Last I left you I was getting ready to begin some alone time in France. I was going to get myself a solid meal, walk around a bit and see where the night takes me. I decided on the consistent badgering of Josh I would finally try out Le Academie de Beire. It was only about a 10 minute walk from my hostel, so I figured if I drank a beer or two I'd still be able to make it back. I went to the place, got myself a bucket of mussels, some fries, and in the end 2 Belgian Beers. The first beer I had was a Grimbergen I think Optima ( truthfully I don't remember, but I took a picture for reference) and the second was a beer called Nostradamus (the 10% of content of the first beer left little options of what I could actually pronounce correctly without seeming drunk and what was easy to remember). The mussels, fries, and bieres were very good, I definitely enjoyed the first beer the most though. From there I stumbled back to my hostel and decided to take it easy for a bit.
After taking it easy I got real bored, so I thought why not wander the streets of Paris drunk! I started going down side streets I had yet to truly discover, probably not the best idea. I wasn't really lost, but as I was walking around a man started yelling at me. I thought it was just another you're a tourist let me sell you something deal, so I crossed the street. The man did the same and I kept walking faster, he came right up to me and all I could do was say no to everything he said. I don't know French and I wasn't in the mood to deal with him. He finally went away screaming at me for coming to Paris and not speaking any French, unfortunately for him there are quite a bit of my types around that city. After that awkward exchange I felt it best to find my way back to the hostel. It was about 10 and I figured I could pass out, but instead I got a call from the people I had met earlier in France. So I decided to do the next best thing, run to the metro and meet up with them. It was about a 25 minute metro to their part of town, the plan was to find the Moulin Rouge to just check it out (from the outside, 150 euros is a lot for a show). I met up with them and 2 Aussie friends they had met from their hostel. We walked around, as the man from Sydney claimed he knew where it was. About 15 minutes later we realized that the man did not know where to go. Finally after looking at a map and seeing the direction to somewhat head in we began a trek. We started walking when finally we were able to ask for some semblance of directions from a local. He sent us to the nearby metro. On our walk we noticed something strange, police in riot gear and a very quiet town. I hadn't seen police in riot gear since my days at MSU, but these cops seemed a little more intimidating as to not be here when whatever was to happen was going down. We quickly shot up to the metro station, watched nothing happen from a distance and got out of there to the sex district of Paris. We walked up the street, passing all sorts of sex shows until we reached Moulin Rouge. Many people were gathered outside doing the picture thing as we all did as well. We got back on the metro around midnight, got off at the riot stop where the clear smell of burning suffocated the air and got on our respective metro changes as we all parted ways for the last time as they were headed back to their studyin abroad.
The next day in Paris I was determined to get myself some solid French food and go to the Orsay. I immediately headed down to the Orsay and got myself a crepe before I waited in line for about 30 minutes. It was worth the wait, I really enjoyed the it there, it's more modern art and a lot of stuff I know. I did wonder though, how the man "guarding" the painting titled "The origin of the world" feels about his life. I mean it's a very well done painting, but having to stare at it all day has to make him a little disturbed (the painting is very famous and also of a hairy vagina for those wondering). After spending a couple hours there I decided my next stop was to get lunch. I had read about a place called L'as du Fallafel, it was written in one of my books (for real this time) and supposedly is pretty famous. They had all sorts of celebrity pictures on the wall and are known to be the best fallafel in France and possibly Europe. I'm not a huge fallafel fan normally, but decided why not. I got the fallafel special and it was awesome. It was fallafel in a pita with a lot of radishes, some sauce I put on it, and some other stuff that I can't remember now. I accompanied it with fries and an orange fanta, both excellent choices by myself.
After the meal was complete I realized I had stumbled into the Jewish quarters of France. Surrounding me were delis, kosher pastry shops, and orthodox Jews walking up and down the street. I hung around the area checking it out and taking a bunch of pictures. I continued my trek through the neighborhood when I stumbled upon the Jewish art history museum. I wasn't gonna go in, but I was intrigued. Then I looked and it was gonna cost me 5 euros and I definitely didn't want to go in, however, I felt like a bad Jew cause I could pay money to these other art museums in France and this could go to a smaller place. Plus I was wondering what kind of art history, would there be paintings? sculptures? just old torah dressings? So finally I went in. After the strenuous security check point I finally got inside to pay. I went to pay and jackpot, it was free in the end. I walked around for about an hour, the traditional Jewish known pieces of art (seder plates, torah stuff, a special section on a bris in which I will never be the same) reigned supreme. I was slightly disappointed in that regard because I had seen much of that stuff before, however, the scarce paintings and drawings that did exist by Jewish artists were quite awesome. In the biographies of a lot of the painters they didn't seem to make Judaism a huge part of their lives, thus I think part of the reason they didn't feature stuff by them more so, but what can you do.
After that it was already getting late, I walked back and hung out at my hostel for a bit. Then I decided it was time for my meal. I had discovered a great restaurant area when I had been wandering around earlier in the day so figured I would head back. Of course I never actually do that and took a chance by getting off at a different metro stop. It worked out well, I was in the Bastille area where plenty of restaurants garnished the area. I finally found what I was looking for, stepped in and took a seat. I ordered a ravioli dish with foie gras... I figured if I was spending 20 euros on the very off chance I don't like it, I'd at least have some additional substance with my meal. I got myself a glass of red wine, toasted the night and went to eat. The foie gras was good, it melts in your mouth, which is always fun for food. I'm sure as an actual meal it's prepared a bit differently, but there was a good amount and it was all on top of the ravioli, so I was able to taste before mixing anything else with it. During my meal Ben and Jerrys were passing out mini tubs of ice cream to people, but I unfortunately didn't make it to them in time. I was going to get something else after my meal, but headed back to the hostel and realized the red wine I had was telling me it was time to go to sleep so I passed out for an early night (it was 11 at the time, so not that early).
The next morning I woke up, got myself one last pastry (some chocolate filled thing) and headed to the train station. I decided to mix things up on my train ride this time, watch some Boy Meets World on my ipod instead since I missed out seeing French Topanga while I was there, thought why not watch the episode. I was slated to switch trains in Belgium, my ticket was for the fast train there and a slow train back or I could try to pay to stay on the fast train. Instead I acted lost, met a nice conducter type dude, and he let me stay on the train for free. I got to Amsterdam a couple hours earlier than anticipated, walked 10 minutes from the train station, smelled an aroma in the air making me check to see if certain friends of mine had actually met me (realized it's just the way the city smells) and ended up at my hostel (which also happens to be a coffee shop).
I decided I'd explore the city, one thing I really liked was although they may not have a specialization of their own food tons of restaurants, cheese shops and street vendors exist here. After walking around for about an hour I realized I had only eaten some pringles and a chocolate thing that day so I stopped by a restaurant called Oorf. I ordered a club sandwich and cheese sticks. Now I figured they wouldn't be normal cheese sticks so I wanted to see their take. It was the best decision of my life. I'm not sure the cheese it was filled with (tasted like kaseri, the saganaki cheese) and the fried outside was the spring roll/egg roll/tempura type filling. It was 6 sticks of heaven, who needs to smoke when you can have shit like that here! After I decided to wander the streets some more, it wasn't dark yet, but was beginning. I walked pretty far away from my hostel, the streets are easy to navigate though. As I walked I had a flashback to the French dude on the streets. This time it was 2 punk kids hanging out who started yelling at me. I was sober this time and just left as they called me a motherfucker for not taking a second to chat with them.
I finally headed back to the hostel as the darkness set in and the red lights of the city shined brightly. I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the evening, hadn't really met anyone, but decided to walk the red light district. I wasn't sure how people would react to the kid with the black hoodie walking by himself. I tried to join along with the old people tours (so many of them, kind of insane) that would go up and down the alleys with amusement. There were some beautiful women, lots of them smoking or on their cellphones in the window. There were also some really ugly women and most just stood there. Every once in a while you'd see a man slide up secretly to negotiate some prices, but not too much. After an hour I got hungry again, decided to hit up some "New York Style" pizza joint on the street, was pretty good and walked around some more til I was tired. Went to bed around midnight after mapping out the next day.
I woke up this morning with the intent of getting some breakfast and then to go straight to the Anne Frank house. I stopped at the cheese shop next to my hostel, grabbed 3 euros worth of gouda (which turned out well, I ate about 3/4 throughout the day until I realized by 6 p.m it probably was not good to still be eating from my pocket). I wasn't sure how I'd react to Anne Frank, especially by myself. I got there in the cold weather in about 15 minutes after walking from my hostel. I waited in line for about 15 more minutes and got in there. I was hit pretty hard by it, I read the book as a kid and the holocaust has always had some effect on me (I still remember my most terrifying dream in 8th grade after reading that book of being taken by the Nazis), but I was a kid so it's not the same. I walked through looking at what remained, the quotes, and the steep staircases to walk through. I didn't cry (I don't do that in front of people), but something definitely hit me emotionally. It was an awesome place though, I recommend it to anyone. I feel like maybe I should read it again, but I don't know if I could handle it mentally to be honest, it was pretty intense in there. I decided to go to the Van Gogh museum afterwards, it was about a 30 minute walk, but much needed and worked out great. By the time I was there my mind was cleared, I had thought through everything and made it to the museum.
I wasn't gonna go to the Van Gogh, but then I saw the adds for a special exhibition of Colours of the Night of Van Gogh. They had borrowed Starry Night from New York and had a special exhibit of how he built up to that painting. The whole museum as a whole was great, I really enjoy his art, but the exhibit made it more than worth the price of admission. I had always wanted to see Starry Night (with the whole Boy Meets World connection of course) and it was pretty awesome. After the hour or so I spent there it was off to the Rijksmuseum. It's under heavy construction so it was actually a pretty short trip as to what you could actually see. It did have some amazing paintings, but worked out well with the amount since I had just been in another art museum anyway.
I grabbed a hot dog on the street (decent, not great) and headed what I assumed was either for real lunch or the hostel. Instead I bumped right into the Heinekin brewery and thought what better time than now with a pretty empty stomach to get free alcohol. It was a pretty sweet tour, taking you through their history, tasting the beer in different steps, tasting the barley, getting a couple free drinks, stealing a free coaster (I was drunk, nobody noticed) and they even had a motion ride of the beer making process. Afterwards I headed up the street, grabbed a bagel with tuna (I thought I was at Brueggers I guess), they put capers and olives on those sandwiches, was good tuna on it's own, it don't need that stuff! I quickly sobered up with food and finally headed back to my hostel. It wasn't too hard to find, I used previous places I ate at to guide my way back.
As for the smoking, the brownies, the spacecakes, I'm still undecided. I have one more day here. I think if I was with someone else or had met more than the one guy in my hostel (he's just staying here to look for a place to live in Haarlem) maybe I'd do it and I still may. It's not a lack of knowledge or afraid of what I may accidentally put in my body, I'd like to think I actually know a decent amount about the stuff for someone who doesn't smoke thanks to unnamed people, but it just doesn't have that same feel by myself. Of course tomorrow, a day I basically have of freedom maybe I'll mix things up and go for it, we shall see. Anyway, it was a long one, but hope you enjoyed what you read. Berlin on Saturday, Amsterdam tomorrow, and who knows whereelse I'll be headed.
I be out (and yes I'm in a coffee shop using their internet and probably am high off the 2nd hand smoke cause I just started smiling randomly, eeeeeekers)
B K
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Barcelona to Paris
Well, I have about twenty minutes to attempt an update (the computers here are timed), so I will see what I can do. My final days in Barcelona were good, but more of an attempt to get healthy and relax more than anything. I probably missed out on a few things, but I also got to walk around, doing my own thing, and sleeping to get healthy. I went to the Sagrada Familia one of those days, walked around the outside. I didn't feel like paying to go in, I'll probably doing that at enough churches, plus the mystique of the project not being completed I think adds to it more than anything. It does make me wonder if they ever do actually finish it in 15 years, I think that would take something away from the attraction that's been created. After that I walked around Las Ramblas, had a solid meal of fried boquarones and some meat thing that I once again didn't know what I was getting, but was fine. I must admit by the end of all the random pig, I was ready to move on to other animal meats. Afterwards I headed back to my hostel for a nap since I was still sick (on Friday). I got to my room where new roommates existed. A girl was passed out cold on the top bunk, so it looked like a good idea and I took a siesta on my own (it would've been awkward to hop in the bed with her). Later on I woke up, met her, she had just arrived from New York and traveling on her own. My other roommates were the Belgians that had already been there previous nights, but had a room change. We all went to dinner, got some more paella and talked. Everyone was going out that night, but there was no way with the smoke and the 5 a.m nights of Barcelona I could've survived. I did enjoy one of the receptionists trying to get me to come out. Heavily reminded me of Hank Azaria playing Claude in the movie Along Came Polly. Every time he'd see me he'd say the same thing, "You go party Benjie" "nah not tonight" okay then, you should party. About 20 minutes later the same exact conversation, just subsitute party for scuba and you have your character. Another thing I found entertaining, however, was the story the girl told at dinner before coming to Europe. She said a big reason was she freaked out when her boyfriend asked her to move in. She regrets it and think she made a huge mistake, but just didn't want to move in so didn't know how to react. Fast forward to 5 a.m when people are getting back from the bar and you can clearly hear her drunk in the hall being hit on and making out with the irritating English dude down the hall. Irritating because it was 5, I was trying to sleep and dude was loud as hell trying to get in the room, luckily she did have enough respect for me to say there is a sick kid in the room. I know things happen, people get drunk, but for some reason I think girls like that (and the drunk English guy who wouldn't take no) are the ones who make it hard for a normal guy like myself to get a girl in this world. For the dude who is probably depressed at home, I hope she doesn't try to get back with him and he is able to do his own thing. To end my time in Spain I decided to check out all the local markets open on Saturday. There is a Catalunyan one (basically I was semi-lost and stumbled into it) that was big time for the locals. Lots of meats, cheeses, less touristy restaurants inside the market, solid fish and seafood, as well as a lot less people who could speak English. I wanted to get some cheese from there, but being that I barely speak Spanish, don't speak any Cataylun (or whatever the hell they want to call their own language in a country that already has a language), I was unable to get past people to actually attempt to order. I decided I'd walk around some more and stumbled into the Las ramblas food market. It was semi for tourists and semi for locals. Probably a bit more pricey than the other one, but a lot more stands and options overall, plus more English. I walked around, gazing at the goat brains, whole pig heads, hearts, eye balls and what I think were skinned rabbits. I wasn't able to find really any of that stuff at restaurants, but probably for the better. I finally found a place with a nice cheese stand that I figured I should order, I found a cheap mini garroxta wheel, bout a kg worth of cheese for 10 euros. Figured it'd be a nice treat for the overnight train. I headed back, got some dinner and then the next train ride began.
I didn't have a sleeper car this time, just a reclining seat on the train. I was fine with that, assuming it'd make things better and I wouldn't get freaked out. I wasn't freaked out in the sense of the people around me, but once again I was doomed with nightmares. The movement on the train apparently rattles my mind (and probably eating a ton of cheese before sleeping didn't help) as dreams of being chased, stormy weather, and girls of my past (semi-kidding, I mean they were in some of the nightmares, but I just found it funny to add in that in a nightmare way, clearly taking away from it with this long explanation). I was able to get more sleep this time in a regular seat than sleeper car, so hopefully any remaining overnight trains can be taken in this manner. I arrived in Paris at around 8 a.m, pretty tired, but with a feeling that my cold was nearing its end point. I jumped on the metro, headed right to my hostel and found it with ease. I checked in, but there is a policy of not being in the building from 11-4, so I immediately had to store my bags and depart from the vicinity.
I decided I'd go on a walking tour that I saw posted. They're free and they were offered in other cities I had been in, so I went for it this time. It worked out well, an Australian chick led the way on the tour, which lasted about 4 hours. On the tour we all had to mention where we were from, 2 people said Detroit or so I thought, but I was too far away to hear and the tour guide thought they said Sweden so I ignored that. Finally like 20 minutes later she asked them again and this time Detroit was correct. It turned out there were EMU students studying abroad. I ended up striking up a conversation with them and after the tour we all hung out around Paris. We started at the Louvre to check out the Mona Lisa, Venus di Milo and other historical pieces there. I enjoyed the place (the 1/4 of art work that I probably actually saw) and we continued on from there. We walked around, got some ice cream and finally made the trek over to the Eiffel tour. I was really excited to climb it. We got in line, only about a 30 minute wait (not bad at all). In line we met a woman from the UK, I had never heard someone talk so much in my life. She was extremely nice and had good stories, but nobody else was able to get a word in for much of the next four hours. On the way through the line we got to the security checkpoint. Everyone got through, except me. I started beeping like crazy. First I took out my phone, then my camera, still went off, then took off my watch and took some change out, still went off, took off my glasses and finally didn;t go off. The best part of the whole thing is the swiss army knife in my pocket that did not beep. I had been using it to cut cheese and forgot it was in there til after. I'm glad a camera and phone will go off, but not a knife. We got our ticket and turned out we were in the wrong line to walk. I tried to convince the others to walk up, but to no avail we took the lift up. We went up, took pictures, went up some more, took some more pictures. It is a pretty incredible view and I was satisfied with seeing it and being up there. I'm glad I had a few people with me, although it'd be fun on my own as well, it was good having some company. By the end I definitely made sure we would at the very least walk down. We did it, didn't take long at all. The English girl went her way after another 30 minutes of conversation. The good thing about her talking so much was the ability to witness a rare feat. With so many people trying to sell shit and follow you on the streets, she was able to out talk them to the point where they ran away from her. She started telling the man to sell condoms, I've never seen someone more terrified in my life. The Persian ran away and it wasn't from the cops. Afterwards I walked back to the main city with the others. We got to watch the Eiffel tower light up, see all the other monuments lit up at night and went to get some food. Unfortunately it was late, we were all together and once again I gave in to peer pressure, we went to mcdonalds. Now although the burger was more real beef and tasted fine, I was still disappointed in the end result. After that we hung out some more, walked the fancy streets, and called it a night.
Today I met up with them for a bit, went to the Arc de Triumphe with a nice view from top. I did the Notre Dame, very nice on the inside (I didn't want to go to the top, wasn't worth it). We walked by the Statue of Liberty the French one, nothing special, but semi-entertaining to look at. A few museums we intended to go to today were unfortunately closed (I'll do them tomorrow), but on the way my glasses randomly broke. The screw fell out, into a bunch of dirt and I was pissed. We were walking, first tried a mall pharmacy, but although they had glasses no screw. From there I saw a high end glasses shop. I went in and the guy could not understand what I was saying. Finally I pointed to the 2 screw holes and showed him one was missing. He fixed it immediately and I was semi shocked there was no charge. I also finally got an ipod/phone charger from a local store that has an "Apple in-store area" which worked out well. Afterwards they got some fast food again, a place called Quick, essentially a French mcdonalds with a different name, I refused this time. I picked up a croissant and after we broke up I got some solid French onion soup (which irritates me that some places actually call it French Onion soup here, just call it onion soup, we know it's yours!) and a solid lemon citrus crepe. It was expensive, but so worth it. Tonight I envision myself splurging on a good meal, I can't be in France and not start eating random good shit even if nobody else will do it with me and even if it costs a ton. Not sure if I'm going to meet up with them again or do my own thing. I kind of want to be on my own and explore places at night, so we shall see if I'm able to reject them.
Anyway I extended my internet time, stole an extra password and luckily they haven't noticed it's been 45 minutes, but now I must go. I'm gonna head to the train station, book my dream train right to the land of drugs and hoes for Wednesday and then see where the night takes me, hopefully to a world with lots of food.
Hollerin-
BK
I didn't have a sleeper car this time, just a reclining seat on the train. I was fine with that, assuming it'd make things better and I wouldn't get freaked out. I wasn't freaked out in the sense of the people around me, but once again I was doomed with nightmares. The movement on the train apparently rattles my mind (and probably eating a ton of cheese before sleeping didn't help) as dreams of being chased, stormy weather, and girls of my past (semi-kidding, I mean they were in some of the nightmares, but I just found it funny to add in that in a nightmare way, clearly taking away from it with this long explanation). I was able to get more sleep this time in a regular seat than sleeper car, so hopefully any remaining overnight trains can be taken in this manner. I arrived in Paris at around 8 a.m, pretty tired, but with a feeling that my cold was nearing its end point. I jumped on the metro, headed right to my hostel and found it with ease. I checked in, but there is a policy of not being in the building from 11-4, so I immediately had to store my bags and depart from the vicinity.
I decided I'd go on a walking tour that I saw posted. They're free and they were offered in other cities I had been in, so I went for it this time. It worked out well, an Australian chick led the way on the tour, which lasted about 4 hours. On the tour we all had to mention where we were from, 2 people said Detroit or so I thought, but I was too far away to hear and the tour guide thought they said Sweden so I ignored that. Finally like 20 minutes later she asked them again and this time Detroit was correct. It turned out there were EMU students studying abroad. I ended up striking up a conversation with them and after the tour we all hung out around Paris. We started at the Louvre to check out the Mona Lisa, Venus di Milo and other historical pieces there. I enjoyed the place (the 1/4 of art work that I probably actually saw) and we continued on from there. We walked around, got some ice cream and finally made the trek over to the Eiffel tour. I was really excited to climb it. We got in line, only about a 30 minute wait (not bad at all). In line we met a woman from the UK, I had never heard someone talk so much in my life. She was extremely nice and had good stories, but nobody else was able to get a word in for much of the next four hours. On the way through the line we got to the security checkpoint. Everyone got through, except me. I started beeping like crazy. First I took out my phone, then my camera, still went off, then took off my watch and took some change out, still went off, took off my glasses and finally didn;t go off. The best part of the whole thing is the swiss army knife in my pocket that did not beep. I had been using it to cut cheese and forgot it was in there til after. I'm glad a camera and phone will go off, but not a knife. We got our ticket and turned out we were in the wrong line to walk. I tried to convince the others to walk up, but to no avail we took the lift up. We went up, took pictures, went up some more, took some more pictures. It is a pretty incredible view and I was satisfied with seeing it and being up there. I'm glad I had a few people with me, although it'd be fun on my own as well, it was good having some company. By the end I definitely made sure we would at the very least walk down. We did it, didn't take long at all. The English girl went her way after another 30 minutes of conversation. The good thing about her talking so much was the ability to witness a rare feat. With so many people trying to sell shit and follow you on the streets, she was able to out talk them to the point where they ran away from her. She started telling the man to sell condoms, I've never seen someone more terrified in my life. The Persian ran away and it wasn't from the cops. Afterwards I walked back to the main city with the others. We got to watch the Eiffel tower light up, see all the other monuments lit up at night and went to get some food. Unfortunately it was late, we were all together and once again I gave in to peer pressure, we went to mcdonalds. Now although the burger was more real beef and tasted fine, I was still disappointed in the end result. After that we hung out some more, walked the fancy streets, and called it a night.
Today I met up with them for a bit, went to the Arc de Triumphe with a nice view from top. I did the Notre Dame, very nice on the inside (I didn't want to go to the top, wasn't worth it). We walked by the Statue of Liberty the French one, nothing special, but semi-entertaining to look at. A few museums we intended to go to today were unfortunately closed (I'll do them tomorrow), but on the way my glasses randomly broke. The screw fell out, into a bunch of dirt and I was pissed. We were walking, first tried a mall pharmacy, but although they had glasses no screw. From there I saw a high end glasses shop. I went in and the guy could not understand what I was saying. Finally I pointed to the 2 screw holes and showed him one was missing. He fixed it immediately and I was semi shocked there was no charge. I also finally got an ipod/phone charger from a local store that has an "Apple in-store area" which worked out well. Afterwards they got some fast food again, a place called Quick, essentially a French mcdonalds with a different name, I refused this time. I picked up a croissant and after we broke up I got some solid French onion soup (which irritates me that some places actually call it French Onion soup here, just call it onion soup, we know it's yours!) and a solid lemon citrus crepe. It was expensive, but so worth it. Tonight I envision myself splurging on a good meal, I can't be in France and not start eating random good shit even if nobody else will do it with me and even if it costs a ton. Not sure if I'm going to meet up with them again or do my own thing. I kind of want to be on my own and explore places at night, so we shall see if I'm able to reject them.
Anyway I extended my internet time, stole an extra password and luckily they haven't noticed it's been 45 minutes, but now I must go. I'm gonna head to the train station, book my dream train right to the land of drugs and hoes for Wednesday and then see where the night takes me, hopefully to a world with lots of food.
Hollerin-
BK
Friday, April 17, 2009
Barcelonaaaa
What up my people. I am in currently in Barcelona, I arrived on Wednesday evening after leaving Madrid. The train was great, it's one of those bullet trains, goes 300 km per hour. The scenery on the train ride was incredible though in the open country. They were showing High School Musical 3, shockingly the one Ive never seen, but I resisted watching it and wouldnt have understood it in Spanish anyway. I listened to my ipod, tried to sleep a little and take in the atmosphere.
When I got to Barcelona I came straight to my hostel. It's a little far out from the main portions of Barcelona, but not terrible. Its definitely the worst of the hostels so far, but not even that bad, rooms are tiny and not great lockers to store stuff in, but what can you do. I immediately went and got some food after checking in because I was starved at that point. I went to this BraCafe (I thought it meant all the waitresses would be in bras, not that it was a Brazillian Cafe!). It was good, I ordered something random, turned out to be an omelet, with a side of some sort of ham, potatoes, and bruschetta. Not bad at all. Afterwards came back to the hostel and there were signs for a party that night where the hostel was taking everyone out to a club and bar. I figured I'd go because it'd be a good way to meet people.
I met my roommates who were all going to this club thing before we left. I wasnt a huge fan, they were nice, but typical college I want to get fucked up type kids, not my crowd as many of you know. They were all about "pregaming" and I knew at that point they just werent going to be my style. I showed up around 10:30, we all headed out around 11. I met a bunch of people from Belgium who were real nice, some guy from the UK, I think he was Malaysian, and one more guy who I had no idea what country he was from, maybe Russia/I had no idea what he was saying (and we talked for about 3 hours that night, high comedy for me). We went to this first bar called el Gato Negro (the black cat), it specializes in over 500 different types of shots, including many flaming ones. It was entertaining. I took 2 shots. First shot I took I looked randomly and picked one. I went with Casper, hes a friendly ghost and I figured shot wise itd be pretty easy. It was very easy, however, I think at that point it was determined I may be gay by the whip cream on top of the shot. It was easy though and thats all I cared about. I did have one other shot after with the dude who couldnt speak English. I had him order it (not the best idea) and when I went to pay for mine, the woman thought I had paid for both, so essentially I bought this dude a shot and I was stuck. I think he set me up! I have no idea what the shot was, mixed some kind of red and blue thing together. Then you swish it in your mouth for 10 seconds like mouth wash and suck it in, making you cough. Ouch. That shit burned and luckily at that point we were heading to the club.
We got to the club around 12:30, but everyone kept saying it was early. There were Spanisher rappers up on stage, one wearing a tshirt saying I'm the new black, pretty funny. They were whatever, nobody enjoyed them and when they left and the DJ started the place started "bumping." I had a drink when I got there cause we all got free drinks. Made the same mistake again, however, as I let the Belgium kids just get me a drink so I didnt have to cut through. They got me what they were drinking, vodka and pepsi. It was fucking sick, what kind of animals are they! Afterwards everyone wanted to dance, so I went to the floor, danced for a while, talked to the dude from the UK and the one I didnt understand a word he was saying. I thought to myself if I cant pick up a girl in the US, no chance could I pick up one where I dont speak their language. I was right, every time I'd even get remotely close to a girl as I danced she moved away and I wasn't even trying to dance with them, I'm not that outgoing yet! I always enjoyed that form of rejection though, it happens often. I was getting pretty tired, the dude from the UK was almost passed out, and the dude who couldnt speak English said he wanted to go at 3:30. So we planned on that. Around 3:30 I left with the UK guy, the non-English speaking dude was having fun again I guess. We got back around 3:45, I was exhausted. My roommates werent back yet and so I knew I'd be woken up at some point soon. I passed out and starting at about 5:30 a.m until 8 a.m they kept coming in and out of the room. Finally they went to sleep at 8, I slept for another hour, looked at my watch and thought it was 4 p.m. I freaked out, then I realized I'm an idiot and saw what I thought was 11, so a little better, but not much. I immediately got up to start my day and turns out it was only like 9:30, whoops.
I decided first to buy soap since I had left it at the last hostel and figured I should shower at some point here. I went to the drug places right next to here, bought a random soap and then figured Id walk to Las Ramblas. Its 5.3 kms away, if I knew this I probably would not have walked. It was sunny the whole time at least, I had to make it the train station to get my ticket for Paris. I did that and it was perfect because as soon as I got inside a huge hail/thunderstorm came crashing down. I waited it out for a little and then headed on my way to get lunch. I had read somewhere about a great Paella place, so I walked around Las Ramblas, took some photos and ended up at La Fonda. I had the special 3 course menu del dia with some paella, some pork and potato thing I ordered (I took a guess, was still good), and some chocolate pie. The Paella was great, lots of fresh seafood, good rice and good vegetables. It also came with a drink so I got a glass of red wine. Wasnt bad at all. I had a nice relaxing meal, went on my way and headed around the area. I stumbled to the picasso museum (I was slightly drunk), decided why not go in since it was still raining off and on and checked it out. About 10 minutes in though I started feeling sick. A cold was coming on strong. I started sneezing out of control, semi-rushed through the rest and tried to figure out the quickest way back. In the end, I walked about 6 kms back to the hostel, not the best idea for someone who is sick. I made it back and immediately tried to take a nap. That didnt last long with the roommates coming in and out constantly. I decided I'd do laundry for 5 euros, but turns out they do it for you, so that was a bonus. I pretty much laid in bed the rest of the day, got a quick dinner next to the hostel (a bacon bocadillo and a plate of manchego cheese). Got back to the hostel and laid around. Finally my rommates left around 12 to go out. I turned off the light and slept until they got back and did the in and out thing at around 6 again. Luckily they were checking out so they were gone by 8. I slept til 10, then the housecleaning woke me to clean up their beds for the next person, oh well.
I still have a cold this morning and dont feel the best, but I'm going to try to see a few more things to make Barcelona more worth it. I do like it better than madrid, lot more room on streets and overall a nice city. I'd rather rest and not be sick for the rest of the trip though than ruin it all on Barcelona. Hopefully one more good nights sleep and I'll be fine to explore on Saturday (I have all day until my train at 10 at night, so at least I should sneak a few things in without killing myself). I won't walk today though, try to take buses and metros.
Anyway, I will see you in Paris!
BK
When I got to Barcelona I came straight to my hostel. It's a little far out from the main portions of Barcelona, but not terrible. Its definitely the worst of the hostels so far, but not even that bad, rooms are tiny and not great lockers to store stuff in, but what can you do. I immediately went and got some food after checking in because I was starved at that point. I went to this BraCafe (I thought it meant all the waitresses would be in bras, not that it was a Brazillian Cafe!). It was good, I ordered something random, turned out to be an omelet, with a side of some sort of ham, potatoes, and bruschetta. Not bad at all. Afterwards came back to the hostel and there were signs for a party that night where the hostel was taking everyone out to a club and bar. I figured I'd go because it'd be a good way to meet people.
I met my roommates who were all going to this club thing before we left. I wasnt a huge fan, they were nice, but typical college I want to get fucked up type kids, not my crowd as many of you know. They were all about "pregaming" and I knew at that point they just werent going to be my style. I showed up around 10:30, we all headed out around 11. I met a bunch of people from Belgium who were real nice, some guy from the UK, I think he was Malaysian, and one more guy who I had no idea what country he was from, maybe Russia/I had no idea what he was saying (and we talked for about 3 hours that night, high comedy for me). We went to this first bar called el Gato Negro (the black cat), it specializes in over 500 different types of shots, including many flaming ones. It was entertaining. I took 2 shots. First shot I took I looked randomly and picked one. I went with Casper, hes a friendly ghost and I figured shot wise itd be pretty easy. It was very easy, however, I think at that point it was determined I may be gay by the whip cream on top of the shot. It was easy though and thats all I cared about. I did have one other shot after with the dude who couldnt speak English. I had him order it (not the best idea) and when I went to pay for mine, the woman thought I had paid for both, so essentially I bought this dude a shot and I was stuck. I think he set me up! I have no idea what the shot was, mixed some kind of red and blue thing together. Then you swish it in your mouth for 10 seconds like mouth wash and suck it in, making you cough. Ouch. That shit burned and luckily at that point we were heading to the club.
We got to the club around 12:30, but everyone kept saying it was early. There were Spanisher rappers up on stage, one wearing a tshirt saying I'm the new black, pretty funny. They were whatever, nobody enjoyed them and when they left and the DJ started the place started "bumping." I had a drink when I got there cause we all got free drinks. Made the same mistake again, however, as I let the Belgium kids just get me a drink so I didnt have to cut through. They got me what they were drinking, vodka and pepsi. It was fucking sick, what kind of animals are they! Afterwards everyone wanted to dance, so I went to the floor, danced for a while, talked to the dude from the UK and the one I didnt understand a word he was saying. I thought to myself if I cant pick up a girl in the US, no chance could I pick up one where I dont speak their language. I was right, every time I'd even get remotely close to a girl as I danced she moved away and I wasn't even trying to dance with them, I'm not that outgoing yet! I always enjoyed that form of rejection though, it happens often. I was getting pretty tired, the dude from the UK was almost passed out, and the dude who couldnt speak English said he wanted to go at 3:30. So we planned on that. Around 3:30 I left with the UK guy, the non-English speaking dude was having fun again I guess. We got back around 3:45, I was exhausted. My roommates werent back yet and so I knew I'd be woken up at some point soon. I passed out and starting at about 5:30 a.m until 8 a.m they kept coming in and out of the room. Finally they went to sleep at 8, I slept for another hour, looked at my watch and thought it was 4 p.m. I freaked out, then I realized I'm an idiot and saw what I thought was 11, so a little better, but not much. I immediately got up to start my day and turns out it was only like 9:30, whoops.
I decided first to buy soap since I had left it at the last hostel and figured I should shower at some point here. I went to the drug places right next to here, bought a random soap and then figured Id walk to Las Ramblas. Its 5.3 kms away, if I knew this I probably would not have walked. It was sunny the whole time at least, I had to make it the train station to get my ticket for Paris. I did that and it was perfect because as soon as I got inside a huge hail/thunderstorm came crashing down. I waited it out for a little and then headed on my way to get lunch. I had read somewhere about a great Paella place, so I walked around Las Ramblas, took some photos and ended up at La Fonda. I had the special 3 course menu del dia with some paella, some pork and potato thing I ordered (I took a guess, was still good), and some chocolate pie. The Paella was great, lots of fresh seafood, good rice and good vegetables. It also came with a drink so I got a glass of red wine. Wasnt bad at all. I had a nice relaxing meal, went on my way and headed around the area. I stumbled to the picasso museum (I was slightly drunk), decided why not go in since it was still raining off and on and checked it out. About 10 minutes in though I started feeling sick. A cold was coming on strong. I started sneezing out of control, semi-rushed through the rest and tried to figure out the quickest way back. In the end, I walked about 6 kms back to the hostel, not the best idea for someone who is sick. I made it back and immediately tried to take a nap. That didnt last long with the roommates coming in and out constantly. I decided I'd do laundry for 5 euros, but turns out they do it for you, so that was a bonus. I pretty much laid in bed the rest of the day, got a quick dinner next to the hostel (a bacon bocadillo and a plate of manchego cheese). Got back to the hostel and laid around. Finally my rommates left around 12 to go out. I turned off the light and slept until they got back and did the in and out thing at around 6 again. Luckily they were checking out so they were gone by 8. I slept til 10, then the housecleaning woke me to clean up their beds for the next person, oh well.
I still have a cold this morning and dont feel the best, but I'm going to try to see a few more things to make Barcelona more worth it. I do like it better than madrid, lot more room on streets and overall a nice city. I'd rather rest and not be sick for the rest of the trip though than ruin it all on Barcelona. Hopefully one more good nights sleep and I'll be fine to explore on Saturday (I have all day until my train at 10 at night, so at least I should sneak a few things in without killing myself). I won't walk today though, try to take buses and metros.
Anyway, I will see you in Paris!
BK
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Madridito
My last night in Madrid is for the most part complete, so I thought why not update on the past couple days. You'll be glad to know that this will be my first semi-drunk post of the tour (three beers is a lot), but hey if I can make it back to my hostel after getting lost semi-drunk, then I think I can get through this as well! Before posting I gotta say, I love listening to people try and hit on girls in hostels. Oh the movie 13 days, that's my favorite! You're from New Mexico, I've never been, but I heard it's just so incredible around there. It's cute.
On Monday (after posting to the blog) I went right to the Reina Sofia (modern art museum) in Spain. It was quite mind blowing. I decided to get fancy and even go with a headset to find out what I was actually looking at. (quick note: it's now Wednesday, they closed the computer room last night for some reason so I couldn't finish, so here is the rest, in completely sober and rested form). I really enjoyed the museum, I had my ipod going for most of it taking breaks in between the paintings that had talks about them. The special exhibitions they had weren't anything special, but the building itself and the permanent collections were very much worth seeing. Afterwards I decided to get my first meal, there was a small restaurant across from the art museum. I went with a jamon iberico sandwich, was a fantastic choice if I must say. From there I just walked the streets, went back to the hostel to take a shower since I had been on that train and couldn't check in when I got here at that point. I met a few people in my room and then did some more walking. Went to Plaza Mayor, a big touristy area, but was nice to see. The weather was pretty decent Monday so I wanted to take advantage. I went back to the hostel after a while to look up a good place to eat. I ran into one of the people staying in my hostel who was also going to grab some dinner, so I asked her if she wanted to join me. No idea how old she is, but she is from Argentina as well as a Jew, so we went to one of the places that serve Doner Kebabs. Basically just cheap kebabs and middle eastern type food. We had a good conversation talked about our respective countries, a little bit of Judaism (and how neither of us could even consider keeping passover in Europe, more specifically Spain where it's 100% pig, bread, and cheese around here). After eating we just headed back to the hostel. I was exhausted from the train etc. so I was just going to hang out. I went and sat on the couches in the main room where I started talking to a couple Americans who were here. One was studying abroad, the other quit her job and was traveling (it's extremely common apparently, I've met numerous people who are doing that and even a tour guide from America who did that). We all talked, watched some TV, which is pretty funny all in Spanish. Then we started flipping through channels more and the disney channel was showing the best show ever, in Spanish, but I know it well enough that I was able to describe and even say some lines as to what was happening on Boy Meets World! I was a little too excited, they didn't understand. One of the kids was like 20, so BMW is before his time.
On Tuesday I woke up excited to go to the Prado, I got there around 10, the line for the permanent collection wasn't too terrible, but the special Francis Bacon exhibit line was already around the corner so I decided I'd be skipping that. I went to get my student ticket and the guy asked to see my ID, showed him it, then he asked for my passport. Looked at my age and refused to let me have the student discount, saying only students 24 or under get the discount, such a fucking lie! I was so pissed, it kind of put a tamper on my experience. I didn't get the headphones this time, which was fine, they have a lot more English descriptions of important pieces around there. I walked around for a little over 2 hours, I was impressed with a lot of the paintings and real old sculptures, though I think I may have enjoyed the Reina Sofia a little more for my tastes. After that I went and got some food. Went with a morcilla de burgos bocadilla or a blood sausage (with rice mixed in) sub sandwich and a beer. It was good, I liked the rice and whole concotion they had with it. Afterwards I headed back to the hostel for a few and decided I better book my train ride to Barcelona and also my hostel since I was planning on going the next day. I went to the train station, got my reservation (it cost me 10 euros, but the actual train ride is 110 euros, so I'm glad I got this rail pass or it'd be bus riding for me!). From there I decided I wanted to go on a tapas tour offered. I went to the subway cause no way could I walk in time, got on and didn't pay close enough attention so I started heading the opposite way. I quickly changed directions got to the Tapas tour and it was just me and one other person, who turned out was staying at my hostel. The tour guide said he'd take us around for an hour instead of the full tour (saved me 14 euros). We got some beers, tapas, and got a small tour of the city for free (outside of the beer).
When I got back I had an email from a person from Lisbon as to where to meet up. So I got ready for that an headed to an Irish pub to watch the Liverpool vs. Chelsea soccer game. It was actually a pretty entertaining game. We had a few beers and talked for a while. It was a real good conversation, he's one of the UM people, but not a bad person at all. We had seemingly been through similar situations in different aspects of life and had a good understanding of each other, I always enjoy meeting genuinely nice people. So maybe I'll hang out with him when we're both back in Michigan or something. Afterwards I knew where I was going, but I realized that was during the day. It was pouring rain so I got soaked, kept venturing around and finally arrived at my hostel after a few turns here and there. I knew I'd be fine though, it's not that big of a city umm. Anyway, I must check out and get ready to explore for a few hours before Barcelona. Have a good one all!
'BK
On Monday (after posting to the blog) I went right to the Reina Sofia (modern art museum) in Spain. It was quite mind blowing. I decided to get fancy and even go with a headset to find out what I was actually looking at. (quick note: it's now Wednesday, they closed the computer room last night for some reason so I couldn't finish, so here is the rest, in completely sober and rested form). I really enjoyed the museum, I had my ipod going for most of it taking breaks in between the paintings that had talks about them. The special exhibitions they had weren't anything special, but the building itself and the permanent collections were very much worth seeing. Afterwards I decided to get my first meal, there was a small restaurant across from the art museum. I went with a jamon iberico sandwich, was a fantastic choice if I must say. From there I just walked the streets, went back to the hostel to take a shower since I had been on that train and couldn't check in when I got here at that point. I met a few people in my room and then did some more walking. Went to Plaza Mayor, a big touristy area, but was nice to see. The weather was pretty decent Monday so I wanted to take advantage. I went back to the hostel after a while to look up a good place to eat. I ran into one of the people staying in my hostel who was also going to grab some dinner, so I asked her if she wanted to join me. No idea how old she is, but she is from Argentina as well as a Jew, so we went to one of the places that serve Doner Kebabs. Basically just cheap kebabs and middle eastern type food. We had a good conversation talked about our respective countries, a little bit of Judaism (and how neither of us could even consider keeping passover in Europe, more specifically Spain where it's 100% pig, bread, and cheese around here). After eating we just headed back to the hostel. I was exhausted from the train etc. so I was just going to hang out. I went and sat on the couches in the main room where I started talking to a couple Americans who were here. One was studying abroad, the other quit her job and was traveling (it's extremely common apparently, I've met numerous people who are doing that and even a tour guide from America who did that). We all talked, watched some TV, which is pretty funny all in Spanish. Then we started flipping through channels more and the disney channel was showing the best show ever, in Spanish, but I know it well enough that I was able to describe and even say some lines as to what was happening on Boy Meets World! I was a little too excited, they didn't understand. One of the kids was like 20, so BMW is before his time.
On Tuesday I woke up excited to go to the Prado, I got there around 10, the line for the permanent collection wasn't too terrible, but the special Francis Bacon exhibit line was already around the corner so I decided I'd be skipping that. I went to get my student ticket and the guy asked to see my ID, showed him it, then he asked for my passport. Looked at my age and refused to let me have the student discount, saying only students 24 or under get the discount, such a fucking lie! I was so pissed, it kind of put a tamper on my experience. I didn't get the headphones this time, which was fine, they have a lot more English descriptions of important pieces around there. I walked around for a little over 2 hours, I was impressed with a lot of the paintings and real old sculptures, though I think I may have enjoyed the Reina Sofia a little more for my tastes. After that I went and got some food. Went with a morcilla de burgos bocadilla or a blood sausage (with rice mixed in) sub sandwich and a beer. It was good, I liked the rice and whole concotion they had with it. Afterwards I headed back to the hostel for a few and decided I better book my train ride to Barcelona and also my hostel since I was planning on going the next day. I went to the train station, got my reservation (it cost me 10 euros, but the actual train ride is 110 euros, so I'm glad I got this rail pass or it'd be bus riding for me!). From there I decided I wanted to go on a tapas tour offered. I went to the subway cause no way could I walk in time, got on and didn't pay close enough attention so I started heading the opposite way. I quickly changed directions got to the Tapas tour and it was just me and one other person, who turned out was staying at my hostel. The tour guide said he'd take us around for an hour instead of the full tour (saved me 14 euros). We got some beers, tapas, and got a small tour of the city for free (outside of the beer).
When I got back I had an email from a person from Lisbon as to where to meet up. So I got ready for that an headed to an Irish pub to watch the Liverpool vs. Chelsea soccer game. It was actually a pretty entertaining game. We had a few beers and talked for a while. It was a real good conversation, he's one of the UM people, but not a bad person at all. We had seemingly been through similar situations in different aspects of life and had a good understanding of each other, I always enjoy meeting genuinely nice people. So maybe I'll hang out with him when we're both back in Michigan or something. Afterwards I knew where I was going, but I realized that was during the day. It was pouring rain so I got soaked, kept venturing around and finally arrived at my hostel after a few turns here and there. I knew I'd be fine though, it's not that big of a city umm. Anyway, I must check out and get ready to explore for a few hours before Barcelona. Have a good one all!
'BK
Monday, April 13, 2009
Holiday in Spain
I arrived in Spain this morning and thought I'd give a quick update about the final two days in Lisbon and the train ride here before I begin my day. Saturday I was planning on going to Sintra, but unfortunately that tour got cancelled. For some reason I woke up semi-depressed and was not sure what I was going to do with my day. Since I was planning on going to Sintra on Saturday, some of the college students I met left the morning, and the English and Swiss girls were already gone for the day I was on my own. It worked out well, I went to Sao Sebastio a different part of Lisboa where there are a lot of parks, a huge mall, and the Calouste Gulbenkian museum consisting of his art collection, a temporary Darwin Exhibit, and a modern art museum attached. I took the metro over to the area, thought it was about time I get used to public transportation. It was pretty simple getting there and Lisbon's metro is very clean and not very busy. It drops you off in the mall in Sao Sebastio, which is great, but with 20 exits possible it was tough to find where I was going. So tough in fact that I got lost walking to the museums and instead ended up at a couple different parks and by a couple different parks I mean the same park, just different ends of it (which worked out besides the rain with amazing views of the city and river). Finally after about an hour of wandering the world I broke it down on the map as to where I had to go. I made it back to the mall and got to the museums. The modern art museum was small and for the most part unnoteworthy, but cheap to see with a "student" discount. The actual Gulbenkian was real nice. I put on my ipod and just looked at art all day. By the end of my art exploration I was feeling better about myself and where I was. Since it was already 3 and I still hadn't eaten due to not knowing what time museums closed on a holiday weekend I went to the mall and ate in their food court at "Sopa." I realize I have fun with ordering food because I don't have any idea what it is I'm ordering. I pointed to a soup that a couple people in front of me got, then to a piece of quiche with Spinach and tomatoes (turned out they were weird lookin carrots), and a bottle of water and paid. I found a place to sit. The soup was fine, pretty plain, but seemed to have a slight seafood base, but no actual seafood. The quiche caught me off guard cause it was pretty cold and after hot soup it was unexpected. Finally after about the 6th switch between soup and quiche I got the temp change down. Then I got back on the metro and headed back.
I got back around 6:30, knocked on the room of the girls I knew were still there and we planned on eating dinner at 9. We went to some Italian place, it was close, one of them was sick, and it was semi-cold out. The food was pretty good, though we all forgot about the classic Portugees move of putting down bread and appetizers on the table in what would in anywhere else appear to be free, instead you eat you pay. We all some bread, but what can you do, we knew for the next night. My food was good, just some Wild mushroom risotta (they were out of what I originally ordered) and a nice cheese appetizer that I can't remember the name of right now with tomato sauce etc. Afterwards we went back to the hostel, started hangin out and then we saw a bunch of new people hanging out at the hostel. Turns out it was a bunch of University of Michigan kids. They seemed very excited to hear I was from (the state of) Michigan. All were real nice down to earth kids so we all hung out the rest of the night. Most the city was shutdown with Easter preparations the next day and we just watched a movie. Went to bed after and the next day was set to begin.
I knew I had a long day ahead of me on Sunday so no clue what I was going to do. I just had to be at the train station by 10:30 p.m to get to Madrid. I got downstairs in the morning and saw the UM kids and asked what they were up to for the day. Everyone was planning on heading to Sintra. There were a lot of us who ended up going. The girl from Switzerland, about 5 UM kids, myself and 2 girls I met in the morning from St. Johns University. We got to Sintra around 12:45, bout a 40 minute train ride outside of Lisbon. The city was full of what were presumably tourists. We started walking and heading towards the castles and palaces the city was known for. After finding a small palace first, and walking around the area we were split on what to do next. The main Castle and Palace are on mountains, we looked up and I've never seen something that seemed further away in my life. You think Everest is bad, try walking to the top of Castelo de Mouros or Palacia Pena! We got some food, the group ended up getting split up afterwards and we went our own ways. It was me, St Johns, one UM kid separated from his crew, and the Swiss. I had a lot of fun walking to the top and learning about each person. After a little more than an hour walk or swim if you consider the sweat I was drenched in we reached the castle. And then realized we needed a ticket. Instead of just going to the door to see if we could buy a ticket we asked a random tourists. They sent us to a ticket office about 10 minutes away. We were able to buy both Palace and Castle tickets from there. We met back up with the other part of the group, and then quickly got separated into our mini groups again once we reached the castle. We realized there was only one more thing to do, conquer the castle. Just like Mario, I wanted though 5,000 points to get on top of the flag pole! I kept climbing higher until we all reached the pinnacle. There were incredible views of the city, the Palace across on a totally other mountain just leading to a feeling of not again, and the look down of what could only be considered a terrifying 50,000 foot fall or like 3,000. We all took pictures, walked around and then headed to the Palace. We were told it was about 10 minutes away. We arrived to the entrance, and they were about right. The true walk, however, was about 15 more minutes of step climbing and paths to walk up the mountain to get there. We arrived at this Palace that looked pretty incredible with a multi-colored outside, awesome architecture, great statues, and more incredible views. We took some more pictures, went inside to look at the history (no pictures allowed in there) and felt relieved that we completed the journey. Afterwards we decided maybe we would take the bus down, but after a while we knew the true feeling of accomplishment wouldn't be the same without getting lost in Sintra for over an hour trying to find a way back to the train station. Random dogs popped up scaring the shit out of me, cars came flying down winding roads we were walking on with no sidewalks, and thinking we remembered walking past a certain house when we clearly did not led to an enjoyable, yet nerve racking time. It was already 6, the last train leaves at 8, we were hungry, I had to get to Madrid and we didn't know where we were. Finally though after just sticking to the belief of keep going down the mountain and we'd be golden, we saw familiar structures in the distance.
We got back to Lisboa, I was drenched in sweat still (technically still am), and relaxed for about 5 minutes. It was almost 8 so we went to eat before I left. The restaurant was okay, had some grilled sole and tomato soup. It took a long time though so by 9:15 I asked for my check separately, paid, took a picture of the table, and said my goodbyes. I headed right to the hostel to pick up my luggage and knew I could take the metro two stops down to the train station. I ran down the steps, walked to the station, knew I had little cash or the rest was in my bag I couldn't go through a the moment, but it shouldn't cost me much I thought. I got my ticket and try to scan my metro pass and look up and see crazy lines and lots of x's. Apparently the metro got shutdown for the night. I was freaked out. I had about 45 minutes still, rushed back to the hostel, asked if she could get me a cab and how much it'd be. She said it'd be about $5 euros. I had about 9 on me. I was a little terrified because being not from there I knew it was possible I'd get ripped off. After about 10 minutes the taxi showed up, I get in and immediately the total on the meter was already 5 euros from some $2.40 service charge. Didn't care to ask just hoped I had enough to make it. Luckily it only was about 7.40 in the end so I was okay for that and the metro in Madrid when I'd make it.
The train was interesting, I had a small bed on the top of a bunk type deal. There were 3 others in my room, though only 2 others seemingly were in there the whole night. I finished my book, one of the men asked to turn off the lights and I tried to get some sleep. I passed out pretty easily, which led to some crazy nightmares. I think all the movement and noises of the train really got my mind going. I dreamt of being on falling planes and of all sorts of random people. I woke up a lot, including one point where I thought my future killer was staring at me. It was pitch black and all I could see were eyes looking in my direction. In the dark, with no glasses, I couldn't tell if it was one of my normal cabin mates so I decided if I close my eyes he'd go away. About 10 minutes later I opened them and he was thankfully gone. I slept on and off for the rest of the night, but no more killers. The cabin crew woke us with 30 minutes to go and I had officially arrived in Spain.
The metro was very easy, finding the hostel when I got off was not. It took a solid 30 minutes of walking in circles to finally find Jesus y Maria, the street I was staying on. Got in, met some people who were leaving from my room and now I'm about to head off to eat, get some money, and visit the art museum open today (the others are closed on Monday).
Thanks for reading, thanks for email, have a good one, I will update soon
'BK
p.s I'll try to get a few pictures up soon if I can.
I got back around 6:30, knocked on the room of the girls I knew were still there and we planned on eating dinner at 9. We went to some Italian place, it was close, one of them was sick, and it was semi-cold out. The food was pretty good, though we all forgot about the classic Portugees move of putting down bread and appetizers on the table in what would in anywhere else appear to be free, instead you eat you pay. We all some bread, but what can you do, we knew for the next night. My food was good, just some Wild mushroom risotta (they were out of what I originally ordered) and a nice cheese appetizer that I can't remember the name of right now with tomato sauce etc. Afterwards we went back to the hostel, started hangin out and then we saw a bunch of new people hanging out at the hostel. Turns out it was a bunch of University of Michigan kids. They seemed very excited to hear I was from (the state of) Michigan. All were real nice down to earth kids so we all hung out the rest of the night. Most the city was shutdown with Easter preparations the next day and we just watched a movie. Went to bed after and the next day was set to begin.
I knew I had a long day ahead of me on Sunday so no clue what I was going to do. I just had to be at the train station by 10:30 p.m to get to Madrid. I got downstairs in the morning and saw the UM kids and asked what they were up to for the day. Everyone was planning on heading to Sintra. There were a lot of us who ended up going. The girl from Switzerland, about 5 UM kids, myself and 2 girls I met in the morning from St. Johns University. We got to Sintra around 12:45, bout a 40 minute train ride outside of Lisbon. The city was full of what were presumably tourists. We started walking and heading towards the castles and palaces the city was known for. After finding a small palace first, and walking around the area we were split on what to do next. The main Castle and Palace are on mountains, we looked up and I've never seen something that seemed further away in my life. You think Everest is bad, try walking to the top of Castelo de Mouros or Palacia Pena! We got some food, the group ended up getting split up afterwards and we went our own ways. It was me, St Johns, one UM kid separated from his crew, and the Swiss. I had a lot of fun walking to the top and learning about each person. After a little more than an hour walk or swim if you consider the sweat I was drenched in we reached the castle. And then realized we needed a ticket. Instead of just going to the door to see if we could buy a ticket we asked a random tourists. They sent us to a ticket office about 10 minutes away. We were able to buy both Palace and Castle tickets from there. We met back up with the other part of the group, and then quickly got separated into our mini groups again once we reached the castle. We realized there was only one more thing to do, conquer the castle. Just like Mario, I wanted though 5,000 points to get on top of the flag pole! I kept climbing higher until we all reached the pinnacle. There were incredible views of the city, the Palace across on a totally other mountain just leading to a feeling of not again, and the look down of what could only be considered a terrifying 50,000 foot fall or like 3,000. We all took pictures, walked around and then headed to the Palace. We were told it was about 10 minutes away. We arrived to the entrance, and they were about right. The true walk, however, was about 15 more minutes of step climbing and paths to walk up the mountain to get there. We arrived at this Palace that looked pretty incredible with a multi-colored outside, awesome architecture, great statues, and more incredible views. We took some more pictures, went inside to look at the history (no pictures allowed in there) and felt relieved that we completed the journey. Afterwards we decided maybe we would take the bus down, but after a while we knew the true feeling of accomplishment wouldn't be the same without getting lost in Sintra for over an hour trying to find a way back to the train station. Random dogs popped up scaring the shit out of me, cars came flying down winding roads we were walking on with no sidewalks, and thinking we remembered walking past a certain house when we clearly did not led to an enjoyable, yet nerve racking time. It was already 6, the last train leaves at 8, we were hungry, I had to get to Madrid and we didn't know where we were. Finally though after just sticking to the belief of keep going down the mountain and we'd be golden, we saw familiar structures in the distance.
We got back to Lisboa, I was drenched in sweat still (technically still am), and relaxed for about 5 minutes. It was almost 8 so we went to eat before I left. The restaurant was okay, had some grilled sole and tomato soup. It took a long time though so by 9:15 I asked for my check separately, paid, took a picture of the table, and said my goodbyes. I headed right to the hostel to pick up my luggage and knew I could take the metro two stops down to the train station. I ran down the steps, walked to the station, knew I had little cash or the rest was in my bag I couldn't go through a the moment, but it shouldn't cost me much I thought. I got my ticket and try to scan my metro pass and look up and see crazy lines and lots of x's. Apparently the metro got shutdown for the night. I was freaked out. I had about 45 minutes still, rushed back to the hostel, asked if she could get me a cab and how much it'd be. She said it'd be about $5 euros. I had about 9 on me. I was a little terrified because being not from there I knew it was possible I'd get ripped off. After about 10 minutes the taxi showed up, I get in and immediately the total on the meter was already 5 euros from some $2.40 service charge. Didn't care to ask just hoped I had enough to make it. Luckily it only was about 7.40 in the end so I was okay for that and the metro in Madrid when I'd make it.
The train was interesting, I had a small bed on the top of a bunk type deal. There were 3 others in my room, though only 2 others seemingly were in there the whole night. I finished my book, one of the men asked to turn off the lights and I tried to get some sleep. I passed out pretty easily, which led to some crazy nightmares. I think all the movement and noises of the train really got my mind going. I dreamt of being on falling planes and of all sorts of random people. I woke up a lot, including one point where I thought my future killer was staring at me. It was pitch black and all I could see were eyes looking in my direction. In the dark, with no glasses, I couldn't tell if it was one of my normal cabin mates so I decided if I close my eyes he'd go away. About 10 minutes later I opened them and he was thankfully gone. I slept on and off for the rest of the night, but no more killers. The cabin crew woke us with 30 minutes to go and I had officially arrived in Spain.
The metro was very easy, finding the hostel when I got off was not. It took a solid 30 minutes of walking in circles to finally find Jesus y Maria, the street I was staying on. Got in, met some people who were leaving from my room and now I'm about to head off to eat, get some money, and visit the art museum open today (the others are closed on Monday).
Thanks for reading, thanks for email, have a good one, I will update soon
'BK
p.s I'll try to get a few pictures up soon if I can.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Pick a language!
I just got back from a small Lisbon city tour via the hostel and figured while it rains a bit (and it's only in the 50s, false advertising Lisbon!) I'd attempt to navigate through this European keyboard and update my journey thus far. The day I left got off to a hectic start, I wasn't sure if they were tiny signs to delay my trip or just an example of the trials and tribulations ahead. Starting from the beginning where I got out of my mom's car and left my cell phone to being told my flight to New Jersey was supposed to be delayed until 5 p.m the nerves were kicking. I was switched to the flight before mine, slated to take off at 1:02 (it was already 1:20) and felt a little uneasy about that whole thing. They assured me the flight wouldn't be taking off anytime soon. I took a little gander at the departure screen and did not see my flight, I did a mildly-fast paced walk to the C gate at McNamara, find the gate and I hear "final call for all rows." So instead of taking my time, eating something, I rush on to the plane only to sit for over an hour after leaving the gate. We took off at 3:15 (my regularly scheduled flight time) and got to Lisbon with tons of time to kill and for me to finally eat. Got on the plane around 8:15 for Lisbon, passed out immediately and woke up 20 minutes later yet to take off. There was no real delay besides the fact that it was New Jersey and they are always delayed there. The 20 minute nap meant only one thing, that would probably be the only 20 minutes I'd sleep for the whole day.
The plane ride was fine, a few bumps, but nothing insane. I first watched Yes Man and Bedtime Stories, two movies that I thought were real good, especially Yes Man. I kind of used it as mini inspiration to take as many chances and say yes to pretty much everything. I feel there may be some foreshadowing with that movie in the future in my own story. After those movies I watched Harry Potter for about an hour, felt I could get to sleep and bam I was out cold. Only problem was 10 minutes later the lights came back on and we were an hour away.
We landed in Lisbon at 8 a.m, customs took over an hour to get through the line, then the line for the informational desk and aerobus to the hostel took another hour, and finally around 11 I arrived. I wasn't able to check in til 2 (probably a good thing), so it forced me to walk through the city and stay awake. I was extremely dehydrated and had to pee, so I found a Mcdonalds to pee in (I have a non-American food and especially no fast food rule while here) and grabbed a water. I walked to the river, started taking some pictures and immediately got offered hash by 3 different men selling glasses. Being that I felt the need to say yes to everything, I quickly nixed that plan and got away from them. The architecture, statues, and general art around the city are real awesome. It is not hard to navigate either at least for me. The only bad part about coming now is with Easter it's high travel season leading to the city being a lot more crowded (public transportation during the day near impossible without waiting 20 minutes), places to visit having strange hours or being closed like most places will be on Sunday. I got myself some lunch around 1 knowing it'd go slowly and I had one more hour to kill. I went to a restaurant nearby and went with a seafood salad full of shrimp, clams, snails, octopus, crab some kind of cooked potato, lettuce and a million carrots. I was a fan, though I did get a weird look from the waitress. The problem is portugees is too much like Spanish, but they try so hard not to be that only half the words are actually Spanish. So the minimal Spanish I try speakin with people just get me a confused and dirty look. What's the point of stealing half a language??? Just use Spanish, you don't need a language! I did finally get down "Obrigado" for thanks, but I'm positive in 2 days that will just mess me up more.
The hostel itself is extremely nice, I'm expecting this to be the nicest of them all, it's nicer than some hotels, the beds are surprisingly comfortable and the bathrooms are clean. The location itself is right around the Rossio downtown area, one of the more popular places for restaurants etc. When I finally was able to check in around 2 p.m I came back so I could get more of a tour, use the bathroom, and get situated. I got to the room, tried to use the locker I was given, but it was impossible to lock. I wasn't going anywhere so I took a break from trying and decided to plug in my phone to charge. I take out my trust international plugs, do it up and eeek crazy spark. It wouldn't work and the light seemed to not turn on anymore. I assume the fuse blew in the room, my bad, I told the guy the lights weren't working and he fixed it about 5 minutes later so nobody has to know. From there I did more walking, I read the train station I needed to get to was 100m off the map I had. Apparently that map is for overweight people who need deception to force them to exercise. Forty minutes later and now knowing I will not be walking to this train station when I leave, I made a reservation to head to Madrid overnight on Sunday since it's real busy everywhere (and people get Monday off after Easter still). I started my walk back but after another 40 minutes started getting extremely hungry. I looked out for the best possible foods and right there in front of me with a bakery featuring these pastries with baked custard on top. They were called natas, worth trying. I knew that would hold me over until dinner. It was 6 p.m at that point, but dinner is a late night affair round these parts.
Got back to the hostel went to my room and finally had people in it to talk too. Spoke briefly with the 2 girls in the room, both on Spring Break while they study abroad. One goes to PSU, the other Southwestern, nice people, was good having a legit conversation with someone after 24 hours almost. They left after, I began to read for a bit. The hostel offers a cheap dinner each night and I figured it'd be a good way to meet people and may not be that bad of a meal. I read for about 20 minutes until I literally almost fell asleep on the seat I was reading. I knew there was only one resort to attempt to stay awake, espresso. I figured the shaking from the coffee would keep me going throughout the night, I just may scare everyone off. I ran to the nearest coffee house, too a shot of espresso and headed back. I was definitely shaky. Dinner came, I met a bunch of people, but mainly spoke with this woman from Switzerland with a British accent (she's never been there before, but even the people from London here thought she was, so I'm not just bad with accent guessing). We spoke a lot, she thought I was 18, I thought she was like 26. Turns out I'm 25 and she's 37. I then thought if my cousin Jordan can go for an older woman, I can too! Just kiddin. She challenged me to trivial pursuit, I thought I'd have a chance, but she's a law clerk in Zurich and apparently smarter, even in the American version. It was good to have real socialization though, stayed up with her and her friend she came with (who is 38, but also looks in her 20s, maybe they're lying). I went up talked with the two people actually in the room who weren't out, attempted to write in my personal journal and passed out while writing.
I won't bore you with too much more, I swear. Today I went on the tour with the Hostel of Lisbon. City was too busy to do things they intended, but was a good one nonetheless. I hung out with the people I met last night and spoke with this girl and her brother from the UK for most of it, very nice, and closer to my age. I had a full octopus for lunch (it was great, best I've had). The head semi-freaked me out, but I got over it and Octopi brains ain't bad. Went to a port tasting after and then the weather went downhill. Lisbon got cold and rainy, so we rushed back. Got some great photos from amazing highpoints in the city and saw the outside of one of their big castles. After the tour, came back here and then went out with the Swiss and her English friend from the night before. We went to a recommended Austrian coffee/cake place, then walked to a mini bar that specializes in a cherry drink called Ginja (a portuguese cherry brandy type deal) and had some seni-hard goat cheese from Portugal (I tried to find out the name, but the old women just kept saying it's goat cheese). After 2 drinks of the Ginja (took it as a shot the first time, apparently you sip it. Tasted like robitussin, semi disappointed I didn't start hallucinating to confirm it actually was). Went to dinner, had sting ray, it was good, but very boney. Then just headed back to the hostel where I'm bout to watch a movie with a couple of people. I'm still exhausted, jet laggin a bit. Longest update ever, going to Sintra tomorrow for the day (small city outside of Lisbon) and then Madrid Sunday night. Maybe I'll see you on Sunday when the city is shutdown before Madrid.
Thanks for stopping by and if you made it to the end, I know you really are a fan!
'BK
The plane ride was fine, a few bumps, but nothing insane. I first watched Yes Man and Bedtime Stories, two movies that I thought were real good, especially Yes Man. I kind of used it as mini inspiration to take as many chances and say yes to pretty much everything. I feel there may be some foreshadowing with that movie in the future in my own story. After those movies I watched Harry Potter for about an hour, felt I could get to sleep and bam I was out cold. Only problem was 10 minutes later the lights came back on and we were an hour away.
We landed in Lisbon at 8 a.m, customs took over an hour to get through the line, then the line for the informational desk and aerobus to the hostel took another hour, and finally around 11 I arrived. I wasn't able to check in til 2 (probably a good thing), so it forced me to walk through the city and stay awake. I was extremely dehydrated and had to pee, so I found a Mcdonalds to pee in (I have a non-American food and especially no fast food rule while here) and grabbed a water. I walked to the river, started taking some pictures and immediately got offered hash by 3 different men selling glasses. Being that I felt the need to say yes to everything, I quickly nixed that plan and got away from them. The architecture, statues, and general art around the city are real awesome. It is not hard to navigate either at least for me. The only bad part about coming now is with Easter it's high travel season leading to the city being a lot more crowded (public transportation during the day near impossible without waiting 20 minutes), places to visit having strange hours or being closed like most places will be on Sunday. I got myself some lunch around 1 knowing it'd go slowly and I had one more hour to kill. I went to a restaurant nearby and went with a seafood salad full of shrimp, clams, snails, octopus, crab some kind of cooked potato, lettuce and a million carrots. I was a fan, though I did get a weird look from the waitress. The problem is portugees is too much like Spanish, but they try so hard not to be that only half the words are actually Spanish. So the minimal Spanish I try speakin with people just get me a confused and dirty look. What's the point of stealing half a language??? Just use Spanish, you don't need a language! I did finally get down "Obrigado" for thanks, but I'm positive in 2 days that will just mess me up more.
The hostel itself is extremely nice, I'm expecting this to be the nicest of them all, it's nicer than some hotels, the beds are surprisingly comfortable and the bathrooms are clean. The location itself is right around the Rossio downtown area, one of the more popular places for restaurants etc. When I finally was able to check in around 2 p.m I came back so I could get more of a tour, use the bathroom, and get situated. I got to the room, tried to use the locker I was given, but it was impossible to lock. I wasn't going anywhere so I took a break from trying and decided to plug in my phone to charge. I take out my trust international plugs, do it up and eeek crazy spark. It wouldn't work and the light seemed to not turn on anymore. I assume the fuse blew in the room, my bad, I told the guy the lights weren't working and he fixed it about 5 minutes later so nobody has to know. From there I did more walking, I read the train station I needed to get to was 100m off the map I had. Apparently that map is for overweight people who need deception to force them to exercise. Forty minutes later and now knowing I will not be walking to this train station when I leave, I made a reservation to head to Madrid overnight on Sunday since it's real busy everywhere (and people get Monday off after Easter still). I started my walk back but after another 40 minutes started getting extremely hungry. I looked out for the best possible foods and right there in front of me with a bakery featuring these pastries with baked custard on top. They were called natas, worth trying. I knew that would hold me over until dinner. It was 6 p.m at that point, but dinner is a late night affair round these parts.
Got back to the hostel went to my room and finally had people in it to talk too. Spoke briefly with the 2 girls in the room, both on Spring Break while they study abroad. One goes to PSU, the other Southwestern, nice people, was good having a legit conversation with someone after 24 hours almost. They left after, I began to read for a bit. The hostel offers a cheap dinner each night and I figured it'd be a good way to meet people and may not be that bad of a meal. I read for about 20 minutes until I literally almost fell asleep on the seat I was reading. I knew there was only one resort to attempt to stay awake, espresso. I figured the shaking from the coffee would keep me going throughout the night, I just may scare everyone off. I ran to the nearest coffee house, too a shot of espresso and headed back. I was definitely shaky. Dinner came, I met a bunch of people, but mainly spoke with this woman from Switzerland with a British accent (she's never been there before, but even the people from London here thought she was, so I'm not just bad with accent guessing). We spoke a lot, she thought I was 18, I thought she was like 26. Turns out I'm 25 and she's 37. I then thought if my cousin Jordan can go for an older woman, I can too! Just kiddin. She challenged me to trivial pursuit, I thought I'd have a chance, but she's a law clerk in Zurich and apparently smarter, even in the American version. It was good to have real socialization though, stayed up with her and her friend she came with (who is 38, but also looks in her 20s, maybe they're lying). I went up talked with the two people actually in the room who weren't out, attempted to write in my personal journal and passed out while writing.
I won't bore you with too much more, I swear. Today I went on the tour with the Hostel of Lisbon. City was too busy to do things they intended, but was a good one nonetheless. I hung out with the people I met last night and spoke with this girl and her brother from the UK for most of it, very nice, and closer to my age. I had a full octopus for lunch (it was great, best I've had). The head semi-freaked me out, but I got over it and Octopi brains ain't bad. Went to a port tasting after and then the weather went downhill. Lisbon got cold and rainy, so we rushed back. Got some great photos from amazing highpoints in the city and saw the outside of one of their big castles. After the tour, came back here and then went out with the Swiss and her English friend from the night before. We went to a recommended Austrian coffee/cake place, then walked to a mini bar that specializes in a cherry drink called Ginja (a portuguese cherry brandy type deal) and had some seni-hard goat cheese from Portugal (I tried to find out the name, but the old women just kept saying it's goat cheese). After 2 drinks of the Ginja (took it as a shot the first time, apparently you sip it. Tasted like robitussin, semi disappointed I didn't start hallucinating to confirm it actually was). Went to dinner, had sting ray, it was good, but very boney. Then just headed back to the hostel where I'm bout to watch a movie with a couple of people. I'm still exhausted, jet laggin a bit. Longest update ever, going to Sintra tomorrow for the day (small city outside of Lisbon) and then Madrid Sunday night. Maybe I'll see you on Sunday when the city is shutdown before Madrid.
Thanks for stopping by and if you made it to the end, I know you really are a fan!
'BK
Monday, April 6, 2009
And now, I'm gone...
In less than 12 hours I'll be headed to New Jersey for a 3 hour layover en route to Lisbon to begin a journey of challenges, enlightenment, highs, and (hopefully minimal) lows. This was an extremely busy week filled with more goodbyes, attempts to pack, and thoughts racing through my mind. On Friday night there was a going away party, to all who were there thank you, it meant a lot. For the second time in my life I had a going away party, one was when I left my job at the Tigers and in both instances more people showed up than I could ever imagine. Makes me wonder, do people genuinely like and appreciate me or just love to see me leave. Just kidding, who doesn't love me. Over the weekend the final four commenced and although the final game result wasn't what I hoped for, the entire experience meant a lot to me. I've been to every major pro sporting event, but the environment, the Saturday game, and most importantly a weekend spent with my dad before I go puts it near the top.
And now here I am, a little more than 12 hours to go before heading off on the journey of a lifetime. I've had many mental ups and downs throughout the day including a solid case of IBS. I woke up with a terrified feeling of how real this is about to be. I think with the final four, and consistently being busy for the past 2 months I haven't had a day to truly grasp the concept of my journey. As the day went on and the shock began to wear off I became more comfortable with what lies ahead. As I spoke to people throughout the day and said more and more goodbyes I realized this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. From the beginning I'll be doing something I wouldn't have envisioned doing as little as 6 months ago. Life takes you on many small journeys that you can't control, but I finally know the ones you have the opportunity to create yourself shouldn't even be questioned.
I purchased a book of mainly poetry by singer/songwriter Ryan Adams for my journey, I've only read the foreword, but it's an explanation of why I enjoy writing.
"Once in a life, if a person chooses to go through these things, then maybe the act of writing them down could be a gift, so that others might know that should they suffer their romancers or their love of things, they're not alone."
As much as I want people to read what I'm doing, if you can take something out of this with me, the trip can only mean more. One of the greatest compliments I ever received was 5 years ago when someone randomly stumbled upon an old blog of mine and sent me an email telling me they never knew people felt the same in certain aspects of life. You just never know what is out there.
I'm very comfortable with my decision to take this chance, today went by slowly, but in a good way. The whole picture slowed down and now there's little to do, but get ready to step on that plane. I'm all packed (yet don't really know if it's too much or too little yet), have my travel books, notes, and information from those who have experienced firsthand traveling printed or memorized. I know I'll have forgotten something, probably minor that I won't even notice for a week, but I'm sure Europe can sell me whatever I lack. I bought my ticket to the Counting Crows concert in Dublin, no clue if I'll be able to make it there or not, but why not go for it.
I arrive in Lisbon 8:20 a.m on Thursday April 9th. No idea what time that is in other parts in the world, but that's when it all officially begins. Tomorrow will be a day full of flying, probably recycling many nervous thoughts in my mind throughout the day. I figure since I can barely sleep at home, the plane ride won't be much better. I intend on hitting the ground running, go to the hostel and begin seeing all that I can see. It probably won't be a late night, but no use getting off to a slow start. From Lisbon I'll head to Spain, then France, Amsterdam, Germany, and depending on timing places like Prague, Vienna, Switzerland, other parts of southern France, or Dublin will be explored. I finish in Italy and Greece, when I fly home May 27th.
I'll leave you with a picture of what I look like as I take on the world and go off the leash...
Maybe my face will age, maybe the 2 month beard and long hair will make me look like Donnie Whalberg in Saw IV, or maybe I'll just come back lookin the same, but I can't envision things being the same again.
And now here I am, a little more than 12 hours to go before heading off on the journey of a lifetime. I've had many mental ups and downs throughout the day including a solid case of IBS. I woke up with a terrified feeling of how real this is about to be. I think with the final four, and consistently being busy for the past 2 months I haven't had a day to truly grasp the concept of my journey. As the day went on and the shock began to wear off I became more comfortable with what lies ahead. As I spoke to people throughout the day and said more and more goodbyes I realized this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. From the beginning I'll be doing something I wouldn't have envisioned doing as little as 6 months ago. Life takes you on many small journeys that you can't control, but I finally know the ones you have the opportunity to create yourself shouldn't even be questioned.
I purchased a book of mainly poetry by singer/songwriter Ryan Adams for my journey, I've only read the foreword, but it's an explanation of why I enjoy writing.
"Once in a life, if a person chooses to go through these things, then maybe the act of writing them down could be a gift, so that others might know that should they suffer their romancers or their love of things, they're not alone."
As much as I want people to read what I'm doing, if you can take something out of this with me, the trip can only mean more. One of the greatest compliments I ever received was 5 years ago when someone randomly stumbled upon an old blog of mine and sent me an email telling me they never knew people felt the same in certain aspects of life. You just never know what is out there.
I'm very comfortable with my decision to take this chance, today went by slowly, but in a good way. The whole picture slowed down and now there's little to do, but get ready to step on that plane. I'm all packed (yet don't really know if it's too much or too little yet), have my travel books, notes, and information from those who have experienced firsthand traveling printed or memorized. I know I'll have forgotten something, probably minor that I won't even notice for a week, but I'm sure Europe can sell me whatever I lack. I bought my ticket to the Counting Crows concert in Dublin, no clue if I'll be able to make it there or not, but why not go for it.
I arrive in Lisbon 8:20 a.m on Thursday April 9th. No idea what time that is in other parts in the world, but that's when it all officially begins. Tomorrow will be a day full of flying, probably recycling many nervous thoughts in my mind throughout the day. I figure since I can barely sleep at home, the plane ride won't be much better. I intend on hitting the ground running, go to the hostel and begin seeing all that I can see. It probably won't be a late night, but no use getting off to a slow start. From Lisbon I'll head to Spain, then France, Amsterdam, Germany, and depending on timing places like Prague, Vienna, Switzerland, other parts of southern France, or Dublin will be explored. I finish in Italy and Greece, when I fly home May 27th.
I'll leave you with a picture of what I look like as I take on the world and go off the leash...
Maybe my face will age, maybe the 2 month beard and long hair will make me look like Donnie Whalberg in Saw IV, or maybe I'll just come back lookin the same, but I can't envision things being the same again.
I will try to be as honest as possible with events in the blog, so for those adults like my parents who aren't sure if they should be reading at certain points, maybe I'll throw in a disclaimer. Not that there's anything wrong with doin drugs, hookers, and sleepin on the street.
I asked the magic eight ball if this will be the best experience of my life, the response "It is certain."
Email me at BK5000@gmail.com, leave comments, or read silently, but I hope you enjoy yourselves as much as I.
-BK
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