I'm Walking on Sunshine

Last Wednesday, I parted ways with Dirk and Rotterdam and hopped on a train to Amsterdam. I made it to my hostel with no trouble and then went out for a walk to get my bearings. The city centre is over the top – what a sensory overload. Every window has sex, drugs or food. There is so much to look at that I felt I had to slow my pace to take it all in. However, it was very interesting, and it certainly did not fall short of what I had imagined. I made my way to the Jordaan district for an excellent vegan meal. The Jordaan district is much calmer, and more scenic with canals and crooked old houses.

The majority of my time in Amsterdam was spent walking around with Benji – a guy from Switzerland I met in the hostel – and later, his 5 friends who all arrived later on Thursday for the weekend. The day before I left for Spain, we all went on a walking tour with an elderly Dutch man named Jan. His stories were usually long and anticlimactic, and his walking pace matched. However, he was very sweet and the weather was beautiful.

On Thursday, I hopped a plane to Barcelona, where I am currently. And I am completely enamoured by the city. It’s colourful, and beautiful, and lively. It is busy, but not in the same hectic way as cities like London or Sydney. As a bonus, the weather has been absolutely perfect – clear and 16 degree highs. The hostel where I’m staying (Central Garden Hostel One) is the best one I’ve ever stayed at. The staff is amazing, and the hostel itself feels more like being in someone’s apartment, so it’s been a great place to meet people.

I spent Sunday and Monday sightseeing with a couple of girls – Melissa and Venus – from New York. We visited La Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell, Montjuic Castle and the Olympic Stadium, as well as a couple more of the Gaudi houses. Gaudi’s architecture is all over Barcelona, and I’m loving it. His designs are so functional, but very unusual and informal looking – like Dr. Suess buildings. On Sunday evening, the hostel hosted a pizza and sangria night, where I met a couple of guys who studied in Barcelona. Their grad was this past weekend, and they invited me out to “Nasty Mondays” at their favourite club. So after climbing into my bunk some time after the sun came up this morning, I had a lazier day today. I rounded out my sightseeing by visiting the Gothic Quarter, the Ports and La Rambla – where there are dozens of street performers of every shape, colour, and style.

Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia

Parc Guell

Barcelona Olympic Stadium

More Olympic Park

My personal favourite street performer on La Rambla

The rooftop terrace of Gaudi's Casa Batllo

Tomorrow is my last day in Barcelona. I plan to revisit La Sagrada Familia to look inside and hopefully go up Mount Tibidabo to see what I’ve been told is another excellent view. Then Thursday I move on to Madrid, where I will meet Andrea after the weekend.

Sending love from Spain! 

Life with the Dutch

I’ve now been in Holland for over a week, and I’ve been enjoying my stay thoroughly. It was great to meet Dirk’s family last weekend, and check out where he is from. Not surprisingly, his family is wonderful. They were so warm and welcoming to me that rather than make me miss my own family more, I just felt at home. PLUS, there is an old windmill practically in their front yard. I know Holland and windmills go together like Canada and maple syrup, but I really enjoyed all the colourful, old windmills spread out around the towns. The weather was beautiful on Saturday so Dirk gave me a tour of Zeeland. It was a nice change of pace to be out in the country after spending a week in London. Sunday was not such beautiful weather, so we spent the day lounging and eating, apart from taking the dogs on a walk.

Modern windmills

The windmill near the Hundersmarck home.

The week has been great as well. The weather has, admittedly, been miserable. Every morning I peak out my curtains and hope for sun, and almost every morning, it is gray. There are intermittent patches of blue sky, and even some sunshine from time to time, but it has been mostly gray and often rainy. However, the company makes up for the weather (Dirk’s housemates are great too, which has made my stay that much better). We’ve gone on a couple long bike rides, we’ve eaten Oliebollen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliebol) and Dutch pancakes (much like crepes) and bread with chocolate sprinkles, we’ve cooked dinners and drank wine, we’ve gone out for pizza and sushi and Belgian beer, and listened to live jazz. We’ve checked out the market and biked home with the goods, and we’ve sat on the (amazing) couch watching Dutch reality TV or Toy Story 3 or Two and a Half Men while catching up and cursing the rain. And we hunted the mouse that had been living in the apartment for the last few weeks. It was a long battle, but we recently came out victorious.

To top that all off, yesterday we went to see Sinterklaas on his way through Rotterdam. Sinterklaas is, of course, the Dutch version of Santa Claus. However, he visits on December 5, leaving candy and small gifts in the children’s shoes, and he rides a white horse and has a sidekick called Black Pete (who is black from chimney soot). Also, Sinterklaas looks a lot like the Pope to me – the Pope with a very long white beard. It was fun to see him in all his regal glory, surrounded by his sooty sidekicks.

Sinterklaas!

This week I’ll go to Amsterdam for a few days, and then on to Spain. I’ve yet to sort of all the details in the middle, but I’ll be meeting up with Andrea and Danielle in Madrid on the 29^th. Hopefully there will be a little bit more sunshine there. However, I still have several days left in Holland. Maybe tomorrow when I peak outside, I’ll see some sun.

Sending more love from Rotterdam!

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

My good friend Andrea was set to arrive in London from Bologna on Tuesday afternoon. He and I were going to stay at his friend Marco’s house for the night. I had planned to meet Andrea and Marco at a specific station, but hadn’t realized how much longer it takes to get to some of the districts. So when I missed them at the station, I asked around for directions and was aided by another hand of wonderful locals. Marco was quite surprised I was able to find his place on my own, but Andrea said he expected it from me. At any rate, I was very excited to find the house and collect an Italian hug, or three.

After some tea and dessert, the three of us made use of all available public transport – bus, tube and boat – to make our way to the Indigo Arena. There we met Daniel (“London”), Amy, and her friend Jo in time for a glass of wine before the Temper Trap show!

The concert was excellent – certainly even more so due to the company and the location. It was such a neat experience; seeing this band that I’d first loved in Melbourne, along with friends from Melbourne, but while in London. The Underground went on strike that night, so it was a bit of a hassle to get home, but we made it eventually. I detoured to London earlier than I’d expected specifically for that concert. Though I greatly enjoyed my whole week, the concert and company alone were worth the trip.

The Temper Trap!

Our little Deakin reunion.

The next day, Andrea, Marco and I ventured out to Camden Town to shop around at the markets. Later in the afternoon, Marco headed to class, and Andrea and I found a pub and enjoyed a London Pride beer with some standard, but tasty British pub grub.

I saw Andrea off on his way to the airport, headed back to Marco’s to collect my own bags, and then made my way out as well. Given the strike, it was not all that easy. However, yet another handful of lovely locals helped me navigate the bus system across the city where I could connect to Stansted Airport for the night. Yes. For the night. There’s a first for everything, and Wednesday night, I spent my first night ‘sleeping’ in an airport. And though I use the term ‘sleeping’ loosely, I did probably manage about 3 or 4 hours dozing off and on.

Now I am in Rotterdam, Holland with Dirk! We spent yesterday catching up on the couch with tea and wine and little Christmas biscuits (that makes the Danes, and apparently the Dutch very excited). Oh, and liver pâté, which seems to be following me around Europe, and slowly growing on me. Today we are going out to Dirk’s parents’ place in Dreischor and then to a nearby birthday party. The weather is fairly miserable right now, but we’re also hoping to go for a bit of a bike ride around the city (I missed biking in London!).

And if anyone is wondering, I made it into the Netherlands without a hitch. In fact, there were literally no questions asked. I got my passport stamped and walked straight in. A much better start.

Sending love from Rotterdam!