Valencia was our shot-in-the-dark city, a kind of “why not?” choice. It hadn’t been recommended to us by anyone in particular and we didn’t know it to be a big tourist city with lots to do. But Daniel had looked it up online and it looked pretty and we were all for costal towns - and I won’t lie, I really wanted to go and sing “O Valencia!” by the Decemberists. We flew in from Malaga and took the metro out to the area of our destination: the home of a Couchsurfing host named Matias. From our stop we had a little trouble because he didn’t answer his phone when we called and our Google Map directions were very vague and unhelpful after a point. We talked to some shopowners and a policeman and wandered in what we hoped was the right direction and then stopped and got some pizza. Fortunately, as we were finishing up, Matias called and it turned out we were only a couple blocks from his house by then. So we made it to his house and it worked out fine.

Highlights from the 4 days in Valencia:

• Our hosts. Matias was living with a man named Jesus and they were both wonderful. They spoke moderately good English (Matias better than Jesus) and were impeccably clean. The apartment was really nice and pretty (also, lots of Cher posters) and they made us feel welcome. We even watched Jurrassic Park one night (we had been wanting to ever since we took the funicular at Montserrat, it reminded us of a Jurrassic Park type car).

• The “river”. On a map of Valencia, at first glance, you’d think a river cuts through the city. The locals even call it that. In fact, it’s actually just the riverbed of the old river Turia, which was a river until enormous floods in 1957, in which case it was declared too dangerous and diverted elsewhere. So the riverbed has been turned into a long, winding park that cuts through the city, with orange trees (with SOUR oranges) planted all along it and bike/walking paths on the sides. There are some man-made pools of water and fountains. It’s pretty and a unique idea.

• Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias. This “City of Arts and Sciences” is one of Valencia’s main attractions. It’s basically a combination of a museum, aquarium, iMax theater, technology center, and more. Unfortunately, we didn’t actually go in (way too expensive!) but the architecture alone is amazing. It’s said to look like a giant shark from the outside. It’s beautiful. One day, when I’m rich, I’ll go back and go inside.

• Beach. 4 days in a city not really meant for tourists is a bit long, so we didn’t feel guilty about spending a day at the beach. The water was amazing, not quite warm but not at all cold, once we were in. After a few hours there, we went and got a beer and watched a world cup game. We watched many of them, actually, throughout our time there. 
• Horchata. I had thought this delicious nut-drink was Mexican, but apparently originated in Spain. There were street vendors selling horchata for 1€50 or 2€ and it was very worth it. Delicious drink in the heat of the summer in Spain.
• Tapas. My dad had said he’d treat us to one nice meal, since he knew we were mainly eating on a grocery-store budget, and we decided it should be tapas. However, we didn’t really realize that tapas are more like snacks or appetizers. Let me rephrase; we knew that they were, but we thought that they could be the equivalent of a meal. We ended up looking around for a long time because we didn’t see any menus that offered what we thought was enough for a meal at a reasonable price. We ended up getting panini type sandwiches with a couple tapas sides… oh, and Sangria. Yum.
• Valencian Paella. We had been told to try this by Leah’s friend, and when we mentioned that to our host Matias, he told us he’d make it for us! We bought the ingredients and he got cooking. Paella is made on the stove in a big metal pan with handles (actually called a paella) and it’s a combination of rice and a bunch of other stuff. In the more common version, or the one we all had heard of, the “stuff” was seafood, but according to Matias, modern-day Valencian Paella normally has chicken and veggies. I was very happy to hear this as I much prefer chicken to seafood. When it came time to eat, we were each given forks and knives but no plates - traditionally, the paella is placed in the center of the table and everyone digs in straight from there. It couldn’t have been more delicious. We all agreed it was by far the best meal we’d had so far during our travels.

• Clubbing. We hadn’t been clubbing at all so far and we all wanted to, so we decided to make it happen. We didn’t leave the house til 1:30am - spanish nightlife starts late. (Actually, I think that’s European nightlife in general.) The club we went to charged us 15€ entry, which was kind of horrific compared to how little we’d been spending on more important things like food, but at least it included a free drink. It was a big building with a couple stories, the upper one outside. We got our drinks (Red Bulls & vodka) and danced for a while, wandered some, danced some more. By the time we got home it was past 4am. It was a fun experience but definitely not something I could do on a regular basis.

Overall, Valencia was a good city to visit: not the most exciting place, but lots of interesting culture and an awesome couchsurfing host. Contact Matias if you ever want to Couchsurf in Valencia.

Thanks to Daniel’s mom, we had 5 days at a resort in the south of Spain (45 minutes or so from Malaga). I’d like to say that this was a deeply enriching experience, learning about the culture in the part of Spain so close to Africa and all, but… it was a tourist resort. Don’t get me wrong, it was lovely to relax for a few days after the all-day every-day city touring habit that we’d gotten into. Because once we got to our resort in Mijas-Costa… we didn’t leave it once for the next 5 days. Ok, we did go to the beach across the street. But we never made it into a town.

So what could we possibly have done? Well, we went to the pool. Daily. We read, for fun. We watched 2-3 world cup games per day. We cherished having our own space (very similar to a condo) without strangers bunking in our rooms. We went to Happy Hour… quite often. (It was soooo cheap!) We cooked. (Breakfast for dinner!) We ordered Indian food and ate it on our patio, watching our friends the little baby birds that had set up camp in an abandoned wasp nest, in the roof corner of our patio. And… more pool-lazing. More Happy Hour. More world cup games. Repeat.

Because it was a resort, there were more English-speakers than Spanish. Lots of Brits, actually. Lots of sunburned people. Very typical of what you’d expect. But like I said, wonderful to have a little break for our poor feet.

First of all, I am SO SORRY that it’s taken me this long to get back into blogging. Getting home was crazy and tiring and the first few days I kept up with it faithfully but then got back into Sebastopol life and kept postponing it (mainly Spain, because the entry would be so freakin’ long - thus me deciding to divide it into an entry per city) and now all of a sudden it’s September. No promises as to when the rest will be finished, but I HOPE it’s decently soon.Anyway, Barcelona.

We flew into Girona, because RyanAir doesn’t actually go to Barcelona. We didn’t get into our hostel until about midnight, and at first glance, it seemed pretty sketchy. It was totally empty except for one guy at the counter who might or might not have actually worked there (he did, but didn’t really act like it). He showed us our room and told us that if we wanted pillows and sheets we had to pay for them. We were exhausted, though, so we sunk into our beds and passed out. But the next day the sun was shining and there were people walking around the hostel, making it seem much friendlier. We spent the day walking around, familiarizing ourselves with downtown Baracelona. We tracked down all the main works by Gaudi, the famous Catalonian sculptor, including his most famous, the Sigrada Familia. It was started in the 80s and is expected to be finished in the year 2025.

We spent a good amount of one of the days at Park Guell, a beautiful park up on a hill that overlooks the whole city. We spent a little while there sitting and looking out and contemplating life. The park is full of tile design by Gaudi, including the sculpture of a lizard on a fountain. We waited in line and posed for pictures with it, like everyone else. It’s just one of those staples.

Later that day, we took the metro out to the beach, our first real beach day on the trip. It was wonderful. Sunny and warm enough to be in bathing suits and dip our feet, although not quite hot enough to swim. Leah and I got pear ciders which turned out to be quite yummy. That evening we got tapas on the beach and watched a world cup game.

Our last day in Barcelona wasn’t actually in Barcelona. We took the train out to Montserrat, an absolutely incredible mountain an hour or so from the city. We took a gondola over an amazing valley up to a high point on the mountain, where there is a monastery and a breathtaking view. We walked all around there, observing and admiring, and then took a funicular up to the very top. We were thinking there would only be an observation platform or something but it turns out there are hiking trails all around! Unfortunately, we’d left that until the end of the day, and had to go back down before to long so as to not miss the last train. Despite the rush, though, it was absolutely amazing.

This was more of a tease of a visit to Germany, because we only went to pick up Daniel. Leah and I got in Monday afternoon to Frankfurt Hahn, the RyanAir airport 2.5 hours from Frankfurt, and took the bus into town. We met up with Fernanda, a nice woman that we were going to couchsurfing with, and dropped our stuff off at her place. We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around and exploring Frankfurt in the little time we had. There were bunnies EVERYWHERE, in every park or grass patch we passed! We ate a traditional German dinner of bratwurst and fries, and it was delicious. Then we met up with Fernanda and a couple of her housemates at a bar to watch a world cup game (Italy v. Paraguay), and headed home.

The next day I got up and headed to the airport to pick up Daniel. I got there way early but still had a moment of panic when I realized i didn’t know his flight number. But I figured it out knowing about what time he landed and the fact that he had a stopover in Denver. I waited an agonizing half hour until the screen said that his plane had landed. People started coming out through the exit door, but… no Daniel. Not for the next 15 minutes. Or the next. Or the next. I was getting seriously worried when I saw on the screen that there was a delay in baggage and some of it was still coming out. Over an hour after his plane had landed, Daniel finally came out through the door, and everything was ok again - it turned out his bags had been the absolute last of even the delayed baggage to come through. Happily reunited, we went back into town, met up with Leah, and soon enough took the bus back to Frankfurt Hahn airport, to fly off to Barcelona.

ROME:

If I could think of one word to describe our trip to Rome, it would be HOT. Rome is a city of stone, little to no shade nor public grassy areas to sit down in. Walking around all day in the sun and hundred-degree weather was a little bit brutal, to say the least, but we still managed to see the sights and have a good time.

• Ludovisi area: Because my family comes from Rome back in the day, we have an area with lots of things named after us, and I always love to go visit it. Walking down the Via Ludovisi, we ate at the Bar Ludovisi, the first salad we’d had on the trip (delicious!) It’s one of my favorite area to walk around, because it’s in the heart of downtown, with narrow streets and speedy cars, just a few minutes from the Spanish steps.
  
  
  
  
  
• Colosseum: We went because Leah had never been to Rome and it’s a must-see. I enjoyed seeing it again, but I couldn’t afford to pay to go inside when I’d already done it. I walked around looking for shade to sit in while she got a tour of the inside. We got gelato as we were walking back, though. Delicious.
  
  
  
• Spanish steps: We’d seen them several times during the day, but we decided it would be nice to come back and sit during at night. We were on a strict budget, so all we’d had for a dinner was a pasta meal we shared at a cheap restaurant, and it turned out to be microwaved and gross. So we stopped at the supermarket and bought a big bag of carrots (we’d both been craving them) and some 30-cent yogurt, along with a couple beers. We headed over to the spanish steps and they were absolutely packed. Turns out there was a big group of people doing a choreographed dance to a bunch of song clips, so that was fun to watch. They repeated it every half hour or so and more and more people kept joining in. We munched on our carrots and sipped our beer, watching. Funny stuff.
  
  
  
• Vatican City: We went to the Vatican and inside St. Peter’s Basilica on possibly the hottest day of them all. We had to wait in line for something like 2 hours just to get through security and into Vatican City. I’m pretty sure I started to actually melt, packed in the endless line of people all squished together under the searing sun. But somehow, we made it inside still conscious and cooled off in the shade and stone of the basilica. It’s still one of my all-time favorite churches, so beautiful. Leah was just as awed as I was.
  
• Trestavare: On our last night we explored a new area, the Trestavare area on the other side of the river. There was a pizza place over there that Leah’s cousin had recommended to her, and it was delicious. We also saw one of the most beautiful sunsets ever on the way back. Later that night, we went out with the friends we had made at our hostel. It was all lots of fun.
  
  
  

We took a train up to Venice the next morning, and unfortunately, my wallet was stolen at the train station. It put kind of a bitter end to Rome, but fortunately, I only had about 20€ in it (along with my debit card, license, etc.) :-\ My overall memory from the city is still good, though.

VENICE:

I’d heard from lots of people that Venice is a lot like Disneyland, and I can now testify to that. It’s an island-city where there are no cars, it’s very cutesy and you cross a canal about every 10 meters. Our hostel was nice and in a really good location. Almost every night we would get a bottle of champagne or something and go sit by the Grand Canal, the main one that runs all the way around the island. It’s so relaxing just to sit and watch the boats go by.

During the days we just walked around the island, which is basically a labyrinth. It is SO difficult to navigate - all the roads are really tiny and they all go in circles so you can’t tell where they’re going to take you or what roads they might or might not run into. We had some trouble with that the first day but figured it out eventually. We also got at least one gelato a day. We had decided beforehand that gelato would be our one permitted splurge in Italy, and it was very worth it. Delicious!

One of the days we went to Murano, an island off the coast of Venice that is famous for its glass-making. We got a tour of a glass-making factory and went into what seemed like hundreds of little shops full of glass animals and objects. They were really pretty and it was interesting to learn about.

We also experienced one of the best storm ever - it hit while we were out walking around and we took shelter under a restaurant umbrella. It didn’t lighten up, though, so we ended up sprinting back to our hotel barefoot (since we kept slipping) in the rain and thunder and lightning. We were absolutely soaked by the time we got back, but it was still really warm, so it was fun. We couldn’t stop laughing at how ridiculous we looked.

Venice isn’t somewhere I’d want to stay for very long, just because there’s not much to do, but it was definitely a good visit. It’s beautiful and relaxing without cars and definitely a valuable experience.

This is one of the groups of street musicians on Grafton Street in Dublin. They were my favorite out of everyone we saw.

Ireland is AMAZING!

Ok, now that I’ve got that out of the way.

DUBLIN:

Dublin is seriously one of the best cities I’ve ever been in. I knew it as soon as we were landing over it and I saw the beauty of the green pastures and fields (yes, those aren’t downtown, but still). I immediately got a good vibe from it. It probably helped that the weather was beautiful, in comparison to the grey skies of Paris we’d just left. 

The feel of the town of Dublin is overwhelmingly friendly. Just the process of taking the bus and trying to find the house we were staying in showed us that: the bus driver gave us directions and advice on which line to switch to, and when he didn’t know an area, two other people on the bus chimed in and described where we needed to go without us asking. One man even got off with us at the stop we needed so he could point us to the road we had to walk down. They were all so nice. Not to mention the amazing accents!

My best friend from Strasbourg, Emese, had done her Erasmus in Dublin a couple years ago, so she made a whole long list of what i had to do and see. Leah and I spent lots of the time wandering around and marking things off the list, which was lots of fun. :)

Highlights:

• St. Stephen’s Green: a gorgeous park right downtown. Green lawns and trees and lakes and ducks, a lovely place to lie in the sun.
• Grafton street: a pedestrian brick street with all sorts of cute little shops and street vendors. Street musicians everywhere - also where the first scene of Once took place, with Glen Hansard singing “Say it to Me Now.” Probably my favorite place in Dublin… such a lively, happy street! (see next post for video)
  

• The Guinness Storehouse: yes, we did the tour of St. James’ Gate, the original Guinness Factory in Dublin. It’s a 7-story building where you do a self-guided tour, and it’s awesome! At the end you get a free pint of Guinness, but because of a loophole that Leah and I found, we got 2 :p (basically the fact that we got a credit card receipt for entry as well as a normal ticket, and both had a stub on the end for a free pint. Simple yet brilliant)
  

• Penneys: Best and most dangerous store ever! I don’t think it’s related to JC Penny’s in the states, but it’s a big department store. But, oh my god. SO CHEAP. We walked in because it was on our list, thinking it wouldn’t be fun because we were broke and had no room in our bags, but then we saw racks upon racks of cute shirts for 2€ or 3€ each. A whole wall of sandals for 3€. Jeans for 5€. It was overwhelming. And despite the reasons I SHOULDN’T be shopping, I bought 3 pretty summer-y tank tops, totaling 9€. They need to make a branch in the States, because… wow.
• Whelan’s: This was Emese’s favorite pub back when she lived here, and we promised we’d try it out. It’s a nice little place that isn’t at all touristy, and always has music playing. It’s also the bar where some scenes from the movie P.S., I Love You was filmed. We had trouble getting seats some of the night but it’s still fun to hang out in, with a good atmosphere.
  

GALWAY:

We only took a day trip to Galway, so I don’t have nearly as much of an opinion on it as I do Dublin. We signed up for a tour of the Cliffs of Moher and the surrounding areas. It took a 2 and a half hour bus ride to get to Galway, way too early in the morning. The tour was amazing, though. Driving through the Irish countryside towards the coastline was one of the most amazing sites ever. The borders between each property were made by knee or waist-high stone walls, anywhere from 100-500 years old. No sealant in between the rocks, they all just rest on top of each other. So picturesque though. And the fields were bright green with yellow and purple flowers, and sheep and cows grazing. It reminded me so much of the Shire, so those of you who know me can imagine how much I loved it.

The Cliffs of Moher were also amazing. We hiked up along one side and looked along 5km of cliffs, rising dramatically above the sea. We saw a castle at the top, and ate lunch on its steps. The forecast was cloudy and rainy, but there were sunny blue skies, just like most of our time in Dublin. The cliffs in the sun were just beautiful.

I guess that’s all for now. Today is our last day in Dublin, and we’re going downtown to get cookie hot chocolate at Butler’s Chocolate Factory, another must on the list from Emese. I’ll miss Dublin, but I will absolutely be back! It’s one of my new favorite cities. And tomorrow… off to Rome!

Hello all… we meet again. I didn’t think I would have internet for long enough periods to blog until I got home, but the place we’re staying in Ireland (Leah’s friend’s house) has a laptop that we can use whenever. So I figured I’d write a bit about our first week and then have less to catch up on in the end.

Leaving Strasbourg last Sunday was… difficult. To say the least. I know I’ll be back in July (and that thought was what saved me from having a total breakdown, I’m sure) but I still don’t like goodbyes, whether they be to people or places that I love. So I was pretty sad watching through the train windows as Strasbourg receded into the distance, especially knowing that the next time I’d return would be as a tourist, not a (even temporary) local. But I slept and listened to music and thought about the travels to come, and distracted myself.

Leah and I met up in Paris and went to where we were staying, the apartment of a woman named Blanche where we were couchsurfing. She lives on the 5th floor with no elevator, so that was fun… ha. But Blanche was really nice and her 8-year-old daughter was adorable. They were excited that they could speak to us in French.

We stayed with them for two nights, just another little taste of Paris. The first night we went to see Les Miserables with Leah’s friend who was also visiting. It was an amazing show and reminded me how much I love theater. The second day we just did some exploring: we went to the Eiffel tower then walked to the Louvre, and around more in the area. That night we met up with Raphael, one of three sons in a family that’s been friends with my family basically since I was born. I hadn’t seen him since ‘06, so that was cool to catch up. We got cheap Chinese food in the Mouffetard area (in the 5th arrondissement) and ate in a park. Then Leah and I went back and packed up our stuff to leave the next morning… next stop, Ireland!

Well, in a couple hours, I’m officially off - embarking on the craziness that is our Eurotrip. I might be doing quick updates from internet cafés, but I might not. Either way, I’ll blog all about the trip once it’s over. I hope everyone has a great summer and has enjoyed reading this for the semester… it’s been a blast.

Final pictures for the Strasbourg semester are up:

http://picasaweb.google.com/silverglass111/