¡Las Fallas en Valencia!

Okay, so it has taken me a while to update this blog, but if you were having the same 75 degree and sunny weather everyday, it would take a lot to get you to sit inside for several hours in front of a computer, writing. Well, I've compromised, it's a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and I am sitting out on my balcony with a pillow on my back and the sun on my face. Man, Saturdays here a really busy. Not for me of course, I like to take it easy, relax. In fact, I am meeting my friends in a few hours to have a picnic up on Montjuic and then go watch the fountain show when it gets dark at Plaza España. But everyone on the street below me seems to have somewhere to go. I see a young father and his son playing on a bench, taking a snack break from their walk through the town. I see a nicely dressed family of 8 walking below, going somewhere special no doubt. And cars rush by, motorcycles, tour-busses, and taxis. Sundays show a stark contrast to this bustling weekend activity. On Sundays, few stray cars pass by, the stores are dark, and the people are happily waking up with their families and spending a mellow day indoors, or at the park. Here is Barcelona yesterday out front of the University, but the weather just seems to be getting better every single day.

Okay, now to last weekend at Las Fallas in Valencia! It was crazy! I didn't know much of what to expect before we left, only that the festival brings in about 3 million people each year, and that I should prepare for fire and lots of it. Las Fallas is a annual celebration of Valencia's patron saint, the saint of carpentry, where people work all year creating these giant statue/figure things called falles, just to have them be publicly and elaborately burt to a crisp in front of the entire city.
I went with a group organized by my program here in Barcelona, and at 8am we all left by a hired bus for the 4.5 hour drive to Valencia. The drive was beautiful, as we cruised down South along the Mediterranean coast. We were told that we would have until 2am in Valencia, so that we could see the final burning in the central plaza at 1am, and they sent us off with a packed lunch and a bottle of water. We immediately jaunted off towards the old city, and right away began to find the impressive figures around each corner. There were about 800 of them around the city, including the child figures that were more geared towards kids, and stood at the base of the larger ones. The big figures generally make fun of Spanish political figures or celebrities, but there were a lot that were simply whimsical and Disney-like. Enough description, I'll just show you the pictures:

I'm pretty sure this one won 2nd place in the judging

Largest Falla, in the central plaza and the one that they burned for the finale at 1am...more pictures of that in a bit

We walked all over the bustling city, with firecrackers popping at every second, and mini fireworks in the streets put off by young kids. There was even fair food too, but Spanish fair food is pretty different.

Tamar getting in line to try some festival food

I wasn't quite brave enough to try it, but Tamar ordered the fried pumpkin dough.

Here are some pictures from walking around the city.

After walking around for a while, we decided to try the local cuisine that we had heard so much about--Valencian Paella. They are known for their paella, and lucky for me, it's not sea-food paella which is what it always is in Barcelona. Instead, it is made with chicken and rabbit. Well, all 7 of us entered the first cafe with paella written on the sign, and all ordered a plate. Since it's made in the morning, we got our food in about 30 seconds. Here's what it's like:

It was gross. That's just because I don't like paella in general, but wanted to give it a shot. It's literally just rice with heavy yellow sauce that usually doesn't have much flavor, some peppers, a few stray beans, and giant chunks of meat. If you order the paella de marisco, you often will get an entire crawdad just chilling on top staring right back at you, it can be quite frightening.

After dinner, we headed back out to watch the parade through the city. There were fire dancers, men and women in traditional Valencian dress, and ladies on stilts!

Then, we walked around to pass some time while everyone waited for it to get dark enough to begin the explosions. We meandered through the city, taking in our last glimpses of the standing structure before they would be reduced to ash. Then it started. First with the kid falles, that are about 10 feet tall. The set off fireworks in the sky first, then ones that exploded right through the center of the structure, and then just let it burn. Everyone cheered when one of the characters heads would fall off, or a post tumble down, and in the end, there was nothing left but a big pile of ashes. Here is the evolution:

Fully intact

End result.

That was cool and all, but the real show was yet to come. We made our way back to the giant plaza for the grand finale, called "La Crema" for the last night of Las Fallas. There were so many people in the crowd, while we were just trying to cross the plaza to go down a few blocks away everyone was pushing and shoving trying to get to the best vantage point. Once we got a better spot, about 3 blocks from the plaza but with a direct view of the giant figure, the show began. There were more fireworks and then the structure just went ablaze. From 3 blocks back we could feel the heat from the flames on our faces. Here are some photos:

After the burning ended, we all headed back to the bus, and made the sleepy 4 hour trip back to Barcelona, arriving home at the break of dawn.
Since then, weather here has been simply amazing. Everyday has been spent walking through the city, going to markets, sitting for hours in outdoor cafes with friends, and reading on my balcony. I really wish I could delay the real world forever and always enjoy Barcelona in the Spring. This week Catalan classes start up again, this time with the advanced level (although beginner's advanced), and I am still working as an English teacher every week. Next weekend will be one of the last spent here in Barcelona before the flood of travel begins again, so everyday has been spent mellowly but full of sights, as I make sure to soak up every last moment here in my city.
I hope you are all well, and since I am not traveling for a little bit I can go back to actually blogging about Barcelona! Hurrah!
Love, Meghan

Lovely London

I am finally back home in Barcelona, and can take a breather after what has seemed like a marathon through Europe. I have loved seeing so many beautiful places over the last month or so, but leaving every weekend has left me with only 2 nights in Barcelona between each trip, and I was really beginning to tire out. Also, traveling on the weekend really seems to speed up the time here, which is exactly what I don't want to happen. It seems like the semester has just begun, went on a few trips, and now we're at the halfway point! I have got to slow down, and I am greatly looking forward to the next few weeks with my feet firmly planted here in Spain, to simply enjoy life here in Barcelona.
This week I went to London with a friend in my program from Illinois, Alyssa. I have been to London before, my family and I spent a good amount of time there when I was 9 years old, as a part of our month-long trip throughout Britain. Although I was not too keen on the idea of repeat trips in Europe when there are so many new places to see and a limited amount of time, I felt like 11 years was long enough of an interval between, and I loved the city so much the first time that I was excited to go back for more. We left on Thursday night after our classes, and took a bus to Girona, where we flew out of since it caters to budget airlines, like Ryanair. The bus took about an hour and a half, and then the flight, another 2 hours. We arrived in London Stansted airport, which is about an hour and a half from central London. Customs took us forever, and then another long bus ride later, we were dropped off at Hyde Park, near our hostel. Well, we got lost for a bit looking for a "short-cut", and made it to our hostel, "The Pride of Paddington"at around 3am. The night manager let us in to the old pub which is just below the hostel, and we got our sheets and found our room upstairs. There were three other people in our tiny closet of a room that had 3 bunk-beds. We tried to be as quiet as possible and make our beds and then go to sleep. At about 5am I heard someone from the other bed talking, and thought someone was on the phone. I took out my earplugs and heard a man's voice yelling in our room, and then laughing and then just slurring. It scared me half to death, but I guess with hostels, there is no box you can check that specifies "no sleep-talkers please".
We woke up at 8am, and went downstairs for our complimentary English breakfast. As seasoned hostel-users, we have come to expect nothing more than a slice of Wonder Bread for breakfast if we are lucky, so we were very surprised to see that our breakfast was anything but skimpy, in fact, it could honestly feed a small family.

At the pub, with our massive English breakfast

While seated in the pub, a guy came up to us and introduced himself as Stewie from Australia. He was new to the city, and overheard that we were going to be doing some sightseeing and wanted to join. So, Alyssa, Stewie, and I headed out for a day of sights!

The view of Paddington Pub from the outside

First, we took the tube to the Westminster stop, to get a look of the West Bank.

Mind the gap.

First glimpse of the Big Ben in 10 years

Token tourist shot in front of the London Eye

Westminster Abbey

We wandered around a bit, and passed through the Armory to get to the park behind Buckingham Palace.

Sign that Spring is actually near!

We walked up to the palace, but they only do the changing of the guards every other day, so we had missed it.

Gate to Buckingham Palace

From here, we took the tube to Trafalgar Square, where there were tons of tents setting up for a readings by the authors Alan Bennett and Margaret Atwood for World Book Night, with stars like Rupert Everett and Graham Norton also speaking. This was all set up in front of the National Gallery.

We had planned to come back later at night to see what it was about, but didn't find proper information on it until it was half finished and we were across the city, so unfortunately we missed it, I'm sure it was a great production.
Anyways, during the day we continued to walk around and see the city. Alyssa and I continued on to Soho (I just discovered where that name comes from: Soho in London was originally built on royal hunting grounds, and King Henry VIII and his crew would yell "Soho!" as a hunting cry when someone saw a stag and they would all redirect their horses to bring it down), which is now an up-and-coming, very hip neighborhood.

We walked around for a bit, in and out of boutiques and shops, and even had a complimentary glass of champagne as we browsed through the collection of a new Latvian designer who had just opened her store. We stopped for tea at an adorable cafe on a side-street, and sat on the cushions in of the big windows and people watched as our tea steeped, and we warmed our cold hands.
Later in the evening, we went back to the West Bank, to check out the London Eye, which Alyssa really wanted to go on.

Since the ticket line was long and the sun was going down, we decided to come back another day, so we crossed the bridge and headed into the metro to go home.

Since the pound is a pretty big blow to those working off of the US dollar, for dinner we were content to save our money, and take advantage of the 25 cent bagels at the grocery store, and 1 euro Boursin, which we had for dinner just about every night in the hostel.
The next day, Alyssa and I went out for more sightseeing. We took the metro to get to the museum area, and en route, we found an adorable market with the best selection of cheeses, honey, berries, pastries, and hot drinks that provided such visual and olfactory delights. Here are some pictures:

All types of olives for the distinguished foodie

Amazing breads

I made my way out with a piping-hot cup of fresh apple cider, and a basket of blueberries, and from there, we trudged on to the Tower of London by way of the Thames River walkway.

We bought our entry ticket, and were right on time for a tour beginning at the entrance, led by the tower Beefeater.

Warning: Be careful, don't lose your head!

This man is one of 20 or so who live on the premises for life, while looking out for the castle and leading regular tours. He has been here for so long, that his tour was perfected. He took us from stop to stop to explain the buildings with exciting stories and witty humor, and once we finished in the chapel, Alyssa and I continued on to get a better look at each area.

Inside the castle (Beefeater residence)

Scary guards switching positions in quite an intimidating manner

The Tower Bridge

After checking out each building within the castle, and cringing as we looked closely at the gruesome torture devices kept in the Bloody Tower, Alyssa and I headed out towards the bunch of museums nearby.
We passed St. Paul's cathedral and then found the tourism office, but found that the museums all would be closing within the hour except for the Tate Modern, so we crossed the Millennium Bridge and walked over to check it out.

St. Paul's cathedral

I'm not gonna lie, I can be pretty critical when it come to modern art. I mean, I feel like the title is a big umbrella, shielding a whole lot of crap from the rain, but I've got to say I was pleasantly surprised.
Needless to say there where still a lot of pieces I just had to look at and think "Whaaaa?", and I did look skeptically at the occasional doorknob and fire extinguisher to make sure there wasn't a price tag beneath. Passing from installation to installation, I may have stared at some poorly screwed-in nails or peeling wall paint looking for deeper symbolism, but all in all I would like to think I have learned to appreciate modern art a bit more. Among the work were pieces from Picasso, Dalí, Miró, Buñuel, Rivera and Lam, and many others from lesser-known artists. Here are a few that stood out to me:

Picasso

I don't know

I needed an aspirin after this one.

I can replicate this in my room easily...just give me a statue.

After walking through the monster warehouse of a museum, we headed back across the Millennium Bridge, onwards to find a nice place for some dinner.

The next day we headed out to see the museums that we had been to late to see the day before. We took the closest tube, and got off a bit early to walk through the park on our way there.

I'm a tourist, in case you had your doubts.

First we went to the British Museum, which was free and packed with some of the neatest artifacts I have ever seen. There was an Ancient Greece wing, as well as an Egyptian History wing, fully equipped with old statues of pharaohs, hieroglyphs, and mummies!

The Rosetta Stone: AKA attractor of a million photographs from tourists, most of which couldn't tell you it's significant over any other stone. 

Mummy!

Really, a beautiful museum

Next, we headed to the Museum of Natural History. But before, we walked through an old market and shopping center and found a welcoming stoop to enjoy of bagels and Boursin.

Inside the market

Other students disdainful glances. Read on.

However, that was made quite difficult by the pathetic street performer with bad attitude. Never before have I witnessed such a talentless, depressing act by a such a self-loathing little man. He had no tricks, he just stood in the center of the plaza holding some plastic juggling balls (which he never once employed) whilst he incessantly criticized the audience for their lack of enthusiasm and practically begged those around to pretend like him. While Alyssa and I turned our backs to him to try to enjoy the people watching of those traipsing in and out of the market, we kept hearing his desperate pleas in the background: "Do you want to me leave?? Because I don't have to be here!" followed by "You know, in Paris they go crazy over my act, I AM talented you know!".
Part of me wanted to chuck my bagel in the direction of his head, and part of me wanted to give him a much needed hug, but instead we quickly finished our lunch and headed off to the next museum.

We waited in line for quite a bit, and found amusement in the miss-behaving children running in circles around their parents and stealing their little siblings toys. Once we got inside, we were initially impressed, but quickly found the museum to be strongly geared towards a much younger audience.

We made our rounds, and although many of the exhibits had either crayons or animated characters giving facts about the bugs and rocks, we managed to have a good time joking and goofing off. We headed back out and caught a few more glimpses of the West Bank, before and after a long and much-needed cafe break.

That night, back at the pub, we met up with the regulars again. Several old men who regularly travel to London for business seemed to have made Paddington Pub their home-away-from-home, and we quickly made friends with them, along with those sharing our room and the young bar staff. We all sat at a large table in the back of the bar, and while the older gentlemen were enjoying their umpteenth pint of Guiness, Alyssa and I were trying to find a way to stay awake and involved among the others. (We were exhausted after each day of sightseeing, and neither of us drink, so we had to find a way to not seem like total zombies or outcasts). Well, call me a nerd, but I suggested we play the game where we have to name all 50 states. Sure, Alyssa and I could do it in a few minutes, but it was more of a challenge for the rest of the table, most of whose occupants were from Oceania. Well, the atmosphere quickly got competitive as more and more people joined in, shouting out all kinds of names, many of which were American cities, not states, and others of which must belong in Narnia or Oz. Once they completed the states, we moved on to Canadian provinces, and then...where else but to naming EVERY country in the world. I had successfully managed this feat for my 9th grade geography test, and was intrigued by the prospect of remembering all 196 countries, years later. We started alphabetically, and as the rest of the table caught wind of our newest game, they first scoffed at the idea, but then quickly began to participate as soon as they could remember one they thought no one else would have got. There would be a swirl of conversations about god-knows-what at the other end of the table, and suddenly someone would jump up and yell "ZAMBIA!". This became quite entertaining quite quickly, and as key inscriber, I was in charge of writing down the names as soon as people shouted them out. It got a bit trying as the players got deeper and deeper into their evening's alcoholic consumption. The 60 year old man sitting next to me  from Perth was the perfect example. His name was Jeff, and had quite the attitude. He would hear someone yell out a country, I would write it down, and 2 minutes later he would yell out that country thinking that he was coming up with it for the first time, and as I pointed downwards at the paper to show him it had been written, he would reply "Smart ass." I can't tell you how many times this scenario repeated itself over the course of the game. When we got to the T's, I said "Turkmenistan", and he replied "You can't make up countries!"(I'd also like to note that he thought New England was a country) When I told him that Turkmenistan is, in fact a country, he then insisted that I write "Jeffistan" if we were playing by my rules. I obliged.
Once we got to country number 150-something, most had either lost interest or were too busy staring off into space or playing with their shoe laces, and Alyssa and I headed off to bed.
The next morning, we participated in an excursion we saw an add for in the tourism office, where you pay for the bus ride and tour or Oxford, Stonehenge, and Windsor.
The bus picked us up near the Underground stop, and we headed out, first stop Windsor. Our tour guide was quite chatty on the microphone the whole time, and started the tour with a questionnaire about where people were most excited about seeing out of the three. Almost everyone raised their hands for Stonehenge, and he said he likes to ask people again at the end of the day, to see what they most enjoyed and if it's any different. We got to Windsor, but being budget travelers, Alyssa and I could afford the bus trip there, but not the entrance into the castle, and spent the two hours at our first stop wandering in and out of clothing and convenience stores. When we got back on the bus, after everyone had had a complete tour of the castle except us, he asked over the microphone if anyone had any questions about the castle. Why yes I do. "What's it like?"

View from the outside. It's almost better this way, I can imagine what the inside might look like. Probably fur-lined with lots of trampolines and a theater megaplex!

Next stop: Stonehenge. Bunch of rocks. No, excuse me. Bunch of really old rocks.

Look! It looks like the rocks are trying to spell my name!

I bet this angle surprised you. No? Still just rocks? Hm... 

Next stop: Oxford. What a beautiful campus, and such a lively college town. I really enjoyed this stop, most of all because it was free. Unfortunately it was the shortest, and we had 40 minutes to see everything we wanted. We walked around a bit and then over to Trinity College and the Christ Church. I would love to come back again for a bit longer to really look around.

We got back on the bus and headed back to London. We got home around 8 and met up with our new friends again downstairs at the pub to recount our days activities. We spent several hours chatting with Stewie and a father-daughter duo from Chicago named Dan and Melissa, and we all took one last photo with everyone we had met over the weekend before sadly saying goodnight and goodbye to them all. The next morning we woke up at 4am to catch the metro then bus then plane then bus then metro back to our apartments in Barcelona and then immediately after, to class. It was a long day, but we ended the trip with fantastic memories and smiles on our faces.
Back in Barcelona and back to life. I am so glad to be taking a break from traveling for the time being, and basked in the glory of an uninterrupted Sunday morning today as the sun shone through my window and the alarm clock stayed dormant and tucked away.
I hope you are all doing well, sending love from Spain,
Megs