London

London
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

My backpacking adventure has come to an end. I arrived in London and I spent the afternoon meeting more Aussie’s. Of course I did an open bus tour on a double-decker bus and saw Big Ben, Westminster Abby, Buckingham Palace and many other places. That afternoon I was taught how cricket was played and saw the greatest upset in cricket history, Bangladesh (the worst team) beat Australia (the best). That night I went to a very proper English party. We showed up comfortably in jeans and t-shirts, everyone else was dressed to the nines, needless to say the Brits were wondering where the Aussies and the American came from. The next day I went to the Imperial War Museum. It is a free museum and I would recommend it highly to anyone traveling to London. It not only has great exhibits on the expected subjects on World War I and II, but you can walk through what the trenches would have been like, or the blitz, just to name a few. But I couldn’t spend the entire afternoon inside because it was 75 degrees and sunny outside, so I went back to the Aussi's where there was a group of people in the backyard watching Australia lose to England in cricket and then a group of us went to Clapham Common to play footie and drink more. I am sure I could have seem more in London, but I am done with traveling now, I am in the mind set that I am going home. I am on my way to Orlando and then I am going back to Minnesota and Wisconsin to see my family. I wish that I could stay a few more months traveling in Europe, but I am looking forward to seeing friends and family in the Midwest, and I miss friends and flying in Florida. I will forever love to travel, and this was just the beginning but there’s no place like home.

Reus to London

Once again I am disappointed in Ryan Air. My flight did not leave from Barcelona like I had expected but from a city called Reus. Reus is nowhere near Barcelona. I took an hour and a half train ride to Reus and then a 17 Euro taxi to the airport only to find out that I couldn’t sleep in the airport because it closed at eleven. Once again, no trains or buses arrived in Reus to make my flight; so I assumed it would be a repeat of Glasgow. My attempt to depart early from Reus was a failure. I tried to take that evening’s flight to London instead of the next day, and although it was wide open and I had a ticket for the next flight it was going to cost me 300 Euro (about $550). So I took another 17 Euro taxi ride to town, stayed in a sketchy hotel for 14 Euro and in the morning took another 17 Euro taxi back to the airport. I guess for those of you that are traveling to Europe and plan to take Ryan Air, don’t fly before eleven in the morning, transportation will be easier.

Barcelona

Barcelona
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

My plans have already changed many times while backpacking around Europe, so a last minute decision not to go to Marseille was not a big deal. I opted against spending a few days in Marseille dew to the stories I had heard about people getting robbed while there or passing through. And so far along my journey I have been fortunate enough to have kept all my belongings, credit cards, and identification. So on a whim, I decided to head directly to Barcelona and spend four days there before heading to Reus and then to London.
Barcelona is very different than any other city. I don’t mean that in a bad way because it is a great party city and Gaudi is found everywhere in churches (Sagrada Familia), houses, parks (Park Guell), apartments and many other places. Needless to say I saw a lot of his artwork. I also went to the Picasso Museum and decided to be a bum one day and go to the beach (I had already lost my Florida tan). But one of the best things about Barcelona was the market. They had everything and anything at the market that dealt with food. Piles of fruits, vegetables, dried fruits and nuts, fresh fish, homemade candy, eggs and so much more. They laid it out so that the entire market looked like one big rainbow of color and it was gorgeous.
I also met a few people while staying in Plaza Real’s hostal: The Kabul. A few girls from Maryland, Sara and Beth, with whom I went and had a four and a half hour dinner one night that consisted of four courses, a huge pitcher of sangria, and Irish coffee, that only cost us at the end of the night 21 Euro. But I also met some more Aussi’s, a few Kiwi’s, some Canadian’s that had been in Verena’s and my canyoning group, and a few English guys. I would highly suggest to those traveling Europe to stop in Barcelona for a few nights if only to experience Guadi and the nightlife.

Interlaken

Interlaken
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

On Tuesday morning, Verena and I left by train for Interlaken. We traveled though Zurich and Bern, finally arriving at Interlaken, a Swiss town deep inside sky reaching mountains. Easily one of the most breath taking views I have ever seen. Verena and I stayed at the very American, very rambunctious hostel known as Balmers. This hostel was one of a kind. Bathroom showers were open to the hall way, some rooms had doors that were only 5 feet in height, and bunk beds were placed right next to one another so that you may be sleeping next to a complete stranger. I was fortunate to have this experience, the first guy was a South Korean that seemed very nice and taught me how to recognize a fake Louis Vetton bag and the next night I had the pleasure of sleeping next to a Yankee that strongly disliked the Minnesota Twins. But regardless of this crazy atmosphere, Verena and I met a number of people. In fact, I even ran into the girls from Oklahoma that I had met in Paris, and yet again another one of the girls had been robbed and they were down to one girl’s credit cards.

The best part about Interlaken was canyoning. What is canyoning? It is the craziest thing I have ever done. What you do is put on a full body wet suit and climb into a canyon full of glacier water. Once you are in you belay down waterfalls, slide down rocks, jump off racks and down waterfalls. It was a blast; I have never had so much fun and been so scared in my life. I have to admit that I am glad that V was with me.

Now Verena and I are in Geneva, visiting V’s friend Carine, who is a sweetheart. Tomorrow we are returning to Germany together to go to Matt’s family fest. Matt’s parents are the nicest people and I am looking forward to spending a little more time with Verena, Matt and his family.

Stuttgard

Stuttgard
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

Stuttgart, Germany. This is a place that took me off guard. It is beautiful here and I am fortunate to have two wonderful friends to stay with: Matt and Verena. In the past few days I have been to a German BBQ that included a wonderful helicopter ride with Matt as the Captain, gone shopping at the grocery and beverage stores, kayaked on the Nectar River and hiked at a beautiful state park called Sieben Eichen (Seven Oaks). The BBQ was for Matt’s company, ECMS, at which Verena and I had a blast attempting to play volleyball with a bad mitten net, while drinking beer and the helicopter ride gave a spectacular view of the area outside Stuttgart. Kayaking was fun; although I think Verena was secretly seeing how much water she could splash on me. It has been great to see Verena and Matt and I will be returning after Switzerland, which Verena and I will be departing for tomorrow.

Paris

Paris
Originally uploaded by sasnook.

Where can I begin with Paris? It is most definitely one of the most beautiful cities I have even seen. And despite what most tourists say about the Parisians being crabby, this city was full of romance.
I spent a week in Paris and it was not nearly long enough. I met a few people, some girls from Oklahoma and a few others from Pensacola, but my friend Nick, who I had met in Edinburgh, decided to join me in Paris and we spent the week sight seeing in Paris together. We were the typical tourists going to Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Le Louvre, the Arc de Triumph and the Champ Elysee. We even took a boat tour on the Seine.
The food was wonderful, the architecture took my breath away and the weather was gorgeous. I think I had such a good experience because I spoke French (or at least attempted to). But it is a city that I would love to return to and spend more time, because you need a month just to see the entire Louvre!