European Travels

Hi everyone, Sorry it has been so long, but I've been traveling through France and Spain for the past month, and I just haven't had much time on the internet. Now, I'm safely back in my tiny apartment in Cork, though, so I'll update all you faithful readers on my adventures lol. Laura and I planned our trip all on our own, and we decided to travel extensively in one or two countries, rather than stopping for a day or two in a lot of countries. We decided on France and Spain. I've already been to Spain, but it was 4 years ago and only for a few days, so this was a new experience for both of us. We decided to start off in France, so on April 8 we flew into Paris. We immediately got on the train to Rennes (the only way to get to Mont St. Michel), but because it took so long to get to the train station from the airport in Paris, we missed the last bus to Mont St. Michel (where we had booked a hostel for two nights). So our trip started off pretty poorly, but Laura and I decided to get a hotel room in Rennes and the lady gave us a large room for the price of a small, which was nice. From what we saw, Rennes was a pretty dreary city. It was dark and industrial without much going on. The next morning, though we headed out to MSM, which was amazing. It's a cathedral built on top of a hill in the middle of a river flat kind of thing, so that it's pretty much the only thing sticking up out of a completely flat surrounding area for a mile or so. Very impressive. We spent the day wandering around it (it's actually almost a little town in itself with lots of little shops and restaurants along the winding cobblestone path up to the top of the hill) and had a good time. Neither Laura nor I speak any French, but most of the people spoke passable English or could understand what we wanted, so we didn't have too many problems. That night we stayed a hostel a ways outside of town, in the country a little. It was a nice, quiet place. They stilled charged us for both nights, though, which was a bummer. After MSM, we traveled back to Paris, where we spent the next 3 days (including Easter). Paris is an amazing city. Laura and I both loved it. And I thought the French people were a lot friendlier than I had heard/thought. Definitely better than the Spanish. We saw pretty much all of the great sites in Paris: Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Arc de Triumphe, and some great parks. We also went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, which was well worth the wait. Great views. The food was great, but unfortunately on our budget we were relegated to a lot of baguette and cheese, which is not really a bad thing, just bad in comparison to some of their better food. We did go out for one very nice meal and we ordered a bottle of wine (I even smelled it Dad, though, I have no idea what a good wine actually smells like lol, but I guess I probably looked like I fit in with all the others). On Easter Laura and I got a dinner picnic feast and ate at the gardens around the Palais de Luxemburg (I'm guessing at most of these spellings from memory). It was a great. On April 13, we took the train from Paris to Toulouse, where we stayed with a French family that my Dad knows from work. The parents, Rene and Joelle, have 3 sons and they all spent 4 or 5 months in Los Alamos while the dad worked at the Lab, so I had met them before, and they were all pretty acclimated to us silly Americans. They put us up for 4 nights, which was a huge help for us, and they fed us breakfast and dinner. They have a beautiful little house a couple miles outside the city, and they made us a part of the family for a few days. Laura and I explored Toulouse a bit the first day, getting pics of all the sights and everything. The second day, we took the train to Carcassonne, a huge castle a little bit outside of Toulouse. It was amazing, especially because I really enjoy castles and history stuff. I'd be hard pressed to choose between Mont St. Michel and Carcassonne. Toulouse was a nice city, with lots of gorgeous red brick buildings, but it was pretty quiet because it was spring vacation for all the high schools and a lot of families were out of town. We had a nice long lunch with some four cheese pizza and some wine in the plaza before walking around by the canal. The weather was pretty rainy most of the time while we were in Toulouse, but that day it was really nice. For dinner, Rene and Joelle took us to another French couple's house, and we had a delicious multiple course dinner (even though we had fish, and I'm not too fond of fish). A wonderful finish to our time in Toulouse. We left Toulouse on April 17, but we left without having concrete travel arrangements. We had planned on getting some kind of train from Toulouse to Madrid, but there really isn't such a thing, they only go to Barcelona, and it's really long and kind of expensive. So instead, we took the bus to Barcelona (a solid 7 hours), but by the time we got to the correct station in Barcelona for connecting buses to Madrid, we had to get on the last bus of the night at 8PM. It was another 7 hrs, so we didn't get into our hostel in Madrid until almost 4AM. It was a pretty terrible day, but it was fairly cheap, and fortunately our hostel was open 24 hrs for check in. The next day we wandered around Madrid. Madrid is a beautiful city, and there was plenty of sunshine to welcome us. It has a smaller downtown than Paris, and our hostel was actually right in the city which was nice. We saw some nice churches and went inside the Palacio Real (a big palace/museum). Lots of ornate rooms and the like. We had a our fill of tapas during the day, which were very tasty. They are deceptively expensive though, and since you have to get several of them to actually make a meal, it piles up. Great cheeses and wine, though. The next day we walked through El Rastro market, which was a swarming, twisting collection of stalls scattered throughout the streets in one area of the city. Then, we toured some of Madrid's famous museums including the Sofie Reina, the Naval museum, and the del Prado. Del Prado was especially impressive. On our third day, we made a day trip to Segovia, a beautiful little city just a short train ride outside of Madrid. We saw the amazing Catedral, Alcazar castle, and ancient Roman aqueduct. I liked the city a lot because it is a big tourist destination but it seemed to have preserved its cultural and historical integrity. The next morning (April 21) we took a bus back to Barcelona (another wretched 7 hours). The hostel had messed up the room booking or something, so Laura and I got upgraded to a double room just for the two of us, which was a nice change from 10 people in a room. Luck would have it, though, that we got a room right next to about 20 15 year old British kids, who made a horrendous amount of noise the whole time we were there. The next day, we met up with one of Laura's friends from school who was studying abroad there, and she showed us around a bit. We saw the port, a couple of big churches, and then went to the beach for a bit. Needless to say, Laura and I being the whitest kids around (coupled with our 4 months of zero sun exposure in Ireland) were promptly sunburned. That night Laura and I went to a Barcelona soccer game against Sevilla. Barcelona is one of the best professional soccer teams in the world, and they have tremendous fans and a great stadium. We had such a great time; Barcelona dominated the game and made it interesting with 4 goals (2 of them ridiculously good). We sat next to an old guy who chatted amiably with me in Spanish, though I didn't understand 75% of what he said. I watch enough of Barcelona to know all their players, and I yelled at the ref like the rest of them, so I think he was kind of impressed with us Americans. A great experience. On our last day in Barcelona, we went to see La Sagrada Familia (the gigantic Gaudi cathedral that looks like it's from Disney World or it got melted) but refused to pay 11 euros to just get in, and then headed up to the Park de Guell (another Gaudi construction). The Park was really nice, even though it was packed with tourists. It gave a great view of the city. Then, we went to go see all the Olympic sites from 1992. Saw the stadiums and pool. The Montjuic fortress on top of the biggest hill overlooking the city was our last stop. Definitely the best view we got to see on the whole trip. On one side it looked out over the whole downtown and on the other side, it looked out over the harbor. April 24 was basically totally a travel day from Barcelona to Malaga. We got a hostel for one night in Malaga. Malaga is a nice city, and we saw the old Moorish castles and cathedral. The next day we left for Marbella, a small coastal town. Laura's parents have a timeshare deal, and they couldn't use one of their weeks for the year, so they gave us a week at the Marriott resort in Marbella. It was amazing. It was a perfect way to end our hectic sight-seeing trip because we just got to relax by the beach for the whole week. We originally planned on seeing Sevilla and Granada on day trips from there, but we were basically out of money, so we just enjoyed the sunshine (I actually got a tan without getting burned too). It definitely helped recharge the batteries from having walked and traveled every day, plus staying in hostels all the time. And on May 2 we flew back into Ireland to resume school. I've got 6 exams from now until the end of May, so I will be studying most of the time before my family gets out here. Well, I know this is kind of a novel, but I figured since it's been so long I will be excused for being long-winded. I hope that everyone is doing well, and I love you all. Love, Jamie Mont St. Michel A beautiful park in Paris. Trying to take these self pictures is definitely harder than you think. The Notre Dame cathedral From the top of the Eiffel Tower Along the canal in Toulouse Carcassonne from afar Apparently this is not allowed. I was yelled at literally a second after this picture was taken. It's in front of the Palacio Real in Madrid. The Catedral in Segovia. Getting ready for the game.