Madrid, Spain Part 1: Thanksgiving with Josh Rouse

My final trip in November was to Madrid to visit Kara, my friend formerly of Geneva and Athens (and who I visited there earlier this summer). Being from Texas, she’s fluent in Spanish and is currently spending a year teaching English at a school there.

It was my first time outside of America during Thanksgiving, a fact that was amplified by the fact that my Grandma Maurer had passed away earlier in the week. While it could have been a miserable trip, the fact was, since I couldn’t make it home for the funeral it was better to be away from work and spending time with an American friend than anything else I could have done. I tried to make the most of it, remembering Grandma’s words that I should do all this (traveling, etc.) while I can.

My flight arrived the afternoon of Thanksgiving and Kara successfully found out that the city’s TGI Friday’s had a special Thanksgiving menu (Hard Rock Café apparently also did, but they were completely booked). We made our way there and I fought the urge to not order the Thanksgiving food in lieu of a burger. We got a quesadilla as an appetizer which helped. The food was decent, though not exactly what you might expect (i.e. Shrimp Chowder to start, sliced turkey wrapped around stuffing and liberally covered in gravy). However, the novelty of the experience made up for any lack of quality.

The menu, which also featured an explanation of the meaning of Thanksgiving on its reverse


Me enjoying my dinner and cherry-spiked champagne

After dinner, we proceeded to a venue called Joy Eslava to see singer/songwriter Josh Rouse, an American expat who now lives mostly in Valencia, Spain. I never had the chance to see him when he was based stateside so it was cool to have the chance now. While his music can sometimes veer towards the really mellow side, in concert the full band brought it much more to live. Perhaps because the place doubles as a dance club the bass was really notable and really made the whole performance groove. He played a set heavy on tunes from his two latest albums, Subtitulo and Country Mouse, City House, and (my favorite) Nashville.





This cow was atop a bar inside the venue. Seemed about right.

All told, it was a good, if moderately unconventional Thanksgiving made much better by virtue of sharing it with an American friend who also appreciates its meaning. We even found ourselves quite full and tired by the end of the night, which I suppose means we celebrated appropriately.

Happy Thanksgiving, Only A Month Late!

As previously mentioned, I am playing catch-up with all the weekend traveling I did in November. I was fortunate enough to get to spend the 17th and 18th back in London visiting Adam and Julie who recently moved there. They hosted an early “expat Thanksgiving” that weekend for me and our hometown friend Val Hayden (who spent this semester doing a study-abroad in Italy) — unfortunately Maggie, Dana and Erik were unable to make it.

It was great to be back in London, especially since I didn’t have to be in tourist mode this time having seen most of the major sights in June. And staying with friends is always better than worrying about hostels. I definitely think I could live in there for a few years.

It was even better to spend time with the Porrs who I hadn’t really seen since last winter. Despite some unruly students for Julie, they appear to be adjusting to European life just fine and it was cool to get to hear their perspectives on the culture and meet their friends.

Of course, the food was great as well. They went all-out with turkey, stuffing, cheesy potatoes (by far the favorite), mashed potatoes, and of course, pumpkin pie. Julie fashioned pilgrim hats and native american headresses and she and Val created candy turkey things using Oreos. I was quite impressed.


The guests: Me, Val, 2 of Julie’s co-workers, the Porrs’ roommate (turns out I’m awful with names!), Adam, and Julie




My favorite: Pumpkin Pie. Not worthy of a photo, you say? I beg to differ


The Americans


Adam and Julie prepare to break the wishbone. I’m pretty sure she won.

The rest of the weekend involved stopping by the pub and spending Sunday afternoon back in Camden browsing through clothes and used CDs which yielded some treasures for all parties. We caught a movie and grabbed dinner at Pizza Hut (seemed like the thing to do), and before I knew it, it was Monday morning and time to return to Geneva.

Even though it was a short trip, I’m glad I had the opportunity to make it. Here’s hoping I get to have some more European adventures with Adam and Julie before my time here is up!

Riga, Latvia Part 3: Street Art + Art Nouveau

By now, it’s certainly quite obviously that I am interested in art and design in most of its forms. Lucky for me, then, that Riga has an amazing collection of Art Nouveau architecture, mostly designed by M Eisenstein (father of Sergei, the director who made Battleship Potemkin). Of course, there was also plenty of other random graffiti and street art around as well which I also enjoyed.


Rabbit near Matt’s apartment


Another creature in the same area I assume is by the same artist


Chuck Norris: no longer just an ironic cultural icon in America…


The first of the Art Nouveau photos, in case it isn’t blatantly obvious




I don’t know what this building is, but it was my favorite. The color scheme is understated beauty.


A detail from the same.











And finally, this has nothing to do with Art Nouveau, but it is a part of Latvian culture: Balsim is cough-medicine like liquor along the lines of Germany’s Jägermeister or Budapest’s Unicum. The locals drink it daily, literally "for their health.” While I was in Riga I tried it straight, in a hot drink with Black Currant juice, and in this Martini Cocktail. On my last evening in town I went to dinner with Matt and his girlfriend and we finished the night at “Balsim Bar.” It was a fun time and thanks to Matt, I even brought some back to Geneva and forced it on some friends during Poker…


The Balsim is the unsettling dark layer at the top of the drinks

All in all, a great trip, though after a few days of bitter wind and snow I don’t know if I could survive an entire winter in the Baltics.

Riga, Latvia Part 2: Old Town Wanderings

The focal point of Riga is its Old Town (or Vecrīga) with a great deal of buildings in a variety of styles. Here are some of the highlights I hit over the course of 2 or 3 days of wandering.


Monument in front of the city council square (Rātslaukums)


St. Peter’s Church — every city has one!


The Museum of the Occupation


House of Blackheads, an old merchant guild building


street leading up to St. John’s Church


the Cat’s House (named for the cats perched on its two towers)




The Dome Cathedral, which was under a fair amount of interior renovation/excavation


Random sculpted stone in the cathedral courtyard


Random sculpted chicken in the cathedral courtyard


And some bells in in the cathedral courtyard


The “three brothers,” a trio of quirky residential buildings of medieval Riga


One side of Riga Castle, the home of Latvia’s president


random wall mural


Freedom Monument

Riga, Latvia Part 1: Introduction

November was a whirlwind in which I ended up traveling three out of four weekends, which of course means that I spent the rest of my time playing catch-up. Hence, even though I was in Riga a full month ago, I haven’t gotten around to posting anything about it until now.

When I came to Europe, I didn’t have too many preconceptions about places I would visit, but I certainly didn’t have the baltic states high on my list. However, my college friend Matt has been working in Latvia since graduation and I figured if I could find a way there, it would be worth the trip. Riga isn’t the easiest place to get to, but I was able to find a decent flight through Zurich and so I found myself training and planing north on Saturday November 10th.

Matt met me at the airport and we grabbed some groceries at a supermarket before returning his cousins’ car and having dinner there. It was nice to spend time with Latvian natives and to hear Matt’s perspective from having lived there for a bit over a year. Over the next few days I had a chance to see some sights, try some local bars and beers, enjoy a sauna and get a taste of the culture (including the finale of their ‘Singing With the Stars’ and an overdubbed presentation of Goldeneye). As Latvia was an occupied country up until the early 90s, it was interesting to see the contrast between the remnants of Soviet influence versus the development that has happened since. All in all it was a great visit and a good introduction to winter, because beginning on Sunday, the snow and wind made their presence felt.

I took many photos, especially of the architecture which I’ll share over the course of a few photo drops. Here are some starters.


Latvian flags by night


sunset over the Daugava River


park by night (pre-snow)


an old Soviet monument


Flowers are apparently a really big part of Latvian culture. People prepare bouquets to take as gifts to parties and gatherings as well as lay them all over the major monuments.


Orthodox Cathedral


random street scene




Matt and I enjoy an Alus (Latvian for beer)