First Free Travel #1.

It's been a while. It's been a long, long while.
It all began Friday, February the 29th.
Everyone took off for free travel after lunch and Leigh, Tyler and I were left in the villa alone with just Mona Lee and Dr. Garner and Riccardo. Libby's mom was still here, so we were going to take a train back to Rome with her the next afternoon and catch a flight to Barcelona.
So, the villa was ours for the taking for the next 18 – 20 hours or so. Leigh and I were dying to make chocolate chip cookies or brownies or some American dessert. So Riccardo asked the ladies after lunch if we could use the kitchen that night and they just seemed more than happy to let us do so. The three of us went to the Coop and bought ingredients (according to Riccardo's mom) and headed back to the villa. We ended up eating dinner at Gallo's with the Garner's and Nick who was not leaving til 11:30 pm. When we got back to the villa we took over the kitchen and the baking began!
We had lots of fun trying to figure out how to light a humongous gas stove...how to keep the brownies from burning...finding pans...etc. They did turn out quite awesome.
Saturday Leigh, Libby and I took a train (with Libby's mom) into Rome where we parted ways and the 3 of us headed out to the smaller Rome airport to catch our flight to Barcelona.

We were only a little skeptical of RyanAir not losing our bags – so, when we landed in Barcelona and saw our bags come off the plane we did a little dance. So far so good. We made it to town and after being defeated by the automated ticket machines for the metro we decided a taxi might be best. Always a great idea.
That taxi took us straight to our fantastic hostel (Mambo Tango Youth Hostel...I would recommend it!) We got set up in the room and cleaned up a bit and got out to eat dinner. In Barcelona, people do not start eating until about 10 pm at night a lot of times! It was crazy. We ate and then took a walk around the 5 or 6 blocks closest to our hostel and even on down to the pier. Seemed pretty lively, almost a little too lively at times.
Sunday morning we woke up and went down to the pier again and sat outside the aquarium waiting for Kati, Coulter, Sara and Nick whom we had made plans with before the villa. We all went into the aquarium together – supposedly the largest in Europe – and learned not to believe (once again) everything you read on the internet. Shortly thereafter we roamed around some more (story of our lives) and then ate lunch.

Nick got this grand idea to order something as an appetizer that he had NO clue what it was. Actually, I think he thought it was calimari – which would've been fine. It would've been fried. But...no. He actually ordered small octopi. Small marinated practically alive octopi. It was really gross looking. We finished the oh-so-appealing lunch and walked to La Sagrada Familia.



La Sagrada Familia was designed by Antonio Gaudi and construction began in 1882. To this day, it is stilll being built. Projected date of completion is 2025 or 2030!! But, the church is very famous and very beautiful in an almost dark way. It looks like a drip sand castle or like it's made of melting wax! It was very neat. Gaudi's creations gave us our word and definition of “gaudy”. Following the church we made our way up to the top of the city to Park Guell – also a place that he designed.

In the park you can find a fantastic panoramic view of the city from above :] This is where the longest park bench in the world is located! Gaudi designed a whole pavilion area and the caretaker's house and animals and staircases --- and had them made all out of mosaics of broken ceramics. Therefore, the whole area is very colorful and picturesque.

The group around the mosaic lizard.


I forgot to throw this in – that morning, we woke up super early and found the train station in hopes that we could buy tickets for Sunday night for an overnight train to Paris. We were very blessed and got tickets. Now, back to the story.

We found the Starbucks in Barcelona and felt like we were walking into America. We parted ways with the other group when we left there and we headed out to our train. We slept very little, but made it to Paris the next morning. We got off of our train thinking that the hotel was not going to be that far away – so we would just walk. And, honestly, it wasn't that far away.
But, we got outside and it was raining and we took a route that went WAY out of the way to get there. Needless to say, an hour and a half after our train pulled into the station we were walking up to to our hotel doors. Nour met us soon thereafter and the 4 of us set out for the Louvre.

We broke up into pairs and decided to meet back in the afternoon so we could visit Notre Dame together. Nour and I spent a couple of hours in the Louvre. I think we could've spent 2 or 3 days there actually! But, it was set up so well and very worth it to visit. I saw all of the things that I wanted to see. Plus, in the great hall of paintings outside the room that the Mona Lisa is in I got to see tons of Italian painters – ones I have been studying while here in Florence. I really felt as though I appreciated the art work because I knew the artists and I knew the time periods – and I for one of the first times in my life enjoyed looking at all the gothic and Renaissance art. After the Louvre, Nour and I found a place to eat and we ended up getting Nutella Crepes at the end :] What a great creation!!!!

Nour and I at the Louvre.


We met up with L & L at Notre Dame – we went in at a great time because the sun was hitting the stained glass on one side of the building just right – it was very brilliant.



Such a neat church – I almost thought that the back of the church was more beautiful than the front. We spent a while in the gardens and then found Saint-Chappelle on the map and headed there.

Saint-Chappelle is a gemstone (literally almost) that is sort of 'off the beaten path' in Paris. It's almost completely hidden by the palace of Justice. However, you pay a small fee to enter and you go up some stairs and once you get to the top you are in a room with 3 walls of stained glass – WALLS. It was so overwhelming and so beautiful!! The sun was sinking even lower then so it made the colors very vibrant. I would recommend going there for anyone who heads to Paris. I will definitely go back if I return to Paris.

Part of one of the walls in Saint-Chappelle.


This play-by-play is getting a little exhausting...but I know I'll want to have it when I'm years past some day...so, ONWARD.

We ended up heading back to the hotel and cleaning up and eating a nice dinner in the Bastille area. We were going to go up the Eiffel Tower, all 4 of us together, but L & L decided they didn't want to do it in the mist. Nevertheless, Nour was only going to be there for that one night so she and I headed out there. We got to the top. Were told that the elevator was closed for us to come down and it really wasn't and then we made it back to the hotel a little after midnight.

More later.
Ciao!