Day 44 – Tuesday January 18th 2011 (Igoumenitsa, Greece – Patra, Greece - KIATON, Greece – Athens, Greece)

Another transit day! Not much to say, I spent a lot of time updating my journal and editing photos and trying to get my butt to Athens! I met a Korean (Chobra) guy who was also staying in Athens on the way and we hung out the whole day on the trains. We talked about culture and I ate the best Cesar salad I’ve ever had. The trains and busses literally took all day though and so that was a pain. Eventually we got to the Hostel and I took advantage of the night by sleeping through it.

Day 43 – Monday January 17th 2011 (Brindisi, Italy)

Transit day! I woke up to a beautiful morning in Brindisi Italy! I was pretty excited to get out of Italy actually and finally experience another country where (Hopefully) I won’t have to pay to go to the bathroom. I went out and met a gorgeous farmers market where I bought some fresh apples and oranges and other nice things for pennies. Then I went out in search for internet so I could finish sending my postcards. Oh yeah, I had written 17 postcards in the last few days. I’m excited for everyone to get them and tell me about it. I literally walked to 5 different internet points and libraries and all of them turned me down even the last one but I begged and so the lady let me use a computer for email only. I got what I needed and sent my postcards and then I went through the usual rat race to get onto my ferry (getting tickets, buying cheap food for the trip, finding the bus, security, etc.) but I made it! That’s about it for this day…

Day 42 – Sunday January 16th 2011 (Napoli, Italy - Brindisi, Italy)

Most of the day was spent traveling on the train and bus from Napoli to Brindisi. When I arrived at Brindisi most things were closed considering it was Sunday and so I walked around for a few hours and then ate a falafel and then got a room at a one star hotel. The cheapest in the whole city, I checked. It was actually really nice and it had a great shower but no internet. I slept like a small baby.

Day 41 – Saturday January 15th 2011 (Palermo, Italy – Napoli, Italy)

Transit day! The train between Palermo and Napoli is really interesting. It has to go on a massive ferry because Sicily is an island. It was really weird watching them drive the train onto the ferry and all the cars separating and then coming back together. I was amazed. I was also exhausted so I slept quite a bit on the train.

Day 40 – Friday January 14th 2011 (Palermo, Italy)

I arrived in Palermo at about 730 am and I was so exhausted that I just walked straight to the Hostel and dropped my bags off. I was about ready to take a nap but I wanted to check my emails first because I hadn’t been able to for about a week. The Tunisian government and the lack of anywhere to get internet made it impossible to communicate with my family.
It was a good thing I checked my email too because I soon realized that my parents thought I was dead! They had been trying to contact me for ages because they somehow found out about the riots in Tunisia. They had sent my picture out to all the Hostels in Tunisia, Italy and Greece and they had been talking with the US embassy, the ferry service and the police. I was worried because I read in an email that my Dad was thinking about flying to Tunisia to look for me. So I called him right away even though it was 3 am his time. He picked up and he explained that they had found out that I had checked out of the Hostel on the 9th and then every communication from me stopped. No emails, to photo posts, to replies to texts or phone calls, no usage of my credit cards or anything and so they thought I had been kidnapped or killed. Nope. I was fine; I had just been using couch surfing I told them. They had actually found that out about a day earlier and they were significantly less worried. After I talked to my parents I took a nap and then I went out for food. I met these cool musicians who invited me to play some music on the street with them so I did that for a while and then we listened to this polish guy play blues guitar while we ate kababs together. My new friends, Frenccenzo and Anna were from the US and Spain and so I loved them right away. They also gave me great travel tips and a list of active couch surfers in the places I was going. After a long while talking I went up to bed and slept the night away.

Day 39 – Thursday January 13th 2011 (Tunis, Tunisia)

The next morning was kinda crazy cuz I knew I was leaving today. It was actually really sad and I thought about just staying so I could hang out more. I had a schedule to keep though and so I packed up and left Connie a note and took off. I had some time before my ferry so I just kinda hung out for a while and saw the military getting more mobilized. Over the next three or four days there were tanks and tear gas often left its residue in the air. The President left the country and the rioters torn down his posters that were all over the city and hopefully gained the economic freedoms they were protesting for. The rioters did do a lot of stealing and more people died. I was pretty worried about Connie and Lina over the next few days but they survived. My ferry was delayed until 930 pm so I had to hang out and take my time going through security. After a while I was able to get onto the ferry and just relax. The revolution was over. For me at least.

Day 38 – Wednesday January 12th 2011 (Kirowan, Tunisia)

The next morning at 730 I was super exhausted Lina and Connie gave me a spare key and let me sleep in a bit which was nice. I left for Kirowan at about 9am and got there around 11. I was still kinda tired but it was interesting visiting the 4th holiest city in Islam. I walked in and out of it 4 times because apparently if you visit Kirowan 4 times it’s just like going to Mecca. I also toured through the mosques and the city a bit but I wasn’t feeling it completely because I was kinda wanting to find some riots. I went home after a few hours and found a completely different city. All the shops and the Medina and everything were closed. The secret police were pestering me to no end and there were military everywhere. They had blocked off all the government buildings with barbed wire and they were breaking up any gatherings of groups of any kind. The schools and all the stores had been closed for a couple days now. There wasn’t much to do but to walk around looking for protestors or “manifestations” as they say in French, but I kept on getting hassled by secret police who wanted my camera. Eventually I gave up and went back to the apartment where I found Lina and Connie. There wasn’t much to do other than talk and watch another movie so that’s what we did. We picked a movie called Howl about the poet Allen Ginsburg. It was nice because we were able to talk about loads of things afterward. Connie and I stayed up again just lying there and talking for ages, eventually we slept like snoring turtles.

Day 37 – Tuesday January 11th 2011 (Sidi Bou Said & Carthage, Tunisia)

The deal was that I needed to be gone while Connie and her Roommate Lina were gone at work and so Today I woke up at 730am and got ready to leave for Sidi Bou Said (The City of Blue and White) Instead of leaving right away I went into a hotel lobby and crashed for a few hours and then I got some food at little market. The train station wasn’t far so I walked there and bought a ticket. The trains were pretty ghetto but it was anthropological to be able to watch all the people getting on and off. I spent most of the day at Sidi Bou Said because I flat out loved it so much. It was so incredibly beautiful and it reminded me of a children’s book my Dad use to read to me. I think it was Pinocchio but I’m not sure. I actually had a lot of fun haggling with everyone there and that was truly the anme of the game in Sidi Bou Siad. It was nuts, constantly people are telling you “I give you good price” and leading you into their store. They are very pushy and they will take you for all you have if you let them. I was once quoted 140 Dinari for a tiny wooden box one that I had bought earlier for 5 Dinari. Sometimes I would talk them down just for fun and sometimes I would actually buy things the whole day was fun though. There were also some amazing views of the Sea and of the city. I ate at this little restaurant that was playing music and I was dancing a bit while I ordered and so this girl in the restaurant was dancing with me and the guy cooking the food, he was probably about 25 was trying to talk to me but he didn’t speak English at all. It actually got kinda weird, he would look at me while I was eating and would smile and say, “pity, pity, pity.” I have no idea what he meant or what he thought he was saying. Then he told me to take off my hat and he really loved my hair… A little too much. After I was done eating I asked If they knew a place to get Ojja and he said that he could make it for me and then asked what time I would be back. I told him I didn’t know and then he motioned for me to follow him out the back exit, the back exit lead to the street same as the front did so I followed and he tried to say something about facebook and I just ignored him and then he felt up my but and snapped my underwear… So that was my first and only time getting hit on by a very gay Tunisian man. It was not an experience I’d like to repeat. So needless to say I didn’t return to that restaurant … ever. I did however hike down to the beach and I found a cool café that was kinda famous with writer’s way back. I also got rained on a bit and got some presents for friends. After a while I made my way back to the train and headed off to Carthage.
Carthage was really nice and I did get some cool things there. I also found a deer path that I hiked down into the woods and that was really beautiful. Tunisian wild life is just so so different I couldn’t get over it. The Mosque and ruins in Carthage were beautiful and I took enough pictures to wallpaper the great wall. As I was standing outside the massive ruin complex in Carthage I asked a random American to take my picture. Turns out he’s a famous photographer and he gave me all kindsa pointers on photography and then when I mentioned what kinda SD card I use he gave me his 8Gb ultra, I was pleased and I licked him right on the face in gratitude. Then I walked back to the station finding some cool broken pottery on the way and taking some pieces. When I got back to Tunis I had heard that there might be some “manifestations” (riots or protests) and so I went looking for them. I saw some people gathering but it wasn’t too extreme so I went to the medina instead and tried to haggle some more. Before long I went to the girl’s apartment and met Lina as she was going to buy some food. I went with her … it was the best ever. Then we were in the apartment, We tried to get some pictures of some possible rioters outside and of all the guards. We had a 8pm curfew so I helped Lina with an English resume and then some dudes came over and we watched a movie. The movies was called Triangle… It was… the best ever. After the movie the dudes left and Lina and Connie and I talked. Then Just Connie and I talked. After about 100 hours of talking we went to bed and I lied there just thinking about everything.

Day 36 – Monday January 10th 2011 (Tunis, Tunisia)

I was pretty excited today to eat more Tunisian food… Especially Ojja. I really love the food in Tunisia. I walked the streets and became more familiar with everything and I went to the tourism office and got a map finally. I also took some pictures and had my first experience with the secret police (crotchety police dressed in civilian clothes). I went into the medina again and found out the prices of the things I thought I might want to buy so I could ask Connie if they were reasonable. I also ate Ojja again. I was pretty excited to go longboarding with Connie and to get out of the terrible Hostel I was staying in. I met Connie at 730 pm and we dropped my bag off and then went out on the town with the longboard after the fish she was cooking leapt onto the kitchen floor. We actually had tons of fun and I found out that I had tons in common with this girl. We talked and walked around and raced up and down the main street and tried to break into the clock tower and then we dropped off the board and went out again to get some croissants for the next morning. It was nice to be out walking around in a brand new country and talking to someone whose warm intelligence made me tingly. We stayed up late talking after we went home and eventually I went into my downy sleeping bag and passed out.

Day 35 – Sunday January 9th 2011 (Tunis, Tunisia)

I woke up a couple times at dawn-ish by the call to prayer. I guess the Hostel is right by a Mosque. I was able to check my email and found one from Connie Lee and one from another couch surfer with phone numbers, so I wrote them down and headed out to explore Tunis. The Medina was amazing and I didn’t even mind getting lost immediately because it seemed kinda made that way. I even ask a local at one point to point out his shop on my map so I could come back and he had no idea where it was. Anyway, I eventually saw a sign that said teletaxi and went inside to use the only pay phones in Tunis. I called Connie Lee First and we set up a time and place to meet. I had no idea where it was I was s’pose to be so it became a race to get there in the next 30 minutes. I got terrible directions from four different people including one guy who led me to the complete opposite side of the medina and a police officer who pointed the wrong way when I was only one block away from the Hotel I was to meet at. I met Condor at the Hana Hotel and we took a walk around the main streets as she told me about Tunisian food and some history as well as bringing me to a restaurant with some of the best food I’ve ever eaten called Ojja and then paid for it all. I felt like the prettiest princess at the ball. We agreed to meet the next day and I would hopefully live with them for the rest of the week.
When I went home I unfortunately took the most terrible poo and shower of my life… Why was it so terrible? I’m not sure I want to go into the reasons why, just know that they were valid and they were many. After that debacle I was cold and wet and tired and ready to sleep forever. Instead I met John the Aussie, Ahblot the Indian and Ted the Brit. They were my new roommates, they were actually really cool and had all traveled extensively in the Middle East. I learned tons from them and about what kinds of difficulties and differences one can run into. I have to admit I loved all their accents too; it was like an accent buffet. After talking to my new roomies for hours and hours I took a break and used the internet for a while. I also took a moment to describe the interesting room I was in to a friend of mine : “This room is very Mediterranean and has a strong Muslim feel. It’s a dining room with big creamy marble columns and the walls are these crazy green and blue and white painted tiles and there are all these gold and red drapes and table clothes and there are big clay pots everywhere and a cabinet full of piles of old dusty clocks and a fan and a rotary phone and there is a silver etched tea set on one of the 12 little tables in the room and the ceiling is like 40 or 50 ft. up and its a big glass dome to the night sky which is beautiful but also it makes this room very very cold.” After my chats the Americans and some random lonely Tunisian who walked in, I went to bed and slept beautiful Tunisian dreams.

Day 34 – Saturday January 8th 2011 (Tunis, Tunisia)

The next morning I woke up and met Nick and Elijah (yeah another Elijah how weird is that?) they were very cool. Nick had just been to Tunisia and recommended it as well as giving me the name of a couch surfer he knew of named Connie Lee. Elijah had just gotten back from India and he proceeded to make me really wanna go there. I think if I end up doing the peace core it might be narrowed down to Africa or India. So I booked my tickets to Tunisia and then I hopped the ferry. The ferry was 10 hours long… The ferry sucked. I watched Home Alone 3… Home Alone 3 sucked. The only thing that didn’t suck was watching a bunch of old Tunisian men laugh their asses off at Home Alone 3. When I finally hit earth I escaped the ferry and spent about a billion hours walking through the endless maze that is Tunisian security. I was almost refused at the gate because they couldn’t read my smudged Palermo passport stamp and then again when I didn’t fill out some paperwork that I never received. Soon though I was through the gantlet and was back to being hassled by cab drivers. I changed my money into Dinari and then caught a cab, explaining that I have little to no money by telling him I was from Poland and I’ve been backpacking for ages and ages. I paid 7 Dinari to take me to the Medina which was apparently still too much. He wanted to charge me more but I just told him I didn’t have it. Let me tell you, the Medina in Tunis at night is pretty dang creepy. I’ve never seen so many cats and tiny streets ever! I was really really lucky that I had good directions and a hand drawn map that I made earlier. I found the Hostel pretty easily but the owner was hecka creepy looking and he walked me through his pitch black house to a extremely cold room with no lights and so I just had to fumble around and eventually just fall into bed.

Day 33 – Friday January 7th 2011 (Palermo, Sicily)

I was going on zero sleep and in a completely new culture. I also soon found out that I had a map for the wrong city and no idea where a Hostel was in Palermo. No one speaks English in Palermo, No one sells maps, No one can help. It was probably only so frustrating because I was just so tired. I eventually bought a map that was way way too expensive and hopped a bus without paying to the center of town. I found an tourism point after asking about 7 people and then I was set. I was able to get directions to a hostel and I even met a girl named floe who was singing on the street with her crazy dreads. She was so cool I just had to sit with her for a while, she invited me to hang out later but I was just so tired that I kinda blew her off. My hostel was down this deserted street that was full of garage doors and after I bought my room I went upstairs and just crashed. I woke up at about 11pm and chatted with my roommate a while. Then I got some food and talked to internet friends. At about 1am I was hearing this loud music and so I went to investigate. I found out that all those garage doors were clubs and the hostel was smack in the middle of the clubbing section of town. I was just kinda standing there thinking about getting my camera when someone miraculously spoke English to me! I was shocked. It was these two Italian girls and their friends, it was kinda hard to hear what they were saying because it was so loud but we basically got introductions out of the way and then we went out dancing. It was way fun and I was surprised at how well everyone was dressed and I loved the songs where everyone yelled in Italian together, it was great and afterward we all went up to the roof of one of the bars to drink and smoke and talk. I didn’t drink or smoke or do much talking to be honest and while I was sitting there relishing the feeling of acceptance and being one of the cool kids I realized that these people weren’t really that cool. They were really kind and they had short hair and dressed well but that was about it. They didn’t have good taste in anything else and they only talked about stuff I wasn’t interested in. Anyway I was tired again somehow so I took a nap until daytime (even though it was about 5 or 6 when I came home).

Day 32 – Thursday January 6th 2011 (Napoli - Sicily, Italy)

I knew I had to leave today so I showered and got my bag on and took off in the morning. I still wanted to see a few things in the old city and so I saw some more of the older buildings and the Duomo. When I went through the main street there was a concert going on with these crazy gypsy people so I listened to them a while. As I was listening these to girls came up to me and started chatting me up. I was immediately kinda suspicious of them but they seemed drunk and harmless. We chatted a while and they danced with me and then I noticed one of them touched my butt and then went over to the other and whispered to her and then told me that they had to go. I was pretty sure she had just checked for my wallet and couldn’t find one and so they had no reason to stay. I was kinda pissed so I called her out on it. I said to her “ Hey sorry I didn’t have any money for you, I felt you feel me up for my wallet.” She got all defensive and her friend (the Pretty one) tried to convince me that it was outrageous, just then her two friends came over and I met them too. We ended up all talking a while and in the end I was pretty sure that they weren’t trying to rob me and I was just being paranoid. We all kissed each other goodbye and although they invited me home with them I had to catch the ferry to Sicily. The ferry was actually pretty nice but I had a hard time figuring out how to get on the bloody thing. There were only semis driving onto it and there were no signs or any direction at all on how to get on. I just walked around until I found an opening and then a guy checked my ticket as I walked on. There are no assigned seats on these ferries they just have these big lounges and people find a little area and make it their home for the next 10 hours. They even lay out blankets for beds and have little picnics in the middle of the floor and everything. I was pretty worried about leaving my bag anywhere but after a while I got to know everyone around me and I locked it to a table so I could walk around. It was pretty surreal watching the water swoosh under the massive boat in the black of night. I felt like I was on Titanic. I went back in to finish editing photos and then I met Alessandro. He walked up to me out of the blue and asked if I was American. They he said he had a question. He said “ok… In the America, the tittie bar.. how much it costs?” I was like, “huh?” Then he’s talking to me about American college girls being sluts and all kindsa crude generalizations. I thought, wow, I got a live one here and basically we talked for the next FIVE hours… He just wouldn’t leave me alone. It was ok though we became friends and he even bought me water and we’re facebook friends now. I gave him advice with his girl troubles and he taught me all about the Italian shipping industry. Needless to say, I didn’t get much sleep on the ferry and so I was glad to be in Sicily at about 8 am.

Day 31 – Wednesday January 5th 2011 (Napoli, Italy)

Seeing how I didn’t even get into the Hostel till 4am I definitely slept in a bit. Later I took a whole buncha pictures and then I explored Napoli. I found out that they had a subterranean tunnel and catacomb tour and so I did that. I also found out that Napoli is the best place to buy little miniature houses and things especially for nativity scenes, they’re famous for it. They also do have really great food, I saw all kindsa cathedrals and bought a few things in some stores too. I decided to turn in a bit early and then take the ferry to Sicily the next day. I bought some food and went to my room and called the fam. Then I slept.

Day 30 – Tuesday January 4th 2011 (Rome, Italy)

Today is Vatican day! I was excited to go and see the coliseum, where lions and men once met their doom in fated battles of wit and brawn, and to visit the Vatican Museum where Dan Brown once perverted the history of a religion. I went to the Coliseum first and got a ticket to go inside. It was interesting how they kept the lions underground to make them sensitive to light and I liked how organized the levels were, it reminded me of our broken Metrodome. After the Coliseum I traveled onward to went back to the Vatican so I could explore the museum and the Sistine Chapel. I took the metro and on the way bought some 20 euro sunglasses for 4.60. After that I entered the Vatican museum and immediately got crazy déjà vu from the Louvre. It seemed nearly as endless and also full of incredible statues and artwork from all over the world. It seemed only a bit more religious in nature and I liked how there were more information placards in English. I was most impressed by the Sistine Chapel and some of the famous statues and contemporary pieces that were housed there. It was incredible to see so much in one day. As I left the Museum there were some homeless people that were really hamming it up for the religious museumgoers I watched them for a while as they were looking extra pitiful and rolling on the ground etc. only as museum patrons walked past. I really struggle with giving money to the homeless now days because there are just so many beggars in Europe and all of them seem completely able to work. I always think of the scriptures when Christ talks about giving to the poor and wonder what he would do to help the people who beg today. At the beginning of the trip I gave more but now, especially when I see them play acting, it’s hard for me to give to them. I keep getting the feeling I’m not donating to the poor and needy, I’m just donating to con men. When I get home I’m going to make it a goal of mine to personally interview the homeless and beggars and find out how truly worthy they are of donations.
Anyway, after that I decided I better be on my way if I wanted to get to Napoli that night and still find a Hostel. I had grabbed a flyer from the previous Hostel I stayed at that had a tiny map of Napoli and a Hostel called the “Pizza Hostel” on it. I was excited to go to Napoli because I had heard that they had the best Italian food in the world, so that’s what I was thinking about on the train there. I finally got off the train at about 11pm and everything was closed including the booths that have maps. As I stepped out of the train station I immediately checked if I was even in Napoli. It looked like a war zone or as if there had just been a riot. I walked down a street covered in piles of trash up to my waist and people peeing on the buildings. It was rough, and the only people around looked pretty for off the beaten path. I walked down the road and found a bigger map on a sign. I tried to orient my small map to the big one and then to my surroundings. I ended up walking West toward a main street. It just got darker and darker and it soon started to smell bad and then I saw fires right in the street with bums getting warm by them. The best was when a group of prostitutes tried to wave me over, I politely declined. Eventually I found that I was walking in the wrong direction and so I started walking the other way. I walked through a weird market with tons of kids toys and candy and so I bought some strange bags of stuff, it was ridiculously cheap, I think I paid one Euro for all of them. I decided I had better head back to where I was and so I walked back. On the way I stopped by the prostitutes and tried to take their picture. They didn’t like that at all. The big one (she was Colombian, so I could talk to her) told me that I would be robbed if I had my camera out so I put it away. I thought I better find a Hotel and try to get a map from them. They are almost always open and they usually have small maps for their residents. I got a map from a nice manager and he told me or at least pointed where I needed to go and where I was. I was on my way again with me 60 lb. pack (I recently weighed it and that’s how much it weighs 27Kg or 60 Lbs. ughghgh). I walked the wrong way twice before I finally thought I might know where I was going. It was tough because in Napoli there are no street signs at all and the streets in the old part of the city and so windy and convoluted that cars can barely get through. They have to honk around every turn and people walking have to duck into doorways. So I eventually knew what street I was on but it was about 3am by now and I had been walking forever! I asked some random guy and he asked his friend and then he asked his son who was driving past on a scooter and then the guy on the scooter said hop on! I did no hopping with my pack and I had to awkwardly hold on to this poor guy while he whipped around the streets but soon he brought me to a hotel and I wiped my brow. I then climbed 5 flights of stairs to find that this wasn’t the right place at all. Grrrrrr. BUT! I was pretty dang sure I knew where it was. So I walked around the corner and promptly got lost again. To make a long story short, I found it a bit later and checked in and passed out in one of the most comfortable rooms ever, or maybe it was just the journey that made it so comfortable.

Day 29 – Monday January 3rd 2011 (Rome, Italy – Pisa, Italy)

Rome - Florence – Pisa – Florence – Rome
So last night was hellish. I slept? I think? Its really hard to tell. The thing about the Rome Termini Station is they have these TVs everywhere blaring these commercials. They don’t do anything else other than repeating the same 4 commercials again and again in random order. It wasn’t terrible at first but then this one commercial in particular started to bore into my brain and drive me mad. It featured this incessant dissonant whistling and random images featuring some kinda nose medication. It would just play over and over sometimes 4 times in a row. I wanted to break things. But instead I put in my headphones in and tried to sleep I went in search of a better sleeping hole at about 4am when the station “opened”. After moving around and enduring security waking me up every time I looked like I might be sleeping (why on earth is it against the law to rest your eyes at a table in McDonalds?) I gave up on sleeping and bought a ticket to Florence (8am). I got to sleep on the train, thank goodness, and from Florence I bought a ticket to Pisa and one back to Rome. Soon I was on my way to Pisa and my spirits were lifted, I was excited to experience a city on my own this time. I think I’m addicted to orange Fanta and black licorice… what a weird combination.. Pisa was amazing despite my refusal to pay for a luggage service and my inability to find any free maps whatsoever. That only meant I would have to lug around my enormous pack like a agoraphobic turtle and hope that I don’t knock things over when I go into stores. I did have to pretend that I was going to buy a map a couple of times at the little magazine vender huts in order to glance at a map but soon I was off heading in the right direction and taking photos like a madman. What if madmen really did take photos? I bet they would be amazing. Anyway, soon I felt a grumble in my tummy and so I stopped at the nearest Arabic Falafel joint. Can’t go wrong with Arabic food! That’s what I always say… So I ate my amazing lamb and listened to a couple argue with each other in English and then I just kept on walking. It actually wasn’t to far to the Tower of Pisa but I took my time. Once there I was very friendly with everyone so they would take my picture in all kindsa weird poses. It paid off. After the Tower I headed back to the Station taking a different way and got some great photos and people and colorful buildings. The sunlight was perfect. After the train to Florence I hopped aboard another to Rome. I realized as I got there that it was a bit late and I had no idea where I was going to find a Hostel. Some man pretending to be with tourist information approached me in the Rome Termini and told me he had a great hostel for me that was really cheap. He walked me almost all the way there before he admitted that it was 30 Euro. I was like haaale naw gurll! And left him in a hurry. Then I spent some time wandering around and asking prices at hostels and one star hotels. No luck, everything was over 30 Euro. I really didn’t want to sleep in the station again so I had to use my head. I knew that many Hotels have free wifi in the lobby so I picked the biggest on I could find and walked in. It was a Radisson. I walked over to a cushy chair and pulled out my laptop. Grrrrr… You have to be renting a room to use the “free” internet… hmmm, I thought. There’s gotta be a way to get the last name and room number of someone staying here. I tried just asking someone, nope that didn’t work. I tried guessing, nope. I had to be extra tricky. So I took my camera out and walked over to the front desk pretending to look at pamphlets while I took photos of all the random papers on the desk. I went back to my seat and jackpot! I found Mr. Wi who just checked into RM 542 upside-down on a paper on the desk. It worked and I was free to roam the internets for a cheap Hostel. I found one in no time and off I was again! It was actually ridiculously close and I had walked passed it earlier but it had no sign. It was really nice to laydown on a bed and oh my lucky stars they had a washer and dryer! It was change operated but I didn’t care I was all about getting my wash on! My roomies were really nice and I told them stories like an old grandpa would. They were youngins and were only here for a few weeks. They were impressed / confused with my lack of planning. Soon after my laundry was done I collapsed into a pile of hot good smelling clothes and slept the night away.
Here is a short list of things I’ve found are different between Europe and the USA… (Please… You read in Russian accent?)

- In United States, peoples are all the time going to the stores and spending the moneys. In the Europa, Peoples are all the times sleeping and smoking and then drinking the wines and then singing together in revelry and then wearing the fur coats and the posh boots Hahahhahahaha…
- In United States, Peoples are eats fast food from the drive in. In the Europa, The fast food eats you! Hahahhahaha…
- In the Europe peoples are like to kiss and touch each other espesh when they are very strangers. In United States, touching IS FORBIDEN! Hahahahahah…
In the Europes people don’t believe in carpeted floors and they think that stone is best. Those with carpeted floors are DEMONS! Hahahahahh…

Day 28 – Sunday January 2nd 2011 (Rome, Italy)

TODAY WAS VATICAN DAY! The Vatican is a whole new country btw. Its full of history and swiss guards who look funny and are kinda rude if you ask me. We loved the Vatican sooo much, I finally got to see catacombs! I was soo excited! There weren’t any bones or walls made of skulls or things like that but it was still great. We also went to the very top of St. Peter’s Basilica and looked over all of Rome. It was beautiful and we had to climb 521 steps to get up there. It was harder than the time we climbed the highest mountain in Spain. It was like a fun house up there because everything gets all slanty and strange up there in the dome. We joked that they really need to make it a slide on the way down. It would be the greatest ride ever. The Vatican Jesus Slide, that’s what they could call it. After the Basilica and the culpa and the grottoe and all the other cool parts of the Vatican we headed over to the coliseum and walked around it about a billion times as we talked and it got dark. Finally we went and got out bags and then headed over to the train station. We hung out at McDonalds until Lijah had to leave and then we said our tearful goodbyes and Lijah warned me that I should try not to die. I took his advice to heart. After Lijah left it felt kinda weird. I was really sad to see him go. I decided I better figure out where I’m going next and all the details of the trip and so I went to a corner and figured it all out on the laptop complete with day for day itinerary and how much money I’m going to probably spend. I got kinda nervous about how much money I’ll be spending so I decided to just stay in the train station for the night. It was a stupid idea. It got cold, I was told to leave by the police, they checked my passport.. twice, and even when I found a guy offering a hostel for 15 euro and accepted he just told me to wait 15 min. and then he never came back… I hate that guy. So anyway now I’m all caught up on my journal so I guess staying up allnight in a freezing train station in Rome served some purpose. Grrrrrrr… its 3am and I’m kinda sleepy.

Day 27 – Saturday January 1st 2011 (Rome, Italy)

First day of the new year! Seeing as we got home early this morn and then were awoken by drunken roomates in the night who were extra hilarious, we made the completely conscious decision to sleep till about 3pm today and then laze about in a drunken stupor until our extreme hunger forced us out of the apartment sometime during the night… I tried sooo hard to find that Pizza place I had eaten at two days ago but it was impossible so I had a different kind. It was turrrible.. grrr… But overall we had a good relaxing first day of the year, complete with recuperation and meditation on the last decade’s achievements. I reflected on all the things I wanted to do when I got home and Lijah read 4 more harry potter books in one day.

Day 26 – Friday December 31st 2010 (New Years Eve) (Rome, Italy)

ROME! NEW YEARS EVE! YEAH! We slept in a bit late knowing that tonight would be a late late night and so we by the time we left the flat is was already noon. We decided that we should make our way to the coliseum first, seeing how its so famous and all. We found it quite easily. Probably because its so big, and then took photos and walked around it trying to find a way in. We discovered it had already closed that day and so we were unable to go inside but we were able to sneak through the exit into some kinda tour thing for the outside columns area thing. It was interesting but we were distracted by the strange singing we kept hearing and we had to leave to go find its source. Its source was this massive screen and band that was performing or warming up or something. It was grand but it was still early and we weren’t about to just stand around waiting for new years for 7 hours. Nope. So we went and explored some pantheon buildings and some more churches. We went to Mass at a huge Basilica, we climbed some huge staircase to nothing and we shopped in some real interesting stores. Eventually we ended up in a restaurant just talking about stuff and eating. We did that for about 4 hours and then we were ready to find the fun. It was real easy we just followed the sweeping crowds of people pouring through the streets and we were led right to the giant partay again! It was extra crazy now though! There were thousand upon thousands of people there, I estimate that it was around 70,000 people in this Huge mass of people as far as the eye could see in two directions. It was nuts and there were all these explosions going off and the music was all weird and we finally found where the explosions were coming from and let me just say that fireworks in Rome are AWESOME! They knock the breath right out of you! Its amazing. I was searching for someone to buy some from all night, I would go up to sales males and yell in there face “Boom”! They would either look confused or and then some guy just gave me one! So I’m saving it.. for later… muahahah. Anyway the Fireworks we sooo loud that we were going deaf and one of them sploded and hit me right in the thigh and gave me a big bruise. Another one that was spose to go off in the sky went off insead, in a crowd of people, it was actually really funny looking and no one got hurt. I did see a super drunk get knocked right on his back because he got to close to a big splodin one. It was great. Overall it was just the best New Years eve I’ve ever had. We saw so much and it was just great and by 1am ish we were so exhausted that we just had to head home. I love the tradition of throwing old dishes and pottery out the window on New Years it made for a colorful walk home. I also randomly bought Lijah a really cool wood carved chess set that also had dominoes and other games in it. All hand made! I talked the guy down from 60 to 45 to 35 to 20 and then I bought it and he was like 30? And I was like you already said 20! Duhhh… hehehe … owned… I’ll never forget any of it. When we finally got into the room we passed out in our beds instantly and were only awoken a little when our drunken friends came home a bit later.

Day 25 – Thursday December 30th 2010 (Rome, Italy)

WHEN IN ROME!
When morning’s light pierced through the window like a hot poker jabbing right into my eye, I got up and we jiggled our way to the train station. Rome was a fairly short train ride away and once we arrived we were pretty pumped to get out on the town. Our hostel was pretty weird to say the least. It was owned by the mysterious “Walter” but run by a group of short oompa loompa like Sri Lankins. We went to the address on our directions and walked upstairs into a small cramped office full of coffee and nuttella jugs. After hours of listening to a short orange man yell at some goof over the phone we had about had it. Thankfully though, he finished his rant and calmed down enough to speak to us in incomprehensible English constantly reassuring us that he had done this before. This did not reassure us. With clouds of spittle spewing forth from the Sri Lankan’s gaping mouth we were led by his lackey to our greatly anticipated room. We followed the oaf of a man carrying our bed sheets as he led us to our room but we started to wonder if we had understood correctly when he led us outside and across the street into a park.. We whispered worries to each other about possibly having just paid for a nicely sheeted park bench and were rank with expectation believing at every turn that he would lay our sheets down in the gutter and say, “here’s yer new home for the next 3 days boys! How’dya like it?” After about 2 miles of anxiety filled walking we came to a door and breathed a sigh of relief yesss we’re gonna live inside! Gerald (the oafish lackey) puled from his shawl a ring of 50 keys and opened the door. We followed as he opened another locked door and then another and then another and a we entered a comically small elevator. Then two more locked doors were opened and we were finally at our room. No exaggeration there we’re five locked doors between us and the outside Rome. We didn’t know if we should feel safe or trapped. Gerald then handed us a 50 Lb. ring of keys and gave us a 20 min. power point presentation on how to get past the slew of doors to the street below. We thanked him and bid him au duo and then relaxed a bit in our new Hostel / Fortress. Soon after we set our bags down, we met our roomies. It was a mixed apartment this time so there was Gabby (f), Alfonzo (m), and Adrian (m) these three were some of the most superbly lovely Mexicans I have ever met. There was also a Columbian family that lived with us. It was kinda interesting 1. Because we had all these people in a tiny apartment and would live with them for several days and 2. Because we had to get use to female flat mates. After we said hello we left the flat and went out into the market. We found some cool stuff like a compass and a knife that I ended up buying and then we went off in search of Rome-ish monuments. We found tons. We saw a massive cathedral which we entered and then we found a famous fountain and some other glorious things. I even ate the best Rome Pizza ever! It was sooo greasy and they gave me soo mucha and it had full uncut green olives on it and yummmm it was amazing. Eventually we decided to head back home and get a good night’s rest. After spending hours getting through all the locked doors we entered our abode and noticed something … amiss. The floor in our room was a big puddle. In fact after closer inspection the puddle continued all throughout the flat and went all the way to the other side, past the kitchen and computer and into the other bathroom revealing its source.. The washing machine.. I had already removed my pants and put on this sweet pair of women’s yoga pants that I had purchased the very same night in a desperate effort to use them as long underwear and so I began dutifully tiptoeing across the pools of tepid water and then mopping said water with a mop I found… This is what Gabby and her friends walked in on. Me in extremely tight yoga pants and nothing else, mopping up the inch deep pool in our kitchen. It was odd but I just went with it and despite the stares I just continued to mop as if nothing was wrong. I think I gained their respect, because later they asked me if I knew how to open a bottle of wine without a corkscrew. That’s not the kind of wisdom you go asking just anyone for. Unfortunately I had no idea although I did quickly look it up online and offer some suggestions. After all that, we went to sleep.

Day 24 – Wednesday December 29th 2010 (Florence, Italy)

Today we took off for the train station and I slept on the way to Florence while Lijah read. The train was super cramped and kinda annoying. Once we arrived at Florence we debated shortly about just staying in the station for the night to save money but quickly decided that finding a Hostel would be a better idea. We’re basically hostel finding experts so we found the cheapest Hostel in about 3 seconds and were on our way in 4. This one was unique because there were beautiful paintings covering all the walls and all the other walls throughout the whole building were covered in quotes and messages from other people. It was enlightening to read the wisdom that other travelers had written up on the wall. Our room was nice, we were roomies with a cool Asian dude that had been all over Europe and so I peppered him with questions about the places I will be visiting, I also accidently stole his bed but its ok cuz I gave it back without a fight. Later we left the must filled room and broke out into the bright sunshine of Florence like birds from a pie. Florence was incredible and we were so close to everything there was no need for metro or busses. We immediately decided to go out and walk the main streets without really knowing what Florence had to offer. An ancient man told us that we should go to this massive Durmo Basilica in the old part of the city and then a bridge and then a museum. We were surprised to find that there were a buncha famous works of art by Michelangelo in Florence, including David! We were also impressed by the level of history and traditional lush leatherworking in Florence. I think the best part of the night was taking pictures of these chain banisters completely covered in locks. On most of the locks were little hearts and names and we were told that people lock them to these chains in order to find love. So many people do it that they have to remove all the locks every three months. I thought it was beautiful. I absolutely loved the colorful shutters on all the bridge apartments and we were able to eat some pretty gruesome looking pizza from some street vendor. By the time it was getting dark we were ready to escape from the craziness. Over the course of the day we had seen tons of art and I had renewed my desire to draw! I even bought a leather sketch book and some fine art drawing graphite sticks from an amazing Italian art store called Lidels. We twirled into our hostel and sacked out fairly early in the evening.

Day 23 – Tuesday December 28th 2010 (Venice, Italy)

Today is Venice day! The city of Lorrrvveeee! YAY! We got ready and ran to the train. The train ride was smooth and full of sleep and then I was ready to conquer the city of rivers. We found a Hostel right away although our room only had one bed (how romantic). Right after we dropped our bags off we ran outside and I took 23432 photos in 3 seconds. I love Venice, its amazing and it doesn’t smell like I thought it would. I really wanted a gondola ride though except its 120 for two people… I talk a guy down to 30 a person but Lijah didn’t want to. I can understand though, it one thing to spend money to impress a girl but quite another to shell out dough to take a romantic boat ride with your manfriend. Anyway, we saw a lot of amazing things in Venice as we walked around and I began to appreciate how a city whose economy is completely based on tourism can have a great arts community. There are tons of galleries and museums and theaters in Venice. We saw a bunch of art galleries and churches and a music museum and an opera house and a massive basilica and we went into tons of stores and I got Italian Pizza and bread and gelato and Italian cookies and everything was grand. Unfortunately Lijah got food poisoning so we went home slightly early or at least he did, and I came home a bit later. Overall it was outstanding and I hope I got some great photos. I stayed up way too late catching up on my journal and editing the photos. Ughgh not good.

Day 22 – Monday December 27th 2010 (Milan, Italy)

We were able to sleep on the train but we were still pretty tired by the time we got to Milan. The best part of Italy was when this little girl came into our cabin on the train and started singing in Italian. It was so cute, she sat next to us and we stuck our tongues out at each other for the rest of the train ride. When we got into Milan we immediately found a very cheap Hostel and checked in. It was actually a one star hotel so it had all kinds of amazing things we weren’t used to. Our own room, our own bathroom, hot water, little soaps and shampoo and a cup and even a bathmat! We both agreed it should be a 5 star Hotel it even had the greatest elevator ever, the smallest most scary and great elevator ever. I was so excited about the room that I ran out to the balcony and asked a small boy to buy the biggest Christmas goose he could find. The sight of a brand new city buoyed our spirits and soon we were exploring the posh streets of the fashion capitol of the world. We visited Armani, Prada, Louis Viton, Gucci, and a bunch others. I played on a 14000 euro foosball table and I wore a 4000 euro coat. I felt like a movie star. We also visited this amazing huge cathedral there that we didn’t even know about. I can’t believe it escaped us. Then we ate at a fine Italian restaurant. It was interesting being in Italy. I was able to use my Spanish again because people can at least understand what I’m talking about even if they only respond in Italian and that’s a great help. I also love the food here I ate a salad with the juiciest most amazing tomatoes I’ve ever eaten. It’s absolutely fantastic. I had Panini with meat sauce and we got mineral water with “gas” (carbonation). We walked through the streets a bit more and eventually we got sleepy so we went back to the apartment and fell into a deep slumber.

Day 21 – Sunday December 26th 2010 (Nice, France – Monaco, Monaco)

After arriving at nice we threw our baggage into the consignment and ran to the beach. It was really peaceful and relaxing seeing the sea and skipping stones and running back and forth into the waves, trying not to get wet. I was almost swallowed by one as I tried to take a picture. Luckily some French sailors saved me. We also saw a man paint interesting things with spray paint and then took pictures of all manner of buildings. We were scammed by a Nigerian scoundrel and then we were dive bombed by seagulls. Eventually we ate a load of Chinese food and then headed back to the station to catch a short train to Monaco. It was a relatively short wait but we did get a chance to sleep a bit and chat with some nice American girls who told us some valuable traveling secrets. Nice was a beautiful city and had tons to do. I really enjoyed the fantastic colors they painted the houses. When we arrived in Monaco we found a surreal city built right on the side of a cliff. The roads were all super steep and we had no where to put our bags due to the fact that Monacoans are super paranoid and hate lockers… grrrrrr. So we lugged them about everywhere. The coastline or rather dock line was chock full of yachts and lacquered sailboats. We made our way to the ritzy city center where we would find the famous Monacon Casinos. When we got there, after 5 miles of nearly vertical climbing, we were so stunned by the glitz that we just stood there for a straight hour watching all the rich people with their fur coats and benz’s. Eventually we hatched a plan. One person would wait by the packs while the other would tour the Casinos. When I went into the slots casino I was real thirsty so I traveled to the bar. I felt very james bond. I ordered a coke, but then I thought I better ask how much it is. It was 7 dollars. I left cokeless. I did however try my hand at gambling. My first time ever. I went to the Star Wars slots (of course) and immediately won! I was so excited I wanted to cash out but I accidently pressed another button of some kind and lost and then lost again. OH NO! I thought.. its ok I can win it back right?! So I gambled away all my savings right then and there… not. I only but in two Euro, I figured I would gamble it away and then leave but somehow when I only had 20 cents left I won again and my total went back up to 2.10 euro! I was 10 cents over! Yay! I carefully cashed out and left with my ten cents. Afterward we went into the big casino, the one that had a dress code and I watched the rich crazies loose oodles of money on the tables. The bathroom was pretty high tech though. It had a self cleaning toilet seat. It was like a robot toilet. Anyway, after the casinos we walked by the water and saw some statues by Botero and then we decided to go back to the station considering everything in the town center was 10x the normal price. We found a nice cozy place in the station and bunkered down for a nice long night of restless sleep and being awoken every half hour by the police and or random people begging for money or being weird. We entered our train to Italy at about 8 am the next morning.

Day 20 – Saturday December 25th 2010 (Christmas Day) (Paris, France)

CHRISTMAS DAY! GRAWWW!!! Today we woke up and ventured out into the sunshine a tad reluctantly but excited all the same to discover a whole new world together like Aladdin and Jasmine. We decided to leave our bags at the hostel while we were venturing because we were both developing hunchbacks and we didn’t want to have permanent positions at the Notre Dame. We went to the Arch du Triumph frist and saw some terrible dancing street performers who we shunned with our upturned noses. We ate some crepes at a Christmas carnival. Then we traveled to the Eiffel Tower and got some nice pictures right up close and personal then we dashed over to the Louvre again so we could grab a few pictures together outside and then a quick jaunt over to the Notre Dame in order to see it in all its sunshine covered glory. By then we were running from place to place and we knew we were in danger of missing our train. We started to just literally run non-stop and caught a metro to the hostel, picked up our bags and then caught another hostel back to the Train Station. Unfortunately our train was completely gone. We had missed it. We both collapsed in a heap and panted in misery. We immediately accepted our imminent death in Paris. After a moment of that we just got up and reserved the next train out to Marseille. Turns out the next train was a bit later so we grabbed an hour of sleep and then road to Marseille in anticipation of another glorious restless night in the terribly cold Marseille station.. We will be glad when we never have to see that retched place again. We spent the night talking to our families which was really nice seeing how it was Christmas and we got on our train to Nice at about 8am.

Day 19 – Friday December 24th 2010 (Christmas Eve) (Paris, France)

CHRISTMAS EVE MORNING! Lijah woke up at about 5am and neither of us getting amazing sleep we were bumbling around like blind zombies as we got ready to book it out of Lyon and make our way to Paris! We hung out at the train station for a while and then caught the train to Paris. We met a nice girl waiting with us named Charmander or something like that and we talked about our plans and things. She ended up sitting with us and although I remember she had pretty freckles I don’t remember much else. I’m afraid I may have fallen asleep while she was talking to me. Lijah and I woke up in Paris and we were lost sheep in the station for a while until a nice man helped us. I didn’t realize how much I was using Spanish until I came to France. I can’t say anything here! Its nuts! I’m learning though. I can order food at least. Anyway the nice man told us that everything was booked and we’d have to get a hotel in Paris for about 80 Euro a piece.. I slapped him right in the mouth and we stormed off. We decided instead to pick a random Hostel off a list and go there in hopes that they would magically have a room. Turns out they did! They also had a cute English receptionist and so I turned the charm onto full blast and made her chuckle bursts of mirth with my pure unadulterated wit. I think I would hit on a tree as long as it had an English accent. Anyway, we locked our bags up and then we were free to unleash our fury on beautiful Paris! We looked at the map and hopped into the Metro and tunneled our way to the Louvre. Once there we danced around the glass pyramid like Parisian princes and then tried to dig down to the Holy Grail but there was nowhere to purchase a shovel. It was interesting seeing people from all around the world there and we immediately started exploring the billions of statues and paintings. That’s basically what’s in the Louvre by the way, its bout 70% Statues and 30% extremely old realist paintings. There are a few impressionist Degas and others but not many. We also found that there is a temporary contemporary exhibit in the basement, which is very castle like. It was fascinating and surreal but walking about and looking at all the incredible art is also extremely exhausting. We found ourselves strewn out on a bench in some deserted corridor and realizing that if we wanted to survive Paris we would have to pick and choose what we wanted to see in the Louvre instead of trying to see everything. We made some choices and planned an escape route and hoped that we would be able to evade the swallowing endless passages of the Louvre on our way out. 231 tourists die every year of starvation and exhaustion in the Louvre (Fact). So we saw the Mona Lisa and virtually every other extremely famous piece there and then stole some blinders from a horse and ran directly to the exit. Once our great escape had been achieved we realized how weak with hunger we were. When was the last time Lijah had eaten? 3 - 4 Days ago? We weren’t sure but it looked as if a stiff breeze could blow him over. So we ate some lovely food and I drank caffeinated beverages and I was ready for more, but Lijah was still on his deathbed and so we agreed to meet back at the Hostel later in the night to prevent his almost certain death. We parted ways and I ran outside to catch some photos and find the museum D’Orsay where I knew there would be many beautiful impressionist paintings (my true love) I walked straight there and found that it was closing soon! Yikes! I bought a ticket quick and jumped inside before the unsurpassable metal door blocked the entrance. I was told I would have an hour? I’m not sure, I don’t speak French but in only a half hour they grabbed me by the pits as I kicked and screamed and threw me out on my butt.. They had closed and I was Van Gogh-less once more. At least I got to see part of the museum I thought. I wasn’t ready for home yet though so I looked on the map and found a Modern art Museum across the river. As I walked to it I found tons of monuments to take pictures of and other museums and churches and I also found a big Christmas festival where I got a snack and listened to tunes. The streets were lined with tiny shops selling all kinds of good smelling things and giant meats and cheeses and baked goods and lots of scarves. Finally I found the Modern art Museum and it was also closing soon but the ticket lady told me if I want I can run through the exhibit for free! Yay for Christmas time! I did and took some photos of the lobby and nearly bought 300 books from the store there. Then as I left the Museum I realized that there would probably be a good night shot of the Eiffel Tower from the rear of the museum. I went back there and sure enough it was glorious as bathing in warm pie. I started going deep into photo taking mode and barely realized that there was another photographer with me. He looked at me and then said in an English accent, are you a professional photographer? HA! I liked this guy already! I told him I was very very amateur and he explained that he was too and that he’s from London and meeting a friend later. We were talking and walking around when he asked if I wanted to go with him to this famous bookstore near Notre Dame. I said SURE! I have no plans, lets do it. So Calvin and I strutted over to the metro and made our way to this famous bookstore. Calvin was a cool guy, born in Hong Kong, studying Law, Dresses like a fashion connoisseur and his true love was philosophy. He had read about this independent and very old and bohemian bookstore that loads of famous Authors had gotten their start in. The bookstore called The Shakespeare Company is covered in tradition. They have beds upstairs for struggling writers who need a place to stay and all that they ask is that they work a few hours in the bookstore. They also have a little alcove with notes of encouragement on the wall and a typewriter and curtain for privacy, just in case a someone is caught in an idea and needs to get it down on paper fast. The walls are covered in books old and new and there are piles of books on the floor and stacked in corners and on tables. Nothing matches and the lights are old and flicker. There is a large mirror in a pillowed alcove with hundreds of notes in every language taped to it and stuffed into cracks and covering each other. There are layers upon layers and it gives a sense of incredible gratitude for this place and history. Calvin and I sat upstairs and I read from Naked Lunch by William Burroughs and an Allen Ginsberg book of beat poems and some book without a cover or title page. We ended up talking about philosophy with this girl named Phillipa from Perth Australia. We talked about Hume and causality and the meaning of morality and what justice is and feminism. I feel I had a lot of help from my mission and The Book of Mormon because I was able to bring up ideas I learned there. When the bookstore closed we left and decided to go to this café that was pretty famous in literature because Truman Capote and Henry David Therou used to go there as well as a bunch of others. It was extremely expensive but there were definitely a lot of cool looking free thinkers there and the bathrooms had an attendant but they were men and women together so that was odd. I ordered pate and Calvin ordered pea soup and we sat there and talked about philosophy for 4 straight hours. It was great, he knew all the big players and ideas and he would ask me questions and I would come up with the exact solution that these philosophers had come up with over the span of thousands of years. It made me feel great because he got so excited that I was say all the right things and he kept telling me that I have a very logical and intuitive mind and that I need to go into philosophy. I personally think it was everything I had learned as a missionary speaking. Bruce R McKonkie once said that the only true philosophy is the philosophy of Christ. He was surprised to learn that I was very religious and I talked to him a bit about Christ because he’s Agnostic. We had a great time even though we were accosted by some drunk French women who put weird smelling perfume on us and posed for us to take pictures of them and then came inside and got a bit too close. HA the waiter actually had to ask them to leave. We just chocked up the experience to the French being eccentric. No matter what the French do its kind of posh or chic. We even saw mice running around the floor in the Café, it was a total ratatouille experience but no one seemed to mind. Eventually we had to leave the café and catch our metro back home. We rode on the same metro and saw a mugging of some woman right before we said our goodbyes. It was an eventful night to be sure. I was exhausted and so I walked home to the Hostel and found Lijah on the computer trying to call me. He had woken up a few hours ago and as it was about 1 or 2 am he was sure that I had fallen asleep in some ditch somewhere. I was near to it though so I went up stairs and promptly passed out. I was woken up a few hours later by a frantic Lijah. Mrrhhph? I said. Griff! Theres some cazy guy with a knife! Huh? Yeah, he said, I was downstairs and I heard these guys yelling in French and I was just like… ughgh French people are loud.. and then I hear our english friend yelling hey! Don’t let him get away! Don’t let him go upstairs! And so I looked out to see these guys and this other guy standing there with a big knife and then he ran upstairs. So I waited for a while and then I ran into the elevator and got to the room as fast as I could. Whaa? I said.. yup, he said. So I made the decision to not venture outside the room to call the fam on Christmas eve. I was still real tired anyway.

Day 18 – Thursday December 23rd 2010 (Lyon, France)

We got into Lyon at about 11am and Although we were sleepy that just made us more motivated to find a Hostel. We found one that was fairly close by metro and then trolley and we went there with great haste. Our friend at the desk was full of drunken glee and we were instant chums. He told us that Lyon was the Gastronomy capitol of France, meaning they have amazing food just up the road and I was excited to explore then eat. We dropped our bags in the Hostel and locked stuff up and then ran off to the roman ruins we had heard so much about. It was raining but the ruins were really close and I winked at a cute French girl with a purple umbrella. I’ve decided that I want to include winking in my facial expression lexicon, its just always seemed so charming and confident when people wink at me. It’s kinda hard though, to make such a drastic change overnight. I still make mistakes, such as when I accidently winked at that legless homeless man. Inappropriate… But I’m learning and I think purple umbrella girl smiled. Anyway, we walked through the ruins in the rain. It was very romantic. Then we found that there was a museum right next door and it was free today! My favorite word! So we walked through that and got exhausted. The romans sure built a lot of stairs. After the ruins and the museum we went to this famous massive cathedral and I tried hard to find catacombs but there were none. Maybe in Rome… As we were walking through the city and it was getting dark Lijah and I looked into each other’s eyes and saw deep-rooted exhaustion and so we headed back to the Hostel. Lijah passed out almost immediately on the bed and I uploaded and edited some pictures in the foyer. I met a nice French girl named Claire and we talked for a long time about life in France and her theater school and about what French people think of Americans and vise versa. We took and walk while she smoked and just hung out until she went to bed. Somehow I was still determined despite my sleepiness to see more of Lyon’s smarmy streets and so I ventured out in search of photos and a nice French restaurant. After spending some time on the river and the nearly walking into a topless bar I found the restaurant that was recommended to me. In Lyon they call these classy restaurants “Bouchon” which means wine cork. I went inside and the owner seated me and asked me which three course meal I would like. I had no idea what anything meant even when he did his best to explain it to me so I just told him to bring me his favorite. This was probably one of the more upscale restaurants I’d ever been in. The first course was a small salad with a round sausage in the center of a thick slice of toasted bread and covered in a thick dark wine sauce. I loved it. The second was what looked like a fillet of chicken covered in burnt cheese but turned out to be a fillet of cheesecake (at least that’s what it tasted like) it was very rich and it was in a soup of spinach and thick cheese sauce. I loved it more. Everything was very filling and the bread was great. The desert was a raspberry tart and it was glorious. Overall I left feeling stretched and decadent. I rolled my way back up the hill to the Hostel and sat in a heap on the bed in the room. Lijah had woken and talked to the Trina and we talked a bit while I spent too much time on the internets. I ended up stupidly going to bed at about 3am and then we woke up to catch our train at 5am.

Day 17 – Wednesday December 22nd 2010 (Cebere – Perpignan – Montpellier - Marseille, France)

The next morning ALNOR awoke with a roar and exclaimed “Ughffruuguggg!” Lijah said, “Oh ALNOR you’re awake… How are you doing? How did you sleep last night?” ALNOR grunted a reply, “Not well…” I felt a bit guilty, but I had packing to do! I couldn’t let that poor llama of a man distract me from the impending free breakfast! We slid down the stairs in a fashion that only men running to food can perform and proceeded to ravage the buffet. We drank all 6 different kinds of juice and I got my hand slapped by a large bald man as I tried to grab another croissant. Luckily there was no hot milk seen all morning. After breakfast we jumped aboard a metro and went to the Sants station. At 916am we left Barcelona and eventually Spain in the quake of our quest to France. By 12 noon we were officially in Cebere France being hassled by five policeman asking for passports, by 13:02 we were in Perpignan enjoying the Beautiful vineyards, by 15:14 we were in Montpellier looking out over the blue green sea and the estuaries along the coast of the south of France, by 17:34 (5:34) we were finally in Marseille and able to check our bags and explore.
We decided that in an effort to save some money we would forgo the purchase of a hostel for the night and try our hand at sleeping in the train station so we Locked our bags up and left the station in search of mischief and French people. We walked around the city shrouded by the dark of night and admiring the bustling streets and baroque architecture. In our wanderings we happened upon a mysterious waterfall and a creepy locked park / graveyard behind it. As we turned the corner looking for a way in we saw a massive lit up castle cathedral on the crest of a nearby hill. We were drawn to it like moths to a flame. This must be the infamous Notre Dame du jardin Castle place thingy! We exclaimed, and we began a dead run toward the landmark. It was much farther than it seemed though, so our run soon turned into a jog which turned into a walk and then a crawl and then a nap. Eventually we made it to the top of this super steep hill and were on the giant steps of this majestic palace. The view behind us was breathtaking and we sat on the steps for a good while taking pictures and talking about how we were actually in France, in Marseille. While we were sitting there a man came over to us and I was more than half expecting to be hassled for money. It was a ruff looking Frenchman with a wool sweater and sailor’s coat on. He was toting along a half empty bottle and smoking in a charming manner. As he approached I could see he was also wearing a big French smile and his eyes were full of love and bourbon. He introduced himself as John-Philip and ask where we were from. He told us about his work as a carpenter for boats and that he loved this place at night because it is so peaceful. He was waiting for his girlfriend to come in by train and so he had walked up here to have a drink and a smoke. He was incredibly pleasant and gave us a great picture of the friendly and nonchalant attitude of the French. Its interesting because being in a new country I was kinda paranoid or apprehensive about the French people and this short chat put me at ease. Later we walked up to the gate and I tried to climb it while Lijah pointed out the blatant scattering of security cameras. What would I do without him? After the Castle we explored the city a bit more and eventually returned to the train station to get our checked bags before the station closed. We had planned to sleep in the station and then catch our train to Lyon the next morning but this particular station was completely open to the elements and the elements were cold this night. We toured the whole station looking for a place to bunk down for the night but the whole building was fairly equally cold. We were also a bit worried about the dozens of uniformed military personal with machine guns and muzzled growling dogs. We figured that if we were able to stay the night here we could survive anything. We found some chairs in a corner, put our sleeping pads on them and our feet up on our bags and tried to sleep. We caught a half hour hear and there. I slept a bit more than Elijah did considering I am able to zone out most loud and annoying noises in depth of my slumber. Eventually though we were awoken by a woman walking about and talking to herself. She did not smell very lovely and she spent about 5 straight minutes laughing out loud and talking in French to a poster of a man smiling and giving a thumbs up. She was clearly not all there. So we talked for a while and I discovered a drink called orangina from a vending machine and then we ended up figuring out we had free wifi and talking to the fam online. The train left at about 8am after a long cold night and then we were off to Lyon. We were able to get a few hours sleep on the train but that’s about it.

Day 16 - Tuesday December 21st 2010 (Barcelona, Spain)

I had hoped and prayed that it would stop raining. I even remember laying awake at about 6am thinking its… I think it stopped! But no. By the time we had to take down the tent it was raining harder than ever and so we crankily got dressed and grabbed our soggy muddy packs and stuffed a soaking wet tent into my bag and I felt cold rainwater dripping down my buttcrack as I folded the tent poles. It was miserable. Then we made the miles long walk uphill in the mud and rain walking through inches thick water to the Renfe station. By the time we got there my pants we soaked and I was worried about mold in my bag if I didn't air things out. I treated Lijah and I to some breakfast of Tortilla sandwich and milk but for some reason they heated up the milk super hot and gave me coffee with it. We put chunks of chocolate with it instead but I need up drinking both because Lijah thinks milk free is the way to be. Eventually we got on the train and were able to relax a bit on our 5 hour train ride to Barcelona. I wrote in my journal nearly the whole way there. Once we arrived we were greeted by billowing wafts of warm sea air and artisan foods. It was 2:10pm and we felt pressure to both, be responsible and follow a logical plan of action and to go ape on Barca’s face. We did surprisingly well. We ran to the tourismo info desk and got maps of the city and the metro and then got the name of the closest Auberge / Hostel, then we ran to the ticket info office to see if we could get a ticket to Marseille that night so we could gain a day. We found that we could go straight to paris on a night train! Then we found out we couldn’t because sometimes people LIE. Then we traveled back and forth between information and the ticket booth 7 times and finally we ended up getting a series of tickets that would eventually bring us to Marseille and we would leave the next morning. Mostly what I learned from the experience is that I really wish they made barbecue flavored gum. I was oh so hungry. So after we figured out “the plan” we skedaddled onto the metro and went to the Sangrada Familia Basilica ?? insert fact about it here --- , It was peacefully gaudy and blissfully Gaudi. It was also an interesting contrast to hear beautiful choir music with the noise of circular saws and power drills due to its current construction. I was extremely moved by the incredible interior that was reminiscent of a redwood forest and the starred ceiling hundreds of feet above us. It was so incredible and grandiose that it was hard to believe. The outside of the Basilica was so detailed it was overwhelming and photos truly can’t give you the same feeling of being in its presence. It was a shame that it was so rainy while we were in Barca but I don’t think I would have changed a thing. Right after visiting the museo below the Basilica we reverently crept out of Cathedral over to where we would find the amazing Picasso museo. I was real excited for this because I have a deep love and admiration for his work. Problem was we kept running into impassable castles and alleys that lead to nowhere. Eventually we met some nice bass folks who pointed us to the right street. We found the street but we could only find a mammoth museum where the Picasso museum should be and I don’t mean a figuratively mammoth museum. I mean a Museum of Mammoths. Anyway we searched back and forth and right as we were reaching the brink of insanity we went where it shouldn’t be and found it. I had a risa permenente as we began to explore the museum. I think I realized how much I love modern art and impressionism and how much I miss painting and drawing. I promised myself that I wouldn’t let that part of me disappear from my life. I also kept getting ideas of what to draw and how to draw it. It was really inspirational. I loved his blue period in 1902 – 1905 and I really loved his work concerning Valasquez??. My favorite part of the museo was the Dagas / Picasso inspection, where we looked at paintings by two artists who lived at the same time in nearly the same city at times and who admired each other and were inspired by each other but never actually met. It was breathtaking. I wanted to buy all kinds of books and posters and things but, too heavy and no room, I’m a backpacker so I have scruples to think about. After we left the Museum we just explored the city and I got some much needed supplies in the area of locks, earplugs, and extra insoles. I was excited to see the 4 Gatos bar where Picasso used to eat and I was amazed at how different Barca is from Madrid and how much variety the stores have. Time flew like a daring peregrine falcon and soon it was time to go get our bags before the consigna (lockers) closed. We got there with plenty of time to arrive at out hostel before it closed at 11pm and started walking with our wet 45 Lb. packs toward our new home. Unfortunately the bumbling man at the info desk misled us and the hostel was ridiculously far away. We walked and walked like pioneer children and arrived there in a pile of sweat and exhaustion. The Auberge Pere Tarres was very nice though and only 15 Euro including breakfast. So we tumbled upstairs and found our room which was full of eight beds, a pile of tobacco on the desk, a large blue suitcase, scattered socks everywhere and no humans to be found. We entered cautiously and started unpacking all our wet things from the night before. Wet leaves and dirt were flying every which way and we were such a flurry of activity we didn’t even notice a tall hair laden man enter the room. Hello he said, in a thick Russian accent, “I am ALNOR!” Gibber gibber jabber… I could barely understand a word he said, possibly because he was speaking more Russian than English or perhaps because this man had more hair than head and I was distracted by its ferocity. We introduced ourselves quickly to this black mane of a man and then exited the room to search for food. We were Staaarrving considering we haden’t eaten much all day.. again. We went and ate at a nearby McDonalds mostly because of its alluring dollar menu and they locked us in because we entered the establishment three seconds before it closed, literally sliding under a metal closing gate like Indiana Jones. After we finished eating we had to ask someone to let us out. Anyway It was a long night. I had to set up my tent in the dark because ALNOR was asleep and I nearly poked him in the eye 4 separate times with my tent pole. I was about as loud as a freight train full of constipated elephants. I kept bumping into everything… I felt bad for the poor hair consumed ALNOR in his little corner, looking like a peaceful chia pet. After Lijah and I took turns using the wifi downstairs we fell asleep at about 3am.

Day 15 - Monday December 20th 2010 (Cordoba, Spain)

Today we woke up at 9 and packed up everything with the idea that by the time we were in town with our packs we it would be 10 and things would be open. We got a better map from an info booth and walked around a few stores and streets of the city. Eventually we came to the Cathedral Mosque of Cordoba basically the whole reason we wanted to go to Cordoba in the first place. We walked into the gate and the sun was hitting the orange grove in the courtyard. The architecture is amazing and the islamic and christian detailing and the unique red and white arches make this mosque recognizable from any other in the world. The Cathedral being hundreds of years old has changed hands many times and the inside is breathtaking. Unfortunately they don't allow backpacks like ours inside the Church. I don't blame them, I nearly knocked over all kinds doodads in the shops we visited earlier. So off we went in search of a locker. We knew that big backpacking lockers were pretty common in the EU because we had used them in Madrid while we spent time in Sol. We first went into a store and just asked if they could hold our bags for an hour. No luck they said try the renfe. Another store said try the Hotel. The Hotel said, try the library. The Library said your out of luck. So we decided to go in one at a time while the other waited in the library and charged our electrical things in the Library. It worked really well. I was able to write home and check on things and so was Lijah. After the library / Cathedral we realized that we hadn't eaten in a long long time. Like a whole day. So we went in search of food. But on the way to get food we thought we better get our train reservation first so that we don't miss it. The trains had all left for Barcalona that day so we tried getting a ticket to Madrid and then Madrid to Barcelona but they only had 1st class open and that was 50$ upgrade so we booked a train for the next morning. It looked like we were gonna be camping another night in Cordoba. It also looked like rain… grrrrrr. So we grabbed a huge meal and then started walking to our campsite on the Castle wall. It started raining. We went into a grocery to buy breakfast and chocolate and to avoid the rain. It wouldn't stop raining. We walked in the rain and mud to our campsite. We set up the tent superfast.. in the rain and prayed that it would stop by morning. Turns out castle walls don't drain water very well and it rained all night long and so we were a bit wet by 6:30 am the next morning...

Day 14 - Sunday December 19th 2010 (Madrid - Cordoba, Spain)

We slept way later than we wanted to but thats ok. We woke up and paid Maria the money we owed her and I brought some bags of things to Jen for her to keep safe during my travels. I called her too and wrote her a note to say goodbye. Then we had our massive packs and our wilderness clothes and we were finally ready to begin the true adventure leg of our trip. We were ripe with anticipation as we said goodbye to Alba and Maria. As we walked outside to the bus we kept talking about how we really felt like vagabonds or true adventurers finally. We really looked the part too with our 40 - 50 Lb. packs and our facial hair and waterproof boots. We stopped by a store to get some snacks and then hopped the train to Madrid. At the Tren estacion Atocha we found out that the next train to Cordoba (southern Spain) left in about three hours. That was fine with me because I wanted to buy a bicycle lock before we left so we asked a woman where stores would be open and then left for the center of Madrid for one last time. Once there it quickly became clear that there were no bike stores near and that even if there was one it wouldn't be open. The trip wasn't wasted though, we got to go inside a giant lit up Christmas tree and we found a group of traditional women singers in a parade and we followed them into the plaza. They had some weird drums that they were using and it sounded incredible and ethnic. After that we left for Cordoba on the train. The train ride was uneventful and took about 2 hours to get halfway across the country. It was late once we got into Cordoba and everything in the city was closed. It looked like a ghost town. We had to break into an information office just to find a map. With map in hand Lijah and I walked south to where it look like we might be able to camp by the river. It was only a couple miles but with a pack as big as ours we were walking slow. We were grateful that we were so conditioned from the crazy amount of walking we had done the week before. While walking we saw an interesting looking castle / village area so we walked through it. I again remembered why I came to Europe and specifically the south of Spain as I walked the the narrow cobble stone streets and admired the white panted stucco and bright colored earth tones on the walls. There were balconies everywhere and every balcony had tons of poinsettias growing. It was a beautiful welcome to Cordoba. After the small walled town we walked through an archway to a different part of the village. We saw an enormous castle with a grove of oranges surrounding it and we quickly picked some oranges for breakfast the next day. We had a bit of difficulty finding a way down off the castle wall and into the woods by the river and we walked quite a ways just trying to find a way around the castle moat. Eventually we found a way into the moat road and under a bridge leading us to a second castle wall. It was out of the way and dark and so thats where we set up camp. It wasn't perfect and I think I stepped in horse poo but it had a great view of the river. The tent went up in a matter of minutes and I actually slept quickly and comfortably.

Day 13 - Saturday December 18th 2010 (Madrid, Spain)

I woke up with a terrible Hawaiian pizza hangover and stumbled into the shower. We had been avoiding Maria so Lijah wouldn't have to pay more rent but it looks like she left me a note and … dangit. She wanted Lijah to buy her an oak table! oh noooo… Around 1:30 the women folk strolled into the house looking well rested and gleefully eager. “We're ready for a thrilling day of restless movement!”, they exclaimed. Lijah and I shot them a glare of challenging brevity and with our hearts full of spontaneity and our mouths full of screams we ran out the door and in the bus' general direction. Soon we were in Madrid once more and we were on our way to Sol so we could see if rollerblading while biking is possible. On the metro we met a catholic Priest who gave us a tambourine and some stickers, we were ever so grateful. Later we explored the streets of Madrid while on our way to the tourism office and then we hopped another metro to go to the Salvador Dali exhibit in the northern part of Madrid. The Dali exhibit was amazing and lurid and full of interesting plaques in spanish and it was interesting to learn what an influence Goya had on Dali and to watch video of him. My favorite room was the green room. After the Museum we went to the streets again and got our picture taken with an alien and a falling man and we ate some tortilla bocadillos and some jamon at a small restaurant. The restaurant was packed and after I drank all of Katie's water and she yelled out "he drank all my water!" the whole restaurant became silent and just stared at her. It was amazing. I think that moment was when she realized she wanted to be an opera singer. After we finished eating we were exploring some more and decided to go to the Madrid Temple, so we hopped on the metro and went to the nearest stop. After we went above ground we found ourselves a bit lost so I asked a girl where the temple was, she didn't know so Katie and I ran after a group of people we had seen. I asked the group where the Temple is and immediately I realized I may have made a big mistake. This was no ordinary group of spaniards. This was a mob of spanish clowns and they looked angry… OR maybe they were just excited? It got kinda weird after that. They told us where the temple was but they also screamed a lot and started twirling each other about like helicopters and then they performed a scene from back to the future in spanglish and sang tomorrow from annie. By then we just had to join in and it became a bond between us and the spanish clowns that may never be broken. We parted ways in tears and went off in search of our beloved temple once more. Turns out it was only around the corner and so we got to spend quite a bit of time there. We took pictures and learned things and while about to leave we met some missionaries there and we talked to them about what Spain was like for them. I was shocked to find out that one of the dreaded meals in this mission is "Aglkahie" (chickpeas and veggies and mystery meat with vinegar). Apparently the meat they use is usually comes complete with the spine bones and other strange body parts. I had no idea. This was one of my favorite foods. Oh well, its still good. After the temple we headed back to Alcala and I had a nice chat with Katers on the bus. I wish she wasn't going. We went to the hostel and helped them call a cab. Somehow in my broken spanish I asked for the cab to come right away and so it was there in like 5 min. and we had to send it away and ask them to come back at 5:30 the next morning. Lijah and I said our tearful goodbyes to the Ladies and we were off on our way home. I was exhausted but we still had to pack because we were also leaving the next day and so I stayed up till about 5am packing and cleaning. Then I died.

Day 12 - Friday December 17th 2010 (Madrid, Spain)

Sometime in the middle of the night Lijah came back from his midnight rendezvous with his lover Trina woke me to inform me that his knee was in tremendous pain and that he was considering going home. I asked that we continue the conversation in the morning as I was beyond confused and covered in slumber sauce. The next morning Elijah was a living dead zombie face and we decided that if he had any hope of continuing on the trip that he had to take this day to recover. I agreed to go chaperone the helpless girl babies and then I would return in the noche and the next day we would have buckets of fun as a complete family once more.
Because I woke up at 10:21 I had a hard time getting to the hostle / showering / looking decent in time. Sprinted across the spanish streets in a horse like fashion and yet I still arrived late. 10:07 dangit.. They left a note. Said they were sick of waiting and had gone to a foodery without me. Luckily I knew where the nearest foodery was and so I went forth and ran there without the utmost speed. I found them inspecting a tower of meat and tackled them both showering them with my love. They asked where Lijah was and I thought it best to just pretend I had no idea who he was. Then I expertly created a story about how I woke in the middle of the night to find him cradling a ball of socks and wailing for Trina his true love. This quelled their questions and soon we were on our way to Madrid. I found out Petri dish (Kathy's friend), was a professional photographer and so I was glad to learn from her as I had recently begun taking photos with my spunky Nikon D80. The difficulty with toting along with a pro photographer is that they will literally stop every 1.4 ft. to take a photo. This makes traveling a arduous process. However, one-thousand hours later we exited our Madrid bound bus and arrived at the America station once again. We immediately headed for the metro and took the grey line to the red to the green to the purple to the blue to the yellow to the station of Sol where we saw such iconic monuments as "The Madrid Oso (bear)", "The Plaza Meyor", "Gran Via Calle" and "The Prado Museo". We got some pictures of buildings and street performers and one performer scared Katie and then blew her 34 kisses so we gave him 5 cents. We also saw an invisible man and a man dressed as a tree. At one point I saw a older man with a large mustache and newspaper. He was full of character and I had to take his picture so Kathy encouraged me to go ask him. I did. He said vale. I took it. We became best buds. Later we rounded a corner to see some kind of mechanism floating above us. We learned that later tonight there would be a tree lighting performance / ceremony. We promised we would return and the spaniards cheered with glee at our acceptance of their foreign tradition. We had heard that there was an interesting plaza a few streets away and so we wandered in that direction. Eventually we found a huge open courtyard surrounded by beautiful old buildings and mosaics. Inside there were tons of small shops and stands and street perfumers. We met a few bums. We played with giant bubbles. I nearly knocked over thirty artists aisles. We were molested by a demon who called Katie a witch. We met an asian princess / man / clam. We watched in awe and wonder as a group of old spanish women in giant fur coats giggled and laughed and guffawed at what looked like a wooden deer head connected to a body of sparkly pompoms. We loved them. We met them and took their picture. We were hassled by a fat smoking spiderman and an angry charlie chaplin lookalike. But mostly we just fell in love with Spain. Later the girls had this idea. We bought some mistletoe and we found couples who were holding hands young and old and Katie would sneak up behind them like a tricky ferret while Petri filmed it and I would shout "Un BESO!" from the crowd. Then the couple would first be confused and second they would smile and kiss. It was a lot of fun although some couples never made it to the second step. We also found a man painting a painting of three naked women sitting down and facing away from him so we sat in front of him positioned just like the women in his picture and modeled for him. He was so grateful all he could to was shake his head and giggle mumbling about americans. By now it was darkish and the crowd was thronging around us. We decided to make our way back to the lighting ceremony. Petri saw something bright and shiney on the way there and was distracted so we bought some sparklers and waved them around like three year olds. I tried to give one of mine to a real three year old but he got scared and ran away. I wasn't taking no for an answer though so I went back to the man and bought six whole packets. Then we would light them and give them away to passing families. It was surprisingly hard to do at first but once you start yelling "Gratis!" and shoving them into people's hands we were able to bring bright shininess to much of Madrid. I finally got one to a three year old too. After that little philanthropic excursion we jaunted over to the main plaza to watch the Lighting ceremony. It was incredible. Any description I put here will be tepid but basically there were four massive bicycle like contraptions spinning 5o feet in the air and held aloft by a crane. Atop these contraptions were violinists and angel dancers that were constantly throwing confetti and sparkly glitter. There was also a giant red dressed woman in the center singing Ave Maria with balloons flowing out of her dress bottoms. Another girl fell out after the balloons and danced hanging upside-down. All this while fire works and streamers were shooting out of their eyes. It was glorious and about a thousand Madridians stood below with mouths agape as the whole performance took place. After our minds were blown by the day's dream like activities we explored a department store to get warm and then walked some famous streets stopping at a local bar to dance and at a local cafe to eat. We were soon ambushed by a gaggle of Bombaros (firemen) who proceeded to pour hot sticky spanish flirting all over Petri.. Katie and I were worried. The firemen wouldn't let Katie sit on a bag of trash she found in the street so she decided to tell them a story about Petri never being able to swallow apples in revenge (it was amazing she told the whole story in what limited spanish she knew). The burly firemen wanted to show Petri their fireman pole in the firehouse but after we found out that most of them were former stripers we decided that it was a bad idea to slide down their pole (no double entrendre intended) we escaped by the skin of our teeth. Soon after we saw a flamenco dancer and were chased by men pretending to be statues. We also spent some time convincing a deranged kathy not to jump off a rock wall and Petri (who is also a professional dancer) performed a perfect flamenco for us. After we had explored all the shops and all the alleys of Madrid we walked past the Prado on our way back to the Metro and headed back to Alcala for some glorious pizza. Once in Alcala we became thoroughly lost and started to loose our minds with hunger and sleepiness. Luckily a pizza shop was found and we ordered two large toppinged pizzas. We talked for hours as we ate and I complemented Petri's beautiful jaw and childlike sense of wonder. Her beauty amazes me to this day. After we stuffed or faces like drunken lebanese sailors we sauntered outside and waited for our bus for 100 hours! Right as we were considering leaving to walk home the bus came. I walked the girls to their hostel and we agreed to meet at noon the next day. I then walked home and stupidly talked to Lijah for something akin to 5 hours while uploading and editing photos… Then I passed out.

Day 11 - Thursday December 16th 2010 (Madrid, Spain)

"KATHRINE NICOLE BACKUS AND HER FRIEND PETRI ARE COMING.. TODAY!!" I screamed as I leapt out of my sleeping bag and into the shower in a single bound. I was so utterly excited that I brushed my teeth with deodorant and Lijah and I broke out into song on the piano. We decided to spend the day in Madrid and to learn the renfe like champs so we seem like we know what we're doing in front of the lady folk. We were a flourishing blur of activity until we burst forth from Maria's house and scaled the streets to the 229 verde bus that takes us to Madrid. While at the bus stop while I was in the middle of telling Lijah a story complete with sound effects and obnoxiously awkward faces, I was tapped on the shoulder and asked "oh hey are you two americans?" by a stylish young girl of about 24ish. While struggling to remember just how embarrassing the story I was telling was (in english) I managed a reply. Turns out this girl - Mia or Maria - was real cool. She was living in Madrid and working in Alcala and we talked about loads of things on the bus ride including our plans, our mormon-ness, her heritage, her catholic-ness, her ability to read minds, and our ability to eat rice. After we got off the bus she invited us to come to her flat and get some home cookin. We graciously accepted and bowed to her while removing our top hats. On the metro there was a man playing violin and it was beautiful. Mia sure was a talker, she talked about all sorts of things and I just lapped it up. As we walked from the metro we went into a grocery and bought some carrots and garlic and Mia educated us on the methods of salting Jamon and told us stories concerning her outrageous experiences living in Madrid for two years and in Latin America for another. As we entered her small messy flat with which she shared with three boys, I thought to myself that this is exactly what being a traveler is all about. These happy coincidences and meetings and getting to know completely different people with completely different backgrounds just because you had the courage to talk to a stranger and right there I promised myself that I would talk to strangers and invite them over and cook them fried rice for the rest of my life.
We talked and cooked and laughed about weird references to Hari Krishna and about the nature of desire and addiction and Mia referenced books I'd never heard of and made me want to study Indian poetry more than ever before. Anyway, the fried rice was amazing, and eventually we left Mia and went in search of more Madrid adventures. Mia told us about a mysterious bohemian market of some kind that would change our lives. We listened to her tell us directions and then immediately forgot them, preferring to let the wind carry our sails to this mystic market instead. We somehow drunkenly wandered straight to the market despite our lack of directional awareness and visited the stores until about an hour before our friends arrived when we exploded into a chemical ball of excitement and flew toward the airport like two flaming falcons. We arrived at the airport and gazed longingly at the airport monitors. Damn! I exclaimed, "Their plane is late"… We found the gate they would be exiting anyhow and I dashed back and forth in front of it like an impatient puppy. Every time the door opened I leapt in front of the door and scared the exiting passengers. Eventually Elijah spotted them coming from the other end of the hallway and I bolted after them. After we had grabbed their bags and hopped a train to the Avenue de America depot we found the Alcala train and proceeded to get lost as we came into the city that I supposedly knew so well. We ended up taking three busses in order to find their Hostel during which we discovered that the reservations Katie had made were for a Hostel in Zargoza Spain. A city that is about halfway to Barcalona. I have no idea how it happened but I couldn't help but feel responsible. In any case, the Hostel del Val was a great fit. It was more of a hotel actually and was right next to Maria's house. We paid for the room and brought in their bags and made plans to meet outside their Hostel the next day at about 11am. Then Lijah and I walked back to the house and passed out.