Oh my gosh, this can not be our lives right now!! As we were laying in front of the Eiffel Tower last night we just kept saying how blessed we were and that we can't even believe that we are so lucky as to be doing all these amazing things!
Before making our way to Paris we stayed the day in Girona, Spain. The old city was really cool and so old it was sort of hard to grasp. The cathedral at the middle was built in the 14th century and is still standing and looks so amazing! We spent time looking all around the Cathedral and then we walked around the city and along the river that runs through it. That night we had our last meal in Spain..Bikini's, Calamari and of course some Sangria. Bikinis, as we discovered, are basically a breakfast sandwich on texas toast that are panini'd. They were really good, but not very Spanish! I miss the Spanish Sangria already though. We stayed up all night long because we had to be to the bus stop to go to the airport at 3:30 in the morning. While staying up all night was probably not the best idea, we were afraid to over sleep and miss our flight!
Once we arrived at the airport in France we had to take a bus an hour and a half to Paris. You know your flight is way too early when you are in one country in the morning, but you're driving through another country's morning rush hour traffic at 9:30. Although we had arrived in what we thought was the City of Lights, it looked more like the city of umbrellas and rain jackets. The rain was coming down hard, and we were worried it would put a damper on all of our plans. However, by the time we got checked into our hotel and ate some lunch, the rain had gone away and we set out to start our day, which was a long one!
The first stop was the Catacombs. The Catacombs are a set of hundreds of underground tunnels that run underneath Paris and where the remains of over 6 million people who over populated the cemeteries of Paris in the 18th century were put. The tour was extremely eerie. It was really cold in the tunnels and the ceilings were dripping with water from the ground above. The bone room was so organized and methodically laid out. Each set of remains was placed in a specific pattern and the faces of the skulls were set up to face us. The lights were dim and all of the corners were dark. It was a weird feeling walking through mass graves like that where people who had had families and lives were just placed anonymously after they passed.
After the catacombs we made our way to the Louvre. The outside of the Louvre was incredible by itself. There were so many people in the main courtyard area. The courtyard, the building, and the pyramid entrance were all so huge, but amazing to look at also. There are fountains all through the courtyard and glass pyramid at the center is a modern contrast to the Royal Palace like building that wraps around it. Once we got into the museum we were, once again, in awe of the beauty of the building. Every single hall of the museum was incredibly big and had countless rooms off of the main hallway. Neither Josh nor I consider ourselves art lovers or connoisseurs, but the pieces and exhibits were fascinating. We first saw the paintings, which were all so intricate and extravagant no matter what the story they told was. Each piece had its own personality and style, and seeing each different piece was really interesting. In this hall is where the original Mona Lisa is located. There was such a buzz about the painting and a bunch of people stood around the piece taking pictures; Josh and I thought it was cool to see it, but she was incredibly simple compared to her neighboring pieces. Next was the sculptures where we saw the Venus de Milo, a sculpture from 120 BC greece. Then we were off to the ancient Egyptian hall where there were pieces from different tombs, sarcophaguses, clothes, books, jewelry, etc. We also saw the Code of Hammurabi, which is the oldest set of written laws in the history of the world. All of it was so interesting and incredibly old that it was sort of mind blowing. After two hours our Museum ADD set in and we were so exhausted that we left.
From the Louvre, we set out to walk over to the Arc de Triomph which we could see from the museum, but we realized the Eiffel Tower was just as close so we decided to go over that way. It was my birthday, and I wanted to be able to say that I had a baguette and a bottle of wine in the park in front of the Eiffel Tower on my birthday. When we arrived at the site we were in total awe of the structure. It was huge!! The Eiffel Tower is such a romanticized structure that it was amazing to actually be standing at the base of it. We of course had a small photo shoot before grabbing a baguette and some wine from a corner store and headed to the grass; however, the park in front of the Eiffel Tower is the only place in Europe that we have discovered that you can not drink in public. We were so bummed, but there were cops everywhere telling people to stop drinking that we weren’t about to chance it! While we laid in the grass people watching, eating, and loving life we realized that we are so incredibly blessed!
We had planned on waking up early the next to go back to the Tower to climb up to the top but, like Josh said, I don’t think we realized how tired we actually were because when we woke up it was noon and we had spent the morning catching up on sleep instead of exploring. When we did finally set out we hit the streets running! We went to the Eiffel Tower and climbed the over 600 steps up to the second floor. The views from the first and second floors were indescribable. We could see everything in Paris and it felt like we were at the top of the world! We took the elevator up to the top of the structure and it was even more incredible than the floors below. I don’t know that there is any better way to see the entire city of Paris than from the top of the Eiffel Tower. You can see literally everything in the city and it all looks so small. It is really hard to describe the feeling of actually being on the top of the tower that had before seemed like such a storybook place. We made our way back down and before we got all the way down we had crepes and coffee at the cafe on the second floor.
After the Eiffel Tower we went over to Notre Dame. We couldn’t be in Paris and not see where Quazimodo had lived! The church was huge, as are the other European churches we’d seen. Notre Dame was much more gothic and had something different than the churches we’d seen before. While we were walking around on the inside they actually started a small mass which was interesting. They were playing the small organ and the sound seemed to fill every crevice and arch without echoing. Hearing the grande organ would have been something special. Since we were super motivated tourists, after we saw Notre Dame we got on the metro to make our way to the Arc de Triomph, however when we finally arrived at what we thought was our destination we were at the Grande Arch instead. The Grande Arch was really quite the grande piece of architecture. We it really was a giant arch in the middle of a huge plaza where there was a mall, which put all American malls to shame, and a bunch of business buildings. We ate at the mall and we walked around for awhile and still hadn’t seen everything!
We wised up after our mishap and found the correct arc that we had been looking for in the first place, after the mall closed. While we were standing outside of the round about and watching the madness for a little bit, we decided that you sort of have to have a death wish to enter the unruled disorder that is considered a street. There are no lanes, or traffic signals, and there are 12 exit spots around the street. It is literally madness. We walked from the Arch de Triomph down to a park called Pont Neuf to meet some girls that we met in Barcelona to go out with them.
We met up with the girls and took them back to our place so they could stash their bags in our room while we were out. We got in a cab and headed from our place down to the crazy roundabout that we’d seen earlier...it was just as insane to drive through it as it was to watch. I’m pretty sure the cab driver was loving scaring us because me and the girls were freaking out in the back seat while Josh was just laughing at us in the front seat. We stayed out until 6:30 in the morning because the girls didn’t have a place to stay and they wouldn’t let them come into our room. We met so many interesting people in the streets and bars of Paris and then we watched the sun come up as we drove back to the hotel. Thank goodness it was our last day because we were so tired that we didn’t want to do anything touristy. We had been doing as much as we could everyday during our two weeks that by the final day before we left for Berlin we were touristed out. We actually went and saw a movie at a place close to our hotel until we had to catch the train. Doing something normal that we would do at home was a nice feeling.
The train to Berlin was a 13 hour overnight train ride. Our cabin was totally packed and it was difficult to get any real sleep, but the scenery until the sun went down was amazing. I couldn’t believe how beautiful everything was. Once we arrived in Berlin, we made our way to Michendorf (the place that we’re staying for the week of training) and as soon as we got to the house all the other counselors that were already here invited us to go into the city with them. Naturally we didn’t want to skip this opportunity so we headed out with the group to the Christopher Day Street Parade, Berlin’s LGBT pride event. The parade was incredible and we had an amazing time getting to know our new friends. We’ve been training since Sunday and after training everyday we go out and do something fun with the group. Yesterday we went to Potsdam and walked around the town and then watched the opening game of the world cup at a little restaurant. Last night we went to a lake nearby and had a fire when the sun went down.
It’s so nice to be in a house for a little bit and know that we’re going to have a solid group of people with us all summer. We can already tell we’re in for the best summer of our lives. We move into a flat in Berlin with everyone on Saturday and then on either Sunday or Monday we will start our first official camp!
Well, if you’ve stayed with me through that disgustingly long update, thank you! and stay posted for more of our crazy adventures :)
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Paris, The City of Lights
Oh my gosh, this can not be our lives right now!! As we were laying in front of the Eiffel Tower last night we just kept saying how blessed we were and that we can't even believe that we are so lucky as to be doing all these amazing things!
Before making our way to Paris we stayed the day in Girona, Spain. The old city was really cool and so old it was sort of hard to grasp. The cathedral at the middle was built in the 14th century and is still standing and looks so amazing! We spent time looking all around the Cathedral and then we walked around the city and along the river that runs through it. That night we had our last meal in Spain..Bikini's, Calamari and of course some Sangria. Bikinis, as we discovered, are basically a breakfast sandwich on texas toast that are panini'd. They were really good, but not very Spanish! I miss the Spanish Sangria already though. We stayed up all night long because we had to be to the bus stop to go to the airport at 3:30 in the morning. While staying up all night was probably not the best idea, we were afraid to over sleep and miss our flight!
Once we arrived at the airport in France we had to take a bus an hour and a half to Paris. You know your flight is way too early when you are in one country in the morning, but you're driving through another country's morning rush hour traffic at 9:30. Although we had arrived in what we thought was the City of Lights, it looked more like the city of umbrellas and rain jackets. The rain was coming down hard, and we were worried it would put a damper on all of our plans. However, by the time we got checked into our hotel and ate some lunch, the rain had gone away and we set out to start our day, which was a long one!
The first stop was the Catacombs. The Catacombs are a set of hundreds of underground tunnels that run underneath Paris and where the remains of over 6 million people who over populated the cemeteries of Paris in the 18th century were put. The tour was extremely eerie. It was really cold in the tunnels and the ceilings were dripping with water from the ground above. The bone room was so organized and methodically laid out. Each set of remains was placed in a specific pattern and the faces of the skulls were set up to face us. The lights were dim and all of the corners were dark. It was a weird feeling walking through mass graves like that where people who had had families and lives were just placed anonymously after they passed.
After the catacombs we made our way to the Louvre. The outside of the Louvre was incredible by itself. There were so many people in the main courtyard area. The courtyard, the building, and the pyramid entrance were all so huge, but amazing to look at also. There are fountains all through the courtyard and glass pyramid at the center is a modern contrast to the Royal Palace like building that wraps around it. Once we got into the museum we were, once again, in awe of the beauty of the building. Every single hall of the museum was incredibly big and had countless rooms off of the main hallway. Neither Josh nor I consider ourselves art lovers or connoisseurs, but the pieces and exhibits were fascinating. We first saw the paintings, which were all so intricate and extravagant no matter what the story they told was. Each piece had its own personality and style, and seeing each different piece was really interesting. In this hall is where the original Mona Lisa is located. There was such a buzz about the painting and a bunch of people stood around the piece taking pictures; Josh and I thought it was cool to see it, but she was incredibly simple compared to her neighboring pieces. Next was the sculptures where we saw the Venus de Milo, a sculpture from 120 BC greece. Then we were off to the ancient Egyptian hall where there were pieces from different tombs, sarcophaguses, clothes, books, jewelry, etc. We also saw the Code of Hammurabi, which is the oldest set of written laws in the history of the world. All of it was so interesting and incredibly old that it was sort of mind blowing. After two hours our Museum ADD set in and we were so exhausted that we left.
From the Louvre, we set out to walk over to the Arc de Triomph which we could see from the museum, but we realized the Eiffel Tower was just as close so we decided to go over that way. It was my birthday, and I wanted to be able to say that I had a baguette and a bottle of wine in the park in front of the Eiffel Tower on my birthday. When we arrived at the site we were in total awe of the structure. It was huge!! The Eiffel Tower is such a romanticized structure that it was amazing to actually be standing at the base of it. We of course had a small photo shoot before grabbing a baguette and some wine from a corner store and headed to the grass; however, the park in front of the Eiffel Tower is the only place in Europe that we have discovered that you can not drink in public. We were so bummed, but there were cops everywhere telling people to stop drinking that we weren’t about to chance it! While we laid in the grass people watching, eating, and loving life we realized that we are so incredibly blessed!
We had planned on waking up early the next to go back to the Tower to climb up to the top but, like Josh said, I don’t think we realized how tired we actually were because when we woke up it was noon and we had spent the morning catching up on sleep instead of exploring. When we did finally set out we hit the streets running! We went to the Eiffel Tower and climbed the over 600 steps up to the second floor. The views from the first and second floors were indescribable. We could see everything in Paris and it felt like we were at the top of the world! We took the elevator up to the top of the structure and it was even more incredible than the floors below. I don’t know that there is any better way to see the entire city of Paris than from the top of the Eiffel Tower. You can see literally everything in the city and it all looks so small. It is really hard to describe the feeling of actually being on the top of the tower that had before seemed like such a storybook place. We made our way back down and before we got all the way down we had crepes and coffee at the cafe on the second floor.
After the Eiffel Tower we went over to Notre Dame. We couldn’t be in Paris and not see where Quazimodo had lived! The church was huge, as are the other European churches we’d seen. Notre Dame was much more gothic and had something different than the churches we’d seen before. While we were walking around on the inside they actually started a small mass which was interesting. They were playing the small organ and the sound seemed to fill every crevice and arch without echoing. Hearing the grande organ would have been something special. Since we were super motivated tourists, after we saw Notre Dame we got on the metro to make our way to the Arc de Triomph, however when we finally arrived at what we thought was our destination we were at the Grande Arch instead. The Grande Arch was really quite the grande piece of architecture. We it really was a giant arch in the middle of a huge plaza where there was a mall, which put all American malls to shame, and a bunch of business buildings. We ate at the mall and we walked around for awhile and still hadn’t seen everything!
We wised up after our mishap and found the correct arc that we had been looking for in the first place, after the mall closed. While we were standing outside of the round about and watching the madness for a little bit, we decided that you sort of have to have a death wish to enter the unruled disorder that is considered a street. There are no lanes, or traffic signals, and there are 12 exit spots around the street. It is literally madness. We walked from the Arch de Triomph down to a park called Pont Neuf to meet some girls that we met in Barcelona to go out with them.
We met up with the girls and took them back to our place so they could stash their bags in our room while we were out. We got in a cab and headed from our place down to the crazy roundabout that we’d seen earlier...it was just as insane to drive through it as it was to watch. I’m pretty sure the cab driver was loving scaring us because me and the girls were freaking out in the back seat while Josh was just laughing at us in the front seat. We stayed out until 6:30 in the morning because the girls didn’t have a place to stay and they wouldn’t let them come into our room. We met so many interesting people in the streets and bars of Paris and then we watched the sun come up as we drove back to the hotel. Thank goodness it was our last day because we were so tired that we didn’t want to do anything touristy. We had been doing as much as we could everyday during our two weeks that by the final day before we left for Berlin we were touristed out. We actually went and saw a movie at a place close to our hotel until we had to catch the train. Doing something normal that we would do at home was a nice feeling.
The train to Berlin was a 13 hour overnight train ride. Our cabin was totally packed and it was difficult to get any real sleep, but the scenery until the sun went down was amazing. I couldn’t believe how beautiful everything was. Once we arrived in Berlin, we made our way to Michendorf (the place that we’re staying for the week of training) and as soon as we got to the house all the other counselors that were already here invited us to go into the city with them. Naturally we didn’t want to skip this opportunity so we headed out with the group to the Christopher Day Street Parade, Berlin’s LGBT pride event. The parade was incredible and we had an amazing time getting to know our new friends. We’ve been training since Sunday and after training everyday we go out and do something fun with the group. Yesterday we went to Potsdam and walked around the town and then watched the opening game of the world cup at a little restaurant. Last night we went to a lake nearby and had a fire when the sun went down.
It’s so nice to be in a house for a little bit and know that we’re going to have a solid group of people with us all summer. We can already tell we’re in for the best summer of our lives. We move into a flat in Berlin with everyone on Saturday and then on either Sunday or Monday we will start our first official camp!
Well, if you’ve stayed with me through that disgustingly long update, thank you! and stay posted for more of our crazy adventures :)
Before making our way to Paris we stayed the day in Girona, Spain. The old city was really cool and so old it was sort of hard to grasp. The cathedral at the middle was built in the 14th century and is still standing and looks so amazing! We spent time looking all around the Cathedral and then we walked around the city and along the river that runs through it. That night we had our last meal in Spain..Bikini's, Calamari and of course some Sangria. Bikinis, as we discovered, are basically a breakfast sandwich on texas toast that are panini'd. They were really good, but not very Spanish! I miss the Spanish Sangria already though. We stayed up all night long because we had to be to the bus stop to go to the airport at 3:30 in the morning. While staying up all night was probably not the best idea, we were afraid to over sleep and miss our flight!
Once we arrived at the airport in France we had to take a bus an hour and a half to Paris. You know your flight is way too early when you are in one country in the morning, but you're driving through another country's morning rush hour traffic at 9:30. Although we had arrived in what we thought was the City of Lights, it looked more like the city of umbrellas and rain jackets. The rain was coming down hard, and we were worried it would put a damper on all of our plans. However, by the time we got checked into our hotel and ate some lunch, the rain had gone away and we set out to start our day, which was a long one!
The first stop was the Catacombs. The Catacombs are a set of hundreds of underground tunnels that run underneath Paris and where the remains of over 6 million people who over populated the cemeteries of Paris in the 18th century were put. The tour was extremely eerie. It was really cold in the tunnels and the ceilings were dripping with water from the ground above. The bone room was so organized and methodically laid out. Each set of remains was placed in a specific pattern and the faces of the skulls were set up to face us. The lights were dim and all of the corners were dark. It was a weird feeling walking through mass graves like that where people who had had families and lives were just placed anonymously after they passed.
After the catacombs we made our way to the Louvre. The outside of the Louvre was incredible by itself. There were so many people in the main courtyard area. The courtyard, the building, and the pyramid entrance were all so huge, but amazing to look at also. There are fountains all through the courtyard and glass pyramid at the center is a modern contrast to the Royal Palace like building that wraps around it. Once we got into the museum we were, once again, in awe of the beauty of the building. Every single hall of the museum was incredibly big and had countless rooms off of the main hallway. Neither Josh nor I consider ourselves art lovers or connoisseurs, but the pieces and exhibits were fascinating. We first saw the paintings, which were all so intricate and extravagant no matter what the story they told was. Each piece had its own personality and style, and seeing each different piece was really interesting. In this hall is where the original Mona Lisa is located. There was such a buzz about the painting and a bunch of people stood around the piece taking pictures; Josh and I thought it was cool to see it, but she was incredibly simple compared to her neighboring pieces. Next was the sculptures where we saw the Venus de Milo, a sculpture from 120 BC greece. Then we were off to the ancient Egyptian hall where there were pieces from different tombs, sarcophaguses, clothes, books, jewelry, etc. We also saw the Code of Hammurabi, which is the oldest set of written laws in the history of the world. All of it was so interesting and incredibly old that it was sort of mind blowing. After two hours our Museum ADD set in and we were so exhausted that we left.
From the Louvre, we set out to walk over to the Arc de Triomph which we could see from the museum, but we realized the Eiffel Tower was just as close so we decided to go over that way. It was my birthday, and I wanted to be able to say that I had a baguette and a bottle of wine in the park in front of the Eiffel Tower on my birthday. When we arrived at the site we were in total awe of the structure. It was huge!! The Eiffel Tower is such a romanticized structure that it was amazing to actually be standing at the base of it. We of course had a small photo shoot before grabbing a baguette and some wine from a corner store and headed to the grass; however, the park in front of the Eiffel Tower is the only place in Europe that we have discovered that you can not drink in public. We were so bummed, but there were cops everywhere telling people to stop drinking that we weren’t about to chance it! While we laid in the grass people watching, eating, and loving life we realized that we are so incredibly blessed!
We had planned on waking up early the next to go back to the Tower to climb up to the top but, like Josh said, I don’t think we realized how tired we actually were because when we woke up it was noon and we had spent the morning catching up on sleep instead of exploring. When we did finally set out we hit the streets running! We went to the Eiffel Tower and climbed the over 600 steps up to the second floor. The views from the first and second floors were indescribable. We could see everything in Paris and it felt like we were at the top of the world! We took the elevator up to the top of the structure and it was even more incredible than the floors below. I don’t know that there is any better way to see the entire city of Paris than from the top of the Eiffel Tower. You can see literally everything in the city and it all looks so small. It is really hard to describe the feeling of actually being on the top of the tower that had before seemed like such a storybook place. We made our way back down and before we got all the way down we had crepes and coffee at the cafe on the second floor.
After the Eiffel Tower we went over to Notre Dame. We couldn’t be in Paris and not see where Quazimodo had lived! The church was huge, as are the other European churches we’d seen. Notre Dame was much more gothic and had something different than the churches we’d seen before. While we were walking around on the inside they actually started a small mass which was interesting. They were playing the small organ and the sound seemed to fill every crevice and arch without echoing. Hearing the grande organ would have been something special. Since we were super motivated tourists, after we saw Notre Dame we got on the metro to make our way to the Arc de Triomph, however when we finally arrived at what we thought was our destination we were at the Grande Arch instead. The Grande Arch was really quite the grande piece of architecture. We it really was a giant arch in the middle of a huge plaza where there was a mall, which put all American malls to shame, and a bunch of business buildings. We ate at the mall and we walked around for awhile and still hadn’t seen everything!
We wised up after our mishap and found the correct arc that we had been looking for in the first place, after the mall closed. While we were standing outside of the round about and watching the madness for a little bit, we decided that you sort of have to have a death wish to enter the unruled disorder that is considered a street. There are no lanes, or traffic signals, and there are 12 exit spots around the street. It is literally madness. We walked from the Arch de Triomph down to a park called Pont Neuf to meet some girls that we met in Barcelona to go out with them.
We met up with the girls and took them back to our place so they could stash their bags in our room while we were out. We got in a cab and headed from our place down to the crazy roundabout that we’d seen earlier...it was just as insane to drive through it as it was to watch. I’m pretty sure the cab driver was loving scaring us because me and the girls were freaking out in the back seat while Josh was just laughing at us in the front seat. We stayed out until 6:30 in the morning because the girls didn’t have a place to stay and they wouldn’t let them come into our room. We met so many interesting people in the streets and bars of Paris and then we watched the sun come up as we drove back to the hotel. Thank goodness it was our last day because we were so tired that we didn’t want to do anything touristy. We had been doing as much as we could everyday during our two weeks that by the final day before we left for Berlin we were touristed out. We actually went and saw a movie at a place close to our hotel until we had to catch the train. Doing something normal that we would do at home was a nice feeling.
The train to Berlin was a 13 hour overnight train ride. Our cabin was totally packed and it was difficult to get any real sleep, but the scenery until the sun went down was amazing. I couldn’t believe how beautiful everything was. Once we arrived in Berlin, we made our way to Michendorf (the place that we’re staying for the week of training) and as soon as we got to the house all the other counselors that were already here invited us to go into the city with them. Naturally we didn’t want to skip this opportunity so we headed out with the group to the Christopher Day Street Parade, Berlin’s LGBT pride event. The parade was incredible and we had an amazing time getting to know our new friends. We’ve been training since Sunday and after training everyday we go out and do something fun with the group. Yesterday we went to Potsdam and walked around the town and then watched the opening game of the world cup at a little restaurant. Last night we went to a lake nearby and had a fire when the sun went down.
It’s so nice to be in a house for a little bit and know that we’re going to have a solid group of people with us all summer. We can already tell we’re in for the best summer of our lives. We move into a flat in Berlin with everyone on Saturday and then on either Sunday or Monday we will start our first official camp!
Well, if you’ve stayed with me through that disgustingly long update, thank you! and stay posted for more of our crazy adventures :)
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Livin' the Life
hello again! Unfortunately I must once again apologize for my poor attention to our blog. It’s proven a lot harder than I thought it would be to stay on top of it with how busy we’ve been and our lack of consistent internet connection
When I last updated we were in Marrakech and we have been extremely busy since then. The first stop after Morocco was Barcelona, Spain. However, we first had to get to Barcelona in order to enjoy all the great things it has to offer. Our return tickets put us in Madrid and then we were were planning on taking the bus because it was really cheap, but we realized it would take us 7 hours on the bus to arrive in Barcelona and we didn’t want to lose an entire day of exploring. So we bit the bullet and decided to pay for the much more expensive train ride. We got to the train station, which was a mad house and got our tickets. When we finally got to the terminal to board the train we just sat back and watched for a little bit as to how it would work. They announce your platform number twenty minutes before the train leaves and as soon as they announce it everyone who is on your same train rushes, sort of stampede like, to get to the train. We got on the train, but weren’t supposed to be sitting together so we had to split up, which turned out to be a good thing. Josh sat next to a man named Manu who was from Madrid and spoke perfect english luckily. He took Josh and I back to the “cafeteria” car, and treated us to a couple drinks because “we were guests to his country and he needed to show us just how great Spainards are”, even though we weren’t even close to doubting how nice the Spanish are. We spent the 3 hours chatting up our new friend and he actually helped us get to our hostel once we were in Barcelona.
Manu, and about a million other people, were in Barcelona for a huge music festival that was going on that weekend called Sonar. So from the second we stepped off the train the city was buzzing. Our hostel was full of other young kids who were there for the festival and also for visitng. Two girls who were in our room of 14 strangers were doing what were doing and traveling around for the summer. Fionna and Julia, are cousins from California and they had also just arrived in Barcelona. As soon as we got settled, all four of us went out for dinner and to explore a little. The girls introduced us to the Spanish version of a gyro, and it has been our meal of choice pretty much ever since! We decided we were going to try and go to one of the many clubs that was along the water front so we made our way to the boardwalk. When we got there though we were denied by several clubs because we weren’t dressed nice enough. After we decided it was hopeless to get into the clubs in what we were wearing we went back to the hostel for a little wardrobe change. We hit the streets in a much more fashionable sort of way in search of what was supposedly Barcelona’s best club, Razzmatazz. It seemed pretty illusive as no one we asked could help us get there. When we finally found the gem of the city’s nightlife, we were not disappointed. It was huge inside with four floors and it was extremely packed. The first floor, with a huge dance floor was where we spent most the night. We danced on top of the speakers for hours until we literally could not stand anymore and then we called it a night.
The next day the girls left and Josh and I went to La Sagrada Familia, a church that construction first started on in the early 1900’s and is still being finished. The outside of the church is unlike anything any church I’ve ever seen before. Josh and I were both in awe and the sheer size of the building. Every single part of the building has a specific meaning and no detail was spared in the stories of the bible that are depicted in the crevices of the walls. If we thought the outside was amazing, then there is no way to put into words how incredible the inside was. Antoni Gaudi, the architect of the church made the inside to feel like a forest with tree-like and natural shapes, and so much natural light. Everything is done on a grand scale and made us both feel so small in comparison to the gigantic features of the place. We just sat and took everything in for awhile because it was all so magnificent. We rode the lift to the top of the building and were able to see the entire city which was another awesome view. To get down to the bottom we decided to take the stairs, which was really not a good idea with my fear of falling to my death. The stairs are a tight spiral staircase which has no railing on the inside. I was fine with walking down the stairs until the girl behind me said “wow, if you fell down there you would totally die.” Let me thank you girl in the staircase because you helped start a panic attack for me and we weren’t even half way down what seemed to be the 400 foot tall tower. Needless to say I was very happy to reach the bottom.
After the church we visited another Gaudi site, Parc-Guell. The park is huge and it has all sorts of interesting architectural monuments. There were stair cases, hallways, benches, and all sorts of different things. One of the coolest was at the very top of the park and you climbed to the top of this monument thing and could see the entire city, the Mediterranean Sea and the mountains behind you. The view was incredible and we both sat there for a second saying “is this really our life right now?!” That night we were exhausted so we sat in the main room of our hostel and uploaded all of our pictures to Facebook and sort of wound down. As we were sitting there the tables started to fill in around us and we were joined by a couple girls from England and a group of guys from Belgium. We have both said that one of the best parts of the trip is all of the cool people we’ve been able to meet along the way. They have all traveled so much more than us and speak so many languages and even if the communication is difficult between groups, they are all so extremely kind.
Our second day in Barcelona, we were ready for a relaxing day, so we headed to the beach for a day in the sun, which we took full advantage of. We sat on the beach until the sun went down and we were basically forced to leave. It was nice to finally sit down and have “vacation” time from running around all these cities we’ve been in. The day after our beach day, we left Barcelona and headed to a small town in the Costa Brava area of the country, called Lloret de Mar. The town was definitely a vacation spot for many Europeans and we were able to enjoy another couple hours on the beach. The town kind of reminded us of a sort of South Padre area for the European travelers. The beaches were gorgeous and town itself had a lot of really cool shops. While we were laying on the beach looking at all the amazing things around us we were definitely realizing how lucky we are to have this opportunity that not many people do. We’re seeing things that up until now have just been in our dreams! To add to how great spending the day on the beach was, it was also Josh’s birthday!! Shout out to my best friend and travel buddy, I wouldn’t want to be doing this with any other person and he has been great the entire time!
We’re currently en route to Girona, Spain for the day and then in the morning it’s off to Paris!! We can’t wait to spend time in Paris and see everything that the city has to offer. So for now, Adios!!
Ps. I promise I’ll be better about updating you guys on what we’re doing so that we don’t have these novels of post anymore!
When I last updated we were in Marrakech and we have been extremely busy since then. The first stop after Morocco was Barcelona, Spain. However, we first had to get to Barcelona in order to enjoy all the great things it has to offer. Our return tickets put us in Madrid and then we were were planning on taking the bus because it was really cheap, but we realized it would take us 7 hours on the bus to arrive in Barcelona and we didn’t want to lose an entire day of exploring. So we bit the bullet and decided to pay for the much more expensive train ride. We got to the train station, which was a mad house and got our tickets. When we finally got to the terminal to board the train we just sat back and watched for a little bit as to how it would work. They announce your platform number twenty minutes before the train leaves and as soon as they announce it everyone who is on your same train rushes, sort of stampede like, to get to the train. We got on the train, but weren’t supposed to be sitting together so we had to split up, which turned out to be a good thing. Josh sat next to a man named Manu who was from Madrid and spoke perfect english luckily. He took Josh and I back to the “cafeteria” car, and treated us to a couple drinks because “we were guests to his country and he needed to show us just how great Spainards are”, even though we weren’t even close to doubting how nice the Spanish are. We spent the 3 hours chatting up our new friend and he actually helped us get to our hostel once we were in Barcelona.
Manu, and about a million other people, were in Barcelona for a huge music festival that was going on that weekend called Sonar. So from the second we stepped off the train the city was buzzing. Our hostel was full of other young kids who were there for the festival and also for visitng. Two girls who were in our room of 14 strangers were doing what were doing and traveling around for the summer. Fionna and Julia, are cousins from California and they had also just arrived in Barcelona. As soon as we got settled, all four of us went out for dinner and to explore a little. The girls introduced us to the Spanish version of a gyro, and it has been our meal of choice pretty much ever since! We decided we were going to try and go to one of the many clubs that was along the water front so we made our way to the boardwalk. When we got there though we were denied by several clubs because we weren’t dressed nice enough. After we decided it was hopeless to get into the clubs in what we were wearing we went back to the hostel for a little wardrobe change. We hit the streets in a much more fashionable sort of way in search of what was supposedly Barcelona’s best club, Razzmatazz. It seemed pretty illusive as no one we asked could help us get there. When we finally found the gem of the city’s nightlife, we were not disappointed. It was huge inside with four floors and it was extremely packed. The first floor, with a huge dance floor was where we spent most the night. We danced on top of the speakers for hours until we literally could not stand anymore and then we called it a night.
The next day the girls left and Josh and I went to La Sagrada Familia, a church that construction first started on in the early 1900’s and is still being finished. The outside of the church is unlike anything any church I’ve ever seen before. Josh and I were both in awe and the sheer size of the building. Every single part of the building has a specific meaning and no detail was spared in the stories of the bible that are depicted in the crevices of the walls. If we thought the outside was amazing, then there is no way to put into words how incredible the inside was. Antoni Gaudi, the architect of the church made the inside to feel like a forest with tree-like and natural shapes, and so much natural light. Everything is done on a grand scale and made us both feel so small in comparison to the gigantic features of the place. We just sat and took everything in for awhile because it was all so magnificent. We rode the lift to the top of the building and were able to see the entire city which was another awesome view. To get down to the bottom we decided to take the stairs, which was really not a good idea with my fear of falling to my death. The stairs are a tight spiral staircase which has no railing on the inside. I was fine with walking down the stairs until the girl behind me said “wow, if you fell down there you would totally die.” Let me thank you girl in the staircase because you helped start a panic attack for me and we weren’t even half way down what seemed to be the 400 foot tall tower. Needless to say I was very happy to reach the bottom.
After the church we visited another Gaudi site, Parc-Guell. The park is huge and it has all sorts of interesting architectural monuments. There were stair cases, hallways, benches, and all sorts of different things. One of the coolest was at the very top of the park and you climbed to the top of this monument thing and could see the entire city, the Mediterranean Sea and the mountains behind you. The view was incredible and we both sat there for a second saying “is this really our life right now?!” That night we were exhausted so we sat in the main room of our hostel and uploaded all of our pictures to Facebook and sort of wound down. As we were sitting there the tables started to fill in around us and we were joined by a couple girls from England and a group of guys from Belgium. We have both said that one of the best parts of the trip is all of the cool people we’ve been able to meet along the way. They have all traveled so much more than us and speak so many languages and even if the communication is difficult between groups, they are all so extremely kind.
Our second day in Barcelona, we were ready for a relaxing day, so we headed to the beach for a day in the sun, which we took full advantage of. We sat on the beach until the sun went down and we were basically forced to leave. It was nice to finally sit down and have “vacation” time from running around all these cities we’ve been in. The day after our beach day, we left Barcelona and headed to a small town in the Costa Brava area of the country, called Lloret de Mar. The town was definitely a vacation spot for many Europeans and we were able to enjoy another couple hours on the beach. The town kind of reminded us of a sort of South Padre area for the European travelers. The beaches were gorgeous and town itself had a lot of really cool shops. While we were laying on the beach looking at all the amazing things around us we were definitely realizing how lucky we are to have this opportunity that not many people do. We’re seeing things that up until now have just been in our dreams! To add to how great spending the day on the beach was, it was also Josh’s birthday!! Shout out to my best friend and travel buddy, I wouldn’t want to be doing this with any other person and he has been great the entire time!
We’re currently en route to Girona, Spain for the day and then in the morning it’s off to Paris!! We can’t wait to spend time in Paris and see everything that the city has to offer. So for now, Adios!!
Ps. I promise I’ll be better about updating you guys on what we’re doing so that we don’t have these novels of post anymore!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Updates
Hello friends!
First of all, let me apologize for the delay in updates. It turns out that Europe/Africa are not as connected as we thought they would be. Wi-fi is either non-existent in the places we stay, really expensive, or by the time we get internet connection we’re too tired to do anything besides email our moms and check our bank accounts to make sure we have enough money. We had one more day in Madrid, two days in Marrakech Morocco, a day of travel and about 12 hours of sleep in all of that time. So, this might be a long blog while we try and catch you up!
Madrid was amazing to say the least. On our second day we went on a tour of the Santiago Bernebau Stadium, where Real Mardid (Josh’s favorite futbol team) plays all their home matches. It is another one of Madrid’s amazing marvels that was incredible to see. Sitting in the stands at the top of the stadium we realized that even though the stadium seats over 100,000 people any seat is the best seat in the house. The pitch was pristinely taken care of and it made even the most impressive American stadiums seem small. We walked through the museum of the team and saw all of their old jerseys, stadiums, cleats, players pictures, and most impressive was the trophy collection. Every room seemed to have another 10 huge trophies. We then walked down onto the field and then through the locker rooms. Josh was like a little boy the entire time; so excited and awe struck. He was captivated by every item in the museum and each stop we made on the tour. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to play a game in front of a packed stadium.
From the stadium we went to Parque de Retiro. It is a little like the Central Park of Mardid. The grounds are amazingly kept up; there are gorgeous flowers, trees, bushes, lawns, statues, and at the center of it all is a man made lake and monument to one of the kings. The lake was full of people who had rented boats and were paddling around and the grass was covered with locals laying out enjoying the day. We walked all over the park and we didn’t feel like we’d seen it all. When we got back from the park we went out to find a strip mall that was supposed to be at the top of our street but, once again, we got lost. We seemed to get lost and wander a lot while we were in Madrid, but we decided that that was when we found the best things and we saw the actual culture instead of just what the actual tourists saw. We’ve kind of decided that as long as we kind of just go with whatever happens everything will turn out fine!
We slept at the airport in Madrid because our flight was so early and we actually had a lot of company. The entire terminal was full of people sleeping, or trying to anyways. We saw two people sleeping on the baggage conveyor belt and some guy had brought his own woven rug to sleep on. We didn't sleep much, again, and in the morning we flew to Morocco! As soon as we arrived in Morocco we could tell we were in a different world. It looked like a scene out of a movie and that was just at the airport. We took a cab to an area close to the hostal and then walked deeper into the side alleys to actually get there. The buildings were all made of clay and the streets were cobblestone and lined with countless little shops. We sort of felt like Aladdin should be jumping across the roofs above us followed by his monkey friend, Abu. The hostal was amazing though. We walked in and were immediately served Mint tea and breakfast which was delicious. The middle of the hostal was open to the top floor sort of like a courtyard and it was filled with colorful couches and tables. While we were eating we started talking with some guys who were also staying there. One of them was a man named Matthew who was visiting the city by himself and the other two were guys from Mexico who just decided to come to Morocco on a whim.
Matthew, Josh, and I decided to go shopping in the Souks of the Medina later that day, and boy was it an experience. The souks are the little shops that line the side streets off of the main square in the middle of the city. We entered them thinking it was just going to be an easy walk through, but we quickly realized it was more of a maze than we thought. All of the shop owners are trying to bargain with you even if you aren't interested in buying what they're selling. There are motorcycles that zip in and out of the people and there is barely enough room to move at some points in the streets. We were constantly on edge trying to make it through without an issue. We then decided to go to the Tanneries, which is where they make the leathers for the bags, and we again got swept up trying to sell they're products. We went through one of the tanneries and the smell alone was enough to make us want to get out of there. The owner had even given us mint to hold to our nose like a gas mask, but even that didn't make the smell of the pigeon poop conditioner any better. We made our way back to the main square and then to our hostal. Morocco has got to be one of the hotter places I've ever been and it's almost impossible to find any reprieve as there is no air conditioning anywhere. The area where we were staying, besides our hostal, was essentially third world. It was dirty and old and the people struggled to make money every day. Unfortunately everyone, including little kids, was begging for our money and it was a constant annoyance. Our hostal was one of the only places that we were able to go where no one bothered us; we started to consider it our safe zone.
The second day in Marrakech we went on a day long excursion to the Cascade waterfalls. Once again everything was about making money until we got to the hiking part. We went on a visit to a Berber family home where were served homemade bread and more Mint tea (their famous drink and drink of choice everywhere) and then got to pet camals and saw a Moroccan herb garden. The hike was amazing and the waterfall at the top was gorgeous! Even though the water was freezing Matthew, who had also gone on the trip, and I stood underneath and played around in the water for a little bit. On the way back from the hike we stopped at this bridge that crossed the river, it was about 30 feet up and was made of tree branches. Josh crossed it to the other side, but there was no way he was convincing me to do it! We got home and when it was dark we again went out to the square to buy bread for dinner. At night, the square turns into almost a whole different city. There are food stands and performers and everyone from Marrakech seems to flood the streets. Because it is so insane we felt as if we were a little uncomfortable, but it was so amazing to see the transformation of the streets and the liveliness of the people. When we got back to the hostal we decided to smoke some Shesha (sp?). It is hookah, which is flavored tobacco, and it's extremely famous in Morocco. We sat on the terrace of our hostal with some guys from London and Matthew and smoked and drank Mint tea. It was the perfect way to wind down after our crazy visit to Marrakech!
First of all, let me apologize for the delay in updates. It turns out that Europe/Africa are not as connected as we thought they would be. Wi-fi is either non-existent in the places we stay, really expensive, or by the time we get internet connection we’re too tired to do anything besides email our moms and check our bank accounts to make sure we have enough money. We had one more day in Madrid, two days in Marrakech Morocco, a day of travel and about 12 hours of sleep in all of that time. So, this might be a long blog while we try and catch you up!
Madrid was amazing to say the least. On our second day we went on a tour of the Santiago Bernebau Stadium, where Real Mardid (Josh’s favorite futbol team) plays all their home matches. It is another one of Madrid’s amazing marvels that was incredible to see. Sitting in the stands at the top of the stadium we realized that even though the stadium seats over 100,000 people any seat is the best seat in the house. The pitch was pristinely taken care of and it made even the most impressive American stadiums seem small. We walked through the museum of the team and saw all of their old jerseys, stadiums, cleats, players pictures, and most impressive was the trophy collection. Every room seemed to have another 10 huge trophies. We then walked down onto the field and then through the locker rooms. Josh was like a little boy the entire time; so excited and awe struck. He was captivated by every item in the museum and each stop we made on the tour. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to play a game in front of a packed stadium.
From the stadium we went to Parque de Retiro. It is a little like the Central Park of Mardid. The grounds are amazingly kept up; there are gorgeous flowers, trees, bushes, lawns, statues, and at the center of it all is a man made lake and monument to one of the kings. The lake was full of people who had rented boats and were paddling around and the grass was covered with locals laying out enjoying the day. We walked all over the park and we didn’t feel like we’d seen it all. When we got back from the park we went out to find a strip mall that was supposed to be at the top of our street but, once again, we got lost. We seemed to get lost and wander a lot while we were in Madrid, but we decided that that was when we found the best things and we saw the actual culture instead of just what the actual tourists saw. We’ve kind of decided that as long as we kind of just go with whatever happens everything will turn out fine!
We slept at the airport in Madrid because our flight was so early and we actually had a lot of company. The entire terminal was full of people sleeping, or trying to anyways. We saw two people sleeping on the baggage conveyor belt and some guy had brought his own woven rug to sleep on. We didn't sleep much, again, and in the morning we flew to Morocco! As soon as we arrived in Morocco we could tell we were in a different world. It looked like a scene out of a movie and that was just at the airport. We took a cab to an area close to the hostal and then walked deeper into the side alleys to actually get there. The buildings were all made of clay and the streets were cobblestone and lined with countless little shops. We sort of felt like Aladdin should be jumping across the roofs above us followed by his monkey friend, Abu. The hostal was amazing though. We walked in and were immediately served Mint tea and breakfast which was delicious. The middle of the hostal was open to the top floor sort of like a courtyard and it was filled with colorful couches and tables. While we were eating we started talking with some guys who were also staying there. One of them was a man named Matthew who was visiting the city by himself and the other two were guys from Mexico who just decided to come to Morocco on a whim.
Matthew, Josh, and I decided to go shopping in the Souks of the Medina later that day, and boy was it an experience. The souks are the little shops that line the side streets off of the main square in the middle of the city. We entered them thinking it was just going to be an easy walk through, but we quickly realized it was more of a maze than we thought. All of the shop owners are trying to bargain with you even if you aren't interested in buying what they're selling. There are motorcycles that zip in and out of the people and there is barely enough room to move at some points in the streets. We were constantly on edge trying to make it through without an issue. We then decided to go to the Tanneries, which is where they make the leathers for the bags, and we again got swept up trying to sell they're products. We went through one of the tanneries and the smell alone was enough to make us want to get out of there. The owner had even given us mint to hold to our nose like a gas mask, but even that didn't make the smell of the pigeon poop conditioner any better. We made our way back to the main square and then to our hostal. Morocco has got to be one of the hotter places I've ever been and it's almost impossible to find any reprieve as there is no air conditioning anywhere. The area where we were staying, besides our hostal, was essentially third world. It was dirty and old and the people struggled to make money every day. Unfortunately everyone, including little kids, was begging for our money and it was a constant annoyance. Our hostal was one of the only places that we were able to go where no one bothered us; we started to consider it our safe zone.
The second day in Marrakech we went on a day long excursion to the Cascade waterfalls. Once again everything was about making money until we got to the hiking part. We went on a visit to a Berber family home where were served homemade bread and more Mint tea (their famous drink and drink of choice everywhere) and then got to pet camals and saw a Moroccan herb garden. The hike was amazing and the waterfall at the top was gorgeous! Even though the water was freezing Matthew, who had also gone on the trip, and I stood underneath and played around in the water for a little bit. On the way back from the hike we stopped at this bridge that crossed the river, it was about 30 feet up and was made of tree branches. Josh crossed it to the other side, but there was no way he was convincing me to do it! We got home and when it was dark we again went out to the square to buy bread for dinner. At night, the square turns into almost a whole different city. There are food stands and performers and everyone from Marrakech seems to flood the streets. Because it is so insane we felt as if we were a little uncomfortable, but it was so amazing to see the transformation of the streets and the liveliness of the people. When we got back to the hostal we decided to smoke some Shesha (sp?). It is hookah, which is flavored tobacco, and it's extremely famous in Morocco. We sat on the terrace of our hostal with some guys from London and Matthew and smoked and drank Mint tea. It was the perfect way to wind down after our crazy visit to Marrakech!
Monday, June 13, 2011
Josh and I just got done enjoying some delicious Paella and Sangria on Gran Via in Madrid to end our day. We've decided that our plane must have crashed and we somehow landed in Heaven. Yes, it's that good, and it's only our first day. We are both doomed to fall in love with every single place that we head on this amazing adventure of ours.
The flight over here was loooooong. Although it was only six hours, technically, we were stuck with middle seats on our giant aircraft in the middle of a group of traveling high school juniors. Josh got about an hour of sleep and I got about two and a half. Needless to say, upon our arrival we were not very well rested and we soon realized that we were in a world far from our own. The Madrid airport was easy enough to navigate, it was getting out that was the trouble. We set out to find the Metro station (the local subway system) so that we could get to our hostal. However, we could not find it because it was underground, who would have figured right?! and we also missed all of the signs, mainly because we couldn't read anything. Once Josh finally asked for directions and saved us lots of trouble we found what we were looking for and were on our way.
We then arrived at our hostal around noon and were informed that we could not check in until 2 because they were cleaning. This also meant that we could not change out of what we traveled in, which for me was extremely American :/ oooops! Women here do not wear short shorts really and no one wears running shoes, like Josh and I had on. We dropped our bags off and walked around the city for a little before we found a little Cervezaria in the local part of town. We couldn't really speak to the waitress, but she brought us some of the best beers either of us had ever had in our lives (I think this is when our Madrid love affair began). When we finally got to check in we went took a short nap, showered and then set off to find the Royal palace. Our hostal owner told us it was “an easy five minute walk. to the right and over the bridge” 40 minutes and two Metro trains later we were at the Royal palace. Let me tell you, it was well worth the search. The Palace grounds were lush with green bushes and huge trees and then there was the palace in the background. It was probably one of the coolest things either of us had ever seen. I don’t know how many times I told Josh “I wish I was a princess”, but I still want it to be true. Next to the Palace was an amazing Cathedral that had both of us awe struck. The inside was amazing and it was bigger than any church I’ve ever seen. It made me feel impossibly small under it’s painted ceilings. We then wandered to Plaza Mayor and then eventually back to our little hostel. We walked around for nearly 4 hours and we were in shock every second of it. Madrid is an amazing place and we can only hope that the rest of the trip is as good as our first day! So, now we say good night to the hustle and bustle of the busy Madrid streets and wish you all a great rest of your day!
Ps. check fb soon for some pictures from our adventures!
We then arrived at our hostal around noon and were informed that we could not check in until 2 because they were cleaning. This also meant that we could not change out of what we traveled in, which for me was extremely American :/ oooops! Women here do not wear short shorts really and no one wears running shoes, like Josh and I had on. We dropped our bags off and walked around the city for a little before we found a little Cervezaria in the local part of town. We couldn't really speak to the waitress, but she brought us some of the best beers either of us had ever had in our lives (I think this is when our Madrid love affair began). When we finally got to check in we went took a short nap, showered and then set off to find the Royal palace. Our hostal owner told us it was “an easy five minute walk. to the right and over the bridge” 40 minutes and two Metro trains later we were at the Royal palace. Let me tell you, it was well worth the search. The Palace grounds were lush with green bushes and huge trees and then there was the palace in the background. It was probably one of the coolest things either of us had ever seen. I don’t know how many times I told Josh “I wish I was a princess”, but I still want it to be true. Next to the Palace was an amazing Cathedral that had both of us awe struck. The inside was amazing and it was bigger than any church I’ve ever seen. It made me feel impossibly small under it’s painted ceilings. We then wandered to Plaza Mayor and then eventually back to our little hostel. We walked around for nearly 4 hours and we were in shock every second of it. Madrid is an amazing place and we can only hope that the rest of the trip is as good as our first day! So, now we say good night to the hustle and bustle of the busy Madrid streets and wish you all a great rest of your day!
Ps. check fb soon for some pictures from our adventures!
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Bon Voyage!
So, this is it. It's official, we're leaving!! We leave Denver in an hour and head to Newark where we have a five hour lay-over. And since we've heard the Newark airport is the best place on Earth, we're reeeeally looking forward to spending five hours there...or that's just what we keep telling ourselves anyways. From Newark it is off to Madrid! We can't even wait to begin our adventures and start our amazing summer. Well we're off to board, so stay posted to keep track of us!
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