Cortona 2

I think it's been about 2-3 weeks since we've been in Cortona and I have been busy every day. My classes are wonderful.

Since Monday, my info graphics class has been working on creating a logo for the landscape design students. This summer they're responsible for designing a new landscape layout for the campus and for their designs they asked us to create a logo. So Patrick, Lily, Angie, Sue, and I have been bustin our tooshies sketching and designing away. It was intensive but a great experience! Here's one of my final designs. Minus my name of course.



In my bookmaking class, we bound another book. Today we made the Japanese side-sewn book. It's pretty amazing. I'm loving this class so much as well! Our third project is due Monday. We have to design a book using the accordion book binding and mine is on human memory. I finally got my design together today (at the opera) and cannot wait to get my supplies tomorrow. I'm adding textures other than paper to it!

And tonight I got to go see an opera for free! I think it was an American group traveling Italy, but it was in Italian and beautiful. I only stayed for the first act, but it was beautiful. The singers sang along side with an orchestra which was playing pieces by Mozart. Beautiful.

I left early so I could head up to the dorms to work on some things for classes, but before going up, I bought some gelato from Snoopy Gelateria! Tonight I tried menta which is mint gelato. It was sooo good and sooo green!

Cortona, I love.

Update!

Hey Everyone!

I'm sorry that I haven't been able to keep up with the posting, but I'm in Cortona and haven't had much time since I got here on June 14.

I've been so busy every day with classes and exploring the little town of Cortona! I've signed up for two classes, bookmaking with the man John Risseeuw. He's a professor at Arizona State University and he's amazing! My second class is informational graphics with Lanny Webb, wellbabambam!, the photoshop master!

My classes don't start until 10 so I just wake up early in the morning, eat breakfast and walk around, or go jogging. The sun rises around 5:30 am here, so there's pretty much nothing I can do when the sun is shining down on me! Must get up and do something!

Cortona is beautiful! I love this town!

Priest Day/Bus Strike

Our second day was a bit of a mess. There was a scheduled bus strike that conflicted with our plans. Originally we were going to see the Roman Forum but instead we went to the Vatican and the museum. This happened to be the same day as Priest Day where priests from all over travel to the Vatican and listen to the Pope. I didn't get to hear or see the Pope though. I don't really know when he was scheduled to speak but we arrived there in the early morning. After standing around watching lines and lines of priests building up at the entrance, our group walked over to the Vatican Museum.

I need to back up for a second. I forgot to mention where we travelled to, there were nuns and priests everywhere, a lot of nuns.

So we go through the Vatican Museum which was nice. There were rooms upon rooms of artwork that were just out of this world. It was all amazing. There was a section on ancient Egyptian art which was fantastic. I'm so glad that I took ancient art history even though it was the toughest class to sit through. I felt pretty awesome that I recognized all the things in the ancient rooms. It was pretty nifty! I remember something from my art history classes! Amazin'.

But we eventually were led into the Sistine Chapel. I was thrilled and impressed. It's dimly lit inside so it was hard to see everything clearly, but I was amazed by it all. It's beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. I wouldn't mind going through that museum again to see the Sistine Chapel several more times. I loved it.

After that, we were allowed to do whatever we'd like. I just took a bus back with some people and ate at this cute little cafe near our hotel. They had pretty amazing sandwiches there. Very nice.

I think that night I went out with some others to a bar to catch the last 20 minutes of soccer. It was that night or the next night. I can't really remember all too clearly but it was fun! Being in the bar with true soccer fans was great! They all were yelling at the TVs pretty much in unison. Loved it. I think it was the first French game. That was great.

Rome

Rome was busy.

There are so many tourists walking around in that city. I'm glad that our group planned museum visits in the morning than in the afternoon because that's when it got annoying with tourists standing around aimlessly or walking extremely slow.

But other than that, I enjoyed Rome. It's a nice place, but I just think I'd go back because of all the tourists in the area.

We stayed at Torre Rossa Park Hotel. It was more of a business hotel but it was a nice upgrade from the hotel in Vico. This hotel didn't have the weird sofa bunk beds. I got to sleep in a regular twin size bed. Thank you Torre!

Before we arrived at the hotel, we stopped by the Royal Palace and gardens where we got to walk around and needed to get lunch. Lea said that the gardens were modeled after the ones in Versailles and she said that they were better than Versailles. Well, I'd have to agree. These gardens had several water fountains/falls and at the very end of the line of waterfalls was a huge waterfall. It was beautiful and so worth the walk in the sun and heat.

So we got to the hotel and had dinner there. It was nice. We had delicious pasta and then served meat with vegetables.

The following day we took buses over to the inner city part of Rome and went to Sant' Agostina and San Luigi dei Francesci to see paintings by Caravaggio. They were great. I think Sant' Agostina was the church that I was extremely blown away by. There were carved reliefs everywhere and it was just so beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. After seeing those we got to see the Pantheon. Um, absolutely amazing. I wish I had pictures. It was beautiful and amazing to finally see in person. Unfortunately there was scaffolding covering up part of the building but it was still amazing to see. Afterwards, Lily, Angie, and I went to grab lunch. We ate at a restaurant where we ordered pizza. Delicious. Pizza in Italy is amazing. Everything about it is great. They know how to make pizza right.

After lunch, Angie and I went to meet up with our bookmaking and graphic design classes to visit a book museum. We were told to meet at the steps of a museum at 1:45. Angie and I were about 10 minutes late and by the time we got there, we couldn't find anyone. So, we went into the museum bought tickets and walked around in search of our group. We went up and down the floors, but we couldn't find them. So what else is there to do other than to panic. Well not really. But it crossed our minds that maybe we were in the wrong museum. I tried so hard to push that thought out of my mind because our tickets were 10 Euro each and I was not about to waste my money and just leave the museum. Fortunately we found some other people in our group coming up the stairs. I ran out and told them that we were late too and that we couldn't find the group and had already bought the tickets and everything. And their reply made my feel dumb. We were just meeting at the steps at 2:15 (not 1:45) and then walking together as a group to another location. hah! That was hilarious. I don't regret buying that ticket though. We went through the museum one more time and looked at a photo exhibit which we had to pretty much run through to join up with the group at 2:15.

The book museum was pretty small. It was about papermaking, bookbinding, and ways that books deteriorate: natural disasters, war, mold, insects, etc. It was pretty interesting.

The rest of the day was somewhat uneventful. We went to the local art store where I bought a sketch book and another Micron pen and then headed back to the hotel.

That night we went to bars in Rome. It was nice. I ended just being at one bar and then heading back only because we were traveling in a large group, half of them had more than enough to drink, and then half the time we were walking around trying to find bar number 2 and I was getting pretty annoyed and some others were as well. So the 5 or 6 of us just walked back together to catch the bus before the night buses started to run. But Rome at night is pretty. I just wish I had had more time to enjoy it.

Vico Equense Day 3

This was the last day of our stay in Vico. It was kind of sad. We had a ton of options of how to spend our afternoon. All options were great but unfortunately each person pretty much only had time to settle on one option.

On this day we went to Pompeii. It's a beautiful place and I can't believe that I was able to go. All the structures that have survived from natural disasters (volcanic eruption from Mt. Vesuvius) were stunning. I can't believe people actually lived there. The roads and sidewalks were all made of cobblestone. I think the indoor flooring was even cobblestone. We were able to venture and find the wealthy homes which were amazing. The wealthy homes had so many rooms. They were great.

We also got to tour the small brothel. It was interesting. Lea (the art history professor) told us that prostitution was well-accepted during that time. So we got to go inside. It's very tiny with about 5 rooms. Each room had a bed but each was made out of stone. I can't imagine anyone being comfy on those stone beds so I'm just going to assume that they had straw or some type of bed cover. Also what we saw in the brothel were tiles lining the ceiling that showed paintings of different options to choose from. That was interesting. After that we followed Lea who took the group on a tour throughout Pompeii. While we were tagging along with her, we got to see someone's back yard and a fast food restaurant.

After the tour Lily, Angie, and I went off to the Isle of Capri. We took a ferry to Capri and it was stunningly beautiful and unreal. I can't believe what I saw, and I'm pretty bummed that I couldn't take any pictures. Capri is just so beautiful! We grabbed lunch there and I bought an amazing hot pink scarf from there. We wanted to go to the Laguna, I don't know what it's called but it's cave and beautiful but we missed the boat that would take us there. So instead of going on that even though I really wanted to, we took a bus up to the top of the mountain. It was a great and scary ride. The roads here are extremely narrow. Our bus driver was driving so close to the edge of the mountain which was great. It was as if we were about to fall over. Those rides are typically awesome. I'm just glad that we didn't actually tip over. haha

We got to the top to Ana Capri and it was beautiful. We got some gelato and walked around for a few minutes and then got back down to have some time to get to the beach before having to catch the ferry back to Sorrento and then to Vico. We ended up taking a taxi cab down the mountain. Before leaving for Europe, I swore that I would never take a taxi knowing that the driver would overcharge me, but this was urgent and the driver flat out told us that it would be 20 Euro to get down to the bottom. It's a lot but this lady from Australia offered to pitch in on the ride so it ended up being 5 Euro each (We also met another Australian on the ferry to Capri. She had just graduated college which she called uni and had been couch surfing and sleeping at hostels).

So we got to the beach and ran into Lanny and his family. And he took pictures of us stumbling into the cold cold but so clear water. It was great. That was my very first photo shoot. Nice. But the water was really clear and beautiful. I wish it had been warmer but it was slightly chilly with a breeze that day. I'm not a fan of beaches but I'd definitely go back to that one.

Vico Equense Day 2

I need to mention the hotel we stayed at. It's called Aequa Hotel. It's a nice place located next to the coast and had a nice pool. The town was a great place itself. Hilly and beautiful. My experience there was unlike any other city I've been to. I don't know if this is just typical of the town to be this way but there were many young boys everywhere who were confrontational and would holler at all and any female walking by. On the first day, I was honked at and I heard several similar stories.

Anyways, look up the hotel if you'd like. It's a beautiful place.

Day 2 in Vico was nice. We went to the Capodimonte Museum. It was a nice and very long museum. There were walls upon walls of paintings to look at. I eventually got burned out from looking at so many paintings. There were several that were copies of one painting. I guess they found it necessary to show the different painting techniques but they just ended up being wasted wall space. After the museum, we all ate outside in the gardens with our sacked lunches. They lunch had 3 small sandwiches, one with only ham, one with only cheese, and the third one with ham and cheese. Cute.

After lunch we rode the bus over to the Archeological Museum. The bus ride over wasn't that great. We were stuck in traffic for about 20 minutes at a left turn. People in that town drive like crazy, especially the people on the vespas. They zoomed in and out of traffic going to where ever they wanted. The museum was really nice though. It was equally as long but it held my attention longer. There was work by Michelangelo. They had huge sculptures that he carved but I liked the most about this area of the museum was his handwriting. That was the best part. He had beautiful handwriting. I couldn't stop admiring how legible, clean, and beautiful it was.

I think this was the museum that has a penis room. Apparently during the time period of the statues, men didn't think it appropriate for women to see the penises on the Greek like statues so they went around and chopped them all off and the museum has a room that stores all of them. Unfortunately the penis room wasn't opened that day.

Afterwards we went straight back to the hotel where we had dinner.

Last Day in Milan/ First Day in Vico

Hello all!

So I've been falling behind on my blog posts. Milan was great. We stayed there for 4 days and 3 nights. I'll be honest, I can't really remember all that we did but our last day we spent walking around the fashion houses! It was great. There was this huge block of high end fashion stores that we overlooked. We walked down to where they're located and seriously, there's one block that belongs to Dolce & Gabbana. It's awesome. Each store had amazing window displays. They almost make me want to do that for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures throughout our stay in Milan. I wish I had especially around the fashion houses. The people walking down the streets looked like people you see in fashion magazines and such. They all dress so fresh. The men with their light colored dress pants and light blue button up with a pair of oxfords and hot sunglasses, and the women in casual, trendy, and sassy outfits. That was great to see. I enjoyed it a lot.

Then for the evening if I remember correctly, I was in charge of picking the restaurant and I ended up taking us to this place near our hotel that was about a 15 minute walk. I'm really glad that I was being indecisive. We were able to walk on through the side of town that we hadn't seen before where there was a lot of shopping to do. In the area we found this nice little restaurant that from the outside looked tiny but when you walked in, it was huge. The food was great. Lily and I split a pizza that have arugula, mozzarella, and tomatoes. Patrick got this amazing seafood pasta that tasted great. We also ordered red wine for the table. It was a great last night in Milan.

The next day we grabbed a train in the early morning to take us to Naples to meet up with the Cortona program. The ride was a nice 5 hour ride. We stopped at several stations along the way where people got on and off. Eventually we finally got into Naples, got off the train and guess who we find? Lanny Webb, his wife, and son Patrick! We decided to follow them to get on to the next train that would take us to Vico Equense where we were meeting. We rode the train with them and met a grad student who's in the Cortona program as well.

We arrived in Vico and checked into the hotel. It was a little confusing at first. We were placed in rooms in alphabetical order. So I get my key and learn that I have 3 roommates. I go up to my room and walk through the door to find this nice quaint room. The first thing I see to my left are 2 beds that have suitcases on them already. I go in a little more to see the other 2 beds around the corner to the right and instead of 2 twin sized beds, I find this odd sofa bunk bed that looked shifty and unstable. I dropped my bags and just thought wtf, are you kidding me? Really. I have never seen a sofa bed like that before. I wish I had taken pictures but I forgot my battery charger in the States and both my batteries were already dead. This sofa bed that turns into a bunk bed was interesting though. I didn't really know which bed to take, but I decided on the lower bunk even though I was fearing that the contraption would collapse on me completely. Whatever.

I'm making this way too long. Our first night as a group was nice though. I got gelato, met up with the group at our first meeting, ate dinner at the hotel and then went to bed.

Milano Day 2

Today was great. Hopped on the bus and grabbed breakfast in the inner city. It was pretty expensive and ok. I got a shot of espresso with a croissant that was filled with marmalade. On top of that I got a bowl of mixed fruit. I'm liking the filled croissants. It's a nice surprise.

Afterwards we went to hunt down exhibits that we saw the day before. The first one was a photography exhibit with photos taken by Stanley Kubrick. The exhibit was great. His photo series were stunning. Great images in black and white, high contrast. He did a series of photos on a boy in Brooklyn, age 9 I believe, who worked as a shoe shiner to help raise his siblings, maybe 9 of them. He also had done another series on a family of 9 kids and widowed wife and followed them throughout the course of their lives living at some type of an orphanage. The series were strong and great to see.

Afterwards we went to find the Egon Schiele exhibit. He's from the Bauhaus and was influenced and helped by Klimt. I'm in love with his art. I like the way he draws his people. They're thin, gaunt, elongated, and fantastically drawn and colored. His lines are rough, curved, and loose. They aren't fussy, like how Murawski would say. His color palette is equally great. They're mellow, cool, and express the sufferings that he had cooped up inside.

Milano Day 1

After a not-so-great ride on the night train, we got into Milano some 30 minutes late around 10:40AM.

The night train was great compared to the uncomfortable and awkward sit down train ride from before, but the company was, interesting.

Anyways, what I really need to mention is the ballin' train attendant working the night ride. What caught my attention were his amazing thick bright red plastics. They were AMAZING and made him look so chic. I can't stop thinking about them still. He's for sure Italian straight up, no doubt about that. I wish I could've taken a picture of him but that would've been awkward. I spotted him when we got off the train. He was walking out of the station wearing these amazing oval shaped sunglasses. Man. He was awesome. Just so awesome. I wish we were friends. Lily and I got to talk to him but only at the restaurant when he took our order. No actual conversations.

At the beginning of our Milano journey, we had to figure out the metro. It differs a little from the Paris and Spanish ones. Just a little but we eventually figured it out. Got on at Milano Centrale and then off at the Dateo station and started walking the streets in search of our hotel. Thank goodness it was a straight direct walk with just one turn. Otherwise I think I would've fainted. We didn't make any stops between getting off the train and arriving at our hotel. So we find the hotel, buzzed the door, got through and find that Brasil Hotel is on the 4th floor. I brought a medium sized suitcase and I'm kind of disliking my decision. SO, haha, all three of us are hungry and tired and slightly cranky. We walked up all 5 of those damn floors. I say 5 because the main floor is considered a 0 or T here. Midway I had to take a break because I couldn't take it (but I'm prepping for the Cortona hill) but we finally reached the floor, walked into the office very out of breath, and the lady behind the desk said,"You didn't use the elevator?"

What.

haha. It was a great though. I just remember after each time I reached the next floor, I kept looking at this door with 2 buttons but I never bothered to stop and see what it really was. But it's ok. I'm workin' on some awesome looking kick-ass legs right now.




Well, we arrived in Milano on a holiday where they celebrate the country becoming a republic. Our hotel is located outside of the inner city and most of the restaurants and stores were closed. The lady at the desk said that if we go into the inner city at the Babila train station, there should be more stores opened and we could take the metro or (get this) the bus. And we took the bus. It was great. Our first experience on a European bus line and it was great. I like it better than having to run down into the metro station and then down some more stairs only to ride train with nothing to look at except the pitch black tunnel.

Anyways, this area off the Babila train station is awesome. I'm so glad the lady told us to go there. High-end fashion stores galore! Everything there is great. And what's even better, there's an H&M on every single street pretty much. I thought Paris was getting carried away the two that they had on one block, but good God H&M. You're trying so hard to dominate Milano. It's ridiculous because each store has the exact same merchandise. I thought they would try to switch it up, but I guess that's not all too necessary. I think they're a waste of space. I can't really find anything in there that I like. But if you're a fan and you like the one at the Mall of Georgia, then you need to get your ass over to Europe because it's 10 times better.

So our first day here consists of walking around the shopping center. The mini Duomo is here along with all these posters for amazing photo and graphic design exhibits. Well, just one of each but it was great. We eventually did grab some food around 4PM at this great outside sit-down restaurant. I got this spicy penne dish. It was great. We ordered water but our waiter gave us small glasses of champagne which tasted amazing. For dessert, they gave us amazing truffles. Would've taken pictures, but it felt like a place that would look down upon that. So...





We walked around some more and then got back to our hotel. Rested and then went out for dinner which was equally as amazing as that truffle from lunch. The restaurant we ate at was what seemed like a small family owned restaurant with amazing food. Lily and I split this great pizza. Mmmm so good. It had sauce, cheese, ham, and some type of fresh greens. So good. And we also had great white wine with it. Great stuff.

Barcelona

Barcelona is wonderful. It slightly reminds me of Paris, but there are more tourists in our area and the people aren't skinny sticks.



On the first day, we arrived from into the city in the morning by another night train. The night train was awful. Let me tell you. We bought tickets for a sit down night train where we pretty much just sit through the night. It was horrible. Please don't ever go on one. It was significantly cheaper but not worth it. We were stuck in one car with 8 seats, 4 seats on either side of the car and there wasn't much space in the middle for our legs. Along with that, there was a good amount of luggage space but one lady arrived to the train about 5 minutes before departure and couldn't fit her luggage and got pissed. That was a great start to a lovely evening.

Let me describe the dilemma that we had with the luggage. It was quite beautiful... The first person in the car was this little Spanish lady maybe in her late 40s or so. She was really nice. It was me, the lady, then Patrick, and then Lily on one side. Then a Chinese couple came in. They sat in the middle on the other side. They were nice but pretty much just kept to themselves. Then this young girl around my age came in. We were trying to figure out how to fit her luggage up on the shelves but eventually just decided to keep it between her and me. She was nice at first when I suggested that we keep her suitcase between us but after that she just had this ugly glare/sneer on her face. And then the lady who got a little peeved sat across from Lily. She was alright after we decided what to do with her suitcase, leave it outside in the walkway.

The ride was miserable. The seats could be pushed back but that wasn't comfortable at all and like I said, there was enough leg space for that to happen. So pretty much I tried my best to sleep with my back upright. It sucked. We each took Advil PMs. That didn't help much. First, I didn't even fall asleep until around midnight and then after that I kept waking up periodically. It was really annoying and stressful. But we finally reached Barcelona the next morning. Thank God.

When we got in to Barcelona, it was around 7 in the morning, so while walking down la Rambla, it was pretty empty. In the middle of the street there's walking space and vendors all along the sides. We walked by a lot of floral vendors for a while before we reached our hostel's street, la Principe. We made reservations at Centres-Rambles Youth Hostel. It's a nice place, but I wasn't much of a fan of the lighting, horrible florescent lighting. It's great place for people to meet new people.

We left our luggage in the storage that they had and left to grab some breakfast for check-in. We found this place called Cappuccino, sat down for outdoor seating and placed our orders. Lily and I got cafes and Patrick got an espresso. We also ordered plain croissants and Lily got some type of Napolean pastry that's filled with chocolate. That breakfast wasn't great. It's like it was boxed, packaged food. Nothing freshly baked or grounded. My cafe didn't even taste like there was any espresso in it. It wasn't all too great and on top of that, we paid a good amount for it.

Anyways, we still had some to spend before check-in and walked up and down la Rambla. It's any interesting street. One side leads to the beach which we didn't make plans to see, and the other side leads to a lot of high-end shopping, Gucci, Loui Voutton and so on. The vendors on la Rambla are crazy. You've got the typical souvenir shops with the overpriced city maps and books and such and then there's the floral shops I mentioned and then, there are pets being sold as well: pet birds, hamsters, and roosters. So weird.

We walked up the shopping center and unexpectedly came across the building that Guadi designed. So, yeah, we bought tickets to go in and see it and let me tell, that man is amazing. That building was so great to see. People are currently renting spaces out. It's pretty awesome. Everything is so organic and flowy. The rooftop and outside garden area are my favorites.





We also randomly found a fashion exhibit near the Picasso Museum and went in to take a look. 1) it was free 2) it was amazing and fantastic. I'm going to carry out my dream of becoming a fashion designer. It's going to happen. First I'll be an awesome graphic designer and then I'll get my fashion design degree or I'll just be self-taught and awesome. haha




I think for the rest of the day we continued to walk around after check-in and then ate some dinner. We finally ordered paelles (not sure if I spelled it right), but it's a rice dish thats mixed with vegetables with either chicken/beef or seafood. It was pretty good but it would've been better with some spices. With that we got tapas as part of the dinner special. There was bravas, some type of pasta with tuna and then bread with a red spread. The pasta and bread were alright, but the bravas were sooo amazing. They're like french fries but with this amazing paste that's spicy. Lily thinks that it's something like ketchup, mayonnaise, caprica and some other ingredients. It was so good.

The next day we had breakfast at the hostel (I've noticed that all we've been eating is carbs and protein, no fiber) and then went out to find coffee and came across a nice market. We walked through there and bought some great fruit. Delciious. And then headed over in search of a specific bag that Lily's mom really wants. It's the bags made out of billboard material. We found one by Vaho at a store nearby. It was pretty amazing.

After that, get this, we went to the chocolate museum! It was great! What I really liked about it was getting chocolate. We went to buy our tickets, paid for them and were expecting to get a paper ticket, but instead we got chocolate bars as our tickets! So awesome! They had the history on chocolate and chocolate in Spain. Along with that they had so many chocolate sculptures. Pretty large in size and great!



After that, we went shopping up and down the amazing shopping area. It was great to walk into those awesomely expensive stores! Patrick was in search of kick-ass oxfords. The previous day he had seen these great shoes in a store window display and so we went straight to it the next day. First, the lady didn't seem to want to help us at all, then she walked away on the phone and never came back, and then Patrick didn't want them anymore. Sucked, but he found a pair that he really liked at Camper. I'm trying to find another pair of walking shoes and I was hoping that Camper would have a pair but nope. I almost bought some but my right foot is slightly bigger than my left, so those shoes didn't quite work out.

For the rest of the day we chilled as usual. The mix of people in Barcelona is interesting. It's a huge tourist area. Lots of people come for the beach and partying, but I don't think we really got to see the party scene, but I feel like it's because we were there on the wrong days? Sunday and Monday. On Monday night we were in search of a specific champagne bar, La Champagnieria where they sell bottles of awesome champagne for 4 euros but we never found it. We literally walked around for over an hour and still couldn't find it. We found the street and everything, but nope, still couldn't find it. So eventually found our way back and got some ice cream.

We also went to the park designed by Guadi, Park Guell. Very awesome! We had to go up this really long and steep hill where they had to install a hell of a lot of escalators to help people get up there. It was really, really, really high up. I think we went up about 5 escalators before we got to the very top. The park is amazing though. The paths are winding and the structures and everything about it is organic and nice.

We also went to this other park and sat and chilled for a bit. It was great. We ate our daily mid-day snack there. People were tanning, children playing, dogs running, people biking, and and weird kids festival was going on. There was some man wearing a green blazer and hideous red shorts singing in what looked like a bucket on top of a truck. Then there were people walking alongside manmade elephants and horses and then costumes of tall people. It was all weird and interesting, but the greatest costume was of a man with a really huge head and a short body walking around. It was hilarious!




Then, we eventually got onto our night train. But wait. I completely forgot. We ended having to sit at the train station for six hours waiting for our train because the station closed off their luggage storage area. We originally decided to all go to the Picasso Museum, but that never happened. We decided that one person would watch our luggage for 2 hours and then we would trade off. I sat first and Lily and Patrick went off to go to the museum and post office. My sit was nice, but it would have been better if the station had been more happenin. But no. When the two came back, Lily and I went off back to the shopping street just for fun. We went into United Colors of Benetton and tried on some awesome bottoms. Europe seems to love the saggy, long crotch, diaper shorts. So Lily tried on that pair and then I tried on these amazing long pants that billow out around the thighs and taper down at the ankles and are high waisted. I need a pair now. They were great and oh so wonderful.

We came back, grabbed some food (a Spanish omelette and tomato sandwich, delicious) and Patrick and I went to the market for some snacks for the train ride. And then we got onto the train.



So overall, Barcelona was nice. There are a ton of tourists in the area though. I didn't notice it as much in Paris and Madrid but it could have been because of our hostel location. But a lot of people spoke English everywhere so it was kind of like I never left the States in a way. The food is great, the sightseeing is great. Just, I wish we could have gone to the champagne bar.

Last Days in Madrid

Hello all!

So we've left Madrid and got into Barcelona this morning around 7:00.

So the last two days in Madrid were wonderful. On the 4th day we were trying to find the decorative arts museum, found it, but didn't open until 5. So instead we walked around that side of Madrid, the Atoche Renfe train station, and it seemed to be mostly a business area which was nice to see. After a nice stroll through the streets, we found a tourist information center and got some booklets and pamphlets on flamenco shows for the evening! (lovely)

And for lunch! OMG lunch was amazing! Best meal in Madrid. Up to that point, I've been stuck eating sandwiches with ham or cheese, and not combined. I'm not a big fan of sandwiches so when we got to this restaurant it was like heaven. They served a variety of pizzas and salads and some other stuff, but I only paid attention to the pizza list. I got this amazing calzone! Mmmm so good! There's artichokes, mushrooms, spinach, cheese, and so much good delicious vegetables in it. Each bit melted in my mouth. I loved it.






Later on that night we went to see a flamenco dance! It was amazing! There were about 4-5 dances in the performance. It went on for 2 hours and was so amazing. Everything about it was amazing. It was held in a small restaurant with a nice angled stage. There were 6 flamenco dancers, 3 musicians playing the Spanish guitar and then about 3 singers. I loved watching the dancers' feet going crazy fast and also listening to the music that they were creating. Really awesome. I would love to see another performance.

Next day I we made plans to head over to the Archaeological exhibit but never found it. So instead we lounged around in a nice park and then made our way to a market to get bread, cheese, and turkey and ate lunch on a bench down a random street. Good stuff. What was really funny was that we were sitting right across from a restaurant with outside seating eating awesome food that cost us about 4 euros each compared to their 15 euro meals. Fantastic.






And I think after that we just made our way back to the Sol station area, sat at a cafe, had some drinks and did some more people watching and then walked on over to the shopping area. After that we went over to the train station to get onto our night train that ended up being the worst ride ever. But that's for next time.

Madrid: A chill place with great sightseeing and shopping. Like Paris, the people like to take their time and lounge at the parks, sit at fountain areas. They enjoy sitting at cafes and restaurants between 5 and 9 drinking. Overall, I liked the city. I didn't expect the pace to be slower than Paris though. That was a huge change, but it was nice. They have many plazas and parks where people can rest in and enjoy the day. That's what I'm really liking about Europe, the resting, relaxing, recreational time. It's so nice. I'm hoping that I'll be able to continue that in Athens. Pretty wicked.

Madrid

Today is day 3 in Madrid out of 5. We have be chillaxin a lot. Pretty much like what we did in Paris as well. Paris and Madrid are great places for people watching. Plus, there are a ton of benches and sitting areas for it. Love it.

Anywho, we are staying in Hostel Villar in a triple bedroom with a sink, wardrobe dresser, and table and chairs. The place wonderful. Much better than Friends Hostel.

On day one we went shopping around our area and it was fantastic. We went to H&M, Blanco, Zara, and some other stores that I can't remember all too well. For dinner I can't remember what I ate. We went to a trendy restaurant around here and I got bread and ham I believe. I think I've been eating a ton of ham with my meals. It's...alright. I'm trying to avoid it but I keep ending up with ham.

Then next day we took a trip to Toledo! It's this very old town built on a hill surrounded by a river. It was beautiful. We were looking for the palace but could never find it. Very funny, but we were able to go to the cathedral, synagogue, and torture museum so that was nice. The cathedral was extremely intense. I can't describe it. You need to see it in person but it was absolutely stunning. The synagogue was equally stunning. And the torture museum, not so much, but it was interesting to see how twisted people's minds were back in the day.









Then after Toledo, we chased after Jamie Cullum just for Lily. We got over to La Riviera where he was performing. Tried to spot people selling tickets which wasn't all too successful. The building is located right next to a river with fountains and a nice bridge. It was really pretty but we didn't hang around for too long because Lily and Patrick were tremendously hungry. We ended up eating at some cafe/cafeteria. They food was alright, but we were trying to avoid another sandwich place. I feel like we've been eating sandwiches for every single meal and I'm getting pretty tired of it. BUT, we couldn't find anywhere cheap enough so we ended up there. I got this really good sandwich though. It's an spanish omelette sandwich which consists of an omelette with potatoes in a baguette. There were also pimento (?) peppers in it. Pretty awesome.



The next day, today, we went to Musee de Prado...one of the greatest museums! This museum has paintings for Goya, Velasquez, and a new favorite, Rico. Everything in there is amazing. We didn't see everything but we saw really amazing paintings as well as (of course) Las Meninas by Velasquez. It was HUGE and wonderful to see! And we had some amazing food at the museum as well. I got a spinach omelette and OMG, it was sooo good! Along with that I tried the KAS lemon beverage and it was pretty awesome! It's carbonated lemon juice pretty much.

Loving Madrid. Everything is easy going. Doing a lot of people watching and just loving it. The weather has been fantastic...sunny every day!

**update**
I completely forgot to mention that we went to the Palace of Madrid. Completely forgot but we weren't allowed to take any pictures inside so I don't have much documentation on that part which is unfortunate. The rooms were so beautiful, set in the rococo style but Madrid's take on it flows and isn't as crazy and lavish as the one in Paris.





Here's some food we ate right after the museum:


This is bread with a Spanish omelette. The omelette was really good. It has potatoes mixed in.


Here's typical sandwich with slices of spicy Iberian sausage.

Last Day in Paris

Alright, so we just got into Madrid today, but let me fill you in on what happened yesterday through today!

Yesterday, we got up and ate breakfast at Young & Happy. They served us cereal with orange juice and coffee and a croissant and bread with jelly and butter. Pretty delicious. Then we packed and checked out of the hostel to take our luggage to the Austerlitz station to store for the day before we left for our night train to Madrid. After dropping off our luggage we went over to meet up with Jessica.



We went to the Jewish quarter of Paris and it was super amazing. Paris just has amazing stores everywhere. We walked by a paper store and then a pen and ink store and then another store just for paper. They were sooo amazing! For lunch, Jessica took us to this amazing place to get falafel. It was SO good. I've never eaten falafel that amazing before. It had red lettuce, with spicy sauce, cucumbers and I think onions in the pita bread with falafel balls. It pretty much melted in my mouth. After looking at all the awesome stores in the Jewish quarter we went to a major shopping area, LV, and such and such along with H&M, Zara, Blanco and such. Amazing stores, but it was really crowded and jampacked that day because of a flower display. But we were near the Arch of Triumphe (I think that's right). It was MASSIVE. HUGE, GIGANTIC, taller than a skyscraper in Chicago? Just amazing to see.

Then afterwards we hit up a Starbucks! I got a Vanilla frapucino but it just wasn't the same as the ones in the States.

Then after chilling we got on the night train!

Paris

I am madly in love with Paris and sad to leave tomorrow. I love the layout of the city. I love being able to walk everywhere. I love the lifestyle. love love love.

So I didn't mention this before, but I am traveling with my friends Lily and Patrick and we have been having an amazing time. I'm so glad that we made the decision to take this trip.

Paris has been amazing. We had a pretty rough start, but it's gotten better. The plane ride over was nice and smooth. I took some Dramamine and was pretty much knocked out right when I sat down in my seat. We got the Charles de Gaulle Paris airport and got onto RER B and connected to the Metro. Unfortunately the directions given to us by the hostel we made reservations with (Friends Hostel) were wrong. They told us to get off a specific station, which we did, but when we got out onto the streets, we couldn't find Blvd de la Chapelle. It was nowhere to be found. So we asked some restaurant workers. But no. They sent us down the opposite end of where we needed to be. It was pretty miserable trying to pull along my luggage across a heavily crowded sidewalk. Miserable. We never found Chapelle of course. We ended up asking a couple who lead us in the right direction. I think we ended up being 2-3 stations away from Friends. Lame. We finally got there though, tired, hot and sweaty and pretty miserable, but we got there. I'll have that the location was pretty sketch from the start. We got off Barbes-Rochechuart and found ourselves facing these thugs or bros standing everywhere trying to sell cigarettes to people walking by. They kept saying "boro, boro" which I guess is slang for Marlboro because that's what they were holding. Also, there was trash on the sidewalks.

So we get into the hostel, the man at the desk was pretty sketch too. We paid for our rooms, got our key, and went upstairs to settle in. Our room wasn't even much of a room. I know hostel rooms are tiny, but this room was just tiny. There wasn't enough space to move my arms around 360 Pretty tiny with very little moving space. The walls were painted an ugly dark sick purple with a hole in the wall. There were two bunkbeds side by side with room for one person to walk inbetween. We had a shower, window, sink, shelving, and trash can. Those were a nice plus, but other than that, it was a dump.


Um, we didn't feel safe enough to just leave our luggage in the room because we had to return the key to the front desk every time we left. So, we locked up our suitcases with Lily's bike lock. Pretty sweet.


Afterwards, we headed out to get dinner at this place called La Panorama. This was pretty nerve wrecking though. Walking into the restaurant worried that they wouldn't speak English and we would struggling heavily with the French, but it worked out very well. The waiter seemed pretty amused with a failed attempt at French so I guess that was alright. For my first meal in France, I ate an omelette with mushrooms and we had white wine with it. O.M.G. It was all good. The wine was REALLY good. I've never had such great tasting white wine before that I could afford. After dinner we walked around and found the Square Louis Michel completely by accident and it was amazing. Unfortunately all along the stairs, there was a lot of trash left behind by visitors and locals, I assume. But the building was just really really pretty. There were a ton of people just sitting around and chilling. I didn't understand then but I know now how the French find places to chill and drink and that's what they were pretty much doing here. Fantastic.








Oh yeah and in the middle of the night our first night, a stranger knocked on our door. I don't know what time but it was probably around 2 or 3 in the morning. Unfortunately, Lily had to answer the door and pretty much told him that he couldn't sleep in our room. He came back up with the manager and got the bed.

So on our very first day in Paris, we started at 7:30 and made our way to this cute little cafe that we spotted the day before. It's called Kaffe Cafe and the owner was super nice to us. We attempted French, he found it amusing, and spoke to us in English. Um, that cafe au lait was the most amazing cafe au lait I have every had. It was so good. Smooth, rich, and creamy. Afterwards, we got breakfast in the train station and went to the Louvre for the day.



I don't know how to explain the beauty of it, but it was amazing. There's so much to see in the museum but I think we covered pretty everything. The ancient art, the 17th and 18th century art and their French paintings. There were a TON of paintings. It took about 3-4 hours but we got to most of the museum. We went in, saw the art, came out, were harassed by horrible gypsies and souvenir people, and chilled. It was really nice to just sit there. A lot of the French were there chilling as well, playing with their kids, dogs, or reading a book.





After sitting around outside in the sun at the Louvre we made our way back to our hostel to get my laptop and try to hunt down an internet cafe. We trekked over to close to the Montmarte area and had no luck. Eventually we found a bar that had a wi-fi sign but we couldn't get online because of a password problem. It required typing in an e with an accent, but we would have needed a European keyboard to insert it and so we just sat there a drank 2 bottles of white wine and just chilled and relaxed. Um, I got a little too drunk as well as Lily who broke a wine glass. We decided to go to an internet cafe where I attempted to use the computer and type. Not a good idea when I'm 1) drunk off of wine and 2) using a French keyboard. For the first time ever since I learned how to type, I was using two fingers to type. I was completely retarded. But whatever. Afterwards we went back to the hostel where we met our new roommate. A Brazilian druggie. She had dreadlocks and was smelly. Looked like a druggie. Anyways, it was awkward and interesting. Lily was talking to her in Spanish and apparently she wanted to tag along with us the next day and join us but I honestly was praying that she wouldn't. I didn't feel right being near her. I could tell that we weren't her type of crowd to hang with. Anyways, she eventually said to Lily that she wanted to smoke some weed. hah Lily responded by saying haha well we don't have any. Good luck with that. Lily dropped her contact case lid in the sink where it got stuck in the drain pipe. Haha it was hilarious. We tried using her hair clip, the Brazilian girls floss holder, and then rolled up piece of paper. No luck. We spent about 30 minutes trying to get it out when Lily decided to unscrew the drain pipe and it just fell out. Ridiculous.

The next day on Friday

We woke up at 7:30. All three of use were parched from the night before and the room being very stuffy throughout the night. So, the Brazilian girl decided to join us which I did not like. All four of us headed out to find a place to buy water on way to Kaffe Cafe but no luck. So we got to the cafe, sat outside, and got the same drinks. The Brazilian girl didn't care to get anything. She seemed really bored and started to smoke a nasty cigarette. Gross. We ended up having to go back to the hostel because Lily didn't have her Museum Pass on her. While we were waiting for Lily outside, the Brazilian girl went inside and never came back out. So we just decided to leave and went back to the Montmarte area where we found a bakery and got some bread to eat.

That day we had a free tour of Paris that we reserved spots for and went over to the area. I can't remember what the street is called but it's where THE Moulin Rouge is. All along this street there were sex shops and sex toys EVERYWHERE. It was really hilarious. We walked and waited around for 11 to come around so we could meet our tour group and guide at the Blanche train station. The tour was fantastic. Our tour guide's name was Chris and he walked us around the main parts of Montmarte. We went up a specific street that is suppose to the longest in Paris. It was great. There's a lot of history that he told and showed us. He talked about the architecture around Paris and there's a main one throughout Paris where the 2nd and 5th floors always have balconies. The zero floor was for the concierge, the first for the house workers, the second for the grandparents, the third for the children, the fourth for the guests, and the fifth for the parents/owners whatever. He showed us where Vincent van Gogh lived for a while. He showed us the statue of the man who had spread Christianity throughout France. I can't remember his name anymore. Showed us famous restaurants, pubs, and other locations, and eventually led us to Sacre Coeur. It was a successful tour and we just loved it. Also he told us about the green fountains placed throughout Paris. Apparently it's drinkable water and for everyone. Not sure if I'd be willing to drink it just yet, but that was nice of him to tell us that.





So after the tour, we went and got some sandwiches and made our way downhill. We found a shady location midway where we sat and ate our lunch while we watched the locals eat. Afterwards, we went to the Musee D'orsee where we saw really amazing artwork. There were a lot of paintings by Monet, Manet, van Gogh, Degas, Courbet,...all the big stars. We also got to see Art Nouveau furniture. Amazing. After that we headed over to grab a small bite at a cafe right next to the museum. Oh yeah and the museum's interior architecture reminded me of Monet's Saint Lazare train station painting. Pretty awesome. So we got crepes at the cafe and then headed over to the Notre Dame where we met up with Lily's friend Jessica.



She took us to get some amazing French ice cream and then we bought some wine and beer. Jessica says that there's a bridge that all the local young French people go to drink and socialize and just super trendy as usual. So we headed there and it was definitely awesome. Being able to see all those French locals doing what they do was amazing. We sat there for a while just talking and then headed over to get some Galletes. We stook in a very very long line, but it was worth it. This places was the only one out of many on the street that had a line. I got a gallete with the typical ingredients: ham, cheese, egg, tomatoes, lettuces, and onions. It was SO good and delicious. REALLY REALLY GOOD. Then we headed over to get more wine to head back to the bridge to see the Eiffel Tower light up. Again, the young people were there just drinking away and looking super trendy. It was pretty amazing. We definitely got to see the Eiffel Tower twinkling like a Christmas Tree. It was awesome. Afterwards we left and headed back to our crappy hostel.



Now I finally come to today. It was another beautiful day in Paris! Beautiful. This morning we packed everything and headed out to move to our new hostel Young and Happy. It's a really nice place and in a great location. We got on over to the hostel where we just left our luggage in their luggage room and went off to find breakfast. We got sandwiches and headed off to the train station to find Versailles. It was a long ride but completely worth it. We took RER C to get over to Versailles and it was absolutely wonderful. We got inside the palace gates and then the walls.









Everything inside was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately each room was just filled with paintings hanging on the walls. It was pretty dull. But we eventually got to see the rooms, the hallways, and everything. It was ridiculously excessive to the max. I don't know how else to explain it. They pretty had everything in each rooms. Everything was decorated from top to bottom. Each room had ceiling paintings with all the reliefs and everything. The walls were all covered with fabric wall paper and matching curtains. All the furniture was ridiculous and extreme. We walked through so many rooms that had a lot of huge large mirrors. There were tons of self portraits of the kings. Gross. So much was made out of marble. It was just extremely ridiculous. There were also a ton of chandeliers that would need a ton of oil and candles and matches. Where the hell did that have the money or time to continuously restock all these candles? Ridic. Then we walked out into the gardens. That was also fucking excessive. It was huge and expansive. I just can't believe how big and amazing it really is. We walked through one of the gardens and then walked along the lake. It was amazing. A lot of the French people come out to the gardens and spend their day there just chilling and biking and playing. It's pretty awesome. So we walked along the lake to get over to Marie Antoinette's house. I really really wanted to see this. This was also amazing as well. I can't believe how much these people had. Here places was excessive. She had to beds, a billiards room and so much more. Many sitting rooms. I guess they would be called parlors. She had a fuck load and it was just all too amazing. She also had a garden and that was pretty awesome as well. Ridiculous. Ridiculous. We walked back the main Versailles palace and left.


(I would have taken more pictures, but camera was dying and it's better to see everything in person.)

Ate McDonald's and then left to check into our new hostel. It was just all so nice. I really had a great time at Versailles and I am SO GLAD that we got to go. SOOO glad. So we checked into our hostel at Young and Happy and found that we had a roommate. We left our things there feeling secure and happy about it. Our room has walking space unlike Friends and we also have a table and 3 chairs, a sink, and a toilet in our room. It's pretty awesome. So we left the hostel, bought adapters and converters and then went to get some bread, cheese (some soft cheese and brie), salame, and went out to sit and eat our food for dinner. It was awesome just to sit on some random bench and eat our food, people watch, and just chill. After that we walked around and came back to our hostel where we met our roommate. I think her name is Briah and she's from New Zealand. She's traveling for 2 weeks on her own and she's pretty awesome. Like her. And now I am here typing away.