À Pampelune! (Pamplona!)

Isn't the French name for Pamplona so fun to say? "Pam-ploon!" Anyways, we arrived in Pamplona in mid-afternoon, and got extremely confused looking for our hotel (a recurring theme on this trip). But fortunately, it was sunny and beautiful out, and Pamplona is really pretty! The buildings were all old and Spanish-y looking, and there was a really nice open square near our hotel, and above a parking garage where we weren't supposed to park but did anyways.

After checking in, we of course walked the route of the famous Running of the Bulls. The start is a not-so-glamorous parking lot behind this old stone building (see photo on the left), but there was a sign telling us a little bit about the history of the run. We followed the red signs to make our way down the half-mile route, ending at the bull fighting stadium. We went inside, but we couldn't actually see that much  because there was a building set up in the ring with a market going on inside. Surprisingly, we did not see a single bull figurine there!

The stadium at the end -  we made it!

Then we walked around the old town area for a while, which has a lot of really pretty buildings, and we saw the Cathedral of Pamplona. Unfortunately, most stuff was closed here too because of Dia de los Reyes. But it was still nice to just walk around, plus all the Christmas lights were still up, and let me tell you, Europe knows how to do municipal Christmas decorations!

Cathedral of Pamplona

Pamplona town hall

We also found this crazy Running of the Bulls statue. It was a little startling because the bulls are very clearly winning here. There's at least three people on the ground, and one is literally being leapt over by a bull in mid-air. I guess it's a cautionary statement?

This guy is in trouble.

For dinner, we had sandwiches again, then these really delicious churros from a Christmas market that was going on in that same square near our hotel. They were so good! Plus it was really cold and the churros were warm and covered in an extremely generous amount of sugar. I was surprised to see churros in Spain because I always assumed churros were Mexican food; I guess because in California, one assumes that all food with a Spanish name is Mexican. However, Wikipedia has informed me that churros actually are Spanish!

The next day, we went to the Church of San Cernín before hitting the road again. It was really interesting to see because not only was it an awesome Spanish Gothic-style church, but there were bulls incorporated into the altars:

The pedestal the angel is on has bull horns!

If you look closely, you'll see there's a picture of a bull in the center.

Then we were off on quite the day of driving to get to Nantes, France! On a side note, it was weird crossing the France-Spain border because there are no customs since they're both in the Schengen Zone. Driving to Bilbao, we were expecting a big Bienvenidos! sign, but it was more like, "Wait, all the signs are in Spanish now? Did we cross the border? What? When?"

À bientôt!

P.S. Check out the crazy animated crosswalk signals they have in Spain:

À Bilbao!

Awesome pedestrian bridge

Our first stop was Bilbao! Due to some confusion with toll roads and highway exits, we got there about three hours after we were expecting... but luckily, we still had enough time to walk along the Nervión River and go to the Guggenheim Museum! (Or the Gugg', as we insiders like to call it.) Our hotel was really nice and right by the river, so it was only a short, pretty walk across and along the river to the Gugg'. There were a lot of really cool bridges across the river, including this pedestrian one.

The buildings along the river were really pretty, and the weather was chilly but sunny. When we saw the Gugg', it was amazing!!! The architecture of the building is truly incredible. It was loosely designed to resemble a ship, with the curves of the building catching the light, and the titanium panels of the walls representing fish scales. The whole flow of the building is very cool, it's a work of art in itself.

Puppy

Besides the actual building, there are several other sculptures outside the Gugg'. The first thing you see is this giant spider, but that was creepy, and I didn't like it. But next is this cool bubble sculpture that reflects the river and the Guggenheim behind it. It's called Tall Tree & the Eye, by Anish Kapoor. There's also Puppy, by Jeff Koons, which is this giant puppy sculpture made of flowers. It's quite adorable! Really makes up for the spider. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take photos inside the museum, but the art inside was also very cool. And the audioguide is included with your admission ticket, which is helpful in trying to understand all that crazy modern art.

Tall Tree & the Eye

Zooming in on one of the bubbles

We spent a few hours going through the Gugg', then found some sandwiches for dinner. We were thinking of trying to get tapas, but decided we were too tired to try to figure out the system. ("I mean, how do you even pay for them??" "I just don't know!" "And they might not even hablo ingles!") The next morning, it was raining, but we found coffee and croissants and had time to walk around a little more and look across the river at the Guggenheim again. I wish we could have stayed in Bilbao a little longer, but then it was off to Pamplona!

À bientôt!

Le Retour

Bonjour! So, I got back from my great adventure with my dad two weeks ago! And dived straight into the nightmare of class planning... But anyways, everything is working out, and I'm finally going through my pictures from our trip. My dad and I went so many places! Bilbao and Pamplona in Spain, then up to northern France, to Dinan in Brittany, Mont St. Michel, Bayeux, Normandy, Amboise, the Loire Valley, Chartres, and finally Paris. Whew, it was a lot! But so amazing! It was really lucky that we were able to rent a car, so we could go to a lot of places that are hard to get to by train and bus. Plus, we were able to follow our own schedule. Credit to my dad for handling all those Spanish and French roads! Although there were some difficulties with toll booths... but peu importe!

It was also cool traveling during the "low season" for tourists. It was nice because not a single place we went felt packed or crowded or like we were drowning in loud American tourists. On the other hand, a lot of restaurants and stores pick this time of the year to go on their mandatory five weeks of paid vacation (oh, France!), so some places were closed. Also, a lot of museums and other historic buildings and churches were undergoing renovations or cleanings while we there, so we saw a lot of scaffolding. But the lack of long lines and crowds made up for it!

I was really glad my dad could come visit me, and that we got to go on this incredible trip together! Stories and photos to come!

(Don't worry Dad, not every story!)

Bonne Année!

So my host-family is amazing and took me to the Pyrénées with them for New Year's! We stayed in a little apartment in Barèges with another family and a family friend, so there were eight people total. It was about a five hour drive from Bègles, and we arrived Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday afternoon.

The first day, we mostly just moved in and walked around a little in the town and a nearby town. It was cold but very pretty, and the mountains were really pretty. I don't think it had snowed very recently, but there was older snow on the sides of the roads which was fun to crunch under my boots. After dinner, we played cards, and I found out that French people call Crazy Eights "Les Huits Américains," or "The American Eights."

The next day, I went skiing for the first time! I wasn't sure if I was going to go because I thought it might be really expensive, but luckily the beginner pass was cheaper, and my host-family knows a guy who owns a ski shop, and he gave me a discount on rental skis. And I wore like seven layers and borrowed waterproof pants from my host-mother to fashion a ski suit. Yay skiing on the (kind of) cheap! I went with my host-father and host-brother and their family friend. They all knew how to ski, so I'm sure all of my falling was pretty amusing for them.

I knew I was going to fall a lot, but I didn't realize just how spectacular falling is when you ski. My skis got all twisted around, and my poles went flying; it was quite the sight. At one point, this other girl on the beginner slope didn't know how to stop and ran right into me at the bottom. I flew up in the air and landed half on top of her! Luckily, we were both fine.

I just stayed on the baby slopes, so I didn't get to ride the ski lift, just these rubber conveyor belt things, kind of like this. My host-father was super nice and helped me a lot. By the end of the day, I could turn and go down the slope without falling! Ouais! Still, I was put to shame by many a little kid. "Well aren't we a little Johnny Alpine?" I muttered under my breath several times, as yet another wunderkind whizzed by me.

After we got back, I took a nap and had a big snack, which is a good thing because we didn't eat dinner until 11:00pm! Around 10:45, they brought out the oysters, but, of course, I passed on those. I did eat quite a lot of bread though! For the main course, there were garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and duck. The potatoes were really good, but I passed on the duck.

I kept checking my watch because we were still eating (not even on the cheese course yet!) as the clock was approaching midnight, and I didn't want to miss it. Luckily, my host-family turned the radio on just in time for the dix-neuf-huit... countdown! Then everyone did the bise (that cheek kissing thing French people do) and said "Bonne Année" to each other, which I was totally unprepared for, and caught awkwardly half standing since my chair was against the wall and hard to get out of. (Frankly, I should've expected it though; French people do the bise like every 10 minutes.) Well, just one of my many awkward foreigner moments!

We ended up staying up until 3am playing cards! I was pretty exhausted. The next day, we packed up, had a picnic next to a creek in this other little town, where we had an amazing view of a cirque, or semicircle formation of mountains. It was breathtaking!



Hope everyone has an excellent 2012!!! À bientôt!