...and spending everything i've saved for the last two and a half years on all seven continents!

27 June 2012

My Luck and the Irish!


Lolly


View from the backyard :)

I had the best time in Ireland! I spent six wonderful days seeing the sun shine over Dublin and falling in love with this incredibly charming Irish family. Laura, a friend from my Africa trip, was traveling in Panama at the time, but she put me in touch with her family and I ended up staying with them, and on a farm! Though not farmers themselves, the family happens to live on a farm with the most amazing view over Dublin; the green rolling hills were so beautiful (!) and I even liked the sheep bleating at us every now and then. I only planned to stay with them a couple days but they made me feel so welcome that I couldn’t resist the invitation to stay a while longer.


Ian, Elaine, Rachel, Timothy, Matthew, and Nathaniel <3

I didn’t grow up in a big family and have never really spent a lot of time around big families so seeing a family of six go through their days was a fantastic experience! I found it all utterly charming… “Kids, get in the car!”….”Nathaniel, put down your bow!”….”Matthew, no more computer!” I felt like I was one of the kids, except I got to drink with Mom and Dad at the end of the day :) It was very nice to be fussed over and cared for in a way I haven’t been since I was really young. They fed me very well and picked me up and dropped me off just like they did with their own kids. Elaine (Mom) even set up a “play date” for me with another American girl visiting Ireland and before I left for the pub, she asked me if I needed money for drinks. SO nice!


Apparently, I wasn’t seeing the real Ireland, especially with the mostly sunny, warm, and beautiful days I got. Everyone was out and about enjoying the weather and people just seemed so cheerful and happy. People were very kind when I had questions or needed directions though I think that’s generally “Irish” instead of just a weather-related phenomenon. When I was wandering Dublin, for instance, I was staring at a sign that read “Department of the Taoiseach….” It was the English translation of the Gaelic (Roinn an Taosigh) and made no sense to me. A nice man saw I was confused, stopped to explain that the sign was referring to the Prime Minister, and walked on after wishing me a good day :) With all the good weather though, people flock to the same places – St. Stephen’s Green in Dublin was absolutely packed when I visited and Glendalough was sheer madness getting in and out of the parking lot.



Glendalough

Glendalough, pronounced “Glendalock” instead of “Glendaloo,” is a glacial valley famous for its 6th century monastery and round tower. In Gaelic, the place is called Gleann da Locha which translates as “valley of the two lakes.”  We went for a walk around the ruins and to the lake, then settled down for a lovely picnic. Elaine also took me to Marlay Park, Powerscourt, and the Pearse Museum in St. Enda’s Park. I got to see a lot of the Greater Dublin area and it was all so beautiful!


I spent a couple days in Dublin exploring by myself and this was wonderful too! One of the days, I saw everything I could – Trinity College (and the line for the Book of Kells), the General Post Office (GPO), Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Castle, the Chester Beatty Library, Grafton St., Temple Bar Square, Meetinghouse Square, Merrion Square, the National Gallery of Ireland, the Natural History Museum, and more. 


Dublin

 

@ Trinity College

I didn’t bother seeing the Book of Kells because it costs 9 Euros and it seemed a lot to pay for a book I know nothing about. The line was long too and I heard that you only get to see the page on display for the day – I think I’d rather just use Google Images :) I loved wandering around the city though and seeing how very Irish everything seemed. All those Irish pubs you see in every country are actually pretty authentic! There were a lot of beautiful buildings and churches in town too, but what I enjoyed the most was the Saturday market at Meetinghouse Square. A bunch of food vendors set up every weekend and sell everything from soda bread to horse skewers. (Incidentally, I got some of both – Amazing!) 



Dinner/Dessert at home :) - Skewers on the BBQ, Chicken noodle stir fry, Chorizo mozarella penne, and Pavlova

On Food: The snacks from the market and Elaine’s dinners were amazing but Irish food generally is not my favorite. I didn’t get to try an Irish coddle (stew), but the other things I had like a fry up (traditional Irish breakfast) and fish ‘n chips were super greasy. The breakfast was particularly dissatisfying and made me really miss “regular” American bacon, eggs, and hash browns. Who actually likes baked beans or black pudding for breakfast?! Yuck! On the upside, the Irish do fantastic beer. I don’t like Guinness in the US, but it was really nice to have in Ireland. Murphy’s Stout is also delicious, probably the best dark beer I’ve had in years!



Traditional Fare: Fish 'n Chips, Guinness, Beef and Guinness Pie, Fry Up

Basically, my six days in Ireland were magical. I was so lucky with the weather and getting to spend time with such an amazing family. For me, Ireland epitomizes the joys of traveling – discovering a beautiful place and making connections with really wonderful people. I hope I can get back there soon :)

Up Next: England! 

20 June 2012

Bom Dia do Lisboa!



Castle in Cascais

I liked Portugal! It reminded me a lot of the month I spent in Brazil and the amazing people I met there. :) It was nice to recall some of the Portuguese Lolo taught me and then get to try it on some of the locals. The ones we talked to, incidentally, were really nice people! They were very helpful and friendly and seemed to really appreciate our attempts at Portuguese. The thing that struck me most was finally seeing some heterogeneity. I hadn’t really thought about the fact that a lot of places I’d been in the last few months were pretty much uniformly white. The diversity was actually refreshing! 



Campo Pequeno Bullring - Right next to our hostel!

Unfortunately, getting to Lisbon was a bit rough, especially for Mom…. She got the full travel-by-Kim experience when we took a really tiring overnight bus from Seville to Lisbon. Our bus was scheduled to leave around midnight and not only arrived late but was also delayed leaving the station because of an altercation between the driver and a passenger refused entry. The man was possibly drunk and the driver wouldn’t let him on. The man tried to push past the heavy-set driver though this didn’t work. Then, something (a shove or some mean words perhaps?) set the driver off and the driver started chasing and beating the man. Someone called the police and the coach left before we really saw any resolution. Crazy! Of course it happened when I was with Mom too! We ended up getting to Lisbon okay but I don’t think Mom was able to get any sleep on the bus and she later took a fall getting off the train :(  


Mom and the Ponte 25 de Abril


Eletrico 28

We were able to drop our bags off at the hostel around 7am, but were basically ushered out until check-in at 2pm. Without a map and any real idea of where we were going, we doggedly found our way to a market for some breakfast pastries and fruit – the Mercado da Ribeira. We later took the old tram car (that looks like the F line in San Francisco) all around town getting a feel for different neighborhoods like Rossio (the main square area), Baixa (downtown), Chiado, Bairro Alto, Graça, and more. There are odd little reminders of San Francisco all around Lisbon like, for example, the Ponte 25 de Abril. (Random: Both the Ponte 25 de Abril and the Bay Bridge were built by the same company, yet the Ponte 25 de Abril looks like the Golden Gate Bridge...) Mom and I were able to explore Belem the next day, a nice part of town with a ton of museums, the San Jeronimo Monastery, and the Belem tower. I think I liked the Belem area of Lisbon best – apart from the tourists, it was just really peaceful and pretty.


Belem

We were on a quest for good seafood in Lisbon, but never really found it. We had a seafood lunch, but what we thought was going to be similar to fish ‘n chips for mom, ending up more as pancakes with cod pieces/flavoring. I had a shrimp, fish, and rice stew that was nice, but not quite as satisfying as a fish filet or shrimp skewer would have been:


No seafood luck at dinnertime either: One night at dinner, Mom went for Burger King and I went for a rather plain chicken breast. At another dinner, we went to a rodizio (churrascaria), but taste-and-quality wise, it was the worst one I’d ever been too. 


Portuguese Snacks: Bolas de Bacalao, Chamuças,Croquettes, etc...

Portugal isn’t my favorite place for food, but the pasteis de nata are a must! They are famous custard pastries that originate from the Antiga Confeitaria de Belem. Their version is called Pasteis de Belem and you get them fresh, warm, and utterly perfect. I don’t even like dessert that much but just one flaky, custardy tart wasn’t enough; we got back in the long line to buy more! They were even better than the dan tat (egg custard tart) at Golden Gate Bakery! 


 

 

Cascais

I think our last day in Portugal was one of my favorites together because we started off with those amazing tarts and then had a really nice time visiting Cascais and its beaches. Cascais is about 45 minutes away from Lisbon and rumored to have some of the best beaches around. We walked along the beautiful coast seeing a random sculpture exhibition and castle. Later, Mom hung out at the water’s edge and I got a tan.... Great day :) 


 

Mom is always funny when she's at the beach :)

Our visit to Portugal was super short, but I think we got a good sense of things here. I'd definitely like to come back!

Some Updates:

-                  :: I am home! Yesterday I flew Amsterdam-Chicago-Orange County, got picked up by Mom and Theo with a dozen roses in hand, and had an awesome seafood dinner! :)
-                  :: The countdown begins: There will be five more posts and then I probably have to put this blog into retirement. I hope you’ll enjoy the conclusion of my adventure abroad as much as I did!
-                  :: In the next few weeks I will work on a proper answer for the question everyone likes to ask me (“What’s your favorite place?”) and also gather lots of fun facts about the trip.


Up Next: Ireland!

14 June 2012

Aventuras en Espana, Parte Dos


Free tapas in Granada when you buy a drink! Awesome!

Granada: It had a different vibe from Madrid. Whereas Madrid felt young and down-to-earth, Granada felt sophisticated and cultured. People looked like they were dressed up and more worldly perhaps? It was just Mom and me in Granada because Stacy and Kamal had left for Barcelona. We had dinner out in the city and went to bed fairly early because we had to be in line for Alhambra at 730am. If you don’t have tickets, you have to line up before they open (8am) and hope you get one of the few remaining day-of tickets. We got in! (For future reference, everyone stands in the cash-only line but ticket machines accepting credit cards are there for use as well. Be smarter than us and go for those!) 


Palacio de Generalife - Alhambra

As for Alhambra, kingdom complete with a royal palace and fortress, it is something else… beautiful buildings, gardens, and views with a photo opportunity at the turn of every corner. I took several hundred pictures while Mom and I explored the complex. The Palacios Nazaries are the best part, well worth paying for. I’m glad we went to see it though it left us both hot and exhausted – it was more than 100 degrees that day!



Palacios Nazaries - Alhambra

Seville: From Granada, Mom and I took a bus to Seville, stored our stuff at the bus station, and set off wandering. We saw the highlights of Seville fairly quickly: Cathedral of Seville, La Giralda, Real Alcazar, Plaza de Espana, etc. We were pretty sick of food in Spain at this point and so took a moment to rest and recuperate with-(un)fortunately-McDonald’s. Mom wanted it too after having had nothing but Spanish food the last few days. I don’t have much of an opinion on Seville itself – I guess it’s a nice city that is easily seen in a day and skip-able when short on time. I remember there being very strong wind and lots of my loud sneezing :)



Scenes from Seville


Painted at many of Barcelona's crosswalks.... Message received: Don't jaywalk!

Barcelona: I think Barcelona might be my favorite of the Spanish cities we visited on our trip. It’s probably mostly due to eating very well there and really enjoying the beach after not having been in quite a while. The weather wasn’t great though and the beach vendors were really rather annoying. I really didn’t feel like a massage, henna, or a slice of coconut, but I kept getting asked. Really, I just wanted to be left alone and so when one of the guys sat down to talk to me, I was in no mood for it. I felt bad for being a jerk, but the second there was a lull in the conversation, I started reading my book with avid interest until he left. Mostly I  spent the last days in Spain getting used to being alone again… sleeping in, walking every which way for hours and hours, and budget eating – ham and cheese sandwiches :)



Las Ramblas y La Boqueria

Mom was with me for the first two days in Barcelona as we explored the entirety of Las Ramblas, Barri Gotic (Ciutat Vella), Gaudi’s legacy (Park Guell, Sagrada Familia, Casa Batllo, and La Pedrera/Casa Milo), and Montjuic. Just off Las Ramblas is La Boqueria, a great public market where Mom and I had fresh fruit juice and then bought cherries, blood oranges, and clementines. If we had had our own kitchen, we might have been tempted by all the fresh seafood for sale too! 



Gaudi: Sagrada Familia, La Pedrera, & Park Guell

Gaudi I have to say was not a high priority for us and certainly not worth the 18.15 Euro price tag to enter, for example, Casa Batllo. Ridiculous! Mom and I enjoyed his works from the outside or at Park Guell, like good budget tourists. 


Montjuic

We splurged on the cable car for Montjuic for the nice views of course, but mostly to save Mom’s feet. I made her walk a lot with me the last two weeks so her feet were starting to swell and her little toe was turning blue (or so she thought…). Poor Mom :) One of my favorite things we saw was the musical fountain in the Placa de Espanya:


The water doesn’t quite dance like it does at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, but the fountain lights up with really pretty colors! The two of us had our last meal together in the Placa Reial – a fancy marisqueria where when you ask for agua del grifo (tap water) they just say “No.” The food was just average – better to eat on Passeig de Joan de Borbo near the beach in Barceloneta for good, cheap seafood.



Being tourists in Barcelona :)

I put Mom on the Aerobus so she could catch her flight back to LAX. I stood waving at the bus even though I couldn’t see her, hoping she could see me. I got back a little while later to our empty room and felt super sad all of a sudden; I even started to cry a little. I always feel this deep sadness when people leave and it was no different with Mom. (When Stacy and Kamal left I still had Mom with me… We were also rushing when we said our goodbyes so there was no time for tears.) So even though she snores like an angry bear and is a lot more of a princess traveler than I am, I miss Mom a lot. 


Up Next: Portugal! (Backtracking a bit to cover the quick trip Mom and I took to Lisbon from Seville!)