Spring Travels Part Four (Finale): Spain

Six days in Spain: Cyrillio, Arthuro, and Julia. Backpacking here and there, late nights, sunny days, beaches and cities between.

Sevilla. Two nights. We arrive late, with no place to stay, no plan to our names. We find a hostel that's cheap and good and close to town. We find a bar around midnight to get some food, and party late like they do in Spain... Blurry eyed and hazy, exhaustedly we meet new friends and enjoy the bustle that lasts until we make our way home. We wake up mid-morning and make our way to the river to find breakfast. We get a picnic from the local market and eat it on the other side of town, overlooking the greenish blue river. Orange trees above our heads, and lavender-looking trees permeate the city in their soft glow. We see the big sights - church, palace, and garden. The garden was so unlike anything I had ever seen. It felt surreally beautiful. Julia and I were both convinced that the unique bird sounds we were hearing were speakers. The boys thought this was funny. We had another late night in Sevilla, complete with new friends, Flamenco, tequila, and a dance party. The next day was time to move on to... Cadiz. One night. Cadiz felt like a medieval town on the water. We arrived at the beach, excited to finally be at some water. The sun was setting, and we were walking alongside it and lots of blue blue water to find a place to stay. This was the night that we found one of the grossest hostels I've ever stayed in. Being perhaps the only current residents, our footsteps echoed throughout dreary dark hallways in the oversized mansion that had been converted into a hotel. Broken panes of glass separated hallways into the open courtyard, at the bottom of which, sat a motorcycle that seemed to have been under repair for half a century. Our room had a fifties style decoration, and bed bugs (which were noted the morning after). Locks were everywhere, requiring trips down to the main desk for the various keys, and yet they didn't always seem to work or entirely necessary... There was definitely some creepy stuff going on there... We made the best of it of course, had a calm night of Tapas and a walk by the harbor. No late night in Cadiz, just a long sleep at rundown motel from "I don't want to go there" guidebook. The next day it was time to move to our final destination point, the southern most part of Spain: Tarifa. One night, one adventurous night. First thing's first, we found ourselves a good old spot for some cheap, good, friendly Tapas. Second, wander to the beach, where we would stay pretty much the whole time we were there, WHICH had a view of Morocco, which was only a thirty minute boat ride away (which we did not have time for... bummer). We bathed in the last moments of the setting sun, sipping beers at the beach bar. Then we decided to seek a place to stay, or rather to camp, or a combination of both. We walked a looonnggg way along the beach to what we thought looked like a campsite. We got there, realized none of us wanted to stay there, and so dashed across the highway to find food at 11 o'clock at night, which in this part of Spain, was a bit more difficult to find. After filling our stomachs at a nicer restaurant than we had bargained for, we headed to the beach for a quiet sleep alongside the crashing waves... Or a beautifully sleepless night, because of the gusting winds coming across the channel between Spain and Africa, as we later found out that beach to be the windiest in Europe! After what seemed like maybe two minutes of sleep, we found ourselves greeted by some friendly cops in the morning. We weren't in trouble or anything, they were just checking in on our situation, and told us to try to find a better campsite the next time. So it was time to move to Madrid. After stopping back at our favorite Tapas spot in Tarifa, we made our way to the long bus ride up North. I took a couple of sleeping aids, which surprisingly worked like a dream... I slept maybe six hours on that 9 hour bus. We arrived in Madrid just in time to wake with the city. It was a magical time to arrive in the city - before its bustle had begun, and we were sauntering through its streets like they were our own. Julia and I decided to plunge on through the day, since it was my last, so we made our way to a cafe to get some café and food. It was across the street from el prado, so we tried to cut the lines, which did not work, since apparently lines start there an hour before opening time, and so we finally made it inside the museum. It was beautiful. Velasquez, el Greco, and more... I was in heaven. After the museum, we made our way back to the city center to find the boys. There wasn't much time before leaving, so we grabbed some tapas (surprise surprise) and made our way to the subway where I could hop on to the airport. Madrid. One day. Fast, busy like Paris, and beautiful upon beautiful like all of the rest.

Spring Travels Part Three: Austria

Seeing Catherine in Salzburg.

I arrived in Salzburg Wednesday evening around 9 p.m. I hadn't seen Catherine in two years. She was waiting for me on the train tracks with open arms, and her beautiful sunshine-filled smile. After jumping up and down for a while, she and I headed to a bus back to her place. Catherine's place in Salzburg was as cozy as I would have dreamed up her place to be. She lived with three Austrian roommates in a spacious apartment with beautiful light wood everywhere you turned. Her room was big and open, with windows that overlooked her nice neighborhood, and calm street. We spent the first night catching up and hearing years of stories, changes, and adventures.

While I was in Austria, Catherine and I saw all of the big sights - the Mirabella gardens, Mozart statue, famous streets downtown, the mansion where the Sound of Music was filmed, and climbed the mountains up and around the city. My favorite parts of my trip were the parts that were not so traditional and acutely part of the unique life Catherine had developed there, which included: a trip to the organic food market, visiting her friend's magical store next to her house, taking a break dancing class at the local university outside the city (basically in the country, which was INCREDIBLY beautiful), going to her fancy gym and taking a yoga class, eating at her favorite indian and vegan restaurants, and hanging out in her room - getting extra sleep, doing a bit of yoga, and late night talks... And of course the silly parts of the trip were some of my favorite times as well, the all time best being a posing session with various statues in the Mirabella gardens.

To see pictures of this lovely séjour in Austria, go to the following website. Catherine posted up my pictures online:

http://www.pbase.com/bergwiese/caitlinsvisit&page=all

And to get a taste of our breakdancing experience, check out this video Catherine made of her teaching her Catholic high school students one day after school!

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=upGxvLLycPc

Spring Travels Part Two: Italy

Italy.

Bologna and Venice. Two nights in Bologna, three in Venice. Daily diet: cappuccino with pastry, slice o’ pizza and water, pasta and wine. High living. Bologna ‘la rosa’ was indeed covered in a rosy glow when Dan and I came into town. The weather was beautiful. We arrived on a Friday afternoon. We took a taxi to our hotel, Albergo Atlantic, which was only about fifteen minutes.

The streets of Bologna shrouded us in a cloud of warm red – porticos extending for as far as we could see. Shops with cigarettes, chocolate, pastries, cappuccino met us at every corner. We walked these streets fairly soon after settling into our room, which was warm and clean. I was exhausted, and excited by the large beds, with clean sheets, white linens, and large pillows. We had arrived in Italy!

Our stay in Bologna was short and beautiful. Dan spent a fair amount of time with his ex-girlfriend (Italian, a bologna resident), which left me to wander the streets and churches on my own. I enjoyed this time a great deal. My favorite spot in the city was a large church called Eglisa San Dominco. The Ciampo where I found it, was tucked away in a southern part of the city, and seemed to be one of the more open Ciampo’s, with lighting that made the church and cobblestones around it glow under the feet of the few passerby. There were a few shops near the Ciampo, but mostly residential streets that led to other quiet parks, filled with the sunlit weekend days.

We ate some really good food the first night there at a family Trattoria place that was Maria Teresa’s favorite restaurant (Dan’s ex). It was an interesting meal for me, picking up the Italian I could from my base in French and spotty spanish. I understood more than I had expected to, so I was pleased.

Venice was the dream that I had always heard it to be, I felt as if I had landed myself in some sort of European, urban, marine-cultured oasis with good food, beautiful people, and culture at every corner. Our one start hotel proved to be an amazing find – nice people, cozy and surprisingly elegant rooms, and a view over Venesian rooftops and the nightly setting sun... Food in Venice was amazing, every walk a trip into an imagination’s heaven, shopping a danger and an indulgence we explored as rarely as possible, and the canals simply decadent at any time of day.

The first morning, I woke up earlier than Dan, determined to make it to our reduced price breakfast at the sister hotel. To get there, the people at the hotel had given me a little map, that seemed short and simple-enough to follow. Little did I know that my breakfast adventure would take me nearly half-way across Venice... it was a beautiful little escape. I took the close by tragietto to cross the canal, wandered through streets to find the dinky hotel with my reduced-price packaged continental breakfast. I sat outside, even though they had clearly not opened up for season, and it was starting to rain. On my walk home, it started to downpour. My local tragietto was closed because of the weather, so I found myself waiting with a large group of gondola drivers. In hindsight, it would have been an amazing photo – jade green canal to our left, clusters of black and white striped uniform Italian gondola rowers, and a black trench coated, soaked American lady trying to make her way back home... classic setup of course too for a cheezy romance to occur. So one of the striped uniform men sweeps the American lady away under his umbrella, steering her to another way to cross the canal.

Once back at the hotel, Dan and I took another walk and I made my way over to the Duke’s Palace to pay that grand monument a visit. Dinners were amazing in Venice. Other visits included: the Basilica, the Mariner Museum, and walks upon walks...

Spring Travels Part One: Poland

Between April 10 and May 2, I made it to four countries in Europe: Poland, Italy, Austria, and Spain. I haven’t written about these experiences yet, unsure of how I might best describe their magic. Still unsure, without any revelations on how best to translate and transmit my experience into the open air, I’m going to give it a shot...

Poland. Poland welcomed me by my American friend James Cabot, at the Warsaw airport on a fine Thursday evening. Having made friends with a Polish student, I was able to forewarn James of our late arrival, and surprise him by my savvy travel connections, aka calling from a polish number... We took the bus back to James’s apartment, which passed through the countryside outside Warsaw, the suburbs, and then through the city itself. Hopping off a block from his house, we seemed to be on a bustling street, although it felt tame in comparison to the heavy Paris bustle to which I was accustomed at the time.

His building was yellow, modern and well-kept looking. To the right, were a few shops and what looked like a kebob stop for late night wanderers. He had been telling me bits and pieces of Poland’s, and in particular Warsaw’s histories, and took the opportunity to explain the lock system and the real estate dilemmas in Warsaw since WWII. While his building remained extremely well kept and attractive looking, buildings across the street were in no way in similar condition. Run-down, and abandoned, he explained that these buildings suffered from land ownership disputes dating back to WWII.

I suppose I could easily walk through my entire weekend in Poland, describing every moment that brought me pleasure, fascination and a desire to learn more about the culture, language, and city, but that may be boring for any person who actually decides to read this blog. So I will recount in an (unedited) free style writing some of my favorites:

James’s apartment breathes space for so many and with such a view it makes you feel at ease. His rooms – clean, spacious, and warm, full of experience and comfort. The view out the window – you see construction right ahead, but behind is a city with history dating below the roots of the deepest foundation in front of you you see empty space where conflict was, and has not yet been resolved but some day coming perhaps they’ll find a way to answer themselves, bring peace.
The Uprising museum – dark history through dark walls in a prison-like state the visitors wander and gag at the images of our past. I wandered too, hours and hours, until light came once again and the city rumbled by my feet as I made my way home, to a place warm and clean.
Take me out dancing we said one night with wine and champagne that made our heads spin until it couldn’t last any more. I left, went outside only to find that my coat was left behind, friends, language, everything else too, but the jerk outside wouldn’t let my pretty ass in, looks like Poland’s trying something new for the dancers at the discotheque don’t see business when they want a sale.
Poland was Chopin’s homeland, so I saw a few times over the places where people venerate that man that musician who makes hearts weep over simple melody that no one but he could summon up from below or above wherever he found the skill the talent the dream to make something a piano an instrument a soul move.

Philly/NYC Weekend, Chris and Amanda's wedding!

Last weekend I travelled back to the East coast for a short stint in celebration of the marriage of my cousin, Chris, and his
(now) wife, Amanda. I flew to New York on Thursday, meeting up with my mom and dad around 4. I took a walk with mom in Central Park, through the zoo, past street musicians, and swarms of people outside to play. We passed the plaza, made a stop at a few stores, and made it back to their hotel with a few moments to spare before heading over to Will's place. I got to see my brother and his girlfriend's apartment. It is super cozy and comfortable.

Friday was spent going to class with my brother, seeing my dad's elementary school, my mom's house where she grew up and her elementary school, and then heading into Philly for the grand wedding weekend. Nearly as soon as we arrived at the hotel in Philly, we held a band practice for the rehearsal dinner toast. What a fun time! Oh my goodness we were funny :) The rehearsal dinner was very elegant, full of love and sincere words from friends and family of amanda and chris.

Saturday was just as busy as Thursday and Friday. We woke up around 9:30, wandered down to breakfast, to enjoy a great meal with Will and Maura, and Aunt Ann. The buffet was delicious, but was finished just in time to quickly throw on fancy dresses, get hair ready, shoes, etc. Then the wedding happened. Chris and Amanda were married, and we were all there to witness it. It was a beautiful moment, the church pristine, tears all around, a big white dress, a nice black suit, and people dressed to the T in all directions.

Celebrations began...! My family and I walked the music walk of fame along broad st., a must on my dad's to-do-list. That was about it before we had (once again) just-enough-time to get dressed again for the party. And what a party! We danced, ate, and chatted the night away!

Sunday was a bit of a let down after the high energy of the weekend. Brunch was nice in the morning, heading back to New York with mom and dad, and then spending some time with Maura and Will again in their apartment before making the nightmarish trip back home... that took a bit longer than expected. And now I am in home in my home far from home. love to all and happy 4th! caitlin