London was exciting and fast paced, crazy drivers, I saw a woman on a bike get hit by a bus, luckily not hurt but the traffic is crazy, dangerous. London is very cosmopolitan, men dressed nice, Metrosexual, everyone in a hurry, everything is very expensive. Women with cool hair colors. I really loved the Holland Park area, slower paced and nice landscaping, with little flats that people live in.
Paris was very romantic so much history, so much to see, very fashionable beautiful women, I walked and walked, finally bought a bus tour because all the famous sights were so spread out I couldn´t walk to all of them. I took pics of all the amazing sights but haven´t labeled them yet as I want to make sure I am spelling everything right and just haven´t taken the time. I was amazed and awestruck at the Eiffel tower at night that when the light it up once an hour it starts sparkling, it took my breath away. I bought bread and some cheese on Rue Clair Ave and ate in a little beautiful park. I took pics of my yummy picnic meal and the view from where I was sitting. I had nice weather while I was in Paris, it was great. One thing that suprised me was that the people don´t pick up their dog´s poop. One of my pics of Paris is of a sidewalk full of dog poop! I just couldn´t believe it, I guess that is why they spray down the sidewalks all the time. The cheese tasted really good, but smelled horrible, when I was on the subway on my way home one day, I was so embarrassed because in all of Europe I have found most public transportation is always crowded so all I could smell was my cheese in my bag. Funny! I loved where my hostel was, a nice small area, close grocery store, a wonderful bakery where I fell in love with an eclair they made there. One of my pics is of my bed where I have my book I am reading, a delicous eclair and a view of Paris in the background. It made me so happy! So nice after exploring all day to come home and relax in the nice neighborhood area.
Nice - Beautiful town, the first time when I was on the train and saw the Mediterranean, it took my breath away. Such beauty, I would love to live there and get to see the sea everyday, the different colors are amazing.
Eze - Very spiritual, laid back town, you hike to the top of a beautiful hill where on the path there are little shops that sell all sorts of specialty items, such as perfumes, they are big on growing lavendar in this area. Of course I was forced to purchase a nice little thing with a roller ball dispenser perfume for myself. On the path at the very top there are women statues that have placques that have beautiful sayings, one that I really liked I took a pic of and will put it on here later as I can´t remember it right now. It is funny because there is so much money in this area, after awhile you think ok, more huge yachts in a beautiful port. It is weird that you just accept it after awhile.
Genoa, Italy - I love this area, the windy narrow streets, the parking lots full of motorcycles, the passion of the people. Genoa is a beautiful port town, more huge yachts, a lovely downtown area next to the water to walk next to. I got really tan on my face in like half an hour here with this intense sun. Hot Italian guys all over, but they aren´t aggresive like the French men. From what I saw they are very respectful of women, especially really old ones. On the bus everyone gets up and gives their seats to the old women. It brought tears to my eyes when I saw this again and again. Old couples holding hands and flirting with each other. The street my hostel was on was extremely windy and narrow, only really room for one bus at a time and several times the buses scraped into each other, it is just a way of life for them. I was amazed at these old people carrying packages up and down these steep sets of stairs. Ok one emotional story, I was at the market down by the water front and I saw this father with his son that was severly paralyzed and they were sitting down to eat at one of the outside restaurants and he was looking so lovingly at his son and he smoothed his son´s hair back away from his face and straightened his shirt, the whole time they were both smiling at each other like they were having the best time ever. I felt honored to be witnessing this, and my eyes welled up with tears, the father looked up at me, and I gave him a huge smile, he smiled back at me and we connected in such a nice way over his son and my feeling of admiration for his devotion. I felt such strong emotion over connecting with this wonderful man even though no words were exchanged, I walked away and had a hard time recovering emotionally. It is amazing to me to see this kind of love and I felt in awe. Parents are amazing in the selfless acts they perform for their children and I am grateful to have had great parents. Any way now that I have got myself emotional again just describing it I will switch to Barcelona.
Barcelona - I don´t really like my hostel, all of my hostels have been great but this one is just good because of the location. I was exhausted yesterday after walking around for a couple hours so I decided to head back and take a nap. Ok something that I omitted to say was I was asked on a lunch date by this cute Spanish guy when I was walking around, but I said no as I would rather walk around by myself. His name was Jaimie, pronounced Hyme, I was cranky and didn´t want to be around anyone, so he gave me his phone number in case I wanted to go out that night. I wanted to go take a nap instead of go on a date, that is pretty lame isn´t it? No wonder I have been single.. So when I got back to the hostel, sadly one of the hostel guests decided they needed to sing and play drums for two hours, so no nap for me. I was trying to tune them out and read when one of my roommates came back. I was cranky and didn´t want to be around anyone but she opened her locker and all her stuff that she had shoved in tumbled out so of course I had to laugh, and so we started talking. She is from Australia and her and her boyfriend are taking a year to travel around the world! They are in month 9 of the year. Of course I ditched poor Hyme and went out to dinner and drinks last night with my roommate, it was nice to have someone that spoke English to hang out with. We didn´t drink much and ate as well, but that Sangria can be dangerous. I have conquered the subway here, today I went to the train station to buy a ticket, a used book store, and went to see where my class will be held in May. I was happy to see it is in a nice location.
I am taking the train tomorrow to Lisbon, Portugal. Tonight my new Australian friend and I are going to have tapas and drinks!! OK so I think I am mostly up to date, Oh my god, after typing all of this the power just went off and I thought I had lost it all. My heart is still racing... Ok I better go. More pics to be added soon!
