Sunday, May 30, 2010

Madrid, Spain

We arrived midday in Madrid, and after a bit of confusion, we found our small, centrally located hotel. After a short break, we excitedly headed out to explore the city. Our first stop was Casa Rua for calamari sandwiches, a specialty in Madrid. We ate our sandwiches as we walked around one of the main squares in Madrid, Plaza Mayor. Later that evening we tried small Spanish donuts called rosquillas. The donuts were surprisingly hard and extremely sweet. The next day we continued our culinary exploration of Madrid at the Museo del Jamon (Museum of Ham). We ate standing up at the counter as the locals do. Lorenzo ate a plate of cut ham and Kim tried a ham sandwich. After lunch we walked to the Royal Palace, but unfortunately, the Palace was closed for "official acts" so we were not able to tour it. Fortunately, we happened to visit Madrid during the San Isidro festival, a festival that honors Saint Isidore and marks the start of the city's bull fighting season. So, on our second night in Madrid, we attended a bull fight at Plaza de Toros de Las Ventas. We didn't know what to expect and we were both surprised when we saw that each bull is actually killed. The experience was very interesting, but between the gruesome bull killing and the cigar smoke, we decided to leave early and only watched two of the six bull fights. After the bull flight we rode the metro to Chocolateria San Gines to try a local favorite, churros con chocolate. The chocolate was thinner than we expected, but we enjoyed our late night dessert. On the way back to the hotel, we walked up a busy pedestrian street that also happens to be Madrid's red light district. The young women stand on the street in groups throughout the day and at night, often looking bored or talking on the phone while waiting for their next customer. The next day we headed to the Mercado de San Miguel to have a tapas brunch. Madrid has a wide variety of delicious tapas and we sampled a plate of olives, seafood on bruchetta, and an apple pastry. Later that evening, we toured the Prado Museum and saw a wide variety of art by Spanish artists. On our last day in Madrid, we had lunch at El Botin, the oldest working restaurant in the world. Lorenzo ordered El Botin's specialty, suckling baby pig, while Kim ordered lamb. We enjoyed our meaty meals and the ambiance of the restaurant. We left Madrid later that evening on an overnight train to Paris. Our tiny, private cabin consisted of two seats, two twin bunk beds that flip out of the wall, and a small sink. We spent the evening watching movies until we asked our cabin attendant to flip the beds out so we could go to sleep. It was a bit difficult to sleep because the train was going extremely fast to make up for extra time spent at the border stop and the man in the next cabin was snoring loudly. After a few hours of sleep, we awoke to a breakfast of toast and jelly, juice and croissants in the restaurant car. Once we arrived in Paris, we were excited to get off of the cramped train and out into the open air.


Kim eating a calamari sandwich in front Casa Rua


Rosquillas


Kim in front of a statue in Puerto del Sol


Plaza de Torros


Kim and Lorenzo at the bull fight


In the midst of the bull fight


After the bull is killed


Churros con chocolate


Mercado de San Miguel where we ate tapas


Lorenzo about to eat some tapas


Lorenzo checking out a painting at the Prado museum


El Botin


The suckling pig at El Botin (notice the Carolina shirt in the background)


Lorenzo in our train cabin


Kim in the top bunk on the overnight train

Valencia, Spain

We arrived in Valencia on a sunny day, typical of this city that has an average of 300 cloudless days per year. Too bad we can't bottle up some of this year-round sunshine and bring it home with us. Once we got checked in and settled in our room, we discovered that we had an amazing view of the City of Arts and Sciences, a cultural and architectural complex that includes the largest aquarium in Europe, L'Oceanografic aquarium. Lorenzo has wanted to visit this particular aquarium for years, so we made a B-line for that area because he couldn't wait one second longer. We ended up getting aquarium tickets for the next day to ensure that we had enough time to enjoy it. After getting our tickets, we headed across the street to a shopping mall to purchase some supermarket items to make sandwiches for dinner. Buying drinks and snacks at local supermarkets is one way that we saved money on this trip. We walked back to our hotel to prepare for an exciting and fun day tomorrow at the aquarium. On our first night in Valencia, we noticed that the sun didn't set until 10pm, which confused us because we thought it was much earlier than it actually was. The next morning, we woke up later than planned and missed the noon dolphin show, so we started our aquarium visit by viewing other animals, including small colorful tropical fish, playful seals and sea lions, jellyfish, penguins, and exotic birds. We also walked through the aquarium's two 360 degree glass tunnels. Finally, we visited Lorenzo's favorite, the beluga whales, right before heading to the 3:30 pm dolphin show. The Valencia aquarium was our favorite activity and is a must see when visiting the city. After a full afternoon at the aquarium, we strolled over to the Old Town area, where much of Valencia's shopping and restaurants are located. Along the way we passed through streets lined with oranges and we saw a Brazilian Carnival styled band playing in the street to celebrate the upcoming Nations holiday. We began the next day with a visit to the Central Market, a large indoor market full of stalls selling fresh meats, seafood, and produce. Central Market was similar to La Boqueria in Barcelona, but less charming and interesting. From Central Market, we walked to the Valencia Cathedral. The Cathedral is is not only the first Christian church that we've visited in Europe, but is also the home of the Holy Grail. Following the provided audio tour, we learned about the art in the church and the human remains on display. Finally, at the end of the tour, we entered the Chapel of the Holy Grail where we saw the cup in person. According to history (or legend depending on who you ask), this is the cup that Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. Viewing the Holy Grail was the highlight of the day and we spent the rest of the day wandering around Valencia observing everyday local life before heading to the train station to purchase our tickets for the journey to Madrid. For our last day in Valencia, we went to the beach. Valencia is famous for its beaches and the beach was one of our main reasons (other than the aquarium) for adding this stop to our trip. After taking the metro and then a tram, we finally saw the palm tree lined boardwalk filled with restaurants, and beyond that, the beach. The sand is finely ground, almost dust like, and the beach was full of families and friends tanning, fishing, and playing sports in the sand. We walked along the beach and sat on the sand to enjoy the view. We really wanted to get into the water, but it was a little to cold for swimming. Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Valencia. The city was cleaner, smaller, and less touristy than many of the other cities we've visited. We appreciated the slower, relaxed pace of Valencia, and luckily we are well-rested because our next stop is the big hustle bustle city of Madrid.


City of Arts and Sciences


A cheap and easy dinner


Lorenzo in front of L'Oceanografic


A sea lion sunning


Lorenzo in a walk through tunnel


Jellyfish


Two turtles


Lorenzo watching a beluga whale


Orange trees lining a sidewalk


Kim in front of Central Market


Lorenzo in a plaza near the Cathedral


The Holy Grail behind protective glass


The palm tree lined boardwalk at the beach


The sand at the Valencia beach


The beach - ahhh so beautiful!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Barcelona, Spain

We left Nice at 6 am to begin the 12 hour long journey to Barcelona (including a 4 hour layover at Montpellier train station). The sun was just beginning to set when we finally arrived in Barcelona, but our tiredness turned to excitement when we came out of the metro onto Las Ramblas - the most famous and most visited street in the city. We arrived on a particularly rowdy Saturday night, as Barcelona was playing Seville in futbol (soccer) and thousands of people and extra police filled the streets until the wee hours of the morning. The next day we headed back to Las Ramblas to watch a few street performers and to eat tapas (small appetizers) and paella (a seafood and rice dish). Although the restaurant we went to was disappointing, we were happy to have tried some traditional Spanish foods. After lunch, we caught a bus to Park Guell, a park designed by Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi. We got off the bus at the wrong stop and ended up walking in circles and up hills for 45 minutes before we finally found the park. However, it was worth the trouble, because Park Guell was one of our favorite things in Barcelona. The park is beautiful, whimsical, and colorful, like most of Gaudi's work. We walked around admiring the colors and tiles until we eventually ended up at the highest point in the park that overlooks the city. We rode the metro back to Las Ramblas and walked down to the marina and the waterfront. The waterfront area was surprisingly well developed with an IMAX theater and a mall. We wandered into the mall and missed a short rain shower while we window shopped. We ended the day with a very American meal of McDonald's salads and donuts from Dunkin Coffee. The following day, we began with a trip to La Boqueria, a famous public market with fresh meats, seafood, and fruit. La Boqueria is big, bustling, colorful, and full of tourists and locals. Lorenzo sat at the counter at a seafood bar and ate razor clams, a dish he saw Andrew Zimmern eat at La Boqueria on his show "Bizarre Foods". That afternoon, we walked to a nearby beach, Barceloneta, to enjoy the beautiful sunny weather. The beach was full of other people also enjoying the weather, including a number of topless sunbathers. On our last day in Barcelona, we visited Gaudi's church, La Sagrada Familia. Even though La Sagrada Familia is still under construction (construction begain in 1886 and it is expected to be completed in 2026), we were extremely impressed by its architecture and detail.


Nice train station at dawn


Las Ramblas at night


Disappointing paella


Entrance to Park Guell


Kim rock climbing at Park Guell


Lorenzo at Park Guell


Park Guell


A view of the city from the Park Guell


The marina at Barcelona's waterfront area


The front entrance of La Boqueria


Inside La Boqueria


Lorenzo eating razor clams


A seafood stall at La Boqueria


The beach


Lorenzo taking a quick break at the beach


La Sagrada Familia

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Nice, France

We enjoyed our 12 day, 4 city tour of Italy, but we were excited to move on to Nice, France. Kimalee is a beach bum, so she was especially excited to see the beautiful ocean water of the Cote D'Azur. When we got to Nice, we walked a few blocks from the train station to our small, modern hotel, The Hotel Berlioz. Most of the time we've been staying fairly close the train station to avoid carrying our heavy bags for miles as we did in Venice. Once we checked in, we didn't waste any time before heading down the city's main shopping street to the beach. Along the way, Lorenzo stopped at the Virgin Records Megastore and purchased an exclusive "Drake" mixtape that is not available in the United States. The beaches in Nice are different from most other beaches we've visited because instead of sand, the beaches are covered in thousands of smooth stones of all different colors. The stones are kind of difficult to walk on, but are great for not getting sand in your shoes. Although it was only about 65 degrees outside and a bit cloudy, the beach was just as beautiful as we remembered from our visit two years ago. The water was cool, clear, and ice blue. On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at Nice Etoile (the first actual shopping mall we'd seen in weeks!) and Monoprix, a supermarket/department store kind of like a Super Walmart. We stocked up on water, juice, and snacks before picking up some takeout sushi from OSushi at the mall. We then made our way back to our hotel and called a night while watching some good old fashioned American television via the free internet connection in our room. We started the next day by visiting the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. We saw some very creative and interesting art and some Andy Warhol pieces. In our opinion, the best part of the museum (other than the fact that admission is free) was the rooftop terrace which offered fantastic views of the city. We ate lunch at La Zucca Magica, a vegetarian restaurant not far from the museum. La Zucca Magica has a set 5 course menu, so we had no idea what we would be eating until each course came out. Luckily, we were pleasantly surprised by each creative meatless course. Completely stuffed and barely able to walk, we slowly strolled along the coastline from the marina toward the Promenade des Anglais - a palm tree lined street that runs parallel to the beach. Across from the beach, we noticed a park on the top of a hill (Castle Hill). We decided to climb the long stairs to the top and were rewarded with an amazing view of the ocean, marina, and city. We easily climbed back down Castle Hill and sat on the beach in the sun enjoying the warmth. The waves were crashing, the sun was shining, and we remembered why we love Nice so much. Next, we walked through old town Nice and stopped at Fenocchio's to sample some odd flavors of gelato. Fenocchio's has over 80 gelato flavors, including tomato and basil, chewing gum, and olive, but we decided to try rose, lavender, and violet. It was like eating ice cream while smelling flowers at the same time. Later that evening, we took a quick break at our hotel before heading out for dinner and to purchase our train tickets for the next day's journey. Goodbye for now to the south of France.


Our hotel room


Lorenzo on the beach


So many juices to choose from!


Lorenzo at a fountain


As assortment of sushi from OSushi


Kim posing in front of shoe art


Lorenzo in front of an interesting painting


View of the city from the rooftop terrace at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art


Kim in front of the vegetarian restaurant La Zucca Magica


Course number 3 at La Zucca Magica. The main ingredients were asparagus, zucchini, lemon, and rice.


Lorenzo at the marina


Promenade des Anglais and the beach


Lorenzo climbing the stairs to Castle Hill.


Kim resting on the way up to Castle Hill


A view of the marina from Castle Hill.


Kim enjoying the beach


Floral gelato flavors