Getting Lost in the Rhythm of Espana

After consistently being on the move, Mitch & I decided to take it easy Thursday & Friday and tour Sevilla while also taking lots of time outs for our bodies. We were not sure if it was the food making us a little sick or just the heat but we definitely needed a day of relaxation! Everyday has reached at least 100 degrees! It did not hurt our feelings to take naps and sit under the shade as often as possible :)




We stayed right near the main Cathedral which is, according to a book we found, the third largest in the world. A lot of our sightseeing consisted of visiting the local churches, art galleries & parks. One of the best decisions we made was to see a flamenco show! It was fantastic! Probably one of the best local dance shows I have ever seen :) Also, drinking sangra & trying local tapas are always a must when in Spain, especially Seville. The local shops are great to ¨window shop¨ and yes, I am becoming an awesome window shopper! (it´s not that easy to shop when you are carrying it all on your back!)

Saturday was a designated daytrip for Granada! We took a train to the city & figured another hop-on hop-off bus would be a good way to see as much of the city as possible...and this one had great seats & great audio! Most of the day was spent in Alhambra, a former Sultan´s palace that represents famous Islamic architecture and the fusion of the area with Christianity. The view of Granada from Alhambra was breathtaking because there is a lot of mountainous terrain. The palace and buildings were incredible and there were too many gardens to count! Mitch & I literally took an hour break to read underneath the grapevine canopies and take in the scenery.

Now here is where it becomes even more of an authentic Euro Trip. Obviously, we are always on the move and often battling heat, dehydration & tired muscles. At this point, these things started to affect our decision making (ha!). While our tickets back to Sevilla were originally for after 8 pm, we thought we would jump on an earlier train. We both swear we read the train schedule correct, but a few minutes into the treck back I had a bad feeling; ask my mom, I texted her to make sure the family was alright because I was worried something was wrong! After a solid hour or so, I had a feeling we were not going in the right direction to Sevilla. After asking around the train (in only Spanish) where exactly we were going & talking to a supersweet family, we discovered we were in fact going in the opposite direction! Not only that, but there were no more trains in the night going back to Sevilla!

At this point, we just laughed & the helpful family informed us that the last stop on our train was a city called Almeria and there was a huge city-wide festival going on. With only our little backpack, we decided this would be an interesting (and possibly disasterous) experience. We decided to sit back & enjoy the scenery...and that is what made getting lost worth it! I have never seen such a beautiful landscape. Mitch & I both felt as if we were in a movie...the terrain reminded us of the Grand Canyon area.

When we arrived to the last stop (and booked our 6 am ticket for the next morning!) we realized we were going to miss our train the next day for Madrid as well! Again laughing it off, we decided to dare & find a hotel or hostel in the area. The hotel right across the street actually had a couple of rooms free & was an awesome sight for sore eyes...trust me ;) We quickly ventured out to the fiesta...the biggest carnival I have ever laid eyes on. It was so much fun to mix with the people (thousands of them) and take part in the fiesta...whose origin I will honestly have to research more! Luckily, we slept a lot on the 6 am train ride and were able to still catch a train to Madrid, though we had to pay for our train reservations again. Some people are sympathetic while others definitely are not. Sunday: Packing up our stuff in Sevilla, we endured a much better ride on a high speed train to Madrid.
Which leads us to now! We are in our hostel in Madrid & hanging out with a fun group of people as we speak. We are looking forward to dinner & going out before another day trip to Toledo tomorrow!

Hasta la vista!

-T

From Baguettes to Tapas!

Hola!
Estamos en Sevilla!

Let´s go back a few days...
Tuesday: Another full day to explore Paris!

A quick ride on the Paris metro took us to the Arc de Triomphe. I have now figured out the Paris metro system. It really reminds me of the NY subway, with the directional organizaton of the DC metro. It´s just as dirty as NYC if not worse, but I actually grew to like it and its character.

At the ticket office at the Arc, we realized I was the only one with an ID that showed my birthdate. Yes, I have had the passports in my secret pocket in my jeans the entire trip... and I´ve even slept on them a few nights. But, for some reason when I knew the room was safe I left them there, and when we needed them, we didn´t have them. To make things even more jolly the wonderful man at the ticket counter was an absolute self righteous .... yes yes. I got one youth, and one adult ticket, since Tori clearly looks 26 or older. The view was nice. Incredible actually.

I´d say the theme for the day was the Eiffel tower. Oh was it fun trying to get to the top of it. Which ticket? Another line? What? We weren´t the only ones who were confused, but we made it to the top however! And wow was that spectacular! The Arc de Triomphe no longer seemed high.

The rest of the day was spent around the Eiffel tower. After finally finding a public bathroom that was not being cleaned, or under construction, we stopped by a cafe for dinner. Afterwards we shared a bottle of wine in the grass waiting for the tower to light up. Seeing it finally light up and then sparkle was truly amazing. And so was when Tori and I sang the entire song 'Elephant Love Medley' from Moulin Rouge with complete disregard to how our lovely voices sounded to all the passing people.

Wednesday: Our last day in Paris was spent exploring and visiting the area of Montmartre and the Moulin Rouge. I really enjoyed Montmartre and the Basilica of the Sacre Coeur. After a lot of consideration I decided I´d have to leave a trip to Versailles to next time. We had planned it out, unfortunately, there was a lot more we wanted to do in the city, and Versailles needs at least a day to enjoy. No regrets. I´ll be back!

Thursday: So now we have taken a short cut. We skipped the long train rides and all of the Southern France area to fly down to Sevilla! Let´s just say I´m extremely jealous that my sister Farin studied abroad here for a semester.

The hostel is literally in the middle of the shopping district. Oh no, Tori! We are surrounded by beautiful Spanish architecture and delicious cafes. The city is incredibly beautiful. So off we go to explore some more! And hopefully see some Flemanco dancers. Ooh la la!

- M

Bonjour!

Saturday, Mitch and I decided to wait in a very smelly line to go to the top of the clock tower in the center square of Brugge (for those of you who saw the film "In Bruges," it is the one featured in the movie!). The tour was great, but if you ever decide to venture to certain towns in Belgium, prepare yourself for the smells that accompany them ;) Afterward, Mitch convinced me to see yet another brewery but it ended up being a hidden gem within the town! Our tour guide had the best sense of humor and the beer was delicious. Brugge is definitely a town worth visiting, although its people dont necessarily think too highly of it (according to our humorous map created by locals). However, we were very happy to stay an extra night! We ended up at a different hostel for the second night and it was quite a fun experience; most hostels have bars/restaurants attached. If you do decide to visit Brugge, this hostel gives out discounts and free beer samples! At sunset, we went for a walk underneath old windmills and enjoyed the view of the center square from a distance.

Sunday, we took a train into Brussels to see the city for the day and meet up with Mitchell’s friend, Ludi. Spotting a hop on, hop off tour bus, we thought we would get to see a bit of the city in the short time we had there; well, yes we saw a lot but it was interesting jumping from seats missing backs to seats with no audio working. FYI, if you can spend a lot of time in the city without the use of the bus, that is probably a better option J However, we saw the major sights and were able to connect the dots of what the places represented between working audio and the guy sitting next to me. We met up with Ludi for lunch and, after discovering our shared passion for “One Tree Hill,” had an even more exciting lunch of fish and mussels! Mussels is considered a delicacy food and is quite popular. So is paying to use the public restroom!

After relaxing in the infamous central square for a bit and eating waffles (a must!) we caught our train to Lille in order to catch another train to Paris. If we had not asked about lockers for our backpacks, we would have not known that there are two train stations and the one we came into was not the one we were leaving from! We arrived in Paris by midnight and had an overly enjoyable time figuring out Paris’ metro system; our awesome hostel makes up for the time of confusion and pain of lugging our backpacks around. For those of you who are wondering how I am doing it (because Mitch naturally can lug around 25 pounds on his back) I am pushing forward! I may send some things to our friends in Amsterdam to lighten the load for the future weeks (where only clothes for hot weather are necessary) but, besides the muscle I just pulled last night, I am pretty proud of my packing skills ;)

Today (Monday) we were ready to explore Paris! Now a bit more familiar with the metro, we toured Notre Dome and the Louvre. Both were great without long lines and Mitch really liked the audio at Notre Dame. I have to say I enjoy showing him places to visit and being as much of a tour guide as possible; it makes this trip a little more personable and fun. We love local café’s but were happy to find a subway with the exact same menu for lunch! The French can be a tough crowd, but our experience has been fantastic so far! The laundromat was a little interesting, considering the manager could not speak English and after so many oui’s (yes’s) back and forth we were getting nowhere; finally we understood how to operate the machines. Yes, we know how to do laundry and yes he was brilliant and had to literally help us out! We are slowly learning French phrases…thank God! While I am interested in learning simple communication in French, I am excited to speak Spanish in Spain!!

Well, I am looking forward to wine and cheese underneath the Eiffel Tower. Au Revoir!

-T

To Hostels We Go Forth!

More Amsterdam!

Wednesday, Tori and I had a delightful picnic in Vodelpark. The grocery stores here have easier selections to make small meals out of. The deli selection and cheeses are delicious! The premade salads are amazing too. It's really quite nice, and it saves money over going out to eat every meal. Sitting in the park during dusk almost reminded me of a 4th of July night waiting for a fireworks show. There were people scattered everywhere with their blankets and food, laughing, singing, every one having a great time. I wish parks at home could be such social gatherings on an average weekday night in the summer time. I've just never seen anything like it, yet.

Thursday, our final day 'for now' in Amsterdam was well spent. It got hot hot! though. Too hot for Amsterdam weather. We were the first in line to Ann Frank. Getting up was not easy, but the 4 minute walk to her house was. Afterwards, Tori managed to get her share of Holland shopping in... I did pretty well I must say.

It really has been a treat to stay with Paul and Kitty. Kitty is the sweetest lady and Paul is so great. He is a walking history book. I've learned so much about Holland and European history from our conversations. He drove Tori, Laurien, Tobias, and I up to their cottage in the low lands about an hour outside Amsterdam. I must say, it was raining so hard I have no clue how anyone was driving. Paul said it rains like that once every 10 years in Holland. Crazy! We get storms like that every summer, but I sure don't like to drive in them either.

The interesting part of seeing the low lands was that it is completly man made. They built the dikes in the 70's and now there is a vast expance of land covered with farms, wind mills, and trees. The water managment skills of the Dutch are truly the best in the world.

Friday: Now Tori and I sit in our hostel in Brugge (Brugghhaaaa as it sounds in Dutch...). The room has about 12 beds, but smells clean. It also has a nice view of the city clock tower when you hang your head out the window.
The 2 computers we are on are in a bar which is also part of the hostel. I think it adds a lot of character. We managed to take a brief tour of Antwerpen on the way here, ate some Belgium waffles and so forth.

The backpacking/hosteling is sure to be an adventure. But like I said earlier to Tori at dinner, "the worst that can happen is our backpacks get stolen while we are eating this dinner, then on the way back we get jumped and all our cards/passports are stolen out of my inside pocket, and they leave us in our underwear."

At least we still have pretty churches to look at... Right?

-M

Hallo!

Hello from Amsterdam! Mitch & I had a great flight from Dulles on Sunday evening (well, the movies were great, not necessarily the food ha) and arrived in Amsterdam early Monday morning. After standing in the wrong customs line & being confused about the train schedule at the airport, we FINALLY found our friend Paul at Amsterdam Central. He was such a good sight to see! He brought us to his beautiful home and, after freshening up, out for cappucino & apple pie. Mitch & I explored the city a little & took a short nap in Vondelpark. We joined Paul, Kitty & Laurien for dinner along one of the nearby canals. I don't know how we did it but we managed to stay up for 35 hours straight!

Tuesday we ate at Laurien's cafe for breakfast & decided to venture to the Heinken factory. There, we met a couple from Austria who joined us in the park after the tour. We are hitting Amsterdam during some of their hottest days but the weather is still phenominal! For dinner, the five of us drove to the beach where Laurien's boyfriend serves. The restaurant was designed for surfers with couches & tables right off the beach. I think we may have been the only non-dutch visitors there! The food was great & the water wasn't too cold ;) It was nice to watch the sun set and see horses running along the shoreline. Paul & Kitty have been so good to us while we have been here; they are like our family away from home! It has been a blessing to stay with them. After dinner, Laurien showed us the ways of the Red Light District. WEEHEEWW! (that was for you, MOM :) Mitch & I had fun mixing in with the crowds (due to our jet lag, the wee hours of the morning don't feel too late ;) Oh Amsterdam!

Wednesday: we decided to explore more city streets. We passed Ann Frank's house & went to the Van Gogh musuem. It was a nice audio tour & it wasn't terribly crowded inside. We also have been admiring the various canal boat tours so we just finished a relaxing one around the city :) For later, we hope to grab dinner either at the Hard Rock Cafe or, if we are lucky, gather a nice picnic for the park! We only have another day & night in the city before heading to Belgium so we plan on getting as much as we can accomplished (as not to leave too much sightseeing for the end of our trip!).

-T

1 Week 'Til We Cross the Atlantic!

Hello Friends & Family!

We (Mitch & I) have decided to share our EuroTrip with you via this awesome blog :) Our trip includes travels to the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain & Italy. We will be leaving the evening of Sunday, August 16th and spending a month visiting friends & making new ones, eating amazing foods, sharing in the different cultures & avoiding pickpocketers at all costs (ha!). We are extremely excited for this trip and want to share our fun with you as often as possible (when we have the time to stop by an internet cafe :). Please bookmark us & we will keep you posted!

-T

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” -Jawaharial Nehru