Last post, for now

Ah, well. Despite my best, no, my efforts, my fair travel blog petered out on this particular expedition. But no news was very much good news. I loved Barcelona and enjoyed almost every minute of it. So much so, that the blog suffered for it. The city kept me occupied or napping at almost all times. It is compact and incredibly well organized such (subway is great too) that a fun thing to do is always a short distance away. The beach is just a 15 minute metro ride from any where. The scenic Gothic alleyways are fun no matter how many times you walk down them cause there’s always something new to find. The open markets that dot the city are a novel experience every time. Also, the food here was incredible but that’s not much of an excuse for not blogging except that I took quite a few belly naps in the afternoons.

Probably even more disastrous for the blog was all the people I was spending time with while I was here. In the last three weeks, I had six different people (Chris, Lock, Forrest, Todd, JoeBob, and Nina for the curious) stay with me on top of the rotating cast of friends I met in the apartment where I was staying. People from home blended in with roommates from across the world (Denmark, England, Mexico, Russia, Austria etc.) and everyone was always bringing in a friend/relative/musical step brother for a night or two. I discovered that with so much company to keep up, I didn’t really need the outlet of the blog. Beyond that, every time I thought about posting in the blog while relaxing in the apartment, I realized that would it be taking away from time I could spend with people who I’m not sure I’ll ever see again. In short, sorry for not blogging better while here but…not that sorry. I had an amazing time in this city and regret very little from these last three weeks. If you ever have the chance to visit Barcelona, especially with friends, take it, it’s a blast.

-Alex

P.S. I still have lots and lots of really cool pictures of Paris/Barcelona on my computer that I will be uploading here and to Facebook at random times over the next few months. I’d love to post a parting picture now on the blog, a favorite spot of Barcelona maybe?, but all my stuff is already packed away. Thanks for reading (despite my flakiness)…much love from Greece!

Ketch-up

Wow, looks I got really behind on my blog. Not too surprising though, last 10 days have been very busy and fun. A quick rundown and I'll fill in the gaps where I can. At the start of last week, I went to a play at the Globe Theatre, which is an exact recreation of the theater where Shakespeare performed his plays. There they perform very faithful reproductions of Shakespeare plays, i.e. no Hamlet in space, with top quality actors. I saw Henry the VIII, a play rarely performed because the last time it played at the Globe, the theatre burned down thanks to a cannon firing at the end of a scene. The cannon fired again in this production but no fire ensued.

The balconies around the stage filling up. Don't think I was supposed to take pictures so I couldn't take very good ones.


The stage. Very well utilized in the play.

The play was great and it was particularly fun because I got floor seats. Well not seats actually, but standing room floor space right next to the stage. These tickets cost only 5 pounds, a great deal in super expensive London, and provided a great view of the show.

Oh hello stage.

In Shakespeare's time, the people who paid for standing seats were commoners who talked during the show, threw stuff at the stage, came drunk etc. Not much has changed since then actually, as many of my fellow standing room theater goers were loud Americans who cracked jokes about the lady actors' bosoms, bought a steady stream of beers from the wandering salesmen and left well before intermission. They were good company while they lasted though. The show did run pretty long, 3 hours+, but for a lesser known play, I enjoyed it more than I expected.

Anyways, the next few days were pretty busy with class and various world cup semifinals. Posted some of those pictures on Facebook again and I won't retread the ground of my last post by putting up more shots of drunken Dutch people. But I went back to the Dutch bar for the Holland semifinal and chilled with the Brazilians in my neighborhood for the Spain game. When Spain went through, I was probably the most excited person in the bar because it meant I was going to be seeing them in the final while in Barcelona (preview: yeah, it was sick)

On Thursday afternoon I went to the train station to catch my ride to Paris but when I got there, the train was delayed. "Train should be leaving in less than an hour, no worries" said the voice on the PA. Ok, no problem. 2 hours later, following many cryptic announcements: "There's a fire in the tunnel between Paris and London and there will be no trains leaving the city this evening. No exchanges can be made at this time either, come back at 4:30 in the morning when the ticket booths open. Have a great night." No explanation about refunds, places to stay etc. Long, crazy story short, ask me about it sometime, I dropped my luggage off in the train station, wandered around London until 4:30 in the morning, and stumbled back into the station to catch the first train to Paris.

Overall, I really liked London but was almost daily overwhelmed by the number of things to do. I was constantly finding out about shows to see, concerts to go to, bars/clubs to visit, DJ sets to catch a day after they happened and even if I had known, there was no way I could've have gone to them all. Of all the cities I have visited in Europe, it is the one I would most like to live in, not just visit, the most because I think it would be impossible to really see it fully any other way. Impressive/diverse/very full city, really great.

That's all for now, post on Paris and first few days in Barcelona upcoming.

Wild London

In the few days following my tour of the most majestic parts of London, madness (and the weekend) overtook the city. On Friday and Saturday were a full host of World Cup games that invariably concluded with fans spilling out into the streets, honking cars and daytime public drunkenness unlike anything possible in the US.

I put a bunch of these on Facebook but here are a few of the highlights from the post-game Holland celebration on Friday. For this game, I was particulary lucky to get taken to the official Dutch bar of London by my new friend from Amsterdam, Felix.

The two floored bar could not contain the post game celebration

Some Brazilian women came and were very warmly received by the drunk Dutch men.

After about an hour, the party started to disperse but the vuvuzellas were still going.

On Saturday morning I headed out early to see the National Gallery. After taking in the fantastic but reasonably sized collection (phew!), I was greeted with this crowd in Trafalgar Square.

Pride Day in London! Huge crowds came out for the parade and general merry-making.

Trafalgar square, overflowing in preparation for the parade. Pretty cool that the event begins in London's most iconic square. It also marched past 10 Downing Street, Britain's White House.

Things congregated particularly in Soho, the gay mecca of London.

And is if that weren't enough, I decided to catch the Spain quarterfinal in a multi-story sports bar complex that was overstuffed with excitable Spaniards. The game was a dramatic, twisting and turning affair that had the place really going strong for the entire second half.

Bedlam. I forget whether this was after the goal or the final whistle but regardless the Spanish were raucous from 1-0 til 30 minutes after the game was over.

Surprised not to see some wedding proposals. Maybe if they go to the final?

There were many matadors out on the town on Saturday night.


So London continues to impress with its diversity and multiple facets

Grand London

Up to now (sorry this is retrospective, so up til about Thursday) I had been avoiding the nicer, more traditional parts of London, saving them for later. I had been skirting around the edges of the city, checking out minor sites and mostly doing things I could enjoy for free and in the sun. As a result, I thought London was a pretty strange European capital: gritty, lacking many grand landmarks and generally quite unlike any other "great" city. Well at last I decided to head off to St. James, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and so on. In other words, the big hitters. Didn't disappoint.




Lost track of what manor/palace/social club/memorial these were part of, but trust me, there were plenty more where these came from.




The Canada and Australia gates flanking Buckingham Palace. Canada's is many, many times cooler. Rough.


Buckingham Palace was actually a bit disappointing, it's big, boxy and pretty uniform in the front. Gates outsides were nice though.


I really like the Capitol in D.C. but the Palace of Westminster (Britain's Parliament is just mindblowingly grand.




Aaaand Big Ben. Though CCTV isn't far behind.

Germany and I walk in the park

Rough couple days for Anglo soccer fans. With the US knocked out, I put all of my chips in with the Three Lions, England's team. Unfortunately, I was disappointed for the second day in a row. I watched the game in a pub with about 200 very angry Brits and 2 very happy German girls. Fun to take part in the atmosphere, not fun to watch England get smoked 4-1.


As I stated, Crosses of St. George were EVERYWHERE in the lead-up to the game. The day after, I didn't see a single one.


After the game, I thought about forgetting my sorrows with an e-reading or whatever they're called but ultimately decided against it. Oh wait, just kidding, I loathe the Church of Scientology. I was even scared to take a photo to be honest. Ask me sometime about my run in with these creeps once in high school.
(wonder if they'll find this post...my life's on the line in the name of art)


Continuing my theme of graffiti from Costa Rica, here's probably the coolest street art I've seen while in London.

Anyways, after Germany's walk in the park against London, I decided to also take a walk in the park to enjoy the sunny day and get away from the sullen British crowds in the streets.

Unfortunately, my walk turned out to be a bit less carefree than I expected. Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens are two adjacent parks in the western part of the London, the richer part of the city. On the map, the two different parks seemed separated only by a river and I figured they would be pretty similar. I was even surprised they had separate names.

The pretty unappealing Hyde Park. Brown grass, devoid of monuments/statues etc. Ugly buildings visible.


And filled predominantly with immigrants... (Though I did find the pita bread amusing)

On the other side, Kensington Gardens, Italian fountains, much better upkeep, greener grass and...almost all white people. The self-imposed racial/socioeconomic segregation was pretty stark. London has a wildly diverse population but that doesn't always mean much.

Anyways, sorry about the late post, my class has begun and it's pretty time consuming and tiring (but very worthwhile so far). I'd love to post some of my photos, but they're in too large a format to be put up online. Maybe I'll figure something out down the line.

and on (Bloomsbury, University of London) and the Heath

Really liked this sign, and the park, which was designed as a haven for kids. Seriously, no adults allowed without a kid. Well maybe not so seriously, cause I strolled in, with a camera (sketchy?) and snapped away. There were mostly kids and goats.


Nearby, another pretty park. It was a generally green day in London for me.



After spending the first half of the day within the city, I made my way out to the Heath, a giant park on London's northern edge. The sunshine was not abating so I packed a picnic and headed out.


Ate my lunch on Kite Hill and watched the pros at work.



A very pleasant mix of quite wild (there was even more untamed than the first picture shows) and primly managed. In other words, there were places where you could slash through deep brush and be all alone and many other spots where people were swimming in ponds, and playing frisbee or bagpipes. (Interesting thing about the guy playing bagpipes: he was very well-received. British people definitely have a much deeper appreciation and respect for bagpipes than Americans)



Ended my day at the Heath in this beautiful spot. My time there was a bit marred by this obnoxious married couple having a photoshoot among the roses, but I managed.





The incredible house next to the rose terrace. Even they were excited for the US-Ghana match.

So I ended my day at a pub near the Heath with a funny Irish woman and her English husband. She spent two hours shitting on England while her husband spent two hours telling her to shut up since I was trying to watch my team. There were also some obnoxious Americans there who understood soccer so poorly, they cheered every time we scored AND every time Ghana scored.


Well actually, I ended my day here:



An avant-garde movie theatre near my dorm.

London after day one gets top marks.

Go Three Lions!

Big walk continued

Got out of my neighborhood and walked through Islington, to Little Italy (not very Italian) and then towards Bloomsbury.


Saw lots and lots of Crosses of St. George every where. I mean bordering on America in late 2001 level of flag bearing. Thought it was kind of weird and then I got into a conversation with the woman at the cafe where I ate lunch and she explained that all the flags had only come out because of the World Cup. She hoped England would lose so all the ridiculous patriotism would end. It reminded her "too much of America." Hm, fair enough.



An awfully designed playground.

An awfully designed playground in an entirely different way.

Found this on a bench outside of a nice church. Snagged the book, "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler. Seems like a good find. Left the hat and the notebook filled with illegible scrawling.

A big walk part I

Picking up right where the last post left me...
I took a comfy direct flight from Boston to London on Friday morning and got in by Friday night. I slept a lot on the airplane and felt great getting into London so easily. Still, by the time I got to my humble, college-dorm style room I was pretty tired, so I got some awful lamb kebab from the fried chicken/falafel/awful kebab store next door, stopped by an anti-eviction rally/party/dance rave across the street and went to sleep on a not so fun stomach. Or not. I ended up sleeping, optimistically, about 1.5 hours my first night due to terrible jet lag (and terrible dinner). All that time lying in bed gave me a lot of time to plan a big first day on the city. I knew it was going to be a beautiful day and I knew that the more I walked around, the more sun I got etc. the better chance I had of getting over my jetlag. So at 8:30 AM, off I went.

Here's the neighborhood around my dorm, it's not the best area, but it's pretty fun area, youngish and hip.




(Not the best area in London still has some damn fine buildings)


A Greek restaurant across the street from my dorm. I can't tell if I should go here every day, or just avoid it altogether.

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There's a circus college right next door, I hope they're in session?

Starting my trip!

Well I’m off on my big trip! London, Paris, Barcelona, Greece! In case I haven’t told you about it, I’ll be spending the first 5 weeks split between London and Barcelona taking a photography class called Photography and the City. It should be a great class, although I’ve gotten precious little info from them in the 3 months since I booked my spot in the program, but my fingers are crossed and I’m hoping for the best. And well, so far that seems to be working out pretty well. So I thought I was leaving tonight, but it turns out IcelandAir overbooked my flight. Shit. Or not shit? To anyone willing to take a direct flight on British Airways tomorrow morning (a better airline and a direct flight, already got me sold) IcelandAir offered this pot of gold: a free night at the Boston Colonnade, a hotel in downtown Boston, transportation to and from said hotel, free dinner and breakfast at said hotel, AND a free roundtrip ticket to any destination that IcelandAir flies to (i.e. Europe). Wow, they actually had me at hello. The airline threw something like $1000 at me to get to London 8 hours later than I was intending.

Direct flight for tomorrow and the travel voucher is for anywhere, any time. Taking suggestions! Amsterdam?

So I write my first post of what promises to be a great trip in an opulent hotel room, grinning from ear to ear. Looks like the gods are smiling upon this particular voyage. Write from across the Atlantic next, unless any other offers come way...

Conclusions

It's very hard to summarize my whole experience now, a week after the trip, though I imagine it will continue to remain difficult for quite some time. I met some amazing people from all the over world during my travels, one of the great boons of solo trips, and had lot of experiences I wouldn't have been able to have had I been with others. The relaxed and friendly demeanor of Costa Ricans was very appealing to experience especially following my time in D.C. I saw that the relationship between students and teachers is a very delicate one that can only be fostered through dedication and trust. I also grappled with several relationships between foreigners and locals: tourists, imperialists, completely ignorant visitors and those who attempted to help but had to overcome the bad taste that the other kinds of foreigners had left in the mouths' of the locals.
Costa Rica is not an unambiguously perfect place, it has its warts, but I really, really enjoyed my time there. There are many more, subtler conclusions that I think will make themselves clear to me over time but at this point the experience still looms a little too large in my field of vision to perceive clearly.
I really enjoyed writing recording my travels, despite the technical difficulties, in this blog. I'm planning on resuming Time and again in the summer, when my traveling will recommence. Til then, thanks for reading.



Alex