Holy Toledo!

So this is it... The alarm is set, the plane takes off in 10 hours. Ill add some pictures to this later to make my blog nice and complete, but for now...

Since my last entry, we did a day trip to Toledo. It's a cute place and very Spanish looking. We just walked around and took it in, sitting in a lot of parks and on church steps because it was soo hot.

The train station in Madrid, Atocha, is cool in itself. It has a little jungle inside with ponds full of turtles. So adorable. There is also apparently a memorial to those killed in that 2004 bombing - it was at that train station - but I didn't see it.

The next day - my last day in Europe - I walked to the Thyssen Museum. It was really cool because it went through art from really old Icons to modern pop-art, chronologically. It also had a special exhibition on, which had all this Xray and UV analysis on this one painter's works, which was nifty in a nerdy way.

And just like that, the trip is over. I'm really excited to go home in some ways, but I'm sure I'll miss Europe as well.

Thanks to everyone for reading, thanks to my friends for staying friends the whole trip, and to family and friends who went out of their way to meet up with me in Europe.

See you all soon!
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry

Madrid

So Madrid hasn't been very busy days, but we have done the odd thing.



The first Museum was the Museo del Prado, which is one of Spain's national museums and boasts some of the most famous paintings in the world, like Velasquez's Las Meninas, which has never been a favourite of mine but seems to be somewhat of a symbol of Madrid. Anyway, I did get to see some of my favourite paintings, like Goya's 3rd of May, and my all-time favourite, Durer's self portrait... or as the Spaniards call him, Alberto Durero. Illegal photo, by the way, props to Paige for her stealth.



We also did another museum, the Reina Sofia, which was all modern type art,and aside from Picasso's Guernica, was not very interesting.



Aside from that, we've had some tasty Tapas, gone to a huge flea market and gone to a pretty crazy club. Like 7 floors, and somehow they blasted the entire dancefloor periodically with dry ice? It was INCREDIBLE haha, I loved it.

So Spainful :(

So as stoked as I am on seeing some of the stuff in Madrid, this weather is not for me. It's making me soo sick just existing here.

Anyway, we had a pretty ridiculous flight here from London. easyJet did not live up to its name and we ended up getting a bit screwed over, baggage-wise. In the terminal, a woman was dragged away kicking and screaming (the screaming was Homer Simpson style, and continuous). Once we finally got on the plane, we were informed thatn due to a strike of air traffic controllers IN FRANCE, our flight would be a little delayed. So, we sat in the plane, on the runway for 2.5 hours. That wouldn't even have been so bad if they didn't act like we were about to take off, and telling us to keep our seats in the upright position etc.

Apparently I am being dragged away from the air conditioning and into the dreadful heat so writing about stuff I've actually DONE in Madrid will have to wait. Ta!

Last of Paris and... not Spain?!

So my last couple of days in Paris were the Museum days. I tackled the Musee D'orsay solo, but absolutely loved it. It was a lot of works I studied last year (Courbet, Renoir, Manet, Degas etc...) as well as some others that blew my mind, especially the Van Gogh self-portrait that they have. After that, I had a coffee with a friend from rez which was an unexpected meet-up and very nice. :)



The next day: the Louvre. We spent a good chunk of time there, and saw just about everything. Highlights for me were the Raft of the Medusa and Liberty Leading the People... Both by artists I'd just visited the graves of, and a Durer self-portrait. Lowlights, as usual, the Mona Lisa. I think this picture sums it up..



Oh, also this looks totally like Annie.



Unfortunately, we stopped to get our Spain train tickets on our way to the Moulin Rouge and discovered we are SOL. So instead of writing to you from San Sebastian or en route to Barcelona, I write from my second night in London, where in 5 hours we will be flying straight to Madrid.



London has been fun: I went with La and Paige to the Queen musical, We Will Rock You. It was great! Aside from that, we've just been shopping... good old Oxford Street.

Paris: The Empire of the Dead, and more

Proud of me? I'm updating already!

So day one in Paris we started at the gorgeous Notre Dame. The exterior is lovely and I would have liked to go up the tower, but since I've already been a few years back I got outvoted and we moved on to Saint Chapelle, but it closed while we were in the lineup so we moved on once again.



To shopping! my new favourite store Pylones, as well as vintage stuff in the Jewish/Gay Quarter and the Champs Elysees. Didn't buy a lot... I'm not all that ballin these days and my suitcase is limited but I did make a few purchases. I wanted to pop into Louis Vuitton but there was a lineup! It was craziness...



We eventually made our way up to the Arc de Triomphe. All the obligatory monuments, ya know...



By the time we found food to eat... which was no easy task considering we kept going down what looked like "cheap side streets" that ended up having Prada and D&G all over them... it was pretty late and soccer madness had started. On the metro there was a juge police incident with a yelling bleeding man, loads of police, paramedics and the scariest looking German Shepherd police dog I have ever seen.

Anyway, we survived and got to the Eiffel Tower.



It worked out perfectly for seeing it in the light, and being at the top for sunset. I love the Eiffel Tower :)



So then todayyy we had a slightly more macabre day: We started at the Père Lachaise Cemetery, where we saw Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison...and I dragged my friends to all the artists: Seurat, Pissaro, David (I found out that he was exiled as a revolutionary so even after death his body wasn't allowed in France so his grave only contains his heart!) and Gericault which was my favourite as his Raft of the Medusa was actually on his grave, in bronze form. Sweet.

(below is Jim Morrison and Gericault)





Next, since we apparently haven't had enough of dead people, we went to the Catacombs.




I especially like the sign over the entrance above. Anyway, they are creepy... especially when they put the skulls into the shape of a heart and or cross. It was also pretty interesting to learn about it, I was pretty ignorant to it all. After that was just more shopping. Off to check out Paris's club scene for now, so I will be back with more of Paris in the next day or so.

xx

I'm still here...

Oh no, another long catch-up blog. These are the worst...



So our last day in Nuremberg was just a quick jaunt to Albrecht Durer's house. It was cool to see but unfortunately we decided to take the audio tour. Dear god. It was narrated by some actress playing his wife, so instead of giving some kind of history or something, it was all "I was so lonely here in the house when Albrecht was away" and "this is where I kept my valuable trinkets" and "Susannah! Susannah! This is how I would call my maids." It was ridiculous. There were also about 3 women dressed up as her walking around... polygamy?



Anyway, after that we trained to Prague. When we first got there, the most insane downpour I have ever witnessed rained down on us. My clothes and shoes didn't dry for days. Even though we spent 3 nights there, I don't have a whole lot to say because we didn't really go to any attractions. We did 2 pub crawls, one of which ended at the "largest club in central Europe". So in the day, we would sleep in. The only part during the day that was awesome was the food. It was dirt cheap and super tasty. Our fave place was some weird goat-themed place. Mmm... I will miss Czech food.
Did I mention that the entire time it was unbearably hot and I felt sick? Well it was and I did, so by the time it was time to leave for Berlin I was relieved.



BERLIN. I love Berlin. I'm not entirely sure why, but I got a good vibe from it. Could see living there, I think. We had really packed days because there was a lot to see and to be honest I don't think I could tell you the order at this point but I'll give a run-through of the stuff we hit up.

Altes Nationale: One of the major museums, though most of it wasn't art I am particularly interested in. It did have the original Thinker by Rodin which was a surprise, and some nice Impressionist stuff.




We went up the TV Tower, which is Berlin's answer to the Space Needle or CN Tower. Unfortunately you can't go outside, but it's cool to get a really good view of the whole city.

I did a solo trip to the Picture Gallery in the Kulturforum (and here is where I insert my apology for total inability to spell anything German), which was cool. Durer, Boticelli... the faves.



We also visited the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, which is a bombed church. It's pretty disturbing to see actually. So much of Berlin has been rebuilt that it is rare to see evidence of the bombings that wrecked most of it during the war.

Ells, La and I did a walk around to view some stuff nearish to the Kulturforum while Paige checked out a Film Museum, so we saw the Reichstag, the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe and the Brandenberg Gate.

The Gate and Reichstag are fairly impressive, while the Holocaust Memorial is a bit more puzzling. It's basically a HUGE expanse of giant concrete blocks. I don't really get the symbolism, but it certainly is big enough to catch your attention and force you to think about the Holocaust.



Also to do with the Holocaust was the trip I took with Laraina and Elliott to the Topographie des Terrors. The description of a bunch of photos with captions makes it sound incredibly boring I'm sure, but it was very interesting. It went through the Nazi rise to power, with a focus on the SS and Gestapo and went through the war and trials. I'd never seen photos like these before, they were interesting... and of course some of them more shocking and disturbing. Outside, a few blocks of the Berlin Wall is preserved as well.



That portion of the wall is entirely plain and as it was during divided Berlin, but we also visited the East Side Galleries which was a big highlight for me, though I didn't think it would be. It's basically a huge expanse of the wall that has been painted with what I suppose you would call graffiti, but it's very beautiful. A lot of it has just been restored so we went at a good time. I'm not sure why, but I found it all very emotional. The paintings were really intense..



"Dear God, help me survive this deadly love"

Finally we did the Jewish Museum, or as we called it Jew World, because it is basically Science World, only Jewish. It's really interactive and cool, but unfortunately we were super rushed so we had to run through the whole thing. There was a Holocaust Tower and Garden of Exile, two more symbolic things to encourage reflection. Also, giant garlic.



A pub crawl! I almost forgot. We did another pub crawl, although it was nowhere near as good as some of the others we have done. I'm sure Berlin's nightlife can be a lot better than what we experienced, but we didn't really have time to give it another shot (no pun intended? ;))

Gosh this entry just keeps going doesn't it? My bad, I won't let 10 days go by again.

So we went to Brugge and stayed two nights. Now, don't get me wrong. Brugge is incredibly nice. It reminded me a lot of a smaller and cleaner Florence and Prague mixed together. However there is almost nothing to do, everything closes early, and the prices are ridiculous. We engaged in what appears to be the national passtime of sitting on a bench watching birds. We also stumbled across what turned out to be a market research thing called the Sensobus, where you sampled a bunch of cake and took a survey on it. It was by far the most exciting thing in Brugge. Two nights was just a little too long, especially when you factor in the fact that we lived next to a moving bridge which sounded a hideous alarm whenever it moved (often) and a vile smelling mill/factory of some kind. In Brugge. Who would have thought.



Anyway, I'm in Paris now and vowing (possibly unrealistically) to blog every day, or at least make them better. Don't give up on me haha. I'm definitely missing Canada at this point and sending all my love! :)

DankeCIAO, Schwangau

Phew, a lot to update on this one.

I've been enjoying Germany a lot, and a visit with some of my relatives made it even better. But back to Munich...

It turns out our last day in Munich was a relgious holiday and so our plans to shop all day were definately ruined. But a woman at a tourist office sent us off with a flyer full of museums and we ended up at the Alte Pinakothek. It was actually a huge museum with some very big names in it.. Raphael, Bosch, Rubens and DURER. We didn't even know, but one of our faves was there... nice surprise!



That night, we went off to the clubbing district where there are tons of clubs all together. It was pretty good but not my favourite of the party cities so far.

Next was Fussen, which is the closest town to the castles of Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau. They were truly truly gorgeous and impressive. The walk was pretty harsh (up mountains) for my sprained ankle but it was worth it. We also hiked to the bridge behind the castle for a better view. Again, harsh but worth it.





From Fussen, I took a train on my own to Stuttgart to meet relatives. We spent a really nice day together in Stuttgart and Backnang. I even saw the Stuttgart version of the Space Needle or CN tower. Neat to see the surrounding area from up there, and of course seeing relatives I see so rarely if ever is





After this very pleasant afternoon, I met up with everyone else in Nuremberg. Our hostel is odd and I had a strange encounter with the Red Light District but overall, Nuremberg is a cool city. Everything is so easy to walk to! The first night I arrived too late to do anything, but today while my friends went shopping I visited Durer's grave. You know, the my 16th century crush I mentioned in Munich. Anyway, I must say it was a very nice graveyard!





Aftwards, a Chinese buffet. I know, weird but we were starving! Then, we went to this Nazi Documentation museum which SOUNDS worse than it was. It was a lot of history and propaganda which is quite interesting.



Anyway, tomorrow it's off to Durer's house and stuff, and then PRAGUE!

:)

Venice, Vienna, Munich,,,

This is going to be quite a bit crammed into one blog, and I'm incredibly tied... bear with meee :

So we had one last day in Venice. Nothing very exciting, just seeing the city and wandering around. It is such a pretty place but so little to do!



We then took a train to Vienna. It is such a pretty city! It definitely became my new fave. Didn't smell, was clean, pretty... the only downside is the extreme lack of nightlife and complete shutdown on Sundays, but it was quite nice. Highlights included the Belvedere Palace despite the RIDICULOUS amount of rain..





We also went to the Albertina Museum which was interesting. Lots of more modern art but I enjoyed it. It was a palace as well, so it has staterooms which were gorgeous and filled with art. I prefered it to what I remember from visiting Versailles actually.



(pictured above: not worth it.)
Anyway, the last night we were getting pictures... on a fountain... and I jumped off... anyway, my first picture taken in Munich is not particularly scenic...




It's sprained, but improving. I am falling asleep but don't want to give the impression that I have nothing to say about Munich. I adore it here. People are polite, the vibe is good, the food is tasty, and everything is cheap. I want to move here, after one day in the pouring rain with a sprained ankle. Love love love. One more day of it and off to the most postcard-perfect place in the world...