Bratislava: The Ultimate Destination

Many people may wonder, why Bratislava Alissa? Well to be honest, this Slovakian city was not high on my list of places to see, but when RyanAir can bring you there from Ibiza for under 40 euros? Slovakia? check! Add it to the list. Actually, Bratislava is extremely close to Austria, the place we truly intended to go, but when in Slovakia, why not spend the night?

After my night in the Brussels airport awaiting my flight to Bratislava, I met my friend Katie to commence our adventure in the city. We found a cheap hostel and disposed of our backpacks. The hostel gave us a guide book of sorts and a map. It was time. Time to discover the mysterious, the great, the misunderstood... BRATISLAVA!

Well, hm. The city center was beautiful with really interesting architecture and the sites to be seen were pretty impressive, but Bratislava on the whole, kind of depressing. We walked around the city and saw the "must sees," including Bratislava Castle, which was really cool, especially from afar because it was under serious construction. From the hill where the castle is located, on a clear day, you can see Austria and Slovenia... unfortunately for us, when we reached the summit there was a sudden bolt of lightning and a clap of thunder. It was time to get away from high points surrounded in metal construction fences/cranes/etc. One church in the city was illuminated with flood lights and looked amazing against the stormy sky, but stormy sky it was and soon we were soaked to the bone and in search of Slovak food. Garlic soup in a bread bowl? Yes please. Potato pancake? Alllllllrighhhht. Our coats dried off a little while we ate, but we were cold and tired and our warm hostel beds were calling to us... not to mention we had a big day of travel the next day.

In the morning we packed our stuff up and walked to the bus station. Outside of the city center, we really felt like we were in a different world. Slovakia is not quite Eastern Europe, but you can see it from there. Next stop Graz, Austria and a long visit with Susanna, our friend who had been studying in Montpellier in the fall. I am seriously all over the place.

We're going to... Ibiza?

Like all my other vacations, the past two weeks were generally governed by where RyanAir could take me for insanely low prices. First stop? Ibiza?? Ibiza is one of the Balearic Islands of Spain, located in the mediterranean. Now, what did Lisa and I know about Ibiza before booking our flight? Very little. A friend of mine had shown me a song called "We're going to Ibiza" by the Vengaboys (look it up...) so I knew it was a desirable destination for those who like Euro-pop, techno, etc. Little did we know what this island actually was.

Upon googling Ibiza, we came to find out that it is the Party Capital of the WORLD. Hm. We just wanted to sit on a beach for a couple days and do nothing too tourist-y... Number 1 place to avoid on Ibiza due to rowdy Brits? San Antonio... where did we book our hotel? Oh yes. So here we are... trekking to party/rage/rave central with a couple of backpacks and a budget of about 15 euros a day. Fortunately for us, it was the off season for Ibiza and there weren't very many tourists around. Well, tons of Brits actually, but it wasn't too bad. We accomplished our beach going and avoided the HUGE club scene that was rampant even during the off season. We found ourselves a nice Scottish pub called Kilties that was blasting Karaoke (my calling...) and called it home for the next few nights. The techno-rave music coming from the clubs did not intrigue us at all. Kilties had an Abba Mega-mix of all their famous songs cut together into one and anyone that knows me knows that I was in heaven. Lisa and I even sang Mamma Mia karaoke... only mildly painful, I hope.

Our days in Ibiza were filled with trying to get by with whatever Spanish I vaguely remembered from college and lounging on the beach. San Antonio may be known for it's club scene, but it's sunsets must be number 2. No words!! It literally looked like the sun and clouds were being sucked under the water on the horizon. I have never seen such beautiful sunsets. Other than that... oh yeah! Apparently Christopher Columbus was born in San Antonio and to mark this there was a giant egg with a sailboat in it's center. I'll copy and paste the wikipedia comment on this ridiculous monument: "The choice of an egg comes from a story about Columbus, who when seeking funding for his Western route to the Indies, was told it was impossible. He then allegedly asked if standing an egg upright was impossible, and when told that it was, he cracked the base of an egg, thus making it possible for it to stand upright. He was then granted funding." So the egg was cool...

In retrospect, we should have done Ibiza last because it was the most relaxing part of the vacation, but alas, by Tuesday it was time to move on. I ended up spending the night in the Brussels airport, due to lack of funds, before heading on to Bratislava, Slovakia to meet my friend Katie and explore the city for a night... Ibiza to Bratislava. Who am I?

Pacques.

As it has been established numerous times, France loves vacation and holidays. Now, starting tomorrow afternoon (Thursday) I am on vacation until Monday April 26th. Keeping this in mind, Easter was also this past Sunday, which merritted France yet another reason for vacation? Therefore, Monday was a holiday and France shut down as usual. I swear I have a job. So my usual three day weekend got transformed into a four day weekend. Not complaining.

My lovely friend Lisa, with whom I usually stay with in Montpellier, was moving out of her apartment this weekend, so we had two going away dinners at her place and packed up her room. It was another gorgeous weekend in Montpellier and spring had definitely arrived. By Easter Sunday, we were all ready for some celebrating. Katie hosted a lovely Easter brunch complete with decorated eggs, many egg dishes and an easter egg hunt. Everyone dressed for the occasion and the amount of color in her apartment (in terms of clothing) was disconcerting. Even yours truly wore a pink dress! (Later to be covered up in a long black sweater, a girl can only take so much color for so much time.)

Somehow, 8 o'clock rolled around and it was time to move on to Katie and Tom's apartment just down the road from the other Katie for a post Easter barbeque. After day light savings, it now stays very light out until 8:30pm, which allows us much more time to take advantage of the sunlight. The barbeque was great, but after about 12 hours of hardcore socializing, it was time sleep.

The next day was filled with planning. Planning for our vacation this weekend. Honestly, we just got back from vacation so we were all dreading the planning process again: plane tickets, hostals, itineraries, nights in airports, overnight buses, the whole nine yards. But finally, we sucked it up and booked all of our hostals and have almost booked all of our minor transportation routes. This weekend, I am going to Ibiza, Spain, for four days with Lisa to relax on the beach, Bratislava to meet up with Katie, then to Graz to visit our friend Susanna, then to Prague where I'll meet up with a friend from Hobart to visit Prague, Vienna and Paris. It's a loaded vacation to say the least. Then I'm back to Marvejols for four days, pack up all of my stuff, go down to Montpellier for a week and then it's back to the States!! I can't say I'm not excited...

Parents en France.

Note: this post is very abbreviated! My blogging efforts have been tapering off... here we go.

After galavanting off to Paris for a weekend, I had exactly four more days until my parents would be arriving in the land of frogs. I endured a quick work week and I met them in Montpellier on Friday where we explored the city and met up with my cousin Amanda who is currently studying in Aix. My parents are fortunate enough to have found excellent travel companions in their voyages to France, Mark and Sally from Oregon, who endure the rigorous itineraries that my mother plans. After long flights and jet lag, the oldies were ready to hit the hay. Rest was needed for them with the week they had planned ahead of them!


The next day, we drove to Gignac, about an hour outside of Montpellier, to explore more of the Herault region. We saw the Grottes de Clamouse, an amazing series of caves buried in the mountainside. It was... insane. Neither pictures nor words could describe the rock formations, the crystals and the stalagmites/stalactites. After busting around the caves for a good hour tour, it was definitely lunch time. Struggling to find a grocery store open at 2pm on a Saturday in France, we finally gathered the goods for a picnic and enjoyed the sun, though the wind was another story. We then went wine tasting at Mas Daumas de Gassac, a vineyard whose wines I sell in the summer. Exquisite. By the time we reached Montpellier, it was time for dinner and time for an over the top five course meal which rendered us all immobile.


Sunday, we bid adieu to Amanda and I was lucky enough to receive a CAR RIDE!!!!! back to Marvejols. No awful train with awful teenagers smoking and blasting music!! We took the scenic route and ended up in Millau to see it's viaduct, or really big bridge. It's huge and impressive, but not really a "site to see" for me since I take a train underneath it twice a week. I mushed my parents on and back into the car to get me back to Marvejols. We found the one business that is open in Marvejols on Sunday afternoons, a single boulangerie, and got some baguettes. We enjoyed another picnic lunch, but from the confines of my gorgeous little room in the middle school. Sighh.

The parents and Mark and Sally then set off to the Dordogne and... did some things. Meanwhile I taught for two days that week and made it down to Montpellier by Tuesday night in time for quiz night and some visitations with friends I hadn't seen in quite some time. Wednesday was St. Patrick's Day and filled with green food and green beer. I wore nothing green but avoided all pinching just the same. Thursday morning, I was at the train station by 7am and ready to meet my parents in Carcassonne. This city is marked by an enormous walled city or castle, really. It was quite breezy and cold so a lot of the ramparts on the castle were closed. It was all the same, very impressive.


Friday, we drove all around the region of Aude and eventually made our way to some Cathars castles built on the top of mountains. Huge castles, precariously built on cliff faces during the 12th century. Crazy. After a short hike (in heeled boots, of course) we explored the castle of Peyrepertuse which was soon enveloped in fog. Eerie and extremely unphotographable. We picnicked at the base of the mountain and set off again for a new town, Collioure.







Collioure is a small seaside town just outside of Perpignan and so close to Spain you can smell the ham. The buildings are all brightly colored and people are even wearing color! It was easy to forget we were in France. The town was small and definitely meant for vacationing. Matisse lived in Collioure and it was really cool to be able to recognize some of his paintings just by looking at the scenery. After yet another picnic, this one on a beach, we boogied on to Montpellier. After a lovely dinner of crepes, it was time to say goodbye to the adults, and goodbye to eating delicious food for a week.