After a long but awesome week in Santiago de Compostela with Caitlin and Amanda, I now find myself in Lisbon. In Santiago I lived the Spanish way: eat, sleep, and drink wine. Basically my time was measured in hours till food and by alcohol units consumed. But in a good way! Seriously, I've never had so much good wine and good food. Mr. Langston, you would be proud! (This was a friend's dad who was always trying to get me to drink wine at dinner - not as creepy as it could sound - but my palate didn't like wine) Santiago and Galicia in general have amazing seafood since they are situated on the coast. Basically I took pictures of food the entire time seeing as how it rained all but 3 minutes of my visit to the region.

Things tried: polpo (octopus), fried squids, seafood medley soup (with large sea roach thingy!), duck, lamb chops, barbequed ribs Galician style, shrimp pasta, various red & white wines whose names I can't remember, aperitif drinks whose names I can't remember, croquetas, tapas of all sorts, crab pate, and tortilla. And that's what I can remember!

Alcohol units consumed: roughly 7 every day (two glasses of wine at lunch, two at dinner, aperitif, two to three drinks at the nightlife exploits).

Useful things learned in Galicia: meringue moves.

Now I'm in Lisbon. I love my lodgings so am staying an extra day. Also, I'm way behind on my November novel challenge. I'm up to 20,003 words so a push this week will get me back to or above my needed word count. It's a marathon! My major plot points are accounted for but the fleshing out is a bit brain-cell destroying. Usually I spend a year writing so many words. I need coffee!

Lisbon is pretty and very relaxed. I walked around but was like: pretty, but I can't walk another step and actually appreciate it. Time to re-charge. The other people staying where I am are uber friendly. A number of us ate a fantastic Portuguese meal together last night. I would totally live here forever if not for student loan bills. But that could be my appreciation for the hot German girl I met yesterday talking. Heh. I love meeting other travelers! They are always so much fun.

Back to writing now.

Check out my pics from Santiago.

 

My first thoughts upon arrival in Rome were "Dear God, I've landed in the ghetto" and "Italians are liars."

But let me back up.

My flight rocked in that I had a window seat in the back of the first cabin. My neighbors were a cute retired aunt and her even more retired godmother aunt. The godmother aunt was an 80 year old that would have given my still singing and dancing grandmother a run for her Most Awesome Octogenarian title. Flying along the Italian coast at 6:30 am was picturesque. The airport was something out of the 1970s and the guard didn't even stamp my passport! Does this mean that I will get a stamp later because if not my new passport feels stood up for the prom.

Tips for travelers to Rome: Don't take the train into the city. Take the bus. It's cheaper and departs more frequently. And maybe it will take you on a route that doesn't make you wonder if you were flown to the Third World by mistake.

The train dropped me at Termini station in the city center, which on the east side where I departed, looks like slumville (decrepit, litter, graffiti, and sketchy people selling questionable goods). I thought Rome = scuzzy. And it is but in that charming way. On the north side of Termini station where I had accommodation, things were less bleak. I did have to ride up an antique elevator to get to the hotel where a barking German shepherd greeted me. Her name was Chica and we became good friends (once she stopped barking).

I spent the next seven hours wandering Roma and only occasionally looking at my city map (more fun that way). I still wound up at the Forum and the Colosseo. That part of the city wasn't too magical. Sorry, Eternal City, your dingy streets and scraggly parks didn't impress me. On the plus side, the weather was awesome my entire stay. Can we say 70s and blue skies? Also, it's really nice to be in a city where you can't understand most of what everyone says. It's easier to pretend people are intelligent and holding amazingly insightful and genuine conversations. My ears were very happy and only had to put up with boring, rude American conversations for roughly 2.75 minutes a day. Bliss!

Day two Roma stepped it up. Evidently the city realized it needed to romance me (pun not intended). I walked west and began to fall in love with the narrow streets and architecture, the street restaurants, its copious fountains and city overlooks. When in Rome, go west. The Trinita dei Monti overlook, along with the park-like walk past the Villa Medici to the Pincio is a complete 180 from the busy streets everywhere else. From the Piazza del Poppolo I found the one bridge over the Fiume Tevere that was sleepy and quaint. Then I went to the Vatican. This is where I learned that Italians are liars and want you to suffer. Romance off!

Actually it was a wonderful day at the Vatican, lying Italians aside. Sort of. The Basilica San Pietro's initial line goes quickly. I made the mistake of wanting to go to the dome. Great view of Rome I thought. Yes, it was. A 30 minute line you can't escape and 320 stairs later (so narrow and tight that a 5 year old would have problems), I reached the dome. Pretty view. I think some people died along the way. Pilgrimage destination indeed. Eventually (870 stairs later) I went inside the actual Basilica. Pretty again. Tons of tortured, austere, and beautimus sculptures. Then, as if my feet hadn't been walking for 4 hours, I went to the Vatican Museum (the only way to see the Sistine Chapel). Do yourself a favor, at the Basilica buy a guided pass to St. Peter's for 14€ and get admission to the museum and the Sistine Chapel included. At the Musei Vaticani I saw tons of religious art. Everywhere were signs for the Sistine Chapel. Everywhere. You couldn't enter a bathroom stall without a sign pointing in the direction of the Sistine Chapel. I even saw two signs, each pointing in different directions, each with the Sistine Chapel on them. There was no direct route. It was more like a maze, you were the rat searching for the cheese, but the scientists were mean and removed your sense of smell. Liars! Liars! Liars!

Hours later I actually found the Sistine Chapel, where guards continually shushed people and banned all cameras. I palmed my iPhone and took a slightly grainy photo of the ceiling, hoping to catch my favorite scene - God's finger outstretched to Adam's. That ceiling and the entire hall of floor to ceiling painted maps of Italy (including one of each Italian region) were my favorite of the entire winding museum maze. The Sistine Chapel was supposed to be the grand finale. At the back of the chapel was a sign which read Uscita/Exit.

Or so I thought.

Italians are liars! Liars! Liars! Liars! Thirty minutes and thirty Uscita signs later I still hadn't made it out of the museum. Eventually I did but not before exhaustion had beaten me down. An hour later and across the river once more at my favorite locality, the Trinita dei Monti, the gnocchi ai quatro fromaggio at Leonardo Restaurant restored me. Let's just say that I practiced my siesta-ing for Spain that day. Today I mostly rambled around eating piazza and gelato. This evening I'm off to Spain to visit my AU chicas (Sam & Caitlin)! One of my earlier blogs from Christmas circa 2007 chronicles my adventures with Sam in Madrid, including our construction of a ghetto Christmas tree. I'm sure we'll have as much fun this time around.

Pictures upcoming whenever I can load them.

 

My posts are spacing farther and farther apart.  Oops.  Blame it on my lack of creativity these days.  Since the end of September I have... Hm... Can't think of anything interesting though I am sure lots has happened with various friends and whatnot.  I made my girlfriend stand out in the cold twice to watch my chicken legged self run a 5k and 10k race.  Well, she watched me race all of a block or so before I was out of sight, then had to wait shivering for the next 30 minutes and 60 minutes respectively for me to reappear out of the masses to cross a finish line.  She gets props, particularly since the running warmed me up and made me as hyper as the energizer bunny, but left her as frozen as an icicle.

What else has happened since September?  Well, Rocky bit it quite a while ago.  The stress of the fishbowl must have been too much for him.  Either that or he played dead way too well last time.  Rocky, we hardly knew thee. 

In other news, I bought an artificial Christmas tree and decorated my apartment.  FYI, be careful when you buy live mistletoe.  We all know it is a poisonous, parasitic plant but other than being deadly to household animals (no, Rocky died well BEFORE the mistletoe purchase), it may be toxic to humans.  I broke out in hives whenever I touched the stuff.  Ugh.  But I digress.  My apartment was all Christmas-y.  Also, I finally bought curtains.  It's only taken me 6 years of DC living to do so.  I've also been hosting Pie Nights at my place - 12 pies in 12 months.  From scratch.  No wussy premade crusts, no cowardly food processors.  Just me, my mixing bowls, and my rolling pin.  I'm a pie baking queen!  And cookie queen.  On Friday I baked two dozen chocolate chip cookies.  They are all gone now, eaten in 4 days by yours truly.  I've been on a nonstop sugar high/sugar coma roller coaster and am not looking forward to the detox and its withdrawal symptoms.

The New Year is nearly here and I trying to think up some energizing goals.  Right now all I've got is the specter of a marathon in the fall.  And maybe some volunteer work.  Suggestions welcome!  In the meantime, Happy Holidays!!!