La Rioja

Although I'm two months late, I still wanted to write a blog post about our "fall" trip to La Rioja, the wine country of Spain. Ever since I saw the beautiful fall colors of the grape leaves on a friend's blog last year, I've had a burning desire to return to this part of Spain for its autumnal charm. So this year, a group of four of us got together, rented a car, and headed up to La Rioja for the weekend!

Just a taste of all the beautiful landscapes we saw!

Aside from its beautiful landscapes, the largest draw of this region is obviously its wineries - bodegas in Spanish. Most wineries offer cheap guided tours that include a sampling at the end. We were ambitious and booked two wine tours for the same day, neither of which did we actually end up doing - we arrived too late for the first one and I got mixed up about the location of the second. However, we were still able to do a tasting at the first and buy some reasonably-priced bottles at the second, so it all worked out in the end!

Sampling wine inside the Bodega Baigorri

The winery where we were able to do a small sampling was called Bodegas Baigorri and was housed in a really cool, sleek, modern building. The surrounding vineyards and neighboring medieval town made for a breathtaking backdrop to the delicious wine.

The quirky, modern Bodega Baigorri, with its beautiful surroundings

After sampling wine in the bodega, we headed to a small town called Laguardia (like the airport) where I thought we were supposed to have our next tour. It turned out we had reservations at a different branch of the winery in another town, but we visited the gift shop and the lady gave us some helpful advice on where to park the car when we headed into the tiny medieval village of Laguardia. We really enjoyed this quaint, medieval town, with picturesque, narrow alley-like streets and beautiful old churches.

Exploring (and being silly in) Laguardia

There was also a park that ran all the way around the outside of the town where we played with the fall leaves and generally acted silly. As the town is located on top of a hill, there were also some amazing views out onto the surrounding countryside, although it was difficult to adequately capture on our phones.

Playing in the park in Laguardia

The countryside surrounding Laguardia

After leaving Laguardia, we headed to the place we were staying to get the keys and drop off our stuff. We had booked a room in a Casa Rural, or Rural House, which turned out to be something like a mix between a lodge and a bed and breakfast. The lady who owns it was incredibly friendly and helpful, and gave us lots of helpful advice. The house was really lovely and cozy and, like everywhere else we went, surrounded by natural beauty.

The Casa Rural

View from in front of the Casa Rural

That night, we headed into Logroño, the capital and largest city of La Rioja. It's famous for its cheap wine and tapas, so instead of having a proper dinner we went around to several bars and tried their tapas. The best was a place known for its mushrooms, which were grilled in a garlic-butter sauce; we all agreed they were probably the best mushrooms we'd ever had in our lives!

The famous mushrooms of Logroño

The next day, we got up early and drove to a small town called San Millán de la Cogolla. This somewhat obscure village is the home of two very important monasteries, where the first words in the Spanish language were ever written down. The original and oldest monastery, called the Monasterio de Suso, is up on top of one of the mountains which surround the city on three sides. Down in the town is the somewhat newer Monasterio de Yuso.

Monasterio de Yuso

Beautiful artwork inside the monastery

We got to do a guided tour of both of the monasteries, which was really interesting. I had wanted to visit this town ever since I learned about it last year; having studied Spanish literature, I was obviously really eager to see the "birthplace" of the Spanish language, so to speak. The old monastery on the hill was also interesting because it is built into the hill and makes use of a system of caves within the hillside. It was a bit creepy, but it was really interesting to think how passionate and determined the monks must have been who decided to live in such primitive conditions.

Monasterio de Suso

So, as you can see, although it was a quick trip, we managed to squeeze A LOT in. Plus, the best part was simply hanging out and spending time together; we had a great group, which obviously makes all the difference!

Fall, Fun, Friends and Festivities

The four alliterative words in the title basically sum up my October - my first full month back in Spain! Although there is not really any strong sense of "fall" here, we still brought out the fall spirit through food and fun activities!

My roommate and I carved pumpkins for our apartment

Having fall treats - pumpkin bread and chai lattes!

Apparently Starbucks in Spain have finally realized the wonders of pumpkin and brought the pumpkin spice latte to Madrid!

One beautiful fall tree I found in my neighborhood

During October, our friend Rachel from Ireland also came to visit, and we had a great time seeing her and showing her around Madrid. Like my Australian friend Jenny, she also studied abroad at UNC, which is how I know her. We had a picnic in the park, ate dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, and cooked together in Jenny's apartment.

Taking Rachel to the Retiro Park

The delicious meal Jenny made for us

We also did a free walking tour where we made some cool new British friends. Even though I've done the tour four times now, I still learned something new this time! Afterwards, I took Jenny, Rachel and our new friends to one of my favorite places in Madrid - the monastery that sells sweets made by the nuns. You have to order them through a turntable because the nuns aren't allowed to be seen by the world; the cookies are delicious, and I enjoy the experience just as much every time!

Getting nun treats from the turntable!

[Top] Getting chocolate shots with our new friends from the walking tour; [Bottom] our tour group

[Left] The cathedral towering above the last remains of the original city wall; [Right] The oldest building in Madrid

At school, we went on a field trip to a community event called the Cross. All of the elementary schools in the neighborhood come together in a giant sports complex and have a big race. No one from our school won, but it was still fun.

The Cross

October was also marked by the weekly meeting of our "Lunch Bunch" group - inappropriately named as we always meet for dinner instead of lunch, but "Dinner Bunch" doesn't rhyme! The group is made up of five or six of us who exchanged numbers at the end of the hike we did early in October. During the hike we had all been talking and decided to meet up once a week and try out different restaurants throughout the city. Each week, a different person has to choose the location. The first week we went to an amazing Chinese restaurant in a subterranean parking deck that is famous for having authentic food, and most recently I took everyone to my favorite vegetarian restaurant. The coolest part is that, as we all have different tastes, we're getting to try really different things. Plus, we always have a great time together and laugh a ton!

Some of the pictures from our dinners!

And, of course, no October would be complete without some good old-fashioned Halloween celebrations! In school, we did the same as last year - decorated a classroom and planned Halloween games for the kids. I also did some Halloween-themed games with the kids in my private classes - dress up and drawing monsters! In both activities they had to practice English by describing their costume or by describing their monster. They loved it!

Taking a picture with Year 5 in the Halloween room!

Doing fun Halloween activities in my private classes

But school was not the only place where we celebrated Halloween - one of my Spanish friends invited me and my friends to a party at his apartment. They had prepared lots of yummy snacks and had decorated the living room, and everyone was actually wearing a costume (most Spanish people just wear normal clothes and then paint their faces like skeletons or zombies). It was also cool going to an actual Spanish house party - it's the first time I've ever been invited to one! Needless to say, we had a blast, and it made a wonderful end to a fantastic, fun-filled month!

Me and my friends at the Halloween party

Hiking in Madrid, Fiestas del Pilar and My Birthday

So I've already sent several of these pictures via Whatsapp or Instagram, but I thought I'd upload some pictures of my recent excursions to keep everyone in the loop.

Hiking in Navacerrada

The hiking group that I enjoyed so much last year finally started up a few weekends ago and did their first hike in the mountains just northwest of Madrid. This was actually the same trail that I visited on a field trip with my school last year, but we did not make it to the top (where all the views were) because the kids were too slow.

Anyway, this time it was fantastic - the hike was beautiful, and like last year, we met so many great people! My friend Jenny and roommate AJ came with me, but we split up so that we could talk to other people and make new friends. At the end, we wound up with a small group of new friends who we have now been meeting regularly for dinner, trying a new restaurant every week! Ever since I got back to Madrid in September, I'd been eager for these hikes to start back up, so I was very excited to finally get the opportunity to do one. Now I can't wait for the next!

Jenny and me being silly on the hike

We even did yoga at the top of the mountain!

Zaragoza

The second weekend in October, I went to Zaragoza, the fifth largest city in Spain, for their most popular festival - the Fiestas del Pilar. I was invited to this event by Susi and Jorge, a couple who Charlene, Anna and I met when we stayed at their place through Couch Surfing in Dublin last year! Susi is from Vienna, but Jorge is from Zaragoza, so after their program ended in Dublin, they both moved to Spain and are teaching French and German there now.

Me with Susi and Jorge in front of Zaragoza's main cathedral

A yummy tapas bar we went to

It was great to see Jorge and Susi again, as well as to experience the Fiestas! The festival honors an alleged appearance of the Virgin atop a pillar (thus the name Fiestas del Pilar, which is Spanish for pillar). The townspeople celebrate this event by kissing the pillar - which is preserved in the cathedral - and by leaving flowers before a statue of the virgin.

Left: people lined up to kiss the pillar; top right: people lined up in traditional costumes to leave flowers for the virgin; bottom right: the statue of the virgin and the structure on which the flowers were deposited

But, like all true Spanish festivals, the Fiestas del Pilar mostly involve a lot of drinking and partying. All day on Saturday the bars and restaurants in the city center were completely packed with people drinking, eating tapas and having a good time. Every night there was a crazy event in a large fairgrounds with huge tents containing soundsystems and stages, packed with people dancing.

Partying in the fiestas

My Birthday

And finally, I'm going to wrap up this post by talking about my birthday! As it fell on a Tuesday, I wasn't planning to do anything crazy, and my friend Jenny offered to host a dinner at her place. As it is currently fall, which also happens to be my favorite season, I decided that we should have fall-themed food. Everyone stuck to the theme surprisingly well - we had a pear and walnut salad, pumpkin and spinach risotto, sweet potato soup, homemade apple cider and even homemade carrot cake! I couldn't have asked for a nicer way to celebrate my birthday than by eating such delicious food with such wonderful friends!

London

So I'll probably never have time to actually write a proper blog post about my time in London, but I figured I'd go ahead and put up the pictures so that you can all see them!

This is the British Museum, full of all kinds of artifacts and art objects - the most famous being the Rosetta Stone.

TOP: The British Museum; BOTTOM LEFT: first Western chessboard; BOTTOM RIGHT: a replica of the Rosetta Stone, the original of which is in the museum but was covered by a swarm of people

This is the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, where many prisoners throughout the years have been held and executed, although I never wound up going inside. The red poppies outside are part of an art installation commemorating the centenary of the start of World War I. The idea is to ultimately have as many plastic poppies as British citizens who were killed during the war.

The Tower Bridge (TOP) and the Tower of London

The Borough Market in the city center, with all kinds of fresh and prepared food. I bought a delicious savory pie - but without the meat!

Borough Market

This is St. Paul's cathedral. We happened to arrive during an evensong performance, which the choir sings every night. Hearing such beautiful music in such an impressive space (it's the largest cathedral in Europe) was a truly moving experience.

St. Paul's cathedral

This is the Tate Modern Art Museum, which used to be a factory but was converted and is now super popular.

Tate Modern from the Millennium Bridge

This is a view of the Millennium Bridge from the Tate, looking across the Thames at St. Paul's cathedral on the other side.

Millennium Bridge with St. Paul's across the Thames

This is the replica of the original Globe Theater where Shakespeare worked and where most of his plays were performed. The original burned down many years ago, but this one was recreated as accurately as possible. The central part of the theater is open-air and the tickets are only 5£ to stand on the lawn, so we went to see a performance of Comedy of Errors. However, it started raining while we were there and so we just decided to leave in the middle of the play. You couldn't even hear part of the time because there were airplanes flying fairly regularly overhead.

Replica of Shakespeare's Globe

This is Trafalgar Square, obviously one of the most famous public squares in London. It commemorates a battle which the British naval fleet won against the Spanish at the southern port town of Trafalgar.

Trafalgar Square

We got to see the end part of the famous "changing of the guard" ceremony, which happens with full pomp and circumstance almost every day of the year.

Changing of the Guard

This is Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace

This is the clock tower of the Parliament buildings. "Big Ben" is actually not the name of the tower, but rather of the bell which is inside.

Big Ben

This is Westminster Abbey, which I unfortunately did not have time to visit inside (there was just too much to see!).

Westminster Abbey

The London Eye, which I refused to pay for.

London Eye

We took a river boat to Greenwich, a part of London best known for being the point of reference for the Prime Meridian and the world's time zones, which are of course all measure against GMT - Greenwich Mean Time. I also found an amazing used book store with tons of classics and well-known works all for only 1£!

Hampton Court Palace

One of my favorite parts of the trip were the two day trips we took to small towns outside of London. One of these was to see Hampton Court Palace, a huge, sprawling Tudor Palace built by the infamous Henry VIII for one of his right-hand men. The palace, especially the royal chapel, was beautiful, as were the grounds. I loved the garden and strolling under the lane of trees in the golden light of sunset - it felt like my life was a BBC Miniseries or a Jane Austen novel.

Hampton Court Palace

I felt like my life was a BBC Miniseries walking through this lane of trees

The Thames River by Hampton Court

St. Albans

The other trip we took was to a small town called St. Albans, which is a little medieval town north of London in the county of Hertfordshire, with a lovely old cathedral and lots of quaint buildings on narrow streets. Throughout the trip, I was really enjoying the onset of fall, which is not exactly as evocative and demarcated in Madrid as in North Carolina. One of the best parts of the trip was having "cream tea," where you get your own pot of tea, accompanied by scones with clotted cream and jam, on the lovely porch of a teahouse surrounded by trees, in the midst of the crisp autumn air with the cathedral just behind us. It was the quintessence of picturesqueness and coziness, and satisfied my craving for the autumnal experience I'm not receiving in Madrid.

St. Albans cathedral

Quaint scenes in St. Albans