Home Again Home Again or: More photo updates...

Hi everyone,
I know you will excuse me for not expounding all my wonderful tales of travel in far off lands as I am still jet lagged, overwhelmed and settling in. Suffice to say, there are ample photos to peruse, so do so at your leisure and know that I got home safely and am free for tea most days of the week! A proper update, I know it has been ages, is due shortly.

Photos:
Krakow, Poland: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=117038&l=84b29&id=596070001

Budapest, Hungary: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=117045&l=5908e&id=596070001

Vienna, Austria: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=117052&l=465cc&id=596070001

Prague, Czech Republic: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127949&l=3518b&id=596070001

Amsterdam, the Netherlands: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127950&l=c45f0&id=596070001

Berlin, Germany: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127951&l=01067&id=596070001

Istanbul, Turkey: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127953&l=c1803&id=596070001

Athens, Greece: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127962&l=b6fff&id=596070001

Crete and Santorini, Greece: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127965&l=321b4&id=596070001

London and coming home:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127969&l=28484&id=596070001

That's all for now folks! Thanks for reading all year long!

Paris or Good Morning Heartache...

Well, it’s been an expensive and very warm weekend here in Paris. I hate to disappoint any of you, who thought that it might overtake London’s spot as my favourite European city so far, but there’s definitely something to be said for seeing the wonders of Paris close up and personal with pretty tight pocketbook but let me tell you what I’ve been up to…

Friday, after a 5am wake up and finally arriving at the hotel by about noon, I went to sleep and didn’t awake until sometime a lot later at which point I ventured out for kebab and came back and watched French dubbed American TV shows and caught most of the jokes (I think).

Saturday, I got an early start and headed to Versailles. What an ordeal, but worthwhile of course. After lines for the museum pass and after budging (the benefits of being a one person traveler, no one minds much when you budge) and cutting a few hours off my wait time, I made the journey in. Listen to this doozie, 25Euro to see the Palace and the Gardens. I bought the four day museum pass for 45E and in two days it has already paid itself off and then a bit. I stayed until about 5pm at Versailles, walked around the Estate (Marie Antoinette’s portion was worth the 25Euro alone and her house wasn’t even open yet). Because I wasn’t feeling TOO beat on the way back I thought, Why not swing by the Eiffel Tower? I was sure the lines couldn’t be that back, here on the May 1^st Labour Day long weekend… Idiot. However, by the time I was in the line, it wasn’t worth getting back out. There’s another few hours in the waiting line and they cram us up to the 2^nd floor as the top was closed temporarily for a wedding (probably the worst place for a wedding, so any of you planning it, don’t! It’s a bitch for the guests!!). Once we got up there the views were incredible! They don’t lie! I waited another half hour in line to make it up to the very top and then some more to get down. The highlight of the trip down was that the elevator man was play sudoku and I took a photo. He probably wasn’t too impressed but I thought, with a job like that, there must be some way to pass the time. By the time I got down they had turned on the lights and it truly was as beautiful as all the movies, snowglobes, TV shows, etc.

Sunday, I got another early start (Breakfast: Tea and two crepes= 8 Euro) and made my way first to the Sacre-Coeur that everyone told me was a must see. Well, it was. It was probably my favourite site so far. I went inside and managed to stay for mass (so no entry fee required, SWEET!). Then I headed to the Dali museum which is probably the best one I’ve seen so far or on-par with his works in the Guggenheim in Bilbao. This was a collection of paintings, sketches, sculptures and furniture (my favourite) that I have not seen anywhere else. Now I feel I am a bit of a Dali snob and can poopoo the Reina Sofia’s collection in Madrid (and to think he was a Spaniard, tisk tisk!). I walked down to the Moulin Rouge and then I headed down to Notre Dame which was not as great as the Sacre-Coeur but it had to be done. Again, the line ups were nuts and some girl begging for money kicked me as I walked by and I just about kicked her back but then figured why bother? I got some lunch and sat on the ramparts of the Seine and got some rays. I thought of you all and wondered how you were spending your Sundays, but I figured that mine was one of the best ways to pass a sunny afternoon. Lastly, after Notre Dame, I headed to the Orsay Museum whose collection of Van Gogh, Monet and Cezanne (among others) is excellent as well as some of the sculptures. My one complaint (my God I sound like a snob) is free museum Sunday because everyone and their dog are in there taking videos and talking really loudly and generally acting uncultured. I don’t want to hear about your menopause symptoms or how you’re going to get hairplugs while I’m looking at some of the greats, or even some of the mediocres. Charge admission, taser people when they act out, I don’t care but rein in the free Sunday phenomena (I had already paid for my ticket for my pass so I may have felt differently if I had not had to pay, but that is beside the point).

Monday, this is the day for the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysees before I head back to Seville that evening. Worth mentioning was the excellent exhibit on the ancient city of Babylon at the Louvre, well worth the 10Euro entrance fee on top of the museum entrance fee.

It’s been a whirlwind but I guess that’s Par-is, non?

Photo links:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111493&l=310d4&id=596070001

May 17-June 25 Travel Plan...

Here it is, what you've all been waiting for...
May 17-June 25 Travel Plan. This is where I'll be, so if you're in the neighbourhood, feel free to meet me anywhere you'd like...

May 17: Leave Sevilla

May 17-20: London

May 20-22: Krakow

May 23-25: Budapest

May 25-27: Vienna

May 28-31: Prague

June1-4: Amsterdam

June 4-6: Berlin:

June 7-12: Istanbul

June 13-16: Athens

June 17-19: Crete

June 20-22: Santorini

June 23-25: London

June 25: Home to Vernon

I'm off to Paris this weekend and then it's the last week of classes and then exams start and then, holy cow, I'm finished...

Sort of scary, sort of exciting... Leaning more towards exciting!

Brief update...

Wow! I cannot believe how quickly the time has flown by here! Many of you are still in the brunt of winter back home with extra-late snowfalls that you hardly deserve and I'm sure are now taking personally...

Well, Sevilla is absolutely beautiful. Knock on wood that the rainy period that monsooned on and off during March and early April for both Semana Santa and Feria has stopped and the 30 degree days are here to stay (though I don't care much for 30 degree nights). Here is a list of my latest travels, since my last blog entry (there's quite a few) as well as a list of links to photos. I'm sorry I haven't been more in touch so that you weren't bombarded with photos to look at. Oh well, que sera sera.

Sintra, Portugal (March 11-14 with Clay, Tine and Annie):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=98959&l=a9e43&id=596070001

Lisbon, Portugal (March 11-14):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=98955&l=c9f66&id=596070001

Semana Santa (here in Sevilla, March 17-21, when Susan Horsewood Lee came to visit):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=98962&l=3f36d&id=596070001

Canary Islands (Gran Canaria, April 4-9, with Clay, Mariel, Hadya, Dana and Erin):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=104312&l=31357&id=596070001

Feria (April Fair here in Seville, April 11-17, when Auntie Susan from England visited me):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=105915&l=df38e&id=596070001

San Sebastian and Bilbao (April 17-20, trip away for a weekend):
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107898&l=00967&id=596070001

Next stop: Paris May 2-5 and then its time to crack down for final exams before my big Eurotrip!

I hope you are all doing well and check out the photos when you get a chance!
Lots of love,
Lauren

Just another dictator...

I’m really getting sick of people saying that to me, “Oh that guy Franco? Wasn’t he just another dictator?” This is typical. This is a typical response of someone from a liberal democracy who has the right to own the comfy chair they’re sitting in, reading a paper not owned and controlled by the government, shaking their head at the uncivilized of this world who just can’t seem to stop killing one another. Why can’t they get it right, we ask. Maybe it’s us who can’t get it right.

After having visited the Benedictine Abbey of the Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen, just outside of Madrid, I feel I’ve come the closest I ever will to knowing what it feels like to be oppressed under ‘just another dictator’.

The Abbey boasts the tallest memorial cross in the world, 152.4 metres of granite at whose base rest giant, black, ominous angels who will not let the Spanish people forget. In 1960, Pole John XXIII declared the underground crypt a basilica. The dimensions of the underground basilica, as excavated, are larger than those of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. A long vaulted crypt was tunnelled out of solid granite by 12,000 political prisoners (so the story goes) working without pay, who were given the opportunity to “redeem” themselves and given two days of their sentence for each day of labour. During the 18 years it took to build, 14 people died in its construction. It pierces the mountain to the massive transept, which lies exactly below the cross.

The valley that contains the monument, preserved as a national park, beneath which lie the remains of 40,000, whose names are accounted for in the monument's register.

Although the valley contains Nationalist and Republican graves – several former Republicans' bodies were moved there from temporary graves at the end of the war – the tone of the monument is distinctly Nationalist and anti-Communist, containing the inscription "¡Caídos por Dios y por España!" ("Fallen for God and Spain"), that reflects the close ties of Franco's Nationalist regime to the Roman Catholic Church.

Additionally, Franco's timing of his announcement of the decision to create the monument left no doubts: on 1 April 1940, the day of the victory parade to celebrate the first anniversary of his triumph over the Republic, Franco announced his personal decision to raise a splendid monument to those who had fallen in his cause.

Needless to say, I don’t want to overdramatize it but, this place felt like where you and the devil row in a boat that you know is taking your soul to hell. The black marble is shiny like water and the lone cruzifix deep in the basilica is very eerie. The fresh flowers on Franco’s tomb made me shudder. No one speaks and it is very cold.

A place like this makes it pretty hard to brush him, or any of them for that matter, off as ‘just another dictator’. Just do me a favour and don’t utter that phrase around the people who still remember what it was like not to be able to leave their country or get divorced or have an abortion or speak their native language or deny their heritage for fear of persecution for longer than I’ve been alive. Show a little respect, please.

Photo links...

Here are the latest photo links. I've been a bit overwhelmed and have abandoned the blog a little so here's all the visual assault you've been missing!

Cadiz Carnival:
http://ucalgary.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87790&l=53220&id=596070001

My Birthday Celebrations in both Norwich and Sevilla:
http://ucalgary.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87796&l=d7ca5&id=596070001

Sevilla:
http://ucalgary.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80649&l=99672&id=596070001

Madrid:
http://ucalgary.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80651&l=4201e&id=596070001

Athens:
http://ucalgary.facebook.com/album.php?aid=80652&l=a0f55&id=596070001

The Cadiz Carnival and Other Tales...

What can be said about Cadiz Carnival? Only that we’ve heard about it all year but never had any idea what we were in for. Yes we heard that it was a party all night long and that it was a complete “locura” (trans.: Craziness, like shave-your-head-Britney-Spears-style-crazy) but I don’t think we really quite got it…

So Saturday night we get on the 8pm train. We got to the station relatively early so we didn’t think there would be THAT many people on the train. Needless to say, when we got there, there was only sitting room on the ground left but everyone was in costume and was ready for a good time.

Now would be a good time to mention what our motley crew comprised. Rachel, whose costume came mostly from her host dad’s Guardia Sevilla uniform (when I say mostly I mean everything except for an enormous pair of fake tits that were a source of laughs all evening) was the perfect foil for my convict attire. We were joined by Superman, a boat captain, a Barbie, an Indian, a Priest, a cat, Zorro and a few others.

Back to the train… What should have been foreshadowing enough was that the only available seats on the train for us, since it had stopped several times before our station, was next to a guy dressed as a giant green marijuana leaf, another one dressed as a box of rolling papers and the girlfriend of one of them dressed as a Zippo lighter. Though we did not partake in that particular offer, this is the sort of thing we were up against in the mean streets of Cadiz.

So God help you if you need the toilets, they are on a client-only basis which means if you’re not a client you must use the street/parking lot/whatever you can find… We made it until 8am, at which point Burger King had seen us a few times; we’d eaten several orders of Churros and Chocolate and used the ‘street toilets’ more times that can be counted. We dragged ourselves back to the train station where while I slept I almost got thrown up on by a drunk/motion-sick Spaniard who made it just past my seat and on to the people behind me.

When we got back, I tried my luck and biked back to my house from the station. Once there it was two poached eggs and toast down the hatch and the eternal sleep until 6pm where I got up to pee, shower and then went back to bed.

That, my friends, is the Cadiz Carnival. The one time of the year where, so I’m told, social graces don’t exist and everyone dresses so that the members of the upper echelons can loiter in a drunken state with the lowlife riffraff and pee on the streets and no one can or would care to tell the difference.

I should also say that the Spanish get away with many costumes that just would not be acceptable in Canada due to our staunch standards of political correctness. For instance, imagine wandering the streets with the likes of Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, etc. complete with all the trimmings of the stereotypes accompanying the depictions of their various ethnic backgrounds (head cloths, hooka pipes, turbans, mustaches, etc.). Seeing the Pope, Osama and a variety of men-dressed-as-women-dressed-as-men pound back beers together, now that’s a different version of world peace altogether.

This weekend I also went to Seville’s neighbouring town of Italica to see the ancient Roman amphitheatre, which is very well preserved, as well as to Marchena to see the San Luis church and monastery with my old prof, Rafa. Both outings were lovely and much more low key than the monster that was CADIZ CARNIVAL! But all's fair in the name of an authentic cultural experience...

Up next... what led to Javier, the Stripper Roommate, moving out... Thank God.

Back to England, my dear old friend…

So here`s how it went down...

Jan 10: I found myself doing the midnight route to London, AGAIN. I’m finding that the cheaper the flight, the worse the time frame. However, this time I was better equipped with a more direct route back to Susan Horsewood Lee’s. I made it there by 3am, not bad.
Jan 11: Got up as early as I could and made my way to the British Museum. En route I changed my mind and decided to head to St. Peter’s since the last time I went it was closed. It was a cold day but I walked right up to the top so that I could appreciate fully the views and the 8 pound admission fee. Then I went to the British Museum to see the Terracota Warriors but the Exhibit was sold out until the next day. I got a ticket and made my way back to Chelsea. Dined at the familiar Cross Keys Pub with Susan.
Jan 12: Got up early to see the Warrior Exhibit which was VERY WORTHWHILE! Wandered around Leicester Square and Picadilly until 4pm when I went to the Pheonix to watch Blood Brothers. Headed home for dinner with Susan and her visiting cousin and god children.
Jan 13: Made my way to Norwich, was greeted by dear Aunt Susan who had arranged afternoon tea with all of the family. It couldn’t be more wonderful to see everyone again!
Jan 14: Sue and I hit the streets of Norwich and I bought Primark out. Once again I would need another suitcase returning from Norwich. Also, I watched the Muppet Christmas Carol, a Christmas ritual which I had missed this year, which dear Sue had waiting for me.
Jan 15: Sue and I went to Norwich Cathedral, where we had a great guide tell us all the history that lurks inside its walls. She and I went to her puppet making class that evening.
Jan 16: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! I went to Norwich Castle in the morning, had a lovely lunch and in the evening went to a traditional English Pub with all of the family, Sue, John, Mike, Mairi, Guy, Rosemary, Tim, David and Jane. Exceptional food and very kind and generous family. I am very lucky, indeed.
Jan 17: Went with Sue to the Sainsbury Gallery, which I found fascinating. They even had some Haida pieces from way up in Canada! Mike picked Jimmy and I up from Sue’s and I heading to Mairi and Mike’s for the evening.
Jan 18: Spent the day at Tim and Rosemary’s. Had a lovely lunch and met their neice, and my fellow cousin, Sally. Had fish and chips with Mairi, Mike, Guy, Sue and John that night.
Jan 19: Went to see Chocky, Mairi’s horse in the morning. Mike and Mairi took me to the bus where I once again made it back to Sevilla. I met my friend Rachel, randomly, in the airport and we were on the same flight. After a long flight next to the most vile Republican America can boast (who in twenty minutes had brought me up to speed on Gays, Abortion (both wrong), the positive humiliation of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, how the US didn’t start the war in Iraq (which I’m pretty sure they did), how the wall along the Mexican border is VERY MUCH NEEDED (Good god was she nuts) and other anti-Hilary/Obama comments, I was glad to just get home. Annie had planned a lovely birthday festivity (since she, her roommate and I have very close birthdays) so I headed out. It was a late night and I spent most of yesterday asleep.

School starts on Jan. 23, so I still have a few days of refuge. I can’t wait to see what is in store this semester and once my travel itinerary is finalized, I will let you all know where to watch for me next!

Lots of love, Lauren

An Update Long Overdue…

Happy New Year Everyone! I know it has been a while since I’ve blogged, but take it as a sure sign that I’ve been busy and having fun and making the most of the holiday season. As both of my trips are too long to really go into detail here, I will just briefly summarize what the days had in store for us.

Dec. 20: My parents arrived in Sevilla that evening. I’ve never been so excited! Checked into the Alfonzo XIII Hotel, which was absolutely out of this world!
Dec. 21: Rented a car and with my parents trusty TomTom, we made it to Jerez where we toured the world famous Tio Pepe sherry bodega. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera that day, so Jamie will have to fill us in on pictures.
Dec. 22: Drove to Granada to see the Alhambra. Though it was rainy, we still enjoyed ourselves.
Dec 23: Came to my house, met two of three roommates who cooked us a lovely meal.
Dec 24: Met with Rafa, my Art History Prof, who toured us around the Old Charity Hospital. Then we went to the Cathedral.
Dec. 25: Merry Christmas! We spent the day walking around Plaza de Espana and Maria Luisa Park. We saw a cat catch a whole pigeon. We had sushi for Christmas Dinner.
Dec 26: Went to the Real Alcazar, this time we also took in the gardens which are spectacular. Then we did a tour of the Bull Ring.
Dec. 27: Took the fast train to Madrid and checked in to the Westin Palace, though we all agreed that we liked the Alfonz better. We waited in line that afternoon but finally got into Prado Museum to see all the famous art. It was worth the wait in line.
Dec. 28: We went to see the Royal Palace. Madrid is full of sights to see and lots of lineups, but this too was well worth it. Much like Versailles, you can see the Royal Bed Chamber, library, reception room, etc. Very posh. We went to an Ice Sculpture Exhibit in the evening.
Dec. 29: This day was dedicated to the Reina Sofia Museum where I finally got to see Guernica close up. We beat the line ups and then did two bus tours in the afternoon to get a proper layout of the city.
Dec. 30: We left for Athens. This is where the REAL EATING began. We dined at the rooftop restaurant of the Astor Hotel which overlooks the Acropolis. I couldn’t believe it, it felt like a fantasy.
Dec 31: Jude and I shopped for shoes in the morning. Then we three went for a walk up the Plaka. Marlena, Jamie’s old friend, met us for a walk. We took a brief nap and went to Marlena’s for New Year’s dinner and celebration.
Jan 1: Happy New Year! At 2pm, Ilias picked us up from our hotel and we went to their house for festivities and FOOD!!! Ilias, Agiliki and Vicky are a family that Jamie also knew when he lived in Kremasta working on the dam. They were exceptionally kind to us and fed us like little piggies.
Jan 2: Took a day trip to Delphi. We passed the Arahova, a mountain ski town which was beautiful. The ruins at the Oracle of Delphi were wonderful and I felt as if I were on my own private pilgrimage.
Jan 3: Got up early and visited the Acropolis, which we got to before the rest of the tourists. Morninged with Marlena who took us to Marathon and to the sea side. Then we had lunch with her daughter and two grandsons. Then the eating continued when Ilias and Agiliki picked us up for traditional Greek FOOD AND MUSIC. We were out very late and we were very tired. Poor us, I’m sure.
Jan 4: After a final walk up the Plaka, I said a teary goodbye to my parents and made it back to Sevilla. After a plane to Madrid, three hours wait and three subway transfers to the train station and one two and half hour train ride, I was anxious to be home to reflect and further miss my wonderful parents.

The trip far surpassed my expectations and not once did any of us get cross with one another, even in such close quarters. I feel really good about covering all the bases here in Seville and Madrid and Jamie was an excellent tour guide in Greece. The trip to Delphi was truly icing on the cake, as if we needed more food! I came home for a few days (Jan. 5-10) and then jetted off to England for my birthday. But that’s a separate post altogether! I don’t want to exhaust you all!

I hope you all had a great holiday and I wish each and every one of you the best in 2008!

resolutions...

Updates on my Christmas travels to come shortly, or maybe after England (Jan. 10-19)...

I am truly shocked and most certainly a little proud of myself to look back on the last few months and want to congratulate myself for how very little I’ve lived inside my head during this time. I can’t take all the credit of course because being in a new place with all its sensory overload makes it much easier to mask the baggage we generally carry around with us once we’ve become happily complacent with our surroundings.

Of course, there is always a warm bed and cup of pre-lactarian tea waiting inside my head which welcomes me with open arms when I dare let my guard down and revisit the old, existential babble that has not changed since I left it a few months ago. Here in Spain it is much easier to focus on where my next trip will be, how much will my laundry dry in my insanely cold and humid room, who took my tinfoil, what’s the point in watching a parade where dastardly children throw hard candies like bullets to the idiot masses bellow and I swear to God if they crack or scratch one Versace lense I will sue the whole town, but this doesn’t matter because it’s the first few days of January and culturally we are taught to look back with nostalgia and wonder what we will do differently the next time.

I used to harrang several friends-cum-acquaintances, of the male variety, for always persevering forward at such a lightning speed that they learned nothing from their pasts and this bothered me because I think that women are much more likely to pain themselves with questions like why? Closure? Am I not good enough? What could I have done differently/better/more/less, etc.? But this is not to say that the males were all wrong and perhaps this just means that I was due a change of approach.

So here’s where the danger lies when I start running my mouth off (oops, too late!) and start waxing poetic about resolutions and nostalgia and that warm bed up in my head. No. Here and now, in my desperately cold room where laundry hangs like banana leaves in the Amazon Basin so thick you can barely breathe, I have decided for the upcoming year to continue moving forward, not to return to that warm bed in my head where I lay around in a metaphorical opium lull to criticise myself for being too weak/strong/stubborn/blind/sarcastic. Instead, I choose to, like the cliché states, Live, Laugh, Love and encourage all those who want to join to do so. But no, man my English vocabulary has disappeared, spraying the ground with candy-coloured bloodshed, the Versaces couldn’t take it.