EuroVision 2011

As I continue my year in Europe, I went to Dusseldorf, Germany this weekend to watch EuroVision Song Contest. Since I didn't know this contest existed a week ago let me explain. European countries (including Azerbaijan and Israel of course) send their best talent to the contest each year with an original song to preform.  They slowly get eliminated and then about 30 countries get to the finals.  Then each country gives 1-12 points to their top 12 countries.  It is based on text message votes from inside each country. ABBA, Celiene Dion, and Julio Iglesia have all performed at the event over the years.

Dusseldorf is a great city and was filled with people from all over Europe! There were thousands of people dancing and cheering for their countries in the arena as well as in the viewing areas outside.  We were staying with a Couch Surfer who was great at showing us around and while we were gracious guests our late arrival and sense of directions led to a few moments of confusion yet we made it through the weekend making new friends and enjoying a new city!

The winner was Azerbaijan, which means next year the competition will be held there.  Enjoy the song their song followed by Italy (2nd) and Sweden (3rd and also one of my favorites).

My Life..

G: Michelle I want to play with you!

Me: G, what do you want to play?

G: Let's play restaurant!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me: How about we play something else? (my mind: ANYTHING ELSE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!)

G: (very serious) Do you not like restaurant?

Two Days Later:

G: Let's play restaurant!

Me: How about you help me make REAL dinner?

G: That is not as much fun.

I have won the battle two or three times in the last few days! Let's see how much longer I can keep this going!

More Spain; More Tapas

In between exploring Madrid, Rachel and I left for a few days to explore some other cities in Spain. I have a long time friend, Ellen, who has lived in Malaga (aka by the beach) for two years. (PS. By long time friend, I mean we have known each other since we were 4!). So after staying up all night on Friday night, we ventured to the bus station to take a 6 hour night bus ride to Malaga. 

After wondering the streets and finding Ellen's apartment and a short nap we were off to the BEACH! That is right, THE BEACH! It was a perfect day outside. We sat in the sun for 7 hours! It was GLORIOUS and ended with a few uneven sunburns. Ellen lives with a few people from the area who speak very little (no) English. Ellen did a lot of translating, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I could understand of their conversation. 

After our wonderful beach day, we explored the city on Monday.  It is a really cute city.  It was Semana Santa (Holy Week) so there were people everywhere and several parades throughout the day.  It was an interesting to watch their celebrations and traditional attire.  These robes came in all sorts of colors, including white. It was slightly creepy.  These men and children were dressed and walked down the street followed by a large statue of the Virgin Mary.  We found this in Malaga, Sevilla, and Toledo, however the rain put a bit of a damper (pun intended) on the festivities after Monday.

While wondering the city, I spotted legitimate frozen yogurt! The rainy week had begun and this made up for it! There are two things I miss a lot from home, (food-wise), frozen yogurt (tart with strawberries) and Mexican food. Spain succeeded in giving me both. It was GLORIOUS. 

After Malaga, we took a morning bus to Sevilla, where we explored the city. I highly recommend this city as well.  It was an adorable city situated on a river (as most European cities are).  The Cathedral looked massive from the outside, but since there were so many festivities, we couldn't go inside.  

We did explore the Palace and took some obligatory jumping pictures (in the rain). It was a very pretty area. You could even rent a boat and go around in the water in the center of the bug square. Due to rain we abstained. 

Between Italy and Spain, I just keep finding my name written everywhere. I have also decided that taking constant pictures of these moments is also necessary! 

The Cathedral. After lunch and finding some food for the bus ride back we headed back to Madrid because it was POURING! This was the rest of Spain, however, I still loved the country. Considering my dislike for any weather other than hot and sunny, this says a lot! 

The Rain in Spain

My 10 day trip began in Spain. (Well it began with a late night train from Zurich to Milan and an overnight hanging out at McDonald's and a random restaurant all night before catching our bus to the train station.) Rachel and I arrived in Madrid around 11am. Rested enough to explore the city for the day.  We started with a lunch with delicious 1 euro sandwiches and 1 euro beer. I could already tell Spain was going to treat me well.


Then we wandered to the New Europe Tour of Madrid. I have now done these in Berlin, Madrid, and Amsterdam.  They are always good and sometimes even better than good! Also, they are FREE! The people work off of tips at the end of the tour so you tip what you can afford if you like them. (I know you are thinking..wow you are one of those obnoxious people who walks around a city in a large group and basically gets tourist stamped on their faces. Yes, I became one of those people. However, these have become a great way to meet people and really get a feel and history for the city you are visiting. So just do it! Then you can make fun of me if you don't like it!)

Most awesome Spiderman ever!

So we walked around the city and heard about 1000 years of Spanish history filled with suicides, murders, witches, kings and queens, and of course some war. It is fascinating to see how the architecture changes throughout the city based on what country is in power. The most fascinating thing for me is the politics of it all now. It is crazy how recent Spain was a dictatorship and how easily it would be for that same party to win an election again.

Spanish Congress

We left Madrid for a few days and then heading back to Madrid. We found ourselves at the Palace in Madrid. It is still used on a regular basis which is pretty cool. 

Pretending to be a princess in the 

palace

One of the things I liked about Madrid a lot was how many parks and open spaces there are in the massive city. Above is one of the many which is gorgeous. We continued to wander the streets of Madrid. We saw an old Egyptian building and explored some great new stores. (I fell in love with Pull & Bear so if you know where else they have stores let me know!)

We also went to the Prado Museum and the Reina Sofia. Both were amazing museums. I have started getting the audio guides at museums which is so enlightening. I really loved both museums! My favorite at the Prado was Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights. The Reina Sofia holds Picasso and Goya. I really enjoyed these artists! 

Lunch in Madrid

So I got the culture but the best part of my time in Madrid was watching the Barcelona v. Madrid game on Wednesday night. After Madrid won, Madrid went crazy! I had made some new friends and went to one of the major squares in Madrid to celebrate. We waited there until 5am when the Real Madrid team came and kissed the statue in the square. While waiting there were chants, flags, fireworks, crazy lights, and confetti. It was one of those experiences you can't plan in advance for. It was such an amazing experience. People were so unbelievably excited and we were able to meet a great group of Spaniards! It doesn't get much better than hanging out with locals when you are in a new city. 

The geographical center of Spain 

Dip your churro in chocolate! yummm

The tour of the bullfighting ring was really interesting. We learned about the history and importance of bullfighting. All the bulls are killed in the end no matter what but they are all sent to restaurants around Madrid. Only 3 people have actually died at that ring in nearly 100 years. The guide also discussed how it is a dying sport because there are few young people who still attend the weekly events. 

Mexican in Spain! Recommended by a friend! It was amazing to have really good Mexican food and one of my favorite beers - Pacifico and a Corona! It was sooo good! 

Now, most of those pictures don't show the immense amount of rain we got in Spain. Our bullfighting tour guide let us know that we were very unlikely to be getting rain in April. This did not help my disappointment in getting so much rain. However, I made friends in the rain and I powered through the week of rain! I love Spain and am going back in June! More to come about other cities in Spain.

Home Sweet Home

I woke up at 5:45, got on a boat, took the train to get to the plane, then a bus to the train, then a tram to the bus, and then walked to my house! Six hours of traveling to get back just in time to start working! I had an amazing trip and there are pictures and posts to come very soon! But for now it is time to get acquainted with cleanliness and Baby Gaga!