Traveling Reflections

I cant believe that a week just passed by and that Lindsay is already gone home, and that I have less than three weeks until I am home in Austin. It seems like time is such a bizarre concept - unchanging with respect to science but indefinite with respect to our minds. Our trip was absolutely amazing! It was surreal to be in one country and then another and then another so close together - the beauty of Europa...no trans-Atlantic flights! Its hard for me to describe the trip, so Ill go ahead and give a summary of what happened:
Lindsay came in on Saturday and on both Saturday afternoon and Sunday we walked all over Roma and saw everything! We took tons of pictures and ate some great pizza near the Colosseum. At night, we went to get some pasta at a nearby restaurant and Lindsay had some called carbonara which is a Roman specialty! The next morning, we woke up and were out of my apartment by 4:00 AM! It was an early morning, but being excited about the journey ahead gave us energy. We were taken to the airport along the Via Appia, the oldest Roman Road, which leads out of the city. Our arrival in Paris was breathtaking - we were plopped right in the center near the Arch de Triomph and were taken back immediately, not only by the extreme cold and wind, but also by the amazing beauty of the place. The trees are either orange or have lost their leaves and the Christmas lights are hung. The buildings are grand but also quaintly picturesque and it feels like something out of a story book. They say that the French can be rude, but I thought they were kind and helpful, no doubt with an air of superiority about them, which is sort of elegant, anyhow. In France we saw absolutely everything, and most of it in the rain, including the Arch de Triomph, the Eiffle Tower, the Lourve, most of the gardens, the Obelisk, the Seine, Notre Dame, and Moulin Rouge. There were more museums that we would have enjoyed but we only had two days so we had to cram in as much as possible and I will have to save those for the next trip! Our hostel was great and the people were really cool. When we saw the Mona Lisa and it was really amazing to actually be standing there in front of her! I thought the size of the painting was really underrated: they had a wall that was completely blank and roped off so you could only get so close, and then the tiny painting of Mona Lisa on it...it seemed dwarfed. It was incredible to think that one day so long ago, DaVinci was standing as far from it as I was and was painting on her mysterious face and the details of her setting. We saw the Nike (a statue in the Louvre, who is the God of Speed and which inspired the brand, Nike) and that was really cool - it was my favorite thing to see at that museum. We ate crepes and I fell in love with them - warm and chocolatey but not too heavy. Yum! We had to use our umbrellas a lot - direct affect of extreme rain - and with the umbrella I had, it could only lead to disaster. Mine decided that it wanted to invert every two minutes so that it wasnt actually doing any good and I ended up drenched anyways. I decided to embrace the rain and didnt mind the wetness so much, but dealing with the cold was a test of my sanity. One night, we made dinner out of several of the foods we wanted to try in Paris because we kept circling around but couldnt find a restaurant we wanted to go to and were about to fall over from exhaustion. It ended up being so delicious - bread and cheese galore! When it was time to leave France, we headed to a very early Ryan Air flight to Barcelona. When we arrived in the center we werent all that impressed but the longer we spent, the more we loved it and left wishing we could spend more time. Our hostel was amazing with internet and events planners and a kitchen in our "apartment," which we shared with three other rooms of people. We had a great view and were right off of the main road so that was really convenient. The hostel gave us restaurant ideas and Lindsay had a Spain book, so we felt really ready for the journey ahead. We set out the first day and saw the Cathedral, which was really gothic in nature and had a cool choir room more towards the center than normal. There were chandeliers and stained glass which is prevalent in Barcelona. We spent a lot of time looking at the work of Gaudi, who basically created most of Barcelona's architecture. My favorite of his buildings is one without any straight walls! In another part of the city, he did a building called the Sagrada Familia which has many spires with fruit on top - very bizarre - and in the front has a very rigidly carved nativity scene, which has actually brought some controversy. My favorite place in Barcelona was affected by him but not entirely attributed to him: Park Guell, which is set at the highest point in Barcelona (we had to take escalators to get there) and is a really beautiful site. On the way up there are lots of cool photo stops but nothing compares to the highest point, a small chunk of land on which there are three crosses and you can turn around 360 degrees to see everything: the ocean, the main roads and city grid, the major buildings, etc. There was a sax player and a guitarist up there, and I loved their music - I could have stayed for hours. It was really busy and its was neat to see everyone's reaction to Barcelona. It was as if we all forgot the things we had seen and were looking at it for the first time ever - as if we were looking at trees for the first time and water and mountains and everything for the very first time. On the way back down we stopped in an area designed by Gaudi where dozens of children were playing soccer and running around having a good time - their laughter echoed off of his strangely configured mosaic benches and columns. In Barcelona, I ate Mexican food (though it didnt compare to the food at home) that had a bit of a Spanish twist...including guacamole which was amazing! She made it right there fresh for us and it was really exciting to have after so long of missing it. I still crave Tex Mex but it was a great Thanksgiving present to myself...no traditional food but still a taste of home. Another day we had Indian food, which is very common in Barcelona, and that was really wonderful...I love curry. The last day of our trip, I lost my metro pass somewhere around lunch time and we still wanted to see things way across town, so we walked and agreed Id buy a new one for the next day. I think our feet almost fell off but it ended up allowing us to see and enjoy more of the city than we ever would have in the under-caverns of its metro system (which was heated, even though it was really warm outside). Barcelona has the feel of a city, and reminds me of Roma in some ways, but its laid back atmosphere that makes you feel like anyone will help you if you need it and that people are happy - not rushing on to their next thing. Everyone we ran into wanted to make our stay really enjoyable and that was so incredible to have happen, as none of the other cities Ive come close in hospitality. London was easy because ther was no language barrier, Paris was okay, and Rome is rough but Barcelona was incredible in this respect. Another thing I loved, really quickly, was the market where they had everything there fresh. Ive never enjoyed a market so much - fresh produce, candy, fruit and vegetables, fish, meat, and even juices! At the egg post, there were even emu and ostrich eggs! I loved it.
Overall, the whole trip flew by and I loved it so much! I cant wait to go back and it was perfect traveling with Lindsay, who is always a great friend, even when Im grumpy at 4 AM and even when our feet are falling off. I couldnt have asked for a better trip!