We were going to go to St Emilion today, but it's an expensive train ride, so we decided to sleep in and walk around town. We took some great pictures that will be uploaded someday. Bordeaux is a really quiet town, one that's kind of boring if you don't have the car or money to go to the wine chateaux, but I think it would be a really nice place to live since it's not crowded or dirty like a lot of other places we've been.
Went to Place de Girondins, with a fountain and statues that were taken for use in the war by the Nazis when they occupied Bordeaux, and were only restored a few decades ago. Really nice
The weather has been better, no more rain, at least, and I picked up the first Harry Potter in french and have worked through 9 or 10 pages. Not exactly up to my normal pace, but it's in a different language, so hey. I do think it will really help, though. I took a nap while reading this afternoon and dreamt all in french.
Brett and I have been sleeping a lot here. I think we're just catching up from all the short nights and bad sleep we've gotten in shitty beds with useless pillows up till now.
All pictures up till leaving for Bordeaux are up at www.flickr.com/photo/brettgphoto, so check it out!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
6/27: Bordeaux
OK look, international people. It`s ok if you want to do things differently than the US, but please at least make your keyboards the same!!! Spain was bad enough, with accents and shit where other things are supposed to be, but this, this unchecked agression will not stand, man. The Q is where the A is supposed to be, the comma and question mark qre on the same button that is where the M is supposed to be, this situation is fucked. It sounds petty, but really think about trying to type normal speed with these differences. Jesus.
Bus ride was super short and the Australians only came home from their night out around 7:30 am when the bus leaves at 8, so they had a fun ride of it going all the way to Paris, I`m sure. We`re all checked in in our lovely private room with private bathroom. You forget how NICE it is to have your own space until you spend almost a month without it, and I almost hope the weather stays bad so we can hide in our room and enjoy it. Just kidding.
We had lunch and then took a nap, and now the plan is to find Bordeaux postcards and a bizzillion stamps because we lagged on sending the San Sebastian postcards, and then also I want to find Harry Potter 1 in french and read that. Brett found a book at our hostel in San Sebastian that he really likes by Tom Wolfe, so I can read in french and he`ll read Tom Wolfe.
It`s really crazy to be in France and needing to use my french in real conversation. I can`t remember the word for computer, either, so I need to look that up bigtime.
Bus ride was super short and the Australians only came home from their night out around 7:30 am when the bus leaves at 8, so they had a fun ride of it going all the way to Paris, I`m sure. We`re all checked in in our lovely private room with private bathroom. You forget how NICE it is to have your own space until you spend almost a month without it, and I almost hope the weather stays bad so we can hide in our room and enjoy it. Just kidding.
We had lunch and then took a nap, and now the plan is to find Bordeaux postcards and a bizzillion stamps because we lagged on sending the San Sebastian postcards, and then also I want to find Harry Potter 1 in french and read that. Brett found a book at our hostel in San Sebastian that he really likes by Tom Wolfe, so I can read in french and he`ll read Tom Wolfe.
It`s really crazy to be in France and needing to use my french in real conversation. I can`t remember the word for computer, either, so I need to look that up bigtime.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
6/26 - San Sebastian
Dude. Seriously. This fucking raining bullshit needs to stop. The poor Australians are super hungover, but Brett and I feel fantastic, so we had some breakfast (the last spaghetti alla cecci leftovers) and are pondering the mystery of our missing sandwiches. I think someone stole them, the bastards.
We walked around a little bit, and we´re just sort of killing time tonight. We leave for Bordeaux tomorrow morning, so we can´t get too trashed or anything tonight, but there´s really nothing else to do in San Sebastian when it´s raining.
I do know that I´m very glad that I´ve only gotten hung over twice so far in over 3 weeks. There´ve been some pretty big nights out, but I´m a champion, I guess.
I also do feel that I´ve made it through/past my first wall. The first few days here I was feeling really overwhelmed by this trip and how long I still am going to be gone, but I´m feeling much much better about it right now. I´m excited and having a great time, so things are gooooood.
We walked around a little bit, and we´re just sort of killing time tonight. We leave for Bordeaux tomorrow morning, so we can´t get too trashed or anything tonight, but there´s really nothing else to do in San Sebastian when it´s raining.
I do know that I´m very glad that I´ve only gotten hung over twice so far in over 3 weeks. There´ve been some pretty big nights out, but I´m a champion, I guess.
I also do feel that I´ve made it through/past my first wall. The first few days here I was feeling really overwhelmed by this trip and how long I still am going to be gone, but I´m feeling much much better about it right now. I´m excited and having a great time, so things are gooooood.
6/25 - San Sebastian
Dude. The weather fucking sucks. It rained today and so all Brett and I did was make sandwiches, then go get junk food and wine and coke and had a calimocho/junk food party with our two Australian roommates, Brooke and Kirby. They´re super cool, and they´re coming to the west coast in October, so we told them they could stay with us if they come down from LA. By 6 or 7 we were all pretty far along (a liter of wine each will do that to you), and we decided to go out for cider and curried rice (soooo goooood oh man) and some really amazing mushroom pintxos. Then we, um, went back to the hostel and found some apparently abandoned vodka and rum and had rum and cokes and screwdrivers, then went back out. I´m not sure when Brett and I decided to come home, but the girls stayed out until quite late, and sometime in the middle of the night they came home and there was a complicated episode with puking and the cleaning up of puke and the spraying of perfume so the room didn´t reek of puke, only of perfume and wow let me tell you it reeked of Yves St. Laurent. I´m just happy I didn´t stay out, because I really wouldn´t want to be the one having all those issues in a hostel.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
6/24: San Sebastian
After I posted yesterday, we went out to go see the much-talked about bonfires. It turned out to be a mini-bonfire party for the kids last night. Heaps of kids ages 7-15 or so were burning their schoolbooks on the beaches in celebration of the end of the school year. I guess they do this because they won´t be allowed to go to the big bonfire celebrations they have tonight for Summer Solstice. Apparently they even have a bonfire in their Plaza Mayor, which used to be a bull-ring.
This morning we had toast and fruit for breakfast, then got directions to Monte Iguelda, the other little mini-mountain around here. It´s a nice walk along the two main beaches here, except that the boardwalk was super packed because there was a triathlon going on this morning. So it was a bit of work making our way through the throngs of people. Once we got near the mountain where the funicular (old-timey train) starts, it got less hectic, though. After a bit of hunting, we found what seemed to be the pedestrian path, and by path I mean walk along the side of the street as it winds up the mountain and hope not to get creamed by the expensive cars and dinky mopeds whizzing around the turns. Eek. It´s a bit of a walk even from our hostel to the base of the hill, and it´s a fair walk up a fairly steep incline to get to the top, but the views are incredible, and the coastline is really amazing. It´s a lot of very green cliffs and such, with deep blue ocean and seagulls floating around. The coastline actually reminds me a lot of northern california, weirdly enough. We got to the top, where there´s an amusement park, but we weren´t planning to go in, so we just turned around and came back.
We had waited too long to buy wine for lunch, given that it´s sunday and goddamn everything closes on sundays, but one of the guys that works in the hostel helped us out buying bottles of local cider takeaway from a restaurant. For lunch we had a huge salad with onion and tomato and avocado and homemade vinaigrette and baguette and two bottles of cider. Then we took a nap until the newest crop of busabout people turned up and made a huge ruckus and left the door to our room open to the common room so it was super loud, so we got up and came here.
Later we´ll be going to the real bonfires, hopefully taking some nice pictures. I´m trying to upload our pictures at the moment, but it´s seriously taking forrreeevvverrr. I´ve been online now for 45 minutes and it has not uploaded a single picture. Fuck this lack of high-speed internet.
This morning we had toast and fruit for breakfast, then got directions to Monte Iguelda, the other little mini-mountain around here. It´s a nice walk along the two main beaches here, except that the boardwalk was super packed because there was a triathlon going on this morning. So it was a bit of work making our way through the throngs of people. Once we got near the mountain where the funicular (old-timey train) starts, it got less hectic, though. After a bit of hunting, we found what seemed to be the pedestrian path, and by path I mean walk along the side of the street as it winds up the mountain and hope not to get creamed by the expensive cars and dinky mopeds whizzing around the turns. Eek. It´s a bit of a walk even from our hostel to the base of the hill, and it´s a fair walk up a fairly steep incline to get to the top, but the views are incredible, and the coastline is really amazing. It´s a lot of very green cliffs and such, with deep blue ocean and seagulls floating around. The coastline actually reminds me a lot of northern california, weirdly enough. We got to the top, where there´s an amusement park, but we weren´t planning to go in, so we just turned around and came back.
We had waited too long to buy wine for lunch, given that it´s sunday and goddamn everything closes on sundays, but one of the guys that works in the hostel helped us out buying bottles of local cider takeaway from a restaurant. For lunch we had a huge salad with onion and tomato and avocado and homemade vinaigrette and baguette and two bottles of cider. Then we took a nap until the newest crop of busabout people turned up and made a huge ruckus and left the door to our room open to the common room so it was super loud, so we got up and came here.
Later we´ll be going to the real bonfires, hopefully taking some nice pictures. I´m trying to upload our pictures at the moment, but it´s seriously taking forrreeevvverrr. I´ve been online now for 45 minutes and it has not uploaded a single picture. Fuck this lack of high-speed internet.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
hot, fresh pics!
We uploaded 30 or so of our 50 photos from the last few days at a ridiculously slow rate at a ridiculously priced internet cafe. Please enjoy our efforts.
(also notice the fashionable watch (aka room key) in the madrid pictures)
(also notice the fashionable watch (aka room key) in the madrid pictures)
6/23: San Sebastian
Got up around 10:30 this morning since the church bells nearby had decided to go crazy and just chime out of tune renditions of nothing at useless intervals. We decided to go buy some fruit and go for a walk, so to that end we located a fruit stand and bought peaches and bananas. Went to the tourist office for a map and after some consultation we decided to walk up to the Sacred Heart statue on the top of Monte Urgull. To get there we walked along the ocean (far above the actual water, on a sidewalk, kind of like right above La Jolla Cove), which was absolutely gorgeous. The water here reminds me of Hawaii, or the Virgin Islands, with that deep azure in the distance the icy pale blue where it foams and froths at the rocks. It reminded me particularly of Hawaii because a lot of waves kept crashing and spraying on the rocks. The gentle waves of the Mediterranean this is not.
We walked up Monte Urgull, which turned out to be a rather rigorous uphill hike. The scenery was absolutely stunning, with great views of the sea, the small islands in the bay, and very green green green on the hill itself. The view from the top is really fantastic as well, and we sat and ate our fruit and looked around before heading down the other way so we could see new sights on our way down. Apparently we chose the long, hard way to go up the hill, because this was much shorter and less difficult, but oh well.
We were hungry, so we finished our seaside walk and got provisions for Spaghetti alla Cecci and went back to the hostel for home-made calimocho and home-cooked food. It´s so hard to cook and not be homesick, but at the same time it helps us not be homesick. It will be nice, however, to cook with our own stuff, like our knives and pots and pans and acres of counter space. Oh, how I miss you, counter space!
After lunch we walked around a bit and had ice cream again (for which I refuse to feel bad), and now we´re blogging and uploading pictures which is taking forrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrr. So. Expect a pic update soon.
We walked up Monte Urgull, which turned out to be a rather rigorous uphill hike. The scenery was absolutely stunning, with great views of the sea, the small islands in the bay, and very green green green on the hill itself. The view from the top is really fantastic as well, and we sat and ate our fruit and looked around before heading down the other way so we could see new sights on our way down. Apparently we chose the long, hard way to go up the hill, because this was much shorter and less difficult, but oh well.
We were hungry, so we finished our seaside walk and got provisions for Spaghetti alla Cecci and went back to the hostel for home-made calimocho and home-cooked food. It´s so hard to cook and not be homesick, but at the same time it helps us not be homesick. It will be nice, however, to cook with our own stuff, like our knives and pots and pans and acres of counter space. Oh, how I miss you, counter space!
After lunch we walked around a bit and had ice cream again (for which I refuse to feel bad), and now we´re blogging and uploading pictures which is taking forrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrr. So. Expect a pic update soon.
6/22: Travel Day.... Madrid to San Sebastian!
This morning we got up all early, got the last little bits of our stuff together, and headed off to the Busabout pickup point. We decided when we walked there yesterday that on the real time we would take the metro. Didn´t quite count on rush hour being so dang early, though. The first train, that was pulling away as we walked down, was PACKED. And I mean packed like sardines, with people bulging at the doors. eesh. We walked to the middle of the next train and it wasn´t so bad, but anything is bad when you have a huge bag like we did. I always feel like a huge ass blimp when we have our packs all set. Shannon would tell me I´m a blimp anyway, though, and she´d be right. hah.
The bus ride was nice and uneventful, with a nice lunchtime stop in Burgos to see the Cathedral and have lunch. I think they were required to make the stop. Anyway, it was one of our longer trips (8 hours) and it wasn´t bad at all, especially since our second half movie was Love, Actually, which I actually love (man, I kill myself.). We got in to San Sebastian around 4:30, and it was almost as cold as it was in Burgos, which was pretty dang chilly. Got all checked in, and though our hostel is on the 4th floor (what they call the 3rd floor here)I really like it. The staff are all really young Aussies, and they just hang out and surf and stuff.
We went on a Pintxos tour tonight(20€, all food/drink included), kind of like a pub crawl but an eating crawl, which is really more my type of crawl. The guide, who is also the guy running our hostel, is really into the local cuisine, and pintxos (pronounced Pinchos) are a lot like the tapas in Southern Spain. We had patatas bravas, which we´d had before, calamari, these prawn things, some mushrooms like we make at home, roasted pimientos, a beef dish, a fried, milk-poached cod dish, some pork thing that some whores at all of before I could try, and another cod dish that I also didn´t get much of because of said whores. The food was very good and the guide knew a lot about it, so that was good. What sucked was that there were 32 people that signed up, and they were all young people dressed like they were going clubbing, which they probably were later. Most of them I think didn´t eat before it, so they kept gobbling food, so a lot of people didn´t get to try some things because certain people just hovered over the food hogging it. We also tried this local cider that is a natural, flat cider that you pour from very high to aerate it, and drink like a shot (so you only pour a shot amount). It´s rather tart, but has a nice, crisp, different taste to it. We also had a Basque white wine that smells and tastes like a Riesling without the sugar. Very nice.
We left the tour early when we discovered that the ´free shot´at the last bar was actually a shot of schnapps, and had ice cream by ourselves instead (which was soooooooooooooooo good). We really just don´t do well in huge groups that think that the point of traveling is to get wasted and stay out dancing all night.
Also, I forgot to mention that on our last night we went out to have Patatas Bravas at this place that´s known for them (they´re fried potatoes with a spicy sauce). The Patatas Bravas were so-so, but we also ordered pig ears. And I tried them. They were kind of like under-cooked bacon, but with ear cartilage in the middle. Very clearly eating an ear. I wouldn´t eat them again, but they weren´t horrible.
The bus ride was nice and uneventful, with a nice lunchtime stop in Burgos to see the Cathedral and have lunch. I think they were required to make the stop. Anyway, it was one of our longer trips (8 hours) and it wasn´t bad at all, especially since our second half movie was Love, Actually, which I actually love (man, I kill myself.). We got in to San Sebastian around 4:30, and it was almost as cold as it was in Burgos, which was pretty dang chilly. Got all checked in, and though our hostel is on the 4th floor (what they call the 3rd floor here)I really like it. The staff are all really young Aussies, and they just hang out and surf and stuff.
We went on a Pintxos tour tonight(20€, all food/drink included), kind of like a pub crawl but an eating crawl, which is really more my type of crawl. The guide, who is also the guy running our hostel, is really into the local cuisine, and pintxos (pronounced Pinchos) are a lot like the tapas in Southern Spain. We had patatas bravas, which we´d had before, calamari, these prawn things, some mushrooms like we make at home, roasted pimientos, a beef dish, a fried, milk-poached cod dish, some pork thing that some whores at all of before I could try, and another cod dish that I also didn´t get much of because of said whores. The food was very good and the guide knew a lot about it, so that was good. What sucked was that there were 32 people that signed up, and they were all young people dressed like they were going clubbing, which they probably were later. Most of them I think didn´t eat before it, so they kept gobbling food, so a lot of people didn´t get to try some things because certain people just hovered over the food hogging it. We also tried this local cider that is a natural, flat cider that you pour from very high to aerate it, and drink like a shot (so you only pour a shot amount). It´s rather tart, but has a nice, crisp, different taste to it. We also had a Basque white wine that smells and tastes like a Riesling without the sugar. Very nice.
We left the tour early when we discovered that the ´free shot´at the last bar was actually a shot of schnapps, and had ice cream by ourselves instead (which was soooooooooooooooo good). We really just don´t do well in huge groups that think that the point of traveling is to get wasted and stay out dancing all night.
Also, I forgot to mention that on our last night we went out to have Patatas Bravas at this place that´s known for them (they´re fried potatoes with a spicy sauce). The Patatas Bravas were so-so, but we also ordered pig ears. And I tried them. They were kind of like under-cooked bacon, but with ear cartilage in the middle. Very clearly eating an ear. I wouldn´t eat them again, but they weren´t horrible.
6/21: Madrid
Ok so I forgot that yesterday we also went to Palacio Real and walked around (and the Catedral), and walked around in the formal gardens below the palace. None of the Royal Family lives in the palace anymore, but apparently it´s still pretty cool. The formal gardens are very nice and simple, with some fountains and cypresses and small hedge mazes and stuff.
Today we walked back to Parque el Retiro and discovered that they were have a 12-hour long classical music festival in the park, so we sat for about 45 minutes while this lovely pianist played concertos and sonatas and stuff, with some accompaniment by strings and flutes and stuff. Very nice. After that we walked around a bit more and looked at the city. We also took the metro out to the airport and I experienced the very looong people-movers that Brett´s told me all about from his first time in Madrid 6 years ago. They weren´t as long as he remembered them being, but there´s heaps of them, just one after another after another. The metro itself is very nice when you´re well-rested and with someone else to confer with on things and it´s not crazy rush hour. Their signage is very good, and since it´s just listing stops, the diagram really says it all and you don´t need to understand spanish to get it.
Got back just in time to jump on the first load of laundry allowed (housekeeping uses the washing/drying until 5pm, then they let others use it) and boy am I glad we really jumped on that. 10 minutes after we started our clothes we saw people with detergent and bags of clothes wandering the hostel looking for the washing machine. HAHAHAHH. We rule.
Had more bread, creamy goat cheese and turkey and expensive mustard. It´s our favorite mustard from home (aside from Creole Mustard) and it´s ass-expensive here. So is Tabasco, which Brett broke down and bought as well. It´s a little more homey this way. Got a little bit drunker than we had planned but went to bed early anyway.
Today we walked back to Parque el Retiro and discovered that they were have a 12-hour long classical music festival in the park, so we sat for about 45 minutes while this lovely pianist played concertos and sonatas and stuff, with some accompaniment by strings and flutes and stuff. Very nice. After that we walked around a bit more and looked at the city. We also took the metro out to the airport and I experienced the very looong people-movers that Brett´s told me all about from his first time in Madrid 6 years ago. They weren´t as long as he remembered them being, but there´s heaps of them, just one after another after another. The metro itself is very nice when you´re well-rested and with someone else to confer with on things and it´s not crazy rush hour. Their signage is very good, and since it´s just listing stops, the diagram really says it all and you don´t need to understand spanish to get it.
Got back just in time to jump on the first load of laundry allowed (housekeeping uses the washing/drying until 5pm, then they let others use it) and boy am I glad we really jumped on that. 10 minutes after we started our clothes we saw people with detergent and bags of clothes wandering the hostel looking for the washing machine. HAHAHAHH. We rule.
Had more bread, creamy goat cheese and turkey and expensive mustard. It´s our favorite mustard from home (aside from Creole Mustard) and it´s ass-expensive here. So is Tabasco, which Brett broke down and bought as well. It´s a little more homey this way. Got a little bit drunker than we had planned but went to bed early anyway.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
6/20: Madrid
First day in Madrid our first order of business was to see the Reina Sofia. We walked down there and paid our money and all that, but then I got accosted in the first exhibit by this very mean lady who made me throw away my water. IF they don´t want you to bring water in, maybe they should put that up there with the no camera sign. The other thing about the Reina Sofia is that either they have a billion volunteers and nothing for them to do, or they spend a looooot of money on people to stand in EVERY ROOM and stare at you. It´s seriously disturbing, they just stand there watching you. Ugh. Guernica, of course, is really huge and cool, but I actually really liked the Picasso drawings they had also. The thing for me about museums is that I don´t really like them. I get bored, overwhelmed, and irritated because I just don´t find them particularly moving, and I feel like I´m dumb for not liking them or feeling excited about being there. SO I just get grouchy and sleepy.
Walked around a whole whole lot, went to the Parque del Retiro which is HUUUUUUUGE. Seriously. HHHHUUUUUGE. Seriously. Look it up on google maps. We kept walking around and going "wow, here´s another huge building that we couldn´t even see from the outside!!" It was really super pretty, though, and very nice to walk about it. We also saw a couple dry humping in the grass which was oh so nice.
Went for Chocolate con Churros, which is like ´hot chocolate´except just basically smooth melted chocolate, with un cinnamon-sugared churros to dip in it. So fucking good. We´re going to make them, except better, when we get back.
Had bread, cheese, etc for dinner, drank a bunch of wine, went to Plaza Mayor but it was under construction so it was lame, and then went back to go to bed.
Side note: apparently my bed is where people just throw their shit. Some guy in the top bunk left his newspaper spread on my bed plus his suitcase right next to the head of my bed so I couldn´t even open the locker. What a dick.
Walked around a whole whole lot, went to the Parque del Retiro which is HUUUUUUUGE. Seriously. HHHHUUUUUGE. Seriously. Look it up on google maps. We kept walking around and going "wow, here´s another huge building that we couldn´t even see from the outside!!" It was really super pretty, though, and very nice to walk about it. We also saw a couple dry humping in the grass which was oh so nice.
Went for Chocolate con Churros, which is like ´hot chocolate´except just basically smooth melted chocolate, with un cinnamon-sugared churros to dip in it. So fucking good. We´re going to make them, except better, when we get back.
Had bread, cheese, etc for dinner, drank a bunch of wine, went to Plaza Mayor but it was under construction so it was lame, and then went back to go to bed.
Side note: apparently my bed is where people just throw their shit. Some guy in the top bunk left his newspaper spread on my bed plus his suitcase right next to the head of my bed so I couldn´t even open the locker. What a dick.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
NEWWWWW PICCCCYS!
Front of L´Oceanográfic - not many new pics, but we have tons more to upload still!
6/19: Travel Day!!
It´s our last day in Valencia, so here´s my impressions.
I like Valencia a lot, I met some really nice people at our hostel (like Linda and Peter) and the beaches are fantastic, but I liked Barcelona better for some reason.
Also, Spanish speakers get way more pissed off when they find out you can´t speak spanish than english speakers get when you can´t speak english. What the heck. I´m not doing it to piss you off, dude!
Our bus leaves for Madrid at 1:30 here, and then it´s a 5 1/2 hour drive there. Depending on the internet situation it may be a while till posting, and we´ve been lagging on pictures, but there are some new ones up, link posted verrrr verrr soon.
I like Valencia a lot, I met some really nice people at our hostel (like Linda and Peter) and the beaches are fantastic, but I liked Barcelona better for some reason.
Also, Spanish speakers get way more pissed off when they find out you can´t speak spanish than english speakers get when you can´t speak english. What the heck. I´m not doing it to piss you off, dude!
Our bus leaves for Madrid at 1:30 here, and then it´s a 5 1/2 hour drive there. Depending on the internet situation it may be a while till posting, and we´ve been lagging on pictures, but there are some new ones up, link posted verrrr verrr soon.
Monday, June 18, 2007
6/18: Valencia
woke up this morning, had some pears and sandwiches (much diminished from yesterday´s sandwiches by the lack of heirloom tomatoes because El Corte Ingles was closed), and went to see the Catedral de Valencia y Sant Miguelete (my spelling is probably atrocious). The church itself was church-y, but there´s this really tall tower you can go in that is very very cool. It costs two Euro, which is fine, but all Brett and I had were a 50€ note each, so the woman got mad and said in Spanish that I took all her change.
Let me just say that 207 steps doesn´t reallllly sound like that much, but when they´re a spiral staircase and the steps get so fucking narrow at the top that even my feet didn´t fit all the way on them, it gets a lil bit tiring. Finally, gasping, we reached the top, where of course there was some guy sucking on a cigarrette. what the heck? Like his lungs needed the extra challenge. The view from up on top of the tower is reallly nice, much like the one from Parque Guell in Barcelona, though not quite THAT nice. What sucks though is that the architecture here is more modern than that of Barcelona, so even though it´s newer, the weathering and decay of any city makes the buildings here looks kind of run-down and trashy, whereas in Barcelona they just looked authentic. Also, there´s a bell up on top of this tower, right? Well. Unlike in the states where the bells are fake, here, in Spain, they are not. So we were there in the late morning. And I´m gazing out over the city contemplating architecture when all of a sudden BOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG!!!!!!!! This huge fucking bell gets rung 12 fucking times (well, it might have been 11 but I´m not sure because my head was vibrating too much to count). Seriously, you could feel the stones of the tower vibrating. It was a VERY deep-toned bell. After my ears stopped ringing I could hear the bells from the other churches and stuff, but they sounded so tinny and lame after being right next to that huge bell that it was a lil lacking.
Walked around the Mercado Central and got stuff for lunch, but the meat counters totally freaked me out cuz of the scent and also because they have like fresh pig´s feet and whole pig heads and stuff, which is a lil too much for me. Had to go to El Corte Ingles to get wine and some other stuff for lunch, then came back and spent a sweltering hour in the kitchen making angelhair pasta with fresh heirloom tomatoes, garlic, and basil. SO good, but that kitchen is seriously HOTHOTHOT. Took a nap for an hour longer than intended, then tried to meet up with Shannon in cyberspace, but it didn´t quite work out :(((((((
Went back to El Corte Ingles for fruit and pistachios and stuff (I know it seems like blue cheese, pears, and pistachios are all we´re eating, and that´s kind of accurate. heh.) Had a bunch more wine and hung out with the Swedes all evening. It was Peter´s birthday, and I also ate waffles with whipped cream and strawberries which I will apparently be eating a looooot of in Belgium. Can´t say I mind.... :)
Let me just say that 207 steps doesn´t reallllly sound like that much, but when they´re a spiral staircase and the steps get so fucking narrow at the top that even my feet didn´t fit all the way on them, it gets a lil bit tiring. Finally, gasping, we reached the top, where of course there was some guy sucking on a cigarrette. what the heck? Like his lungs needed the extra challenge. The view from up on top of the tower is reallly nice, much like the one from Parque Guell in Barcelona, though not quite THAT nice. What sucks though is that the architecture here is more modern than that of Barcelona, so even though it´s newer, the weathering and decay of any city makes the buildings here looks kind of run-down and trashy, whereas in Barcelona they just looked authentic. Also, there´s a bell up on top of this tower, right? Well. Unlike in the states where the bells are fake, here, in Spain, they are not. So we were there in the late morning. And I´m gazing out over the city contemplating architecture when all of a sudden BOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG!!!!!!!! This huge fucking bell gets rung 12 fucking times (well, it might have been 11 but I´m not sure because my head was vibrating too much to count). Seriously, you could feel the stones of the tower vibrating. It was a VERY deep-toned bell. After my ears stopped ringing I could hear the bells from the other churches and stuff, but they sounded so tinny and lame after being right next to that huge bell that it was a lil lacking.
Walked around the Mercado Central and got stuff for lunch, but the meat counters totally freaked me out cuz of the scent and also because they have like fresh pig´s feet and whole pig heads and stuff, which is a lil too much for me. Had to go to El Corte Ingles to get wine and some other stuff for lunch, then came back and spent a sweltering hour in the kitchen making angelhair pasta with fresh heirloom tomatoes, garlic, and basil. SO good, but that kitchen is seriously HOTHOTHOT. Took a nap for an hour longer than intended, then tried to meet up with Shannon in cyberspace, but it didn´t quite work out :(((((((
Went back to El Corte Ingles for fruit and pistachios and stuff (I know it seems like blue cheese, pears, and pistachios are all we´re eating, and that´s kind of accurate. heh.) Had a bunch more wine and hung out with the Swedes all evening. It was Peter´s birthday, and I also ate waffles with whipped cream and strawberries which I will apparently be eating a looooot of in Belgium. Can´t say I mind.... :)
Sunday, June 17, 2007
6/17: Valencia
Did´t get up until 11 or so this morning, and then we had sandwiches and some pistachios for brunch and went to the beach. Hung out there for a loooong time - like 4 hours or so, tanning and swanning about in the water. It wasn´t as windy as on Friday, so we weren´t constantly getting grit everywhere, but it was a bit more crowded given that it´s a weekend. The waves were a bit more impressive, too, meaning they actually raised the water level on you when they went by. Everything is fucking closed today since it´s Sunday, even El Corte Ingles, so we went to some almost convenience-store type place and got nectarines, and cheese to have with our pistachios and pink wine and calimocho. Also got sandwich makings, though just like last night, we may not get to eating them until tomorrow morning. It´s been a nice slow day, very relaxed.
Oh! Got to talk to my parents last night over gmail talk, basically like Skype. Brett and I are having trouble with our internet phone service, but gTalk works really well, and after some initial difficulties, I was chatting with dad, who then handed the phone over to mom who conveniently happened to be at the house. It was really nice to talk to them - I´m not homesick at all, and I´m having a great time and I´ve been in touch with everyone, but there´s something different about hearing their voices. It was nice. Now I just need to engineer Josh getting over to my dad´s or getting gtalk so I can talk to himn on his birthday (a month from yesterday)
Tomorrow´s our last full day in Valencia, and I would guess that we´ll just spend that time mostly at the beach and walking in the park.
Oh! Got to talk to my parents last night over gmail talk, basically like Skype. Brett and I are having trouble with our internet phone service, but gTalk works really well, and after some initial difficulties, I was chatting with dad, who then handed the phone over to mom who conveniently happened to be at the house. It was really nice to talk to them - I´m not homesick at all, and I´m having a great time and I´ve been in touch with everyone, but there´s something different about hearing their voices. It was nice. Now I just need to engineer Josh getting over to my dad´s or getting gtalk so I can talk to himn on his birthday (a month from yesterday)
Tomorrow´s our last full day in Valencia, and I would guess that we´ll just spend that time mostly at the beach and walking in the park.
6/16: Valencia
Got up this morning in time to have breakfast with the Swedes (pineapple, oranges, and orange juice, plus ham & cheese, they really love their ham here!), and then we all headed off to L`Oceonografic (the aquarium) for the day. Katie had told me to go to the Aquarium and the Swedes had been wanting to, so we went for it. It´s a pretty long walk, about 45 minutes, but from our hostel we could walk all of it through this really long, big park with lots of trees and fountains and playgrounds and a football (soccer) field in it. The park is really nice and there´s always people jogging or biking or hanging out in it, and it reminds me a little of Balboa Park because there are a whole bunch of museums all right next to each other at the end of it, just like Balboa Park has. The museums are really crazy, with this insane architecture. One of them looks like a cross between the cyborg mothership, a Roman helmet, and a cruise ship. They´re all gleamingly white with little moats and mini-rivers of white mosaic tiles that are quietly blue around them and cypresses on the terraces on the top floors. Verrrrry cool - pictures to come soon, plus more in the next few days, I would guess. The Aquarium is actually a little beyond the first museums, and it would be easy to get to them except that there´s a huge construction site in between so you have to go around. However, the Aquarium is really really really cool. It´s like a combination of Sea World and the Birch Aquarium, with 7 different sea/climate zones and a dolphin show and stuff. The coolest part is that each zone is a separate building from the entrance building, and they´re all underground. So if you go to the Mediterranean section, there´s a little building that you enter, then you go down a bunch of stairs, and the aquarium for that type of sea life is all huge and underground. It´s a very innovative design. It´s the same for all of them, even the ones with the beluga whales and walruses. The only things above ground are the tropical birds (in a big birdcage that looks like an overgrown hamster ball or something), the sea lions, and the dolphin show. Speaking of which, this is a pretty fucking awesome dolphin show, I must say. Katie had told me that Andres the Dolphin Trainer was hot, and I didn´t get a close look, but he seemed quite attractive, but there were 7 or 8 dolphins in this show, plus 5 or 6 more looking forlorn and alone in the back pool because the other dolphins were getting all the fishes. Poor lil guys. They kept doing half-ass tricks, and it was like they were saying ´look! I can do it too!!! give me some damn fishes!´ The show was very cool though.
One thing I did dislike about the Aquarium is one of my favorite things about other Aquariums I´ve been to. In most aquariums, people are fairly quiet and just observe, but NO. Not the Valencians. It was really really loud in there, and lots of rude people.
Anyway, the aquarium was rather expensive (18€ even with my student discount), but we spent the whole day there so it was definitely worth it.
Had pears and blue cheese and pistachios for dinner, along with some pink wine from a box (yeah for that awesome .80€ boxed wine!!) and beers later. Played pool with the Swedes and Peter and I kicked Brett and Linda´s butts. Also met a Brit named John who had seen two guys fucking in the bushes in the park at duskish. Apparently they saw him, moved a few trees away, and went back at it. Eeeks.
It´s been a good day.
One thing I did dislike about the Aquarium is one of my favorite things about other Aquariums I´ve been to. In most aquariums, people are fairly quiet and just observe, but NO. Not the Valencians. It was really really loud in there, and lots of rude people.
Anyway, the aquarium was rather expensive (18€ even with my student discount), but we spent the whole day there so it was definitely worth it.
Had pears and blue cheese and pistachios for dinner, along with some pink wine from a box (yeah for that awesome .80€ boxed wine!!) and beers later. Played pool with the Swedes and Peter and I kicked Brett and Linda´s butts. Also met a Brit named John who had seen two guys fucking in the bushes in the park at duskish. Apparently they saw him, moved a few trees away, and went back at it. Eeeks.
It´s been a good day.
6/15: travel day!
OK so I´ve been lagging on the updating... sorry!
6/15
we got up at 6 am to get ready in time for our bus to Valencia, and as I was checking email before we left the hostel, I saw a girl in the placa outside our hostel, along with a group of other people, who were all heading home from the clubs. Things never close round Barcelona. I watched her take her shoes off, do the worst cartwheel in history with her dress around her neck and her ugly legging things flashing her ass to everyone, and then pick up her shoes and walk away. It was bizarre.
Busabout was great - we overshot the pickup point a bit on the metro and had to backtrack, but as hostel-finding goes it was a stunning success. Got all set on the bus, and I made sure to take my dramamine (or fake-amine, as we´ve been calling it, because it´s generic brand dramamine), so things were just dandy. I´m really really really glad that we chose to use this service rather than rail or something. the guides speak english, all of the pickup/dropoff points are listed online or in the back of the handbook they give you, they have a little scan-card for you that they scan when you get on the bus each time so that they know they have everyone that had booked that trip (like from Barcelona to Valencia). Also, it was great because this one chick was 7 minutes late, and the guide totally chewed her out for it. The bus itself is really nice, with fairly spacious seats and radio plugs for your headphones in front of every seat, air conditioning, and they played a movie that we could plug into as well. There were even curtains on the windows! PLus, when we got close to Valencia the guide gave a short history of the town and region, mentioned big attractions, etc - he talked about the region for 30 minutes or so. Such a great service, and they stopped every 2 hours or so for a bathroom break, leg stretch, and food break, but this time is built into their estimated travel time that they tell you, and they were very on-time. Awesome.
When we got to Valencia we got checked in and immediately took the bus to the beach. We got to the beach at 2 or 2:30 and didn´t leave until 7ish. Crazy! And it was still really nice out when we left. THe beaches here are much nicer than in Barcelona, with long expanses of clean pale sand and the Mediterranean gently lapping at the shore. It was quite quite windy that day, so there was sand blowing onto us constantly - we went into the water for a while and when we came back our towels were literally almost buried. The water is very clear, and it stays shallow for a really really long way here. The waves are nothing like in San Diego, where the waves are constantly pounding you and you had better stay alert or you get creamed. Here, they are gentle little wavelets, like the waves you make when you get into a bathtub. There were lots of people in the ocean with pool floaties and inner tubes, just floating in the ocean. After the beach we went to El Corte Ingles to get stuff for food, so we got a cool cheese platter-type thing and some bread and gouda and chorizo, along with 3 liters of boxed red wine (0.80 €!!!!) and coke light. So we ate tons of cheese and drank a shit load of calimocho and hung out with the Swedes (Linda and Peter) that we met that are in our room also. Went to bed around 1:30 am and accidentally woke up the Italians in the top bunks of Brett and I´s beds, but apparently it was ok because they were going out the club anyway and had been napping. I don´t know what time they got back, but sometime in the middle of the night the one above me jumped out of the bunk and left our bedroom door wide open along with the bathroom door and threw up for 15 minutes. It didn´t sound like he was doing well.
6/15
we got up at 6 am to get ready in time for our bus to Valencia, and as I was checking email before we left the hostel, I saw a girl in the placa outside our hostel, along with a group of other people, who were all heading home from the clubs. Things never close round Barcelona. I watched her take her shoes off, do the worst cartwheel in history with her dress around her neck and her ugly legging things flashing her ass to everyone, and then pick up her shoes and walk away. It was bizarre.
Busabout was great - we overshot the pickup point a bit on the metro and had to backtrack, but as hostel-finding goes it was a stunning success. Got all set on the bus, and I made sure to take my dramamine (or fake-amine, as we´ve been calling it, because it´s generic brand dramamine), so things were just dandy. I´m really really really glad that we chose to use this service rather than rail or something. the guides speak english, all of the pickup/dropoff points are listed online or in the back of the handbook they give you, they have a little scan-card for you that they scan when you get on the bus each time so that they know they have everyone that had booked that trip (like from Barcelona to Valencia). Also, it was great because this one chick was 7 minutes late, and the guide totally chewed her out for it. The bus itself is really nice, with fairly spacious seats and radio plugs for your headphones in front of every seat, air conditioning, and they played a movie that we could plug into as well. There were even curtains on the windows! PLus, when we got close to Valencia the guide gave a short history of the town and region, mentioned big attractions, etc - he talked about the region for 30 minutes or so. Such a great service, and they stopped every 2 hours or so for a bathroom break, leg stretch, and food break, but this time is built into their estimated travel time that they tell you, and they were very on-time. Awesome.
When we got to Valencia we got checked in and immediately took the bus to the beach. We got to the beach at 2 or 2:30 and didn´t leave until 7ish. Crazy! And it was still really nice out when we left. THe beaches here are much nicer than in Barcelona, with long expanses of clean pale sand and the Mediterranean gently lapping at the shore. It was quite quite windy that day, so there was sand blowing onto us constantly - we went into the water for a while and when we came back our towels were literally almost buried. The water is very clear, and it stays shallow for a really really long way here. The waves are nothing like in San Diego, where the waves are constantly pounding you and you had better stay alert or you get creamed. Here, they are gentle little wavelets, like the waves you make when you get into a bathtub. There were lots of people in the ocean with pool floaties and inner tubes, just floating in the ocean. After the beach we went to El Corte Ingles to get stuff for food, so we got a cool cheese platter-type thing and some bread and gouda and chorizo, along with 3 liters of boxed red wine (0.80 €!!!!) and coke light. So we ate tons of cheese and drank a shit load of calimocho and hung out with the Swedes (Linda and Peter) that we met that are in our room also. Went to bed around 1:30 am and accidentally woke up the Italians in the top bunks of Brett and I´s beds, but apparently it was ok because they were going out the club anyway and had been napping. I don´t know what time they got back, but sometime in the middle of the night the one above me jumped out of the bunk and left our bedroom door wide open along with the bathroom door and threw up for 15 minutes. It didn´t sound like he was doing well.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
6/14: Barcelona
Last night for dinner I mentioned the tapas we got, but let me repeat: we went to this tapas place nearby that we decided on after careful research, which consisted of walking by and deciding to go in. We ordered some red wine, a smoke salmon blini with sour cream and caviar, and a mozarella/basil/tomato thing. Oh my goooood the salmon blini was good. Even the wine was great, and I usually don´t like red wine that much. We also got some oysters on the halfshell, that they pulled out of some water and shucked in front of us. They were exceptionally fresssh. Very very good. Had beers and pita and some outstanding fries from some place nearby and went to bed fairly early.
The beach yesterday was great - a lot more sandy rather than dirt-y like the other beach, and since I haven´t gotten sunburnt yet, I´m quite quite happy with it. I´m getting pretty dark already, which is nice :)
I really really really love it here. There´s something so great about the people and the environment here, with people walking everywhere and eating ice cream all the time. I know it may seem like I´m harping on this, but it´s seriously great. It seems crazy that we already have to leave Barcelona. I know Valencia and all the other places on our trip will be great, but I LOVE Barcelona.
Anywayyyy we are doing laundry now, and got some bocadillos this morning, walked to the hostel our bus picks us up at tomorrow so that we know where it is and how long it takes to walk there (not very far and not very long), then went to the really really huge El Corte Ingles to get me a replacement towel. I know I mentioned El Corte Ingles before, but the one I went into before was tiny. This one looks like a cruise liner, hulking over the street, and it has 10 or 11 floors and and underground part. It´s huge. They have maps of the freaking store available when you walk in so that you don´t get lost or anything. Not only that, they have furniture, DVDs, books, clothes, perfume, makeup, a pharmacy, sporting equipment, luggage, towels, sheets, a full supermarket, lamps, and a fucking TRAVEL AGENCY!! Insane. I´m bringing the map home to prove I´m not making this shit up.
I forgot to mention back in Dublin that we saw a kid with Down´s Syndrome taking pictures of the band in the Green with his camera phone. At this point, nobody can try to tell me that using a cell phone is hard. If a kid with Down´s Syndrome can do it, anyone can.
The beach yesterday was great - a lot more sandy rather than dirt-y like the other beach, and since I haven´t gotten sunburnt yet, I´m quite quite happy with it. I´m getting pretty dark already, which is nice :)
I really really really love it here. There´s something so great about the people and the environment here, with people walking everywhere and eating ice cream all the time. I know it may seem like I´m harping on this, but it´s seriously great. It seems crazy that we already have to leave Barcelona. I know Valencia and all the other places on our trip will be great, but I LOVE Barcelona.
Anywayyyy we are doing laundry now, and got some bocadillos this morning, walked to the hostel our bus picks us up at tomorrow so that we know where it is and how long it takes to walk there (not very far and not very long), then went to the really really huge El Corte Ingles to get me a replacement towel. I know I mentioned El Corte Ingles before, but the one I went into before was tiny. This one looks like a cruise liner, hulking over the street, and it has 10 or 11 floors and and underground part. It´s huge. They have maps of the freaking store available when you walk in so that you don´t get lost or anything. Not only that, they have furniture, DVDs, books, clothes, perfume, makeup, a pharmacy, sporting equipment, luggage, towels, sheets, a full supermarket, lamps, and a fucking TRAVEL AGENCY!! Insane. I´m bringing the map home to prove I´m not making this shit up.
I forgot to mention back in Dublin that we saw a kid with Down´s Syndrome taking pictures of the band in the Green with his camera phone. At this point, nobody can try to tell me that using a cell phone is hard. If a kid with Down´s Syndrome can do it, anyone can.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
6/13: Barcelona
good god I hope these dates are right. After we came back from the internet cafe yesterday we went walking around and had pita before we went to the Arc De Triomf here. We wandered by accident into this amazing park with a HUGE HUGE HUGE fountain. We took a lil catnap to the background of two flamenco dancers practicing near us. It was greeeeat. Then we went back, had bread with jamon y queso (ham and cheese) and gazpacho, where we saw an old man wading in the fountain in Placa Reial. He was collecting cans, but then the police accosted him, made him get out, lectured him, took away his cans, and gave him a ticket. He wasn´t very pleased. We went to bed pretty early that night, but it was good because we needed the break, and our bodies really appreciated the time to recuperate.
Today (Wednesday) we went to Parque Guell in the morning, which meant we took the metro, which was very pleasant and fast. The park was suppppppper crowded, but just like Adam said, The Turo de las Tres Creus was amazing. It is also amazing how fucking steep the street from the metro to Parque Guell is - it´s insane. they don´t warn the unsuspecting, unfit tourists about THAT shit! It´s weird how a city so beautiful on a micro level can be just as ugly and city-like as any other city when you see it on the macro level. I also noticed how teenagers, no matter what language they are speaking, are very very very annoying. The park itself was beautiful, and reminded Brett and I of Devil´s Slide in Idyllwild, and the mosaic parts were really crowded with people taking bad pictures, but very enjoyable to see.
After that we came back to the hostel for gazpacho, cheap wine, and fruit for lunch, then went to the beach for 3 or 4 hours, slept a bit, and managed through careful sunscreen application to once again avoid getting sunburnt. Had some beers on the beach, and some ice cream like the locals do, then went back to rest in our room for a while.
After that, had some amazing tapas at this random place-we had toast with smoked salmon, sour cream and caviar, plus mozarella and tomato, and oysters on the half shell and some great red wine. Now we´re drinking beers in the hostel, trying to make a big night of our last carefree night in Barcelona. Tomorrow we´ll have to go to bed pretty early, because we need to be at the other hostel by 7:45 for our bus ride to Valencia. It´s only a 20 minute walk or so, but we have things to do to be ready, like shower and pack back up and stuff the night before. It´s nice that this hostel has lockers to store one´s shit in and stuff, because the other´s don´t necessarily.
Today (Wednesday) we went to Parque Guell in the morning, which meant we took the metro, which was very pleasant and fast. The park was suppppppper crowded, but just like Adam said, The Turo de las Tres Creus was amazing. It is also amazing how fucking steep the street from the metro to Parque Guell is - it´s insane. they don´t warn the unsuspecting, unfit tourists about THAT shit! It´s weird how a city so beautiful on a micro level can be just as ugly and city-like as any other city when you see it on the macro level. I also noticed how teenagers, no matter what language they are speaking, are very very very annoying. The park itself was beautiful, and reminded Brett and I of Devil´s Slide in Idyllwild, and the mosaic parts were really crowded with people taking bad pictures, but very enjoyable to see.
After that we came back to the hostel for gazpacho, cheap wine, and fruit for lunch, then went to the beach for 3 or 4 hours, slept a bit, and managed through careful sunscreen application to once again avoid getting sunburnt. Had some beers on the beach, and some ice cream like the locals do, then went back to rest in our room for a while.
After that, had some amazing tapas at this random place-we had toast with smoked salmon, sour cream and caviar, plus mozarella and tomato, and oysters on the half shell and some great red wine. Now we´re drinking beers in the hostel, trying to make a big night of our last carefree night in Barcelona. Tomorrow we´ll have to go to bed pretty early, because we need to be at the other hostel by 7:45 for our bus ride to Valencia. It´s only a 20 minute walk or so, but we have things to do to be ready, like shower and pack back up and stuff the night before. It´s nice that this hostel has lockers to store one´s shit in and stuff, because the other´s don´t necessarily.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
6/12: Barcelona
Woke up this morning with a vicious hangover and no memory past playing in a flippy cup relay with some canadians we met. Not a good way to start the day. Drank a liter of sangria and bunches and bunches of beers. Apparently went to get pita on Las Ramblas and completely don´t remember any of it. Oh well! Got up, had breakfast, got showered and then dragged my sorry ass over to La Sagrada Familia. Brett felt fine, the bastard, but I was seriously in bad shape, but I ended up feeling mostly better by the time we got about halfway there. It´s a loooong walk. It´s also super crowded there, so we just looked at the outside for a while, then walked for a while to get away from the expensive shops around La Sagrada Familia and bought cheese, some bread, and some fruit for lunch. Ate lunch in some little teeny park with a really cute dog running around in it, and soon we´ll walk back to the hostel.
All the Gaudi architecture around here is really cool, very modernistic and weird, but I love it. It´s modernistic but organic at the same time. It´s hard to make any transactions since I speak just about no Spanish, but I´m getting along ok, mostly on Brett´s knowledge.
I think we´re going to go to Park Guell tomorrow, or maybe later today, it´s just that we have to take public transport or something because apparently it´s too far to walk. Grrrowl.
All the Gaudi architecture around here is really cool, very modernistic and weird, but I love it. It´s modernistic but organic at the same time. It´s hard to make any transactions since I speak just about no Spanish, but I´m getting along ok, mostly on Brett´s knowledge.
I think we´re going to go to Park Guell tomorrow, or maybe later today, it´s just that we have to take public transport or something because apparently it´s too far to walk. Grrrowl.
Monday, June 11, 2007
6/11: Barcelona
Today we got up somewhat late, just 20 minutes or so late for breakfast. Drat. But I score a muffin from the nice Canadian girl in the next bunk and split a Clif bar with Brett, and am strangely not hungry even though I haven´t really eaten that much since a paltry sandwich at like 4:30 yesterday. What´s cool about this place, though, is that it has free breakfast AND free dinner, which is good because they don´t have a kitchen that we can use. We went out to walk around a bit in the morning, and also to try and find a towel and sunscreen, particularly since I happen to have forgotten my bath towel in Dublin. I have a degree, I´m smart, I swear. Anyway. Wandered around for a while, went in El Corte Ingles, which is this HUGE store with everything from clothes to jewelry to sporting equipment to groceries. However, the particular one we went in was pretty small and did not have sunscreen or towels. No housewares department, I guess. But we did find sunscreen at a pharmacy along the street and bought gaudy beach towels from a street vendor for the appalling price of 10 Euro. Oh well. Walked to the beach (10 minute walk, my ASS) in our flip flops which gave me a blister between my toes. That´s the first time I´ve EVER gotten that type of blister from flip flops. Go figure. I need to be super careful in the showers from now on, until it heals, so that I don´t get some awful infection. I already wear my flip flops in the shower, but caution is important!
Hung out at the beach, which had a fantastic breeze that kept me from getting too hot. The sand is very strange at the beach here, more like a mixture of kitty litter and dirt than the sand we´re used to in the States. We´d been warned that it would be dirty and crowded, but maybe it´s just that we´re from a beach city, but the beach seemed totally fine to me. There´s all these people that walk around trying to sell stuff, and there are particular racial divisions in those people - the Indians sell beer and Fanta and stuff (and coconut pieces, for some reason), the asian women try to get you to buy a massage that SUCKS - lots of slapping and weird maneuvers. My parents would be just appalled. Those women are VERY aggressive, also. Oh well. The water is beautiful, but colder than I expected, with a weird drop-off not too far out. Very salty, also.
Drank gazpacho as we walked there/back, ate bananas and apples, and generally just hung out- we realized that this is our biggest responsibility right now, just hanging out and not getting sunburnt. Went back to the hostel to shower and put on real shoes, then walked around and took pictures, and now we´re going to go out on La Rambla and drink a jug of sangria at a street side cafe (there are TONS AND TONS) and maybe buy postcards.
I love it here. I could totally live here. It´s so fucking beautiful.
Hung out at the beach, which had a fantastic breeze that kept me from getting too hot. The sand is very strange at the beach here, more like a mixture of kitty litter and dirt than the sand we´re used to in the States. We´d been warned that it would be dirty and crowded, but maybe it´s just that we´re from a beach city, but the beach seemed totally fine to me. There´s all these people that walk around trying to sell stuff, and there are particular racial divisions in those people - the Indians sell beer and Fanta and stuff (and coconut pieces, for some reason), the asian women try to get you to buy a massage that SUCKS - lots of slapping and weird maneuvers. My parents would be just appalled. Those women are VERY aggressive, also. Oh well. The water is beautiful, but colder than I expected, with a weird drop-off not too far out. Very salty, also.
Drank gazpacho as we walked there/back, ate bananas and apples, and generally just hung out- we realized that this is our biggest responsibility right now, just hanging out and not getting sunburnt. Went back to the hostel to shower and put on real shoes, then walked around and took pictures, and now we´re going to go out on La Rambla and drink a jug of sangria at a street side cafe (there are TONS AND TONS) and maybe buy postcards.
I love it here. I could totally live here. It´s so fucking beautiful.
6/10: Travel Day!
Well, gee. Sunday was quite the day. After surviving a nasty hangover, Brett and I got packed up and headed out for our last lunch in the Green, then picked up our packs from the luggage room at Avalon House and went in search of the airport bus. It´s a good thing that we left really early for the bus station because we walked around for over an hour going back and forth and shit trying to the find the bus stop. It was just ridiculous. And HOT. I had totally sweated out the back of my shirt and stuff and I felt all sticky and in need of a shower. When we finally got onto the bus, we ended up on NOT the express airport bus, which sucked because it was TOTALLY full and we were all in the way and unwieldy with our huge packs in this hot, cramped, packed bus that stopped every 30 seconds. So needless to say it took us a while to get the airport. However, flying with Air Lingus was a pleasure and a breeze, aside from the 45 minute delay before our flight took off and the inexplicable demand that we all unbuckle our seatbelts right before we taxi´d out to take off.
Got into the Barcelona airport and picked up our bags, went over to the information area to find out how to get to La Rambla, and witnesed a lady get her ankle broken by an unruly and unsafely long line of luggage trolleys slamming her into a counter. She had this weird wail when she got hit. Anyway, got on the bus, which ended up being packed too (even at 22:30!) but we got on before it was crowded so we had seats and stuff! Got dropped off and knew we had a bit of walking to do, but we ended up going the wrong direction and walked literally almost a mile before we turned around, then went another wrong way, then finally found La Rambla and walked far far far down it to get to our hostel. I was afraid they would drop our reservation or it would be closed, but it was HOPPING! This is one happening hostel. Everyone was hanging out, playing pool and stuff, drinking cheap beer from the bar in the hostel, etc. Wow. At like 12:30 am. Got settled in, put our stuff down, and had some beers and took some cool pictures before heading to bed at like 2:30. I really really really like this hostel!
Update on Monday coming later.
Got into the Barcelona airport and picked up our bags, went over to the information area to find out how to get to La Rambla, and witnesed a lady get her ankle broken by an unruly and unsafely long line of luggage trolleys slamming her into a counter. She had this weird wail when she got hit. Anyway, got on the bus, which ended up being packed too (even at 22:30!) but we got on before it was crowded so we had seats and stuff! Got dropped off and knew we had a bit of walking to do, but we ended up going the wrong direction and walked literally almost a mile before we turned around, then went another wrong way, then finally found La Rambla and walked far far far down it to get to our hostel. I was afraid they would drop our reservation or it would be closed, but it was HOPPING! This is one happening hostel. Everyone was hanging out, playing pool and stuff, drinking cheap beer from the bar in the hostel, etc. Wow. At like 12:30 am. Got settled in, put our stuff down, and had some beers and took some cool pictures before heading to bed at like 2:30. I really really really like this hostel!
Update on Monday coming later.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
oog
Well thank goodness I feel slightly better. We're all checked out and stuff, going to go get our bus tickets and bum around a bit before we catch the 2pm bus to the airport for BARCELONNNNNAAAAAA
6/9: Last day in Dublin
Yesterday we went to the Green (again) and did some more journal-writing. There was this super-adorable boxer there whose owner kept throwing a frisbee in the little mini-river in the Green, and every single time he did it, the boxer jumped in like it was the best thing ever. After maybe two tosses, the boxer brought the frisbee to this group of guys who were lying in the sun and shook all the water off onto them and then dropped the frisbee straight onto one of their shoes. This turned out to be a pattern - the dog would fetch the frisbee from the water and then drop it on someone's shoe and shake on them, then look at them expectantly. After the Green we went to the store, bought two screw-top bottles of chardonnay and put them in the water bladder of one of our packs. Bought our 'usual' lunch: loaf of ciabbatta, goat cheese, and salami, and drank our illicit wine and ate our lunch in the green, then watched the orchestra perform for a few hours while lounging in the sun.
After that we went and did laundry, just one load, and then decided that our tradition for our last night in each city would be to go to a bar and write our favorite things about that city over a few beers. Unfortunately we decided to do this on an empty stomach, dehydrated, and still feeling the effects of two bottles of wine. After 4 or 5 beers each we went back to the hostel, made frozen pizza for dinner (no gourmet for us!) and went to bed. Now it's 8:30 the next morning and I'm super hung over and feel like shit. Fantasticccccc. Why am I so smart?? Ugh. A few new pics to come today, then we travel to Barcelona tonight - 9 hours ahead, not 8.
After that we went and did laundry, just one load, and then decided that our tradition for our last night in each city would be to go to a bar and write our favorite things about that city over a few beers. Unfortunately we decided to do this on an empty stomach, dehydrated, and still feeling the effects of two bottles of wine. After 4 or 5 beers each we went back to the hostel, made frozen pizza for dinner (no gourmet for us!) and went to bed. Now it's 8:30 the next morning and I'm super hung over and feel like shit. Fantasticccccc. Why am I so smart?? Ugh. A few new pics to come today, then we travel to Barcelona tonight - 9 hours ahead, not 8.
Friday, June 8, 2007
6/8: Dublin still!
Woke up very early this morning, although we didn't go to bed particularly early. Checked email, ate breakfast, and got ourselves cleaned up. Went to St. Stephen's Green rather than upload pics because the internet cafe was closed still. Wrote for a bit in our journals, but then my pen died and Brett wanted to walk around, so I lounged on the bench for a while, then we alternated lying in one another's laps for a bit.
Instead of getting lunch and eating in the green we opted to walk and walk and walk to the Museum of Modern Art, which has some stunning grounds, and I do mean stunning. The museums here are free, which is great, it's just getting to them, since they're between 30 min and 45 min walk away. The Modern Art Museum has this amazing courtyard with huge sculptures dotting the pavement inside, and several different exhibitions going in different wings of a coverted manor-ish type house. We went to the Irish National Museum directly after that, since they're very close, and walked through their exhibits, which were very interesting and informative. What's interesting about all of the Irish history we've learned about so far is that it is veyr subjective - even museums don't bother to hide their slant and have a distinctly put-upon tone that reminds me a bit of a lot of Jewish and African-American history I've learned. I think, in this case, that this is a clear remnant of colonialism's effect on the people and culture. They have only been independent for something near 100 years, I think.
After the museums, we walked back closer to our neck of the woods and stopped for a few pints on a deliberately empty belly. Had a few pints, then left to get some food. I know that Americans have a reputation as silly tippers, but it must be working, since some of the worst service I've gotten in the US is lovely compared to the usual here. What's also interesting is that almost nobody working in bars, restaurants, etc. are Irish. Most of them have other accents or can barely speak English (not that the locals' version of English is intelligible anyway), and are far more attractive than the local Irish.
Brett and I got a sandwich to go from Cafe Irie and split it in the Green around 3 - then lounged in the grass in the sun for an hour or so. The green was still crowded at that hour, and I fell asleep. It was glorious. When we were there this morning I noticed actively something that I've seen most of the time I've been here, which is the abundance of dandelion-fluff type things floating about in the air. In the morning quiet of the green, they seemed like something you'd see in the clear, liquid light of a dream, even though you see them everywhere.
Made ravioli for dinner with garlic bread and stuff, then went to the room to figure out what to do with our evening and ended up falling asleep for almost 2 hours. We'll never be able to fall asleep tonight! Not sure what we'll do tonight, but it's been a GREAT day.
Also, I'm not sure what it is, if it's an excess of smoking or an absence of tooth whitening, but there are a lot of yellowed smiles here. Or maybe it's that the excessive smokers don't whiten like they do in the states. All I know is it's a bit weird.
Instead of getting lunch and eating in the green we opted to walk and walk and walk to the Museum of Modern Art, which has some stunning grounds, and I do mean stunning. The museums here are free, which is great, it's just getting to them, since they're between 30 min and 45 min walk away. The Modern Art Museum has this amazing courtyard with huge sculptures dotting the pavement inside, and several different exhibitions going in different wings of a coverted manor-ish type house. We went to the Irish National Museum directly after that, since they're very close, and walked through their exhibits, which were very interesting and informative. What's interesting about all of the Irish history we've learned about so far is that it is veyr subjective - even museums don't bother to hide their slant and have a distinctly put-upon tone that reminds me a bit of a lot of Jewish and African-American history I've learned. I think, in this case, that this is a clear remnant of colonialism's effect on the people and culture. They have only been independent for something near 100 years, I think.
After the museums, we walked back closer to our neck of the woods and stopped for a few pints on a deliberately empty belly. Had a few pints, then left to get some food. I know that Americans have a reputation as silly tippers, but it must be working, since some of the worst service I've gotten in the US is lovely compared to the usual here. What's also interesting is that almost nobody working in bars, restaurants, etc. are Irish. Most of them have other accents or can barely speak English (not that the locals' version of English is intelligible anyway), and are far more attractive than the local Irish.
Brett and I got a sandwich to go from Cafe Irie and split it in the Green around 3 - then lounged in the grass in the sun for an hour or so. The green was still crowded at that hour, and I fell asleep. It was glorious. When we were there this morning I noticed actively something that I've seen most of the time I've been here, which is the abundance of dandelion-fluff type things floating about in the air. In the morning quiet of the green, they seemed like something you'd see in the clear, liquid light of a dream, even though you see them everywhere.
Made ravioli for dinner with garlic bread and stuff, then went to the room to figure out what to do with our evening and ended up falling asleep for almost 2 hours. We'll never be able to fall asleep tonight! Not sure what we'll do tonight, but it's been a GREAT day.
Also, I'm not sure what it is, if it's an excess of smoking or an absence of tooth whitening, but there are a lot of yellowed smiles here. Or maybe it's that the excessive smokers don't whiten like they do in the states. All I know is it's a bit weird.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
6/7: Dublin!
Today we woke up just in time for our free breakfast, which all the Americans hate because it's toast and jam and orange juice, basically. I actually like it, which is weird since I usually hate jam altogether. Then we went to St Stephen's Green for a few hours, hung out on a bench in the middle and journaled/basked in the sun like lizards. Then we went and grabbed chorizo, bread loaf, and cheese and ate in St Stephen's Green accompanied by the concert. Then we walked to what was supposed to be the surrender point in the 1916 rebellion, but turned out to be a plaque about said uprising on the side of the 'Oldest Bar in Dublin.' It was really far, past the Spire and such, and we saw a place that serves 'jugs' which are I believe pitchers in Ire-speak, of cocktails and beer. We walked back to the hostel, then hung around, ate dinner, then walked back out to find a coffee place to wait for it to get dark. Unfortunately, it's 10pm and still not dark, more dusk-ish, and we walked so far in our quest for coffee shops that we ended up by the jugs place and just decided on a jug of cocktails. Our jug apparently was the virgin cug or something because neither of us felt ANYTHING after drinking the whole thing. Walked back, tried to take the pictures we wanted but were thwarted by this damned late light thing, so we're back in the hostel hanging out till dark.
I was thinking about the fact that I'm not carrying a purse here at all, or much of anything, really, not around town. I wonder if I'll welcome the return to a purse in 3 months, or if I won't be able to stand them anymore. I rather think that I won't be able to stand them. Ok well, time's up on the hostel comp, so off I go!
I was thinking about the fact that I'm not carrying a purse here at all, or much of anything, really, not around town. I wonder if I'll welcome the return to a purse in 3 months, or if I won't be able to stand them anymore. I rather think that I won't be able to stand them. Ok well, time's up on the hostel comp, so off I go!
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
6/6 final bloggage
So. We decided to go to The Porterhouse, a micro-brew bar after our own hearts, flying the flag of indie beers and fighting corporate bullshit beers everywhere. It was GREAT. The service, as I've come to expect, was marginal, but after we heard our aborted pub crawl guide say that everyone loves Americans because they tip, we decided not to tip anymore so we feel less annoyed about it. We had an AMAZING lager - best lager ever - called "Chiller" that is brewed by the bar company, and hung out and ate french fries with VINEGAR of all vulgar things (though it was good anyway), and I must say it was appalling to see that the only beers listed under "USA" were Coors Light, Bud Light, Rolling Rock, and Sam Adams. The menu actually said "The USA has a reputation for brewing the most boring lagers ever, but has since come out with some decent brews." Apparently Coors light is a decent brew? Lame. They need to taste some fucking Alesmith beers. Those would knock them on their asses, I bet.
But. After The Porterhouse, we went to Half Moon for my Nutella Crepe. Oh. My. God. It was so fucking gooooood! OH man. Brett got one that was slightly different and they were both heavenly. Well worth almost 6 Euro each, though maybe not worth that much more than once. Things are damn expensive here. We're trying to get used to the fact that we didn't go out at all in the US so that we could save for this trip, and that NOW we can go out.
I saw an Urban Outfitters last night and thought of Shannon. Aside from the every moment that I've been thinking about her, every time I take a picture and every time I see a picture I can't pull off but that she could, it makes me sad that she can't be here experiencing this with me. :(
time to go to bed!
But. After The Porterhouse, we went to Half Moon for my Nutella Crepe. Oh. My. God. It was so fucking gooooood! OH man. Brett got one that was slightly different and they were both heavenly. Well worth almost 6 Euro each, though maybe not worth that much more than once. Things are damn expensive here. We're trying to get used to the fact that we didn't go out at all in the US so that we could save for this trip, and that NOW we can go out.
I saw an Urban Outfitters last night and thought of Shannon. Aside from the every moment that I've been thinking about her, every time I take a picture and every time I see a picture I can't pull off but that she could, it makes me sad that she can't be here experiencing this with me. :(
time to go to bed!
6/6 - continued
Well, it's about 6pm here, and today was GREAT. Brett and I realized that yesterday was our 3 1/2 year anniversary, and it was great regardless of the fact that we forgot about it.
Today we finally managed to walk around in St Stephen's Green, which is a HUGE beautiful green park a few blocks from our hostel. It was sooooo nice, we just walked around, then sat on a bench in the middle in the sun for a while. After we got hungry, we decided to go get a loaf of ciabbatta bread and some goat cheese, along with groceries for dinner tonight, and eat bread and cheese in the park for lunch. Apparently this is what every other Dubliner also does on a sunny lunch break. There were sooo many people just hanging out eating their lunches - women with babies, men in business suits, old couples, you name it. After we ate our very very very good lunch, we wandered to a different part of the park where there was a military band playing - apparently every afternoon from 1-2 in the summer there are concerts in the park. It was just so nice and relaxing and there were so many people just chillin in the grass listening to the band or dancing or playing games.
After that we walked to the Jameson Distillery (after a small lost episode) and took the tour (9 Euro, and actually guided, unlike the 14 Euro bullshit of the Guinness Storehouse). I was a taste-test volunteer, and so I tasted a whole bunch of irish whiskeys plus a scotch and and an American - the American was HARSH compared to even the Scotch but definitely against the Irish. Then we walked back and made dinner and who knows (aside from my nutella crepe) is to follow?
Impressions:
why do all the women wear hot pink flats?
little boys with large rhinestone-pierced ears
kamikaze homicidal drivers
bring wine to St Stephen's Green tomorrow if this won't get us arrested by the Garda
Today we finally managed to walk around in St Stephen's Green, which is a HUGE beautiful green park a few blocks from our hostel. It was sooooo nice, we just walked around, then sat on a bench in the middle in the sun for a while. After we got hungry, we decided to go get a loaf of ciabbatta bread and some goat cheese, along with groceries for dinner tonight, and eat bread and cheese in the park for lunch. Apparently this is what every other Dubliner also does on a sunny lunch break. There were sooo many people just hanging out eating their lunches - women with babies, men in business suits, old couples, you name it. After we ate our very very very good lunch, we wandered to a different part of the park where there was a military band playing - apparently every afternoon from 1-2 in the summer there are concerts in the park. It was just so nice and relaxing and there were so many people just chillin in the grass listening to the band or dancing or playing games.
After that we walked to the Jameson Distillery (after a small lost episode) and took the tour (9 Euro, and actually guided, unlike the 14 Euro bullshit of the Guinness Storehouse). I was a taste-test volunteer, and so I tasted a whole bunch of irish whiskeys plus a scotch and and an American - the American was HARSH compared to even the Scotch but definitely against the Irish. Then we walked back and made dinner and who knows (aside from my nutella crepe) is to follow?
Impressions:
why do all the women wear hot pink flats?
little boys with large rhinestone-pierced ears
kamikaze homicidal drivers
bring wine to St Stephen's Green tomorrow if this won't get us arrested by the Garda
Dublin: 6/6
I woke up this morning and without even getting up, without even sitting up, I could feel the fatigue in my legs. I was expecting misery when I stood up, but in fact it wasn't too bad. I was freaking out that it might be past when breakfast is served in the hostel (10 am) so I got up, but it's only 8 am, so I hopped on a rare open comp terminal to blog a lil bit.
Something I haven't mentioned yet is how late it stays light here. Last night we didn't even leave the hostel to walk around after dinner until 8:30 pm or so, and it looked like 4:30. At 10:30 or 11 it was near sunset and we went to a creperie for a coffee/sparkling water. They have freaking nutella/vanilla ice cream/pecan crepes, so I'm all over that as a treat today. They're about 4 Euro, so I need to not eat them too much, cuz I'm trying to be, you know, frugal and shit.
There are so many Americans here that you could choke a small donkey. I'm none too thrilled, but I guess I should have expected it. I'm hoping that perhaps in the non-English-speaking countries there will be fewer, or at least less annoying, Americans.
The weather is supposed to stay nice until Saturday, which is GREAT. That'll give us just enough time before we leave Sunday night to start to hate Dublin and be desperate to get to sunny Barcelona!
More updates when the day is done.
Something I haven't mentioned yet is how late it stays light here. Last night we didn't even leave the hostel to walk around after dinner until 8:30 pm or so, and it looked like 4:30. At 10:30 or 11 it was near sunset and we went to a creperie for a coffee/sparkling water. They have freaking nutella/vanilla ice cream/pecan crepes, so I'm all over that as a treat today. They're about 4 Euro, so I need to not eat them too much, cuz I'm trying to be, you know, frugal and shit.
There are so many Americans here that you could choke a small donkey. I'm none too thrilled, but I guess I should have expected it. I'm hoping that perhaps in the non-English-speaking countries there will be fewer, or at least less annoying, Americans.
The weather is supposed to stay nice until Saturday, which is GREAT. That'll give us just enough time before we leave Sunday night to start to hate Dublin and be desperate to get to sunny Barcelona!
More updates when the day is done.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Dublin: 6/5
We got up this morning feeling amazing. It's astonishing what some sleep will do for you. We also successfully beat jetlag, which is VERY good. AfTer our free hostel breakfast we left to walk around town. We saw St Patricks Church and Park, Christ's church also. Beautiful semi-gothic churches. After that we walked along the boardwalk of the Liffey, then went back to the hostel for leftover dinner/lunch. After lunch we walked to the Guinness factory, paid our 14€, and wandered around the factory. had our 'complimentary' beer, with gorgeous 360 degree view, then went to the downstairs bar. Asked that bartender about the Foreign Extra Guinness, so he gave us a free one and we talked for a while. He was verrry nice. Apparently that beer is only sold in South Africa!
My feet hurt a lot, but otherwise I'm not too torn up from all the walking, just need to stretch a lot. Either going to the Jameson Distillery or Belfast or Cork tomorrow, not sure.
Pics from the last few days up here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettgphoto/
keep checking cuz there'll be lots more.
My feet hurt a lot, but otherwise I'm not too torn up from all the walking, just need to stretch a lot. Either going to the Jameson Distillery or Belfast or Cork tomorrow, not sure.
Pics from the last few days up here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettgphoto/
keep checking cuz there'll be lots more.
Dubln: 6/4
We left the house super early because of the
Rock N Roll Marathon, but didn't end up hitting
any traffic at all, so we were all checked in by
8:3o for an 11:3o flight. Kudra knew that
something was up. She just sat on her window
ledge looking terrified, and when Brett and l said
goodbye we barely kept from crying. Our flight
got stuck in a holding pattern over Philadelphia
and so our flight landed an hour late. Brett and l
hauled ass to make our connection, which was
supposed to leave at 8:45. Since we got to
Philadelphia at 8:2o, we were just happy to
make it to our flight. We ended up waiting for
lots of other passengers and left 45 min late.
But the flight to Dublin is only about 6 hours
long, so not too bad.
One thing I've thought about is that while
Brett and I can talk about stuff at home like
how we're going to rehaul the kegerator or buy
bar stools, we're going to be gone for so long
that we're going to forget that those things are
even concerns. That idea is slowly settling over
me, the way a sheet settles slowly over a bed
after you flap a sheet over it.
6/4
We're here! Weirdly enough, there was a
marathon going on here as well! After collecting
ourselves (and getting our passports stamped,
yay!) we got on a bus to Temple Bar, where our
hostel is located. Got checked in, then went for
lunch at Cafe Irie and esspresso for me. Walked
around, bought groceries, went back to the hostel.
Left again, then joined the marathon for a while,
though it seemed to consist of sauntering around
and socializing, with frequent cigarette breaks.
We split from them and walked back towards the
hostel, and I was so tired that I was dizzy, and I
swear I fell asleep while walking. We, therefore,
napped, cooked dinner in a woefully inadequate
kitchen, then went on a puub crawl which we left
at the second bar. Walked around some more then
bought pastries and went back to the hostel to crash.
We have 3 meals leftover from dinner - 4 meals for
7€, pretty awesome!
Bar count: 1 1/2
Rock N Roll Marathon, but didn't end up hitting
any traffic at all, so we were all checked in by
8:3o for an 11:3o flight. Kudra knew that
something was up. She just sat on her window
ledge looking terrified, and when Brett and l said
goodbye we barely kept from crying. Our flight
got stuck in a holding pattern over Philadelphia
and so our flight landed an hour late. Brett and l
hauled ass to make our connection, which was
supposed to leave at 8:45. Since we got to
Philadelphia at 8:2o, we were just happy to
make it to our flight. We ended up waiting for
lots of other passengers and left 45 min late.
But the flight to Dublin is only about 6 hours
long, so not too bad.
One thing I've thought about is that while
Brett and I can talk about stuff at home like
how we're going to rehaul the kegerator or buy
bar stools, we're going to be gone for so long
that we're going to forget that those things are
even concerns. That idea is slowly settling over
me, the way a sheet settles slowly over a bed
after you flap a sheet over it.
6/4
We're here! Weirdly enough, there was a
marathon going on here as well! After collecting
ourselves (and getting our passports stamped,
yay!) we got on a bus to Temple Bar, where our
hostel is located. Got checked in, then went for
lunch at Cafe Irie and esspresso for me. Walked
around, bought groceries, went back to the hostel.
Left again, then joined the marathon for a while,
though it seemed to consist of sauntering around
and socializing, with frequent cigarette breaks.
We split from them and walked back towards the
hostel, and I was so tired that I was dizzy, and I
swear I fell asleep while walking. We, therefore,
napped, cooked dinner in a woefully inadequate
kitchen, then went on a puub crawl which we left
at the second bar. Walked around some more then
bought pastries and went back to the hostel to crash.
We have 3 meals leftover from dinner - 4 meals for
7€, pretty awesome!
Bar count: 1 1/2
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