I was very lucky to spend my birthday this year in Istanbul. East meets west, the major religions collide, and thousands of years of history are hidden behind 24,000 taxis, hundreds of modern lounge bars and cafes, and 12 million bustling Turks. The harmony within the city is the most amazing part. On any sidewalk you can see a group of girls, a few with tank tops and shorts on, others wearing headscarves and long sleeves, all being chatty, free, energetic women. Hundreds of men fill every open space on the bridges, hoping to throw their lines into the Bosphorus and [View Full Entry]

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Rothenburg ob der Tauber...GO for Christmas. Yes, I realize Christmas was some months ago, but since we've had a heat wave here in Spain, I needed to cool off a little (its been in the 90's all week). So, for Christmas my love and I headed North and East. We got in the car and drove straight through Spain and France and headed due East. The first real stop on our trip was Rothenburg. WOW. A little village famous for Christmas, handmade toys, and schneeballs (yes, I said SCHNEEballs). So take a look at the pics and though the weather was [View Full Entry]

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Jolee sheet (thats in my best Spanish accent, and remember, the J is gutteral!) If you've never been to Italy, get your culo over there. I took a 14 day stroll from Rome all the way to the Lakes region near the border with Switzerland. I ate and drank my way through Rome, Tuscany, Liguria, and Piemonte. I think the best way to do this is to start with one area and then slowly make my way through. I've been to Rome again since then as well (probably my favorite city to explore that I've ever been to, but I still [View Full Entry]

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Last weekend I spent some quality time with nature at a mountain pass called ¨La boca del asno¨ or ¨The Ass´s Mouth¨. Paula´s parents, Mamen and Juan Carlos, their best friend Maribel, and myself took a bus with a mycologist (mushroom specialist) to the Sierra north of Madrid. When we arrived, we were instructed to pick all the mushrooms we could find, meet up with the specialist and the other 40 people on the trip, and he would classify all that we had collected and organize them in groups of edible and toxic species. We would then have a delicious meal [View Full Entry]

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Because I expressed so much interest in the LAST bullfight, my friends got me tickets to another. I got to see a Puerta Grande, or a Grand Exit. The bullfighter was so good that he was carried out of the arena on the arms of the crowd. Its hard to describe a good bullfight from a bad one. Even though they do the same thing in every bullfight, some are terribly boring. The bullfighter´s job is to train the bull to see only the flag and to continue moving smoothly around the bullfighter. Eventually, if the bullfighter has done his job [View Full Entry]

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So I've been to Spain a lot, but I've never seen a bullfight. As a matter of fact, neither have most of my Spanish friends. The majority of young people here don't believe its right. I completely understand why, however, after witnessing it myself, I think the cultural importance of it outweighs the cruelty to the bull. You are free to disagree with me on that one though. A bullfight, or corrida de toros (which more accurately translates into running of the bulls) consists of 6 different individual bullfights. There are 3 matadors (or toreros in Spanish) and each fights 2 [View Full Entry]

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Ok, Friday I woke up, went to see 2 other BAD apartments, went grocery shopping, had dinner at 330 and packed. Left at 9:00 PM to go to the Mediterranean for the weekend to a friends house with 8 other people. We get there at 1:30 AM after driving almost 5 hours through pouring rain. The house is Rocio's, Paula's best friend from high school. Her dad has 5 houses in different parts of Spain and a house in London and Argentina....WHAT LUCK I HAVE!!! The house is beautiful. It has an in ground pool and is in the middle of [View Full Entry]

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Its now 431 in the morning. I have to go to look at apartments at 930 tomorrow....and I can't sleep....AND i'm supposed to with Paula's (my friend who I live with's) dad. I'm gonna be a mess. I hope I can fall asleep by 5... So heres the lowdown on what I've done. I landed at 3:00 yesterday after being up for 24 hours. I took a 1 1/2 hour nap, got up, showered, went to see Ratatouille (in Spanish of course) then went out for dinner and drinks until 1:30. We ate tomatos with shaved goat cheese, croquetas filled with [View Full Entry]

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