Disneyland Paris

While I was in Paris I "had" to visit Disneyland. I brought a friend with me. We had a great time. It was sort of sureal because some things were the same as California and Florida, but many were different. There were not many people in the parks that day so it was nice because the lines were short.

City of Lights

The journey I embarked on was to the “City of Lights,” Paris. I arrive in the morning of Friday, May 1 and headed directly to my hostel. After check-in I went to explore the city. My first stop was Notre Dame. I was able to enter the cathedral after waiting just a short time. I thought it would have been much larger. The Disney movie “Hunchback of Notre Dame” let me down a bit. In any case it was beautiful and I enjoyed the rose windows and the history of it all. After, I had lunch at a small café, where I paid 10 euro for a 3 course meal and 4 euro for a bottle of water.

I then walked down to the Louvre, but it was closed. I did not realize that it was a bank holiday in France. I then continued through the parks the lead to the Champs-Élysées. Once I got to the street I was a bit disappointed because all of the stores were also closed. So I continued and then saw the Arc de Triomphe. Later that night I met some nice English speaking people and we made plans to go to Versailles the next day.
At Versailles waited in line for 2 hours just to buy tickets. So two people went and bought sandwiches for all of us while waited. Inside the château we were amazed at the grand splendor of all rooms. The paintings were spectacular. We saw King Louis’s room as well as Marie Antoinette’s room. It was so amazing. After the palace we went to the gardens. They were my favorite part of the entire place. The gardens went on forever, they are so huge. At one point we got lost inside. There are several fountains and even a lake with row boats.

We returned to Paris in time to eat dinner and then we headed off to the Eiffel Tower. We waited in line to buy tickets to go up in the Eiffel Tower. Lucky for us we were the last group of the night to be able to go all the way to the top. I was so excited as we got on the elevator that I was jumping up and down. The views from the top were amazing. The tower was beautiful and loved every minute of it. We took the elevator down to the second level and then walked down the stairs (there are so many). By this time the public transportation was closing so we rented some bike and took a ride home. It was magnificent because we drove by all the sites as they were illuminated.

Seville- 2nd time around

After Cordoba we boarded another train and went to Seville. I had been there for Semana Santa, but did not see the tourist attractions. In the afternoon we walked around the town and saw the wonderful Plaza de España. It is a large building in a half circle with a fountain in the middle. The plaza was built in 1929 when Seville hosted the Spanish-American Exhibition. After that we walked by the river and did a bit of shopping.

The following day, even though it was raining, we visited the Alcázares Reales de Sevilla or Royal Fortress. It was originally built as a Moorish fortress and later taken over by the Christians, like most things in Spain. Many subsequent monarchs added to the palace so it is a mixture of all types of architecture. The Royal family still uses part of it as their residence in Southern Spain. It also contains the room in which the contract between Christopher Columbus and the Spanish Monarchs to sail the Atlantic. The best part of this place was the extensive gardens.

After the palace we went to the Catedral de Seville, which is the largest Gothic Cathedral. Inside is a monument and the remains that are said to be those of Christopher Columbus (It is highly debated if it is actually him because he died and was buried in the Americas and remains were later dug up and shipped to Spain). The Cathedral is beautiful and has one of the tallest high altars. Also attached to the cathedral is La Giralda, a tower that was part of a mosque that used to be in the place of the cathedral. The tower has NO stairs. It only has a ramp and was designed for a horse to be able walk to the top. In the courtyard of the cathedral are orange trees. Oranges from these trees, and later made into marmalade, are sent to the Queen of England every year on her birthday as gift from Spain. That concluded the program excursion.

To see more photos click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058790&id=21204555&l=50c85558aa

3 hours in Cordoba

On April 25 I boarded an AVE train with my program. We headed down south to Cordoba. The city is ancient, dating back beyond the Romans in the 1st century. We stopped there mostly to see the world famous Mezquita. The town was rather small, but on street corners there were just random Roman ruins. The Mezquita was originally built as a Christian church around 600. During the Muslim conquest it was turned in to a masque and expanded extensively. The Muslims had it for nearly 700 years and then it was changed back into a Catholic Church during the Spanish “reconquista”. It has spectacular architecture which is mix of Moorish and Christian styles. To see more photos click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2058440&id=21204555&l=15a1fe5feaAdvertise

BUSY

I am sorry for not posting anything for a few weeks. I am still alive! I have been in final exams this week and the last 2 weeks were crazy with so many papers and assingments. I will try to post somethings at the end of this week. Then next week I will be in Italy!!! (I know poor me.)

Real Madrid!

Last week I made my way to a soccer game. I saw REAL MADRID play against Getafe. It was an exciting game. Real Madrid came back in the last few minutes to win the game 3-2, even though they were playing with 1 less player. I was so surprised to see that almost the entire stadium was full on a Tuesday night for a 9pm game. It was wonderful and the devout fans made for a fun environment.

Barcelona...intersting city

This past weekend I embarked on another journey in Spain. I went to Barcelona. It started out as a mess because less than 48 hours before I was supposed to leave I noticed that I booked my flight for Barcelona to Madrid instead of Madrid to Barcelona. So I called and had to pay to change the ticket. Other than that little incident, everything else was wonderful. I visited the Barcelona Cathedral. It quickly became one of my favorite Gothic cathedrals. It was absolutely beautiful, especially the sanctuary. It has many side chapels that are dedicated to saints that are close to my heart. I was also able to walk on the roof; I had a great view of the city.
I also went to another cathedral, La Sagrada Familia, which is even more famous. Construction began in 1882 and still continues. The famous architect, Antoni Gaudi devoted many years of his life to this immense project and designed each part of it with a special significance. It is an absolutely magnificent piece of artwork. Every aspect of the building is covered in detail. The outside has 2 facades with a third one being constructed at the moment. The Nativity façade and the Passion façade both depict several scripture passages. I walked past each one several times and each time I came across something new that I did not see before. Inside the nave, (most of it was blocked off by scaffolding) it has the appearance of being under trees. It is quite imaginative. There are two sets of stained glass that have been put into place, both of which are beautiful and fill the inside with wonderful bright colors. Gaudi’s plan calls for several towers dedicated to different people such as Christ, Mary, the evangelist, etc. Some of the towers have already been built while others are in the process. I took an elevator to the top of an existing tower. I was able to view different parts of the cathedral up close. I also had a wonderful view of the city. I then walked down the stairs of the tower, there are about 400. The current team has scaled back on some of Gaudi’s original plans and hope to be completed by 2025. I would love to return and see it completed.
I also visited another one of Gaudi’s works the Casa Botlla. It is a house that Gaudi was commissioned to remodel. It was a beautiful house with so many interesting aspects. There are almost no straight walls throughout the entire house, and each room was designed for a specific purpose with special attention paid to lighting. The house was interesting and beautiful at the same time.