Hola from Spain

 Kristi, Nacho, and I on our road trip out of Madrid.  This was their ski hill so we stopped to take pictures.

 Kristi and I playing on the statues in the fountain at the royal gardens...don't worry the fountain was empty and the time. (The Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso is an 18th century palace in the small town of La Granja de San Ildefonso in the hills near Segovia, 80 km north of Madrid, formerly the summer residence of the Kings of Spain since the reign of Philip V. The palace is surrounded by extensive gardens and sculptural fountains)

 In Segovia, my favorite part of the trip.

 The Cathedral in Segovia, I tried taking a picture inside but got in trouble.

 The geometrical center of Madrid, or maybe Spain, its the center of one of the two.

 Jumping outside the Egyptian monument.  Apparently the stone was brought from Egypt piece by piece and assembled in Madrid. This is also one of Madrid's most famous places to watch the sunset.

 Outside the Kings Palace, although no ones knows if he actually lives there or not.

 Monument to Alfonso XII in Retiro Park

The Monument from across the lake where people were renting row boats.

Spain was not what I had originally imagined.  I guess I pictured this architecturally fantastic oasis but Madrid being a bigger city, although beautiful, was just a big city.  However our couch host who was so very accommodating and kind hearted decided to take us to explore the country side and that is where I fell in love with Spain.  We spent the morning driving through the mountains, which reminded me a lot of home, to get to La Granja de San Ildefonso where we walked through the Palace Gardens and enjoined all the amazing fountains and ponds, and beautifully trimmed trees.  From there we continued heading North West to Segovia, my favorite town.  The main feature in Segovia is the aqueduct which you can see pretty much from any point.  The town was so quaint and beautiful and it overlooked the country side.  We spent the rest of the day walking around, exploring the Cathedral and Castle although we did not go into either of them.  That night once back in Madrid Nacho, our couch host, wanted us to experience the night life so we went out for a beer although had no energy to fully partake in the eccentric night life in Spain.  The following day we stayed in Madrid and went to the Sunday market.  This market probably spanned over ten or fifteen blocks with millions of people crammed in to take a look at the goods.  It was beyond huge!  After an eventful morning of shopping we had lunch in a tapas bar which was delicious and cultural.  We continued on to the Christmas market in Plaza mayor which wasnt far from the other market we had just been to.  After that Nachos had prior engagements so he left us to explore the rest of the area which housed the Opera, the Palacio Real, the Temple de Debod (Egyptian Monument), and the Cathedral de la Almudena where we attended Sunday night Mass.  We later attempted to find a Flominco bar but being a Sunday everything was closed.  This time we decided to fly out early Tuesday so that we would have one whole extra day however we learnt our lesson and will never be doing that again since Monday we were exhausted and did not see much and then we were required to sleep in the airport Monday night since our flight was at 6 in the morning Tuesday and no transit would be open before 6 in order to get us there in time.  Worst night of my life as we could not even go through security until four in the morning so we had to sleep near the check in counter on the cold hard linoleum....was an experience but we made it through and we had fun.  For the next couple of weeks I will be remaining in England, my next trip wont be until Krystal arrives and we begin our travels to Ireland and Paris for Christmas.  Can't wait!

Turkish Delight

 Jumping outside the Blue Mosque

 Getting ready to go inside the Blue Mosque, had to cover your hair, take your shoes off, and I was wearing leggings so I had to wear a skirt.

 Hagia Sophia, once a Mosque but has been turned into a Museum although many mosaics are still visible on the walls

 Blue Mosque from the window of Hagia Sophia

 The view of Istanbul from Topkapi Palace

 Lunch at a cute Turkish restaurant were I had gozelmeme, a crepe thing with either cheese, meat or spinach inside

 The spice bazaar, where we ate Turkish delights and bakliva.

 The Grand Bazaar, where I bought some pretty bowls.

 Me, Steph, and Stef, on the ferry over to the Asia side of Turkey.  Only three percent of Turkey is in Europe, the rest is a part of Asia.

The view of the Black Sea from Steph's campus.

I don't even know how to begin to explain my trip to Turkey.  It was as fun and jam packed as the city itself is full of people.  I left bright and early Friday morning with fourteen hours of traveling ahead of me.  I had a short layover in Paris which was only a tease since I have yet to visit Paris, but will be soon with Krystal at Christmas.  As something always goes wrong this time it was our landing into Istanbul.  We were already behind schedule and were ready to land, I could see the cars on the streets we were so low and suddenly the plane shoots back upwards into the air. The announcement to explain to everyone what had happened  was of course in French since we were coming in from Paris, but because they speak a different dialect I didn't understand and everyone began talking when they were announcing it in English.  After clinging to my seat until we properly landed I later found out we were too close to the plane ahead of us so we had to go back up to avoid crashing.  Good start to the weekend I must say.  Once I did finally land Steph was there waiting for me. We headed back to her place which she likes to call the bomb shelter since it is in a concrete wall with barb wire on the top, similar to a bomb shelter I suppose.  As Steph does not disappoint she had the weekend filled to the max with activities which began the moment I stepped off the plane.  That night we had ended up going to a Canadian bar to see if they could compare and we ended up walking into a Canadian bar confused with Mexico.  Although it had nothing to do with Canada it was something to remember.  The following day we spent power sight seeing, energizer bunny style.  We started at the Blue Mosque, then off to Hagia Sophia, and Topkapi Palace.  We shopped a bit in the Grand Bazaar, and the Spice Bazaar, and then on our way home we walked across the Galata Bridge.  Sunday we ventured over to Asia by ferry, who would have thought I'd get to see two countries in one city. Although I was sad to leave it was probably good as I was spent for energy, I can definitely say that this trip was by far the most dynamic and eventful.  Istanbul is such an interesting city, so different from what we see on a daily basis, everything just seemed more unique and inspiring.  The Mosques, the food, the people, even the nightlife are above and beyond anything you've ever experienced but even out of all the amazing things I did and saw I have to say my favorite part of the whole trip was simply hearing the prayers being read throughout the city during prayer times. 

Love Always

Twenty one years ago my mom and dad had a reason for choosing Uncle Ian as my godfather and I cherish their decision.  While I may not have known my Uncle Ian all that well he was significant in the lives of the one's I love and has therefore influenced my life greatly.  He will always remain in my heart.

Oslo, Norway

 the couch we stayed on while on our first couch surfing trip

                                                                 The Fortress

 Canons inside the Fortress walls

 The Ice Bar, from the left: Nicole, Me, Kristi, Wu, Kristian( Kristian was our couch host)

 Sculpture Park, 212 sculptures made by Gustav Vigeland

 Guard outside King of Norways House.

Our attempt at a self timer jumping photo outside Town Hall

Our first 'out of England trip' was this past weekend in Oslo, the capitol of Norway.  Another first was that we used a new form of accommodation called couch surfing where someone puts you up on their couch for free after meeting them and making sure they are normal and all (completely safe).  Oslo was a lot smaller then I had imagined for the capitol city but it was lots of fun and really interesting.  We had no knowledge of Norway going into it but left with a desire to go back and explore.  The trip began at four in the morning London time on Friday so that we could catch out coach to the airport.  Minor delays at security since they were giving us a hard time, as if we were a hop skip and a jump away from being terrorists.  The rest of the weekend was complication free, we took a tour of the Fortress, and the National gallery (where the original Scream is located), we walked every street imaginable to see all their unique buildings like the royal palace, the University, the Town Hall, the Parlement, and the National Theatre.  We did some casual shopping, as Norway is probably the most expensive Country, but none the less found some deals since I am my mothers daughter.  The Saturday night our couch host Kristian made us dinner, a traditional Moroccan meal since his family owns a house there.  He is Colombian but adopted by Norwegians who own a house in Morocco...very culturally diverse.   He also took us to the Ice Bar in town which was lots of fun and our only night out as we have become old grandmas and enjoy our sleep too much.  The most Norwegian thing we did was we watched the soccer finals between two Norwegian teams.  The game was even in Oslo which was too bad we didn't know sooner and get tickets, but instead watched at a local pub with all the rowdy fans.  The morning of the game we were on the tram and a bus drove by us escorted by a police convoy and it was ironically the team that won later that day so they clearly won because we saw them.  All in all the trip was a success, now back to school.  I have next weekend off from any travels so that i can get a paper done and study for a test but then I am off to Turkey to visit my friend Stefanie.

I added pictures to my previous blog adventures if you care to scroll down and take a look

November already

I have officially been at school for a month.  Where has the time gone?? Between making friends, starting school, and exploring England I have lost myself in the days not realizing just how fast life passes you by.  This past weekend was a nice break from the fast pace life I have grown accustomed to.  Us Canadian girls went into London friday for the day, all of us having different schedules planned for the day.  I decided to do some shopping in Camden, a part of London with fun little markets and vendors where you can rest by the river on little moped benches.  After some well made purchases I was determined to find the tower bridge as I had not seen it last weekend.  On my little adventure I also stumbled upon St. Paul's cathedral, a fun little detour before finally making it to the bridge and the Tower of London.  As you know this weekend was also Halloween so the girls of the group all dressed up as animals since its a jungle out here...from the left of the photo Kristi was a flamingo, Lucy and Jasmin were cats, Nicole was a leopard, I was a zebra, Maria was a fish, and Nyien was trying to be a black swan.  The rest of the weekend was spent casually on campus getting work done for school since this next weekend we are off on our first out of England adventure since we've arrived.  We are headed to Oslo, the capital of Norway should be fun.