Our day and a half in Andorra, where all we did was basically relax, was rather uneventful. I closed out my bank account, we visited my school where the English department had a little goodbye thing for me, and we of course visited some of the "sights". Wednesday afternoon it was already time for part 3 of our trip, Barcelona. Coming back to the city for the umpteenth time and still feeling excited made me realize how much I've come to love Barcelona over this past year. When studying abroad in Spain I somehow never managed to reach the eastern part of the country - moron! Barcelona, and other cities I have yet to see like Sitges and Tarragona will definitely form part of my next trip to Spain. We got into the city around 6:15 ... read more

Day two began with a round of croissants from a local bakery, some coffee at a nearby café, and then a visit to Père Lachaise, Paris' largest cemetary. Reported to be the world's most visited cemetery, its attraction lies in its plethora of famous Parisians, like Edith Piaf, and famous not-so-much-Parisians like Jim Morrison. The place was sprawling, and we spent maybe two hours going around the winding paths in search of "celebs". My favorite tomb was that of Oscar Wilde, covered in red and pink lipstick from all the people that have come to pay him homage. Lou and I forgot our lipstick at the hotel, but we both gave him a nice little kiss :-) Edith Piaf's tomb was entirely covered in flowers, so to be honest we weren't even positive it was hers. ... read more

Our 3rd day in Sardinia began in the same manner as the last - pathetic breakfast at the "B&B", then a morning at the beach. This time the beach was lovely, and we were looking quite fit sitting alongside some bulging beauties from Poland. We were happy to see a flag raised nearby where we were sitting that said "Alghero: Catalan Country of Sardinia" - força al català! I should also mention that by this point I looked like I had a plethora of third nipples all over my body thanks to mass-quantities of insect bites that I had incurred during the night. Once we'd had our fill of the beach we again chose to go the cheap lunch route and had another round of oil-soaked delicacies washed down with Sardinian beer. This time we added ... read more

Our 4:30-ish flight to Alghero on RyanAir went quite smoothly despite RyanAir's brain-damaged check-in policy for non-EU travelers and their Nazi-esque "does your bag ACTUALLY fit in the metal thing?" baggage policy. With our arrival in Alghero, or L'Alguer in Catalan, I have now been to every major Catalan-speaking region: Andorra, Spain's regions of Catalunya, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands, France's Pyreneés Orientales department, and now L'Alguer. Alghero was founded in 1102 by the Genoese for centuries until in 1353 the Aragonese under Bernardo de Cabrera arrived. What then ensued was essentially ethnic cleansing as the population was replaced by Catalans and Catalan became the city's prominent language. By the early 16th century Alghero received the status of King's City (ciutat de l'Alguer) and began to legitimately develop. Eventually it would become know as La Barcelone ... read more

Our second day began with breakfast on the terrace of our hotel - it was a decent spread of little pastries, yogurt, fruit, some cold cuts - no complaints. Unfortunately the weather was no longer hot and sunny, but rather a little on the cooler side and overcast. Nonetheless we donned our bathing suits and, after checking out, headed further south to Banyuls-sur-Mer. Once a major good-smuggling center, now the city is known for its wonderful dessert wines and of course for being a lovely town just on the water. After walking along the shore a bit, we stumbled upon a very nice open market that boasted cured meats, local wines, soaps, hand-carved utensils, you name it. What caught OUR eyes were the chickens and rabbits roasting on spits, their juices dripping over potatoes. Lunch later? ... read more