My Trip to Spain and France

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Hola! Bonjour! Thanks to Ryan Air's awesome flight prices, I traveled to Barcelona, Madrid, Toledo in Spain and Paris, France last week. I chose to visit Spain because they have great weather this time of year compared to Sweden and my close friend Jordan lives in Madrid. Paris was tacked on to the end of the trip because it was cheaper to take a flight there instead of directly to Stockholm. I left Växjö on a Thursday afternoon. I took a 5 hour bus ride to Nyköping, Sweden. I took a short bus ride out to the Skavsta airport. This is small airport mainly for Ryan Air flights, only three gates. I met my friends Eric, Dave, and Brittany at the hotel across the street. Dave and Brittany flew out the next morning to Ireland while Eric and I caught at 6:30am flight to Barcelona. We arrived at our hostel in Barcelona at about 11am. We left our bags and walked around the town exploring. We walked down Las Ramblas, a long, wide street where merchants and street performers work the crowd walking through. The merchants that stood out the most for me were the ones selling bunnies, turtles, chickens, and birds as pets! At the end of the street is a great view of the Mediterranean Sea. We walked along the docks in the sunshine - so pleasant! I live in the rainiest city in Sweden, last December the city saw 26 minutes of sun light ALL MONTH! We were so thankful to feel the heat of the sun!!! I found this great shop on a small street and I bought a ring, headband, and bracelet I will always remember are from Barcelona. People in this city speak Catalonian, somewhat different than Spanish. The people know Spanish and a little English. We never had a problem with the language barrier here. We ate frozen pizza from a nearby grocery store for dinner at our hostel and met three guys from Portland, Oregon. We had a beer with them later and they went out clubbing all night. We met them the next morning after breakfast in the hostel and went exploring the city more. We walked along the beach and to Park Guell. Anthony Gaudi is a famous architect of the area and he has buildings scattered throughout the city. He has a lot of architecture in this park and it looks like gingerbread houses in a fairy tale. The view from the tallest hill in the park was wonderful. I realized in every place I visit I like to find the highest vantage point to get a good view of the area. After another frozen pizza dinner, we went to an Irish pub (yea I know it should have been Catalonian) and I met some Finnish, Australian, and British people. We finished the night by getting our feet wet in the Mediterranean Sea! After a long metro ride and walk home, we collapsed in our beds. We shared a room with 16 people but we were so tired my sleep could not be disrupted...that is until 8am when it was time to catch a bus to Madrid! Ughh, that was a rough morning but I successfully rode a bus for 7 hours, arriving at 5pm. Jordan, Alex, and Ignacio met us in the bus station. Ignacio or "Nacho" went to Växjö Universitet fall semester and is now back in Madrid. He let Eric and I stay with him that night. We met some other friends who were previously Växjö exchange students at a 10pm dinner, typical of Spain. For the remaining 4 nights, we stayed with Eric's sister in Alcalá de Henares, a 40 minute train ride out of Madrid. She has two roommates, Anna from Poland and Egor from Czech Republic, they are really nice. We went into Madrid Monday and Tuesday and enjoyed the sights of Madrid. On Wednesday, Jordan, Eric, and I took a bus to Toledo. It is a beautiful city!! Its small village feel was a good contrast to metropolitan Madrid and Barcelona. On Friday night I met a lot of Jordan's friends at a house-party. He is in an international program where he learns advanced Spanish while speaking Spanish in art and literature classes. He also lives with a host-mother in downtown Madrid. He has a really nice set-up. He can catch the Madrid for a Euro anywhere, practically anytime. There are lots of Tapas Bars, movie theatres, shops, parks, and restaurants in his neighborhood, Plaza de España. One of Jordan's friends is from Eau Claire, Wisconsin and goes to University of MN-TC. I asked her if she knew the five people I know who went to high school in Eau Claire and now go to UMD and SHE KNEW THEM REALLY WELL!! What?!?! Now that's a small world!! After a warm and bright five days in Madrid, we flew to Paris! The airport we flew too was about an hour outside of the city center, so we were quite exhausted from all the traveling that day. We found our hotel easily and went walking around the Montmartre district where Moulin Rouge is. It's like a little Red-Light District in that area, very scandalous! We climbed the winding streets and found ourselves with a great view of the Eiffel Tower. The next day we went to the Louvre museum. I had a helpful audio-guide explaining some history behind paintings and sculptures including Mona Lisa. I bought a great book on all the paintings in the museum to remember how impressive they are. We went to Versailles Palace in the afternoon, how amazing!!! There is so much gold and detailed sculptures and paintings in there, it was overwhelming! That night we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower and basqued in all the glory of Paris. It was an amazing view of such a gigantic city. On Monday we went to the Cathedral of Notre Dame and it was so much bigger than I expected. We sat here a while as I lit a candle for Grandma Nordis, Grandma Ojanen, Pete, and others who've passed away. We walked for two or three hours to the Eiffel Tower and took some more pictures there. We took a long metro ride to the other side of the city to visit Jim Morrison's grave. We found it in the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise where other famous people are buried. I wore my Jim t-shirt and listened to the Doors often throughout the trip in preparation of visiting his remains. As I stood there admiring the flowers and letters left on his gravesite, I listened to "Peace Frog" and "Ship of Fools". He is forever 27 (years old) along with Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Johnson, Brian Jones, Pigpen of the Grateful Dead, and Curt Cobain. We went out for a nice dinner to conclude our short tour of Paris and traveled 12 hours the next day to Växjö. Looking back, I'm having a hard time deciding what my favorite city was. I can say that I most enjoyed seeing Jordan in Madrid. He is doing really well. Meeting new people along the way was really fun too, hopefully I find them all through the internet somehow. It was a nice break from winter in Sweden. I hope I can go back someday. I was surprised at how much Spanish I remembered from high school. I could understand people's conversations pretty well sometimes. I used the common French greetings and made sure I always asked to speak English before I actually spoke it - they like that. It was a 12 night trip, so I am happy to be back home. Being a tourist for so long is exhausting!

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Photos

Versailles
the pink room

Room in Versailles Palace
wow!

On Top of the City
the blue light is a spotlight on the top of the tower that goes around the city

Hall of Mirrors
Chandeliers everywhere