Melbourne and Arrival

MELBOURNE

Let’s start from the top. I had an awesome six days in Melbourne with Cordelia. It was my first time there and it certainly helped having a local there to show me the ins and outs of how things are done. It was so hot; I think it got up to 38 degrees Celsius. On those days we stayed inside or at least until the afternoon.

Delgraves Lane

What I did:

• ·      Checked out the city, 29/12 and evening of 30/12
• ·      Went to rooftop bar and had a few drinks with Cords and her friends 29/12
• ·      Visited Brunswick Street 30/12. It made me think a lot of Cuba St with its kooky little shops and interesting people but bigger, as everything is in Melbourne.
• ·      City circle tram evening of 30/12
• ·       Caught up with Josh and his uncle, went along South Bank and ended up having a pizza in Delgraves lane 30/12
• ·      Went to Cord’s friends house for new years and had a few drinks and ended up seeing the fireworks, they literally were going off all over the city! So cool! Then we went to Club Soda on King St. 31/12-1/12
• ·      Mary, Cords and I visited Heide a museum of modern art a bit out of the city. This was an awesome gallery and housed pieces by Sidney Nolan and Joy Hester among other well-known artists 2/1

My flight left Melbourne at 11:10pm on Monday the 2^nd and I managed to be sitting next to a girl who was flying to Paris, so I got to practice my French! The flight took just over 14 hours! About 8 of those hours I attempted to sleep. From Abu Dhabi to Brussels the flight took just over 7 hours. The landing was a bit shaky and I actually started to get quite nervous. Once in Brussels I just had to sit down and have a Kriek (cherry beer), it had been too long! I also had some Belgian chocolate too mmmm. When we left Belgium it was pouring down with rain and so windy, typical Wellington weather. What a change from 38 degrees! Flight to Madrid was about 2.5 hours. From there I killed about 4 hours and then got the bus to Oviedo. So after about 41 hours of flying, busing and waiting in different airports I made it to Oviedo on Wednesday the 4th!

Whisky Business - The best cocktail I've ever had! (Rooftop bar)


OVIEDO

Howard, the man I am staying with at the moment, meet me at the station at 5:30am. It was so great having someone actually meeting me there, instead of what would’ve been me alone looking for a hostel. I went back to his place and slept all day!

Thursday was my first real day in Spain. It didn’t get light until 8am. Once it did we went for a little wander in the streets of La Corredoria. Here, most people live in apartments, so everywhere is just apartment buildings. I understand a bit of the language but they do speak so fast! The people are really warm and nice but they are rude. It’s funny how fast I realised this, watching them push onto buses, push in front of you all the time and speaking over one another.   

During our walk we stopped in at Monica’s Sidreria and Howard organised for us to have a typical Asturian lunch at 2. When we arrived there was a little barrel on the table with a spot to put your glass in and you push a button and cider comes out. The way they drink cider here is different. You put about a mouthful in the glass and you drink it straight away, continue on eating and then do it again. Our meal started with a fresh salad with the usual ingredients of tomato, lettuce, onion and then they added octopus and little bits of ham. The main was a type of chorizo (sausage) and chips. Then we had a flan custard type dessert. All of this was then finished with a yellow coloured brandy sort of drink. 23€ was the cost of that meal for two people.

We had to be in Oviedo central by 6:15pm to meet one of Howard’s friends and her family to go to la cabalgata de los reyes. This is a big deal in Spain, bigger than Christmas. It was a massive parade for the Three Kings. The Kings threw lollies to the kids and everyone just went crazy. The whole parade was so spectacular and at one point they let off heaps of fireworks! Afterwards we all went to a bar to have more cider, (the children come too, no matter how old or young and how late it is.) They have a particular way of pouring cider here, the man goes out to the street, and he puts the glass on an angle and tips the cider in from above him with a straight arm. Oh and an observation I made when we were in a bar earlier, one of Howard’s friends got a cider she drank it almost to the end and then threw the remainder at the bar, so it was just dripping down the bar top’s wall, where you put your feet.