London Town

I had decided to spend my second half of the Christmas vacation in London.  Sam, my roommate of four years at Wooster, had moved out to London so I thought it would be fun to see him and other Wooster people that are now living in London.  Since it was my first time in England, I was really looking forward to exploring the city.  It was also nice to being in an English-speaking country since it had been a little while I was in one.  I had to get used to the accent and some of the different words and phrase, but I had a good time learning the differences.

I arrived in London late on the night of the 30th.  That night I met up with Sam and his friends.  The next day Sam and I met up with our friend Meghana, who is also now living and studying in London.  The last time we had hung-out together was almost two years ago in Wooster, Ohio.  Now we were having coffee together on the other side of the world.  It was great seeing both of them!  One thing that I enjoyed in London was the variety of food you could find there.  Although Cuenca has some really good restaurants, pretty it’s hard to restaurants that serve food other than Spanish food.

That evening I brought in the New Year with Meghana and her friends.  Sam was not able to join us because he had to bartend that evening.  Originally we had planned to head down to the center of London, near Big Ben and the Parliament building to watch the fireworks.  Due to the bad weather, we decided to stay at Meghana’s place and celebrate the New Year there.  At midnight, we went up to the roof of the apartment buildings and watch the fireworks from there.  It ended up being cool because we could see the fireworks over Big Ben as well as other fireworks throughout the city.

Over the next few days, I played tourist in London.  Sam had to work during the days, so I went out on my own and explored the city.  I was able to see a lot of the city over those few days.  I saw all the famous landmarks like Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and The Tower Bridge (which I thought was called the London Bridge but that’s another one).  I also went into the British Museum, which had various artifacts from all over the world.  One day Sam and I even went to see Emirates Stadium of the Arsenal football club.  I really came to like London.  One of the things that stood me to me was the diversity.  It reminded me a lot of California and San Francisco.  The only thing that I was not a fan of was the weather.  It rained pretty much everyday I was there.  It was a good thing that Meghana had let me borrow her umbrella!  London is a huge city, so although I saw a good part of the city, I would really like to return to see more.

During the evenings, I usually met up with Sam.  A couple nights, Sam’s brother cooked dinner for us.  He made two delicious meals which was a great way to recharge after walking through the city all day.  Another night we met up with another friend from Wooster.  Lisa, who graduated a year ahead of me at Wooster, was also living and working in London.  We met up with her and her cousin and went to a blues bar in the center of the city.  The band was great and they played some American and English blues and rock and roll classics.  On the last night we met up with another Sam from Wooster, who was also living in London.  We went to bar where they served Belgium beer.  We had a great time catching-up and talking about the good ol’ Wooster days.  Afterwards we headed to a bar that was hundreds of years old.  It was apparently a favorite bar of some famous English writers.

After being in England for a week, I was on my way back to Spain.  I had liked England and Germany a lot but I was happy to go back to my European home.  I was tired after two weeks of travelling, so I was ready to get some rest.

Christmas in Deustchland

 

For this Christmas I did something that I haven’t done in many years, celebrate Christmas away from San Jose, CA.  I think the last time that I was outside of San Jose for Christmas was a Christmas that I spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana well over 10 years ago.  Leading up to Christmas time, I was a little sad knowing that I wouldn’t be able to see all my friends and family in California.  Luckily, I was still able to see some family while in Europe.  My cousin Emily lives in Ulm, Germany (not too far from Munich).  Not only would I be able to see Emily and her family but Eric, my brother, was also in Germany for the holidays visiting his girlfriend Franzi.

My Christmas holiday really started the 23^rd of December.  That was technically the last day of class at my school but most students generally don’t come to class that day because most students receive their grades that day and then go home.  Since we had somewhat of a free day, we decided to organize a soccer tournament between the teachers and students of the bilingual program.  We had one team of professors, one team of first-years and two teams of second-year students.  I went into the games thinking that playing a bunch of 12 and 13 year old students would be a breeze but what do you know little Spanish kids are quite talented soccer players.  Maybe there’s a reason why they a currently world champions.  In the end, the teachers prevailed.  We had some stiff competition but being twice height and weight of our opponents did play into our favor. 

That evening, I boarded my plane and I was off to Germany.  In Germany, I was to stay with Emily, her husband Andi and her two children Louis and Madeleine.  I arrived late on Friday night and once home Andi welcomed me to Germany with some good German beer.  The next day was the Christmas Eve day.  Louis and Madeleine were extremely excited and energetic because in Germany they open presents on Christmas Eve.  That evening both Louis and Madeleine were very content with the presents that Santa had brought them.  Santa somehow found me in Europe too and brought me a Kindle, which is a very cool gift and will make travelling a lot easier!  On Christmas day we headed down the road to the house of Andi and Emily’s Canadian friends.  They had prepared a huge delicious meal for us that included goose.  There was also plenty good drink to go with the food.  I was able to try some good beer and drink some gluvine, which is warm spiced wine.  It’s a traditional German beverage for the holidays and it is the perfect thing to warm you up.  The night before, I had made a batch of eggnog for the party.  I borrowed my mother’s receipt but was unaware that the recipe yielded five liters of eggnog.  It is safe to say that I made enough eggnog to last Emily, Andi and their friends well into the New Year.

On Monday, I had been invited to have a second Christmas meal with Eric, Franzi and her family in Munich.  In Germany they really extend the Christmas holiday by celebrating over three days.  Franzi’s father owns a restaurant in Munich so we all ate there.  On the menu again was goose, which was fine with me because I found it to be very good.  After another huge but scrumptious meal, Eric and I took the train into the center of Munich to explore.  Eric had already been to Munich and was somewhat familiar with the city.  We walked through the old town and climbed the tower of one of the oldest churches in the city.  We lucked out because we had a clear day, which is apparently rare for Munich this time of year, and were able to see the Alps from the tower.  After walking through old town Munich, Eric and I walked to one of the famous beer gardens in the English Gardens.  We also found our way to the stadium of the Munich soccer teams.  Later that evening we returned to Franzi’s father’s restaurant and talked with some of Franzi’s friends over a few drinks.

The next day, Eric, Franzi and I travelled back to Ulm so Eric could see Emily, Andi and the kids.  We walked through Ulm together and enjoyed some untypical warm winter weather.  Keeping with the theme of the week, we had another huge and delicious meal in a restaurant in Ulm.  That evening we said goodbye to Eric and Franzi, as they had to head back to Munich because they were due to travel to Stockholm the next day.  Wednesday we met up again with the Canadians and drove to Stuttgart.  In Stuttgart there is a Porsche museum.  The museum is packed with cars dating back from the 1920’s all the way up to present day.  I found it interesting to see how much Porsches have changed over the years.  Later that day, we went to go see the movie Puss in Boots, which was actually very entertaining.  On Thursday, we drove out to the country to visit Andi’s parents.  We had, as you might have guessed, another big and tasty meal.  Communicating with them was fun because we spoke a strange mix of Spanish, English and German to understand each other. 

Now I’m sitting in the Munich airport getting ready to fly to London for another week.  I’m exhausted but happy that I came out to Germany.  There is still a lot I would like to see in this country and even in Munich, so maybe I’ll come back soon!

Happy New Year to my friends and family back in the US and around the world!  I hope this New Year brings joy and happiness to everyone!