Viajes desde España

Trips from Spain

Last week was Semana Santa, the holy week before Easter. Granada is supposed to have one of the best celebrations in Europe, with parades every day and fantastic floats, but we don't have housing in Spain for that week (or class!) so everybody goes and travels around Europe. I went to London for my birthday and then met up with friends in Venice. There were some airport and hostel debacles, but I survived and didn't even have to spend the night in a street or airport, which at multiple points was a very real possibility.

London was wonderful. I stayed with Susie from camp and her fun roommates in their dilapidated Greenwich apartment. Mike flew over too! It was rainy and a bit cold and all money was spent on transportation, but it was so much fun just to walk around with people I miss terribly. And we had cake.

It also rained in Venice. I think the rain has been following me this year. But we had fun nonetheless, visited every church on the map, and explored the canals. We were two history majors and an art history major, so we nerded out and compared theories, and scoffed at tour guides and the like. Since going to Italy with my parents in 2001, I've really wanted to see inside of San Marco and the Doge's Palace and I FINALLY got to do it! Unfortunately both were under construction, so I'll have to go back in another ten years and see them in all their grandeur. Hopefully Venice won't have sunk by then. The walls of San Marco were already sagging. Anyway, arguably the best part of Venice was the pizzerias and gelaterias Mary recommended. We ate pizza on a dock over the lagoon. It was so nice to just sit and BE in Venice, to hear the water and the rapid Italian, smelling the dirty canals and all the incredible food around us. And the pizza itself was of course unbelievably delicious. Things you can't Google.

I'm back in Granada now and I missed it. I chose the two most expensive places I could have gone and it's so refreshing now to be back where things are cheap and free and still so tasty. And of course to see my friends again! Every weekend now until I go back to the states is booked. That's such a scary thought. I never want to leave....

Birthday cake in Susie's favorite pub in London!
You have to cross a rickety bridge over a marina to get there.

The balcony on San Marco with Alex and Michelle.

Pizza and wine on the lagoon! What could be better?

The colors in Venice were so beautiful. The canals are polluted but still so blue and inviting....