Ace, Gen and the World: August 2012

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Top Picks - Paris, Amsterdam, England and Vienna

Strolling through Montmartre in Paris
Berthillon ice cream in Paris
La Duree for the world’s best macaroons in Paris
Hanging out in Vondelpark in Amsterdam
Walking along the canals in Amsterdam
Pick-nick in Hyde Park in London
Olympic opening ceremony in London
Dinner in Naschmarkt in Vienna
The Museum Quarters in Vienna
The Albertina museum in Vienna

July 14 - August 8: Paris, Amsterdam, England and Vienna

While the first 2 months of our trip focused on discovering new places and cultures, we spent most of the last 3 weeks visiting friends in places that either one or both of us has already been. It was actually quite similar to a European trip that Ace did with a friend about 10 years ago (excluding Vienna), although experienced in a very different way as we’re no longer 22 and sleeping in hostel dorms. On that note, thanks to all of our great friends for being such amazing hosts!

To start, we visited Gen’s friends Jon and Marie-Claude in Paris as a surprise for MC’s 30^th birthday (although we’re not sure how much of a “surprise” it really was), and coincidentally arrived on Bastille Day so got to watch the fireworks near the Eiffel tower and celebrate with some of their friends. We also spent a day walking / biking all around Paris, and an evening in the artsy Montmartre district. It’s easy to forget how beautiful Paris is! Of course, Gen would never let us forget to mention the very yummy ice cream at Berthillon on St. Louis Island, or our blindfolded macaroon contest… the unanimous decision is that the famous La Duree are the best in the world!

Next was Amsterdam, which is such a wonderful city. We rented an apartment with a patio next to Vondelpark, which felt surprisingly similar to being at home beside Parc Lafontaine in Montreal. We did lots of relaxing in the park, strolling along the canals and discovering the less touristy parts of town. We also went for drinks and had dinner with a friend David and his family, and spent some time with Jean-Guy, another good friend of ours that lives there. It’s always nice to hang out with the locals to get the real feel of a city.

Our third stop was England, where we visited Ace’s grandma and saw the countryside in true traditional British style. Crumpets and tea, anyone?!? Fortunately, we brought the sun with us after a month of record rainfalls (knowing England, this is probably enough rain to drown a fish). We also spent almost a week in London with JP and Katie, where we had a pick-nick in Hyde Park and some pints in the local pub, but most importantly they invited us to the Olympics opening ceremony! This was definitely a once in a lifetime experience, even excluding the fact that we saw James Bond meet the Queen J.

Last but not least was Vienna to visit another couple friends that Ace met in Morocco last year. We’re starting to realize that other people are clearly more hospitable hosts than us, because Max and Eli actually went to stay at their parents’ house for a few days and let us have their apartment! Poor Max just started a new career at a law firm so was chained to his desk the entire time we were there (given our current situation, we restrained from giving him any career counseling ;), but Eli was an awesome tour guide and showed us all around town, as well as having us over for a delicious traditional Ausutrian supper (schnitzel and amazing homemade apricot dumplings) with a bunch of her close friends.

So that concludes our Euro Trip – the first phase of our year-long adventure. Overall, we probably couldn’t have wished for a better experience; hopefully we can continue to have such good luck. We’re definitely ready for a good dose of culture shock at this point, so Southeast Asia, here we come!

P.S. to all our friends and family back home, as we were leaving Europe we realized that this eliminated any possibility of a quick stop in Montreal for many more months… which we must admit made us a little homesick. We miss you all!

Photos - July 14-August 8: Paris, Amsterdam, England and Vienna

Saturday, August 4, 2012

July 5 - 14: Pamplona, Rioja, San Sebastian (Spain) and Biarritz (France)

We’ve had another excellent couple weeks in Spain. After Madrid we headed to Pamplona with Sanj and Ester for San Fermin (or the running of the bulls, as we know it in North America), where their friends hosted us for this virtually indescribable festival. San Fermin kicks off with something called Txupinazo, when thousands of people identically dressed in red and white form a mosh pit in the streets, a rocket is fired and the celebration erupts as hundreds of bottles of wine and cava are uncorked and sprayed over the crammed crowd. Imagine the famous tomato fights in Spain – but with wine instead of tomatoes. This is followed by 7 days of partying on every street corner (it’s legal to drink in the streets in Spain, so the entire city becomes an open-air bar). For those who went to McGill, it could be best described as a cross between management carnival and the Calgary stampede. One particularly interesting event nicknamed the “Australian Fountain” involves tourists fuelled by alcohol-induced bravery / stupidity (the latter being most appropriate) belly-flopping off the top of a 7 meter statue, hoping to be caught by the crowd below – which usually works… see our video below for a successful jump.

Of course we mustn’t forget the actual running of the bulls, for which the participants deserve tremendous respect. It’s a fascinating event, which takes place every morning of the festival when hundreds of well-prepared Spaniards and unprepared, hungover / drunk tourists make the 800-meter dash of their lives. As you can imagine, many people are injured each race, most of which are the tourists. We actually saw (and have pictures) of a bull that managed to get his horns caught in the handkerchief tied around one poor chap’s neck, and dragged him for a good 50 meters. Don’t worry, he survived… and was happy to make the front page of the newspapers. To conclude the race, all the runners end up in the stadium where smaller cows are released and chase around / gore / trample anyone that didn’t get enough of an adrenaline rush from the race and remain stupid enough to taunt them. For those of you wondering, yes, we were wise enough to remain spectators for all of this!

Following Pamplona, we headed to San Sebastian for a week of tapas, wine and surf, where we had a less eventful, but superb 7 days. We were lucky enough to have Gen’s parents visit for a few days to celebrate her 30^th birthday, during which we were treated to many delicious meals (merci beaucoup Mom et Pops!), went to the Muga vineyards where we were invited for an amazing tour and tasting by the Muga family (thanks for putting us in touch, Max!), visited the Guggenheim in Bilbao, and last but not least went to see the Roxy women’s world surfing championships which we realized was coincidentally being held in nearby Biarritz. Yes, our impeccable timing has continued – we enjoyed the Roxy competition so much that we even went back for a second day.

San Sebastian is a really cool spot; it’s full of energy, tapas restaurants, bars, surf shops and has a very decent (albeit crowded) beach break where Ace completely exhausted himself surfing every day he could. To top it all off, we had a super cute apartment with a direct view of the surf beach. It was so nice to have our own place that we spent most of our nights cooking at home and watching movies. Overall, the only downside to San Sebastian is the weather, which is quite mild and unreliable at best.

Final Impressions:

We absolutely loved every minute of our month in Spain; the combination of having great friends to guide us around with our very fortunate timing made it a truly unique experience. There is such a great variety of things to see, ranging from the beautiful Balearic Islands to the vibrant cities of Barcelona and Madrid, to the lush vineyards in Rioja and fascinating cultural events such as San Fermin. Of course, the high quality surf also earns big bonus points from Ace. In our view Spain only has a couple setbacks – firstly, the less friendly attitude the Spaniards generally have towards tourists (contrary to the Turks, most appear irritated that foreigners that don’t speak their language would visit their country). Secondly, while the Spanish nightlife has a great vibe to it, and the food is fantastic, after a month of tapas bars we will admit that all we wanted to do was find some restaurants where we could hear each other speak and didn’t have to fight for our dinner! J

All in all, as we were leaving Spain we wondered whether we liked it enough to consider living there, and thought we just might… but were slightly deterred by our pitiful Spanish (although it’s improving…baby steps, right?), as well as a certain economic crisis that the country is facing.

On that note, although the unemployment rate in Spain is about 25% overall and 50% for young adults, evidence of this was virtually inexistent where we visited. We also found it interesting that no one we met seemed to know anyone that has lost his or her job. Needless to say, we expected such a profound economic crisis to be more apparent. What we found equally interesting was that when we asked the locals their perspective regarding the unemployment levels we received two independent identical explanations: during the previous boom, the masses dropped out of school to work in real estate or construction because it was easy money. Given the recent downturn, these people are now unemployed, uneducated, and uninterested in pursuing an alternative career. On top of that, it is not in their culture to relocate for work, so they typically opt to move back in with their parents until times improve. We are quite curious to see for how long this can last!

Video - Australian Fountain at San Fermin

Video - Running of the Bulls

Photos - July 5-14: Pamplona, Rioja, San Sebastian (Spain) and Biarritz (France)

Top Picks - Spain

Sagrada Familia in Barcelona
Quimet & Quimet for tapas in Barcelona
La Champagneria for a greasy sausage sandwich and bottle of cheap cava in Barcelona
La Boqueria food market in Barcelona
Banoffee (banana toffee) pie at Vineria San Telmo in Seville
Alcazar in Seville
Tapas crawl in Madrid, with a mandatory stop at Txirimirri
Euro Cup in Madrid
Cava Siglos Restaurant in Valencia
San Fermin (running of the bulls) in Pamplona (this is not for everyone – go at the beginning of the festival, ideally with a local, and know what you’re getting yourself into!) And DON’T RUN ;)
Muga Bodega for a wine tour and tasting in La Rioja (and the drive through the Pyrenees to get there)
Surf in San Sebastian
Pintxos in San Sebastian
The Roxy women world surf championships in Biarritz (this is in France but only 45 minutes from San Sebastian)

Fun Facts

To avoid dehydration at high altitude, it is suggested to drink at least 4-5 liters of water per day!
To support his cocaine trafficking operations, Pablo Escobar once bought 15 planes and 6 helicopters. He reportedly spent $2500 a month purchasing rubber bands to wrap his stacks of cash.
Rodriguez, an American musician that had little success in the U.S. in the 70’s, went platinum and became highly influential in South Africa. However, his fame remained completely unknown to him until 1998, when his eldest daughter came across a website dedicated to him.
Table Mountain alone has over 1,500 hiking trails, as well as 1,500 species of plants, more than the entire United Kingdom.
South Africa has the cheapest electricity and the third most safe, drinkable tap water in the world.
The average annual salary in Zanzibar, Tanzania is US$250.
The African Masai are Polygamous, and there is a famous Masai leader who purportedly has 42 wives and 240 children.
From standstill, the cheetah can reach 100 km/hour in merely 3 seconds.
A tiny jellyfish called the Box Jellyfish, not the great white shark, is the most deadly and dangerous marine species in Australia
You can rent a surfboard at the post office in Crescent Head, Australia
The 10 most venomous snakes in the world can be found in Australia
A Gatorade at the corner store in Australia costs $4.50
Singapore has the highest percentage of millionaires per capita in the world.
Ever have those moments when you’re travelling and wake up in the middle of the night unsure where you are? Oddly enough, after almost 5 months of travelling through 11 countries you have those memory lapses awake, in broad daylight ☺.
In Bali, everyone’s first name is determined by the order in which they were born. For example, the oldest male in the family is named Wayan, the second is Made, the third is Nyoman, the fourth is Ketut and the order repeats itself after the third male. This becomes somewhat confusing, because almost every fourth male has the same name!
Ever seen an upside down rainbow? We have!
The Dutch government plans to prohibit the purchase of cannabis by tourists in Amsterdam in January 2013 (a “green card” only issued to citizens will be required thereafter).
Although quite rare, certain vineyards still use egg whites to filter their wine. This traditional method, whereby a thin layer of egg whites are poured into the cask and filter down through the wine over time, is believed to retain more flavor than the more typical filtering process.
Gaudí died after being struck by a tram on his way to church. Assumed to be a beggar because of his lack of ID and shabby clothing, he did not receive immediate aid. By the time he was recognized at a very rudimentary hospital the following day, it was too late to revive him.
Christopher Columbus is buried in Seville, Spain – or is he? This is a controversial subject, as it is also believed that he is (mostly) buried in the Dominican Republic.
Gen’s last name (Guay) means “cool” in Spanish. As if she wasn’t already cool enough! ;)
What do 3 North Americans at a Spanish house party have in common, other than their nationality? White teeth, according to an apparently common Spaniard stereotype.
To become a smokejumper, you have to be able to do 7 pull-ups, 45 sit-ups, 25 push-ups and run ¼ mile in under 11 minutes. Of course, Ace is sure that he can do this – Gen, not so much :)
Turkish regulations prohibit any construction in tourist regions during the tourist season. Something more countries should adopt!
Apparently (and a little surprisingly ;), Ace has a long lost identical twin that happens to be a European football/soccer star. In our first week, the Turks have asked us twice if it was indeed him… the second group had even bet on it amongst each other. Why did he end up being the boring banker? ;)
Turkey is the only country in the world that sits on two continents - the Bosphorus strait separates the European and Asian regions.
In Mexico it is illegal for stores to sell alcohol after 2pm on Sundays. One might think that this relates to religion, however it’s actually because Mexicans get so drunk on Sundays that if they sold booze in the afternoon no one would go to work on Monday (okay, this one comes from a pre-Turkey boys trip down south last month… but I thought it was still amusing enough to merit a bullet point – Gen, not so much).

Stupid Mistakes (hopefully to be a short section)

Gen attempting a 5-hour hike at 4,000 meters before being fully acclimatized. NOT recommended!
Packing your favorite Swiss army knife in your carry-on bag when about to take a flight. Bye bye knife ☹
18 hours of bus to visit San Gil, possibly the worst ecotourism capital in the world!
Ace dropping our iPad on our MacBook Air. Note: a new MacBook Air screen costs $500!
Expecting to book a diving trip to Sipadan (potentially the top dive site in the world) 2 days in advance – to find out that it was fully booked for the next 2 months.
We found some really cheap “first class” train tickets leaving San Sebastian – but it turns out that “first class” tickets that have “unassigned seats” really mean you don’t have a seat whatsoever, so if the train is full you end up enjoying your “first class” experience sitting on the floor.
After waiting in line for about 1 ½ hours to watch the Euro semi-finals in an open air stadium in Seville with about 5,000 people and an amazing ambiance, don’t step outside once regulation time is over. Why not? Because, unlike the quarterfinals, the semi-finals have overtime followed by penalty kicks, and no matter how clueless and innocent a tourist can try to look, security won’t let you back in!
When going to see the highlight attraction in a city, charge the battery in your camera. After learning from that mistake by bringing a backup battery the next time, make sure that one is charged too.
Before we left Canada, as we were walking towards the Turkish embassy to apply for our visas we agreed to include a “stupid mistakes” section on this site. When we showed up, the embassy evidently asked us for our passports, which, believe it or not, we had both forgotten at home. First stupid mistake: Check.