France and Spain: The World's Best Food Countries

The world's best food countries (that have some nice landmarks too):

France

Very jet lagged on the first morning, we woke up at 5 am and went to see all the sights at sunrise, including the Eiffel Tower

The Arc de Triomphe

La Basilique du Sacré Cœur (The Basilica of the Sacred Heart)

We went back to the Eiffel Tower after it opened for the day; this is the view from the top.

Hall of Mirrors, Versailles

Versailles Gardens

Spain

Amazing food (especially seafood) EVERYWHERE

And dessert

San Sebastian

Convenient outside escalators in Bilbao

Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao

The last picture I took on my phone before accidentally leaving it at this restaurant in Bilbao. Luckily, the restaurant found my phone and even though we had left the city already, they shipped it to our next destination!

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona

Montserrat, mountaintop monastery near Barcelona

Alcazar Gardens, Seville, where Dorne (in Game of Thrones) was filmed!

Alcazar

One of the most memorable parts of our trip, that I don't seem to have any pictures of, was our last stop: Madrid. One of my classmates put me in touch with his brother, a local tour guide in Madrid, who gave us a walking tour of the city. Afterwards, we chatted over drinks, and since he has traveled to almost 100 countries, he gave us some possible itineraries for our honeymoon as well as some recommendations on where to go for the rest of the day. He got us reservations for dinner at Botin, the oldest restaurant in the world, because he knew the owner, and that night made our entire trip unforgettable. When we walked in, Andy noticed that our names were highlighted, had a bunch of stars next to it, and even some notes scribbled in the margins. The owner's son came over to introduce himself, took us to our table, and gave us some tapas on the house. The food was delicious, as it has been everywhere in France and Spain, but the service and treatment were just unparalleled.

My friend and his brother, their dad, and the owner of the restaurant used to be in the same traditional singing group, called the Tunas. A group of them sing in the restaurant every night around midnight. That night, the group sang a couple songs to the entire floor and then came specifically to our table and said, "We heard you are a friend of one of ours, so we would like to play some songs for you." They asked me if I wanted a happy song or a romantic one, but when I responded "a happy song," they didn't like my answer. "Are you sure?" one of them asked. "Fine; first we will sing you a happy song and then we will sing you a romantic song." And then they serenaded us! To top it off, when we left the restaurant, the owner gave us a ceramic jar that they usually put sangria in as a gift to take home with us.

Happy Birthday to Me

In the past several weeks,

I got engaged (for real)

Graduated

Moved into a new apartment

And started a job with World Bank

Just in time for my birthday.

Safari in Chobe National Park

I got another stamp in my passport on Sunday with a trip to Chobe National Park in Botswana. We did a full-day safari trip: one by boat in the morning and a game drive in the afternoon.

Boat safari in the morning

Snakebird - so called because it's neck looks like a snake.

Crocodile 

Water Monitor Lizard 

Hippo with a bird on its back

My favorite part of the day: breeding herd of elephants moving towards the water for a drink.

Breeding - as opposed to bachelor - herd because its made up of mostly females and their babies

We got a different view on the game drive in the afternoon.

More elephants. The elephant population in Chobe is estimated to be 70,000.

This is how close they were.

Elephants swimming!

Giraffe walking!

This is how close it was.

Baby buffalo

Pumba! (Warthog)

African fish eagle

Kudu

Sable antelope

We ended our day seeing this leopard. I heard other people saw it on the hunt.

Bungee Jumping at Victoria Falls

For my last weekend in Zambia, I went to Livingstone. I'd been there 8 years ago with my university orchestra, but besides seeing the falls, I tried a bunch of new activities: walked through Mosi-Oa-Tunya National Park on the Zimbabwe side, where you can see the length of Victoria Falls, bungee jumped off the Victoria Falls Bridge on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe, and did a safari through Chobe National Park in Botswana.

View of Victoria Falls from the Zambia side

Everyone recommended seeing the falls from the Zimbabwe side, and it was well worth it. I had thought about skipping out on Victoria Falls because I'd been there before, but when we reached the first viewing point, the falls were as impressive as I'd seen them the first time. Each successive lookout point revealed more of the falls as we went along until the trees broke, and the falls stretched before us. A lot of people wore rain ponchos, because even in August, when the weather has been dry for several months and the water levels are low, you can get drenched from the mist from the waterfall.

View of the falls from the Zimbabwe side

In the morning, we watched people bungee jumping, bridge swinging and ziplining off the bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe. I'm one of those silly people who want to do something for the sake of saying they have done it, so after lunch, I decided to try bungee jumping. If I'm going to bungee jump anywhere, might as well be over the largest waterfall in the world!

They wrote the numbers for my place in line and my weight on my arm and asked me to wait. I watched more people bungee jump and bridge swing and zipline as I waited, and I got more excited as it got closer to my turn. Finally, they called my name, strapped me in a harness, and, since I didn't think ahead in the morning and wore flip flops, asked me to remove my shoes. They wrapped long towels around each of my legs and then tied them together and hooked them to the bungee. I waddled over until my toes gripped the edge of the platform. I felt an adrenaline rush looking down - afraid to jump, while at the same time half-realizing that that was exactly what I was supposed to do and that this is the one time I could do it (relatively) safely. Then, they told me to look up and out, stretch out my arms like an eagle, and, with a "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BUNGEE!," jump!

All in all, it felt like being on a roller coaster without the coaster. I was in free fall for four seconds, falling face first towards the river, before the cord jerked me back up. Then I swung back and forth, upside-down, in several large pendulum swings - starting to feel slightly nauseous on the last couple swings - before Mombi pulled me right-side up and onto the bridge. (As we went up, he asked me where I was from, and when I returned the question, he answered, "Proudly Zambian." He explained his name means "another" in the Zambian local language, because he is the second son, so when he was born, his parents named him Mombi for "another" son.)

Even after being upright for a while, I felt bug-eyed from hanging upside down. Walking across the supports underneath the main part of the bridge kept my mind off it; I would recommend wearing proper shoes, because even though you don't need them during the jump, my feet hurt walking back. But I made it!

 Next: Chobe National Park

Lilayi Elephant Orphanage

Last weekend, I went to to watch baby elephants have their lunch of milk bottles and play in the mud! There were four elephants under three years old at Lilayi Elephant Nursery, a rehabilitation center just outside of Lusaka for orphaned elephants. The viewing deck we stood on to watch also had stories of each of the elephants. One of the elephants calves had been attacked by someone with an axe. Her right hind foot is paralyzed, because she was hit on the spine. She came trotting in with the other elephants with a cast on her foot, which the trainers took off, so she could play in the mud bath.

Some other elephants have gone through the rehabilitation stage and have moved on to Kafue Release Facility, where they begin to get reintroduced to life in the wild.