04/09/13- All ready for our next Europe trip leaving next month from May 2nd to May 22nd. That’s right it’s three weeks this time. Will be hitting Vienna Austria, Bratislava Slovakia, Prague Czech Rep, Berlin Germany, Potsdam Germany, and finishing our trip in Spain going to Palma de Mallorca, Seville, Cordoba and Barcelona. This time around a friend of ours, Caroline, will be joining us for the first part of the trip.
05/02/13- Arrived at LAX over 3 hours before our flight. Check in was a breeze and had a drink to pass the time. Can’t believe the day has finally arrived that we are leaving. It has been a long 10 months since we purchased the tickets.
We board the 777 plane for our layover in Istanbul through Turkish Airlines. It was a long 13 hour flight but it was so smooth. The New Release movie selection wasn’t that good but they had a ton of choices for older ones. The meals were not the best but it was doable and the seats reclined nicely. Only issue is we were located just in front of the restrooms. It didn’t bother us too much during the flight until the last hour when everyone was using it and the smell of air freshener was a little much. Overall, I would highly recommend this airline.
05/03/13- We land in Istanbul on time and go right through customs for our last leg to Vienna. Only a 2 hour flight away and we are finally at our destination. Since I didn’t get any sleep over this long 24 hour journey I’m sure I will be getting some good rest tonight.
Cont’d- We had a driver meet us at the gate exit with my name on it waiting to take us to the hotel Adagio Wien. The room is a nice size apartment will a full kitchen and private room, however smells of smoke. Uggggh!
05/04/13- Woke up very early around 4am and laid in bed another 2 hours before realizing sleep is done. Even though I had stayed up for about 48 hours straight I still was only able to manage maybe 4 hours. This will be a long, tiring day but well worth it I’m sure. Started off by hitting the pavement. We literally walked about a mile down the road but took perhaps over 30 photos already. The views of the buildings and streets were extremely nice and since it was still early (before 8am on a Saturday) hardly anyone was out walking. It felt like we had the place to ourselves.
First stop was to Stephansdom Church. We walk inside expecting to pay a charge but soon realize it’s free admission. Since only a handful of people were there we got some awesome photos. Afterwards, we set out to find some breakfast but found only pastry shops were open. Determined to find something more filling we ended up getting turned around a bit and realized none of the side streets matched our map. We apparently walked right off the boundaries of our tourist guide. We finally see Wien Mall and head inside for the food court. After settling for breakfast at McDonalds we ventured back out to find the nearest U-bahn station to save our legs. Luckily there was one at the mall. We stood at the automatic ticket booth trying to decide which passes to get before settling on the 48 hour pass for 11.70 Euros. Saved us a little bit of money there and we could use transportation all day.
Our next destination was to Karlsplatz area. They had a large church there as well which we paid admission for. I forgot my student ID card but was still able to get in for half price (that was nice of them). This building was actually more of a cathedral with paintings all around the dome area. Reminded me a lot of Florence with the main difference being those paintings there were of hell while these were of heaven. I took the large staircase even further up into the dome area (I say “I” because Sharece took one look at stairs and said “Nu, uh”. Unfortunately there was not much to see at the top and it went to a small sized platform that oversaw nothing. Strange! The church also had a small museum to view but the spiral stairs killed our legs a bit more.
Next we walked through this galleria mall area and into the Hofburg Complex. This place was quite large as it had apartment rooms of royalty and such. Even saw the area where Hitler proclaimed Germany and Austria were now a union in 1938. That felt weird as it is now a library. They also had a huge concert going on outside that added to the atmosphere. We sat down to rest our legs a bit near one of the horseman statues only to start feeling the sun beating down on us at times. The chill wind was now being replaced by the heat as the clouds started opening up more. And me with a long sweatshirt and a jacket was feeling quite warm. Rainy weather my butt Mr weather.com.
Anyhow, we finished up getting a combined ticket for the states rooms and the Schloss Palace which we’ll do tomorrow and walked around the grounds. After seeing rows and rows of silverware and golden place settings we decided to grab a quick bite to eat and head on back to the hotel. Not before we managed to go to the supermarket to pick up a few items to cook over the next few days. Spent the rest of the evening at the hotel enjoying the rest and trying not to go to sleep too early. Overall, I have to say I am pretty impressed with Vienna and its artsy feel.
05/05/13- Got seven hours sleep straight through this time, but still woke up around 5am. Cooked bacon and eggs for everyone in the morning before hitting our first destination of Schloss Schonbrunn. After getting off the U-bahn we got turned around a bit trying to find the place, but after checking the map we soon found it with no problem. Lucky for us we got there early before the tour groups made their way in. We were able to skip the line with our prepaid ticket, grabbed our audio guides and spent about an hour roaming the rooms and taking pictures when we could. Afterwards we took a quick bite and then made our way out to the garden area. Funny is this place reminded me of Versailles but on a much smaller scale.
Tired from walking around we took the U-bahn to Westbahnhof station to check on tickets to go to Bratislava. We purchased our tickets from the machine, found the time table and off we went back onto the U-bahn. This time we took a detour to visit Danhauser St. That’s right… a street in Vienna named after my last name. I had to check this place out.
With the wind chill coming on and the clouds getting darker we decide to head back to our hotel (as thunderstorms were forecasted for later today). We took the U-bahn again to Votivkirche and took some photos of its cathedral. We had hopes of looking inside but it appeared to be closed and under construction. Feeling tired we grabbed some food and made it back to the hotel around 2:30pm. Hopefully the weather stays clear tonight as I plan to go back out to get some night shots around the city.
Cont’d- Went back out around 7pm and so glad we did. The sun set beautifully and the people were all out around the main shopping areas. And also found out that the first church we saw yesterday actually wasn’t the Stephansdom. Probably why we got lost the first day. Found the real one and took some awesome night shots. The inside was lit up nicely as well with colors of yellow, red, blue and green. We will definitely have to come back here tomorrow to see this during the day light hours. After getting some coffee from Starbucks (which looked pretty run down by the way… not to mention they forgot my order) we hit some souvenir shops. They have these chocolates that have either pistachios or almonds in the middle that are very sweet. I might have to get some more before I leave this place.
We finished the night off by going to Neues Rathaus. Can’t tell if it’s still functional as they had a big concert set up outside of it, but the views were awesome with it all lit up. Can’t believe two days have flown by already.
05/06/13- Decided to hit Bratislava Slovakia today. We started by going to the U-bahn to get to the train station. Apparently there was an issue with it and was delayed indefinitely. Problem was this was the only U-bahn that went to the Haupbahnof station. We took another U-bahn line to Karlsplatz and ended up taking the tram to finish the journey. We waited 10 minutes for it to show up and now only have 10 minutes to get to the station, otherwise we would have to wait an hour for the next train. After two stops I asked a fellow passenger about the train station and he told me it was in the opposite direction. Needless to say we would miss that timeslot we were hoping for. So we got off the tram, crossed the street and hit the one on the way back about 8 stops or so before finally arriving at the train station.
Once there we just had to wait about 30 minutes so not too bad. The train left on time and we were in Bratislava in just over an hour. Immediately we went out searching for a map of the town and was greeted by a “No” with everyone we asked. Strange that no body- not even information- had a tourist map of the place. We were finally able to buy one for about 4 Euros and got directions on which way to start walking for the city center.
At first we were not very impressed and feeling a bit unsure of what we got ourselves into. The streets were dirty, graffiti everywhere and it just seemed rundown overall. But after about 15 minutes of walking we finally hit the center of town and it was like an oasis. Instantly the street noises stopped and this beautiful small town preserved feel surrounded us. We walked around a bit and noticed right away that this place was littered with souvenir shops and restaurants and not very much else. Still the ambiance of it all was enough to relax us. After getting souvenirs we soon sat down to eat and were amazed at the prices. Food there was extremely cheap but most importantly extremely good. The cordon-bleu I ordered was awesome.
We paid the check and decided it was time to make our way back to Vienna. After finding an alternate route back to the central station we made it back just before 5pm. From there we took the U-bahn (which was working now) back to Stephansdom and walked around the shopping areas on the way back to the hotel. Vienna is now officially completed for this trip. Tomorrow morning we have an early train time to Prague leaving around 6:50am.
By the way... today was supposed to be thunderstorms again... yet another day of no rain. Strange!
05/07/13- Made our 6:50am train this morning with no problem and got to Prague around 11:30am. We boarded a taxi (which ripped us off on the price) and made it to our hotel (Betlem Club). We were not able to check in as it was early and they were still cleaning but they stored our bags as we walked the surrounding area. First up was Charles Bridge. All I can say is WOW! There was a crowd of people all over the place but the views were still awe inspiring. If this was a Tuesday I wonder how many people would be here on the weekend. We grab some kabobs from a local restaurant and head back to our hotel around 2pm as our rooms should be ready.
After an hour rest we trek around to the south side of Prague this time around Wenceslas Square. The walkway there definitely seemed like a new part of Prague as there was much traffic and the buildings were more modern and run down, but the square was quite nice. I was able to find me a Prague t-shirt as well. Soon after we found an open-air market and took a look around. Feeling hungry we made our way back to the hotel and rested with drinks at a restaurant just outside. This place hit the spot with white martini’s and minestrone soup to boot. Definitely will have to come back here again.
The day is about done as our legs were spent, however we still wanted to get some night shots of the town. We found the strength to walk some more around the Old Jewish quarter and see a few street performers while we waiting for the sun to go down. From there we ventured back down Charles Bridge and called it a night.
05/08/13- What a tiring, crazy, different, productive day. The hotel had free breakfast for us in the morning (buffet style) which consist of cold meats, bread, cereal, eggs, coffee, etc. It was a very nice start to the day as we did a ton of walking. We then checked out the best way to get to Prague Castle and found the metro is apparently “Not good option”. So we walked it. Took us about 30 minutes or so plus some stairs but we managed to find the place with no problem.
As soon as we arrived we saw the changing of the guards. Quite interesting as these guys are expected to stand in one spot without moving for long periods of time. After making our way in through the gates we saw the cathedral. What a massive undertaking this was. The crowds of tours were just arriving so we ducked inside real fast to check it out. Upon entering we were able to see only the front as the rest was for purchased tickets only. We decided to walk around the grounds more before buying to see what else was around. We were a bit confused as we didn’t know if the whole place was a castle… or if there was an actually building in front of us somewhere. So we walked around until we found ourselves exiting the other side of the grounds. We made our way back to the front (not before getting a great view of the city from high above) and checked on tickets. Turns out we already were on the castle, it’s the palace that was closed to the public. So we just purchased a pass that went to several locations around which did include the cathedral after all.
After the castle we walked some more towards the Loreto and then back down towards Charles Bridge. We looked for something to eat and found many soup places with their goulash but decided just to get a brat from one of the outside vendors. We finally make it back to our hotel around 3pm.
Around 7pm we found a cool looking bar to go to so we made reservations and went. It’s called the Ice Pub and you are literally in a cooler around 45 degrees surrounded by chairs, tables, the bar and even your drink glass was made of ice. We took our shots and then took photos like crazy. It lasts for only 20 minutes due to the frigid weather but they provide you a thermal coat and gloves. Even then my hands were numb afterwards. When it was all over I was on my way to tip the bartender when he pointed to the ground. Apparently I dropped some cash as I was reaching for my change to give him and he was nice enough to point it out to me. Very much appreciated Mr. Ice Bartender!
We finished the night at the same restaurant as yesterday (Jelinka) which was just opened near our hotel about 2 weeks prior. Lucky for us as they serve excellent soup.
05/09/13- A week into the trip and it seems like we’ve been here for a month. All of this walking around is killing our legs and overloading our mind… but it’s all worth it. With that said, we got our free breakfast again this morning and took off for the Jewish Quarter. We really wasn’t sure how much we would do today, so we just winged it. We get to the Jewish Cemetery and were shocked to find the price of the ticket was so high. They include several Synagogues to view but won’t let you purchase just for one thing. We got the tickets anyhow and glad we did. Even though they didn’t allow photos in the Synagogues it was still very informative. One even showed the names of Jews that died during the holocaust plastered all over its walls.
Just as we got out of the last one it actually started to rain. It’s been threatening to do so the past few days but today it finally caught up to us. We didn’t have our jackets but did have some umbrellas to shield the light shower. We continued on to St. Agnes’s Convent to check it out (which didn’t really appeal to us much) then went on the search for some lunch. After looking at prices for about 5 different restaurants we decided to go indoors to this one place (as it was about 50% cheaper to do so). I ordered the goulash which seems to be Prague’s signature dish and didn’t regret it.
The rest of the day was spent just wondering around parts we haven’t seen yet before finishing the night off with a dinner at Coyote’s (which by the way doesn’t accept credit card). I had to walk back to my hotel to get Euros to pay for the bill as I didn’t have enough Crown’s on me. No biggie though.
05/10/13- Last day in Prague. Our train to Berlin leaves around 4:29pm so we have several hours to kill before then. However, it has been raining all morning. Good thing we did what we did yesterday.
We ate the free breakfast from the hotel, checked out of our room around 11:15am and chilled in the lobby for a bit. We figured we’d use today as a rest day and reflect a little bit on our trip so far. Before our taxi came to pick us up we ate at the restaurant next door again for their soup and pasta. They even comp’d us for the martinis since this was our third time there. Very nice of them!
Our taxi arrives on time and we make it to the train station with time to spare. Turned out to be plenty of time to spare as our train was delayed about an hour. We were finally able to depart around 5:25pm but not without a little trouble. The train car we got on was being detached… so we had to make our way down to find seating for three and when we did we found it was the reserved section. We stayed there for a few minutes and saw nobody claiming them so I put our bags up on the rack. Not even a minute later the people came by and we had to move again. Luckily we were able to find open seating in the next car as the train pulled into the first stop, so it all worked out in the end.
We make it to Berlin around 10pm, buy some pizza at the station and walk down to our hotel (A&O Berlin Hauptbahnof) which is about a half mile away. With bags it was a bit of a trek but the roads were smooth and easy to navigate. As we enter the hotel we see hoards of people in the lobby just sitting around. Not sure if there is a huge group here for the weekend or this is a typical weekend night but we were able to check into the hotel without a problem. Once in the room we noticed there was no phone which struck us as odd, but it was clean overall and a decent size so can’t complain. We did have to pay 10 Euros for internet but it will last our entire stay.
05/11/13- What a weird night. Sharece apparently caught a bug in her stomach as she has been throwing up since 4am. Also, the doors at this hotel are hard to close and you hear slamming constantly. Either case we left around 10:30am to start our day.
We took the U-bahn to the Brandenburger Tor and were fascinated by all the history that surrounded it. They had billboards set up with photos and dates explaining everything in detail and even saw the outline of where the original Berlin Wall was. Afterwards we walked around to see the Parliament building and continued further down the road to St-Hedwigs-Kathedrale around Humboldt Universitat. It was here when Sharece couldn’t make it any further as her stomach was really agitated now. We took the S-baun train back towards our hotel to rest a bit.
To make the best of today I went back out to view the sights. First up to the Museum Quarter. I waited in line and tried to use my student ID but they wouldn’t accept it since it wasn’t an official International one. Funny as I never have had trouble with it before. I decided not to pay the 18 Euros full price they were asking for and went towards destination #2. Took the U-bahn to Potsdamer Platz as it looked like a small German version of Hollywood. Turned out to be more like the Universal City walk instead. There was an open market there and I picked up an apple-cinnamon crepe. Made it worth my while.
From there I went to see Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedachtnis-Kirche. This church was damaged heavily during the bombings of World War I. I thought it would be a decent finish to my day. Wrong again apparently! I walked around the block several times looking for the building and turns out it is being remodeled and looks nothing like the photo in the book. Even though my tour book is dated 2012! Strike three for today on things to see. It was around this time that Caroline (our friend) was getting home sick so we went back to the hotel once again.
Checking up on Sharece she has gotten worse. Hopefully it’s only a 24 hour thing and she’ll be better tomorrow. In the meantime I went back out one more time to get night shots around Brandenburger Tor. Right after it got dark it started raining, and me without an umbrella. I was able to get some great shots and made it back to the hotel for good just before 9:30pm. A long, tiring day has come to a close. Here’s hoping tomorrow proves better.
05/12/13- I was right about the 24 hour bug. Sharece got better right at 3am. With that we slept in for a bit and made our way to the train station around 10:50am for our day trip to Potsdam. We got some food (Sharece some wonton soup and me some donuts) and made it to Potsdam before 12pm. During the train ride we were actually asked for our tickets (which we had but forgot to validate them). The guy just told us what to do next time and went on his way.
At Potsdam we took the bus straight to the Palace grounds. After walking around a bit trying to figure out the layout of the place we decided to go ahead and check out Schloss Sanssouci. The amount was expensive but with my student discount we were able to save a bit. However, the next available time slot to view was two hours away. We got the tickets and walked the palace garden to pass the time. When the two hours was up we traveled back towards the palace when it started raining pretty good. Lucky for us we were on our way inside. I also found out that I could take photos but had to pay a 3 Euro price for it. No big deal as it covered all of the palaces we would see today.
The tour only took less than twenty-five minutes it seemed as the palace itself was quite small. We left feeling a bit cheated on the ordeal. We then found out where we could tour the palace kitchen area for a small fee so we took to that. Afterwards we walked the mile or so through the park to Neues Palais. This palace was half the price but much bigger and more interesting. Definitely got our money’s worth here. After about an hour of touring we finally had our legs spent on the day’s events. We found a bus nearby and took it back to the train station for the ride back to Berlin, not before grabbing a bite to eat first. During the train ride it stopped twice to let everyone off to switch trains. Not sure what that was all about but we made it back none of the less.
Tomorrow we have plans to check out one of the concentration camps during the holocaust. On another note… we are now officially half way through our trip. Only 9 more full days left!
05/13/13- Ugghhh! Now I’ve caught the stomach bug. Woke up around 6:30am with this pain and 12 hours later it still hasn’t let up. Sharece and Caroline tried to go out on their own but they were unsure how to navigate through the streets and U-bahn stations. So, we were not able to see the concentration camp at all, but I am still holding out hope to make the Jewish Museum which doesn’t close until 10pm. Meaning I have about one hour to feel better.
At least I have the bus situation taken care of for tomorrow. Our flight leaves very early with Caroline taking one plane to head home and us moving on to Mallorca Spain. Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow otherwise I may have to spend more money for a taxi to the airport.
Cont’d- Felt better after two hours and did end up going back out. We made our way to the Jewish Museum but not without roadblocks. Firstly, there was construction that forced the U-bahn to stop at a certain station and forcing everyone to walk to the next station. After walking around trying to find it I decided to just hit a different U-bahn and go around the construction. Then we ended up back where we started from when the U-bahn had the wrong info on it (due to the construction). But we were able to make it there okay. It did seem like a shadier area though. Towards the end of the museum I was feeling it in my legs big time. I felt the dehydration coming on and my legs were cramping like I had the flu. Somehow I was able to finish and we made our way back to the hotel. Not before getting me some chicken nuggets from Burger King… my first meal of the day.
Oh and a bus load of kids checked into our floor of the hotel so reception let us change rooms for the night.
05/14/13- Very early wake up call. Got up at 3am (after only 4 hours sleep), got packed and met the Airport bus at the train station. We got to the airport around 4:30am with plenty of time to check in for our 6am flight. We also said our goodbyes to Caroline who was on her way back to the States. Her flight was leaving at 7am.
The plane ride was uneventful. Good food and smooth flight equals happy Jay-Free. We get our luggage and go straight to the information desk asking which bus to take. We point to the map and tell her where we want to go and she states Bus #1. So we go outside, get on and now are completely lost. None of the bus stations have names to them and it was impossible to tell which stop we were supposed to get off at. The bus driver told us which one but it was still far from our hotel. Apparently that was the closest the bus was going to get. We then try to jump on another bus but have no clued what station we were at or where to get off. I was able to read the street signs to know exactly where we were so we just took our luggage and walked to the hotel. Luckily the streets were smooth enough to roll on to make the mile long journey better. We check in to our hotel and are immediately not impressed with the room. It is very small, but it does have a bathroom. There is also a strong Lysol smell which we found out later is because the regular smell was not good coming from the bathroom. Any case, we’ve been in worse so no problems here.
After a brief rest we go out for food and found an awesome restaurant just around the corner. Great food, nice atmosphere and friendly staff. I did learn from my last trip to Spain to not order any drinks until I know the price. Spain is famous for handing out cheap food but overcharging for drinks (which are not listed on the menu). I mean does a bottle of coke really go for $6.00… REALLY!
With lunch over we strolled around getting a closer look at the town’s main draw- the cathedral. This is a huge church and once inside you can see how much work really went into this. Stained glass everywhere, high ceilings… definitely a top pick to see at least once. With that down we walked the streets some more and couldn’t help be reminded of Venice and Paris is some parts. There is a certain charm about this place that makes it enticing. Not wanting to run out of steam we rested at the hotel for a few hours before going back out one last time for tapas. We ate at this other restaurant which didn’t seem to be as good as the previous one but was cheaper. We grabbed a few souvenirs for family and then back to the hotel for the night. One of the highlights was the view of the cathedral from our rooftop all lit up. An awesome site to see! Despite the small size of the hotel this view made up for everything.
05/15/13- Slept through the night even though the bed felt like a stone slab. Woke up to the maids banging around in the other rooms on our floor around 9:30am. Around 11am we went to our favorite restaurant around the corner, Café Talet. We order some sandwiches which were very good and a crepe that wasn’t so good. After lunch we got our free towels from the hotel and hit the beach. The walk down there was so enjoyable that we just took our time. Once there we found a place to park, laid our towels down and enjoyed the nice decent weather (not too hot or too cold). What a vacation away from our trip! After a few hours of lounging we walked towards the marina area to see the boats and then back to our hotel again to change clothes (as the weather was starting to get cooler).
Hitting the streets again we walked around areas of town that we missed yesterday, got some ice cream cones and ended up at the museum near the cathedral. I tried to use my student ID card for the discount but the manager there stated only EU residents allowed. Since the regular price of the ticket was 9 Euros per person we decided to leave it be and call it a day for walking. Besides our feet were getting sore from our sandals.
Around 7:30pm we went out one last time for dinner at our restaurant again. This time we ordered a very good pasta meal and then a combination of 5 different tapas ranging from steak and chicken to shrimp. Very good meal! Still hungry I was about to ask for the dessert menu when our waiter apparently decided to talk his 10 minute break at the table next to us. This struck us as odd first of all but when a buddy of his joined him and they both started lighting up to smoke I had to mention something to them. He nodded his head and moved to a different table (which still ended up right behind me). Funny that there were several other places he could have gone. We decided to just pay the bill with cash (didn’t even wait for him to ring up a credit card) and went someplace else for dessert.
We walked around a bit before finding a very nice restaurant right next to our hotel. We ordered a cappuccino and a brownie with ice cream to finish off the night. Right before going to bed it actually started raining followed by loud thunder. A sound we have not heard in quite some time (as it never thunders in LA).
05/16/13- Our flight to Seville doesn’t leave until 2:55pm so we began the morning going to our favorite restaurant once again for their pizza. We then strolled around the souvenir shops one last time and found a shot glass that says Mallorca on it. Normally I don’t care for shot glass souvenirs but this is for the seashells we picked up from the beach yesterday. Thought it would be cool. Took a taxi to the airport, checked in with no problems and boarded our flight on time. The flight was not even 90 minutes long so we had just enough time to watch an episode of Dexter on our laptop. Towards the end of the show the plane diverted around some storm clouds and the wind caused some shaking of the plane a bit. It was a bit scary at one point but we landed safely with a smooth landing. The rest was extremely smooth sailing. We get our luggage, are the first to the taxi queue, get to our hotel (Hotel Monte Carmello) and are in love with the room immediately. I know compared to the last place this seems like the 4 seasons but truthfully it is done up nicely.
Went out for a bit to get adjusted to the city. Stopped in a grocery store and bought some water for cheap and when we left we noticed it started to rain (even though the weather report said clear skies). So we went back to the hotel to get our umbrella and jackets and as soon as we went back out it stopped raining. Wow!
Anyhow, we had a nice stroll around heading straight for the cathedral. On our way we saw some of the most beautiful buildings with color and style. We also stopped to share a kabob to eat. When we finally reach the cathedral we were amazed on its shear mass. We walked around it as it was closed for the night and took some photos of the Alcazar which we will also be revisiting tomorrow. Before heading back we got some ice cream at McDonald’s and walked the shopping district right outside our hotel.
05/17/13- Everything about this hotel is great accept two things… the floors are hardwood so you can hear your upstairs neighbors moving their chairs around and also the beds are hard as a rock. Don’t understand what the purpose of that is but you can’t get everything right I guess.
We were able to sleep in until 10am and start our day off with Dunkin Donuts for cheap. Our first attractions were the inside of the cathedral and La Giralda tower. We’ve been to a ton of cathedrals on this trip and in years past and this was not much different, however it was huge. Attached to it was the tower which we walked up about 40 flights to the top. Most of the way it was just an incline but there were a few steps at the end. From there we were able to get a clear view of the city (which wasn’t much) but it was something. We tried to use my student ID card but they asked for documents to prove my age. Since I didn’t have any on me I had to pay full price.
Afterwards we made our way to the Alcazar right when it started raining. Luckily we had our umbrella with us. Shortly after going in it really started to pour down but within minutes the rain stopped for awhile. Strange! As we continued walking around we realized how different this place was compared to any we’ve been to before. Instead of a straight guided tour around the complex it was an open free-for-all with dead ends and garden mazes. The architecture was simply stunning with colors or red and yellow spread throughout and the tiles were painted beautifully to match. It was a nice, easy stroll on the feet and the eyes. Getting hungry we stopped into this Mexican cantina, Iguanas Ranas. I have to say that the tacos were excellent and the drinks good. The salsa was a bit bland for my taste but overall good cheap food. Might have to go back there again tomorrow.
Refreshed from lunch we made our way to the arena where they still do bull fighting. There are no events during our stay here but we were able to tour the grounds and hit their museum which was very informative. After about seven hours of the city we decided to call it a day (especially since the wind was making it quite cold and it was starting to rain again). Tomorrow I originally had plans to take a daytrip to Cordoba, however seeing as there is still more to do in Seville we decided to stay and finish up here.
05/18/13- Last day in Seville. We didn’t get to bed last night until 2am so of course we slept in and finally left around 12pm. Feeling hungry we looked for a quick place to eat but there was nothing by the park so we had to circle back to the cathedral area and found a McDonalds. With a full stomach we were now ready for the day. We decided to check out Placa Espanya and were shocked to see how huge it was (This was actually in a scene of Star Wars Episode 2). It is one building half-circling around a plaza with a small moat in front of it. There were tons of people in row boats circling the area which was funny because from a distance it looked romantic… but up close you can see all of the guys faces struggling to get the boat going the right way. After about forty minutes or so we left to walk around the rest of the park area. Not much really was there except just a pleasant walk around. After awhile we made our way back to the hotel and rested before getting ready to go out for night shots and a late dinner at La Cantina Mexicana. Awesome food all around.
Only one last place to visit before our trip home and that’s Barcelona. We’ll be flying out early tomorrow morning. Man this has been a long trip!
05/19/13- Our 8am flight from Seville to Barcelona was one of the smoothest I’ve felt. Despite a bump or two midway through I was very comfortable. Any case, we make it to Barcelona and hop aboard the bus to the center of town. I tried to use the credit card machine but it kept asking for a pin with no way around it. I’ve encountered this before, however you could always bypass that option. So I had to pay in cash (which I am running low on and wish not to have to go back to the ATM if I can help it).
We get off at the first stop Placa Espanya and find the metro right away. Unfortunately there were stairs (lots of stairs). There was a sign for an escalator but I wasn’t sure if it was for the metro and where it was exactly. So I took both pieces of luggage down. Then we come up to more stairs going up. Hmmmmm. We finally get through all this craziness when we are asked to pay. Again the credit card machine won’t accept my card (I’m sensing a trend here) so I have to pay in cash for 10 journey tickets. I then find that the green line is around the corner with again…. stairs. All in all I must have went up and down five long stairwells and two to three short ones before finally reaching the metro.
Finally after all of that, we end up at our hotel (Hotel Paral-lel) around 11:00am. We are told that check-in is not until 1pm, but we could store our bags until then. We pull out a few things we needed and when we were ready to store them he said a room just opened up. Lucky us! After only a few moments of putting things away we change our clothes to shorts and go outside to walk around. We get a few streets in when the wind chill starts rolling in. Caught off guard by the cold we decided to return back to the hotel to change to warmer clothes. We try again to venture out, this time towards the port area. There were people out everywhere. We also saw strange rides like the skyway lines, trampolines in the distance, pirate ships. It was like being at Walt Disney World.
We then head down La Rambla where it seemed to be sectioned off into groups. The first section was the souvenirs, then the restaurant row and then the artists. It repeated itself a few more times just like that. We grabbed a coffee (since we were still tired from getting up so early) and made our way to the cathedral. There were performers in front of it blocking the way but we were able to take some photos around it. We thought about going inside but we have seen way too many cathedrals this trip and thought best to just skip this one. We continued to the Palau de la Musica Catalana. The building from the outside looked incredible so we checked on how to enter. The cost was very high (around 17 Euros each… but they did accept my student ID). We did the thirty minute tour and were happy we did as the interior was very unique and picture worthy. Still not understanding the high price though.
Feeling accomplished we started making our way back to the hotel through Placa Catalunya and back down La Rambla. Suddenly we hear loud thunder and rain starting to fall. We ducked into this gothic style building that use to be a hospital and took a breather. Within about ten minutes the rain let up enough for us to walk the rest of the way back. We stayed at the hotel for several hours before going back out for night shots. We began at the Placa Espanya because they were supposed to have a fountain show there in lights, but perhaps the rain cancelled it. Needless to say we were disappointed (especially since the whole area was not really lit up at all like I thought it would be). We did go up the elevator to the top of the old bull ring arena which has been converted to a shopping center. After getting to the top and walking around we noticed we could have just taken the escalators up and saved the 2 Euro price we were charged. Weird they have it like that. Now the rain was starting to come down again (but only lightly). We still managed to take the metro over to Sangrada Familia to see what it looks like all lit up. As we were changing stations suddenly a crowd of people came out of nowhere and packed the subway car. With my camera around my shoulder I was on full alert but nothing happened. Several people did look at me strange like I was an idiot to have my camera out this late at night. Oh well, I can handle myself.
We reach the Familia and immediately feel like we are at the wicked castle in some fairy tale story. We take photos before heading back to our hotel, only to find our metro pass doesn’t work now. We were able to get in due to someone else leaving so no worries but still we should have 6 trips left on the card. I’ll have to figure that out tomorrow. By the way, I purchased my tickets for the Familia to see tomorrow around 12 noon but couldn’t print out the tickets at all. I went to the machine down the road from me to print them out for free but it stated my tickets were already printed and couldn’t print again. I did have the hotel print my confirmation page that was emailed to me so I’ll have to things two get straightened out tomorrow now.
05/20/13- Found out we have free breakfast at our hotel so we took advantage of that. Decent food with limited choices but enough to get us started. We take the metro to Sangrada Familia and found an attendant about our metro card. He replaced it with no problem and we were on our way. Then we get to the Familia and find the quick line to get our tickets. Again, in and out no problem. So both issues were taken care of rather quickly- lucky us. As we enter we realize that this isn’t an ordinary cathedral that we are used to seeing but a modern day version of it. We were quite taken back by the artwork that went into this structure but also in awe over how it is still being built to this day (and will likely take another 20 years before completion). I guess a lot of the souvenir makers will have to remake them for the future.
After about 90 minutes there looking around and checking out the museum we decide to try and go up one of the towers only to find that since we purchased our ticket online that we couldn’t upgrade there. This didn’t seem like a smart idea on their part at all, but when you can’t do anything about it… why argue. In short- we didn’t go up to the top as they wanted us to repay for another ticket PLUS the tower. We left the area and worked our way down the road to see other buildings that the architect Gaudi built over his lifetime. We saw a few strange buildings but didn’t pay the admission to go in. Eventually we ended back at Placa Catalunya where we tried to find a certain department store that we had a coupon for free tapas and drink. Unfortunately they were closed today due to it being a holiday here. No worries! We made our way all the way back to our hotel stopping to eat at a nearby restaurant.
After a little while of resting our legs from the long walk we decided to go back out to see the Parc de la Ciutadella. We were glad we did as people were everywhere. Apparently it’s the place to be on a nice sunny day. By the way… did I mention it was supposed to thunderstorm today with a 90% chance of rain? Yeah, no rain and clear skies. The weather has been completely off our whole time here in Europe thus far. Anyhow, we walked around the area and saw ducks swimming in the pond and people in row boats as well as a big fountain that looked pretty cool. Overall, it was a nice afternoon to enjoy the sun in.
We make it back to our hotel again, pick up our bottle of wine we bought from a vendor yesterday and head on over to this taco place around the corner we heard about. Apparently they were closed today as well, so we ate at another place, brought our wine back to the hotel and enjoyed it there. Tomorrow we have plans to take a day trip to Montserrat.
05/21/13- Our last day in Europe. Woke up to the alarm around 8:15am and decided to sleep in until 9am. Got the free breakfast from the hotel and made it to Placa Espanya to get our train tickets to Montserrat (which is a Cliffside monastery on the mountainside). As we went to get the tickets I noticed everyone was using the machine to do so. Well, I already know that my card won’t work on those without a pin so I had to find an ATM real fast to withdraw some cash. Luckily we had plenty of time to do so as our train wasn’t due to leave for another 25 minutes. We get the cash, get our tickets (which included extra things to do in Montserrat) and boarded the train with no problems. In an hour we were there and already on the airlift up the mountainside. The views going up to the monastery were amazing enough but being hundreds of feet suspended in the air was crazy fun.
Once there we walked around a bit, hit a souvenir shop, took some free sample of various cheeses and found the basilica to go inside. As I was going through the church I noticed a woman on her hands and knees crawling towards the statue of Mary with her head down like she was the evil girl from The Ring. It kinda freaked me out a bit. Needless to say I left her alone. Afterwards we found the ride to take us all the way to the top of the mountain. Here we had a 15 minute hike to find an ancient structure carved out of the rock itself. Stopping to take photos we spend a good hour on this hike in total. We then took the ride back down and hit the exhibit that was included with our ticket, but the show wasn’t really that informative. After four hours there we took the air life back down to the train station and arrived back in Barcelona just before 5pm. Weird was how security was checking everyone’s ticket from the metro (going in and out). I guess it’s crackdown day on straglers.
What a way to spend our last day in Europe. This day trip was fun, unique and pretty easy to do. Matter of fact Barcelona has a lot going for itself in unique ways that I was quite impressed with. Now if they would just get their metro areas in order…
We finished the day going to a place called Taco Taco, which served excellent food and made it back to our hotel for the night. Tomorrow we have an extremely early flight leaving at 6am to Istanbul (which is the layover to LAX) and need to be up around 3:15am.
05/22/13- Ugghhhh! 3:25am came way too fast. Our taxi picked us up at 4am and got to the airport in no time. The meter read 30+ Euros which seemed normal but then he stated the total was 46 Euros. I almost fell out of my seat. Apparently, the night rate is much more expensive and they tack on airport fees which is quite stupid. I only had 36 Euros on me but he accepted a credit card for the remaining 10. I am not very happy about that situation at all.
Checked in, went through security and customs with no problem and found I had 15 minutes free of internet service which I used. As I got our seats I asked the lady about the online check-in as it showed all of the middle seats taken up. She said since it wasn’t a full flight that they made them unavailable to allow people to have more room. I’m loving Turkish airlines! Our flight left on time but for some reason I was feeling antsy. Even though I was tired I couldn’t relax to sleep. Finally about an hour in I moved over to some empty seats and laid down to sleep for a bit. No matter how many flights I have taken I still hate to fly and when there is turbulence or something seems off I get a little restless. Good news is we landed with no problems (actually 30 minutes early as the plane took a more direct route for some reason). We went through the airport and tried to transfer to our next flight to LAX but was told we had to go back and get our passports stamped. We looked around and there were no indications or signs telling us we needed to do that earlier. Luckily it wasn’t too far and we were able to get it all taken care of and be ready with 2 ½ hours to spare. During the layover Sharece and I were cracking up as 5 women walked right into the men’s bathroom. The expression on the guys faces after they entered and quickly left was priceless.
Flight #2 started off a bit shaky for the first hour (which was unusual for a 777) but the rest of the way it was smooth as always. Watched 6 different movies on the 13 hour flight and didn’t get much sleep. Customs took about 30 minutes and after we claimed our bags we had to wait another 30 minutes through the baggage security. Then to top it off we had an hour of LA 405 traffic to go through. But we made it home in one piece. This will most likely be my last overseas trip for awhile. Over the next few years I plan on going places more local (within the states). Next year… bringing the kids to New York and Washington DC.
END OF BLOG
