Barcelona

Last Friday I boarded a plane to Barcelona, Spain, for my first solo trip…ahh!! I’ll admit it, I was pretty nervous to head out by myself. Not about getting around (I speak Spanish), but more about the boredom of exploring alone if I didn’t meet some people, which wouldn’t have been so fun.

I took a bus from the airport to Passeig de Gracia, one of the main avenues in the city, and headed to my hostel.  After getting settled, I walked to the Sagrada Familia Church, which is the architectural wonder of the city. The ground breaking started in 1882, and it won’t be completed until 2026-28, mainly due to the elaborateness of the design, and the reliance on funding provided by private donations. The church was designed by Antoni Gaudi a year after building commenced. He is also responsible for the design of other major landmarks in the area, but I’ll get to that later. I have never seen anything like the building. There are carvings, and Bible scenes everywhere you look. He designed the windows so that the light shone through the stained glass illuminating the hall in red, blue, green, and yellow. 15 meters up, he wanted to have a choir stand so that the acoustics in the building would make it feel as though the music was all around you. Under the main floor is a museum that houses the plaster works of Gaudi and his successors. Most of the carvings or designs had been first created in plaster in his workshop. I saw another one of Gaudi’s works that day, the Batillo House, which he designed for a wealthy silk trader.

Sagrada Familia- Passion Facade

Sagrada Familia Entrance 

Sagrada Familia 

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia- Nativity Facade

Batillo House

Batillo House

When it started getting dark, I headed back to the hostel, and later ran into some Amercian girls I had talked with outside the hostel. They invited me out with them for the night, and after having a few drinks at the hostel bar, and meeting a new Australian friend, we all went out for tapas! Tapas are a type of Spanish appetizer, made in a little bit bigger than bite sized servings.  Groups will usually order many different kinds and share. Certainly gets rid of the 'what to order' dilemma. 

The following day we all got up early to grab breakfast and catch a ride on the Hop on Hop off tour. There is a lot to see in Barcelona, but it’s very spread out, so we thought this was the best way to see it all. We got off the bus at Placa d’Espanya, where we saw an eight lane round-a-bout and walked to the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. The complex was gorgeous, I thought it looked like palace grounds, but I later found out it was originally built for the 1929 World’s Far, and later used for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Behind the building was a garden and where we grabbed the bus to the Olympic Stadium (Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys). Afterwards we passed the FC Barcelona Stadium and the waterfront.

Art Museum

Art Museum

Olympic Complex

The 1992 Stadium

Plaça de Catalunya

Plaça de Catalunya

The Waterfront

The last stop of the day was to Park Guell, which was also designed by Gaudi. The entrance to the park has two gatehouses that were inspired by the story of Hansel and Gretel. As you walk further into the park, there is a giant mosaic lizard, and an area of columns with mosaic medallions on the ceiling. Just to the left of the columns is the Colonnaded Pathway, which has cut outs in the wall where you can stand and pose as a statue. Lame tacky tourist thing? yes. Did I partake? bien sûr. 

Park Guell

Park Guell 

Park Guell

Colonnaded Pathway 

Gatehouses with city behind

New Friends :)

That night, we all headed out on a pub crawl on one of Barcelona’s most famous streets, Las Rambas. Three pubs, and then to a 3 story club. Super fun time!

My last day in Barcelona, I went touring with the Australian friend. We walked down Las Ramblas towards a few landmarks we were interested in. On the street we found many booths selling crafts, souvenirs, and flowers. There were also a few stalls selling animals, ranging from turtles to ducks to hamsters, it was a little bizarre. We had wanted to visit Mercat de la Boqueria off to the side of the street, but unfortunately it was closed.  sad face. It is one of the most popular landmarks in Barcelona, the bright stalls of fresh produce drawing them in. The Sant Pau del Camp church was also off the main street. It was a former monastery, and named for its location so far out of the city. I read that it was built around the late 9^th century, the first documentation around 977. It’s a beautiful building still nestled in amongst the grime of the city. Next stop was back to the Sagrada Familia Church for some more pictures, and then to Goudi’s hospital, which was also closed. Sunday isn’t the best day to be a tourist in Europe I’ve come to learn. After grabbing lunch, I took the bus back to the airport and home to Geneva. I really loved Barcelona, the architecture was stunning, and it had a laid back feel to it. I also LOVED actually understanding what people were saying around me. Ahh Spanish, how I miss thee.

Las Ramblas

Street Pet Store

Sant Pau del Camp

Sagrada Familia- Nativity Facade

Gaudi's Hospital

Next trip, a week in Rome, Naples, and Pompeii!

~Emer

Noël à Genève

I can’t believe how quickly the holidays came this year. I was a little nervous about getting homesick over Christmas, but thankfully it wasn’t so bad. It just didn’t feel like a my usual Christmas this year, especially since I had a trip planned for the day after, but I put up a tree in my room and tried to do a little decorating to make it feel more like home.

My Christmas Tree

Early in December, Geneva puts on a festival called Fête de l'Escalade, to celebrate one of the city’s most memorable days.  One night in December 1602, the city was attacked by the Savoyards, but was successfully defended by the citizens of Geneva. It is said that a woman poured a cauldron of boiling vegetable soup over the men trying to scale the wall, thereby helping to save the city. The citizens of Geneva now break and eat giant chocolate cauldrons filled with marzipan vegetables, to remember this story. For the Escalade weekend, the Old Town is totally transformed. There are many people in period costumes selling hot spiced wine (vin chaud), roasted nuts, crepes, and other snacks.  I was able to go through a passageway that is only open once a year for Escalade, and to see the main celebration. After a long procession though town, a marching band and other actors gathered near the Cathedral Saint Pierre. There was a choir singing, ceremonial scroll reading, and a huge bonfire. Afterwards we grabbed a fondue, which is quickly becoming my favorite meal here. Nothing like melted cheese, bread, and wine on a cold winter’s night!

Escalade celebration in my village

Chocolate cauldron 

Old Town

Firing off muskets in old town

Passageway 

Marching band

Next to the cathedral

During the holiday season, Switzerland has many great Christmas markets that are worth taking a trip to. I went to Zurich, where the train station hosts a market with many booths selling crafts, wine, and treats. On the main shopping street there were more booths and a 'singing Christmas tree.' We visited Bern on the first Sunday of Advent, where there was a parade of Saint Nicholas and his almost alter ego, Schmutzli. Originally he was there to punish those that didn't behave well that year, but recently has changed into Santa's sidekick. He now hands out gingerbread and mandarins, which is much better than coal! Geneva was also covered with lights this year. It was so pretty to be downtown at night and see all the store windows and decorations. 

Zurich

Zurich Christmas market

Singing Christmas tree

Bahnhofstrasse Zurich

Bern

Bern

Me and Santa!

I was also lucky enough to spend some time in Gstaad before Shayna and I headed off on our vacation. Gstaad is a small Swiss-German speaking village in the mountains, very different from the busy downtown of Geneva. There are beautiful wooden chalets everywhere, with mountains surrounding the village. It’s pretty quiet during the non-winter months, but come ski season, it is flooded with people…Julie Andrews even lives up there. Our friend has an apartment in a chalet in Gstaad, that she was nice enough to let us use (THANK YOU A J), so we stayed up there for a few days, enjoying the views and kinda having our own Christmas. Baked brownies, had hot spiced cider, and even made our first fondue!

Gstaad

Central Gstaad

View from the chalet

View

Fondue!

After our stay in Gstaad, Shayna and I took the train back to Geneva on Christmas Eve. Many families in Geneva have their major celebrations on the Eve, which is the same with my host family. We had a first course of fois gras served on spice cake, and smoked salmon. I’m not really a fan of the former, but at least I can say I’ve tried it, and never have to eat it again!! Second course was a potato gratin, and a dish made with a vegetable only found in Geneva, kinda tastes like artichoke. We also had  green bean casserole, Challah, and turkey with a mushroom cream sauce. It wasn’t my typical Christmas meal, but I was celebrating Noel this year. After dinner we did our gift exchange, and then mass skype sessions with my family. My brother passed the computer around so I could see everyone open their gifts, and my dad even opened a few for me that I’ll see when I return home J . It was interesting to experience another culture’s Christmas, but I definitely missed home.

Our Christmas tree

Christmas dinner

Start of the meal

On the 26^th we took a flight to Edinburgh to tour Scotland and London, but I’ll write a separate post for that trip.

To update you guys on a little bit of my life in Geneva, I’ve joined the boy’s basketball team in Anieres. It has been an interesting experience, mainly due to my lack of skills, and well, struggle with the French language, but it has been really fun so far and a great way to get some practice! Plus, I missed being on a sports team. French class has improved greatly, I think I’m picking up a lot more now. I was even able to use a little on my London trip. Hopefully I can improve beacoup before I head home. Still deciding on when that will be, I’m thinking about looking into a way to stay in the UK maybe…I don’t know, I’ll keep you guys posted. I’m heading to Barcelona in a few weeks. I’m a little nervous about it because it’s my first solo trip here, but it should be fun! I also have an unexpected week off next month, so I may do a trip to Budapest, Vienna, and Rome. I think that’s about it for news. I may get around to posting about Scotland/ London this week, but we all know it takes me forever!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!!

~ Emer