I still don’t have the final dates yet, but the idea is for me to spend next fall term there. I’ll travel at the end of August and stay there until December or January, depending on funding. As of right now, Andoni doesn’t have a job, so he’ll come with me unless he finds one (we have 50% unemployment rate among young people here in Spain right now… the economic situation is pretty bad). We’re very very excited about this opportunity, although this means we’ll have to complete all our 2013 list in less than eight months, hah.

Anyway, I’ve only ever been to Boston once and he’s never been there, so we’re really looking forward to it. I’ve already started looking at apartments in the Cambridge area because it’s best if I have a minimal commute. I’d appreciate some pointers on where to look for housing, because I’m having a hard time finding short term furnished apartment rentals. Maybe it’s too early?

Also, as you’ve probably noticed, I’ve changed the design of the blog. I was craving a cleaner, simpler look and I think this does the trick. Of course, I still have to tweak a lot of things around. Please tell me if you see anything wonky. And if you’re from the Boston/Cambridge area, I’d love to hear what you have to say! Some tips regarding how to survive the winter there? We’re planning on visiting NYC for a few days and also Niagara Falls/Toronto while we’re there, any other short visits we should consider?

Image from Time Travel.

After four nights in San Francisco, we spent another one in Monterey and then drove to Santa Barbara down the coast on Wednesday. The drive, like the one from Portland to San Francisco, was beautiful – although a bit foggy. I spent many summers here in Santa Barbara when I was younger, but the last time I visited was six years ago! I still remember most places though. And of course, the area is gorgeous and so is the weather, as always. Tomorrow we’re headed towards LA, and that’ll be the last stop of our trip, sadly.

My wallet disappeared from my purse on Tuesday evening in Portland, with a lot more cash than I care to admit and my credit cards/driver’s license/ID. I remember thinking the other day that it had been a long time since I bought the wallet but it was still in great condition and I hadn’t grown tired of it – I still love(d) it. Ha.  Anyway, I didn’t realize it until the following day, so we spent most of Wednesday trying to find it after calling our travel insurance (they didn’t cover anything) and my credit card company to cancel it. I thought maybe I had left it at a store while shopping or perhaps a good soul had returned it, but no such luck. We did get a chance to sample a couple of doughnuts, though; besides the Salt & Straw ice cream, which was delicious, but not as great as Molly Moon’s.

Not from Voodoo Doughnuts – we wanted to try them as well but ran out of time because of the wallet incident.

Early on Thursday morning, we packed everything up and started the drive to Santa Rosa along the US 101. It was a very long drive, thirteen hours including a couple of pit stops, but so beautiful. We ate lunch at a deserted beach in Seven Devils State Park in Oregon…

There were a couple of restrooms there that reminded me of the bathroom in the first movie of the Saw saga (minus the dead bodies, thankfully). I would’ve taken a couple of pics but I really didn’t want to go inside again, any more than necessary.

The redwoods were breathtaking, although hard to capture in pics properly.

We even had an elk crossing!

By the time we checked into our hotel in Santa Rosa it was dark outside, and even though we visited the area today before heading towards San Francisco, I didn’t take any pictures. On our way to the city we stopped to take the obligatory photos of the Golden Gate bridge, of course.

We’re definitely looking forward to our stay here for the next four days! The view from our hotel room is gorgeous, so that helps.

 Although tomorrow we’re headed towards Portland, where I hear Salt and Straw is up for the challenge and might prove me wrong regarding Molly Moon. We’re on an ice cream tour of the west coast, apparently!

I wanted to thank everyone for your kind comments on my last few posts (if you can call them that). I want to talk/write about the wedding, but I’m still collecting my thoughts, and there’s so much to say that I don’t know where to start. Any suggestions?

Yesterday, our last full day in Berlin, we decided to visit Potsdam. This was my second time in Berlin and the first time around (in 2008) I hadn’t had time to visit the palaces, so it was the perfect plan for the day. We left the hotel early after having breakfast and took the train. It’s approximately a 45 minute ride (there’s another train that’s faster but more expensive, I think) so it wasn’t too bad.

But enough talking, here’s a few pictures (of the gardens, basically, since you aren’t allowed to photograph the inside).

Sanssouci Palace – it’s the most famous one but it’s actually pretty small

The view from Sanssouci Palace

The view of Sanssouci Palace from the gardens

Another one of the palaces – when you walked around the gardens there were palaces all over them, at the end of narrow walkways

And another one… if you wanted to go inside every palace you’d probably need more than a whole day!

Here’s the Neues Palace, the one we actually visited

The view from the back entrance of the Neues Palace

We had lunch just outside it after the visit ended. They had these weird lounge chairs/tables…

The Chinoise Palace (sidenote: the weather got a lot better, I took off my sweater and… I lost it! I didn’t realize it until we were in the train going back to Berlin)

We also walked around downtown Potsdam for a bit. The town was small but full of charm!

We even found an awesome store that sold all kinds of home goodies…

We got back to Berlin in the afternoon and walked around the connected patios near Hackescher Market. After dinner (we ate at the hotel all the time, that’s why I haven’t written any restaurant recommendations), we decided to check out the ambiance behind the Brandenburg gate since the Eurocup soccer semifinals were going on between Germany and Italy. There were thousands and thousands of people cheering for them, but unfortunately, Italy won. And sadly, I don’t have any pictures of this (I thought that taking my expensive camera there wasn’t such a great idea) but believe me when I say it was completely insane.

And with these pictures, I end my Berlin series. Until the next time I travel, I’ll continue with my DIY/Wedding Planning/Cooking agenda here on the blog!

I’ve had a couple of busy days! I spent all Tuesday inside the conference room, but today it ended at 1PM so we were able to go shopping a bit. Even though the conference is over, we’re staying a couple of extra days to enjoy Berlin a bit more. The weather hasn’t been great, but that hasn’t stopped us from running around. I’ll be back on Friday with the last installment!

Sony Center

A piece of the Berlin Wall

Checkpoint Charlie

The view from our hotel room as the sun sets – Gendarmenmarkt. Too bad it’s under construction!

The best seat in the house for breakfast

Kurfurstendamm Avenue, perfect for shopping

Inside the luxurious KaDeWe Shopping Mall

The gourmet area there is impressive

Walking towards East Side Gallery

Berlin Wall

I spent most of today at the conference, but when it was over I met my aunt back at the hotel and we visited a few places, too.

Brandenburger Tor

A round multi person bike!

Building next to Brandenburger Tor

Back of the Brandenburger all ready for the Eurocup

We took a look around a car show

Kathe Kollwitz

Nikolaivirtel area

Humboldt University

Museumsinsel

Eisenman memorial

I’ll be back on Wednesday with more pics!

We walked around for a bit, ate at different bars, and watched the handball match before calling it a day and driving back home. I had a great time!

On Thursday, we woke up early as usual, and after a great breakfast, we set off for the day. We started walking south on State Street and stopped at the Barnes & Noble, where I bought a magazine for my mom and spent a good half an hour or more looking at books. I could’ve been there all morning if they let me!

We walked all the way to Chinatown (a good walk if the weather is nice) and arrived there around 10.30 or so. We investigated all the chinese stores, and I bought an ice cream / cookie dough scoop for 3.99$, which is a great price considering what it sells for at Williams-Sonoma. I already had one, but was looking for a bigger one and this one was the perfect size! Now I have a teaspoon sized one and a tablespoon sized one. Anyway, by the time we checked everything out it was 12PM, so we decided to have lunch at the (original) Three Happiness Restaurant.

I had already been there two years ago with my aunt, but that didn’t stop us from making the same mistake when ordering: my aunt and cousin each ordered a huge plate of noodles, big enough to feed four people. Each. Plus, we also ordered some dim sum and a smaller dish of duck with rice. Everything was great (I especially liked the duck and the dim sum, but then again, they’re my favorite things to order when I eat at a Chinese restaurant) but waay too big. The total bill ended up being $30 for the four of us, which was ridiculously cheap, but we could’ve seriously eaten for $10 tops… let’s hope we don’t make the same mistake for the third time!

After stuffing ourselves, we walked up Canal Street looking for a Whole Foods supermarket, because my aunt wanted to buy several reusable bags that were not available in the Whole Foods that’s near the Magnificent Mile. We bought those, marveled at the great selection of cheeses they had, and then took a look at World Market and Michael’s, where I bought a couple of small gifts. Then we headed back to the hotel area for some coffee, but first we stopped to check out a condo. Yes, we’re those people who look at apartments even though they’re not planning on buying one. No, I promise you we’re not crazy. This one in particular was close to the hotel, so in a nice area; big (by Spanish standards) and a loft-like industrial feel. Given the price of that one and other ads we saw around the city, we concluded that real estate is much, much cheaper in Chicago than in the Bilbao area. If only the winters weren’t so freezing cold…

That day, we also had a chance to relax at the Caribou Coffee in front of Millenium Park. I like their blended drinks, even though they’re a bit expensive (but no more expensive than Starbucks, whatever that’s worth). We ended up going to the hotel to have dinner and then walked around Millenium Park for a bit, listening to live music.

Friday was our last whole day there, so we wanted to finish our shopping. We also took advantage of a 25% Macy’s sale; I bought a Martha Stewart Collection Cake Stand which I love. I have four cake stands now… I think that is it for me. At least until I have a huge kitchen! I was also looking for a pair of jeans, which I ended up buying for $28 plus tax at Abercrombie Kids. (Sidenote: I returned a $50 pair I had bought at the adult store when I found those. I swear they make clothes smaller by the minute though. I think it’s so small girls like me can’t buy at the kids store, because it’s cheaper and they have pretty much the same things. Also, don’t you hate it when you pick up an item that’s in the “sales” area of the store, without a tag, then go up to register to pay and they tell you “No, sorry, this is full price. Must have been in the wrong pile…” grrrr)

On Saturday, we woke up to the news that all flights to and from NYC had been cancelled. And thanked the lucky stars that our flight was fine. Although I wouldn’t have minded staying for a few more days in that swanky hotel room! We did some last minute gift shopping (Magnets! They make a great souvenir-like gift. We bought them at the Navy Pier, because there’s a whole store devoted to magnets and it has great variety and prices.) and left for the airport in a shuttle. The shuttle was great, because it picked us up right at our hotel and it was only $60 for all four of us (plus tip). We took this instead of a cab because, well, we had a lot of luggage with us… and we didn’t fit inside a single cab. After getting angry (again) at the Air France counter (that’s a whole other story… they still haven’t answered my complaint, by the way), we boarded the plane to Paris. We arrived home the next day, exhausted, but happy. It was a great trip and I can’t wait to go back!

Check out the previous posts about my trip to Chicago here, here, and here.