September 7th, 2009 by Cracky
September 7th, 2009 by Cracky
My 30th birthday wasn’t super crazy. We celebrated casually in Dolores Park on a Monday evening with some pals & burritos. After a happy evening, Theo and I biked home to pack. We were leaving for Puerto Vallarta the next morning and hadn’t even pulled out the suitcases yet. We had booked a week long trip at a resort in a town north of Puerto Vallarta called Bucerias. We got a super sweet deal on a flight + resort package. Our resort, Royal Decameron, was all-inclusive (included all meals, beverages, activities, & non-motorized sports). It cost us less than $100/night (flight, hotel, food, & taxes)!!!
My sister Jess and her hubby Brad met us there which made it even more fun. Our resort was huge – consisting of several “blocks.” We were situated in Block 5 which is where the adults-only pool was. I think they purposely place couples there and move the families with children up to the blocks by the beach where it’s much noisier. When we first arrived, I was a little overwhelmed by how large the entire complex was. After walking around from block to block, I was easily able to orientate myself. The resort consisted of 3 buffet restraurants, 5 ala carte dinner restaurants, several pools, gym/spa, theater, & several bars. I liked how all the restaurants were scattered within different blocks so they weren’t all concentrated only in one area.
I think they did a great job keeping the guests entertained. Every day was packed full of activities starting at 9AM and ending with a show at the theater. If guests were looking to continue the party, the discotec was right next to the theater and closed at 3AM. We took advantage of the morning activities which would either be yoga, tai chi, or stretching on the beach. I participated almost every morning. It was a great way to start my day.
Usually the next activity would be a kayak tour or bicycle tour. I never made it to any of those because the time slot fell into my breakfast time after I did yoga/tai chi/stretching. There was usually a lot to choose from for breakfast. There was always a large selection of fruit – I always picked up grapefruit & guava. It also consisted of an omelet/pancake station, cereal, bread, pastries, and a variety of hot foods which would vary day to day.
Lunch was at the same buffet restaurants, but the fruit bar turned into a salad bar. The omelet stations turned into a meat station, and the hot foods varied as well. There was always a big selection of desserts including an ice cream bar. For dinner, we always made a reservation at one of the ala carte restaurants. Our favorite was Piccolo, the Italian place. It was by far the best out of all the others! The added bonus to eating there was that it was in an air conditioned building too. Woohoo!
When not eating, we’d usually be either hanging on the beach or by the adult pool. The pool was where we probably met the most people. It was quiet & right next to a bar. The majority of the guests were Mexican and Canadian. We hardly met any other Americans, and I liked that. When we weren’t in the water, we’d be biking into Bucerias. We mainly stuck to the all-inclusive activities, but I looked into the extra excursions the resort offered to get an idea of how much they cost.
The bike ride to central Bucerias was only about a 5-10 minute ride. There’s a little pedestrian bridge we had to cross to get into the town center. Right before that bridge was a tour office called Scott’s. I had read about this place before arriving and found out their prices were practically half of what our resort offered. So Theo & I ended up reserving two excursions. One was a half-day ATV tour through the countryside and jungle. The other was an all-day bay cruise that took us to three locations – Los Arcos, Quimixto, and Las Animas.
The ATV tour was so much fun. I got so much dust in my eyes though because the goggles didn’t fit my face properly. For the rest of that evening, I kept rubbing brown dust goobers out of my eyes. Eeewww!! As for the bay cruise, I probably wouldn’t do it again at least with the same company. We booked the trip thinking it was more of a snorkeling trip, but it turned out to only be about an hour of the entire day. The snorkeling wasn’t even that great. The only reason we could see any fish was because the boat’s staff threw bananas into the water to lure them up to the surface. There was hardly any visibility in the water. I guess that’s just the Pacific Ocean.
Overall, our week-long stay was fantastic! I would definitely go back to our resort. I really enjoyed staying there. Although I knew the West was not going to have crystal clear water like the Caribbean, I was hoping that snorkeling would have been more exciting. It was a hot & sweaty week, but well worth the deal we scored on Travelocity!
July 15th, 2009 by Cracky
Camping Fourth of July weekend was amazing!! Our campsite was in the Hidden Springs campground in Humboldt Redwoods State Park which was approximately a four hour drive north off the 101. For booking only 2 weeks in advance, we got pretty lucky. Our campsite was perfect – we had privacy, close proximity to a river, clean bathrooms, weather in the 80s, and were surrounded by beautiful Redwoods & hiking trails.
It was two days of relaxing with friends in the sun (and shade) while beer flowed and flowed. I got a ton of mosquito bites though, but that was really the only annoyance. We were situated on Avenue of the Giants which spans for several miles. It used to be a part of “old 101.” I loved driving down that road. The trees towered over us and created a dreamlike atmosphere as the sun peered through the branches. I definitely want to come back here and explore some more.
This past weekend, a group of us went up to the Sacramento area for rafting on the American River. We rented large rafts from a place called American River Raft Rentals. It was in the 90s, so perfect for the floating down the river in the sun. I was expecting the water to be semi-warm, but it was freezing cold!! My legs went numb after wading around for even a minute. So the day didn’t involve any actual swimming for me, but I still got soaked from all the river pirates ready to attack with their water guns.
Our group had 3 large rentals and one small raft that someone brought. We ended up linking them all together with the life vests no one wanted to wear. We just floated down the river, but apparently the current was moving us along too quickly, so we had to make multiple stops along the shore. I didn’t mind stopping a few times at first, but when we started spending more time killing time on shore than on the rafts, I started getting a bit annoyed. We would stop and hang out for about 30 minutes and then start floating again. Within 5 minutes of floating, we’d stop again. Some people in our group knew the river well and knew when the end was coming up, so when they figured out the current was moving us too quickly, everyone wanted to stop to spend more time on the river.
I understood the reasoning, but I found it to be quite annoying. I would definitely river raft again, but probably not in such a large group where I had no say in calling the shots. Hehe! Overall, it was still really fun. The only two things I would’ve changed would’ve been the water temperature & the multiple shore stops. Afterwards, we stopped at In N’ Out and then headed home. I was so exhausted I slept so well that night!
The next day, Theo, Andreas, Shane, & I spent all day biking around San Francisco. The San Francisco Bike Coalition was organizing an ice cream ride which consisted of a group ride to multiple ice cream shops all over the city. It was fun to socialize and ride the city streets in such a large group. I waited for Three Twins Ice Cream in Lower Haight to get some vegan mint confetti rice cream. It was my first time there! My mint confetti was nice and refreshing. It’s nice to know I now have a tasty place to go to close to my house!
After ditching the rest of the ice cream ride, we met up with some other friends and rode to Golden Gate Park where we basked in the sun with a few brewskies. Even though we got a good amount of exercise into the outing, it was pretty relaxing. By the end of the day, I was zonked from the entire weekend. We spent so much time in the draining sun! We passed out probably within an hour of getting home (while we still had guests over). Hehe!
We’re now less than a month away from my birthday. Yikes! I don’t want that day to come yet…that’s when I enter a new decade and start feeling the first stages of being OLD. I’m still deciding what to do for it. I feel like it’s a milestone which calls for a celebration. Hmmm…what to do….
Anyway, I just watched a mini movie about the Swedish band Refused called Refused are F**king Dead. I love this band, but the movie was OK. It was trying to be more of an artsy short film rather than tell a cohesive story about the Refused in my opinion. I haven’t listened to them in a while, so now I have to leave you with one of their videos. Enjoy!
July 1st, 2009 by Cracky
This year has been flying by way too quickly! I can’t believe it’s already July. 5 months ago I was getting ready for my big European trip. It feels like only weeks ago we returned from those travels. Time rushing along doesn’t help with the fact that I’m getting closer to my big 3-0 in August. Eeeeek!!!
I’m just glad it’s summer & it’s time to plan all the fun outdoor summer activities. The weather’s been great in San Francisco too so this past weekend was mainly spent biking around town & soaking up the sun. The upcoming holiday weekend is going to be spent camping in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. I’m real excited because I’ve been wanting to go camping for a while now, and we’ve finally got a plan together. I haven’t gone camping in a long time, so I’m hoping this trip will be the first of many more to come. It’s so easy to choose a date, invite some friends, and reserve a campsite. Why does it always take so much effort to plan & coordinate?
This has always been the issue with all the ideas for fun outings friends and I come up with. We know we want to do it, but no one ever takes the initiative to follow through. I want to make more of an effort because I realize how easy it is. I just have to choose a date and get everyone else to agree to it. We tend to get caught up in the daily grind that we forget to leave the city. Every time I take a mini trip, I always remind myself that I need to do it more often and take advantage of where I live. I have access to the ocean, redwood forests, lakes, & mountains all within an hour drive.
As much as I love the internet & technology, I’m glad we’ll be away from it…even for 2 days. I actually recently noticed after going on an evening bike ride to the park, how much better I was able to communicate with Theo. As we laid in the grass basking in the remaining sunlight, there was no computer or TV to distract either of us. We were both just relaxed and had each others’ full attention during conversation. It was really pleasant. Usually I find myself repeating words & phrases over and over again just to get a point through which can get a bit aggravating. I just want to take in the full natural environment & leave the urban one behind…but only for 2 days. Yes – that will be enough! Haha!
In November, I took a trapeze class at Trapeze U in Arizona with Theo and his family. I finally got the footage of me in my trapeze glory. I was scared. My palms were all sweaty and the fact that every time I had a turn, I had to queue up and wait for 15 people to go until I could go again. The waiting in between made me more anxious….not good, but I’m so proud of myself that I did it. I almost backed out, but I forced myself to not chicken out. I did alright for my first time, but the kids rocked it! I’m just glad there’s actual documentation of me doing this so I’ll never have to do it again! Haha! Anyway, enjoy the video. Laugh hard…I know I have a goofy form as I was told so by Theo.
June 17th, 2009 by Cracky
After many hours of designing, printing, and photography, I have finally got a website up to promote my lamps!
http://www.fortunecracky.com/lamps/
June 11th, 2009 by Cracky
One thing I look forward to during foggy San Francisco summers is leaving town where everywhere else is warm & sunny. This past weekend Kris & I flew down to LA to hang out with old pals and to see Disembodied’s reunion show in Anaheim. It was a weekend full of eating & eating & eating at various vegan restaurants. First stop was Pure Luck in LA. They don’t have a very extensive menu, but what intrigued me about this place was their jackfruit “carnitas.” I’ve had real jackfruit before in the Philippines, but I have never before seen it cooked up and served as a meat substitute. I was really impressed by the look and texture, but I wouldn’t say it had the same kind of fulfilling protein-rich content as gluten or tofu.
Most of the items on the menu are California-Mexican foods. They also have an interesting mix of appetizers…lots of tasty fried goodies. We ordered the fried pickles and fried gnocchi, which accompanied delicious dipping sauces. Both were way better than the soggy sweet potato fries that I ordered as a side. The portions are pretty large too, so I brought home my leftovers (1/4 of a jackfruit carnitas burrito).
The next morning, I ate my leftovers for breakfast. Just when we thought we were going somewhere new, Andy & Jeb, who drove down from Santa Barbara, wanted to meet us at (guess where?) Pure Luck for lunch!!! So I had Pure Luck for dinner, breakfast, and lunch all in a row. I didn’t mind, but it was definitely time to try some place new after that. After a “light” lunch, we went across the street to Scoops for dessert. I ordered a kiddie cone of their vegan chocolate coconut. It was tasty, but I wasn’t too impressed. I have been there before and I always think their flavors are very ordinary. I think it’s because I compare it to Maggie Mudds here in San Francisco which is awesome!!
After our afternoon of gluttony, we drove down to Long Beach in our peppy Toyota Yaris rental to meet up with Schramm. It was only my second time spending time in Long Beach (and possibly Kris’ first), so Schramm drove us around town and showed us the beaches and waterfront. It was definitely beautiful and relaxing. Long Beach definitely has that “beach town vacation” feel. If I lived there full time, would I get anything done? The sun was out, but it wasn’t too warm. The weather was just perfect…sunny with an ocean breeze.
Andy & Jeb were also staying in Long Beach. When they finally made it to town, we decided to meet up at another vegan restaurant in Cerritos called Vegi Wokery. This place was your typical asian vegetarian restaurant that served mock meats. It was exactly what I expected which was great, but nothing exceptional. We tried their homemade sio baos stuffed with mock BBQ pork and mustard greens. Both were good, and it was nice to see the buns made of whole wheat instead of the typical white flour.
After another large meal, Kris, Andy, & Jeb went to the first night of the Disembodied show. I haven’t seen this band play in 10 years! I was definitely excited to see them, but I didn’t find it necessary to go two nights in a row. Meanwhile, Schramm and I decided to drive up to LA to meet up with George, Jeremy, & Craig. We went to Senor Fish for a night of art & music. George’s friends had a band, Pioneer Ships, who performed. The venue was more like a large Mexican restaurant/bar with a huge outdoor patio. The crowd was a bit odd though. One room had really loud dance music with a handful of people dancing. The other room was where the bands played which seemed to be closed off in its own corner of the place. The only semi-quiet (talkable) area of Senor Fish was the outdoor patio, so that’s where we hung out most of the time. It ended up being a pretty mellow night catching up with friends.
We met up with Kris at Schramm’s and got the full report of the Disembodied show before going to bed. The next morning, we had a quick snack before heading back to LA for brunch at Flore. The party consisted of the Long Beach kids with Laura, Alex, and James. It took a while for us to be seated because the place wasn’t equipped to handle large parties, but once we got a table, the food came out pretty quickly. I ordered the seitan quesadillas (made of cashew cheese). It was good, but I probably wouldn’t order it again. What I thought was a winner from the menu was their reuben tempeh sandwich which was what Kris & James ordered. It was soooooo good!!! I’m not really a tempeh lover, but it worked beautifully in that sandwich. Hmmmmm…
Afterwards, we decided to return to Scoops for more dessert. This was now the third day in a row going to the same block on Heliotrope Dr just for FOOD!!! I didn’t mind, but I just thought it was funny. Even though we were staying in Long Beach, we still couldn’t keep away from this one city block in Los Angeles. This time, the ice cream flavors were different and a little more impressive. I got the vegan coffee Oreo in a cup. I can’t remember the other flavors, but they were more interesting that just vanilla and chocolate. This visit moved Scoops up a notch on my vegan food tasting list.
Food coma number 3…or maybe 4?!? And it was back to Long Beach to rest up before the second Disembodied show. Schramm introduced Katamari to us, and that’s what we played for an hour or two before having to leave for the show in Anaheim. On the way there, we stopped at a small pizza place by Schramm’s for some Thai Curry Pizza!!! It was really good & spicy. The only thing I would change about it would be by adding more curry sauce because it was a bit on the dry side, but overall, it was delicious!
With some time to kill, we decided to drive through Cal State Long Beach’s campus where Schramm works. Their gym is in the shape of a giant blue pyramid. We noticed a full parking lot and a ton of people walking out of the building, so we decided to park and check it out. It turned out to be a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournament that Andy knew all about (he’s been training for years). We sat in on the last rounds until the entire tournament ended for the day. We had just made it in time to see something, so that was exciting for me. Andy pointed out all these famous jiu jitsu masters to us. The building was filled with buff guys & portuguese. That entire experience probably lasted a total of 15 minutes and it was back in the car!
The Disembodied show was at a venue called Chain Reaction, an all ages club, in Anaheim. The place was sold out and it seemed like most of the people were hanging out in the parking lot which was what we did. Shows in Orange County are strange to me. Maybe it was just this venue, but it was located in a strip mall-type atmosphere. This is how I picture most places in SoCal because it’s so car-oriented there. Maybe I’m just old now…10 years past the timeline most of these young kids are currently in. I also hardly make it out to hardcore shows these days, so that’s probably another factor in feeling out-of-place at an event like this. With all that aside, I had a really good time. Disembodied had great energy & the crowd went wild. They played basically all the songs I wanted to hear – mainly from “Diablerie” and “If God Only Knew The Rest Were Dead.”
Here’s a video from the first night (the one I was not at) which includes some fight footage:
The next day, Kris, Schramm, and I got up early to head to the Hollywood Farmers Market. The main motivation in going there was clearly food related. What else? Soul Vegetarian has a booth there every Sunday. We all got the dinner plate which consisted of choosing 4 items from their menu. I got the vegan mac n cheese, lasagna, kale, and “pork chops”. The pasta dishes were fantastic, but the kale & “pork” were a bit of a disappointment. I would’ve been perfectly content and not as disgustingly full if I had just ordered the mac n cheese. Oh well – I know what to get next time.
After cruising the farmers market, we went to Amoeba Records across the street. I haven’t bought a CD or record in a long time. I don’t even know where to start when I walk into a store like this anymore. I used to be able to spend at least an hour sifting through the aisles of music, but with the current digital age, those times are gone. I don’t even buy records anymore unless they are limited pressings, but even that is a rarity. My vinyl collection hasn’t grown in almost 10 years! Hehe! Kris purchased a few records and then it was off to LAX to return home.
It was an awesome weekend and definitely a nice break from SF’s overcast skies. Good friends. Good food. Good weekend! Now I want to plan another trip for all of us to get together again…perhaps camping?
June 1st, 2009 by Cracky
I’ve finally finished printing all my lampshades!! Woohoo!! I’m going to be shooting all four designs tomorrow. Here are my last two designs in digital format. I really liked how they turned out, and so far I’ve gotten a pretty good response from people who have been over to see them in real life. All four designs will be priced differently depending on the number of colors & the quantity. I’ve already gotten a few preliminary orders, so if you want one, email me!
May 13th, 2009 by Cracky
As you can see, I’m catching you up on my life today with my multiple posts. After all my traveling to Europe & Asia, I’ve finally settled back home to work on some new designs. Months ago, Theo & I salvaged 50+ designer Luceplan Italian lamps that were basically going to be thrown out. Most of the lamps were barely used & some even still had their tags on them. It would be such a waste to see all these perfectly good lamps to get thrown out. So why not recycle?
These lamps retail around $320!! They have a simple, modern, style that looks like IKEA from far away until you get up close and check out the details. I decided I would spruce the lampshades up by screenprinting my own designs on them. That way I’d be recycling these lamps in an artistic way and be selling functional pieces of art. Last week I finished printing at Lucky Mule Printing in Oakland my first two designs. I have two more to go, but I won’t be able to get those done for another week or two.
I took some crappy photos just to see how they would look put back together and reunited with their aluminum lamp bases. Here they are:
Obviously I haven’t put the green mod one back together yet, but I think the prints came out the way I wanted them to. There are very limited numbers of each design (less than 15). If you want one, email me! I’m working on the next two designs which I’ll post on here once I have them printed…
May 13th, 2009 by Cracky
Less than a week after returning from Europe, I met up with my mom, my sister, & bro-in-law at SFO for our flight to Manila. We were going for several family events: Grandma’s birthday, Charlene’s wedding, & Charmaine’s engagement party. We arrived a few days before the first event, so Jenn, Geoff, & I went to the island Bohol for a quick beach getaway. We arrived into Tagbilaran City, the capital of Bohol. The airport was so tiny the departures & arrivals were just two separate rooms. It was a great start to feeling far away from a big smoggy city like Manila.
Our resort, La Estrella, was actually on one of the small islands surrounding Bohol called Cabilao. We had to take a 45 minute taxi ride from Tagbilaran City to the boat taxis that would then take us on a 20-30 minute boat ride to La Estrella on Cabilao. When we first arrived to the boat taxis, I was a little sketched out because we were the only foreigners while dozens of locals sat around staring at us. We climbed onto a rusty boat with our luggage not knowing what was really going on, but finally a guy came & started the boat up and away we went to our little island!
The short boat ride was really pleasant. There was a comfortable sea breeze & the water was so blue! La Estrella was on the farther end of the island so we got to ride along the shoreline where we witnessed a bunch of naked children jumping off rocky cliffs. Upon arrival to our resort, we checked in while the staff served us ice tea. We couldn’t wait to drop our bags off at our bungalow & get into the gorgeous water. Our bungalow was cute. It had a large bed downstairs, and a loft area upstairs with two smaller twin sized beds. That’s where I slept…all nice and safe under my mosquito net. If the characters from Gilligan’s Island had nice little houses, this is how I would picture them.
This was no fancy resort. This place had no air conditioning & only had electricity during the evenings. The staff was wonderful & the food was great…lots of veggie options. All the guests there were European – mostly from German-speaking countries. It was practically the only resort on that side of the island. A lot of dive boats from other places would show up here so I knew this was a great location for sea exploring. After settling in a bit, Geoff & I put our snorkel gear on and headed into the water. I didn’t see too much at first, but I think I was just focusing on getting used to being in the water again. There were huge starfish & tons of spiky sea urchins. As I got more comfortable in the water, I saw more fish & other sea life.
The next day, we all went back into the water and went out a little farther to check out some corals & more fish. I kept feeling like I was getting mosquito bites in the water, but how could that be? When we returned to shore, I realized we were getting stung by jellyfish!! I didn’t even see them and I didn’t experience that the day before. That kept me out of the water for a little while, but not too long. It was my last day to snorkel so I was going to make the most of it…just be more aware of the jellyfish. When I got back into the water, I saw a few more, but I was able to dodge them. There was so much life in the water…an octopus, sea horses, sea slugs, tons & tons of fish. Geoff & I escaped an encounter with a sea snake. He saw it first and shooed me away. I thought he was just getting me to avoid another jellyfish, so I turned around and slowly swam in a different direction until I got yanked out of the water by Geoff and later found out how deadly sea snakes were.
I’m not certified to scuba dive, but I’m sure this area was a prime location. I’m curious to see what all the divers saw. They offered night dives at our resort. Part of me is scared to dive, but I’m intrigued by it at the same time. I saw so much life just from snorkeling…I can just imagine what I would see if I dove deeper. After our time at La Estrella, we returned to the mainland of Bohol and went to the Tarsier Sanctuary. The Tarsiers are one of the smallest primates in the world. They are about the size of a hamster and have big buggy eyes. Here’s a little video I took of one:
After the sanctuary, we headed to back to Tagbilaran City for the airport to catch our flight back to Manila. As our plane was descending to the Manila airport, I could see the brown dirty smog hovering over the metropolis. It was actually sort of gross. The sky was clear & blue the entire flight until we got close to the city. Oh well…back to urban life. The next few days was spent doing family stuff. First was Grandma’s birthday bash. We actually celebrated a few birthdays that night (Uncle David, Uncle Alberto, & Stephanie’s too). There were several cakes & a lot of singing!
The next day was Charlene & Tim’s wedding. They had the ceremony at a church in Makati, and then their reception at the NBC Tent closeby. Charlene, who looked gorgeous, had a dramatic entrance through the church’s main doors. I thought the reception in the tent had really nice decor. The reception consisted of dinner, slideshows, & speeches…no dancing at all. I was a little surprised, but overall, it was a good time.
The day after that, we went to Edsa Shangri-la for lunch to celebrate Charmaine’s engagement to John. I was able to catch up with some more cousins I didn’t get the chance to chat with at the previous events. It was less formal and structured so mingling was much easier. After lunch, we basically had the rest of the day off so Jenn, Geoff, & I went to a place called Tiendasitas. This was like a semi-outdoor market/mall. They had antiques, fashion, food, pets, furniture, etc… It was a great place to check out…especially the pets section. There were so many puppies for sale and a lot of pets being groomed in the windows. I felt bad for the animals there. It didn’t feel like those were the best conditions for them. I got yelled at for touching one of the puppies. Booo!!
Next time I return to the Philippines, I definitely want to go on another beach getaway. It was pretty inexpensive & absolutely beautiful. Maybe Palawan will be the next stop?
May 13th, 2009 by Cracky
So my last post was almost 2 months ago. Yeah…I’m real crappy at blogging. Sorry! Well, the majority of the time I was traveling I had little to no internet access. I know that’s not a good excuse seeing that it’s almost 2 months later, but after not being on the internet for a few weeks, I forgot about the blog and focused on just checking my emails & Facebook.
The European trip was so much fun! After the Nothing Cool UK tour, we went to Amsterdam where we spent 5 crazy nights in a beautiful large apartment. My friend Jon from Philly came as well as Frank & Rosie from Ireland. Our apartment was right along the Herengracht canal. It was the perfect location to walk to everything. Theo, Will, Jon, & I were the first to arrive so we went on a boat ride with Braam, an old colleague of Theo’s from the Internet Archive. Thinking that the ride would only be about and hour or two, we didn’t really dress for the frigid excursion…which ended up lasting almost 6 hours (with a dinner break)!! By the end of the ride, we were frozen and I’m convinced that was what made me sick causing me to lose my voice for the majority of our stay.
Other than losing my voice & being sick, I didn’t let it bring me down. Nothing Cool played a show at OCCII in Amsterdam on Will’s birthday. We drank a lot and promised Will a birthday sex show in the Red Light District (which didn’t happen). Maybe our group was all talk, but it was still funny that we even had that option. Here’s a video from the Amsterdam show:
The next day, Nothing Cool went to Belgium for a show while Sarah, Kristen, Jon, & I stayed behind to do some tourism. We basically walked all over the city through an outdoor market, to Anne Frank’s House (but didn’t go in because the line was too long), & the infamous Red Light District. We stopped in a cheese shop and purchased some Edam, Hemp, & Human (breast milk) cheese. Yup…HUMAN CHEESE!!! It was actually pretty mild and tasty. The Hemp cheese turned out to be really strong & smelled like dirty socks. Here’s a photo of the variety:
At night, we’d usually walk through the Red Light District to experience the girls in the windows. The first time you walk down one of the narrow alleys full of windows after windows of girls in bikinis, it’s definitely weird. After a while you just get used to it. Watching all the stag parties go through is hilarious. A big group of drunken guys who act like they’ve never seen a woman in a bikini before shouting “I’m in love!”. Haha!
I also experienced my first coffee shop which was like just walking into a regular coffee shop but they have a menu full of different kinds of weed. That wasn’t very odd to me though. I watched one patron sitting all alone in a booth having a grand ol time. He just swayed back and forth with a huge grin permanently plastered on his face. The company I was with wanted to know what he smoked because clearly, it was a good time! After a while, I couldn’t handle the smell of smoke indoors and I had to go outside for fresh air. That’s the one thing that sort of bugs me about some of the cities in Europe…the indoor smoking. My smoke-free lungs are so used to the bars here in San Francisco that when I’m stuck in an enclosed smoky space, I can’t handle it for very long.
One thing I’m still dreaming about in Amsterdam is this amazing vegan pate from Albert Heijn. It’s called the Tivall Vegetarische filet americain. Hmmmm…it was sooo good. Jon & I stocked up on some to bring to Spain with us. I wish I could read Dutch because I want to know what it’s made of so I can make something similar at home. Hmmmm….
Amsterdam wasn’t all just drinking, eating, & partying. We did go to the Rijksmuseum, a museum of art & history. I wanted to make it to the Van Gogh Museum as well, but didn’t have a chance. We had 8 people staying in a large apartment with only 1 full bathroom, so every day always took a while to get started. Overall, it was a fantastic time & I would do it all again except try to make a greater effort to the museums. There is so much to see there that I definitely need to come back!
After Amsterdam, Jon, Theo, & I parted with our pals and ventured on to Spain – Barcelona and Madrid. Immediately arriving into Barcelona, I could feel the weather…it was soooo much warmer than Amsterdam, and my voice came back within a day. We spent a day visiting a handful of Antoni Gaudí’s structures. I had been wanting to come to Barcelona for some time just to see his work in person. I was so excited to finally be there!! We went to Palau Güell, La Sagrada Família, La Pedrera (Casa Milà), & Parc Güell.
Palau Güell was closed for renovations or something, so the only thing we saw was the basement. It was cool, but I really wish I got the see the palace. The rest of the structures were all amazing! We waited in line at La Sagrada Família for an hour to take the lift up one of the towers. It was totally worth it. I also loved touring a model apartment & the rooftop at La Pedrera. I wanted all the art nouveau furniture in the apartment! I was surprised by how crowded Parc Güell was. It was full of Italian students…just tons of young people everywhere. I can imagine this park is probably a popular place on a warm sunny day. There’s even a little bar up there!
In addition to our day of Gaudí, we also made it to The Cathedral of Santa Eulalia, Museu Picasso, & La Boqueria. Barcelona is another place where there is just so much to see, and after only spending 2 nights here, I wish we stayed much longer. I am definitely coming back here!!
Jon, Theo, & I took an overnight train to Madrid from Barcelona…appoximately an 8 hour journey. This was not my first European overnight train, but I was surprised that our assigned beds were not within the same sleeping room. They had divided each room up by sex, so I was with 4 other Spanish women, while Theo & Jon were next door sharing a room with 3 Spanish men. It was a little awkward, but we ended up in the snack car where we met other Americans and drank a few brewskies. About an hour or two into the trip, the train came to a full stop and all the power/electricity was lost in the cars. That’s when Theo & I decided to call it a night. I was glad all my “roommates” were asleep by the time I climbed into the top bunk. I fell asleep pretty quickly so I wasn’t sure how long the technical difficulty delayed us. When I awoke, we were chugging along the tracks & there was sunlight so I knew we must’ve been close. We finally pulled into the Madrid station an hour and a half late. I had to scramble to call my rental company to let them know we were delayed. It was a good thing we had a cell phone throughout our trip for little emergencies like this. On on the positive side of being late, the train company reimbursed all the passengers 50% of the ticket price to make up for the inconvenience. Sweet!!
Since Madrid was the last stop on our grand European trip, I must admit we got a little lazy. We were already museumed-out from Barcelona & Amsterdam, but we did make it to Museo del Prado. I would’ve wanted to go to more museums, but we really were exhausted from the days before. There’s not as much to see or do in Madrid, so we didn’t feel as bad. We just walked around the city to Plaza Mayor, had a few drinks, & called it a night. Jon left the next day, and Theo & I wandered around some more. We walked over to Palacio Real (but didn’t go inside), and snacked in Jardines de Sabatini. We took the long way home via Plaza de España & Puerta del Sol. Theo took me out to dinner at this tasty vegetarian restaurant called El Estragón. Hmmm…I would definitely go back!
One thing I loved about Madrid was the design on the street signs. Each street sign was like a little piece of art. They all had illustrations on them with the name of the street. Our apartment was on Calle de la Huerta del Bayo. Here’s the sign for it:
Around the corner from our place was a wall full of really cool street art. I noticed a lot of it walking around Madrid…more than any other city we went to. Even our apartment decor was street art themed. It had a Banksy reproduction on the living room wall. We found out that every Sunday, there’s a huge street market called El Rastro. Our apartment was only about 2 blocks away from the main strip, so we checked it out before we had to head to the airport. It made me sad to leave Spain, but I think we were ready. We were pooped from 3 weeks of non-stop touring. Onto London!
The following week was spent in London. Since we have been there several times within the last few years, we didn’t feel the need to do any tourism. Theo worked out of his London office, and I just hung out with our friends. It was way more relaxing than the rest of our trip. It was the time for us to get more settled and not feel like we had to get up and go all the time. Although being way was wonderful, we were definitely ready to return home towards the end. When we finally did, I only had about 5 days to sort my stuff out & pack for my Philippines trip. Yeah – world traveler I am!