There goes Jesus- say hi!

Semana Santa has now come and gone… and now is the time for you all to find out how it went for me and Mike! We’ll start with meeting Mike at the airport…

SO early Monday morning (8am) I had caught a 5 hr bus to Madrid (from Cordoba). When I got to the bus station there I then made my way by subway over to the airport and hung out for a little while as I waited his arrival. FINALLY he arrived! Yay! After 7months of being away from him, this visit was much needed for both of us. After some hugs and kisses we pretty much headed straight to the train station so we could go to Toledo for the evening. If you go visit Toledo it’s definitely worth it by train…only takes 30min and it’s a beautiful ride over. Once we got there we were just in love with the place. I mean we’ve both traveled around Spain but this was our first time in Toledo and it was just amazing. This town just looked very different from all of the other small towns that I’ve visited in Spain and it just had a relaxing feel to it. We got off the train and walked our way into the train station which looks like a small cathedral (there is some history to it but I don’t remember it), made our way over to the taxi and caught a ride to the hotel. Our hotel, Hotel Santa Isabel, was just great and in a perfect part of town, in the old neighborhood and right next to a convent. That night we explored the town and found out just how small it is. You can pretty much walk from one side of town to the other in about 15min…so needless to say, we were able to see “a lot” of the town.

I should also mention that this was during Semana Santa so of course they had a procession happening and it was just amazing. The whole town seemed to be out and following the statue of Jesus being carried through out the town. We followed for a little bit but then headed another direction to grab a bite to eat. We wandered the medieval town with lantern lit streets and stopped in a nice, romantic little restaurant where we were able to sit outside and enjoy the warm evening eating a wonderful meal. 
 

Beyond this place just being a good spot to eat, it was prime for seeing the procession come by that night. The procession made its way through the narrow, cobblestone town roads and lasted a few hours. We didn’t watch the whole thing, since we didn’t follow us after it passed the restaurant, but we end up meeting back up with the group when we headed back to the hotel. They had stopped right behind the convent right next to our hotel. Again, just precious to watch.

The next morning we explored some more of the town. We stopped by a view point that out looked onto some beautiful scenery and some military academy, wandered around Zocodover Square, and got ourselves lost in the winding roads of Toledo.
We found ourselves in front of a cute restaurant so we decided to stop there to get some lunch before we had to head out. The place we went to had absolutely delicious food and we didn't really want to leave BUT we had to go since our train was leaving soon. In fact, it was leaving so soon that we almost missed it; we had to run to the hotel, grab our bags, get in the taxi that was waiting for us (because I had just called it a few minutes before) and he rushed us to the train station. We got there with 2 MINUTES to spare before they would close the "entrance"...Luckily though we did make it and we were then off to Madrid to then catch another train to Cordoba...and then home :) 

That night we arrived to Lucena around 9pm and got picked up by my Spanish family. They were really excited to meet Mike so we all hung out for a few hours, had some traditional spanish tapas (jamon, typical spanish cheese, olives, salmorejo, bread sticks and some little typical Easter treats). Needless to say, we got home really late so the next morning was a little slow...but luckily it was a rainy day. Well I guess that was good and bad. GOOD because we had an excuse just to relax and hang around the house, BAD because they had to cancel tons of processions around Spain. In fact, the rest of the week it rained and the majority of processions ALL OVER Spain were either canceled or severely shortened (they usually last many hours). I was told (from newspapers) that this was the most rain that they've received during semana santa for the last 80 YEARS! We were lucky enough to see a few processions (in Toledo and Lucena) but in places like Seville where people come from all over the world to see the processions, well they were all just out of luck because ALL of those were canceled...just a little disappointing. 

The next procession we did see was in Lucena on Thursday. Normally they start the procession at 6am and stay out until 3pm but this day (due to the rain) they left late, around 9am or so, and ended at noon. We met up with my my Spanish family once again (Carlos' fam) and grabbed some breakfast, then went and watched the processions. And to make things even more special, Elena (my Spanish mom) had a friend invite us up to the balcony right in front of the church...where the saints were going. Not only were we able to see the whole procession with an amazing view, we also stood right next to the singers that perform for the processions. It was so special to see that and have Mike also get a chance to see a small town procession (since they're so different from the big city ones) from a great view. 

After the procession ended it started to rain, of course, so we headed back to the house. The rest of the night was just spent hanging out and relaxing since we had a day of travel ahead of us. Well, not really a full day but we did head over to Baena the next day with intentions of seeing the processions there. First thing we noticed, as soon as we started to drive, rain started to pour down. Since Baena is just a small town close by we knew it'd be raining there too. And what do you know....it was. So we got there and hung out with some friends I have since we really wanted to see if it would stop raining and they would start the processions...but no.

In the background is the back of a coliblanco!

The processions there are pretty cool because they are VERY different from in any other town. They dress up in special costumes, some as the Romans, others as the Colinegros and Coliblancos (they represent the Jewish) and some other costumes which I have no idea what they represent. The Colinegros and Coliblancos (not sure why there are 2 different groups) go around and play the drums throughout the procession. If you remember from an earlier post, I mentioned going to Baena for the San Jose festival and they were playing the drums all day and ALL night. This is basically the same thing but much more formal and the people are in costume. In the end we didn't get to see the people perform, although we did see a few people walking around in their costumes so I guess it wasn't a total loss. Plus we got to hang out with some pretty cool people over there. Finally around 11 we headed back home since no processions ended up happening.

The next day was again full of rain, so instead of going on a small trip to some nearby towns, we just stayed in the house. That night we did make it out for some tapas with friends and just chilled with them the rest of the night. The next day- well we had to go return the car rental so we hopped in the car early in the morning and headed down to Malaga. First though, we made a stop in a nearby town of Antequera. Why? Well we had stopped there on the way up from Malaga and found out they had a wolf park! So obviously we had to go back to check it out. We made our way up there and got to see some animals from afar such as wolves, peacocks, horses, goats and chickens. We didn't get to go on the tour though because it wasn't going to start until later and we had a car to drop off. 

oh how I love Spanish translations:
please read this...mostly paying attention to the 1st two "rules"

After our stop at the wolf park we took a winding road down to Malaga, the whole way to Malaga but I do have to say it had some amazing views. Definitely worth it to check out. We got a few great photos and just heading down to Malaga (less than an hour away from Antequera). Finally we got the car to the dealership and then made our way back over to the bus station to catch a ride back. We would have hung out in Malaga longer but since it was rainy and cloudy, well, it wasn't really ideal weather for Malaga. 

When we came back to Lucena we met up with my Spanish fam again.
On Sunday, what we consider to be Easter in the states, all the towns bring down their saint (the saint is usually up in a church in the mountains/hills). They literally carry her down and this takes over 4 hours to do just going one way. So they brought her down and we got to see her pass...although she was covered in a plastic sheet because it was.......RAINING. Are you starting to see a theme here? Anyways the rest of the day we just hung out with Carlos and Salva (my 2 spanish brothers). Then we headed home and relaxed because the next day I had work! So that's it for Semana Santa. I know that was a long post but hoped you enjoyed reading about the semi-eventful week that we had. 

Now, we're about to leave to go down to Malaga BECAUSE tomorrow we're catching a flight to Barcelona. I will be bringing my computer with me so hopefully I'll be able to tell you about it as I go...

Kinder Eggs: where art thou?

Happy almost Easter everyone! This week is a big week here in Spain, called "Semana Santa" or "Holy Week" in English. We (Mike and I) just got back from a procession here in Lucena and got lots of good video and photos for you all! I will get them on here soon as well as tell you all about Mike's arrival here, Toledo, our fun trip to Malaga to rent a car...but first I wanted to share this story for you.

Easter Reminder: Kinder Eggs banned in the United States

Oh Kinder Egg, how I love your delicious chocolate and toy prizes. Too bad you are too dangerous for children... wait- what?

REALLY?

Apparently Kinder Eggs are considered a "choking hazard" to children under 3 and are therefore are banned from importation in the U.S. I guess so...if you're child is able to fit this entire treat (the size of a real egg) inside his/her mouth. I would think people would just break them open and take out the toy THEN eat the chocolate but then again, what do I know? I'm thinking maybe we need to work on teaching young children just to resist the temptation to shove anything and everything in their mouths...or at least teach them to CHEW...what do you think? Oh how I miss US ways...

I find this a bit ridiculous but there thousands of other crazy regulations that we have in the US so I'm not one bit surprised. This article is definitely worth a read though (and some of the comments too). I guess you're just gonna have to go up to Canada or travel over to Europe if you want to try one of these fun filled Kinder Eggs. If you not feeling up for the travel, don't worry- they taste just like a hollow-chocolate egg...but with a cool toy inside.

Here are a few more precautions to take with Easter just around the corner:



-Do NOT eat plastic eggs. They're made of plastic and therefore not edible.

yum...plastic.

-Easter baskets are flammable. Do NOT light them on fire.

Always best to have a mischievous look when doing something you shouldn't...

-It is recommended that you do not eat all the Easter treats in one day. This can cause stomach pains.

TOO. MUCH. CANDY!!!

Hope all these tips are helpful towards a successful, non-life threatening Easter. Have a HAPPY EASTER!

Airports- what fun!

Right now I’m just waiting in the airport because… my boyfriend is coming to visit! Yes, we all know this is very exciting hence why I’m posting it on here. We’ll have a busy schedule traveling but I’m hoping to keep up with the blog and keep you informed. First stop we’re making is Toledo. We’re heading down there today and staying one night (I’m told that’s all you really need) and then we’ll be headed back to Lucena. 

While I’m waiting here thought I figured I could finally tell you about my weekend in Fuengirola! That was only about 2 weeks ago haha. It was a pretty chill weekend so there’s not a whole bunch. First things first, my friend and I (and her family) headed down to the Malaga area on Saturday (the weekend before I went to Paris). Since she has a place in Fuengirola, she wanted to show me around the pueblo and everything. We visited the small, and very touristy, town as well as checking out Benalmadena and Mijas (even smaller towns). 

The first place we stopped at when arriving was in Mijas. Now Mijas is “famous” for the donkeys that you can ride around on. Even though I think they’re cute, they smell, therefore I had no interest to ride them…poor smelly things. We walked around the town, checked out some gift shops and hung out on the beautiful balcony they have in the town. After spending about half the day there we headed over to Fuengirola, although we didn’t go and rest but rather headed to a nice Italian spot for lunch. I guess when I say nice I should sat AMAZING! This place so SOO good! We indulged in some mouth-watering tiramisu, to die for sangria, and I was able to order a plateful of pasta in a spicy red sauce (oh how I miss you spicy food!). It’s run by an Italian couple living there and they do a fantastic job. I will try to find out the name for you all if you ever go to visit. 

After leaving, we once again wandered the town, did a touch of shopping and stopped in a couple cafes to sit down and hang out (I don’t think I’ve even been to 3 different cafes within a 5 hour time gap). That night was a bit of the same, wandering and eating some food and THEN we finally headed home around 11pm or so. 

the sticker I got! It says "Living is marvelous"...how cute

The next day was pretty short since we needed to be back up in Lucena in the afternoon. So, we got up, grabbed some typical Andalusian breakfast (toast covered in tomato and olive oil) and made our way over to another small town- Benalmadena. Maybe it was just because of the cloudy weather but I have to say I definitely liked Fuengirola and Mijas better than this place…but again, maybe it was just the weather. It’s a really touristy town, or rather, a lot of British people have moved there so now it has an overwhelming English population. It’s a typical small Spanish town with white houses and narrow roads…kind of the same old thing for me at this point. We really only spent about 45 minutes walking around the town (that about all you need) and then jumped in the car and headed back to Lucena. 

Conclusion of the weekend: I love Italian food

Ever tried french fries in France?

Once again I have been travelling… and to where you’ll never guess (well, unless you know already)- PARIS! Since I have 3 day weekends EVERY weekend, I decided to make my way up to Paris. Well actually this has been planned out for months so it wasn’t really last minute like I made that sound. I have a friend/family in Paris and since it’s relatively close to me, well, why not visit? Add I have to tell you, it was a MUCH needed visit. 

My plane left Malaga on Friday morning at 7am so I had to head down to Malaga the evening before. The night day I had to leave the house (my friends’ place) at 5am... and that was an adventure in itself. I had set my alarm for 4:30am, I even set 2 alarms, and what happened? Neither went off. Great. I’m lucky enough to have a phone where you can set the alarm to only go off on certain days AND since I never work on Fridays, my alarm was set to NOT go off on Fridays. Of course I forgot to check that. All ended well though because I was awoken by my friend (who I stayed with) because the taxi company had called, they were waiting downstairs. So I threw on my clothes and managed to ring up a 25euro taxi bill (normally less than 15) since they had to wait…great way to start the trip.

THEN I was at the airport and realized I had forgotten to check if I had my passport with me. Luckily, I carry my passport around with me most of the time so I had it with me- VERY lucky on that too. After all that I got threw security and waited for the plane to arrive. Now let’s get to the good stuff…

Paris. I arrived at 9:30am (2.5 hr flight-nice!) and had to find my way into the city. My friend had given me some great instructions so it wasn’t too difficult to figure out (she had class so couldn’t come to pick me up). I made my way over to the train and headed into Paris. I ended up meeting my friend almost exactly when she got out of class, at noon. Yes it took me that long, I got lost and the subway staff had very limited English…but in the end I made it! And it was all good, or should I say, AMAZING from there. Since I hadn’t seen this girl in years we had a lot of catching up to do. So first stop, McDonalds, for some food lol. I mean why not? The rest of the day was spent shopping, wandering the city and visiting some of her friends. All of while schlepping my luggage around (since my friend’s place was outside the city) so I got some great exercise that day!  

That night we headed over to her friend’s place for a girls night of snacks and drinks. I think there were about 10 of us, all French speaking girls (minus me) so I stayed pretty quiet that night. Some of them did speak some English so we had some brief convos. Either way though, I just enjoyed listening to them talk, because I think French is just beautiful (that and Italian), and understanding bits here and there either from similar words in Spanish or just the sheer facial expressions and reactions of the girls. I should also mention that we had some fantastic appetizers/snacks though out the night such as little toasts with tomatoes, cheese and herbs or cheese and peppers (toasted in the oven). My favorite though was a little toast with a slice of goat cheese topped with some honey and toasted in the oven. I WILL be making that again soon. And of course my friend had made some great dessert- tiramisu! The whole get together was just too cute! We had the opportunity to go out that night but I was just slightly exhausted from being up since 5am (although I did sneak a nap in on the plane). It was probably a good idea not to go out because we didn’t even get home until 3am. Needless to say, it was a long, French-filled day. 

The next day was much more “touristy”…kinda. We started our day around 11am and had a long list to accomplish. Although we ended up seeing more than was on our list (just because it was on the way) we didn’t end our day until about 1am or so. Let me go ahead and dive into the details for you…

First stop we made was getting a bite to eat. After taking the subways and everything we made it to a restaurant called Leon de Bruxelles (Leon of Brussels) where they have some very tasty seafood. Apparently the mussels are what most people order and they have all sorts of “flavorings”. Mine was something like mussels with mushrooms, onions, sour cream and parsley. My mouth is watering now from just talking about it…yum!

I should have taken a picture myself but forgot due to my excitement of being able to eat the food…so here’s a pic from the internet that looks like what I had:

After lunch is where the Paris touring really began. We first headed to the big library called Centre Georges Pompidou. It’s supposed to be very artistic looking on the outside although I thought it looked like a factory. Apparently during their busy season (maybe during finals) there is a line that almost wraps halfway around the place…I can’t even fathom the idea that people would stand in an hour long line for a library. Obviously though, there are people who do it- lots of people. Next was the Sacre Coeur: a big church at the top of a hill. There are something like 200 stairs you have to go up to get there…we weren’t quite that ambitious though so we got some pics and left. We did see it though! 

Next, we made our way down the hill and strolled our way through the “sex district” and over to the Moulin Rouge. I mean the whole road leading up to the place was all sex shops and stripper lounges…I guess I should have expected that. We went during the day but I’m told that the area is definitely something else to see at night…I can only imagine. After getting my fill of images of naked ladies we headed over to the Louvre. 

Now if you don’t already know, the Louvre is a HUGE museum, so big that it would take you over a week to see the majority of things in there. It’s where they keep the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and over 380,000 other objects and 35,000 works of art. This place measures 652,000 sq ft! I told you its huge! So even though this place is so amazingly famous and I’d love to explore it, I simply decided it wasn’t something I would do…on this trip ;) I instead was more interested in spending time with my friend and exploring the whole city of Paris- and I’m glad I made that decision because we saw so much and had a blast! We did check out the shopping area, it’s like a mall, which is located at the end of the Louvre. They had some really cool items at some of the shops so we left there quickly in order to not spend all our money. We headed back up (because the mall is downstairs) and into the sunny, warm weather and headed over to the Tuileries gardens. 

Before actually getting to the park/gardens we had to cross a huge road and pass by the Concorde (just a tall statue looking thing). That is where my friend pointed out a really famous hotel called the Hôtel de Crillon where many celebrities stay when visiting Paris. And what an amazing location it had! After we finally made it across the street, we strolled through the park. It was absolutely beautiful with all the spring flowers and amazing weather. I couldn’t have chosen a better weekend. As we meandered our way through the park we saw some people lined up along one of the main pathways…and they were giving massages! So I sat down and got my free 10minute relaxation massage (that’s what they called it) and I was beyond relaxed after that. Also, just to point out how small the world is, we found out that the guy who gave me my massage has a brother living in Seattle. Apparently everyone knows someone in Seattle…probably because it’s an amazing city ;) You go Seattle! 

Anyways, we kept making our way down the park in the direction of the Arc de Triomphe. The first stop we made after leaving the park was at the Laduree. This place is famous for their maracrons and for a good reason. In case you’re not on the up and up, Macarons are little cookie/pastry that started their fame in France but now can be found all over the world. To me they look like small hamburgers in different colors but I swear to you they taste nothing like a burger. I had actually never tried one before and quickly found out how delicious they are! If you visit Paris, GO to this place. Beyond their macarons, they serve some amazing desserts. We actually sat down and ordered some desserts before moving to the next site. Check them out:

some of the macarons I bought

my delicious chocolate treat!

my friend's cream pastry

The 'crust' was soaked in rum and then cream was placed between the layers...yum!

After stuffing my face with chocolate heaven, we stopped by none other than Louis Vuitton. Now I’m not big into fashion brands but I have to admit that they had some beautiful purses in there. Even though I wouldn’t ever cough up the money to buy one, they were fun to see. After getting our fashion fill for the day (well at least for me) we snapped a few pictures of the Arc de Triomphe- good timing because the sun was going down- and then to the apartment of my friend’s friend.

That night we just relaxed, ate some ham and cheese crepes and listed to some music. It was a great ending to a very busy day. 

The next day we were able to take it easy since we had done some much the day before. We woke up and were out the house by 11am. First stop we made was the EIFFEL TOWER! That was fun, but mostly because it’s something you just have to see when in Paris. It was big and looked just like the pics so we didn’t stay long. We didn’t go up the tower this time, maybe next time I go to Paris…because I WILL be back. 

There, we met up with my friend’s boyfriend and went to go find some lunch. We headed across the river in search of food and walked across this plaza area that outlooks the Eiffel Tower. I was told that right next to that plaza area are some buildings with apartments inside AND they use them as an exhibition or something like that. Every year they have a different designer come in and design the apartments. I’m not sure who has access to the apartments but I’d love to see that! Back to our food mission: Trying to think of places close by (because we were starving!) we went to the Hard Rock Café. I know it’s not French food but now I can say I’ve been to the one in Las Vegas, Orlando AND Paris. Yay! The food was the same as in all the restaurants so no big surprises there.

After lunch we headed to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Since it was Sunday they even had a service going one. We were still able to visit the inside even with the service happening but we only walked through the back area (or front?) of the cathedral. The cathedral was beautiful and even more special with the service happening but, since I’ve seen lots of cathedrals and churches in Spain, I wasn’t blown away by the cathedral. Nonetheless though, it was amazing. Now I just need to learn more about the history of it!

The rest of the night was pretty tame, we headed back home, ate some more crepes :) and watch Salt (the movie). The next morning we had to be out of the house by 10am in order to be at the airport around 11:30am. The whole day was just spent travelling...1:30-4:00 flight, bus to Lucena at 7:30pm and arrived back at 9pm. I did have some time to go shopping while waiting for my bus in Malaga but that was about it. Now I'm home and just so glad I made my way to Paris this weekend! I'll be smiling all week about it.

I still need to catch you up on last weekend (the one before Paris) but I'll do that on a different post. I've been getting really behind due to all my travels and that’s not about to change. Next week begins our Semana Santa (translates to Holy Week) which is basically Spring Break and my boyfriend will be coming to visit- FINALLY! We are going to be all over so I will try to keep you updated as much as possible. In the meantime, enjoy your own life :)