Carnaval is a very popular holiday celebrated here in Spain. Spain is home to some of the best celebrations in the world – particularly in Tenerife and Sitges. I did not see either of these carnavals, but I did get to see how the average family in Spain celebrates carnaval in their cities. I saw two different celebrations: Cos Blanc in Salou and Carnaval in Tarragona.
My third and final leg of my Eastern European adventure was to Budapest in Hungary. I was excited, but also a little intimidated to go to Budapest. After becoming someone accustomed to the strange Slavic language, I was not thrown into one of the hardest languages to learn: Hungarian. It is not a Slavic language, but rather a cousin of the Finnish language in the Uralic family. Nevertheless, the city was still beautiful. And what made it even more beautiful …
SNOW!
On New Year’s, I caught a flight from Prague, Czech Republic to Warsaw, Poland. I was not ready for what was about to happen. No one ever warned me that Warsaw in winter is comparable to the ice planet of Hoth – it was about 12°F every day, sometimes colder.
After Christmas 2015, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Prague in the Czech Republic. Prague always seemed like such a mysterious and exotic place to me. We learn about it briefly in history when it was referred to as Bohemia, but we never really know much more about it. In reality, we are exposed to Prague more often than we know. Prague is the backdrop for many movies and TV shows, but it is often disguised as another country. The TV shows Outlander and The Musketeers both recently shot in Prague with the setting in Paris in the 1700s and 1600s, respectively. The most recent version of Casino Royale was also shot in Prague, with the airport and a casino disguised as Miami and the National Museum disguised as James Bond’s hotel in Italy. Sneaky sneaky!
There are honestly so many things to do in London. I was there for six days and there are still so many things I didn’t get to do. But here are somethings I did do that I recommend seeing (that weren’t a part of my Harry Potter, Royal London, or football game posts).
For fifteen years now, I have been in love with the Harry Potter series. Harry Potter is actually the reason that I became an Anglophile back in June 2004, coinciding with the release of the third Harry Potter film. Eleven and a half years later, I finally made it to my favorite city and I was chock full of Harry Potter trivia and tidbits.
December 26, or Boxing Day as it is commonly known in the UK, is the day known for shopping, and of course, football. I’m not talking about passing the pigskin around, I’m talking REAL European football. I was lucky enough to get tickets to see my favorite team, Tottenham Hotspur, play at White Hart Lane, in November, and I had been counting down the weeks ever since.
Over these past nine months, I have been to many different cities and countries, which has been an unbelievable experience. However, I have also seen some really breath-taking places right here in Catalonia. These are the places that are just day trips, but have really awesome scenery and fantastic backstories.
When people see me, they often ask me where I was born or where my parents are from. They are always surprised to hear that I’m American. People think I’m more Latina that I am. The truth is, I’m actually quite a bit Scandinavian. My great-great-grandmother immigrated to the US when she was just 15 years old. My mom and grandma had contacts with our Swedish family, so I decided to take a trip to meet my family and learn about the past.
Our final stop on our Benelux tour was to the infamous city of Amsterdam. If I’m being upfront and honest, I have no desire to return to Amsterdam ever. Saying that, it is something that is interesting to visit at least once. Their culture is definitely different, but that is not necessarily a bad thing! So let’s see what makes up Amsterdam beyond what it is known for.