Saving the best weekend for last

My last week has arrived. And as much as I am fighting the idea that I'm leaving I have to think about it so that when I get home I'm not completely shocked. But I have to fight back the tears when I think of leaving the wonderful friends that I have made.

Saturday, because Alban's family was in Spain all of us were invited over to his house for a pool day. The have a huge pool in their back yard and the weather was just beautiful. It was all of us - Mamie and Alban, Davy and Melanie, Toto, Aurélien, Ben, and Romain and I. We sat in the sun, played in the freezing cold pool and just enjoyed the beautiful weather all day long. By the end of the day we were all dark and tan.

When the sun went down we all moved inside to eat pizzas and play cards in his living room. Then while they sat in the room and talked Mamie and I made an American specialty: Pancakes. We ate them for dessert like the french do but we pulled out the maple syrup and made them eat them American style. They actually enjoyed them a lot and each of them ate 4 huge pancakes.

Then for some reason Toto decided he wanted to go jump back in the pool. The freezing cold pool that was almost too cold to get into when it was 80 degrees during the day. But we decided to let him so we all ran outside and Alban pulled back the pool cover. When Toto got in he was screaming at the top of his lungs. And then one by one everyone got in. Even Mamie and I ran and jumped in together! It was sooooo cold! But definitely worth it!

Sunday was pretty much the same thing. First I went and said goodbye to everyone that I was going to miss. Noël and his family - Some friends that I had met early that semester. They gave me a bottle of wine to take home with me. Then I went over to say goodbye to Jaqueline, Xavier and Mathias. It was really hard to say goodbye to them and when I hugged Jaqueline goodbye we both started to cry. They gave me a shirt that says Paris on it. It was really sweet of them.

Then Romain picked me up and we went back to Alban's and played in the pool all day again. Before we got in the pool we finished off the making the pancakes from the day before. There was just enough for everyone. A little later everyone showed up. This time Toto brought his girlfriend and Ben didn't come and it was just another awesome day. The guys played soccer around the pool and I tried to join in some. I wasn't very good but Romain tried to teach me some things. The water was a little warmer that day so it was a little easier to get in. Then before it got dark, Alban and Mamie went and finished off making the pizzas from the day before. Then we went inside and played cards again. It was a good night.

***

Monday was my very last day. It was mother's day the weekend after I left so I wanted to get Romain's mom something. I was going to get her flowers but because it was a holiday that day, nothing was open. So we went to a very large store equivalent to Walmart and I got her some little mini desserts. Romain and I ran to McDonalds to get some food before going over to Alban's house and we both got our usual Mcflurries :)

This day everyone was a lot more tired so we mostly just layed by the pool. It was really relaxing and I enjoyed every minute of it. We left early that day so that we could eat dinner one last time with Romain's family. His mom had a barbecue and made us some great sausages. Then we had strawberries and whipped cream for dessert before Mamie and Alban came over for a little while. I gave my gift to Romain's mom and then I started repacking. I had received 2 bottles of wine on top of the one I bought for my mom so I had to really figure out how to make everything fit, and not weigh too much. So Romain and I would pack. Then he would stand on the scale with my suitcase to see if it was too heavy. And we would add things and take things out as needed. It was quite a task but at the end I came home with one suitcase, on very heavy backpack and one very full purse. We did well!

***

The next morning we woke up at 4 am to get me to the airport by 9:00. Alban and Mamie showed up at 5am and I said goodbye to Romain's family and got all my bags into the car. We had a 3 hour drive to Roissy to Charles De Gaulle. Romain fell asleep for a little while and then it was my turn. I didn't fall asleep though. We drove thought Paris and I got to see the Eiffel tower one last time. We got to the airport early enough to look around I figure out where I needed to be. We got my suitcase checked and then we all went and got Mcflurries. After that it was just waiting time till I had to be on my flight.

Saying goodbye to Romain was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I cried all the way though security and the security guards were trying to comfort me. I did not want to leave. My plane flight was very smooth but I think I only slept a total of one hour out of 8. It was hard watching that little plane cross the screen in front of me and get farther and farther away from France. When I got into Chicago and went though customs and put my bag back on the plane and then I had 5 hours of waiting. I went back though security and found a place I could watch a movie to keep my mind occupied. But Micaela called me and that helped a lot.

I finished my movie on the plane. I didn't sleep on that one either. Mainly because I wanted to be able to sleep when I got home since I would be getting home at 11pm Colorado time but it would be 7am my time. That plane ride was very smooth too and everything went very well. When I got home my mom greeted me and we went to get my suitcase which was there...so I got home with no problems at all. I told my mom lots of stories and when we got to the house I gave my mom and brother their presents. But I was exhausted so I went to bed and slept for a good 12 hours.

And that was my semester in France! If you followed me around Europe thank you so much for reading. I loved writing these blogs and they will help me remember every little detail.

I want to say thank you to all of you special people that got to be my housemates for this semester. It was wonderful living with you and getting to share this experience together!

And I want to thank all of the wonderful friends I made in France. Romain - please tell them all thank you for me, and that you are all what made my experience the best it ever could have been!

I love you all and thank you so much!

Il n'y a que les montagnes qui ne se rencontrent jamais.

Profiter de la vie au maximum!

Bisous mes amis,

Sierra

Versailles!!

On Thursday morning I got up at 745. It was the day I would be going to Versailles!! Romain and I left just after 9. We had a two hour car ride there and both of us were super tired. Neither of us are morning people so we didn't talk much until he got his coffee. Lol but we were just content to drive though France together. Everything is green these days and all the flowers are out so the country side is gorgeous.

We got there a little after 11 and grabbed some sandwiches before heading to the gate. I read that European union citizens under 25 get in free so we skipped the line and went straight to the entrance. When we got there I handed the guy my student card and he said he normally would have to see a visa that says I was there for 6 months. He asked me how long I was there for and I told him 5. He hands me my card back and says I didn't hear that and he pushed me on through. I love French people!

We got inside and since the audio guides were included in the "price" we each got one. It told us all about the castle but honestly I learned more from Romain about the castle than I did from the guide. He's my mister histoire. It was his second time to this castle but the first time was when he was young so he didn't remember it. This time he ate everything up. I asked him if he remembered everything he read and he proceeded to tell me about the room were were standing in. He really likes history like that.

We walked all the way though the chateau and we came to the Gallerie de Glace with all 17 windows looking over the gardens and the mirrors covering the opposite wall. It was really incredible and beautiful.

Then we moved into the gardens. Standing at the top by the chateau you could see the gardens stretching over acers and acers of land. We were standing directly off the end of the grand canal where people were rowing boats and the sun was shining... It was beautiful. We didn't know where to start so we started walking towards a pond we saw which we figured were Les Eaux Musicals (musical waters). Then we kept walking along and went into some of the gardens. Most of them were closed but we went into one that was open a ways down. There weren't any flowers in it but it was a beautiful grassy field with only one other couple all the way across. We layed down in the grass together and fell asleep in the sun for a while. That made my day even though I didn't get to see a lot of the gardens. It just means ill have to go back!!

We continued on to the houses of Trianon where the royal family visited during the summer. Though they were smaller they were still very classy and gody inside. The gardens there had flowers which were beautiful. A little further down the road were Marie Antoinette's houses. It was very different from the others and had more of a feel if a medieval castle but I liked it a lot. There were gardens there too that had just a few flowers. But we walked around them and got to see her theater as well. Very beautiful.

Then we headed back to the car. It was a long walk and we enjoyed it but we were both exhausted by the time we reached the car. And we got back just in time for rush hour. It took us a little longer ti get home but I fell asleep for a while... Romain has some embarrassing pictures to prove it.

It was a wonderful day. I wish I could have seen more of the gardens but it gives me just another reason to come back someday! Thanks Romain for taking me to Versailles!!

Cramming

On Monday morning all of us that were still in France had to meet with Dr. Rawson. She was in town with her mother, her 2 sons, and her 2 nieces. She met us at Le Nonante (our house) and we headed to a cafe not far from our house. We all got a drink and talked about our stay here. It wasn't long but after we went to a restaurant called Mangez-Moi to eat Kebabs. Yum! After that we said goodbye to her. The morning went fairly well. She just wanted to know how well we did and invite us to talk in her classes next year. She was planning to go to Chenonceau with her family the next day and invited me to go because I wanted to see it again when the gardens were beautiful, but she ended up having a meeting and not being able to go.

That night Mamie, Valeria and I went out with all the guys to the club house where we ate and talked with everyone. Afterwards we took Romain's golf clubs and went out to the soccer field and we all hit balls around for a while. It was actually really fun. We were just being crazy. I think Romain lost a few of his balls because the field wasn't long enough and they went over the gate on the other end. After that Valeria said goodbye to them because she didn't think she would see them again. It made me really said and we all went home kind of depressed. But Romain was sure he would see her again. She still had 2 days till she left. He said we could plan a night.

The next day Val, Aaron, Mamie and I went swimming in the morning. It was really fun because there was a big slide. I thought it was going to be outside but it was an inside pool. It was fun anyway but we didn't stay too long. We took the bus back to Jean Jaures and ate at a little place there. We all pitched in for a bottle of wine and Val and I shared a pizza. Then I went to buy my ticket for Chenonceau but I had 1/2 hour before my train left so I just sat in the square by the Gare in the sun. It was wonderful and relaxing. I love France so much. My train took 1/2 hour to get there and when I arrived the gardens were just as beautiful as I thought they would be. I only went into the castle for a few seconds. There were too many people there. But the gardens were full of flowers and I really enjoyed seeing them again. For real this time.

The next day we all got together to say goodbye to Valeria. All 8 of us. We went out to Trois Rois and played a card game and spent the night talking and having fun. Afterwards the guys had to say goodbye to Valeria for real because she was leaving in the morning. It was so hard. She was crying, her boyfriend was crying. And when I saw them I started crying and Mamie started crying. It was really emotional and Mamie and I are scared about how hard this is going to be when it's our turn to leave. We were crying when everyone had to say goodbye to Valeria; we still have a week left here.

The next morning I woke up to my alarm at 8:00 to say goodbye to Valeria. But no one was moving yet so I just went back to sleep and figured I'd hear her when she came in. The next time I woke up was 11:00. And Valeria came into my room a few minutes later. Mamie and Val explained to me how she had missed her plane because she thought her connecting flight was her flight out of Paris...so she was in my room when her flight was leaving. So we got to keep her another day :)

Then I met a friend for ice cream and he gave me a birthday present! He had brought it all the way from London. When I got back to the house Romain called me and told me he was downstairs so I went down to meet him. He asked me if I had heard anything from Valeria. I said: Yes she says hello. He asked me if she had arrived and I said no she's inside! He didn't believe me so he text her and her and Mamie came out to see him. We stood outside for a while and then decided to go to the park. We took Chase, Dr. Rawson's 5 year old son with us and we all went to the park and played Frisbee for a little while and then sat in the grass together. Jaqueline showed up and she finally got to meet Romain after 4.5 months. She was very happy to meet him.

Valeria was headed to the train station right after that so Romain offered to take her. He got to come into our house and help her with her bags so he also got to see the inside of our house. Then they were off. And Valeria is home safe now. I ate dinner with Mamie, Rawson's family and Jaqueline that night. It was interesting because it was half in French and half English because Rawson's family doesn't know any French. They left early so we finished eating with Jaqueline.

And that is my last week....sorry it is so late in the coming!

A Real French Weekend

The day after I got back from my solo trip I was in my room working on cleaning and getting organized back into routine, when Jaqueline came into my room and asked me if I wanted to go with her to get Mathias from school. I had never done that before so I decided I might as well go, plus I really want to get to know Jackie better. Mathias goes to school where they used to live across town so we took off walking early to be there on time. We were walking by the park when Jackie saw a horse and carriage and asked me if I had ridden it yet. I told her no so she paid for us both to go. It was really fun. We we riding though the streets and everyone was looking at us. We even went right though Place Plumereau. It was so much fun! We got off to get Mathias and we walked home. That's one experience I never thought I'd have in France :)

The rest of the weekend I spent with Romain. On Saturday the 8th there was a Soccer Tournament for middle school aged kids. We watched them and spent the day there with Romain's friends and family. It was a huge get together. There were people making cotton candy, hot dogs, and other carnival things. I was watching the players and imagining Romain being that small and playing. It made me laugh and I said, "They're so small!" He told me to wait till the next day...they'd be even smaller. So the next day we went back again. I got to meet Romain's aunt and Uncle, their daughter and her children. The kids playing were ages 5-8 I think. They were tiny! But it was really fun to be there with all of them. It was a very French weekend. I also ate a thing called Chichi which is actually Spanish churros but they were french style here and Romain's mother was making them so she insisted that I try before the tournament was over. They were so good. She said they used 33 kilos of flour that day to make the Chichi. That's a lot of Chichi!

Then on Wednesday Romain and his best friend Anthony took me to Chartres. Notre Dame is there, not the one of Paris, but one that is actually bigger than that. When we got there we met Fabrice, one of his other best friends, and his girlfriend Marie. They took us out to dinner next to the cathedral where we all got fajitas, except for Marie. She got the Jumbo Shrimp which she proceeded to take the shells off of with her knife. I had eaten a whole fajita before she had even taken her first bite. I wanted to pick it up and peel them for her. Haha Oh the French!

The next day we went to the cathedral. It was so beautiful. It's not symmetrical but it's so tall and the stained glass windows inside are so pretty! There is also a complete sequential sculpture of the life of Jesus on the walls around the front of the church. It was really incredible! Afterwards we went up into the church tower. It was so many stairs up but it was free (for European Union students under the age of 25 again :) ) and so all but Anthony got to go up. When were were up there we could see all of Chartres. It was gorgeous and I really enjoyed being up there. It's the only Cathedral tower I've been up into. After that we took the hour and a half trek back to Tours. I'm slowly knocking things off my to do list. And it was really fun to have a trip with Romain and his friends.

Some things I noticed this week:
The classic French girls style is a stripped blue/white shirt with skinny jeans and grey high-heeled cowgirl boots with a grey or blue button up pull sweater. You know they are French right away.
French park on the sides of the road everywhere but this parking is on both sides of the road, but its only on one side for about 10 meters and then it switches to the other side for a while and then back again. You drive back and forth and back and forth down the whole street.

Just a funny thing that happened the night after I got back from Chartres. We were walking home with everyone and Valeria pulled on my coat to pull me back to her and she grabbed the little strap on the back of my coat and pulled it really hard. It came off in her hand and the buttons went flying. It was so funny. She was going to fix it before she left but never got around to it so I'm bringing the buttons home with me....lol.

My Last Minutes in Marseille

Today was my last day in Marseille. I was seriously planning on just staying in the hostel, but that's just not me. I got up and turned my key and sheets in, then ordered breakfast and theguy working there started talking to me. We spoke French even though I heard him earlier speaking perfect English to someone else. I told him I had 3 hours left and no idea what to do. It was partially sunny today so he said to go up to the Notre Dame de la Garde, but I had already been there yesterday. So he said another great place to go is the coasts down by the islands. He told me which bus to take so I took off and paid 1.50 euro for a bus ticket that took me all right along side the coast. I got some amazing pictures.

When the bus started to turn inland I got off and walked to the beach. It was bright and sunny and warm, so I was on cloud 9! The beach was beautiful and it glowed bright blue when the sun was shining, and the sky was bright blue and the grass was so green! It smelled like my grandparents yard in Arizona and I couldn't have been happier to be there. And I was going to stay in my hostel all day...ha!

I crossed the grass where some guys were playing soccer and walked down to the beach. I took my shoes off and stuck my toes in the water. On one side of me I had huge bluffs of white rocky mountains; on the other I had the islands where the Chateau D'If is. Behind me was a port with boats and also some guys playing soccer in the grass, and in front of me was nothing but blue water, and way off in the distance I could see a light house. This completely changed my mind about Marseille. It truly is a beautiful, beautiful city.

I caught the bus back along the coast and I calculated that I still had some time, so if I wanted to remake my memory of Notre Dame de la Garde I could do that today. It wasn't sunny by the time I got back to Vieux Port but it wasn't raining like yesterday either. So I hopped on a bus up the mountain and spent 20 minutes taking the pictures I wish I could have taken the day before.

After that I took the bus and then the metro back to my hostel. I grabbed my stuff, but my friend wasn't there to thank for the advice, so I left and got on the next bus to the airport. I was there quite early but it's good that way because when I can't find where to check in I could just do it in frustration instead of panic. I did finally find it and I went through security and everything before I realized that I had no money to get from the airport in Tours to Tours Centre. I hoped the bus driver would just take me and I could pay at the station.

When I did get there the man on the bus was fine with me paying afterwards. That saved me a lot of hassle. So I went and got him his 5 euro after and then took off to the house. I was so excited to be home I almost ran! When I got in I suprised everyone. They were all seated down to dinner and they had no idea I was coming home, but I got a big plate of food anyway and ate happily since the only thing I'd had to eat that day was breakfast. I told them all about my adventures and for some reason my French was incredible.

I had a really great trip and I'm so glad I went, but I am so happy to be back in Tours! :) :)

A Mean Marseille

Today I woke up to rain again. I got ready while Jill was still sleeping and he started cussing at me into his pillow. He had kept me up last night so I didn't really care that he was mad at me this morning. I didn't really have plans today except to meet that little guy I had met on the beach my first day in Nice to buy a painting from him. He said he'd give me a good price. I got to the place and he laid out all the paintings for me so I could pick. I picked up all the ones I liked and he layed those out next to each other. I had a hard time deciding between two. So he told me where they were painted and it actually helped me decide. I got this really goreous painting from the chateau looking down on the port side. It's fairly large so it will go nicely in my house/appartment when ever and if ever I settle down long enough to get one. He even gave it to me for 18 euro!

I said goodbye to Christophe and headed back to the hostel. I was going to try to see the Russian Cathedral before I left but I had to walk a long way to meet Christophe so I didn't think I would make it. So I stopped and got a pain au chocolat instead and headed back to the hostel where I picked up my backpack and said goodbye to Robert. I picked up a newspaper which had some awesome pictures of the waves from yesterday and hopped on my train. The train ride was long but I read my French magazine again the whole way.

When I got back to Marseille I knew right where to go so that was a nice feeling. I checked into my hostel and then took off to the Notre Dame de la Garde, the huge cathedral on the top of the mountain. The view from there was incredible. It was far too cold to really enjoy it though. I could see a 360 view of the whole city. I tried to get a really good panarama picture so I'll see if it works..... I could see the islands and everything. Really awesome view. Too bad it wasn't sunny.

The church itself wasn't that great. Except for the large gold Mother Mary and baby Jesus on top. There were picture of boats covering the walls and some boat models hanging from the celings. And lots of mosaics.

I waited for the bus for too long outside and my boots have holes in the bottoms of them now so water was leaking into my shoes. I had wet feet and I wasn't a happy camper so I took the bus back to the port, and then the metro straight to my hostel. I grabbed a panini on my way back and I ate that right after I took off my wet boots and socks. I talked to the guy at the desk in French for a while about the storm in Nice and what I had seen in Marseille. I plan on staying in tonight. There is a huge soccer game - Marseille and Rennes - and most everyone is partying and going to be drunk, and I don't trust Marseille guys. I have some nice roommates that are all girls, and honestly I'm exhaused so I plan on going to bed early and sleeping in till 9:30 and checking out right at 10. Nothing planned for tomorrow because the rain has just put a little damper on my trip, but I'm ready to go home anyway. I'll probably stay in and talk to the workers in French if I can. Get some good practice in.

Well I'm headed to bed! I love you all and thanks for keeping up on my travels! Gros bisous a tous!

Not So Nice Nice

I woke up to rain today. It was hard to pull myself out of bed, but I did it because I knew I had to meet Bryce at 9:30. We were both late but we still ended up showing up at about the same time in the lobby. We headed out to a museum but the second we got there I realized it was Tuesday and all museums in France are closed on Tuesdays. So we walked down a street and found a boulangerie to get breakfast, then we went to a cafe and got some hot chocolate. We sat there and talked for a while before heading back to the hostel. It was still raining so hard to we decided to play some games inside. We played cards for a while, then the sun came out so we headed to the beach. We stopped for some noodles at a little restaurant where I had to speak French for him. He's studying in Italy and knows no French.

We headed down to the beach where the sun couldn't decide to shine or not. But we got some really great sunny pictures though. Just 10 minutes later however, the waves started getting huge. We were watching people run from them on the beach and at first it was funny, then as we passed a restaurant farther down on the beach we realized it wasn't funny anymore. This guy was frantically carrying chairs up the stairs but the waves were so big and fast that when we went down to get more he had to jump up on them to stay out of the water, but it was so big it crashed over him and the chairs, and then took half the chairs out to sea. They were desperately trying to save their restaurant but it was hopeless.

(Sunny beautiful day in Nice)

(10 minutes later)

Soon the waves were so big they crashed over the roof and ripped it right off. Everything inside was being swept away. We were standing on the Place 8 Mai 1945 and the waves got so high that they were crashing up onto the place, and it's normally way above the water. We got yelled at by the cops to stand back. When the waves started coming up onto the road they closed off the sidewalk and put tape up to keep everyone on the other side of the road. We decided to go get crepes while all this was going on, which were amazing by the way, but when we went back the whole road had been closed and there were rocks from the beach everywhere. I asked the police officer if this happens often and he said no, never. He'd lived there for 30 years and never seen anything like it. But he did say that they had known the storm was coming. They obviously didn't prepare hardly enough.

We went back to the hostel for a while where we showed the pictures to everyone of the mess down at the beach and then we decided to go back at eat dinner somewhere around there. It was the first night I had been able to go out late at night because normally I'm alone so I come home by 7. Everything was all lit up and beautiful. We went back to see if there had been any new damage and we just saw a lot of rocks and the rent-a-bikes were all tipped over. The road was still closed and the police were still everywhere. So we ate in Vieux Nice at a little restaurant where I got Gnocchi and a cheap glass of wine and Bryce got the plat de jour. We talked about anything and everything and just had a really good night. The walk home was far too cold for this time of year though. When we got back some people were outside talking in the garden so we sat with them for a little but I was too tired to stay there for long. I went to my room and fell asleep in seconds. Soooo tired!

Another long and CRAZY day! I saw something no one ever sees in Nice. Nice.

Miraculous Monaco

My Indian roommates were up early also to go to Monaco so I got up and got ready with them, but they left before me. The train only took me 20 minutes and when I arrived it was sunny and beautiful. I got on the first train to the Jardin Exotique (Exotic garden) and bought a 3 euro full day bus pass which was worth it. The Garden only cost me 3.70 euro and it was the best part of my day. From there I could see all of Nice since I was on the side of the mountain and it's one of my favorite views on earth. I hopped on a bus and rode it all the way to Monaco-Ville where the changing of the guard was at 11:55am. It was right outside the Palace Princier and they were dressed in fancy black uniforms. It only lasted a few minutes, unlike the one in London.

Then I walked over to the Aquarium and through the gardens there to the Cathedral. It was pretty but quite small. I got a hot dog and ate it in the gardens while the sun was out. Then I took a bus over to the casino in Monte-Carlo. I was standing outside deciding whether or not I really wanted to pay 10 euro to go inside. When a heavier guy named Tom came up and asked me to see my map. We started talking and he asked me if I was going to go in. I told him I hadn't decided yet and he said he'd pay for me. So I let him and he took me inside and explained each game to me. It was really beautiful inside and cool to see all the games live and not on the TV. From there we left and went to see the inside of the Hotel de Paris next door. It was gorgeous with all mirrors and gold everywhere. He had to take off to catch a train right after that so we said goodbye and I got on a bus to the Japanese Gardens.

(Aquarium)

(Casino Monte-Carlo) (Japanese Gardens)

By then it had started to rain but the gardens were beautiful anyway. I walked along the river to the beach where I only stayed for a few minutes because it was cold, then I went back to the casino. The 10 euro Tom paid covered me for the whole day so I decided I wanted to try to gamble for the first time. I got 2 chips and played that game where the guy spins the wheel and the ball in the other direction, and then the ball finally falls into a number. Of course I lost it, but it was fun to try once. They even gave me a stamp in my passport for coming to Monaco (considering it's not Officially part of France). I acutally ran into my roommates in the casino for a little bit too, which was kinda fun to see some familiar faces.

I then took the bus up to the train station where I gave away my bus pass to a guy since it was still good for the rest of the day. I took the train back to Nice and I got the same pizza and drink as the night before and was eating it in the kitchen when Robert came in and joined me. He offered me some sangria and we sat there and talked till late. I love meeting new and interesting people. I said good night to him, but earlier I had overheard a skype interview of this guy who was applying for a christian leadership position at his college. He was sitting on the stiars as I went up to my room so I asked him his name and where he went to school. We talked for a little and both found out that we were traveling alone so we decided to spend tomorrow together. I'm kinda looking forward to it.

Niiiice Nice

Today I'm headed to Nice. I got up to catch my train and I brought a French magazine before so I could read it on the way. It's a 2.5 hour train ride which is just beautiful so I enjoyed the whole ride there. My hostel is less than 2 minutes from the train station and it's a cute little place with very nice people. I walked in and Robert greeted me in English and gave me my room key. When I went upstairs I was greeted byEilou (pronounced I-loo) who was cleaning my room. He's from England and speaks no French. We talked for a little while then he told me I could get a map from Robert at the desk. Robert is from Germany and speaks perfect English. He gave me a map and told me all of the best places to go. So I took off into Nice. Only 4 blocks from my hostel is where I fell in love with the city. It was a street filled with beautiful trees and gorgeous buildings. And only 4 blocks from there is the beach. It was sunny and beautiful so I walked down the Promenade Des Anglais by the beach to Vieux Nice where I saw the marche des fleurs, which is a cute little flower market. I also saw the Opera house and the Palais de Justice.

From there I decided to continue down the beach to the mountain where the Chateau is because I saw some waterfalls that people were walking around by and I wanted to try to see them. I found the stairs up the mountain and because the sun was out I stripped down to my tank top; there were a lot of stairs! It was beautiful up there and the sights were breathtaking! I found my way over to the waterfalls where I enjoyed the water mist before walking around the other side to see the port. I was lucky it was such a pretty day.

I came back down and wandered around to find some fountains I had seen from the mountain. I spent some time in that plaza and watched some boys try to breakdance before I bought some lunch. I took my lunch down to the beach where I saw a guy selling some beautiful paintings. He asked me if I spoke French and I told him yes. We ended up talking for over an hour in French. Then he let me eat my lunch on the beach and then we talked again for probably another hour. He was a fun old man and always joking, so some things went over my head but he was very kind. I want to buy one of his paintings but they are expensive.

From there I walked home and I got a pizza, drink and ice cream for 5 euro. Not bad. It was a big pizza too so I shared it with the guys downstairs. When I went upstairs and met my roommates who are 2 Indian guys that live in England. They were very kind and we talked late, until our other roommate showed up. Jill from Canada. He is quite strange. I went to bed kinda late because he wouldn't stop talking to me, so finally I put my head phones in and I was asleep within minutes.

It had been a great first day in Nice.

Marseille

5:30 in the morning. Somehow I seem to be able to pull myself out of bed on mornings this early when I know I'm traveling. I got ready it the dark because Mamie was still sleeping, and I was out of the house my 6:00am. The walk to the bus station was cold and dark but it wasn't too long. The bus driver arrived shortly after me and another woman. The lady was so indecisive about whether to take the bus or not, everytime the driver would close the door she would say, "No monsieur, I must get off." Then she would walk away and come back to get back on. She did that twice, but she ended up not going so I was the only one on the bus to the airport. It was unnecessarily early, so I sat and waited a long time for our plane but when it did arrive I fell asleep pretty fast. Right after the cute little French flight attendant messed up the whole safety talk in English. It was so cute because he kept messing up and then laughing into the microphone. He had everyone laughing. I woke up over Marseille and when we landed I walked to the bus station to buy my ticket to Marseille Centre. It was a 30 minute bus ride and it didn't start raining till we got there and it's pretty much been rainy like that all day.

I found my hostel fairly easily. My room wasn't ready but the guy let me leave my stuff in the locker and he showed me everywhere I should see in the town on a map. He spoke french to me without even asking if I spoke english and I understood everything. Made me feel good! So I took off into the city. I went straight to Vieux Port which is just so pretty with all the boats. I wandered around there and bought my boat ticket to go to the Chateau D'If. The island prison that Alexandre Dumas made famous with his novel, The Count of Monte Cristo. It's also the island that The Man in the Iron Mask was held in, so that was first on my list of things to do.

I had an hour after I bought my ticket to walk around so I went to find some lunch. I just got a panini and decided to go back to my hostel to grab my sunglasses because the sun had started shining. On the way home some little guy stopped and said, "Your eyes are beautiful!" Then he proceeded to follow me muttering things under his breath. I kept saying "No, Merci." But he wouldn't leave me alone so I walked into the first random store that I could find. He disappeared but when I came back out her ran up behind me again and was still muttering things in French. I said, "No Merci, I have a boyfriend" And he said, "Do you want another one?" When I said no again he actually left. That suprised me but I made sure he wasn't following me to my hostel.

When I got back, my room was ready so I moved in quick. I have a roommate that speaks French but she wears something strange on her head like she's Indian, but she's not. (Turns out it was her Bachelorette Party, I found out that night when they came in at 4am) She's nice and we speak French. I wasn't expecting to move into my room though so I was running late for my boat. I half ran to the port and got there just as they were opening the gates.

The boat ride there was very pretty and I took lots of pictures, but when we got there it started to rain. I got in free with my French student card, so that was a bonus! Then I just wandered around and read all about the chateau. It's so interesting, but the little info paper they give us is never enough so I'll have to look it up more later. The sights from the top of the tower were so pretty though! I could see all of Marseille from there, as well as the other islands. I also saw the rooms where both the famous characters in the novels were supposedly held. It wasn't a long visit. I got back on the next boat which was just an hour later.




I met some guys from Germany and Denmark that were touring the city on the boat, I didn't talk to them for very long but they were just touring around. Then I took off in the direction of the catherdral. It was pretty far actually. But it was so pretty. Then I went to the other places that the guy at my hostel told me to go to which were not worth it. And I was walking on some crazy back streets that I didn't like so I got out of there pretty fast. I walked past a market on my way to the Jean Jaures Park where I saw some people playing drums. Everyone was dancing and yelling and it was so much fun! I stayed for 3 songs and then I took off because I was so tired. It was only 3 in the afternoon! When I got back to my hostel I crashed on my bed with my feet still on the floor. I woke up from a dream that I thought was real. haha. Then I went down stairs and I'm now sitting the common room of my hostel with some people speakin spanish behind me. Too bad it's Spain spanish or I could understand them...

I'm going to go grab something to eat here soon before it gets dark, but there are two really good restaurants right next to my hostel which I'll probably go to. Then I leave for Nice tomorrow at 9:30!

PS. Some funny things I saw today. I woman was crossing the street and a car pulled out in front of her. She kicked it as it went by.

I saw a dog as big as a bear today. I took a picture but it doesn't do it justice.

My Precious Choir

This weekend was the weekend of our last choir concert in France. It was in Orleans, about 1.5 hours from Tours, and each day we would meet at a parking lot about 20 minutes from my house to take the bus together. The bus rides were fun, especially with a new friend I made. I never caught her name but she was really sweet and we spoke French all the way to Orleans. We also sang songs while everyone in the bus watched us. They thought we were pretty funny. When we got there we warmed up for maybe 20 minutes with the other choir, then we worked on our songs for maybe an hour. Then they sent us home. It was the most useless rehearsal I've ever been to. Mainly, because it was shorter that the time it took to get there.

All the French were prepared for the bus ride home, but us "étrangérs" missed the memo. Everyone whipped out their food so all of us were so hungry. Before we got on the bus, my friend Miriam from Sweden said loudly, "Je meurs de faim!" (I'm dying of hunger). And literally all six people that were walking in front of her turned around and started pulling out sandwiches and other types of food from their bags. It was the funniest thing! And Americans doing think French people are nice. Ha! When we got on the bus we were bombarded by people trying to give us food. They were all so sweet and we got home full and happy.

The next day was the same thing except we were prepared this time. It was a real concert but this time we warmed up for 20 minutes got on stage and sang for 15 minutes and then got back on the bus and went home. I ate my sandwich that I had on the way home so I didn't have to bum food of anyone this time around. On the way home the people sitting in the back seat started singing a really pretty hymn. It was so nice just to listen to them. Then one of the women from choir took us home like she had done the night before. She's a really sweet lady that is a Professor at our university in Tours. She is also Aaron's teacher. She dropped us about 15 minutes from our house and we walked the rest of the way. It's getting so warm out it was a really nice walk.

Then today we met earlier that usually because it was a matinée showing. The same thing again, 1.5 hours to get there, 20 minutes warm ups, 15 minutes on stage, 1.5 hours ride home. After our concert in the bus our director, Hervé, made an announcement that it was all of our last concert with them, and he thanked us for being here. They all clapped for us and then, on the bus, they broke our the wine and crackers!! Everyone got a little cup of wine and the crackers, cookies, and nuts were passed around and around until everyone was happy. I hadn't eaten much when I had the wine so it knocked me out and I slept the rest of the way home to the sound of the students in the back singing :)

When we arrived back in Tours everyone got off the bus, and as I was getting off they all started to sing Auld Lang Syne (the French version) to us. I had to hold back my tears. It was the first goodbye I've had to say yet, and they were just so sweet to us. Hervé came up and gave us biz forts (big kisses) goodbye and then someone got a picture of us with him. Then we said goodbye to all the individuals and took off in our own directions. Miriam and I started "fake" crying after we left, but that's all I really wanted to do, but I knew if I did I would never hear the end of it from Grant. So I held it in.

We went to the bus stop to wait for the bus, but then Romain called me and said they were on their way to pick me up and take me home, so I just went with them. Now I'm sitting in my room realizing how much I'm going to miss France when I leave, and trying to think of ways that I can make it thought the goodbyes. But I'm sure dinner is just around the corner so I'm going to sign off.

Bisous mes amis!

Travel Day

April 15th, 2010

Up early to catch the train. We ate one more croissant and nutella before we left and we checked out by 9:00am. We took the train to the station in Pisa, a bus to the airport, a plane to Paris, bus to the metro, metro to the train station where we thought we only had 3 minutes to make our train...then come to find out it was cancelled because of a train strike and we'd have to take the next one to Tours. However, so would everyone else on that train...

It was so full everyone was standing in the isles. I found a nice little spot by the door and popped a squat. It was actually really comfortable and I didn't mind a bit. The big lady standing in front of me was Indian, I think, so she had on this elaborate outfit. Her skirt had little brown furry balls hanging from it, so when no one was looking I would play with them. Ha. I thought that was pretty funny. She eventually sad on the ground by me.

Then one stop everyone got up to get off. She couldn't get back up so I got up to help her, then everyone unloaded at that stop so I got a seat. I'm alone because Mamie and Valeria thought it would be at platform 1 so they went to stand there but I was skeptical so I stayed by the sign that said where it would be. It was in 16, all the way across from where they were. I'm surprised they even made it on. But it's been a nice quiet ride home and I'm ready for some home made food cooked by our very own Jackie in Tours, France.

Uffizi

April 14th, 2010

First thing we did after our croissants and nutella was go to our reservation at Uffizzi. It was literally 2 minutes and we were inside. Worth the money there! We went upstairs where we saw lots of art. Little of which I know but it was still nice to see. I did recognize a few, such as the birth of Venus and some others painted by Leonardo de Vinci. And I also picked out my new favorite painting: Musical Angel by Giovan Battista. Look it up, it's cute. SO then we went to the train station to buy our tickets for the next day. We found a nice little plaza that we decided to go back to later, but Mamie still wanted to buy some art. We headed back to the market where I got a new cashmere scarf, and then the girls went to buy some art. We grabbed some pizza nearby and ate it on the steps of the cathedral where we stayed for a very long time just soaking up the sun. We even went back after getting gelato to eat it on the stairs.

We decided to go back to the plaza after taking our stuff back to the hotel. The girls wanted to stay at the hotel but I wasn't about to miss out on a sunny day in the grass when back in France it was cold. So we went and layed in the grass till the sun went down, then it got a little chilly, so went back to the hotel again.

There the girls took a nap and I looked at all 906 pictures that I had taken thus far on the trip. It is ridiculous but they are all so priceless! I can't wait to get them on my computer!

When the girls woke up we went back to that restaurant we ate at the first day. We had to wait 1/2 hour but the food was great. Afterwards I was the only one who was craving gelato so I got one last one. 7 gelato in 4 days. Mmmm.

Saving Florence

April 13th, 2010

Today we got up a lot more reluctantly. We'd seen most of the city the day before so we were planning on doing museums today. We went to the l'Accademia Belle Arti where the original David is. The line was forever long and we heard the only thing to see in there was David so we decided we'd rather spend our money on the Galleria di Uffizi. It has more art that Val and Mamie wanted to see so we headed over there and took pictures of the David outside of that museum instead. This line was even longer than the last one so after some investigation I found that we would be waiting 2 hours in that line, but if we made a reservation for tomorrow it would cost 10.50 euro but we could go right in. So we decided time was money and we would pay the extra euro to go tomorrow. We thought we'd try to get in for the European Union student price so we went up to the window and spoke French accents and showed our French IDs but he didn't buy it. He wanted to see our passports, so we just said we would pay the full price. Too bad.

From there we went to get lunch. We shared a little pizza and a bottle of water and our waiter sang to us. He seriously spoke every language. I've decided I'm going to live there and work as a waitress. I could learn Italian and speak English, Spanish and French with all the tourists.

We wandered over to Santa Croce after lunch where we saw some musicians and got some pretty good gelato. We were all tired so we decided to head back to our room and take a nap before heading back to see the city at night. We slept for about 1.5 hours then we went to find a place to eat. The food is so good here. I could eat it forever. We then walked up all those stairs again to see Florence at night. It was beautiful. You could see the stars and all the city lights. All the big monuments were lit up and it was just a beautiful sight. We got our 5th gelato up there and ate it on the stairs before coming back to the hotel. But on our way back we were walking past a plazza and saw a trash can smoking. I pointed it out to the girls and we decided we should tell someone. Seconds after it burst into flames. A woman came to hand us a flier about her bar and Valeria said, "No thanks, but do you know someone we could tell about that?" The woman immediately ran to tell a group of cops one street over and they all came running. One ran to the nearest restaurant and got a waiter to bring out a bucket of water. There must have been 15 cops there.

And that is the story of how I saved Florence from burning to the ground!

Flying through Florence

April 12th, 2010

We woke up early and went to our included breakfast which was croissants and nutella...yum. First we went to the Duomo. We paid 8 euro to go up into the dome but it was so worth it. 463 stairs and you could see the whole inside of the dome and all the incredible paintings. Then we walked the rest of the way up to the top, on top of the dome where you could see all of Florence. It was gorgeous. The green mountains surrounded the city of red roofs. So pretty.

After the Duomo we walked down the Italian street to the Vecchio bridge. It was so pretty! Just as I always imagined it. We bought our first gelato on the other side of the bridge. It was the best stuff I've ever tasted! Right after that we were looking at post cards and we heard a girl behind us say, "Hi." We turned around and there was Anne Solyst, a girl from Concordia. She had lived on Valeria's and my floor our freshman year! She was late to class so we didn't talk to her long but it was need to see a familiar face in another country!

We then walked down to the Palazzo Pitti where we were hoping to see the Boboli gardens but it was 10 euro and we are all broke with all the fun we've had so we decided not to go. Instead we bought another gelato and ate it in the Piazza de Pitti. Yum!

Since we couldn't see the Boboli gardens we decided to see if we could find some other gardens close by. They were too expensive too but we got a beautiful walk up and down a hill that gave us a good view of the city. The road we were on took us straight to the Piazzale Michalangelo. We had to walk up a lot of stairs of course but the view from up there is gorgeous. We could see everything we had visited that day. We shared a hot dog up there and then we headed back down to the market we saw the day before. I bought a beautiful picture of the bridge, an Italian flag and a shirt I had been eyeing before.

We came back to the hotel to look at our good and rest a while before going out to dinner. When we were looking for a place to eat 3 Italian guys dressed in suits stopped us and asked us how to find the Duomo. We pulled out our maps and were about to show them when they said they were just kidding. They just wanted a reason to talk to us. I was watching my back and ready to bite and kick if they tried anything, because I always hear about those really wealthy, nice looking men who ask for directions and then shove you in a can and you are never heard from again. But they honestly just wanted to talk to us. They were quite funny telling us all the places we could eat and then they said good night and gave us bisous (which they to backwards, opposite cheeks from the French) and went on to find a place to eat. And of course we got gelato after that. 3 gelato in one day! Means we were having a good time.

The Flying Tower of Pisa

April 11th, 2010

We woke up early and got ready to go to the Leaning Tower again. The weather didn't look promising so we brought out umbrellas and warms coats. When we got there we ran to the ticket office because the wind was so strong. We got inside, bought out tickets and put our bags in the security lockers, but when we looked out the doors we were greeted with hurricane-like weather! It was so bad, and the flag on the top of the tower was blowing away. The Italian workers kept coming of and looking out the doors and then looking at us like we were crazy. On of them said, "Da tower, it fly away!" And another said, "You go get your money back." And pointed to the ticket booth. Then some people ran in that had just come down from it. They were drenched and windblown, they said it was worth it, but hold on because the wind is strong. We made a unanimous decision not to go. We got our money back but then we had to run back to the bus stop in the rain and it was so wet! It was too windy to bring out our umbrellas so we wrapped our scarves around our heads and ran for it. Every umbrella man we ran by tried to sell us umbrellas. We waited in the rain for the bus, and when we got on we didn't even buy a ticket. We were soaked and frazzled. Valeria said I looked like the Virgin Mary in my Scarf, but it didn't come off until we got back to the hotel.

When we got back to the hotel we asked the little Italian man in a purple shirt how much breakfast was. He asked us our room number and hesitated and then said: "It's free." So we got breakfast included :) After that we finished packing and went to the train station where we caught our train to Florence!

When we got to Florence Mamie realized she didn't have the sheet with our hotel's name or address on it. I had to call Romain and give him Valeria's email address, password, and instructions on how to get onto the Concordia website so he could look it up on her email. He text me back with the address so we found a map and figured out how to get there. Since we couldn't figure out the bus schedule, and we couldn't speak the language we decided to just walk. It didn't look that far. It was raining a little so we pulled out our umbrellas and took off in the direction we hopped our hotel was in. We found it pretty easily. We also found that it was located right above a serial killer museum that plays scary music until 10 o'clock at night. Funny! But the hotel was really nice.


We went searching for some lunch then and ended up eating at this self serve place that was really cheap and super good. Afterwards we went to the market right down the road from our street. It is an awesome market with so much leather and some really great touristy stuff. We wandered around there and somehow ended up at the Duomo, a huge cathedral with the world's largest brick dome. We took some pictures and walked around the find the entrance for the next day.



We came back to the hotel for a little while and planned our next day. Then we went searching for dinner. We ate at a small restaurant by the Duomo and quickly found out that we could share our meals instead. We also found that there is a "cover" charge which is more or less equal to our tip. So now we know in the future not to order so much. After dinner on our way home we bought a bottle of wince, but we realized too later that we didn't have a corkscrew. So we went home and tried to pull the cork out with tweezers, our room key, a brush and a dirty sock. When that failed we decided to just push the cork into the bottle, which was not much easier. But it was hilarious and the wine wasn't even that good!

The Leaning Tower of Pisa!

WE woke up early to go to the airport. We took the 7:59 train to get to our bus that took us to the airport. We were there really early but that way we didn't have to feel like we were in a hurry, and the sunrise on the train to Barcelona was beautiful!

The airplane flight was the bumpiest I've ever been on but it was fun. I feel asleep soon after but not for very long because then we were in Italy. I realized how much we had missed when we fell asleep on the plane from London though! They were selling things, walking up and down the isles, making announcements about the things they were selling over the intercom. It was incredibly annoying. Our landing was rough so when we landed everyone clapped. Val and I went to find our hotel and got settled in before going back to pick Mamie up at the airport an hour later. Our hotel was cute and it was right next to the train station. Once Mamie got there we impulsively went to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The sun was setting and we took some awesome pictures! We decided to come back the next morning before our train to Florence and go up into it. Then we went to find some food, which was of course, pasta :) and went to bed fairly early. I think seeing the Leaning Tower of Pisa that night was one of my favorite parts of my trip!

BEACH!!

April 9th, 2010

We woke up again today at 10:00am. We took our time getting ready and then wet Celia for lunch. It was a great lunch and we had wine mixed with carbonated water. It was really good that way! When Val and I went down to the beach and layed there the rest of the day. I actually got a tan! We decided to go get gelato and go home for a little bit to get our journals, so we could take them back to the beach with us and write till the sun went down. It was pretty but it got cold fast so we left and again went searching for a place I could mail my postcard to my uncle, which was again impossible. We went home to dinner at Celia's which was a whole bunch of finger food. Mmm Mmm delicious!

(Cathedral next to the beach)

(Sitges Beach where we layed all day)

(Puça joined in on dinner with us)

La Playa y Park Güell

April 8th, 2010

I woke up to my alarm at 10am. Valeria immediately woke up and yelled, "It's ten o'clock?" I'm like "yeah..." then she goes, "in the morning??" She made me have to think really hard about it. It was too early for me to know...but how could it be 10 at night....?

When we finally did pulled ourselves out of bed and opened the windows, there was blue sky and sun! We decided to go to the beach in Sitges first since it was sunny and later it was supposed to rain. We were at the beach for about 3 hours. We took so many pictures running in the freezing cold water and writing in the sand. It was a beautiful day.

Then we took the train to Barcelona and the metro to Park Güell. It's a park on the top of the mountain and you can look over the whole city. We had to walk up a road that looks like it was in San Francisco, they even installed escalators near the top so you wouldn't have to walk the whole way. The view from the top was beautiful. You could see all the way out to the ocean. Then we walked down to the actual park. It's a gorgeous park with mosaic benches and 2 buildings with mosaic roofs and a mosaic lizard. We ate lunch there and then took the metro back down the mountain.

(Up above that green between the buildings is where we had to go!)

We spent the next few hours (honestly hours) looking for a post office and apparently they don't exist in Barcelona, or Spain for that matter, because there was not one to be found. When we finally did find a place to buy stamps we were right down by the beach, and Val and I very impulsively decided to go on a boat ride. It took us all the length of the Baceloneta beach. I even got to ask a French man in French to take our picture. Barcelona is filled with Frenchies.

When we got back we got on the metro to the Montjuïc fountain again. but when we got there it wasn't going. We waited for a few minutes and then went to look at the show schedule. It was so hard to read but we finally figured out that in winter the shows are only on Friday and Saturday. It was Thursday. So we decided to give it up. We went back to Celia's where they met us and took us out to dinner at a Korean restaurant. We all got one thing and shared it. And of course we got a bottle of wine. They then took us out to a jazz club where they kept buying us drinks. We'd say no and they'd say, "You're in our country now! You're going to have one more!" So we had a lot of fun and heard a lot of funny stories about her and my uncle. After the club we went home and crashed. It was a fun fun day.

(This is where the fountains were supposed to be)

(Celia and Alfred at the Jazz club)

7 miles of Spain!

April 7th, 2010

We got up early to go into Barcelona. We were exhausted so we didn't get up as early as we wanted but we still got everything done we wanted to do. We started out at the Picasso museum and I learned a ton about Picasso I didn't know. Then we headed up to the cathedral built by Gaudi. It's pretty but there was a lot of construction going on on the outside so it was hard to enjoy fully. There was a live band playing outside with a piano on wheels. I wonder if they wheel that thing out everyday.

It started to rain so we decided to get lunch in the plaza outside the cathedral. It was a cute little sandwich place and we got sandwiches, fries and a drink for only 5 euro. After lunch we headed over to Barri Gòtic - the oldest neighborhood in Barcelona. It was really quiet but very beautiful. Everyone had their laundry out drying on their patios and the architecture of the buildings was just beautiful. We walked to the end of the street which took us back to the Arc de Triomf. We realized that if you stand in the front of it and put your hands out it looks like you're holding it about your head.

We then walked down another street to Plaça de Catalunya. This was a beautiful square with fountains and statues, and more pigeons that anyone could count. Val and I ran though them and made them fly everywhere. At one point some guy threw seeds out and every pigeon in the square flew to the feast. A gypsy was running through them and the sky was filled with pigeons. When they settled again I told Val to go run through them so I could take pictures. Once Val was in the middle of all these birds with the gypsy, they were flying everywhere and all of the sudden the gypsy picks one up and chucks it at Valeria. It hit her on the back and feathers went everywhere! She did that twice! Crazy Gypsy! We spent a good hour there and it was so much fun!

We continued up the road to some crazy looking old buildings called Casa Batilló and Casa Amatller. They were like mosaic buildings and were nothing like I've ever seen before. Up the road was another place that Celia told us we should go. It said "entrada gratuït" so we thought it was free since "gratis" is free in Spanish and "gratuit" is free in French. Well, turns out it doesn't mean free...so we didn't go inside.

It was only mid-afternoon and we had already seen everything Celia told us to see that day. So we decided to go that big cathedral I saw when we drove in, called Sagrada Familia. It has 6 huge spires towering in the sky and it looks like something from the Little Mermaid movie. It's the biggest thing I've ever seen. It cost 12 euro to go in and Celia said it wasn't worth it so we walked around outside instead. It's not like a normal cathedral. Instead of gargoyles it had lizards and in big letter on the side in Catalán it said, "What is the Truth?" We met some Italian boys that asked us to take their picture and then they took ours. It was our first picture together in Spain.

From there we just did a straight shot to the beach. It started to rain so we stopped in a little shop for xocolata caliente and the best chocolate donut I've ever eaten in my life. We waited for the rain to stop but we weren't that lucky so we kept walking anyway down to the beach. When we got there the rains stopped and the clouds started to clear. We tried to take some jumping pictures on the beach with the self timer on my camera but that proved to be harder than we thought, so we walked down the beach instead. The wind was sat our backs so it wasn't too cold, but it was so much fun to finally see the sea. We walked almost all the way down to the end when it started to rain again so we headed up towards the Mirador de Colom, a huge pillar with a statue of Christopher Columbus on tip pointing over the see. We walked past that and bought some postcards on the street behind that. I also got my Spain flag there. We ate at a place called the Pita house. It was so good, and cheap, but we didn't realize how large the ice teas were and they cost just as much as our pitas. We could have shared one and been fine. Too bad.

We had seen online the night before some picture for these huge fountains called the Font Mágica de Montjuïc. We thought we'd go see that so we hopped on a metro and stopped at the stop I thought would be closest. We ended up being in a really sketchy part of town but luckily I'm really good at reading maps so I got us there walking without a problem. The fountain wasn't going off when we got there so we were confused, but there was a sigh with the times. We had the summer times and not the winter times since April is still considered winter so we were an hour late. We checked the winter times and decided to come back earlier tomorrow. We then walked to the metro in Plaça Espanya which was a lot closer and very pretty at night and we took the metro to the train station where we took a train back to Celia's. We fell into bed when we got home. It was an exhausting day. We had walked over 7 miles!!

Spain!!

April 6th, 2010

I woke up as the pilot told the flight attendants to prepare for landing, and soon were were in Spain! When we landed the Charge song came over the loud speakers and everyone started yelling and hooting. I've never seen that before on an airplane!

I don't know if all of you know, but Spanish is not the first language in Barcelona. It's actually Catalán which is a mix of Spanish and French. All the signs were in Catalán and then in Spanish and we realized this was going to be a little harder than we thought. The guy that stamped our passports spoke to us in Spanish and also where we asked how to find the bus into Barcelona, but it's Spain Spanish so it's a little harder to understand. When we got on the bus we both fell asleep again and when I woke up we were in the center of Barcelona. The first thing I saw was the biggest cathedral I've ever seen in my life. The bus stopped shortly after and when we got out we wandered for a while before asking directions to the train station. A woman pointed us in the right direction and on our way there we saw the Arc of Triomf of Barcelona. It looks nothing like the real one. It's Spanish style. It's a reddish color with crowns on the top and it only had 2 legs, not 4 and it's much smaller than the one in Paris.

After we got some good pictures we bought our train tickets to Sitges, the place where my uncle's good friend Celia lives. She agreed to let us stay for 3 days while we explored Barcelona. A worker in the metro came up and asked us where we were headed and then he told us exactly how to get there. nothing like London where no one knows anything about anything. So we got on that train and switched trains in Sants Estació but we missed the first one so we had to wait half an hour for another. The train ride to Celia's is 1/2 hour but the train passes right by the sea. I gasped when I saw it and Valeria turned around and we both started laughing we were so excited.

When we got to Sitges I called Celia and she came to get us at the train station. Her house is a 5 minute walk from the station and 5 minutes from the beach! Sitges is a beautiful little town and the sky was blue and sunny so Val and I were happy to be in Spain. When we got to Celia's we met her husband Alfred. His first language is Catalán but he speaks Spanish with us. He's very hard to understand because he has a very deep scratchy voice, but he's just a sweet, sweet man. Celia is very lucky. She showed us our room and got us both a drink called Vermut. It's a sweet martini...which was interesting. Then she got us a glass of her favorite red wine. It was only 3:00 in the afternoon! She made us lunch after that while we looked at pictures of their travels and their wedding. I didn't know my uncle had given her away at her wedding so that was fun to see. Our lunch was steak, rice and wine. It was so good, and we decided to take a "siesta" afterwards. It was supposed to be a 20 minutes siesta because we had bought return tickets to Barcelona. We planned on going back that night, but because of our long night at the airport it turned into a 3 hour siesta. We woke up just before dinner and instead decided to get on the internet and plan our next day while Celia prepared dinner. They eat dinner here at 10:00 at night, so we went to bed right after. Celia told us that there was a space heater that we could turn on if we were cold, but we had to charge our camera batteries so we froze instead. The next day Celia asked us if that's what we did....she knew us all too well. "American style!" she calls it. Freezing to charge our technological devices

The Wild Goose Chase

April 5th, 2010

We woke up the next day well rested because Katie's guest bed is amazing. I took a shower and we left for our 4th day in London. 1st on our list: Eat. Aaron had told us about a place called Nando's that we should try so I had looked it up and knew there was one on Oxford Street. So when we got there we chose a direction but didn't find it. And since the buses were "free" we decided to get on one and ride it till we saw Nando's. Well, we never saw it, but the bus was going to a place where we could ask about the airport so we decided to stay on. We had just given up looking for Nando's when I saw one and we pushed the button to stop. But the bus didn't stop for 3 more minutes and it was too far to walk, so again we gave up on Nando's. We rode the bus for 5 more minutes and stopped at a bus station we had been at 2 days before. Then Valeria goes, "Isn't there a Nando's here?" And sure enough there was. So we got to eat there after all! And it was delicious. Spicy pitas...mmmmm.

Then the chaos began. We were at a large station so we thought we could find the best way to get to the airport early in the morning. Turns out no one knows anything about anything in London, and we were sent on a wild goose chase to find a bus that went to the airport. 3 hours later we found it and after much frustration we had a plan. The tube stops running at night so there was no way to get from Katie's house to the bus to get to the airport by 5:00am so we just decided to take the last bus to the airport at midnight and stay in the airport overnight.

After our goose chase we decided to do something fun and go to the Tower of London because my dad told me to stop skimping on going to things and put some extra money in my account for me to see the fortress. We got to take one of the old fashioned buses to the Tower. There we bought our tickets and it was worth it. From the outside it didn't look like anything special but going inside changed our whole perspective. We got to see the crown jewels, the bloody tower, guys dressed up as soldiers and a guard with those funny fluffy black hats. And I made him smile! No lie...I have it on camera.

(Not a flattering picture of me but you can definitely see a smirk on his face!)

After that we took the metro back to Katie's to get our stuff where she made us some soup and grilled cheese. Mmmm. Then we put on our backpacks and headed to Piccadilly Circus, the Times Square of England. It was dark by then so all the sign were lit up. There we saw a guy doing limbo to Michael Jackson. He was intense. We then bought a Cinnabon and shared in on the steps right in the middle of town. Two girls, in London with everything they owed on their backs and no place to stay that night. It was the ultimate adventure.

Our plan after that was to see London by night so we took the metro to the far side of town and hopped on a double decker bus, right in the front, and took it all the way to the east side where we switched buses to go to catch our bus to the airport. While we waited I took pictures of Valeria jumping. We would wait for a red bus to come by and I would try to get her jumping with it in the background. We were laughing so hard, the people walking by thought we were crazy.

When the bus arrived we bought out tickets. The airport was an hour away but it only felt like 10 minutes to me. When we got there we bought some wraps and cookies and found a nice spot on the floor to comp out. About 20 minutes later a group of 6 guys with beer in hand came and sat across the way from us. We think they were Italian. They started playing cards and drinking. They even brought their own music. We thought it was so funny that it was legal to drink in an airport so I went and bought us a Smirnoff Ice for the night. We wrote in our journal and then settled in on the floor. I used my backpack for a pillow and I slept solidly for a good 2 hours before I work up at 4:00am. I finished my wrap and then we got up to go find where we needed to be. We got our visas stamped, went through security and there we ended up waiting for about 2 hours to find our gate number. All the screen kept saying please wait, so we both tried to sleep in the chairs but that ended up being harder than sleeping on the floor. Val and I made bets on which gate we thought our flight would be at. Val said 78 and I guessed 48. We were waiting for it to come up for so long we were worried we wouldn't make our flight. So we got up and walked to the front of the terminal so when it came up we would be ready. It finally came up 20 minutes before our flight left and both of us said 48 and started to walk. Then we stopped and looked at each other when we realized that I had guess the right gate out of 99. Haha!

So long story short we half ran to our gate because we thought we were late but when we arrived, there was no one even at the gate. Eventually we got on our plane. No seat numbers so Val and I got to sit together but we both fell asleep within seconds. I don't even remember the take off!! Talk about one long day!