This trip is really starting to wind down, and I can feel it. You know that moment on the plane, when you first notice that you’ve tipped downward just slightly? The very start of the descent. When I got to London three days ago, after eating my first Chinese meal in over a month, I walked out into Hyde Park and plopped myself down in the grass. And I had that feeling. It’s been such a good, long ride so far – but it’s not quite over yet!

As is the case with so many of these blog posts, they cover a period of time that feels too long to be lumped into a single unit. Or too disjoint. But it’s been 10 days since the last one, so I’m overdue for the next =). Back in Barcelona, I’d just had my “weekend” day and was enjoying basically being a hermit for the afternoon. That evening I started to feel restless, so despite my sense of duty to myself to stay in bed all day, I figured I’d fold a few little activities into my dinner outing. I first went out to the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion, a temporary structure he designed for the 1929 International Exhibition; it had such an impact on modern architecture that they re-constructed it there in 1986. I paid my two Euros and looked around. It’s what I’d call a modern building even by today’s standards, so I can only imagine how modern it must have seemed 80 years ago!

With the sun starting to set, I headed off for Barcelona’s main train station (Sants). I’d been hoping to buy my train reservations to Granada and Seville, but alas the line was closed; I’d have to come back tomorrow. Satisfied that I’d at least accomplished something that day, I went back home, grabbed dinner, and slept.

Now that my “weekend” was over, it was time to resume my usual course of sightseeing. I’d decided that the next day would be my Gaudi day – after heading back to Sants station to buy the train reservations, my first stop was Gaudi’s famous Parc Guell.

There’s no doubt that Gaudi was heavily inspired by nature; it shows up in all of his work. The most memorable aspect of Parc Guell is certainly the tree-like stone columns, holding up long sweeping pathways. As I was walking through the first such line of stone trees, I realized I’d seen this exact place before – on America’s Next Top Model! This exact path was the site of the Cycle 7 final runway show, Caridee versus Melrose. I guess I’ve now betrayed how much of a Top Model nerd I really am =).

Although I was already pretty impressed, the rest of the park didn’t disappoint. I got a look at some of Gaudi’s little buildings (they look like gingerbread houses), and took a climb up to a cross-topped viewpoint overlooking the giant sprawl of Barcelona. I took a brief break for lunch at a nearby restaurant, and then came back to finish my walk through the eastern half of the park.

Next on my list of Gaudi attractions was the very-famous La Sagrada Familia. Although I was familiar – and impressed – with the dark, vertical, gnarly exterior, I was totally unprepared for what I saw inside. The space is bright, light, and majestic. As in Parc Guell, the columns are made to look somewhat like trees – unlike those in the park however, which were stony and coarse, these white trees rose straight up, elegantly branching out at the top to support the tremendously high roof. The building as a whole definitely succeeds in drawing your attention straight up, to the heavens. You really have to see it for yourself.

I had a good long sit inside, took an elevator ride up for a walk through one of the ominous exterior pillars, and then headed off for my last Gaudi attraction of the day: Casa Batlló. You definitely wouldn’t know the name, but you would recognize the pictures; it’s one of his classic buildings, looks like it was designed while on an LSD trip. At that point I’d run around enough for the day, so I went home and ended up eating at a Lonely Planet-recommended restaurant; it was chalk-full of stereotypical American platinum-blondes ordering macaroni salad. The restaurant did have plenty of good food, but they weren’t ordering it.

I had one full day left in Barcelona, and I had yet to really visit the central part of the city. The next morning I went to two churches: first a very little and old one, which was frankly uninteresting, and then Santa Maria del Mar, another classic and mighty-looking cathedral. Frankly, after seeing La Sagrada Familia the previous day, these places had a hard act to follow. After eating lunch near the cathedral (three cheers for wine-included lunch specials), I headed for Las Ramblas: a strip in central Barcelona that’s littered with tourists and little shops to take advantage of them. It’s yet another tourist trap, but one that every top-10 list seems to recommend.

What made Las Ramblas worthwhile, however, was the gigantic food market I found just a block away. Of course, it’s also tourist trap, but a far more delicious one. I ended up getting two fresh juices (the coconut-strawberry juice was to die for) and an unfamiliar piece of fruit – tasted like a nectarine. The market primarily sold fruit and seafood, and I have to say, the seafood section really impressed me. After seeing the fish markets in northern Thailand, which are as unsanitary and foul-smelling as it gets, this market really made me appreciate the first world. Tons and tons of fish, all on ice, smelling… well, like fish, but pretty darn amazing by comparison. I sipped my juice and appreciated where I was.

I could have kept going with more touristy sights, but by about 4pm I decided I’d had enough. I went home for a little siesta, re-emerged for tapas and sangria, and then tucked in for my last night in Barcelona. By noon the next day, I was already well on my way to Madrid in an impressive 300km/h-cruising express train.

I’d purposefully given myself a 4-hour layover in Madrid that afternoon, as an opportunity to get a quick peek at the city before continuing on to Granada. It started out, however, in a slump; after dropping my big bag off at the luggage lockers, I realized I’d lost my sunglasses. I was bummed, and figured I’d left them on the train – oh well. It was definitely time for lunch, so I got on the metro and headed for Plaza España. I ended up eating at a different plaza nearby, where I got yet another wine-included lunch special (have I mentioned I’m a fan?); this time, however, my lunch came with an entire half-liter of red wine! Surprised, but pleased, and still bummed about the sunglasses, I downed the whole thing. By the time I walked away from lunch, I was completely bombed.

I had about an hour or so left before I needed to head back, so I stumbled out to Plaza España and decided I should try to find sunglasses. Nobody seemed to know where I could find them. And unfortunately, after wandering out of the plaza, I wasn’t sure where I could find myself. My little iPod map wasn’t nearly detailed enough to help me navigate the dense little streets in that area, and I started to get a bit worried about finding my way back to the station in time. Thank goodness I have a good sense of direction, though; after a bit of drunk wandering in what I thought was the right direction, I ended up back at the original metro stop I’d come out of. I did a little more sunglass searching in that area – to no avail – and then came back to the station.

Things got a lot better when, as I was pulling my big bag out of the luggage locker, I discovered my sunglasses! They must have fallen in there when I put the bag away. Phew! I celebrated by drunk-purchasing a pair of oven mits – one featuring a cow, one with a matador – and successfully made my train to Granada. I felt so victorious that I celebrated again that evening with a giant steak for dinner.

The next morning was my long-awaited opportunity to see famous Alhambra. I started off at the Generalife, the leisure area of the palace, and then made my way to the main Nazarid Palaces. Both of these areas feature some very impressive (and famous/recognizable) courtyards lined with serious amounts of detailed plaster work. I took it all in as best I could, and then wrapped up my visit with a walk through the more fortress-like section and some additional gardens near the Nazarid Palaces. The whole place is just very meticulously and beautifully put together. The interplay of gardens, symmetry, intricate plaster work, and water make it all very serene. Afterward, I opted to walk back down to my hotel (instead of taking the bus), making pit stops along the way for lunch and souvenir shopping.

My time in Granada was short – after all, I’d only come to see the Alhambra – so by lunch time the next day I was already sitting in a café in Seville, enjoying some fish and sangria. I randomly met a gay Irish couple who were also staying at my hotel; they told me about a nearby laundromat (it was that time of the week again) and some nearby gay clubs. Apparently Seville has a much larger gay presence than I’d realized! They said that most people (the gays, that is) were out of town that weekend, since it was Madrid Pride. I didn’t end up going clubbing anyway; I was feeling too weary to really make the effort, and I already had a “Skype date” with my parents set for that evening.

Later that day, after dropping my clothes off at the laundromat, I took a walk out to Plaza España (yep, every Spanish city seems to have one) for a look at one of the more ostentatious Spanish landmarks I’ve seen. It was a bit too America-sized for it to really be anything more than a show-piece, if you know what I mean. It has a silly moat with gondoliers, quaint little bridges to cross it, a giant fountain, and a massive semi-circular building to swallow the whole thing. I chuckled and took some pictures, and then grabbed dinner on my way home.

I started off the next morning with Seville’s answer to the Alhambra: the Alcázar. Although similar to the Alhambra in the sense that it’s littered with gorgeous detailed plaster work, it doesn’t have the same level of integration of the fountains, courtyards, and buildings. The interior of the Alcázar was stunning – in fact maybe more stunning than some of the plaster work at the Alhambra, since it had been restored/repainted in more recent centuries. The gardens outside the Alcázar were beautiful as well, and littered with peacocks. But it did make me appreciate the synthesis of it all that the Alhambra does so beautifully.

That afternoon, after a quick lunch, I took a walk around Seville’s cathedral. I especially enjoyed both the main altarpiece – an enormous carving containing over 1000 little figurines – and the Giralda, the cathedral’s accompanying bell tower, which was a minaret back when that site held a mosque.

I celebrated my last night in Spain by going to see what Seville does best: flamenco. I’d booked a show the day before, and that evening I went and saw a fantastic routine at Casa de la Memoria. It began with two men, one playing the guitar and the other howling out a long and emotional piece of Spanish poetry. Then the rhythmic tapping/stomping began, and out came a dancer in a long red dress. I hadn’t realized how forceful and powerful flamenco really is – she worked up a real sweat during her 20 minute run, full of perfectly-timed tapping and serious whipping of her dress tail back and forth, punctuated by dramatic poses. After her performance, we got another 20 minute show from a male flamenco dancer – very handsome, I might add. I hadn’t been totally sure what to expect, not knowing anything about flamenco, but by the end of the performance I was thoroughly impressed.

I’ll pause briefly to mention a nerdy little fact I’d researched before I left home. Southern Spain and New Zealand’s north island just so happen to be at opposite ends of the world – literally. Seville and Auckland are 12,395 miles apart, and half the circumference of the earth (as far from one point as you could possibly go) is 12,450 miles. I’ve come a long, long way since this trip began…

The next morning – which just so happened to be July 4 – I celebrated my country’s freedom from Britain by flying back to the motherland herself. By mid-afternoon I’d settled into my new hotel near Hyde Park in London. And later that day, after having a wonderful Chinese dinner, it really started to sink in that my trip is headed quickly toward its end. Two weeks from now, I’ll be in the middle of my very last day before going home. Unbelievable!

I spent my first full day in London doing a handful of touristy things – but not too much. London is one of three places on this trip (the other two being Sydney and New York) that I’ve already visited, so I didn’t feel the pressure to repeat places like Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London. I opted instead to do a handful of smaller things that I didn’t remember doing. My first stop was St. Paul’s Cathedral – though beautiful on the outside, I decided it wasn’t worth the whopping £15 to go inside, and ended up walking away sooner than I’d expected. After a short stroll across the Millennium Bridge, I ended up walking around the Tate Modern art gallery and eating some take-out sushi on the lawns along the Thames. Over the course of the afternoon I took a Thames river cruise, walked across the Tower Bridge, and almost did the London Eye; by “almost”, I mean I got there, looked at the hour-long line and the price tag, and decided I’d be happier lying down in my bed at that point. By about 5pm I’d made it back to the room and started a little rest.

That rest didn’t last long, since about 10 minutes later I got an unexpected phone call from the one-and-only Rachel Dowling! She and I were planning to meet up the following morning, but she happened to be right in the area near my hotel and asked if I wanted to join her. Of course! 15 minutes later, Rachel and I were sharing a gigantic hug at the Costa Coffee shop, along with one of her many (wonderful) Oxford friends, Andy.

Oddly enough, Rachel and Andy were planning on spending the night out at a hotel near the Heathrow airport; their friend, Andrew Reddie (heretofore referred to as Reddie), and his girlfriend Sara, had an overnight layover at Heathrow and they were all planning on meeting up. I ended up joining them all for the whole thing. The three of us caught a train to the airport and then a bus out to the hotel, and met Reddie and Sara at the hotel’s restaurant. After splitting two bottles of wine, the five of us went bowling at an alley next door. Bowling! It literally felt like I was back at home, in so many ways. The combination of the bowling alley, the friends, and the alcohol… it was all really good. We all bowled surprisingly well (I got a 120!), and then came back to the hotel bar for a few rounds of cider. After they kicked us out of the bar at 3am, we migrated into the lobby and kept going with another bottle of wine that Reddie and Sara had brought with them from their vacation in Barcelona. By 4am or so, we all happily stumbled up to our rooms and said goodnight.

Andy had to get an early start the next day, and Rachel and I ended up following suit. It took a while to get back to the airport and then back into London, but by lunch time we were alongside Hyde Park, munching on a hummus platter and a jacket potato (a wonderful British concept: a potato stuffed with various things like tuna, baked beans, etc). That afternoon we took a walk through Hyde Park and ended up at Harrods for a little gawking at the price tags and confectionary wonders. Rachel and I each dropped £1.60 on a single macaroon, but ended up also getting a handful of free samples just by chance. By mid-afternoon, Rachel was starting to crash from the lack of sleep, so we headed back to my hotel for a nap. Though we’d originally planned to join a group of Oxford friends / Marshall Scholars for a pub crawl that evening, we decided to just take it easy and do dinner and a movie instead. Sigh… it was so great to see Rachel =).

By the time this morning rolled around, it was time to go yet again. I hopped on a Eurostar, ducked underneath the English Channel, and now here I am in Amsterdam! Nothing too exciting to speak of today; the ride through the “Chunnel” isn’t anything special (you disappear into a very long and gradually sloped tunnel, for about 20 minutes, and then re-emerge in France). Tomorrow I’ll do a little sightseeing on my own, and on Saturday I’m slated to see both Lennard, a Dutch former-intern friend from my time at Google in Sydney, and Matt, a friend from Stanford. Then it’s off to Paris, and then back to the US. By the time I post my next note, I’ll likely be back in “the States” =).

A few closing thoughts/observations:

• My eight days in Spain really made me appreciate the fact that I speak a bit of Spanish (studied for four years in high school). It was especially invaluable when trying to communicate my food allergies to waiters; much less awkward for me to just explain it in normal speech, as opposed to pantomiming my problem with keywords I’d memorized or handing them a pre-written explanation in their language (yes, I’m carrying such an explanation in everything from Dutch to Thai).
• The Spanish run on a much later schedule than the rest of Europe, which I actually quite enjoyed. I’d end up eating lunch around 2:30pm, and dinner around 9:30 or 10:00. Since the sun doesn’t even set until about 10:00 anyway, it really gives you that many more hours in your day (or really, that many more hours in the middle of the day for you to take a siesta). If you want to eat dinner at 6pm, though, you’re out of luck. To give you an idea, on my first night in Barcelona, I went to a restaurant at 7:45pm and was told I should come back at 8:30 when their kitchen opens!
• I’ve heard some people say that “the Channel is wider than the Atlantic”, which is to say, England is more like the US than the rest of Europe. At least from my experience in London for these past three days, I have to agree. Granted, this is influenced by my having seen friends (American friends) while I was there, and the fact that this was my first time in an English-speaking country in over two months. But even still, there’s something about London that smacked more of the US than anywhere else in Europe I’d been. The bowling alley, the Chinese restaurants, Harrods… it didn’t seem like such a far cry from the US at all.

Cheers!
-Izaak