Niagara Falls

I have been to Niagara Falls, multiple times. This time however, I went to run the half marathon. I originally signed up to do the full marathon, but could not complete my training in time since I ended up with an injury. I'm still in school at the moment, and didn't want to spend too much money. I took the amtrak, even though it would be an 8 hour ride. A close childhood friend of mine lives in Buffalo, so I stayed with her, and she was nice enough to drive me around to pick up my registration package, etc. Seeing my friend was nice, but there was definitely a lot of bad luck around this half! For starters, we got completely lost, so I ended up being 30 minutes late! Since I started late, I tried harder to catch up, and ended up cramping really badly. I lay down on the grass for about 10-15 minutes, and asked someone to get the medical people. The medical people never showed, so I drank some water from a passerby, and I got up, and just continued running! The track was beautiful--we ran along Niagara Parkway. This time around was much easier than the first time, although my time was worse.

As a turned the bend to finish the race, I saw the falls and the most beautiful rainbow! That view, mixed with the andrenaline and endorphins racing through my body made me so happy. The falls have never looked so gorgeous.

Vienna Half Marathon

I realize that I didn't give this update as soon as I should have. Anyhow, I finished, with a time of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 8 seconds!! I was exhausted afterwards though, mainly because I had pushed myself to run a lot faster than I trained for--I had been training at 9 km/hr, and ran at 10 km/hr. My legs were terribly sore for the next three days, but we gorged ourselves on ice cream. While I was running, I kept thinking to myself how much I hated running and that I would never run another half marathon, let alone a full marathon again!! Yet, that same night, I registered for the Niagara Falls International Marathon.

So now I am training for that. I think I may have a stress fracture though, so I've been taking a break this week. Not running however, makes me a bit anxious. Hopefully it is not a stress fracture, and it will heal soon.

Training for the Vienna Half Marathon

So, for the past two months I have been training to run the Vienna Half Marathon. I always kind of hated running, but this semester we met two girls who run Marathons, and one of my boatmates decided she would too. The idea entered my head, so I thought to try running again and see what happened. The first long run I did was 6 km, which is about 4 miles. Funny, before this I always thought I could never possibly run more than 2 miles. It's kind of surprising how things chance when you tell yourself that your limit is much higher than you thought it should be.

Anyhow, I ran on the treadmill since it's supposedly better for your joints. After the first month though, my shins started to hurt. It turned out that I had bought a pair of children's shoes--when I had bought my sneakers, I asked for my size and they said that they had nothing that small. My shoe size however, is really not very little at all, it's a 37, which is a very common size, I think. Anyhow, I asked them to show me anything they had in a 37, so I guess one of them was a child's shoe, and I ended up buying that. Children's shoes are meant to support children, who weigh significantly less than I do ;) I ended up going to a running store and buying a new pair of sneakers, which made a huge difference for me.

My friend introduced me to goo, which is, essentially, a sugary goo that gives you a burst of energy. When I first tried it, I had trouble swallowing it because it tasted like chemicals, even though it is vanilla flavored. Once I did have the first sip, I was able to down the rest, since my body seemed to really crave the salts and other vitamins in it. Usually when I run, the first 10-15 minutes is very difficult. Then I'll be okay for about 45 more minutes, before I begin to get tired. If I take a goo though, I feel tired for another 15 minutes while it kicks in, and then really great for another 25-30 minutes, and then start to tire, but by then I know that I'm about to finish and I feel excellent for the remainder. Hopefully that will work on the actual day :) Luckily, my friend brought plenty of these from America, since the gels in Amsterdam taste really bad (even more like chemicals). I usually have to take the goo with water though, since it's so sticky.

I find eating a lot of carbs the night before helps me, and it also helps me to run on a fairly empty stomach. I normally don't eat a lot of carbs since I don't particularly like bread, potatoes, or rice (I like pasta, but don't eat it very often), and that supposedly is really good for carb loading, since your body learns to function without carbs, so it's extra happy when you load it with carbs :D I usually eat pasta for dinner, and then have a roll or just a slice of bread in the morning, wait about an hour, and then I run very well.

The longest run that I did during my training was 18 km, and the total length of the half marathon is 21 km. We took a very early flight to Vienna (7:00 am), which was good because I had a chance to get used to waking up super early. The half marathon will start at 9:00 am. We went to go pick up our numbers, there was a really fun fair of sports stuff. I bought a sports jacket with zippers on sale, that was pink. We also got a goody bag with sports drinks, foods, and random things like shower gel, toothpaste, snap bracelet and a balloon. Apparently a lot of marathons give out free T-shirts, but this one did not. You could buy them (they were bright orange and 25 euros), but I didn't bother. We also had to rent a chip, which logs your time as you run through the start and finish line, with updates every 5 km to check your average speed. If you want, you can also set it up so that a text goes out to people every 5 km that you run.

I'm at my hotel now, and going to sleep early so that I won't be tired tomorrow.

Greek Food

Ice cream and chocolate

Carrot and cabbage salad

Cheese staganaki (fried cheese)

Moussaka, grilled vegetables, and lima beans

Gyros

Greek food is amazing and deserves its own entry. In all of Europe, I think Spanish food might still be my favorite, but Greek food is a close second. Unlike Spanish food, Greek food has a lot of options for vegetarians. My biggest and greatest discovery in Athens was Moussaka, which looks like lasagna but is made with a layer of potatoes, eggplant, minced beef, and what I think is mashed potatoes and cheese blended together. It was amazing. The first night in Greece, I had Moussaka and a Greek salad. The produce here is so fresh, as is the cheese. I have never been a huge fan of salads, but Greek salads are so fresh, and drenched with aromatic olive oil. I also had a lamb gyro. The tsatziki sauce is nothing like tsatziki sauce in the states. In Greece, the sauce is so fresh that you can taste the individual components—the tartness of the yogurt, the spiciness of raw garlic, and the refreshing cucumber together makes it difficult to dislike anything that is smothered in tsatziki. The pita bread is often sprinkled with sesame seeds, and is warm, chewy, and delicious on its own, let alone wrapped around meat, tomatoes, and lettuce (that is slathered with tsatziki and spices).

I’ve always thought that baklava is too sweet, but I liked it here. I walked into a baklava store that sold types of baklava like gourmet chocolate stores would sell truffles—they are lined in trays behind a glass counter, with flavors like walnut, pistaccio, caramel, milk chocolate, vanilla…with different shapes and garnishing. I only had a pistaccio one, and I do regret not trying more before I left.

During my second day in Greece, I had grilled lamb for lunch, which was also amazingly tender. Arielle ordered greek yogurt with honey, which I like much more than normal yogurt. It is much creamier and a bit more sour. That night, we walked down a small alley and up a bunch of stairs with tavernas. Two neighboring restaurant owners got into a fight over us. The first one claimed to be the oldest tavern in Athens. His neighbor claimed the same thing, and insisted that “everything my neighbor says is a lie.” We ended up going to the one that was very slightly cheaper (by 50 cents) and had a fixed menu. Fixed menus in Greece, like those in Spain, are such a good deal. Usually they come with a salad, main course, and dessert (or multiple courses). We had fried calamari (which I always like), stuffed grape leaves (I’m not a fan, too sour), fried cheese (also just ok), and Greek salad (very good).

For brunch the next day, I had spinach pie, which was also delicious. Coffee in Athens is also very good, with my new discovery being cappuccino freddo, which is iced cappuccino. I tried Greek coffee, which is very grainy and bitter, and not to my liking. I had moussaka again that evening, and resolved to find a recipe for it at home.

Since I heard, from multiple sources, that the best gyros are in Monistiraki, I went there. I had a pork gyro, and then kebabs, which are made from a mix of beef and lamb. The kebabs, along with a cabbage and carrot salad, were spectacular and cheap. These gyros to go are around 2 euros. I love watching them slice the meat from the huge, rotating spit (is it called a spit?). That night, I tried lima beans in sauce (which was very good), and walnut pie, which was just ok. Before dinner however, I went to an amazing chocolate/ice cream café. There, we got ice cream in the middle of thick chocolate that was kind of like a pudding. It was sprinkled with toffee, candy stars, and covered with caramel. To be honest, it was not as amazing as it looked, but the café had a very impressive menu. On my last day in Greece, I had moussaka again, and a giant heart shaped donut that was both covered with and filled with chocolate. Basically, the highlight of my Athens trip was the food (with moussaka and gyros in the lead).

On a side note, Swiss air is great—the food is delicious, and does not seem to have a lot of preservatives based on the ingredients; everything tastes really fresh.

Athens, Greece

Temple of Zeus

National Archeological Museum
View of the Acropolis from the Agora

Temple to Athena in the Acropolis compound

Dog in National Gardens

We arrived in Athens after a very early flight. Our hostel was not so close to the city center, but it was close to the metro so it was easy for us to hop on and get almost anywhere. On the first day, we went to walk around Plaka, a very charming area that is probably mostly for tourists. The stores there sold souvenirs and other items that Greece is supposedly famous for, like olive oil, natural sea sponges, metal helmets, and tacky looking pottery. Close to Plaka is Syntagma Square, and a nice shopping district. Everything is cheaper in Greece than in Amsterdam, so I ended up buying some dresses and a hat. I would say that the highlight of our trip was the food, which deserves its own blog entry separate from the substantive things that we did in Greece.

On the second day, we tried to go to the National Archealogical Museum, supposedly one of the best museums in the world. Unfortunately, they close at 3, so we ended up doing more shopping. We got to explore the central market, and bought some dried fruit (more info in the food section). Basically, the second day was a bit of a bust, aside from the great food that we ate.

Day three was when we actually went to see monuments. First thing in the morning, we walked through the National Gardens. One thing distinct about Greece is the number of stray dogs. The stray dogs are large, and also appear rather well fed. You see them lying all over the city—in a bed of flowers, in the middle of stairs, sometimes right beside a busy freeway. Perhaps everyone feeds the dogs leftovers. They seem well behaved, except with bikers. Two times we saw dogs barking at bikers, even running after them. Although, the first biker might have thrown a stone at them, so it might have been self defense. According to Ella, who had visited Greece before its huge economic collapse, Athens became more run down. Previously, the government would take stray dogs, spay and neuter them and vaccinate them, and then release them only the streets again with a bright red and blue collar (they did not want to euthanize them). Unfortunately, the poverty is more apparent in Greece than most other nations, except perhaps Italy. There are several homeless people, in particular children who approach people and play instruments (specifically the accordion) for money. Many of these children are under 10 years old, and they walk around begging for money.

After we walked through the park, we stopped by some food display, and then headed towards the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian’s Arch. The Temple of Zeus was not as impressive as I thought it would be, considering Zeus is the head of Olympus and all the other Gods. It was just a few pillars—perhaps it was much nicer in its heyday, but still nothing compared to the Pantheon. The Pantheon was built for Athena, the namesake of Athens. The story, which I actually read as a child, is that both Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle, and Poseidon, god of the sea, both wanted the city named after them. They took turns demonstrating their powers. While Poseidon struck his triton in the ground and caused a river to flow forth, the water was salty and not very useful. Athena however, created the olive tree, which could be used as food and oil. Therefore, she won the contest J Anyhow, as Ella would say, “Athena is quite a big deal in Athens.” The Pantheon is very cool to see, but must have been even more amazing when it was first completed. According to a movie that we watched in the Acropolis museum, the Pantheon was painted, and covered with carvings and statues which have since fallen off or have been removed for purposes of preservation. We also saw a stadium. After seeing the Acropolis, we returned to our hostel to dress up for dinner. That night, we went to a bar on top of a hotel, from which we had a magnificent view of the Acropolis, lit up.

The next day, we thought about going to an island, so we got up very early to go to Piraeus, the port. Unforutnately, the green line was partially closed, so we ended up having to spend a lot of time going back and forth on the metro to get to where the line was running. Piraeus is quite dirty and shabby, and the ferry tickets to Hydra, the island that we had been thinking of going, was 55 euros. Instead, some of us returned to Athens. Back in the city, we explored Monistiraki, famous for its gyros, and walked through the flea market and a crafts market. I had bought a pair of Greek sandals the first day, but there were many leather goods sellers. The sandal I bought were hand made, and I was able to bargain for them. They are not that comfortable though…anyhow, we discovered that the area close to the Ancient Agora was very lively and filled with restaurants. During our last day in Greece, we returned to that area, and walked into the Agora and up to the Temple of Hephastus, the God of iron working.

Overall, I enjoyed the trip, but Athens is not one of my favorite cities. Indeed, it is full of history, but it is rather dirty and polluted. The people on the other hand, ranged from being extremely friendly, to being very rude. There didn’t seem to be much in between. Since we did not like our hostel, we wanted to switch to a nicer hotel. Upon walking in and asking if there was a room available, the man at the desk said no, and suggested that we try the dirty hostel next door. We looked up the hotel online, and found that it actually had many rooms available. We’re not quite sure why he turned us away. Restaurants can be quite aggressive about getting your business, and men harass women a lot more. I wanted to buy a leather purse, and the guy selling the purses told me how much he loved Asian woman, and unbuttoned his shirt to show me a tattoo that he had gotten over his heart of a Chinese character (he called it a Japanese character actually, but I suppose it was Kanji). That was awkward, and he didn’t really give me a great discount either, so I backed away from the store and scuttled back to my friends. The weather was not very good, except on the first and last day. I had been hoping to lie in the sun with a bathing suit, but it was not warm enough for that. One day, I do hope to return and visit the Greek Islands.

Last 2 Days in Madrid

We spent the last two days shopping. And we visited the Museum Prado and walked by the palace. Otherwise, I raided this sock store called Calzedonia that has really cute tights and for fairly cheap prices. I'm not sure if Mango is a Spanish brand or not, but there were a lot of those. Shopping in Madrid was definitely better than in Amsterdam, although perhaps I still haven't found the right place. Our hostel was overbooked, so they gave us a free upgrade to a private room. We figured out how to get the bus to the airport, and the bus had the worst translation ever; in Spanish, they would say, la promixma parrada es..., then in English they would say, the proximate parrada is... Anyhow, we got to the airport fine, and I am on my way back to Amsterdam!

Granada

We arrived in Granada in time for dinner (well, Spanish dinner time--we ate at 9:00 pm) since we heard that the tapas in Granada were really good. Here, you get free tapas whenever you order a drink. The free tapas are pretty good, but not as good as the ones you would order from a menu. Instead of a hostel we stayed at a really cheap hotel (though it was called Hostal Atenas), in which we got a private room for 30 euros. Just 5 minutes away was Plaza Nueva, an area with a lot of bars/tapas places. We went bar hopping for tapas. I like how sangria here is bubbly; when I get sangria in new York, it usually is just wine instead of wine mixed with champagne (at least I think champagne is what is giving these sangrias their bubbles...). I finally tried habas con jamon...it tastes exactly how it sounds like, it is just peas and ham, nothing too spectacular. I also had cod and friend calamari. All tapas were around 2 euros each, as was the sangria. There weren't a lot of people on the streets, perhaps because it is thursday? I am used to NY, where party areas are pretty full, even on Monday. We might have been in the wrong area too. Regardless, we didn't want to stay out too late since we had to get up early to visit the Alhambra.

After hearing horror stories of troubles with tickets, I took great care in planning our Alhambra visit. They only allow 8100 visitors daily, and tickets usually sell out. Luckily I booked ahead--even when booking a week in advance, there were les than 800 tickets left, and only a few time slots open for viewing Nasrid's Palace, which is the highlight of the Alhambra. The Alhambra, according to my guidebook, is one of the greatest accomplishments of Islamic architecture, and nothing can quite prepare you for seeing the real thing. I had worried that my soaring expectations of it would ultimately leave me disappointed, but as my book said, no description or hearsay could really convey how amazing the palace was. In the photo above I have a close up of one of the walls--everything, from door to ceiling is intricately hand carved in this fashion. Granada was apparently the last stronghold for the muslim rulers, until it it conquered by queen Isabel and king Fernando. Unfortunately, one of the main rooms, and the signature lion fountain was under construction, so while we could see it, it was marred by equipment and workers.

After seeing the palace, I had thought that I had gotten through any ticket issues that could arise. There are morning and afternoon time slots, and you must enter the palace within the specific 30 minutes allotted on your ticket. Somewhere in the palace I dropped my ticket, so when I tried to enter the fortress, they would not let me in. Apparently, each ticket holder is allowed to enter the fortress and the palace just once. While I had my receipt of ticket purchase, and my friends had their tickets, the guard would not let me in, and directed me to customer service, who told me that I would have to find my ticket! So, I had to talk to the personnel, who radioed each other to see if anyone had found a ticket. The entire process took at least 30 minutes, and eventually I heard a guard on the radio say, "I see it!" I guess he then retrieved it, and another guard said to give it to a Japanese girl that was looking for it. I went and picked up a ticket, but it wasn't mine; someone else had dropped their ticket too, but they had already entered the fortress, so I had to run back, and it turned out hey had found two tickets. I eventually got my ticket, and entered the fortress. The fortress and the palace of Charles V were just ok, I guess I was jaded from Nasrid's palace.

As we walked out to the bus stop, it began to rain. We took the bus to albaizin, an old neighborhood with winding, narrow paths. In it was a lookout point, the Mirador de San Nicholas, which offered a beautiful view of the alhambra and the city. Nearby, we ate expensive but very delicious tapas--Ella an Tessa said they were the best tapas we had had so far, though I disagree. I still like the place we went to in Seville, despite the terrible service.

After returning to Gran Via, the main road, we had one of the worst crepes that I have ever had while we waited for the rain to stop. We then proceeded to Capilla Real, where King Fernando and Queen Isabel are entombed. They were the first rulers of the Spanish Empire. Isabel of Castille married Fernando of Aragon, uniting those areas, and they proceeded to persecute and execute non Christians, eventually conquering Granada and some other territories, I presume. We didn't realize this until after we had already entered; Ella was not pleased about having paid an entrance fee towered maintaining the graves of these antisemetics. I suppose if international criminal law had existed then, they would be guilty of genocide. Although, they were targeting all non christians, not just Jews, so according to the reasoning of the ICTR in which victims need to be identified as what they are, not what they are not, I suppose...well I am on vacation, I shouldn't be thinking about classwork :p

Now I'm on the bus back to Madrid! It has stopped raining, but there is a forecast for snow...

Cordoba

On the bus over we had the ambitious plan of waking up at 8:00 so we could get into the mosque for free for the early morning silence from 8:30 to 10:00. After which, we would take a tourist bus to the Islamic palace at 11:00. Alas, despite both me and Tessa having set different alarms, we failed and slept until 11:15. In a good mood from our long rest, we set out for the mosque (admission is 8 euros).

The tourist attraction are all clustered together. We walked through the juderia, the medieval Jewish quarter, and had brunch at an open air restaurant. I had tapas of paella, calamari in garlic mayonaise, tripe and chorizo, and eggplant blossoms. After, we arrived at the mosque; it was a beautiful building, but we were worried that we would not have enough time to go in, so we just walked around outside.

We had wanted to visit the synagogue, but it was closed. Instead, we went to a small museum dedicated to the Spanish Jews. Clearly the Spanish were not particularly nice to the Jews...during the inquisition, they purged the county of all non Christians. The museum was also a nice way to see what some of the older houses looked like from the inside.

It was a pretty easy day overall. We got tea at a cafe called Marrakech, which was decorated in a Moroccan style. The tea was fantastic, but he pastries tasted like they had been sitting out for days or even weeks! After that, we headed back to the hostel to collect our belongings and go to the bus station for Granada.

Sevilla Day 2

It was a pretty tiring day. Since I am training for a half marathon I got up early to go running; my friend Ella who is training for the full marathon came with me. Since Seville is quite small, the lady at the front desk of the hostel suggested that we run around the city center. Seville has a nice system of bike paths, and the run was enjoyable until I got really bad cramps; I guess I'm not quite used to running outside yet. We ended up completing a little less than half of the loop and turning back because we were worried about getting lost (and I didn't feel well).

Upon out return, we went back to the cathedral an entered. I have seen quite a few cathedrals, and this one was one of my favorites. I guess most of the larger cathedrals take my breath away when I enter--it's not that I am surprised, since I usually expect stained glass, alters, arches, buttresses, but seeing it still shocks me each time. Perhaps the memory of how pretty it is still can't prepare me for actully seeing it again. We climbed up the tower, which interestingly did not VCR stairs, rather it was a series or perhaps 30 ramps that wrapped around the inside of the tower. From above, the view of the city, particularly the orange trees, looked like something out of a painting of a different time period--horse drawn carriages below (for the tourists, i know) and birds perched on the cathedral spires, it was like a fairy tale :)

After leaving the cathedral we went to the Fortress, which was just okay on the outside, but stunning inside. I'm not sure what type of architecture it is (Islamic?), but the detail was so intricate. Unfortunately we missed the free walking tour, so we didn't get a lot of history. That day my feet were hurting so I wore my running sneakers, which looked terrible with my outfit...anyhow, I managed to hide my feet in photos.

Plaza d'Espana was another palace like building, with a moat and tiles depicting all the cities of Spain. We contemplated renting boats for the moat, but got lazy. This would have been a great place to sit and read a book. Clearly quite romantic too, since this young couple was displaying their affection very publicly on one of the tiled benches.

The day left us exhausted and somewhat exciting for our rest on the bus, but it turned out that the ticket man issued our tickets wrong--we had purchased ticket for "tomorrow" yesterday, but he had issued them for yesterday. Since it was the same man, he knew thy he had made a mistake, but then started yelling at us for not double checking the date yesterday; the bus was empty, it would have been easy to let us on, but both the driver and the ticket man decided o be jerks and made us purchase another bus ticket to board on the next bus--so we each lost 10 euros an two hours of time.

Nevertheless, we arrived on Cordoba at midnight, and a policeman advise that we take a cab since it was not safe to walk at night; since he went with us to the cab station, the people couldn't screw us over with the prices. Just to make sure, I asked if the prices they listed were in total or per person, and they laughed and said "of course in total, this isn't Tokyo." Weird comment, but oh well. Everyone seems to think I'm Japanese, since I guess they get a lot of Japanese tourists.

Sevilla

I can't remember the last time that I've seen hills so moist, lush, and green. Looking at then actually makes me thirsty. Perhaps I am being dramatic, but I also feel like it's been ages since I saw a sprawling blue sky and the sun beaming overhead. It rains a lot in Amsterdam :p. Spain (at least Andalucia) is covered with these vibrant, grassy green hills, but they are rather low so that the horizon still manages to look like it stretches far into the distance.

I slept for about 3 hours during the 6 hour bus ride, and arrived feeling energetic but extremely hungry. I really enjoyed the paella yesterday, so I had paella again. It´s odd that I would like it so much, since I don´t particularly like rice. My friends got this tapa surprise, which was five random tapas. I was kind of jealous, so I made a mental note to order tapas later. As we walked to the hostel, we got lost among the tiny, winding streets. Manhattan is a grid, and Amsterdam is built so that you can basically walk along a canal and eventually run into a main street, but Seville is like a maze. It is however, a very charming maze, with bright buildings and streets lined with fragrant orange trees. Well, to be honest, the trees are only fragrant occasionally--a few times that I tried to breath deeply, I ended up inhaling car exhaust. I wouldn´t consider Seville polluted at all, it´s just that the cars that go by seem to run pretty poorly. We walking by the Cathedral, but didn´t go inside.

Our hostel was clean and had free sangria, which I thought was pretty decent quality. We booked a flamenco show. Flamenco reminds me of tango, since the people´s faces are so serious and the movements are very structured and intense. I really liked it, although 90 minutes was too long for me. While I love watching any type of dance, I think the optimal show time for me is 30 minutes. Maybe 45.

After the show, we went to a tapas bar called el rinconcillo (I think that was the name...) It claims to be the oldest tapas bar in Seville, and was established in the 1620s. The tapas were all very good. I had spinach with garbanzo beans, pork cheek, ham croquettes, and flan with candied pumpkin. I also got gelato crema sevilla, which is essentially cinnamon gelato.

Madrid Day 1

It was a but overwhelming when we arrived at Madrid after living in tiny Amsterdam for so long. The directions to our hostel from the airport involved a bus and a metro, while in Amsterdam almost everything is walkable from central station. The city center of Madrid was enormous. Our hostel was located in Puerta del Sol, which I guess is a good location. All we did was eat, but for me that is a good day. After dropping off our bags at the hostel, we looked for a lunch place. Having read my lonely planet guide, I remembered that a lot of places have good lunch deals. All the cafes that we walked by were cutely decorated, so it was hard to choose; ultimately, we went to the place that had the most people. Upon seeing us, the owner opened up the menu to the English page and gave it to us. I am excited to use my Spanish again, since it has gotten really rusty since I left Ecuador. We flipped through the menu and found the lunch special, which, for only 11 euros, was really great compared to Amsterdam. For that price I got paella mixto (rice flavored with saffron and cooked with assorted seafood and chicken, originally from Valencia), lomo a la plancha (grilled steak), and leche frita. The leche frita looked like a block of tofu to me, so I couldn't help but feel like I was eating tofu instead of dessert. While I have had paella before, this one was really amazing; I'll have to figure out how to cook it. The steak was mediocre, but very fatty, so it's hard for me to dislike fatty meat :p. After doing some shopping (not that we have any room in our luggage), we went back to the hostel. Note though, Madrid has much better shopping than Amsterdam, and a lot of cute boutiques. Our hostel was full of a bunch of Irish teenagers (I thought they were British at first), who blasted trashy europop and took shots all night. It was inconsiderately noisy, but I was so tired that I fell asleep immediately anyway. Now I am on a bus to Seville, which according to a book I was reading at the hostel, is famous for oranges, women, and flamenco.

Antwerpen

We went to Antwerp last weekend, just for an overnight trip. It was similar to Brugge, although less pretty, in my opinion. After the 3 hour bus ride, we were pretty tired so we only went to a bar--supposedly Antwerp has a lot of great night clubs, which was why we decided to stay overnight. I had heard of some club called Red and Blue, which is, according to Lonely Planet, one of the biggest and best clubs in this part of Europe. Turns out it's actually a gay club in the red light district (although most clubs in Antwerp are in that area). Anyhow, we went to a small pub called Pelican Bar. Unlike in Amsterdam, smoking is allowed in all of the bars, so it was difficult to breath, and we all came out reeking of cigarette smoke.

The next day, we went to see the palace, a nice square, and the cathedral. After shopping, I got a waffle dipped in chocolate from a street stand, which was amazing--the night before I had a "Brussels-style" waffle, which I didn't like because it was crispy and a little too greasy. I like soft waffles. Our map recommended a restaurant called...I don't remember now, but the description was Grandma's Kitchen, so I had gotten confused and thought it was called Grandma's Kitchen, and asked people where that restaurant was. It turned out that our map actually had it in the wrong location, but eventually we found it and ate some Belgian food. I probably should have ordered something Belgian, but I was really hungry and felt like eating barbecue, so I got ribs. However, my friends ordered some interesting dishes. One was a meatloaf with cherry sauce.

Of course, the chocolate in Belgium was amazing. there were so many chocolate stores, and all were very cheap. We each bought bags of Guylian seashells (fresh made ones) for 4.50 euro...and ate all the bags within two days.

Bicycles

I bought a bicycle today. Before coming here I was pretty insistent that I would not buy a bike, mainly because I imagined Amsterdam to be covered with snow and ice during this time. While I used to ride a bike for fun as a kid, as an adult I just assumed I'd wipe out while turning a corner. And then get hit by a car.

Anyhow, upon arriving in Amsterdam, I realized that there really aren't that many cars in the city at all. What would freak me out about biking in New York is the fact that I'd be cycling alongside many cars, but here there are special bike lanes, so there's less of a concern that I'd be run over if I happened to fall. So, we went to a second hand bike store. I was told to get a children's bike, since I'm short--it turns out that is very true. It was very difficult to find a bike that fit me. Most of the bikes here do not have hand brakes (at least the ones that I saw), and using a foot brake on a bike that is so tall that my feet don't touch the ground is just a recipe for disaster, since I'd have to work on braking while moving fast enough to catch myself before my bike tips over. I ended up buying a bike that uses a hand brake, although it seems to have trouble going uphill--luckily Amsterdam is mostly flat, except for some bridges.

Bike theft is a big problem here. Apparently it's very common for bikes to be stolen, and then resold on the street for 10-15 euros. We had considered buying a bike from a "junkie," as they are called, but we didn't want to support that system. I actually find that Amsterdam is even prettier on a bike, because you can sort of sit back and watch the scenery as you glide along. I did almost hit a car today while doing that, so I suppose I should ride more carefully instead of staring at my surroundings.

Rain and Flowers

It's been raining a lot here...almost every single day actually. My Dutch friends told me that it rains all the time in Holland, but no one wears rain boots. I guess that's because the rain here is a lot gentler than the rain in New York. It doesn't rain that often on the east coast, but when it does rain, it's a torrential downpour--like I could take a shower just by stepping outside (a really cold and windy shower, I suppose). Not only would I be absolutely drenched (umbrellas aren't great since the wind blows the water so that it will hit you from the side as opposed to from directly above), there would be enormous puddles all over the place--rainboots are a necessity. Here (in Holland), the rain is really more like a mist, so it's hard to get that wet, even without an umbrella. Would I rather take my rain in several small doses, or one big hit? I do love to see blue sky, so I would think I'd rather just be completely miserable for a day than sort of displeased with the weather for several days. Maybe I'll get used to it though.

Today, we went to a flower market. Apparently Holland has the world's biggest flower auction, where 1/3 of the world's flowers are bought and sold. I remember that tulips are famous here, but there are lots of other plants that seem to bloom even larger here than they do in the states--namely amarylis (spelling?) and orchids. Maybe it's that constant mist that does it.

I was worried that I would be completely deprived of good food here. Thankfully, I live near a huge Chinatown, so I was able to buy all the ingredients I needed. There are a lot of asian restaurants too, and I have found one place that sells bubble tea (but really bad bubble tea).

Houseboat

I arrived in Amsterdam two nights ago, after a flight that was delayed for 2 hours because of a bomb threat. The people who own the house boat that we are renting sent a car to pick us up, which greatly reduced the amount of confusion (and work) that we would have to deal with--each of us had 3 enormous suitcases.

Our boat was built in 1901. There are a lot of houseboats in the canals, but ours is one of the few that actually look like boats--many of the others are just floating squares, and rather ugly. All of our windows are portholes, and there is a lot of sunlight coming in from the skylights in the ceiling. Granted, what is somewhat creepy is that anyone on the street can look into our boat and see us, since the skylights have no curtains. We'll be asking our landlord for a better lock, since apparently our door doesn't actually lock properly, and we are somewhat close to the red light district. Being close to an area full of drugs and prostitutes technically means there are lots of police in the area since it is highly regulated, but also that there's a lot of drunk/high/horny men wandering around. Anyhow, once we get a better lock that shouldn't be a problem.

My room is very cozy. We don't have a lot of space, but we're in a very good location. The ends of the boat are quite cold, but we have a good heating system. All the water however, drains into canal. We've been instructed not to dump anything hazardous...but our toilets flush into the canal, which is pretty gross. I guess all houseboats do that? Thus, it's a pretty bad idea to jump into or swim in these canals.

The area is really beautiful. When we wake up in the morning, we can see ducks and swans outside our windows, bridges over the canals and really cute buildings. I don't know if the lights are up year rounds, but right now many of the streets have blue and white Christmas lights up; it makes me think of the nutcracker actually, since the architecture is older, and the holidays are still on my mind.

Yesterday, we went to a pancake house. Pancakes here are amazing. I decided to be adventurous, and got bacon/apple pancakes. I didn't particularly like it, but their sweet pancakes are amazing. I haven't yet figured how to make them, so for breakfast we eat these cookie like things called stroopwaffels--two wafers with buttery, vanilla caramel inside. Eating out is more expensive here than it is in New York, so we'll be cooking a lot more often.