Le due amiche in Italia

Sorry for the delay in posting, but hey; if nothing else I'm predictable. I've been really busy in the past few weeks (I only have 5 weeks left in Granada) and have had a hard time finding time to post. So that's why this is roughly a week late.

This weekend was my first weekend in Granada (without plans or guests) since the weekend before Morocco, which was the 9-11 of March. Despite the fact that I was travel weary and never wanted to see a plane or bus again, I really did want to visit Christina in Italy, so I did. First off, let me say that my new favorite "budget" airline is Vueling. Yeah, they aren't as cheap as RyanAir, but they let you choose your seat (hello emergency exit/abundant leg space) and they are overall more pleasant. They also fly to decent airports, including the little teeny one in Granada.

Before I get to what we actually did, I would like to begin with a story. You may remember that last year on spring break, the girls and I went (among other places) to Rome, and wanted to see the Sistine chapel, but ended up walking the perimeter of an entire country before realizing that the ticket office (and hence entry) had already closed. The next day was Ash Wednesday, so the only way into the museum involved waiting for roughly four or so hours in line. Already planning to be back this spring, Christina and I promised each other that we would return and see the Sistine Chapel.

Fast forward to February. Christina and I figured out a weekend we were both free, and I booked my ticket to fly into Rome and out of Pisa (she's studying in Siena, which is roughly between the two). I made sure to get an early flight, because we had to make it to the museum. A month later, I received an email from Vueling, saying something my flight had changed:

Basically, this meant that instead of getting to the Vatican by around noon, I would only just be taking off from Barcelona. Fail. Things got even more tense when I got to Barcelona and saw that my flight was delayed by an hour. I called Christina, knowing she would worry whether I told her or not, and she said that we'd make it. I would just have to take a taxi from Fumicino airport (the closest one to the city center, thank God) to the Vatican. My flight landed just before 3, and I made it to the taxi about 10 minutes later. Once in the car, I asked the driver how long it took to get to St. Peter's Square (the closest he could get me) and he said 40 minutes, but changed his answer to 30 when he saw the look on my face. 

And here is where I once again give props to European drivers. Last year in London, homeboy got us to Heathrow in record time (though he probably broke every speed limit doing it), and this guy got me to the Vatican in 25 minutes. Well done, sir. He even asked me if I knew the area and offered directions. I declined, because I knew where I was going and just didn't have time for that. 

So I ran across St. Peter's square, freaking out some Asian tourists and I'm sure making a fool of myself. Finally, I made it to the corner where Christina and I had agreed to meet, and we made it to the museum with less than 10 minutes to spare. We got our tickets, got into the museum, and saw the Sistine Chapel. It was absolutely gorgeous and amazing and so so so worth all the stress it took to get there. 

At this point, I was going to embed a video from facebook. Blogger, however, has gone through some 'upgrades' and doesn't like that so much, so I'm going to have to wait until tomorrow to upload it to youtube and then to here, with the pictures (I hope).

Anyways, after all that excitement we needed a snack, and got some Nutella crepes (both with roughly half a jar of the spread) to eat on our way to the Metro, to get to the bus that would take us to Siena. That was all normal, until I saw a guy wearing an IC tshirt on the bus. I didn't recognize him from anything, and I didn't talk to him, but it was still funny to see. 

We got to Christina's host mom's (Paola) house around 9:30 and she had a delicious dinner waiting for us. I think it involved some salad, some pasta, bread, and meat or something. Really I was exhausted and forgot to journal about the entire trip (fail.) so I don't remember all that well. 

The next day we had a delicious breakfast of fried eggs (over easy, not deep fried in olive oil like Spain's), cereal, and tea and headed out into the rain so I could see Siena. Despite the rain, I really liked it. Siena is a medieval city, because at one point (when other cities like Florence were become Renaissance cities) there was a huge outbreak of the plague and almost everyone died, so they didn't have the manpower (or money, I assume) to update the city. That's fine with me, because it's gorgeous. 

We saw many things, including Piazza del campo, il Duomo, a panoramic view from tower, and the torture museum. Christina also showed me a view of the city's 'contrada'  fountains. Each contrada is an area of the city, represented by an animal. There are: la torre (represented by an elephant), eagle, dolphin (or fish?), unicorn, and a lot more I can't remember. I think there are 17 in all. Each year in the summer, there is a horse race where all of the contradas compete. The winner gets all the glory, and according to Christina's host mom, the contrada's fountain will run with wine instead of water. I'm not entirely sure about that last part, because I have to focus so hard to understand Italian that I sort of miss out on important things, like sarcasm. 

We met up with one of Christina's friends (Emily) to go to the torture museum, which had some of the most morbidly creative things I've ever seen in my entire life. I literally never would have thought of half of the things in there, much less have put them to use! Let's just say I'm glad that I live in the 21st century. Since that really worked up our appetites ok, not so much, but it was lunchtime) we went out for kebabs then bought some wine, cheese, and bread at the supermarket and headed to Emily's apartment to eat. I also met some of her other friends, including one who goes to Ithaca. They were all super nice, and I had lots of fun hanging out with them. 

Sunday morning we got up early, and Christina took the train with me halfway to Pisa, to help me find the train I would have to switch to. I was really sad to leave, but I had an amazing time in Italy, and hope I can get back to Siena sometime soon. 

Also, I will post photos of this trip later. I went to put up a link, and realized that I hadn't actually uploaded them to facebook yet. My internet is being painfully slow, so it may not be until tomorrow or the next day. Ciao!

And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his Cloak of Invisibility.

If you have ever read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, or seen the movie, you should recognize that quote... and you should be able to tell what this post is going to be about. That's right. The Harry Potter Studio Tour at WB Studios in Watford, England, where I got to go 2 days after the Grand Opening. Yes. I was one of the first people to ever see the tour, and I was (and still am, let's be honest) super excited about it.

If you don't know what the HP Studio Tour is, basically it's a tour of the part of WB Studios where the HP movies were filmed (for the most part... some scenes were also filmed in Scotland, London, and Oxford), which included sets, soundstages, props, costumes, and behind the scenes stuff.

When you first walk into the building, the HP soundtrack is playing and you see several props (school trunks and the Weasley's Ford Anglia) and cast pictures (Harry, Ron, and Hermione have 1 per year). There's the gift shop, which is a wonder in itself, and the queuing area for the tour. In that area in the cupboard under the stairs, which is actually a lot smaller than the movie makes it seem.

The tour itself began in a cinema, where you watch a short film about the making of HP, and the tour. I won't tell you exactly what happens next, but from there you go see the Great Hall (also smaller than it looks), the prop house, the back lot, and the creature shop. They even have Diagon Alley and a scale model of Hogwarts! All of these are tremendously cool, and you have almost unlimited time to walk around and see them. I got pictures of everything, which sadly ended in my camera dying in the midst of the creature shop.

In the first big part, they have a bunch of sets- Hagrid's hut, Dumbledore's office, the Gryffindor Common Room and boys' dormitory, the Ministry of Magic Atrium, Umbridge's ministry office, and many more. There's also an abundance of costumes and props. They're amazing. You think that just because they were in the movie, you know what they look like, but they've got way more detail in real life. The Yule Ball table set ups, for example. Also, I will note that Emma Watson may be the tiniest (and by that I mean skinniest) human alive. Her Yule Ball dress is tiny.

Moving on. In the middle of the tour, in case all the excitement was just too much for you, there's a break in the 'back lot' with a cafe. I will admit that I did drink the butterbeer. It was really good, sort of like cream soda but richer and butterier, and the foam was the best part. While I sipped it, I got to see the actual Knight Bus (it seriously is three stories), Number 4 Privet Drive, and the Potter Cottage, complete with hole blasted in the roof. There was also the giant chess set from HPSS, which was awesome.

When you went back inside (to a different lot) you were in the creature shop, where I almost died of fright when I saw the enormous hairy Acromantula hanging directly above my head. Seriously, the thing was easily ten feet across. *shivers* I also got to see Dobby (post knife wound :[) and Bathilda Bagshot, who is ridiculous creepy even when she's enclosed in a glass case, inanimate, and you know it's not real. They also had the actual moving Buckbeak and (nonmoving) Basilisk's and dragon's heads.

The creature shop dumped out into Diagon Alley. I wanted to take a thousand pictures of it, but my camera only pulled itself together for 2 pictures. It was amazing. All the shops were perfect, and they had Ollivander's and even the Weasley's shop.

The final stop within the tour itself was the model of Hogwarts. When I walked in and realized what I was looking at (go ahead, laugh) my heart actually stopped. It was spectacular. It was a perfect model of the castle, and the one they actually used for all sweeping shots of Hogwarts. I can't even describe how cool it was.

Wait, just kidding. That wasn't the last thing. There was also the wand shop, with boxes of wands they used in filming (although some of the wands were on display in the props area), with the actors' names on them. I could have looked around for hours... there were easily thousands of wand boxes in just that one room.

When I finally made it out, feeling like I could pass out from excitement, I wandered through the gift shop, looking for things I might want. And when I say that, I mean looking for stuff that I can afford, since in reality I wanted everything. I saw one couple drop over 400 pounds on stuff for their kids. In the end, I bought myself Tales of Beedle the Bard, a Time Turner necklace, and a Gryffindor hat.

So basically, you should go see this. It's amazing and wonderful and shows you so much stuff about the entire movie series. I would highly recommend it, as long as you bring no more cash than you intend to spend in the gift shop. You might get carried away...


Yup. That pretty much sums it up.

London photos

Whoops. Here's my album

I'm baaack: Semana Santa in London

That's right ladies and gentlemen, I just spent the last week (or so) in London! It was weird and wonderful and I loved it. I hadn't realized just how much I missed London until I got there. Landing in Stansted, an airport I'm very familiar with, was super surreal, and the first thing I did (before catch my easybus) was get a pret sandwich, a Cadbury egg, and some peach tea, since that's not sold in Spain. And before I continue, I will warn you that I probably have to break this trip up into several posts, at least 2 but possibly 3 or 4. probably 3. I've written 34 pages in my journal about it, so we'll just see where it goes.

Hokay, so. I finally got into the city of London, topped up my Oyster, and checked into my hostel, which was in the London Bridge area. Once I had done that, I walked around Westminster, Piccadilly, Leicester, and Trafalgar. I forgot how crowded it was up there and was starting to lose my sanity when I saw a sign: "Mamma Mia! Tickets available for tonight's show" and I remembered that I wanted to see the Lion King. After a quick stop in Chinatown for a meat bun (just as weird and delicious as I had remembered) I ventured to Covent Garden and found the Lyceum Theatre, where the Lion King is showing. They didn't have a sign outside, but I went to the box office and they had 2 tickets left for that night's performance. One was super cheap, but really far back, and the other was more expensive than any other ticket I've bought in London, but still cheaper than Broadway, and I snagged it. More on that in another post (that way you can skip it, Andrea!)

On Saturday morning I woke up, and my hostel room was full. (Don't worry mom, I booked an all girls' hostel). Three of the girls, all of whom were on vacation from Philly, seemed pretty cool, but I had plans for the  day and headed off. After breakfast, I took the tube to Gloucester Road, to get some chai at Caffe Nero, and check out the IC London Centre. Sadly, the ICLC was closed for the day, so I walked to my old neighborhood. It was really strange to see it again- there was a new dry cleaners' and nail shop, and there were little differences that I found strange. I even walked up Gunterstone Road to our corner,  and saw that the dead plant on our old windowsill had been removed, and there were no longer orange curtains.

After that it was too cold to stay outside, so I wandered through the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Natural History Museum. I probably looked like a total fool, doing all the interactive things at the latter, but I had fun. By the time I was done there, it was getting on in the afternoon and I decided to go to Tesco, to buy some water, creme eggs for the ladies back in Ithaca, and some snacks, so I wouldn't end up going and buying a late lunch and dinner. At some point, the Philly girls came back to the hostel room and invited me to go to dinner with them. We went to a really cool place just around the corner from the hostel, and I had some sort of filo dough pocket with veggies inside. It was really good, and I enjoyed eating dinner at a normal time (this whole Spain eating schedule is killing me).

On Sunday, I woke up to a church procession outside the hostel, and realized that I had most definitely slept through breakfast. Luckily, the Philly girls were planning on doing the same things I wanted to do, and since I was alone and they didn't really know how to use the Tube, we decided to hang out all day. We walked along the river to Tower Bridge, and got a very late brunch in a restaurant on the south bank. I had Shepard's Pie, one of the girls had bangers and mash, and the other two had Sunday roast. All of it looked/smelled/tasted amazing, and was perfect to start a long day of exploring. We walked around the outside of the Tower (they had plans to see it Monday) and then made our way to Embankment, so they could see all the stuff I had done the day before.

While in Leicester Square I bought a ticket to see Wicked, and then we went to Cool Britannia, a giant souvenir store that I knew about from the year before. After they finished their shopping, we ate lunch in Covent Garden, where I had the most massive sandwich I've ever seen. You'd think that a chicken caesar salad sandwich would be smallish, or at least 'lighter' fare. Nope. It had 3 pieces of bread, loads of lettuce, and practically an entire wheel of cheese. Needless to say, after that lunch we decided to take the stairs at Covent Garden instead of the elevators. There are 193 stairs in all, and their ridiculous to walk down. Props to anyone who's ever gone up them.

The next stop was Hyde Park, to take in some sun and walk off lunch. There were tons of roller skaters and also animals. We saw swans, ducks, and even some squirrels that people were trying to feed. We kept walking until we got to Kensington Gardens, and took a look at Kensington Palace. It was gorgeous, but in an understated way. It had a yes-I-rule-you-but-I'm-not-a-snobby-rich-person feel to it, which was nice.

Monday I actually made it to breakfast, and went to the ICLC to see Sarah, Bill, and Claire and also make use of Internet for which I didn't have to pay. It was very nice to see them all, and I was able to get all the info for my next adventure... the Harry Potter Studio Tour. That's a post unto itself, though, so you'll have to wait for it. The tour took up all of my afternoon, but I got back in time for dinner and the showing of The Hunger Games. I had watched it online with Christina when she came to Granada, but it was awesome to see it on a big screen, with high quality audio and video. The movie, like most others, wasn't on the same level as the book, but it was still very good.

Tuesday morning I went back to the ICLC (Claire told me to come as often as I liked for the Internet), then met Lee, a girl I worked with 2 summers ago, for lunch. We went to a cute place in Covent Garden, called Cafe Rouge. It's actually a chain, but I was impressed enough with my steak baguette and French fries that I didn't care. After walking and talking for a while, we got on the subject of American candy, and how much I missed Reese's. She took me to a store that sold all American goodies. I bought some Reese's eggs and a Reese's bar (they didn't have plain cups), Barq's root beer, and chocolate covered pretzels. Like many other things, pretzels are missing from Spain.

Pretty soon Lee had to go, so I met my friend Becca, who is studying at the ICLC, to go get some Ben & Jerry's. Normally I would refuse to pay the exorbitant price of European B&J's, but it was Free Cone Day, so we gave in. I had, as usual, Cherry Garcia, and enjoyed every bite. It's too bad they can't have free cone day more than once a year...

That night I went and saw Wicked, then went out with the Philly girls, as it was their and my last night in London. Wednesday morning was momentous, as I met Ellie and Jen, who both worked at Camp Q with me,  for coffee and hangout time. Jen had to get back home early, but I went with Ellie to her house in Birchington (about an hour and a half train ride from London) and stayed there until Saturday. Her parents and grandma were super super nice, and it was really fun to stay there.

Before we did anything on Thursday, Ellie and I went to the bus stop to get Ellie's American cousin, Rhyan, from the bus stop. Rhyan is an au pair in Germany, and she had a 2 week break, so she was visiting her relatives then going to Dublin. The three of us went to Quex House, a stately home near Ellie's, which also houses a museum. The man who lived there in the late 19th century went on frequent hunting trips to Africa, and brought back his kills to be stuffed. There was even a suit (really like a safari outfit) he was wearing when a lion attacked him. It's all ripped up in the back, where the pinned him down. Apparently, He survived because a)the people he was with beat the lion off him fairly quickly, and b) a folded map or something in his pocket kept the lion's claws from piercing his heart.

Friday morning, we had hot cross buns (Andrea- these were way better than the ones you bought) for breakfast, which is apparently a Good Friday tradition. The cross, I found out, is made of a flour and water paste, not sugar as we who went abroad last year thought. They were delicious, and soon after eating them we  dropped Rhyan at the bus station and went to Canterbury, which is nearby.

Canterbury, I must say, was super cool. Ellie said it was the nearest 'big city' but it definitely had that small English village feel. We wandered around, got milkshakes (Ellie's was skittles flavored!! ) and saw the Cathedral. Normally, you have to pay to go inside, but we were wandering around when we saw a door, which was open and didn't say 'no entry' or anything like that, so we went in. Before we knew it, we were inside the actual cathedral. We even got to see the spot where St. Thomas was murdered while praying.

Friday night we went to the birthday party of Ellie's best friend's little sister, which was very fun. I got to meet all of her friends from home, and was almost convinced by one of them that he was Irish. I figured it out soon enough, but Ellie lovingly made fun of me for it until the moment I left on Saturday.

By noon on Saturday I was back in London, and had checked into a different hostel, this time in Bayswater. It was really weird and I will say that I was glad to only have to stay there one night. After walking around the city one more time (and I mean walking- I went on foot all the way from Bayswater to Westminster) and seeing Chicago, I was more or less ready to head home. I was in the hostel lobby, when a group of guys walked in. They were using the computers too, and one of them, after a few minutes of chatting with his friends in what I think was Finnish, asked me if I spoke English. I said yes, of course, and he asked me a couple of questions about what I was doing in London.

After a few exchanges, he smiled and said 'Wow! Your English is amazing!'  I honestly think I sat there with a blank look on my face, before I recovered from the shock of that statement and managed to say "Well, I'm from America". He replied that he and his friends thought I was from Spain, because they looked at the tag on my backpack and saw my Granada address. I pretty much logged off and headed upstairs right then. I mean, I'm sure my friends and I would totally pull something like that, but never in a million years would we admit it to the other person! Ugh. Creepy.

Sunday morning I packed up quickly, checked out, and got a full English and some orange juice at 'Waffle Palace' in Bayswater. I wasn't impressed, but it was better than eating toast in the hostel basement. After that just got on the bus, caught my flight, and came back to Spain. Just like that, Semana Santa was over. Now that I've been back to London, I want to visit it even more. Hopefully I can get back soon!

Also, I have to just say quickly that yesterday I had a class visit to Generalife, a part of the Alhambra, and I saw the background of my blog. The actual thing. Let me say, the picture does not do it justice.

Stay tuned for posts about shows and Harry Potter

F is for friends who do stuff together

So basically I'm feeling super lazy right now. I just wrote a huge post about Morocco, and I have at least 2 more to write before tomorrow night, plus do all my homework and pack to go visit Christina in Italy. I'm excited, despite the fact that I saw her about 2 and a half weeks ago when she visited me in Granada! Here's the lazy part. I'm linking you to her Italy blog instead of writing my own post. After all, we did both hang out together basically the entire time.