A schmorgesborg of travel

Well this has been long over due.

Basically my life for the past three weeks has been an intense, exciting mix of places and people. So to save time and energy I am going to condense the past 3 weeks into a nice little summary.
Here we go:

Weekend of February 17th ( think that was a weekend, who knows):
I went and visited my friend, Sarah Paxton, in Scotland. She is studying in Sterling for a semester, which is right in the middle of Glasgow and Edinburgh. Basically I hit up Glasgow, Edinburgh and Sterling-the 3 major cities in Scotland-in two days. Just a tad exhausting. Edinburgh was definitely my favorite, for it housed a plethora of very old gothic buildings and cathedrals. Not to mention the Edinburgh castle which overlooks the entire city and more. The city is tightly wound around a kind of mountainy-cliff and had a lot of adorable historic streets and pubs. Overall, I loved Scotland-the people, castles and cathedrals were all extremely memorable. I was not a huge fan of the food, nor the freezing weather, but I am so happy that I finally got to visit it.

The next weekend was the start of my two week spring break where I visited Casablanca, Marakech, Barcelona, and Amsterdam. Just so I dont ramble on and lose you people I am going to break each place down into a little section.

Casablanca: We got there on the night of February 26th and immediately rejoiced at the warm night air. This was the first time we had been in a temperature over 40 degrees in months so we could not get over how amazing it felt. We were also met with the distinct smell of Africa- a bit moist, deserty, with a tinge of trash and tropical flowers. We stayed at a very cool hostel with unlimited mint tea (hollahhh) and an hysterical character of an owner. Casablanca was small and rather quiet, we were able to walk around most of it in a day. After a day and a half there we took a 3 hour train trip to Marakech. The train ride was interesting, as we were in the 2nd class and shared a cabin with two other Moroccan men. The ride reminded me of the train sequence from Slumdog Millionare; the interesting smells, crowded and loud cabins, and flashing Moroccan countryside. It was a pretty cool experience, despite the bathroom, which was like a shit box. Also, for some reason people in Morocco do not believe in supplying toilet paper-so basically you scrounged for whatever you had lying around in your purse, scraps of paper, receipts, etc. Yea.

Marrakech: In contrast to Casablanca, Marrakech was much more westernized and "with it". The train station even had a Starbucks and Burger King. Congratulations Starbucks for making it to Africa. Our riad (a homey type of hostel/ bed and breakfast) was located in the heart of the souks. The souks are a gigantic marketplace for tourists and locals alike, filled with leather bags, spices, shoes, knock-offs, food, jewelry, basically anything and everything. However, these souks were one of the most overwhelming experiences of my life. Vendors (basically all men) constantly yelled prices and discounts, or that they wanted to buy us for 12,000 camels...usual market dealings. After a few days I was completely exasperated from the souk and my nerves were frazzled beyond belief. I did make some pretty impressive bargaining purchases (Mary Lu, you taught me well), but for how much you put up with trying to navigate through the stalls it was almost not worth it. Other than the constant lewd comments from the Moroccan men and vendors, Morocco's culture was very unique. The women seemed to have no prominent place in society, everything was done by men. Overall, the food was satisfactory. We had two pretty amazing meals, but for the land of spices, the food was pretty bland. We did stumble upon this one restaurant that offered a 4 course meal for 80-100 dirham (8-10 dollars). That was SO delicious. I got chicken and couscous with raisins, salad, soup, bread, wine, fruit and coffee. It was one of the fullest I have ever been but so so worth it. We ended up going back the day after :). We also ended up riding camels for about 5 minutes just to say we did, the pictures from that adventure are pretty hysterical. After almost a week in Morocco we were ready for a new scene, our next destination-ESPAGNE!

Barcelona:
This was definitely my favorite stop on our adventure. It was probably because we spent the most time there and were able to relax. The food in Barcelona was delicious, despite the fact that I ended up getting terribly sick from eating bad sick-I couldnt be out of the bathroom for more than 5 minutes at a time for 2 days. Way gross. Despite that, everything was very fresh and flavorful. Right by our hostel there was a fresh food market with the most exquisite displays of fruit and chocolate I have ever seen. I have never seen so many colors and fruit juices combined in one location. Also, my sweet touch took over in Barcelona. I went to the candy store three times and the chocolate store my last day. The architecture, especially Gaudi's work was mesmerizing. Every aspect of the building was so intricate and beautiful. I went to the Picasso museum, which was interesting to see how his work and personality progressed and morphed throughout his career. I really liked his earlier work verses his more modern and recent ones. La Sagrada Familia was insane. It seemed like one of the wonders of the world. The towers loom over you in a way that they seem like they are bent over and looking down upon you. It is an eclectic combination of Christian architecture and complete randomness. The main thing I appreciated about Barcelona was it boldness in sculptures and architecture. Scattered around the city were random, extremely modern sculptures and more delicate, Renissance ones. I also fell in love with Sangria. Have not yet decided if this is a good or bad thing (as I have already taken a strong liking to red wine-I seem to become more like my mother with every turn).

Now onwards to Amsterdam, the most interesting location on my excursion. Jimmy and I landed at 12 am and did not make it into the city centre until 1:35 (there was a minor incident with a dire need for Burger King and the missing of the train. Obviously it was not my need for a chicken sandwich, but I am not going to go into that). Anyway, after we make it to the train station we began the hunt for our "boatel" (a hostel on a boat-another thing I am just going to let slide). After 20 minutes of walking along the river (freezing), we found our boatel and climbed in. Our first hint should have been that there was about an inch or two between each room door. But, given the fact that it was past 2 am and we were tired, cold and pissed off at each other over the chicken sandwich incident, we happened to miss that little detail. Opening the door to our room was a shock, to say the least. There were two mini bunk-beds, a sink and a tiny little portel window. Our suitcases and our selves almost did not fit into the room, let alone Jimmy could touch all 6 sides of the room by stretching out his arms and leg. Basically I curled up in bed with my clothes on, pulled the covers over my head, and died a little inside. We checked out the next morning.
Despite the rough start we found a cozy little hotel about 3 blocks down from our lovely boatel paradise and started the vacation fresh. We visited Anne Frank's house, which was extremely moving and fascinating. I really enjoyed the canals, tiny houses and quaint neighborhoods of Amsterdam. However, I quickly began to detest all the prostitutes and weed cafes. I understand it is a part of the culture and that weed is great in a lot of aspects, but after the first day I was itching to avoid it. The one thing I did consistently in Amsterdam was eat. Perhaps it was due to my pent up anxiety over all the vaginas I was seeing and weed clouds I was walking through, or the food just happened to be delicious and constantly in my face, or a little bit of both. Either way, I had scrumptious Chinese food, fries, waffles, brownies (a few different kinds), pancakes, etc. After the few days in Amsterdam I was more than ready to head back to Paris. Do not get me wrong, I loved Amsterdam (mostly outside the red light district), but after the coldness of that city and 2 weeks of traveling, my nerves were about to explode.

So after all of that, I made it home to Paris in one piece. A few days later, Sarah and some of her friends, visited me in Paris. Sadly, she is leaving today after an intense, tourist packed weekend. Needless to say, I am excited to ease back into my routine and Paris groove, especially with the constant increase of the temperature and taste of the sunlight.

All for now!
Love Bri