Seville & Cordoba

We took our first train to Seville and I have to admit that I absolutely love traveling by train. We have taken several now, including a night train, and it is far superior to traveling by air. It is practical, very accessible, and peaceful, compared to flying which is out of the way and hectic. Not that it could ever work in the states, but in Europe it is definitely the way to go!

On the opposite side of the spectrum is taking a taxi in Spain. It is an insane experience that I’d rather not repeat. The drivers do not yield to pedestrians until the very last moment…even in the case of an elderly woman or a women pushing a stroller. And given that the streets were designed to fit carriages and not cars, buses, etc., it can be more exhilarating than going to Six Flags. Seriously, if you are into extreme sports come to Spain and ride in their taxi’s.

Seville

Our visit to the cathedral in Seville was certainly a highlight of our time in Spain. It is the largest Gothic cathedral and the third largest in the world. As well, it was transformed from a mosque into a cathedral and it still bears the remnants of this transformation. Most visible of which is the bell tower, which once used to be a minaret. As you can see from the pictures, the Islamic style “key holes” still testify to the bloody wars that used to take place in Southern Spain.

The same transformation can be seen in the cathedral/mosque in Cordoba.

Cordoba

Cordoba has a very small town feel to it that is inviting after coming from larger cities like Paris, Barcelona, and Seville. There are far less tourists and it is very easy to get around by walking.

Here are some highlights:

The Cathedral/Mosque of Corboba: This site was at one time the site of a church leading up to the Moorish expansion into Spain. As the number of Muslims began to grow in Cordoba, they were in need of a bigger building to house their worshippers. In order to meet this need, the Muslims actually bought the church from the Christians and turned it into a mosque. However, as the Christians began pushing out the Muslims during the Crusades, they took over the mosque and converted it into a cathedral. This is just one of the buildings in Southern Spain that international Muslim groups are currently trying to get returned.

Our hotel! Absolutely amazing! It is actually built on top of some old Roman ruins and the hotel restaurant has a glass floor which looks down on the ruins. Pretty cool!

Granada

This is what southern Spanish beauty is all about. Granada is the image of the town one thinks of when dreaming about the Andalucian region. Winding streets, sunshine, olive trees…

Our first night here, we went to a traditional flamenco concert and had the most amazing paella ever. More than this though, the musicians and dancers put on a really exciting show. The dancing especially really gets your blood flowing!

The next day we took a tour of the Alhambra Palace and Gardens. Once again, absolutely stunning! And while the beauty of the place was quite enough, the history is what really made it special. Seeing a Christian palace and then a Muslim palace next to each other was mind boggling. Even Christian architecture making its way into the Muslim buildings and visa versa…albeit against their will, but nonetheless fascinating.

The hotel we stayed at was actually in the midst of the palace area. In fact, it is where King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were orginally buried…just a few steps from our rooms!

And I have to mention that this was the place that we first discovered the best beer in Spain, Alhambra Reserva 1925. Even without all the history and beauty of this area, finding this beer would have been enough. I’m just hoping that BevMo carries it and we can still get it when we get home!

Barcelona

So, there is no doubt that I am a bit behind on Spain, but it is definitely worth filling you in on.

Barcelona

Our early morning flight left us all exhausted and we arrived in Barcelona a bit delirious. This was however combated with the amazing hotel we stayed at, Hotel 1898. It is a very modern and chic hotel that is set in the touristy area of La Rambla. The best part about it though is the rooftop bar and the coconut mohito’s they serve there. Seriously, if you are ever in Barcelona you must have these mohito’s. They are the best, ever.

Barcelona itself is quite a change from the luxurious city of Paris. It almost seems like we are in South America rather than Europe. The religious life is also more visible here…at least in the institutional sense. There are bells ringing on the hour and we can see at least ten church spires from our hotel rooftop.

A highlight from Barcelona was no doubt the Picasso Museum. Once again, if you have the time and are here, this is a must see. My sister Brooke had told me how amazing it is and she was right. It essentially takes you through the whole life of Picasso. I was amazed to see his early interest in portraits and sculpturing, and his later interest in engraving. Most art galleries and museums only display his later, and should I say “crazy” works, but this museum, gives you a great historical perspective from birth to death.

To finish our time in Barcelona we visited Gaudi’s cathedral, La Familia. It is truly breathtaking. And refreshing after seeing countless cathedrals that all look the same.

After the cathedral, we attended a classical Spanish guitar concert at the Palau Musica Catalana. It was good…so good that after a big meal I think it put most of us to sleep

Marrakech, Morocco: June 13th-16th

Ok, so here’s the deal… We’re a little backed up on our posts, mostly because of poor access to the internet. Corey is going to go back and fill you in on our travels in Spain this past week. We just arrived in Morocco so I’ll get you started on what’s happened so far here in Marrakech. So here it goes…

Marrakech Airport

Our experience here so far has been incredible. I’ll start with the journey from the airport to the hostel we’re staying at. We get off the plane, everything is going smoothly, then we step outside. Nothing too chaotic at first as I expected and then we head towards the taxis. We are met by 5 different taxis drivers who are trying to grab our bags and convince us to take their taxi. We’re a bit overwhelmed and Sherene starts conversing with the men in French. The funniest part of all the craziness is that one man in particular was very adamant about getting all three of us and our three large bags into this tiny little hatchback cab. We asked why we couldn’t take the bigger one and they said it was way too expensive and we could fit easily into his little cab. Well it’s pretty obvious to everyone but this taxi driver that it’s not going to happen so Sherene heads out to find us a better option. She finds out that a bus is much easier and cheaper so we hop on. Go Sherene!

Petite Taxi

The bus drops us off at a square called the Djemaa el Fna which is about a 5 minute’s walk away from our hotel. The sight that meets us as we approach our hotel is… how should I say?… Well, it’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. The square is filled with snake charmers playing their flutes and drums for cobras, monkeys on leashes doing tricks, guys selling teeth (yes, just piles of teeth… still don’t get that one), Arabic women artfully painting Henna tattoos on tourists, huge displays of nuts, figs, and spices, and about 30 huge orange stands with people selling fresh squeezed orange juice. We all have huge smiles on our faces as we head through the square towards our hostel.

The Path to Our Hostel

Once we are through the square, we use some pretty crazy directions printed from the hostel’s website and slowly weave our way through the Souk which is a large bazaar-type market. It’s hot, chaotic and we love it. We get lost a little but that’s all part of the experience. How disappointing would that be if we just hopped on a cab that drove us right to the hotel? We enjoyed that while it lasted when we traveled in France and Spain but the time for luxury is over now. And we’re ready for it.

Our Room

We arrive at our hostel which is beautiful and feels like a traditional Arabic home. We get settled into our room which we are sharing with a girl from Canada and a 62 year old man from Italy. Right outside our room is a nice lounge area and a cat! Sherene and I are so excited about the kitty and play with it for a while.  He’s so cute and we can’t resist!

Ok, so here is the thing about our room… there is no air conditioning! Oops… forgot to check on that when we booked the room several months ago.  We tell ourselves it’s all part of the experience and sleeping in a 90 degree plus room does certainly add another element to our trip. I guess you just kinda get used to being sweaty and sticky here. I remember being surprised to see only a sheet on the bed but you don’t even need that.

Coke in a Bottle... yuuum

The perfect cure for the heat is a nice coke in a bottle. Our first trip back to the square after we arrive, we all order coke and it tastes amazing. Corey and Sherene have chicken a couscous and I order the Tagine which is a traditional Moroccan dish with beef, veggies, and lots of spices. Very tasty. We discovered last night that the square is even more spectacular at night. The entire center is filled with vendors cooking all sort of food – kebabs, seafood, etc. It’s foodie paradise. The energy in the square is incredible.

At one point, we stopped to watch some monkeys. Bad idea. The moment you stop to look at something, the vendor rushes up to you, forces whatever they are selling on you, and then demands for money. I had a lady grab my hand and start doing Henna on me. Crazy! So back to the monkeys. This guy came up and threw his monkey, named Coco, on me. It was very cute so I didn’t run away and played with it for a little bit. After about a minute of that, he puts the monkey on Corey and the monkey quickly proceeds to look for lice in Corey’s hair!! We were all dying with laughter.

Coco Looking for Lice

I think I’ve written way too much already but it still feels like there is so much more to say. This is my first blog entry though so I’m sure I’ll get better with practice. I have attached a few more pictures below but since it takes about 1 minute to upload each picture, we will try to post more on facebook. We love you and miss you all.

- Trisha

The Door to Our Hostel

The Djemaa el Fna Square

Paris – Day 4

Our last day in Paris was brilliant. It all started with a cab ride to the Louvre Museum and the next several hours spent in awe. As I keep saying, the buildings themselves are works of art. The Louvre itself was once a palace and now houses some of the greatest works on the planet.

The most fascinating of which for me was the Code of Hammurabi. It dates back almost 4,000 years to the time of ancient Babylon and is one of the oldest law codes that has been discovered. The museum was relatively empty that morning, so I was able to spend considerable time studying it. And it does not sit behind glass like many of the other works, so I was able to get right up to it. It is hard to describe what it feels like to be in the presence of something so culturally important.

Just to let you know, the Mona Lisa is really sort of a let down. It is the most crowded and loudest room, so don´t expect some sort of spiritual experience with Da Vinci. It is of course a must see, but there are far better places to spend one´s time!

After the Louvre, I headed to Notre Dame to get some close-up pictures and took a bike back to the hotel. This was my worst idea of the day. The subsequent 45 minute slightly uphill ride back to the hotel made me realize how out of shape I am.

In the afternoon we headed to the Musee de l´Orangerie. This is a much smaller museum, but houses the largest Monet paintings I have ever seen. They literally take up the entire room. This museum also housed some great works from Renior, Gaugin, Cezanne, and Picasso. It is a must see when you come to Paris.

I have to say that our last night in Paris was perhaps the best of all. As many of you know, Sherene has been studying in Paris the past year and has been staying with a fairly affluent Parisian family. The father, Martin Hirsch is a cabinet member for President Sarkozy and his wife, Florence is a writer and has her own television show. We were honored to be invited to their house for dinner and it was a blast sharing a meal with a true French family. All in all, not a bad night

……….

Paris – Day 3

THE FRENCH OPEN.

There is really not much I can say other than….amazing….spectacular…outstanding…breathtaking…

Bob and I got tickets for the quarter-finals of the French Open and it was truly out of this world. I love tennis and seeing Soderling (who beat Nadal) wipe the floor with Davydenko was exhiliarating. Also, while Sherapova had a bad day, seeing her ace Cibulkova on a few occasions was worth the hassle of getting tickets.

I come away from this day truly understanding this as an experience of a lifetime…

Yet again, another crummy day in Paris…

Paris – Day 2

We had a wonderful french breakfast at the hotel followed by an unsuccessful attempt at getting French Open tickets (unless one had an extra 600 € lying around). It was however, fun watching Sherene talk with the scalpers in french

After hanging around Roland Gaross (the stadium) for awhile, we headed to a sleepy little brasserie near the National Assembly. It was a beautiful location with a cathedral towering above us. What was most interesting however, was that France was celebrating the national holiday of Pentecost on this day and the church was completely empty. In fact, I really don´t believe that the French even understand the meaning of Pentecost. It is just a day off of work for them.

After a two hour + lunch (very french style), we rented bikes and rode around central Paris for several hours. This is the point at which I truly understood how beautiful the city is. There is really nothing else like it in this world. I have been to many cities, but nothing is quite like Paris. There is no true comparison to be made.

After a long and sweaty bike ride, we rushed back to the hotel to get cleaned up for a ballet performance at the Opera National de Paris. In honesty, the building itself was almost as powerful as the performance. It was spectacular inside and out. And while it was stuffy inside, the ballet itself was moving. Even without words, music and dancing are easily able to excite the heart.

To finish the evening we had dinner a a famous restaurant, Las Closerie des Lilas. The service was outstanding and the oysters, prawns, and champagne were particularly tasty. Yet in the end, the chocolate mousse dessert stole my heart.

Ahhh…just another day in Paris….

Flight from NYC to Paris (May 30 – 31)

Our flight was uneventful, but arriving in Paris was quite a trip. We were originally supposed to meet the Smith’s at the airport and travel together to the hotel. Their flight had gotten in prior to ours, so they asked where we would be picking up our bags. Unfortunately, the airport personel told them to go to the wrong baggage claim and we completely missed eachother.

Feeling adventurous, Trisha and I decided we would take a bus into the city instead of paying 65 Euros for a cab fare. Once again, taking public transit was a success (although I am waiting for the nightmare that will no doubt arrive soon!)

The bus dropped us off at the Arc de Triumph and we hoofed it to our hotel several blocks away. We were of course thinking that we would see the Smith’s, but they were no where to be found and they wouldn’t even let us into our room. This was one of those breaking point moments in travel. We had just arrived from a long flight, a bus ride, had fought with our luggage on cobble stoned streets, our family was no where to be found and we had no where to hang out and no cell phones or numbers to call.

As I was getting ready to throw my luggage through the hotel door and come back to America, the concierge just happened to find Sherene’s phone number and offered to call for us. In the end, we found the Smith’s and had a wonderful, yet jet lagged first day in Paris.

Highlights of the day:

- We almost, but did not miss our connection in Dublin. I was however unable to chug a pint or two of Guiness due to lack of time. This has proved thus far to be the the most disappointing part of the trip…

- Having a picnic lunch (complete with wine, baguette, and cheese) at the Luxembourg Gardens

- Trisha and I getting a Junior Suite all to ourselves and literally being right down the street from the Eiffel Tower. Awesome, awesome, awesome…

As I write this, we are getting ready to head to Barcelona, so I will try and update you on the rest of Paris soon!!!

NYC (May 28 – 30)

Our short trip to NYC to visit my sister Brooke was absolutely wonderful! In my prior trips to Manhattan I have always felt like just another tourist, but staying with Brooke made me feel like an insider in some sense. Getting accepted by New Yorkers is no easy task, but this is the first time that I felt relaxed and at ease exploring the city.

Highlights of the trip:
- Eating at Havana (a great Cuban restaurant in Times Square) and seeing Governor Patterson with his body guards. And although seeing Patterson was cool, the mohito’s and Paella get the prize.

- Using the metro system and not getting lost once!!!

- Smoking hookah at Horis Cafe for my b-day in the East Village and running into Kirston Dunst outside some random bar (thanks Brooke and Trish for a great day)

- Getting practically sat upon by a very large woman in the metro and not caring because her body kept me warm

- Feeding the squirrills in Union Square and getting one to climb up my arm. This was the cheapest entertainment in the city, yet extremely enjoyable!

- Eating from street vendors. Those hot dogs are simply delectable!

The Blog is Rolling

Bonjour from Paris!

Well, we are a few days behind in getting this blog rolling, but that is the beauty of international travel. When travelling one must exercise patience beyond all reasonable measure, which is what you must also do with this blog.

We have no idea when or where we will have internet access, so don’t expect daily updates. They will most likely come perhaps twice a week, but we will do our best. We want to share this experience with you, so feel free to comment and share advice! We will update you on NYC and Paris shortly.

Au Revoir,

Corey & Trisha