Madrid I--Don't pay for a thing

Part I of II out of the Boston University London Programmes' (extra early) Spring Break Special! (where we travel to places that should be warmer...Madrid then Barcelona!)

So in the last minute of our finals, my friends and I booked a spring break travel to Madrid and

Barcelona for our 5 day long break! I had already been to Barcelona but hadn't experienced the nightlife..more on that later. But Madrid was also a fantastic city.

Booking our trip on Expedia.com landed us on a Lufthansa Flight of joy and goodness where we were served a pesto pasta dinner with bread and chocolate and a bottle of Berlin beer (featured on the left here). Trust me, it was a pretty great deal on Expedia for 5 nights and 3 flights in between! So here we goooo:

DAY ONE in MADRID

We landed late Tuesday night (2/16) in Madrid and found our way to Hotel Regina where Ryan and Cara split a room and Gretchen and I split a room... We were 5 minutes from "El Sol", the center of the city, and in a gorgeous room:

The next day we got off to a bright start and found a breakfast place near El Sol called Cervecia something where the employees only spoke Spanish. This place was a killer deal with a bread

w/tomato sauce, a small bacon baguette, a coffee, and a chocolate muffin for only 3Euro (picture to the side). It was a little difficult understanding but it definitely threw us into the Spanish environment. Good thing for Gretchen and Ryan who had more experience speaking Spanish got us through our experience there. We made it to the Madrid tourist office where we took a walking tour of the city with Jorje our guide.

On the tour we learned about the Plaza Mayor, the Bolin Restaurant which is the oldest continually operating restaurants in the world, the Royal Palace (which we visited afterward), and a market. The pictures below come from 1. El Sol (look how nice the sky is!) 2. Plaza Mayor and 3. Enjoying Sangria and olives in the Madrid Market.

1. 2. 3.

Our walking tour actually had this girl from Kauai on it..she noticed my Hawaiian bracelet and knew..more on her later because we kept seeing her and her friends around the city afterward.

So after our walking tour and relaxing visit to the market, we went to the Royal Palace which has 2800 rooms in it..absurdly huge for the Royal Family. Spain still has a sitting "monarch" in a way but is Democratic. While we couldn't take pictures inside the Palace itself, we did get some good shots outside. Across the way from the Palace was an old Cathedral. Here are the pictures below:

1. Us soaking up the sun (check out that sky!) 2. Up close with the palace 3. Behind the palace gates 4. Being silly in the guard booths

1. 2. 3. 4.

After our visit to the Royal Palace we got a drink at the Plaza Mayor again where they had "street performers" which was the following:

1. An overweight Spider Man who did nothing but stand there

2. A short Darth Vador man who danced around

3. A guy without a head sitting down

4. A woman in a Minnie Mouse costume

5. The list goes on..

But one of the guys I actually appreciated was this Spanish Flamenco guitar player who sat near the outdoor seats we were at.. He ended up playing a song that even I knew from my first years learning guitar...shows the amount of "talent" this Plaza had. Since Gretchen and I wanted to go see Museums, we headed to the Prado Museum near the park which had paintings of people and lots of Christ paintings. What was really neat was that they had live painters replicating works of previous artist. Looking at a bunch of older portrait paintings and murals got a little bit old after a while but my favorites were in one room. The first is called the Garden of Earthly Delights and the other is the Triumph of Death. Both are intricate and intriguing...much different from portraits.

(outside the Prado)

Since we were still exhausted from the flight over and hauling it all day, we took a Spanish Siesta

and woke up for dinner at a Tapa's place called Turf in Santa Ana Plaza. That was very delicious as I had Spanish meatballs and a Salmon Cream Cheese Tapa with white wine. After, we were trying to decide what to do and these men kept on approaching us with offers of free drinks somewhere or free entry another place. After declining these offers first because we thought it was sketchy, we ended up finding a place for free entry with a free Mojito for each of us...that lasted 2 seconds but we left and the place across the street had a promoter who wanted to get us free drinks and entry so we went there.. While here, we ran into Hawaii girl again and her friends and they were on a pub crawl...we talked to the guy who ran it and hopped on just for 5Euro..best idea Madrid. The first place we went to had free drinks and Gretchen and I got more
because we were "nice"..haha. I did buy 2 Fire Shots for both me and Gretchen just because the pub crawl coordinator suggested it and I'm glad we did it because when in Spain...you just get crazy. After we went to this bar we headed to a hookah bar where we just hung out more. It was a lot of fun and a great deal! Really we paid for barely anything.

Here I am with Kauai girl we met and the other is of Gretchen and I after our Fire Shots!

On to day 2 Tomorrow! Once I get caught up with these entries I can talk about my Internship which I started on Monday and the International Marketing class I started today! Lots more to come. Currently under the weather with a cold though, so hoping to recover before Paris with my boyfriend :)

Munich--Us, Food, and Schmelgen Lagan Weiner Shnitzel

AND, Welcome to Munich, Germany!

Well actually, our welcome was not this Grand to begin with but did get progressively better. It was definitely a more chilled out weekend from last week's Amsterdam experience. We touched down at the Munich Airport nearing midnight of Thursday after our British Airways ride of glory with complementary wine and snacks. Gretchen, Cara, and I did this trip as a trio because we were finding in Amsterdam everyone wanted to do their own things, and because of the sweet deal we found last minute.

After our first communication barrier trying to find the train station we needed to get a ticket for in the machine, we went up to the service desk who then set us up with our ticket (finally). However, they missed telling the fact that we had to time stamp the ticket. As we're 10 stops in, a couple more to go, these three, fully armed policemen (more or less looking like army men) come to us asking for our ticket saying things in German to each other. They noticed that the ticket was not stamped so they started somewhat yelling at us about not stamping the ticket and how usually people get a 40 Euro fine. Se played the tourist card, of course, and got away with it. phew. On the note of policemen, there was a demonstration that weekend for the police so they were absolutely EVERYWHERE.

That night we were just happy to make it to Hotel Alfa in our triple room. The next morning, we got a late start, as usual, and went out with double socks into the cold, walking toward the center of the city called Marienplatz. To get the gist of the city because we barely had enough time to learn about the city, we were actually banking on the Free Walking Tour that we researched. Confused in the mix of nationalities and languages around, a young lady from New York who was exploring the city by herself told us about another 2 hour walking tour. We bout our tickets and the lady guide met seven of us attendees.

To be completely honest, my fingers and toes were frozen and numb for most of this tour making it very uncomfortable and we got side tracked from the tour. I did get to snap a bunch of pictures along the way. The first is when we went into the Munich Frauenkirche Cathedral or the "Cathedral of Our Blessed Lady". Second shot is of the statue in front of the Town Hall or Glochenspeil. Third is in front of the National Theater.

Following our walking tour, we went to Starbucks to grab some coffee and warm up from the frigid temperature outside. That night we went to the famed Hausbrahous to grab a couple liters of Beer--Radlin to be specific, a light beer with lemonade mixed in with it, it was delicious. In Munich they serve only the Beers that are made there, so everywhere has the same 6 beers on tap. Below are pictures of us in the Beer Garden part after we ate upstairs (pork with potatoes).

Video in the HaufBrahous dining room

Day 2: Dachau Concentration Camp and Olympia Stadium

On Saturday morning we woke up early to take the train then bus out to the Dachau Concentration Camp a little outside of Munich. The experience was well worth the travel and very eerie to walk through. I felt a little disrespectful in taking pictures but snapped some anyway but not beaming a smile. The gate where the prisoners entered said "Work will set you free" in German and we walked around the museum where artifacts and displays were concerning that camp. The atmosphere was cold and foggy making it more of an eerie experience for us; imagining what it was like to be in "roll call", a form of punishment for the camp members where they had to stand completely still outside. for hours

It was also interesting that Adolf Hitler's face was scratched off in nearly every picture in that Museum...as the hate for him lives on to this day (middle picture below). Finally, while they knocked down most of the living quarters, 2 still remain, with the original bunks, showers, toilet, and locker facilities. Overall I was creeped out and depressed while learning more about the Holocaust and also about how many other people were persecuted inhumanely against their will. Made me sickened.

After the camp, we went to Olympia Park, which was a little happier in the fact that it's where a bunch of countries coming together for the Summer Olympics---BUT as we all know in the 1972 Olympics, there was the assassination of ten Israeli athletes, putting a damper on the experience

there. We walked around the grounds, seeing the swimming pool, the stadium, and track. The grounds were actually very beautiful surrounded with hills and a lake running through it all.

We took a picture next to the entrance sign and the Olympic Tower before we walked around until we couldnt take the cold any more.

Also used the Sepia Tone on my camera to come up with these neat pictures of us. Also took a picture of this adorable looking couple sitting on a bench.

That night, we went out to eat around the corner from our place and got to bed because it was snowing and miserable out. Sunday in Munich was completely empty as the shops are all closed. We ended up hanging out in the McCafe section of McDonalds drinking our Cafe Latte's and Cafe Mocha's.

Altogether, Munich was more of a solemn place to visit but very interesting to see the different people and notice the cultural changes.

London Class Trips

After getting back from Amsterdam we had our Monday Pop Culture class trip planned to the Chelsea Football Club (soccer) where we toured around their facilities and their unusually small stadium.

-being interviewed before our - just hanging in their locker room -view from the stands

big game

All I have is a bunch of pictures from it and someday I'll get to attend a real football game.

On Tuesday, we finally took out Jen to a show as her birthday gift--to Billy Elliott, the Musical. All I have is one picture from us in front of the Theater which was a Music Hall back in the day (things we're learning about in our Pop Culture class)

In front of the Victoria Theater

Then, on Wednesday, we took a trip to the Shell Headquarters (Shell is an Anglo-Dutch company) for our International Business class to hear them speak about their global business processes. This coincidentally happened a day before their year earnings releases and the depressing news that profits plummeted and even more people will lose their jobs at Shell in the coming year. We did get right up next to the London Eye for this visit and I snapped a few pictures from that day below:

-glum day in front of the London Eye -Shell Formula 1 car

Finally, (skipping over our weekend in Munich until the next entry) yesterday we went on a walking tour of Soho London in the wet and cold snow. Led by one of the other professors

Richard Wright who authors a London History book himself, we walked around the area for 2 hours. Some of the highlights include this mural to the left of all prevalent pop culture icons in Soho plastered on one of the side streets on Carnaby Street-the roots of London's men fashion. We got

to stop in one of the oldest 24/7 Cafe/Bar's in Soho called Bar Italia, which is right under the location where first broad-casted TV took place. All of us got a cup of coffee (paid for by BU...rare occasion) made out of the worlds first Espresso machine from Italy.

We then ventured down by the headquarters of Twentieth-Century Fox, located right next to Paul McCartney's residence and offices on Soho Square park. Then we headed down by Vogue

Europe to end up in front of Jimi Hendrix's residence when he lived in London. Coincidentally he lived right next to George Frederic Handel's residence of 200 years earlier. Our guide pointed out the irony in this coincidence because both of them could not make it in their own countries due to racial prejudices. The plaque shows the spot of his apartment and other blue circular plaques around Soho are for the numerous spots and people who were the movers and shakers of their day.

So its obvious I'm doing a lot of work for class..and this week is the last of our classes followed by our spring break then we start our internship. I'm sure my entries will get a little more dull then but I'll try and keep it lively.

Other planned trips for the semester include:

• Paris
• Brussels
• Madrid/Barcelona
• Morocco maybe
• Greece
• Scotland
• back to Amsterdam?

Aloha from London

Amsterdam Part 2 Finally

To my misfortune and perhaps even to yours, I have not been able to keep up with this pulse I've been beating to recently resulting in a logged up series of events. Now, a week and some after Amsterdam has been over, a number of little events and a whole other weekend trip has happened...they don't call it life in the fast lane for nothing. Yet I still haven't recorded Amsterdam down the best I could have...Even with this ever pensive look I have on me as we rode a boat in Amsterdam trying to write my postcards (credit Jen Chiu for this picture and others in this posting).

On comes day 2 and 3 below:

Saturday, January 30, 2010

After an interesting night visiting the red light district, we stumbled upon a River Canal Bus Hop-On-Hop-Off sort of tour for 20 Euro, not bad for 24 hours of access on the boat. While a few people stopped off at the Anne Frank house, a few of us went to the Rembrant House where the

famed artist once lived. He seemed like an interesting fellow by the looks of his belongings and art pieces mostly centered around biblical scenes. He also collected rarities like sea shells or butterflies to display in his house.

After this self guided tour of the house and its paintings, we found our way to the flower shops which were just about closing down with a beautiful array of tulips and other sweet smelling, colorful buds.

By that time it was pushing on dusk so we were wandering around that area and found our way to a coffeeshop one of my friends had recommended called the Damkring..actually the guide book we had as well had it as a recommendation too. Let me give you the details of how a coffeeshop works and is.

Essentially, some of them have a bar where you can order coffee or drinks at but the main counter they have a selection of weed on a menu. The menu shows the name, amount, the effect and finally the price. Then, after you select what you want, the worker finds the can its in (on display behind them) and weighs out the amount, sometimes they already have pre-packaged bags of it. The interior was decorated with low lights and strange sculptures. Another fun fact about coffeeshops is that you cannot wear hats in there (they're afraid of pick pocketers) and that you cannot smoke tobacco.Here's an article I stumbled on a few days after leaving Amsterdam on how Dutch aren't as much into smoking as some might think.

We met up with everyone for dinner and half of us got American and the rest (including myself) got Greek food because there isn't such thing as authentic Dutch apparently...

For the night, a few of us wanted to just hang out in a very interesting coffeeshop called The Dolphin while some wanted to go to a club. We ended up doing both. This clubbing experience was more than interesting though. A packed house, somehow our friends got us in for free. The place was filled with flashing lights of all sorts of colors in your face, white guys and girls all six feet tall and everyone dancing and singing Dutch party songs...all with the bartender slamming a cowbell every so often. I think everyone knew we were American and because we weren't buying drinks, they were being awfully rude-at least that's what I noticed. Jen, Cara, and I weren't feeling the vibe to club or spend money on drinks so we left to Burger King for a quick snack and to examine their art on the walls while the other girls stayed out.

(A note on fastfood: all over Europe, McDonalds and Burger Kings are a lot nicer than the ones at home, it isn't a quick drive thru stop but rather an experience with finely decorated interiors, McCafe's in some areas, and better than expected artwork on the walls, just something worth mentioning and contrasting against my perception of dirtier American fast food)

So now I'm onto day 3 which basically consisted of delicious breakfast at a Pancake Corner restaurant and then the Heineken Experience. Pictures below describe it more. I had the banana pancakes for breakfast then went with Jen to the Heineken Experience. After samples and 2 turned 4 free beers, we were a bit tipsy leaving and walking the ice covered sidewalks-where I then slipped and fell on my side-ouch. But the Heineken people were very jolly, let us pour our own beer-which I failed at greatly, giving us more beer to drink.

with my banana pancake so delish

next party?

getting to pour our own beers-after 2 tries I got it, kinda

We finished our journey with the amazing waffle and chocolate and ice cream all together for some fatty goodness!.

So, all in all, a weekend in Amsterdam was much to short, probably would've been nicer in warmer weather, but isn't it always like that? Missed out on the Reijk Museum and seeing Vondelpark...perhaps a revisit in the near future will happen, talks about April are already in process!

Amsterdam

HALLO! as they say in Holland! (which we learned was the western area of the Netherlands) This region includes our first out of town European excursion to Amsterdam. Just as a preface, I'm not going to do this weekends events justice with just one blog posting but hopefully WILL cover enough for you to get a sense of how surreal Amsterdam is (with the aid of some pictures of course)

After leaving for London Heathrow airport at 5AM Friday morning with only a backpack and a purse, we checked in well before take off. Therefore we were able to stop in a chain restaurant called GIRAFFE for a proper (and cheap) English breakfast. Scored a plastic giraffe figurine in my mango morning smoothie while wearing my new giraffe shirt. it was a calling to go there..

Our flight took off and one of the most beautiful things encapsulated the window:

SUN. This may seem like a minor detail of the whole trip but seeing the sun lifted my spirits, energy, and adrenaline for what we were about to enter into..

After walking down the airport terminals through customs and baggage claim, we were ready to hit the ground running for adventure. But as we turned the corner where people wait for their friends and family, it was like nothing I'd ever seen. In Hawaii, family and friends wait with leis, hugs, and kisses to give to the arrivals but Amsterdam nearly made me tear up: Entire families had balloons, huge quilted signs, a video camera, entire matching outfits on, all welcoming their loved ones home. It was one of the most incredible images of love I'd seen; really, it reminded me of Love Actually when everyone gets off the plane and is greeted by a loving crowd. I wish I had a picture of it but that was the first of many surreal Amsterdam moments

After our cab ride to Hotel Crystal, just outside of the heart of the city, we got freshened up to find some food of course. Just down the road from us was The Bulldog coffeehouse and bar so we sat down for some well needed food and culture. We found our way to the Van Gogh Museum after trudging through the cold rain (14 Euro for future travelers; pay on Card because everywhere else in the city only accepts cash).

Me posing with Starry Night outside at some store after Van Gogh

After spending a good 20 minutes in the bottom floor looking at some of the most amazingly detailed, three-dimensional and triple layered pictures, we realized we weren't even looking at Van Gogh's art..a pleasant surprise because his paintings were spectacular upstairs, my favorite was called Almond Blossom below, it was fantastic in person:

After our Van Gogh experience we found our way to the Iamsterdam life size lettering to take a few pictures. While my camera battery died, I did get some from my friends. After this photo shoot we decided to take a nap break at our hotel since we had been running on very little sleep and an early morning.

For dinner we headed closer in town at a small Italian restaurant that had an incredible "Amsterdam Pizza" which i devoured along with a Heineken, the only alloted alcohol into my system for the weekend because when in Amsterdam..you drink Heineken's. But also in Hawaii, Heineken is king. Here's a picture of us out at dinner in the cozy corner:

I'm still on Friday night which is crazy because it felt like time flew by. We then headed down to the infamous Red Light District where we met up with our other guy friends who were staying in a hostel closer to the center of the city.

After walking around the main Red Light Area and popping into a couple of coffeehouses, we all met up to go to a sex show..because..when in Amsterdam, you have to see one of these interesting shows. Apparently there are a few venues to see the shows at, we asked the local constables for some guidance (of all people!) and wound up at Casa Rosso.

Really it was much more entertaining than I thought it would be for 30Euro. There were 8 "acts" and well, you'll have to go see it to believe it but that was another surreal experience in this amazing city. I haven't even gone into the actual Red Light District walk through...

After the show we decided we needed to walk around and see these actual Red Light doors with half naked women in them. It was a little awkward at first to be walking by especially because there were a lot more men than women walking by but we had our guy friends there just in case. The skinny, clear doors were literally lining entire buildings with curtains closed on some (meaning they're in business) and the others had girls posing and smiling at passer-byers. Some of the girls looked so young and I was appalled that they were seductively opening their door to try an lure guys near. In each door is a bed already which is SUCH a weird concept that they're business happens literally feet away from the streets.. Also what I found strange was that there were some random groupings of 4-5 doors in other sections of the district just placed by stores and shops. Lots and lots of surreal moments and that's just day one.

Day 2 to come soon.