Part 4: Barcelona June 10th to the 17th

Before I get into our trip to Barcelona I just wanted to quickly touch on the fact that Michael Jackson has died. Crazy! I just found out about an hour ago and I still cannot believe that he is dead. Regardless of the type of person is was or was not in his personal life he was still a musical genius. May he rest in peace.

Barcelona! I really enjoyed Barcelona but I feel the best way to understand what all happened in Barcelona is to divide it into 2 parts. Each part was great in its own way but each had its downside.

For the first part of our trip we stayed in the town of Sabadell. It was not only super cheap but a lot quieter than Barcelona. However, the 45 minute commuter train, which should have been no longer than 30 minutes, made us all question was it worth the money saved. Every train ride left us all feeling sick to our stomachs and slightly dizzy. Although, on the Saturday after seeing the night life of Barcelona we returned to Sabadell to a local festival celebrating their heritage. I think seeing a bunch of young Spaniards dance to rock-and-roll covered folk songs was an amazing experience we never would have seen if we had stayed in Barcelona. It was also strange to see so many people, from a variety of ages, up until 2 o'clock in the morning dancing to rock folk music.

In fact, Patrick and I should have lived in Spain. They do everything late there and the friendly energy of the Spanish is contagious. You move quicker in Spain than in France, but you never feel rushed. Barcelona is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to in my life. They love architecture and do a wonderful job blending the old and new to make a wonderful mosaic of Barcelona's history through their buildings. It was also pretty easy to get away from the tourists, it just took a little walking, which is nice as they were all annoying after some time.

Make the effort to take the metro to the last beach stop and you will find a local beach full of more families and less people yelling: "Beer, cervaza, agua, fanta, hasish." Also little Asian ladies yelling: "Massagie, por 5 euros!" The down side of beaches in Barcelona is they are covered with trash. You would think that all of those Spanish PETA people who spend all their time posing nude for animal rights would spend more time cleaning their beaches might actually make a difference in the environment.

Most of the first part we spent hanging out and walking around the city seeing the Gaudi stuff. Barcelona museums are over-priced especially compared to cities like Paris. The food looked amazing but was a little out of our budget. We did have paella one night but it was not worth the money we spent on it. Next time, Patrick and I decided to go to Barcelona for the food. However, we did get 3 for 2 fresh fruit juice, which was perfect. Nothing beats the heat like a mango y coco juice.

Part two of our trip didn't start off the best, in fact, there wasn't suppose to be a part two. We showed up to the train station on Monday morning to find out that our train home had been canceled by France due to a f@*king strike! GOD DAMN FRANCE! Of course I had just spent the whole commute to the train station telling Patrick how much I love France and how I missed it. I think God likes to make me look like an idiot.

We were told by the train station person that the best thing to do was come back in the evening to see if the strike would continue through the next day. So off we went to enjoy another day in Barcelona. During this day my wallet was stolen and all of my money was taken out of my account. Yeah! I didn't realize until about dinner time where I preceded to flip-shit. Patrick stayed wonderfully calm during the whole thing while I called my bank to cancel my card; he booked an appointment to begin to get my passport re-issued. After taking care of business we went to the local police station to file a report. In the middle of giving my report the lady who worked there handed my wallet back to me with my passport and all of my identification cards. Patrick said that my face was the face a woman make when their newborn is handed to them for the first time. My card was gone as was the 30 euros that was in my wallet but I had my passport and that was all that mattered.

Later that night we found out that the strike would continue until Wednesday. Lucky Brook was there to help us buy bus tickets home as Patrick left all of this credit cards at home since why do we both need to bring cards since I was taking care of this trip. So we spent the next two days living super cheap. I mean we lived on less than 10 euros a day. I think we spent 6 euros the first day on food and maybe 7 euros the next day. Euro meat baby; it isn't completely meat but it works! We did have money left over from the deposit on our rental place in Sabadell that Patrick had in his wallet, which we used to stay in a hostel and eat.

We did enjoy our few extra days in Barcelona and managed to go to the beach again and see some really cool exhibits for free, so all in all it wasn't bad. I am still figuring out my bank situation but we are safe and I have my passport. The most annoying thing is we planned our budget perfectly as to have more than enough money to live on for the last month. We just didn't plan to be victims of theft or a strike, oh life. Now I will set money aside in the event of theft or strike from now on. So that that be a lesson for all of you, save money in the event of a shit storm during a trip.

I would write about the awful bus ride home but this is already long enough so I end this post here. Barcelona was great minus the whole bullshit at the end.

Ta ta for now,
Molly

Part 3: Perpignan June 8th to June 10th, 2009

Oh, Perpignan! Perpignan is home to Dali's train station (I guess he was obsessed with this tiny, not very impressive train station. Perhaps it is because he is from there.)



It is also French Catalonia at its finest. It is a great little city in which you can spend the morning in the Pyrenees and the afternoon on the beach. The train ride to Perpignan is also incredibly beautiful with the mountains to the west of you as you ride through lakes, literally through two lakes, and along the sea.

Once we arrived we took a cafe as we all were exhausted. After some strong coffee we met up with our couchsurfing host Juliette and had lunch at her house. She was a very nice and helpful host, but a little shy. She had a cute house just outside the old part of Perpignan. That night we also got to have dinner with Juliette and her friend Sandie, who splits her time between Dijon and Nimes and was visiting her folks in Perpignan, which was a nice evening full of conversation about travel and life.

As for the town of Perpignan, I liked it. There is not too much to do there but it felt like a town where real people live their lives even with all the tourists passing through. Perpignan would make for a great place to stay while making day trips around the area, which is what we did our second day there. On the 9th, we decided to take a break from the beach and visit the Pyrenees. We took a 1 euro bus ride to the town of Villefranch-de-Conflent.



It is an UNESCO site, which means it is a protected historical site. Another UNESCO site is the whole town of Bruges in Belgium. Villefranch was a nice village but I can safely say we spent too much time there. We were going to take this little yellow train down the canyon to other towns, but the rail tracks were being repaired. We did have a nice short hike up to the fort of the town where we each drank a glass of rose and took in the beautiful scenery. That night we had a kebab for dinner, which is always delicious.

All in all, Perpignan was a nice place to catch up on some much needed sleep and rest.

Tomorrow we head to Barcelona!! I really liked Barcelona and all of the adventures we had there minus a few. :)!

Molly

Part 2: Montpellier June 6 to June 8, 2009

We got into Montpellier around mid-morning and hung out in a plaza right near the tourism office. After our usual picnic lunch we went to a really great photography exhibit that just opened. It was free, but also had a wide variety of photographers as well as view points. It is one of the most comprehensive photography exhibits I have been to in my life.

We finally met up with the people we were staying with in early afternoon. After we dropped off our stuff and showered we all went to a little town of Sete. It was nice to walk around and see a smaller town. It seemed every older person in Sete was sitting outside on the front steps in lawn chairs. I have a feeling as the summer continues more and more people sit outside on their lawn chairs.



After our brief tour of Sete we went home and ate dinner. That evening Brook and I went to a French discotheque (dance club). We wanted to go dancing but the funny thing is not a lot of people dance at French dance clubs. They just stand around and drink, very strange. There were a few people dancing so that was fun, but overall I would skip the dance club. They are full of too many people not dancing but merely posing like pretty boys and girls from an Ambercombie and Fitch catalog. Oh, and, French men, what a trip. I am so glad that I have traveled most of France with Patrick by my side. Not just because he is my love, but French men, at least at this place, were...um...I guess I will go with not-my-type-of-person-to-meet and leave it at that. After an interesting adventure home we finally went to bed at 4:30am. A typical disco night in Europe, but I did not get my dance on enough to consider it a true success.

The next day we went to the beach all afternoon after going to market in the morning. Yeah, I said morning. I woke up at 9:30 to church bells, oh don't you love church bells after a night of dancing! That evening we had a nice dinner and went to bed early.

Alas, we did not get to spend a whole lot of time in Montpellier for one reason or another. It seems like a bigger Boulder with more art and closer to the beach. I realize that this is truly a brief summary of our time in Montpellier, but I have my reasons. I will say that the key information I left out will only highlight why it is so brief of an account. I am sorry for being so mysterious but you are all smart; figure it out.

Tomorrow we travel to Perpignan!

Later gators,
Molly

No, we have not forgotten you!

I realize it has been a long time since our last blog but we were gallivanting around the Mediterranean. As it has been a while I fully plan to break down our trip over several posts during this week. There is too much to highlight and I don't want to bog anyone down with a long account of our travels. So here we go with a four part series about our trip to the sea. Friday's edition will be a comprehensive discussion of our last month left and what we hope to see. Can you tell I miss NPR a little too much?

First part: Marseille, June 3rd to June 6th, 2009

Oh, Marseille how I love this city. I would describe Marseille as edgy, laid-back, active, doesn't give a flying f*@k what you think of me city. It is Denver meets New York City. It is amazing! I like Paris, but Marseille makes Paris that boring, more popular kid who gets by on a name. Make it to Marseille in your life and I promise you it will change the way you view France.

Patrick, Brook, and myself arrived at 9:30 in the morning and made our way to our hostel. We stayed at this place called La Cigale et la Fourmi, the cicada and the ant, it was a hippie commune. We slept in a lofted space with beds on the ground with any where from 10 to 20 strangers. People were coming in and out of the place from all walks of life and we paid at the end of our stay, since you never know how long you are going to stay! We were all a little skeptical when we arrived especially since some kid yelled down the door access code from a window while a cigarette balanced between his fingers. We couldn't understand what he said but the cute old French lady, who lived next door and was outside, helped us since she knew the code too. What?

You enter a tiny hallway only to go up a set of an even tiny stair case that felt like an Escher drawing. We finally made it to the main room, where there was a red couch with some guy sleeping on it, and a series of foreigners being served coffee by a French Filipino. We "checked-in" with Jean, the owner, and were showed to our beds by a Belgian lady named JoJo. More to come on our little hippie commune in a bit but all in all, it was great!

We left our commune to see the city. We took a bus to the metro, took the metro into the city, and then another bus to the Basilique de Notre Dame de la Garde. It is a really cool church that sits on top of La Garde hill on the east side of the old port. We had lunch there and saw the church and crazy tourists. From there we walked down the hill to the old port to the west side of the port to the old part of Marseille. From there we went to Cathedrale Le Major and then walked along the sea back into the old port. On our map of Marseille there was an advertisement to taste artisan pastis which was located on our way home so we stopped by to check in out. It was really good pastis and we learned that pastis actually originated from Absinthe. For those of you who don't know pastis, it is an anise flavored liquor. It is a very refreshing summer drink. We then went home and ate dinner and hung out with the rest of the people at our commune. It was a special evening as we had great conversations with a variety of people and nationalities. It was one of those nights that only happen at hippie communes minus the hippie hypocritical rhetoric.

The next day we went to Cassis, the next town over, to hike the Calanques. We hiked a couple of hours to a remote beach with only about 30 people or so at any given time. The hike was kind of difficult as there was a bunch of loose rocks through out the whole trail and the rocks were incredibly slippery. Right before getting to the second beach where we swam, we had to hike down a steep hill to the bottom. However, don't worry folks I had the proper foot ware. I hiked this part in my flip-flops. :)! What...I needed to work on my flip-flop tan.

The beach was quiet enough that you could here the water and birds more than the other people on the beach.



Oh, and a really annoying helicopter doing some sort of exercise that no one could figure out but everyone on the beach watched with utter confusion; oh, and took a photo of it. On occasion you saw a tour boat that takes tourist to all of the Calanques come by but it was far enough out that it wasn't too annoying. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done in my short life. The sea water was clear with a slight bluish-green color, but refreshingly cold. I don't think you could drown even if you wanted to as you would just float back to the top. I think we spent 5 hours on the beach once we got there. This being said, it was difficult to want to leave let alone muster the courage and energy to hike back. Throughout the day we saw a variety of people leave a different route than we came up the side of cliff that created the south wall of the Calanques. One family left with their dog on this route so we thought we should give it a try.

I wore my tennis shoes for this part of the hike home as I thought I was pushing my luck with hiking in flip-flops there. I am very glad that I did as there was no trail only three separate sections of a wall of rock. Yep, the three of us rock-climbed out. I can safely say the three of us were all a little afraid and realized that we were idiots for following strangers out of a place we had never been before. Ironically, Brook and I moments before leaving this way were discussing rock-climbing and how much fun it can be and wish we could do it more often. God has a sense of humor, no?

We made it out alive and a little smarter.



The rest of the hike home was fine but we were all very tired. We finally made it home after walking to a shuttle bus, which then took us to the train station where an older French man preceded to tell us that all of France's problems are do to the Arabs. Have Patrick and I mentioned how racist some French people can be?

We got home around 9, 9:30, and ate dinner and went to bed. The next day was spent not doing a whole lot as we were all beat. Brook and I did go to the Fashion Museum and then we all had a beer at a cafe. That night we hung out at the commune and had a fun time until we all went to bed around 1 am.

This concludes our Marseille part of the trip. It was amazing and slightly terrifying. Tomorrow for part two of this series we are off to Montpellier.

Molly