Heidelberg, Germany

Went for a day trip to Heidelberg yesterday. Drove on the otobon not sure of the spelling but it´s the highway where there´s places with no speed limits. Heidleberg was awesome! there was a pharmacy museum which was basically an old herbal dispensary which i´ve learned about at college so it was amazing for me to see. there was a castle and some amazing vegan friendly sweet shops i was well fed :) A fireworks show too!

BARCELONA!

So September 4th has to be one of the best days of my life. I took a train from Madrid to Barcelona. I got to watch the sun rise which i kind of forgot was an actual activity since it´s usually well high in the sky when i wake up. It was really beautiful. Watching the Spanish country side with the sun slowly painting the sky different shades of warm hues. When I got to Barcelona I found the train station that i was to be leaving out of later that day but there was no luggage lockers so i went to the north bus station to find a place for my pack. I then went to The city hall where there is a bike meet every morning (barcelonabiking.com) I was the only one to show up for that day so i got my own private bike tour. About 3 and a half hours it was some great information. There was a whole building that they moved stone by stone which took 50years just to make way for a main street. It´s really neat to see buildings older then the county i live in. I took a dip in the ocean. I swerved through heavy traffic (on bike) following my safety first guide and remembered why i had my travel insurance with me at all times. It was a bit of a white knuckle ride but I really recommend it. It really helped me see the city and find places easily later. After the bike ride I went to the BioCenter an awesome Vegan-friendly restaurant. I got Gazpacho, salad, main dish of the day, cerveza and a dessert all for under 12€. Then it was a walk along the Ramblas (which means dried river, which long long ago it used to be but now it´s one of the most popular places in Barcelona for a walk) to the famous house of Antoni Gaudi which was amazing and breath taking. I went to courting Ingles (it´s a huge chain of supermarket in Spain with everything. Like a classy wal-mart with more then 7 floors, it has everything) for some vegan mint chocolate before heading to the chocolate museum which was closed so i went to the park of Barcelona instead. Afterwards I went to the train station and met 3 great women to practice my french which is a lot better then I thought it was. Great train trip and best day :)

Madrid Casa

My Tio and tia in Madrid were great with my being Vegan. The made a few totally vegan meals for the whole family which made me feel so great. Knowing that my decision was making waves right in front of me :) I have two cousins with the coolest play room ever. They have a fully functioning disco light show complete with disco ball and lasers. It´s also filled with a bunch of cool toys and close by two white rabbits. I was in awe. I spent most of my time just hanging out with my two cousins making puzzles, playing some classic games like pick up sticks and memory. Watched some Spanish tv. Went to the pool but it was pretty cold. only went into town that once to get almond candy (which i still have a bag full) and train tickets.

Granada to Madrid

There was some delay on my trip back to Madrid from Granada. I went to the train station for my ticket and they told me the seats were full and if i wanted I could get a 1st class ticket for 50€ So i opted for the bus instead for 16€ The bus didn´t leave until a bit later so i got a luggage locker and walked around Granada. Really close by I found a park. It had such a neat jungle gym! I have photos because it´s different from any that i´ve seen. so photos to come :)

Granada last day, Aug 30th

So on my last day in Granada there happened to be a huge bike event. The street my cousin lives on was closed off. There were a ton of extra trucks and the city was just packed. Since it was so crowded we went off to the gym. There was a Sauna and a Vapour room. The Vapour room was so cool if anyone knows of one in Toronto please let me know. Then it was laps in the pool with a great view ;) Fany and I could not stop making jokes about cute guys :P then it was the best Jacuzzi i´ve ever tried. There were all different stations of jets one was as high as a shower head with supper strong pressure but since it was water it actually feels like someones giving you a massage. Great for shoulders and back. Then to another hotter typical jacuzzi. After that we went outside to eat and take in some sun. We were both so relaxed it was the perfect ending to my time in Granada.

Bus to Granada

So I realize that I´m backtracking a bit but the funniest thing about the bus ride from Almunecar to Granada was when we were driving along a very narrow windy road up in the mountains. Very high up looking way down at the drop i was thinking, that´s nice that they finally put up a little ramp here, even if it does only reach the wheels of the bus. I then reasured myself that if there were more accidents the rail would surely be higher. Then I remembered signs I saw in Madrid. In Toronto you can see more police in higher crime areas. Where as in Madrid there are just some signs saying ´by the way, there´s tonnes of theives in this area so watch your stuff.´ Then as I was watching the last of the sea sceanery I saw a truck bigger then the bus laying on it´s side :P

Almond Candy

So i was going to write about Granada but that can wait. I just found these amazing candy coated almonds which i have to say was my salvation after finding out my train ticket was 72€ more then I expected. Ouch.

So... Granada...
Last day there went to the gym that Fany goes to. Amazing. Best Jacuzzi ever. I want one.

I´m in Madrid now, it´s cooler which is nice. I didn´t have a siesta today so i´m a bit tired. Hopefully i´ll find some time to write more soon. All is well, love Sam

Melting from heat a little

So i´ve just been relaxing in Granada. Last day today and then tomorrow off to Madrid. It´s been so hot it´s easy to do absolutely nothing. The temperature ranges from a normal 34ish to 42 Celsius. There´s really great places to walk and really nice people. I saw my cousin Fany act in two different classical plays. Garcia Lorca is like the Spanish Shakespeare or so i´m told. He wrote some really great works. Foods good, Vegetarian tapas are apparently hard to come by but haven´t had any problems. I know the gyspys this time so i haven´t been attacked with the outcome of my future. (They prey on tourists, grab their hand, give them a sprig of rosemary and then demand payment for the fortune they just told and insist that coins are bad luck) I had a close call with them last time :) Oh I visited the Cathedral. I was impressed. I had been walking by it so many times, it looked pretty plane an regular and then I went inside and was wowed. Really pretty. Took some photos but this computer wont upload them for me :P So just taking it easy in Granada, looking forward to the cooler weather of France and Germany.
Ciao, love Sam

Granada

So I made it to Granada safely and easily.
Reasons I love visiting Granada...
- The great smelling flowers that seem to be everywhere
- The huge sidewalks in the middle of roads and on either side.
- The abundance of beautiful old fountains
- The really cool Graffiti

pictures to come

Quick blasts of update

- Went to my Tia Juana´s house, such an amazing house with a great view. Saw the biggest avocado of my life.
- Walking back to Abuelas house I just remembered my Tio Pepe and was asking my Tia Laura ¨doesn´t tio Pepe live right around here?¨She said oh no he lives farther that way, pointing somewhere. Then we turned the corner and low and behold there was Tio Pepe :) He´s really light hearted and I can see a bit of my dad in him. I think the next time my dad gets frustrated i´ll say ¨what would Tito Pepe do?¨
- A typical conversation between me and my Abuela:
Me in front of the stove a good distance away slouching moving stuff in a frying pan. My Abuela pats my tummy so I think this means to stand up straight. ¨no no, don´t stand so close to the stove, you can burn yourself, see I burned myself¨ she shows me a faint line on her stomach. Then I ask in shock as how anyone could burn themselves this way ¨how did you burn yourself?¨ ¨well with the iron, so don´t get to close to the stove¨
- English friends went back to England saw them off at the bus to Malaga
- I bought more sun cream today...
- Thanks for all the comments everyone :)
- I´ll be going off to Granada tomorrow
- OH yeah! My tia Laura had something of a swollen eye from a bug or something and she was saying yeah mines gone now but Tio Andres has one. So I asked her well how did you get rid of it? and she said ¨well I used a medicine and Maria del Mar who´s pregnant blew on it¨ :)
- Love and miss you all!!

news worthy :)

I was really happy today but when I signed into hotmail and saw that this was the head story instead of whats going on in the ´whos dating who´ of the celebrity world I was super happy.
So give a quick read...

http://entertainment.sympatico.ca/Going+Vegan/Bollywood/Articles/GoingVegan.htm?isfa=1

As per request

My English friends requested that I describe them, so as per request...

Phil is Awesome
David is Brilliant
Tommeh is Amazing