feliz navidad.

The holidays were definitely the hardest time to be away from my family and loved ones. The peek of my sadness was probably when I left out milk and cookies for Santa in my room and he didn’t come. I think he got lost on Madrid’s metro…

Anyway, here’s what went down during my holidays on this side of the Atlantic.

For Hannukah my friend Liza and I made latkes (of course!) I have no idea how my mom grates enough potatoes for the 40 plus people at our annual Hannukah party. My arm hurt after only six.



But they were delicious.


Homemade applesauce was also included.


We had some snow on Monday. Closest I have ever been to a white Christmas. Yes, I did run upstairs for my camera on my way to school.


Christmas would not be complete without a Starbucks Christmas cup!



Christmas Eve is a bigger deal for Spaniards. My Spain family had a big dinner with extended family that ended with a karaoke session until 2 a.m. Spanish kids actually get most of their presents on January 6th from the Wise Men or Reyes Magos.

Although I didn’t get to be with my family, I got to see my best friend and her family.



I went back to the oldest restaurant in the world for Christmas dinner with the Carellas.


This time I ordered partridge (mostly because of the “partridge in a pear tree” festiveness). It was pretty good – just tasted like dark meat chicken in a stew-ish sauce.


Eventually I somehow got a stocking from Santa and I was at my family’s Christmas morning over video chat so all was merry.

te amo.

My boyfriend came to visit for 5 days! We went around to mostly the same must-see spots I took my earlier visitors to but we also went to the Reina Sofia one of Madrid's famous museums that h0uses several Picasso's, including Guernica.



It was an amazing time.

excursion. example: valencia.

Besides jetsetting around to other countries, there are tons of places to explore right here in Spain. Perfect for a short weekend visit aka excursion. Using my recent excursh to Valencia, here is an example of how to properly take an excursion.

First, find a hostal.
Purple Nest, one of three Nest hostals in Spain (all with different colors in the name), was lively colorful and friendly.



Then, take a free walking tour.
Many of the hostals have info. about where to meet for a free walking tour of the city. The tour guides are usually young and informative and friendly since they work on tips. They don't take you into any of the sites but you can get a feel of the city and figure out which sites you want to come back to.

Things we learned about Valencia:

- When the town was in desperate times parents would bring their kids in front of this building with a weather vein of a bird holding an egg in its mouth. They would say "Sit here and wait for the bird to drop the egg so you can eat," then abandon their kids.


- This barroc style doorway of the palace of Marqués de Dos Aguas (now a ceramics museum) was made by an insane architect.


- This building that looks like a church is really the product of a perverse architect. Case in point below.


- The cup that was actually the holy grail at Jesus' last supper is in the cathedral on display. It was acquired after the pope never payed off the loan for which it was used as collateral.

- And the Tribunal of the Waters - a group of 8 farmers - still meets regularly in a circle on the steps of the cathedral and is the oldest running constitutional government in Europe.

Next, try local cuisine.
Horchata is originally from Valencia. It is different than the Mexican version we know in the US. It is made from a nut called tiger's nut instead of rice and doesn't have cinnamon. It tastes like powdered sugar flavored milk.



Very sweet and delicious with these common dipping pastries.



Paella also originated in Valencia. Paella Valenciana has rabbit and chicken instead of seafood.


Valencia is one of the largest producers of oranges.


And the local alcoholic drink: Agua de Valencia = orange juice, champange, vodka and sometimes other white spirits. Didn't taste like alcohol surprisingly! Especially good with the sweet raspberry rimming sugar.



Of course, go to modern sites as well as historical ones.
Valencia is famous for the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias, a multi-building complex that houses Europe's largest aquarium (with baluga whales!) and a Science museum. It was designed by Santiago Calatrava, a modern architect whose renown is testified to by his selection as one of the architects for the new World Trade Center. The complex is a series of white (and one blue mosaic-ed) buildings with unexpected shapes and angles interspersed with flat pools of water. I suggest looking up the building in Google. It is incredible.







One of the exhibits at the Science museum was a wake up call. This is a model that represents the sun. For size reference, the red info panels were about my height.


This is the model of the Earth and moon in relation to the silver "sun".


Finally, wander around the streets.
Valencia had some pretty intricate grafiti pockets around the city.


My favorite you can see in the back of this picture. It is a grafiti artist up on a platform grafiting and people watching from below. They even had shadows!


Valencia was a nice 70 degree break from chilly Madrid and the palm trees and white architecture made it a bright and exciting excursion!

BELchocoloatefrieswafflesGIUM

Casually decided to take a trip to Brussels with my best friend. We just went on Ryanair and looked at cheap flights. Oh the Europe life :)

Our hostel was whatever, but apparently it is located at the site where Van Gogh used to work.


First order of business was to buy hats and gloves because our giant jackets weren't enough. It was freezing!


Then we started our trek with our rain soaked map to see some sites.


The main square of Brussels is really cool. It is formed by the old guildhouses with architecture to represent their trade. For example, the boatsman's guild building was shaped like a stern at the top. Now the buildings are taken over by shops (most of them chocolate shops.)


There was also the museum, which was constructed to mimic a Hapsburg palace. At night they had a light show with lights on the windows and tower of the museum with random electronica music. And the square was decorated for Christmas time! Complete with tree, lights, and life-size nativity scene.


There is also a garden surrounded by 48 pillars with statues to represent each of the guilds.



Brussels is apparently the city of the comic book. Who knew? They have a comic book museum where they pay special homage to Tin Tin, the Belgian comic that became quite popular and which they are most proud of. They even have giant comic scene murals randomly throughout the city on the sides of buildings!


Good thing some of the comics in the museum had no words cause I couldn't read the original French...


We also made a stop by the European Union office. Brussels is the de facto capital of the EU.


And we pointlessly took the metro to the outskirts and this monument: the Atomium. It was built for Expo 58 world fair in Brussels and apparently is a gem of architecture but we were over it with a glance from afar. Sorry Atom.


We went to the museum of instruments where there is the largest collection of instruments in the world. The headphone tour had no words but just played the music of the instrument you were standing in front of. They had everything from juke boxes to old harps to Wii rock band.


The must see in Brussels is the Manneken Pis - a statue of a boy peeing. Oh Brussels, you are so random. When we finally found the statue it was super small.


OK. What we really did in Brussels was eat. Oh my god. Belgian waffles constantly. They really do have them perfected - perfectly fluffy with no parts that are too crispy. Does the fact that I got all mine with strawberries on them count as being healthy?


Every other store was a chocolate store. Not exaggerating. They all had tantalizing display windows and ... well we basically went in all of them. So incredible tasty. Beligum can take the crown of best chocolate in my book for sure. This was one of my favorite pieces. It tasted like a subtle version of a York mint candy.


Besides waffles, chocolate, and mussels (yes it rhymes) Brussels is known for its frites -french fries they fry for you upon ordering and top with a choice of sauce. I don't even like ketchup or anything but these with Barzil sauce were awesome.


Brussels also has lots of beer (yep, we just keep getting healthier and healthier huh?) We went to a well known bar called Delirium which was a college aged hang out full 3 stories of kids and decorated with different signs all over the walls. It was described as the place of 200,000 beers. The choices they had on tap included apple and cherry. I don't like beer. But the cherry one was definitely better than I thought it would be. I even finished my first glass of beer ever.


It's sister bar next door, Floris, had 50 kinds of Absinthe on deck. We did not go there. Too intense.

Another spot we visited was Theatre Toone, a bar that used to be a puppet theater. It was really cool with the old puppets display inside. It had a more mellow feel and older crowd.


Our second day we took a day trip to Brugge, a small city an hour train ride away from Brussels. Adorable!

Before we got to explore the city though we just had to get another waffle. This round version is called Liege. It is denser than the square Belgian waffle and tastes almost carmelized. The maple syrup it came with looked like thick chocolate fudge. Heaven.


Brugge was like a town out of a Christmas decoration model: Ice skating rink surrounded by colorful old shops and a bell tower.


The canal that runs thru Brugge (pronounced Broojjj) used to be a moat.


We climbed up the 300 something stair bell tower to work off some of the chocolate and get the bird's eye view of the city. Did you know someone sits there and plays the bells? He is a floor below and his keyboard is attached by metal cords to hammer like things within the giant bells above.


View.


Next stop: chocolate museum where we saw unbelievable chocolate art statues and a demonstration of chocolate making. We learned why Beligum is famous for chocolate: They used to be a major port of cacoa, they pride themselves on it, and they have regulations of the fineness of the chopped cacoa that eludes the taste buds creating a smoother flavor.


Of course we needed chocolate to go. So we walked down from street level into Dumon, a shop owned by a mother and her two daughters. Hand made chocolates! None of the chocolates on display had signs; they prefer to explain them personally to you as you choose. So cute.


Yummmmm!!!!


So that was Brussels and Brugge.


No wait. One more waffle.