Touristy Reel

As the saying goes, when in Rome, see the Colosseum.  Let's be realistic, no one wants to do as the Romans actually do.  Not to mention, no one really wants to see photos of your trip like a Roman.  They want to see the Colosseum, Pantheon, and the Trevi Fountain.  All of the places that I'm sure most Romans tend to avoid.  The only time that I head to the Guggenheim is when I have visitors or when I want to people watch.  Therefore, I will give people what they want, some doctored up, touristy photos from my last vacation.

In front of the Puppy and the Guggenheim.

The Spider, Guggenheim.

The beach in San Sebastian.

The Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.

The Palazzo Vecchio at night.

The Ponte Vecchio, Florence.

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence.

Drinking wine in Italy.

The Vatican museum, Vatican City.

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City.

Inside of St. Peter's.

Inside the Colosseum, Rome.

Outside the Colosseum.

Trevi Fountain, Rome.

The Pantheon, Rome.

The Sagrada Familia, Barcelona.

Barcelona football match at Camp Nou.

A year in review

It has been exactly 1 year today since I first touched down in Bilbao.  When I began this journey, I wasn't quite 100% sure what to expect.  Ok, I was about 15% sure.  I knew that I was going to Bilbao, Spain and I knew that I was going to receive a grant to "teach" English.  Let's see how it panned out.

By the numbers:

20 Approximate # of hours that I worked a week during the year.

2 Different summer camps I worked at in Spain.

12 Countries that I visited in the last year.

2 Continents I set foot on.

4 Long duration trips that I took.

14 Different plane flights.

2 Road trips in a car.

0 Number of times I went home.

8 People that have came to visit from the United States.

7 Of the people being first time visitors to Europe.

15 The number of months I will have been in Europe before going home for a "vacation".

2:30 a.m., time when I had to wake up to watch most of the Packer's games.

Stay tuned.

ABC's of Travel

I was tagged by Liz to give my ABC's of travel.

A: Age you went on your first international trip:  My first international trip landed me in sunny Costa Rica when I was a mere 17 years of age.

B: Best (foreign) beer you’ve had and where:  My favorite foreign beer was a Kozel in Prague, Czech Republic.  

C: Cuisine (favorite): Nobody can deny that each country has it's dish that keeps one yearning for more; Spain's tortilla, Italy's pizza, and USA's buffalo chicken pizza.  However, the two countries that keep me wanting more are the Czech Republic's dumplings and Argentina's grilled meat with chimichurri sauce.  The best meal that I ever had was a sausage and mixed vegetable tortilla cooked in a large cast-iron pan over an open flame, cooked by an Argentinean in the north woods of Minnesota.

D: Destinations, favorite, least favorite and why:  My favorite destination to this point was Salzburg.  I'm not sure why it stays at the top of my list besides the beautiful surrounding of the picturesque alps and it's lake district that surrounds it.  My least favorite place by a long shot is the hole in the wall town of Mulhouse, France.  I honestly cannot say one good thing about Mulhouse.  The food was overpriced, the hotel was overpriced, and the old town was boarded up.

E: Event you experienced abroad that made you say “wow”:  The pictures in my previous post speak for themselves.  The Los Gansos of Leiketio, Spain.

F: Favorite mode of transportation:  I absolutely love the concept of trains.  Easy on, easy off, and magnificent unspoiled landscapes to take in.  Unfortunately, quite expensive.

G: Greatest feeling while traveling:  The "wow" effect.

H: Hottest place you’ve traveled to: Marrakech, Morocco.  I remember eating breakfast on the top of our Riad and thinking "Wow, it is hot!".  I kept thinking that the sun was bigger and closer, which it might have been.

I: Incredible service you’ve experienced and where:  The United States of America.  

J: Journey that took the longest: When I traveled to Vienna from Valladolid for the first leg of my study abroad spring break. I took a plane from Valladolid to London, London to Bratislava, and a bus from Bratislava to Vienna.  I think that the whole trip took around 16 hours.

K: Keepsake from your travels: Pictures.  I'm a true believer that a picture is worth at least a thousand words.

L: Let-down sight, why and where:  Palatine Hill, Rome.  Difficult to see the history that accompanies the famous Roman Empire.

M: Moment where you fell in love with travel: As a child my parents always took me on plenty of road trips and I fell in love with national travel on one of our trips to the Wyoming, North Dakota, Colorado areas.  I first fell in love with international travel when I traveled to Costa Rica. 

N: Nicest hotel you’ve stayed in:  The nicest hotel that I have ever stayed in was the Mamaison Riverside Hotel in Prague.  It had the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in in my life. 

O: Obsession—what are you obsessed with taking pictures of while traveling?:  I love taking pictures of signs and English graffiti.

P: Passport stamps, how many and from where? 23 stamps.  Madrid, O'hare, Bratislava, London, Morocco, Dublin, Berlin, Czech Republic, etc.

Q: Quirkiest attraction you’ve visited and where:  Anything in Las Vegas. 

R: Recommended sight, event or experience: I really recommend going to see the Las Fallas festival in Valencia, Spain.

S: Splurge; something you have no problem forking over money for while traveling: As of lately I have realized the value of a good massage to relieve must needed stress that travel inflects on the human body.

T: Touristy thing you’ve done: Leaning Tower of Pisa posed picture.  "Oh look, I'm pushing this tower on you!  I must be strong".

U: Unforgettable travel memory: Too many to count.  Sweat Lodge on the Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation, Wisconsin was pretty unforgettable.

V: Visas, how many and for where? Two visas, both for Spain and "educational" purposes.

W: Wine, best glass of wine while traveling and where?  I never drank wine or coffee before I came to Spain, and for good reason.  I love a good Spanish Rioja.  

X: eXcellent view and from where?: The top of Ganekogorta mountain in Pais Vasco, Spain.

Y: Years spent traveling?: I have been traveling since I was a baby, but I have been traveling abroad for nearly a year and a half total.

Z: Zealous sports fans and where?: Spanish sports fans are fanatics of their football, but nothing beats the people of Wisconsin for their local teams.  Rain, Shine, hail, below freezing temperatures, nothing can keep these fans from seeing their favorite teams.


Now I have to tag people who I would like to do their own ABC's of travel.


Tony
Melissa
Kyle

Festival of the Geese

 "El Día de gansos' in Spanish or 'Antzar eguna' in Basque is a festival/game that has been a constant in Pais Vasco since the beginnings of the 18th century.  "The game of the geese", as its translated from Spanish, originated as a contest for all of the young men in the region to compete and to introduce themselves to the women of the region.  Showing off their medal as it was.  The original game itself was quite easy to understand.  Each strapping young gentleman was mounted on horseback with nothing other than the clothes on his back.  Then, an undetermined quantity of live geese were tethered to rope on the side of a path or road.  The objective of the horseman was to gallop his horse at full speed and separate the geese's head from its body at the neck using nothing more than his bare hands.  Simple huh?


However, like every good sport, there has to be some form of evolution to keep the sport more interesting, challenging, and more/less barbaric.  Consequently, in 1824, after what seems to have been a rough year of merchandise sales and overall discontent with the melancholy of the game, the town hall decided that they were going to ditch the reliable steeds for oars and a boat.  Needless to say the town overcome with joy and were reinvested in this new found challenge.  The new track required the teams to row out and around the island, eventually reaching the point at which the goose was hung and the captain of the ship attempted to once again separate the head from the body with his bare hands.  


In 1818, the festival began to be celebrated in Lekeitio. Where it was moved from a maritime to a landlocked game in one of Lekeitio's "plazas".  However, even with the move the objective continued to remain the same; catch the goose and separate the head from the body.  Shortly after about the 1850's the towns people thought it a good idea to add alcohol, specifically wine, which became a constant ever since. I suppose they thought it would make the games a bit more interesting when the participants were slightly impaired.


During the 1920's the barbaric practice was brought under review.  Moreover, a local new reporter argued that using a live goose was overly barbaric.  Now sometime between then and now it was decided that the geese should be sacrificed and dead prior to getting their heads separated from their bodies.  The present day "game" takes place in Lekeitio's harbor where boats full of Spanish "cuadrillas" (loose translation: tight-knit friend groups) attempt to separate as many heads from the bodies of geese that hangs suspended from a rope/wire that traverses the harbor.  Once the man dressed in white grabs the goose, they wrap their arms and body around the neck and drop themselves into the water.  Once the wire has cleared the boats path, a group of men who are holding the rope at one end (the other is tied to a fixed object on the other side of the harbor) run forward, catapulting the goose wrangler a good 50 feet into the air.  It seems like a great time until you realize that what goes up, must come down.  Coincidently, with great reward comes the possibility of great sacrifice (or at least a day or two in the hospital).  Needless to say that this gruesome festival is a must see and I recommend it to all

Beautiful Lekeitio.

Rowers to your boats.

Don't forget your protest flags.

Gotta love the Independetzia sign in the background.

There were about 20 Red Cross first responders at the event.

Obviously the anticipation wasn't enough to occupy some people.

And were off.  All the boats start in front of the Independentzia sign.

Key in on the guy standing next to the man in the orange hat.

When you get to the goose, you grab it.

Then you tuck in under your arm.  Make sure you have a good grip.

After you have your grip, jump in the water.

Within a matter of seconds you will be catapulted into the air.

With the possibility of twisting, turning and the occasional flipping here and there.

If you separate the head, you get the goose!

If you land awkwardly, you get to go to the hospital.

Those who aren't thrown into the air, celebrate.

Those who do...

Beautiful church.

Add goose and man dressed in white.

Or grey sweatshirt. 

Friends cheering on an obvious hospital worthy fall.

Quite a spectator sport.

And of course, there's always room for political protest in the Basque country.

 Below you'll find my list of sources if you want to look further into the festival.  If your interested in video check out http://www.lizenespana.com/2011/09/los-gansos-or-things-that-make-you-say.html or on youtube.  Until next time.




http://www.conocerbilbao.com/antzar-eguna-dia-del-ganso-en-lekeitio/
http://www.elcorreo.com/vizcaya/multimedia/fotos/ultimos/83631-gansos-lekeitio-0.html
http://www.euskomedia.org/aunamendi/60640/44731
http://www.euskomedia.org/PDFAnlt/zainak/15/15101139.pdf