Our last day in Munich we actually didn't have enough time before our train left to visit the BMW museum unfortunately. We said goodbye to Brent and Hunter, the two KU guys we were traveling with as they headed to London, where Brent was heading back to the states. Hunter was originally going to be going home as well, but decided to meet me after London in Madrid to travel the rest of the time with me.
The train ride to Paris was a fun one. It was a a very nicem, high speed, German train and even thought it took about 6 hours, it was OK. We met a guy sitting in our cart who had just graduated from UT- Austin and it was nice to have an American to talk to for the ride.
We arrived in Paris at our hostel after a long metro ride around midnight and called it a night early as we were to have a long day on Monday. We woke up the next day and decided to go on the free walking tour of Paris, which covered all of the main sight seeing places in the city. We started off at Notre Dame, went and saw the Louve, and a few other famous castles. It was pretty fun because our tour guide not only showed us the famous buildings, but explain the history behind them as in with King Louis XIV, and Henry IV. I have plenty of pictures from Paris, dont worry. I am struggling to get a good enough internet connection to be able to send pictures back, so we will have to sit down when I get back to the states and I will show all. Anyways, the tour ended very near the Eiffel Tower, so we decided to go see that. We got there and found that there was a big screen set up right in front playing the World Cup matches, so naturally we went and watched for a little while. Our goal was to stick around until the tower lit up, as our friends in Munich had suggested. In waiting, we decided to eat at a nice restaurant very near the Eifell Tower. I got a very good salad and a lamb steak that was out of this world. After dinner, we went back to the tower to watch Spain play which was very fun as they won 2-0.
The next morning was when Becca had to leave. We said our goodbyes and she left for the airport early in the morning. This is when I made my first real travel mistake. I didnt check times for the trains from Paris to Salamanca, so I found out I was to take a train at 345 p.m. out of Paris, and arrive at 430 a.m. Twelve hours of traveling by myself was not going to be very fun. On a lighter note, however, it gave me time to eat a fantastic Vietnamese meal of egg rolls and pho right next to my hostel. The first train, which was to Irun, Spain was OK as I actually got to see the sun setting on the ocean as we arrived, unfortunately my camera was buried in my luggage of course. The next train, was the overnight train to Lisbon, but I was to get off in Salamanca at 430 am. This was the worst experience I have had on a train as I didnt have a sleeping cart, there were Portuguese guys drunk being obnoxious, smoking on the train that you are clearly not allowed to smoke on. Arriving in Salamanca would have been much better had I not had to sit in the train station for 5 hours, waiting for my hostel to open. I basically slept all day long in what so far was the best hotel I have stayed in so far. At night, I met with my friend Jasmine from K-State and also my friend Jenny from my high school. They showed me a good time and I think we were out till about 4 am. I discovered that Spain has a different sense of time than any other country, as some clubs dont even open until 2 a.m.
Next, was Madrid where I was to meet back up with Hunter at my hostel that was called Cat hostel. We got a nice snack, and actually met up with Brent's girlfriend(the KU guy that had just left back to the state). She spent the spring semester in Madrid, and decided to stay for the summer and babysit the kids from her host family. She showed us a to a place for dinner call 100 maticitos (or something) which was a place where there is a selection of 100 mini sandwiches. After that we went to a bar that was very packed, ordered a beer for each of us three, and the bartender gave us three FULL plates of tapas. Tapas are just like appetizers, they included potatoes, fritters, ham, chicken wings, and any other bar food you can think of. With EVERY drink that you ordered, came another full plate of tapas. I was soo full from dinner it was hard to even eat any of them. It was really nice to have a tour guide that night as the section of Madrid was very busy and we would have had no idea where to go if we were on our own. The next day, we slept in till about noon and went and got our first taste of Spanish paella, which was fantastic. After that, it was time to watch some soccer, so we met with three girls from our hostel room who were from the University of Oregon, and watched Brazil and Portugal at a sports bar. Right after the game, we saw that Spain was playing and decided to go to the Bernabeu Stadium to watch it. Little did we know, that there was a big screen set up in front of the stadium, with a few thousand SCREAMING Spain fans. As we arrived, it poured rain which added to the madness. We watch the first half as Spain led 2-0, we decided to leave the incredibly crazy atmosphere. That night we took it easy and just hung out with the girls from U of O.
Yesterday was the train ride to Barcelona, which went well. We arrived in our hostel, and immediately went to meet with one of Hunter's friends from his hometown. Actually as we got off our first metro ride, we ran right into the gay pride festival of Barcelona. I would imagine it was a LITTLE different than the ones back in the states. She took us to a very trendy spot where we watched the USA play, and lose. After the game, we met up with what we think are the last two people from the CIMBA program still in europe. They have been all over Europe as well, just taking a much different route than us.
Today (Sunday) is going to be a beach day. It will be nice to relax in the sun as its been a while since I have done so. Last night was our first of 5 total nights in Barcelona. We are meeting up with the people from Oregon tomorrow, and the girls from Barcelona that we met in Vienna on Tuesday. Its been very nice being able to FINALLY understand what people are saying because of my ability to speak Spanish. It amazing how much easier it makes everything.
We finally have the rest of our hostels booked and the rest of our trip is officially planned out. We leave Barcelona on the 1st of July, spend a full day/night traveling to Bruges, Belgium. Spend two nights in Bruges, one night in Brussels, then four nights in Amsterdam where I am meeting my friend Dan from Minnetonka. After that, off to London where I will hopefully will be staying with Gary for a few nights before its back to Minnesota. I will probably update again when I am in Belgium. Till then, Ill be relaxing on the beach for four more days! Que Bueno!
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