Yesterday was the big Espana v. England Football game. So what happened??? Thousands of Brits crowded the streets of Barcelona. The night before at the club and also in the streets walking home I noticed there were many as well.
The night before, 2 drunk Englishmen from Manchester asked us for directions. However, they were unable to pronouce "Plaza Catalonyula" and instead handed us a card taht belonged to thier hostel.
"It is right there..that is where we are headed as well." we said.
"really? it's close. everyone told us to go the wrong way!"
"yeah..well it's right there. see, that is las rambalas. Plaza catyoulana is right at the top of it"
we were walking on las rambalas while they drunkly were walking in the same direction as well. One of them then saw a prostitutie and i heard him say "ay mate, i'm going to go get some action. "
The other guy laughed, while his friend ran off. he caught up with us and said "crazy bastard."
my friend told him "er, i wouln't let him go with that prostiute."
"why?" he replied
"well, unless if your friend wants to pay for a suprise dick, then let him go" i said
"OY!"---the brit then bolted off and chased after his friend.
Back to yesterday. I notied a consiterable amount of English speaking folk on Las Rambalas and many of them were wearing jersys. When I got to Plaza Real, it became very very clear. I guess as a point of fan inmiditation, they hung up english flags with thier team names on them. Many british sat there singing and chanting and drinking beer. later on, after the the games ended, they stood there chanting in the plaza celebrating. to celebrate, they proceeded on taking fruit and bottles of anything, and smashing them in the plaza.
the streets of barcelona are still filled with english folk. i have a feeling they will be here for awhile because it is easter vacation.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
crazy in Barcelona...Take 2
So I have to admit that I have not been seeing so much of the sights as for the culture. Sunday, Becuase we got back from the club so late, and I had jet lag. I slept until 5pm. My frined and I went to the olympic park by the beach to walk around. There they had posh hotels of very very modern articture.
Afterwords we ate at an Italian restruant. I was good.
As always, the center of life in Barcelona centers on the main street "Las Ramblas"
my friend and I proceeded to go to Plaza Real, where some argentians approahed us and invited us to a bar for a drink, we somehow ended up in a bar called "sugar"---the Argentenians made a joke on how most of the "non-english" speeking nations take "cute" english words and name things after this...for instance.the bar that we went to. The bar was really relaly small, It reminde me of the avalon in costa mesa. it spun a variety of music, from 80's to 90's rock and pop to spanish songs towards the end of the night. We then met a german guy and my friend showed us another bar, called Manchester Bar..where there were a good amount of "english speeking" folk.
It is intresting to note that in most pubs/ bar that are british/irish, there will be a lot of irish/british there. perhaps it is thier "comfort zone" It is just like how the Agentians that we met eneded up meeting other Argentinians. They all hit it off really really well and started conversing with each other in Spanish. I got to practice my Spanish for a bit. Becuase like Spain, the Argentenians did not know that much English. One of them that I conversed with did not konw many words at all. I realized that I understand Spanish and am less hestitant to use it when i'm under then influcence rather than when i'm not..perhaps I am less self-conscuious this way.
I then feel ill the next day but mandaged to go across the street to buy some pasteries and some groceries. Like most other nations, you have to pay for your plastic bags here. I noticed that most European nations have the theory "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" as well as they are pretty savey when it comes to waste....well except for water when every night they wash the streets of Barcelona with water, and the next morning it seems as if a rainstrom has come though with all of the puddles of water taht they made from the daily street washing. If I were a tax payer, I would suggest that they do it on the weekeneds, and that's it. But this is how they keep thier city clean, and this reflects on thier culture, for if you go to Spain, no one ever complined now dity it was.
I felt good enough eventually to go out at night. We went to this club called "Fellini's" it spun rock and indie pop..or "pop rock" the spanards like to call it (i personally think this is a more accuate description of this music, for "indie rock" is not so "independent" anymore). There were a multituides of characters there. I noticed that there were a lot of Irish people there, who were on "holidy" (vacation) and most of the didn't even know any spainsh..some irish girls in the bathroom were all asking me how to say simple spanish phrases. Because of it's convient location on Las Rambalas, and the club promoters, it was a easy location to attract tourists. my friend infomred me that durning the peak travel times, there are lots of foreignores, and other times there are mainly spanish people.
Afterwords we ate at an Italian restruant. I was good.
As always, the center of life in Barcelona centers on the main street "Las Ramblas"
my friend and I proceeded to go to Plaza Real, where some argentians approahed us and invited us to a bar for a drink, we somehow ended up in a bar called "sugar"---the Argentenians made a joke on how most of the "non-english" speeking nations take "cute" english words and name things after this...for instance.the bar that we went to. The bar was really relaly small, It reminde me of the avalon in costa mesa. it spun a variety of music, from 80's to 90's rock and pop to spanish songs towards the end of the night. We then met a german guy and my friend showed us another bar, called Manchester Bar..where there were a good amount of "english speeking" folk.
It is intresting to note that in most pubs/ bar that are british/irish, there will be a lot of irish/british there. perhaps it is thier "comfort zone" It is just like how the Agentians that we met eneded up meeting other Argentinians. They all hit it off really really well and started conversing with each other in Spanish. I got to practice my Spanish for a bit. Becuase like Spain, the Argentenians did not know that much English. One of them that I conversed with did not konw many words at all. I realized that I understand Spanish and am less hestitant to use it when i'm under then influcence rather than when i'm not..perhaps I am less self-conscuious this way.
I then feel ill the next day but mandaged to go across the street to buy some pasteries and some groceries. Like most other nations, you have to pay for your plastic bags here. I noticed that most European nations have the theory "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" as well as they are pretty savey when it comes to waste....well except for water when every night they wash the streets of Barcelona with water, and the next morning it seems as if a rainstrom has come though with all of the puddles of water taht they made from the daily street washing. If I were a tax payer, I would suggest that they do it on the weekeneds, and that's it. But this is how they keep thier city clean, and this reflects on thier culture, for if you go to Spain, no one ever complined now dity it was.
I felt good enough eventually to go out at night. We went to this club called "Fellini's" it spun rock and indie pop..or "pop rock" the spanards like to call it (i personally think this is a more accuate description of this music, for "indie rock" is not so "independent" anymore). There were a multituides of characters there. I noticed that there were a lot of Irish people there, who were on "holidy" (vacation) and most of the didn't even know any spainsh..some irish girls in the bathroom were all asking me how to say simple spanish phrases. Because of it's convient location on Las Rambalas, and the club promoters, it was a easy location to attract tourists. my friend infomred me that durning the peak travel times, there are lots of foreignores, and other times there are mainly spanish people.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Espana
so i'm am finally here.
too bad i feel so gross. my body is basically like "WHAT? NO SLEEP? WHAT DRINKS? WHAT TOBACCO?"
the last two nights have been very very intresting. I have yet to bring a camera (stupid me!) to document what happened.
bascially, I landed in Zurich and took off again to Barcelona. There I took the REFE (train) to the city center then to line 5 where my friend lived. We met at the metro stop. she lives really close to it. it wasn't soo bad.
I came, then I quickly changed as for we were meeting people for tapas at 10:00pm. we were a bit late.
the tapas we had were excellent. I some some of a fien'ds friends. they were catalan, and they ordered catalan food. mainly seafood. it was great, and intresting..it was also very very fishy tasting...and intrestingly enough, i eat seafood all of the time..and i thought that it was more on the fishy side..
at dinner i proceeded to drink wine and sangria. we cracked a joke taht sangria is like the jungle juice of spain. i think it is.
we then headed off to a bar, then a club, Razzamtaz. it was awesome. we danced the night away until 7am..literally.
more to come..but first..sleep.
too bad i feel so gross. my body is basically like "WHAT? NO SLEEP? WHAT DRINKS? WHAT TOBACCO?"
the last two nights have been very very intresting. I have yet to bring a camera (stupid me!) to document what happened.
bascially, I landed in Zurich and took off again to Barcelona. There I took the REFE (train) to the city center then to line 5 where my friend lived. We met at the metro stop. she lives really close to it. it wasn't soo bad.
I came, then I quickly changed as for we were meeting people for tapas at 10:00pm. we were a bit late.
the tapas we had were excellent. I some some of a fien'ds friends. they were catalan, and they ordered catalan food. mainly seafood. it was great, and intresting..it was also very very fishy tasting...and intrestingly enough, i eat seafood all of the time..and i thought that it was more on the fishy side..
at dinner i proceeded to drink wine and sangria. we cracked a joke taht sangria is like the jungle juice of spain. i think it is.
we then headed off to a bar, then a club, Razzamtaz. it was awesome. we danced the night away until 7am..literally.
more to come..but first..sleep.
Friday, March 23, 2007
[countdown to ] Espana
T minus 4 hours to go. I fly out at 8pm on Swiss Internatinoal airways to Zurich, then to Barcelona. i'm soo excited. my bags were packed in a short amount of time. I have the necessities I need. that's all.
Monday, March 19, 2007
[countdown to ] Espana
Gaudi House
So the countdown begins. I'll be in Spain, or Espana in 5 days. Now all I have to do is live thru this week of finals and sleep deprivation.
Monday, March 5, 2007
European Street Food-part 1.
The amount of street food in Europe is immaculate. In the states, the cheapest thing we can get is from our local fast food joint with the $1 specials. In Europe, eating at fast food chain we would find here would be more expensive then buying some groveling treats from the street. Here are is some scrumptious food that you can get from off the street! [side note: it is intresting that the Europeans aren't fat from all of this stuff..but then again, maybe it's because I'm an indulgent and eager tourist waiting to soak up everything every place had to offer. Basically, I think my travel buddy and I ate ourselves silly.]
Amsterdam, The Netherlands:
Vlaamse frites are actually just very scrumptious fries with mayo. no joke.
They are soo big on pastries in Europe. Cream-filled pastries to fit anyone's tastes!
A dutch favorite: Smoked fish..most likely sardines or Marcel with onions. it was good, but very fishy. I can honestly say that this fish was prepared in a way in which I have ever eaten fish. However, this would not be the way I would perfer to eat fish.
Brussels, Belgium:
Nothing rings more famous in Belgium than a Belgium Waffle. There are different varies: caramel dipped, chocolate dipped, and plain. It also comes with a immaculate number of toppings: ice cream, chocolate, strawberries, syrup, powered sugar, bananas..the possibilities are endless. They do live up to their standard. I can honestly say that my travel partner and I consumed many of them in our brief duration in the city center, with each one just as satisfying as the next one.
Budpest, Hungry
In Eastern Europe, if you want a sandwich, you're going to have to settle for something bite-sized. These sandwitches are covered with anything possible: tomato paste, to cream cheese, olives, cucmbers, you name it. Sandwiches are one of my favoriate food groups, and well, these little sandwitches are great becuase you can buy so many and have a good variety.
Zagarab, Cortia:
I know that this is not exctally the run of the mill street food, but I put it here because a) you get it on the street, and b)it was d'lish. Having to treeked all the way thru europe with the minium fruit intake i have ever had in my life, i was glad to find that the open air markets are always open i europe, I'm also glad that the quality of the fruit was just soo darn good. don't they look delicious?
Athens, Greece
if you could auctaly see the picture, you would see how amazing this is. An authentic Gryos full of chicken, veggies, onions and yogart sauce. It's really a delicous mouthful. Being in Greece was like going to Daphnie's everyday, except the guy making it was auctally GREEK. oh yeah, and it tasted 10x better. Even the vegetarian ones were awesome, and I enjoyed how they did scam you out of any meat or veggies--because i love both parts equally. not to mention that the bread was nicely toasted.
I'm going to now save the rest of the foods for later..until next time!
Amsterdam, The Netherlands:
Vlaamse frites are actually just very scrumptious fries with mayo. no joke.
They are soo big on pastries in Europe. Cream-filled pastries to fit anyone's tastes!
A dutch favorite: Smoked fish..most likely sardines or Marcel with onions. it was good, but very fishy. I can honestly say that this fish was prepared in a way in which I have ever eaten fish. However, this would not be the way I would perfer to eat fish.
Brussels, Belgium:
Nothing rings more famous in Belgium than a Belgium Waffle. There are different varies: caramel dipped, chocolate dipped, and plain. It also comes with a immaculate number of toppings: ice cream, chocolate, strawberries, syrup, powered sugar, bananas..the possibilities are endless. They do live up to their standard. I can honestly say that my travel partner and I consumed many of them in our brief duration in the city center, with each one just as satisfying as the next one.
Budpest, Hungry
In Eastern Europe, if you want a sandwich, you're going to have to settle for something bite-sized. These sandwitches are covered with anything possible: tomato paste, to cream cheese, olives, cucmbers, you name it. Sandwiches are one of my favoriate food groups, and well, these little sandwitches are great becuase you can buy so many and have a good variety.
Zagarab, Cortia:
I know that this is not exctally the run of the mill street food, but I put it here because a) you get it on the street, and b)it was d'lish. Having to treeked all the way thru europe with the minium fruit intake i have ever had in my life, i was glad to find that the open air markets are always open i europe, I'm also glad that the quality of the fruit was just soo darn good. don't they look delicious?
Athens, Greece
if you could auctaly see the picture, you would see how amazing this is. An authentic Gryos full of chicken, veggies, onions and yogart sauce. It's really a delicous mouthful. Being in Greece was like going to Daphnie's everyday, except the guy making it was auctally GREEK. oh yeah, and it tasted 10x better. Even the vegetarian ones were awesome, and I enjoyed how they did scam you out of any meat or veggies--because i love both parts equally. not to mention that the bread was nicely toasted.
I'm going to now save the rest of the foods for later..until next time!
Saturday, March 3, 2007
Zurich--home of The Street Parade
The quiant town of Zurich, Swizerland is distubed once a year the Techno festival, Street Parade. Analgous to the Berlin Love Parade, this is the day in which the eccentric people come out. Just take a look at the costumes:
Okay, well auctally this is just a picture of some "hot" girls..but hey..have to give the boys something right?but now serisouly, onto the costumes!
Um Snow White? A chicken and his chick?? I am assuming that the guy in the chicken suit is auctally pointing at me, and making fun of the fact that i'm asian and i'm taking a picture...because asians i guess take pictures of everything!
Er..yeah. fishnet all over the body really turns me own [not].I really enjoy techno music, it calms me for some reason. I'm listening to it right now. However, I was covertly hiding that fact from my travel make. he thinks that techno/trance/house music lovers are "freaks." i beg to differ. they are just more eccentric. It was very intresting to see all of the eccentric people of this music culture come together. When I went, my travel buddy and I were unaware of the street parade, and couldn't figure out why for the life of us we couldn't get a room anywhere. However, hooray for internet deals, for we got a sweet room on an internet deal..it was for one person.but i sunk in..it was the movenpeck. we boked it on the internet for 50euros... it was a five star hotel--came with down covers and down sheets, eventhou it was a one person room the bed was plently large to fit 2, and they had turn down service. oh yeah, their food there is kick ass..AND FREE BREAKFAST!!!
The street festival was very intresting. Everywhere vendors were set up..selling booze on the streets and food as well! oh lord, the food was great! There were also parades that would start and stop heart-pounding music.
The street festival was very intresting. Everywhere vendors were set up..selling booze on the streets and food as well! oh lord, the food was great! There were also parades that would start and stop heart-pounding music.
Street parade--literally
stage set up in the main TRAIN STATION.
apparently Bacardi was the main sponsper
Tranny love!
Swizerland is known for its strict drug laws. (for the most of europe, it seems pretty strict. however stuff like weed is not enformed except only in the scandavian nations.) Thank god i look so clean cut. Because these gentlemen that stored thire stuff in a storage locker close to ours, the police asked them thier name then asked for an ID...then they were asked to empty thier pockets. And all the people did was cooporate. Wierd yeah? but we got a picture!
<<<-don't try this at home kids! <<<-drugs are bad!
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