Our last bit of our trip was in Barcelona. We spent 3 days there and by this time in the trip we were getting tired of big cities in general. Looking back we could have done a lot more in Barcelona while we were there but we enjoyed relaxing and pampering our selves by the beach for the most part. We found out that we appreciate the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean more than we appreciate the Mediterranean's tiny waves. After we left San Sebastian we took a train over to Barcelona and wandered around the first day. Amanda's waterproof camera was having some water problems so it decided not to work for 2 days and then on our flight home it started to work again. Oh well we have the mental pictures right!?! We couldn't resist having Tapas which is Spanish appetizers (this is where Kyle tried Calamari for the first time, and liked it!). They had a main blvd that had tons of street performers so we walked up and down and watched the performers. They had the artists that would draw cartoon figures of their customers so that was entertaining to watch. We actually got ours done together on our last day and I guess we should have known he wasnt going to be so good when his sign said "Drawing in 5 mins." Kyles sorta looked like him but Amanda's looked nothing like her. Oh Well.
The first two days we walked around the city and did a lot of site seeing and spent the peek hours of the day at the beach. The beach here didnt have the waves like San Sabastian did and the water was polluted a lot worse than the clean water in San Sab. Throughout the trip we have found that at the worst times Amanda decides to be friendly with people. She would be too polite to walk away from someone if they wouldnt stop talking, where Kyle politely step away. this happened again in Barcelona with a guy that was staying at our hostel. He wanted to go to the "American soda" pub so we told him we would go with. After we showed up we found out it was just the name of the bar they actually dont have american soda but our new friend still ordered what turned out to be a 5 euro glass of small pepsi (7 us dollars) and preceded to tell us the longest story known to mankind about how he ended up in Europe. By the ended of it we had about an hour remaining in Barcelona before we had to start our travels to Frankfurt Germany so after spending in the pub we told him we would meet him back at the hostel and left to finish our gift shopping.
Our last night we walked to the beach which was about a 20 minute walk away and sat to watch the ocean for a bit and we did a lot of reminsing. Our trip was out of this world, one of those things that is hard to explain to someone who wasnt there. We fully recommend everyone reading this takes the time to go to Europe and see the other side of the world, you will come back with at least one new perspective.
We flew out of Barcelona on the third night late and flew to Frankfurt Hahn (located an hour and a half out of frankfurt germany), once we arrived to frankfurt hahn at midnight we took a bus to Frankfurt international that got us there at around 2am. We decided that there was no point in wasting 20 euro a piece to get a hostel for 7 hours so we slept on the airport floor. It really wasnt that bad, probably because we were so tired by that point. Our first flight was I think 10 hours long from Frankfurt to Chicago. Amanda was really excited to watch a movie in English without the dubed voices.....but she ended up sleeping through both. On our second flight from Chicago to Phoenix we got to see tons of Lightning storms on our way so that we interesting to see from above the storm.
We compiled this top ten list of things we accomplished in Europe:
10- Visited a Concentration Camp
9- Rode bikes around all of Europe (including the Aran Islands in Ireland)
8- Walked up the Eiffel tower
7- Walked to the very end of the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland
6- Saw the Queen of England on her B-day (and gave her a high five oh course)
5- Went to Nude Beach (or "natural beach) in Italy
4- Saw the Pope give mass
3- Canyoning
2- Hiked the Alps
1- Participated (some more than others....kyle!) in Running of the Bulls
Its been a few days since we have got back from Europe and we are still in shock that it is over. The culture shock was evident from the first few minutes we were in Chicago. In Europe tax is included in the price so when it says 3.30 thats what you pay, no added on tax at the register. So we go to Starbucks in the Chicago airport and Amanda orders a large which was an American LARGE and later Kyle decides to get his own. He goes up and orders a Frap for 4.7 and the guy says ok that will be 5.20. Kyle looks at the guy kinda upset and says 'the price says 4.7, can you explain to me why its 5.20?' the guy simply looks at Kyle and says Tax.....ha we both got a chuckle out of that one because neither of us thought of tax. Reality has set in the we are both broke and its time to put the pedal to the metal. Amanda now is looking for a job and Kyle is moving all his stuff back to Globe for an internship in his home town. We still havent adjusted all the way to the time change, it seemed way easier to switch over when we first arrived to Europe. Phoenix didnt seem to care we were back it has been 115 everyday since we have been back. We would love to further share our stories with anyone who is interested and would also love to offer help WHEN you decide to go on your own Eurotrip. We met dozens of new "facebook" and lifelong friends and now have connections all over the world, we couldnt be happier with how our 50 day trip turned out.
We hope this last blog reaches everyone safe and sound. Love you all!
Amanda & Kyle
Here are our pictures of Spain: (sorry no pictures of Barcelona)
Spain Pictures
Friday, July 17, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Last of the videos
Random Song kyle made up to kill time
Redos for fathers day
Redo video two
Sing along Switz Hostel
Saturday, July 11, 2009
pamplona, numero dos
this may jump around some, but here is pamplona, una experiencia increible that is almost beyond words. madrid era perfecto, y nos quedabamos (we stayed) en la casa de Breanne who would later accompany us to pamplona with 4 of her friends from seattle- brittany, sam, lindsey and aubrey. so, a group 6 girls and kyle...
we missed our train ( which we had reserved) by 5 minutos o menos. tuvimos que pagar por preferente en el proximo pero nos daron una cena (had to pay for 1st class in the next, but gave us dinner) maybe pull up http://www.freetranslation.com/ while your reading since some of this is coming out in spanish.
we arrive in pamplona and meet up with a couple from texas who tagged along with us to find our way to the city center. there were tons of people and fireworks going off when we got there. and by tons of people, i mean tons of people, all in white and red. we went to the bus station to try and find a baggage drop, and instead found another group that joined us. es bueno que kyle can speak spanish because everything was made so much easier without as much of a language barrier. we all made our way to the antigua part of town where there was a place we could check our bags. on the way kyle felt somebody tug at his board shorts pocket, but it was too hard to open, and the texan felt the same thing, but we all had our stuff in good pockets and taken care of so nobody got anything stolen. we found the bag drop, then after a while found the girls (we had planned to meet at the cathedral) and then we were ready to stay up all night.
here is the scene. imagine the biggest street party youve ever been to, or imagine las vegas. now, times that by 10-20. maybe mardi gras in new orleans may compare, but only in some ways. there were people sleeping everywhere they could, and there were people drinking wherever they could, in the stairwells of the bus station, mixing their wine and coke and hard alcohol, everyone of all ages it seems just wandering the streets. all in white with red sashes and bandanas and usually with wine stains everywhere. with all of these people, there come a lot of trash. trash everywhere. a bottle being broken was probably heard every 5 minutes, and there was no where to look that didnt have trash, but the party still went on. there were bands playing in the streets everywhere with crowds gathered around them, a punk band playing some michael jackson and we're standing on a bench dancing, and our group has barely started drinking, just trying to catch up with the rest of everyone around us. kyle stayed out of that this night, he was weighing running in the morning and decided taking care of the girls would also be easier sober... the american girls, especially blondes, are like a magnet in latin countries, so luckily only half of our group was blonde... ha. a good part of the night was spent with kyle using every piece of foul language he knew in spanish, with breanne doing her part, and amanda chiming in with her ¨NO¨ every now and then. it never felt unsafe, it just got annoying.
so passed away the night, and it started getting light, so everyone was round up and headed to the bull run. the girls all got situated near the end of the run near the stadium, and kyle headed off to find the start of the run.
here´s what kyle experienced. he found the start, maybe 100 meters or so from where the bulls were, i couldnt see them, so im just guessing. i found a group of americans studying for a semester somewhere, and hung with them. one of them had run it before and described what was going on, more or less. i would say a little more on the less side. 5 minutes before the rocket goes off that signals the bulls start, everyone does the prayer of san fermin. 3 minutes, everyone does it again. 1 minute, it all happens again. theres a drunk guy with his shirt off that the police make leave. after the first prayer, people start running up the street. the guy who has done it before doesnt know why. the second prayer, more people start running. third prayer, more people start running. my heart is beating faster just as im writing this and remembering what it was like. theres a small girl, same age as me and we are both standing together as the group of americans has somewhat split up during the prayers. we are a little bit farther up the street than when the first prayer started, and jumping up and down trying to keep our legs fresh. the street is wide enough to fit a semi truck and a few feet on each side, and is going uphill on stone that was washed and cleaned from the night before, so its a little bit slippery. people are lined up everywhere on the sides of the streets on on the balconys that poke out from the buildings towering on both sides, so the street is like a canyon of people, all flowing uphill. i thought the anticipation would be the worst part, and voiced that aloud earlier to the americans. i was wrong. moments before the rocket went off im thinking of what i would do if the girl was still around me, throw her out of the way of the bulls or whatever, but the rocket goes off, and people run... some fast, some slow, some still hopping up and down trying to see. it was like i was jogging, hopping up and down looking back, trying to see where the bulls were, but nothing. then people are running. i still havent seen the bulls, but i start running, glancing back and forward to see where im going and to see where they are coming from. at this point in the run, there is no where to go, its walls on both sides. im running on the left and pushing my way towards the wall as the street slowly curves around to the left. the sea of people has been split down the middle, and it wasnt a wide sea to begin with. all of the sudden the bulls, all 6 of them, each weighing in over 1000 pounds, pass me as im running and shoving my way to the wall, along with everyone else around me... except the person i saw, less than 10 feet away, still in the middle of the street, get run over and slammed to the ground. this all happened in an instant, and i dont know where he went after that. others may have been hit too. after this i jog along with everone else to deadmans corner, where the fence has been closed. we all stand there in a huge huddle, and then, everyone starts pushing to the side desperately.... hadnt all the bulls already passed? yes, they had, but it was now time for the tame speers to run through, but it still scared the shit out of me and everyone else. they open the gate, and i get closed in behind it again. finally they let us through, and i run the rest of the way. i see one of the girls, and a couple of the guys from the group before we ran. i know they made it. im not sure what my heart is doing, its almost like im in shock a little bit. i find amanda and the girls right where i left them.
here is part two, the part i didnt experience. but i saw the blood on the ground. again, less than ten feet from where the girls were, a guy was gored. not just any gore. there are two fences of wood, about 8 feet high, with 6 foot of space in between to seperate the bulls and crowd. one of the bulls, the colorado (red one) was the most damaging of the day, he may have been the one who took out the guy i saw, and he was confused and charging people at the end. but back to what amanda and the rest of the girls saw. amanda saw the bull hit the fence, but she didnt know that when the bull hit the fence, there were two people between his head and the fence. the 27 year old spanish man, visting with his mom and dad and girlfriend, was gored in the side of the neck, severing the aortic vein. he was dead within minutes, and amanda and the girls saw it all, but we didnt know he was dead till later that night. its apparently the first death in a lot of years. doesnt matter though. they saw it, i saw the blood on the ground.
how to describe these feelings. i have no desire to ever do anything like that again. im used to being in control, even in dangerous situations. this, there was no control. i picked the part of the run where the bulls run the fastest because its a straight away, but i didnt know that. put me on a track, and maybe id have a chance, but in a street blocked off from the rest of the world, im just a fly on a window. theres no glory in stupidity. ill say ive run with the bulls, but i wont brag about it. its an experience though, and ill take all that i can from it.
this is to our parents, family, friends. we are completely safe and well, and we love you
God Bless.
Amanda and Kyle
we missed our train ( which we had reserved) by 5 minutos o menos. tuvimos que pagar por preferente en el proximo pero nos daron una cena (had to pay for 1st class in the next, but gave us dinner) maybe pull up http://www.freetranslation.com/ while your reading since some of this is coming out in spanish.
we arrive in pamplona and meet up with a couple from texas who tagged along with us to find our way to the city center. there were tons of people and fireworks going off when we got there. and by tons of people, i mean tons of people, all in white and red. we went to the bus station to try and find a baggage drop, and instead found another group that joined us. es bueno que kyle can speak spanish because everything was made so much easier without as much of a language barrier. we all made our way to the antigua part of town where there was a place we could check our bags. on the way kyle felt somebody tug at his board shorts pocket, but it was too hard to open, and the texan felt the same thing, but we all had our stuff in good pockets and taken care of so nobody got anything stolen. we found the bag drop, then after a while found the girls (we had planned to meet at the cathedral) and then we were ready to stay up all night.
here is the scene. imagine the biggest street party youve ever been to, or imagine las vegas. now, times that by 10-20. maybe mardi gras in new orleans may compare, but only in some ways. there were people sleeping everywhere they could, and there were people drinking wherever they could, in the stairwells of the bus station, mixing their wine and coke and hard alcohol, everyone of all ages it seems just wandering the streets. all in white with red sashes and bandanas and usually with wine stains everywhere. with all of these people, there come a lot of trash. trash everywhere. a bottle being broken was probably heard every 5 minutes, and there was no where to look that didnt have trash, but the party still went on. there were bands playing in the streets everywhere with crowds gathered around them, a punk band playing some michael jackson and we're standing on a bench dancing, and our group has barely started drinking, just trying to catch up with the rest of everyone around us. kyle stayed out of that this night, he was weighing running in the morning and decided taking care of the girls would also be easier sober... the american girls, especially blondes, are like a magnet in latin countries, so luckily only half of our group was blonde... ha. a good part of the night was spent with kyle using every piece of foul language he knew in spanish, with breanne doing her part, and amanda chiming in with her ¨NO¨ every now and then. it never felt unsafe, it just got annoying.
so passed away the night, and it started getting light, so everyone was round up and headed to the bull run. the girls all got situated near the end of the run near the stadium, and kyle headed off to find the start of the run.
here´s what kyle experienced. he found the start, maybe 100 meters or so from where the bulls were, i couldnt see them, so im just guessing. i found a group of americans studying for a semester somewhere, and hung with them. one of them had run it before and described what was going on, more or less. i would say a little more on the less side. 5 minutes before the rocket goes off that signals the bulls start, everyone does the prayer of san fermin. 3 minutes, everyone does it again. 1 minute, it all happens again. theres a drunk guy with his shirt off that the police make leave. after the first prayer, people start running up the street. the guy who has done it before doesnt know why. the second prayer, more people start running. third prayer, more people start running. my heart is beating faster just as im writing this and remembering what it was like. theres a small girl, same age as me and we are both standing together as the group of americans has somewhat split up during the prayers. we are a little bit farther up the street than when the first prayer started, and jumping up and down trying to keep our legs fresh. the street is wide enough to fit a semi truck and a few feet on each side, and is going uphill on stone that was washed and cleaned from the night before, so its a little bit slippery. people are lined up everywhere on the sides of the streets on on the balconys that poke out from the buildings towering on both sides, so the street is like a canyon of people, all flowing uphill. i thought the anticipation would be the worst part, and voiced that aloud earlier to the americans. i was wrong. moments before the rocket went off im thinking of what i would do if the girl was still around me, throw her out of the way of the bulls or whatever, but the rocket goes off, and people run... some fast, some slow, some still hopping up and down trying to see. it was like i was jogging, hopping up and down looking back, trying to see where the bulls were, but nothing. then people are running. i still havent seen the bulls, but i start running, glancing back and forward to see where im going and to see where they are coming from. at this point in the run, there is no where to go, its walls on both sides. im running on the left and pushing my way towards the wall as the street slowly curves around to the left. the sea of people has been split down the middle, and it wasnt a wide sea to begin with. all of the sudden the bulls, all 6 of them, each weighing in over 1000 pounds, pass me as im running and shoving my way to the wall, along with everyone else around me... except the person i saw, less than 10 feet away, still in the middle of the street, get run over and slammed to the ground. this all happened in an instant, and i dont know where he went after that. others may have been hit too. after this i jog along with everone else to deadmans corner, where the fence has been closed. we all stand there in a huge huddle, and then, everyone starts pushing to the side desperately.... hadnt all the bulls already passed? yes, they had, but it was now time for the tame speers to run through, but it still scared the shit out of me and everyone else. they open the gate, and i get closed in behind it again. finally they let us through, and i run the rest of the way. i see one of the girls, and a couple of the guys from the group before we ran. i know they made it. im not sure what my heart is doing, its almost like im in shock a little bit. i find amanda and the girls right where i left them.
here is part two, the part i didnt experience. but i saw the blood on the ground. again, less than ten feet from where the girls were, a guy was gored. not just any gore. there are two fences of wood, about 8 feet high, with 6 foot of space in between to seperate the bulls and crowd. one of the bulls, the colorado (red one) was the most damaging of the day, he may have been the one who took out the guy i saw, and he was confused and charging people at the end. but back to what amanda and the rest of the girls saw. amanda saw the bull hit the fence, but she didnt know that when the bull hit the fence, there were two people between his head and the fence. the 27 year old spanish man, visting with his mom and dad and girlfriend, was gored in the side of the neck, severing the aortic vein. he was dead within minutes, and amanda and the girls saw it all, but we didnt know he was dead till later that night. its apparently the first death in a lot of years. doesnt matter though. they saw it, i saw the blood on the ground.
how to describe these feelings. i have no desire to ever do anything like that again. im used to being in control, even in dangerous situations. this, there was no control. i picked the part of the run where the bulls run the fastest because its a straight away, but i didnt know that. put me on a track, and maybe id have a chance, but in a street blocked off from the rest of the world, im just a fly on a window. theres no glory in stupidity. ill say ive run with the bulls, but i wont brag about it. its an experience though, and ill take all that i can from it.
this is to our parents, family, friends. we are completely safe and well, and we love you
God Bless.
Amanda and Kyle
Friday, July 10, 2009
He Survived Running of the Bulls!
We are keeping this brief because we are exhausted from staying up at the Running of the Bulls Fiesta all night last night.
Kyle ran in running of the bulls....and survived...no injury. Amanda watched on the side with her 5 new friends from Seattle (one Kyle knew ahead of time) and saw the bulls run right in front of her. The only downer of the experience was that where the girls and Amanda were sitting was where the 27 year old got killed by the bull so it was up close and personal.
We will write a blog later, we havent slept in way too long so goodnight. we love you all!
CNN story of guys gore
Kyle ran in running of the bulls....and survived...no injury. Amanda watched on the side with her 5 new friends from Seattle (one Kyle knew ahead of time) and saw the bulls run right in front of her. The only downer of the experience was that where the girls and Amanda were sitting was where the 27 year old got killed by the bull so it was up close and personal.
We will write a blog later, we havent slept in way too long so goodnight. we love you all!
CNN story of guys gore
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Italy
Its been a few days since we wrote so we are gonna take a few to catch the rest of the world up to date.
After we left Swiss land we headed on an overnight to Rome. It started out really well. We went and sat outside the train station to watch the sunset and we started to talk with another couple that was traveling around. When time got closer we found out that they were in our cabin, so that was kinda cool and random. we were on the top bunks on a 6 bed couchette (sleeper car) and by about 1am we both woke up drenched in sweat and had to get off our bunk...it was extremely hot up there so we didnt end up getting too much sleep on our second overnight trip. Once we arrived in Rome we checked into our hostel and went to tour the Vatican- I was about 3 blocks away from our hostel. We ended up spending all day at there, its huge and has lots of things to soak in. When we first arrived the pope was having a special mass out in the courtyard so we actually got to see the pope in person. We shook his hand.....ok just kidding, but it was still amazing. Once they cleared out the pope and all the other people we toured St. Peter's Basilica we walked around there for probably an hour or more just looking at the amazing art and also where the deceased popes final resting place is. Probably one of our most treasured experiences at the Basilica was attending a mass inside the Basilica...how many people do you know that have gone to mass at st peter's basilica and received communion?!?! we were on cloud 9 after that. Directly after we got out of mass we went to see the Sistine Chapel and Amanda took a lot/way too many picture. In the room with the Creation of Adam (the picture of god and Adam touching fingers) we managed to sneak a prohibited picture it so we thought we were verrrrrry sneaky.
throughout our trip we have been running into people that we hung out with in other cities or roomed with at a hostel somewhere along the line. We had made friends with 6 male med students from Oklahoma in Swizterland and randomly ran into them again at the sistine chapel.
The next day we walked around the Colosseum in Rome and then walked across the street to the giant park (the name slipped my mind at the moment). We didnt get to spend as much time as we wanted in Rome because of scheduling stuff but the time we spent we did a lot of stuff and got to see some beautiful art.
After Rome we headed to Cinque Terre which is 5 cities on the italy coast that are within walking distance of each other...or should I say hiking distances. The first night we decided to just wing it and showed up without reservation, the first town we went to was so small they has no hostels or cheap places to stay so we went to another town called Manarossa. Its the biggest of the 5 towns. Again we got here and couldnt find anywhere to stay that was cheap and saw a group of women with big backpacks walking up a hill. So of course we walked up and asked if they knew of any cheap places. Long story short by the time we got to a motel with them it was too late to book and this local lady offered all 7 of us a place in her empty apartment. so we spent the night with our new 5 friends from Virginia. The second day we spent on the beach and ended up talking with some nice aussies and found out that there are jellyfish in the water. One of the guy aussies actually got stung and had a jelly fish welt to prove it. No thank you. We found out that America does Supersize things and that portions are much smaller in Europe. we ordered a pasta meal and after we finished probably each could have had 3 more helpings.
Today we spent hiking between towns. We caught wind of a nude beach so of course when in Italy do what the Italians do...right?!?!? So we hiked to this ' natural beach' and spent all day running and swimming naked. Here too there were a lot of jellyfish and they seemed to come in packs. We were lucky because when we first arrived we got in the water and swam out a bit just to get out and didnt see or get stung. When we got back we noticed they were all over and people were literally scooping them out and throwing them on the beach. Dad (Dan) you would have been proud of me because (a) I ventured to a nude beach (b) I body surfed all day (c) I didnt get stung or injured while I was there :). It was funny we thought at one point so if we do get stung by a jellyfish on our butt what exactly will we tell people later on.....ha The hike out was tiring but it ended up being perfect. On the way up it got so steep in places that there was a rope attached to a tree so that you could pull yourself while trying to walk straight uphill. We arrived in another one of the towns (Vernazza) and ate our 'dinner'. Our dinner consisted of water....lots of water, gelato (grande size of course)- we decided this gelato was the best we had ever had probably because we were so tired and hot, then pesto pasta, followed by another large gelato cone. On the walk back Kyle got a really bad stomach ache (we arent sure why ;) so we kinda called it a night there.
While at Cinque Terre we spent most of our hours on the beach, Im not impressed with the Mediterranean sea, it doesnt compare to Oregon or Hawaii waves. There was actually a few nights that we thought we were going to have to sleep on the beach because we couldnt find anywhere to stay but luckily it all worked out in the end.
Tomorrow we start our journey to Spain but wont actually get there till the following day. We heard that a trip to Pamplona will be really hard to do because everything is booked but hopefully it will come through.
We have to find a computer to put the Rome pictures and Cinque Terre pictures so come back to this blog later to look for the link.
Spain is our last country so its a weird feeling to almost be done. Neither of us wants to come back to the real world but we know its inevitable..
Happy Fourth of July to all who read and we love you
ITALY PICTURES
After we left Swiss land we headed on an overnight to Rome. It started out really well. We went and sat outside the train station to watch the sunset and we started to talk with another couple that was traveling around. When time got closer we found out that they were in our cabin, so that was kinda cool and random. we were on the top bunks on a 6 bed couchette (sleeper car) and by about 1am we both woke up drenched in sweat and had to get off our bunk...it was extremely hot up there so we didnt end up getting too much sleep on our second overnight trip. Once we arrived in Rome we checked into our hostel and went to tour the Vatican- I was about 3 blocks away from our hostel. We ended up spending all day at there, its huge and has lots of things to soak in. When we first arrived the pope was having a special mass out in the courtyard so we actually got to see the pope in person. We shook his hand.....ok just kidding, but it was still amazing. Once they cleared out the pope and all the other people we toured St. Peter's Basilica we walked around there for probably an hour or more just looking at the amazing art and also where the deceased popes final resting place is. Probably one of our most treasured experiences at the Basilica was attending a mass inside the Basilica...how many people do you know that have gone to mass at st peter's basilica and received communion?!?! we were on cloud 9 after that. Directly after we got out of mass we went to see the Sistine Chapel and Amanda took a lot/way too many picture. In the room with the Creation of Adam (the picture of god and Adam touching fingers) we managed to sneak a prohibited picture it so we thought we were verrrrrry sneaky.
throughout our trip we have been running into people that we hung out with in other cities or roomed with at a hostel somewhere along the line. We had made friends with 6 male med students from Oklahoma in Swizterland and randomly ran into them again at the sistine chapel.
The next day we walked around the Colosseum in Rome and then walked across the street to the giant park (the name slipped my mind at the moment). We didnt get to spend as much time as we wanted in Rome because of scheduling stuff but the time we spent we did a lot of stuff and got to see some beautiful art.
After Rome we headed to Cinque Terre which is 5 cities on the italy coast that are within walking distance of each other...or should I say hiking distances. The first night we decided to just wing it and showed up without reservation, the first town we went to was so small they has no hostels or cheap places to stay so we went to another town called Manarossa. Its the biggest of the 5 towns. Again we got here and couldnt find anywhere to stay that was cheap and saw a group of women with big backpacks walking up a hill. So of course we walked up and asked if they knew of any cheap places. Long story short by the time we got to a motel with them it was too late to book and this local lady offered all 7 of us a place in her empty apartment. so we spent the night with our new 5 friends from Virginia. The second day we spent on the beach and ended up talking with some nice aussies and found out that there are jellyfish in the water. One of the guy aussies actually got stung and had a jelly fish welt to prove it. No thank you. We found out that America does Supersize things and that portions are much smaller in Europe. we ordered a pasta meal and after we finished probably each could have had 3 more helpings.
Today we spent hiking between towns. We caught wind of a nude beach so of course when in Italy do what the Italians do...right?!?!? So we hiked to this ' natural beach' and spent all day running and swimming naked. Here too there were a lot of jellyfish and they seemed to come in packs. We were lucky because when we first arrived we got in the water and swam out a bit just to get out and didnt see or get stung. When we got back we noticed they were all over and people were literally scooping them out and throwing them on the beach. Dad (Dan) you would have been proud of me because (a) I ventured to a nude beach (b) I body surfed all day (c) I didnt get stung or injured while I was there :). It was funny we thought at one point so if we do get stung by a jellyfish on our butt what exactly will we tell people later on.....ha The hike out was tiring but it ended up being perfect. On the way up it got so steep in places that there was a rope attached to a tree so that you could pull yourself while trying to walk straight uphill. We arrived in another one of the towns (Vernazza) and ate our 'dinner'. Our dinner consisted of water....lots of water, gelato (grande size of course)- we decided this gelato was the best we had ever had probably because we were so tired and hot, then pesto pasta, followed by another large gelato cone. On the walk back Kyle got a really bad stomach ache (we arent sure why ;) so we kinda called it a night there.
While at Cinque Terre we spent most of our hours on the beach, Im not impressed with the Mediterranean sea, it doesnt compare to Oregon or Hawaii waves. There was actually a few nights that we thought we were going to have to sleep on the beach because we couldnt find anywhere to stay but luckily it all worked out in the end.
Tomorrow we start our journey to Spain but wont actually get there till the following day. We heard that a trip to Pamplona will be really hard to do because everything is booked but hopefully it will come through.
We have to find a computer to put the Rome pictures and Cinque Terre pictures so come back to this blog later to look for the link.
Spain is our last country so its a weird feeling to almost be done. Neither of us wants to come back to the real world but we know its inevitable..
Happy Fourth of July to all who read and we love you
ITALY PICTURES
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