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!

Pictures

Hey all, I got some pictures from my friend Dalia from our weekend in Edinburgh. You can peep them here: http://community.webshots.com/album/419253832IaObxT/0

Hopefully that works. I start to pop up around the 3rd page or so.

Day 14 and 15: Barcelona, Spain

(I just posted my last day in Edinburgh and first day in Spain below this, check it out!)

Hola!

Haha, that's about all I know. Actually my speaking isn't too bad but my listening is ATROCIOUS. Everyone mumbles and speaks really fast here so it's impossible for me to pick it up. Luckily Julie's spanish is a bit better than mine so I managed to get from place to place.

Yesterday we slept in which was great from me since I had lost so much sleep during the weekend. Julie took me downtown where we had some lunch at the Bagel Shop where she is showcasing her photography (which is beautiful by the way). After having some ice cream, we just walked around the square there and found that a movie was being shot down there. From what we could see, a period piece of some type.

We just wandered around town, stopping at various sights so I could take some snapshots while Julie gave me some background. One of the prettiest was Palau de la Musica Catalana which had this amazing mosaic work and balconies. We also stopped by Parc de la Ciutadella where there's a HUGE fountain (apparently Beyonce filmed something there) and a giant wooly mammoth. On the way back, we walked down to the Arc de Triumf which is gigantic. The architecture here is so different that what I've come from in the UK, it's much older looking looking and definitely creative. I love just being able to just wander the city and examine the different cultures. You have to pay to get into most of the museums here so I haven't really been motivated to do so, maybe when Crissy gets here on Saturday. I've just been having fun chilling out which I think I need right now plus it's the best way to really get to know a city.

I decided to stay with Julie for the rest of the time instead of going to my hostel which saves me a great deal of money plus it's wonderful having a friend to talk to everyday. Julie is an amazing person and I'm really glad we've gotten to know each other like this, she's definitely showing me the highlights of her city. We decided to stay in and make dinner last night so after a trip to the grocery store (finding chocolate chips here is hard!) we rented a movie (New York Stories) and set about with a caprese appetizer on the balcony overlooking Julie's quiet St. Gervasi neighborhood (approximiatey 10 min from downtown on the metro).

I must have brought the rainclouds with me from Scotland because it began storming last night with lots of lightning and thunder. See, I told you the rain was following me. It's Spain, in August! Luckily we had chicken curry to keep us occupied indoors and after finding out how terrible New York Stories was, we switched to The Goonies which always brings me back to my childhood (thanks to my sister who watched it over and over). We managed to make some of my now famous Coconut Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies in her tiny oven.

I can see why Julie loves this city so much, it exudes an awesome vibe. Something about just sitting here makes you feel good. You're surrounded with such great history and art. The art is just incredible here and it's obvious so much is centered around that community.

Today we went up to Parc Guell which was quite a hike, particularly in humid weather! It was designed by Gaudi (a famous Spanish architect) and is basically this huge park compound. Dali lived there and was just where the artist spent some of their time. It's a beautiful space with the houses of the artists, trees (finally, some woods of some sort!), and giant stone columns. A person could spend all day there just relaxing except with the hordes of tourits coming from all directions. We enjoyed our picnic lunch in a quieter spot and I couldn't believe this awesome foresty space was in the middle of Barcelona. Nuts.

We had a great discussion about the importance of traveling and how it just opens your eyes to complete different experiences. I feel this particularly important for Americans. I know a lot of my fellow peers (particularly in Santa Cruz) insist on going to third world countries (it's the trendy thing right now) because it's more "real" or whatever (don't get me wrong, I want to spend time in South America too) but you can't just discount Europe. There's so many different types of cultures here with amazing history that you can't find anywhere in the States. Especially if you appreciate art, it's terribly important, in my opinion, to tour around Europe. My trip is only 6 weeks long but I'm having such an amazing time just trekking around somewhere that isn't the US. It just broadens my view of getting up and relocating to a different country and exploring loads of other ones. We just get so caught up in our lives, in monotony, in things that shouldn't matter. But what really matter is wanting to grow as a person, being genuine, and finding good people. And of course appreciating the good things that you do have. There's never a bad time to shed bullshit from your life.

On that note, tonight we're having an Eddie Murphy party with a feast of quiche, carrot-ginger soup, and some more cookies! Tomorrow it's off to the beach and the famous La Sagrada Familia (also designed by Gaudi). Till then, hope all is well! I'd like to hear from you!

~sals

Day 12 and 13 (for reals): Edinburgh, Scotland and Barcelona, Spain

I actually should start with Saturday evening (day 11) since I ended up doing a lot of stuff that night too.

I went back to the hostel in the early evening and ran into the English blokes we had talked to the night before (the bachelor party). I was hoping to hang out with them since our German friends had left and we needed another group to chill with. They were all going out at 6 though so I figured we wouldn't see too much of them.

Seven of the girls ended up going out and we found out the fellas were headed to Espionage which is a big dance club/bar in the "underbelly" which is pretty much where everything is. We couldn't think of anywhere else to go as everywhere was going to be busy due to it being Saturday night. Our group of girls had grown from two Americans, one Aussie and one Canadian to two Icelandic girls and another girl from Canada (Ottawa) which was great fun. I love connecting with a group of people and just easing into that comfort zone.

Apparently it's tradition for the groom to be to dress up so Paul was dressed as Elvis with black muttochops which is pretty funny since he has red hair. We drank, danced (or tried to), and chatted till pretty late. Clubs don't close till 5am on Saturday nights which was definitely too late for me. A couple of us headed back around 3:30am and everyone else got back around 4:15am and of course everyone ended up in the lounge. There was approximately 15-18 of us, then the other Aussie blokes came in and started playing Twister. Ah, great times in a great hostel!

The next morning I was woken up by the blokes checking out in the hallway so of course I got talked into going out to breakfast down the street. Mark was nice enough to treat Dalia and I to a breakfast meal and the approximate 15 of us watched cricket (which I really don't get) during the meal. It got quite loud when England beat out Australia (we had an Aussie at our table too). The person I connected most with was Mark and he had to go back to London but offered me a place to stay while I was there. Sweet, free lodging! Can't complain with saving $30 a day.

I didn't expect to spend the day with this ragtag crew because I had wanted to see Holyrood where the Scottish Parliament buildings were but it seemed much more interesting to stay with everyone. The Brits were all going in different directions and had different leaving times so us girls (me, Dalia, Alli, Michelle and Shannon) just hung out with them as they left. We sat in the park for awhile as the first official day of the Edinburgh Festival was going down. There was a huge parade with Princes St. closed down, more bagpipes than I've ever heard in my life (and definitely more old men with white legs in kilts) and tons of floats featuring different shows from the Festival.

After much confusion with closes streets and where to go, we decided to head to a pub where we could get away from the crowds. Paul and Ben and Rich were the next to go. Iain kept talking about haggis (the only Scotsman of the group) which is quite the Scottish treat (google it, seriously). I figured I was in Scotland and HAD to try it so we all walked to another restaurant that had great haggis supposedly. It was indeed quite delicious and served with "neeps and tatties" which is mashed turnips and mashed potatos. Oh, those Scottish.

Matt and Iain were the last to go which was sad, the Brits had brought quite a bit of fun with them. But it was probably good for the rest of us to relax after such a fun weekend too. Dalia and I planned to take naps before heading out that night with Alli and Michelle to a comedy show (part of the festival. It's THE festival, I had to catcha show!) but of course that didn't happen and we ended up being EXHAUSTED when we got to the show. The first comic we mostly missed but seemed mediocrely funny. The second guy was SO NOT FUNNY, really loud obnoxious... it was really sad actually. The third guy was hilarious which made sense after we found out he's also doing a solo show in town.

I actually got to bed before 1am that night but was so happy that I'd finally had such a wonderful time. The people you meet definitely have an affect on how much you enjoy a city. And it threw my sightseeing plans into a tailspin meaning that I will have to go back! Who knows, maybe I'll look into trying to find a long term internship there...

The next morning was sad as I checked out and had to leave what I felt had become home again. That's the intense and sometimes fun thing about traveling. You get comfortable and before you know it, it's time to leave again and get used to that new feeling in a new place. I said goodbye to the girls and though I was longing to stay, I knew it was also good to be leaving Edinburgh on a high note as that meant I would definitely be looking back on it with fondness.

DAY 13

I made it to Barcelona with little hassle (although since I was the ONLY American on the plane, they scrutinized my passport when I entered the country. SO RUDE to me because I was an American coming from a European country). Julie had given me detailed description on how to get from the airport. I already felt overwhelmed with the language barrier when I got into the airport but the only real problem I had was in getting a taxi from the station to Julie's. The taxi driver wasn't QUITE sure where the place was but he figured it out and it cost me about what Julie said.

After settling into Julie's GREAT apartment (so grateful she's letting me stay with her), she took me around downtown. We met up with a friend of hers, had a drink and then perused around the streets with schwarma wraps in hand. It was aboyt 11:30pm and the city was just bursting with life and noise. Absolutely beautiful. We checked out a few more bars, one that looked like a forest on the inside and then settled at a skater bar where I had my first sangria. I also fell off a chair off a step. Yep, surprising? No. I didn't notice one of the legs was off the step so when I sat down BOOM, I was down. A few of the locals laughed but when it was apparent I wasn't drunk, apparently it was no longer funny. Ha ha.

We took the night bus home, I couldn't believe it was monday night as there were people everywhere even at 2am. The architecture is completely different here as is the vibe. I'm really happy to be hanging around a local to show me the sights so hopefully I'll have some good stories from here.

Cheers!

Day 12 and 13: I love Edinburgh and in transit

Hi everyone,

I don't really have time to update (busy weekend!) since I have to check out in about 20 minutes and I haven't packed anything yet but I wanted to check in really quick since I've been so anal about posting (I have terrible short term memory). Just know that I've been having a wonderful time in Edinburgh and for the first time, I am sad to be leaving a city. But it's always good to leave on a high note so you can look back fondly. I will definitely be coming back here, particularly if I have a friend that will be living here for the next year.

Today I am headed off to Barcelona! I'll be there for a good chunk of time (about 10 days) and with people I know! I'll update with all the details as soon as I can.

Keep writing! I love to hear what everyone's doing. And if you want to comment on the entries but don't want to go through the hassle of signing up, just log in as "anonymous" and sign your name on the bottom.

Love you guys!

Day 11: Edinburgh, Scotland - Recovering! and the National Gallery

Wow, Day 11 already? Here I am chugging along to the 2 week mark!

Last night, I'm happy to report that I did indeed end up going out. When I got back to the hostel in the late afternoon, I was pretty determined to chat some people up so I headed out to the patio. Michelle noticed me just kinda aimlessly wandering out there so she asked how my day was and set about having a real conversation with me. She's Aussie (it explains her friendliness) who's been living in London but was getting sick of it so decided to live in Edinburgh for a month, just working and living. It's so amazing to see how many people are doing that who live in the hostel, it inspires me. Then a bunch more Aussies were out there so I chatted with all of them too. Then Michelle told me that I should come out with all of them later that night and of course I agreed.

I walked inside and as soon as I did, I saw the girl who I had met the day before from UC Berkeley, her name is Dalia (DUH-lee-uh). She had spent the day with three of her German roommates and another girl named Shannon. They offered me some wine and I just ended up hanging out with them. The boys (Alex, Timothy aka Timo, and Josh) were really funny and nice, I definitely wasn't expecting to make such good friends with Germans, I don't know why. Alex was particularly nice in offering me a beer and goding me into going out with them. They were so funny, trying to get us to help them better their English (which was quite good already, I feel like such a stupid monolingual American bastard) and just joking around.

(This is a point in my trip that I regretted not having at least my Converse and a nice sweater. Dancing in New Balances and a sweatshirt (although I did wear my nice tank... and of course everyone is casual) is not my ideal way to go. But, no matter, it's not like anyone really notices. I mean, come on, everyone's drunk.)

So around 11:30pm, a group of 7 of us headed over to Old Town. Two Aussies named Scott and Kirsty met us in town along with Michelle who found us at the first pub, The Advocate. The band was this acoustic pair playing such favorites as, "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "Under the Bridge," and "Good Riddance (Time of your Life)." Ha ha ha. We all sang along though and were already somewhat toasted at that point before the lights went up around 1:30am (the time pubs close but clubs stay open till 3am) and we had to head out. We ended up at "Subway" and stayed there till closing. Michelle somehow lead us home the long way and we got back to the hostel around 4:30am.

Oh, while we were in Old Town after we had left "Subway," we passed by this youngish guy who was singing kinda loudly to himself so I yelled, "Where's the party?!" and he goes, "I don't know, I'm trying to find it!" and went on his separate way. Well, when we walked into the hostel, another group of guys arrived right after us and it turned out to be that guy and his friends! Turns out they're from England and their friend is about to get married (I'm not sure if this was a bachelor's thing or what, there was a lot of loud chatter and confusion in the hallway). I tried to get everyone to be quiet because it WAS 4:30am but it failed (as there were about 15 of us now in the front hallway) and Daniel (the manager on duty who lives in my room actually) had to shush us to the lounge downstairs.

Finally got to bed around 6am, having had a wonderful night out on the town (finally). The people I met at the hostel are wonderful and I feel grateful for the fact that I tend to meet really genuine people in my life (for the most part). Are my friends and I just naturally drawn to each other because of that? Walking through the streets of Edinburgh in the middle of the night felt comfortable and I really trusted these people like I'd known them for years. The only thing that would have made it better would be if the Dork Crew had been there too :) Yeah, so now I am totally in love with my hostel, it truly does just feel like a big house and family. So now I know, little hostels are the way to go!

Today I was quite hungover, which if you know me, doesn't usually happen. So of course I was a big baby about it and woke up late (10:30) before schelepping around the hostel, said goodbye to the Germans, empathized with Dalia, before finally getting some greasy fast food to settle my stomach. I had promised myself to go see the National Gallery so I went over there. Luckily it's a somewhat small collection and I was able to just kinda amble as my head felt a bit detached from my body.

Now I feel fine except I need a shower and a nap. I may not end up going out tonight but possibly tomorrow since it's my last night in Scotland!!! Then off to Barcelona, I can't believe it. Of course time flies when you're having fun.

Cheers!

Day 10: Edinburgh, Scotland - The Castle, Royal Museum and Discovering Marks & Spencer food

Sometimes I publish more than one days worth at a sitting so be sure to check back to see if you've missed anything. Because I know you're soooooo interested. :-) Oh and for some reason, the format is fucked up because I posted those pics of Peanut a while back. By the time you read this, they might be gone :(

I slept in this morning, till almost 8:30am! I'm a light sleeper so I tend to wake up whenever anyone even breathes, it can be useful when the alarm is broken though. Hey you know what's weird? Sleeping in a room with 5-7 people that you don't know at all. It's also a weird situation at this hostel because many of these people are longterm guests which makes me feel like I'm invading their personal space/room. But no one's been supremely rude although I wouldn't say friendly persay. The one girl I chatted with last night is also here for the weekend, she actually goes to Berkeley but she's studying at Cambridge right now. Small world! I could see she was quite keen on meeting people though so that was nice. Who knows, maybe they'll go out tonight and I'll join them (it IS Friday... although I've begun to lose track of the days). Last night a small group of us watched "Catwoman" (quite possibly the worst movie ever made) but I couldn't take too much since I was so tired and headed to bed around midnight. Woo, party animal!!

It's so funny because the hostel presented themselves as this modern, pristine, new place (from their website, (www.highlanderbackpackers.com) but it's actually not at all. It's located in a converted house, actually more like what I expect a brownstone in Chicago is like, where all the "houses" are attached to each other. But it is super homey and comfortable as well as clean so I can't complain. Also, I had to cancel my last night (Monday) since I couldn't get a place ticket out on Tuesday and they usually charge a % but the guy gave me a full refund. Sweet.

After getting ready, I headed out to Ediburgh Castle which is the only castle located within walking distance of me. After some much uphill walking, I ended up at the front gates where admission is £9.50. It's a total tourist trap but you can't NOT go there when you come to Edinburgh. The sight was interesting enough, a lot of recreated still scenes a la Pirates of the Carribean. I'm a dork though so I tend to enjoy displays like that. Since it was a castle, there was a lot of war type museums on site which, although would interest my father, doesn't quite hold the same interest for me. The views were beautiful though, the castle overlooks the entire city. There was also a wedding taking place in St. Margarets cathedral which is the oldest building in Edinburgh. I saw the crown jewels, took some pics, and marveled at how many goddamn tourists were around (including myself, ha ha ha).

The exit leads you straight onto the Royal Mile which is just an extension of a tourist trap with souvenier shops and overpriced cafes. I wanted to hit up the Royal Museum of Scotland though so I didn't linger too long although I did make a brief stop at the Writers' Museum and saw a short Robert Louis Stevenson display.

At the Royal Museum, they are having a special exhibit focusing on the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia (from before the Revolution). For some reason, it greatly interested me and I purchased a ticket. The whole exhibit engrossed me though.. I think the story tends to attract a lot of people because of how close the whole family was and because of the weird stuff that surrounds them (such as how close Rasputin got to the family, how the son had a sickness, and the whole family's eventual murder). It was definitely one of my favorite things that I've seen since I've gotten here.

The exhibit actually greatly depressed me, to see how close this family was and how it all ended. Quite unfortunate. I had little motivation to see the rest of the museum so I headed back to the city center where there's a park. I did some people watching, postcard writing, and reading (which greatly helped my mood) before deciding to hit up Marks & Spencers food bin for dinner. I kept reading about it in this British book I was reading so curiosity finally got the better of me.

Holy crud, I'm going there everyday! The food is pretty reasonably priced (considering it's the UK), it's tasty, and they talk about using sustainable farming (even the local grocery store's own brand is organic... like that's all they offer, how rad is that?). I love it, there's so much I still want to try and I pretty much refuse to eat in any restaurants till I leave. Grand!

It's barely 7:30 and I'm already falling asleep. Aye, I think it's time to go outside.

Peeeaaace!

Day 8: Glasgow, Scotland

In case you were wondering, yes, Subway restaurants have that lovely smell here as well.

So, yesterday I had quite the adventure.

My intention was to head over to the Burrell Collection on the South side of Glasgow. It was only 3 miles away (according to Lonely Planet) so I thought I'd just hoof it. 3 miles isn't that much, right? Well, as soon as I walked over the bridge (over the River Clyde), I was greeted by a downpour of rain. YES RAIN, that shit is following me I tell you! I took that as a sign that I shouldn't walk (especially since the southside isn't as open to tourists until well over on the other side) so I went back, thankfully the bridge wasn't too far from my hostel.

My next step was to try and figure out the bus system. This turned out to be a lot harder than I expected and I got the run around a few times before I realized I needed to catch a bus from one of the stops around the city center. after a few hours of tromping to and fro, I finally found a stop. Now here's my question: Are bus drivers everywhere total dicks or what? The first bus showed up and I was seriously jogging up to it, the driver saw me, and still took off away fromt he curb. Jerk. No matter, the next one came about 15 minutes later and this driver was much nicer.

Now comes the adventure. Due to my own negligence, I didn't realize that we had greatly passed my stop until we were at the end of the 47 bus line which ended in the South south south regions of Glasgow, pretty much in the suburbs. I was among houses and slow life when I got to Pollock Centre. I totally swore at myself and took this as another sign that I just wasn't meant to see the Burrell Collection. I walked around a bit at the Centre to try and figure out what to do next as I felt totally inconspicuous with my purple hair and asian-ness. For the most part no one seemed to notice and before long I took another 47 back to the city centre which was about a 30 minute ride.

I was actually happy to have ridden the bus that long though because it gave me a chance to see a bit of surburbia of Glasgow. From the outside, it looked just like any other neighborhood in Midwestern American, with the green lawns and open yards. The houses were cute, quaint, and I wished I could have one.

I finally got back into town around 5pm and I was starving at this point so I headed over for some Italian homecooking. The food was decent but probably not quite worth what I paid for it, but it's the UK and everything is fucking expensive!

I headed over to St. George's Square to try and read for a bit before heading over to watch "Wedding Crashers" but it was freakin' freezing so I just went to the theater. Luckily I did though because it was quite busy, apparently Glaswegians loves their cinema! Also, there were a lot of tourists there. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory seemed to be a popular one since it just opened here last weekend.

Anyway, I loved Wedding Crashers and it was great to be able to laugh that much. Vince Vaughn in top form all the way!!! I haven't seen him be that funny since Swingers (although Old School was pretty close). I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE Owen Wilson. Kay, enough about that.

I headed back to the hostel around 11pm and there were still tons of people out. Oh and the sun doesn't go down till about 10pm around here so people tend to stay out pretty late. I felt really safe walking back to the hostel alone though which I had been somewhat worried about. When I got back, Murder By Numbers was on in the lounge so I sat and watched the end of that with everyone before heading back up to the room. I had two new roommates, one of which was asleep by the time I came back up and the other was a girl from New Zealand who has been traveling in Europe for the past 5 months just trying to find work and live here. She says she's lost more money than she's earned but she's having a good time.

And now here I am in Edinburgh. I took the train in from Glasgow this morning which was, thankfully, painless (especially after yesterday's fiasco!). The weather has been terrible here, raining one second, almost sunny the next. Seriously, the rain comes and goes depending where you are walking. I buckled down and bought an umbrella but not some shitty umbrella because I know what that can do! I also booked my flight to Barcelona today so I will be arriving there on the 8th which is a day earlier than planned. Julie has been incredibly gracious in letting me stay with her and I may try to cancel some of my reservations at the hostel to stay with her the whole week. It'd be great to be shown around by a resident! I can't wait to get where there is SUN! and someone I know!!! The glory. Oh, and thank goodness for having STA everywhere!

Anyway, the next 3 days will be filled with lots of sights, Edinburgh is super compacted so everything is pretty near each other. It's an amazing city from what I've seen so far, constant hustle and bustle, quite different than Glasgow. The University of Edinburgh is here so the city is definitely student filled and more "hip." I almost wanted to buy a sweater from H&M so I could fit in a bit more, ha ha. My hostel is filled with long term travelers and more "hip" backpacker but I'm going to do my best to meet some peeps. The hostel is actually in a converted house so it's got a homey feeling which I like, yet I also feel like a bit of an outsider. It's a bit more on the expensive side but it's really clean and small.

Anyway, now I'm off to eat some dinner and get some shut eye so I can start the day early tomorrow.

Oh and a few notes about casualties of the trip. 1) My Volcom jacket that I bought from the sample sale. Farewell dear jacket, it was bound to happen lugging you around. Plus you were terribly dirty. 2) My alarm clock. Got smashed by the books. Damn you! I bought a new one today for £1, we'll see how well it works. 3) My adapters! The one I am most bummed about because now I can't charge my Ipod. Totally annoying. I'll see if Cris can bring me one.

Cheers!

P.S. MY GOD what is going on in the hockey world?? Just briefly reading what I have is making my head spin!! Leeth a Bruin? Forsberg a Flyer? With RATHJE?? Roenick a King?? Two Niedermeyers in Anaheim? Holik a Thrasher?? Adam Foote a BLUE JACKET?? Jesus!! (That's who I expected next to be signed)

Day 6/7: Glasgow, SCOTLAND

You know what has been really hard to find both here and in Dublin? Pens. That's right, pens. Apparently they are only sold in stationary shops which close at like 6pm. Do you know how inconvenient it is to not have a pen?? I will have to gaff one from somewhere if I can't find any. But even that is proving to be difficult.

Yesterday morning I left Isaacs Hostel (which was pretty high on the crap scale but at least it was clean... and I mostly just slept there) at 5:30am. The Airlink bus doesn't start running until 7am and the two flights I chose from were either at 8am or 6pm. I chose the earlier flight so I could have a more bountiful day in Glasgow. Anyway, my taxi driver was this dude named John who was super nice. He couldn't believe that I was traveling on my own and how he'd never let his own kid do that, ha. He had this really thick Irish accent so as he was telling me this story about a guy escaping from a South American prison, I pretty much did"wows" and "mmhmm" since I could barely understand him. Aside from that though, sweetest guy ever and even charged me less than what was on the meter so I gave him €2 extra.

I got in Glasgow Prestwick (about an hour away from Glasgow on train... the flight was cheaper plus the train goes right into Central Station whereas from Glasgow Internation it doesn't) around 9am and quickly found the Scotrail. There were some Candians also backpacking but I didn't get a chance to talk to them. I knew they were Canadian because they had the flag proudly sewn into their backpacks. Too bad I couldn't do the same thing. :-P

The train ride was incredibly uneventful but I got to hear peoples' accents which is always my favorite part of going to a new city. It was fairly cheap to get into town (around $5USD) which was a relief since they didn't really have the price posted anywhere before that. Plus I got half off because I was coming from the airport. Yeah, figure that one out.

Central Station was incredibly busy and because check in time at the hostel wasn't until later in the afternoon, I put my pack in left luggage so I could wander the city. I didn't want to wear myself out since I was so tired so I kinda just strolled into town. I wandered over to this awesome square which is right in front of the City Chambers. After checking out the scene and my Lonely Planet, I decided to start the day at the McLellan Galleries and the Gallery of Modern Art which were within walking distance (what isn't?) from the City Center (Centre, whatever). I was also smiling by this time because for the first time in almost a week, I could see blue skies and sun. SUN! The sun exists in the UK!

The Gallery of Modern Art was particularly intersting because they are having an exhibit focusing around domestic violence. A female artist had photocopied a bunch of articles about domestic violence (cases and legislature regarding it) and blown them up HUGE and posted them around this giant room. It was quite striking. It's housed in this beautiful building. Here's the thing, most of Glasgow is BEAUTIFUL. The architecture is truly astounding with it's opulence and old school-ness (how's that for an unliterary statement?). Here's a looksie at the Gallery of Modern art:



Somehow, I always end up finding THE shopping center of the city, seriously I just wander upon it. This time it was Buchannan St. with it's Borders, Starbucks, Gap, etc. Very loud, very distracting yet somewhat comforting. I didn't shop (where the hell am I supposed to put it?) but just wandered with all the other tourists. And believe you me there are A LOT right now. Glasgow is much more diverse than I was expecting (although, it IS the UK). As I was walking down the street, I saw two things that made me laugh. 1) A boy playing the bagpipe with his friend accompanying him on the drum. It would not ordinarily be funny but do you know what they were playing? We Will Rock You. Yes, by QUEEN. 2) An old chinese man feeding bread to the pigeons and they were just flocking to him. This made me laugh because it reminded me of Chinatown. Why do old people like feeding the pigeons so much??

I walked all the way up the street to the McLellan Galleries which are housing some works from the Kelvingrove Museum while it's being refurbished. There were some real beauties at this place, particularly a piece by Whistler, one of his earliest. Also the piece by Rembrandt called "The Man in the Armour" which was painted in the 17th centurty. The 17th Century! Something that's struck me since being in Europe is how OLD everything is, I love it. I'm still astounded at how well preserved some of these pieces are, even if they aren't into total original condition, it's still impressive.

I was really tired after that so I took away a lunch from O'Briens and sat in St. George's Square (the one mentioned above) for a couple hours eating, people watching, and reading. By that time, I could check into the hostel so I trekked it back to Central and tried to find the place. It turned out to be this HUGE building (I'm on the 9th floor... i'm in room 911, how funny is that?). It seems loud, busy and boisterous. Again, at least it's clean so I am happy. My dormmates (i'm in a 4 bed ensuite) are all older than I am as other single travelers tend to be. The one I talked to the most is from The Hague in the Netherlands. She seemed nice and she said that she wanted to stay an extra day on Wednesday but they're all booked so she has her tent if she has to camp. How cool is that? Yeah, hostel life is busy, there's constantly people coming and going. I can't believe how booked everything is. Part of the reason I suspect is because the Edinburgh Festival is beginning on Sunday. I had the hardest time trying to book a hostel but I finally found a totally sweet one. It's a little bit more expensive but still way cheaper than a hotel.


DAY 7

That's right everyone, I've hit a week officially! Sometimes it feels like ages but sometimes I still can't believe I have already explored an entire city before this. Well, one week down, five to go!

My usual wake up times have been around 7:30am (yes, me). I took my shower before heading down to a free continental breakfast. After the breakfasts at Jacobs (a muffin and a small box of juice), it was heaven to be greated by large bowls of cornflakes, rice krispies, and yogurt. Yogurt, what a luxury!

Not many people are out and about before 9am which is about the time I set out towards the Glasgow Cathedral and the St. Mungo's Museum of Religious Life & Art. It was about a 20 minutes walk up there and I walked into St. Mungo's first. It's a small museum but filled with all sorts of artifacts from a number of different religions. One of the coolest pieces was a painting done by Salvador Dali, painted in a classic rather than surreal way. I forget what it's called but it depicts Christ on the cross (top view) without the pain, suffering, bloodiness, etc. Dali said that he had wanted to depict him as he is in heaven rather than suffering. Or something to that effect.

Oh before I go any further, I forgot to tell you guys about the funny thing that happened today. As I was walking up the street, an older lady stopped me and asked if I spoke Mandarin. I said no, I in fact did not. We chatted for a minute before she started telling me how she wanted to find someone that spoke Mandarin because they were Jehovah Witnesses and they wanted to be able to communicate with their Chinese "friends." Honey, after they know what you're up to, they ain't gonna want to be your friend. I think they were trying to recruit me. Anyway, I bade them a quick farewell and went on my way.

On to the Cathedral... another dark, mysterious, cold place but this one was a bit more interesting than Dublin's because it had a bunch of nooks and crannies. In particular, they had a lower part of the church were St. Mungo (one of the first to spread Christianity in Scotland). It was like a cave, totally crazy. Again, tons of plaques and stuff bought by people in memory of their family members and friends.

The University of Strathclyde is right near there too so I probably looked like a regular old student than a crazy American tourist which is a nice feeling. It also gave me the thought that traveling here has given me the perspective that I can pretty much go anywhere (they speak English) and I'd be ok for awhile. I wouldn't mind studying abroad in Ireland or Scotland on a short term sense. I didn't think I'd like Glasgow as much as I do but it's a great city, super chill.

I wandered through the outside gardens and for the first time in a few days, felt hunger pains (damn you jet lag!) so I hoofed it back to Buchannan St. and looked for a small place called, "A Wee Curry Place" that Lonely Planet suggested. The food was delicious (and cheap, £4.75 for a two course lunch) and as I was paying my bill, one of the chefs (I think he owns the place) asked if I was backpacking. He also couldn't believe I was on my own but I merely shrugged. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. He told me that two other backpackers from California had come in recently. When I told him I was also from California, I could see him thinking, "What's with these crazy Californians?" They were really nice though, although have you ever heard a person with an Indian accent try to speak like a Scotsman? Almost incoherent I tell you.

Anyway, I'm off to find a pen and people watch in the square for a bit before heading back to the hostel to do some much needed laundry (ew). Hope all is well with you, anything catostrophic happening? Hope not. I know bunches of you are in the middle of moving stuff (including myself... hopefully) so good luck to that.

Send me good vibes, I need to meet some peeps!

You know what's cool about Scotland? I don't know anyone else that's been here. At least I don't think so. So, I get to share it all with you :)