A Spanish Honeymoon

A friend is going to Barcelona, Sevilla and Madrid on her honeymoon and requested my advice. I told her:

In Barcelona, definitely go to Parque Guell, the Sagrada Familia, the Picasso Museum (one of my favorite art museums in the world...and I've been to MANY as the daughter of two artists), and of course, the beach. Definitely go to the Alhambra (amazing!!!!) in Granada, when you're down in Andalucia. In Sevilla, check out the huge mosque (soak up all you can about Spain's rich history of the Christians/Jews/Muslims while you're there...they call the interaction for so many years the "convivencia,"...it's really fascinating). Along those same lines, if you can while you're down in Andalucia, go to Cordoba and see the Mosque there - it's pretty cool (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mosque_of_C%C3%B3rdoba) and maybe the Jewish Quarter, which is nearby -- I think it's the largest in Europe.

In Toledo, wander and get lost around the little streets - it's a fabulous little ancient town. In Madrid, check out the Palacio Real, go to Plaza Santa Ana and have some tapas outside in the big square, go shopping at El Corte Ingles (Spain's biggest department store) in Plaza del Sol (the center of the city), relax outside and walk around Retiro Park (maybe rent one of the paddle boats and go out on the pond in the middle?), go to the Prado Museum, and go out ALL night! If there's a Real Madrid soccer game while you're there, that could be really fun too. Spaniards love their futbol. For nightlife, I suggest Palacio Gaviria, it's this really cool huge club in what used to be a palace in the middle of Madrid. Just beware --- drinks are $$ there!

Must Do's for Spain (anywhere you go): drink some Rioja red wine and sangria, eat some tortilla espanola, and enjoy the blue skies and SUN.

***Would you add anything?***

Clean air in Europe?

I distinctly remember shopping at a mall in Madrid that allowed customers to smoke freely inside. You'd buy a dress for a night on the town, and it would already smell like smoke when you put it on! Those days are long gone...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28876293/

Photo by Jo Naylor

Family Fiascos: Germany - Part II

We ran across the airport, [politely] cut the entire line at security and delivered ourselves to the terminal with two minutes to spare...only to find out that the flight was delayed by an hour. Well, at least we got a workout.

And what does one do with an hour to kill at 6am in Barajas Airport? Duty-free shopping, of course. I decided I wanted a new perfume. Totally reasonable thought for a Friday morning at dawn. Craig and I ran around the store, testing out each and every scent they had to offer (the employees must have loved us). Around 6:25 a.m., I settled on a classic: Prada. I pretended that the numbers shown were U.S. dollars, not Euros, and handed over my American Express.

Finally, we boarded the plane and arrived in Munich just a couple of hours later -- famished and in need of a serious nap. We collapsed into chairs at a cafe across from our hotel and I inhaled a rich bowl of cream of asparagus soup and half a basket of Bavarian pretzels with mustard.

After lunch and a quick power nap, we left the hotel to wander around Munich.

[of course, more to come...]

Family Fiascos: Germany - Part I

Our family did not joke around with vacations. Over the years, we had an eclectic mix of adventures (one of the many bi-products of having parents who are artists). When my friends were heading to the Jersey Shore or Disney World, we took off to St. Johns, Newfoundland to go whale-watching or to trace our family history in Brixham, England (plenty of stories to come about these National Lampoon-style family vacations).

When I was studying abroad in Madrid, my brother gave me the best birthday gift I've ever recieved - a week-long trip to Germany. This time is was just the two of us - no strict itineraries to follow, no wake-up calls, just a couple of guidebooks and some pre-set hotel reservations.

Craig was planning to fly into Madrid in the afternoon, and we'd leave for Munich bright and early the next morning. "So when you get here, we'll just go out to dinner and get a good night's sleep before we fly. My friends are going out, but I don't think that's a good idea for us," I warned him.

Famous last words. At 5 a.m., he approaches me at the dance club and tells me, "Okay, it's time to go!"

The guy I'm talking to turns and asks him, "Oh, where are you going?"

"Germany."

We ran out of the club and flagged separate taxis. Craig rushed back to his hotel on Gran Via and completed the fastest check-out in the history of the property, practically throwing his room key across the desk - while I flew back to my Senora's apartment, grabbed my bags, took a seat on the park bench outside her building and waited for my brother to arrive. Suddenly, a yellow taxi came to a screeching halt in front of me and Craig jumped out of the car, and practically threw both me and my bag into the vehicle. We sped towards the airport, holding our breath as the sun rose outside.

The ticket agent asked if we spoke Spanish. I nodded vigorously and she told me with wide eyes, "Your plane is boarding in 15 minutes." We grabbed our bags and sprinted across the airport towards security.

[to be continued...]

A LA CARTE: Maoz Vegetarian

My first delicious Maoz experience was in Amsterdam, Holland -- at their flagship shop. Next, I stumbled across branches in both Barcelona and Madrid. Finally, last spring, I got the good news: they opened a U.S. branch right in Union Square!


Their official promise: "At Maoz, we understand that today’s lifestyle is more demanding than ever, leaving almost no time to take care of the fundamentals such as maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle, including a nutritious diet. We at Maoz provide our customers with the highest quality of products and services at a reasonable price and in minimum time, fitting into each and everybody’s busy day and night…"

I think they get it.

**A healthy, inexpensive, fast-food menu featuring crisp falafel, flavorful hummous, warm whole wheat pita, and a salad bar where I can choose my own fresh veggies? Yes, please.

The Original Departure

You will spend three weeks traveling around Spain before arriving in Madrid, your final destination for the next five months.

Five months in a country that I'd only visited once, on a family vacation when I was 14 and still thought that 'NSYNC was the greatest thing since my Strawberry Shortcake obsession in preschool. Five months in a city that I'd never visited. Five months speaking a language that I hadn't spoken since high school.

I picked my dear friend Cara up at a train station in Newark and spent the rest of the evening packing.

"I wonder what it's going to be like," I thought out loud as I stuffed each article of clothing into my enormous, new rolling suitcase.

Nothing could prepare us for the five chaotic, yet fabulous months ahead of us.



The first sign of the chaos was a transatlantic flight in which the airline ran out of liquor. "Happy hour in the back of the plane," someone announced. Suddenly, there was no vodka to be found. As soon as the seatbelt lights went off, people were running around the back of the coach-class cattle car as if it were a Friday night at Maggie's Tavern.

Cara sat next to our friend Devin, and immediately was at ease. Never the shy one, I too, found myself deep in conversation with my seat partner, a complete stranger. Perpetually known as "Nice Nick" from this point on, he was the greatest person to be sitting next to during an eight-hour flight from the familiar (New York) to the absolutely unknown (Madrid). We chatted about school, Spanish, and anything else that would distract me from the fact that I was suspended 36,000 feet in the air over the Atlantic Ocean, just hours from a final destination that would include a new "family" that didn't speak my language.

Eventually, we landed in Madrid, retrieved our suitcases (they'd survived the transatlantic journey, too!), and shuffled into lines to go through Customs. Little did I know then that the single, mindless act of moving from the longest to the shortest line would forever shape the rest of my life. Suddenly, I was surrounded by smiling strangers, and we laughed at the other, longer lines. Past Customs, the group of us followed the herd of students, yet gathered on the same bus to Toledo - unslept and full of a nervous energy.

These smiling faces would become my closest friends during my semester abroad, and would truly shape the rest of my college career.