by UnwashedMolasses » Mon Sep 30, 2013 9:49 am
Over the past 5 years I've been to a lot of places, I'll try and remember relevant stories (don't have any decent pictures unfortunately).
First Trip: Mostly Bavarian Germany, with a bit of Switzerland, France, and Austria thrown in
- Don't remember too much about this trip as it was many years ago, but I distinctly regret going to Germany when I was too young to appreciate beer. We ate at the Hofbrau house and I had a Coke. A shame I'll bear to the grace.
Second Trip: Spain
- Saw 6 bulls killed in Madrid, which was a cool cultural experience but definitely raised ethical concerns.
- Went to a seaside restaurant in Barcelona where the waiter was incredible. When my brother asked what kind of shellfish they had, he brought out a tray with live prawns, crabs, and lobsters on it. I ordered fish, which he fully and expertly deboned with only a spoon. When finished, he asked who my favorite Spanish artist was. I told him Dali (I don't know any other Spanish artists, but I do really enjoy Dali's work), so he threw the fish fillets haphazardly onto my plate, looked a bit wonky but it was good fun.
- Seville was a bit hellish. Dirtiest city we went to and the only one without an underground rail system, which we weren't prepared for as we couldn't find a bus map. Ended up having to take the bus one night and getting completely lost, my family panicked and we got off the bus without even being at a stop. It's full-on dark night and we're in the middle of some random seedy neighborhood in Seville and the only one of us who even kinda speaks Spanish is my older brother. We wander around until we find a bar where a very drunk man and his mildly drunk girlfriend offer to drive us to our hotel. On the way someone mistakenly mentions that we were planning on seeing a flamenco dance (which we eventually did, was breathtaking), but the drunk man decided he'd drive us to his bar to dance instead of driving us to our hotel. My 5-person family is packed into the back of a Ford Expedition being driven by a drunk and my brother's the only person who can try and communicate with this dude that we reeeeeeally don't care about flamenco that much and we just want to get home.
Third Trip: London
- I think my parents had had enough non-English speaking countries for the time being, so we did London. Not a lot of good stories here, I wish we'd waited until later so I'd have known about Saville Row and LN-CC and such, not that my flaxsisters would be into that. I just remember exploring a lot of amazing alleys and music shops.
Fourth Trip: Ireland
- As beautiful and fun as this place was, what I remember most is the driving. Tiny roads with large stone walls on either side and my dad is driving a bigass van down, passing only inches from other cars. At one point we were driving to a peninsula (can't recall the name) and we were driving mountain roads, we were run off the road by a DHL delivery truck. Blew out tire, were luck not to go over the side of the mountain.
Fifth Trip: Italy
- My dad works for coke and had a business connection with the CEO of a company over here, and he invited us to his house. What I thought would be a quaint thing turned out to be a hilltop villa overlooking the Mediterranean surrounded by a grove of olive trees from which they harvest and bottle their own olive oil. They had their personal chef prepare a meal which included some bizarre layered seafood dish and fried flowers, which were delicious. We ate at a round table with a rotating platform in the center, and they kept the wine flowing beautifully. Definitely discovered cuisine and wine on this trip.
Sixth Trip: Scotland
- This was last summer, and this place was incredible. The geography and natural beauty were breathtaking, especially in the Isle of Skye. Not a lot of great food, but met a lot of great people. Nothing like flirting overseas. This was the first time I was into drinking and could when I was with my family, so that was interesting. Whole lot of beer consumption, learning preferences and such. We visited the Glenlivet distillery which was also a fun time.
OOh yeah, and a side trip: Cancun, Mexico
Went here with my lady for her dad's re-marriage. All expense-paid resort type deal, and this was great fun. Three open bars, two of which were actually inside pools, fantastic restaurants, and a beach with perfectly clear water. If I work my whole life it'll be to die in a place as relaxing as this.
Sorry for the long post!