Hobbemastraat

Monday, August 22nd 2011
So, how 'bout that red light district? Our hostel, Durty Nelly's, is right in the middle of it. Step out onto the street, walk through an alley and bam, red lights and all that they are associated with. Durty Nelly's is actually a bar with a hostel built into it. Breakfast for the travelers is in the bar. It is weird having breakfast there because it feels like I had a night so rough that I slept in a bar, when in reality I slept in a comfy bed in my hostel at a reasonable hour. 


Amsterdam is almost exactly how I pictured it, but it is still so surreal. The whole aura of the city is really something else. Walking on the bridges and through the streets and alleys, the mood of my surroundings always feels relaxed. The  buildings are unique- almost all brown or colours close to it, long and skinny windows, and oddly shaped roofs. There are so many bikes! Everywhere. It is all really quite charming. The old and simple look of the city mixed with the openness of sex and drug use is fascinating. Amsterdam crosses boundaries and you can't help but love it. 

Tuesday, August 23rd 2011
Aside from roaming the streets, turning the corner from a picturesque canal to a live sex show or a prostitute luring clients, all we did was visit the Anne Frank museum. It was a really good experience. Very sad, but fulfilling. It is a self-guided tour through the house where Anne Frank and her family were in hiding during the Holocaust. It was well-organized, with quotes from her diary on the walls, and detailed descriptions and video clips in each room of the house. We learned about each person living in that annex and about the famous diary, (which I bought a copy of...I know, I'm like the only person that hasn't read it) and there were lots of displays of different items belonging to the people in hiding. The creepiest part was being in the room that Anne stayed in. If I were typical, I'd be ending this paragraph with an Anne Frank quote, but instead I'm going to leave a quote from her sister, Margot, because I love it:

"Times change, people change, thoughts about good and evil change, about true and false. But what remains fast and steady is the affection that your friends feel for you, those who always have your best interest at heart." --Margot Frank

Now, as I sit here on the plane home, I have mixed feelings (as expected). I'm sad that the Eurotrip we planned and looked forward to so much is over. I'm happy I got to see so many things in so many cities, and with a great travel buddy to say the least. I'm proud of myself for successfully backpacking for a month. I'm thankful for being healthy and able to travel, because it is really special and definitely helps you grow as a person. 
Some things I'll miss: The excitement before heading to a new city, facebook check-ins, Roma (repeat twice), Sana creeping out little kids, partying till sunrise, European shopping, meeting other travelers, chatting up waiters, taking the metro, flying pashminas, Italian food, watching Community, beach/lifeguards, getting lost, my watch (I think I left it in Lisbon).
Some things I won't miss: getting ready in the dark, repacking my backpack, carrying my backpack, my backpack, getting lost, my bruise, paella, mosquito bites, wearing a money belt, getting jipped, f*cking up (that won't go away though)...


Baggage claim at Pearson:

Since this was my first blog, I'd love to know if you followed it and what your comments/feedback are. Holler at me!

"Quoi de neuf à Champs d'Elysées?"

Tuesday, August 16th 2011
(Enter Fauz, stage left)  It was hard parting with the gorgeous Lagos' beaches. We (Sana, myself, Dwayne and Michelle) had decided to take the 15:30 bus from Lagos to Lisbon, but once we got to the beach, Lisbon got shafted and we missed that bus. We ended up taking the 17:00 bus after grabbing some lunch  materials at Spar. We took a cab with yet another edgy cab driver who got all defensive when D-Wayne asked why he didn't take the shorter route to the station. We made it with 10 minutes to buy our tickets and get on the bus. After making and eating turkey wraps loaded with yummy and super cheap green olives (0.45 euros for a whole bag), we passed out on the bus and woke up about five minutes before we got to Lisbon. I'm glad I was able to sleep for most of the 4 hour bus ride, because the seats were not treating my cliff diving injury well.

Since it was already pretty late, we only had time to eat dinner. We ate some pasta at Barro Alto, an area of Lisbon that is well-known for it's bars and fado houses. There were hundreds of people crowding around the streets and people were sitting on the window ledges of bars drinking and socializing. During our stroll through the crowds, Dwayne was approached by sketchy drug dealers at least four times. It was amusing. We found out later that the drugs sold on open streets like that are fake... we didn't buy the drugs; we read a note on the bulletin board in our hostel. Just to clarify.

Wednesday, August 17th 2011
The next morning, we checked out the Belém tower, monastery, and one of many 'miraduoros' of Lisbon. After a quick lunch, Sana and I had to head to the airport and say goodbye to our new friends. I'm really glad we met Dwayne and Michelle, a crazy and cute couple who met in Venice a year ago. It was awesome partying with them (in my @ss) hearing their travel stories (they have countless) and learning to "live in the moment". We miss D-Wayne's strong Aussie accent and listening intently when trying to understand it.

Our ride to the airport was entertaining. We had a sweet cabby from Brazil who turned the music up for us when "Beautiful People" came on the radio. We fist-pumped as we passed the SanaLisboa Hotel (S, can't believe you forgot to mention that there's a hotel named after you in Lisboa). We got out of the cab at Terminal 2 and went in but didn't see our flight on the departures screen so we thought we were in the wrong terminal. We ran back out hoping our cabby was still there and he was. We jumped in the cab without taking our backpacks off (awkward positions) and he was nice enough to take us to the other terminal without running the meter. After all that, turns out our flight was in terminal 2. Fail. We took the airport shuttle back. Good waste of 20 minutes. That's how we roll. We cut it close but we made it and all was merry.

After landing at CDG airport and grabbing our bags, we had to find our way to our hotel. Without me asking for assistance, some guy told me to take a 20 euro bus into town and then take the metro to our hotel's location. Scrap that. We are so smart, we took the metro straight from the airport right to our hotel for a grand total of 9 euros. Beat that, random fellow. We ate large expensive salads for dinner that night and I spent 6 euros on a dipshit iced tea. Why do my smart decisions always get canceled out by stupid ones? Who cares, we were in Paris and I was ecstatic.

Thursday, August 18th 2011

No alarms were set that morning, thus leading to a late start. We needed that sleep. The maid came into the room maybe 3 times before we were ready to leave. Crêpes for breakfast (obviously) followed by a visit to the post office to send some mad delayed postcards (bought in Italy...oops). I wanted to see the Jardin de Luxembourg so we walked down St.Michel to find it. Along the way, we came across a university building so we took a little tour. "Mlle Moosa était ici!" We found the Jardin and hung around the pretty flowers and Palais for a bit. Next, we wanted to see Notre Dame, however, we crossed the pont des arts and we ended up at the Louvre. We are good. We didn't go inside because we wanted to save that for Friday. It was already early evening, and we could see the Eiffel tower in the distance so we figured we should  just walk in its direction. But first we chilled out for a few minutes with the naked statues in Jardin des Tuilleries, and I ate a croissant. We met a cute little kid who told us not to eat the little cherries in the garden and showed us his awesome Eiffel tower toy.

It took about an hour to reach the tower. I had seen it before but was in awe all over again. It was still light so we lay down on the grass and enjoyed the view until dark. While waiting for the tower to light up, we met a father and son from Los Angeles (if you're reading this, it was nice meeting you and trying to hustle Mr.Sarcastic). All of the men selling wine/champagne were Indian and some would walk by us and say "Hey hey, India! Want to buy?" These encounters happened in various locations of Paris. "It's Canada, and no thanks." Top of the hour, 10pm, the Eiffel started to sparkle and it was amazing. And it was just as amazing every time it happened after that. We took the elevator to the second level of the tower and right when we got off, it sparkled again. And again. Yes, we stayed up there for an hour. Good times. While up there, we heard music coming from a party on the river. A far l'amore. We then clued in that it was past midnight (metro closes at 12:30) so we had to book it to the nearest station to go home. Once in our area, we ate a nutella banana crêpe. Had to be done.

Sparkling Eiffel:

Friday, August 19th 2011

Another late start. Maid hated us. We got some lunch to go and got on the metro to get to the Louvre. When we were exiting the metro, we were approached by a few girls who were apparently deaf/mute. One went to Sana and another to me. They had clipboards that said something about donations to aid the community of the "deaf and dumb". Clue 1. All of the donations listed on the sheet were round numbers above 10 euros. Clue 2. Since I knew nothing about this community or association or whatever, I didn't really know what to do. I thought maybe a euro would suffice. The girls were so sweet and smiley. I didn't want to write my real name or contact information, so I wrote random stuff down. The girl held my sandwich as I wrote. Before I could even pull a euro out of my bag, someone approached the group that was near us and the girl grabbed the clipboard and pen from me and all of them ran down the stairs into the metro. I was surprised and confused, but most of all, I was pissed that she took off with my sandwich. At least I didn't get scammed out of any money. Sana lost 2 euro in the process but it could have been worse. We are suckers. "It's the principle!"

The Louvre was okay. It was too much history for me. I like pretty landscape and scenic paintings and modern art. So it wasn't really my cup of tea. Sana felt the same way. We had also had our fair share of history and Christian art in Italy. We did get to see the Mona Lisa though, and that was pretty cool. Before heading to Palace JK, we stopped for some mochaccinos at the café where we saw some cute French waiters.

Palace JK was pretty small and very few people were there. We met one of Sana's dad's friends, Férid, and some people around our age who gave us tips on what to see and where to eat, etc. I was hoping to hear a Firman in French but they read it in English! C'est dommage. As we were leaving, Férid and his wife and daughter offered to drive us around the city for a bit and then drop us off at Champs d'Elysées. Of course we accepted. They were really nice to us and Férid pointed out so many sights during our drive that we hadn't seen yet. One pretty cool area was around Rivoli; lots of fancy stores. We also checked out Place Vendôme, which has a bunch of super expensive jewelry places.

After being dropped off at Champs, we began a search for a certain restaurant that served entrecôte (a type of steak),Le relais d'entrecôte. We found it, and it just happened to be closed until the 23rd. Fantastique. We found another restaurant with entrecôte and ate there. At midnight, I turned 24 and Sana bought me a rose from a man outside the restaurant. What a darling, eh? We had plans to party at a club later that night so she also made me a sign to wear: Kiss me, it's my B-DAY. That got a lot of attention. When we were passing the restaurant next-door, Pino Pizza, all of the waiters were discussing it. Awkward. We had some club options on Champs (suggestions from a cute waiter and people from JK), and we were looking for one in particular, called Duplexe. We asked a group of young people walked passed us on the street and they told us it was a bad choice! We were confused and they told us to just join them on their outing. Hang out with some Paris locals? Pourquoi pas? They were great and spoke both French and English so we all got some practice with our second languages. First we walked to a club privé, Les planches, even though they knew from the beginning we would all be rejected. After being rejected, we took a cab to another club near the Concorde, Palais Maillot. Apparently the guys of the group were ballers and we bypassed the line and were led straight to the VIP. It was bumpin'. First song we heard was A Far l'Amore; parfait. We partied till almost 6am and slept at 7. Les parisiens connaissent comment fêter!

Bob Sinclar - A Far l'Amore

Sleeping after sunrise pretty much means the day is shot, but I was okay with that. We started our day in the late afternoon with some complimentary, and what we deemed to be stereotypical, coconut ice cream and then ShOpPiNg. We went to Galeries Lafayette in search of a particular store we had seen earlier, Naf Naf. It reminded us of our friend at home. Nafcakes. The clothes also looked awesome. We spent pretty much all our time trying on the whole store, and I was happy to buy myself a birthday present from there.

In the evening we took a ride with Bateaux Mouches and got a view of the city from the River Seine. The wait to get on the boat was brutal. There was no line, just a mob of pushy people. I couldn't comprehend the animal-like behaviour. Like, we are all going to get on the boat. Chill. Out. My favourite part of the ride was waving at all the people chilling out alongside the river and on the bridges above. I don't know if it's weird, but I liked that when two random people are waving at each other it's like they are communicating just for those few seconds and it's special. Yeah, fine, I'm weird. I must mention that one guy threw garbage at our boat and two girls flashed us. Good times.

Sana and I also wanted to chill out by the river so we planned to go back there after dinner. It didn't happen. We realized we were pretty close to Champs so we decided to eat there. Once on Champs, it is hard to leave. We ate at Pino Pizza because we were craving pizza. Of course the waiters remembered me from the night before and referred to me as Kiss Me. Lovely. We spent the duration of our meal people-watching (we had seats facing Champs) and chatting up two particular waiters whom we referred to as Ronaldo and Bubblebutt. They were great and sang Joyeux Anniversaire for me. We chilled out at a bar, Charlie Birdy, enjoyed the good music, and dashed out. After a great triple-take on the street and small talk with some more Frenchies ("Vous avez des beaux pieds", "C'est dommage qu'elles partent demain"), we got into a cab to go back to the hotel. During the ride, we saw some police cars pull over near a park to stop a fight. Sana opened her window to get a better view and she definitely got some remnants of pepper spray in her eyes. Curiosity killed the cat. She had to keep her eyes closed the rest of the way home and couldn't open them until we got into our room.

We are currently on a train to our last stop: Amsterdam. I'm really going to miss Paris and I hope to go back soon. I loved everything about it, no AC on the subway being the exception.

A+

Maya, Aliya, Tasha and Sasha f*#%ed up!

Hola! It is Sana taking over yet again. During the long bus ride to Lagos, both Alina and Fauz sang J.Bieber and Adele respectively at the top of their lungs getting weird looks and laughs from our fellow riders. Video evidence may follow. I found a cute baby that kept me entertained for a bit. After getting to Lagos we headed to the rising cock hostel where we were introduced to a very disheveled Mama. She wasn't sure what room we were in and kept referring to herself in third person. She was the only one between us and the beach so as soon as we checked in and had some piri piri chicken on the sidewalk (ofcourse), we finally made it to the beach!! The sun was about to set but we still took advantage of the beautiful water. We then made our way to the green room for some Mexican dinner. Mind you, I'm from Texas so I know my mexican food but this was definitely some of the best mexican food I have ever had. Period. We headed back to the hostel and passed out early on our first night in Lagos - fail.

August 14

The next morning we were woken up by Papa. Now to imagine him, think of an old man with the voice of Arnold Schwarzenegger. That's Papa! Upstairs we had some of mama's famous crepes and tika tika which is magic lemon tea..Mmm! The beach was absolutely fantastic and I could have spent a whole week there. We baked on the beach for a bit and then Fauz, Alina and I decided to explore the rocky area for a photoshoot. Once there we saw a bunch of teenagers jumping off the cliff above the cave into the water. Right away we knew we had to do it - you only live once right! So we found an obstacle course way to the top of the cliff which explicitly had a DANGER sign on it, oh well! Once on top Alina jumped first and then Fauz in all her grace and fear jumped and landed in a sitting position, booty first - OUCH! Since I was still at the top I didn't get to witness the fall but def saw the humongous purple bruise the next morning. The jump itself was incredible though, such a rush of adrenaline as I looked down at the water below!  I myself got a war wound as I was swimming to the cave on the side of the cliff. A nice old man offered to take action shots of us as we jumped (of course he missed all three of us).

All bruised and wounded we decided to go for dinner at the famous nahnahbah known for it's incredible burgers - which were in fact quite yummy! Back at the hostel we hung out with our roommates Dwayne (Aussie) and Michelle (Canadian). We went out into some local clubs in town and had a helluva night which ended with street pizza.

August 15

The next morning after being woken up by cars honking continuously for over a minute each outside our window, we went back to the beach (after more crepes and tika tika ofcourse). This time we decided to venture out to the beach a bit farther away because we wanted to go jet skiing. So we took a water bus over to the 'long beach' as they called it and had an amazing time on the jetskis. I rode with Alina who went as fast as possible and did 360s in the middle of the ocean - of course I fell off the jetski and almost got eaten alive by sharks. Next we went banana boating with some kids from London. The driver kept swaying the boat to make us fall but then he got mad when we actually fell because it meant he had to stop the boat to let us all back in. Weirdo!

After a crazy afternoon we headed back to the beach. We had lunch with one of the lifeguards whom we refer to as fit #1. Later I helped a little French kid, Romeo, bury his sister in the sand and then we headed out for some dinner with D-wayne and Michele at a local bar. On our way over we stopped  to shop on the streets of Lagos. Next we cabbed over to Duna beach for a party with a famous dj from the UK - Chase and Status. The line up was over an hour long so we decided to sneak in through the back. Of course we weren't the only ones. D-Wayne walked in through the bushes nonchalantly and another dude followed. Fauz went in shortly after and got kicked right back out by the snooty bouncer - she's so sly! As we were about to leave the beach we decided to try sneaking in through the other side, little did we know there was a REALLY REALLY big dog that began barking at us. He was tied up. I ran the farthest. Dwayne made friends with the dog and we walked in through the side only to be caught by security again..sheesh! We got escorted into the back of the bar where Dwayne made up some kind of story and voila we were IN. After all that, the music sucked and the pool was way too cold to jump in. Fail. Indoors there was a reggae room where we hung out most of the night, met more Aussies - as a sidenote most of the tourists we've met on our entire trip have been Aussies. They are a crazy bunch! On our way back, we got the worst cab driver of eternity (cab drivers in Lagos seemed like they hated their lives and were super cranky...I guess they would rather be on the beach)who wouldn't take five people at once. From what I hear, when Fauz, D-Wayne and Michelle were singing along to Bon Jovi on the way home, he pulled over until they shut up. I was left walking back from the club as there were no other cabs to be seen for miles...darn! It was actually a blessing in disguise because I got to see the sun rise over the Lagos marina as we walked over the bridge. Gorgeous.

Role models: I'm Martin Luther king. I have a dream. What kind of dream?

Friday, August 12th 2011

From the Lisbon airport, we took a cab to get to our hostel. We got an asshat of a cab driver who told us it would be 15 euros from the airport and when it turned out to be 10, he charged us 15 claiming that transport of bags is extra. No other cab drivers we had in Lisbon after that charged us for having bags. D-bag.

We were so tired from early flight but we couldn't check in to the hostel until 2pm. So we crashed on the common area couches of Lisbon Lounge Hostel hrs (really nice hostel) for 3 hours. It was quite convenient that I was already in my pajamas.

When we woke up, we wandered around the area, aimless (it's the best way) and shopped a bit. It was good to get a bit of a break from sightseeing. Speaking of sights, we saw a random guy start singing Indian in the street. I have a video clip, but I think it is too large to upload.

We decided to check out the st.George castle and took the #28 tram to get there. It was packed and not too pleasant. The trams are so small and old and this particular tram is the tourist one, so it was really just a bunch of confused people stuffed in hot confined area stepping in each other and trying to balance. The trams look really cool on the streets though.
We got into the castle for free (youth day, what up). It is just a fortress; the interior was destroyed in and earthquake, but the exterior was rebuilt. It was fun to explore the fortress and see nice views of Lisbon from different lookout points. We randomly saw a peacock on the grounds too. Unfortunately not courting.

In the evening, we went to the Ismaili centre. It was stellar. Gorgeous fountains and gardens. We took a tour and learned about the symbolism behind some of the architecture and all the different areas of the centre.  It was nice to see the similarities between the architecture of the different Ismaili centers as well as the similarities between Portuguese architecture and the Ismaili center. Sana and Alina said varo during the ceremonies as I was holding in laughter.

That night, after eating some famous portuguese chicken at Colombo, I bought a necklace with an owl pendant on it. I obviously had to name the owl, and decided on Nicolau, since the street where our hostel was is called Sao Nicolau. At night we went out to a club on the docks. We got there at 2am because it is apparently dead before that. It was really cool and i loved the music- straight up house music. Alina wad not impressed, but deep down I know she digs Save the World by Swedish House Mafia. Anyway, the club entrance and patio were surrounded by water. They could totally do that in Toronto, I don't know why they haven't. Special shoutout to our awesome cab driver who we had for the whole night (Lisbon connections).

Swedish House Mafia - Save The World

"You're lying. You can't be from Canada, you're from heaven"

Thursday, August 11th 2011

One day in Madrid. When I look at that sentence, or clause, I don't fully process it. This whole trip, I don't think I ever really wrapped my head around where I was and if I were showing someone where I was on a world map I would be pointing to cities in Italy and Spain and Portugal and France. So crazy awesome. It is pretty surreal. Sometimes I would just say to Sana "Dude, we're in [insert awesome European city here]. Even saying it out loud, I couldn't believe it. We were so busy doing things that sometimes it was good to just sit and look around and take it all in.

During the single day we had in Madrid, we visited as many sights as we could.  We aimed to start the day at 10am. So at 1pm we reached Real Madrid stadium; it was pretty badass. We found out that Real Madrid was the most successful team in the league overall.I found it relaxing to sit in the stands just looking over the field and watching the maintenance process. The coolest part was the players' bench...leather seats and a sun shade.

As Fauz continues to sleep, I (Sana) will continue this particular post as I now have a new found infatuation with Spain!
We then continued our day with some tapas for lunch and these were easily the most delicious tapas we had ever eaten in Spain- the salmon tartar was to die for! Fauz also saw what she claims to be the hottest guy ever seen on earth. After she started getting a little creepy we decided we had to leave the cafe. We made our way to the palace - we could tell we were in the right area as soon as we saw lots of fountains and greenery. We admired the palace and its surroundings but not for too long because the scorching Madrid heat made us go back to the store and grab some iced tea.

Finally we made it to the Museo del Prado and after waiting in line for some time were not awed by all the religious paintings inside as we had seen more than enough of Jesus and Mary in Italia. Nonetheless, we walked through the galleries and one of the paintings that stood out to me was the 'triumph of death,' which points out that death is inevitable and no one can fight it. Then, just as I was on the brink of moving on to the next museum we began to see paintings of landscapes and beautiful sceneries - just as we had hoped for. Rico y Ortega are absolutely amazing and two of my favorite paintings were La Riva degli Schiavoni and Chubasco en Granada by another painter.

Outside the Prado:

We then moved on to the Reina Sofia but we didn't have too much time so we checked out an exhibit by a Japanese artist who I was sure had some sort of psychological disorder; and I was right. The exhibit was certainly weird but very interesting especially the display with a room full of  mirrors and water on the ground with small lights hanging from the ceiling changing colors and reflecting from each surface. It felt like we were in the middle of a galaxy.

After buying some souvenirs from a cute old man near the Thyssen and mistaking a drag queen bar (Gula Gula) for a restaurant, we had dinner at an amazing cafe on the Gran Via and headed back to our hostel and met our roommates. They were an Indian guy and girl who Fauz immediately assumed were married. To no surprise, she awkwardly asked them and turns out they were just university friends traveling together..oops! We had a really early flight the next morning and were only going to get 3 hours of sleep that night so I dared Fauz to wear her pjs during the flight all the way to the hostel in Lisbon. Any other pjs would have been fine but of course she rocked out in her Toronto maple leafs pjs...the only entertaining part of that flight.

Viva España

Monday, August 8th 2011
"It's a momentous occasion...did you pack your water?"

From the Granada airport, we got on an aerobus to our hostel. Oh man, before I continue I must mention something I just remembered because I saw a baby on our bus to Madrid (from which I am writing this entry). On the Barcelona subway, there was a lady sitting with her bosom exposed and her baby feeding from it. A free-for-all...but not really, because the baby was the only one with the access. Little did we know that our metro ticket included a free show, not optional. It was disturbing. Anyway, on the bus ride to our Granada hostel, we saw mountains in the sunset. I already really liked Granada. We got off the bus at Gran Via and started walking to Albayzin, where our hostel was. The cobblestone road (I live for cobblestone) was so narrow that either people could walk on it or cars/bikes/minibuses could go by, but not both. Well it was possible for both but there was a chance of colliding with a sideview mirror or having your foot rolled over by wheels. Regardless, it was a really pretty scene because there weren't a lot of vehicles. On one of the side walkways, there was a guy with a guitar bellowing out the lyrics to 'Don't look back in anger' by Oasis. It was just awesome.

At the hostel, we met up with Alina and Natasha, who had already been in Granada for a day. The four of us headed to a small flamenco bar, Le chien andalou, where we ate the smallest but, in my opinion, most enjoyable tapas I had eaten in Spain,  and saw a show. I thought it was going to be a show with those señoritas wearing red feathery outfits, but there were only male performers. First, there was just a man with a guitar and an old man in a suit (so adorable yet badass). The guitarist started playing and about a minute into the song, the old man started singing/yelling. We had no clue how that voice was coming from that little man. Since he was singing in Spanish, we didn't understand the context of the song, but it sounded powerful nonetheless. We definitely thought there were points during which he was yelling at us though. For the next few songs, the two on stage were joined by three more men. All they were doing were clapping and stomping their feet along with the guitar and it sounded amazing. They had such good rhythm and coordination. One of the clapping men also sang and he had a strong voice as well. During the last song, one of the men, dressed in red as presumed, did a dance. Man, could he move. And his expression and movement was so passionate. I'm so glad we saw them perform because it was an authentic and small show and we got a good feel of some beautiful Spanish culture in that small bar. P.s. One of the clapping men fell in love with Alina.

Tuesday, August 9th 2011
GRAcias deNADA

Fact: Granada means pomegranate. Fact (I think): Apparently, the reason behind the people of Spain speaking Spanish with a lisp is that back in the day there was a king of Spain with a lisp. The people respected him so much that they altered their way of speaking, and it got passed down through the generations, like a dialect does.

The next morning we had to wake up early for our Alhambra tour. The first breath of air I took when we exited the hostel to walk to the bus was lovely! The streets smelt like shisha, no joke. The tour was great and, as expected, the palaces are incredible. It was pretty interesting to see the designs and symbols comprised of both Muslim and Christian influence and the differences in architecture. From the outside, the palaces were pretty simple, but on the inside, everything was so grand and majestic. Lots of arches and fountains. The gardens were very impressive, to say the least. As the tour guide gave an explanation for the different rooms of the palaces, it was cool to imagine the lifestyle of the sultans that lived there many centuries ago. I just kept picturing the sultan from Aladdin and the parrot too. Iago.

We were pretty tired after the tour, so we just wandered around looking for souvenirs and ate lunch. While we were going through different shops, I realized something about Granada. Whenever I was talking to a shopkeeper or a waiter and I mentioned I was from Canada, instead of them asking if I speak English, they would ask me if I speak French. And it seemed that a lot of people in Granada had French as a second language as opposed to English. This must have to do with the Moroccan influence in the region. Either way, it was nice to be able to practice my French in Spain.

"If this is a bath, do I need to take a shower after?"
That evening, we had plans to visit a Hammam, traditional Arab baths. Oh my gosh, it was heavenly. The dimly lit bath was made up of a few rooms connected by arches. There was tile work along the orange/peach-colored walls. There was Arabic music playing in the background. It was such a relaxing atmosphere. There was a cold room with a cold water pool, a hot room with a hot water pool, another room with warm water, and small relaxation areas with benches and cinnamon candles. Basically, all one does is go from one room to another as you please, and hang out in the pools. They are technically baths and not pools so you don't really do laps or anything...although at one point, Sana and I did exactly that, just because one of the pools was empty and we had it to ourselves. There was also an area where you could Marrakech tea. It was amazing. Perfect after a long day of walking  in the heat.

I learned two sentences in Spanish that day. The first was "Una tirita por favor", which means "A bandaid, please". I will explain the second one now. So, after turning down a few of Sana's dares (we are so juvenile), I finally agreed to one at the Hammam. There was a guy walking around calling people from the pools to go for their massages, and I had to go to him and say "venga al baño caliente con mi". Awkward.

After the Hammam, we went on a tapas tour with the hostel, and got a bit of a feel of the Granada nightlife.  While we were out, we met some very cool people. Special mentions go to the American (Hilary) and the Italian with the same name (Ilaria).


Wednesday, August 10th 2011 (Happy birthday mom!)

As I mentioned earlier, I'm writing this on a bus to Madrid. Sadly, after running and busing around town to the train station with our stupid fatass backpacks, the train didn't work out. Instead of waiting for the evening train, we decided to take a bus to save a few hours of our time. It has been kind of a frustrating day, but finding a McDonald's near the bus station made it all better. I'm lovin' it.

¨This needs to be washed for sure.¨

Okay, Barca is crazy. I´m staying in tonight, my last night here (I know I´m lame), so this is a good time to give you the low-down on our Barca experience. Since it had been a couple of days since I have posted, and I am quite lethargic atm, I will do my best to cover everything.

Thursday, August 4th 2011

Our hostel, Sant Jordi Alberg, is a really good time. The people here are so laid back, and they organize outings every night. After our flight, we found our hostel and checked in and all that. Then we headed over to a resto for some tapas, which were delish. So was the waiter. I fell in love with him. I didn´t understand anything he was saying and since Sana speaks some Spanish, she helped translate. Tapas ended with a bang. And then Sana cried. Long story, but it was all quite hilarious.

We went out with our hostel that night and the first stop was a bar on the beach. It was pretty amazing. Next stop was Shoke (I think) night club, which was ginormous. Lots of house music and the patio extended out onto the beach. We ended up hanging out with some crazy Brits until we were too tired to keep our eyes open, and then headed home by means of a surprisingly cheap cab ride.

Friday, August 5th 2011

The next day, I woke up to Alina and Natasha walking into our room. It felt so crazy to all be in Barcelona together. We ate lunch at the same tapas place as the night before because I wanted to see the waiter again. We filled them in on our trip up until Barca as well as the dares and rewards system. We left the restaurant after Sana unintentionally said something inapporiate to the waiter by mixing up the Spanish word for bag with female genitalia.

We walked to Sagrada di familia, an incomplete project of Gaudi´s (famous architect). It was really cool because you could see the difference between the old work and the new additions. In the metro station on the way home, Alina had a not-so-brilliant idea and encouraged Natasha to squeeze through the turnstile with me and we definitely got caught by security. Natasha had to go back through the turnstile and use her ticket again. We were lucky we didn´t get fined or arrested! Natasha was pissed at Alina and got an automatic reward which she has yet to redeem.

We ate paella for dinner and had a waiter that was surely on crack or some sort of elating substance. At night we went to a pub/club crawl, which was insane. One of the bars, I forget the name atm, had a really nice view of the city. The last stop was Opium night club. It was huge and the exact image I had of a European club before coming here.

Saturday, August 6th 2011

Our second day was a lazy one, starting at about 2 p.m. We had lunch and I threw in another dare. Sana had to lie on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant for 35 seconds. She did it. After lunch, we visited Camp Nou and then chilled out on the beach. It wasn´t too sunny but still a good time. A beach is a beach! We went out with the hostel again. First stop was a huge locals bar and then to Razzmatazz (sp?) night club. It was very different...all rock and indie music which I love. At points it was a bit much, but it was really awesome to hear stuff like The Strokes in a club and everybody jumping around and jamming to big hits.

Sunday, August 7th 2011

Once again, our day started at 2 p.m. (the night ended at around 5 a.m.) and we ate at a nice resto on Passeig de Gracia. We liked one of the waiters once again and Sana was chatting him up. I dared her to leave him a note when we left. She did it. Hilarious.  After eating, we went to Parc Guell where we saw a few pieces of Gaudi´s work. It was absolutely gorgeous. The mosaic detail was so unique. I love how Gaudi projects show up so suddenly all over the city. It is really something to see. Pretty hard to capture the beauty on camera but we tried. We ate dinner on La Rambla, more paella. I´m over it; no more paella! I mean it´s good, but I don´t understand all the hype. I just like saying paella and thinking of George´s mom from Seinfeld: ¨What am I gonna do with all this paella?!¨ I miss Italian food...and home food too!

Tomorrow we hope to squeeze in a couple more sights before our flight to Granada. Stay tuned!