Dublin Day 1

Woke up at 10am and showered and packed a day pack to head to Howth, a small irish city on the coast just north of dublin. We grabbed breakfast at a local grocery store and hopped the train to Howth. Looked around at the harbor then started the 3 hour hike along the shoreline. there were breathtaking views of the ocean and 'very dangerous cliffs.' we even picnicked down in a Ravine at low tide. Pictures can tell what a gorgeous place it was. and everything was quite green if i do say so myself. Toufic mentioned me going to the Cliffs of Moher tomorrow and i am very interested. we made it to our train station having just missed a train and caught the next on after a half hour. made it back to Toufics house and he made sweet pasta and creamy salmon for dinner. now i am catching up on emails and he is working on his project for tomorrow that he has to present. i booked the Cliffs of Moher bus travel for tomorrow (it takes 2 hours to get there from dublin) and it was only 40 euros i leave at 745 am and get back about 7pm. i also get to see a castle too. should be good!!

en route to Dublin

Woke up at 9 am after watching Sherlock holmes with Javier. Showered, packed and had chicken burritos for breakfast. hopped the subway to the beach so i could see the barcelona beach before heading to dublin. the beach was rather nice. saw some nudes bathing.... but it was quite nice and quiet for being eleven am. stopped at a restaurant to order a spanish omelet so i could try it before leaving spain. it was quite good. just an egg bake with potatoes. Then Javier brought me home so i could grab my stuff and we hopped the RR to the airport. Waited in line for about 3o minutes to check my bag with RYANAIR to only discover this ticket counter coudlnt help me until i had my passport checked at a different counter which took another 20 minutes to get through. RyANAIR SUCKS! (in paris i did both at the same counter). got through and boarded the plane. Scored the emergency exit row window AGAIN ( 4/5) and took a nap until i arrived in Dublin. The dude at customs gave me a rather hard time (why are you here? are you traveling alone? Who are you visiting? how did you meet him? how much money do you have with you? when are u leaving? Can i see your itinerary as to when you are leaving? when did you leave the US? ETc ETC ETc) but it only took about twenty minutes to get through and my bag wasnt even ready yet. Grabbed my bags and met Toufic my host outside the arrivals gate. We hopped a bus to the city center dropped my bags off at his house and grabbed a bite to eat. We split a nachos and calzone with goat cheese. quite tastey then hit up an irish club before calling it a night. oh by the way have i mentioned it rains EVERYWHERE i go...because it was pooring on us our entire walk home. quite fun.....

Barcelona day 1

Woke up this morning at about ten am, Javier went and grabbed chicken and cheese burritos for breakfast ate and then we went to the Tabidabo-- a church high on the hill.. there was a street car to bring you up to the furnicle where you catch a tram up to the top. well--that all would have costed 10 euros--so instead we decided to walk. And yes, i wore a dress today and flipflops, i suggested walking. took us about 15 minutes to get to the furnicle and the line was really long for that so i said lets walk. it was a gorgous 45 minute hike through the winding trails of the mountain overlooking the city. even though we were still in the city limits it didnt feel like we were. once we got to the top--we walked through the amusement park andd javier grabbed an ice cold cocacola. we enjoyed the scenary and then i decided to make the climb up to the tip top of the church on the hill. for 2 euros i was allowed up (most of the way by elevator) and got some gorgeous pictures from up there-- if only it wasnt cloudy today. Afterwards we decided to start our hike back down, which only took about 30 minutes and i had a stratichicato (chocolate chip) ice cream to help with the hike. We got all the way to the bottom, hopped our metro and are home now so javier can shower and i can change my shoes. We are headed back to la rambla for the night and tomorrow we plan on visiting the beach before my 340pm flight to dublin. That host knows i am coming :-)

En Route to Barcelona

Woke up at 7am, showered and finished putting everything in my 2 bags then hopped the metro with Mohammad. Made it to the bus stop for Paris Beauvais and waited around for 45 minutes for the bus. The bus took over an hour to get to the airport and then i waited at the airport another 2 hours before boarding the plane. RyANAIR SuCKS! anyways, i got the window seat of the emergency exit row (3/4 on scoring that seat) and fell back asleep on the hour and twenty minute flight to barcelona. Landed and hopped the 5,30 bus to the city center where i was meeting my host Javier. he found me right away and rode the metro with me to his house so we could drop my bags. Then we went to the Sagruda familia (the church started by guida) and i grabbed a pizza for lunch (peppers, egg, and cheese--quite good) and then we went and walked the la rambla and even stopped in the famous market there where i had a strawberry coconut fresh squeezed juice. We then walked to the pier and went up to the la guila a park up on a mountain that overlooked the sea. Sat there and relaxed for a couple of hours. Before we knew it it was 930 pm and we headed back to Javier's house so he could change and then we went to the neighborhood irish pub. made it home by 1130 and went to sleep.

Paris day 4

Woke up at eleven and called chris(CS rugieros' friends friend) and found out im meeting him to watch the tour de france at 1 pm. Mohammad went out and grabbed bread for breakfast and then he was going to his sisters and i was going to watch the tour de france. Climbed up the seven flights of stairs to his apartment to meet his girlfriend catalina and then she made lunches quick and we were off to a nearby park to get spots on a bridge over the tour de france bike trail. We took the 14 metro to the park and there were no spots on the first bridge so we took the second bridge so we had front row seats. other people started joining us at about 145. the advertisements started at 2pm and lasted about 45 minutes. there were various things including laundry detergent, water, candy, grocery store chains, communist groups etc. Then we enjoyed our bottle of red and the lovely sandwiches while we waited another 2 hours for the bikers. they came and were gone in the blink of an eye but it was still really cool to see. then we went and grabbed gelato-- i had lemon and coconut and then decided to rent bikes and go biking around a nearby park. it was already five pm. biked for a couple hours to the fort of vincents or something like that and then headed to a nearby pub for some nice conversation before chris and catolina put me on a metro to find mohammad. Walked and found mohammad then went to a nearby french restaurant where i had duck, auggratten potatoes salad and creme brulee for dessert. mmmm packed my bags and am lined up wiith meeting my host in barcelona. hopefully its a good day tomorow too!

Paris day 3

well--- we were at the fancy club until 5 am, which means-- i didnt wake up until 1pm. Once i woke up I decided i defintely needed to go running as it had been 8 days since my last run. Took off to the river and ran multiple laps around the small park. added 18 sets of stairs to the run as well. an hour and 20 minutes later i returned to Mohammads house and showered and the boys ordered pizza complete with tuna and black olives. It was surprisingly QUITE tastey :-) about 4pm we started on the metro for the cathedral of Notredame. It was MASSIVE and gorgeous on the inside. in fact-- there was a church service going on while i was there. I lit a candle there too in remembrance of Shea Stremcha-- my friend that was murdered back home. walked passed the love bridge where everyone puts a lock for good luck when they get married. then went to the church on the hill where i wasnt allowed to take pictures on the inside and then we walked the red light district of paris and saw the moulan rouge. headed back to mohammads place and i packed my stuff. staying at his friend mohammads house tonight so my host mohammad can stay at his uncles. ill stay at mohammad#2s house until i leave for barcelona on monday. well i was packing the friend rugiero from amsterdam told me to get ahold of while in france (i did but hes onto greece so he told me hed spread the word to his friends) had one of his friends get ahold of me and he invited me to watch the finale of the tour de france tomorrow--so im goin to do that instead of disney land paris . we will see what happens

Paris Day 2

Slept in until 10 am again. showered and ran to the cyber cafe to print out my plane tickets (barcelona on monday) our tickets for Versailles and tickets for the party we are going to tonight. then we made breakfast and sandwiches for the day (fresh baquettes with freshly chopped tomatoes by me lettuce, french cheese, and eggs or chicken) then had an egg sandwich and dinked around the house before catching our one oclock train to Versailles. We saved 3.50 euro by booking the tickets through Mohammads work. and we skipped the line to buy tickets. Versailles is VERY highly decorated and filled with gold. We did the tours of the house and the rooms were extravagent. Luis Alberto asked me to compare Versailles to Schonbrumm (the castle in Vienna--which was decorated by louis 14 wife... i think). Schonbrumm had more extravagent furniture but Versailles had more extravagent paintings--the dance hall was absolutely gorgeous and with 314 rooms--wins hands down. At 5pm the gardens opened for free. Schonbrumm's garden and outdoors were better managed than Versailles but Versailles were massive. The hedges at Versailles were about 30 feet tall! i would not want to get lost in that maze. About 530 we headed back on the train for Mohammads house. He mentioned me doing DisneyLand on Sunday which would be sweet especially since ive never actually been to disney land or disney world (other than inside the wide world of sports arena in orlando). Well see. there have been a few couchsurfers that have gotten in contact with me to hang out to so it could be fun. After we returned to Mohammad's house, i had the chicken sandwich and we went to check out the eiffel tower. I had a chocolate and strawberry crepe (MUcH thinner than the pancakes of amsterdam). and got numerous pictures with the eiffel tower. Now we are relaxing before goign to our party at 11pm. Supposedly it goes until 6 am--well see if i can make it that late. tomorrow we are doing Notre Dame, the church on the hill and the moulan rouge (from the outside).

Paris day 1

Was woken up at 7 am by my phone vibratiing to a facebook message from Swanny. I read it like three times and couldnt believe it. Our friend (who i met through him because they both went to st johns) Shea was murdered Wednesday morning in his home by a burglar who shot shea multiple times while he was trying to protect his fiance. I am still speachless about it. I really wish i was there to help because i know that the boys were all so close. i ended up falling back asleep until ten when mohammad prepared breakfast (EGGS plus cheese and fresh baked baguette) and then around 12 we were off to go to the louvre. the line was a mile long so we finagled our way in just after the rope ended. saw a bunch of amazing things including the mona lisa and the egyptian exhibits. i took about 150 pictures there alone. then after four and a half hours we walked though the garden and returned home for dinner. mohammad prepared chicken spinach and rice which was quite tastey. after dinner i ended up taking a nap, im still a little not myself because the shea thing makes me sick to my stomach. at about 930 we headed to the arch de triumph (but in french terms) and then walked the street elysse... stopped in a pub and returned home. Tomorrow we are doing Versailles (and yes we have preordered our tickets). Until then!