"We saw nothing, we ate everything."

These are the words with which my mother, Nicola Jane Findley, ended our day in Brugges.

What are the four things you MUST HAVE while in Belgium? Waffle, Fries, Beer, Chocolate, of course. Not necessarily in that order. As much of each thing as you desire. The more, the better. The greater variety, the better. Think excess. That's the way to go in Belgium.

So let me tell you what the day was like...

Course one: Belgian waffle, natch. Mine was of the whipped cream and chocolate sauce variety










Mom's was whipped cream and strawberries. We combined ours to make plates of deliciousness.










Success: in the form of Belgian beer and Belgian fries at the restaurant where we ate our lunch. I tried to have something balanced, as I ordered a salad with tuna but they basically piled enough fish on the plate to give me the world's highest mercury levels on the planet.

Alas, my friends, I have no pictures of the chocolates we ate, of the enormous plate of fries we ordered, of the other chocolates we inhaled. Forgive mem but their deliciousness was just too tempting and so the chocolates and fries were devoured hastily, lovingly, with no thought to photos for the kiddies.

Please take a moment to reflect on the wonder that is amazing food. Specifically of the dark chocolate and fried goodness kind.

The rest of Brugges was really good, too! Turns out that it's a beautiful town, even in the rain and, despite our misgivings after stepping off the train, we ended up having a lovely day there! I climbed the 366 steps to the top of the town's towery thing (I no longer remember what it's called) and felt all "little town, little quiet village" (name that song!) as I wandered through with M & D.

I definitely think that Saturday was a great day in Brugges to "see nothing and eat everything." This might become quite the motto for me.

Mom and Dad wrapping it up in Provence

For our last few days together in Provence, Mom and Dad and I kept it low-key chill. Ok, barring my insane nervousness about having the Towers watch me teach, everything was very chill post-weekend. On Sunday night, after an extremely lazy day (um, hi, I took a NAP. I cannot remember the last time I successfully napped) we set out in the evening for a vehicle 'stroll' through the Luberon region. Right through the mountains. Beautiful, natch, and we hit on Bonnieux and Lacoste, to name a few of the villages. Dad has the photos because I got reallllly lazy with my camera at this point but I can tell you: all very pretty. We happened upon a castle (of course, there's a billion here) with a wine degustation place inside it and, as tempted as I was to say "pop open that Chateauneuf du Pape!" we left it to go mange our picnic under a tree on the side of the road. And that rocked, too.

On Monday, as you all know, I played "Take Your Parents to Work Day" and it was wondefully spledidly successful. My kids were obsessed with my parents ("ooh la la! la reine anglaise! le roi americain!") and my parents were willing and great participants in class as we reviewed the thrilling subject matter of clothing. Yannick, my directrice, spoke with them (she lived in Chicago and in Hawaii!) and was so nice and welcoming. My parents also met Francoise, a woman with whom I'm friends and so it all rocked. To top off my amazing class that they witnessed, Mom later got to see my littlest kids, the kindergarteners, sing two songs! "The Rainbow Song" and "The Weather Song" (we sure are original with our titles). It was so cute.

And in the afternoon after I was done teaching? We went to Orange, a pretty large town that's not too far from Sorgues. What's the big deal about Orange? Well, Wikipedia tells me that it was once the capital of the northern part of Provence. It has the oldest and best preserved Roman theater in all of Western Europe and it is now a World Heritage Site. Very cool. Dad and I went in and felt all Gladiator-like as Dad got pictures and we trembled at the mightiness of it all.

Tuesday was my parents' last day in Avignon. They spent the day wandering around the city while I taught. But then I got off work early! So I went and ran errands and chilled and did some other wrapping-up-type stuff here in the city. I then went to Micaela's for dinner. Chez Micaela.

And oh man, what a dinner.

This is the part where I tell you what we ate!!
Or I might just put it for you in easy, picture form...
On the left... a zoom-in of: lima beans, grean beans, magret de canard (duck breast) and vegetarian pate!
On the right... the table. Witness the French-style taboule, the eighteen pounds of bread, the red wine (of course), and the radishes. Delish.









Here I am with the chef, herself:










The food was stunning and I have to say, I'm impressed - my parents rock at being social. It was 11 o'clock and I was falling asleep into my amazing mousse au chocolat and strawberry shortcake (sorry, no pictures... ate 'em too fast) and they were sharing stories with Micaela and Philip (the other dinner guest for the evening) back and forth. Fabulous.

Wednesday morning we set out for Paris, the three of us. I do believe M & D had a good time at Micaela's and I've got a picture right here...

Mom and Dad roadtrip, 3

So last night Mom and Dad went to l'Opera, a fancy shmancy restaurant here in Avignon and I'm going to admit it - I'm a lil' jealous. I mean, it's really great that I stayed in and organized/cleaned/packed up my life but dang, they had a really great meal at a restaurant that people I know have recommended. Ohhhhh well it's all good. I'm glad they had a nice (romantic?) birthday dinner for Mom and that I got a chance to start wrapping up my life here at 5 rue Saint Thomas d'Aquin.

Today we went to Cassis! Every time I've called home in the past month and asked my parents the question "So what do you want to DO in Provence?" my mother has responded with "Well, your dad just wants to go to the beach. Get him to the sea." And today... mission accomplished. We hit up both Cassis and Marseille, basking in the sun (ahemgettingsunburnedahem) and chilling, eating picnics and pastries, having a wonderful Saturday on the water.

In fact, I don't have too many pictures from today because we spent 3 hours lying on the beach in Cassis and then we went and pastry-ed ourselves in Marseille. Not too much picture-worthy but it was relaxing and a perfect way to pass our time together, I feel. Tonight I showed the 'rents Place Pie which was, as usual, hoppin with life and then I went to the Bal de Teinturiers (a street here in the 'non) that had free music, cheap beers, and a ton of dancing. And! The dancing! Was done in an emptied-out pool! Like in "It's a Wonderful Life." Raise your hand if you think that's cool!

So tomorrow I reveal to them the glories of Les Halles and we'll pick up and send ourselves somewhere else, somewhere new. Guaranteed to be a good time. M & D are coming with me on Monday to school which, although it shouldn't't, is kinda stressing me out (hi, whose mom is a professor of education? and, hello, teaching in front of my parents) but it's going to be good and Mom's offered to 'be used' during class time with the kids so that I feel no pressure and she can participate and the kids can hear her speak. It'll be good.

Mom and Dad roadtrips, 1 and 2

But first things first:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

Here we have my ridiculously good-looking parents in a town called Roussillon, which we visited yesterday. I love 'em.

So far we've had 2 roadtrip days! I don't know why, but the Rain Gods are making their presence known here in Provence and it has poured, off and on, since my parents got here. Where's the Provencal weather everyone raves about? We're expecting sun, blue skies, beautiful fields, windows down in the car, and smooth travels. Instead it's been, mostly, rain rain rain rain, grey skies, thunder, lightning, puddles, and nastiness. What the bleep.

But hey, that's ok! Because we're still "profiter-ing" and it's been wonderful. Yesterday we headed east to some little towns, at my suggestion. The itinerary? L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, Fontaine de Vaucluse, Roussillon, and Gordes. Roussillon was new to me and it is as gorgeous as everyone says it is. Et voila. It's nice, eh? That's ochre... reminds us all of Colorado, I think. It is amazing to think that, down the road from where I live (ahemcitywithapalaceahem) there are these colors! My eyes exploded and it was all very nice.

Today we went to La Camargue! National park hollah! Flamingos, bulls, rice patties, oh my. So here are some pics:


Looks boring? Definitely not!

Ok so maybe I fell asleep a little. But that was ok because this was followed by flamingo-watching. Flamingos. In southern France?

Yes, flamingos. Flamingi?

And we took a nap at the Mediterranean. Oh man.

This one's from December

I love my family a LOT.

And we love the silly hats.

Merry Christmas!

This is what I did in Germany

In Munich, we put on some music and I DANCED...

Enjoy!

Today I swam in the Mediterranean

wonderful.

And on the sixth day, I ate snails.

Plural. More than one snail.

So I don't think I mentioned that last week Alice was here visiting! It was a grand time. Somehow, someway, the two of us manage to meet, literally, all over the world. Last summer it was D.C. when I was living in New York and this year it's been Cannes in January, when she first got here, then Paris, when I was visiting with the Yee, and then last week, Alice made it down to Avignon for some R&R and a LOT of lying around. On the bank. Of the river. Checking out Avignon.

This is what Avignon looks like from the island (you go sit on the island to check out the city in all its splendor. Minus Celine's head. Not that her head isn't splendid but... right):

ANYYYYYYWAY Alice and I did a lot of tanning and staring at Avignon and all of that. It was blissful. But after two days of that, the plan was to go to Aix-en-Provence because Friend Kylie sings nothing but its praises and hey, two days in Avignon? Ca suffit. So we bouged our way to Aix.

While in line at the TGV station, we met two New Yorkers. Of course I went off on my "Holy whoa, I'm moving to NYC in August!" spiel which turned into them telling us that they have no idea what to see in Aix which turned into me telling them that I can show them how to get around the city etc. which turned into them inviting us to lunch.

So at noon on Saturday, Alice and I sat down with two very nice people that we had just met at Les Deux Garcons and we ate snails. And oysters. And I had an enormous steak de thon with some peppers on the side. It was fantastic and random and bling bling and a lot of fun. Oh MAN the things that happen when you travel.

Berlin, 2008. Day three. Part deux

So we left off at Hitler's bunker and we walked to the Luftwaffe HQ. But we, of course, had to take note of these crazy giant pumps coming out of the ground. It looked like those connect-y sticks we play with when we're kids. And they're so pretty! Pink and purple! What, praytell, is in those giant pipes? Well, the city's sewage, of course!
Yup, Berlin's built on a swamp so if the city wants to do any work underground (hi, they also have an AWESOME metro), they use the giant pumps to pump that sh*t out, literally.

To the Luftwaffe HQ! The Air Force Headquarters! This urgly building was built for Nazi Luftwaffe and is now the home of... Germany's IRS! Ah yes, this most hated building (former Nazi Air Force HQ-turned GDR center-turned IRS) is now the place where Germans file their taxes. It is also the site of a tribute to...

June 17, 1953.

Praytell, what is the importance of that!? (why do I keep putting the words pray and tell together? )

It's the worker's uprising of 1953! East Germans were mad as WHOA that the government decided to screw them over. I mean, the GDR in 1953 wanted to revamp their system and so they increased production quotas, increase hours in the work week, and did nothing for the workers themselves. So on June 17, Germans went out onto the street in an organized protest of the thousands saying "um, what, this isn't fair." What does the GDR do? You know, they call MotherRussia and hae the Soviets bring in their tanks and the Soviets use force to bring the protest down. It's the first and last organized protest by East Germans agains the GDR until 1989. Interressant. This tribute is set at the Luftwaffe HQ and there is still a mural depicting the awesomeness of communism in the GDR on the wall of the building. (picture on the left is a picture of East Germans protesting. Picture on the right is the mural, obvi)

We followed the ENORMOUS Luftwaffe HQ to the

Berlin Wall.

Holycrow, I have seen the Berlin Wall. For those of you who know how I roll, you know that I'm a HistoryGeek and a Cold War HistoryGeek for SURE. So for me, little ol' Emily, to see the Berlin wall after fanatically studying this time period/society/etc for so long was like history heaven for me, I kid you not.

The wall still stands there. Behind the Wall is the former SS headquarters. I mean, dang.

Aaaaand then we went to Checkpoint Charlie which is the infamous stop in the wall between East and West, between the American sector of Berlin and the East (remember how Berlin was divided into four parts originally!? crazy!) This is, as George told us, sort of the "Disneyland" of Berlin because it's a complete reconstruction of Checkpoint Charlie. A picture of a real US soldier faces to the East and a picture of a Soviet soldier faces West. It was weird as WHAT to see this checkpoint... Weird is the only word I have for that right now... I'll try to come up with something later.

Then we walked through the former Red Light District and Gendarmenmarkt (supposedly the most beautiful plaza in the world).
And we got to Bebelplatz.

I'm freakin' out. I mean Bebelplatz! Ahhhhh! Over 20,000 books were burned here by Nazi students and teachers alike. Now there is a quiet memorial in the center of the Platz... in the ground there's a piece of glass and looking into it, you see empty bookshelves. Across the street is the University and outside of the University there is a book sale (I think) every day. This book sale is a way of commemorating the book burning and a way of giving back, I do believe.

Theeeeeen we get to Neue Wache which is a memorial to war. It is a very simple memorial - a class dome in the ceiling lets light shine down on to a sculpture of a mother holding her child. When it's sunny, the sun shines on it. When it snows, the snow covers the dome, keeping the memorial dark. And when it rains, it looks as if the mother is crying. Powerful.

Just beyond the Neue Wache is the TV Tower that the GDR had built in order to prove their technological strength. Turns out they didn't build it properly so they had Swedes come in and finish the job. Whoops.

We ended our tour on Museum Island.
That's it, folks! No more history lesson for the day!
George finale-d with the fall of the wall, David Hasselhoff, and the crowd cheering in 1989. We clapped and cheered for George, tipped the man, and then bounced OUT because we three (me, EmTrav, and Katie) had a rendez-vous for swing dancing!

Best. Tour. Ever.
Turns out I knew prob like 87% of the information given but I am SO GLAD I went on it. They also have the Third Reich Tour, the Cold War Tour, and a tour of the concentration camp right outside of Berlin. If I get back to Berlin (which I hope I do) I'm going to do one of them because that. Will be awesome.

Berlin, 2008. Day three.

Hey dudes again.
So I'm going to write about Berlin, day Three today because it is going to be about our walking tour and I want to write about that before I forget any of the history/pictures/order that things happened/la dee dah.

On Day Three in Berlin, we decided to take a free walking tour of the city. Goodness! A free walking tour!? Yes, a FREE walking tour because I am a baller on a budget. dang, i totally just said that.

There's this company called Sandeman's Free Walking Tours, which operates in Berlin, Munich, Amsterdam, Edinburgh, London, Paris and... another place... can't remember where. This German-based company gives free tours in English with the idea that every traveler should be able to go to one of these cities and experience its history/architecture/art/monuments/etc for free in one afternoon because, well, no one should be deprived of that based on budget. Instead of paying up front for the tour, you tip the tour guide at the end. I think it is a fabulous idea and it was one of the best ideas we had all vacation because it was SO worth it.

Our tour was lead by George from Missouri. George From Missouri is 28, decided to move to Berlin for three years because "that seemed like long enough to... live in Berlin" (for real, that was his reasoning) and, prior to Sandeman's Walking Tours, was working as a server at his sister's restaurant just outside of St. Louis and at a video game store. Don't know what school he went to, don't know what he did before all of that, but now he's in Berlin (since September) walking around the city every day for at least 4 hours giving the same spiel on the history of Berlin. Tall, skinny, personable, and sort of a va! va! voom! jazz hands! kind of guy - kept our attention, made us laugh, knew a lot of stuff, and did a good job.

So what the heck did we see on the tour!? EVERYTHING. George started with a three-minute section that gave us 800 years of Berlin history because we really wanted to start our tour in the 20th-century, no? Yes.

We started at Pariser Platz. A Platz named after a city in France? In Germany's capitol? WTJ? (what the junk!?) Yup. We started there. Because Pariser Platz has the Brandenburg Tor (Brandenburg Gate) on it and the Hotel Adler on it. What's so cool about the Brandenburg Gate? Not much except it has been there FOREVER and has survived multiple wars and occupations and has seen the city through the Industrial Revolution, Hitler's ascension to power, the Cold War, Hannah Montana, and Michael Jackson's baby-hanging extravaganaza.
What!? Michael Jackson's baby-hanging extravaganza!?
yes, that's right, folks: It was from the balcony on the third floor of the Hotel Adler that Mr. Jackson held his kid out the window for all the world to see and woops! nearly dropped him! Yes, that's right - that hotel right therrrrre. Oh and other famous peeps stay there all the time, too.

So we walked through the Tor and we're told to look to our right and BAM it's The Reichstag, capital T, capital R. At this point my heart's pounding and I'm freaking out because helloooooo the Reichstag is only one of the most important buildings/events in history in the twentieth century and the HistoryGeek in me is just flippin. For real. (Reichstag: German Parliament. Although the Kaiser was always in charge so "Parliament" was really a word for "guys who came to this building to do whatever the junk they felt like doing. Maybe they played ping pong. Maybe they played go fish. But leading the country? Doing what the people asked them to do? Not so high on their list of priorities) (Reichstag: 1933. After Hitler gains power through his election (remember! not voted in with a majority! Only 37% of the vote!) he gets even MORE power after the Reichstag "mysteriously burns to the ground" one night. Blames this on a (legally insane) Dutchman. Uses this to go to the Kaiser and say "hey, what up, I think I should have all the power in the land" and, thus, becomes Supreme Chancellor of the Third Reich). Aaaaaand that is why the Reichstag is important.
Today the Reichstag has a glass dome at the top up on which anyone can go walking. The idea is that Germans can go to the top and look down on their Parliament to make sure they're doing what they've voted them in to do. And then those in Parliament can always look up to that glass ceiling and see the people for whom they are working. I think it's a beautiful idea, spurred by an ugly history.

Taking a left, we walk a little ways following oh, I don't know, the bleeping BERLIN WALL to the new Holocaust Memorial, officially called the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. The memorial is right off the main street in Berlin (just steps away from Brandenburg Tor and the Reichstag is just further down the street) and it is made up of concrete slabs of different sizes on sloping land. Whoops, I don't think that description was any good. The land slopes, the concrete slabs follow the shape of the land and are of different heights so you walk through a maze of grey from one end of the Memorial to the other. The slabs start out small and gradually get larger so that, when you're in the center of the Memorial, you are lost in a sea of grey. It is disorienting, just as it's meant to be. The land slants and slopes as does the concrete so every step is a little more unfocused and every time you turn your head you can get lost a little more. It's a powerful thing to see from the street (as in, on a regular day going to the office, you pass a memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe) and it's a powerful thing to walk through.

Once we walked through the Memorial, we crossed the street and went a little ways to a parking lot. A parking lot surrounded by some uuuuugly apartments. What's the big deal about the apartments and the parking lot? Oh yeah. Hitler's bunker was here.
That is correct - Hitler spent his last few months (January-April, 1945) hiding out and going insane underground here at this parking lot. (ooh here's something I didn't know! He was hiding out with his lovah Eva Braun and his dog and Goebbels (and Goebbels' fam) and his doctor and his doctor was giving him cocaine droplets in his eyeballs. WHOA) From 1945-1989, this apartments around said parking lot were priiiiime real estate because these apartments were the closest housing to West Berlin anyone could get and only the most loyal and high-up East Germans could live there. Interesting fact!: world-famous skater, Katerina Witt (always one of my faves) was offered an apartment there. I'm pretty sure she said no thanks.
Nowadays the apartments continue to be ugly and Hitler's bunker is a parking lot where majllions of people every year bring their dogs to do their thang. There is a solitary poster just off of the lot giving the history of the area - not bringing too much attention to it but making sure people know.

Bleep. This post is hella long. I'm going to cut it into two for your viewing pleasah.

Salzburg and Munich, 2008!

So that was Dachau! And my first night in Munich!
On Wednesday Lisa and I made it out to a whole other country... Austria.

The hills were SO alive because we went to Salzburg.
We solved a problem like Maria.
We tea-ed, a drink with jam and bread.
And we eidelweissed.

So great.

Well, first off, I have to blame my host, Chaka Khan, for getting me RIDICULOUSLY even further addicted to caffeine in the few short days I had at her house. It's just that DANG that espresso machine was so shiny and sleek and so of course I had to use it a bunch of times. A BUNCH of times. I now definitely cannot sleep past 8:00 and must have espresso immediatement. oh well.

Lisa and I made it to Salzburg for a lunch at the Heart of Joy Cafe - a vegetarian/vegan bagel/breakfast place.

This is the part where I tell you what I ate!
A seitan bagel with lettuce, tomato, adn mustard. A mango yogurt drink. Deliciousness!
I thought seitan was mushroom? Nope, turns out it's fake meat. So when she brings me this awesome-looking bagel with friggin' ham on it i'm like you gotta be KIDDING me! and I don't know how to say ANYthing in German! So I just pointed and said "meat? seitan?" to which she replied, yup it's fake meat. Ahh, thanks for the clarification. I have a long way to go learning about veganism, apparently

Then Lisa and I decided to do our very own Sound of Music Tour. I'd done some research earlier and the two tours offered in Salzburg are 35 euros, 4 hours each, and on TripAdvisor.com, they didn't get the greatest reviews. So LIsa and I went cheap-o and made our own! Meaning we ran around the city pointing at things and saying "I think this is where they marched across the square! This is defnitely it! No wait, THIS is it! Let's sing!"

Seriously we frolicked and the one song that was in my head teh whole time was "I have confidence." Freaking sweet.

We walked up to the abbey - you know, where "when G-d closes the door, somewhere he opens a window." And we saw the Alps which are beautiful and they're so stunning they lookkinda fake.

We also saw Mozart-y stuff! I mean, the guy did live there. We saw his birth place, his residence, a museum, a giant statue, Mozartplatz... I got in on a French tour of Mozart-ia and I understood what the guide was saying! I couldn't believe it. That was great.

Salzburg is beautiful! The flowers were GORGEOUS. I felt like I was channeling Julie Andrews for REAL and now, of course, I have to see SOM as soon as possible.

Back to Munich for the night - Chaka took us to Chinese food and we had a nighttime tour of Munich via her Jeep. Very cool

Granadaaaaaaa, Spain

Greetings from Firenze! It is beautiful here! But right now I'm giong to tell you all a lil' about Spain before I forget...
(oh, and pictures will come LATER because I don't have the option of putting them up right now. but trust me. they are gorgeous)

I have now been traveling for a week. Ok, to all the peeps (coughLisacough) who can travel for six week stretches, I applaud you. It is exHAUSting! Ok so maybe I didn't sleep very much in Granada because that city NEVER sleeps and maybe I didn't sleep in Sevilla because I was having WAY too much fun with Chelsea and her roommate (more on that later) and now in Florence I haven't slept much because I'm CouchSurfing and there's too much to talk about with people. Ok so not sleeping is not a big deal at this point because cappuccinos in Florence are only a euro (!!) and I'm way sugared up on gelato (!!!) Oh MAN it's all happening... (morning looking out onto Granada)

GRANADA
Left for Granada, Spain, a week ago with Darija, the roomie. 7:20 train on a Friday? Awwwesome. Headed to Marseille, took Ryainair to Madrid.
One thing: I freakin' love Ryanair. They are CHILL. Down side? They haven't really entered the 21st century yet (um, they work with pen and paper, no computers, etc.). But updsides abound! Bright blue uniforms! Super cheap flights! Really easy check-in! Etc. Etc.
In Madrid we hopped on a bus down to Granada. The bus system in Spain is the bomb! We bought our tickets only half an hour before the bus was scheduled to leave and they only cost 15 euros to traverse the country. Ok, so it was a 5.5 hour bus trip but no biggie because it was cheap and that was awesome.
Arrived in Granada sometime around 9. Took the bus into town and went straight to our hostel which was run by this really nice guy (well, I'm assuming he's nice because he smiled a lot and gave us a map for free and circled the city's highlights for us but hey, I don't speak Spanish, so he could also have been talkin' smack right to my face and I would have just said "bueno." Like the aewsomely cultured American that I am). I'd like to say that Darija and I went out on our first night in Granada and partied it up (like all the Granada-ians do) but um no. We went straight to bed. Forgive me - we traveled for like 12 hours that day! And we got up at 6:00 am on Saturday for our...
Trip to the Alhambra. So amazing. Met up with Darija's cousin, Sasha, in line. She's traveling with us all this week. She lives in Dubai and has wanted to visit Darija while she's on this side of the world and it turns out that our week of travel workec for her schedule so we've been a threesome for awhile. Back to the Alhambra: I think it's one o the 7 wonders of the world and it TOTALLY deserves it. It is stunning. Got the (totally worth it) audio guide and wandered around the thing all morning. Learned a lot and saw a lot and took a lot of pictures.
Post Alhambra was an afternoon of wandering and enjoying Granada. The sun was shining and it was gorgeous so we sat outside and listened to local musicians play. Saw the world's greatest unibrow on a guy and, um, had to take a pic. That thing didn't separate for even one hair! Amazing! Viva Espana!
In the evening we went to a tapas bar. I drank Alhambra beer (I mean, how could I NOT?) and ate tortilla and chorizo and gloried in the grease. We then took a long walk up in the city (the city goes up a giant hill) so that we could see the Alhambra all lit up but we went to the wrong Mirador (look-out place) and ended up seeing Granada from way up high. That was beautiful, too!
Day 2 in Granada:
I ended up wandering all through Granada by myself as Darija and her cousin took a walking tour. I got lost, I found out where I was, I walked up, I walked down, I saw a church, I walked through the Arab markets, I smelled good food, I people-watched... it was great. Granada is a beautiful and happenin' city and there's so much history and culture there that it was awesome. Ooh! On day 1 of Granada (sorry, forgot to mention this) I was walking down the street with Darija and what should happen? I bumped into a girl with whom I went to middle and high school AND college. Craaaaazy.

Ok so that's what I can remember (for now) about Granada. I've done Sevilla and Cordoba since then, and I'm currently in Florence. Will be updating as soon as I can!