A taste of Spain: 4 cities, 6 nights, numerous tapas, countless fountains

On my one-year anniversary of my move to the United Kingdom, my friend and I boarded a flight to Madrid, Spain and so began my first, ‘independent’ European holiday. By independent, I mean that I took on the role of Travel Agent and every expense, down to the last Euro cent, was mine. As this was the case, we did Spain on a mega shoestring budget! Even I, cheapskate that I am, was impressed. However, while triumphantly securing return flights, transport between cities once in Spain and six nights in two hostels for about 280 pounds, I had failed to consider how much I would be spending on tapas. These delicious dishes took up a decidedly large portion of our budget (which we soon exceeded) but I regret not one of them. OK, maybe just one of them. Accompanying us on the trip was my “Get by in Spanish” book and the fragments of basic Spanish my brain decided to remember from the few Spanish classes I took while living in the U.S. Although I failed to get past page 1 before embarking on our holiday, I did somehow manage to “get by”, even though my nose may have been burrowed in the book numerous times throughout our little vacation. I am now rather confident at saying hello, asking where something is, asking how much something is, asking for the bill, asking for the bathroom and, of course, ordering food.

Our plane arrived in Spain’s capital, Madrid, after midnight. We then took a night bus from the airport to our hostel. The hostel’s name, Hostel One Centro, did not disappoint. In the early hours of Sunday morning, the center of  Madrid was alive and buzzing with hordes of people, most young, walking between bars and chatting loudly in groups outside. This was clearly the place to go out at night. Our hostel was a two minute walk from the popular Sol station. After meeting the friendly, helpful staff and retrieving a map of Madrid, newly marked with suggestions of where to go during our stay (we soon found out that the people of Spain love drawing on maps), we gladly collapsed into bed for a few hours of sleep before our first adventure of Spain began.

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Snowing in London, Round 2: After the snow falls

So prediction was very wrong. Snow did come again. This is a good thing. As long as it doesn’t come between me and my flight to Spain this weekend!

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White London: My first UK snow experience

So the snow arrived two months late for a white Christmas and it didn’t last very long, but hey, it happened! And it was a lot better than the one or two five-minute shows that happened beforehand. My friends might say it was just sleet but I still maintain it snowed very lightly for a few minutes (unless our neighbour’s black cat has dandruff). OK, fine, maybe I was overeager.

Nevertheless, the snow finally came a few nights ago and I have to admit that it is a pretty magical event. Maybe more so because I can count on two hands the amount of times I have ever been in snow. The next morning, I walked down the block to King George’s Park to catch some of the wintery prettiness on camera.

I’m hoping there’s more to come. Unfortunately, sunny skies today suggests it’s unlikely. I’ve been in London long enough now to know that I shouldn’t complain about this. So I won’t. At least not out loud.

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Christmas 2011: The Lake District

Four friends and I spent three nights in the Lake District over Christmas, in Windermere to be precise. We had booked a train from London to Manchester and hired a car from Manchester to take us to Windermere, where we were to stay in the Windermere Marina Village.

We hadn’t even left London before I began to realise that ‘survival of the fittest’ would be at play during our wee Christmas break.

ATP World Tour – O2 Arena, London

My brother surprised me with a ticket to join him at last night’s ATP World Tour. Two of men’s tennis’ biggest names were going to battle it out on the O2 arena in North Greenwich in South-East London; Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, the latter of whom I was told has SA heritage (which subsequently makes him another one of South Africa’s great sports ambassadors, as I like to think).

This was my first time to the Arena and it was pretty impressive. Strangely enough, it reminded me of Grand West in Cape Town, except without the casino and stunning location. The number of world-class events and international names that grace the huge stadium’s floors make up for that though.

Cycling London, Monopoly style, to Foster the People, round 2

This past weekend, I finally got back onto one of those fine creations known as a Barclays/Boris bike for a second time since living in London (if I had my way, I would be doing it a lot more often)! I met up with a small group at the market outside Waterloo Station. On this day, the theme was tea and coffee, a great occasion for the cold chill in the air brought about by the beginnings of winter weather (I like to think we’re in the middle of it now but have been warned about a ‘late winter’ of which I’m becoming increasingly nervous). There was a great variety of teas and coffees coupled with humongous, delicious smelling treats and even a little area for talks on the topic.

We hung around for a cup of hot tea or coffee and soon discussed the game we were planning to play. Splitting up into two teams (based on who wanted to ride a bike and who wanted to walk/use public transport with more than two wheels), we each received a monopoly board and a map. We set the time for an hour and a half. In this time, we were to find as many streets as possible listed on the monopoly board, finding a stranger each time who could take a picture of all the team members and the monopoly board. During the way, we were to look out for the pieces of the game – a dog, a top hat, an  iron, a thimble and a boot – and take pictures of them.

London’s G’s: Gigs, Greenery and Guy (Fawkes)

On the weekend of Guy Fawkes day, I had the pleasure of seeing Incubus live in north London on Friday night, and enjoyed a fun-filled, packed Saturday complete with studies, socialising, yummy food and a 5 hour boat cruise on the Thames underneath the famous Battersea fireworks display.

Friday night venue – Alexandria Palace. This venue was a first for me. It reminded me of a London music festival (the same food and drinks companies could have had something to do with this), only it was for a few hours instead of a weekend and it was indoors. And what an indoors it was! Alexandria Palace seems pretty fancy schmancy. It was a great venue, even if I was about one line from the back of the crowd (We somehow missed Incubus starting on stage and completely missed the band beforehand!)

Birthday Bogan Bingo

My friend and I celebrated our 26th birthdays with Bogan Bingo, held at The Underdog bar across the road from Clapham Common station. This same friend and I had stumbled upon the Underdog and its Thursday bogan bingo sessions on St Paddy’s day this year and thought the whole idea seemed a lot of fun. Coming into the game a little late, I wasn’t sure what exactly was going on. All I knew was that the hosts were crazy Australians dressed as trailer trash, the music was rocking 80s, and the bingo players shouted random rhymes for certain numbers. There were two games of bingo and we came in right before the second one, so we witnessed the half-time air guitar competition.

Reading Fest 2011

A weekend or so ago, my four-man Kiwi crew and I headed to Reading for the music fest about an hour’s drive west of London. Organised months before, we met at Embankment and boarded our coach to our destination on a sunny Thursday. Unfortunately, a little while into the drive, in typical English style, it clouded over and began to rain. Having known about the rainy forecast, however, we were prepared, trademark festival wellies on foot and ponchos on hand.

Since we arrived relatively early (the bands were only starting the following day), we found a pretty good spot, about ten minutes from the entrance and about the same distance to the main arena. At least, it seemed like a good place at the time. Unfortunately, persistent drizzling into the next morning made our spot a lot less pleasant.

Sunny Summer Sundays: Lunch at the Grand Union, Wandsworth

Last Sunday was one of those lazy Sundays – the best kind.

My friend, Jenna, and I planned to watch a movie at Southside, which is about a twenty or so minute walk from where we live in Earlsfield.

Before our movie, we thought we’d have lunch somewhere close by. We decided on the Grand Union, Wandsworth.