Double Time

Wow, it's been ten days since my last post, and I feel like it was just yesterday. When I last left you guys I had just gotten into Paris. I ended up extending my stay in Paris from a planned 4 nights to a full 8 nights, and I am extremely pleased that I did. From there I took an excruciatingly slow train to Barcelona where I spent 2 nights, and last night I arrived by air in Edinburgh where I am today (and the internet is 2£/hr so I'm going to type as fast as possible, excuse the poor editing!).

My story about Paris actually begins last summer in Seattle. One night of good fortune, I made my way down to King's Hardware with a great friend of mine, Chris Cushingham, and Chris' friend Anne had met us there as well. At the time, Anne was hosting a cute couple from Paris by the names of Julien and Chloe who were CouchSurfing (.com) their way across Canada and the states. We had a good night of drinking and conversation, and they said if I were ever in Paris to look them up, which I did a while before I arrived. Julien graciously made his couch available to me and I arrived late on a Thursday night after traveling by train from Brussels. As it was a bit late and there was not much going on we ended up spending the night just enjoying some beers, listening to each others music collections, and some online Mario Kart on his Wii. I'm a simple man with simple pleasures, and this way of kicking back I greatly enjoyed; which is great because this soon became our nightly ritual for the rest of my stay. The next day, after Julien had to wake up and be out of the house at a punishing 8:30, I took a nice long sleep in and set about walking the city by foot. I headed up Avenue Kleber to the Arc de Triumph and continued down the Champs-Elysee. Though its a beautiful street, it also has some incredibly expensive restaurants. (Actually, there are about a hundred different districts all smashed together that all have incredibly expensive restaurants. For the entire rest of my visit, I heard several different variations in different places of Julien saying (in his hilariously animated and french way) "this place is so expensive, it is 'orrible, look at that junk, its trash, 700€ shoes? Nooo WAAaaayy! It's so poshy a district, 'orrible.") So I took a side street and tried my best to find some local food of the main way. I happened across a small deli and somehow managed to order some ratatouille (i think I just murdered that spelling, sorry) with ground beef in a to-go box. I sat down in a small park and enjoyed myself immensely. From there I continued down and saw the Grand Palace and the Pettite Palace, the Lourve (from the outside) and the Pyrimide Inversee, and continued down to the Sant Michelle fountain and the Notre Dame.

After the day of light hiking when the sun had gone down, I met up with Julien and his better half Chloe at Odeon (Platz?) where we walked down to the Seine and we sat across from the east side of the beautifully lit Notre Dam and enjoyed a few beers and chatted as more 'orrible and expensive touristy dinner boats cruised by. From there we moved on to Chez Karl for some incredible french food to the lovely melodies of the Beastie Boys. I had an amazing cheese appetizer called Camembert and then I had the beef tartare for my entree. Julien and I returned to his flat and got in a couple more beers and races before crashing again.

The next days involved a bit of the city life around Montmarte, a walking tour of the city, the Orsay, a cute wine bar with a romantic atmosphere and an owner wearing a t-shirt and flip flops, Baguettes and cheese and meats and wine and beers and bourbon and champagne and France v. Austria on the tube, a three and a half hour stab at the inside of the Lourve, Chloe's amazing house and family, sushi, the parisien Pantheon and surrounding environs, and of course the Eiffel tower by night with views of the entire city. By this time, I had already decided to stay a few more nights and cut Nice out of my travel plans. Also, Chloe's friend Sophie from Montreal came into town so I had a sight seeing buddy while Julien and Chloe were at work. We went to the Orangerie museum and saw Monet's water lillies and the Rodin musuem (which was my favorite museum), the basilica on Montmarte and the Montmarte museum, and then finally on my last night, we all got together and went the the France v. Serbia soccer match in the world cup qualifying rounds (Henry and Anelka both put in goals for the 2-1 win).

I had an incredible time in Paris, Sophie was a perfect sightseeing mate and we had great conversation. Chloe is truly a sweetheart, kind and gracious and charming. Julien was an awesome host and friend and is a one of the most animated and hilarious people I know. (love you guys and miss you already, well have to get together again soon!) So I was a bit sad to go, but alast the road awaited me. I hopped a train to barcelona that was supposed to be 8 hours, but turned out to be more like 11. We were stopped for a while near half way because someone had committed suicide on the tracks which was incredibly sobering. Then we we late to the bordercrossing station where we had to wait for a new engine to push us (something about the rails being different in Spain). Eventually I made it to Barcelona though safe and sound.

The first night in I just found a couple beers around the corner from my hostel, and got a good nights rest for my next day of touring. In Barcelona, most of the major sights are buildings by the Barcelonian (?) architect Gaudi. So I started along my way in the morning going from building to building of his... but I hated them. Pretty much all of them. I don't really get it at all, the concepts are very fluid and round and unconventional, but it all came off to me as extremely gaudy (go figure), colorful ceramic tiles were unceremoniously plastered in strange mosaics that had no logic or asthetic. The main cathedral of his is still under construction and will be until 2026, but the 8 euro tour allowed passage to the inner construction site. Awful. Some strange alien looking pillars and strange blobby spires with tacky words protruding from the sides (sancti sancti sancti sancti, Jesus Mary Joseph). Anyhoo, I then made my way to what I thought was the site of my brothers infamous mountain pilgramage (a much longer story that you'll have to ask about if you don't know) on Montjuic. I took the cables to the top and was unimpressed. I made it to a computer and found that he had sent me the name which was actually Montserrat. Dang. After that I found some Paella (Mom, yours is better) and showered up before meeting some young Belgians who invited me to tag along with them and go out.

The next morning, I got up and ready to go to the airport so that I would be there two and a half hours before my flight, but I ended up taking the wrong train which was an express to a beach city an hour to the south. It was pretty horrible, every minute I went south, i knew it was also another minute I had to travel back, so time was moving doubly fast to my deadline. I ended up on a non-express back to the city and missed my flight. Boo. So I basically spent the whole day in the airport before it all got straightened out and I flew to Edinburgh which was last night. When I got in, I helped a nice girl from Minnesota with her massive bags who was in the same dorm room, and after we wandered the streets of Edinbugh and found some cool bars. We finished the night in a the Jazz Club and heard some decent live music to some good local brews. This morning I took the free city tour that is offered through the hostel which is the fourth that I've done so far (Munich, Berlin, Paris, and this one) and they've all been really good. So now I just got back from the tour and finding a sim card for my phone, and I am going to try and get in contact of a friend of a friend for a night of scotch tasting!
Whew!

So from here, tomorrow morning I catch a bus through the countryside to London where I have three nights, then catch a flight to DC where I have three nights, and then back to Seattle! I think the timing of this trip has worked out well, I'm just about ready to head back, so english speaking UK and DC will be a good transition. Alright yall, I've spent a good amount of time here, and the city awaits, so Cheers! Much love,
-Jon