, then across and up into the montjuic parc, then down the gran via all the way to la sagrada familia cathedral. It's worth looking at a map to see what that epic bumble looks like.
Incident number 2: Waiting to meet primo outside of the city museum, I ate my lunch and enjoyed the sun. Simple, right? Wrong. Looked down and realized my beautiful beautiful camera had vanished. Instant panic. For future reference, I'm do not keep my head in a chaotic situation. I ran to the museum. No luck. Ran back to my lunch spot. No luck. Realized that the only thing I'd done in the space between was throw out my lunch. I had THROWN OUT my gorgeous memory filled camera. Except, it wasn't there. At this point I burst into tears. Then a group of Spanish schoolchildren started tapping me on the shoulder and jabbering in Spanish excitedly. I was totally gone at this point, so it wasn't until one of them in the back ran up, waving my dear camera aloft, that I understood. They found my camera in the trash, and waited to give it back. I was so ecstatic that they got infected with my energy and one of them started to cheer. And because one of them did, all of them started to. Including the rest of the schoolchildren in the yard, probably not having any idea what they were cheering for. Yeah. No kidding.
After that I went and gave all my change to st. Rita, patron saint of hopeless causes.
Anyway. The rest of my day(s).
Yesterday (Tuesday):
Boqueria market and the discovery of DELICIOUS spinach dishes to grab for lunch and INSANELY GOOD fresh coconut/banana juice. Amazing. Almost overdosed on fruit yesterday...had like 8 or 9 pieces, total.
Discovery of some cool back alley shops
Museum of city life. Barcelona's formative history in a series of empires: native peoples to roman to Visigoth to moors (cordoba) to carolingian. Cool museum (roman ruins under the cathedral).
Camera trauma followed by restoration of faith in humanity.
Quick stop at some roman ruins
Scarf purchase- blue and green!
Picasso Museum: AWESOME. Loving the mariquitas (that's totally not spelled right at all) because they delineate the segue from academic classicism to cubist craziness.
Coffee outside in the sun
Santa Maria del mar- surprisigly big!
Met w Tommy and primo and study abroad cohort for Indian food
Today (Wednesday):
Exact repeat of boqueria stop for tasty fruit and lunch. As in, they remembered me for how excited I was about the coconut banana drink. Yeah, I'm that cool.
Bumbling walk to montjuic- oh included in the bumble was a hunt for the "font de cat" which i discovered after 45 minutes was, in fact, about 5 feet across with a little cats head in the middle and served as an advertising gimmick for a little cafe in the middle of a giant garden.
The musei national del art Catalan- fantastic. In a incredible old palace with arching stadium sized rooms, no decoration beyond white marble floors and enormous windows. Great collection- represented everything from about 1300 to 1950- and all barcelonan artists! New faves: casas and ribera.
2 hour walk across the city, desperately searching for iced coffee (aka Starbucks, nobody else does it!) along the way. Eventually gave up and stopped at a cafe. Walked out, turned a corner, and naturally found a Starbucks 15 feet away.
La sagrada familia: my jaw actually dropped open on walking inside. Like an absurd little cartoon. I was expecting the crazy architecture, but nothing prepared me for the colors. The streaming multicolored light that just set everything in the cathedral alive. It was unlike and beyond anything I've ever seen before.
Walked back and met Tommy and primo for dinner in the bohemian quarter of the city. Had a nice cafe-on-cute-little-plaza meal while watching dogs play.
I love Barcelona.
One more day, then back to Glasgow!
Much love,
Erin
Monday, April 4, 2011
Basking in Barcelona
Sun sun sun! The weather here is beyond beautiful. I wore a skirt without tights today for the first time in months and I was a little traumatized by seeing my own pasty whiteness. Oh, Irish heritage.
Anyway, today (Monday):
Rick steves handy-dandy self guided tour from the placa de catalunya to Barcelona cathedral, which was great except for the whole tourist-to-the-extreme part where I literally walked with the book open.
Barcelona cathedral- gothic and massive. Factoid: the patron saint if Barcelona is eulalia, who at age 13 was tortured 13 times by the Romans, and never gave up her faith. It is for this incredibly morbid reason that the cathedral hosts 13 real geese in the cloisters.
Casa mila- gaudis last (and arguably most insane) house. It was basically like walking into a surrealist painting. Or a dream. Everything is undulating and whimsical (apparently studiously based on items of nature, like bones and vines and pine cones). Very very cool. Plus I discovered that he was part of the art nuveau movement, aka a contemporary of mucha (my buddy from Prague)! Gotta love the continuities.
Rick steves walk down the ramblas to the ocean- markets and vendors galore! I stopped at the boqueria market and got delicious delicious strawberries for 1 euro. I think I'll try to find lunch there tomorrow.
Met up with primo and Tommy for a local dinner. The reason we knew it was a local place, going in at 7:30 they were just firing up the kitchen.
Oh and funny sidestory for today: I got a salad at a backalley place for lunch, and I walked in and panicked at the language barrier. I started by asking "parli englese?" which is Italian, and then after ordering in rough, rough Spanish, responded "oui" to whether I wanted to take it away. Then I said "sorry"! Four languages. Such a failure. My brain is very very confused.
So that's today. Tomorrow, the Picasso museum!
Much love,
Erin
Anyway, today (Monday):
Rick steves handy-dandy self guided tour from the placa de catalunya to Barcelona cathedral, which was great except for the whole tourist-to-the-extreme part where I literally walked with the book open.
Barcelona cathedral- gothic and massive. Factoid: the patron saint if Barcelona is eulalia, who at age 13 was tortured 13 times by the Romans, and never gave up her faith. It is for this incredibly morbid reason that the cathedral hosts 13 real geese in the cloisters.
Casa mila- gaudis last (and arguably most insane) house. It was basically like walking into a surrealist painting. Or a dream. Everything is undulating and whimsical (apparently studiously based on items of nature, like bones and vines and pine cones). Very very cool. Plus I discovered that he was part of the art nuveau movement, aka a contemporary of mucha (my buddy from Prague)! Gotta love the continuities.
Rick steves walk down the ramblas to the ocean- markets and vendors galore! I stopped at the boqueria market and got delicious delicious strawberries for 1 euro. I think I'll try to find lunch there tomorrow.
Met up with primo and Tommy for a local dinner. The reason we knew it was a local place, going in at 7:30 they were just firing up the kitchen.
Oh and funny sidestory for today: I got a salad at a backalley place for lunch, and I walked in and panicked at the language barrier. I started by asking "parli englese?" which is Italian, and then after ordering in rough, rough Spanish, responded "oui" to whether I wanted to take it away. Then I said "sorry"! Four languages. Such a failure. My brain is very very confused.
So that's today. Tomorrow, the Picasso museum!
Much love,
Erin
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Prancing through Praha
I am just killing with these blog titles. Awesome. Anyway where did I leave off? Thursday night? Okay- Friday Saturday Sunday. Let's go.
Friday:
Early solo trip to the museum of medieval art and a walk along the river. Of note: a bunch of albrecht durers and a couple Lucas Cranach the elders
Met up with tommy and primo for a walking tour of Prague (in sequence: old town square and astronomical clock, new town; wencleslas square, jewish quarter, Charles bridge, powder tower)
Lunch in the main square
The Jewish quarter synagogues. Of note: the Jewish idea of medicine as being a divine calling, and the exhibit of childrens drawings from the holocaust. The latter was incredibly powerful- and so devastatingly normal. Drawings of normal life (suns, houses, families) despite horrendous conditions. Really powerful.
Coffee at the Franz Kafka cafe (Rick Steve sanctioned!)
Chill time at the hostel for primo and Tommy, hungry time for me. Apparently in Barcelona they routinely don't eat till 10pm. Not cool.
Late but delicious delicious dinner
Bar for a couple of drinks
Saturday:
Solo morning walk: a peek into the municipal building concert hall, then to the mucha museum. INSTANT LOVE. Alfons mucha founded the art nuveau (sp?) movement and
I love the work. So cool. Then a quick stop at the "finest chocolate store in Praha" and a surrepticious stop at starbucks. They dont do takeaway coffee anywhere else!
Woke Tommy and primo up, then off to st Nicholas cathedral- pretty baroque church
Yummy grilled vegetable lunch
Prague castle! St vitus's cathedral (with it's mucha stained glass window) then the royal palace (with it's history of jousting in the main hall and apparently perfectly legal defenestrations) then st georges basilica (dating back to 990) and then some great panoramic views of the city. And some sun worshiping.
Oh also we tried and failed to catch the changing of the guards. Twice.
Quick hostel stop
"Aspects of Alice" blacklight theatre production- weird weird weird but very technically cool. Artsy to the extreme. Maybe the high-on-absynth extreme.
Sunday (today):
Lady Tyn cathedral
A unsuccessful hunt for Ungelt Garden
Successful souvenir shopping
Successful catching of plane
Check in to awesomely central hostel and quick dinner
In sum: Prague was gorgeous. Old and cobbled and pulsing with history. And tourists. I would have liked to get a bit further past the gold-plated exterior and more into the funky boho art thing (mucha inspired) but I guess that will have to wait for another trip. It was a lovely trip.
Now, on to Barcelona! Four days here, then back to home base for a few days of recuperation before the fam comes. Seeing nana and papa in a little over a week!! Now shower and bed.
Much love,
Erin
Friday:
Early solo trip to the museum of medieval art and a walk along the river. Of note: a bunch of albrecht durers and a couple Lucas Cranach the elders
Met up with tommy and primo for a walking tour of Prague (in sequence: old town square and astronomical clock, new town; wencleslas square, jewish quarter, Charles bridge, powder tower)
Lunch in the main square
The Jewish quarter synagogues. Of note: the Jewish idea of medicine as being a divine calling, and the exhibit of childrens drawings from the holocaust. The latter was incredibly powerful- and so devastatingly normal. Drawings of normal life (suns, houses, families) despite horrendous conditions. Really powerful.
Coffee at the Franz Kafka cafe (Rick Steve sanctioned!)
Chill time at the hostel for primo and Tommy, hungry time for me. Apparently in Barcelona they routinely don't eat till 10pm. Not cool.
Late but delicious delicious dinner
Bar for a couple of drinks
Saturday:
Solo morning walk: a peek into the municipal building concert hall, then to the mucha museum. INSTANT LOVE. Alfons mucha founded the art nuveau (sp?) movement and
I love the work. So cool. Then a quick stop at the "finest chocolate store in Praha" and a surrepticious stop at starbucks. They dont do takeaway coffee anywhere else!
Woke Tommy and primo up, then off to st Nicholas cathedral- pretty baroque church
Yummy grilled vegetable lunch
Prague castle! St vitus's cathedral (with it's mucha stained glass window) then the royal palace (with it's history of jousting in the main hall and apparently perfectly legal defenestrations) then st georges basilica (dating back to 990) and then some great panoramic views of the city. And some sun worshiping.
Oh also we tried and failed to catch the changing of the guards. Twice.
Quick hostel stop
"Aspects of Alice" blacklight theatre production- weird weird weird but very technically cool. Artsy to the extreme. Maybe the high-on-absynth extreme.
Sunday (today):
Lady Tyn cathedral
A unsuccessful hunt for Ungelt Garden
Successful souvenir shopping
Successful catching of plane
Check in to awesomely central hostel and quick dinner
In sum: Prague was gorgeous. Old and cobbled and pulsing with history. And tourists. I would have liked to get a bit further past the gold-plated exterior and more into the funky boho art thing (mucha inspired) but I guess that will have to wait for another trip. It was a lovely trip.
Now, on to Barcelona! Four days here, then back to home base for a few days of recuperation before the fam comes. Seeing nana and papa in a little over a week!! Now shower and bed.
Much love,
Erin
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