Logroño, La Rioja

Last weekend Raelynne and I were fortunate to take a weekend trip to Logroño, the capital city of the province La Rioja, which is famous for its WINE! Yup, I know what you're thinking and yes, that's exactly what we did. Between the two of us we brought home 11 bottles of wine...and that doesn't include any of the wine we drank while we were there. Such a fantastic place. We had a great time. By far one of the best trips I've taken. Period.

                        First night in Logroño at "our bar"                     View of the church at night in the Casco Viejo

We took the bus to Logroño which is about 4 hours north of Madrid. That proved to be an adventure in and of itself...mainly because I got completely confused about where the bus station was. I knew it was at a metro stop called Avenida de America and yet for some reason I went o Plaza de Castilla. Those two sound nothing alike but I always confuse them. It makes no sense. I'm not sure why I have this issue. Anyway, it meant running through the station at 4:25 to make it onto our 4:30 bus. Thank god a lot of people were going to Logroño on that bus because the line gave us a few extra minutes. I think I spent the first 3 hours of the bus ride thanking the powers that be for letting make the bus. The last hour was spent wishing I could get out. The twist and turns as we drove through mountains was doing nothing for nerves...or my bladder.

We ended up finding our pensión (like a small hotel) easily enough from the bus station and luckily it was on the main drag through the old part of town, Calle Portales. It was stunning. That was a nice surprise for both of us.

                                             Bodega (winery) Franco Españolas

Our first full day in Logroño was spent hunting down all the wineries. Unfortunately there's only two winery within walking distance and one of them was closed. So we made the best of Franco Españolas, the most well-known of the area. Probably because it's so close. On our tour we made a friend with an old man named Luis. He was very chatty and told us the same stories over and over again. I think Raelynne got a picture.

                   Look at all those bottles of wine!                             ...and barrels! 15,000 of them

What the vineyards must look like

The tour of the winery was very nice and they gave us a tasting at the end. I walked out with one bottle of wine...I wanted to pace myself. The cool this is, the bottle came in a wooden box. I have no idea how good the wine is, but now at least I have a cool box! Afterwards we got lunch. Normally a lunch menú comes with a drink, which can be a glass of wine. However, in Logroño, they just give you the whole bottle. Raelynne and I made the mistake of drinking it all. We then stumbled back to our pensión and I passed out. I have never been so drunk off wine in the afternoon! My head felt like a pile of bricks. It's exactly what we came here for. haha!

Demonstration (manifestación) along Calle Portales, view from our balcony

I actually woke up to shouting and whistling in the streets. There was a demonstration that evening to protest the cuts and financial troubles of Spain. There wasn't much to do in the evening other than drink, but we needed a break from that so we joined in the demonstration. It was really cool because I think everyone in the city was there. And it gave us a nice tour of the town :) Did I mention it was snowing?? I think I forgot! But yeah, it snowed the entire time we were there. Beautiful snow. It made the place that more enchanting.

View down Calle Portales

Our last day was much more chill. We slept in. Got breakfast. Shopped. Bought more wine. Then went to lunch. This time though, we didn't finish the entire bottle but we got close. In an effort to not pass out and sleep the afternoon away we sat ourselves in a cafe and I had a few cups of coffee. That helped a bunch. In the evening we did wine and tapas. Oh, fun fact: our first night out we bar hopped a bit and found out that a glass of wine in Logroño costs about .70euros...that's not even a dollar! Ridiculous! Needless to say, we ate and drank like queens. 

Soaking up the snow!

It was really hard to leave Logroño. We had such a nice time. And I think Logroño had a hard time letting us go too...because the next day in Madrid it snowed. :-)

~Caralyn

The Hills of Cuenca

At the beginning of the month, my friend Alyson had a great idea: try and do a day trip every weekend through the month of February. I couldn't make it last weekend because I chose to stay up and watch the Super Bowl, but this weekend we decided on Cuenca, a place neither of us have been to.

Cuenca is a small city/town in the province of Castilla la Mancha (think Don Quijote territory). It's about a 2 hour bus ride, so not bad for a day trip. And the old part of town, the Casco Viejo, is small enough to walk in one day, although it seems like you're always walking uphill! Cuenca is situated on top of a huge hill/mountain and is surrounded by a deep gorge. We had some awesome views.

Our trip didn't start out the greatest. Within about 1 minute of stepping out of the bus station Alyson slipped and fell into a puddle of brown goop. I tried to be optimistic that maybe it was just "chocolate ice cream". However, after she wiped it off her boots in a restaurant bathroom she assured me it was excrement of some kind. We think dog. So gross. Luckily it was only on her hands and boots, things that could easily be wiped off and cleaned. Unfortunately that wasn't how we wanted to start our trip!

Before the slight incident I asked an elderly gentleman to point us in the right direction of the old part of town...because the newer part of town is kind of a dump. I didn't expect that. People always talk about how beautiful Cuenca is. I realize now that they are just referring to one part of the city. Anyway, he was very helpful and got a big kick out of two American girls living in Madrid who took the time to visit his city. Spaniards are always so friendly and happy to help out foreigners. They take such pride in their cities. I am forever grateful. He told us to take the bus, but we decided to just walk. Good choice. We would've missed a lot on the bus. 

Old monastery, now a hotel! (parador)

One of the main attractions in Cuenca are the casas colgadas, the hanging houses. They are built right on the edge of a cliff and seem to be barely hanging on. It was neat to see. Cuenca also has a cathedral, multiple churches and convents/monasteries, remains of a castle from the 13th century and lots of windy streets that always seem to lead up. And the Río Cuervo snakes through at the bottom of the gorge. There's not a whole lot to do in Cuenca, but there's plenty to see. I wouldn't mind going back there again, but next time I'm taking the old man's advice and riding the bus!

                              Casas Colgadas

                   Street off of Plaza Mayor                                                 Cathedral

The hills have eyes!!!!

~Caralyn

Trip to Paris

Last weekend I was fortunate enough to take my first trip to France, and even luckier that it was in Paris! I'll admit I've never been in interested in Paris for one reason or another, but my friend Laurence (who's French but not technically Parisian) is studying there so I figured it was the perfect opportunity to see if this city was really worth the hype. It kills me to say this, but, it is. I loved Paris. I must go back.

I got in on Friday evening and met up with Laurence at the Gare du Nord (North Train Station) and we took the metro back to her apartment together. I had to ask someone in broken French at the airport to make sure I was heading toward the correct train station and he was very polite and helpful. I'm wasn't really sure how to pronounce it so I just went with how it was spelled. Not correct. French is not phonetic like Spanish so my Spanish-speaking brain was of no help to me. He understood, though, and replied with "Oui". Too funny. In my relieved state I said "gracias"...oops. Later my phone went off and I was speaking in English. He probably was really confused about where I came from. (For the record it's pronounced something like "gar de nor" - the d is silent. my bad)

Anyway, Laurence took me back to her to apartment: a small yet cozy studio in this really cool old building right in the heart of Paris. She told me the building used to be for rich people and that her apartment was actually part of the servants' quarters. We had a side entry to the building and we got to walk up an old spiral staircase because the elevator only went so far. I thought it was cool.

Laurence's building

Home sweet Home

Our first order of business was crepes. I was told by a friend to get a chocolate and banana crepes and then I was told by one of my students to get a ham and cheese crepes (typical Spanish . I got both: ham & cheese for dinner and chocolate & banana for dessert. I was assured that it was normal and expected to eat 2 crepes in the same meal. Crepes...check!

Ham and Cheese Crepes (Jambon et Fromage)

The next day we walked all over the city. And I mean it...we walked all. over. town. Our first stop was the Arc de Triomphe which was just down the street from Laurence's apartment. It's basically a square with a huge Arch serving as a sort of war memorial. It also connects a lot of streets, including the Champs-Elysées, which was next on our Itinerary.

Arc de Triomphe en Place de L'Etoile

The Champs-Elysées is kind of like the Michigan Avenue of Paris (or Gran Vía of Madrid) but on a much bigger scale. Lots of great shopping and people watching if it hadn't been so cold. I would love to see it in the summertime. This lead us down to the Jardin des Tuileries (I have no idea how to pronounce most of these French words by the way, bare with me) which is the garden/park area in front of the Louvre. Again, I'm sure it's an incredible site in better weather but there wasn't much lounging and sunbathing going on in the frigid temperatures.

Looking down the Champs-Elysées from the Arc de Triomphe

The Louvre itself is an incredible building. It was once a palace, but now has to be the largest art museum in the world. I'm seriously, it's MASSIVE! It just keeps going. I don't know how anyone could get through the museum in a week, much less a few hours. I didn't go in because it was probably packed and I wasn't willing to waste my time being disappointed by the Mona Lisa. Sorry Da Vinci, I mean no offense. I got some cool photos anyway.

Louvre

Looking out from the front entrance

Later we walked through the neighborhood of Saint Michel (say: san michelle), which is kind of a student hang out, to make our way over to Notre Dame. The cathedral is not as big as I thought it would be, but it was definitely worth the walk-around inside. The stained glass is incredible! And it's just everywhere! I've never seen so much stained glass windows in my whole life. To top it off, 2013 marks the 850th anniversary of the beginning of construction of Notre Dame. I can't even wrap my mind around that.

Notre Dame de Paris (Our Lady of Paris)

Next stop was Ile Saint Louis (say: ill san lou-IE), a little island in the River Seine (say: sen) right behind Notre Dame's Ile de la Cité...lots of little land masses in the middle of the river. This was just something I wanted to do for the heck of it because everywhere you looked there were signs with "Saint Louis" on them. And lets be honest, that's makes for some funny photos. While we were there we got some really good sorbet. Even in the cold it was delicious.

After Ile Saint Louis we strolled along the Seine back to another neighborhood called Saint Germain (say: san zzher mon) to stop at a restaurant called Ladurée to get some macarons. I was told these things are awesome but also expensive...both are true. I can't even described how delicious these little cookies are, but they were well worth the wait. I got 4: chocolate, orange, raspberry and pistachio and these 4 bad boys set me back 7 euros...eek!! Totally worth it. Macarons...check!

Eating Sorbet along the Seine with Notre Dame behind us

The next day we put sight-seeing aside and decided to march for same-sex marriage rights in a demonstration that went through the heart of Paris. I can now say I've been a part of a French demonstration. It was peaceful and everyone was in good spirits. A great way to stroll through the city and just take it all in. And I learned a new word: Egalité (Equality).

Monday was my last day and I just had the morning and afternoon left to wander around. Soooo.....we headed straight for the Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel). I didn't go up because I have a terrible fear of heights, and we didn't have the time, but it was another incredible structure.

Impersonating the Tour Eiffel

Last stop was the Statue of Liberty, given as a present to the French by the U.S. apparently in 1986. It's much smaller than the real thing, but it's the same statue. Who know I would see it in France before New York? Nothing should surprise me anymore.

And that's my trip in a nutshell. Glad you could come along :) Au revoir!
~Caralyn

It's 2013!

Once again I've let time get away from me but I have a good excuse. Most of December and even the beginning of January was filled with travels and visitors. Yay! And with them I've come to realize that I'm the sort of person who doesn't necessarily like to keep a laundry list of what she's done so she can remember it all for the future. Instead, I prefer to take it all in and store it safely in my memory. It's much easier that way. With that being said, I might have to break my promise from the last post. I'm not really sure how often I will blog anymore and I don't know if I'll post many pictures here. The blog has become a chore; something I tell myself I must do after I've taken a trip or seen something really cool/funny/different. It has taken the fun out of my experiences. I'm much more interested in telling people about what happened over the phone or Skype. Blogging...not so much.

Anyway, I'll drop by from time to time because some things are too awesome not to capture in words. Like picking up my friend from the airport in my goofy wig that's suppose to be a mohawk but I wore it sideways...or wandering around Segovia with my cousin and best friend as if the three of us had always been together and we were just having a normal weekend road trip. That sort of thing.

I also got a New Year's surprise with some other visitors...who are actually the younger sister of a friend and her boyfriend. Lisa and Drew, you guys were awesome to hang out with. I'm so glad we all got to know each other better than before. This might sound strange, but saying goodbye to them made me the most homesick of all. I'm counting down until we can get together again for Indian food and good conversation about migraines and chiropractics. Who knew?

I was very fortunate to have great friends and family visit over my entire winter break. I honestly don't know what I would've done with myself if they weren't all here.

Now school is back in full swing and I couldn't be happier. The first week back was a little rough just getting used to waking up to an alarm clock and all, but I'm thankful to be back on a schedule. It was nice to see students and teachers as well. Everyone looked well rested and rejuvenated. Bring on springtime! and exams!

I've also started up again with my private lessons which is great. I feel like I'm part of their family in a way. We're not bossom buddies or anything, but they're a constant in my life and they've invited me into my homes...usually feed me...and then we always chat for a bit afterwards. This last Friday I was tutoring two 8 year-olds and then a 12 year-old at their grandparents house and afterwards I stuck around for a bit to just chat about my Christmas and whatnot. Next thing I know, coffee is being made, cookies are set out and two hours later I reluctantly had to leave. We talked about art, healthcare, second language acquisition and  god knows what else! It was so nice...made me realize how much I miss my own grandparents, who've been gone for 10 years now. I probably shouldn't make it a habit of sticking around too long next time; people have their own lives to live (and dinner to make), but I'm glad we all got to know each other a little bit better.

So all in all, 2013 is off to a good start. And in less than 2 weeks time I'll be off to Paris! My first visit to France :)

~Caralyn

Brussels, Belgium

Waffles!

Grand Place

Atomium

Brugge, Belgium

Main square

city of canals

Bristol, England

Clifton Suspension Bridge

                                      


Oxford, England

Bodleian Library

Walking through the Graduation Doors

There is nothing I hate more than posting pics on Blogger...infuriating. Enjoy!