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Published: April 12th 2010
Barcelona
balcony of our hotel roomi cant believe i havent done anything in this blog for so long!!!
i have just been crazy busy
i finally got my europass in the mail and ever since then i have been travelling.
i went camping a few weekends ago...it was awesome, but freezing. it was very demanding and hard, but totally worth it. i went with my friends nick and dragos. just the three of us. we camped on the friday night and then had to find a hotel the next night cuz we kept missing our trains (daylight savings time out here) and we didnt want to freeze again. we all were really dumb and didnt clear out a good spot when we camped so we slept on a ton of sticks. i was sore, kinda cranky, and wanted a bed hahaha
things just continued to get crazier and crazier!!!
on wed, nick and i headed towards the train station to get him a europass and to reserve two spots on the night train (that left thursday) for spain. i wanted to go to Madrid to see the Rogier Van Der Weyden's painting "The Depostion" which is in the Prado museum. so
Barcelona
bathroom...not worth $125...so we stole breakfast in the morning. jerks. i wanted to pretty much travel across europe for one painting...whichi did this summer when joe and i road tripped to new york haha.
so we got the train station and were shocked to hear that things were very complicated because of the easter weekend. after about 3 seconds of thinking, the next thing i knew...we were walking out of the train station with train tickets for that night! so he rused to school and i rushed back home to write my 5 page paper that was due the next day. i sent an email saying i was sick and that my paper was an attached file. nick and i ate dinner and then packed and were ready to get goin...however...we both got confused and realized that our train was leaving from a different station (which was about 40 minutes away and our train was leaving in 25)
so here i am, freaking out thinking i made us miss our train, and we get a cab and beg him to book it to the station. we sprinted up the stairs and barely made it...it took me a long time to chill out after that...but the cars we are
Barcelona
hotel room in are little rooms and the seats pull out so you can kinda lay flat. so we fell asleep and just kept riding until morning. i could go into a ton of detail about all our mishaps with trains, but that would be a waste of your time. to be honest, everyone that gave us info was way wrong and we were totally screwed. most of the connecting trains were booked and there were no buses like people said. so...im not sure where we stayed, but i think we stayed in Montpelier in France and had to catch more trains the next day.
it took us 2 full days of travelling by train and we crossed through austria, switzerland, france and eventually got to spain. the train rides were amazing though. i mean...beautiful. beach, wineries, country side, gorgeous french villages, it was amazing!
we hit barcelona first and did one of those hop-on hop-off bus tours around the city. found a place to eat (it was a huge pot of rice full of sea creatures and stuff...very good...but i couldnt eat the thigns with eyes and legs...that was tooo much for me). we started looking for a hotel,
Barcelona
bull fighting stadium but everything was booked. so we had to pay $125 for a room...but it was a very nice one. we saw the bull fighting stadium, some awesome shops, buildings, everyting. the best part...THE BEACH. the beach is beautiful and it was so nice out! we just layed in the sand and relaxed. we didnt have bathing suits or anything, but we switched our clothes around and made it work haha.
that night, we hopped on a train to madrid. this ride was awesome. we were with another spanish family who was already asleep and had every seat pulled out like a giant bed. we all just kinda cuddled and fell asleep. 😊
madrid was just as beautiful. we went straight to our hostel (ya...we learned our lesson and reserved one for madrid and one for our next trip so we wouldnt have to pay so much for a stupid king size bed and a fancy bathroom). we dumped off our bags and then walked the city. we went straight to the prado and i got to see my painting. it was so moving. even more so than the one in new york. i wish i could explain it,
but i just cant. i basically travelled the world to see this painting...i couldnt believe i made it! there were so many other ones too...i think nick really enjoyed listening to me babble on about it too.
well it was easter that day...so we found a church in the back of the museum and sat through a mass (all in spanish of course) and it was a beautiful church. so pretty. after that, we just kinda wondered through town like we always do and went out for some dinner. get this...MADRID...CHINESE FOOD...CHAMPAGNE...great combo.
the next day we wondered some more and saw a bunch of ppl gathered around the streets and men in business suits. we found some americans and they said obama was coming through for the 100 grand via...which i still have no idea what that is. so nick and i climbed up on a window sill and watched...im not sure if he was actually there...but someone important was. there was even a photographer taking pics of us...probably for some spanish newspaper or something. hahaha
we left madrid that night and found out that France was on strike (there train stations)...so we had no idea
if we would ever make it home. but after some sneaking onto trains and jumping from Portbou, to Montpellier, to Zurich, we finally made it back to Vienna. home sweet home. i didnt know i missed it so much!!!
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sorry this is so long...but i still have more!
so we made it back wed. morning. i had skipped a bunch of classes...so i had to make up some work. then we had school on thursday. then guess what...WE LEFT FOR ROME THURSDAY NIGHT. we were home for about a day and a half. i rushed home from class (which was at a museum that day) and packed and then met up with everyone so we could leave.
nick and i went to rome with our friends preston and alexis (both go to webster in stl and both lived on my floor freshman year...so i have known them for a while). we all had one car together so we pulled all the seats back and just watched a bunch of movies...well...they did...i fell asleep pretty early like always. but hey...nick and i have been travelling for over a week! we havent gotten much sleep!
we
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ohhh ya...now we are talkin. got to rome in the morning and went straight for some grub. i ate my first kebob...which is funny cuz they are everywhere in Vienna...but it was sooo good. i think it was a Duram Kebob...which is like a burrito (i think im getting this right). then we hit up a place for some ice cream and hopefully cannollis.
we all headed for Vatican City after that. let me just say...holy cow. what a beautifl scene that was. it was very moving and im still in shock that i got to see it. The city of rome itself is very pretty, but it started to kinda blend in with barcelona, madrid, and vienna...i loved it...but i dont think it was what i was expecting. we went to the spanish steps too and that was really cool . just a lot of people hanging out and a buch of ppl selling roses and stuff.
then nick and i headed for our hostel which was pretty far away. we had to take the underground (which is sooo gross compared to vienna's) and then take another train, and then a shuttle. it was a campground place that had a bar/restaurant and
a pool. so that was cool. that was probably my favorite night of rome to be honest. we drank quite a few liters of Sangria and just danced and danced with ppl that seemed pretty cool. i wish i had there names, cuz nick has some pretty funny pics that are for sure Facebook appropriate 😊
the next day...nick was pretty sick...and not just from drinking. so we were running late and missed hanging out with preston and alexis (which ended up being ok cuz preston hurt his eye and had to go to the doctor). so nick and i used our coupon from our last bus tour and did one through rome. we got off at the colosseum. we took a tour so we wouldnt have to wait in line for long...but it was pretty lame. did you knwo they used to make women fight midgets for entertainment? weird.
it was a really cool place adn i enjoyed walking through it...even tho nick and i ditched the tour after a while and just did our own thing. it was a pretty long day so we just hung around and then went back to the hostel to get
some rest. the next day we ate a big lunch with yummy pasta and then wondered through a park where we got wish bracelets from some guy selling random stuff.
caught the night train back home to vienna and now im back!
im thinking of chilling out this weekend here in Vienna. i missed it a lot and im getting pretty tired. so ya. prague next weekend for sure. i might even change my mind and go to paris this weekend...who knows.
gotta catch up on teh weeks worth of hmwk i havent done.
love you all
me.
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Berbs
Chris Berberich
He better not be FRENCH
Who is Nick? This is your father asking. All I have to say is NO French boys. Keep up the traveling.