sarahsepasi's PhotoBlog

ANDALUSIA....Fly into Malaga, soak the sun in Marbella

2008-05-13T18:35:02Z

the beginning of Semana Santa....relaxing in the beaches in the south of Spain....

OBRIGADO

2008-05-12T22:52:25Z

Portugal.....a vacation in Lagos and Lisbon. A daytrip to Cascais and Fatima. A morning of reflection, beauty and chaos. A week of heaven.

LONDON- "o come of it mate"

2008-03-11T02:11:35Z

March 6th to 9th, 2008 This may have been the greatest trip/weekend so far. I met Sara in London (we tend to meet each other in random countries) where Ramin, my cousin who grew up in England, picked us up. We were ready to go, just funny seeing Sara. Its like ¨¨o hey¨¨ as if its normal to just meet up randomly in the UK!.... It ended up being such a cool day! Wandered around his neighborhood and first stop was obviously amazing fish and chips. Walked around the entire London Bridge area, walked past the Aquarium in the movie ¨Closer¨¨, saw Shakespeare¨s Globe Theatre, saw the actual London Bridge etc. We got on the London Eye, which is this ferris wheel that goes over the Thymes River and it was 20 minutes of a breathtaking view of the entire city at night. Invited my old roommate Taylor Whitmer,from Santa Barbara to join us at a pub on the river. Drank amazing wine and fun English beer. So beautiful, even though it was freezing outside. The restaurant had blankets for everyone. I guess theyre used to the English weather. The next day we explored the street markets in Covent Gardens, walked around Pickadilly Circus and Oxford circus and got some English Hoegarden beer in front of St. George's church. As the evening kicked in, we walked over by Westminster Abbey and saw the British Parliament. A few observations. First, the shopping in London is absolutely amazing. I can safely saw, its up there with the best shopping in Europe. Sadly, the US dollar does not make shopping enticing. The food, is ehhh, not so great. Amazing Indian food though. There´s a great place in the Angel neighborhood. The London Eye is amazing, but the whole Pierce Brosmen Madame Toussad replica in the entrance does not fool a single person who´s been to it. Also Buckingham Palace is full of tourists. You gotta push, or you cant see anything. Also, in Covent Gardens, apparently you can bargain things down. It seems too classy to do that but you can. Anyways that night, Ramin took Sara and I to and amazing Indian dinner and then out to Pangea. This was so similar to the LA kind of Les Deux nightscene. Ritzy. Expensive. Small. Exclusive. Great music. Didnt know what sort of mood we were in, but Ramin wanted to take us out big. It ended up being soo fun. Met some guys from Spain and it funny because they asked where I was from and I just thought/said "Madrid." .. cool feeling. Guess two months in a place has made it start to feel like home. Anyways, that night didn't end until 6am or so with Sara and I laying in bed eating the 6 pound bag of candy Ramin bought us earlier. English candy is sooo good; Ramin insisted that its better than American candy. (the guy thinks everything English is better than America...I´ll give him some things, o well, at least he admits we have better sushi!) The next morning we woke up and went to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards. It felt so historic. The guards were all dressed up. London is such a great city. It just feels like NYC but calmer with a twist of LA, and then European!...The etiquette and chivalry just give you a sense of properness....and the accent is soo cute! After a pretty intense night, we knew we had a half day left in London so I´m glad we woke up for that.That day we took a train to Brighton where I stayed with Maynaz June and her husband. It felt so nice to be in a home, with Persian food and family. They prepared us a fiest, amazing Persian food, wine, champagne and dessert.I missed that feeling for a moment. So glad my family's coming in 2 weeks! What wonderful hosts. Going out at night in Brighton was great. It is such a young city, with a vibrant beachtown feel. It reminded me of Santa Barbara in a way.Although, it was rainy....we went to a bunch of places, ended the night superlate and flew home really early in the morning from London Gatwick; one of the many crazy airports I have spent time in. What an unbelievable weekend, i miss London already. Ramin wins host of the year i think.... back to Madrid...definitely going back there!

Amster damn thats legal?!

2008-03-10T03:04:18Z

This way a fun little weekend in Amsterdam....I flew into Eindhoven alone, expecting to meet up with Sara, Bruna, Alexis and Steph in Amsterdam. I met the Ryanair pilots (haha I would!) and they bought my first class train ticket to Amsterdam along with my breakfast! nice people. The Dutch are some of the friendliest people that I've come across. (is it because they are high, i don't know!) The roads make so sense, like alot about this city. There are no stop signs, bikes, cars and trams all use the same roads; they converge randomly....its so random. Anyways, I meet the girls at our hotel...thank god that worked out, I was a little nervous just meeting up with all them in another country with no phone! We explored the streets and the city of Amsterdam, Vondel Park, Van Gogh museum, the array of coffeeshops all over the place and the Red Light District. They are pretty strict with photography in Amsterdam so this is all I got! We ate alot of good food and saw great art. This city is beautiful and has alot of character. The freedom that the Dutch have with the legality of everything is really interesting.....

Barcelona and Paris...

2008-02-25T16:38:09Z

Since I studied in Barcelona four years ago and was really only there for two nights, one of which we were leaving at 5 am the next day for Paris....I didn't really do anything besides spend time with friends and enjoy the nightlife. The nightlife in Barcelona is one of the best in Europe...Sara, Bruna and Alexis had already been in Madrid but it was amazing seeing them again in Barce....they are great girls and have been a blast to travel the world with<3 these pictures are from Barcelona nights and our first morning in Paris. Paris was quite the adventure, not exactly the warmth and kindness of the Spanish. to sum it up, a French man spit in Sara's face under the Eiffel Tower. but there is nothing like walking alone the Seine and seeing the Eiffel Tower in the distance on Valentine's Day. One day in France, we also took a trip to Versailles and saw the palace of Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette. This palace includes the famous Hall of Mirrors which were unbelievable. It basically just looks like a castle made of gold. We ate at the same restaurant in Versailles that I ate at four years ago when I was there. Weird- still sooo good! The food in France is amazing- we had crepes, waffles, croissants, etc!Italic Text

Toledo

2008-02-23T20:46:48Z

This was the start of another amazing weekend in Madrid....started Friday off with this day trip to Toledo in Castilla a la Mancha. Enjoyed their amazing coffee and ate tapas in an underground cave bar/restaurant once we had walked enough uphill (a good couple miles! ah). This city in pretty cool because its small but its basically the religious center of Spain...you really see how influential Catholicism is here/ aka why the entire country gets a week off for Easter! Had a cute movie night with the girls, a great workout in my Spanish gym, and then a day at the insane flea market....It got a little rainy this weekend, but the weather/life here is still perfect...<3

Mas Madrid

2008-02-19T00:15:04Z

Enter Barcelona

2008-02-10T22:46:31Z

the beginning of the Barcelona/madrid blend....

Madriddd

2008-02-10T22:58:59Z

would never trade the day to day life in Madrid....not just somewhere to live in between travels....its a city with a character that is inexplicable in words....

The Beginning of Spain

2008-02-05T20:04:40Z