Easter Hop, Skip, and Jump
Hello!
I just had a really busy Easter holiday! My schools have two weeks off to celebrate, so I took off and explored a bit more of Europe.
First I stopped in Brussels for two days, and enjoyed the mishmash feel. New buildings, old historic ones, and in-between ugly ones are pretty evenly mixed! I saw the EU Parliament, a musical instrument museum (really well done!), and a comic museum.
The official languages of Belgium are French and Flemish, so I tried fairly unsuccessfully to remember my years of French classes. There have been too many other languages since writing my provincial exam in Jan 2001!
I also sampled their many unhealthy national specialities: chocolate, waffles, and French fries. I enjoyed all of them, and searched high and low for some salads and fruit in between!
Then on the 3rd I flew to Madrid, and saw a bit of Holy Week in the capital of Spain. I managed to catch one of their very slow moving religious processions – buckets of people wearing pointy hats reminiscent of the Klu Klux Klan, but not necessarily white, or covering white supremacists. The parade I saw was a purple-hatted one!
I also saw the Prado art museum, which was quite overwhelming. Most of the art was renaissance or baroque, which doesn’t tend to be my favourite era of paintings, but so many of these were famous or well-done, that I couldn’t help but spend half a day there.
On the 6th I took a train (with on-board film, just like a plane!) to Valencia, the third biggest city in Spain, on the Mediterranean coast. It’s not such a big tourist town, but it’s hosting a big famous sailing competition this year, for the first time held in Europe: the America’s Cup. I watched a race, and after having sailed for the first time in September, was awfully impressed by all the skill and speed involved.
The next day I took a guided tour of the city, and really enjoyed getting a better sense of Spanish history. It had been a bit jumbled-up in my head before, but seeing in person the remains of the Christian conquest, and Spanish Civil War made it all very vivid.
On the 8th I took another train (this time watching Mission Impossible 3) to Barcelona, where I stayed at easily the friendliest hostel. An Australian currently situated in Norway showed me around my first evening, and gave me her maps and things, as she was leaving the next morning. We also tried the requisite paella, which was very good.
The highlight in Barcelona was easily getting to know the works of Gaudi, a really cool architect who lived late 1800s- early 1900s. He designed a cathedral called the Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family), which is still under construction, and still looks ultra-modern. When completed, it will have 18 turrets: representing the 12 apostles, 4 prophets, Mary, and Jesus himself. I think it’s a bit strange that a cathedral for the holy family doesn’t have a tower for Joseph, but somehow he always gets the short end of the stick. Anyhow, I loved it! After seeing many conventional cathedrals, it was refreshing to see that they don’t have to look gothic or baroque.
I also met a trio of fun backpackers from Calgary, who I gave some tips to, and ate with a few times. Said like that, it sounds a bit dull, but after a week and a half travelling on my own, it was nice to chat!
After all this time fumbling about in French, then Spanish, it was a relief to fly ‘home’ to Germany on the 11th, where I could finally talk in complete sentences in the native tongue again! I spent a few days with my host family from two summers ago, in the small town named Kassel in the middle of Germany. The weather finally turned into vacation weather while I was there- it had been off-and-on rain in Spain, and mildly warm. Back in Germany, there’s been nearly a week now of sun, and summery-warm weather! It’s been great.
I could go on much longer, but I’m sure you have other things to do! I hope the Easter Bunny was good to you! I miss you, and know that the next 10 weeks will fly by, and I’ll be back in Vancouver before we know it.
Take care,
Russell
I just had a really busy Easter holiday! My schools have two weeks off to celebrate, so I took off and explored a bit more of Europe.
First I stopped in Brussels for two days, and enjoyed the mishmash feel. New buildings, old historic ones, and in-between ugly ones are pretty evenly mixed! I saw the EU Parliament, a musical instrument museum (really well done!), and a comic museum.
The official languages of Belgium are French and Flemish, so I tried fairly unsuccessfully to remember my years of French classes. There have been too many other languages since writing my provincial exam in Jan 2001!
I also sampled their many unhealthy national specialities: chocolate, waffles, and French fries. I enjoyed all of them, and searched high and low for some salads and fruit in between!
Then on the 3rd I flew to Madrid, and saw a bit of Holy Week in the capital of Spain. I managed to catch one of their very slow moving religious processions – buckets of people wearing pointy hats reminiscent of the Klu Klux Klan, but not necessarily white, or covering white supremacists. The parade I saw was a purple-hatted one!
I also saw the Prado art museum, which was quite overwhelming. Most of the art was renaissance or baroque, which doesn’t tend to be my favourite era of paintings, but so many of these were famous or well-done, that I couldn’t help but spend half a day there.
On the 6th I took a train (with on-board film, just like a plane!) to Valencia, the third biggest city in Spain, on the Mediterranean coast. It’s not such a big tourist town, but it’s hosting a big famous sailing competition this year, for the first time held in Europe: the America’s Cup. I watched a race, and after having sailed for the first time in September, was awfully impressed by all the skill and speed involved.
The next day I took a guided tour of the city, and really enjoyed getting a better sense of Spanish history. It had been a bit jumbled-up in my head before, but seeing in person the remains of the Christian conquest, and Spanish Civil War made it all very vivid.
On the 8th I took another train (this time watching Mission Impossible 3) to Barcelona, where I stayed at easily the friendliest hostel. An Australian currently situated in Norway showed me around my first evening, and gave me her maps and things, as she was leaving the next morning. We also tried the requisite paella, which was very good.
The highlight in Barcelona was easily getting to know the works of Gaudi, a really cool architect who lived late 1800s- early 1900s. He designed a cathedral called the Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family), which is still under construction, and still looks ultra-modern. When completed, it will have 18 turrets: representing the 12 apostles, 4 prophets, Mary, and Jesus himself. I think it’s a bit strange that a cathedral for the holy family doesn’t have a tower for Joseph, but somehow he always gets the short end of the stick. Anyhow, I loved it! After seeing many conventional cathedrals, it was refreshing to see that they don’t have to look gothic or baroque.
I also met a trio of fun backpackers from Calgary, who I gave some tips to, and ate with a few times. Said like that, it sounds a bit dull, but after a week and a half travelling on my own, it was nice to chat!
After all this time fumbling about in French, then Spanish, it was a relief to fly ‘home’ to Germany on the 11th, where I could finally talk in complete sentences in the native tongue again! I spent a few days with my host family from two summers ago, in the small town named Kassel in the middle of Germany. The weather finally turned into vacation weather while I was there- it had been off-and-on rain in Spain, and mildly warm. Back in Germany, there’s been nearly a week now of sun, and summery-warm weather! It’s been great.
I could go on much longer, but I’m sure you have other things to do! I hope the Easter Bunny was good to you! I miss you, and know that the next 10 weeks will fly by, and I’ll be back in Vancouver before we know it.
Take care,
Russell
posted by Russ at 4:01 PM
1 Comments:
Awww, I am so jealous of all your European travels. I would like to travel around... I guess I will just have to live vicariously through you for now!
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