The Final Countdown...Toledo, Spain

I went to Toledo last weekend with my study abroad program. It was a short trip just for the day. In the morning it was absolutely miserable because it was raining and I wore this boots that were torn just under the toe (on both feet) so my socks were soaked the whole time. First we rode up to the top of a hill in our bus and saw a high view of Toledo and then drove to our spot where we got out to start our walking tour. The first place we went was a shoe store to see if I could get some cheap shoes without a hole in them. I didn't really want to buy a pair of shoes for 1 I didn't want to spend any money and 2 I didn't want to have something else added to my luggage for the way home so I just decided to suffer with wet socks the whole time.

We went to the Cathedral of Toledo first. I mean it was pretty and all but I feel like a Cathedral is a Cathedral. They all have some amazing art, sculpture work, they are ginormous yada yada yada. After the Cathedral, we walked around some more and the second stop was....you'll never guess.....another church! HA! This one actually was different it was called San Juan de los Reyes. One thing that was definitely different was above the entrance way there was a skeleton laying down as if he were modeling and there was some writing under it I guess to signify "short life." I don't know it was weird but the rest was pretty cool. It was kind of outside and inside at the same time. There were hallways that were outside and then the church part had a ceiling and everything. It was pretty cool because you could see the "Moorish" influence on the architecture and what not.

After that church we walked only about 2 blocks to where we were to have lunch. It was pretty good food, for my first dish I had this soup like dish, made with chopped up vegetables cooked really well so they were soft and it was almost like a tomato sauce and then a fried egg on top. Second dish was some kind of fish with an asparagus sauce and boiled potatoes. After lunch we have an hour and half of "free time" although all the stores are closed during that time and it was pretty cold out. So, me and Giselle just sat at a little cafe and I had a cup of coffee to warm me and and pass the time.
Over all, Toledo was really pretty just not really worth more than a day. There was nothing, that we saw,  to do other than go to churches of course. Paris should be A LOT better! Stay tuned :)

Frankfurt, Germany

Well I'm a little behind...A couple weeks ago I went to Frankfurt, Germany with a couple of girls from school. The first thing I did when we landed at the airport was, of course, ate a bratwurst at a restaurant called "Fritz." The brat was about 12 inches long on a 4 inch bread roll. It wasn't like the brats I'm used to, but hey it was authentic, so whatever. After an hour and 45 minute bus ride to the actual city of Frankfurt (if you fly RyanAir the airport isn't actually in Frankfurt it's in Frankfurt-Hahn) we arrived at our hostel. The location was pretty good right across from central station and about a 10 minute walk anywhere else.

Our hostel had it's own little lounge/bar/restaurant in it so we hung out there for a while waiting to meet up with the others we were with. While waiting a couple American guys walked up to us and started talking and came to realize that one of them was from the next town over from me. They were both in the army staying at the army base that's either in Frankfurt or somewhere really close to it. So later we met up with the others and headed to an area with lots of shopping and bars. It ended up being a horrible first impression of Frankfurt. We went to a lounge and the bouncer stopped us before we could get in and told us we couldn't. We asked why and he said "no reason." Ummm RUDE?! So this guy basically begged him to let us in and payed him 10 euro. It was so dumb, I didn't even want to go there anymore but the bouncer finally gave in so we went in. It wasn't even that great of a place. Well...about 40 minutes later the bouncer came in and yelled at our group to leave. (I was in the bathroom so I don't know exactly what happened) After we left we went to a club but I think it was too early for Frankfurters because there weren't many people there. I was tired from all of the traveling so decided to turn in kind of early.

The next morning we woke up early to see everything in Frankfurt in one day. Well, we didn't really need alllll day to see everything in Frankfurt, a couple of hours would have sufficed. The first place we went to was St. Bartholomew's cathedral. It was nice, not unlike any other cathedral, although it looked a lot more massive from the outside than the inside. After that we took pictures outside at some Roman ruins and then headed to Römer square. There wasn't really much to the square but a few authentic souvenir shops and a couple of restaurants. Later we headed to the "main tower" to see the bird's eye view of Frankfurt. The main tower was basically just "sky scraper" (not that tall) that you can go to the top of and see Frankfurt. It was pretty cool to go up there but it was sooo windy that day that it was kind of scary.

After the bird's eye view we went to eat some lunch. The place we ate at was a pretty cool little restaurant. It was Italian and you could basically have them make whatever kind of pasta or pizza you want, and they make it right in front of you. I've seen a couple of these restaurants since I've been in Europe, where there are a lot of big tables set up and you eat where ever and a lot of times there are strangers sitting by you, that's how this one was. We ended up sitting outside though because there wasn't any room inside. It was kind of cold out but it was really cute because they had blankets set out for the costumers. After eating lunch we really didn't have anything else to see so....when in doubt, go to the mall right? We went to the mall but I actually wasn't in the shopping mood so we went back to the hostel and took a nap.

When we woke up we hung out in the lounge area and wait for our free pasta dinner. They have this pasta dinner every saturday night, pretty sweet deal. It wasn't the best pasta but it was free so I was happy. We explored some more after dinner to see if we could get a good picture of the city lit up at night. It was really pretty but we couldn't get any good pictures. After that we headed back to the hostel because we had to head out early in the morning.

Frankfurt was a pretty neat little city, half old and half new. I probably would never go there again but I am happy to say that I have been to Germany. Next time, I will try to see Berlin or Munich.

Pubs, Guiness, Pubs, and more Guiness. Dublin, Ireland!

Well, Dublin was my first pretty short trip. We arrived on Friday evening and left early Sunday morning so we really only had one full day to enjoy Ireland. When we got there we got situated and went to an Irish pub of course! On the way there we quickly figured out that walking and crossing the street in Ireland is kinda difficult and scary! (They drive on the opposite side of the road there) They actually have "LOOK RIGHT---->" and "<-----LOOK LEFT" painted at the cross walks!

Anyways, the bar was called the Bleeding Horse and it was really cool. We had some food and drank a bit. I had my first official Irish Car Bomb (Half a glass of Guiness and you drop a shot glass that's half Jameson and half Bailey's in it and CHUG). It was great!

After that we went back to the hostel in excitement for my roommate's friends and sister to arrive in the morning. They got there at around 9 so we started getting ready to head out and made our first stop at another pub at 11 AM. We had Guiness for breakfast and then walked around Dublin for a bit of sight seeing on our way to the Guiness factory. It was set up really well with 7 floors to go up and the top floor was a bar that was just floor ceiling and window. It was basically a panoramic view of Dublin. It was really cool but would have been better if it was raining.

We went to another Irish pub to have dinner and watch the Rugby game, after the Guiness factory. OMG, first time ever seeing the sport and it was crazy! I can't believe any of those guys even live it is so brutal! No helmets, no pads, football and hockey put together but 10 x more insane! After the game we went to the hostel to nap so we'd be ready for a fun long night! After we woke up nice and refreshed we went to Brazen Head which is the oldest bar (I think) in Ireland, if not, the world. It was established in 1198! SO old and so cool. There was....an older crowd there as well but still really cool. There was a live band and they ACTUALLY played the song they played in the Irish pub in "P.S. I love you" it basically made our night!

After Brazen Head we went to Temple Bar which is an area about 5 blocks x 5 blocks of all pubs and little restaurants. It was so much fun! We went to this bar called "The Purrty Kitchen," the bottom floor was like any other Irish pub, lots of wood and live band, then you go upstairs and it's like a club, and the next floor was a like a loft dance floor with the DJ, and then you could go up again from there and there was another bar. Despite the fact that I had the absolute worst service at that bar, (the lady bar tender literally rolled her eyes at me and told me to go somewhere else and walked away just because I couldn't hear/understand her) it was so much fun! They played a lot of 90's/early 2000's music, European club music, and some newer American stuff. All of us girls had a blast dancing and losing the boys! After dancing up a sweat we decided to try to find another bar. Well, nothing else looked as fun so we ended up eating at this little place called "Hungry Harry," just a little place where you stand at the counter that outlines it and eat. It was actually amazing because I haven't had a decent burger since I've been in Europe. We found out after we ate that the bars all closed at 2:30, which is really early in comparison to 6 AM in Madrid. So the night was sort of cut short but a few of us were still up to experience more of Temple Bar so we tried to get in one last pub. We went to a smaller one and had this shot called a baby Guiness which is Kalhua with Bailey's on top so it looks like a little Guiness. It was pretty yummy! After about 30 minutes at the pub we decided to call it a night and head back to the hostel.

The next morning we had to get up early and head to the airport but before we left we had to have a "full Irish breakfast!" We went to the same pub that we went to for the Guiness for breakfast and got something a little more nutritious. The full Irish breakfasts includes sausage, bacon, eggs, white pudding, black pudding, toast, and fried potatoes. It wasn't exactly what I expected but still was amazing since all I've been eating in Madrid for breakfast is a small croissant or little toasted breads. The sausage was weird, kind of sweet, didn't really eat that, the bacon in Ireland in general is THICK almost like ham, still really good. The white pudding and black pudding I did not try, they looked like little sausage patties but BLACK and the white one looked more like a sausage patty but smelled really gross and hard. The fried potatoes ended up being like a McDonald's hash brown but with onion. After filling up we headed to the airport.

WORST FLIGHT OF MY LIFE. Ok those of you who know me, yea I may exaggerate sometimes but this time, I seriously thought I was going to die. People were literally crying and screaming. The plane was shaking so bad from the turbulence, swaying, feeling like we were dropping, HORRIBLE. I was crying my roommate was crying and her sister was comforting me, telling me that it would be ok and she's been in worse. Well when we finally landed in Madrid, (never been so happy!!) she told me that that was definitely the worst that she's been in but she didn't want to tell us that because we were freaking. I am so glad that I am alive and cannot wait to be back from the long flight to the states! Only 4 weeks and 3 days!! (I'm not counting down or anything)

Halloween weekend in Amsterdam!

Amsterdam may have been my favorite weekend abroad so far! The first night we got there I made the horrible decision of taking a taxi. The fare started at 7.50 and ended up being 40 some euro plus tip. (Which we don't do in Spain) While we were driving to the hostel we saw the first "prostitute store" it was across the channel but it was still funny. Seriously, whenever I walked by one of those things I laughed. Well we ended up staying really close to Leidseplein square which was really popular with lots of little pubs and shops and hotels. So we went and walked around there for a while. We had this great Asian food from "Wok to Walk" and ended up having it every night we were there.

The second day, first thing, we went to the Anne Frank house. There was a really long line to get in but there was a cafe right around the corner where you could make reservations so we did that and there just so happened to be a slot in 15 minutes so we got right in front of the long line and went in.  It was so amazing! I couldn't take pictures inside so I bought 2 post cards just to have some sort of keep sake. After that we went to another little cafe next door and had some lunch. After that we went and walked around some more and decided to take a canal tour. We saw some beautiful buildings and lots of interesting house boats. Later we went to Dam's square and walked around there. It was all lit up for Christmas which was really exciting! There was this place called Manneken Pis that just sold french fries and everyone was walking around eating them. There was a sign that said that they were like the best fries or something so we decided to try them. Well they really just tasted like normal french fries to me. Although everyone was eating them with mayonnaise and we ate them with ketchup so it might have been better with mayo but that just sounds disgusting!

Later that night we went to a place called the Torture Museum. Sounds really weird but we thought it would be something cool for Halloween. Well, it wasn't really that cool. There was no one there and we just basically walked through the building by our selves (no tour). I mean it was pretty interesting to see how people used to be punished, gross too, but interesting. After that we went to dinner at Wagamama which is a modern Japanese restaurant. There are like pic-nic style tables set up so you can just sit next to strangers and eat. It was kind of weird but fun, really good food too! Then we decided to go out for some drinks. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe first and I had the best drink! It was called Tickled Pink and it was a piña colada with some raspberry and PINK cherries!! It was great! Then we went to an Irish pub because it was all decorated for Halloween and there was a live band playing. It was kind of an older crowd for a while but once the band left there was newer music playing and some younger people started coming. We ended up dancing a bit and had a lot of fun! The next day I was so excited to celebrate Halloween! We went to the Rijks Museum which is a Dutch art museum. It really made me appreciate paintings of landscapes. After we went to the "Amsterdam Dungeon" It was basically like a dutch style haunted house. The theme was like medieval times and the sentences, and the plague and all that stuff. It was set up by rooms and each group would be let into the room one at a time. There was an actor in every room putting on the scene. It was great and then there was a roller coaster at the end (inside in the dark). It was really fun.

After the Dungeon, we had to go straight to the hostel to get ready for our Halloween pub crawl. It was such a great deal 20 euro for 6 bars, a drink at every bar, unlimited mixed shots for the first hour, and a free shirt! It was so much fun! I dressed up as Sookie Stackhouse from True Blood and my friend dressed up as a pirate. I decided to cut the crawl short though at the 4th bar. We went back to Leidseplein square and had Walk to Wok again and then headed home.

The last day we went to the Heineken brewery before our flight back. It was really fun! There was like a simulation ride like you were being brewed. You were standing up and watched a screen with a guy explaining every step to you. When there were bubbles they had a bubble fan in the room, when you were being cooked there were heat lamps that turned on, when you fell into the pot there was a splash of water. It was really cute. We actually met a couple people from Chicago too that we stayed on the tour with. At the end you could turn in your 2 buckles on your wristband for 2 beers. It was a great time. After that we had some dinner and headed to the airport, on a train this time! Overall, I really loved Amsterdam and would definitely go back again!