One great thing about Barcelona is that you can walk around randomly and every 5 to 10 minutes you’ll just happen across an interesting-looking building (the ‘normal’ buildings are also quite nice). The most famous of these buildings were designed by the modernist architect Antoni Gaudi and of them his masterwork is the yet-unfinished cathedral La Sagrada Familia. Earlier in my trip I saw both Notre Dame cathedral in Paris and Il Duomo in Firenze, both of which are very large, intricately-detailed places of worship that took over a century to complete. One of the thoughts [View Full Entry]

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I spent the beginning of my one full day in Nice walking most of the way down and back along the Promenade des Anglais. I don’t know what the English have to do with anything, but the promenade runs along and just above the beach and is quite long (it took me close to 2 hours round trip). During the moments when I could manage to tear my eyes away from the gorgeous Mediterranean waters I noticed that the activity on the beach was quite different than one would find in the US. Or perhaps I should say the lack of [View Full Entry]

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There are two major youth hostels (auberges de jeunesse) in Nice and they are located in drastically different places. One of them is a short walk to the train station, a short walk to the old town with lots of restaurants and a short walk to the beach. Then there’s the one I stayed at. The primary means of reaching this hostel is taking a bus from the old town up a giant hill and for the first time since I’ve been in Europe, I was not pleased with the workings of the public transportation. The bus routes were labeled in [View Full Entry]

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Okay, so I'm a little bit late posting these pictures of Paris, but I'm a little bit late with everything on this blog. That's just the way it goes. Interesting note: It's actually impossible not to take a picture of the Eiffel Tower every time you see it. [View Full Entry]

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So when I was looking up hostels in Firenze I found one that had a super high rating. On closer inspection, though, it wasn't actually in Firenze, but rather in a small town called Tavarnelle about 40 minutes outside of the city. At first I was disappointed, but then I remembered that I had wanted to see some of the Tuscan countryside and I realized that Tavarnelle would be a much better base of operations for doing that than would Firenze, so I booked a couple of nights. I figured out that there was a regional bus that started in Firenze [View Full Entry]

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I have a long train ride and very little battery charge on my laptop (there were outlets on my last train that I discovered at the end, but none on this one) so this post is beginning life being written down…by a pen…onto paper. Insanity, I know. So, about a month ago there was a news story about a law in France that made it easier for businesses to be open on Sundays. Of course, as an American, my natural reaction was “there are businesses that close on Sundays? There are businesses that close?!” Now that I have been to both [View Full Entry]

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I should really think twice about naming these posts late at night. During my stay in Firenze I visited the Uffizi Gallery. I figured since Firenze was such an important Renaissance city I should see some Renaissance art while I was there. The gallery certainly delivered it in large quantities. Now I’m certainly no art expert and I should definitely be one of the last people you consult if you want insight into art of any kind; however, there is one banal observation that I would like to make and reflect on: the paintings in the gallery, particularly those in the [View Full Entry]

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I have officially entered Italy! I’m hoping that some of the Italians speak English better than I speak French. Most of the people in France that I had to interact with were in jobs where it helped to know at least a little English. I wonder if my French would have been good enough to get by even if nobody spoke any English. I like to think so, but I’m sure everything would have taken a lot longer. Hey! Why has nobody asked to see my passport?! [View Full Entry]

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Wow, a great couple of days there in Grenoble. The city itself wasn’t all that special, but the mountains surrounding the city are awesome. Yesterday I had the pleasure of hiking to the highest peak around the city and I think it was really the highlight of the trip for me so far. I love doing athletic things and I love being in Nature. I really should make an effort to go hiking or camping more often. Open invitation for anybody who wants to come with me. The hike was actually less challenging than I was expecting. I think I overestimated [View Full Entry]

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So I wasn't able to start this blog in real-time on account of the strange wireless I was forced to use in Paris. But I wrote everything anyways and I promise I haven't gone back and changed any of what I said at the time, no matter how stupid it may have been. The first couple of posts are mostly descriptions of what I was up to, but I want this blog to be more about my reactions to what I'm seeing and reflections on the culture. I'll try to throw in some jokes, too. Some may even be funny. Enjoy! [View Full Entry]

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