Surfer's paridise, San Sebastion

Ever get off a train and not know anything about the town you just plopped down in?  Not even the direction of the beach?  Yeah that was me when I arrived at San Sebastion, Spain.  It wasn't too bad, luckily I speak Spanish.  Even with my Spanish being rusty as hell, and in San Sebastion they speak a lot of Basque, I managed to find my way over to the old city.

 San Sebastion is a picturesque Basque city.  The architecture is stunning and it has a small town feel to it. After I found my hostel, I took a shower.  Sometimes after traveling I just feel so dirty.  It was so nice to be clean and have internet again I just stayed in and relaxed.

In all seriousness, there is not a lot to do in San Sebastion.  It a place to sit on the beach and watch the surfers or read a book.  And that's what I did, and then after my planned six days were up I extended my stay another 4 days.

But let's talk about the first six days of laziness.  I think I watched the surfers on the beach while getting a tan for the first two, and at least four out of the next six.  This place is amazing for waves.  They are great almost every day!  They have two beaches, one for walking, family fun and swimming and then one devoted to surfing.  In La Zurriola (surf beach) the rip tide is much stronger than the other beach, it is not encouraged to swim unless you know what you are doing.  I guess in the winter is when the waves are best.  I've heard this on Jeju as well.  It seems winter weather brings more extreme weather, making surfing conditions better.

So in between reading books on the beach and
watching the surfers I also met a slew of new people.  I haven't stayed in hostels in a while and I forget how social they can be.  I plopped down on the couch to read a book and got introduced to six or more people.  Some were working at the hostel through a site called "workaway," which volunteers your work out for a room and board at places all over the world.  Other people there were travelers passing through, or people who were passing through and then decided they like San Sebastion too much and extended their stay.  I met people from Austrailia, New Zeeland, Astoria, Finland, Sweden and more.  It was nice.


After meeting them I discovered that they had a routine of cooking food from their countries and sharing it with everyone at the hostel.  I got put on the list to make Korean food (American food is just not that interesting) later in the week.  Yay!! I love cooking for people.  Now what can I make?  I hope they have kimchi here.  In the end no kimchi was found, so I made Korean pancakes.

I also met a guy who does dreads professionally that night.  I asked if he would be willing to do them for me.  I mean ,why not? I have no place to be until maybe march.  I could sport dreads for a while. The next two days were spent doing dreads in my hair.  He used a crochet hook to pull my hair in to tiny knots.  He said it would be painful, but in the end, it was just painful in a few areas.  Right behind my ears and at my temple were the most sensitive areas.  I had no idea what I was doing when I said yes to dreads. My hair shortened, that makes sense, and then stood on end.  I look liked I had been electrocuted.

I also got to see some really pretty sites.  San Sebastion has quite a bit of nature surrounding it.  One of the hills has an amusement park and old trams, and the other has a giant statue of Jesus.  I picked the Jesus hill to hike often.  It was easier to get to, and the walk up was just beautiful.

I liked the dreads and the new people, so I went out to discover the food.  Did you know that San Sebastion has the most Michelin Star restaurants than any other place in Europe?  This tiny little beach town.  I actually got to eat at one, and a few others not quite up to par but still delicious places.  So let's talk food.

Pinchos, or pinxos in Basque, are an amazing creation.  Usually it is beautiful and tasty master pieces balanced on a slice of baguette, but it can vary from that.  Basically it's appetizers that are uber gourmet.  I dinned at these restaurants a couple of times during my stay.  The first time there was a special, 1 pinxo and 1 beer for 2 euros.  Can't beat that!

So I had the tappas or pinxos of the town and then on my last night in San Sebastion I had a 5 course meal.  I went with some of the ladies from the hostel to enjoy the fabulous restaurant week.  This is a special where you get an amazing meal for 25 euros, including coffee and wine.  Jesus, what a great thing to do.  So we went to La Perla, a lovely little spaceship designed restaurant. We had five amazing courses, which you can see here.  

We started with a marinated sardine salad with a side of guacamole, then followed with a potato egg soup that had the perfect amount of cheesy foam and bacon bits. Next came the entrees.  There were 3 of us, so we all tried different ones.  They were all perfect!  A beef roast, falling apart on the fork, with a savory sauce to accent the natural flavors.  A fish, so velvety you knew it was the perfect cut and temperature.  A marinated pork roast that zinged you with ginger and then brought you back with the crispy outside.   Last, but not least, was the dessert.  We had a choice between a crusty flan, or maybe it was a creme brulee, with a cinnamon dusting, or a spritz strawberry drink; complete with a rhubarb foam and tiny fizzy candies.  I picked the latter, but one of the girls pick the first one. It was equally amazing.  I will never forget my 25 euro Michelin star meal.

The last few days I also got to meet Mike and Andy, two older guys that were staying in the room with me.  Andy had just walked the camino (a spiritual walk over 2,000 miles) and had many stories to tell.  Mike had been on vacation for 17 months and is a photographer that like to make slide shows with his trips.  They were both super sweet, and I'm glad they got to stay in my room with me.  The last day I was in San Sebastion (not night), Mike and I went out for pinxos.  It was great.  Sometimes I forget home much I appreciate people who are older than me.  They always have great stories and opinions.  Often times when I am talking to some one my age or younger, they have few stories and no opinions.  What a way to deflate a conversation.  I want spice, give me some spice!  That only comes from experience, some young people have it.  Most don't.  I have a hard time adding spice to my stories I tell, but I am convinced that has to do more with my story telling skills than my life.  ;)

In the end this little trip was amazing.  I did end up with one bad thing though.  Lots and lots of bug bites.... ugh.  sometimes warm weather is not so good.

Paris

So my trip to Paris started out to a rough start.  The first thing that went wrong is that I had to pay for my ticket from Amsterdam to Brussels.  I have already paid for an EU rail pass, that cost about 1000 USD, so to say the least I was not happy.  The ticket checker on the train saw that I had not filled in one little box on my EU rail pass, which the ticket checkers have always filled in, and that I now had to pay.  So that’s a lesson learned, fill in the little box at the bottom of the ticket, and don’t wait for an official person to do so.

Upon arriving in Paris I discovered that my phone did not work.  So I needed to find a new SIM card.  That  was easy, and the guy at the store was very nice.  So after this bit of hub bub I was off on my first day in Paris.  My bags were locked away and I could walk for hours.  So I did.  I found the canals and just walk along them and enjoyed the view.  People where walking their dogs and playing bocce ball; smoking cigarettes and drinking wine on the park benches.  It was fabulous.

That night I had to get on the metro to make it over to my couch surfer’s house.  I would like to make a slight side note before the tales of my Paris adventures ensues.  Paris is dirty, It smells like piss in the subway stations and on the subway you are overwhelmed by the smells of pungent perfumes and body odors.  This is was even true of the high class train I took from Brussels. But the rail lines are quite efficient.  I ended up in a suburb of Paris, about 20 minutes outside the city.  It was quiet and quite nice.  Unfortunately I got off one stop too soon.  Darn you Miriah and inability to keep French names straight in your head.   

When I met up with my couch surfing host, I had a surprise.  Ana, from Switzerland, had came to stay as well, and I was a surprise to him, because I had given him the wrong dates on the couch surfing site.  Luckily he said it was fine.

The next day was an adventure day.  Ana had been to Paris many times.  So she told me how to get to the Eiffel Tower.  When I got there I just walked and walked and walked along the river.  Along the way I found the palaces, the Notre Dom and the Louvre.  I was going to enter the Louvre, but the line was too long.  In the end, I’m glad I didn’t.  That place I think would take me a week to absorb.  I wonder if I can get a week pass? 

After all of this excitement I worked my way back to Eiffel tower to see it at night.  It’s supposed to be beautiful.  On my way there I encountered a French man who wanted me to sit down with him. We struck up a conversation about travel and interests, then he said we should go to the park and hang out there the atmosphere is better.  The walk down was full of people, but once we got to the park it was people just sitting down and enjoying the view.  So we plopped down and enjoyed the view as well.  We continued talking and he had to go.  So I sat in the Park a little while longer and then found a café and got a glass of wine before I headed back to my couch.

That night Ana and I encountered another surprise.  Our host had invited two more girls to stay, from Brazil.  These ladies had been studying in Portugal and in between semesters decided to take a two month trip around Europe.  Paris was their last stop.   The next day they went to Versailles with Ana and Me.

What a beautiful waste of money Versailles is.  I am not saying my waste of money, I’m thinking of France during Louie the 14^th’s rule.  It’s absolutely beautiful and huge.  Ana and I waited in line for over an hour to get in and it was worth it.  It’s the type of building that you want to have a historical party in and just have a good time drinking wine and eating little appetizers off of trays while you parooz around the immaculate gardens in your corseted dresses.  Well maybe that’s just me, but a girl can dream. 

This lovely slice of heaven was also full to the max with people.  I really should learn to visit places not on weekends.  I always hate crowds.  The gardens were immense.  Like the size of Fair Haven (my home town) immense.  I just could not believe it.  I guess France was just about the center of the world at this point in time, and they made sure everyone knew it.  Gold embroidery, gold gates, gold gilded ceilings and picture frames.  Louie the 14^th and the 15^th had famous painters come in and paint the ceilings in many of the rooms.  The gardens had huge lakes, tons of fountains and perfectly laid out flowers and bushes.  I am so glad I decided to go. 

Because Versailles is outside the city, it shot down the rest of the tourism plans for the day.  So Ana and I headed over to lovely part of town that had the Moulin Rough and Basilica of the Sacred heart of Paris.  Both were full of people.  The Basilica had people hanging out one the steps drinking and looking at the view of the city.  If I was taller I would have been able to see the Eiffel Tower from there, but I’m short and there was a tree.  Usually people are dancing and playing instruments there, but not on Sunday night for some reason.  After the Basilica we headed down those windy streets of Paris with tons of cafes and beautiful restaurants. 
We had dinner at one of these before heading down to the Moulin Rough.  Wine, crepes, salmon; what more can you ask for?  A smoky romantic atmosphere with people selling roses to the love struck on street corners or in cafes?  We had that too, with soft lighting and candles as well.  

The Moulin Rough was spilling well dressed people out of the doors onto the streets by the time we came by.  A show and dinner goes for about 200 USD, nothing Ana or I could afford, although it would be nice to see the 1920’s style dancing and the theater.

The next and last day was relaxed.  Bags locked up in the train terminal I headed out to the catacombs.  “Closed on Mondays and Holidays.”  I guess I just have to come back to Paris someday, not a on a Monday.  Then to the Notre Dom, where I was mildly surprised that the entrance was free and the line was fairly short.  Churches are all the same.  Cool and distant but beautiful.  The stained glass windows and the golden icons painted on the walls scattered around the interiors of churches only give a slight warmth that can never overcome the fact that they are made entirely out of stone, beautifully carved stone, but stone none the less.  

My last meal in Paris was a cheese platter with plenty of bread and wine to accent the tastes.  The Food in Paris was good, but expensive.  I only let myself buy things on occasion, opting for a baguette and cheese for lunch, costing 2 Euros, rather than spending 12 Euros on soup and a coffee.  I did find some spectacular sweets though.  Paris is known for it’s macaroons.  Or so it seemed.  Every café and bakery was selling them.  Even McDonald's’ had a special with an espresso and a macaroon or a tart.  Good job world marketing!  I also had flan, and crème bruelle, and just gawked at all the expensive chocolate.  In the end I liked Paris, but it’s defiantly not in my top ten.  I rate cities by whether or not I could live there.  Paris just doesn’t make that list for me.  It was too busy.  I’ll have to come back and give it a second chance and not on a weekend. 

Amsterdam; the city of red lights, weed and tulips.

Amsterdam; the city of red lights, weed and tulips. 

 I actually only saw two of those things.  The trip in was a bit stressful.  I was an hour early for my train, because I’m anal like that, and the train was an hour late.  When I got in my host, from couch surfing, was working so I got to lock up my bags and get to know the lovely city.

Amsterdam is so small!!!  I could walk from one end to the other in 45 minutes.  And I just couldn’t get over that you could just smell weed, drifting on the wind, everywhere.  What a city.  Beautiful streets, beautiful canals, beautiful gardens and super nice people.  I headed for a walk as soon as I got in and just got lost amongst the streets.  (This will be a continuous theme in this city), but I did manage to find all the museums and some of the historical building while wandering.  

Yes Holland Michigan looks remarkably like the real Holland.  I guess with all the Dutch hanging out there you can’t go wrong.  I felt somewhat at home walking the streets that seemed so familiar. 

An odd thing happened while I was eating my lunch, in a beautiful park with ducks and willow trees and a windy little river, a Parisian decided that today he would fall in love with me.  Now this was a bit awkward at first.  Who does the love at first sight stuff!!?  At first he just offered to walk with me, so I said yes.  Then we got deep into conversation and I found out his girlfriend (of 6 months) had just broken up with him and had been cheating on him.  A little bit of over share, but he was convinced I was the new love in his life.  We went to a park and I let him hold my hand and pretend the romance for 4 hours.  He even plucked a rose from a nearby bush and gave it to me.  Nothing became of it; I didn’t want anything to become of it.  I liked this little romance just the way it turned out. 

After my romantic walk, I met my host and he broke my suitcase.  Not much, just a little handle breakage.  Which was totally fine, because it was old.  Then took me out to a café and we got a beer.  His house is from the 1900’s so it has these amazing stairs! They go almost straight up, but wind around the corner too.  At first, because I was exhausted from my day, I was not thrilled.  But they grew on me.  The light-less cramped stairway was quaint.  He said that the city was supposed to renovate ages ago and just had never gotten to it.  “Every once in a while I get a notice that says renovations will start in three months, it’s been 4 years since the first letter”.  Bureaucracy is the same everywhere, slow.

So the next day I went to a little town called Zaanse Schans.  It was about 20 minutes outside of Amsterdam.  Of course I over shot the train, and had to take the next train one stop back.  Miriah and her wonderful directional capabilities. *sigh*  It was lovely, right out of the post cards lovely.  No tulips, but lots of windmills, canals, sheep and Chinese tourists.  I don’t particularly like Chinese tourists.  I had to navigate around them a lot in Jeju.  They just are a bit obnoxious… I’m not going to rant because then you will all think I’m racist.  But besides all the people I got to see a cheese factory, the wooden shoe factory and a beautiful little town with perfect gardens and houses.  I loved it.  When I headed back, I just chilled out at a café for a little while and then headed back to the house.

don't those pancakes look delicious?!

I met an interesting couple of people at the Pub that night. Ken, a guy traveling from china solo, was super nice. We met up the next day and saw the Van Goh museum together then had pancakes. 

Oh Van Goh, I don’t even know how to describe the pleasure from just stepping into the building.  I love his art so much.  I was originally going to see a lot of the museums, but that one alone cost 15 Euros, so no.

That night I was lucky enough to catch Liz!!!! We worked on Jeju together between 2010 and 2011.  It was such a surprise to see her again.  She’s exactly how I remember.  Bubbly and sweet, full of energy and stories.  She brought along a friend, and a tour guide.  The tour guide left shortly after we met, but he seemed pretty cool.  Check out yellow bike tours if you ever go to Amsterdam.  

So off we went with a vague idea of where we needed to go.  Out of the way, not in the tourist area, but nice.  We walked and chatted, and walked, and chatted and came exactly back to the place we started walking.  The train station.  We did this 2 more times before someone pulled out the map on their smart phone.  In the end we did not find what we were looking for, but something much better!  Bloesem.  A wonderful organic restaurant with out a menu.  The chef just prepares a menu for the day and can alter it to your tastes.  How strange and fabulous, and I tell you it was WONDERFUL!!! So much good food and wine.  Unfortunately the pictures I took are not so good, but you can have a look if you want. 

That was my last night, and what a way to end Amsterdam.  In the morning I caught the train to Paris, with two changeovers but hey it’s Paris.  The city of lovers and wine and amazing food.  I can deal.

Relaxing in Germany

Sleeper train, sleeper train... I didn't know what to expect when the lady at the desk booked me for the middle cot in the sleeper train.  I now know.  Six people in one compartment, I have one above and one below and three to one side... well one side of mine was luggage.  It really wasn't as bad as I thought when I first saw my situation.

The Chinese ladies below me put there luggage on the bed right across from mine, so I got some privacy.  And, actually, I had the best view.  I could actually see out the window, no one else could while they were laying down.  In the end the only thing that really bothered me was I was unable to sit up in my cot and there was no plug.   It was quite nice and a relaxing way to travel.  I even got a pastry and coffee in the morning.

Katrina picked me up from the train station and took me straight to her house.   Her apartment is awesome!  It has a loft and a balcony and a kitchen that is basically like a green house it has so many windows.  And the view, man, I could stay out there all night and watch people and the sky.

That day was basically getting myself acquainted with her neighborhood.  I did a lot of wandering.  I found falafels everywhere and Turkish food.  I also discovered lots and lots of second hand shops.  This was amazing to me.  In Korea they believe a person's spirit stays in possessions, so second hand stores are far and few in between.  You never know, if you wear a dead person's clothing they could come back and haunt you.

The next day I bought a winter coat for 9 euros and an awesome belt.  I love thrift stores and kinda wish I wasn't traveling so I could buy ALL THE THINGS.  That day we also took a train down south to Neurenberg.  Katrina had a race, so we stayed with some of her friends there.

Nuerenberg is one of those quaint cities you think you would see in classic films.  It's very German.  It's also where the Nazis started.  So it's got more than a slice of a history, and because of that history it was bombed to pieces and then rebuilt later.  People in this area are still super conservative and some times you even have to sign a contract when you get your job that says you were never a member of the Hilter Youth.  

Besides the Nazi part it was really cool.  It's a walled city and has a lovely river running in the middle of the town.  It also has a castle and all these adorable houses and bridges.  I loved walking around there.  One of my favorite points of the town, besides the wall and the lovely river that runs through it, was the fountain that showed the seven stages of marriage.  If you have time you should check it out.  It's hilarious.


I did some wandering and some cheering.  The whole time I was checking out the town Katrina was running a half marathon.  All over the place there were places where I could stop and cheer a bit with the other people that came to support the runners.  I find that cheering for everyone is the best, it's really motivating to have people supporting you that don't even know you.  And anyone running a half marithon or  whole one is pretty impressive.  Katrina did really well on her half marathon!  We celebrated before and after with lots of yummy food and beer as you can see here.  Katrina's friend Phila cooked one dinner of lasagna and a fresh mozzarella tomato basil salad and Katrina and Myf cooked the other with root vegetables, cheesy cauliflower, beets a bread tower and a beautiful roast.  Both were delicious!!! Yum.  It was odd the sit and watch people cook but relaxing as well.  I'm so used to cooking for others.




After Nuerenberg Katrina and I headed out to Bamberg, the oldest city in Germany.  It was beautiful as well.  Also, a perfect way to spend some time before we headed back to the busy Berlin.  In Bamberg I had some smoked beer that was just delicious.  It actually tasted like bacon.  My Aunt would be in heaven, I was in heaven.  In Bamberg there is a monastery with a magnificent view.  Old buildings on the water and just beautiful bridges everywhere.  It was a good time.

The next day we were back in Berlin and I had some exploring to do.  Katrina came along with me as we wandered through all the flea markets.  Second hand shopping is really popular and the markets are nearly everywhere on Sundays.  I think I went to three that day alone.  After Katrina went home I was lucky enough to meet up with Nina and her boyfriend and walk around.  We found Oktoberfest, even though it was officially over.  No beers were drunk, because it was too touristy (or expensive).  We had a fabulous dinner and a few beers later.  I would say a day well played.

The next day was an alone day for me, so I took the bus and then walked to museum island and tried to find the holocaust Museum.  Instead of the museum I found the memorial.  Which was stunning.  After that I just wandered and found some more great graffiti art and more of the Berlin Wall.  That night I made Katrina dinner of empenadas and a salad before we said our good byes and I went to the train station. 

Budapest, you rock my world!

Parliament in Budapest, Hungary

I have decided trains are awesome!  I am the type of person that gets sick on buses, cars, planes and boats, but trains do not make that list.  I could travel by train forever.  I took a seven hour train ride from Prague to Budapest. The ride in was just beautiful.  Little villages nestled in valleys, next to lakes and castles on mountain peaks.  It was stunning. Dora, a fellow couch surfer, gave me directions on how to get to her flat and this was the first thing I saw when I got off the metro.  The Parliament building; probably the most famous building in all of Hungary.

I got to Dora's place and the first thing I did was... lose my wallet for 30 minutes in between all my bags.  Sometimes I think I would lose my head if it wasn't attached.  After a scary 30 minutes Dora, Peter and I headed out to a pub crawl.  What a great way to be introduced to the night life and new people!  We had quite a bit of fun.  I tried two different Hungarian beers and some traditional spirits made with herbs (unicum).  I loved seeing all the different bars.  They all had different atmospheres.  Some where really nice, but most were dives.  My favorite was called The Library.  This pub had books attached to the ceiling.  

fisherman's bastion

The next day Dora and Peter were kind enough to show me around to some of the tourist sites.  We went to Buda Castle.  It's old as the hills, completed in 1265 and added on to after that.  It had many great things to see.  Inside we saw a beautiful church, the library and a museum.  The first thing you see of the castle is the fisherman's bastion.  This was named years ago because a fisherman guild was set to protect the city from these towers.  Like most castles, it has a small town inside where Dora told me about the horse statue legend.


This is a superstition kept by the local University students in Budapest.  They say if you know you are going to fail a test you should go to Buda Castle.  In the town inside Buda Castle there is a statue of a general on a horse.  Legend says that if you touch the testicles of the horse you will pass your test.  We visited the town and the statue.  The horse's neither regions were suspiciously shinny compared to the rest of the statue. Ha!

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Now I've talked about architecture in Prague but now I want to talk about food.  Not that Budapest doesn't have beautiful architecture, because it surely does.  It's just that I recovered from jet lag while in Budapest.  This meaning I could eat my heart out, and I did.  Let's just look at this picture of street food....

Yum!! Strudel, sausages, steamed pork, langos, appricots, licorish candies, nuts, goulash, fresh bread, potato wedges... I got lost in it.  I forgot how much I love food!

My last two days were full of my own adventure, exploring the town and taking all the picture I missed in the first round.  I got to explore a little island where I found beautiful gardens, churches and just a great view.  I also got to see see a church in a cave, weird but fun.  And buy all of that street food you see above.  (Well not all, because then I would be too round to walk.)  These days were ended with Peter and Dora being amazing hosts and making me a Hungarian meal.  We made rakottkrumpli; a traditional layered potato dish. Also we made Szilvas gomboc; dumplings filled with sugar coated plum. This was by far the best thing I did yet!  Budapest rocks.  On to the sleeper train to Germany!