From there, I headed to my favorite little lunch place in
Munich. There is a bagel shop
around the corner from greg’s flat that makes all their bagels onsite. The same 2 guys are always working and
one is American. I grabbed a lox
bagel (so good) and sat outside to enjoy the afternoon. Then I walked back to Greg’s and took a
nice long nap. When I woke up, it
was time to go meet my friend Taylor, for dinner. Taylor is a rising senior at Penn and I knew him when he was
a freshman and I was a senior.
He’s in Munich working for the U.S. Consulate this summer and I was
supposed to meet him there to head to dinner. Instead, I got lost.
After a series of text messages I found my way there about 20minutes
late and we headed to dinner at a Mexican place for margaritas and Penn
gossip. It was a good visit and
nice to see a familiar face. After
dinner Taylor walked me home and I headed pretty much straight to bed for catch
a 6:30AM bus the next morning to the airport.
Tuesday morning (July 2) was another early day and I was off
to the airport and then on a flight to Palma de Mallorca. Mallorca is an island off the coast of
Spain in the Mediterranean and Palma is the main city on the island. My flight landed around noon and Greg’s
wouldn’t arrive from Oslo until around 7, so I grabbed a bus into the city to
check into the hotel and get settled.
Once I checked in, I headed off in search of beach essentials: a place
to buy some bottled water, beach towels, sunscreen, and a nice bottle of wine
to celebrate Greg’s birthday (he turned 25 on July 2nd… happy
quarter century, love!) After a
successful trip to the grocery store and a Vietnamese shop, I returned to the
hotel to shower and hit the beach.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d be out or where I’d go, so I didn’t put on my
swimsuit but just headed to the marina and the followed the coast line until I
hit some nice beach. Then, I just
enjoyed the sunshine and pretty quickly had to turn around and go hop on the
bus to pick up Greg.
Greg told me meet him at the hotel and he’ find his own way
into the city. As capable as he
is, it was his birthday and there was no way that I wasn’t going to be there at
baggage claim waiting on him.
After we found each other, we headed back into the city so Greg could
get cleaned up and then we headed out for Japanese food for Greg’s
birthday. Japanese might seem like
a random choice but there are actually some fantastic Japanese places on the
island and Japanese is one of Greg’s favorites. I’d already done some research on possible places and we
asked the girl at the front desk for her favorite. It was one of the one’s on my list and also nearby so we
headed over. We ducked into a
small place and sat down. Greg
ordered a noodle dish and I ordered a soup and then we got a sushi plate to
split. Unfortunately, my
gallbladder decided to flare up around the time I got my soup and I had to step
outside for a bit for air.
It settled for a bit so I went back in a nibbled on ginger
and a piece or two of sushi while Greg devoured his. It’s a shame I wasn’t feeling well because the food was
really good. Because I wasn’t
feeling great, Greg hurried through his meal (another shame) and we paid and
left. Greg stayed downstairs to
email my Mom and Dad and some of his family (free wifi in the lobby but not the
room) and I headed up to the room to drink some water and lie down for a bit. I fell asleep since I was feeling so
crummy but we were in Mallorca and I knew I’d wake up feeling refreshed and
ready to hit the beaches and explore the next day. Thankfully I was right.
Wednesday was hot and sunny. We headed out mid morning to find sandwiches for breakfast
and snacks to take to the beach.
Then we grabbed a bus to Illetas Beach (Playa Illetas). You should pause right now and google
“Palma de Mallorca Illetas Beach” and look at the pictures. It’s a perfect little cove and while it
was a bit crowded, it was a quiet group.
The water is crystal clear and sparkling… a color blue I’d forgotten
existed since living in Prague. We
laid out our towels and just lazed in the sun. Greg coaxed me into the water (71-72 degrees… WAY too cold
for me to enjoy) so as soon as he got me in (a long and difficult endeavor) I
made it to our agreed upon point (a little reef/seaweed area) and then I booked
it out of the water as fast as I could.
We spent the afternoon sunning and then decided to follow the coast
along and see if there wasn’t another cool beach. We were walking along some rocks in front of a resort when
Greg caught his toe and ripped the bottom of it open. My first aid kit had made it to Mallorca but not to the
beach, so we patched it up best we could with Kleenex and decided it was time
to head back.
After doctoring Greg’s toe and showering, we decided it was
time to venture further into the city for dinner. We wanted tapas and so we asked the same lady for another
recommendation and she said the best place with the most authentic “Mallorcan”
tapas was called La Cuchara and was along one of the main boulevards along the
canal. We headed there and got a
great table outside. The outside
atmosphere was nice, but the restaurant itself (and the service) was a bit
stuffy and serious for our tastes…. But the food was worth every time the
waiter turned his nose up at us. We started with a bread basket that came with
Spanish olives and a tomato and fish tapanade of sorts. Then, we ordered boiled octopus served
over potatoes with paprika. Next
came a tomato tartar that was tomato, basil and mozzarella. Finally came a lamb stirfry (for Greg
since I don’t eat red meat) and a tuna tartar that was the best this we ate on
the trip. It was raw tuna seasoned
with a very slight touch of wasabi (which I don’t normally like), soy sauce,
and sesame. It was served with
classic toast points. The tuna was
SO tender and just would melt in our mouths. I could not believe how good it was.
After dinner it was SO nice out, so we decided to walk
around a bit and see some of the city.
We walked to the cathedral and admired it as the sun set and then walked
along the coast stopping in at a few little markets to browse and just
enjoy. Once the sun completely set
I got cold, so we decided to head back.
Since I’d been sick the night before we’d forgone the wine and decided
it’d be a good night to open it.
Unfortunately, it was AWFUL.
Greg said it was “a bit heavy” and by that, I think it was a nice way to
say “undrinkable.” I’d randomly
picked out a nice looking bottle of Mallorcan red and it was one of the pricier
bottles (still less than 10euro) that the store had, so I figured it was a
decent bet. Wrong. Oh well. We laughed it off and settled in to read the Wheel of Time
Series (we are both reading it right now).
The next day it was time to explore the city since the
previous day we’d only done the beach.
First, we headed to brunch and decided to take the tapas route
again. This time we spotted a café
in a little square with a pretty church that looked promising and grabbed a
seat. Since it was tapas and small
plates, we ordered a lot of food… turned out with ended up with WAY more than
we expected. We had a tuna
baguette, a salmon baguette (each baguette actually came with TWO), grilled
baby octopus dressed with tomato, olive oil, onion and parsley, a manchego
cheese plate with bread and tomato spread, and it seems like maybe something
else. Anyway, it was all delicious
but way more oily than I expected so I had to take it easy. After brunch, we
headed out to do some exploring.
We walked to the cathedral and paid to go in. It’s crazy beautiful. Notre Dame is bigger, and St. Michel
may have prettier stained glass, but really it’s one of my favorite cathedrals
I’ve been in. After awhile
admiring it, we wandered some of the old streets and then wandered to the old
Arab Bath Houses. There isn’t much
of them left and it didn’t take long to see. By this time, I was started to feel not great again and
Greg’s toe was hurting and he was thirsty so we agreed it was time to hit the
beach with the water and do some more of nothing. Since it was already mid afternoon we headed to a closer
beach than Illetas. The main beach
is much bigger and thus, less concentrated with people, but also much rowdier
and not nearly as nice. We longed
for a bit and then decided (okay, I decided) that I didn’t want to leave
without trying out one of those beach clubs with lounge chairs on the rocks
right above the water that serves drinks.
We found a nice looking one and sat down and ordered
drinks. Greg ordered a drink that
I can’t remember the name of (a Portuguese one) and I had a Bellini and it was
so nice to watch the sun sink over the water and sip cocktails. After 1 drink we decided it was dinner
time. We spotted a little square/plaza
that seemed busy and upbeat with brightly colored restaurants and good sounding
but inexpensive menus. We sat down
at one and ordered some sangria and perused the menu. The place was called Bar Cota and was super cool. It was and eclectic mix of cuisines
from around the world. We ordered
a red pepper soup with Indian spices to split to start and then I had an
arugula salad with lemon juce, tomatoes, and freshly shaved parmesan and Greg
got a toast like thing with parma ham, cheese and some other goodies. We were both really happy with our food
and since it wasn’t too expensive, we decided to get dessert as well- orange
sorbet for me and chocolate cake for Greg. It was all SO good.
Since it was another gorgeous night, and our last in Palma,
we took another walk. First, we
stumbled upon some sort of party at the modern art museum overlooking the
city. We tried to stay out of the
way and just took in the amazing view over the ocean before heading away from
the coast and along the canal. It
was so pretty. After awhile we
decided to head back since Greg was starting to get a headache. He felt better with some water and
Tylenol and we got packed to head out the next morning.
Friday morning we headed straight to the airport for our
flight. We were back in Munich for
a late lunch, so naturally we headed straight to the bagel place. After that,
we decided it was too nice of an afternoon so we headed to the English Garden
to spend the rest of the day. The
English Garden is supposedly the largest public park/garden in the world. It’s huge and so pretty. I really think I prefer Munich to
Prague- but maybe that’s just the company. Still, walking to and from the Garden was almost as pretty
as relaxing in the grass beside the stream. Once it started to cool off, we headed to the grocery store
to get salad fixings for dinner (mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, avocado,
cucumber, Balkan cheese, carrots, and chicken that we cooked in lemon juice and
garlic). After we cooked and ate,
we thought it would be the perfect night to open the bottle of champagne I’d
brought from Prague. One of my
student’s parents got it for me… it was a rose brut and much nicer and more
expensive than anything I have ever had to drink. We popped the bottle and climbed out onto the roof. I made it about 4 steps before
realizing that I could not play off my fear of heights. I burst into tears and insisted we go
inside. Poor Greg. It’s a wonder
he puts up with me. Needless to
say, we drank the champagne inside instead and chatted some with Greg’s
roommates and their various visitors.
The next day I was supposed to leave but I wasn’t feeling
well (thought it was my
gallbladder AGAIN) and we figured it was our last few days together until
possibly October when we both move to England so we agreed I should stay an
extra day. We had a lazy day. Reading in the sun, chatting with
roommates, and saw one of Greg’s friends and old roommates who just moved back
to Munich from Guatemala. It was a
good day and nice to not feel like we had anywhere to be. Greg wanted to take me to a nice dinner
to say goodbye and so we went to a Turkish/German place he last went with his
parents that he loves. I ordered
grilled salmon with artichokes and avocado and it came out looking
amazing. Unfortunately, about 3
bites in I realized maybe it wasn’t my gallbladder all day and that I might
actually be sick sick. I left to
run to the bathroom and be sick, but at this point I didn’t want Greg to know.
Of course, I sat back down and lasted about 2 minutes before
I was positive I was about to be sick again and excused myself. Greg realized I was looking green and
tossed me the keys to his apartment and told me to head home (only about 2-3
blocks) and he’d pay and take care of things. I bolted. I just
didn’t want to be sick in front of any of the nice restaurants with patrons
dining outside between the place where we were and his flat. Thankfully I made it to his street to
some bushes. I let myself in and
thankfully none of his roommates were home. Greg got home about 10 minutes after me and fixed me a puke
bowl “like his mom used to” which made me laugh because that’s what MY mom used
to do in case I couldn’t make it to the bathroom and I spent the rest of the
evening watching Pirates of the Caribbean and praying I didn’t need the puke
bowl. Thankfully, I didn’t. I felt miserable all evening but
managed to fall asleep and didn’t wake up through the night. By Saturday morning, I was fine.
Since I was feeling better, Greg and I decided rather than
wasting the day, we’d head to Garmisch, a small, historic town in the German
Alps. We decided I’d stay yet
another night so that we could really spend the whole full day up in the
mountains. Greg had never been to
Garmisch either, and we both totally fell in love with it. It’s a gorgeous town and surrounded by
the Alps every direction you look.
We took a short walk around town and then decided we wanted to take the
train up to the top of one of the mountains and have lunch. Unfortunately, the train up costs
45euros per person. We thought
that was outrageous and it was a cloudy day and not so clear, so we sat down
with some maps and reassessed. We
settled on taking a bus to the edge of town and then taking a 45 minute hike up
to Lake Pflegersee.
The hike was way harder than it should have been. I am out of shape, but the altitude
also really got to me and even when the trail was level I just could not get
enough oxygen. Still, I’d like to
get my butt back into shape and hiking is such a fantastic feeling because I
feel like there is a worthwhile and tangible destination at the end. When we got to the lake we settled in
at the restaurant by the lake and ordered. Greg had some sort of fried pork with potatoes but I opted
for the fitness salad (mixed greens, sunflower seeds, shaved radishes, beets,
cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, smoked chicken and balsamic vinegar). Both of our meals were unbelievably
good and we actually couldn’t believe how inexpensive considering the location
and views. After lunch we decided
to detour on the hike down and check out the ruins of Castle Werdenfels. The views were gorgeous and it was so
cool to see the little town at the bottom with towering mountains all
around. We heard some pretty loud
thunder and it looked like a storm was rolling in though, so we headed back
down.
Once back in the town we wandered in the old city area and
stopped on a covered bridge to watch the river for a bit. Then, we headed to a big
park/garden. We hardly saw any of
it though because it started raining quite hard, so we headed to a café for
water and coffee before grabbing a train back to Munich. Once back, we stopped to print my bus
ticket for the next morning, bought some bread to eat the next morning, and
headed home. After showers and
some chats with Greg’s roommates, we watched Firefly (an old space-cowboy type
show?) and went to bed so I could catch a 7AM bus back to Prague.
Once back in the city, it was crunch time. I was supposed to leave for the airport
the next morning at 10:30, so I got busy cleaning and packing and repeatedly
weighing my luggage to make sure I wasn’t going to go over the 23kg/50lb
limit. At 3PM, I headed out to
meet Nikola ad say goodbye. We
headed to a café that is run entirely by people with special needs as a sort of
training place and an opportunity for them to have a real job and income. The food was really good (greek salad
and homemade lemonade) and it was good to see Nikola and have time to spend together
before I leave. I would not have
survived the year without her and I learned SO much from her.
After a long chat, we parted ways so I could get more work
done. Then I headed down the
street to a cocktail bar with great drinks and a terrible atmosphere (trying
way too hard to be swanky). Tereza,
Katy and Gary met up with me and we had a few drinks and said our goodbyes in
case I left the next day, which was starting to look doubtful considering how
full the flights were. Sure
enough, I woke up the next day (Tuesday) and the flight was way oversold and I
was way down the non-rev list, so I decided to not lug all my things to the
airport, which was a good decision since I would not have made the flight. Instead, I spent the whole day cleaning
our apartment. Tamela was behind
on her packing so I did pretty much all the cleaning. That night we made dinner and watched the Bachelorette. The next day was my new “Last Day in
Prague.” I did lots more cleaning
and some more packing/redistributing weight. Then, I headed to Gill’s for a bbq.
Gill lives way out past where I used to teach and my
opencard (transit pass) had expired the day before. I decided to do the right thing and buy a bus ticket from
the driver rather than risk getting caught. A bus ticket from the driver is 40czk and when I got on, I
only had a 50czk piece. I handed
it to the driver and he told me (in Czech) that he didn’t have change and
pointed to the door for me to get back off the bus. Now, the bus out to Gill’s only runs once an hour and I
wasn’t about to get off just to hunt down change and then wait, so I motioned
for the driver to just keep the full 50czk and give me a ticket. He refused, but by this point, we are
driving along and he’s arguing with me in Czech (I say arguing… neither of us
could understand much of what the other was saying.) Finally, we stopped at a red light and the driver came out
from behind his little driver cubicle and started yelling to the whole bus in
Czech. As I saw people start to
pull out their purses and wallets… I realized he must have been asking for
change. Finally, some nice man
from the back of the bus provided me with change for the 50czk piece and I paid
the 40czk ticket price. It was
super embarrassing though.
Anyway, once at the bbq, I was too nervous about the next
day’s travels to really enjoy myself so I’m afraid I wasn’t the most fun. Still, it was fun to see Gill, Tereza,
Lauren, Katy, Gary and Nathan one last time and say goodbye. I headed home and ran into a fellow
teacher, Emily, on the bus and got to tell her goodbye as well. Once home, it was final cleaning things
(recycling and trash out, etc) and early to bed so I could start my next
adventure by heading home!
