Gearing Up for Christmas

It's hard to believe that Christmas is already here. Part of that can be attributed to the fact that the holiday season in Spain just isn't the same as it is in the States. It's difficult to get in the spirit when all you see are lackluster attempts at Christmas lights in the streets and you have to make a concerted effort to listen to Christmas music. Add to that the fact that the temperatures are in the low 60's, with 100% humidity, and you can see why I've had trouble getting into Christmas this year. More than that, though, it seems like just yesterday that I began my year in Sevilla. I remember thinking on my first day in Sevilla that my family's December trip to Europe was so far off in the distant future that it hardly seemed real. Now, in less than 2 hours, I will be meeting my dad, Shelley, Martha, Little Julia, Wardie, Jeanie and Bill at Santa Justa. I can't believe that they are getting to see Spain, at last. Given that I have spent a total of 7.5 (non-consecutive) months in Spain over the course of my life, I think it's time. As I said in a recent Facebook update, this country has defined a large part of my life. I can't wait to share it with the people who are most important to me. The only thing that would make their arrival more complete is if my mom was coming too. I'll just hold out hope that I'll get to show her the wonders of the Iberian peninsula some day too!

We will be spending two days together in Sevilla before embarking on what will be a couple very busy weeks of European travel. First, we are flying to Rome, where we will meet up with Alice. I am really looking forward to seeing the sites in Rome, since I was sick the last time I was there and didn't see very much, and especially to our private tour of the Vatican on Christmas Eve. Alice's host family, who are incredibly generous, as I learned during my visit to Viterbo in November, are having our entire group (10 people!) over on Christmas Day, for what I can only imagine will be a spectacular Italian feast. The day after Christmas we will be moving on to France, where we will visit Normandy and then Paris. The rest of the crew heads back to the U.S. on New Year's Eve, leaving Alice and I with about 10 days to continue our travels. We will spend NYE in Paris, a daunting but exciting proposition, and then spend about 3 days each in London and Berlin. It is a lot of moving around, to say the least, but I have a feeling this will be a great family vacation.

I have to say that the prospect of over 2 weeks away from Sevilla and my friends here is a little bittersweet. I have really come to love this place and the people here, despite the occasional frustration with the Spanish way of life. I guess that just means I have a lot to look forward to come January.

That's about all I can think to write right now. I hope to be able to update the blog as our trip progresses. Otherwise, I'll have to write one monstrous entry when I get back on January 8. Until I have a chance to write again, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, or as they say here, Feliz Navidad. Hasta pronto...

The December Puente

In Spain, long weekends are known as puentes or bridges. This week I have enjoyed one hell of a puente, which started Thursday after school and came to an end on Wednesday night. Given that Monday and Wednesday were both national holidays, Día de la Constitución and Día de la Inmaculada, respectively, the good people of Dos Hermanas decided to take Tuesday off as well. After all, what's the point in going to work on a Tuesday between two holidays? With so much time off from work, my friends and I decided to escape Sevilla for a few days and take advantage of the ease of traveling around Europe. After a little deliberation, we settled on spending our short vacation in the UK, spending the first day in Liverpool and the remainder in Edinburgh.

Friday morning Rachel, Jan, and I met up bright and early at Santa Justa to catch a train to Málaga, where we had found a cheap flight to Liverpool. While Sevilla is a bigger city than Málaga, there are a lot of cheap flights out of Málaga to cities all over Europe due to its popularity as a coastal resort destination. Even though having to spend 2 1/2 hours on a train in order to get to the airport was definitely a little more difficult than flying out of Sevilla, it was a fairly easy trip and we got to see a lot of beautiful Andalusian countryside. After a couple of hours waiting in the airport, we finally boarded the plane, leaving the sunshine and relatively warm temperatures of southern Spain for the clouds and cold of Britain in December. With more than enough boisterous Spaniards and small children running up and down the aisle of the plane, the flight itself was a bit trying, which only made arriving at John Lennon International Airport that much more exciting. Despite a bit of confusion as to the best route to take to reach the city center, we eventually ended up on the right bus, where we met a friendly guy who told us which stop we needed to get off at and gave us some tips on restaurants and bars in the area. More than anything, I think that we were all happy to be able to strike up a casual conversation in English!

After a very cold and slightly snowy walk, we found our hostel, which was located in a very cozy old house. As we checked in, the incredibly welcoming owner, who has lived in Liverpool all of his life and witnessed Beatlemania firsthand, served us tea and gave us a rundown of the layout of the city and gave us some suggestions for our one and only night in the city. We decided that, after dropping our stuff off and freshening up a bit, we would head out to find some fish and chips (we were in England, after all) before checking out the Cavern Club, one of the most important landmarks in Beatles history. Since Briana was due to arrive in a few hours, we left instructions for her to meet us at the Cavern around midnight, when we figured she would finally make it to the hostel.

The guy that we met on the bus had told us that there was a decent fish and chips place on Hardman Street, so we headed in that direction. However, we couldn´t find it ourselves and literally everyone we encountered on the street was too drunk to help us out. Luckily, I spotted a restaurant that said ¨Fish and Chips¨in the window and we decided to try it out. Interestingly, although it was an Italian-English-Scottish restaurant, the fish and chips were delicious and we devoured our dinner, mushy peas and all. Afterwards, we were ready to begin our night out on the town.

Fish and chips at the Italian Fish Club.

Most of the people in the Cavern Club were much older than us but we had a great time nonetheless. There was a band and plenty of interesting characters to keep us entertained for a couple of hours. However, as midnight rolled around and there was still no sign of Briana, we decided that we should probably head back to the hostel to find her. To our surprise, we were informed as we walked in the door that her flight from Málaga had been cancelled and that she was scheduled to fly into Edinburgh on Saturday afternoon. We chalked that minor snafu up to the inclimate weather and called it a night, exhausted from a long day of traveling.

Inside the Cavern Club.

Saturday morning we got up, ate a very quick--but free--breakfast and headed out on our much anticipated Beatles tour of Liverpool. Our guide, Stevie T., picked us up at the hostel and the four of us headed out to see the sights. As a lifelong Beatles fan and having read a huge biography of the group last spring, I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the tour. Stevie told great stories, some of which I remembered from the book and others that I had never heard before. Among others we saw John Lennon's birthplace, the Liverpool Institute and School of Art, Paul McCartney's and John's childhood homes, the neighborhoods where Ringo and George grew up, Penny Lane, and Strawberry Fields. Since we had been in and out of the rain for four hours, I think we were all happy when the tour ended around 1. Stevie dropped us off at the Phil, supposedly one of John's favorite watering holes, and we all enjoyed a hearty Shepherd's Pie for lunch.

Strawberry Field (probably my favorite stop on the tour)

Jan, Rachel, and I on Penny Lane.

When we got back to the hostel to get our bags before heading to the train station, we checked our e-mail, only to discover that Briana's flight had once again been cancelled. At that point, we were aware that it wasn't weather that was holding up her travels but rather a Spain-wide air traffic controller strike. It seemed that Rachel, Jan, and I had made it out just in the nick of time. We made plans to hopefully meet Briana at the hostel in Edinburgh on Sunday evening and then left the hostel to catch two trains and a bus to get to Scotland.

The five-hour trip from Liverpool to Edinburgh wasn't nearly as bad as I had expected. It wasn't, however, without a little excitement. Just before we were to get off the train in Carlisle, about 30 miles from the Scottish border, Jan and Rachel decided to make a quick trip to the bathroom. Unfortunately, the only working toilet on the entire train was several cars down the line. I was still in our seats when a voice came over the loudspeaker and announced that we were arriving at Carlisle. Unlike at the other stops we had passed, there had been no advance warning. I started to panic... if my friends didn't make it back in time, should I grab their stuff and hope that they jumped off the train on their own? Luckily, just as we stopped, I saw the two of them running down the car, just as panicked as I was. We gathered our things and ran off the train, all the while coming up with a contingency plan in case anything similar happens in the future.

The last leg of the journey was a bus ride from Carlisle to Edinburgh. Somehow we were the only three passengers, aside from the bus driver, who we could barely understand through his thick Scottish accent. We slept most of the way, although I did wake up in time to see lots of the countryside and some very quaint small towns. The farther we drove, the more snow I saw. By the time we reached Edinburgh, we estimated that there was probably two feet of snow on the ground. Even though we hadn't expected so much wintry weather, it certainly made the city look even more picturesque than it normally does.

We made our way to our hostel and decided to call it an early night as we were all exhausted. We did have time to meet some of the other people staying in our room. One, a girl from Australia, was taking a gap year to travel around the world. Another, interestingly enough, was a 2003 Vandy grad who is living in Iceland on a Fulbright scholarship. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the shared room experience, something I had never done before in all of my travels. It was cool to hear everyone's stories and for the most part everyone was very considerate.

Sunday morning we got up ready to take on the day. We had decided in advance to go on a free walking tour of the city, which we picked up on the Royal Mile. The tour allowed us to get a feel for the city's layout and to decide which attractions we wanted to go back to. Our tour guide, Alan, was quite a character, to say the least. He more than slightly resembled Hagrid from Harry Potter and talked like a pirate. He was incredibly knowledgeable about the city and even said that he had written a book about its history. Even though I had been to Edinburgh before, I enjoyed seeing the main sights again and even discovering new ones. Some of the highlights included St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh Castle, Greyfriars Kirk, and various Harry Potter-related sites. More than anything I enjoyed hearing Alan's stories. Whether or not they were all true, they were highly entertaining. Despite the fact that we learned and saw a lot on the tour, it was kind of hard to concentrate because of the cold weather and two feet of snow on the ground. After 3 1/2 hours of walking around in the elements, none of us could feel our feet and I was actually shaking. We were relieved when Alan finished his stone of destiny story (don't ask) and set off in search of a warm restaurant with good food. It goes without saying that I was beyond happy to have my first cheeseburger in months.

Alan, our fearless leader. (Photo courtesy of Jan)

St. Giles Cathedral.

George Heriot's School, the inspiration for Hogwarts.

Greyfriars Bobby, supposedly the most photographed statue in Edinburgh.

Greyfriars Kirk

To kill time between lunch and Briana's arrival, we did a little shopping and stocked up on some much needed winter accessories. We all gave Briana a huge hug when she finally appeared at the hostel around 7. After two days of waiting, she had finally made it to the UK. To celebrate having the whole group together, we went to a Thai restaurant nearby for dinner. It sounds pathetic but I think our favorite thing about the weekend was the food. Tapas and jamon are good (from time to time) but there's definitely something to be said for having options. Afterwards, we went to another restaurant for tea and dessert before hitting the hay pretty early.

Monday morning we woke up to snow. My inner southern girl came out and I was giddy at the sight of white flakes falling from the sky. We bundled up and headed out to see some more of the city. Unfortunately, our first stop--the Castle--was closed due to the inclimate weather. Luckily, we had seen one of our top choices on the walk up and decided to escape the cold to learn about the national beverage at the Scotch Whisky Experience. We heard all about the distillation process and the different whisky-producing regions of Scotland before we got to choose a whisky to taste. It turns out that none of us are destined to be Scotch drinkers as we could barely choke down a few sips. Nonetheless, I'm glad we gave it a go. When in Rome, right?

Edinburgh in the snow. Simply beautiful.

Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas (or Sevilla) anymore.

The world's largest private Scotch Whisky collection.

Me, Rachel, Briana, and Jan at the whisky tasting.

For lunch we headed to the Elephant House, the café where J.K. Rowling wrote the first two Harry Potter books. I had been there on my first trip to Edinburgh and loved going back. Our favorite part of the café was the bathroom, where there was a Harry Potter toilet seat and the door was covered in notes people had written to J.K., thanking her for changing their lives. It was pretty cool (albeit a little weird).

The Elephant House, a.k.a. the Birthplace of Harry Potter.

After lunch we were stunned to learn that the Scottish National Museum was closed, also due to the weather. Thus, we decided to warm up inside by seeing the newest Harry Potter movie, which hadn't yet made it to Spain in English. Although the fifth book was the last one I read and I hadn't seen any of the movies since the fourth, it was really cool to see the latest installment in the city where the craze began. Plus, I'll take a warm movie theater over walking around in the cold any day!

Tuesday was our last day in Edinburgh, so we were determined to see the Castle. We were ecstatic to learn that it was in fact open for visitors. The views of the city and water were beautiful, especially with all of the snow. We also got to see the Scottish Crown Jewels, the Stone of Destiny (which we had been hearing about since our arrival), and a famous sword (whose significance is escaping me). We followed up our tour of the Castle with some souvenir shopping (cashmere scarves and real Scottish shortbread) and then grabbed a quick lunch. My traveling companions were brave and tried haggis, the quintessentially Scottish dish that is basically the leftover parts of the sheep, oatmeal, and spices, all wrapped up and cooked in the the animal's stomach. I couldn't bring myself to try it... I guess I'll just have to go back to Scotland and try it in the future! We decided against touring the Palace of Holyrood House (the Queen's official residence in Scotland) in favor of getting a head start on our journey to Glasgow, where we were to spend Tuesday night before catching a flight back to Spain on Wednesday morning.

View of the Castle from the Princes Street Gardens.

Finally entering the Castle.

The Castle, covered in snow.

View of Edinburgh and the water from the Castle.

Haggis... I'm sure it's delicious but no thank you.

This is the point in our trip where the real adventure began. We arrived at the bus station only to learn that all of the buses between Edinburgh and Glasgow had been cancelled for the day because of the road conditions. We would later hear on the news that this week marked the "collapse of the Scottish infrastructure." Thus, our only option was to take the train. Once at the train station, we waited for our platform to be posted, which it was... approximately one minute before the original departure time of our supposedly delayed train. We quickly made our way to the platform and discovered that the train had already left, leaving us and several other Glasgow-bound travelers confused and very cold. Our only choice was to wait for the next train, which was scheduled to leave in about half an hour. With every passing minute, we got more and more cold and couldn't wait to get on what we could only assume would be a heated train. Eventually, they posted the platform for our train, which brought on a literal stampede of people, all of whom were just as eager to get to Glasgow as we were. We somehow were able to get on the train, which we soon learned was in fact not heated. Thus, by the time we arrived in Glasgow, none of us could feel our feet and we couldn't wait to get to our hotel, located by the airport. Unfortunately, finding transportation to the hotel wasn't as easy as we had hoped. It seemed that the unseasonably cold weather and snow had ground the city to a halt. After waiting for a few minutes for the bus to the airport, we decided to stand in line for a taxi. In the twenty or so minutes that we waited, however, we saw only one taxi. Thank God the airport bus finally showed up. We were hopeful that our luck had finally turned. If only...

Upon reaching the airport, we found a taxi to take us to our hotel. When I told the driver the address we needed to go to, he asked if it was a hotel. I replied, "Yes, do you know it?" To which he answered, "Unfortunately." That should have been our first clue that something wasn't right. After about a ten minute drive the taxi stopped outside of a very eerie looking Victorian-esque house that was apparently our hotel. I should say that at this point we were in the middle of a very dark, abandoned neighborhood with lots of boarded up windows and abandoned factory buildings. Despite the fact that we were all more than a little creeped out at this point we paid the cab driver and headed towards the door. As we approached the building, someone commented that "this looks like the kind of place you go in and never come out of." We rang the doorbell (which was falling off the wall) and were greeted by a Pakistani man, who appeared to be on some sort of mind-altering substance. Our next clue that something wasn't right came when he told us he didn't have our reservation. Luckily (or not) there was plenty of room. Rachel, Briana, and I were going to be staying in a triple and Jan was in a single across the hall. When we got upstairs, Jan unlocked her door, shut it, and ran across the hall saying, "I can't do it. It's the ring!" (referring to the horror movie) We soon discovered that our triple wasn't much better. There were no sheets on the bed, only one towel for 3 people, no lock on the door and suspicious stains on the carpet. The worst part was the bathroom... not only did the floor look like it was about to cave in but the toilet didn't flush and there was an unidentifiable liquid backed up in the tub. At this point we were having serious doubts as to whether we could stay here or not. We had already paid for our rooms (in cash) but this place didn't even begin to meet any standards for a hotel. After much debate we came to the conclusion that we needed to leave immediately and appointed Rachel our spokesperson. We got our bags and went back downstairs, asking our Pakistani host for a cab and a refund. When he refused to refund our money without blinking, it was clear that this was not the first time he had been in this situation. Eventually, we decided that the money was the least of our worries and asked him if he would just call us a cab. Unfortunately for us, the wait was going to be close to an hour. So, we very dramatically exited the building, happy that we would never have to see the Lomond Airport Hotel again. As luck would have it, our streak of not slipping on the ice came to an end when I fell down in the hotel parking lot. Given the circumstances, all I could do was sit in the snow and laugh.

Our next step was to find some way back to the airport, where we had seen a Ramada Inn. Clearly no taxi driver in his right mind would be hanging around this neighborhood. So, running on adrenaline, we high tailed it out of there and made our way towards the only signs of civilization in the vicinity. A teenage boy pointed us toward a taxi stand at the local train station, where our discomfort level was multiplied by a host of unseemly characters, including a drunk guy with a black eye. Eventually, we got in a cab and asked to be taken straight to the Ramada. When we told the driver where we had come from, he informed us that the Lomond Hotel was a "shit hole" (direct quote). Obviously we told him never to drop anyone off there again.

We were all quite relieved to learn that there was vacancy at the Ramada, as well as a restaurant (and more importantly, a bar) in the lobby. Yes, we spent more money than we had anticipated but a clean room with a functioning bathroom was well worth the price. We all agreed that if we had learned anything in our time in Glasgow it was the importance of trusting our instincts. We should have run for the hills upon seeing the outside of the hotel, if not the minute the first cab driver told us that he had "unfortunately" heard of it.

Wednesday morning we woke up early to catch our flight back to Málaga. After the events of the previous night and having spent 5 days so cold that we couldn't feel our extremities I think we were all ready to get back to Spain. Nonetheless, despite everything, we all had a great time and can't wait to go back to the UK. Hey, it wouldn't be travel without a little excitement, would it!?