During spring break I decided to leave Florence and explore other cities in Europe. My first stop was Aix-en-Provence to see my good friend Sophia. Aix is a completely charming French town. Built on several natural springs there are fountains all over town. Furthermore, everyone was very nice and friendly to the often confused American girl wandering around speaking French poorly. In Aix I went to the tapestry museum that was filled with awesome tapestries (of course) of scenes from Don Quixote. They also had an exhibit of theatrical sketches which were awesome. Most of them were of French actors and Directors however there was one wall of ballet and dance sketches. Seeing them made me quite happy. My first night in Aix I had dinner at a restaurant called Les Deux Garcons. The hotel staff recommended it and I'm really glad I went. It was one of the most expensive meals of my trip but completely worth it. I was sitting next to an older couple that were eating some kind of soup that I felt I needed to try. It was a seafood bisque (don't ask what kind of seafood because I don't know) that you added cheese topped croutons too. While the Italians would not approve of the seafood and cheese combination, I thought it was excellent. Naturally I ordered a Provencal Rosé to accompany my meal. The restaurant also offers everyone who orders the soup a second helping at no additional cost. This made me very happy. In fact only a HUGE plate of profiterols for dessert could have made me any happier. Luckily that's what I ordered. That was probably the highlight of my eating in France, except for all the pastry. Aix is an excellent pastry town. I brought chocolate filled cookies back to Italy for my host family since we are all addicted to dessert. Naturally I also enjoyed eating French croissants. I don't know what the difference is (I assume it's the amount of butter) but croissants just don't taste the same outside of France. Now on to the things that really matter and for once I don't mean my next meal. Seeing Sophia was an absolutely wonderful experience. Going abroad has truly affected us in ways that I can see but won't be able to explain for a long time. Seeing Sophia was nice it was great to be able to talk to someone from home, to tell old jokes, and comment on the things we miss back home. Like the inexplicable craving for peanut butter that I feel almost every week.

The next stop on my trip was Madrid. This was probably my least favorite stop during Spring Break but it's all relative and I still had a fantastic time. Once I started planning my break I knew that my stop in Lisbon was to see the museums. I went to all 3 of Spain's major museums. The Prado, the Reina Sophia, and the Thyssen. I arrived in Madrid at around 4pm on Sunday afternoon. I took about an hour to get settled an oriented. The hotel where I was staying was within 10 minutes of all the major museums. So I decided that the perfect way to spend my first evening in Madrid was by going to the Prado. I was inside the Prado by 5:15 and stayed until it closed at 8. The Prado has a fantastic collection of Italian Renaissance masters, particularly Titian who was a favorite of Charles V. The Prado also has hundreds of works by the two greatest Spanish Masters, Velasquez and Goya. I enjoyed wandering around the Prado until it was about to close and I thought my head would explode from sensory overload. At moments like that the application of wine and tapas is the only known restorative. So I headed to a tapas bar that had been recommended to me and was near the Prado. I had my first glass of rioja in Madrid and a sandwich with chorizo. When I left the first tapas bar it was only 8:45 so I decided to walk across town for my dinner. After wandering leisurely and occasionally getting lost, I reached a street full of restaurants. I let restaurant radar do the selecting for me and wound up having a fantastic dinner with croquettas de jamon, a seafood pintos, and the ever present glass of rioja. Once I was finished I was feeling quite sleepy. Travel, looking at great art until your head will explode, copious tapas and rioja has been known to have that effect. I wandered back to my hotel and went to bed. On Monday most of the museums except the Reina Sophia. Naturally that is where I started my day. The Reina Sophia is Spain's modern art museum. I'll be honest and tell you freely that I don't particularly like or understand Modern Art. Now this is a highly general statement and I will admit it is frequently proven untrue. But overall I just feel bored and slightly confused when staring at Modern Art. Having just told you how much I dislike modern art I should mention that I do have quite the soft spot for Picasso, but then again who doesn't? The Reina Sophia is the home of Picasso's Guernica which depicts the brutality war and the slaughter of innocents. I saved that painting for last. Some other highlights of the museum included political cartoons by Goya, other Picasso paintings, and Salvador Dali. Staring at Dali is always fun his paintings are bizarre however I felt slightly underwhelmed. In the Prado is the Garden of Earthly Delights which was painted in the Renaissance, roughly 500 years before Dali ever held a paint brush. Yet there is a certain similarity between the images that appear Garden of Earthly Delights to those of Dali. Dali no longer seems so unique or crazy to me. Guernica, however, did not disappoint in anyway. I can't describe the affect that the painting had on me. Part of the impact lies in the fact that Picasso makes no effort towards realism instead he allows simple shapes to convey complex ideas and emotions. After leaving the museum I decided to wander in search of lunch. My wanderings led me to the Mercado San Miguel. At the mercado I went to a seafood stall and began with a plate of tiny cold shrimp. They were delicious really sweet with just a hint of salt. However it was chilly and the food was also chilled so by the time I finished them I was cold. I decided to order a bowl of seafood soup next. It was an amazing seafood and vegetable soup with clams, shrimp, cod, mushrooms, and other vegetables. It was warm and so filling. After that I could have left full and content but I my way out I passed a stand selling various empanadas and felt the need to get a chorizo empanada. And I'm so glad I did eating it made me so happy. After leaving the market I was a hot second away from a food coma and decided the best course of action would be a siesta. The rest of the day was unremarkable with the exception of my trip to the Museo del Jamon where I had my special treat: a plate of Jamon Iberico Bellota. As I consumed that rich, buttery, acorn-fed piggy I felt at peace with the world. Tuesday was my final day in Madrid. My plan was to begin with the Thyssen-Museum in the morning, break for lunch, the visit the Naval and Decorative Arts Museums, and possibly return to the Prado if I had time to kill. My visit to the Thyssen was wonderful. They had a special exhibit of Monet and his influence on later modern and abstract artists. I actually really liked this exhibit and thought it had been very thoughtfully curated. Plus who doesn't like the water lilies? After that I went back to the Mercado San Miguel for empanadas, seafood pintos, and churros con chocolate for lunch. I then went to the Naval and Decorative Arts Museums and discovered to my horror and despair that they closed at 2pm. This lead me to do what any mature 21 year old would do in this situation. I found a sunny bench and proceeded to sulk for a full 45 minutes. Still having the whole afternoon ahead of my I decided to return to the Prado. There I spent more time among the Goya and Velasquez paintings. I also saw their special exhibit called the Art of Power. Which showed armor, tapestry, and portrait and their uses for projecting the power of the Hapsburg dynasty in Spain. I'm really glad I got to go back to the Prado but I'm still bitter about missing the other two museums. My visit to Madrid ended with a night train to Lisbon. I actually enjoyed the ride. It was much more pleasant than my train to France.

Lisbon is an absolutely wonderful city. I spent my first day their wandering around the neighborhood of my hostel and reading a book I had picked up called The History of the World in Ten and a Half Chapters on a sunny bench. Lisbon manages to walk that fine line between slightly grungy yet charming and sketchy. Although some of the tiles covering the houses are slightly dirty and occasionally broken it just adds to the charm of the city. My hostel offers dinner every night for 8 euro. I decided it would be nice to grab dinner there and possibly meet a few other people from my hostel. It turns out that one of the very first people I met was a cook from San Francisco named Travis. Naturally we became friends while talking about food, working in restaurants, food again, Anthony Bourdain (aka God), and eating. There were also a group of Belgian students staying at my hostel who were impressed by my love of Top Gear. After dinner several of us went to a jazz club that was having an open mic jazz night. So we listened to some really talented amateur musicians and talked. One of the Belgian's gave Travis and I a huge complement. We were the first American's he'd met that he actually enjoyed talking to. He knew American's like us existed before we met because John Stewart is American but he'd never actually met American's like John Stewart (or us). Being told that I am in any way, shape, or form as cool as John Stewart is a huge compliment in my life. On Thursday I decided to explore farther afield. I set 2 conditions for my wandering. First I would only look at the map if/when I got completely lost. 2nd I would only wander uphill. That way when i was tired I would only have to walk downhill. I ended up finding a beautiful vista that had a small cafe set up and tons of people relaxing and enjoying the view of the water. Finding that spot was probably the highlight of my wanderings and I could see myself going back there frequently but for the fact that I'm no longer in Lisbon. Thursday night I had dinner at the hostel again. In addition to Travis and the Belgians there was now an Australian cook, named Jeff, staying at the hostel. Needless to say Jeff, Travis, and I once again bonded over all things food related. After dinner the Belgians took us all to a bar for lots of drinks. I still can't get over the music played at bars and clubs in Europe. The music tends to be between 3 and 30 years behind music in the US. On Thursday night I heard everything from 80s pop to songs from Grease (which was high school promtastic). On Friday I took it easy and on Friday night I went to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D. I'm not sure which was better. The movie or the really odd Portuguese commercials and coming attractions which I did not understand at all. I would like to think my confusion stemmed from a lack of knowledge of Portuguese but honestly the commercials made no sense. There was a 5 minute beer commercial that had no words and it took me 3 minutes to realize it was a beer commercial. Now the movie itself was fantastic and I would see it over and over again. On Saturday I went to Belem and saw the maritime museum and ate some of the local pastries. Frankly Saturday was basically my perfect day. It combined a history museum and pastry with an awesome lunch of octopus and shrimp in rice thrown in for bonus points. On Sunday I returned to Florence. My trip home sucked and never be in the Milan train station after 11 that is all I will say on the subject.