Pond Jumpers: Spain – Madrid, Spain Blog

Free Split City Tour

2011-05-15T02:34:16Z

Our friends Mario and Milda are among the smart people we know in Croatia trying to overcome the ridiculous bureaucracy to run a successful business. They just launched a new addition to their Dalmatia Events event planning company: a Free Split City Tour. Jay and I really enjoyed free city tours we took in Berlin, Budapest, and Prague, so we think this is an excellent idea. The idea behind free tours in almost any city is that the tour guide provides the tour for free, but gladly accepts tips at the end. We’ve found this model is ideal; the tours are superb since the guides are motivated for tips, and even with a generous tip it is cheaper than a traditional tour where we’d have paid up front.

Mario and Milda were kind enough to give us a preview of their tour last year, the night before we left Split and moved to Madrid. They intended to start the tours last summer after Mario attended tourism school to become an officially certified Croatian guide, but bureaucratic rules got in the way. Luckily they decided to wait and do it by the books because a jealous competitor has put the inspectors on them already and has also gone around town stealing their fliers. Not cool.

Last June we got the first unofficial tour. We met at the metal Split city model on the Riva and proceeded throughout Diocletian’s Palace on what is now Split’s Free City Tour. Mario and Milda took us through the history of Split from Diocletian’s time in the 3rd century until today.

It was fun seeing them in professional tour guide mode. I learned so much. I guess it was expected since they did a lot of studying, but I was surprised and impressed by just how knowledgeable they were, knowing dates, noble families, architectural styles, and numerous fun anecdotes.

We learned how Diocletian had the floor of the Peristil where his worshipers stood lowered so he would appear taller and more astute. This made me laugh because this philosophy has endured thousands of years. Leaders like French president Sarkozy wear thick soled shoes and hire only short body guards so they appear taller.

Many of the columns throughout the palace were brought from Egypt and originally there were 12 Egyptian sphinxes. Only two still exist today. One of the most dramatic differences between the Roman ruins in Split and in Italy is that the ruins in Split are living ruins; people still have their homes and work inside the ruins. And it isn’t even surprising to see a kid climbing on one of the original Sphinxes.

In the Pjaca (main plaza), we stopped at a statue of a saint that I had probably walked passed a hundred times and paid no attention to it. And I had definitely never noticed the mischievous looking little man peeking out from behind the saint’s robes. It was the nobleman who commissioned the building of the statue.

This was a wonderful way to spend our last night in Split. All through the palace Mario and Milda pointed out things I had never noticed. It gave me even more of an appreciation for Split. Mario has lived his entire life in Split (actually he grew up in Stobrec, a suburb of Split) and even he said his tourism classes showed him new things he had never seen and historical facts he had never known. It definitely motivated me to learn more about the history of my hometown, Cincinnati. It’s so easy to miss intriguing things right at our doorstep.

If you’re lucky enough to be in Split, here is what you need to know:
Monday through Saturday at 13:00 and 18:00
Meeting Place: Riva (Promenade) next to Split city metal model
For more information, visit the web site or write to info@dalmatia-events.com

Which did I like better – Croatia or Madrid?

2011-04-12T01:14:32Z

I’ve been back home in Cincinnati now for just over a month and one of the most common questions I hear is whether I liked Croatia or Madrid better. At first I found this question nearly impossible to answer because both are so dear to my heart, but I think I figured it out. If I could only live abroad for a year or two and I had to pick just one, it would be Croatia. And if I had to pick one to live in forever, it would be Madrid.

I’d pick Croatia because it really was a magical place to Jay and I. Split had a charming old town made up mostly of a giant old Roman Palace dating from 305 A.D. The buildings were all made of ancient stone with orange clay roofs. The streets were small and winding and seemed to offer endless new discoveries. We could walk to groceries, shopping, restaurants, parks, the sea, work – almost anything we needed.

Just a 10 minute walk from the center was a large park that offered beautiful views over the old town and the sea. It was full of jogging paths and rocky beaches. I’d run on the paths overlooking the sea a few days a week.

Split has just 220,000 people, but it is the largest Croatian port city, making it easy to get to the islands. There were three island we could get to in less than an hour on a ferry (and the ferry was just a 15 minute walk from our house). It was common to hear, “Oh, we just decided to pop on over to the island of Brac for the afternoon.” I’ll likely never be able to say that again in my life. And the islands were fabulous. They were mostly under-developed. There was pristine nature and crystal clear turquoise water.

For being a fairly small country, Croatia offered an amazing amount of beautiful places to visit. My favorite was the island of Vis because it was the least developed and offered such a variety of beautiful coves and diverse beaches. My second favorite was tie between the two national parks with waterfalls: Plitvice and Krka. Plitvice was a bit more impressive and much more expansive, but Krka was less crowded and we got to swim beneath the falls.

We met wonderful people in Split and not just acquaintances that we will lose track of now that we’re gone. Some are close friends that we’ve already seen since leaving Split. We visited Milda and Mario in Lithuania. And Paula and I vacationed together in Prague. We are looking forward to them visiting us here in the United States.

Sometimes when I think about it, Croatia seems like a little paradise, but then I remember that that it wasn’t. No place is perfect. And as much as I love Croatia, its not the place I would pick to live forever because the business culture and bureaucracy drove me crazy. Magical islands and sparkling turquoise seas can only sustain me for so long.

I get a lot of fulfillment in life from being a designer and helping businesses grow using design, but too much time in Croatia was dedicated to trying to overcome silly Croatian bureaucratic and cultural business obstacles. And this had absolutely nothing to do with internal workings of my company, Elevator. Croatia overall does a poor job at encouraging business growth and entrepreneurial success. The nonsensical constant changing laws and nepotism were never ending. I have seen some of the most intelligent people I know (local Croatians and expats) trying to make a career for themselves only to be spun in circles and spit back out by the bureaucracy. I am confident though that some of these people will succeed. I admire their perseverance.

That was the main reason that I would pick Madrid over Croatia as my preferred place to live forever. Madrid wasn’t quite as enchanting as Croatia, but it was still pretty spectacular. The city offered a never ending stream of exciting things to do, travel was cheap and easy, I loved my job and I got the opportunity to drastically improve my Spanish.

We lived in the center of the city so we could walk to most places and Madrid has one of the largest metro systems in the world so it was easy to get anywhere. Madrid doesn’t have the obvious tourist attractions like some large European cities, but it is a great place to live or visit. It has a very rich culture. There were wonderful museums, lots of parks, and always great events.

Retiro Park is my favorite city park I’ve ever been to because the gardens are beautiful, there are great walking/running paths, the beautiful main pond is fun for row boats, and there are plenty of grassy spots to find your own private corner for a picnic.

Jay and I appreciated the plethora of events that can only happen in a big city, like the free Linkin Park / Katy Perry concert. And being in Madrid for a victorious World Cup was something we’ll never forget.

Madrid also boasted an amazing amount of discount airline routes. We visited the island of Mallorca for less than $25 round trip each and made it to Marrakesh for less than $50 round trip each. Plus there were numerous great day trips we took by train. We were completely spoiled by the amount of wonderful places we got to visit. We wished we were able to snag such great travel deals here in Cincinnati (but we did learn we need to explore our own region more because it has a lot to offer).

I wish I had had more time in Madrid, especially for improving my Spanish and because work was fun too, but I know I should just be thankful for the eight months I had. Jay and I both feel amazingly blessed for the experiences we had the last two years. It surpassed all expectations. But no matter how marvelous Croatia and Madrid were, they were both missing what was most important to us: our families. We also feel pretty blessed to be back in Cincinnati spending time with those we love most.

Southern, Spain: The Alhambra in Granada, the white villages, Seville, and an awful ending in Cordoba

2011-03-01T02:36:37Z

As I write this, I am on my long flight back to the United States reflecting on what an amazing two years it has been. I’ve gotten to see so many fascinating places. I’ve shared almost all of my trips through this blog, I think in fact all of them except for one. I was content being in denial about it ever happening. It might be better left forgotten, but my story feels incomplete without sharing this one too.

It wasn’t all bad. Actually it was quite pleasant until the end.

Jay and I decided to spend our long Thanksgiving weekend this past November renting a car and driving through the south of Spain on a four-day road trip. Our first stop was Granada, home of the Alhambra, a palace and fortress complex constructed mostly during the 14th century by the Moorish rulers. The grounds of the palace are extensive and we spent the afternoon walking through the citadel, the royal complex and the Generalife villa and garden. Much of the beautiful intricate Moorish artwork was reminiscent of what we had seen in Morocco. The center courtyard, the Court of the Myrtles, which helped cool the palace in hot summers, was the highlight. We were even lucky enough to have it to ourselves for a short while. It made me very happy to be visiting in November because in the summer the area is overflowing with tourists. We even had very nice sunny weather, but it didn’t last the rest of the trip.

Our plans for days two and three were to drive to the coast and then up through the Sierra Nevada mountains and to stop at the various pretty “white villages” – small towns filled with old houses comprised of whitewashed walls hugging the mountainsides – scattered throughout the route. Day two was burdened by patchy rainfall. The rain stopped long enough for us to make a short stop at the beach and to walk around the town of Mijas. We were thankful for the respite because most of the day we spent driving by road signs pointing to “beautiful scenic panoramas,” though all we could see was fog. We could see just enough to taunt us and make sure we knew that on a sunny day the mountain view would be amazing.

That evening we had our first Couch Surfing experience. Couch Surfing is a website that connects travelers with people offering a free place to stay in their city – sometimes a couch and other times a private bedroom like we had. We stayed with Evi and her three dogs at her special farmhouse in Estepona. Evi is a German woman who spent much of her life in Africa so her unique home had an authentic safari feel. And her tropical garden looked like the rain forest under the torrential downpour. She shared a lot of fascinating stories about Africa over dinner and wine during the evening and spoiled us with a huge homemade breakfast before we left the next day. She was a gracious host that went well beyond any expectations.

The rain continued on day three as we continued our trip through the mountains. We made the best of the weather and headed out with our umbrellas to explore the town of Ronda which is perched atop cliffs and divided by a steep ravine. It was one of my favorite Spanish towns we visited. We walked all around town and then hiked to the base of a the tall New Bridge (a bit of a misnomer considering it was built in 1751). It is one of three bridges connecting both sides of town across the canyon.

I climbed down some rickety steps and across a narrow path to explore further under the bridge and the other side. Jay watched, thinking I was nuts. There wasn’t much to see except an old rundown slanted steel building that was being overgrown by plants and looked like it belonged on the set of Lost. One blessing from the rain was that the waterfall beneath the bridge was full and flowing.

We spent most of day four in Seville, the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. After Christopher Columbus’s expedition to the New World in 1492, Seville grew to its height of cultural importance. It was designated the only royal port to the New World and all trade from the Spanish Americas had to pass through the city before going on to the rest of Europe. The city’s development grew quickly over the next few hundred years.

Seville was a beautiful historic town to walk around. Like many Spanish towns, it has an impressive towering gothic style cathedral. It was a Sunday so we attended part of mass to get a good look at the inside. We also visited the old Moorish Palace, which had similarities to Alhambra, but was much smaller in comparison. My favorite part of town was the large Plaza de España and the Traditional Arts and Customs Museum, which were both in the The María Luisa Park. The sunny weather returned for our last day so the park was full of families and children. It was perfect people watching.

Our drive back to Madrid took us through the town of Cordoba. We didn’t have time to fully explore the town, but Cordoba is home to a magnificent Cathedral-Mosque, an old mosque that was converted into a cathedral. This impressive site was worth a short stop on its own. Today it is a World Heritage Site and the Cathedral of the diocese of Córdoba.

The mosque was built in 784. It is most notable for its giant candy cane-like arches, with 856 columns of jasper, onyx, marble and granite. After the Spanish Conquest it became a Roman Catholic church and a cathedral was built right in the middle of the mosque. It was fascinating to the the dichotomy and the two still existing side by side.

When we got back to the rental car, I took a photo of Jay in front of the passenger side. As we walked to the other side of the car, we realized something was wrong. The small front window was smashed and broken. My first reaction was, “Oh shit, someone smashed the window and we are going to have to pay for that.” Jay’s reaction was, “Oh shit, someone smashed the window and stole all of our stuff!”

Jay’s reaction was the appropriate one. We lost more stuff than I care to recall: both of our passports, Jay’s work laptop, a Kindle e-reader, Jay’s prescription glasses, a suitcase full of clothes and toiletries including my favorite tailored jeans, a laptop bag full of electronic stuff, my backpack full of stuff, the keys to our apartment and more.

I don’t need to be lectured that we shouldn’t have had all of the stuff in the car, even if it was in the trunk. I understand that, but it seriously baffles me that someone had the nerve to smash our window and steal all of our stuff in broad daylight on a Sunday afternoon when we were parked by 20 other cars. And we were only gone for one hour. People never cease to surprise me.

We spent the evening at the police station waiting in a long line and then filling out forms. We did our best to clean up the glass and I created a make-shift window from cardboard and paper to cover the hole for the long four hour drive back to Madrid. The drive home actually had one bright spot – I discovered the iPod and GPS still in the glove box, which was a small miracle considering the glove box was left open by the thieves and they cleaned the car of everything else. I guess they got spooked before they cleared the glove box – they shouldn’t have saved that for last.

Our aloof landlady never answered her phone on our drive home, so we had no way to get into our apartment. We didn’t arrive back to Madrid until after 1:00 am, so we thought it was too late to call a friend for a place to stay, so we stayed at a hotel. It felt very odd staying at a hotel with no luggage – just the clothes on our backs and my purse. Luckily our doorman had a spare key and we were able to get into our apartment the next morning.

We eventually wrote out a list of everything that was stolen – just to torture ourselves I guess. It was very long and the monetary value made me sick. We didn’t have insurance to cover any of it. And for weeks afterwards, we kept discovering new things that we didn’t realize were stolen at first. It was a frequent reminder of the event, and I cursed the thieves each time. We know the situation could’ve been worse. We were lucky we weren’t hurt at all, and we know things can be replaced. The fact that Jay and I both considered this one of the crappiest events in our lives actually was a nice reminder of just how blessed we are.

Prague, the city of a hundred spires

2011-02-17T05:02:12Z

I visited Prague two weekends ago with my good friend, Paula, from Split, Croatia. As we walked across the Charle’s Bridge at night we laughed because we couldn’t help but think that we should have each really been there holding hands with our significant other. One of Prague’s nicknames is the city of a hundred spires, which it earned in the early 1800s when it actually had around a hundred spires. Now it has over 500 spires, making it a beautiful city to walk around — and quite romantic. Even though I wished Jay was there, and we had disastrous flight schedule problems, Paula and I had a wonderful weekend.

It didn’t start out so great. Paula was coming from Split and I from Madrid. Both of our flights had layovers in Frankfurt, Germany, which seemed like the perfect opportunity to start our weekend early and arrive in Prague together. We asked each other all sorts of important questions before we left, such as, “What shoes are you bringing?” and “Are you bringing dressy going-out clothes?” Yet we never bothered to trade mobile phone numbers or talk about what we would do if we didn’t see each other at Frankfurt airport as planned and one of us missed the connecting flight.

At Madrid’s airport I learned my flight was delayed an hour, which would give me just enough time to meet Paula, but when I boarded the plane the pilot said it would be another hour before we took off. We were told there was bad weather in Frankfurt causing the delay, but that was a lie; it was perfectly clear when we landed — 10 minutes after my Frankfurt to Prague flight departed.

SpanAir (first leg of flight) and Luftansa (second leg of flight) were not helpful at all. They couldn’t tell me when I could depart and they sent me across the airport to a transfer desk that was already closed for the evening. I finally found someone to direct me to the proper transfer desk where I found a long weaving line awaiting me. I stood and moped as it slowly inched forward.

Suddenly I saw Paula in line too. I tapped her on the shoulder. We hugged and squealed and jumped up and down like 12 year old girls at a Justin Bieber concert. We were stuck in the airport for a few more hours, but at least we were together. We had a nice dinner with our new friend, Karen, from Prague whom Paula met on her flight from Split and eventually we made it to our hotel in Prague around midnight.

We stayed at Ventana Hotel right behind the Old Town Square. It was a beautiful old hotel with the highest ceiling in a hotel I had ever seen (I really appreciate tall ceilings wherever I am; they just feel nice). We couldn’t have asked for a better location because we were in the center of everything. We had hoped to see the town that night, but it was late and we were exhausted. We were even too tired to ask to be moved from the smoking room they gave us; I always forget that you still need to request a non-smoking room in most of Europe. I hope that continues to change.

On Saturday we walked through the Old Town Square, crossed the beautiful old Charle’s Bridge and explored Prague on the castle side of the river. The entire town was wonderful for walking. There were beautiful buildings on every street and everything was in walking distance.

At noon we watched the changing of the guard at the castle. We arrived just in time for a good spot. Playwright-turned-president Václav Havel brought some zeal to the castle in 1989, when he hired the Czech costume designer from the film Amadeus to redesign the guards’ uniforms and then instigated a changing of the guard ceremony. A brass ensemble accompanied the ceremony and played music composed by local rock star/politician Michal Kocáb.

My favorite place we visited in all of Prague was the Strahov Monastery because it housed two of the most beautiful libraries I’ve ever seen. The Monastery sat on top of a hill and the walk up felt grueling since we had already been on our feet all day, but it was worth it. The libraries left me frozen in awe, staring, most likely with my jaw hung open. The libraries, the Theological Hall and the Philosophical Hall, date from the 17th and 18th centuries respectively and still house over 60,000 antique books. The main floors were roped off for preservation purposes and we viewed the libraries from massive wooden doorways. I would’ve loved to walk among the old books, but still nothing took away from the place’s magnitude.

We enjoyed dinner at a typical Czech restaurant. We toasted to my birthday earlier in the week, to good friends and to a fun trip. After dinner we walked through town to see all of the old buildings and monuments lit up at night.

On Sunday we took a free walking tour (The guides work for tips.), just like I did in Berlin and Budapest, and this one lived up to the others; it was very interesting and educational. We walked all through the half of town we didn’t see on Saturday, so it worked out perfectly. Part of the tour took us through the old Jewish quarter and we learned about WWII’s devastating effect on the city’s Jewish population, and the tour finished by the river where we learned about the city’s “liberation” and then immediate communist occupation.

After the tour we visited the Pinkas Synagogue which holds a memorial with names of those murdered and then walked through the old Jewish cemetery. I always find cemeteries fascinating because they usually have such unique characteristics and can show so much about a culture. The Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague was used from 1439 to 1787. There were 12 layers of tombs because the city would not give the Jews more room to bury their dead. The headstones were mashed together one right after another. It has been estimated that there are approximately 12,000 tombstones presently visible, and there may be as many as 100,000 burials in all.

Throughout our sightseeing both days we sprinkled in tea breaks and shopping respites. Among the Starbucks there were also plenty of cute local coffee shops – and even an absinthe shop where you could buy marijuana ice cream (we passed on the opportunity). Paula stocked up on great clothes she couldn’t find in Croatia and I resisted as I knew I was already short on luggage space for my trip back to the United States. We finished Sunday evening with a wonderful Italian dinner. We lamented about how quickly the weekend went by and I lamented more about how much I would miss the easy and wonderful European weekend trips.

Most of my weekend trips have been easy, and this one would’ve been if it wasn’t for the flights. We were headed back through Frankfurt again on Monday and we thought for sure our luck couldn’t go wrong both ways, but after we were told to fasten our seat belts for landing we eventually realized we were just flying in circles. The pilot came back on the announcement system to tell us he had no idea when we could land in Frankfurt, so we were going to Nuremberg to refuel. (Once again, the weather was just fine.)

Even with a three hour layover my connecting flight was doomed. Once again we landed in Frankfurt 10 minutes after my connecting flight departed. Luckily I made it out a few hours later. Paula wasn’t as fortunate since there is just one flight daily to Split from Frankfurt. She was rerouted through Zagreb and again didn’t make it to her destination until midnight.

I just hope my luck improves next week with my flights home.

Click here to view more photos from my weekend in Prague, Czech Republic.

Solo Traveling: The Hanging Houses and Ars Natura in Cuenca, Spain

2011-02-08T01:49:39Z

Last Friday the NY Times wrote an article about Cuenca, Spain, which was impeccable timing because I had plans to visit on Sunday. The article said if you have never heard of Cuenca to blame it on Toledo. Toledo gets all of the buzz as being the best day trip from Madrid, but Cuenca may soon be getting more of a spotlight now that Spain’s high-speed Ave train just opened up its newest route to include Cuenca in December 2010. The journey that used to take over two hours by bus or car can now be reached in just 50 minutes by train. (I think the bus is still a great budget option and gets you much closer to the old town than the train.) Cuenca doesn’t have quite as many attractions as Toledo, but the historic and picturesque hilltop town has just as much charm.

Arriving by the high-speed Ave train left me a 15 minute bus ride from town, and then a 20 minute walk to the center of the old town. Cuenca is a small town and January isn’t a popular month for tourists, so I couldn’t just follow the crowds. I had to ask several people for directions to find my way. Throughout the day I saw just a handful of tourists and two buses of Asian tour groups.

I was traveling alone and I enjoyed the quiet of the city. I rarely travel alone, and though I wouldn’t want to make it a habit, I really enjoy it in small doses (even though the entire time I am wishing Jay was with me to see it all). A day I spent alone in Japan at the end of a work trip is one of my most vivid travel memories. I can’t really pinpoint why, but solo traveling can feel so refreshing to me.

I spent the afternoon in Cuenca finding the best views of the hanging houses (casas colgadas), seeing the Cathedral in Plaza Mayor and exploring the small winding streets that weave throughout the old town. Parts of the old town, the narrow alleys, some stone houses with clay tile roofs and an abundance of stray cats had me happily reminiscing about Croatia. I also visited the Abstract Art Museum and walked to the other side of town to find Ars Natura, a natural history Museum. I wish I had gotten up early and given myself more time to see different museums; most of them closed at 2:00 because it was Sunday.

Cuenca’s old town is perched up on a cliff above the Huécar gorge. The houses built right up out of the cliff side are called hanging houses or “casas colgadas.” They are the most iconic symbols of Cuenca as their dramatic stance make for picturesque views. Many of the houses were built in the 15th century and were once the houses of nobility. The most famous house is now the Abstract Art Museum. In the 1960’s Cuenca was the center of Spanish abstract art and many artists had homes in the city. A wealthy collector, Fernando Zóbel, donated his collection to the city and helped establish the museum.

The city has numerous other museums, but they were all closed by the time I left the Abstract Art Museum. After seeing photos of the architectural beauty, Ars Natura, it was on my list of “must-sees.” It sat high on a hill in a residential neighborhood on the other side of the gorge. It was an adventure just finding it. I had to navigate a complete maze of streets. There were very few people out to ask for directions so I couldn’t be too picky. Luckily even the guys I had unfairly judged as creepy were actually very friendly. I eventually came to a tall fence surrounding the property only to be told that the entrance was another 10 minute walk away on the other side. I honestly would have climbed the fence if there wasn’t someone out waiting for a bus right near the lowest point.

I’m glad I made the effort to find the museum even though it was closed. I thought the building, designed by architects Carlos Asensio y José María de Lapuerta, was stunning. It is one of my favorite works of architecture I have seen because it harmonizes so well with the environment. Even though it is very contemporary and mostly made of concrete of glass, its low and lengthy shapes and neutral colors integrate it with its habitat. Large windows, each spanning more than 1000 square feet, let light into the building and offer spectacular views out over Cuenca. If I ever make it back to Cuenca I will definitely make sure I have more time and visit the inside too.

My fiasco trying to find Ars Natura left me little time to enjoy it and then rushing to catch the bus so I wouldn’t miss my train. I honestly didn’t think I was going to make it. I thought for sure I would need to take a cab (if I could find one) and even then I worried I might miss the train. I about gave up hope because I didn’t even know how to find my way to the bus station. Suddenly I realized where I was and that I just might make it if I ran. I ran, what in my mind was a full out marathon sprint, for about a half mile (.8 km). I could see the bus as I ran down the street and just prayed it wouldn’t pull away when I was so close. Luckily it didn’t. I arrived at the bus dripping in sweat and panting – not pretty – but I made it. I got on with one other couple, we paid our fares, and the bus driver shut the doors and immediately pulled away. I enjoyed a quiet train ride back to Madrid and immediately showered when I got home.

Click here to view more photos from my solo trip to Cuenca, Spain.

New Years in Lithuania

2011-01-24T02:12:34Z

What I will remember most about spending New Years in Lithuania with Milda and Mario is how bitterly cold it was. I am just not made for the cold. The great company will be a close second, especially Milda’s dog, Baris (No insult intended towards the company of Milda and Mario, but Baris was so cool). Lithuania’s weather made memories of Munich feel like summer. I wished I had my long down-filled coat with me.

We had a layover in Riga, Latvia on the way to Kaunas, Lithuania. We left the terminal to board the plane outside, and crews seemed to be working steadily on snow removal, but there was still about 3 inches on the ground that we walked through. The plane was a beautiful sight as it sat covered in snow alone on a wide expanse of white fluff. (I wished we had a camera…) After getting de-iced, we took off from Riga in a small prop plane in heavy snow. I was uncharacteristically a bit nervous, but it was actually much smoother than many flights I’ve experienced in calm weather.

Our first full day in Lithuania, the high temperature was 17°F (-8°C). We bundled up and headed to the capital, Vilnius, for sightseeing. I was envious of Milda’s awesome fur hat. I considered buying one for myself, but I thought it might seem like overkill back in Madrid or even Cincinnati. The thick snow made all of Lithuania seem like a winter wonderland. There were so many areas of white powdery untouched snow. I wanted to run and make snow angels, but I wasn’t dressed for it.

Vilnius’s historic old town was full of charming old buildings (and I think also some newer ones made to look old), lots of churches, and two real Christmas trees. We walked through town and then took a break for tea and hot chocolate before climbing up to the town’s fortress. The fort offered a great view over the historic town on one side and the newer modern town on the other. The most amusing part was descending the hill from the fort because parts of the path were a giant slippery ice slide. Luckily there was a railing and we carefully guided (glided?) ourselves down.

We enjoyed a late lunch at a traditional Lithuanian restaurant. After being in Germany, the food prices in Lithuanian were such a welcome surprise. The food was a great value and delicious. My favorite was a thick creamy chicken soup in a bread bowl. It warmed me up inside. We also sampled potato pancakes and dumplings, staple Lithuanian foods.

Milda and Mario are our good friends from Croatia. Milda is Lithuanian, so they were spending the holidays there with her family. It gave us the perfect opportunity to visit with them and see a new place. Jay and I also stayed with Milda’s family. They were such gracious hosts. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations, especially because everyone shared different cultures and different language strengths. The conversations were an amusing crazy mix of spoken languages: English, Lithuanian, Croatian, and German (of course, only English for me and English and German for Kelly).

New Years Eve day we went sightseeing in Kaunas. It wasn’t quite as charming as Vilnius, but I loved walking through the snow-covered park along the frozen river and eating fresh donuts at the Soviet era diner that hasn’t ever changed — the food, the decor, nor the waitresses.

We rang in New Years 2011 at a local bar with half the Lithuanian national basketball team and a white Lithuanian Tina Turner. It was possibly the best people watching New Years ever. There was lots of bleach blond hair, cleavage, very high heels, sparkly dresses and good-looking women. As much as I am sure the guys enjoyed it, I was just as amused.

We had a great night singing along to Tina Turner songs and dancing. We celebrated the Croatian and Spanish New Year at 11pm and then the official Lithuanian New Year at midnight. It all went by way too quickly. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye the next day when we had to leave, especially since I knew that would mean saying goodbye to Jay a few hours later.

Hopefully Milda and Mario visit us someday in Cincinnati.

Click here to view more photos from our visit with Milda and Mario in Kaunas and Vilnius, Lithuania.

Munich, Salzburg and our first Vegetarian Christmas

2011-01-18T02:44:53Z

Since it wasn’t practical to fly across the ocean to be with family, Jay and I decided to spend the Christmas and New Year holidays with friends in Europe. On Christmas Eve, we arrived in Munich, Germany to visit our friends, Ken and Jenna. They are Americans (from Cincinnati and Cleveland) living the ex-pat life like us, though they say we all are more like immigrants since we don’t have fancy jobs footing all the bills, like others we have met.

We spent Christmas day walking around Munich. Everything was closed, but it was a perfect time to see the city. The streets were relatively quiet and almost everything shimmered in a fresh coat of snow from the day before. I loved seeing the city covered in snow even though the downside was the cold that came with it. It was so frigid! I had gotten quite used to Croatian and Spanish winters where it is rarely below freezing. We experienced cold in Cincinnati, but we never walked anywhere in it for long. Jay and I reminisced about how we would play for hours out in the snow as kids. We don’t know how we did it. Luckily I bought some warm long underwear before we left from the knick knack bazaar shop. It was probably the best $7 USD I’ve ever spent in my life – I wore them almost every day.

Jenna spoiled us all Christmas day with her baking and cooking. Jenna and Ken are vegetarians so we had our first vegetarian Christmas. Honestly, it was likely also our last vegetarian Christmas, but not because we didn’t like it. We just like meat. I loved everything Jenna made except the lentil bean ‘meat’ loaf, which is pretty impressive considering how picky I am. Along with the ‘meat’ loaf we had yummy mashed potatoes and biscuits. Jay might have missed his traditional ham, but surprisingly he even liked the vegetarian ‘meat’ loaf. And we topped it all off with Christmas cookies and chocolate covered pretzels that I ate way too much of.

We spent the evening playing Catch Phrase and Uno and sharing stories. Jay and I love games, but we rarely seem to play them since we left the United States. It was a nice bit of American pop culture to make us feel at home on Christmas.

Jay and I wouldn’t survive well as vegetarians considering we don’t like vegetables, but Ken and Jenna may have influenced where we buy our meat. Jay borrowed Ken’s book, Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, which described in too much detail meat-producing factory practices. The stories about the treatment of animals and the chemicals they put into them were very disturbing. It wasn’t quite enough to make us become vegetarians, but we are definitely going to look into buying non factory farmed chicken and other meats. Findlay Market, Cincinnati’s farmers’ market, may end up being one of our new favorite places. Hopefully we follow through with our plans and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.

The Sunday after Christmas we went out for a traditional American brunch and visited two modern art museums in the afternoon. It was a relaxing day before our long day trip to Salzburg, Austria on Monday.

We took the train in the morning. Jay and I have a knack for almost missing trains, but luckily we made it with two or three minutes to spare.

Salzburg is a beautiful little town at the foot of the Alps near the German border. It is the home of Mozart, Klimt, and the Sound of Music. We spent the day walking around the town, stopping in little Christmas shops, and visiting the fortress atop a hill overlooking the city. We found a Christmas shop with the most beautiful hand-painted ornaments I had ever seen, and there were hundreds of them. I spent way too long admiring them and wishing that they were less expensive and that I had more room in my suitcase.

The view from the fortress was magnificent. We could see out over the entire snow-covered town in one direction and over the seemingly endless Alps in the other. I wish we had more photos, but we were borrowing Jenna’s almost defunct camera and the battery died. Somehow we mysteriously lost our own camera in between moving out of our apartment and arriving at the airport at the beginning of our trip. It is still a conundrum.

Before heading back on the train we bought Ken some of his favorite wasabi peanuts and caramelized almonds and a giant warm pretze for us. Surprisingly our favorite pretzels were in Austria and not Germany, though we didn’t have time to do proper taste testing.

The next day we did more sightseeing in Munich. We visited the Schloss Nymphenburg Palace just outside the city center and the Royal Residence in the city center. My favorite part of the Palace was probably the partially frozen lake full of swans and ducks. They were so animated and amusing. Some of the swans were gigantic. I kept telling Jay to step closer for a photo, but they didn’t look friendly enough to him. The swans, along with the Palace, set on the expansive snow covered grounds felt like a fairytale; except if it was my fairytale I would’ve had a long thick furry white coat and golden sleigh with horses to carry me around. We saw a lot of these types of sleighs and ornate carriages on display in the old palace carriage house.

As we left the Schloss Nymphenburg Palace we visited the swans again and then watched people ice skating and curling. The small man-made river leading to the lake freezes over every winter and makes a perfect spot for recreation. Curling looks like a fun sport to play with friends, but I don’t know if I would last long enough outside in the cold.

The Royal Residence in the center of Munich’s historic district was grand and expansive with many beautifully painted ceilings. I’m often bored by audio tours, but I amused myself by listening to the tour in Spanish. At first I accidentally had it set to German. For a few seconds I thought, “Wow, this person speaks Spanish with such a thick German accent that I can’t understand a thing.” I was relieved to realize it was actually German being spoken and not my lack of understanding.

Jay’s German isn’t quite advanced enough to have listened to his audio guide in German, but still, I was repeatedly impressed with his skills. Ken’s German is perfection (at least to my ears). Between the two of them, traveling was easy. I got to sit back and let them ask all the questions and do all of the ordering. For a few days, it was a pleasant change from the ordinary.

Click here to view more photos from our Christmas holiday to Munich, Germany and Salzburg, Austria.

Happy New Year 2011 Post-It Stop Motion Animation

2011-01-04T03:01:01Z

Happy New Year to all of our family and friends. We had such a blessed year in 2010 and are excited to see what 2011 has in store for us. We are most looking forward to being back in Cincinnati and spending time with those we love.

Below is a 90-second New Year video I made frame by frame with post-it notes. It was officially made for my work at Cato Partners Europe, but it was created with sentiments for my family and friends. Jay and I wish you the best in 2011 and all the years to come.

Notes: 1. Cato’s logo is a bee. 2. Turn your sound on.

A few weeks ago my boss approached me about making a New Year’s greeting to share with clients, something interesting yet short and simple. I’ve always been fascinated with stop motion animation, and somehow I thought this sounded like the perfect opportunity to experiment. The process was definitely not short and simple, but I’m happy I tackled the challenge.

The process involved over 1,000 post-it notes (250 hand-colored black), over 600 photos, and over 60 hours in 6 days. Jay and I turned our tiny studio apartment into a photo studio by moving all of the furniture into one corner and ever-so-professionally taping my camera to a dresser so it wouldn’t move. I arranged every light in the apartment so it was spotlighting the wall, which included rigging the overhead light with rope and paperclips to get it in the proper position.

Our apartment become an obstacle course rigged with traps and we were very careful not to touch anything so we didn’t mess up the lighting or camera positioning. We even climbed over lights and the couch to sleep in our bed that was nestled next to the window. I was thankful I never had to go the bathroom in the middle of the night; I surely would’ve tripped.

I started shooting photos on a Saturday morning and Jay was such a trooper that he helped out all weekend with very minimal complaining. I wanted black post-it notes for the video, which I couldn’t find anywhere, so Jay took on the task of coloring in 250 post-it notes by hand with marker. The marker I bought dried up, then another we had at home dried up too, so I ran out to the store to buy a third that got us through to the end. Jay even sporadically paused the UC basketball game to help fill in the post-it note grid as I created new words.

I spent about every waking minute of the weekend moving post-it notes and taking photos. And then I spent time the next four days editing the images in Photoshop (my make-shift spot lights weren’t good enough), creating more images, picking out music, and putting the animation together. I stayed awake until dawn to get it finished before we left for our Christmas holiday trip – it brought back memories from pulling all-nighters in college working on graphic design projects.

I will definitely think twice before starting another stop-motion animation project because of the time commitment needed, but I do hope an opportunity for one presents itself again. I learned so much throughout the process. I know that just having one under my belt will make a world of difference.

We are Moving Home to Cincinnati: Questions and Answers

2010-12-12T18:35:51Z

Jay and I are moving back to our hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. We’ve made Split, Croatia and Madrid, Spain our homes for almost two years, but Cincinnati has always been our true home. Jay will be headed home January 2 and I will be home at the end of February.

We’ve already shared the news with lots of family and friends. Here are the most common questions we’ve gotten, along with their answers.

Why are we moving home?

Our time abroad was never intended to be permanent. We always knew we wanted to move back to Cincinnati. Our families live in Cincinnati. We are very close to both of our families and have a strong community of friends. It means a lot to be near to them. The two things that bring me the most joy in my life are my family and being abroad. Sadly, it is impossible for me to have both (a fact that brings me much distress)! There is a lot that excites us about going back to Cincinnati, even though we aren’t quite ready to move back. Now is the time though.

If you aren’t quite ready, why are you moving home now?

Jay’s work. Jay has been working at Sanger & Eby since 2002. When we decided we were going to move abroad, they decided to let Jay work remotely. They were a huge factor in making our time abroad go smoothly. Sanger & Eby decided though that it was difficult for Jay to be a part of its growth if he was abroad. They want him in Cincinnati to fully contribute to the team.

After careful consideration, we decided it would be foolish for Jay to give up a job he is really passionate about when we planned to eventually move back to Cincinnati anyways. Many people at Sanger & Eby have become like second family to him. His boss, Mike, and the owners, Donna and Lisa, have helped him develop from a shy intern into a leader in the company. We are both eager to see where Sanger & Eby’s potential leads.

Why aren’t you moving home when Jay does?

It was a difficult decision, but I know I will get a lot out of two more months here. It will give me an opportunity to really immerse myself in the language, especially since I will be living with one of my Spanish colleagues. It will also allow me to finish up a fun large project I have been laboring on at work. It will be much more satisfactory to see it through.

Isn’t it weird to want to be away from your husband? Won’t you miss him?

No, I don’t find it weird. Yes, I will miss him terribly. We are perfectly happy and comfortable with our relationship. We believe our support of each others individual pursuits in life makes our relationship stronger. I am confident I will benefit a lot from my two months here. I’m sure it will fly by and we will together before we know it.

Where are you going to work when you move home?

I don’t know. Work here has discussed with me continuing on as a freelancer. That is the plan right now, but nothing has been formalized. Being abroad and experiencing new working opportunities has definitely cemented for me that I love being a designer. I enjoy solving problems with smart multi-disciplinary teams. I am a very curious person, which is probably the biggest reason I have a passion for traveling, and also one of the main reasons that I love the field of design.

Cincinnati isn’t San Francisco or New York, but there are plenty of opportunities for designers in Cincinnati. It is time for me to learn more about all of the options out there, decide more precisely what I want and to go for it. I’m definitely up for suggestions and advice. I’ll probably be hitting up many of you up individually in the next few months for precisely that.

Where are you going to live when you move home?

We will be joining the ranks of the boomerang generation and invading my parents’ empty nest. Living with my parents for a few months will make the move back to Cincinnati easier and give us an opportunity to save more money for a down payment on a house. Jay and I are lucky to have families who are both more than happy to have us around. Jay will be living with his parents until I get home.

When you do buy a house, in which neighborhood will it be?

No idea. There is so much to consider:

We don’t want to be too far from our families. (My family lives north of the city in West Chester and Jay’s family is 45 minutes away from them, west of the city in Delhi.)
We want to be near a major highway and not too far from downtown (definitely inside the I-275 loop highway).
We’d like to be in a good school district. (We aren’t having kids soon. I don’t know when we will, but when we do we want them to go to a good school, and preferably not a private one because we both had very positive public school experiences.)
I’d also like to be able to walk to places, but I’m not sure how realistic this is.

The good school district makes the biggest challenge. We’ve started perusing online ads in areas like Wyoming, Sycamore, Indian Hills and Madeira just for the fun of it, but houses in those neighborhoods are nearly 50% more than houses in other neighborhoods such as Colerain. We know we can always move again before our non-existent kids go to school, but we feel like housing prices are low now, so we’d be missing a good opportunity if we didn’t buy in a good school district. Of course, we have no idea what the future holds, so we feel silly thinking about all of this now, but buying a house is a huge investment, so here we are, thinking about all of this silly stuff. Once again, I am definitely open to suggestions and advice.

Are you going to stop blogging?

I don’t think so. Even though this blog started out as simply a way to share our adventures abroad with family and friends, its grown for me in meaning and in audience. I’ve always enjoyed writing and keeping a blog has been a new outlet for creativity. The blog will, of course, change. I’m just not sure how it will transform yet.

If you could do it all over again, would you still decide to live abroad?

100% definitely! It may be the best decision we’ve ever made.

Trying to Become Fluent in Spanish

2010-12-05T23:20:51Z

Before I came to Spain I made a goal to become fluent in four months. It was an arbitrary time period and the definition of fluent was pretty arbitrary too, but I wanted to have a goal. Fluent for me is being able to speak without fear of messing up (even though I will always make errors) and to be able to understand native speakers easily whether they are talking to me in person or on the phone or with each other at a million miles a minute.

So, it’s been five months now. Did I achieve my goal? No, not yet. Studying Spanish during high school and at university gave me a good start, but my biggest obstacle is still listening comprehension. I do pretty well in one-on-one conversations because people slow down for me. I get lost quickly when I am trying to understand a conversation between native speakers; they just speak so quickly and often don’t wait for each other to finish sentences. And the same thing happens when watching movies in Spanish. It often becomes a jumble.

Even though I am not quite where I want to be with comprehension, I have made some great improvements overall. I got over the fear hump! I speak without much apprehension. I still trip over my words, but I don’t let it stop me. I can have a conversation in Spanish for hours without a problem – though a bit of Spanglish is always thrown in. My vocabulary has markedly improved, but still has a long way to go. My comprehension is a little better, and the optimist in me says I will eventually get over that hump too, though most days it honestly doesn’t feel like it.

There are still so many things I want to accomplish with my Spanish. Here are some things I have been doing to improve my Spanish skills:

Spanish Classes

Shortly after we arrived in Spain, and before I started working, I took two weeks of intensive Spanish classes at Don Quijote language school. I took five hours of classes a day full of grammar, vocabulary, speaking, and culture. I was actually disappointed that most of my teachers seemed unprepared and taught straight from the book. My class had four teachers in our two weeks, so it was hard for them to get to know our needs. Though a good teacher would’ve been nice, it was still a great way to get my brain accustomed to speaking and hearing Spanish.

Since then I have been taking evening classes at CEE. It is ironic that CEE’s classes are remarkably more affordable, yet I feel like I have gotten so much more out of them. Classes are one hour a day and I usually attend three or four days a week depending on work and travel plans. I’ve had two different teachers. The first teacher I had was one of my favorite Spanish teachers I’ve ever had (after my high school teacher Señorita Bock). He really helped me understand a lot of grammar so I can better say what I intend to say in Spanish.

One of the best things about my Spanish classes are getting to know my classmates who come from all different parts of the world. Along with learning Spanish, I always get a few culture lessons from other countries too. I love learning the little idiosyncrasies. Just the other day I learned that most Europeans pronounce Nike as it would rhyme with bike or like. I’ve always heard my boss refer to it that way and I thought it was just his weird personal quirk. I had no idea it was a peculiarity of millions of people.

Language Exchanges

A language exchange or “intercambio” is a good way to practice speaking a language. I’d meet up with a native Spanish speaker who wanted to learn English and we’d speak in English half the time and Spanish the other half. Though work has put an end to the regularity of my language exchanges, I did quite a few when I first arrived and I met some great people.

I found language exchange partners online through Couchsurfing and Loquo. Jay and I also did a group language exchange through Couchsurfing, which felt like a mixture of speed dating and summer camp. We spoke with lots of different people and played word games.

I liked doing language exchanges because they were a good way to meet people and to have someone to ask all of my language questions. One of my language partner, Noelia, and I would keep a notebook and write down all of our questions that came up though the week. We’d usually walk through a park or the streets of Madrid and then find a bench on which to sit afterwards and ask all of our questions.

Work

Working in a mostly Spanish speaking environment may be doing the most for my Spanish skills. I have to use all of my skills at work. Though my boss speaks perfect English, I speak Spanish with everyone else. I learn vocab and grammar as I write presentations and review my colleagues’ corrections of my errors. I read briefs and write emails in Spanish.

I think my biggest challenges have been a few ideation work sessions recently. Anyone involved in work sessions knows that sometimes everyone seems to be talking at once and when this happens in Spanish I can’t understand a thing. Sometimes I just want to yell, “One at a time, please!”

These sessions are completely exhausting as I use all of my brain power just to keep up with what is going on and then try to contribute on top of that. The first time I spoke up was the most nerve racking experience. It’s one thing to have no fear in the grocery store; its another thing to speak up at work in front of a group of professionals who are all native Spanish speakers. After breaking the ice the first time, I’ve gotten over my fears. I know it’s the ideas that count and not my grammar mistakes.

Anki

I have been using the online program, Anki, to improve my vocabulary. Anki is a spaced repetition flashcard program. It is just like the hand-written flashcards I used back in elementary school for studying, except these are online and use an algorithm to strategically space out how often I see each card. I recommend Anki for anyone trying to learn a new language.

Reading

I usually read for a little bit before going to sleep, so I have been trying to stick to Spanish language books. I recently started reading Paulo Coelho’s El Peregrino on Jay’s Kindle. I was loving the embedded Spanish English dictionary we bought for the Kindle – I could just hover the cursor over a Spanish word that I did not know, and the English translation would automatically display along the bottom of the screen. It was so useful for learning new vocabulary. I hope the thieves that stole all of our stuff last weekend are enjoying it too (sarcasm).

Podcasts

My walk to work is about 30 minutes and I have found that Spanish Language podcasts are a great way to productively spend that time. I definitely think it is helping my listening comprehension. The podcasts have really brought to my attention how much different accents trip me up. Even though South American Spanish speakers are generally thought to speak clearer, I find them very difficult. I do the best with native Madrid speakers since that is what I am becoming accustomed to.

My favorite podcasts are Nómadas and Viajeros del Mundo, two travel podcasts that take me around the world. The vocabulary is usually pretty basic so I can follow the story and they always give me ideas for new places I want to visit.

Movies

I make an effort to watch movies in Spanish with English subtitles to try to help my listening comprehension. The English subtitles are there so Jay can understand the movie and so I don’t get completely lost, but I find that I just read instead of listen. I’m not quite sure how much help they are.

Regardless, this has been a good compromising tool for Jay and I. I never wanted to watch all of the Godfather and the Star Wars movies, but I agreed to do it if we could watch them in Spanish. The Spanish voices definitely add a comedic element to the movies for us.

I know that when I move back to Cincinnati many of these efforts will consequently fall off the list, but I hope I have enough willpower to keep up a lot of them so that I continually improve. At times I feel desperate about my lack of comprehension skills. I often feel like I am just hitting a brick wall. I’m always looking for new ideas to improve. Anyone have language learning advice that worked for them, whether in the native environment or at home?