goodbye beijing

Spent the last two days in Beijing with my sister and bro in law. Beijing was... interesting to say the least.

We flew in early Friday morning and managed to get to our hotel with a taxi. From the get to though, it was obvious the language barrier was going to be a quite a challenge. I don't think we got too badly ripped off from the driver (it's usually supposed to be 100RMB but it ended up being 120RMB which equals out to only $2USD more).

I had seen pictures of the outside of the hotel from the internet but I was nervous about how it would be on the inside. Especially after coming from Langham Place in HK. The lobby was actually really nice but the staff was inefficient in English (which is surprising since thy get so many tour groups) and not particularly friendly. Alas, we were given our key cards and I braced myself.

And it wasn't THAT bad but it was like roughing it after HK. It was undoubtedly worse than the YMCA I stayed at my first night in HK. And even worse than some of the hostels I stayed at in Europe (for twice the money!) Supposedly it was a three star, but it was in the States, it would've been a low two star. The only thing that comes close to it was the Travelodge in Vegas that we stayed at 3 years ago.

The hotel was the least of my worries though. Our first day, we walked to Tiannamen Square which was about 40 minutes away. Oh, that was another crap thing about our hotel, it was pretty far away from EVERYTHING. And less touristy, though I would normally welcome this, it was a bit of a different story where you can't communicate at all. On the way there, we were all really hungry and decided to stop in this restaurant. They had an English menu but all the waiters in China stand over you until you order, it's so much pressure! We just ended up pointing at something people at another table were eating. Luckily it wasn't like pig brain or something, just good old noodles with vegetables and a sweet sauce. So good. And they didn't rip us off! $9 or so for three people to fill up. Anyhoo, the city is gearing up for the Olympics so there's a whole disply commemorating it in the Square and also a few displays celebrating National Day which was the day after (Saturday). There's a lot of construction going on, hotels, businesses, public toilets, all for the 2008 games. Honestly, I don't know if they're going to be ready service wise. The Olympics do change a city quite a bit though so I am grateful to have seen it before that time.

Right across the street from the Square is The Forbidden City (with the giant picture of Mao and all) that have the palaces emperors used to live and rule from. The architecture is amazing and it was so awesome to see after seeing it in movies for years. The art and everything is such a far cry from the art I saw in Europe and special in its own way. This is a culture and society that has been operating for thousands of years. And as intense as they may be, Chinese people have invented a shitload of really cool stuff.

It was about rush hour when we left the Forbidden City and we tried to catch a cab but it seemed like the other 13 million people in the city were as well. We ended up walking all the way back to the hotel which was exhausting and frustrating. People stared as it's hard to be inconspicuous with a 6ft something tall white dude. Plus my purple hair. T'was funny at the same time though, you'd think some of them had never seen foreigners before.

I was exhausted after we got back to the hotel and dozed for about 15 minutes before heading out to a restaurant out towards the business district. it ended up being really cheap ($30 for three people and a 4+ course meal) but the place was quite far. it was easier to communicate at this place because some of the staff spoke English.

(I just want to clear up the fact that I'm not one of those stupid Americans that are pissed off that people can't speak English in foreign countries (although, they really should be more prepared with the Games coming up). I'm speaking more out of frustration and should have prepared by hiring a local translator or practing some Mandarin)

The food was delicious though, that's been pretty consistent throughout my trip. Which is great because I sure am a good eater.

The next day we wanted to get out to the Mutinyu section of the Great Wall because we heard it was less crowded and had better views. We missed all the buses going out there though and ended up renting a driver all day ($80 USD). The Wall is actually about 1 1/2 hours from Beijing (2 hours if there's traffic as there was for us) so it seemed pretty necessary at that point since we were leaving the next day. The driver's car was pretty nice and comfortable which made the ride bearable. I woke up sometime as we drove through another city before heading out to the countryside on a road lined with great, big trees and mossy hills.

To be continued! It's time to head on home to California (California here we come, right back where we started from, califoooooooorrrniaaaaa, califoooooooorrrniaaaaa, heeeeeeeeeeerrreee we coooooooooome!) <-- sorry, nerd alert

Still in Hong Kong...

I'm currently sitting in the Hong Kong airport because 3 people are very stupid and missed their flight to Beijing and now have to wait until 3am until the next one. Retards. Someone smack those bastards.

But let's rewind before I get to that point.

Back to Shanghai.

We took the bus from the airport over to the city center of Shanghai to my parents' hotel. The bus was less than $2 for a little bit over an hour ride. We met a French guy on the bus who asked us for directions to his hotel which my mom became the translator between him and the bus driver. Mom's somewhat tri-lingual as she's managed to pick up quite a bit of Mandarin in the past years. Good for her and helpful since Dad doesn't really speak Mandarin (he speaks English to his Shanghai staff). Dad speaks embarassingly loud in English in public but since I haven't seen them in awhile, I let it slide.

The bus ride gave me a chance to gather my first impressions of China. I've been to Hong Kong twice but that was when it was still under British rule (it was returned to the Chinese government in 1997). Right outside the Pudong airport are a bunch of empty high rise apartments which are supposed to fill up within the next few years because of a growing number of international corporations moving into Shanghai. The city was congested as most big cities are so that wasn't a big shocker. There are a ton of high rise buildings, ships, and PEOPLE. And bicycles! Jesus, a shitload of bicycles.

When we got into town, we grabbed some lunch first because Dad needed to get back to the office and mom and I went back to the hotel. It was also HOT and HUMID as a mofo, I'm guessing the pollution hasn't been helping matters. Crossing the street can be hazardous since there are not only a ton of bicycles but scooters, buses and cars as well. Mom and Dad actually got hit by a scooter a few days into their trip but Mom was the one that ended up with the injuries. Poor Mom.

The hotel is designed for long term business residents. I got a cot in the "sitting area." Sigh, still no space of my own. At least the hotel was clean and I didn't have to hear my parents snoring. I was dead tired for jet lag so Mom let me nap a bit before Dad came to pick us up for dinner.

Two of the girls that works for Dad offered to treat us to dinner which was really sweet. I was able to try some typical Shanghai dishes which included a steamed egg dish that was really quite good. It had the consistency of tofu with mushrooms and clams. I don't usually like clams but it was subtle enough for me to enjoy.

One thing that is cheap in Shanghai are the taxis which start at 10RMB which is less than $2 US. It doesn't go up very much during the ride either and they tend to be quite honest. We mostly took taxis everywhere because they're cheap, reliable, and convenient. We did walk quite a few places but due to the heat and humidity, it could be QUITE uncomfortable.

Mom also took me to the open air market a few times. She negotiated her jade necklaces and we shopped around. The market was quite interesting with all the foreigners and sellers. The sellers would type their offer on calculators and the buyer could bargain down (usually more than half off) which the buyer could accept or reject. Most of the time if they rejected it, the buyer would then offer their price to which the buyer would refuse and start to walk away. After a very brief reconsideration, the seller would then chase the buyer down, sometimes even grabbing them by the arm. Quite hilarious. The first time we went, it was god awful hot and I had to wait for mom to do her negotiations for about 45 minutes. I thought I was seriously going to pass out. The second time it was much cooler because there had been a lot of rain (due to the typhoon... I always bring the rain with me) and we bought a few other items. This one seller tried to set an exorbient price for some coin purses to which my mom laughed at him and walked away. He said my mom must have shopped there a lot to know how much she should pay. I think she took a lot of pride in that! Then she told them that I was from America and the guy said, "Give her to me instead!" Ha, ha, ha, very funny.

One day my mom brought me down to the "bund" which is basically the waterfront. Across the water is the city of Pudong where a lot of businesses are. Mom and I went over there to lunch at the Grand Hyatt at this really fancy tea room. You know what the bill ended up being? $20 for both of us! All you can eat dim sum. I mean, you should've seen this place too, super ritzy (as I was in my flood pants and tank top and Reefs).

At lunch I asked my mom, "So, Mom, what are we going to do while I'm here? You know, besides eat and shop."

My mom looked at me blankly. "What do you mean? What else is there to do?"

I kinda laughed. She had to be kidding. She continued. "No, really, there's not really any museums here or anything."

She wasn't kidding. I went to the Shanghai museum with her (while I was inside, it started storming and I thought the museum had sound effects) which took only a few hours. But the people and setting were enough to keep me entertained as well as my fake Burberry scarves. Apparently Shanghai is much more international than most Chinese cities although not as Western as Hong Kong, although they are trying. I did notice there were a lot of baby boys and very few baby girls (I think I saw one the entire time I was there and I was pretty sure they were tourists). Some parts are still very poor and there is a lot of construction going on.

I wanted to take more pictures but I've found it to be difficult because I almost feel ridiculous. One, here I am as a privilaged tourists, oh look taking pictures of the natives. Also because these are my people (in a manner of speaking) so it just feels odd to me. Asia is entirely different than anywhere else I am pretty confident, quite unique as most continents are in their own rights. I suppose what I found to be the most odd was how much globalization and consumerism has hit China. I was surrounded by Burberry, Dior, Chanel, Prada, McDonald's, Starbucks, Omega, and even the Kenny Rogers restaurant chain! Crazy.

The rest of the trip was relatively quiet, our last night we had all you can eat Japanese food with the same girls, one of their boyfriends, and another manager. They were all really sweet and the boyfriend of Gina named Chris will also be in Beijing when I will so he offered to take us out to eat. Which is helpful since he speaks Mandarin and we do not.

We departed Shanghai for Hong Kong on Saturday afternoon and arrived at the YMCA with little problem. The YMCA was quite gross, worse than a Motel 6 I think. It's just really old, run down and not the cleanest of places. The lobby was realy nice though, that's how they rope you in! Thank god we only stayed there for a night. That evening, my aunt (dad's older sister) and her husband took us out to eat vegetarian. We walked to the restaurant so that gave me a chance to see Hong Kong for the first time in 10 years. It seemed less shocking as it did at 12 and 14 years of age but still had that lively night time feel. There are neon lights every which way and shops are open really late. Not to mention wonton restaurants. Hong Kong is quite Western since it was under British rule for a hundred years. It even calls their metro cards "octupus cards" like the UK. Many people in HK also speak English (especially the younger generations), much more than the rest of China. My uncle was really funny when he tried out some English words on me.

The restaurant was the bomb, it was all you can eat buffet but all vegetarian. As expected, my aunt gave me some shit for not speaking Chinese but was pleasant otherwise. I can't imagine living so far away from my siblings and only talking to them a few times a year. I guess that's just how it is with my dad's side of the family. I'm glad I grew up with my mom's side in Oakland. Anyway, we went to my aunt's apartment afterward. Most people in HK go out to dinner at least 3 times a week because their apartments are so small. And usually dirty and old/run down. My aunt and uncle moved into new government subsidized housing about five years ago so their place is actually really clean and new looking. We watched some crazy Hong Kong tv shows which were much funnier than Mandarin shows, probably because I could at least understand what was going on, ha ha. It's really interesting to get to Hong Kong and suddenly understand mostly what's going on after being in Shanghai and not knowing a word of Mandarin. Or being in Europe. I don't speak but I can understand pretty fluently and it amuses me to no end when my ears suddenly perk up when I hear Cantonese.

After we got back, Mom went to hang out with one of her old high school friends and Dad and I walked around the humid evening. We walked over to Temple St. and I could tell Dad was thinking about how much Hong Kong has changed. Kinda nuts but they've now lived in the States longer than they lived in Hong Kong (29 years vs. 31 years). Anyway, Temple St. is an open air night market that sells everything from watches to tshirts to Sanrio stuff. Although I would normally at least least want to browse, I was irritable from the heat and plus my mom is way better to shop with because she bargains. It was interesting to see the market though since I remembered it from 10 years ago and buying food for a cart on the street.

After a restless night at the YMCA, we checked into our new hotel and simply from walking into the hotel and smelling it (it smelled like fresh gardenias), I knew it was going to be about 50,000 times better than the YMCA. Although our room wasn't quite ready yet, my sister and Keith had already checked in so we went up to their room. WOW, talk about plush! King sized bed, flat screen HDTV, bathroom with rainfall shower, full bathtub, robe, slippers... ah. I love nice hotels, such a guilty pleasure. The hotel had every amenity possible including free internet and free DVDs for rent. I could've lived there.

Anyway, after one of the best showers ever, we went out for some dim sum with my aunt, uncle, cousin and his girlfriend. Hong Kong chinese (cantonese) food is THE BEST. I found the food in Shanghai to be quite mediocre as it was pretty greasy and bland. But Hong Kong food? The shit, I tell you.

We went over to the harbor at one point but didn't take the Star Ferry across the way to Hong Kong island. I barely recognized the area, it's been built up a lot. My mom and dad reminisced how it used to be popular place for couples to go on dates. Ew. ha ha, just kidding. It's funny though. Mom and Dad dating, what.

Less than a week in Hong Kong is too little especially when there are so many friends and families that you need to share meals with. Every night but one was booked with people outside our immediate family. Meals and food are an incredible social activity for Chinese people and the often last at least 2 hours for dinner.

We were able to visit my grandfather's property out in New Territory. Three of the units are rented but my grandfather's unit is still the same. We looked through photo albums and took a few to copy. It was trippy to see a photo of me, my sister, and two cousins with my grandfather and (step)grandmother from their trip to the States when I was 6 years old, framed on top of the TV. There was even a blown up version of the photo (which included my dad and uncle) in one of the albums. It was just a bit surprising as I've only my grandfather once in my life and my grandmother twice. But sweet at the same time.

Dinner that night was with my mom's high school friends. She was SO excited to see them, she hasn't seen some of them in years. The food was inconsistent, some dishes were wonderful while some of the others were crap. The ladies were really sweet, one of the Grace, lived in London for awhile so she spoke relatively good English. After dinner, the ladies went out to the coffeeshop, my sister and Keith went off to the bars, and me and dad being tired old poops went back to the hotel. But hey, I can't say no to a hot bath, a DVD and the down pillows on my bed. Lovely I tell you. I haven't had my own space in over two months and my own private room, I was perfectly content maxing and relaxing. And Love Actually!

Before the end of the trip, we headed up to Po Ling Monastery where there is a giant Buddha statue. Although it was deathly hot and the vegetarian restaurant not very good (but hey, we're supporting the monks) the place was very very cool. We were able to see inside some of the temples as well as climb to the top to the base of the Buddha statue. Amazing.

Our last night's dinner (after I had a relaxing massage at the hotel spa, so spoiled) was again with my aunt, uncle, cousin, my other cousin Andy (who's getting married), his wife Tessa, her immediate family (awkward), my cousin Carmen and her daughter Stacey (who's really cute. she wasn't even born the last time I went to Hong Kong!). The atmosphere was quite uncomfortable at first since we were late (my aunt was po'ed at us for a bit) and we didn't all know each other. Family meeting the other family is kinda weird at first. Things loosened up though and afterward, my cousin Andy and his brother (who doesn't have an English name and I have no idea how to spell out his Chinese name) took us out for beer. They were hilarious and kept asking if I could understand what they were saying. I guess the younger cousin (who's actually like almost 40) said that he had been afraid to speak to me because he doesn't speak English and I don't speak Chinese. But at least I can understand what he is saying. They were great fun though, really nice guys and I'm glad we got a chance to go out with them. Too bad they can't visit the States more often, it costs them $100 (american) to get a visa plus it's a difficult application process. Hopefully we can come back soon and see them again.

Now I need to take a nap because our plane takes off at 3:00am. I'm in this hotel lounge right now where you can rent beds, eat food, use the computer, watch TV and stuff. It's for people with long layovers and need a place to sleep. Weird. So weird. We're so stupid. Oh well, what can you do now? There have been points where I just have to bust out laughing because it's so ridiculous.

Anyway, off to Beijing where I doubt there will be any internet service. Maybe limited as it seems our hotel will have one. But alas, it won't be the Langham Place, sigh. Oh well, it's all part of the adventure of traveling! I love it for all it's bumps and bruises! Hope you are all having as funny adventures as I am! More reflections and details later, I've been hogging the computer for way too long.

Much love!

quick asia check in

testing. testing. 1 2 3 4.

hey all, i'm back again but a little further east this time.

i left on a saturday evening, around 1am on Cathay Pacific headed towards Shanghai. I amused myself on the 14 hour plane ride by sleeping. And watching some pretty bad movies and tv. And playing a little video chess, wow I am no Bobby Fischer that's for sure.

After a short stop over in Hong Kong, I took Dragonair (how cultural) over to Shanghai where I finally left customs after standing in line for 2 hours. I thought my parents would be there to greet me with huge smiles. No, that was not the case. Instead I was greeted with a crowd of Chinese people I have never seen in my life. Nor could I understand them since they were speaking in Mandarin. I wandered around for awhile wondering where the hell my parents were. How the hell was I going to find them?? I didn't know where the hotel we were staying in, I didn't even know the name of it. Finally, I was convinced they just didn't see me because they're old and thus, a little slow (ha ha, kidding!). I went back to look for them in the crowd and there they were, my mom was particularly easy to spot with her deeply knitted eyebrows obviously scanning the crowd for my appearance. I freaked her out when I tapped her on the shoulder but then she recovered quickly and of course, had to yell (literally) over to my Dad who was probably like 5 feet away. Oh, parents.

Anyway, I have to continue this little Shanghai trip later, people are giving me the evil eye so they can use the computers. Free internet can be a bitch! i feel like I'm back in the hostels. Ha ha, I wish. No, not really because this hotel is the fucking shit!

Ok, I have to go to bed because as you can see, I am rambling. Ha ha!

Day 40 & 41: London, England - Luck Be a Lady Tonight

Last post from Europe!

Yesterday (Sunday) started with a lot of trekking around to my new hostel and checking out of the old one. After dropping off my stuff, I headed over to the Tate Modern Gallery and just walked around the area before that. The museum was awesome of course, although I haven't gotten hugely into modern art, I got to see my favorite artist, Rene Magritte (Surrealism) so that was exciting. They had a Frida Kahlo exhibit that cost £10 but I was having problems with my ATM card yesterday plus I was starving plus I was thinking about going to see a show so I decided against it.

Instead I just walked around Picadilly then realized that I had gotten directions to the wrong hostel. Whoops. They are part of the same company, but in different locations. Luckily the tube here is awesome so it wasn't that big of a deal. When i was waiting for a Circle Line train, a boy noticed how heavy my pack seemed to be on me (it's actually hot here in London!!) and started giving me tips but they didn't help much while my pack was ON me. Anyway, I think he was American. There are a lot of foreigners in London... not that I'm getting any ideas or anything...

This hostel is pretty dodgy (my new favorite slang picked up from Brits and Aussies), maybe even more than the Amsterdam one mostly because of the shower. Gross. Plus the people aren't very friendly. But I managed to talk to my dormmates a lot (2 French girls but they didn't talk, 2 Aussie boys.. one of which moved to London to be closer to his German girlfriend of 6 months, whaaaat, and two more German dudes. Germans are nuts, in a funny way)so that was cool. I've heard a lot of London hostels are shit holes so this ranks on the low average scale.

Enough about that, let's move on to today because it was packed! I got up early because on a whim last night, I decided I wanted to see Guys & Dolls. The selling point being that Ewan McGregor was starring in it. London has an awesome theater district, probably second to New York. Anyway so I thought I'd go check out the box office and see if I could get any ticket, apparently its one of the most popular shows in town and every show is sold out for months. I got there before 8am which was TOO early (it's a Monday) so I walked around Trafalger Square for awhile which was nice without all the tourists. It was quiet and around 8:45am they turned on the fountains and all the pigeons flew everywhere. Quite a sight.

I headed back to the half price ticket booth in Leicester Square and found that they didn't have G&D tickets for that day so by chance I thought I'd head back to the box office to see how long the line was. Well, it wasn't too long at all and I ended getting the 14th "day" ticket out of 20. Day tickets mean that they are £20 each for the very first row. Most people would say they are probably the worst seats in the house but I beg to differ, especially when you get to see Ewan that close! I met a couple girls in line from CA who are studying at the Uni at Edinburgh which you all know is my ideal.

After getting my ticket, I went over to the National Gallery so I could check out the art there. See some Caravaggio, you know. I ended up spending 3 hours there. THREE HOURS! So much to see, so stoked. Why don't we have galleries like that?! Grabbed some lunch after that and rushed back to Bayswater to grab a drink with Michelle! So great to see her and catch up over the past month. It's too bad the whole group of us will never see each other as a group ever again, they brought me so many good memories! When i get a chance, I will post some pictures from Paul's wedding which looked so fun. We should've crashed it.

Then I rushed back to the hostel to change, it was nice to actually look a bit nicer than the dirty backpacker style, ha ha. The theater was much smaller than I anticipated, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised, the theaters in NY are the same way. My row was practically in the orchestra pit I was so excited! Most people wouldn't know this about me, but I am such a nerd for musical theater, I absolutely LOVE it. The smile couldn't be wiped off my face for the entire show, which flew by. And yes, Ewan is just as handsome in person as he is on film. So cute, especially in that era clothing, prohibition time. And he has big ears and a birthmark on his cheek (because you know you wanted to know). He doesn't have the strongest voice in the world but he just exudes charm which automatically steals the show. You could hear the Scottish accent creep up every once in awhile through the NY accent. It was a very polished performance, great music, great audience. I need to go to more shows, seriously. Live theater just has a different feel than anything else, I hope it doesn't go out of fashion. Considering so many shows get sold out, I don't think it's a problem.

Sorry if this entry is all over the place, there are people annoying me in here plus this keyboard is WHACK!

See you guys when I get home! Give me a couple days though, I have a dead cell phone and I'm homeless! Reflections reserved for a time when i'm not paying for internet and I can type like a normal person.

Goodbye Europe, I'll miss you! And I'll be back!

Picture break

You should click to see this picture I assure you that it is quite worth it.

Then click here

Tomorrow's my last full day in Europe! Oh no! I can't even talk about it right now.

Adios!

Day 39: London, England

Last night, I tried to go to the Anne Frank museum but it was closed by the time I arrived around 7:30pm. I hadn't realized that it was now SEPTEMBER and thus the museum closes at 7pm. Then it hit me that summer is over and how sad it was. End of summer, end of my fabulous 6 week dream, time for reality.

But first, I had to stop at a coffeeshop because that's the thing to do in Amsterdam, yeah? I met this older American fellow who was a hybrid between a left wing hippie and a redneck. He had a mullet for pete's sake. But he hates Bush and plans on sailing his life away from the States for the rest of his life. Good for him.

After leaving the coffeeshop, I headed back to the hostel where I met my 4 new Irish dormmates who ended up being super cool. We played poker with the British couple with matchsticks I had in my bag. It was probably the most whack game of Hold Em I've ever played but it was still fun. Ended up staying up almost all night as I had to catch my train at 7:23am and packing always takes about 30 min before I leave. Amsterdam was lovely though and I can't wait to go back, hopefully with more friends as it seems like a lot of fun that way. Oh, I had gone to an English bookshop earlier in the day and was looking at a Lonely Planet for Hong Kong. I flipped to the language section and couldn't stop laughng at the phonetic spellings for words in Cantonese. Such a nerd.

I slept for most of the time on the train and got into London around 12:30. Unfortunately, I had the most crazy time trying to get to my hostel because a lot of stations (of course the ones I need) are undergoing some construction this weekend. WTF! I had to take a two buses caught in a traffic jam. Plus my hostel is like WAY out in the cuts, outside Kensington. I cancelled my next two nights and will be staying closer to Victoria Station instead. It's further from the airport but when you're taking the tube, it doesn't really matter. Plus it just seems more social out there and it's pretty residential over here. This is a really awesome hostel though and if I was going to be living in London, I'd stay here.

It doesn't look like I'll be seeing my friend Mark this weekend but I have plans to see Michelle who I met in Edinburgh which I am stoked about. It's like bringing the trip full circle.

After checking into my hostel tomorrow, I think I'm going to check out the National Gallery or the Tate Modern as those are the only two things I really want to see while I'm here. Then it's back home Tuesday morning to face homelessness, see my family (the peanut!), and settle back into routine. Joy. But hey Asia, here I come! And you know you'll have to stay tuned for that.

Day 34, 35 and 36: Interlaken, Switzerland and Day 37 & 38: Amsterdam, Netherlands

I haven't been able to get to a computer as often so you're all getting the condensed version of the past week. I've been super tired too, I barely got any sleep in Switerland thanks to paper thin walls and heavy snorers. Damn you snorers! Thank god I get my own room in Asia or I'd never sleep!

Anyway, Day 34

Julie and I wanted to hike hardcore so we talked to a girl in our room who suggested a popular route that isn't too busy. We took the bus up to Lauterbrunnen which is this little town about 20 min up the hill from Interlaken. There were all these crazy Asian tourists (seriously there were SO MANY AzNs, what's up with that?) and old German people... we managed to just jump on without a ticket and because of the mass chaos, I don't think the driver cared.

Everyone else was going to take the bus up but we took the trail towards Schlesberg (sp?) and stopped at Trummelbach Falls on the way which is a collection of caves and glacier waterfalls. Here's a quote about them: "Trummelback alone drains the enormous glacier walls of the Elger, Monch, and Jungfrau with up to a spectacular 20,000 liters of water per second." You can see a picture here: Trummelbach Falls
or here: More Falls

It felt like a ride at Disneyland with the low walled caves, the slippery walls and constant rushing water. I think I fell in love with Switzerland that day, it's like seeing nature at its finest.

After wandering the caves for about half an hour, we continued the trek to Schleschelberg (that's so wrong) to take the Gondola up to Gimmelwald. I don't have the exact measurements on how high we were, but we eventually go up above 12,000 feet! We wandered around Gimmelwald a bit as it is TINY. Staying at the hostel there would be wonderful though because you wake up and there's a fat Swiss Alp in your face. Covered in snow. Check it: http://www.gimmelwald.com/

The hike up to the next town was practically straight up. We could've zigzagged but we found the dirt trail to be that much more challenging so of course we had to be all hardcore and shit. The altitude was apparent as it felt more difficult to breathe the further along we went. It was like someone was pressing on my lungs. Murren was a super cute town though, very touristy, it's all chalets and hotels and hostels. There were a ton of Brits there for some reason but we wandered around for a bit before heading back to Lauterbrunnen.

It took much longer time to get back to Lauterbrunnen than we thought. They have these yellow signs everywhere that tell you which direction to go and there are a billion trails. Well we somehow took the long one I think and eventually came to a fork in the road. They both lead to the same place. One was a dirt trail practically straight downhill while the other one was a paved, zigzagged road. Julie looked at me and said, "Which one do you think Kurt would take?" Of course we both knew the more hardcore downhill one so that was the way we went. It was a bit sketch in parts but it finally brought us back into town. Seriously, we had been hiking for about 2 1/2 hours since Murren and were dog tired. Plus we only had this tiny little water bottle that we kept filling up for the two of us. But on the trail there weren't very many water fountains (in town, they are everywhere and they are the best tasting water you've ever tasted, better than bottled water).

The bus arrived not long after we did at the station. Julie said she was feeling a bit off so she went to get some air. I saw her walking around, thought she was just tired from the hike. All of a sudden, I saw her start to sit down and all of a sudden just looked like she was about to pass out. A whole group of us converged on her and she just looked pale. It was quite scary... although she never passed out completely. The bus driver called an ambulance and the doctor came right away and took us to his medical clinic. I've never been in an ambulance before!

The doctor was super nice, turns out he got his high school diploma from Harbor High in Santa Cruz... see, the more people you meet, the smaller the world gets. He was convinced we had overexerted ourselves and didn't eat right. Julie thinks it was the altitude. He gave her some glucose and we just kinda chilled till she felt good enough to leave. We took a taxi because I didn't think the bus would be too good for her even though it was quite an expensive ride. I put her to bed as soon as we got back, then went to find Dan who had arrived that day and probably were wondering where we were. I found him sitting with some frat like dude who we quickly escaped from to visit with Julie before settling down.

I left for a bit to get some dinner because I hadn't eaten since Murren and was feeling lightheaded myself. Luckily the Thai place next door was still open and after I was waiting for my food, I heard someone say "KFOG and Alice" which I recognized as two SF radio stations. I ended up talking to these three people who were from Lafeyette and I forget where the girl was from. Her fiance had just proposed to her in France, how cute. They had met at Croghans in Walnut Creek! So funny. They were really sweet kids though, especially the girl Lauren (who is my age!). She was telling me about Thailand because hopefully I am going at the end of next year. We all watched the VMAs on the big screen while commentating with two Swiss guys (the restaurant owner and some local), it was very amusing. I think I lost her email but hopefully she'll get in contact with me. Yay new friends!

Some old lady was staying in our room that night and she smelled. And snored really loud. And she was always REALLY passed out by like 9pm. But I liked the hostel a lot, it was like summer camp. Regardless of the paper thin walls and the push button showers (at least they were clean and hot and pressureized), the people who relatively cool. Too many American frat boy types but if you waded through that, there were also some chill peeps. Some of my favorites were the guys from Florida (yeah, cool Floridians!) and the couple from SB. There were also some sleazy Canadians.. as sleazy as Canadians can really get (as in, not really).

Day 35

Julie was feeling a bit better the next day but we decided to take a relatively chill day anyway. We wanted to go out on the lake but due to the floods, no boats were allowed out there. Instead this girl at reception told us about this place where you could go swim in the lake and there was a roap swing and stuff for 4 francs. Her directions were WHACK though and we ended up walking around for so long before we found something we thought she might be talking about. I hadn't planned on hiking that day! It ended up being free though and they had one of those giant blow up things that had a trampoline, a slide and balance beam to run across that reminded me on MXE on Spike TV (you know with the crazy Japanese game shows at they're dubbed over in English.. I love that show). Julie took a nap in the shade while Dan and I swam over there. The water was really awesome, fresh water which I am not used to. I am used to the water tasting to like salt or chlorine when I am swimming. It was cold but not freezing, refreshing really. As we were out there, a group of Swiss boys showed up with an adult with what I assume was a boy scout troop or summer day camp. They didn't speak English and we don't speak German but it was still fun. Everytime someone would try to run across the balance beam, we would all run around on the thing to try and make them fall off.

We left shortly after they did and headed back to the hostel. I really don't remember much, I was still tired from the all day hike. I think Dan and I had dinner in town and walked back to the hostel where I ate a bunch of Ben and Jerry's. The bar was still closed because of the flooding (it was in the basement) so we just bought some beers instead and played hearts with the Florida boys. Before heading to bed, we met a guy and girl who go to UCSB but he's studying in Bologna for the next year. They were like total stoners but really nice and could've talked all night except for that no noise after 10pm law in Switzerland. Such conservative people! But I love them nonetheless.

Day 36

On Wednesday, we had wanted to paragliding and we waited to make sure Julie was feeling better. At breakfast (I actually got some bacon and eggs since the bread only breakfast wasn't cutting it for me) we started talking to one of the guys who works there, he's from Montana but lived in Tahoe for awhile. He's been traveling for a year and just settled down in Interlaken, what a dream job! Apparently it's supposed to be amazing in the winter as well and they all do snow sports 3-4 times a week!

We ran errands after that... bought swiss army knives (sorry, just for me), booked train tickets, etc before going to the place next door to book our paragliding. It was about 150 francs which was the cheapest place we could find in town. They picked us up around 4:30 in this ramshackle van and took us into town to get ready to go.

If you don't know what paragliding is, it's like parasailing without the boat. Here's a picture: http://www.ucanfly2.biz/Paragliding.JPG (seriously, that's what we looked like). And here's the company we went with: www.twinparagliding.com

We drove up to this mountain that's about 2500m high and on the way up, one of the pilots Robi explained the basics to us but nothing really prepares you. He seemed quite knowledgeable (and older) so I kinda hoped he would be my pilot. We got to choose our own and as they were setting up the chutes, I ended up with him! And we were the first to go! YIKES! There I was with all my gear strapped on, my helmet on top, and my camera strapped to one of the hooks. Before I knew it, Robi told me to start jogging, I felt a tug, then he said to start running and within seconds, our feet had left the ground. The parachute took us higher and higher and higher... we flew above the trees and it wasn't scary at all. The thing about paragliding is that there isn't really any free fall because of the parachute so it's quite chill just floating there. Don't get me wrong though, there were times when you realize, "holy shit, it's just me, this dude and a parachute thousands of feet in the air." Following one of the other pilots, Robi saw an updraft and took immediate advantage of it and suddenly, we were the highest up above everyone! Serious flying with the birds mentality. We flew in circles, chatted, took pictures and enjoyed the scenery which included the Swiss Alps, Lake Berineze and the town of Interlaken. Awesome.

We flew for about 20 minutes which they say is longer than average. Robi let me steer for a bit which is a bit unnverving but very cool at the same time. I guess I got too good at the turns because at one point Robi said, "Whoa, you're getting quite good at those turns, you're starting to scare even me!" Ha ha. At the end, we did a bunch of corkscrews and you could feel the Gs pushing against you, it was so fun! The landing was much softer than I anticipated. Julie and Dan were both already on the ground when I landed so hopefully there will be some good pictures.

We were the last flight of the day so the pilots invited us out for a beer which they treated us to, what nice people! They were totally comfortable, speaking mostly in German to each other but occasionally breaking back into English to learn more about us. It was interesting to hear them talk about their homes lives and to realize that paragliding is their profession! Robi's been doing it for 14 years now and we were his 6th flight of the day! I can't even imagine.

Back to the hostel again... had some dinner at the Thai place and the bar was finally open that night! Julie had to get up early for sunrise so I headed down there with the Floridians (who had gone canyoning AND paragliding that day, crazy kids). The scene was VERY weird, it was about 97% dudes and mostly frat dudes at that. The Floridians left really soon after that and I chatted with a few Canadians (two of who I thought were gay.. but apparently are not). One tried to get me to go to Venice and I was like um, I gotta go. No, seriously, Candians are always really nice and kinda dorky. The dudes I mean. There was a funny British dude too that couldn't sit still, Interlaken attracts some interesting people.

Everyone was kind of doing their own thing so I said goodnight to Dan and headed upstairs as I had a train to catch in the morning. I was sad to be leaving as I usually am but I knew than 4 nights was a good amount of time to appreciate a city.

Day 37

The next morning Julie said goodbye to me at 6:15am to try and catch sunrise in Spiez before she headed back to Barcelona. Julie's been such an awesome companion on this trip, I was sad to see her go as I won't see her for awhile. But she's moving back to the States, maybe even to San Francisco in October! We shall be reunited.

I headed down to breakfast and actually ended up seeing one of the Floridians so we chatted before it was time for me to leave for my train. I ran into Dan on the way and wished him happy travels, he was going with the boys to Cinque Terra which is definitely on my itinerary for next time round.

My train to Basel was cancelled which was annoying but I just took the later train. The Swiss are so nice! I got the least attitude from them on the trains. Surprisingly, the Germans were probably the next nicest. This was my first go round on the trains without making reservations and I have to say it was quite easy. They are also less busy on the trains so it's much more chill, I always felt safe. I had to change trains one more time in Koln but then that took me straight into Amsterdam. On the train, I heard some Americans talking before we got off the train and one of them was like, "I bet it just smells like weed as soon as I got off the train." I don't think he was kidding. Needless to say, I avoided that group.

Getting into Amsterdam at night is a little bit intimidating with it's tawdry lights, it's sketchy street dealers, and sparking canals. I felt relatively safe but there's kind of this overall sleazy feeling to the whole city since everything is legal here. I like it though. My hostel is defintely the most dodgy that I've stayed in and it's on the edge of the red light district. A guy was passed out on a top bunk when I got in there, obviously having eaten too much space cake or mushrooms. There was another dude and then the British couple who are really nice and like to talk. They said the passed out guy had taken mushrooms earlier and was sitting in a chair laughing for hours. Oh, Amsterdam.

I walked around the city to get a feel for it and it's quite interesting I have to say. Walked by a few red windows, some coffeeshops, and the whole atmosphere here is unlike anywhere else that I've been.

I was quite tired from the past few days so I just headed back and talked to the British kids for a couple hours about world and US politics. It's nice to talk to meet people who realize that many Americans despise their government. I think it's been a learning experience for both me and them. They are in bewilderment at how we do things, but hey, so am I.

Day 38

Got up early this morning to see the Rijksmuseum which houses a bunch of Rembrandt paintings and things pertaining to Dutch history. Right after that, I went over to the Van Gogh museum which I loved with it's bright colors and 200 Van Goghs. I would look at some of these paintings and be like, wow, I could hang that in my house. Except it's worth more than any house I'd ever live in! I let myself buy some posters here because I've only got one more city to travel to.

Had lunch at an Indonesian place after that because I've heard the food here is amazing. It was quite good as I've never had it before. Kind of a cross between Chinese and Thai. It was a tiny whole in the wall suggested in Lonely Planet, and one of the few that's worked out for me!

After a short nap, I booked my ticket to London (723am train, AHHHH!) and now going to head to the Anne Frank house (closes at 9pm) and maybe stopping at a coffeeshop on the way home. I've seen what I need to see here but I would still like to come back, particularly with friends for another 3 days. Then I'd rent a bike and explore more the parks and stuff. Till then, I'll say goodbye to Amsterdam. And hellooooooo London! Back to the UK where I left my heart, we'll see if I still can find it and bring it home with me.

Till tomorrow or whenever I get to a CPU next, adios! And a huge thank you to those that responded to the email, finally I know some of you guys are alive!

P.S. You know what I am terrified to do when I get home? Drive. I know I haven't forgotten how but it's kinda scary after walking everywhere for the past 6 weeks. And using a cell phone! Scary.

Day 30 & Day 31: Rome, Italy and Day 32: Interlaken, Switzerland

Sorry for the lack of updates, it´s been exhausting hiking! Here is up to Day 32 (Sunday) and I´ll return soon for Days 33 and 34!!

Day 30
My first stop on Friday was to the Pamphilj museum. It´s actually a palace of residence, they are descendants of Pope Innocent X. During his reign, him and his family collected over 400 works of art and decreed that none of them could ever leave the collection. Now the descendants in charge are a brother and sister team who are half Irish, half Italian which is super cool. The audio tour came with the exhibit which is cool because I haven´t wanted to pay although it would have supplemented a lot of art. Regardless, the half irish brother side actually narrates the audio tour which is fun. It´s amazing to think people still live in palaces! He would talk about roller skating through the main ballroom his grandmother had her debutante ball in.

I also went to a two small churches featuring more of Caravaggio´s paintings in frescoe form. I love how you can just skip on over to the church for free just to check out the artwork. Lovely. Beautiful, awesome paintings at that.

On my way home, of course I had to get some more gelato. Instead of gelato though, I decided to try their mousse. I ended getting a chocolate mousse and coconut one with chocolate chunks. I am such a sucker for mousse and WOW! That´s all I can say!!

My feet were killing me but I had to stop by the Capitoline Museums which are on this HUGE hill but you get this awesome view of the ancient side of Rome with the Coloseum and the Roman Forum in the background. More marble statues, more works of art, more ancient ruins, more paintings¨! More Caravaggio of course. Why don´t we have this kind of stuff in the States??

Day 31
On Saturday, I walked back over to the Vatican, which is about an 1 1/2 hour walk but it´s across Rome, so I cannot complain! I went back because I wanted to visit St. Peter´s Basilica which is THE Catholic Church. I wasn´t really sure what to expect, I didn´t hear much detail about it. When you first walk in though, there are two lines. You can either go into the line to see the Popes´ tombs but it´s labeled as Pope John Paull II´s tomb. The other line was to go up to the dome and cupola. I figured, well, I´m not Catholic, it´s probably more important for these people to see him than me. So, I decided to head up to the cupola because my friend had told me the view over the Vatican is amazing. What he didn´t tell me was how claustrophobic the climb is! It´s over 300 steps to get to the top on these tiny little stairs in these tiny little passageways. And when you do get up there, it´s packed!! Totally insane. The view is absolutely gorgeous though and hopefully I will have pictures soon to show you!

On the way down, it leads you directly into the church. IT IS MASSIVE. Everything is in marble and a bazillion meters tall. The first two things that go through your mind are: Wow, the church has a lot of money and no wonder people believe in this stuff. I think I took almost a whole roll of pictures. The statues are amaying, full of detail. They even have some popes´ bodies in the church itself. People were even taking pictures! Now that´s taking it a little too far for me! Afterward, I could´ve waited in line to see the popes´ vault but I was tired, hot and hungry so I figured I´d throw it on the itinerary for next time around.

I didn´t really eat that much that morning so of course I went for the next best thing to food: gelato! I went to this apparently famous place that was featured in a bunch of books which you wouldn´t be able to guess from how quiet it seems compared to the big places. But can I tell you how amazing th gelato was?? Seriously, incredibly fresh and full of flavor. I had cinnamon ginger and honey which were infuriatingly the same color and I couldn´t properly proportion which one to eat :)

After that, I went over to the Pantheon and took some interior shots because it´s one of my favorite sites in Rome. It avoided neglect like other ancient sites because it was consecrated as a church in the 600s. Nutty, eh?

On my way home, I happened upon one of the National Museums with three more of Caravaggio´s works. Of course I had to stop even though the museum is undergoing remodeling and many of the rooms were closed. Hey, it was still worth it to see one of Caravaggios most famous; Judith and the head of St. John.

Had a quiet night as I had to be up early to catch my train to Interlaken!! I ended up talking to one of my roommates who is from Portland just discussing Europe in general as he and his gf are in the middle of a 8 week trip. I love connecting with other travelers on that level, it´s always so much fun.

Day 32
Almost missed my train connection as the trains going into Milan are always late!! Seriously, I walked off the train, checked the boards to see where my train was (platform 3) and it was blinking meaning that it was going to leave soon!! I was pretty much running with my huge pack on and stopped at platform 6 because it said Zurich and I thought maybe that was me. The train was totally leaving and some girl burst out crying. At least she was with her boyfriend and he started shouting at the train. It was kinda sad... anyway then I was praying that the second train was mine... and luckily it was!! I jumped on the nearest train and walked to my coach that way and as I was the train started moving. Phew!

The ride was beyond words, the most beautiful train ride I have taken through Europe. Through mountains, waterfalls, rushing streams. And I thought, "Wow, I am going to love Switzerland."

Stopped to change trains in Spiez which was my first taste of Switzerland. I walked out, crossed the street and had this amazing view of mountains and a beautiful, blue lake. It wasn´t necessarily clear but just the bluest blue and greenest greens. Jumped on the train to Interlaken after that and the train ride only ended up being like 10 minutes long! I got a bit lost and confused getting to my hostel but all was good and I saw Julie sitting in the reception lounge. Reunited! In Switzerland no less!

It is currently DEAD in Interlaken right now because there were floods last week. I am pretty sure none of the foreign train stations have gotten the word that train travel to Interlaken is back on track though. It´s been super quiet but that is alright with me because I have friends here and I´ve been only in cities for 5 weeks!

After settling in, we headed out for some official Swiss fondue! Yum. Everything is definitely as expensive as everyone says it is, but look at your surroundings! In the Swiss Alps by two lakes for craps sake!

Ok, it´s already Day 34 but it´s going to have to wait because I am very tired plus I want to go hang out! And I´m also paying for internet which sucks so I shall continue this tomorrow. Only ONE WEEK until I come home, oh no!! I apologize if some of these entries seems juvenile and undescriptive, it´s been a busy week :) More about that tomorrow!

Day 28 & Day 29: Rome, Italy - Drunk on the Spanish Steps (literally)

On Wednesday, I was sitting at breakfast when a girl sat next to me. I looked over and she looked at me and we both were like, "hey you look familiar." Turns out that she was a girl I had briefly talked to on the train from Nice. She had been on her way to Cinque Terra and I was on my way to Florence. I figured I wouldn't see her again since we'd only talked for the last part of the trip and we were going our own ways. How crazy! She's 26, from Seattle and a hairstylist there. Also traveling alone but she likes it a lot less than I do, it was nice to have someone along though. We were both on our way to Rome so she decided to take the later train with me since I was supposed to meet Julia from Denver at the station. Well, turns out that Julia was super late anyway and didn't even end up coming on our train. Crazy how things work out for themselves.

Our hostels even ended up being like 2 blocks from each other so of course we hung out that night. We seriously walked around for 3 1/2 hours without meaning to, mostly because we were trying to find cafes or restaurants to eat at. In that time though, we managed to walk by the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the big monstrosity, the pantheon, the trevi fountain, and the spanish steps. Wow! It's amazing to see all the ruins just randomly dotting around the city. Seriously, I wonder how many miles we walked. There are people EVERYWHERE though! It's a much bigger city than Florence and much more spread out, it takes about 20 min just to get over to the side of town with all the stuffs. I don't think I like it quite as much but am enjoying all the history and architecture.

After all that effort, we ended up just eating at a restaurant right near my hostel which has a deal with Elizabeth's hostel. The food was GREAT and the staff were so funny. The electricity kept going out and we kept laughing with the Italian guy next to us about it. It rained that night! Mostly sprinkles but rain is rain.

Yesterday (Thursday), we slept in a bit since we were exhausted from the day before. I had my free breakfast than headed over to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. The walk took over an hour but it's a great way to orient yourself in the city which I enjoy. The wait also wasn't that long and we got a student discount, stoked! It was amazing to be in there. The art is beyond fabulous and just as amazing as everyone raves about. The ceiling in the map room was so detailed and every inch of wall space was covered. That's the thing about everywhere... all the ceilings, walls, cabinets, EVERYTHING is frescoed or painted. Not one inch of space is showing. The Sistine Chapel was SO awesome, I love Michaelangelo's work in general, can you imagine craning your neck to create that?! Incredible.

After zooming through most of the museums due to hunger, we went and walked around again for food. But got distracted by shopping, ha ha. Hey I can't help it, I'm tired of my clothes plus I found some stuff I can wear in China too. Stopped by at some food places after and then found a cheap pizzeria. Of course after that, we had to have some gelato! Yummy, gelato.

My friend Ross (from Scotland) and I had been trying to meet up too so I went to check my email at 8:45pm and he wanted to meet at 9pm! Whoops, so I rushed out and we ended up meeting up with Elizabeth at her hostel too. How cool, both my Florence friends in Rome with me! I love when stuff like that works out. I'm still tripped out that you can pretty much meet your friends anywhere in the world.

We decided to do a city walk so we went back to where Elizabeth and I had trekked around all day. Wow, I was tired of that walk! But it ended up being really cool just chilling around. We tried to find some affordable beer but this was quite difficult after 10:30pm as all the supermarkets close at 9pm. There are beer carts charging 4 euro for one of the big bottle of beers, what a ripoff! Plus he wouldn't haggle with us. We debated getting wine instead but we perservered and decided to keep walking. Finally we found a cart that gave us 6 pretty good beers for 3 euro each, what a deal! :-P At that point we were so happy to just have beer, I think it didn't matter. Turns out it was Ross' 22nd birthday at midnight too, so me and Elizabeth wouldn't let him buy beer, he was so embarassed about it.

We headed over to the Spanish Steps after that where it was pretty bumping. There was a group of singers with guitars playing all the American hits... ok mostly Chili Peppers but they did a great cover of 'Wish you were here.' The three of us played a modified version of Kings cup that got really dodgy but fun. Not long after that, we met 3 Italian guys who were SO nice. We were about to get swept off the steps so we moved up above and the guys (one older guy and two guys in their late 20s) bought everyone a bottle of wine to share. Didn't want any money, just sat and talked with us for hours, it was really great fun. Such nice people!! I love Italians, well, for the most part. Their English was really good and it was easy to have fun conversation with them. Carlo is an artist and he was telling me how San Francisco is his favorite city. He's been doing body painting in Rome for 25 years, isn't that nuts?

You know what else was nuts? I was sitting on the Spanish Steps in ROME ITALY with a Scottish boy, an American girl, and three Italian guys. WHAT THE HELL!! One of the coolest and most fun experiences in my life.

It got super cold so we finally headed back around 2:30am. I'm glad Ross was with us because it can get kinda sketchy at night. As we got back to our side of town, I said goodbye to my friends, Ross is headed to Naples and Elizabeth is headed to Greece. So sad, but I know there are more adventures to come. But only for less than 2 weeks!!! Holy shit, that's not very far away. It's crazy because hostel life has become my home life... you go from hostel to hostel, get comfortable with your surroundings and then it's time to leave and do it all over again. It appeals to me not having to stay in one place for very long. I mean, I'll be stoked to come home but it will be strange for a bit.

Anyway, now that I'm solo again this will give me a chance to see some art hopefully, I need to see some Carvaggio!

Day 26 & Day 27: Florence, Italy

Yesterday morning I woke up late - 8:30. Whoops. Barely made it to breakfast! That's essential you know.

Got to the Duomo around 9 and didn't wait as long as I expected, about 30min or so. The outside is WAY cooler than the inside. It's what my friend Kelly would call and "inside out" church. It's still a functioning cathedral though so that's pretty neato. Of course there are frescoes everywhere as well as marble sculptures. I have to say, I've had a lot more appreciation for sculptures since I've gotten to Italy.

After the Duomo, I stopped at the Museo D'Opera which houses all the old art they don't display at the Duomo anymore, including a huge sculpture done by Michaelangelo that was made specifically for his own tomb but he was unhappy with the grain of the marble and destroyed parts of it. Crazy artists.

Today I started out pretty early because there was still a buttload of stuff I wanted to do. I started out at the Museo di Bargello that houses a bunch of Michaelangelo's early sculptures and works. The museum also has Donatello's bronze sculpture of David which I remember seeing in my art history book. There was actually a lot of Donatello's stuff that I enjoyed. They also had an extensive ivory collection with tiny detailed carvings, so so so awesome. I know it's bad because they come from elepaunts but these are from like, the 13th century.

I headed over to Basilica di Santa Croce which I had walked by the other night. The inside is really cool although very dark. I was standing in the entrance trying to read the floor plan when all of a sudden, the circular window above the main chapel area was flooded with sun, lighting the area I was standing in. It was an extremely cool moment. Michaelangelo, Gallileo and Machiavelli are buried in the church and there is a huge monument to Dante as well. I daresay it's been my favorite church thus far. The sculptures are just amazing as well as the paintings and frescoes throughout the church. One of my favorite parts was these cloisters that lead out to a quiet, grassy area where I sat for a little while to reflect and take a moment. When you spend all day trekking around from place to place, sometimes you forget to chill out and appreciate where you are. I mean, I was sitting on a site that was built in the late 1400s!

Next up was the Plazzo Pitti where is the Medici Family lived for a long time. Definitely the most expensive site if you decide to see all of the museums. I was a bit tired out of museums so I chose to just see the main gallery and royal apartments. A lot of Raphael's paintings were there as well as a few by Carvaggio and Titian. And Peter Paul Reubens strangely enough. The Royal Apartments were intense... all frescoed and gilded from ceiling to floor! I've never seen anything like it. Can you imagine painting on a ceiling, yowzers.

After lunch (how backpacker of me, i usually pay for lunch because it's cheaper, then don't eat dinner) I decided to hit up some shopping. :X Hey man, I've already lost two sweatshirts, I could justify buying one! Plus you know I'm hella tired of my clothes already. It's so cute though, I got it from Zara and it has a weiner dog on it. I tried to find pants since it is going to be cold from Interlaken on, but it was comical. European ladies are WAY taller than I am, you should've seen how far up I had to roll the pant legs.

I slept terribly last night, probably too much caffeine before bed so I had to nap but that meant I missed the market with the cheap jewelery! Bummer, maybe I can hit it up tomorrow. There's a quiet church on the other side of the river with killer views that I want to check out, near where David originally stood. Also, I want to climb the 400+ steps to see the view from the dome of the Duomo. Plus I have to stop by the train station and maybe see if I can get something from the outdoor markets. So much to do! And the more you talk to people, the more you realize how much more there is to see. Oh well, just means I'll have to come back!

Got new roomies today too, of course they have to be cool and I meet them on my last night. They are a couple from Virginia, one of the first American peoples I've met that aren't from CA. We played some cards but mostly talked, going through the usual, "where are you from" "what do you do" "how old are you" things. For some reason, it never gets old, probably because everyone has such unique stories and places they've been. I think it takes certain people to travel long distances and for a long time so it's always great to get to know people like that.

It looks like Julie will be definitely meeting me in Switzerland! And maybe Daniel too! How fun, I'm soooooooooo excited, even more so than I was before. I'm thinking of even cutting a day out of Amsterdam and just staying there for 2 nights instead. I don't know, we shall see, the beauties of travel.

August is coming to an end. Today is officially 4 weeks since I have left the States and 2 more weeks until I return. Going back is going to be a culture shock. My last night in Florence! I can't believe it but at least I've got peeps to hang out with in Rome (hopefully I can get a train reservation) and I look forward to drinking beer at the Trevi Fountain at 2am!!

Day 25: Florence, Italy - Galleria di Uffizi, rainstorms, and early curfews suck

Yesterday I headed out early to see the Galleria di Uffizi, which is THE art gallery in Florence. There`s tons of works from artists like Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, Carvaggio (a new favorite), Rembrandt, Velazquez, and Botticelli. I got to see The Birth of Venus which, yes, was as amazing as they all say. In fact, all the pieces were amazing. I got there at 8:45am (the gallery opens at 8:15am) and waited in line for almost 2 hours! But it`s kinda cool because they only have 780 people inside the museum at one time, so it`s hardly crowded in the rooms, except in the beginning with all the giant tour groups. (Speaking of tour groups, man they`ve gotten fancy. They have a tour guide speaking into a mic and everyone has headsets that translates into their own language. Very UN style).

I wandered around for 2.5 hours even though the gallery itself isn`t very big. It`s just mindblowing that many of these paintings come from the 13th-17th centuries. I`m also fascinated by art restoration (I`m such a nerd, sometimes I wish I was an Art History major. Very challenging but it`s like unraveling mystery). Afterward, I headed to the gallery bookshop where I expected to throw some dough down for postcards and a book. But I noticed the postcards looked incredibly bland after having seen everything in person. Nothing had life and the reproduction disappointed me. Of course I understand it but right after seeing the works, it was a bit hard to stomach. When I get home though, I plan on ordering the gallery book which explains in detail about all the paintings in the exhibit.

As I started searching for a place to eat lunch, the downpour started. HUGE drops of raining began falling from the sky and before long, Florence was caught in the middle of a thunderstorm. In August. Most people were unprepared, including me in shorts, my long sleeve hoodie and flip flops. Luckily I had my Tilley though! Standing under the eaves of buildings, the enterprisers were already making their way around the streets. One guy selling umbrellas for 15euro, then another coming up with 11euros. Ah, capitalism at it`s best. The rest of the afternoon was a wash though, I didn`t think I was prepared enough to go back out to the sights especially since the possibility of slipping on my ass on the cobbled streets was not my preferred situation! I was by the Duomo so I stopped by a pizza joint which I didn`t expect to be that good since it`s in touristy area but it was pretty good! Plus I was the only American in the whole place, ha ha.

I came back to the hostel and started reading in the dining room (there`s no common lounge area) where some people were playing hold `em. Wish I could`ve joined in but they were in the middle of a game. Turns out they were my friend Ross`roommates so he came in awhile later and we sat and talked for awhile before heading out for some gelato. We just walked around the city because it had stopped raining, made fun of all the drunk tourists and kept walking in circles because Florence is so compact.

Came back after midnight because it was actually cold (jeans and a hoodie in August! Blasphemous anywhere), ran into some drunk Australian girls, then some English girls. They were watching Gladiator in the lounge so we sat out in the garden drinking beer and watching the end. I forgot what a great movie that is, so elegant. Curfew is 2am here but if it`s quiet, they won`t bother you. It`s not a very social place though.

I`m here for 2 more nights which is great since there is still so much to see! I really love this city, it`s beautiful and Italians have been incredibly lovely for the most part. A lot of them just start talking to you and are very interested when they hear you are American.

You know what`s difficult though? Eating out alone! Waiters don`t take to it too well even though wouldn`t it be better to get my money than none at all? One of the nicest waiters was the other night even though he wasn`t actually my waiter, ha ha. I need to find a market around here but that`s been a challenge! Apparently no one cooks at home here, ha!

Today it`s time for the Duomo. I`m exhausted but at least I know I can stand in line for 2 hours!

Day 24: Florence, Italy - David, discovering gelato, and men with prosthetic arms

It's thunderstorming in Italy. I told you the rain is following me! What's up with that?! It's rained in every country that I've been! But it's been helpful in Italy because the weather has actually been quite pleasant and not as miserable as I had pictured.

This morning, I headed over to the Galleria di Accademia where Michaelangelo's sculpture of David is housed. I had heard horror stories about waiting in line for hours to get into museums here (all the reserved tickets have been filled too!). We're talking like 3-4 hours, particularly on the weekend. Originally, my plan had been to just wander the city and get a feel for it, but it's a pretty compact city and I was itching to see some art. Being completely surrounded by it doesn't help. So, I sucked it up and headed over to the massive line in which I ended up waiting in for almost 2 hours. So, not too shabby.

David is every bit as amazing as everyone plays it up to be. It's kind of funny because you first walk into the museum and there's this room with a bunch of art, beautiful old paintings but everyone knows it's just the prelude to David. I took my time because I wanted to enjoy the experiemce. After circumnavigating the room (is that right?), I slowly peeked my head into the next room leading down a long hallway. There was a large rotunda at the end of it from which you could see an immense amount of light streaming through. I rounded the corner from where some of Michaelangelo's unfinished statues are and there he was. Gigantic and beautiful. I know it's completely cliche but I totally got chills just standing there from afar. It was almost better from afar because you could wholly appreciate the work of art. Either far or close, the statue is absolutely flawless to the naked eye. I cannot even imagine being able to create something like that, it's even bigger than I ever envisioned.

There were a few rooms after that with some artwork from the 13th-14th century but it was so hard to concentrate after seeing David. Luckily there wasn't too much after that so I headed outside to reflect.

It was getting to be about 3 o'clock around then and I was STARVING. Serious stomach eating itself issues. But the problem is that nothing is open in Florence between the hours of 2:30 and 6:30pm. Dammit.

So I did what I had to do and headed down the touristy street to have some quick pasta. And it wasn't bad! I guess even the worst pasta in Italy is still better than at home (ok that's pretty untrue but you get my point). After lunch, I decided to take a jaunt around town to see if I could find a market so I wouldn't have to eat out every meal (even though my hostel sucks and doesn't have a kitchen, only a fridge). Plus it was near a gelato place Lonely Planet suggested so you know... ha ha.

The market ended up being really far in which I didn't want to carry all my groceries, so I decided to just find a closer small market. Plus the gelato place was closed (as many things in Florence are right now). Instead I hoofed it back over to another gelato place near the fashion-y part of town which was bumpin'. Good thing everything in Florence is so close to each other. Yeah so danger: gelato! Awesome awesome awesome gelato, it might have to be a daily thing :x I had the mint and chocolate... ahhhhhhhhhh. Then it started melting all over my hand so I had to get to it really fast instead of savoring it. Good thing I travel like a mom and had my handy dandy wet naps! See, I'm learning.

After a short stop at the hostel (I met a French lady who is with her husband... it's funny to meet married people staying in a hostel, I guess it's the European way), I had some dinner, thought about gelato, decided no and am now just chillin'. In fact I should get to bed because I gotta be up at 7am so I can get in line to the Uffizi which is like the huge art museum here. It opens at 8am and the Scotsman told me the other day he got there at 8:30am and still had to wait an hour and a half! Crazy tourists!

I had been thinking about taking a day trip out of Florence but it doesn't look like it's going to happen because it takes so long to get into museums and just see everything. Plus I like being in the city, everything's happenin' here! Woo!

Man, 2 more weeks and I'll almost be done with my trip. I can't believe it, it's been crazy, amazing, awesome, stressful, new, all of the above. I can't even think about it right now or my head will explode. I'm not ready to come home yet, the traveling lifestyle is so addictive!

Oh, part of the title refers to what I saw when I was in line today. It's not nice to make fun of people with fake limbs. Really. There was the cutest little asian girl though, she was dancing to the Italian playing the accordion. Oh, and can I tell you how odd it is to hear Asian people speaking Italian?? Weird. Speaking of Asians, there are HELL OF them here. It's so funny to see all these old asian people walkin' in with their millions of luggages. Sleeping in bunk beds. Amusing.

Day 23: Florence, Italy

Finally, time to breathe and relax. I've been train traveling pretty exclusively for 3 days now and will spending the next four days in Florence, checking out the sites, waiting in line, and eating gelato! (though I haven't eaten much of anything else... don't yell at me!)

So technically it's Day 24 but let's review.

I forgot to tell you guys about the crazy Frenchman in Montpellier. I had to stop there and change trains to Nice on Wednesday. I was standing there holding my water bottle when this guy.. maybe early 40s comes up to me and starts gesturing. I'm like... whaaat? And he keeps pointing at my water bottle, I thought maybe he wanted to know where I got it. All of a sudden, he just grabs it out of my hand and starts drinking out of it! Who does that?? So there went half a liter of water down the drain.... it was amusing though.

You know what is hazardous and a potentially horrid situation? Peeing on the train. It's worse than peeing on the airplane because there's much more bumps and possibly losing your balance. NOT a pretty sight, good thing I don't yet have any horror stories but man, the potential is there!

The ride from France to Italy was beautiful though, right along the coast with people just laying out on the rocks. The water is so clear and blue, I never would've expected it. Very touristy though, reminded me of Cabo (a lot of places do that I've noticed).

On the train, I met a girl from Seattle who is just kind of traveling around without plans. Admirable, but not for me. She was going to Cinque Terra which is a couple small fishing villages in Italy. I hope to hit it up on my next tour of Europe which will hopefully be a small villages tour with Julie!

On the way to Florence, I met a really nice Italian lady. She helped me with my gigantic backpack, then saw that I was reading the Florence travel book and started a conversation with me (in English). She spoke really well and I like talking to people.

The hostel I am staying at is kinda whack. I might stay here tomorrow night and possibly look for another place for Monday & Tuesday night. But maybe they're all like this. The positive thing is that I met some people. One was a girl (Kelly) from UCSD and she knows Meg O'Neill, what the fuck!!! We had the same opinion of her which was funny. Then two dudes, one from France and an older guy from Japan (so funny). Lastly, we met a Scottish boy (Ross) from outside Glasgow which I was stoked about since I LOVE Scotland. We sat on the balcony talking for a long time and drinking box wine (€0.89 you know!) after our other two friends disappered, then the three of us went for a walk when the balcony closed at midnight. We wandered the streets of Florence, completely unaware of where we were which was quite an adventure. You know you've gone pretty far out when the touristy parts disappear and there's silence. Luckily there were three of us or I would've freaked out probably. The night is awesome in Florence though, there's nothing like walking around in tank, skirt and flip flops in an Italian city.

We passed by the Duomo on our way back (after finally finding the river and orienting ourselves) the pure beauty of it struck me. I realized, I'm in Italy! There's such a vast history here and a lot to see.

So, I better go see it! Tons of tourists here right now so I might just wander around the city today and orient myself before making reservations to see the important stuffs tomorrow. Like David!

Ciao!

P.S. I just found out that I will be leaving September 18 for Shanghai/Hong Kong and will be returning October 2. Which means I'll be back in time for the opening day of HOCKEY!!! I have to get four shots! I've never had to get shots for a trip before, I feel exotic.

Day 21: Barcelona, Spain and Day 22: Nice, France

Greetings long lost friends of mine!

Yesterday pretty much went off without a hitch, I took the morning train to Madrid, spent 4 hours there and then the evening train from Madrid to Barcelona. It was a 13 hour trip which, although all I did was sit, zapped it out of me. The train was late so I didn't even get back to Julie's till after midnight. But now it looks like she might meet me in Milan and come to Interlaken and Amsterdam with me! That means riding bikes in Amsterdam (among other things, ha ha). So hopefully it will work out.

Today I woke up early and still almost managed to miss my train. Ok that's being dramatic, I was about 20 minutes early but that's not much time at all, especially when you are paranoid like me.

The train ride to Montpellier was uneventful except for this crazy Asian guy wandering around the train picking at who knows what. And I got possibly one of the worst seats (back row) in the most ghetto train with a broken door next to it so that everytime someone went to another compartment (which was often), it went THUD! THUD!

Once we got into Montpellier, it was weird being somewhere where I did not understand A WORD they were speaking. Still, I managed to order a sandwich and I actually felt better not knowing the language at all unlike spanish where as soon as I say something in Spanish, they speak back to me in rapid Spanish and it gets me nowhere. The train was an hour late and some chick was in my seat but whatever, I sat across the aisle. And the French trains are waaaaay less ghetto!! Towards the end, the ride was beautiful because it was right along the coast. It almost made me miss Santa Cruz! (ha ha).

I thought it was going to be a pain in the ass getting a ticket to Florence but the window guy spoke fluent English and I got on easily. Maybe it's just Spain that's crazy now. Contrary to popular belief, everyone I've met in France has been quite nice and friendly. I'll have to hit it back up next time around.

I took the bus to where the hostel said to and met up with 5 other girls also going to the hostel. 3 Americans, 1 German, 1 from somewhere else. The hostel is totally sweet, I almost wish I was staying here another day! Major fun atmosphere but it's hard to meet people when you're only here for one night. Florence.. it's on though!


I'm exhuasted from traveling the past two days so excuse me if this sucks. Too bad, at least you know I'm alive! And another day to go... then i can SLEEP! And party hopefully.

In 15 days, I will be making my last stop in London, can you believe it? Then home for 12 days before hitting up the motherland (hahahahaha!).

Day 20: Granada, Spain

well, I finally made it.

Last nightś overnight train was odd but not as terrible as I feared. There ended up being a dude from Cal Poly Pomona on the trip but he was at the end of it so he was a bit out of it. For awhile it was just the two of us plus a Spanish guy but then three more girls ended up being in our compartment. It was so tiny, I was curled up sleeping in a seat like in an airplane with lots of people around me. So uncomfortable but luckily I was tired and fell asleep for awhile. I woke up a few times and on the last time, it was as everyone was getting ready to get off the train in Madrid.

Once in Madrid, I only had about an hour before my train left for Granada. The train was much nicer even though I was in 2nd class than my overnight train had been. It was pretty empty, surprising considering every train from Barcelona was full. Tiredness again so I fell asleep for a couple hours before getting to Granada. They even played a movie (Shattered Glass, one of my faves) but it was in Spanish and I couldn´t handle Hayden Christensen with a deep Spanish voice, it was intense.

The bus was relatively easy but finding the hostel was not. I was sweating SO hardcore and by the time I actually got to the hostel, I was stoked to see Crissy and her bro sitting in the lobby. Itś a really nice hostel, totally youth oriented, I kind of wish I was staying longer. C´est la vie. I dropped my stuff off (and noted my bunk is on top of an Aussie, heh) and we rushed over to the Alhambra.

The compound itself is really impressive. There´s a palace and a bunch of gardens. It was originally Muslim oriented but it was taken over during some Catholic reformations and went through some makeovers. It is seriously GIGANTIC and the architecture is amazing. Tons of detail and heavily Arab influence. I was especially stoked for Crissy because I know it has much more of a cultural connection for her.

After that, it was off to dinner and exploring the city on our limited schedule. Spain has been great but I think I´m ready for a new country.

I feel dirty and gross. I know, shouldn´t be new right?? Ha ha, bitches! So, not into the heat. which means Italy will be perfect! (kidding. can´t wait for swiss weather). Tomorrow itś another 13 hour train ride so don´t expect anything till France.

Where has everyone gone?? I think ya´ll are avoiding me. The Myspace comments are amusing though, keep them up! Today was officially 3 weeks, I have a feeling the second half is going to fly by. Doesn´t it always?

Day 19: Stuck in Barcelona, Spain

So, I should be on a 11 hour train ride to Granada. As you can see, I am not. I got to the train station early this morning and was told the train was full. FULL!! Goddammit. So after some wrong directions and twist and turns, i finally ended up at the right ticket window. The guy was really nice and helpful even though we had some weird communication. I spoke to him mostly in English and he spoke to me mostly in Spanish but it worked. He tried everything he could to get me to Granada today but everything was full, including all the trains to Madrid, WTF! Instead, I will take the sleeper train to Madrid and arrive at 7am, then take an 8am train to Granada and arrive at 2pm. I will be in Granada for less than 24 hours. It better be fucking worth it! Then i tried to make a reservation for a seat on the train to Nice from Barcelona and the guy who worked at the INTERNATIONAL ticket window and I were having major communication issues. He started pantomiming and pointing to information so I went to information and she told me to go back to the International Windows. I said fuck it, I have to come back here tonight anyway. So annoyed. It would be nice have someone be at least a little bit friendly to me. At least I got that one guy who helped me out.

Whoever told me that Eurail was easy to use and I'd figure out. YOU WERE LYING TO ME! Bitches! I knew this was going to be the worst part of the trip.

First speed bump, it was meant to happen. Gotta take it with a grain of salt but it still makes me incredibly paranoid and nervous for the rest of my trip which is ALL trains. I'm in France for ONE day, what if I can't get to Florence by the next day?! There will be nowhere to sleep and I will be stranded. Did I mention I don't know a lick of French?

Wah wah, cry me a river, I know. :-P Wish me luck.

More pictures

Hey, two posts in one day! I just got a couple more pictures from Michelle the Aussie from Edinburgh. She's the one in the green shirt. The one of the group of girls is Alli, me, Dalia, and Shannon. And the guys are from the British Stag Party. And the Strongbow... well that's just the Strongbow! Plus Rover the puppy.

Hope it works! If not, just drop a note and I'll try to post them individually.
http://www.truprint.co.uk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=26933854/t_=30618576

Day 16, 17 and 18: Barcelona, Spain

It's been a few days, hasn't it? The heat has made me lethargic plus I'm in Europe, give me a break! Plus, I've noticed you all have been quite silent yourself, eh? Mostly just KateDawg and Dad responding these days! My sister is missing in action, I hope she's ok! If you're ok, let me know!

So.. I left off on Wednesday night when we had our Eddie Murphy party. It was great fun, Julie and I made a huuuuge dinner. (Actually she made it and I "assisted"). We had a quiche, carrot-ginger soup (I'm so getting the recipe), brie with honey and almonds, and ice cream spanish style! Plus the cookies we had made before, mmm. Julie's friend Mel (who is originally from Aarkansas) came over, she's working as an au pair for a French family. Hearing all these different experience has really opened me up to the fact that it's so easy to just get up and settle down somewhere else, regardless of language, or family, or anything else. Mel used to be a pilates instructor and then she just decided she wanted to leave the country. How cool is that?

On Day 16 (Thursday) we headed over to La Sagrada Familia where we waded through the tourists and sat across the street to see the enormity of the building and ate our picnic lunch (I'm eating quite well here). The story behind La Sagrada is quite famous, it's a large church designed by Gaudi and he ended up spending most of his life working on it. There's supposed to be three sections with 4 towers each (to symbolize the 12 apostles) and in his lifetime, Gaudi only saw the first section completed. They just finished the second part and expect to have the 3rd part done within the next 10 years. The church is just MASSIVE. The We didn't go inside as it was really really crowded but I was satisfied just seeing it from the outside and having one of my regular talks with Julie about life. I find it amazing that she decided to come here without knowing the language or very many people just because she felt like it was something she needed to. It's really admirable and living in another country (or even just visiting) just opens everything up. I know I've said it a bunch of times but I cannot even wrap my head around the fact of how much traveling has taught me and it's only been 3 weeks!

We tend to stay up pretty late watching movies or stand up comedy while cooling down from the heat. I've felt incredibly comfortable here, like I'm at home except the setting it so much different! This settling down time came at a great point for me in the trip to recharge my batteries and I think by the time I leave, I will be amped to be where I am going.

It was a little bit cloudy but we decided we should still go hit up the beach since I wanted to see the water while I'm here. It wasn't too crowded and it seems like that area would be a lot of fun if you're into that meat market techno club scene (which, I am not). The water is really warm but the beach is terribly dirty. It made me long for my freezing ass Pacific Ocean and views from West Cliff. We had a beer on the beach which reminded me of Cabo before heading over to see Julie's friend Alex who works at a bar around there. I got to have traditional tapas and they were excellent. I also got to try this type of drink that's like beer and lemon juice/ade that was much lighter than regular beer. Mel met us down there and the three of us talked for what seemed like hours (it was almost 4 hours) before Julie and I realized that we missed the metro and would have to take the night bus home!

Friday we headed down to have a croissant at the bakery right below Julie's apartment and man, the bakeries are delicious here! And if you know me, you know I love my pastries. We headed up to Montjuic which is a huge park like Golden Gate Park. They have the Joan Miro museum, some botanical gardens and another medieval museum. The botanical gardens were fun because they'd have these random playgrounds that we'd go play around in. There was also no one around (though we tend to go out during "siesta.") and it just made me feel like I'd escaped city life for a moment.

I've never really contemplated living in a city before, they've just always seemed too busy and bustling for me. And especially living in Santa Cruz where life is pretty slow. If you'd asked me a year ago if I'd ever live in the city, I'd definitely say 'no way," but I've learned to appreciate the city life. It's just good to know of places you can go to "get away" when it gets to be too much. I don't think I could ever settle in one but I think it'd be interesting to at least try it out for a bit. Now which city is the question... (yeah right, you know it'll probably be San Francisco... but hey no use in giving up dreams of being abroad for a little bit!)

Julie took me to lunch at a place called Juicy Jones which reminded me a lot of Santa Cruz. The food was super healthy and I had my first real gazpacho which was so so so good. Plus a fresh mint lemonade which was refreshing since the weather has turned extremely humid and hot. My main was a tofu sandwich which I shared with Julie who shared her "menu of the day" dish with me (which was Indian food). I love spending time with someone who loves food as much as I do! I grabbed some postcards after that and you guys probably won't get them till after I get home since the mail is so slow here but it's the thought that counts!

We went shopping for a little bit and I got two shirts at H&M for 4 euro which is like 6 bucks! Yeah, buddy. I wasn't planning on shopping while I was here since I have to carry that shit but my clothes are starting to look a bit raggedy already from the frequent washing and wearing. C'est la vie. But we ended up staying there longer than we expected and missed the original time of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" so we just decided to catch a later one.

Ok this is a brief interlude from the trip but I have to say (don't hit me), I was a bit disappointed in the movie. Johnny Depp is amazing in it, I think it's wonderful how he can get into character that much. And I like the originality that Tim Burton always brings. BUT, I felt that the movie itself was really rushed and there was too little character development, particularly with Charlie. It's called CHARLIE and the chocolate factory for a reason. It seemed to be a bit of a hybrid of the original movie and the book. It was weird but not particularly in the way that I was expecting. I guess Johnny Depp was saying that he also felt that the movie was really rushed too (production company of course). I almost wished they didn't have songs rather than the ones they did have.. what happened Danny Elfman?? At least they used the original lyrics from the book though. Maybe "The Great Glass Elevator" will be better although that book is even TRIPPIER.

That night we watched some Eddie Izzard Julie had downloaded and I've never seen his stuff before, he's great! Check him out. There was also some Robin Williams that we watched and that man is CRAZY. Seriously, he never stops moving.

Crissy came into Bareclona yesterday so we made plans to meet at the hotel around 1:30pm. Julie came with me downtown and we went and met with Kurtis' parents who happened to be in Barcelona too! They had just taken a Mediterranian cruise with Barcelona as the final destination and are flying to Portugal to visit a friend there. Julie went to lunch and took them around town while I went to go find the other Americans.

After some turn arounds and uncertainty, I finally found the hotel and right when I walked in, Cris and her brother Casey had just arrived, how perfect! I haven't seen Cris all summer so it was lovely to be reunited. We got them settled in and caught up a bit. Turns our her friend Seena is also in Barcelona! How many people connected are going to show up in this city?? So cool.

The three of us went over to the Picasso museum which is small but I liked a lot of the stuff they did have. Picasso did this whole analyzation and interpretation of Velasquez' painting "Las Meninas" which I saw a lot of during Art History class so it was quite interesting. I don't know if I've ever seen a real Picasso before so it was rad to be surrounded by hundreds of them. Amazing.

We needed to meet up with Seena after that so we headed back to the hotel before going out again down La Rambla. I haven't really done the tourist thing the entire time I've been here (hey, I've got a local!) so it was a bit of a culture shock to have to deal with crowds and crowds of people! We stopped over at the Cathdral and got to see the inside. It's true what they say, "Once you've seen a cathedral in Europe, you've seen them all," although it can't be denied that they're all beautiful. Plus they were having some mass while we were there which I'm always fascinated by.

Luckily I called Julie after that as reservations for dinner with the Moyers ended up being at 8pm instead of 9pm. I said goodbye to the Solhs and headed over to Plaza Reil to the place Julie and I had been eyeing for days now. The Moyers arrived shortly after and we were seated inside which was nice because there was air conditioning. Air conditioning, bad for the environment but good for not passing out due to heat. The dinner was absolutely FABULOUS, very creative and artistic presentation. Amazing salads, great entrees (I had the fish tempura but Julie's duck breast was my favorite) and delicious desserts. My favorite part was the fact we kept exchanging plates and sharing our meals. Kurt's parents told us some fun stories and the conversation was animated and flowed well. They are such nice people and of course they insisted on paying. We also had dessert, I had this strawberry tiramasu but it wasn't really traditional. There was also La Crema Canela which I'm not too sure what it was good but it was good! And of course a mini Chocolate Lava cake with chocolate sauce. Yum.

We walked the Moyers back to the hotel and were so full that we decided to head back too. When it's this hot, it's hard to get motivated with wanting to go out and party. You feel gross, it's sweaty, and you're dehydrated. Not incredibly inducsive to drinking alcohol although I'm sure most of my friends would disagree ;) I was very satisfied letting myself digest while watching the rest of Eddie Izzard and Return to Oz (another trippy, weird movie but strangely entertaining).

Now it's Sunday and it's been a lazy day as most things are closed. Tomorrow morning at 8am, hopefully I will be on a train to Granada. It's my first experience with my Eurail so I am a bit nervous but hey, it'll work out someway, right? I've now realized that my Eural being $600 is actually a deal because a ticket from Barcelona to Sevilla is almost $200 alone. Damn. I'm meeting up and staying with the Solhs tonight which will be nice since I haven't seen Crissy all summer. And the next few days should be fun exploring Granada which Julie raves about. The only thing is that it is BROILING there right now but the humidity isn't as bad. Time to bust out the Tilley hat! And I have to practice for Italy which is miserable right now. Agua, agua, agua!

I'm sad to be leaving Julie! We've turned into such a pair the past few days. You know how there are those friends you just can't travel with because you're too different? Before I got to Barcelona, I hardly knew Julie but we meshed really well and I've had such a great time with her. Honestly, I don't think I could have had a better time and I got to do it local style! It was much different than my previous experiences but that's a good thing, gotta mix it up with a long trip like this. Speaking of long... so Tuesday officially hits 3 weeks. I can't believe I've been gone that long, that's almost a month! Ordinarily, I think I would've gotten homesick but since I've gotten to be with people and don't stay in one place longer than a week, I haven't noticed as much. In fact, I would definitely not be ready to come home if I had to tomorrow. There still so much to see and do! I'll be back in Barcelona for one more night before a full day's train ride to Nice where I am staying the night en route to Florence.

Haven't heard from many people lately, hope everything is going ok. Check your boxes for postcards and let me know if any of you get one, I'm curious how long it takes to travel there. A couple people won't get postcards till Italy (Katedawg and Laura) but I swear they are coming! <3 Happy travels!