international ratings

as i have been inspired by nate's picture of petra (color me jealous), i'm going to rate (according to various categories) the best and worst of the european countries i've visited.

1) best flight--to Germany. i got to fly in a C-5 military cargo plane. awesome.
worst flight--to England from Portugal. ride was bumpy, and as soon as we landed at heathrow, we got stuck on the tarmac for HOURS. overall, i sat on a plane for 19 hours to get home. SUCK!

2) best weather--Spain, specifically La Costa del Sol on the mediterranean. beautiful without
being hazy or humid.
worst weather--England, hands down. checking the weather the day before, it said sunny and 70. the next day, it was rainy and 50. i had no coat.

3) best party--Denmark. on the summer solstice in tivoli, they burned a witch in effigy. seriously. and there was lots of beer and the best ice cream i've ever tasted, even better than an excellent gelato.
worst party--England. the food was dull, the atmosphere was smoky and sullen, and the company was as tasteless as the meal.

4) best overall landscape--Norway. it screams "Vikings!!!" i love that.
worst overall landscape--England. boooooooooooooring...

5) best architecture--Spain. just go to barcelona, and see the work of Gaudi. and yes, the word
"gaudy" is derived from his name, but his buildings are just so damn fascinating. he created a rowhouse inspired by St. George and the Dragon. AMAZING.
worst architecture--tie between Austria and Germany. nothing terribly exciting, except for
the few and far between old stuff. whee...

6) best museum for a country (please note that i was not able to see all of the hallmark museums of every single place i traveled; for example, i can't say anything against the British Museum)--tie between Norway and Denmark's Viking museums. standing next to something that is 1000+ years old? realizing that people crossed entire oceans in these relatively small ships?! astounding!
worst museum--Spain's Prado. that's probably heresy in some parts, but i'm just not a fan of
neoclassism or romantism. goya... bleh.

7) best food--Spain. Spain's food is sexy. interpret that as you will.
worst food--this was a tough call, but i have to say Denmark. the sauce on their pizza is basically just ketchup, and most of their meals involve some sort of herring. puke.

8) best wine served (not necessarily native)--Spain. i could have gone with portugal on this one,
as i really enjoy the vino verdhe (sp?), but the night in cadiz totally wins out. i won't say how many bottles of white i finished myself.
worst wine served--England. see #3 above.

9) best (as in most intriguing, polite, etc) population--Denmark. total strangers opened their
house to my family, and we (meaning my parents) relaxed and knocked back a few shots, courtesy of our hosts. terrifically friendly people.
worst population--Spain. not bad per se, but to grab a quote from a movie, they would "rather make love to their faces" than welcome us travelers.

10) best trip overall--Spain. despite the few peeves, i still had a blast and would go back in a
heartbeat. if i had my way, i'd even go so far as to live in barcelona or sevilla or granada or
torremolinos. an amazing country.
worst trip overall--England. this might be counterintuitive considering my scholastic interests, but the trip was clouded* (HAHAHAHA!) by the weather, the food, the people, the bleh-ness of the landscape, etc., etc. i'll have to go back and explore it more if i want to change my opinion.


*that was lame. i know. bleh.