Passenger Through The World

Unforgettable!

The best memories are meant for capture. Mein Schatzy's (my sweethearts) made Berlin an unforgettable trip. 

Berlin's East Side Gallery depicts "The Kiss" between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev giving the East Germany President Erich Honecker a ritual that has long been a way to show welcoming. Some shake hands, some hug and some kiss from cheek to cheek, but in 1979, these two Communist practiced "the socialist fraternal kiss" on the mouth (rarehistoricalphotos.com).

One of the most important landmarks that was a former boarder crossing, known as the Berlin Wall. The crossing point between east Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War (1947-`1991).

For anyone visiting, I would recommend stopping at the booth that a man awaits to stamp a keepsake that he sells of the Admission stamp that was applied to passports at the crossing. Foreigners using the crossing point were required to have a stamp (similar to entering and departing the U.S.) when they cross from East to West Berlin as a method of restricting emigration. I requested to have the back of my passport stamped, which apparently isn’t ideal but a great keepsake :)

To get a picture with the fake actors pretending to be soldiers in uniform, you need only pay 1 Euro, but make it a good picture, because you only get one for that price. There’s a long line so my cousin and I were able to get two pictures because they thought we were exotic, whatever that means.

Unless you read the history of the Berlin Wall, don’t expect to hear about it here. Unfortunately, it’s more of a tourist attraction than a telling of history. It’s truly a work of art and has international importance, both during and post the Cold War. Hopefully there will be a museum that allows visitors to learn the history and Berlin residents to continue appreciating how far Berlin has come and what the destruction of the Wall means to everyone.

At first glance, you would think this bear is to symbolize that the Olympics were once held in Berlin, but that was August of 1936. The Buddy Bears came into being in 2002 and promote “tolerance and international understanding” with raised arms to emit a positive mood.

I definitely rubbed his belly for good luck!

The Berlin Cathedral was completed in 1905 and is Berlin’s largest and most important Protestant church.

Not pictured is the Lustgarten Fountain. A beautiful park that is adjacent to the Berliner Dom and attracts lovers.

Martini's are meant to be dirty and when they're extra dirty, well, they're even better! I like my olives stuffed with blue cheese (a delicious additional I learned in Chicago, thank you Eden). 

Eeek! My first thought when I saw the stairs that were built in early 476 BC. There’s over 3700 miles of stairs, breathtaking views from anywhere, and a great way to workout your gluteus maximus. My friend Google had an interesting fact about the construction of the wall. It is estimated that up to 1 million people died while contrasting the Great Wall! I was in awe climbing each step to the top. To be honest, I was trying to maintain a rhythm in my breathing as to avoid passing out because these steps are no joke. Most parts of the wall have steep steps and narrow curves, but pacing myself was more important than reaching the top in a timely manner. It is said that it takes about 20 minutes to climb up one section to a tower area, but when the stairs begin to defeat you, you take your time. Breathless!

The Forbidden City “was home to 24 emperors, their families and servants during the Ming and the Qing dynasties.” During my study abroad, I had the pleasure of seeing beautiful architecture, walking around a century of ruins and creating memories with people that will become longtime friends, Paulina for one.

Paulina and I bonded more than others’ and enjoyed every bit of our guided tours, weekend adventures and haggling ritual while shopping at the Silk Market. With occasional green tea ice-cream from the local Mc.Donald’s and KFC to remind us of home, we can say we had the best time of our college years and life!

My forever Yolo (with a heart).

Peking is the national opera of China. This is like no other Opera I’ve ever heard or seen before in my life. Interesting is a good word. The singing was very awakening to say the least. Imagine a high pitched screaming 2 year old that has the ability to shatter a glass without a break in their voice. Got it? Now imagine that with words that you know can be understood by a few people. I’ve never heard a language sung in this manner. Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful as well. The women’s costumes included a Peking opera headdress and gorgeous dress known as Tangzhuang.

At the end of the Opera performance, as my group gathers outside to take the bus back to our dorms, there was a man right behind me that was fighting to keep his bag from a thief. I realized what was happening once the man bumped me and starting yelling Help! He’s trying to steal my bag! I quickly moved so that others’ could move in and try to scare the thief off. Glad to say the thief ran off with nothing in hand and I learned to be more careful with my own belongings because you just never know what could happen.

Hide your wife, hide your kids!

Near Communication University of China, there’s a little market that has limited groceries, laundry service and a decorated wall, that made me feel like I wasn’t so far away from home. We didn’t have many options to watch on tv in our dorms and everything we did during our study time, group activities and individual time was revolved around being in the culture.

I passed this wall often when I went to the market for orange juice, pocky sticks and picking up laundry and I loved it!

I hope Spongebob is still there!

Ariel and the local farmer explained how cigars are brought to form in a long but careful process and how to enjoy them. 

As I thought about what I wanted to write on my postcard of Fidel Castro and Ernest Hemingway, I snuck in bites of sweet plantains and vegetables. The day was excruciatingly hot and I was sweating faster than I could finish my glass of water. I've felt humidity before but at this level, I was beaten. August 19, 2017 I mailed out postcards from the local post office. I asked the woman behind the counter how long it typically took to receive in the U.S. and she said "10 days." I'm not sure if she means 10 days after a few months of cycling through a process that I'm not used to, but as of October 10, I have yet to see Fidel and Hemingway's infamous handshake on the postcard I sent myself. 

Patience is a virtue in this sense. 

Long cigar smoking women that follow the religion of Santeria read your future in cards in Plaza de la Caterdral. They each have a "Oshun Charm Doll," which is regarded to as a protective doll and "goddess of love, fertility, and wealth."

Well actually, just wanting a picture and the guy was taking forever so i jumped in his :)

London is beautiful during Christmas!

Met with my nugget in her hometown Birmingham to have lunch and shop :)

I was too afraid to go to the London Dungeon so went to the wax museum instead to meet some 'celebrities.' Look at her hatin'

Never. Again.

This was interesting to try. Electrifying when there's too many fish in one area but nothing close to the feeling of a actual pedicure.

The best Italian, at least in Birmingham! Was able to snag a table during the first week of opening.

The line was too long and I was scared of the height, so I decided to enjoy the view from down below instead :) Next time, I definitely want to go up!

The San Sebastian Street Festival (Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastian) is an annual celebration that dates back to 1970. This 4-day event is filled with music, dancing, drinking, local artisans selling their personal work and most of all locals and tourists celebrating the Christmas holidays collectively. There is a street on the north side of Old San Juan named in his honor.  

"The importance of this festival is that it keeps some of our cultural traditions alive, right in the heart of Puerto Rico's metro area...there couldn't be a better time for them than right at the end of the Christmas season" (latinomusiccafe.com).

The history of the fiesta "is said to have its origin in the mid 20th century, when a Spaniard priest of the San Jose Church in San Juan by the name of Juan Madrazo, decided to start festivities similar to the ones done to patron saints ("Fiestas Patronales") in the other towns of Puerto Rico." After traveling to Spain, he brought back "cabezudos," which are 'giant big heads' that were used in the parade. 

Although I forgot the woman's name that created my henna design, she was a 21 year that had been creating this form of art since she was 16. She said she "loves being at the festival and creating art for anyone" that allows her to exercise her passion. 

We talked a little about the difference between American men and Puerto Rican men. At the end of the dialogue, we decided that we would trade places, that I would live in Puerto Rico and she'd move to California because we had opposite views on what we considered attractive.

The view from this beach was electrifying. Part of the city's skyline was to the far left and as I hear the crashing of the waves, see a cruise ship slowly pass from a distance and feel the sand under my toes, I realized that this place is not a dream. Everything at the end of my day was a reality that I felt in my heart as an indescribable and surreal feeling. 

El Yunque Rain Forest is a tropical rainforest that has the most beautiful views and amazing air I've been present in. To breathe in relaxation and fill my water bottle with the fall water was more magical then climbing the sloped rocks to get to that elevation. Wow, just wow! 

The art of culture

500 years of History...

A 16th-century fortress that is 475 years old is not only rich in it's creation and history, but indispensable in cost. This is a priceless work of art that "covers a 140 foot-high promontory at the entrance to the Bay of San Juan...consists of 6 levels facing the Atlantic Ocean, all of which were designed to create a devastating artillery fire over enemy ships. By the time of its completion around 1790, it had the reputation of being unconquerable and was the most feared of all the Spanish colonial fortifications" (nps.gov/sanjuan).

Oh. My. God. This was the best thing I ever ate! It included plantains but other than that, there was heaven and love put in this. The making of this dish and the presentation was too beautiful to touch, but I destroyed it! I could have had seconds and thirds if I had a designated place in my stomach for it to save for re-enjoyment later.

Drink of choice was a rojo sangria but their speciality at the end of the meal or before you leave is a sweet, delicious, yet dangerously additive cocktail calld "coquito." 

When I say “the picture doesn’t do the view justice,“ I mean it. This is an ariel view of the trail leading to the Arabian steps in Ronda.

I was a bit scared and intimidated to see a bullfight, but I was facinated at the same time. In Madrid, there’s a bullfight once a day typically in the evenings. There’s a total of 6 bulls that essentially get sacrificed for the sport and then sent off to be disbursed either to restaurants or stores for consumption. Now, I’m not completely PETA, but this was difficult to watch. I managed to stay through 3 fights. It was windy and after the first Matadore danced with his bull, quite tasteless. The next two Matadore’s nearly got killed but jumping over the railing saved his life.

I started with a smile and ended this intense, uphill hike with sweat and trying to catch my breath. The walk up until this point had been a teaser with a few turns and inclines, but the rest of the Arabian Steps were harder. Worth it? Absolutely!!!

It’s as beautiful inside as it is from a distance.

The structure of the churches in Spain are beautiful! I found this gem in Rhonda.

I have never seen a cemetery with tombstones aligned as a wall. And although the flowers are fake, they look very much alive because of the intricate layout of this graveyard. I didn’t feel an erie feeling as I typically do when the bodies are below ground as they are in most cemeteries.

Jack Nicholson filed the movie, “The Passenger” in and around Vera in 1975. This bullfight as it stood over 40 years ago looks completely different than this modern time structure. Call it innovation or just much-needed renovation, but it looked beautiful inside and out.

In the movie, Nicholson plays a journalist who is unhappy with the way his life is or had been going. He meets a man whom is staying at the same hotel as he somewhere in Africa, and befriends him. The man known as Robertson dies from a heart attack and Nicholson, who plays David Locke assumes the dead mans identity, thus killing his own existence.

I highly recommend and encourage this film to find out the story from hear. Well worth it!

The man that was working at the bullfight remember the filming because he worked there during that time. He was about 34 years.

The Grand Canyon was so grand! This whole area looked unreal! You know the feeling you get when you’re so high up? That feeling that you could fall at any moment? I felt like I had vertigo just from looking across. I would have loved to take a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon, but if I couldn’t handle heights from the ground level, I knew I couldn’t handle it from the air.

I believe this area is the South Rim because the West Rim was closed due to an emergency.

-Grand Canyon, Arizona

The Bean in Chicago.

NASA Space Center.

“Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.” John Muir

The Brooklyn Bridge.

Capturing the beautiful Empire State Building while sitting by the window in the Observatory Deck in NY. The photo capturer gets captured! photo cred: mom!

Walking in Central Park with mom was such a calming moment. It was freezing because it was snowing but I wouldn’t have changed that day for anything!

A look out from above the Observatory Deck.

-New York

This park was so cute! A live local band played as my mom and I had benigns and watched the starry night in February!

As scared as my mom was, she was willing to go on a swamp tour in New Orleans. She loved it! I saw a few crocodiles and saved a turtles life from being turtle soup.

This restaurant was so cozy and the decor had a Mardi Gras feel to it but from the 60’s if you could imagine being in that time at that moment. One of the bartenders told us the history of this place and what it means today. Emma and Bertha were two sisters that ran a notions shop in the French Quarter. Before you leave, don’t forget to make a wish in the Devil’s Wishing Well and try the Ramos Gin Fizz!

Built in 1790, the Destrehan Plantation became the leading sugar producer in St. Carles Parish in 1803. This photo was taken outside from behind the house after we toured the floors inside. I get a creepy feeling overtime I look at the photo now, as if someone was looking out from the window.

-New Orleans

Would you like some beignets with your powdered sugar?! Mmmm! These beignets were delicious, but the powered sugar was everywhere! There has to be a reason why they put that much sugar all over, but it doesn’t affect the taste. You can definitely taste the hot, sweet, bread-like dessert!

Of course I had two servings. I was on vacation, duh!

;)

The best part of Seattle is the skyline. The second best part, Pikes Market and the endless amount of rooftops that overlook the beautiful water. The fresh seafood, the fresh arrangements of flowers and the many corners that lead you to hidden treasures, including a restaurant named the "Pink Door" located in Post Alley Way. If you want the best Italian food, in my opinion, that’s the place to go.

This looks nasty but it was so fun to do! When in Seattle, the Gum Wall is a must. Even if you choose not to stick your gum to the wall, you can see the creativity in gum placement on both sides of the wall as you walk down that long path.

Seattle

First place I came to when I came to the U.S. and I still love this place. Austin has changed so much over the years but one thing that will never change is some of it's humor!

Ringing 2018 in Austin was amazing, but more amazing because I did it with family! This photo was take at the Graffiti Wall, which is Austin’s famous wall that allows artists (and amateurs like myself) to showcase their inner creativeness.

disclaimer: I am not the artist for the design behind us (obviously).