Cervantes, Churches, and Chocolate

Madrid seems, to me, like the Paris of Spain, a very European city. Like Paris, Madrid has wide, tree-lined boulevards and numerous circles. Plazas are the heart of city life—cafes and gift shops spring eternal. We went on our city tour, which stopped at the Plaza de Espana with the Cervantes Memorial (the Spanish love Cervantes, he’s everywhere) and Don Quixote with Sancho Panza in front.

Plaza de Espana

 Our next stop was for a photo op at the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) with a view of the gardens and the Campo de Moro. I was going to walk around in the park later, but there is so much to do in Madrid! 

Palacio Real with gardens in front

After the bus tour, I got off at the Prado Museum of art, where the line is humongous. I walk the main streets and stop in a couple plazas to check out the activity. The architecture of the buildings is amazing, and I can look at it with new and enlightened eyes because of the class I’m taking back in Copenhagen. The people and the sunshine are wonderful; there’s so much energy in the center of the city. I stop at the Mercado de Miguel and grab some delicious snacks to walk with. It’s like a Reading Terminal or Quincy Market, only with Spanish food and wine. Yum. 

El Mercado

I also try chocolate con churro, which is a churro (think thin crispy donut) dipped in hot chocolate, only this chocolate is the consistency of chocolate syrup, and about as rich. I could have ordered the chocolate con leche, with milk, but I wanted to try the traditional.

I stop in the Madrid cathedral on a whim, because I like churches and I always enjoy seeing the art inside. This church was beautiful! I discreetly took some photos while they were having a Palm Sunday service. 

Front of Cathedral--beautiful colors

Ceiling of the Cathedral continues the color theme

To top the day off, I bought an ice cream and ate it while I walked through some of the parks nearby. 

I made my way back to the Plaza de Espana, did some shopping at the little market they had there (like Eastern Market in DC) and then headed back to my hotel on the metro for a well-deserved rest from a great day in Madrid! The next day we drove down to Seville and stopped in Cordoba to see the Mezquita--next post!

Holy Toledo!

Toledo looks like what you’d expect a Spanish city to look, and it doesn’t disappoint. Driving up on the highway, it appears out of nowhere, the old city sitting on top of a hill still enclosed in the ancient walls. I love city walls now, as I have explained in earlier posts. Check out these bad boys:

Gate to the city

Most of the walls of the city are still intact. They have strict building codes inside the city, and new residences are outside the city walls.

Great view of Toledo

We stop for a photo op across from the city on a hill (picture above), and then drive back towards the city to meet our local guide. Our guide, Rufino (what a Spanish name!) takes us to see a famous painting by El Greco who worked in that area (but we couldn't take pictures). So here are some of the Cathedral and streets instead:

We also see a synagogue, because before the city was taken by the Christians both Jews and Muslims lived peacefully together in the city. The detail in the carvings of the walls of the synagogue was incredible!

Our next stop on Laura's Tour de Espana will be Madrid!

Much-Promised Video of Eden Project!

My video of Eden Project! This is my first time uploading video, so excuse me if there are some problems. Eden Project is a garden in a quarry, so I wanted to take a video to get a sense of the size of the thing. 

Avebury: The Stonehenge No One's Heard Of

On Wednesday morning Uncle Gordon, Aunt Jessica and I got up to go to Lloyd and Michelle's. On our way we stopped in Avebury, which is a prehistoric stone circle, similar to Stonehenge. The circle is huge, and the main road cuts right through the middle, so all the shots I have are about a quarter of the circle. We had lunch at The Red Lion (ham, egg, chips, and peas) and then walked around on the hills.

The rocks were pretty huge! Here's a bit of size comparison :)

Rock circle. More regular, carved stones mark the place of missing stones, that were probably taken and used in building before the site was protected.

The Red Lion, the pub where we had lunch

Avebury

Our next stop was Silbury Hill, the largest manmade hill in England. No one knows why it was made, but it's a huge mound made of dirt and clay. They've tried to excavate it several times but haven't found anything extraordinary, except for the building process.

Silbury Hill

Our last prehistoric stop was to the Long Barrow burial mound, from about 4000 BC. We walked up a long hill, with the wind blowing and rain sprinkling--very dramatic. The mound itself is kinda creepy. We didn't stay long (but it was cool to see).

Entrance

The mound itself is pretty long.

We stopped by Lloyd and Michelle's new house, but it was raining so we didn't get out of the car and I didn't take pictures. It's a really nice house in a really nice village, with lots of green around.

We got to their house in Eastleigh later in the day and went out for a delicious Indian feast! Our entire table was lined with dishes, it was almost as amazing as the sushi boat. We tried a bunch of new things and took some stuff home.

So far my stay in England has been really nice--relaxing, with plenty to do and plenty of good company.

Becoming a History Buff

My Copenhagen History professor Carsten has given us an assignment to work on over our break. Bleh. It's about the history of the evolution of one of the cities we visit on our travels. I decided to do Exeter because there are a lot of old maps online, and because I knew Aunt Jessica would be able help me figure some stuff out. So Tuesday we headed out to Exeter!


I had no idea Exeter was such an old and well-preserved town! I really picked a good one. I was worried about having to spend hours figuring out where the city walls were (Carsten's favorite part), but we headed to the visitor information center and --voila!-- a pamphlet entitled "City Walls of Exeter." We picked up some other pamphlets, mapped out our route over coffee and hot chocolate, and headed out to see the city.


I couldn't believe how much of the wall was intact! This class has really made an impact on me. Before, I wouldn't think twice about a city's walls still being there. But seeing how old they are, and seeing how much cities can change and be demolished and rebuilt over the years, it really is pretty amazing that they're still there. Copenhagen's have been completely leveled, except for one nondescript tower base, which doesn't even have a label to tell people what it is. So here are some photos of Exeter's wall:

One of the towers of the wall, which protected the city

The walls have been incorporated into pretty gardens ...

... like this one!

Apart from wall-chasing, we walked around and saw some other historic and pretty sites in the city. I was taking lots of photos for my project, but people were giving me weird looks because I was taking pictures of things like normal shops and streets. Oh well. I'll put up some of the more interesting pictures I took, but there are (or will be) some on Facebook as well.

Part of the wall and towers made into a garden

Royal Albert Memorial Museum, which is under renovation but pretty anyway

Exeter's Guild Hall--from 80 AD!

Area of old shops near the cathedral

Exeter Cathedral. I went in on another trip, but the outside always strikes me as beautiful.

Part of a bombed-out building from WWII

So that's our adventure in Exeter. Should make for a good project, I think--the brochures I picked up have half my work done for me!

[Still promising the video of Eden Project, hopefully internet is better at my next hotel. I am loving Spain!]

The Garden of Eden--in Cornwall.

[Side note: I am in Spain! We're starting in Madrid and I'll be traveling throughout the country. Bear with me while I catch you up on the adventures I've already had.]

Our second day we spent at the Eden Project in Cornwall. It's a really cool concept that focuses on sustainability and public education. It's a huge garden and a series of large domes that contain jungle and mediterranean plants--and it's all in what used to be a quarry! Eden Trust just started planting and constructing in this barren quarry and turned it into something really beautiful! You begin at the top of the quarry, and then walk down through a series of paths, to the main domes with the Jungle biome and the Mediterranean biome. The walk down is filled with cool sculptures and patterns and colors of flowers and plants. The biomes themselves are really amazing. Plants from all over the world, and the jungle biome looks really convincing. Both of them explain what the plants are and explain important issues, like deforestation, biodiversity, cash crops, etc. They had some exhibits about what people's homes and gardens from that area would look like. They also had sustainability-related art, like sculpture and poetry.

View up the quarry from the base by the biomes

The biomes

Part of an exhibit of Malaysian home

Sculpture made from charred wood. Most of the sculptures were to re-use materials.

Try to get a sense of the maze of plants in the jungle.

Crazy flower!

Another crazy (and fuzzy) flower!

One of the main attractions of the Mediterranean biome was the masses of tulips.

The jungle was a mess of all kinds of plants--trees, shrubs, some flowers. The Mediterranean biome had a lot of trees and shrubs, but also lots of fruit trees--oranges, grapefruit, etc. They had an exhibit on Spanish huertas, or kitchen gardens. There was a huge Moorish influence, and they brought a lot of different herbs and fruits that really influenced Spanish cooking. Makes me excited to see Spain for myself!

Plus, a video of the pit-turned-garden, but not tonight because my Internet is picky. But soon!

Churches and Abbeys and Shopping, Oh My!

Being with family in England has been really nice. The weather was beautiful and sunny, but not too warm. It's nice to have good meals and be able to hang out and watch TV. But I have been doing more than that!


My first full day Aunt Jessica and I went to Totnes and Buckfast Abbey. Totnes was a little town on our way to the Abbey, and we stopped to walk around and check out the old town. The church was so old! From like 1450, it's amazing. They were having a big service after we ducked in to check it out, and we met the mayor later as we were walking up the street. The town had lots of little shops, but a lot of them were closed because it was Sunday.

The abbey was really something to see. A small group of monks wanted to build an abbey on the site of the ruins of a previous abbey, and they built it without funds or organization. Between fundraising and donations they were able to finish it. It's really pretty inside, and around the abbey itself are shops, a cafe, and a monastic shop that sells goods made by monks and nuns all over the world. They have everything from white to chocolate to soaps and shampoos.

View of the abbey

La Joie de Vivre

So my last two posts were about the activities Alex and I did in Paris ... but one of our favorite things was the food. We made it a point to try things throughout the day, instead of eating huge lunches and dinners.

First up--the bakeries. Were wonderful. Each time we walked into a new one, it made me happy all over again. Bakeries usually sell bread and enticing pastries and desserts. Our first night there, we bought a bunch of different kinds of bread, among other things, for our picnic at the Eiffel Tower.

Pastries on top, desserts in the case. Bread was probably to the left behind the counter.

One of the many delicious desserts we sampled. This one was white chocolate and chocolate mousse.

Next--cheese shops. I'm not one for cheese usually, but the French reputedly like the pungent cheeses. So when in Rome ... we tried some brie at our picnic too, and it was delicious! Funny story--one of the shops we went into, the shopkeeper didn't speak English, and we obviously didn't speak any French. So I asked, on a whim, "Hablas espanol?" "Si!" was her answer, and I ordered our cheese in broken Spanish. I was very proud that I was able to do that, although I forgot simple words like "knife" in Spanish. Either way, I was glad I was finally able to use it! And in France, no less.

SO MUCH cheese.

Last, but definitely not least, was the sushi we treated ourselves to on our last night. It was an all-you-can-eat endless stream of sushi, and we got it on a sushi boat! It was heavenly.

2 Americans in Paris [Paris part 2]

Second day in Paris, we had to check everything else off our to-do list! We started in Monmartre, which was a little more difficult to find than we thought, but eventually we found our way to Sacre Cour, a beautiful church on top of a large hill.

Hill we climbed to get to Sacre Cour

We couldn't take pictures inside the church, but it was really beautiful!
 Lots of little chapels on the sides like in the National Basilica.

View at the bottom of the hill in front of the church

We then had lunch in the more touristy part of Monmartre, next to Sacre Cour.

Artists' square in Monmartre. If I were rich (and had room in my suitcase) I would have bought some pieces, they were really beautiful!

View from the top of the hill, outside the church

After Sacre Cour and Monmartre, we headed back down to the Seine area, where we got some dessert (more on that later) and sat by the water enjoying the view.

On sunny days the river is pretty crowded with Parisians enjoying a bottle of wine and talking with friends

In the late afternoon, we headed over to the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees. We went up in the Arc to enjoy the view. I took a video and am hoping to upload it later. It's really beautiful, with a 360 view of the city. Lots of steps though, not for the faint of heart!

Arc lit up at night

Alex and I at the top of the Arc, with the Eiffel Tower in the background

After the Arc and walking down the Champs Elysees we headed for one of our favorite dinners--sushi! More on that in the next post.

Will have more on England (where I am now) after I catch up. School projects have had me playing catch-up for a while! Short story: having a great time, great to be with family.

Paris for the Weekend

Alex's visit was wonderful. We spend time wandering around Copenhagen, checking out the view in the Round Tower, and walking around the hojskole. I showed Alex around DIS, and we had lunch with my friend Kara at this buffet place called Riz Raz. And then, we went to Paris for the weekend! It was the trip of a lifetime. Wednesday we spent most of the day traveling, got dinner late when we got into Paris, and hit the sack early to get up for a busy day! Our first stop was Notre Dame! It was beautiful. We didn't wait in the ridiculous line to go to the top, but we got our view somewhere else :)

After Notre Dame, we walked along the Seine and wandered around the more touristy part of the city.

 We sat in the courtyard of the Louvre to cool down--we had such nice weather, but it was a little sunnier than we were both used to!

I wanted to check out the Tuileries, the garden of the Louvre that's in a lot of famous paintings.

For the rest of the afternoon we wandered around less touristy parts of the city, like Avenue George V. We found some good bakeries and a cool outdoor market street, where we got bread, strawberries, avacado, and some really good brie. We brought our stash to the Eiffel Tower and had a picnic! This was our view:

Later in the night, we walked over to the Louvre. We missed the light show that my friend said would be there, but we got to see the city lit up at night!

Paris really is the City of Light. It was really beautiful!