Hello...

Everyone that knows us, knows that we enjoy making short 'get-aways', short trips to relax and see new places. When we lived in Bogotá, we used to take our car and go to warmer places, just for a weekend, or to small towns. Every 'Holy week' (Easter) was a perfect excuse for a trip with friends, we had many and they were very good, and we even did a long trip along Colombia, with the excuse of getting a diving certificate :P
Now that we live in Europe, we have the perfect excuse to travel: to see each other!, we have tried to see new places and to make the most of our short time.
We decided to start this blog, as a memory of many trips and those to come, to give the tips that we've learned and to tell you about our 'adventures'.
Since Sergio is not a very elocuent writer (or talker for that matter) I will probably write most of the entries.  With time, I hope to collect here all of our trip memories, and to have it as a way to remember friends, places, moments, when our own memory fails us :D

Porto and Finisterra

And every photo we had was stolen!

There is always a catalyst, something that gives you a push, this trip was our catalyst to write this blog.

I had in my wish list (a very long list, I know) to see the end of the earth. So my tour agent, Sergio, got Ryanair tickets to Oporto, and we rented a car in Portugal, just a couple of hours away from Cape Finisterre.
We were smart enough to pay full insurance for the car, and we got a room in a cheap hotel: Hotel Premium Porto - Centro, they offered nice rooms and in house parking, so that was everything we needed. The hotel was in an area of not so nice houses, many of them seemed abandoned, and we got a room in the 1 floor (not the ground-floor, for my non european friends). And I kept thinking how easy it could be to just go in the room and run in to the abandoned houses across the street. And as every self fulfilling prophecy, it was my own fear what got us into trouble.
The first day we strolled around Porto, a very picturesque city, the colors and the old architecture create an amazing environment.
The second day we went to Finisterre, and it was as amazing as one can imagine. It is really beautiful and standing in the edge of the rock, one can really understand why they thought it was the end of the world. At this location, many pilgrims end their Camino de Santiago trip, a spiritual walk to honor the apostle Saint James the Great passing through the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Sergio asked a street vendor, the only person other than us there, where should we eat, and following her recommendation, we ate in a local fisherman restaurant what was probably the best fish I have ever tasted, and Sergio overdosed in fresh clams. We took the rest of the day to visit Santiago de Compostela, with a cathedral as impressive as it can be.  The town is small and very symmetric, it gives a movie feeling.

On our second day we went the other way, towards Fatima. This sanctuary is very well known, and a very nice structure. On this day, I asked Sergio to take his bags with him. It so happens that we bought a new 2 TB external hard drive, thinking that our pictures were only stored in Sergio's laptop and in our small hds,  So, something that should not had happened, that both our external drives were in the same place, plus his laptop, plus the new external drive, happened. And because I was scared of someone entering our room, everything went to the car trunk.  We left our rental car in the official parking lot of the sanctuary, Sergio's bag (with all the electronics) was in the trunk and his laptop was under the driver's seat, not on the open view. Sergio left also his jacket in the car, and he forgot to take his passport out (OUCH). When we came out of the sanctuary, the car electric system was totally kaputt, the thieves had broken in, they took the laptop and Sergio´s bag, gladly, they left the jacket there, so at least we had our documents. And gladly, the car was fully insured, because the key system was not working after that.  We went to the police, and they were very nice, but told us that it was very common for rental cars to be robbed of their contents (so if you rent a car in Portugal, get the full insurance, just in case). He took our data, but told us that very likely we will never see our things again.  And that is how we lost all of our pictures, 11 years of pictures gone. Plus some family pictures.
That was the end of the trip for us, the remaining day and a half we were just walking around Porto,to sad and angry to care about sightseeing.
We are active(annoying) facebook sharers, because our families follow our steps through the pictures we post there. And thanks to facebook, we recovered some of the pictures, and we decided to start this blog and to store out pictures in as many places as possible.

Rome

Mika was the author of this trip theme song: Rain!
Baby, I hate days like this!
Dear reader, I must confess: I am a history junkie, Europe is my dealer and Sergio is helping me overdose...
If you know a bit of history, you will have, like me, some dreams about amazing civilizations, vivid images of what lost times look like, and an amazing need to see it all, to stand where they stood.
Rome is one of those places where sooo many things have happened, one can not stop digging. From pagan Romans, to catholic crusaders, from the Pantheon to St. Peter's Basilica, passing through the amazing food and people.
We used Ryanair, the cheap airline of Europe, to get to Rome. At this time, one could get flights for as low as 20 euros each way!, and that is what we did. We took the Ryanair bus service to get to Rome central station Termini (5 Euros each). If you don't know Ryanair, you will probably not like it, they are not the nicest customer service, they try to get your money for anything extra, and they treat passengers like cattle.  Now try to see it their way: they cut expenses by using as little personnel as possible, so time is reduced, they can not just chat with you. They offer you a very cheap basic service, and any additional commodity is for charge, so if you read carefully and follow the rules (print your ticket!, your bag should fit the space and weight restrictions, if you are not European, you should do a visa check on arrival to the airport, etc.) you will have absolutely no problem, and you will travel incredibly cheap. So we are very happy with Ryanair, and we enjoy paying very little and being able to travel a lot.

Again we took a city sightseeing bus. No, we are not getting money for advertisement :).
This company serves most major cities, and is an amazing way of seeing the city when your time and money are limited.  In Rome there is something called the Rome Pass, it may be interesting if you have more time than we did.

As I said before, Sergio helps me overdose.  He found an amazing audio guide for the coliseum, which meant that we circled the coliseum, following the guide, around 5 times! (maybe I exaggerate, but is my right as a Latin woman).  So, a word of advise... avoid taking new heel shoes for long walks... :(
The coliseum is impressive, not only historically, but also architecturally.  Is a brilliantly constructed space, planned for theatrical spectacles, It has galleys planned for the underground (and out of sight) movement of gladiators and wild beasts, it was even planned so it could be flooded for the recreation of maritime battles . In the ruins you can definitely appreciate the grandeur, is worth the money and the line (And the feet blisters).
It rained the whole day, and at a point, it was raining so hard that i was hard to plainly walk. So there we were, trying to get to the Isola Tiberina, and the rain was hitting us hard. My new shoes were dirty  and damaged beyond repair (suede), and my feet where aching so badly, I could barely give another step.  So I had a tantrum, and started crying, and Sergio did what Sergio does, he was bursting in laughter, and started singing, 'When it rain and rain and rain and rain', I wanted to kill him, and to this day, he is banned from singing that song.
 Gladly, the sun came out again, and we could happily stroll through the beautiful Piazza Navona, walk on the Spanish steps.
You may have heard the story about the The Trevi Fountain, you have to trow a coin using your right hand over your left shoulder in order to come back to Rome. According to wikipedia, around 3000 euros are collected every night from travelers that wish to come back.  Gladly this money is used to help people in need.

There are so many places worth a visit.  You have to plan your trip, and accommodate your schedule so you can see most of it. I think one month in Rome would not be enough to really visit the well known touristic spots, so if you, like us, have only one week, plan ahead, and take comfortable shoes.
 One additional remark I want to make is about the Pantheon, the building is 43.3 meters high (150 roman feet). It is the world largest unreinforced concrete dome. The oculus is 9.1 meters in diameter.The oculus illuminates different altars during the day, like a spot light, besides is the only opening (window) to allow flow of air and light. There are many more mysteries about this building, all of them are worth a read.



 Last on this trip, let's talk about the Vatican city. The smallest county in the world. This was one of the most interesting visits I have ever done. For this visit we booked a tour via viator, and it was a great idea.  There are many guides outside of the vatican trying to sell their tours and are very aggressive (there is even a discovery channel documentary about their aggressive ways). The tour was great, very informative, but it had the disadvantage of forcing us to move fast in places where we could have stayed forever. Sadly, the sixtine chapel is just a stop and go, with or without tour, you are not allowed to take pictures or stay there for long.  The guides will explain the main points about the chapel outside, using pictures, and then you can go in and see the true masterpiece, Our guide was amazing and he helped us find a space so we could appreciate all the details and all the magnificence. One needs to know just a little about Michael Angelo, and the beauty and perfection of his painting to be amazed to only be in there. A few years later I came back with my mom, and I realized that most people are only passing through the chapel, without even looking up, to busy following the tour schedule, very sad. In this room, one should take a deep breath, and imagine it alone as it should be, just the amazing murals, the wonderful ceiling, and the genius behind it.  The basilica is another work of art. And there one can also appreciate The Pieta, a piece of art so perfect it hurts. The architectural magnificence of the Basilica and the richness of its interiors are definitely worth an entire day to admire, we had no time to go up the dome, but in the next opportunity I have, I will go up there and marvel myself with the size of the inscriptions, where each letter is 2 meters high.

Rome is an amazing city to get lost.

Avila y Toledo

First Christmas in Europe!
Sergio's family was very nice to us, they invited us to spend the holidays with them, and they took us around town and to the surroundings of Madrid. One of the trips was to Avila and Toledo, where they have friends. Not only was it great to see the beautiful towns, but to meet such nice people!.

A highlight of the trip was to see Sergio watching snow fall for the first time, a face to remember.

Paris for the first time

August 2009
If you, like me, have lived away from this amazing city, and have all sorts of movie style drams about it, you can imagine how it was for me to go there for the first time.
We planned this trip for our anniversary in 2009 (August), our first anniversary in Europe. We meet in CDG airport and planned a visit to all major monuments and attractions, including one day for Disneyland Europe.

We stayed at the Suitehotel in Port de la Chapelle, a little bit far from the center, but an amazing room and very price-friendly. (We learned next year that the area has been dramatically worsened, becoming even dangerous, only rumors of course)
We took the metro to the city center, and then we started our now beloved hop on hop off tour. Going to the main sight seeings and walking around as much as we could.

The first sight of the tower is an amazing emotion. The magnificence of the structure piled with all the magic that surrounds it, makes this first time just perfect, even more by the hand of the love one.

We went up, to the top, and the view of Paris was amazing! (I don't have more words to describe it, it is just perfect) Of course, it was far away from the romantic idea of only the two lovers in the top of the tower!, going up required a veeeeery long line, a security check and a very crowded way up, but it is worth it!

This trip made us understand the meaning of SUMMER! we were dying! it was soo hot and our feet were aching from all the walking, we had to join the crowd in putting our feet in the water, inside some fonts, it was a funny experience and a refreshing one ;)

A very recommended experience is the boat trip, seeing the tower and all other amazing buildings from the river is simply perfect.

In the Louvre, we tried to grasp as much art as we could on the short time that we had, and as many tourist for the first time, we were disappointed with the Monalisa, and in love with so many other amazing paintings.  The feeling is weird, so much beauty, so much art, so many things to see and to enjoy, is an overflow of wonders that the brain can not take all at once.  I believe that to fully enjoy the Louvre, one needs at least a week, leaving off many things and only seeing the famous ones, and even then, one would be short of time.

I don't think I need to describe each of the marvelous things in Paris, the Arc du Thriump is beautiful, and the city is designed in such a way, so everything converges to this main sights.
The Sacre Coeur cathedral and the surroundings are breathtaking, and the Dali house in Mont-martre is a great museum for us fans of his eccentric mind. Notre Dame is as impressive as it comes, every corner has amazing details, inside and out, we did not had a chance to go up, we'll do it next time, along with a more detailed visit of the Mouline Rouge.

Walking through the Champs Elissee, having ice cream by the river, or discovering the light show in the tower at night, those are the things that can't be told, they have to be experienced!.

Disneyland Europe was a fun day, a lot of lines, but a lot of fun, we had the chance to play and enjoy ourselves, and we experienced a magnificent fire works show at midnight, that was much more than we had imagined.

Amsterdam and Brussels

Sergio surprised me in Aachen. He arrived to Spain, and his first question to me was, how do you get to your place?, I answered with a joke, I said I take a bus and say 'bis Haaren Markt bitte', in spanish it sounded like 'bisjarenmar bite'. If you know German, you will notice that it is plainly wrong, and even worst, Haaren Markt is the name of a bus stop, not a street or anything.  I had shown Sergio some pictures of the area, and without any other clue, he decided to try to find me. I have no idea how he did it. He asked someone showing them the spanish pronuntiation of what I said, he then took a cab to Haaren, and by the picture he found the building. My name was not even in the door, but he found Malak's name. He ringed on her door, and she took him to my room. It was the most amazing surprise ever!.
We took the chance to go to Amsterdam and Brussels.
We took a train to Amsterdam, It was summer!!! but maaan it was cold! thank God for H&M, cause I had to get pants in there. We walked around the beautiful channels, and were amazed by the amount if bikes, I think I've never seen so many before. We walked in to the red district, and it was an interesting experience. Later that day we went to Madame Tussauds, it was our first time in a wax museum, and we enjoyed it a lot!

 

We slept on a very cold train station, and we were kicked out of there, so we ended up sleeping in the airport. Next day we were very tired, but still we enjoyed a touristic bus in Brussels.
The Atomium is amazing! very impressive and very beautiful.
Brussels seemed very gray to us, but maybe it had to do with the fact that we were very tired. I spent the whole day (a sunday in Europe, everything was closed) looking for a pair of socks!!! I was freezing! 

Llegando a Europa-Aachen

June 2009
After several decisions, we ended up traveling to Europe.  I traveled on June 24 of 2009.  My future advisor (I came to Germany to pursue a PHD) kindly offered himself to pick me up at the main train station in Aachen.  So apparently it was easy, arrive to the airport and then take the train to Aachen.  My plan was to arrive to Madrid airport and 2 hours later to get out of there to Dusseldorf airport. The first problem was in Bogota's airport... My bag was to heavy, so my brother got me a new one, and in the middle of the airport I had to transfer things from one bag to the other, which means that I was not sure what I had in each bag...  Then I forgot to ask for the second boarding pass, and the girl in the counter forgot to give it to me... So I went in to the flight very exited, it was my first over-seas flight! -I should point that everyone in my family was very worried, since just a few weeks before my trip, an Air France airplane had crashed when going from Brasil to France... :D-

So I arrived in Madrid, and I went to the counter in the gates to get my new boarding pass, this was hell! There was a really long line and the movement was very slow, since people with problems like mine where combined in the same line with people with bigger problems, like losing a transfer flight or so.  It was time to get my other flight and I was still only getting the pass.  If you know Madrid's airport, you will understand why I was worried: it takes something like 20 minutes to go from the customs agents to the doors.  Gladly my plane was delayed, so I got to the door just in time to board -yet I was worried about my advisor waiting for me...-

So I managed to get to Dusseldorf.  Once there I found out that one of my bags was missing.  Since my german was pretty much patetic at that point, I got in the wrong line, and after 1 hour they told me that lost baggage for my airline was elsewhere... so I went there and they asked me for a phone number, for when they   found my bag - I HAD NO PHONE!!! It was my first day there.. so no phone, only an address for where I was supposed to live...

Then I run to see how to get the train.  We don't have a train system in my country, and I've never taken a train between cities before this day, so I had no idea how this worked, or where to take the connecting train, or where to read, where to get the connecting train, I had a really heavy big bag (thank God they misplaced the other one) and a hand bag, a jacket, a purse... I was stressed, and I even had a wrong pair of shoes (clogs, that kept flying away on every stair).  Finally a nice man helped me, he explained to me how to read the train charts (yes, I could have figure that out on my own, if I wasn't as stressed as I was)  and then he pointed the platform that I should reach.  I asked for an elevator, he said there was none (he probably didn't knew there is an elevator in each platform of Dusseldorf's main station) so I went down stairs and back again with all my things, I was dying.  My advisor was waiting for me at 8 pm.  It was 10 and I was just taking the train.  At midnight, I arrived to Aachen.  I was alone, really stressed and did not know what to do next.  So I sat in the station, next to a blond man -the other bench had a homeless guy, so easy choice- I took my laptop and I used my credit card to pay for internet, I started writing to my boyfriend in windows live msn, since I know this program records messages even when the other person is not connected -he wasn't connected, none of my friends or family was- and I wrote something like:

"I'm alone, it's very late, Iberia lost one of my bags, I think there no one here waiting for me anymore"

My next line would have been: I will wait here for a while and I will look for a hotel online, then I will take a cab and go to a hotel... BUUUT I realized that they may close the station, since it was very late and we were the only ones there... so I asked the blond guy, if he knew what time did they closed the station, he answered he believed they didn't -of course the conversation went by in English-. Then he asked me 'are you Sonia Vivas?' my Colombian instinct was crying: 'he saw your credit card! run! you are dead! did you saw the movie The Hostal ? that is you!', yet I behaved like a not crazy person and I answered yes, he showed me the picture of me he had (a black and white photocopy of my Toefl test results, which is probably the worst picture of myself until today) and of course he did not look at all like the picture I had... but anyways we trusted each other, I closed my laptop without further writing, and he took me to my room. He had to lend me sheets and a pillow, since my sheets were in the other bag, and of course I did not had a pillow with me.

The next day he picked me up (yes, I know, he is a great person, and a great advisor), and I meet Malak, who lived in the same building as me, and taught me about the bus lines and about the phone cards.  I'll go to Malak again, since she became a very important part of my life. But first, phone calls... For my family, a day and a half had past without any news of me.  In any other family this may seem normal, but not in mine.  We are all really connected, and they were all screaming and crying, they made Sergio send an email to my advisor in Colombia (Rodrigo, another excellent man), who of course didn't knew anything about me either.  The only information they had was my pathetic "I'm alone..." message, you can imagine how they felt.

So I called them, they yelled at me, and yelled, and yelled... but then they were happy I was alive.  They were fantastic new days, and in the whole process getting to start a new live, there was a lot of fun.  

Thanks to Malak, I found my way very easily in the town, and I had a lot of fun with her. A month later we both moved out to a building closer to our office, where we live next to each other, and share a balcony. I believe she is an amazing person and an important piece in my life.