We fell in love with the city of Sevilla in less than an hour. Never have I seen a city that is so unique-as we walked down the old, extremely narrow cobblestone streets, people drank sangria and tapas down little alley ways, horse and carriages passed by, and almost every Sevillana woman was dressed in traditional Flamenco style dresses. We were very fortunate to have been in Sevilla during their famous "Feria" that lasts about a week. Everything is very festive, there are many tourists, special events going on every night, people dressed up, etc. It was so fun to be there. It was small enough that we pretty much knew our way around after a day-at least our way around the historical district where we spent most of our time. We arrived in the evening on Monday night. On Tuesday, we walked around the Real Alcazar Palace-a palace that has been used by royalty and has both Arabic and Christian influence in the architecture. We ate Spanish tapas-delicious, very mediterranean, we found that they use a lot of foods like olives, tomatoes, olive oil and vinegar, veggies like asparagus and eggplant, great seafood... We even bought tickets in the morning to a Flamenco show and went that night! It was awesome and very authentic! I'll try and post some videos when we have good internet connection. The second day, we just truly enjoyed walked around the very quaint streets, people watching, and we toured the huge gothic style Cathedral and bell towers. For dinner, we drank some fruity sangria and ate a "Paella mixta" which is similar to Creole jumbalya with seafood, rice, spices and vegetables in one dish. After dinner we bought some tickets on the street for the famous Sevillano bull fight! It was definitely an experience-Bryce claims it was his best money spent so far. For animal lovers, it would not be the best thing to see, but it was so cultural. All the Spaniards were dressed in their Sunday best, older men smoking cigars, women dressed in the traditional Flamenco dresses, and it was PACKED. We were packed like sardines in a sardine can. I was sitting shoulder to shoulder with probably 1000 other people I didn't know. It was so fun to just watch everyone get into it, yelling "Muy bien! Ole!" at the matador (bull fighter). It was pretty intense to watch. They went through 6 bulls, each fight a little different. It lasted for 3 hours! To me, it was such a cultural experience, to think that it hasn't changed much over the last 50 years, all the matadors wearing traditional shiny suits and the red cape things... "This is a show, basically a dance with death - one wrong move and the Matador could become impaled on the horns of the bull. It is the Matador's job to make this dance dramatic and enjoyable for the audience." (See more information: http://www.spain-info.com/Culture/bullfighting.htm)
That evening, we packed and got ready to fly to Barcelona the next morning (this morning). And today was our first day in Barcelona!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The rest of our time in Paris
We are glad to say that weather.com was not accurate on the weather report. Our second day in Paris was BRYCE’S BIRTHDAY!! To start the day, we had breakfast at a little café, ordered 2 croissants and a café au lait (pronounced calf-ay oo-lay). Bryce ordered a café and received a shot of espresso. When we looked in my little French words, we learned that a café is just espresso but the café au lait is like a latte. We soon began to love Paris, and learn that we were more clueless to the French language than what we thought. We walked inside Notre Dame and waited for about an hour to go up to the Towers of Notre Dame which was awesome! We almost just left because the line was taking forever and we didn’t know if it would be worth it, but it totally was. The towers were like a symbol of medieval Paris (and the hunchback Quasimodo’s home). We learned all about Notre Dame, thanks to a brochure of the history in English, and read that it was a project that took nearly 200 years to complete! It was a long haul to the top in a tight spiral staircase, but an incredible view of Paris, the Seine River and the Eiffel tower at the top. After Notre Dame, we walked to the Louvre and grabbed a “Take away” lunch of a fresh crepe with nutella and a toasted sandwich similar to what we know as a panini. When we arrived at the Louvre, it was about 3pm and many people told us that the Louvre takes an entire, so we decided to go to the Musee d’Orsay. This museum was really relaxing and fun to see. There were works from many famous artists including Pissarro, Renoir, Van Gogh, Matisse, Monet, Manet, Degas, and Cezanne. We headed back to the hotel to hang out and check email. For dinner, we walked about 20 feet from the hotel to a tiny Tibetan restaurant, as requested by the birthday boy. We ordered Tibetan buttered tea, which ended up being very literal with melted butter in a milky hot tea, a chicken and noodle dish, steamed beef dumplings and a water cress salad. We finished off dinner with a birthday cake..—I mean with coconut rice pudding and raisins. It was actually a really fun dinner J
Our third day we slept in until about 9:30ish. For breakfast, we had croissants and both ordered café au laits. We walked down the Seine river to the Louvre and spent almost the whole day there. It is the world’s largest museum with thousands of artifacts from ancient Egypt to ancient Greece, the Renaissance and pretty much everything you can imagine. We saw famous works like the Mona Lisa, a huge painting of the Wedding feast at Cana (it’s more than 20ft high and 30ft wide!). We also saw beautiful sculptures like the Venus de Milo, Nike, and many more. Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel, relaxed and went to bed early.
On Monday, we walked to the Eiffel Tower, took our last pictures, and headed to the airport to fly to Sevilla, Spain. Paris was really fun, but we were excited to see new places too.
Our third day we slept in until about 9:30ish. For breakfast, we had croissants and both ordered café au laits. We walked down the Seine river to the Louvre and spent almost the whole day there. It is the world’s largest museum with thousands of artifacts from ancient Egypt to ancient Greece, the Renaissance and pretty much everything you can imagine. We saw famous works like the Mona Lisa, a huge painting of the Wedding feast at Cana (it’s more than 20ft high and 30ft wide!). We also saw beautiful sculptures like the Venus de Milo, Nike, and many more. Afterwards, we headed back to our hotel, relaxed and went to bed early.
On Monday, we walked to the Eiffel Tower, took our last pictures, and headed to the airport to fly to Sevilla, Spain. Paris was really fun, but we were excited to see new places too.
Monday, April 27, 2009
All about luggage
We left the USA with a total of 4 bags:
Elissa: 1 purse (7 lbs) and 1 backpack (17 lbs)
Bryce: small backpack (11 lbs) and 1 backpack (22 lbs)
I have now come to the realization that it IS possible to pack light, and have everything I need! Target sells a large selection of travel size toiletries, REI sells awesome undergarments that can be washed and dried overnight for outdoor activities and traveling, and just downsizing the amount of garments I brought helped. I have to say, we were much more efficient than I expected. I was really excited/surprised to be under the weight requirement.
The reason why we did this: We are traveling to several different cities via several different airlines, each with a different luggage weight restriction. The most restricted weight was 45 lbs total (carry on and checked).
Elissa: 1 purse (7 lbs) and 1 backpack (17 lbs)
Bryce: small backpack (11 lbs) and 1 backpack (22 lbs)
I have now come to the realization that it IS possible to pack light, and have everything I need! Target sells a large selection of travel size toiletries, REI sells awesome undergarments that can be washed and dried overnight for outdoor activities and traveling, and just downsizing the amount of garments I brought helped. I have to say, we were much more efficient than I expected. I was really excited/surprised to be under the weight requirement.
The reason why we did this: We are traveling to several different cities via several different airlines, each with a different luggage weight restriction. The most restricted weight was 45 lbs total (carry on and checked).
The basics of our trip
I thought I'd give you some information on how we planned our trip, in case someone reading this is thinking about going to Europe at some point.
We began by deciding what countries and cities we really wanted to visit. First, it was England (Bath, London…basically as much as we could see of it), France (Paris and the South of France especially Nice), Spain (Barcelona, Seville, Granada, Malaga) and Italy (Venice, Rome, Florence). Were we over doing it? Were our expectations too high? Yes and YES. After little discussion, we realized it was more important to pick a few key cities and spend as much time there as we could. The truly difficult decision of where to visit was made, and our itinerary came together.
Itinerary: Paris (4 days), Seville (2 days), Barcelona (3 days), Venice (4 days), Rome (5 days), Paris (overnight) then home to DC.
We debated over traveling on the Eurorail or flying to and from specific cities. With only about 3 weeks, and looking at the costs of flights versus the Eurorail, we decided to fly. The Eurorail would have been wonderful, had we more time or a less scattered itinerary, because the travel time is longer. It also would have been nice because traveling on a train would allow us to have more views of the countryside and things we may not have seen otherwise. Although, we ended up saving money AND time by flying. But if we were to do a trip to a single country, we definitely would have gone with the Eurorail. We found cheaper airline tickets by searching sites like kayak.com and momondo.com. We also used those sites to find hotels and hostels. As far as where we stay, one of our priorities in a hotel was to have a private bathroom, which in our eyes, was worth the extra cost. Many hostels have shared bathrooms and some have private, and usually hostels are cheaper than hotels. In some cases, we even found that you could find hotels that were about the same price as a hostel with a private bathroom.
We began by deciding what countries and cities we really wanted to visit. First, it was England (Bath, London…basically as much as we could see of it), France (Paris and the South of France especially Nice), Spain (Barcelona, Seville, Granada, Malaga) and Italy (Venice, Rome, Florence). Were we over doing it? Were our expectations too high? Yes and YES. After little discussion, we realized it was more important to pick a few key cities and spend as much time there as we could. The truly difficult decision of where to visit was made, and our itinerary came together.
Itinerary: Paris (4 days), Seville (2 days), Barcelona (3 days), Venice (4 days), Rome (5 days), Paris (overnight) then home to DC.
We debated over traveling on the Eurorail or flying to and from specific cities. With only about 3 weeks, and looking at the costs of flights versus the Eurorail, we decided to fly. The Eurorail would have been wonderful, had we more time or a less scattered itinerary, because the travel time is longer. It also would have been nice because traveling on a train would allow us to have more views of the countryside and things we may not have seen otherwise. Although, we ended up saving money AND time by flying. But if we were to do a trip to a single country, we definitely would have gone with the Eurorail. We found cheaper airline tickets by searching sites like kayak.com and momondo.com. We also used those sites to find hotels and hostels. As far as where we stay, one of our priorities in a hotel was to have a private bathroom, which in our eyes, was worth the extra cost. Many hostels have shared bathrooms and some have private, and usually hostels are cheaper than hotels. In some cases, we even found that you could find hotels that were about the same price as a hostel with a private bathroom.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Bonjour Paris!
We got to Paris yesterday morning at about 11am (it was an all night flight). The weather was beautiful yesterday, and was supposed to be overcast and rainy this weekend. We are in Paris until Monday evening. So, as soon as we arrived, we stopped by our hotel, Hotel du Commerce, which is located in the "Latin Quarter"--awesome place with cafes, book shops, restaurants and La Sorbonne University. It's right in the city, so we've been able to walk almost anywhere; we are a 10 minute walk to Notre Dame and a 20 minute walk to the Louvre Museum. The Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe are a little farther away so we took the metro there. Taking advantage of the nice weather yesterday, we did a full walking tour of the city and saw major sites like Notre Dame, the Seine river, Luxembourg gardens and the palace, the Louvre Museum, and Tuileries gardens. We did not actually enter any buildings, but we did go to the Eiffel Tower and climbed to the 2nd floor (1,652 stairs). It was awesome!! We were just in time to watch the sunset. Sunset from the Eiffel Tower=epitome of romantic moment. This day concluded 48 hours of traveling and touring New York City and Paris with only 4 hours of sleep on the plane in between. Hooray for a bed and a good night sleep!!
New York on Thursday
It was Bryce's first time in the Big Apple!! We flew to NYC and arrived at 11am. We immediately got on a train and headed into Manhattan. It was easy and fast. We literally saw ALL the main hotspots...we metro'd to Grand Central Station, grabbed some New York thick crust pizza, walked to Rockefeller Center, saw NBC news and Fox news stations, walked to the Empire State Building...metro'd to the World Trade Center area/memorial (it was pretty much all construction, not much to see at this point because they're building a new memorial and buildings), then to the Battery...we saw from afar the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge...it was a long metro ride up to Central Park. It was too late to enter the Metropolitan Museum of Art so we walked around the park and then headed back to the airport completely worn out :) Our plane left for Paris at 10pm. We saw some sweet acts in the metro stations...
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Back to Blacksburg!
Some of you may be thinking, "Oh, just a visit back to the Burg"...but you will find that it will be much more...
Back in the fall, Bryce applied to a few schools to begin his Ph.D in biomedical engineering in Fall 2009. His preference was as follows: Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, UVA. We had high hopes for Wake Forest for a number of reasons, it is close to family, homes are very affordable (and we'd like to-God willing-purchase a home when we move), and we see Winston Salem as the perfect area (not too big, not too small, close to mountains, in beautiful NC, cute areas with shops and restaurants). After what seemed like an eternity of waiting and semi planning our life for Winston Salem, Bryce went to Blacksburg, met with professors and heard more about the program at VT. He was really impressed and what was a second choice became more of a tie for first. We soon learned that the Wake Forest program was extremely competitive and there would not be funding for Bryce. And we waited with uncertainty. Weeks later, we heard back from the professor at VT that Bryce was in touch with, and she offered him an assistantship with funding! Yay! So, we will be househunting in Blacksburg in the near future, and probably moving there in late July/early August. It turns out God had a completely different plan than what we expected, and after much thought and prayer, we are very thankful for the funding that will be given to Bryce (this includes all tuition, a stipend, and healthcare as well as student benefits like the good ol' BT and McComas). Plus, we are hoping for many visitors come this fall as the football season begins!
Back in the fall, Bryce applied to a few schools to begin his Ph.D in biomedical engineering in Fall 2009. His preference was as follows: Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, UVA. We had high hopes for Wake Forest for a number of reasons, it is close to family, homes are very affordable (and we'd like to-God willing-purchase a home when we move), and we see Winston Salem as the perfect area (not too big, not too small, close to mountains, in beautiful NC, cute areas with shops and restaurants). After what seemed like an eternity of waiting and semi planning our life for Winston Salem, Bryce went to Blacksburg, met with professors and heard more about the program at VT. He was really impressed and what was a second choice became more of a tie for first. We soon learned that the Wake Forest program was extremely competitive and there would not be funding for Bryce. And we waited with uncertainty. Weeks later, we heard back from the professor at VT that Bryce was in touch with, and she offered him an assistantship with funding! Yay! So, we will be househunting in Blacksburg in the near future, and probably moving there in late July/early August. It turns out God had a completely different plan than what we expected, and after much thought and prayer, we are very thankful for the funding that will be given to Bryce (this includes all tuition, a stipend, and healthcare as well as student benefits like the good ol' BT and McComas). Plus, we are hoping for many visitors come this fall as the football season begins!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Hello, World of Blogging
Since we have been married, we've enjoyed so many new recipes, new experiences and just funny stories that we'd like to share, not to mention advice we'd give someone for things like shopping for home decor, dealing with gift registry after the honeymoon and planning trips locally and abroad...
I've (Elissa) really enjoyed reading some of my friends' blogs, and even blogs of people I've never met before...it's actually become quite addicting. I finally decided that WE need to start a blog! Especially before we embark on the upcoming trip to Europe so we can keep everone updated.
...Who ever knew that I would become so enveloped in searching for a background template for our blog? In fact, it was out of control this past weekend, and Bryce had to pull me away from the computer with chocolate ice cream and a Planet Earth episode...although it didn't take me long to inch back towards the computer to look at more. I finally realized that I didn't have to find the perfect one, I could change them depending on the season. (on another note, I learned a new term: "Blog skins"...which I think is a particularly odd sounding term)
I've (Elissa) really enjoyed reading some of my friends' blogs, and even blogs of people I've never met before...it's actually become quite addicting. I finally decided that WE need to start a blog! Especially before we embark on the upcoming trip to Europe so we can keep everone updated.
...Who ever knew that I would become so enveloped in searching for a background template for our blog? In fact, it was out of control this past weekend, and Bryce had to pull me away from the computer with chocolate ice cream and a Planet Earth episode...although it didn't take me long to inch back towards the computer to look at more. I finally realized that I didn't have to find the perfect one, I could change them depending on the season. (on another note, I learned a new term: "Blog skins"...which I think is a particularly odd sounding term)
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