I know some of you will probably not be happy about this...yesterday I went to a bullfight. While it is almost completely outlawed in Catalonia I felt that I could not live in Spain for over 4 months and not see one. It was just as horrible and gruesome as I thought it would be. Honestly, it wasn't really a fight- it should probably be called a ritual bull killing. There is a whole process to killing the bull, which I won't get into; its repeated six times with six different bulls. After three my friends and I decided that we got the picture and had seen enough so we left.
On to Austria...
The train from Munich to Salzburg was fairly short- a little over an hour. No-I didn't sleep. We got into the Salzburg train station a little before midnight and decided to take cabs to our hotel. My cab driver was an older Croatian man that spoke very little English. Amid the funny comments about good food and Croatia he asked us where we were from. I responded Chicago. He didn't seem to understand at first and someone else in the car repeated the city name slower. This time he heard. He immediately let out a big gasp followed by "Nooooooo" and a smirk. He then picked up one hand and made a gun shooting motion saying "Mafia" very loudly. We all started cracking up. In broken English he then asked for a name. I said Al Capone and he got very excited again. I know that Chicago used to be known internationally for that, but between Michael Jordan and now Barack Obama I have not had that response once in my entire time abroad. It was very funny.
After a short ride we arrived at our goreous little bed and breakfast type hotel. Not only was the building nice, but my room was nice, as well. For a four person room we had two stories and a large bathtub. By far the best part, however, was the view. Its no wonder they filmed "The Sound of Music" in this beautiful little city. I looked out my bedroom window and felt as though I was looking at a postcard with snow capped mountains flowing behind grassy hilltops. It was incredible. Tuesday night we hung out in each others rooms for a short while before going to bed.
Wednesday morning I was 4th to shower in my room. There was no curtain on the bathtub/ shower and it showed. By the time Lisa, Annie, and Jordan were done I could have taken a bath in the floor the bathroom was so flooded. Oh well, I managed. I then met everyone downstairs for breakfast in the small, quant dining room. Immediately upon sitting down a kind old women offered me tea. I think the place was owned by one family. We finished up breakfast and caught a bus to the center of the town.
After walking around for a bit and seeing Mozart's house, among other attractions, we took a furnicular up to the old fortress. It provided an incredibly serence view of both Salzburg and the mountains surrounding it. The headset tour gave incredible history about the Habsburg empire and the entire Austro-Hungarian region for the last 1000 years, very little of which I knew before going there. After the fortress we walked through the castle and saw the incredible gardens.
Ben, Barkan, Lee, Kogan, Jordan and I then caught a bus to the famous Salzburg salt mine (Salzburg= city of salt). The girls decided to walk around Salzburg a little more. It was an absolute pain to get to this place and we weren't really sure where we were going, what it involved, or any details. I was hopefull that it would work out, but not completely confident. After much confusion and multiple busses we made it to the mine. We bought tickets for a tour, the only way to go in, and wondered around the old Celtic village as we waited. While waiting we met a couple from Washington, D.C. area. The woman was very kind and quite mother-like to all of us; it was quite funny. I also think I learned more about her and her life in the couple of hours that we were with her than I know about some of my good friends. Anyway, the salt mine was soooo cool. To get down into the mines you have to go down these slides. They were long, fast, and awesome. The trip and cost of admission was worth it just for those. We then went through a salt lake under the mine, crossed into Germany territory underground, and learned about the history of the mine and its connection with the Habsburg history.
On the way back to Salzburg we got smart and took a train (thanks to the help of our temporary mother). We got back around 7:00 and wanted to catch an 8:00 train. Matt and Lee took a van cab out to the hotel and grabbed all of our bags while we contacted the girls and bought the tickets for the train. We all ate a quick dinner and were on our way to Vienna.
The train to Vienna was almost 3 hours long; I almost fell asleep. We arrived in Vienna around 11:30 and were able to walk from the main train station to our hotel, about 7 blocks away. The hotel was very nice, again, but only had 2 person rooms. We all got settled in and hung out for a little while before going to sleep.
Thursday morning everyone woke up around 9:00. Unfortunately this place did not serve breakfast, but there was luckily a supermarket right next door. We all grabbed some quick breakfast and then the group left to tour for the day. I was to be on my own, pursuing my "Feiger family history" adventure. My first stop was to the JCC/Synagogue in Vienna. I had been given the address and told that they kept records on Jewish families living in Vienna during World War II. As I wove my way down the small side streets in the heart of Vienna I began to see quite a few security guards armed with very large automatic weapons. I walked up to the synagogue front door and began speaking to the people outside who, by the way, spoke perfect English. Unfortunately the records area was closed for Passover. I then asked if they knew of any public of open Seders that night, seeing as it was the first night of passover, or if they had any suggestions for where I could go. They were very friendly but not very helpful and told me that they didn't know of any open seders but that I should come back later and talk to the Rabbi- that maybe he would have a suggestion. I agreed and left.
Next stop: Grandpa's apartment. I took the metro to the stop I had been told to get off at and wondered the streets surrounding it for about 30 minutes. Just as I was beginning to become disgruntled and give up I came across the street: Benedikt Schellinger-Gasse. I started to look for the address. Again it took me longer than it should have (I don't think they were in any kind of order) but I eventually found 11 on a street corner. I looked up to the third floor of the apartment building, still in tact, where my Grandfather had lived until escaping Nazi oppression. Walking up to the front door of the building and walking along the sidewalk was very strange. I compared it to my walk to school at age 13 and thought about how different my was from his- how dynamic of a life he has led. Another 'come-to-life' moment.
After wondering around that neighborhood for a while I decided to go see some of the sites of Vienna. I tried getting a hold of the rest of the group, but my phone was completely out of minutes and I couldn't make or receive calls or texts. The cell-phone recharge system in Europe is truly awful. I went to the Hofburg Imperial palace and walked around the gardens and fields and through the palace plazas and hallways before finding the famous Augustiner-Kirche church and Austrian Treasury. The crown jewels in the treasury were magnificant, rivaling those from Great Britain in London. After walking through the palace I decided to head back to the main square, Stephensplatz, and get some lunch. As I was about to sit down I saw Lisa Weitzman- she had gone there to meet Marc Kovarsky and Josh Keller. As I saw here they, along with another girl from Granada that was meeting up with us, were all walking up at the same time- quite a coincidence, but it worked out extremely well. They were all just sitting down to lunch, as well. (Group total up to 17.)
I was not the only member of the group that thought it would be fun to attend a seder. I discreetly mentioned to a couple fellow Jews that the Rabbi at the synagogue might have a recommendation and sure enough, all the Jewish people in our group wanted to attend. This wasn't a bad thing, but it did involve 9 of us trying to find a place to eat-a practical impossibility. When we went back to the synagogue there was no one there anyone and it quickly became a moot point. We decided it would be fun to head to the Jewish museum. First we went to the one in Judensplatz and they told us that the other one was better. I asked again about Holocaust records. They recommended that I go to the archive in the Old City Hall, just one block away. I told the rest of the group that I would meet them at the other Jewish musuem and was again on my own. After another difficult search for a poorly labeled building/street I finally found where I needed to be. I talked to about 10 people to figure out where the archives were and was finally guided to a small room upstairs int he back of the Town Hall. I searched the online records and then thumbed through the written documents. There were thousands of names but, strangely, no Feigers. My search had come to a dead end. I thanked the man helping me and ran off to meet the others at the Jewish synagogue.
After a quick peak around we all decided it was time to head back. The large grassy fields in the Hofburg palace provided a great nap spot before going to the hotel. We then headed back, got ready, and went out to dinner at a good, local, outdoors restaurant near the hotel. Unfortunately we were not told that wine would be about 22euros/ bottle. Our wine-expert friends from Italy confirmed that it was not worth that. Accustomed to our 1euro bottles the Spanish people didn't think anything could be worth that. Live and learn. Matt Reilly met up with us as we finished (total=18). We were now at maximum attendance.
Dinner ended and it was time to go back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. After hanging out in our hotel rooms for a while we decided to check out the Vienna night life. Club "Flex" defined Eurotrashy; quite funny. We had some trouble communicating where our hotel was to a couple cab drivers on the way back, but eventually figured it out. It had been a long, successful day.
Friday morning most people woke up relatively early to go on a tour of the Vienna Opera house. I had originally intended to go, but woke up not feeling well: I think it was a combination of my worsening allergies throughout the week and accumulated hours of sleep I had lost by never sleeping on public transportation while everyone else was out cold. The extra hour and a half of sleep was perfect and I felt a little better when I woke back up- cough had not subsided, though.
Keller and I went down to figure out who had checked out/ who had not gone to the Opera house, etc. We learned that Ben and Marc were also still in their room. Keller went up to wake them and learned that they had been locked in their room. We messed with them a little bit, but eventually had to let them out so we could check out. The four of us then walked around a little more and grabbed lunch at a small, local Austrian place.
The rest of the group wanted to meet us back around 1:00 and then wanted to catch a train to Bratislava. After some miscommunication we ended up back at the hotel after they had already left for the train station. We quickly gathered our things (and all the things that the rest of them had left) and headed to the train station where we caught the same train as the rest of the group...without their knowledge.
Overall:
It was extremely weird to be in Austria- the home of my living ancestor. I am about as Americanized as anyone I know, yet my European family history is very recent- a fact that came to light in these couple of days.
Salzburg was possibly the most beautiful city I have ever seen in my life. It is indescribably picteresque. My castle will definitely be there- I even picked out on which mountainside it will reside. I can definitely see myself going back and spending a week hiking, skiing, and relaxing there. I would even stay at the same place.
Everytime I saw a man in his 80s walking around Vienna I just kept thinking how easily that could have been my grandfather. It was truly strange. All in all Vienna was a nice, big, fun city with a lively feel to it. I think it felt more modern/ American than most of the cities I travelled to on this trip, though.
Yet again the weather was incredible.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Spring Break Part 2: Munich (Neuschwanstein & Dachau)
Quick note before getting back to Spring Break activities:
Yesterday was Día del Sant Jordi in Barcelona. Sant Jordi is the patron saint of Catalonia and so the day is a pretty big deal. The tradition in Barcelona on this day is that men buy women a rose and women buy men a book. (I'm sure the guy from "Defending the Caveman" could write quite a monologue about that.) The streets were lined with booths and tables of people selling books and roses and the sidewalks were absolutely bustling with people. Scattered throughout the city radio stations had put up stages to host their shows and news casters were filming everywhere. On top of that it was about 80 degrees and sunny-definitely the most gorgeous day I have had here in Barcelona. The city felt truly alive with excitement. With the incredible weather it was easy to pick out the Americans from the crowd-I don't think I saw a single Spanish person wearing shorts or sandals.
Today it was in the mid-80s again and sunny. After my Spanish final this morning I headed straight to the beach. Here again it was easy to tell the Americans apart from the Spaniards-at least the girls...this time it wasn't the Americans wearing less clothing, though.
Now back to Spring Break:
The bus ride to Munich took a little longer than expected and we didn't arrive until around 5:15. We checked into the wonderful Holiday Inn in the Schwabing area of Munich and then contacted Matt and his two roommates, Neel and Bryan, and Jordan Mandel, all of whom we were meeting there. (Group growing to 14) The four of them had already checked in and had gone to the center of the city for a bit. Once we arrived they came back and everyone got ready to head out to dinner.
Per recommendation we headed to a beer hall called "Augustina Keller" for dinner and famous German beer. We walked in to the sound of Polka-like music- there was a band of men dressed in Bavarian garb playing music. Ben and I immediately felt right at home (see: Cádiz costumes). Instead of looking at the menu and deciding what looked good I just asked the waiter, also dressed in Bavarian clothing, what his favorite thing was. "Duck." It was delicious. We then enjoyed our 1 liter German beers and the typical Bavarian music. Being typical tourists, we thought it would be funny if we told the waiter it was one of our birthdays. Without his knowledge, Ben told the waiter it was Matt's birthday and asked if the band knew how to play happy birthday. Boy did they. 5 minutes later the entire band came over to our table and arranged themselves behind Matt before playing an entire chorus of songs-including happy birthday. Quite funny. We remained at the restaurant/beer house for some time playing cards, etc. When we left the girls were going to try and find a club, but after some slight confusion and a reminder that it was Monday night they decided to head home. Neel, Ben, Barkan, Lee and myself decided we wanted to see the city a little bit so we headed to the Marienplatz plaza in the center of Munich. We found an open McDonald's were we learned a little about German culture through some discussion with locals, all of which spoke perfect english, before deciding to call it a night.
Monday morning we woke up relatively early to catch the incredible Holiday Inn buffet, which was included in the room cost. I haven't seen a contintal breakfast buffet as good as this in a long time; another winning hotel decision. We were then ready to head to Fussen: we took two trains, each for an hour each, before we arrived at the city. Most of the group slept. From Fussen we hiked about 5 kilometers through the woods to the small town at the base of the mountain where the two castles are located. We bought our entry tickets for the Neuschwanstein castle and then began the quick climb up the paved path to the castle. It only took about 20 minutes. The view from the castle was truly remarkable and the inner-workings of it were even cooler. Great choice for a location and design for someone to build there castle-I definitely took notes for when I build my castle in Europe. Its no wonder the disney castle is modeled after it. I found it interesting, though, that the castle is still unfinished. It was built in the 1860s, which is very new for Europe's standards, and when the owner died the project was ceased. The unfinished nature took very little away from the asthetics, however.
After our tour we ran back down the mountain to catch the bus back to Fussen to catch the train back to Munich. We barely made it. We had the same train schedule on the way back as we had there; this time everybody slept (except the person making sure we didn't miss our stop...yours truly). We were back at the hotel by around 6:30 and ready to head to dinner by 8:15.
Tonight we went to the famous Hofbrahouse beer house. Again I asked the waiter his recommendation for dinner-a beef dish. Again it turned out great. We hung out at the beer house for a long time before walking around the neighborhood for a bit and then heading back to the hotel. We got cots for two of the girls the second night because they had slept 3-to-a-bed the night before. One of the cots was in my room (with Lee, Ben, and Barkan). Annie must have drawn the short straw and probably got a little education/ had an experience sleeping in the same room as four guys, ha.
Tuesday morning we woke up relatively early again to get the same incredible breakfast. As everyone packed up their things I went to work on checking out. It only took about 45 minutes to get everyone checked out, but the lady was very kind and helpful. We left our bags at the hotel and then headed to Stephenplatz to walk around the city and get a better feel for Munich. At around 11:00 we found free walking tours of the city starting in Marienplatz and decided to take the guides up on the opportunity. The group offered English and Spanish tours and I debated for a long time which to do. I decided it would be far more beneficial, educational, and interesting to take the English tour. My Scottish tour guide was very friendly and well-informed. He threw in many tidbits about WWII and how it affected the cutlure of Munich, Bavaria, Germany, Europe, and the world. Being very educated about WWII, but from a primarily American and Jewish perspective, it was very interesting to hear him discuss events of the Holocaust and the war in general. I was very pleased with his analysis and everyone's response to it. It was also very interesting to see the quantity and quality of buildings built just after WWII with Marshall Plan dollers- it felt a little like jumping into my 8th grade history textbook.
At 12:45 we tipped the tour guide, grabbed a quick lunch, and then headed back to Marienplatz to catch a tour to Dachau leaving at 1:00. Again, the group dynamic and tour guide made this a unique situation for me. For most of my life I have been surrounded by an extremely high percentage of Jewish people. Most of my best friends from elementary school, high school and college are Jewish, by blood if not by practice, and have similar upbringings, education, and feelings about the Holocaust and WWII. The group we were travelling with was about 1/2 Jewish- a huge percentage by any normal standard, but weirdly 'goy' feeling for me. Additionally, not only to many people throughout the world feel that the Holocaust is a 'Jewish' thing, I think most people think that every Jewish person has a direct link to it, that every Jewish person has a family member or knows someone that perished. Out of the seven Jewish people going to Dachau in our group I was the only one that had family persecuted, which felt very strange. Matt's roommates, Bryan and Neel, decided not to go to Dachau- which I felt was a shame. I think it shows ignorance, but that is a judgement in which I do not wish to divulge.
We took a train and a bus to Dachau before walking around the camp with our tour guide. The emotions running through my veins as went along the stone paths, through the baracks, and into the gas chambers is truly indescribable. Horrific, bone-chilling, surreal...words do not do it justice. Suffice it to say that as I write this now and remember the experience, 1 1/2 weeks later, my hand starts shaking a a tear comes to my eye. Walking around the camp I could not remember whether or not my Great Grandmother had been at that exact camp, but thought that I had been told she had-this made the experience that much more personal and mind-boggling. I would start to describe some of the things I learned and saw while there, but I know this post would not do it justice. While my pictures hardly do it justice, either, I would recommend looking at them to learn a little more. While nothing short of going yourself can elicite the feelings, I will try and summarize mine: As I walked through into the gas chamber, looked at the 'shower heads', through the other side to the crematorium and out of the building to the memorial area I looked around. I saw Lisa Weitzman, Kathy Khazanov, Lee Cohen, Ben Blumenthal, David Barkan, and Matt Kogan and thought to myself, "not one single Nazi ever thought that seven Jews would walk out this door". Though definitely not fun, going to that camp memorial was one of the most beneifical things I have ever done in my life-let alone one of the most important experiences of my trip.
After Dachau we caught a train back to the hotel. We gathered our bags and went to the main train station where we caught our short train to Salzburg.
Overall analysis:
As our bus crossed the border from the Czech Republic to Germany I got chills down my spine. Especially after travelling through Europe where history is always so ancient, it is truly mind-boggling to think about how recent the history of the Holocaust is- that my Grandfather refuses to enter that land and that there are people still living there that were trained in anti-semetism and educated in Hitler youth programs. On one of the trains I was sitting next to Matt and we were talking with three of the non-Jewish girls travelling with us. As we were talking a young German man walked by in an army uniform; we both immediately jumped and lookked at each other- the girls laughed. While it seems rediculous nowadays, the prospect of the persecution being so close in history was truly frightening.
Unrelatedly, everything and everyone in Germany was extremely clean, well-organized, and timely. The trains and busses were incredibly punctual. Germany people were also much more friendly than Czech people and everyone spoke English. The city was very interesting but you can almost tell by walking around that most of it was destroyed during World War II. I never realized how much impact the Marshall Plan and U.S. influence post World War II really had. However, Munich still had a very European feel to it with large plazas, cobblestone streets, uniformly tall buildings, etc.
On one of the trains I had bought group tickets so the lady checking tickets came up to me to see who was in our group. She said that I needed to write my name and sign the ticket-I did. Immediately she looks at my name, looks back at me, and looks back at my name. "Your name is German." She said a little confused, half asking half informing me. I laughed and told her that it was-another weird experience.
The night after we left Munich FC Barcelona played Bayern Munich in the Champions league quarterfinals. I wish I could have been in Munich for that because Barca killed them: 4-0.
Yesterday was Día del Sant Jordi in Barcelona. Sant Jordi is the patron saint of Catalonia and so the day is a pretty big deal. The tradition in Barcelona on this day is that men buy women a rose and women buy men a book. (I'm sure the guy from "Defending the Caveman" could write quite a monologue about that.) The streets were lined with booths and tables of people selling books and roses and the sidewalks were absolutely bustling with people. Scattered throughout the city radio stations had put up stages to host their shows and news casters were filming everywhere. On top of that it was about 80 degrees and sunny-definitely the most gorgeous day I have had here in Barcelona. The city felt truly alive with excitement. With the incredible weather it was easy to pick out the Americans from the crowd-I don't think I saw a single Spanish person wearing shorts or sandals.
Today it was in the mid-80s again and sunny. After my Spanish final this morning I headed straight to the beach. Here again it was easy to tell the Americans apart from the Spaniards-at least the girls...this time it wasn't the Americans wearing less clothing, though.
Now back to Spring Break:
The bus ride to Munich took a little longer than expected and we didn't arrive until around 5:15. We checked into the wonderful Holiday Inn in the Schwabing area of Munich and then contacted Matt and his two roommates, Neel and Bryan, and Jordan Mandel, all of whom we were meeting there. (Group growing to 14) The four of them had already checked in and had gone to the center of the city for a bit. Once we arrived they came back and everyone got ready to head out to dinner.
Per recommendation we headed to a beer hall called "Augustina Keller" for dinner and famous German beer. We walked in to the sound of Polka-like music- there was a band of men dressed in Bavarian garb playing music. Ben and I immediately felt right at home (see: Cádiz costumes). Instead of looking at the menu and deciding what looked good I just asked the waiter, also dressed in Bavarian clothing, what his favorite thing was. "Duck." It was delicious. We then enjoyed our 1 liter German beers and the typical Bavarian music. Being typical tourists, we thought it would be funny if we told the waiter it was one of our birthdays. Without his knowledge, Ben told the waiter it was Matt's birthday and asked if the band knew how to play happy birthday. Boy did they. 5 minutes later the entire band came over to our table and arranged themselves behind Matt before playing an entire chorus of songs-including happy birthday. Quite funny. We remained at the restaurant/beer house for some time playing cards, etc. When we left the girls were going to try and find a club, but after some slight confusion and a reminder that it was Monday night they decided to head home. Neel, Ben, Barkan, Lee and myself decided we wanted to see the city a little bit so we headed to the Marienplatz plaza in the center of Munich. We found an open McDonald's were we learned a little about German culture through some discussion with locals, all of which spoke perfect english, before deciding to call it a night.
Monday morning we woke up relatively early to catch the incredible Holiday Inn buffet, which was included in the room cost. I haven't seen a contintal breakfast buffet as good as this in a long time; another winning hotel decision. We were then ready to head to Fussen: we took two trains, each for an hour each, before we arrived at the city. Most of the group slept. From Fussen we hiked about 5 kilometers through the woods to the small town at the base of the mountain where the two castles are located. We bought our entry tickets for the Neuschwanstein castle and then began the quick climb up the paved path to the castle. It only took about 20 minutes. The view from the castle was truly remarkable and the inner-workings of it were even cooler. Great choice for a location and design for someone to build there castle-I definitely took notes for when I build my castle in Europe. Its no wonder the disney castle is modeled after it. I found it interesting, though, that the castle is still unfinished. It was built in the 1860s, which is very new for Europe's standards, and when the owner died the project was ceased. The unfinished nature took very little away from the asthetics, however.
After our tour we ran back down the mountain to catch the bus back to Fussen to catch the train back to Munich. We barely made it. We had the same train schedule on the way back as we had there; this time everybody slept (except the person making sure we didn't miss our stop...yours truly). We were back at the hotel by around 6:30 and ready to head to dinner by 8:15.
Tonight we went to the famous Hofbrahouse beer house. Again I asked the waiter his recommendation for dinner-a beef dish. Again it turned out great. We hung out at the beer house for a long time before walking around the neighborhood for a bit and then heading back to the hotel. We got cots for two of the girls the second night because they had slept 3-to-a-bed the night before. One of the cots was in my room (with Lee, Ben, and Barkan). Annie must have drawn the short straw and probably got a little education/ had an experience sleeping in the same room as four guys, ha.
Tuesday morning we woke up relatively early again to get the same incredible breakfast. As everyone packed up their things I went to work on checking out. It only took about 45 minutes to get everyone checked out, but the lady was very kind and helpful. We left our bags at the hotel and then headed to Stephenplatz to walk around the city and get a better feel for Munich. At around 11:00 we found free walking tours of the city starting in Marienplatz and decided to take the guides up on the opportunity. The group offered English and Spanish tours and I debated for a long time which to do. I decided it would be far more beneficial, educational, and interesting to take the English tour. My Scottish tour guide was very friendly and well-informed. He threw in many tidbits about WWII and how it affected the cutlure of Munich, Bavaria, Germany, Europe, and the world. Being very educated about WWII, but from a primarily American and Jewish perspective, it was very interesting to hear him discuss events of the Holocaust and the war in general. I was very pleased with his analysis and everyone's response to it. It was also very interesting to see the quantity and quality of buildings built just after WWII with Marshall Plan dollers- it felt a little like jumping into my 8th grade history textbook.
At 12:45 we tipped the tour guide, grabbed a quick lunch, and then headed back to Marienplatz to catch a tour to Dachau leaving at 1:00. Again, the group dynamic and tour guide made this a unique situation for me. For most of my life I have been surrounded by an extremely high percentage of Jewish people. Most of my best friends from elementary school, high school and college are Jewish, by blood if not by practice, and have similar upbringings, education, and feelings about the Holocaust and WWII. The group we were travelling with was about 1/2 Jewish- a huge percentage by any normal standard, but weirdly 'goy' feeling for me. Additionally, not only to many people throughout the world feel that the Holocaust is a 'Jewish' thing, I think most people think that every Jewish person has a direct link to it, that every Jewish person has a family member or knows someone that perished. Out of the seven Jewish people going to Dachau in our group I was the only one that had family persecuted, which felt very strange. Matt's roommates, Bryan and Neel, decided not to go to Dachau- which I felt was a shame. I think it shows ignorance, but that is a judgement in which I do not wish to divulge.
We took a train and a bus to Dachau before walking around the camp with our tour guide. The emotions running through my veins as went along the stone paths, through the baracks, and into the gas chambers is truly indescribable. Horrific, bone-chilling, surreal...words do not do it justice. Suffice it to say that as I write this now and remember the experience, 1 1/2 weeks later, my hand starts shaking a a tear comes to my eye. Walking around the camp I could not remember whether or not my Great Grandmother had been at that exact camp, but thought that I had been told she had-this made the experience that much more personal and mind-boggling. I would start to describe some of the things I learned and saw while there, but I know this post would not do it justice. While my pictures hardly do it justice, either, I would recommend looking at them to learn a little more. While nothing short of going yourself can elicite the feelings, I will try and summarize mine: As I walked through into the gas chamber, looked at the 'shower heads', through the other side to the crematorium and out of the building to the memorial area I looked around. I saw Lisa Weitzman, Kathy Khazanov, Lee Cohen, Ben Blumenthal, David Barkan, and Matt Kogan and thought to myself, "not one single Nazi ever thought that seven Jews would walk out this door". Though definitely not fun, going to that camp memorial was one of the most beneifical things I have ever done in my life-let alone one of the most important experiences of my trip.
After Dachau we caught a train back to the hotel. We gathered our bags and went to the main train station where we caught our short train to Salzburg.
Overall analysis:
As our bus crossed the border from the Czech Republic to Germany I got chills down my spine. Especially after travelling through Europe where history is always so ancient, it is truly mind-boggling to think about how recent the history of the Holocaust is- that my Grandfather refuses to enter that land and that there are people still living there that were trained in anti-semetism and educated in Hitler youth programs. On one of the trains I was sitting next to Matt and we were talking with three of the non-Jewish girls travelling with us. As we were talking a young German man walked by in an army uniform; we both immediately jumped and lookked at each other- the girls laughed. While it seems rediculous nowadays, the prospect of the persecution being so close in history was truly frightening.
Unrelatedly, everything and everyone in Germany was extremely clean, well-organized, and timely. The trains and busses were incredibly punctual. Germany people were also much more friendly than Czech people and everyone spoke English. The city was very interesting but you can almost tell by walking around that most of it was destroyed during World War II. I never realized how much impact the Marshall Plan and U.S. influence post World War II really had. However, Munich still had a very European feel to it with large plazas, cobblestone streets, uniformly tall buildings, etc.
On one of the trains I had bought group tickets so the lady checking tickets came up to me to see who was in our group. She said that I needed to write my name and sign the ticket-I did. Immediately she looks at my name, looks back at me, and looks back at my name. "Your name is German." She said a little confused, half asking half informing me. I laughed and told her that it was-another weird experience.
The night after we left Munich FC Barcelona played Bayern Munich in the Champions league quarterfinals. I wish I could have been in Munich for that because Barca killed them: 4-0.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Spring Break Part 1: Prague
Wow its been a while since I have posted...sorry about that. In the interest of time and practicality I will just give a quick review of life since my last post, followed by what you really want to here about- my spring break trip.
The weekend after Valencia (last weekend in March) Shaun Abrams, Ben Blumenthal and I went to Belgium where we relaxed, had incredible chocolate, incredible beer, incredible waffles, and incredible food. The weather was sub-par- chilly and rainy- which put a damper on things. We stayed in Brussels for the weekend, but headed to Brugge for a day trip on Saturday where we toured a local brewery. It was exactly the type of trip that I was looking for.
A couple other things:
"April showers bring May flowers" is not just a U.S. thing; it has rained here as much in the last week as the rest of the semester put together, though today was beautfiul.
School work this week has been crazy. I think they don't give you any assignments all semester so they can just wait until the last two weeks to pile everything on. Between this week and next week I have 4 tests, 3 essays, and 4 presentations!!! For this reason, and because of the sheer length, I think I am going to break up my spring break blog into a couple entries.
Now to SPRING BREAK, La Semana Santa, or as it should be known as: "My Epic Adventure"...
The trip really began Thursday evening, April 2nd, when Lee and Kathy knocked on my door. They came to spend the night in Barcelona before continuing on the rest of the adventure. We went out for some Mexican cuisine and then headed to bed relatively early knowing the rest we would need for the week to come.
Friday morning I woke up, left Lee and Kathy a note with a couple apples (they were on a later flight than I), met Ben and headed to the airport. When we got to the airport Barkan and their other roommate, Maurio, were checking in to the flight. After they checked in Ben and I left our enormous backing backpacks stuffed to the brim with them in the hallway while we walked up with our smaller draw-string matching Adidas gym bags (coincidence-I swear) to check in. "Any bags to check?" No. Somehow we both made it through security and onto the plane with bags that were probably twice as heavy and almost twice as large as should be permitted-and this was on a cheapo airline that is usually a stickler for that sort of thing.
As I was scurrying through security I heard my name called from behind. "Who from my program is also on this flight?" I thought to myself as I turned around. I was shocked to see Katie Schaddel, one of Dena's friends that I met in Sevilla, run up behind. She had connected from Sevilla through Barcelona and was, in fact, on my flight to Prague. Didn't take long to bump into someone I absolutely did not expect to see-which has definitely become a theme throughout my European travels. It turns out Nicole Barrett, who was coming on the trip with us but I thought was on a different flight to Prague, was also on our flight.
We landed in Prague, Czech Republic, got off of the plane and walked out of the baggage-claim area and exactly what I wanted occurred: Standing in the airport waiting for us was a man holding a large sign saying "Feiger" on it. My trip was made in the first 5 minutes. The strenous, tedious work of organizing all of the travel and accomodation reservations had already begun to pay off. We got into the van and headed to the hotel.
Now, I usually try and keep an arrogance in check-especially in public, but it may come out a little with some of these hotels and travel arrangements. Our place to stay could not have worked out any better. I had found an 'apartment & residence' looking to rent out rooms as hotel rooms. Obviously I had tried to pick a place near the center, but never having been to Prague before and knowing little about it I sort of had to guess. This place was located in the dead center of the city- just between the Old Town Square and the New Town Plaza. We had two rooms, both beautiful. The larger was on the top floor of the place and included two terraces, the larger of which provided the most scenic view of the city I could have ever imagined-especially when it lit up at night.
After settling in I decided to wander around and acquant myself with the first non-Western city in Europe that I had ever visited. My first impressions did not surprise me at all. I had heard many friends speak of the cities beauty and eloquence and they were correct. It is incredibly clean and possess' a great mix of old buildings and new buildings. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the plaza's looking at the incredible clock towers, as well. It was exactly what I pictured a modern Eastern European city to look like, with red roofs, cobble-stone paths, large plazas, and elaborate churches and clock towers.
As the sun began to set we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. There we met up with Lee, and Kathy, as well as the rest of the girls from Granada: Alex, Annie, Lisa, and Lisa Weitzman. We got ready and called Ben's friend from Deerfield studying in Prague who took us to a typical Czech dinner. The goulosh, duck, meat, and dumplings were incredible. Even more incredible, though, was the price, especially compared to dinner out in Barcelona. After dinner we headed back to our room where we contemplated going out for a long time. The view from the terrace was just impossible to leave, however, so we spent the evening taking in the cool night Prague air.
Saturday was tour day. A couple of us got up in the morning and headed straight to Old Town Square for breakfast. The square was bustling with stands, shops, and people probably even more so than normal as a result of Semana Santa. We then headed across the famous old bridge towards the large castle. Walking around the castle we bumped into-guess who- Katie and her boyfriend touring around. They joined us for the rest of the day as our group of 11 grew to 13. In addition to the cathedral and exterior walls, the castle included a vineyard and an elaborate set of gardens-both closed due to President Barack Obama the Messiah coming to Prague that evening to make a speech the next day.
After wondering around the castle we walked back along the bustling bridge, through another large plaza towards the famous Lennon wall. I was actually surprised how tucked away and secluded the wall was. It was as if it came out of nowhere-as if a bunch of people randomly decided to start painting graffiti on some random wall and then it just grew. It was cool to see the images in person that I have seen so many times before, though.
It was starting to get late in the day and lunch was definitely in order. The appeal of Old Town Square would not fade so we decided to head there. As I sat and enjoyed lunch in the crowded plaza I watched the astronomical clock strike the top of the hour. At this point little figures popped out from various doors surrounding the incredible clock as others on the wall began to dance and sing. It was quite a sight. Upon the conclusion of lunch I sought out what my nose had been calling to everytime I had wondered through this square. They were circular pretzel-like fresh doughy things and they were truly remarkable. I sampled a few of the other fresh Prague-desserts in the square before we headed off to the Jewish quarter.
I was mildly surprised at the enormity and preservation of the Jewish quarter. Obviously the Jews had a large influence and large population in Eastern Europe, but I did not know of the history of Prague, specifically, and assumed that most of this history would have been destroyed. This was not the case. In addition to Synagogues and kosher restaurants there was a centuries old cemetery in the area. We continued through this area and on to a large field. Apparently this area was located next to one of the main Universities in Prague. Most of the group took this opportunity to relax and take a nap in the grass. I, however, saw a couple of Europeans throwing around an American football and could not pass up the opportunity to join. It turns out they were two students from Prague that attended this university and they, well, threw an American football like you would expect people from the Czech Republic to throw a football. A few minutes after Barkan and I joined them one of them asked me if we were on a team in the U.S. I laughed.
Around 5:30 it was time to head back and get ready for dinner and the evening ahead. We went to another typical Czech restaurant near our hotel and I ordered duck- amazing. While the meal was cheap yet again they apparently do not like overuse of napkins in Prague. We had been given about 10 individual small napkins for the entire table so one member of the group, seeing a stack at a nearby counter, went up and grabbed a bunch. We were then told we were going to be charged for each individual napkin we used, to which we replied by laughing and then regathering most of the napkins-dirty or clean- repiled them up, and handed them back to the waitress. We ended up not getting charged. And I thought it was rediculous that they charge for bread that they just give you in Spain, jeeze.
That night we met up with a couple of Ben's other friends from Deerfield-one of which was having her 21st birthday. They were meeting up with other people, as well, and our group of 13 quickly ballooned to between 30 and 40 for the night. Wandering around the streets we found a bar with a back room closed off. We convinced them to open it for us and they did. After a little while the bar tender in the back room returned to the front. Some people tried to order more drinks but the service was, well, European. People decided to start helping themselves to the tap. The bar quickly found out about this, of course, and somehow I, along with Ben, ended up being the ones representing all 40 people to talk to the bar tender and resolve the situation. It ended with us leaving. We then bar hopped for a little bit before the girls decided that they were tired and headed home. They were going to wake up at 6am the next morning to go try and see Obama speak. Meanwhile, Ben, Barkan, Lee, Maurio and myself decided to investigate the 5-story club.
When we got there the line to get in was very long and they were charging 110 Korunys to enter (about 5 euros). Not wanting to wait in line forever I was a proponent of skipping it. Maurio, however, was determined to get us in without waiting in line. He, Lee and Barkan went to talk to the bouncer up front while Ben and I stood in line waiting for them. Shortly after they came back unsuccessful and we continued to debate what to do. As we were debating Maurio, who I thought had come back with Barkan and Lee, came running over waving us to come with him. Apparently he had paid the bouncer 500 Korunys to get all 5 of us in-he had somehow negotiated a discount, or so he thought. When we went in there was a second man inside standing at a turnstyle taking money. We explained to him that we had just paid the bouncer and he said that made no sense-that he could not let us in until we each gave him 110 Korunys. As we were again debating what to do and thinking that we had just been tricked out of 500 Korunys Barkan runs back in with a 500 Koruny note in his hand screaming excitedly-somehow he had got the money back. We each paid our 5 euro equivalent and went in. We had successfully skipped the line for free. Just as we entered a large man in a nice suit with a clipboard-presumably a manager- came up to us. He asked why we had given the doorman money and we explained that he told us we could pay him and go right in. He acknowledged our claim and stormed out to talk to the door man. We spent the next couple of hours wandering around this giant place and experiencing what Eurotrash Discoteching is like.
The next morning the girls woke up early to go see Obama; I decided sleep was more important. I woke up around 10:00, organized my things, and discussed check-out with the lady at the front desk. I then walked around Old Town Square one more time and grabbed a fresh chicken skewer for brunch before going back to the hotel to head out. When I arrived there was a man waiting for me-the owner of the bus company I had arranged to take us door-to-door from Prague to Munich (yes, cheaper than a train). The girls arrived soon after that, and we checked out of the hotel, boarded our mini-coach bus and were on our way to Munchen, Alemania!
Concluding thoughts:
The weather in Prague was absolutely incredible and played a large part in my adoration of this city. That, combined with the physical beauty, was truly remarkable. The red-roofed old, pretty buildings lining the cobblestone streets provided a homey feel yet still possessed an authentic mystique. That said, I did not really care for the people, at least in professional contacts: restaurants, shops, etc. First, they seemed unintelligent; not in the book smart sense. It just seemed as if no one ever knew what was going on- they had no business smarts and no social awareness. Second, they were very cold. I couldn't tell if it was because we were clearly American tourists that didn't speak a word of the language or if it was just a cultural thing. That said, Prague has been one of my favorite cities in Europe. I had heard this from friends that studied abroad last year and friends that had travelled there before me this year and, as a result, I had high expectations. It lived up to the hype.
(Pictures for Prague and the rest of Spring Break are posted on facebook. If you don't have a facebook account and want to see them let me know so I can e-mail you access to the albums.)
The weekend after Valencia (last weekend in March) Shaun Abrams, Ben Blumenthal and I went to Belgium where we relaxed, had incredible chocolate, incredible beer, incredible waffles, and incredible food. The weather was sub-par- chilly and rainy- which put a damper on things. We stayed in Brussels for the weekend, but headed to Brugge for a day trip on Saturday where we toured a local brewery. It was exactly the type of trip that I was looking for.
A couple other things:
"April showers bring May flowers" is not just a U.S. thing; it has rained here as much in the last week as the rest of the semester put together, though today was beautfiul.
School work this week has been crazy. I think they don't give you any assignments all semester so they can just wait until the last two weeks to pile everything on. Between this week and next week I have 4 tests, 3 essays, and 4 presentations!!! For this reason, and because of the sheer length, I think I am going to break up my spring break blog into a couple entries.
Now to SPRING BREAK, La Semana Santa, or as it should be known as: "My Epic Adventure"...
The trip really began Thursday evening, April 2nd, when Lee and Kathy knocked on my door. They came to spend the night in Barcelona before continuing on the rest of the adventure. We went out for some Mexican cuisine and then headed to bed relatively early knowing the rest we would need for the week to come.
Friday morning I woke up, left Lee and Kathy a note with a couple apples (they were on a later flight than I), met Ben and headed to the airport. When we got to the airport Barkan and their other roommate, Maurio, were checking in to the flight. After they checked in Ben and I left our enormous backing backpacks stuffed to the brim with them in the hallway while we walked up with our smaller draw-string matching Adidas gym bags (coincidence-I swear) to check in. "Any bags to check?" No. Somehow we both made it through security and onto the plane with bags that were probably twice as heavy and almost twice as large as should be permitted-and this was on a cheapo airline that is usually a stickler for that sort of thing.
As I was scurrying through security I heard my name called from behind. "Who from my program is also on this flight?" I thought to myself as I turned around. I was shocked to see Katie Schaddel, one of Dena's friends that I met in Sevilla, run up behind. She had connected from Sevilla through Barcelona and was, in fact, on my flight to Prague. Didn't take long to bump into someone I absolutely did not expect to see-which has definitely become a theme throughout my European travels. It turns out Nicole Barrett, who was coming on the trip with us but I thought was on a different flight to Prague, was also on our flight.
We landed in Prague, Czech Republic, got off of the plane and walked out of the baggage-claim area and exactly what I wanted occurred: Standing in the airport waiting for us was a man holding a large sign saying "Feiger" on it. My trip was made in the first 5 minutes. The strenous, tedious work of organizing all of the travel and accomodation reservations had already begun to pay off. We got into the van and headed to the hotel.
Now, I usually try and keep an arrogance in check-especially in public, but it may come out a little with some of these hotels and travel arrangements. Our place to stay could not have worked out any better. I had found an 'apartment & residence' looking to rent out rooms as hotel rooms. Obviously I had tried to pick a place near the center, but never having been to Prague before and knowing little about it I sort of had to guess. This place was located in the dead center of the city- just between the Old Town Square and the New Town Plaza. We had two rooms, both beautiful. The larger was on the top floor of the place and included two terraces, the larger of which provided the most scenic view of the city I could have ever imagined-especially when it lit up at night.
After settling in I decided to wander around and acquant myself with the first non-Western city in Europe that I had ever visited. My first impressions did not surprise me at all. I had heard many friends speak of the cities beauty and eloquence and they were correct. It is incredibly clean and possess' a great mix of old buildings and new buildings. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the plaza's looking at the incredible clock towers, as well. It was exactly what I pictured a modern Eastern European city to look like, with red roofs, cobble-stone paths, large plazas, and elaborate churches and clock towers.
As the sun began to set we headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. There we met up with Lee, and Kathy, as well as the rest of the girls from Granada: Alex, Annie, Lisa, and Lisa Weitzman. We got ready and called Ben's friend from Deerfield studying in Prague who took us to a typical Czech dinner. The goulosh, duck, meat, and dumplings were incredible. Even more incredible, though, was the price, especially compared to dinner out in Barcelona. After dinner we headed back to our room where we contemplated going out for a long time. The view from the terrace was just impossible to leave, however, so we spent the evening taking in the cool night Prague air.
Saturday was tour day. A couple of us got up in the morning and headed straight to Old Town Square for breakfast. The square was bustling with stands, shops, and people probably even more so than normal as a result of Semana Santa. We then headed across the famous old bridge towards the large castle. Walking around the castle we bumped into-guess who- Katie and her boyfriend touring around. They joined us for the rest of the day as our group of 11 grew to 13. In addition to the cathedral and exterior walls, the castle included a vineyard and an elaborate set of gardens-both closed due to President Barack Obama the Messiah coming to Prague that evening to make a speech the next day.
After wondering around the castle we walked back along the bustling bridge, through another large plaza towards the famous Lennon wall. I was actually surprised how tucked away and secluded the wall was. It was as if it came out of nowhere-as if a bunch of people randomly decided to start painting graffiti on some random wall and then it just grew. It was cool to see the images in person that I have seen so many times before, though.
It was starting to get late in the day and lunch was definitely in order. The appeal of Old Town Square would not fade so we decided to head there. As I sat and enjoyed lunch in the crowded plaza I watched the astronomical clock strike the top of the hour. At this point little figures popped out from various doors surrounding the incredible clock as others on the wall began to dance and sing. It was quite a sight. Upon the conclusion of lunch I sought out what my nose had been calling to everytime I had wondered through this square. They were circular pretzel-like fresh doughy things and they were truly remarkable. I sampled a few of the other fresh Prague-desserts in the square before we headed off to the Jewish quarter.
I was mildly surprised at the enormity and preservation of the Jewish quarter. Obviously the Jews had a large influence and large population in Eastern Europe, but I did not know of the history of Prague, specifically, and assumed that most of this history would have been destroyed. This was not the case. In addition to Synagogues and kosher restaurants there was a centuries old cemetery in the area. We continued through this area and on to a large field. Apparently this area was located next to one of the main Universities in Prague. Most of the group took this opportunity to relax and take a nap in the grass. I, however, saw a couple of Europeans throwing around an American football and could not pass up the opportunity to join. It turns out they were two students from Prague that attended this university and they, well, threw an American football like you would expect people from the Czech Republic to throw a football. A few minutes after Barkan and I joined them one of them asked me if we were on a team in the U.S. I laughed.
Around 5:30 it was time to head back and get ready for dinner and the evening ahead. We went to another typical Czech restaurant near our hotel and I ordered duck- amazing. While the meal was cheap yet again they apparently do not like overuse of napkins in Prague. We had been given about 10 individual small napkins for the entire table so one member of the group, seeing a stack at a nearby counter, went up and grabbed a bunch. We were then told we were going to be charged for each individual napkin we used, to which we replied by laughing and then regathering most of the napkins-dirty or clean- repiled them up, and handed them back to the waitress. We ended up not getting charged. And I thought it was rediculous that they charge for bread that they just give you in Spain, jeeze.
That night we met up with a couple of Ben's other friends from Deerfield-one of which was having her 21st birthday. They were meeting up with other people, as well, and our group of 13 quickly ballooned to between 30 and 40 for the night. Wandering around the streets we found a bar with a back room closed off. We convinced them to open it for us and they did. After a little while the bar tender in the back room returned to the front. Some people tried to order more drinks but the service was, well, European. People decided to start helping themselves to the tap. The bar quickly found out about this, of course, and somehow I, along with Ben, ended up being the ones representing all 40 people to talk to the bar tender and resolve the situation. It ended with us leaving. We then bar hopped for a little bit before the girls decided that they were tired and headed home. They were going to wake up at 6am the next morning to go try and see Obama speak. Meanwhile, Ben, Barkan, Lee, Maurio and myself decided to investigate the 5-story club.
When we got there the line to get in was very long and they were charging 110 Korunys to enter (about 5 euros). Not wanting to wait in line forever I was a proponent of skipping it. Maurio, however, was determined to get us in without waiting in line. He, Lee and Barkan went to talk to the bouncer up front while Ben and I stood in line waiting for them. Shortly after they came back unsuccessful and we continued to debate what to do. As we were debating Maurio, who I thought had come back with Barkan and Lee, came running over waving us to come with him. Apparently he had paid the bouncer 500 Korunys to get all 5 of us in-he had somehow negotiated a discount, or so he thought. When we went in there was a second man inside standing at a turnstyle taking money. We explained to him that we had just paid the bouncer and he said that made no sense-that he could not let us in until we each gave him 110 Korunys. As we were again debating what to do and thinking that we had just been tricked out of 500 Korunys Barkan runs back in with a 500 Koruny note in his hand screaming excitedly-somehow he had got the money back. We each paid our 5 euro equivalent and went in. We had successfully skipped the line for free. Just as we entered a large man in a nice suit with a clipboard-presumably a manager- came up to us. He asked why we had given the doorman money and we explained that he told us we could pay him and go right in. He acknowledged our claim and stormed out to talk to the door man. We spent the next couple of hours wandering around this giant place and experiencing what Eurotrash Discoteching is like.
The next morning the girls woke up early to go see Obama; I decided sleep was more important. I woke up around 10:00, organized my things, and discussed check-out with the lady at the front desk. I then walked around Old Town Square one more time and grabbed a fresh chicken skewer for brunch before going back to the hotel to head out. When I arrived there was a man waiting for me-the owner of the bus company I had arranged to take us door-to-door from Prague to Munich (yes, cheaper than a train). The girls arrived soon after that, and we checked out of the hotel, boarded our mini-coach bus and were on our way to Munchen, Alemania!
Concluding thoughts:
The weather in Prague was absolutely incredible and played a large part in my adoration of this city. That, combined with the physical beauty, was truly remarkable. The red-roofed old, pretty buildings lining the cobblestone streets provided a homey feel yet still possessed an authentic mystique. That said, I did not really care for the people, at least in professional contacts: restaurants, shops, etc. First, they seemed unintelligent; not in the book smart sense. It just seemed as if no one ever knew what was going on- they had no business smarts and no social awareness. Second, they were very cold. I couldn't tell if it was because we were clearly American tourists that didn't speak a word of the language or if it was just a cultural thing. That said, Prague has been one of my favorite cities in Europe. I had heard this from friends that studied abroad last year and friends that had travelled there before me this year and, as a result, I had high expectations. It lived up to the hype.
(Pictures for Prague and the rest of Spring Break are posted on facebook. If you don't have a facebook account and want to see them let me know so I can e-mail you access to the albums.)
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Valencia and visitors
This weekend I did not have class on Friday and debated for a long time where I wanted to travel: Granada, Morocco, Portugal, Nice. The problem was that I had quite a few friends visiting Barcelona. Eventually I discovered that Thursday night was the famous Las Fallas Festival in Valencia- the end of the long ceremony/week of parades. This provided the perfect opportunity to both travel and see my friends.
Thursday morning I woke up around 7am and headed to the train station. Coincidentally I saw Lori Allen, studying in Madrid this semester, there; small world, huh? I bought my ticket and waited for Ben and his friend Lindsay to arrive before boarding our 9AM train. The three hours down the coast went by quickly and provided a gorgeous view of the Costa Brava.
We arrived in Valencia around noon and wandered around the city before grabbing lunch. It was packed with both people and incredible floats. These floats were anywhere from 10 feet to 3 stories tall and made of wood, plaster and other sturdy (yet flammable) materials. They were incredible. I felt bad for the people who had devoted the last year of their lives to these pieces of art, only to watch them go up in flames.
After a quick lunch we headed to the world famous Oceanographic (Aquarium), home to the largest collection of aquatic species in the world. We spent about 3 hours in the aquarium, seeing everything from Sharks to Jellyfish to huge crabs to a dolphin show, which was definitely the best part. The physical design of the building was incredible and it was cool to see many of the different species and tanks. However, since I've started SCUBA diving looking at sea life through glass just doesn't inspire the same sense of awe that it used to.
We left the Aquarium as it closed around 6:00 and walked down for a quick stop at the beach, which should be a given since I was traveling with Ben. While the weather wasn't ideal the beach itself was great- probably the widest sand beach I have ever seen. We laid down and relaxed for a few minutes while listening to a group of Spanish girls unsuccessfully try to sing American music.
The night before going to Valencia I had been told that the Granada people (Lee, Kathy, etc.) had just planned to go see Las Fallas, as well. Lee called me to tell me they had arrived and we went to meet up with them for dinner. I asked how they got all they way from Granada to Valencia, which was probably a bad question. Lee, sporting a yellow pedestrian suit, told me that they had rented a stick-shift van. He watched a 7 minute youtube video the night before to learn how to drive stick, picked up the car the next day and, after stalling about 35 times, made it to Valencia. Definitely impressive.
Some of the group went to get bocadillos (sandwiches) for dinner but I wanted to try the world famous Paella of Valencia. Ben, Lee, Lindsay and I found a table outside among the masses of people and each got chicken paella-it was okay. Afterward it was time to see all of the floats.
Walking around felt like being in a war zone. People were exploding firecrackers, lighting fireworks and throwing noise poppers all over, sometimes trying to hit innocent passerbys. So far Las Fallas had lived up to its infamy. At around 11:20 we settled in front of the 3rd place float (they don't burn 1st place) to get a good spot to see it burn-it was suppossed to start at 12:00.
It took about 15 fireman and a bunch more people setting up the fireworks about an hour to get the incredibly massive float ready to light, or should I say explode. They fenced off people about 20 feet back from the float. Lee, with his security-like vest was right in front while the rest of us were 5 or 6 people back. At one point we, along with everyone else around us, almost got in a fight with a couple guys trying to push there way through. Lee just had to yell once and point his finger and they left, ha. As the float began to burn I realized it was a good thing we were further back, though. In a matter of seconds my face became soo hot. And then, as the surrounding building started to catch fire and the electric lines and speakers in the street started to melt, the fireman began hosing everything down. Everything, including anyone in the way. I got a little wet, but Lee looked like he had jumped in a pool in his clothes.
The 'Falla' burned for about 15 minutes before the crowd started heading out. We caught the end of a couple other burnings and wandered around the city only to be chased by fireman spraying people with hoses. Apparently they didn't like the crowd chanting "bomberos maricon" (look it up).
I was actually surprised at how quickly the incredible crowd filtered out of the city and the cleaning began. I expected this to be like Cádiz- people up going crazy all night, but by around 2:30 the city was almost dead and street cleaners were out in full force. We found a small night club to go to and spend a couple hours. At 4:30 it was time to go back and catch our train. The Granada people were spending the night. Unfortunately I could not get a ticket onto Ben and Lindsay's 5:15 train and had to wait for the 6:30- strangely they both arrived in Barcelona at the same time. The hour of quiet and solitude was peaceful; I grabbed a crossiant and walked around the city watching the incredible cleaning crew work as the sun came up.
Around 9:30AM I arrived back in Barcelona. I let Marc Kovarsky and Josh Keller (whom I had visited in Florence a few weeks ago and were now visiting me in Barcelona) know that I was back and planned to sleep the whole day. Sleep I did. Around 6:00PM they called me asking what I was up to. "Good Morning" was my response. After staying in a hostel the night before the two of them and a roommate were going to stay with me for the rest of the weekend. They dropped their stuff off and we all got ready and headed to dinner. We went to a nice area on the beach near Park de la Ciutadella that I had not yet been to and ordered a Paella for the 5 of us (3 of them, me and Ben). I've never seen a pan so big in my life; it took 2 people to carry it out. Needless to say we did not finish the entire thing, but it was verry good.
After dinner we went to a nearby bar with live music. There Jon Levy and Lisa Weitzman met up with us. Lisa is part of the 'Granada crew' but did not come to Barcelona with them and Jon had come to spend spring break with her. I find it weird everytime I see a friend from home in Europe, but until then all of them had been studying abroad, as well. Seeing Jon was great, but it was especially weird hanging out with someone that was going to school at Illinois and in the same routine as every other semester. We showed our visitors a little of what the crazy Barcelona nightlife was like before heading back relatively early.
Saturday we slept in a little and walked around the city. Saturday evening we ate ate at a bar and hung out their for a while before going to Razzmattazz, the biggest club in Barcelona. I had never been there before, but had heard that it was one of the top 10 clubs in the world-I can now see why. The place was enormous, with 5 large rooms, 3 levels, oustide hallways, inside hallways, stages, etc. I could not draw a picture of it if I had to and it took about 45 minutes just to walk around and see the entire thing. Saturday night was not such an early night.
Sunday we toured Park Guell and walked around Gracia before the four of them had to catch their flight- Marc and Keller were heading to Granada with Jon and Lisa as part of their Spring break. They left and I slept- it had been quite an action packed weekend.
Thursday morning I woke up around 7am and headed to the train station. Coincidentally I saw Lori Allen, studying in Madrid this semester, there; small world, huh? I bought my ticket and waited for Ben and his friend Lindsay to arrive before boarding our 9AM train. The three hours down the coast went by quickly and provided a gorgeous view of the Costa Brava.
We arrived in Valencia around noon and wandered around the city before grabbing lunch. It was packed with both people and incredible floats. These floats were anywhere from 10 feet to 3 stories tall and made of wood, plaster and other sturdy (yet flammable) materials. They were incredible. I felt bad for the people who had devoted the last year of their lives to these pieces of art, only to watch them go up in flames.
After a quick lunch we headed to the world famous Oceanographic (Aquarium), home to the largest collection of aquatic species in the world. We spent about 3 hours in the aquarium, seeing everything from Sharks to Jellyfish to huge crabs to a dolphin show, which was definitely the best part. The physical design of the building was incredible and it was cool to see many of the different species and tanks. However, since I've started SCUBA diving looking at sea life through glass just doesn't inspire the same sense of awe that it used to.
We left the Aquarium as it closed around 6:00 and walked down for a quick stop at the beach, which should be a given since I was traveling with Ben. While the weather wasn't ideal the beach itself was great- probably the widest sand beach I have ever seen. We laid down and relaxed for a few minutes while listening to a group of Spanish girls unsuccessfully try to sing American music.
The night before going to Valencia I had been told that the Granada people (Lee, Kathy, etc.) had just planned to go see Las Fallas, as well. Lee called me to tell me they had arrived and we went to meet up with them for dinner. I asked how they got all they way from Granada to Valencia, which was probably a bad question. Lee, sporting a yellow pedestrian suit, told me that they had rented a stick-shift van. He watched a 7 minute youtube video the night before to learn how to drive stick, picked up the car the next day and, after stalling about 35 times, made it to Valencia. Definitely impressive.
Some of the group went to get bocadillos (sandwiches) for dinner but I wanted to try the world famous Paella of Valencia. Ben, Lee, Lindsay and I found a table outside among the masses of people and each got chicken paella-it was okay. Afterward it was time to see all of the floats.
Walking around felt like being in a war zone. People were exploding firecrackers, lighting fireworks and throwing noise poppers all over, sometimes trying to hit innocent passerbys. So far Las Fallas had lived up to its infamy. At around 11:20 we settled in front of the 3rd place float (they don't burn 1st place) to get a good spot to see it burn-it was suppossed to start at 12:00.
It took about 15 fireman and a bunch more people setting up the fireworks about an hour to get the incredibly massive float ready to light, or should I say explode. They fenced off people about 20 feet back from the float. Lee, with his security-like vest was right in front while the rest of us were 5 or 6 people back. At one point we, along with everyone else around us, almost got in a fight with a couple guys trying to push there way through. Lee just had to yell once and point his finger and they left, ha. As the float began to burn I realized it was a good thing we were further back, though. In a matter of seconds my face became soo hot. And then, as the surrounding building started to catch fire and the electric lines and speakers in the street started to melt, the fireman began hosing everything down. Everything, including anyone in the way. I got a little wet, but Lee looked like he had jumped in a pool in his clothes.
The 'Falla' burned for about 15 minutes before the crowd started heading out. We caught the end of a couple other burnings and wandered around the city only to be chased by fireman spraying people with hoses. Apparently they didn't like the crowd chanting "bomberos maricon" (look it up).
I was actually surprised at how quickly the incredible crowd filtered out of the city and the cleaning began. I expected this to be like Cádiz- people up going crazy all night, but by around 2:30 the city was almost dead and street cleaners were out in full force. We found a small night club to go to and spend a couple hours. At 4:30 it was time to go back and catch our train. The Granada people were spending the night. Unfortunately I could not get a ticket onto Ben and Lindsay's 5:15 train and had to wait for the 6:30- strangely they both arrived in Barcelona at the same time. The hour of quiet and solitude was peaceful; I grabbed a crossiant and walked around the city watching the incredible cleaning crew work as the sun came up.
Around 9:30AM I arrived back in Barcelona. I let Marc Kovarsky and Josh Keller (whom I had visited in Florence a few weeks ago and were now visiting me in Barcelona) know that I was back and planned to sleep the whole day. Sleep I did. Around 6:00PM they called me asking what I was up to. "Good Morning" was my response. After staying in a hostel the night before the two of them and a roommate were going to stay with me for the rest of the weekend. They dropped their stuff off and we all got ready and headed to dinner. We went to a nice area on the beach near Park de la Ciutadella that I had not yet been to and ordered a Paella for the 5 of us (3 of them, me and Ben). I've never seen a pan so big in my life; it took 2 people to carry it out. Needless to say we did not finish the entire thing, but it was verry good.
After dinner we went to a nearby bar with live music. There Jon Levy and Lisa Weitzman met up with us. Lisa is part of the 'Granada crew' but did not come to Barcelona with them and Jon had come to spend spring break with her. I find it weird everytime I see a friend from home in Europe, but until then all of them had been studying abroad, as well. Seeing Jon was great, but it was especially weird hanging out with someone that was going to school at Illinois and in the same routine as every other semester. We showed our visitors a little of what the crazy Barcelona nightlife was like before heading back relatively early.
Saturday we slept in a little and walked around the city. Saturday evening we ate ate at a bar and hung out their for a while before going to Razzmattazz, the biggest club in Barcelona. I had never been there before, but had heard that it was one of the top 10 clubs in the world-I can now see why. The place was enormous, with 5 large rooms, 3 levels, oustide hallways, inside hallways, stages, etc. I could not draw a picture of it if I had to and it took about 45 minutes just to walk around and see the entire thing. Saturday night was not such an early night.
Sunday we toured Park Guell and walked around Gracia before the four of them had to catch their flight- Marc and Keller were heading to Granada with Jon and Lisa as part of their Spring break. They left and I slept- it had been quite an action packed weekend.
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