Paris

Now that I'm home for summer, I guess it's time to write about my springtime trips and adventures, which took up many a-weekend in April and May. I shall begin with the first of my weekend adventure: Paris with my cousin!

From a sign in the teacher's lounge, I thought the last weekend of May was a long weekend at school. It wasn't. But since my school is so great, they let me make up the day later on. I took advantage of my cousin living in Paris to pay her a visit...and see the city for the first time. After living in Europe a few years, it was finally time to see the City of Lights. Of course there is a ton to see there, so for the weekend I gave up my characteristic afternoon siesta time, and started drinking coffee. Since so much happened I'm just going to bullet point the highlights.

• Notre Dame: Usually I'm of the belief that once you've seen one cathedral, you've seen them all. But Notre Dame was actually very interesting inside. The outside, iconic. 
• The Eiffel Tower: The Parisian landmark is actually way bigger than I imagined. I knew there was an elevator (thankfully!), but thought the tower was just big enough for one large elevator to go up the middle. In reality, there are four different elevators which climb up the legs. We went up just before sunset, so we were privileged with two views: twilight and late night. From up top it you realize just how enormous Paris really is. Seeing dolled-up couples getting off at the restaurant made me wonder how many marriage proposals they see there in a day.
• The Louvre: So much to see, so little time! I'm honestly not a huge fan of art museums, but of course this was a must-see. There are some great pieces there. My cousin was smart to get a museum membership so she could peruse the art on a daily basis. My favorite section was probably the ancient statues. The Mona Lisa that everyone fusses about was not worth it to me. Plenty of other nice paintings from the same time, with less people. 
• Versailles: As a fan of old-timey royals and wealth, this was another must-see. It's just a short trainride away from Paris. My only complaint is with the way it's set-up. You have to go through 3 different check-points to actually get into the palace. Which means waiting. Outside! Aside from that though, it was lovely. The gardens were swell--too bad it started hailing while we were out for a royal walk. 
• Montmartre neighborhood: Nice place for a stroll. There are still a lot of artists there who want to paint your portrait or sell Parisian landscapes. 



Cousins in red outside Le Moulin Rouge

• Dining: Definitely took advantage of the wide selection of restaurants and food not available in little old Lugo. Most importantly, I ate a Nutella and banana crêpe everyday. Yummo! Aside from that we also savored French cuisine from Bretagne and Southern France. 

Roman Holiday

Why had I never had the desire to go to Rome? Seriously, what a wonderful city! Big, with lots to see, yet not overwhelming. And despite the fact that there were thousands of tourists, it didn't feel as foreigner-infested as Venice. You could walk down the street and hear Italian being spoken (imagine!), probably because of its size. And the history! Thousands of years of it! I used to think I was getting a pretty good deal with Spain's Ancient ruins in Lugo and Mérida, but obviously you can't beat the namesake of Ancient ROMAN society. The only downside to this leg of the trip was the sweltering heat, and that's not even something that can be taken care of by the tourist center. But really, after walking to sites that are often under the scorching sun, the heat just gets hard to bear. We ended up showering at least 2 times a day, after peeling off sweat-soaked apparel, that is. At midday I would shower during an absolutely necessary nap-time. When in Rome. I know it's thought of as more of a Spanish custom, but I wasn't about to go sightseeing during the hottest hours of the day!

Pondering the Pantheon

On Day 1 we got there in the late afternoon, so there wasn't time to actually enter anything, but we did get a great general overview of main sites. This was my first glimpse at the Forum from above--impressive! Right around the corner we saw the massive Monument to Victor Manuel. Then we went to the Trevi Fountain, but oh! it's closed and is surrounded by glass walls. Huh. Well, one thing Rome definitely isn't lacking is fountains, so we found some other lovely ones to enjoy. The Pantheon is also in that general area, so we saw that from the outside, which is pretty nifty.

Flower art at the Vatican

Day 2 found us in the Vatican, where the pope actually spoke from his little window because it was Sts Peter and Paul day. Well that doesn't happen everyday! Also because of the holiday, various groups had made pretty, (obviously religious) collages out of flowers on the ground. We waited in line for a while, but it just wasn't going anywhere and we were ill-prepared for the heat, so we decided to save it for a later day. It's worth noting, that thanks to the savviness of my cousin, we avoided the pickpocket bus, so hooray! Afterwards we went to check out the Castell Sant'Angelo (decided not to go in). In the evening we strolled the riverside which during the summer is lined with tents of bars, restaurants, and stores. Really great ambiance! And to conclude the night, there were fireworks from the same Castle in honor of Sts. Peter and Paul.

Day 3 we actually followed through on our plans to get up early. It's just so hard sometimes, especially for my cousin who was living on a 12 hour time difference. Anyways, we spent a very fulfilling morning at the Forum, one of the 2 main attractions on a tour of Ancient sites. It's all outdoors, and there is little shade in which to hide from the blazing sun. I'd give the place 5 stars for sheer brilliance, but 1 star for customer service. Jeez. At least they had water fountains to stay hydrated. Anyways, there is a lot to see, among pillars, building ruins, and temples (or remains of them). The audioguides really help bring the history alive. My favorite part was the temple to Vesta. The Vestal Virgins lived a good life, especially for women at the time, because they had special privileges around town in addition to not having to answer to a husband.

Cousins above the Forum

No statues were harmed in the making of this photograph

In the Colosseum

Day 4 we hit the Colosseum pretty early. That was cool because of it's size, but because I had been to a similar (albeit smaller) amphitheater in Nimes, I wasn't completely blown away. It was interesting though. Then we returned to the Vatican and waited in line for over an hour to get into St. Peter´s Basilica. Huge. Lots of popes. By then I was too tuckered out to do much more, but my cousin climbed up to the roof for a jolly good time.

One of my favorite statues. Just chillin...Dionysus perhaps?

Day 5 was my last day. I took a little trip to Ostia Antica, a miraculously preserved town about 30 minutes outside of Rome. I don't know how it was so well preserved, and wish I had done more research before my trip, because the place was huge. I mean, it's bigger than the Forum (which itself takes a few hours to explore), because it's an entire city. Therefore it has an amphitheater, a cemetery, forum, housing structures, baths, toilets, temples, wells, and more. Talk about a blast from the past! There´s also a small museum with great ancient sculptures. And at night my cousin and I reunited for riverside drinks. But nothing too wild, since I had more travels awaiting me the next day.

Preserved mosaic floor

So in essence, that was my trip to Rome. Had a marvelous time with my cousin, strolling, taking in the Ancient sites, and savoring the cuisine. I'd definitely return, since surely there is more to be seen.

Venice Queen

In a word, Venice in late June was foreigners. It's what most stood out to me: feeling like I was in Disney World because of the overwhelming crowds of tourists coming to see the same too-good-to-be-true scenery. So yeah, Venice is beautiful but it's hard to take in when you're busy dodging souvenir and selfie stick street vendors. The only Venetians I encountered were workers, and even a lot of those are either immigrants or commute into Venice because living there must be just too much to bear!

I don't mean to say Venice isn't great. It really is lovely, and every little bridge over the canals merits a brief stop to just take a deep breath and think, "how nice." It's a great city to meander and get lost. Or sit and people watch for hours. As far as main attractions, there is not much to see outside of the main Piazza San Marco which houses the Belltower, Basilica, and Palace. Oh, fun times, I was denied entrance to the Basilica. I was only really irritated because I had specifically put on a long-sleeved shirt to be "decent," but my knee-revealing shorts were just too scandalous! (Lesson learned for the Vatican later on)

And of course there's Venice's famous gondolas. For a mere 80 euros, you too can enjoy a 30 minute ride! Or if you're on a budget like me, watching them and hearing "Volare" drift up to your bedroom window is enough.

Ok, enough cultural complaints. Let's talk food! We had plenty of good pizza and pasta there. Just as I hoped! And because my cousin is a vegetarian, I ate more vegetables in those few days than I probably had in the 3 weeks prior haha. Also became a fan of Prosecco, sparkling white wine. And I tried Limoncello (digestive) for the first time. Whoa, it's like drinking Pledge! But when in Rome--er Venice!

San Xoan (Midsummer) in A Coruña

The night of San Juan/Xoan is celebrated June 23rd, which goes to show just how behind I am on my blogging! The night celebrates midsummer, and comes with a lot of interesting pagan traditions. But in modern times, the norm is to build a bonfire, jump over it 7 times (in Galicia at least), and eat sardines. We started off the evening with our room right on the beach. Awesome! And definitely useful throughout the night to come home for a bathroom break haha. There was live music all night long, both little roaming bands and dramatic groups on a stage. At around 7, people started wandering down to the beach to claim their bonfire spot. The city provides free wood for the occasion. Also, there's a 2-story piece they burn as the main event at midnight. All the bonfires on the beach really is a site to be seen. It's like a post-armageddon world. Since it was just Molly and me, we obviously didn't build a fire. We picked out a nice place on the beach to sit and enjoy for a while. It was probably 200 feet away from the monstrosity, and when they burned that we had to back up it was so hot! FIIIIRE! As the night wore on, we took advantage of some abandoned fires to hop over in an attempt to get ourselves lucky. It was exhilarating, really! My cousin jumped over way more than me. A great start to our cousinly travels!

Shield your eyes from the flaaaames!!

Vienen mis padres!

First major event after the school-year ending was my parents' visit to Galicia. Yupi! Renting a car allowed us to see some sweet sites, even if it was stressful for my padre.

Santiago

In the city of pilgrims, we saw the Cathedral, obviously. We also did some gastronomic exploring, although bear in mind my mom's favorite phrase, "NO ME GUSTA PULPO¨ (I don't like octopus). I took them to a cool place in the forest called Santiso, which uses all-Galician products, and even vegetables from their garden. 

Lugo

Sipping that Galician brew

Most of our time, the walled city was our homebase. Because it's that great! Saturday night they experienced Lugo's free tapas. Then we ended up getting a real dinner of raciones (bigger plates of food shared by everyone) with some of my English-speaking friends jeje. Another day was Lugo's craft beer festival, so my dad and I checked that out. But mom was not forgotten; he got her a donut from the handmade pastry tent. A donut the size of a head. 

Checking out the Castro

We also checked out Castro de Viladonga, the ruins of a Celtic town about 30 minutes outside of Lugo. Apparently it's one of my favorite places to take visitors, seeing as I've been there 3 times in the past 2 months. It's just fascinating to have something so old in our midst. Also the museum helps bridge the gap between the ruins you see and the lives they lived 2000 years ago.

THE WALL.

Another quick excursion from Lugo is the Ancares, aka the area where I (and my best friend) teach. O Cebreiro is about an hour away, and it's the first stop in Galicia on the Camino Francés de Santiago (the French Way to Santiago). But more than just pilgrims pass through, because it's a lovely town known for it's pallozas. Pallozas are the traditional, circular, Galician dwellings made of stone with a thatched roof. I'm not sure if people still live in them or they're just for show. But when we were there someone was repairing the roof of one. And on the way back home we drove by my school to check it out, but since it was a Sunday there was no one around.

A Palloza! In the sun!

The North Coast
Of course the highlight of a visit to Lugo's coast is the beach of As Catedrais. The tide was higher than expected, but after eating it went down far enough to walk around a bit. But we still couldn't go far enough to see the famed arch from the beach. We did, however, get to see it from above, on a cliff.

As Catedrais, not so much sun. 

Asturias

Cudillero

Since we were already at the north coast, the master vacation planner (me) decided to take them to Asturias which is similar to Galicia and can be really quite charming. Our first stop was the town Cudillero, which has a port surrounded by a hill and houses going up. Wouldn't want to live at the top! Here we enjoyed ice cream sundaes (well, Dad missed out and stuck to coffee).

Our stop for the night was Oviedo, the capital of Asturias. There's really a big difference architecturally between Lugo and Oviedo. So fancy! Also nice because we visited my friend who is "super Asturian" and knows a lot about the city, so let's just say he makes a much better tourguide than me haha. For dinner we went out to a sidrería, a typical Asturian cider house. Here's a fun fact I never knew, in most places the waiter is supposed to pour it for you every time, not just the first time. And it's rude to ask for more (no matter how thirsty you are), he's supposed to be aware of how long it's been since he's last poured it for you. By the way, the sidra is poured from up high so that it airs out. They only pour you a little bit at a time because you're supposed to drink it all at once. And also glasses get shared; you leave a tiny bit for the waiter to toss out and thereby "cleaning" it. It was definitely cool seeing them pour back to back from such heights. And for food, I'm sure my parents got something hearty, but for me the main attraction was the HUGE tortón (fried bread made of corn). We split it between the two of us, but realistically needed a 3rd person to help out. Seriously, look at the size of that thing compared to a hand! :O

And that really concludes my parents' adventure in the North. They went down to Madrid for a few days, but I passed on that since it's not really my city. Now to start planning new, interesting places for their next visit!