TravelStream™ news feed for member helio85 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/helio85 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:19:21 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232585760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232585760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232585760/tpod.html Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:19:21 -0500 Two Weeks in Spain

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Madrid, Madrid, Spain and Canary Islands

I finally made it to Madrid today, with a runny nose in tow. But all was not lost. Despite having to blow my nose everytime the train swayed, the  visit was quite nice. I left this morning at around 10:15 ish this morning. Visit La Boveda and had myself some churros con chocolate and a cup of cafe con leche. I tell you this is the breakfast of champions.
I made my way then to the train station. The train didn't leave until 12:30 and it was only 11:00. Sucks to be me. I took some nice pictures of the station. The station doesn't provide much for entertainment unless you're capable of looking at every minute detail of the station's structure. Normally that's not a description of me, but today, that was my entertainment. 
I just want to say that the Puma's are NOT walking shoes. That said, I begin my recount of my 5 hour journey around Madrid. I am by no means the most in shape person. In fact, I should probably ditch my car when I get home and walk everywhere. HA Yea if that were possible. I proceeded to make my way to the Prado Museum. If anyone reading this has any sense of culture, you know that this is a very FAMOUS museum. Most famous of the painters that inhabit its halls are Francisco de Goya, Velasquez, and as of lately a very decent Roman statue exhibit. Unfortunately, they don't allow you to take pictures of the paintings. I get that the flash of a camera washes out the colors of the painting over time, but itd be nice for those of us who can manage a camera without a flash be able to take some. Ah well.
Last time I was here, it was on a tour and I really felt rushed through it. This time I walked to every single room and looked at what I believe was every single painting. I'm not one for museums, especially art museums, but the Prado and the Louvre in Paris are two I'll make an exception for.
After the museum visit, I made my way down the streets of Madrid, working my way to the Gran Via. The Gran Via is pretty much the shopping street, much like Rodeo Drive in LA but much much MUCH less expensive. But it does compare in its flare for attrativeness. The buildings are all done and sculpted very beuatifully and give Madrid a very upper class feel. At least in this part. I didn't buy anything as I'm not a big fan of the style of dress here. But its always fun to see how its different. 
I ate lunch at TGI Fridays. Yes, I know I can have that in America, but since I was by myself, I figured I'd look less out of place here.
I then journeyed over to the Palacio Real, or Royal Palace. I unforetunately wasn't able to tour the building because I became distracted by the garden out in front of it. The garden was very beautiful, especially for it being winter. I assume then that if I were here in the spring time it would be doubly so. Take a look at the pictures. 
The Royal Palace closes at 5 during the winter and I made my arrivel at 4:35. Not really enough time for a proper tour. I have plans to go back with the people here at the school on Friday so maybe they'll be planning to visit that and I can go with. Otherwise, I'll just go by myself.
I found the Plaza Mayor by accident. This is a very cool plaza if you're lucky enough to come when its warm as all the little restaurants have their tables set up outside. But just the grandeur of the plaza even in the winter is still very cool.
I had originally scheduled my return to be around 9:20 but it started getting dark, and as I had walked to all the afore mentioned places, I changed my ticket and left on the 6:50 train back.
From Toledo,Adios
Current WeatherSunny, with wind 48F
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232469540/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232469540/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232469540/tpod.html Tue, 20 Jan 2009 05:53:19 -0500 Two Weeks in Spain

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Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain and Canary Islands

Haven't updated in a couple of days mainly because I just haven't felt like it. On top of that, all day yesterday i felt horrible. Turned into a fever by around midnight. So cold. And then around 10 this morning the fever broke and I'm just sitting here hot as hell.
I met up with a group of people later on Sunday and we decided to venture out towards the edge of the old city. Upon arriving and letting them snap their photos, we noticed some ruins of something along the edge of the river. And what do bored people do when they see something cool? Of course we went and explored it. There was at one point this really cool stone ledge that ran into the water so if you weren't paying attention you could just walk right into the river. Really cool.
We got back and hung out for a bit until it was time for dinner. One of the girls that was with our group doesn't like fish and guess what was on the menu for that night. We left the school on a mission to find some place to eat on that Sunday. Took forever. We finally ended up back in Plaza Zocodover and ate at this outdoor restaurant next door to McDonald's. They had good food. At least they had good pizza. We all had pizza. As a side note. The pizza place, Telepizza, went out of buisiness since I've been gone. What a tragedy. Now they had good pizza.
I don't really remember much of what happened yesterday. It's kind of foggy. Which I will attribute to me not feeling well for most of the day. 
I was plotting on going to Madrid today and coming back tomorrow but this fever has kind of put a wrinkle in my plans. I don't want to get there and then get sick again. Well enjoy the pictures!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232284080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232284080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232284080/tpod.html Sun, 18 Jan 2009 02:15:18 -0500 Two Weeks in Spain

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Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain and Canary Islands

So the posts have been scarce the past day or so as I haven't been able to access the internet. The tech service guy from my hotel spent around 45 minutes with me trying to get the internet to work only to discover that the company the provides the internet was have sporadic issues around the city. great.

I bought some really cool souverniers yesterday. Toledo is known for its gold engraved items like little plates, clocks, and whatnot and so I bought a couple of items. They're very beautiful.

Not much has happened since I posted last. I have just been hanging out and snapping random pictures. I did however meet two locals yesterday. The two ladies work at the Enebro I frequent and one of them actually was here the last time I was here. I do believe I chatted with them for a good hour or so. I didn't understand EVERYTHING they were saying but I got the drift. HA.

I definitely got lost yesterday for about 2 hours. The lady at the visitors office told me to take the 9.2 line because I wanted to go to the mall and it dropped off by the mall. But she neglected to tell me that the stop I get dropped off at doesn't take me back if I pick up the bus there again. I ended up out at the edge of the city at the end of the line. The bus driver even kicked me off the bus. Luckily for me there was another stop accross the street and it would drop me off at Plaza Zocodover, which is where i wanted to be.

Current weather:
Foggy 32F
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1231916400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1231916400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1231916400/tpod.html Fri, 16 Jan 2009 08:21:59 -0500 Two Weeks in Spain

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Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

The reason for this trip is nothing more than for me to reacquaint myself with my Spain, primarily my city of Toledo. My plan for this trip is to do things as the wind blows. There's no plan, there's no itinerary, there are no hotel reservations, just plain ol' see how it goes when I get there.
For most people this kind of travel would make people nervous. I personally feel that the best way to visit a place is to get an idea of what's available as far as places to see and places to stay, and barring that there is no major holiday taking place at the time of travel, visit and sleep where you like. 
You may one day decide "hey! I want to see this city today" which is definitely great, but if you have a hotel reservation in one city, you can't leave unless you want to waste your money on a night of hotel stay that you're not going to use.
For once, the adage "Live by the seat of your pants," doesn't mean something bad.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232131680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232131680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232131680/tpod.html Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:59:50 -0500 Two Weeks in Spain

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Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain and Canary Islands

In my last entry, I said that Americans weren't the only loud ones in the world. The Spanish construction workers fall under the category of LOUD as well. That was my wake-up call this morning. 
Had a little bit of trouble with the shower. The design of this shower is a bit different than at home. Instead of the shower head being placed at the end of the tub, its placed on the side in the middle. Big mistake. The water pressure for whatever reason varies from moment to moment and I like to have my shower with a bit of force in the water stream. Well, I turned on the shower and got it all nice and perfect, but while I wasn't paying attention, the pressure changed. I heard this weird sound coming from the bathroom only to find that the detachable nozzle had adjusted just so so that the water was pouring over the tub and onto the floor. A nice little flood to start my day.
Once I got and dried myself and the bathroom off, I got dressed and headed out. I want to get some tourist typical souveniers while I'm here so I checked out a few shops around town. I think I'll wait until my trip is about over so I'll have a better idea how much I can spend. 
After browsing the shops, I made my way over to the "local" bar. When I say local, I mean other side of the Casco Historico, old city. I got bored at that Enebro and made my way to the other Enebro closer to my hotel. As I sat there I noticed a museum across the street that I didn't know was ever there. Lucky for me, they're showing that exhibit for free until June. Sweet! It was pretty much your historical museum with displays of really old, yet cool, stuff. The artifacts were from the time of 1808-1814. Can't remember at the moment what was important about that time period. They had exhibits raning from guns and uniforms, outfits of the period, art and science equipment. 
That's it until this evening.
Current Weather:Sunny 45F
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Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain and Canary Islands

Ok so it's a little cold here. That is at night. During the day its really nice. Though the Spaniards don't seem to think so. They have the heat on in their stores like its a blizzard outside. Crap it gets hot in them.

This update is to cover the events from the train to Toledo until now.

The train ride went smoothly. It's only 30 minutes from Madrid to Toledo so you barely have enough time to get situated before they tell you that you are arriving. I was able to figure out the bus when I got there. I'm smart see? When I arrived, one of the buses was waiting at the stop and good news for me, it was heading to Plaza Zocodover. In case you don't know where that is, suffice to say, it was next to my hotel.

Although, knowing that it was next to my hotel, I was still able to get lost. Now I know I lived here and I can pretty much find my way to anything in this city, but the hotel was in a part of the old city that I hadn't ever really trekked to. Turns out while looking for my hotel, I found the sister hotel to mine and they redirected me to my hotel. It wasn't far. Maybe a block away. So I find it where the guy said it would be and noticed that I walked right past it thinking it was a souvenier shop. This hotel is very cool. The room is small, and so is the bed. But the bathroom is American and remodeled.

After I dropped off my 21 lb bag, I worked my way through the city to my spot: Enebro. It was exactly where I left it, though not how I left it. It's now called Enebro Univeristy Bar and it has this Irish-Americana pub style to it. No doubt this place is being influenced by the American College not 100 ft from it. It's nice, though I like the old way better. Not going to complain though because they still serve my cafe con leche. Once I got inside and got my coffee ordered, I noticed that there were some kids in there from the program I attended. Being the social butterfly that I am, I struck up a conversation with them for a good hour.

Skipping the boring stuff from then to now. I met up with them again around 2:00 help them get a cell phone. The store of course was closed. I hate siesta. 3 of the members of this little brigade decided they were going to head by to their familia and take a nap. This girl Shannon decided not to and I offered to give her a tour of the city. It turned into a 2 hour hike around the edges of the city by the rived. It was really cool because I had actually never ventured to that area and ended up finding a lot of old ruines in the area that aren't blocked off. After we finished our hike, her and I walked back to Enebro and talked for about another hour sipping coffee and making fun of the Britney Spears music videos that were playing every so often. The program had some kind of introduction thing going on, so everyone had to leave.

By this point, I am so tired. I've been up for 30 hours and it was really showing in my eyes. I looked like the poster boy for a dry-eyes commercial. So around 7:15 I called it an evening.

BTW, if anyone ever tells you Americans are obnoxious and loud, nod and say probably but its not just an American thing. At around 1 this morning, I was awoken to druken Spaniards in the streets. The streets are so narrow here and the stones of the streets and buildings make everything echo. So loud.

Current Weather:
Foggy 30F
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232033400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232033400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/2/1232033400/tpod.html Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:10:16 -0500 Two Weeks in Spain

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Madrid, Spain

So I arrived at 8:30am local time. That's about 2:30am in Indy. The following may be best understood by knwing that I didn't sleep on the flight from Atlanta to Madrid. Don't know why. It could have something to do with the personal screen everyone got and the free movies. Nice.

I forgot how much trouble it is to get from the airport to the train that takes you to Toledo. And I am definitely a little rusty on my navigation skills of the Madrid metro. I waited at one station for 30 minutes trying to figure out which subway to get on.

Once I got that figured out, getting to the station was a breeze. Though much to my dismay, they removed the kiosks that let you buy your ticket and avoid speaking to anyone at all. I ended up buying a ticket for the 12:20 train and it was only 10:00. Luckily for me, when I got through security, I was able to talk to the people at the departing train and they let me get on that one.

All of you will be surprised to hear that my ability to udnerstand these people and their accents has reach the point of zero. I forgot how fast they speak.

As I write this, it's 10:30 here and I am finally on my way to Toledo. The only thing that worried me is the bus. I don't have my bus pass anymore so I don't quite know what to do.

That's all for now.

The weather is currently:
Cloudy 9C 50F
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/spain_sp06/1142208180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/spain_sp06/1142208180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/spain_sp06/1142208180/tpod.html Wed, 05 Apr 2006 11:04:43 -0400 Living Abroad in Spain

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Paris, France


]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/spain_sp06/1140382500/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/spain_sp06/1140382500/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/spain_sp06/1140382500/tpod.html Mon, 06 Mar 2006 05:59:33 -0500 Living Abroad in Spain

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Granada, Spain

At first one would think that a Spanish bus ride for 5 hours from Madrid to the Sierra Nevada would be the most horendous journey... In actuality the bus companies here are giving Greyhound a run for their money. So nice. Didn´t even feel like 5 hours.

The highlight of this trip for me was the fact that we went to the Sierra Nevada to ski. This was my first time skiing ever. So thanks to my great friends who left me to figure out the ski lift on my own. First I hit the women in the face with my ski poles and luckily for me the guy sitting next to me was a ski instructor on this mountain and he helped me get off. They even told me that for my first time, going on this particular hill was very bad and that I have bad friends. The first half of the hill my first time I feel so many times. And I´m not talking about just falling I get back up... I mean I fell down, face first, rolled down the hill losing a ski pole here... another one a few feet away... then a ski... then the other ski. 20 minutes later after climbing this beast of a hill, I finally gather my equipment only to do the same move 5 minutes later.
But all in all I did very well after that. Just not so good at the whole stopping idea.

I guess that our hostel room had a bug problem. The three of my friends had been complaing about being itchy all night, thinking it was just the blankets. Turns out my friend Matt got a rash from being bitten by 3 different bugs. He had to go to the emergency room. So after all the was said and done, we get our money back and then some. As for me, I had no problems with bugs and I got free room for the weekend.


OVERALL TRIP:
***1/2

NIGHTLIFE:
0
We didn´t go anywhere. Could find any place that didn´t seem a little sketchy.


HOSTAL
Doña Lupe
RATED: No Rating
MY RATING: 1/2
Wow was this hostel a joke. The only thing this place had going for it was it´s location... And even that at times was bad. They claimed to have internet, breakfast, pool table, and swimming pool. They didn´t lie. They had it. Now was it functional, no. Not to mention our room was infested with bugs that we didn´t know about until we were leaving. Avoid even at last resort.

CULTURE SHOCK
~The bugs are huge and love your blood.
~Skiing there has no rules. It´s a freeforall... except to actually ski.
~The kitchen at restaurants closes at 11:30 AM!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/spain_sp06/1139191380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/spain_sp06/1139191380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/helio85/spain_sp06/1139191380/tpod.html Mon, 27 Feb 2006 11:11:53 -0500 Living Abroad in Spain

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Barcelona, Spain

This trip didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped it would. That's partially probably because I got this horrible cough and was tired all day everyday we were there.

As far as sight seeing goes, this place is excellent. I was only able to see a couple of things but there were spectacular.
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