Madrid: Land of Fiestas... But Not So Many Siestas

     On Monday, October 25th I woke up to the sound of pouring rain. My Fall Break started that day and I had a flight to Madrid that morning.. I had originally planned on walking to the train station and then taking a cab to the airport, but because of the rain I knew I would have to take a cab straight from my apartment. I started calling cab companies 10 minutes before I was supposed to leave (you can't hail taxis in Florence) and every company I called replied the same way: "There are no taxis available at the moment, call back in a few minutes." This went on for 20 minutes (I was freaking out the entire time) before I realized that I wasn't going to find a cab. I was running very late and I knew that I would have to sprint to the train station in order to get a cab so I could get to the airport on time. So that's exactly what I did. I ran through the cobblestone streets with my rolling suitcase in tow all the while holding an umbrella in my hand because it was raining. As I came up to the train station I was gasping for air and dripping sweat only to find that the line for the taxis was 100 people long! A long string of curse words came out of mouth at that moment, but I knew that if I waited in line I would miss my flight. I stood there for a moment and thought to myself WWJD? No, not What Would Jesus Do... What Would Jeff (my Dad) Do. I knew my Dad would never even consider walking to the back of the line and admitting defeat so I immediately ran up to a young woman at the front of the line, explained my situation and asked if I could please take her taxi. One of my first experiences with Italian kindness couldn't have come at a better time. After a thousand "mille grazie's" I hopped into the cab that came 5 seconds later and was off to the airport. Despite some traffic on the way there I thankfully made it to the airport, got through security, and boarded my flight with 10 minutes to spare. After a ridiculously stressful morning I was so relieved to finally be on my way to Madrid!      Once I arrived I met up with Katrina, Caitlin (she arrived a day earlier than me), my old roommate Ashley and few other friends for lunch. We went to a Tapas restaurant close by their school. Tapas are Spanish "snacks" that are very popular in Spain. We all ordered the "Menu del Dia" (Menu of the Day-a popular item at many restaurants) which consisted of 2 tapas, a drink and a dessert. I had a hamburgesa (hamburger), a dish with potatoes, eggs, and bell peppers, Tinto de Verano (a popular wine cocktail which was delicious!) and helado (ice-cream) for dessert. It was all very yummy and left me very full!
     After lunch Katrina and I met up with her friend Jenien and we went to Retiro Park. Retiro Park is a very famous, huge and absolutely beautiful park in the middle of Madrid. It is in the book 1000 Places to See Before You Die, and rightly so! There are trees everywhere, beautiful fountains and sculptures, and a manmade lake where you can rent a boat and row around. When we arrived we walked around admiring the changing colors of the trees, frolicked in the leaves, and then headed to the lake to rent a boat! It was a lot of fun. We took turns rowing (I was a pro rower, if I do say so myself ;), and just chatted, joked around and enjoyed the beautiful scenery around us. It was very peaceful and relaxing and I had a great time.

Jenien, me and Trina in front of the Lake.

The changing colors of the trees were so beautiful!



After 3 failed attempts Jenien was finally able to master the thinking pose!

  The next day Caitlin and I met up with one another while everyone else was in class and decided to visit the city of Alcala de Heneres. The reason we chose to visit this city was because it is home to the Universidad de Alcala: the University that inspired the architecture at USD. After a 45 minute train ride and making our way around the city searching for the university, we finally found it. It was a beautiful building and there was definitely a resemblance. It was a nice little taste of home and I was glad I got to see it. 

Universidad de Alcala

USD. Resemblance?

    
     When we arrived back in Madrid we met up with Ashley, Stephanie and Mariana for some Mexican food! Since Caitlin and I have yet to find tortillas in Florence and there aren't really any Mexican restaurants we were super excited. We ordered the Menu del Dia for the second time. I had a delicious drink called Jamaica (it was like a punch) a plate of nachos, carne asada tacos with guacamole and ice cream for dessert. It was AMAZING and reminded me of the delicious Mexican food in San Diego!

     After lunch Caitlin and I visited two famous Plaza's: Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor and then headed to the Prado Museum. We had free entry into the museum because it was past 6:00pm and were there until close at 8:00pm. We saw many masterpieces including some by Raphael, Goya, Velazquez, and El Greco. My favorites were those by Raphael. His colors are so vibrant and stunning, especially his shades of blue.



Plaza Mayor

Prado Museum


     At 10:00 that night I met up with Katrina, her roommate Rachel and their host mom (aka their Senora) Carmen for dinner. In Spain dinner is not served until around 9:30/10:00 at night! We went to an authentic Spanish restaurant and had a typical Spanish dinner. In Spain, dinner is the smallest meal (lunch is the largest) so we had a variety of appetizer like dishes to share. There was a basket of bread, tortilla de patata, green peppers, a plate of tiny fish, some steak with french fries, and endless free water (yaya!). My favorite was the tortilla de patata. The best way I can describe it is as an egg frittata with thinly sliced potatoes inside. It was delicious. During the meal we had a nice conversation together in Spanish. Carmen doesn't speak English and Katrina and Rachel are only allowed to speak Spanish when they are around her. I was surprised at how much of the conversation I was able to understand and that I could actually contribute a few sentences here and there! We all had a great time and Carmen even invited me to dinner at her apartment for the next night!

     On Wednesday morning I met up with Caitlin and Mariana to visit Retiro Park for the second time. When I went with Katrina and Jenien we only walked around a small part of the park and had forgotten to visit the "Glass Palace." I heard that it was absolutely beautiful so I had to go back. While we were there we did a little more exploring than I had the first time, went on the boats and then visited the Glass Palace. As the name suggests it was completely made out of glass and was gorgeous. It was located on a small lake that had beautiful red trees coming out of it, a fountain and black swans!

The Glass Palace

     Our next stop was the Spanish Royal Palace. On our way there we stopped for lunch at a restaurant called "Cien Montaditos" (100 Sandwiches). The three of us ordered 2 small sandwiches each and shared 2 plates of fries and it only cost us 2.50 Euro each! That was by far the cheapest lunch I have ever had at a restaurant in Europe and it surprisingly left me full afterwards. If I lived in Madrid I would eat there all the time! I wish they had places like that in Italy!

     After lunch Mariana left to study for a midterm and Caitlin and I went to visit the Palace. It was amazing. There were so many rooms, all of which were ornately and beautifully decorated. I couldn't believe that someone could have enough money to build something so extravagant!

     That night I went over to Katrina's senora's apartment for a homemade Spanish dinner. She made tortilla de patata, salad, and a plate of tiny fish that looked liked noodles. She also served us some bread and goat cheese with chorizo. Yet again everything was very yummy and we had another nice conversation. We didn't finish dinner until 11:00pm!

     After dinner I rushed back to my hotel, and got ready to go out. Madrid is known for their fiestas: Partying starts on Wednesday night and continues on through the weekend. You don't go out until at least midnight and you don't come home until at least 4 in the morning. The Spanish know how to party, and I couldn't leave Madrid without experiencing at least one fiesta! And you know the saying...When in Madrid...

    At midnight I met Caitlin, Ashley, Mariana, Stephanie, and a few other girls at Cave Bar: a bar that legitimately looks like a cave inside! It was awesome! We ordered a few drinks and then headed to Orange Cafe: a popular club on Wednesday night. It was a blast! The club was huge (so much bigger than some of the clubs in Florence), there were a lot of people there, the DJ played great music, we ran into a few other people from USD and got to chat with them, and we danced the night away. I ended my night like a true Spaniard and made it back to my hotel by 4:30am. 

Ashley, Caitlin and I at Orange

     Thursday morning I woke up with one thing left on my list of things to do before I left Madrid, and that was to eat Paella. Paella is possibly the most famous dish in Spain and there was no way I could leave without having it. Unfortunately Katrina and Ashley had class, and Caitlin had already had paella and made plans for lunch elsewhere, thus leaving me with no one to eat with. I didn't want to eat by myself so I made a phone call to my new friend Jenien and she came to my rescue! (You are amazing Jenien!) While I was waiting to meet her outside of the subway station I randomly ran into my other friend Janine who is also studying abroad in Florence, but was in Madrid visiting a friend. She was waiting for her friend to get out of class and had nothing to do in the meantime so she ended up joining us for lunch. The restaurant we went to was called Casa de Valencia and was recommended to me by Katrina's senora. She spoke highly of their paella so I figured that would be the best place to go. Katrina's senora was right: the paella was fabulous. It had shrimp (which I had no idea how to open!), green bell peppers, artichoke hearts (my favorite part), chicken and clams. It was a huge portion, was served nice and warm, had great flavor and left me completely stuffed. Although it was quite an expensive meal it was definitely worth it! You can't go to Spain and not have paella! After we had finished our food I said goodbye to both Janine and Jenien (lol) and headed to the airport to catch my flight to Paris for the second half of Fall Break!

Paella!

Last Day in Munich: Dachau and Olympic Park

      On our last day in Munich Katrina and I woke up early to visit the nearby Dachau Concentration Camp. Here is a little background: Dachau Concentration Camp was opened in March of 1933 and was one of the first concentration camps established by the Nazi's. It was primarily a camp for "enemies of the state" which included communists, criminals and spies. There were also Jewish prisoners at the camp, but they were not the majority. Although Dachau did not serve as an extermination camp and prisoners were not kept there indefinitely, they still endured harsh conditions and treatment and many were murdered. Over the 12 years that Dachau was operating over 40,000 people lost their lives.
     Over the few hours that Katrina and I were there, we saw the gates at the entrance of the camp with the infamous words "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Makes One Free) displayed on them, the barracks where the prisoners lived, the gas chambers, as well as the crematoriums. Although it was depressing, seeing the concentration camp was a good learning experience and I was glad that I had the opportunity to visit.
    



     After our morning at the concentration camp we decided to wrap up our trip with a visit to Munich's Olympic Park, home of the 1972 Summer Olympic Games! The park was amazing! We walked around and saw the Olympic tower, the Olympic Stadium and the Aquatic Center. The architecture of each of the buildings was very interesting, and in my opinion quite modern for being built in the 70's. There was also a huge lake surrounded by green hills (shocking right?! lol) and the weather was gorgeous. After a cold and cloudy weekend the sun came out, the sky was blue, and the temperature was perfect. Having an opportunity to go to an Olympic game has been a dream of mine for a while now and after visiting the Olympic Park it has become an even higher priority on my Bucket List! London 2012???

     After visiting Olympic Park we headed back to our hotel, had a delicious lunch at a restaurant nearby, grabbed our bags and headed for the airport. I bought some Harribo gummy bears and a souvenir stein which I somehow managed to shove into my bag along with the three other steins I had accumulated, and then reluctantly hopped on the plane (after having to check my bag because it was too heavy for a carry on lol). That weekend was easily one of the best weekends of my life. Oktoberfest was a blast, Austria was gorgeous, and Munich is now one of my favorite cities. I will definitely be back. 

Austria: Salzburg and Lake Wolfgangsee

     The day after Oktoberfest, Katrina and I went with a tour group to visit Salzburg, Austria and the surrounding Lake District. We left early in the morning and took a beautiful two hour bus ride to Salzburg. There were rolling green hills dotted with farms and cute little houses, tall forest green trees, fog hovering between the hills and snow covering the mountain peaks in the distance.

     When we got to Salzburg we only had a few hours there so our tour guide (a cute little old lady) walked us through part of the city very quickly so we could have time to explore on our own. She showed us the garden from the Sound of Music, and we walked by Mozart's old house, and his birthplace. The garden was small, but beautiful. Unfortunately we went through it very quickly so we weren't able to enjoy it as much as I would have liked to, and I didn't get very many pictures. 

Garden from the Sound of Music

 

     Our guide led us across the river that runs through the middle of Salzburg to the oldest part of the city where she left us to explore for 2 hours. She recommended we visit the castle on top of a hill for some great views of Salzburg and the surrounding area, so we took her advice. We took a trolley up to the top and walked around for a while just enjoying the beautiful scenery.

View of the castle on top of the hill

View from the front of the castle

View from the back of the castle

     
     After visiting the castle we made our way back down the hill to find lunch. We walked through the streets for a few minutes and came across an open air market. There were many food vendors so we picked one and ordered a bratwurst sandwich. Bratwurst is a type sausage and is yet another traditional German meal so we had to try it. I got ketchup and mustard on mine and it was fabulous. After we finished our lunch we had half an hour before we had to meet up with our tour group. We decided to pass the time by indulging in a little treat. On our way to lunch we had passed a pretzel stand filled with a variety of huge chocolate covered pretzels so we grabbed one, found a spot by the river, and enjoyed our tasty snack and the view of Salzburg.

Mmmm!

    
     Our next stop was the Lake District near Salzburg. The drive took about 30 minutes and was just as beautiful as our drive to Salzburg, but this time instead of fog being scattered among the rolling green hills, there were lakes! The lake we got to visit was named Lake Wolfgangsee. When we arrived we had 45 minutes to explore the small town of St. Wolfgang before we got to take a boat across the lake. Katrina and I walked through the streets admiring the charming buildings covered in flowers and vines. We also walked along the lake and eventually decided to sit on a dock and enjoy the peaceful beauty of our surroundings. There was no one around us, it was completely silent, the water was like glass, there was a slight breeze, and the view of the rolling green hills was amazing: it was the epitome of serenity and i enjoyed every moment of it.

 

Serenity

    
     Although I was sad to leave the dock, our boat ride across the lake ended up being just as beautiful and enjoyable. We were one of the only boats on the lake, we passed many beautiful houses (many of which I wouldn't mind owning!), and we had a 360 degree view of the one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen. It was the perfect ending to a perfect day and I couldn't stop smiling and thinking about how happy I was at that moment.

Trina and I at the end of our boat ride

Prost to Oktoberfest!

     The weekend of September 30-October 3, I met my cousin Katrina and our friend Carli in Munich, Germany to celebrate the 200th Oktoberfest!
     On Thursday morning I had to get up at 5:00am so I could catch my 7:00 flight to Munich. Originally I had planned on walking to the train station and then taking a cab from there to the airport so I could save some money, but when I woke up it was pitch black outside and it didn't get any lighter by the time I had to leave. I didn't want to walk in the dark by myself (Florence isn't exactly the safest place to be walking around in the dark especially if you're a girl) so I decided to have a taxi come and pick me up from my apartment. Even though it cost me 26 Euro to get to the airport, my taxi driver was very nice and I was very happy with my decision. When I got to the airport I saw a few of my classmates from USD who are studying in Florence with me. We chatted while we waited to board our flight and after an hour delay we were finally on our way to Oktoberfest!
     Once we arrived in Germany I waited for Katrina's flight to get in, which landed 2 hours after mine. While I was waiting I sat and read my book, and did a little people watching. After living in Italy for a month it was refreshing to see different faces and hear a language other than Italian. I also got my first view of lederhosen. Lederhosen are traditional clothing worn by the men of Bavaria: the South-Eastern region of Germany which includes Munich. They are leather shorts held up by suspenders and decorated with embroidery. They are mostly worn on special occasions and Oktoberfest is one of them! After Katrina's plane landed at noon we saw each other for the first time in a month! That may not seem like a long time, but for us it is. Since we both go to USD and our family is really close, we see each other at least once a week pretty much all year round. She is my cousin and one of my best friends, so you can understand how happy I was to see her.

     In order to get to the center of Munich we had to take the S-bahn (the train). The trip took 45 minutes and the scenery on the way there was beautiful. There were so many fields and trees and barely any buildings. Everything was so green. It wasn't what I had expected Germany to look like, but I was pleasantly surprised. When we arrived to the main train station we took a taxi to our hotel. We checked in, dropped our bags off in our room, ate the delicious mini packets of Harribo gummy bears they had left on our pillows, and then began our search for lunch. We were starving! 

     The front desk recommended a restaurant down the street so we decided to check it out. After a 15 minute walk (our hotel was off the beaten path) and a little searching we were able to find it. I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was very nice and warm and cozy inside. For lunch we ordered two meat dishes and split them. They were both delicious. It was so nice to add a little protein to my diet which had mostly consisted of carbs for the past month (bread, pasta, pizza... and more bread).We also ordered a half pint of beer each in order to start off our Oktoberfest weekend the right way.



First beer in Germany!

     After lunch, Katrina and I decided to visit Englischer Garten: a huge park in Munich that is absolutely gorgeous. In order to enter the park we had to cross this bridge that had a stream running below it. The stream was so quiet and peaceful and it ran right past a row of beautiful homes.

I definitely wouldn't mind owning this house!

     When we walked into the park it was like walking into a forest. Everywhere you looked there were bushes and tall green trees covered with vines. For the next hour Trina and I walked along the paths taking lots of pictures and just enjoying the scenery. We saw a lake, a big open green field and many people riding their bikes and jogging. It was such a beautiful and peaceful place and if it wasn't so cold I could have stayed there forever!

     When we got back to the hotel we took a nap until Carli arrived and then went to dinner. All I have to say about dinner was that we went to an Italian restaurant (against my will! lol) and the only enjoyable thing about the whole meal was getting to catch up with Trina and Carli. After dinner we went back to the hotel and went to bed early so that we would be well rested for Oktoberfest the next day!

     Friday morning we woke up bright and early, got dressed, walked to the subway station, had some delicious pastries for breakfast and then took the U-bahn (subway) to Oktoberfest. We walked out of the subway and a few minutes later we were at the festival! When we walked in the entrance I was amazed at how huge it was. There were hundreds of colorful carnival rides, game booths and food stands. After taking it all in for a few minutes we made our way toward the beer tents. There are fourteen beer tents and the Hofbrau House is one of the most popular so we decided to go there. Thankfully there was no line (sometimes it takes hours to get into one tent!) and we were inside by 9:30.

Carli and I outside the Hofbrau House Tent

Inside the Hofbrau House at 9:30am

     We had no problem finding a table to sit at and by 10:00am our beer maiden served us our first beer. (Let's just say that is the earliest I have ever started drinking!) Our beers were served to us in one liter steins and they were massive. A stein filled with 1 liter of beer weighs about 5lbs! And the craziest thing is that these beer maidens (most of them are pretty tiny) carry up to 10 full steins at a time!

Our tiny beer maiden!

     Once we got our steins we began drinking. Because Trina and I aren't huge fans of beer we decided that once we finished 2/3 of our stein we would get a pretzel to help us finish off the rest. We started wanting the pretzel even before we reached the 2/3rds mark, but we stuck it out. When we finally reached our goal we were so excited. The pretzel we got was huge and it was the most delicious pretzel I have ever had. It was warm, soft and had just the right amount of salt on it. Talking about it is making my mouth water!  

 

Soooo good!

     As we were drinking our beer and enjoying ourselves we socialized with one another and made friends with the people sitting around us. We shared our table with a group of German boys our age and talked with them the entire time we were there. I also met two groups of Italian men (I can't escape them!) who were both from Naples. They were really nice and it was cool getting to talk with them because I got to practice my Italian!  There were a lot of people from USD so I went to their tables and visited them as well. I even ran into my roommates!

Germans!

Italians!

 Rommies!

      Once the tent was filled with people the atmosphere was incredible. Everyone (including myself) was banging their steins on the tables, clinking their glasses and yelling "Prost!" (Prost means cheers in German), beer was splashing everywhere, and everyone was smiling and laughing and having a great time. There was a band raised up on a stage in the middle of the tent (we were right next to them) and every few minutes they would play one of three songs. My favorite song (the only one in English and the one they played the most) went like this: "Heyyyy Heyyyy Baby! Ooohh Ahhhh! I wanna knowwwww, will you be my girl???" Even though the song was really random I sang along every time and it was stuck in my head for a good week after Oktoberfest ended. Another frequent event was the chugging of beer. A brave individual would stand up on top of their table, get the attention of the entire tent and begin chugging an entire stein of beer. The crowd would cheer them on and once the beer was finished they would cheer even louder, raise their steins and Prost!

     


     At 3:00pm we had to leave the tent because all of the tables were reserved for that time. We left with the group of German boys we had met and hung out with them at the festival for the rest of the day. The festival was packed with people. Everywhere you looked you could see people walking around in their lederhosen, people on carnival rides, and people enjoying yummy German treats from the food stands that surrounded the rides.

The festival

Lederhosen!

     Over the next few hours we went on the bumper cars, walked around, bought some souvenirs, and enjoyed some of the German treats. The first treat Katrina and I had was schnitzel. Schnitzel is a very famous German food so we decided that we had to have one. We didn't really know what it was when we ordered it, but we found out that it's basically a thin, breaded pork cutlet in a bun. I had mustard and ketchup on mine and it was fabulous!

Schnitzel!

     The second treat we had was a ginger bread cookie. Throughout the day Trina and I had seen tons of stands piled high with big, heart-shaped ginger bread cookies with frosting writing on them. Most of the writing on the cookies was words of endearment like "Ich Liebe Dich" (I Love You). The cookies also had strings attached to them and we saw tons of people wearing them around their neck. We decided that since they were so popular we had to have one too. Unfortunately our ginger bread cookie wasn't nearly as delicious as our schnitzel. It was hard and didn't taste like ginger bread at all! We were super disappointed and were glad we had bought the smallest one. We found out later that boys buy them for their sweet hearts and that you are only supposed to wear them around your neck and then hang them up in your room when you go home.... they aren't meant to be eaten. lol. No wonder they were so gross! Even though we were disappointed, at least we know for the next time we go to Oktoberfest!

There were stands with ginger bread cookies everywhere!

Our ginger bread cookie- "You are Loved"

     After spending all day partying at Oktoberfest we were exhausted and decided to head back to our hotel around 6:30. We skipped dinner because we were still so full from everything we had eaten (and drank) at the festival and went to bed early so we could be well rested for our trip to Salzburg, Austria the next day. Overall, Oktoberfest was one of the most awesome experiences I have ever had. It is something I will always remember and I will definitely be returning! .....Oktoberfest 2011 anyone????