As much as I’m a city girl, I’ve found that the biggest cities (or capitol cities) are not always my favorite, just because there is more of everything… more to do, more commercialism, more traffic, more slums, more expenses, etc.  I am glad to report that this was not the case in Madrid.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the city. It had some beautiful architecture (although I must say that Barcelona still takes the cake on that), lots of interesting sites, and really friendly people.

One thing I really loved about Madrid, is that people let me try to speak Spanish to them.  Even if they could tell that I’m American, and they know how to speak English, they still humored me and allowed me to butcher their language.  One guy at a café even tried to help me by correcting my pronunciation, which I think is way cool, except that to my ears it all sounded the same.  Jamón.  Jamón.  Yeah, that’s what I said.

A few of my favorite sites/activities in Madrid were:

Finding Scott’s Twin
We were walking down the street, when I noticed a guy walking the other direction that was dressed EXACTLY like Scott.  I suggested taking a picture of the two of them together.  Of course Scott disagreed, but after a few minutes of my mad persuasion skills (aka, bossiness), he gave in.  We were walking in opposite directions, so by this time Scott’s twin was a good distance away from us, so we took off in a sprint.  At the moment we caught up to him, my thoughts finally caught up to Scott’s hesitation, as I wondered how I was going to approach a stranger and ask him to pose for a photo with a random person who was dressed like him, without looking like a weirdo.  So, I employed my acting skills and used the surprised technique of, “Oops, I’m sorry I just bumped into you… Oh…  Hey!  Well, wouldya look at that!  What are the odds of running into someone dressed exactly like my husband?!  Hey Scott, look! This man is dressed just like you!  Come on over here and smile…”  Click.  The guy was actually really cool (how could he not be with such a great sense of style), and we all got a good laugh out of it.  Even though he didn’t speak any English and couldn’t understand my whole routine anyway.

Palacio Real (Royal Palace) and gardens
This is the “official” residence of the King of Spain, although he doesn’t really live there. However, it’s still used for some occasions.  Beeeaaauuutiful.  We didn’t even go into the largest section of the Oriental Gardens, but the palace is surrounded by smaller gardens, fountains, courtyards, etc., which are all free to enter… Unlike the palace itself, but it was worth the price.

Parque del Buen Retiro (Park of the Pleasant Retreat)
The place lives up to its name.  I don’t even know how much time we spent here, but it was a good long while.  It’s a huge park with a beautiful lake right in the middle, as well as a few smaller lakes/ponds throughout the grounds.  Normally you can rent little boats on the lake, but for some reason the boat rental booth decided to close this particular day.  There was just a hand-written sign posted over the normal business hours, so I guess the owner decided it was too nice a day to spend it in a little booth.  Gotta love Spain.

Free Museum Sundays
In Barcelona several of the museums are open for free on the first Sunday of the month (same in a few other cities around Europe), but in Madrid, there are free hours EVERY Sunday.  They are typically just in the afternoon or evening, for example, the famous Museo del Prado is free 6:00-8:00pm.  You can imagine that the line gets very long, so get there early, but it does go pretty fast.

Picnic
We spent our last evening in Madrid doing one of my favorite travel activities – picnic in a square.  We picked the beautiful Plaza Mayor.  This plaza has a long history of being used for anything from markets to bull fights to executions, but these days, it’s used for sitting.  Overpriced restaurants line the plaza, and in the middle, people sit.  There are no benches, but that doesn’t stop people from congregating in little groups on the ground.  I love it.  It’s beautiful, social, perfect for people watching, and the only thing the people in the restaurants had that we didn’t was the fat bill… and chairs, which are so overrated anyway.

Grand Exit
There’s a pretty new AVE highspeed train system that connects some of the major cities in Spain, so we were excited to travel from Madrid to Sevilla in style.  We’ve been on our fair share of trains, some nicer than others.  Some of you might remember the one with the bottomless toilet where you could see the tracks wizzing by as you wizzed…  This was NOT like that.  The bathrooms were civilized, and the seats were like first class on an airplane (or at least how my Coach status would imagine first class to be).  At a speed of about 170 mph, we got to Sevilla in no time… but honestly, I wouldn’t have minded spending a little more time on the train.  Of course it costs a little more than taking the slower train, but I justified it as the cost of entertainment, as we headed into Andalucía.

My friend Melody studied abroad in Ireland when we were in college.  There she met Allan, who introduced her to Niall, who introduced her to Neil.  Niall & Neil spent the summer after college in the U.S., so we were part of the crew responsible for showing the Irish boys a good time in California.  That was a great summer.

Over the last several years, we’ve all done some back-and-forth and met more of each other’s friends.  In 2003, Niall, Jay & Dave made the trip from Ireland for our wedding, and now, it was our turn to go celebrate the marriage of Niall and his beautiful bride, Karen.  Of course, Melody (along with her mother) also made the trip from California for the big day.  Even though I only lived a few hours from Melody in California, I hadn’t seen her in years, so this was going to be a great reunion all around.

Unfortunately, the Spanish postal service is not known for its efficiency, so our invitation never arrived.  I finally got the “are you coming?” email from Niall a couple weeks before the wedding.  “Of course we are!  I already have a flight & hotel booked!  So where exactly is the wedding?”  The directions I got in response were something like “leave Dublin, turn left at the split, and go around the pub.”

It wasn’t until the day before the wedding that I realized the church was an hour outside of Dublin, and there is no public transportation to that area.  Within minutes I get a text from Niall that “a guy called Damien will pick you up tomorrow at 1:00.”  I have never met Damien, and I wasn’t sure how much information he had about where we were staying, what we looked like, etc., but sure enough, Damien was outside waiting for us at 12:55.

Come to find out, Damien is a cousin of the bride, Karen.  He barely knows Niall, and we barely know Karen, yet he came out of his way to pick up two strangers and drive us all the way to their wedding.  That’s just the way these people are.  Sure, I’m blessed to know really great Irish people (both in Ireland and some living in the U.S.), but I get the impression that such friendliness and generosity is just part of their culture… or maybe a result of the Guinness, I’m not sure.  Either way, you can basically make a new best friend there every day.  Including the Groom’s brother, who after 5 minutes of conversation invited us to visit his home in Bermuda.  I’m sure he extended the same invitation to everyone at the wedding, but Scott warned him that the scary thing about us is that that we will actually show up!

So the wedding was in a quaint little chapel in the countryside of Kilbride.  It was simply perfect.  Niall never stopped smiling (then again, that’s just how he is), and Karen looked absolutely stunning.  After the wedding we headed to the Dunboyne Castle Hotel for the reception.  All in all, the entire event lasted 13 hours for us, and another hour or two for some of the diehards.

I was curious to see what (if any) customs would be different from a “typical” American wedding, but we are all really pretty much the same.  Here are the few differences that I noticed:

• It seems the wedding is a bigger deal for everyone.  For example, being on a Thursday afternoon, most of the 150-ish guests had to take off work.  Yet no one handled work calls on their cell phones in the hallways, and very few left early because they had to work the next day.  In fact, many people stayed the night at the hotel where the reception was and made a long weekend out of it.
• There was no easy-listening background music during the five-course dinner, just the sound of our own voices… and I assure you there was never a lull.  We made friends with everyone at our table and half the table behind us in no time.
• Clinging your utensils against a glass does not mean the bride & groom are supposed to kiss.
• The bride & groom cut the cake, but do not feed it to each other.
• The groom does the Moon Walk. (Or was that just this groom?)
• There was no last dance, but about 2/3 of the way through the dancing, everyone gathered in a circle around them on the dance floor while they danced to a song that I’m guessing is called “Congratulations”, which kinda reminded me of Happy Birthday.

I had originally planned to rent a car and drive up to Belfast for a day or two after the wedding, but I don’t know what I was thinking.  When we got back to our hotel at 3:30am, Scott decided there was NO WAY he was going to get up early and drive a car on the “wrong” side of the road to a city where we knew no one and had no place to stay.  Besides, this wedding was the main reason we came to Ireland, so we nixed Belfast for now, but will definitely be venturing to Northern Ireland next time we’re in the area.

Instead, while most of the other wedding guests were still recovering, we took a train to Howth, a little fishing village just outside of Dublin.  Apparently there are some really nice hikes with beautiful views on a clear day, but it wasn’t really a clear day, so we just wandered around the town and hung out in a café, where we discovered the wonder that is Eaton Mess.

We headed back to town and met up with a large group for dinner.  I don’t know why I thought we could go to dinner with a group of people (most of whom we didn’t know), and make it back to the hotel at a reasonable hour.  Of course we didn’t.  But, we didn’t come here to sleep anyway.  We came to celebrate Niall & Karen’s big day, see some old friends, and make some new ones, and that’s exactly what we did.  Maybe next time we’ll go kiss the blarney stone, and all those other things that good tourists are supposed to do, but this time around, we didn’t much care about any of that.  Seeing some familiar faces and having lots of laughs was better than anything else we could’ve asked for.  Oh yeah, and catching a few rounds of the Street Performers World Championship competition was pretty cool too.

To Niall & Karen: We are truly honored that you would invite us to share in this special occasion.  Thanks for going to such great lengths to make us feel comfortable and keep us laughing for days.  You are such a wonderful couple, and we are so happy for you!!!  See you soon in either Barcelona, Dublin, San Diego or Bermuda!

Just a quick update about some of the things we’ve been up to in and around Barcelona…

Bon Jovi: The Lost Road Leads to Spain
C’mon, you know your jealous.   I’ve been a Bon Jovi fan for the last couple of decades (more last decade than this decade), so when we found out they were coming to Barcelona we couldn’t resist.  I convinced myself that the 56€ tickets were an early birthday present.

The concert was at the Olympic Stadium on Montjuic, and I was surprised to see how full it was.  I tried making friends with people around me, none of whom spoke English, but all of whom knew every word to the songs, so we all sang together.

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After I got our Croatia itinerary mostly ironed out, it occurred to me that a day trip to Montenegro was within reach.  I asked Scott what he thought about the idea and he said, “I’ve aaalways wanted to go to Montenegro!!!”  What???  When I asked him why he’s never mentioned this lifelong dream, he jumped up and dug out a magazine that he purchased in the airport as we were leaving the U.S. in September (I think “always” meant “for the last 8 months”).

The magazine was called “Budget Travel”, and on the front was a picture of Montenegro.  That settles it. We’re going.  We decided to rent a car versus taking the bus, so we could seek out the location of the photograph on the cover of the magazine. (Also, with 4 of us, renting a car was about the same price as bus tickets.)

I had read a comment in an online forum that said going into Montenegro makes Croatia feel like the west.  I suppose by “the west” the writer was referring to development of the land, economy, tourism, etc.  By that definition, I thought that Croatia felt very “western” even before our visit to Montenegro, but I still get the writer’s point.

It’s only about a 30-minute drive from Dubrovnik to the border of Montenegro, so it was interesting to see how things changed as soon as you crossed the line.  The landscape is obviously similar, but Montenegro feels about 10 years behind Croatia.  The country is undergoing a lot of changes, having just split from Serbia in 2006, and now it feels like the entire country is under construction.

We made it to Kotor in less than 2 hours, thanks to the car ferry across the bay that cut out a long, winding road (by the way, we heard it’s a beautiful drive, but we had a lot to fit in so we opted for the fastest route).  When we got off the car ferry, Giuseppe (that’s what we call our GPS device – he is our faithful traveling companion so he deserved a name) sent us in the opposite direction as the road signs.  We were hesitant to not follow the signs, but Giuseppe has never let us down, so we followed his advice.  It kinda felt like we were driving on a sidewalk around the bay, but it got us there in record time.  So, if you drive to Kotor with a GPS device, go ahead & follow its instructions even if they contradict logic, but only if you’re in a small car.

The base of Kotor is right at sea level, but the city walls climb up into the steep mountains.  It was a wonderful little village with really friendly people.  As soon as the man who worked at the Cathedral realized we were Americans, he said, “Oh, basketball!”  He was all smiles when he learned that I grew up near his favorite team – the Sacramento Kings.

After spending a little time in Kotor, we got back in the car and headed for the construction zone of Budva.  I can only imagine what this place is going to be like in 5 years.  I have a feeling it won’t be in the “Budget Travel” magazine anymore!  In fact, our photo destination, Sveti Stefan, (not too far beyond Budva) is in the process of being developed as a 5-Diamond Resort.  I guess the only reason it’s considered “budget” now is because it’s not yet open… but it sure is pretty to look at as you sit on the beach for free.

This was our last full day along the Adriatic coast, then we headed back to Dubrovnik to catch our flight the next afternoon.  None of us were ready to leave.  I’m not really much of a sit-and-do-nothing kind of person (Scott is trying to teach me that relaxing is not wasting time), but I could sit there and stare at that water for days (or weeks).  God is an amazing artist.

Huge thanks to John & Mary/mom for coming with us and making it one of our most fun and memorable trips so far.  We love you!

If you see a sign that says “Cold Drinks” with an arrow that appears to point nowhere, follow it.  We ordered some cold drinks and a can of Pringles just so we could sit there and enjoy the view.  The old town of Dubrovnik is a walled city set right on the sea.  You can actually walk all the way around the city atop the walls, which we had intended to do in the evening when the city was all lit up… but this was before we realized that you can only do that in the summer, and “summer” would begin 2 days after we left.

Since we had already spent a little time in Dubrovnik before heading up the coast, we decided to venture out to some nearby islands on a small day cruise.  After Mary’s failed attempts to rent one of these, we finally settled on this one.  We really wanted to take this trip, despite the Sales Prevention Force at the ticket counter, who delivered the following marketing schpeal with a smile:

“First you’ll stop at this island, but only for 45 minutes, because there’s nothing to do there. Most people just get coffee then get back on the boat.  Next you’ll go here for an hour.  This island used to be a summer vacation spot for the wealthy. There is a really beautiful home there that is now a museum, but it’s closed so you can’t see it.  It’s too bad it’s closed because it’s really nice.  Next, you’ll be going to this island for 2 ½ hours. You’ll spend the most amount of time here because it has a sandy beach with real sand.  Then you come back.”

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Korcula is the birthplace of the world’s first known travel writer, Marco Polo.  Although there is a chance he was actually born in Venice but set sail on his famous journey from here.  Or, that his true birthplace remains “unknown”, but we for sure know that he lived in this house right here for at least a while.  Ok, well the original house is long gone, but it was definitely on this island, around this area, and probably looked something like this.

Either way, this house was one of the main attractions in the town of Korcula.  We didn’t have a lot of time on this island, as we were having so much fun in Hvar we sacrificed some time on this island to stay there longer.  It worked out well, as the town of Korcula is actually very small, and you could easily see the whole thing in a day.  Of course there are plenty of things to see and do on the rest of the island, but I wouldn’t know anything about that.

Our time in Korcula was spent finding good food, walking around three sides of the city to take pictures of the Adriatic from every angle, and of course, touring the infamous house museum (which takes 10 minutes, if you read all the signs and climb stairs slowly).

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I have a newfound appreciation for windshields.  I’m not sure which is worse: getting a bug bite, or getting hit in the face by a bug at 40 mph.  The former usually goes unnoticed at the time of the event, but then you’re left with the itchy bite; whereas the second stings at the time but doesn’t leave any damage… that is, except the memory.

Scott was probably the most affected, after getting a bug in the mouth while driving the motor scooter.  I was sitting behind him and heard “Pppffftttthhh!!!! YUCK!!!”  I couldn’t stop laughing, but knew that I better keep my mouth shut for fear of karma.  It seems the Croatian bugs had a thing for me anyway, so I didn’t want to take any chances.

Other things I learned while riding a scooter:
1. Tunnels are really really cold
2. 40mph feels like 100mph (especially in tunnels)
(click here to see a brief example of #1 and #2)
3. Bikes with motors are better than bikes with pedals (people you pass on bicycles also know this)
4. Helmet head is worse than regular hat head

There are obviously millions of people around the world who ride scooters every day, but this was all new to me.  I kinda felt like a kid riding a roller coaster for the first time.  Ok, so I am easily amused.

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