SPAIN
After packing and cleaning my flat in Dublin, I headed off to Barcelona to meet my lovely friend Claire once again - but this time in the country she was studying in (although she's in Seville!) I was excited to go to Spain as I haven't been in years, but it's the one other language I can somewhat communicate in. But with this expectation I was disappointed - Barcelona is part of Catalonia, and they speak an entirely different dialect of Spanish. Not only that, but they'd rather speak to you in English over Spanish, as they are trying to preserve their Catalan language. I tried, and failed to speak Spanish. Well, you win some you lose some! After meeting Claire in the hostel (but not being able to communicate with cell phones, so I just hoped she would be there...) we decided to wake up the next morning for a bike tour of the city. This was a decision we did not regret, it was one of the highlights of my time abroad! I did better on a bike after my disaster in Belgium, although I was nervous at first. I only had one incident this time....I thought my bike would make it in between a planter and a pole but the handles were too wide...so my hand took the fall into the planter and there may have been some blood and bruises involved. Battle wounds! But in my defense, I am a good bike rider now, I just learned not to take risks and ride in between small spaces.
The next day, we crammed in as much as we could! Claire and I spent te morning wandering around the giant market on Las Ramblas, where there were dozens of different juices to try, freshly killed fish and meat (EW), and a lot of yummy food stalls. Next up, Claire, Matt and I wanted to check out another one of Gaudi's famous buildings - Casa Batlló.What an amazing structure that place is! We decided to take a tour because of how interesting it looked from the outside, and the inside lived up to our expectations. It was a strange, artistic beauty full of curves and color. Absolutely incredible!
Speaking of another beauty, our next stop was Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia, his spectactular cathedal that's been in constrution for about 100 years. But hey, God's beauty is unfathomable, so props to Gaudi for building something THAT grand to honor our Savior!! Pictures speak louder than words ....
AUSTRIA
After missing my train to the airport by one minute, I almost missed my flight to Vienna! I made it just as people started boarding, and hit more bad luck with awful weather when I arrived. Bad weather didn't stop my from exploring though, as I was only spending half a day and one night in Vienna. I walked around city center and ended up spending most of my time watching the opera - outside the actual theater! The famous Opera House was holding a special event for April where they were playing the live opera, which was going on inside the theatre, outside on a giant screen. Although it was in German, and German subtitles, I absolutely love opera and couldn't tear my eyes away! I sat outside in the miserable cold and rain, with dozens of other, and had an enjoyable afternoon listening to the best Austria has to offer. I warmed up that night with my first Austrian delicacy - apple strudel, at a cafe with live classical music. My night in Vienna was just as fantastic - I went and saw a performance at the Schonbrunn Palace. It was a stunning sight, and the show included an orchestra, two opera singers, and two ballet dancers that were quite entertaining and comical! Strauss and Mozart are the most well-known composers from Austria, and listening to their works of musical genius all night was the perfect night in Vienna!
I then experienced my worst travel mishap - I got on the wrong train when I was trying to get to Salzburg from Vienna. Whoooooops! Luckily I found someone who spoke English on the train, and they informed me that I would have to go about two hours out of my way on the current train, and then catch a train to Salzburg from the last stop. I decided to not stress out about it, it was like taking the scenic route through Austria! Austria is truly a breathtaking country to look at, so as long as I made it to Salzburg by 2 o'clock for my Sound of Music tour, I didn't mind my careless mistake! THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is why you plan to be early for everything. I had planned to be in Salzburg by before noon, but ended up arriving in the train station at 1:30. I immediately when to my tour meeting point and made it just in time! Sound of Music is one of those all time classic movies, and several of the scenes are in Salzburg. The bus tour I took was incredible - the guide was hilarious, and we sung every song from the soundtrack while on the bus! Even though the weather still wasn't great, I got to see several of the filming locations in the rain! See for yourself:
Where Maria sang "I'll Have Confidence!"
"I am sixteen, going on seventeen..."
Where the little kids patted the dwarf statue head in Do-Ray-Me!
Where they skipped in Do-Ray-Me!
The Abbey they filmed at!
The Von Trapp house and the lake they fell in!
The church they were married in!
The aisle they walked down in their wedding!
The next morning in Salzburg I spent exploring the historic old town, and it was one of my favorite European cities! So quaint with the Austrian Alps towering in the distance. That afternoon, I ventured out to the other side of those Alps - Bavaria, Germany. I figured I might as well go to a neighboring country when I was so close to the border! This was another one of my favorite days in Europe. My tour was small and everyone was super friendly, so it was nice to be able to talk to other people since I was traveling alone! We traveled through the Bavarian Alps and stopped in two small German cities to explore. I took a hike to a beautiful lake photo-op, and it barely looked real it was so gorgeous! So many places I go feel as if I'm living in a movie, the beauty never ceases to astound me. I enjoyed another apple strudel in Germany, and loved every moment of the scenery and snow!
ENGLAND
After traveling alone, I was ready to see some friendly faces - this time, MY PARENTS!!!!!!! I am so blessed, as I got to meet my parents in London after my Austrian adventure! They didn't have phones, so it was a little strange just hoping I could find my way to the hotel and they'd be there! I ended up having to walk 30 minutes in the rain, but the hotel was directly next to the London Eye and across from the Parliament buildings - prime location much?! We were some lucky ducks!! I literally ran through the hallway to bang on their door, I was so excited to see my family after 3 and a half months!!! Of course they were jet lagged and tired, but we managed to stay awake and see a show that night, since London is famous for theatre and we all know I'm a theatre nerd. This was my first time seeing Les Miserables, and the acting and singing was extremely impressive. It was a heartbreaking show and a little depressing, but I'm glad I got to see it with such a talented cast. Before that, we had an eventful search for a place to eat dinner - in Chinatown. It was an adventure we will never forget, and although the food was decent, it was more memorable for the experience than the taste! We were absolutely exhausted (I got sick in Austria - bah humbug! :[ ), and we had an early morning planned. The next day, we took a 12 hour bus tour to Warwick Castle, Stratford-upon-avon (Shakespeare's birthplace,), Oxford (HARRY POTTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and through the Cotswolds. We wanted to experience more of England than just London, and every place was unique. Seeing the great dining hall from Harry Potter literally brought tears to my eyes....yes, I'm THAT obsessed. At Warwick Castle, we climbed the tower - over 500 steps! It was comical how steep and close together the steps were, we were worried for our safety - I don't know how people climbed those everyday hundreds of years ago!
Our drive to the countryside!
Warwick Castle views
Stratford-upon-avon!
Oxford (Christ Church campus)!
Where Professor McGonagall welcomed the students at HOGWARTS..
HOGWARTS DINING HALL!!
After seeing a bit of England, we only had one day to see London, so we did the hop on/hop off bus tour to see all the main tourist spots. We also got to walk around Portobello Market, definitely my type of scene! Lots of antiques and boutique stores, but we didn't have enough time to really look around - we had a flight to catch that same night. London is a great city - really busy and crowded with a complicated "tube" metro system, but I decided I have to go back one day - I need to see the Harry Potter studios some day in my life, hehe!
Beautiful London sights!
Tower Bridge
London Tower
London Eye and our hotel!
Big Ben!
Parliament buildings
Westminster Abbey
Buckingham Palace
Portobello Market
IRELAND
It was then time for me to head back to my homeland - this time, with my parents!!! I was so excited to show them where I had been living for the past few months, and the country I felt like my heart now belonged to. And Ireland did not disappoint, it was just as beautiful as when I left it, of course! We started off with the hop on/hop off bus tour of Dublin, and we had some interesting experiences! One of the highlights was when we decided to take a tour of Christ Church Cathedrals bell towers - and ring the bells! This was a spur of the moment random activity, and it was more difficult than I expected it to be. Definitely an awesome experience - getting to be on the roof of Christ Church Cathedral - check!
Our next day we had another early morning as we headed out on a tour to the west coast of Ireland. We saw the stunning sights of Connemara and Galway, which was one of my previously visited and favorite Irish cities. We also got to stop at Kylemore Abbey - definitely a place I want to go back to on my next visit of Ireland. Another highlight was our boat cruise along the Killarey Fjord. It was so relaxing getting to see the beauty of Ireland by boat, while enjoying a great lunch on board. We saw the mussel farms in the ocean, and my parents ate mussels from those same farms in their seafood chowder! It was the perfect experience of the Irish countryside, as I wanted to show my parents the part of Ireland I was the most in love with (especially the thousands of sheep we got to see on the way!) That night, we got to hear my new favorite music - trad music! The previous night we learned about Irish trad music on a pub crawl (we were too tired though and only made it to one pub...hehe!) and then I got to take my parents to one of my favorite pubs - O'Neil's. We had a fantastic dinner and I convinced them to stay a little later to hear some of the music. Well worth it, because it was great craic! (I already miss using that phrase...)
With our last day in Ireland, we decided to take it easy as our exhaustion was in full effect after a week of non stop activities (more than a week for me!) We went to lunch in the charming seaside town of Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leery for you silly Americans) and walked along the pier while soaking up the sun who decided to visit. It was a beautiful day for my last moments in my new home, and I couldn't have asked for a better experience.
