España!

On Christmas, when you can´t be with family and the ones you love, then go to a place you love and spend time with great friends. So we headed to España. We landed in Barcelona where Brad picked us up and instantly started touring the city. We made our home-base at Brad & Janeth´s house-mi casa es su casa-we made ourselves at home. That night, in proper Spanish style, we ate a delicious dinner at 10:00 pm. Brad, the laundry king, is Andrew's great friend from college that stayed in Europe after they traveled around together in 2000. He started a laundry mat company called Lava Xpress and now owns, franchises, and sells machines in Europe. Janeth is his lovely girlfriend from Colombia whom is the sweetest person and you can't help but love her.

The next day we walked through the narrow streets in Brad´s neighborhood, along Las Ramblas, and toured the center of the old city. We were also on a mission-we had to buy A LOT of food for our Christmas excursion to the Pyrenees Mountains. First stop-the Boquaria-Barcelona´s fresh meat and seafood market. After purchasing a 5 kilo turkey, chorizo, oysters, razor clams, mussels, prawns, calamari, and more meat than anyone should ever eat. We ate at a busy fresh seafood counter in the market where they prepare dishes from food right there in the market-there we squeezed into our spots and feasted- it was delicioso, so good we made sure to go back. Again (as every night) we ate dinner at most people´s normal bedtime.

The next morning we packed 8 people, luggage, and a smidgen of food into a muy grande y azul van. Last town before we headed into the Pyrenees was Berga. In Berga, we hit up the Supermarcado- 8 people grocery shopping and 3 extremely full carts of food and drinks later we packed back into the van, this time with bags of groceries at our feet and on our laps. We went up the windy mountain roads. The higher up we got, the colder it was, and soon we were driving in a winter wonderland. We almost made it to our mountain house, but not before getting stuck in the snow at the bottom of the hill. We all had a good time walking back-and-forth from the van to the house carrying all of our things in the fluffy and slippery snow.

The next five days at the mountain house were spent eating, drinking, eating, drinking, oh-and eating some more. We got to know each other very well over incredible meals and lots of game playing. Max and Gustavo are from Argentina, Janeth from Columbia, Anna from Berlin, Brad, JoAnna, and John all Americanos but live in Barcelona, and Andrew and myself. So sometimes we spoke in English and sometimes in Spanish, well, it was mostly a combination of both. We had the most amazing meals that everyone took part in making. We had tradional big American breakfasts (which I mostly cooked), Colombian and Argentinian lunches of fried plantains, guacamole, pica de gallo and other deliciousness, dinners of carne cooked on the outside grill, a massive seafood fest, and homemade pasta. On Christmas we had a traditional dinner with turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing... Then I made turkey soup and turkey sandwiches with the left overs. One night, we had dinner at 6:30 and again at 1:30 am-the night when Max and Gustavo started making homemade pasta at 11:00. How amazing that was. They spread fresh pasta over the 10 person dining room table, then cut it to size.

Anna made Gluwein (which we were very used to by now and makes the perfect cold-holiday drink) and she made another burnt rum specialty. Note of caution: when making burnt rum, beware of objects that may melt above the stove (such as overhead oven fixtures ··· and items above the fireplace). Being in the Pyrenees was a great way to escape city life, take time to relax, and be in nature-it was a fun holiday getaway.

Back in Barcelona...Crazy Barcelona-

We made our home base back at Brad & Janeth's house. The next couple of days we toured around-we saw Gaudi buildings around the city including the Sagrada Familia (126 years in the making), the Picasso museum and took a trip to Figueres to the AMAZING Salvador Dali museum. During this time, our friends Jason & Diana from Seattle, came to visit us in Vienna, and since we weren't there, they stayed in our house and saw the sights (slight miscommunication). Shortly after, they met up with us in Barcelona.

With them, we continued to explore the sights, especially the restaurant and bar scenes. Barcelona is to have the most restaurant and bars per head than any other European city. Multiple times we visited the well-known Xampanyeria (Champagne bar), that isn't really how it sounds. It is tiny and PACKED. They serve a million different meat sandwiches (not for me), and delicious cava (champagne) for less than 2 Euro a bottle. Each time we went, we stocked up for home and New Years. If you're looking for a roomy place to sit and eat, this would not be it. Instead you are packed in with a million other people and you stand and eat and discard the paper your sandwich was wrapped in, onto the floor. When in Spain...

During the time we were there, we frequented tapas bars, had great Spanish wine, and had our share of Catalunya, Basque and Spanish food. We also got to meet up with Vanessa's family (from Colombia), we met her cousins and step sister & brother for dinner. Then they went to Vienna and stayed at our house. We got to spend some time with her cousins for a couple days when we returned to Vienna (wish you were there too Vaness!). We have been really lucky to meet good people that are friends and family of people we know.

The streets of Barcelona are narrow and if you don't pay careful attention, they can look the same. It's amazing to see all the stores and restaurants that suddenly appear at different hours of the day. Most merchants have graffiti painted garage doors that cover the store front during certain hours-most of which are closed during the afternoon siesta. Finding your way around Raval and the parts of old town can be tricky because sometimes a place may be there and sometimes it's not, but I got to know my way around like a pro-Andrew had a little harder time as he was lost one night in the same neighborhood for over an hour.

New Years Eve-spent around town. We had delicious paella for lunch-made by Carlos and his family at his restaurant. Their restaurant is next to Brad's first laundry mat he opened and have been friends for 6 years. He made delicious seafood paella and after our meal brought us homemade grappa from his village and cava. Next we headed back to the boquaria for more fresh seafood. Back at the house Diana and Jason made cioppino-delicious! Best cioppino I've ever had. I made fried plantains and guac and we had another mini-feast before our NYE celebration.

That night, the moon was amazing. It rose and shone like the sun. It was so bright, it was almost as if you needed sunglasses to look right at it. It was a special night because it was a blue moon (2 full moons in one month-which only happens every 2-3 years) and there was a partial lunar eclipse. We enjoyed the sights, then headed to Max and Anna's to bring in 2010. We walked through Las Ramblas and it was a ZOO. Although we were in the heart of the mayhem city-in the middle of Las Ramblas and Placa Cataluyna, we were in a perfect spot. We had a party on their roof top and could hear the crowds filled with thousands of people around us-where people were going wild and things get extremely rowdy. As we counted down the New Year and the clock struck midnight, it is tradition to eat 12 grapes for every dong. We did this, trying not to choke, and made a wish for each grape. That night we danced, and had an amazing time until moon set.

We spent the next day having another great time with Jason, Diana, Brad and Janeth, then we flew to the capital, Madrid. Barcelona and Madrid are very different. Although Madrid is bigger than Barcelona, it felt smaller to us. I think it is because of it's bigger streets and the layout of the city. Both places are incredible. From what we experienced, Madrid had a big city feel and with busy night life, but it wasn't as crazy and wild as Barcelona. In Madrid we had a list of must-see/do from a friend of mine I teach with that used to live there. We of course ate amazing food and tried out fun bars and restaurants. We saw grandeur architecture, did some shopping (Spain is much cheaper than Vienna!), and went the Prado and Rena Sophia. We saw such incredible art on this trip, from Dali, Picasso, Goya, Velazquez, and so many more. We checked out the fun neighborhoods and watched a Real Madrid game amongst locals at a bar. It was a nice getaway for us. We took the high speed train back to Barcelona-that was fun way to do it-fly to Madrid, then take the train home so we could see the country side. The train was the nicest train I'd ever been on and it went close to 300 km the entire time.

Back in Barcelona we spend one more fun night with Brad and Janeth. We went to our friend Gustavo's Argentinian restaurant and continued the theme of eating ourselves to capacity. Each day was an adventure and most days we had our personal tour guides Brad and Janeth to help order the best food and take us to all their favorite places. 15 days of non-stop fun, filled with uncontrollable laughter is a great way to end a year and bring in a new one. To you and yours, Happy New Year and to an incredible 2010. We love our family and friends and appreciate them more and more as time goes by.

Much love,

Ciara and Andrew

In this latest edition of our Blog, We are going to take a look as to what our goings on were in Vienna along with a Thanksgiving trip...

November came after the before mentioned Adriatic Excursion, and we had to say goodbye to Alice and Shawn, But not before a trip to the Belvedere Museum where we got to admire a few painting from Monet, Van Gogh and of course Gustav Klimt. We were not dissappointed with the famous kiss. The Museum itself is also something to see, built in the 1700's the grand halls and staircases make looking at art almost a side note. We really enjoyed it.

But soon enough after an amazing trip, our partners in crime siblings had to head home. The parents however stayed in town and though it was bitter cold, they got a chance to settle back in to life in Vienna. Ciara headed back to school so I was in charge of tourism; we took strolls around the city and enjoyed many meals together at local restaurants and ones we cooked ourselves. My sweet mother gave me a cooking lesson on how to make chicken cacciatore and apple crisp. I got a chance to work in our kitchen with a great mentor and we had a blast cooking together. We got to spend some quality time together and went to see Arsenic and Old Lace at an English Theater, and went to the Vienna Symphony at the famous Musikverein.

Back to our normal life after quite a stretch of "vacation," we got back into our routine. Things in Vienna where changing though. The Chrismas markets were out in full effect. If you haven't been to Vienna during Christmas time, it is something you have to see. In every neighborhood square, including the Rathouse and Schonbrunn Palace, streets are lined with lights, decorations, and huts selling crafts, Christmas treats and mugs of gluwein and a varieties of punsch (all delicious hot beverages). Strolling though the markets is quite an experience especially with all the chestnuts roasting on an open fire. We got a chance to spend some quality time with some friends that we heading back to the states. Friendships we made in a short time that will last. And then came Thanksgiving......

Thank goodness for teaching at an American school because we get Thanksgiving break! So where better to go on Thanksgiving than... Turkey for Turkey Day! We booked a flight to spend the holiday with another expat friend who is teaching in Istanbul, Andrea. It was quite an experience. Our flight got delayed so we didn't get in until about 10:30 so we had to catch a cab to Andrea's house. This city is huge, we drove from the European side over one of the bridges that crosses over the Bosphorus to the Asian side where she lives. This city covers two continents, so needless to say traffic is intense and the cab drivers, nor most people driving have much respect for rules of the road, if there are any. We made it though, in a fiat cab playing frogger with semi-trucks and oversized tour busses-what lane?-pick a lane, any lane. At one point our cab driver answered his cell phone while we were sandwiched between two semi-trucks in a space where I'm pretty sure at one point we fit underneath the trucks.

After a good nights sleep we headed out into the city from the Asian side where Andrea lived on Acibadem in Kadikoy. We took a local bus down to the ferry where we took the first of our many ferry rides across the water to the European side. Quite a scenic place once to the otherside, we headed into Sultanamet, the old part of town. The buildings in this area are breathtaking. The Hagia Sophia is opposed by the Blue Mosque both are marvels. We spent the day touring the area visiting the Grand Bazaar enjoying the day. But then we had to get prepped for Thanksgiving. We headed back to Kadikoy and did some shopping and did our best at a local market. Not that they didn't have an abundance of beautiful food, but we were short a few things. We made due however and ended up with a chicken, some mashed potatoes, carrots, dressing, gravy and some turkish dishes. Quite an event we enjoyed our dinner and enjoyed wine and each other's company, just like the holiday should be. Of course we missed family but we had a enjoyable Turkey day!

The rest of our time in Istanbul we did touring about the city the Blue Mosque the Cistern both of which were quite impressive. We walked the Galata bridge and check out the Galata tower. We went and had a cocktail in Orikoy which is a great little community with a view of the first bridge. It is full of shops and restaurants. I (Ciara) enjoyed a Hamam (Turkish Bath). This was a scrub-down experience like no other. I won't get into all the details, but basically I was slipping and sliding on a warm marble slab as my entire body was exfoliated thanks to a strong Turkish woman. In a big marble room with a big dome in the center letting in beams of natural light, I was bathed from head-to-toe. I can check-off this experience in the "1,000 Places to See Before You Die," book and I would do it again and again.

Last but not least we did a turkish dinner off of Istikal street and area that is bustling with people shops, cafes, restaurants and bars. As the streets narrowed the more people there were. once we finally found the place we were looking for called Cardak. We entered the place early for our 8 o'clock reservation. We were the first ones there so we sat down to starter food and all you could drink, slowly people started streaming in to the place. We got our food and the drinks were flowing, we grew to really love the Raki-a Turkish favorite. Before too long with the place packed at this point the music started and things started to really pick up. People began singing and dancing. Every single song, the entire restaurant (of about 100+ people) were belting out every word to every song and dancing like nobody's business. There were people standing on their chairs and they were encouraging us to get up and dance. Of course, we did. It was quite a time a true turkish dinner.

The next day we had to bid far well to this amazing place. Such vivacious place, proud and buzzing. Like no place we've ever been. The call to prayer every 5 hours echoing across the neighborhoods from mosque to mosque. The people were very friendly. The "Evil Eye" ever present. A historical place truly important in the shaping of human civilization.

The experience was also made special due to to the hospitality of our great friend Andrea, it allowed us to navigate this trip with ease and enjoyment. Hopefully, we helped her enjoy being a tourist again.