Tiny streets filled with Adventure

Trip to Lisboa, Portugal

A group of us headed out for the weekend to enjoy the country right next to Spain, Portugal! The streets are tiny and they make certain that they maintain their historical architecture. After getting our bearings of the land and checking into our place the first order of business was catching some waves. Lisbon is known for their waves and surfing so we thought we would give it a shot. We had no idea what we were getting into but we just went with it. All of us were a bit shocked when we actually did warm ups for surfing (also a little winded since we haven’t done much physical activity). That 5 minute jog was a bit rough. We then we did a quick lesson on shore and off to the water we went! It is NOT as easy as it looks folks, balancing on the board is pretty difficult even if the waves we were surfing we not that big. Surprisingly though we caught on pretty fast and all of us were able to get up and balance with the help of the instructors. By the end we even got up once by ourselves!

Next day was a sightseeing day. We walked through their downtown with shops along every side. Some filled with souvenirs, clothing, antique shops, or even port wine (what they are famous for). We ended our walk at the Museum of Sacred Art. We got in for free, yay student discounts! It was filled with relics of old bishops and saints. We even got to see statues of Saint Xavier, the Jesuit saint that SLU’s church is named after. There were historic altarpieces covered in gold, priest’s garments and extravagant paintings. Next to the museum was the Sao Roque Church, one of the most famous Jesuit churches in Europe. Here are pictures to help you understand the beauty and intricacy of the church; any way I describe it will not do it justice.

             

         

The next place we stopped at was Pavilao Do Conhecimento, a science museum! According to trip advisor it is a great place to go and explore and have fun, which is exactly what we did. Three rooms filled with interactive activities and experiments did the trick. We made huge bubbles, played a speed game, tested different paper airplanes and experimented with lights and colors. Who wouldn’t want to spend a day as a kid again?! There was a tightrope bike that I dared to try. Even though there was no way I was going to fall it still was a bit freaky, but I did it!

For dinner we found a place called Timeout market where they had converted a warehouse into a huge market of food. All along the edges were many different tiny versions of food places around the city. In the middle there are tons of high-top tables and stools where you can eat and of course live music in the middle. Surprisingly enough we got Asian food because it looked so good and we hadn’t had any the whole time in Europe yet and it was absolutely delicious. After Timeout it was time to experience the nightlife. We all decided to do a pub-crawl to get the most out of the time we had. Starting at a small place and worked our way up to a huge new disco club that had just opened 2 weeks before. It was massive and had great music that was perfect to dance to all night.

Our second day was spent exploring the city again but this time we went down to the port town. We tried all of their specialties including pasteles de nata. A delicious cream filled pastery that I may have eaten a few too many of. We also stopped at a wine shop to try their famous Port Wine. The old man helping us at the store showed us many different wines and even let us try one that had aged 60 years. I don’t know much about wine but it was good, but also cost about 300 euros. 

After feeling like real connoisseurs of wine, we went to have an authentic Lisbon meal with Fado. Fado is a type of music native to Portugal that includes a special guitar-like instrument and intricate vocals. While we enjoyed our spectacular food, we also enjoyed four rounds of Fado music from different performers. Perfect way to end the trip; I never wanted to leave!

Bullfights, the President and More!

After all that traveling I have a weekend in Madrid to relax! Well I wouldn’t say relax, but no traveling which is nice to get a break from when there is still so much to see in Madrid. Well this week was a pretty cool week because on Thursday we had some big company over for dinner, the president of SLU!!! Some how we lucked out and got to have dinner with President Pastello, his wife Fran, and a priest from the Madrid Campus, James O Leery! We were extremely anxious in their anticipation and we were preparing the house from the beginning of the week. Lots of cleaning and cooking but then the day had come and it was time to enjoy their company! We started the night off with lots of Tapas or Spanish appetizers of bread and authentic cheese, ham, croquets, olives and salmon. Once we had chatted a bit we went inside for the main meal. Luis and Maria went all out and we ate Paella AND tortilla. We even had chocolate cake for dessert! It was very fun to talk with the pres and all of our friends were pretty jealous. What an honor!

For the weekend it was time to get some more Spanish culture in us. We spent one day on the east side of the city and ventured toward the famous art museum El Prado. We saw works of art that dated back many years in multiple different styles. It was quite impressive seeing all of the artwork. After the morning in the art museum we went to the Botanical gardens next door. Boy was that pretty.

 

The big part of the weekend was Sunday when a group of us attended a Bull Fight. I was a little anxious about it all seeing as they do actually kill the bulls in front of you. I knew it was close to the Spanish culture and it was supposed to be more about the artistry and skill behind it all so I focused on that. After the first round my squirmish stomach dissipated and I began to get into the tactics. The point is to get the bull to pass you as close as you can while displaying your control over the bull. There are many different parts to a bullfight all meant to accomplish different things regarding the bulls. We got to see three bullfighters perform their art. One in particular was quite impressive and straight darn crazy! He risked it all and had the bull get so close it grazed him a little bit every time! He even got bucked twice but still kept going! Overall I couldn’t say whether I enjoyed it or not but I did appreciate the culture, history and skill behind it.

 

Well there’s the week for you all! Classes are going well, midterms are coming up so hopefully they go off without a hitch. You think this deserves an A???

Munich Germany

When you book tickets to Munich for Oktoberfest it should come with a cautionary notice that looks a little something like this:

CAUTION- you will drink a lot of beer, you will be really tired, you cannot speak German, it is all worth it.

Germany was a grand ole time I must say. Now before you start to think all we did was go to Oktoberfest and drink beer, we did do a day of museums and sight seeing. But first, the party.

Honestly the hardest part about the weekend was that we couldn’t speak a lick of German other than nein or no (and we thought the Spanish language barrier was hard). The second we stepped off of the train from the airport, we saw men and women in lederhosen and drindles everywhere. We soon realized these were all tourists for Oktoberfest and no one really wears them anymore. Some of our crew did however drop the cash to get the German attire but I personally thought I’d save my money (they looked super cute though!) After some schnitzel, we dropped off our bags and headed to the fest. Not really sure what we were getting ourselves into, we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived. The grounds were huge but somehow we accidentally ran into friends quite often. Not only were there ginormous tents full of tables and tables and tables of people and Steins of beer, there were also rides, carnival games and lots of food! We chose a random outdoor beer garden and ordered our first Stein of Munich Beer. Delicious. We ran into some of our guy friends and started the birthday celebrations, Mike was turning 21!!! We didn’t find any birthday cake but we did eat a lot of pretzels.

                              

Day two was full of more fun and beer. We got up surprisingly early to get in line for the big beer tent, Hofbrauhaus. It was a mad dash for a table, and we set up shop for a while with three tables full of SLU friends!!! The atmosphere was like everyone was there for a good time; german music was played by a live band, everyone around was happy and the word ‘Prost’ (Cheers!) was constant. We mingled with the people around us and had a jolly good time. We meandered around the fair grounds in the afternoon seeing the craziness of it all. We took a break for dinner at a German version of chipotle (I think it was better shhh). Then we headed back at night to try a new beer garden to end the Oktobeerfest activities. 

We spent the last day in Munich seeing the rest of the city. Our first top was at Dachau Concentration Camp. As chilling as it was, it was extremely interesting and I learned a lot while we were there. Our tour guide was excellent and gave us more information that if we had just gone on our own. A reminder of the scary past, but a place preserved as a warning for the future. After our tour we decided to get some traditional German food at the 5 floor high Hofbrauhaus Restaurant. More live german music but my favorite part, a whole roast chicken. We then explored the streets and saw the famous Marienplatz which at 11 o’clock everyday has mechanic marionettes that perform and sing on the outside of the building. The trip ended with a walk through a park and we even got to see the surfers in action. Yes, there was a river through the park that hits a dam and creates a constant, perfect, 50 foot wide wave for surfers to go through. We watched for a very long time as they did their tricks on the river. Then it was time to head home back to Madrid.