Square Pie Tins

As the semester winds down, we are attempting to fit in everything we have wanted to do since we got here, which in turn leaves little time for writing about said activities, unfortunately.


But, we press on. Last weekend, Amsterdam was incredible. It was great to catch up with Stanford friends from all around the continent. We got stuck many a time in the rain, snow and even hail that poured down all weekend, but we made the best of it and toughed it out.

Despite what some may say about Amsterdam, we found it to be a very culturally enlightening city. Weekend highlights included a trip to the Van Gogh museum (alas, after searching all exhibits, the infamous ear was nowhere to be found), as well as a boat tour through the canals, which was the perfect way to tour the city. The food was also exquisite, and provided welcome respites from the freezing temperatures outside. The lowlights, of course, were the Saturday night regular updates of Big Game from family back home. Our condolences to the fellow students who had to witness the drubbing in person. There's always next year.

Upon our arrival back in Barcelona, preparations immediately began for what was to be an unbelievable Thanksgiving dinner. Initial attempts at finding traditional Thanksgiving foods were thwarted, but we persevered. On wednesday we cooked our first of two turkeys, surprisingly available at the huge market on Las Ramblas. The cranberry jelly and pie crust came from an English food store called, appropriately, "A taste of home".

And what we couldn't buy, we cooked. Bobby, not to be defeated by a lack of pumpkin filling, went out and bought several pumpkins, mashed them up, and served up 2 delicious pumpkin pies from scratch. Will's stuffing was also made from scratch, and he also contributed a superb pecan pie. Gabe, not to be outdone, spearheaded the apple pie project. I made a lame attempt at a Lindsay family traditional dish, creamed onions. They were not very well received, (admittedly, for good reason), but cut me some slack, I'm still learning.

Other friends from our program brought over their own delicacies, and all in all, it was an incredible feast, especially for most of our first attempts at a legitimate Thanksgiving dinner. It was definitely a learning experience for all of us, and being with other American friends was the perfect way to celebrate it, despite being many miles away from our native soil. We even managed to stream a little football from the internet.

Friday was mainly lost to cleaning both our apartment and the dishes from the festivities, but we made up for it by going on some neat excursions both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we ventured to a different University in Barcelona to see a cool exhibit on the best press photos of the year 2008 from all around the world. Sunday a few of us journeyed north to the town of Figueres, the home of the Salvador Dali museum. I think all of us are still trying to comprehend the paintings and exhibits that we saw, but they were certainly very interesting and entertaining.

We only have a few weekends left, and we're still not sure if we're going to venture out of the city before our departures. Either way, we're trying to make the most of the rest of our time in Spain. Ciao for now.

Zdravotnický Holešovického Výstaviště

For the record, I have no idea what the above title means, and my sincerest apologies to any Czech speaker that I might have offended.

On to the journey. We arrived in Prague on Thursday night (in reality it was about 5, but already dark), and took a picturesque shuttle to our hostel. After our 2+ months of tapas in Spain, we had grown accustomed to meals with meager portions, but it was clear at our first dinner that the Czech Republic did not subscribe to that doctrine. Our meals were cheap (thanks to the inflated Czech crown) and, more importantly, extremely hearty- a very welcome surprise. That also helped to explain the size of the Czech people- on average, we estimated they had us by a few inches, and at least 15 pounds. The policemen even more so; needless to say, we did our best not to stir up trouble.

The other noticeable change from Barcelona, of course, was the weather. Though it wasn't snowing, temperatures were flirting with below-freezing. Our sudden necessity for winter coats resulted in a weekend-long coat shopping adventure, for which Prague offered the perfect setting. The question now is whether or not we will be brave enough to wear them once back in the U.S., where not everyone sports a long black pea coat. Only time will tell.

Friday was our premiere sightseeing day, and we set out early given the relative lack of daylight hours. Our initial target was the Prague castle, but we kept managing to get distracted along the way- there are just too many neat sights. We made a stop at the famous Charles bridge to climb a nearby tower, which offered incredible views of the city. They call it the city of 100 spires, and it was easy to see why; it seemed as if there were towers poking up from all around us.

We did reach the castle eventually, and it turned out we saved the best for last. The castle was more like a complex of magnificent old buildings, including a palace and several cathedrals. We spent the rest of the day there, taking far too many pictures and trying to get in to the various regal buildings. The guards didn't buy it when we told them that we, too, were kings of sorts.

We then ventured back into town to the Old Town square, and were welcomed with a huge pack of tourists, cameras out, and clearly waiting for something to happen from the adjacent building. Will then remembered having heard about a landmark, the "clock tower", that does something unusual every hour on the hour. We arrived 5 minutes to, so it was perfect timing. Admittedly, we were expecting something noteworthy, but all we were greeted with on the o'clock was a few puppets rotating around an open window. It was nothing to write home about. Soon afterwards, we overheard a group that missed the show declare their intention to brave the cold and stay the full hour until the following display. A foolish decision.

That night we met up with a high school friend of Will and I who was conveniently studying in Prague for the semester. He showed us around a few cool local bars, as well as a few hotspots the next day. Our attempts to see a Czech hockey game were thwarted, so instead we decided to catch a showing of the new Bond film. How ecstatic Gabe and Will were to discover that Bond wore a coat similar to theirs in the final scene.

All in all, a really neat and eventful weekend- Prague had won us over before our departure. Stay tuned.

Of Yachts and Montserrats

Reunited once again for the weekend, the kings +1 (Tim, joining us from Berlin) decided to venture to Montserrat, a nearby monastery built into the mountainside. While Will was tempted to climb from the bottom to the top, we managed to persuade him that the gondola was a better option.

The monastery in itself was fantastic, with epic carvings looming at every corner. We also got to witness the famous "Black Santa Maria", which the locals thought, until recently, was created that way centuries ago. Turns out it was constant exposure to smoke that turned it black- it still draws many tourists, though. Atop the statue was an amazing crown as well, which Gabe wanted to try on, to see how he looked as a real King of Catalonia. Again, our reasoning got the better of him.

Perhaps the best part of Montserrat, though, is the hiking. Our hiking tour, led by Will of course given his extensive resume, began with a trek through the woods, which led us to a dead end with excellent views of the Monastery. From there we trekked all the way up to the top of the mountain. We were excited to peer over the edge of the ridge and see no one for miles around- however, we were met with the sight of around 50 people shuffling around about 50 feet below us. We had hiked to the place where the funicular lets off. Oh well, at least we earned it.

Sunday we were lucky enough to get tickets to a yacht show in the nearby harbor, courtesy of Gabe's aunt and uncle. It was a very classy affair, or at least it was, until we showed up in our hoodies and sneakers. The disapproving looks from the other guests didn't stop us from enjoying looking at all the yachts we could find. Unfortunately, we were not able to board any of the magnificent boats- apparently they gave tours to "serious customers only," and in our current attire, we were quite the opposite.

We are all also looking forward to this weekend, where we will add a new country to our passports- the Czech Republic. More updates to come after Prague.

Top O' The Mornin

We have been very busy around here of late, but apologies for the delay in posts. Mea culpa.

The weekend after the previous post was, unfortunately pretty rainy, as was the ensuing week. We did manage to catch our second live Barca game that Saturday night, however, and were treated a display of utter domination: Barca poured in 5 goals in the first half. We got our money's worth.

The highlight of last week had to be our venture into the world of wine tasting. Right down the street from us, we managed to find a great little wine store that also offers tastings, and of course we couldn't turn down the opportunity. So last wednesday night, we all put on our dinner jackets (for the first and maybe the last time in Barcelona) and pretended as if we knew what the hell we were talking about. The samples included a cava (the local champagne), 1 white and 2 reds, all from the Catalonia region. They were excellent- some might say even amusing in their presumption.

Our group decided to split up for this past Halloween weekend- Gabe and Bobby remained on the home front, and attended a Halloween party at an old castle a little bit outside the city. Will and myself ventured to Scotland and Ireland for a whirlwind tour, which was incredible. After a brief stint in Glasgow, (10 minutes brief- we were advised that Glasgow is not a place you go to, but a place you go through) we took the cross-country train to Edinburgh. Lucky us- we were traveling right at sunset, which offered amazing views of Scotland's incredible countryside.

After a dinner of bangers and mashed- their questionable name for sausages and mashed potatoes- in a Scottish pub, we took the train North to St. Andrews, where a few of our pals from St. Paul's hosted us. It was good to catch up with old friends that night and the next. Friday morning our friends were nice enough to give us a tour of the campus, which is one of the prettiest I've seen. Probably the best part- the world renowned Old Course is literally on campus, and students are offered an unbelievable discount. I was sorely tempted to try to get in a quick 9 at the least, however, the rain and cold were enough to deter me. I will play it one day, hopefully soon.

After the tour we hopped back down to Edinburgh for some sightseeing. It is a great city with a very ancient feel, and the Royal Mile is a very cool way to see the sights. The Edinburgh castle is very impressive in itself, but the whole walk was really neat. Given the near-freezing temperature, we were forced to go inside to warm up inside a few times- and the Scottish clan stores offered the perfect opportunities to do just that. Clan Lindsay, more specifically, clearly stood out among all others, and all of their items were appropriately more stylish than most.

The 8:00 flight from Edinburgh to Dublin proved slightly difficult, but with a few cups of coffee, we hit the Irish streets right upon our arrival. Dublin is, comparatively, a much more modern city- it certainly has its charm though. We walked around the pedestrian-only streets and the Temple Bar area for hours, and of course found time in the day to visit the Guinness factory. The Guinness Experience is probably more appropriate- the building is effectively a shrine to the beer. I felt so bombarded by the images of perfection of all the Guinness ingredients that at the end of the tour, where you receive your free pint, I asked for a Bud Light instead. They were not amused.

Other Dublin highlights included a service at St. Patrick's Cathedral that included their excellent choir, and also (the real) Trinity College. On Saturday night we found some great Irish music, and turned it in pretty early, exhausted from our long day. Sunday was an all-day travel day, and after a long weekend it was good to be back home.

This past week has also been somewhat of a whirlwind- after a midterm on tuesday, we stayed out till the wee hours tuesday night to catch the decision of the election back home. If we hadn't, though, we surely would have known by this morning: on our walk to school we heard more than a few Spanish Obama chants- it is clear who they were rooting for.

Another update to come sooner than last time.