Euro Trip: Italy pt. II/Switzerland

A little late to publish these last days of our trip. If you are an AT subscriber, please unsubscribe if you want. This blog is more of a personal journal of life adventures. Cheers

Thursday, December 26, 2013

We started the day by packing up and cleaning the apartment. Christmas cooking resulted in a lot of dirty dishes.
We left the apartment by 10:45 and decided to look for a quick lunch place recommended by Will Farley. After 20 minutes of looking, we gave up and ate döner kebab. We walked to the train station to store our luggage since our car rental wasn't until 3. Unfortunately for us, it was 5€ per bag. Woof. We didn't want to spend 4 hours sitting at the train station, so we bit the bullet and paid to store our bags. We wanted to spend some time in the Duomo since we hadn't been in it yet. As we walked there, the rain began; it got harder and harder. We found shelter under sidewalk awnings like everyone else. Kendall and Bo didn't have rain gear, so Kendall bought an umbrella from an old gypsy lady. As you would expect, the umbrella broke in less than a minute...another reason to hate the vendors. Emanuele, our host in Rome, told us that these Pakistani and Bangladeshi vendors are actually linked to the mafia, and street selling isn't exactly legal.
The Duomo was closed for a few hours, and to go to the top cost 10€ anyway. We definitely were going to pay that. We waited for the rain to pass in an street shop overhang. I saw a guy about to buy an umbrella, so I walked past and told him that the umbrella was crap and ours broke in 1 minute. The sales guy who barely spoke English ended up following me and wanted to fight. He poked me with his umbrella right the face. Bo and I ended up walking away but the guy kept following us. He got really close to Bo, so Bo turned around and told him to leave us alone. We eventually left and he stopped following, but it was a few very intense minutes. We quickly checked our luggage out of our lockers and barely made it back to the airport bus station to get the rental car. I was ready to get out of Florence. The car rental went smoothly and we were finally out of Florence.

Bo brought his GPS, so the drive toward Como, Italy went fine. The rain was still bad at times though. We were surprised when we hit a couple tolls on our way to Como. One of them was 20€! That is outrageous; the unexpected cost of traveling. We finally made it to Como, but it was dark so we couldn't see the mountains around us. Once again, we used airbnb and the location was literally right downtown. It wasn't a typical airbnb, but rather a hotel-like room. It took me a while to find a parking spot. We wondered across the street to a nice pizza place, the best pizza so far. After dinner, we strolled around downtown for a bit, but eventually we turned in for the night. Today was a crazy day of rain, near-mafia fights, almost missing our bus, and other unplanned detours. We were all tired.

Friday, December 27, 2013

I woke up early to make sure we weren't parked in an illegal spot, so I ran over there at 8am. Afterwards, I grabbed some coffee and walked to the shore of the lake near out apartment. The mountains were beautiful against the blue sky and water. Everyone was still asleep, so I took my time. When we were ready for the day, we walked over to a little café where our breakfast was included with our stay. It was good coffee and croissants. We walled around for a while and the girls shopped a bit. Lunch was a small cafe where Bo and I got burgers. Afterwards, we boarded a boat for a Lake Como tour.

We sat on the back of the boat and were amazed by all the scenery. We came around the bend and saw the Swiss Alps towering above the lake! With the small towns scattered about the steep banks, it was one of the prettiest places I have seen. The boat tour was an hour, and I probably took at least 100 pictures. We returned to Como and hour later. Though Como was a beautiful town, it was mainly shopping. I was ready to continue into more mountains...Switzerland!
We drove out of Como and immediately entered Switzerland. We got gas, stocked up on groceries, and began our trek into the mountains toward Lucerne. The drive was amazing with picturesque mountains all around. I'm glad Bo brought his big camera because he takes tons of pictures. Lucerne wasn't really that long of a drive, but our place was hard to find. We ended up following a crazy farm road until we found it. Fortunately, it was in a nice neighborhood and our GPS just took us a bad way.
Our host who barely spoke English showed us around her place. It was a new modern home with more space and household items than we would ever need. She eventually left and we ate dinner, drank beer (Lucerne beer!) and wine, and had a great time hanging out late. I can't even remember when we actually went to bed.

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Bo and Kendall slept in while Julie and I took a walk around the neighborhood. It was cold and crisp outside. We didn't have that much of a plan for the day, so we ended up driving into Lucerne. The town seemed like a little Christmas village in a dream. Huge mountains in the background, icy clear lakes, Christmas decorations, and a small farmer's market. We walked around for a while just enjoying the day. Everything was very expensive, so we ended up eating lunch at a bistro with paninis and ate them outside. A meal at McDonalds was 12 CHF, so that should give some perspective (about $11).

We walked around a while more, found a cool mountain shop, and checked out the Lucerne chapel. At 4, our host Magna and her friend met us to show us around the town. Her friend Edna spoke really good English, so we were able to communicate well. They wanted to do dinner at a fondue place, but we declined because it would have cost 40 CHF each. Ouch! They gave a quick tour of the city, especially the part we hadn't seen yet. After we said our goodbyes, we headed back to our place for the night. 

Saturday, December 29, 2013

Our morning was spent packing, cleaning a bit, and getting ready to leave. We were so thankful for our place in Lucerne. Magna was such a great host, and her place was incredible. We headed out of Lucerne and drove toward Interlaken. The drive wasn't too long, but it was snowy. It actually seemed fairly short because we finally figured out where the AUX input was to the car to play music. The drove through the snowy valleys listening and music, staring at the mountains, and trying to stay on the road (yes, it was snowy). We came up over a mountain pass that was really windy and quite treacherous. Interlaken was down below. We weren't exactly sure what to do in this town, but I knew there was some good hiking. We drove around town a bit, then took a small mountain road near the lake and found an amazing little walking path along the lake. It a short little hike, but the views were breathtaking.

We came upon a hut right against the lake with a bench, a fire pit, and a perfect view of the lake with the rugged mountains behind it. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We stayed a while and took so many pictures. I really couldn't leave. We eventually made our way back to the cars. It wasn't exactly the kind of hike I thought we were going to do, but it ended being way better than we had planned. No matter where you look in Switzerland, it will be pretty...
We drove back down into Interlaken for a quick bit of lunch. This town, like the rest of Switzerland, was very expensive. It was a Turkish restaurant, so Bo actually knew how to communicate with the owner...so random to have this restaurant in Interlaken, at least for us. After lunch, we start the long drive out of the mountains. I was sad to see the mountains in the rearview mirror, but we were off to Basel, Switzerland, the town where we were being hosted by Julie's grandparent's friends. We arrived in Basel just before dinner and checked into our hotel. There was lots of confusion during the days prior about if we were staying with them, if they got the hotel for us, if we were eating with them, etc. Basically, we had no idea what to expect.
Basel is on the Swiss/French/German border. Our hotel was actually on the French side, so I get to check another country off my list! We checked in and relaxed a bit before driving over to the Funchillings. They had expensive wine, great salad and a Swiss dish similar to beef stroganoff. It was really tasty. The conversation was great. Matt's granddaughter and her fiancé invited us over for drinks at a local bar after dinner. The bar was full of young people. It was near the university in Basel. We stayed a while and talked with Julia and Seral about life in Switzerland, the US, music, culture, and other things. After that, we headed back to our hotel for the night. It was a long, eventful, and very scenic day.

Sunday, December 30, 2013

We woke up early because we had been invited by Matt to get breakfast at a local "farm to table" type restaurant where ALL the food and merchandise was made on site. Fancy enough, it was called Funchilling Farms. Apparently his family history goes way back to this place. It was a giant operation with farmers market style shopping, pastries, bread, wine, veggies, fruits...everything. The restaurant was attached and took up two giant rooms. We waited for a table for a while (it was packed), but eventually got a table. Matt treated us all to a great local breakfast of cheese, fresh OJ, bread, yogurt, jam, salami, coffee, etc. We talked for a while with him and his grandson who came with us.
After breakfast it was time for the Basel tour. Matt knew everything about this city because he had lived here his whole life. We trotted all around looking at old buildings, bridges, restaurants, and other sites. It would be hard to summarize the whole tour because we did so much. Matt was an amazing host and treated us to all kinds of food. I had some of the best bratwurst I had ever had. That night Julie and Seral invited us over to their apartment for fondue! We cooked together, listened to music, and talked for hours. We really loved hanging out with Julia and Seral and would love for them to visit the states. Basel is an great city, and I would love to go back.

Monday, December 31, 2013

This was our last day in Switzerland (even though we woke up in France), and we had a long drive ahead of us to Munich. Matt gave us directions to avoid as many tolls as possible. We packed up at the hotel, hopped in the car, and started on a way toward Munich. The drive across Southern Germany was actually really pretty. We passed through rolling hills and farmland and could see the mountains to the south. With the music cranking, we made really good time through the countryside. From where we stayed, the total drive to Munich was a little over 5 hours. After stops for meals and gas, it took up the majority of the day. We came into Munich around dusk (which in the winter here was quite early). The hotel we picked out was by the airport. What we didn't realize was that the airport was about 45 minutes on the other side of the city from the way we came. We drove straight through the city center and well beyond the metropolitan area before we arrived at the hotel. The hotel was even PAST the airport another 10 minutes or so in the middle of nowhere (so it seemed). It had gotten dark by the time we arrived, and the icy cold fog set in heavy. I sore it was like the fog was frozen in mid air it was so cold and bleak. The hotel we booked was actually only for three people, so we did some sneaky unloading and eventually all got to the room in stages. Of all the rooms and places so far, this was by far the smallest. It was a full size bed with a pull out couch that took up any remaining room we would have had. Being the last night, we didn't even care.
Our plans to go out to downtown Munich for New Years Eve quickly was shot down by a 100% vote to stay in. We were tired, the train was expensive and long, and it was extremely cold outside. Bo and I decided to take the car down the road to find some dinner to-go. Our quick errand turned into a game of survival. We both left our phones and GPS in the hotel and kept taking more and more turns to find any sign of civilization. After finally reaching a restaurant (who's kitchen was closed...), we attempted to make our way back to the hotel. The roads were getting slick by this point, and every turn looked the same. We were lost. In our attempt to find our way back, we found a gas station with beer and wine, so that was a plus. We took every major turn until after an hour and lots of trial and error, we finally made it back to the hotel. It was honestly a little terrifying not knowing where we were in the cold darkness.
The rest of the night was spend hanging out in the hotel room and eating pizza FROM the hotel restaurant (duh...). I was glad of our choice to stay in. It was fun to celebrate new year together. We had a blast laughing the whole night. When midnight hit, we hit the bed...probably smart since our flight was early the next day.

Tuesday, January 1, 2014

The sound of my alarm was the last thing I wanted to hear. Julie and I packed up in the darkness. Kendall and Bo were continuing there trip south with the rental car, so they didn't have to get up just yet. Bo was nice enough to drive us to the airport. We eventually got to the airport after some terminal confusion. We were sad to say our goodbyes to Bo, and we were so glad to have the opportunity to travel with them these past few weeks.
Julie and I checked in and boarded our plane. To our surprise, we had a wonderful upgrade to business class for our flight home! We must have picked seats close enough to have a random bump to the front of the cabin. We have no idea why, but we didn't ask questions. Let me tell you, this was plush. We had sleeper seat/beds, our own console with a gift bag, blankets, full pillows, the works...We settled in our unexpected thrones and got comfortable for the 10 hour flight home. If there is any flight to be randomly upgraded to business class, it's this one. The food was some of the best food, and not just for airplane food. It was ACTUALLY great food. I was shocked. This little surprise was just the cherry on top of an amazing trip. After three weeks and nine cities later, we were finally ready to be home.

Euro Trip: Italy pt. I

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Silvia was nice enough to set up an early 5am taxi for us to go the airport. We talked with the taxi driver about the politics of Spain the whole ride. He said he likes to practice his English. We checked in and boarded the plane. Amazingly, we were the first row so I had excellent leg room again! It was neat to watch the sun rise as we flew over the Mediterranean. The flight wasn't bad, and I read the whole time. When we landed in Rome, we were immediately head hunted by taxi drivers. We started to go with one, but quickly realized it was probably some kind of scam. We ended up just talking a normal taxi, which was expensive but way better than the packed van we had originally planned on taking.

The cab dropped us at our apartment, another airbnb, where we met Emanuele, a really friendly younger guy who spoke perfect English (and French, Spanish, Italian...). We settled in and waited for Bo and Kendall Knox to arrive. There flight didn't get in until later, so I explored around the Coliseum which was literally two streets away from our place! The apartment was really nice with lots of room, but the location made it perfect. We ate at a small pizza place down the street for lunch. The Knoxes showed up, and we walked down to the Trevi Fountain. The walk was beautiful, passing right by the illuminated Coliseum, the Monument to Victor Emmanuel II, the first king of unified Italy. The Trevi Fountain was spectacular, but it was very crowded. We ate at a restaurant down the street, which was descent, but not the best Italian authentic food.

We strolled back to the apartment and played cards. It was so nice to have Kendall and Bo join us for the trip. We have a great dynamic together, and they are so fun to be with. We had some beer and wine at our place and played some cards. Eventually, we all turned in for the night.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

I woke up early and went to the small market down the street. It was a surprisingly quaint and unassuming area near the coliseum where we were staying. We got ready and walked down to the coliseum where we started a tour. Though I've seen countless pictures of the structure, but it so much more magnificent in person. It really is an impressively large structure. The tour was very informative, allowing us to walk through all the stairways and corridors.
We then walked down through the streets of Rome until we reached the Pantheon, a giant dome cathedral build in 118 AD! Wowzerz. Behind the Pantheon, we ate at a small but delicious pizza place recommended by Brooke Mooney who studied abroad there. Since we knew about from a student, the owner gave us free oranges and strawberry wine. We walked over to Piazza Navorra where a massive Christmas market was being held. It was somewhat fascinating, but the shear amount of vendors, trinket sellers, and gimmicky street artists seemed intrusive and annoying. I had seen it all day, but now I was actually annoyed by it. That is where my simultaneous love and hate for Rome began. Rome is such a beautiful, ancient city, and these street vendors make it seem like Pigeon Forge.

The Spanish Steps weren't too far away, so we walked there and saw the sun set with the Pantheon and St. Peter's Basilica in the distance. Of course, we were approached by street vendors selling laser pointers at least 5 times. We were getting a little tired of eating pizza/pasta/bread, so we bought salad stuff at a local market and made salads at our apt. Sleep soon followed.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Our Vatican City tour started at 9am, so we had to figure out the bus system to get there. Once we arrived, our tour guide took us through Vatican City customs. It wasn't quite as serious as US customs, actually hardly comparable. She led us through the Pinecone Courtyard, but it was pretty fogged in. We were led into a building with many statues. Our guide was really informative about the things we were seeing. We walked through various buildings and saw statues, tapestries, and many paintings. Then we walked into the Sistine Chapel. Wow. Our guide gave a summary of things to look at, what certain things mean, and the efforts Michelangelo went through to make such an amazing piece of art. Even the small amount of art class I have had made me appreciate the amount detail in the paintings.

We continued through other rooms and finally made it through to St. Peter's Basilica. I had seen many churches at this point in our trip, but this church is really mind blowing. It is almost like being in a giant cavern. The morning sun was coming through the windows making pillars of light. We walked out to St. Peter's Square where our tour ended. Imagining the Pope addressing all those thousands of people is pretty powerful, even from the protestant prospective. Julie was wasn't feeling 100%, so we took the metro back to the apt. The tour was informative and exhausting, so we got a quick bite of pizza near the apt, then rested at the apt for a while. Touring is tiring.

It was our last night in Rome, so we found the energy to walk down to a restaurant near the Spanish Steps, another restaurant recommended by Brooke. It was a delicious dinner, but people keep ordering better things than me, especially Kendall! I had what Julie calls "entree envy". We walked through the city a little more and stopped in some shops. We eventually made it back to our place, did some light packing, and went to bed.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Our checkout with Emanuele wasn't until 11am so we slept in a little bit. We were pretty tired. Emanuele walked with us to the metro, and we said our goodbyes. Our train from Rome to Florence wasn't until 1pm, so we thought we had plenty of time. Unforunately, we went to the wrong terminal. We caught the metro back to the right terminal but didn't have much time to spare. We rushed from the station and tried to print our tickets. The old people in line were taking forever, so we ran to our train and BARELY made it, literally seconds to spare.
I journaled and listened to music as we zipped through the Italian countryside at 200 mph. The train ride went smoothly (fast!), and they didn't even check out tickets?! When we arrived in Florence, the temperature was noticably colder. We walked to our next airbnb place which was only about a 15 minute walk. Our host never actually met us there, but rather a colleague of hers. It was fine, but it didn't have the personal feel of others. The apt was really nice with a bedroom and really cool loft. The kitchen was fully stocked and the living area was big. Definitely a great find on airbnb. We walked over the museum housing the Statue of David. I liked not only seeing this statue, but also the other unfinished Michelangelo statues. Seeing an unfinished project was a great perspective to see the sculpting process.

After the museum, we walked over to the Florence Duomo, a giant church made of colored marble. We continued on through the streets until we reached the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge over the river that is full of little shops. It was nighttime and most of the shops were closed. Since it was Christmas Eve, we stopped in for a nice dinner. The food and beer were pretty good but nothing extraordinary. Our server was not very friendly either. Working on Christmas Eve wouldn't make me happy either I guess. We walked back to the apartment and exchanged gifts. We did secret Santa with a 5€ limit, so I got Bo Statue of David underwear. He got me a duomo print and of course a little gimmicky glow in the dark helicopter from the stupid street vendors. We stayed up late laughing and playing ticket to ride. We turned in well after midnight. What a day.

Wednesday, December, 25 2013

Christmas Day started with sleeping in. It was much needed sleep. We got up and cooked breakfast pizza, drank mimosas, and listened to Christmas music. It actually felt a lot like Christmas considering we weren't with family or at home. It was a nice, relaxing morning. Though it was Christmas Day, a good time for relaxing, we didn't want to waste the day by staying inside. We walked back to the train station and jump on a train to Pisa. It was dark when we arrived, but the tower was still illuminated. Like other monuments in Europe, it was much more impressive seeing it in real life. Of course, we took the classic picture and laugh at others taking theirs. Other than the leaning tower, there isn't much to see in Pisa, so we took the train back after a few hours of exploring.

You can always count on Chinese restaurants being open for Christmas, so that's what we had. It was actually really good Chinese food. We walked back to the apt and hung out for a while just talking, and of course playing ticket to ride (or as we call it, the train game). This was a well spend Christmas in Florence.

Euro Trip: Spain pt. II

Thursday, December 19, 2013

It was another early rise for traveling, this time to Barcelona. We packed up our stuff, ate a quick breakfast left out for us by the hostel staff (so nice), and wheeled our luggage down the cobbled street in the morning darkness. We took the bus to the airport and waited in the tiny terminal. When we boarded, I was thrilled to find our seats on an exit row. That was a luxury I had never experienced before! The flight was short to Barcelona, only was an hour and a half. We landed and took the metro to our airbnb place located a few miles from the city center. Silva, our airbnb host, showed us around our place. It was a nice, modern apartment with a few bedrooms, kitchen, living area, and a small terrace. It was nice to have the place to ourselves.

We were tired from staying up late and waking early, so we took a quick nap after eating shwarma. Since we were only in Barcelona for a couple days, we visited the a few Antoni Gaudi designed buildings, starting with Sagrada Familia first. This was a huge, oddly constructed church that got many of its design aspects from the shapes of nature, plants, animals, etc. It is notoriously unfinished, with construction occurring even as we visited. After that, we strolled through the rain to Casa Bastllo, another Gaudi building. This time, we took an audio tour of the building. I thought I wouldn't really like his style which had no straight lines and symmetry, but I found his nature-inspired ideas to be not only be appealing but also functional. He thought out of the box, especially for his time.  We made a quick stop by our apt and then went out for tapas at a restaurant recommended by Silvia. It was packed, but the food was just alright. Strangely, steak fries are really common here as tapas. I'm not really a fan (esp. the topping of mayonnaise...gross). We strolled back to our apt and got ready for bed. Travel days are always long and tiring.

Friday, December 20, 2013

We (actually, just me) were tired of eating out every meal, so we made toast and tea for breakfast. Our day starting with a short visit to the Picasso Meuseum. It was interesting to see the progression of his style throughout his life. We then walked down La Rambla, the main street of Barcelona that leads to the peer. It was touristy, but still very different than home. Barcelona had the most European/Western style to it, more than Madrid and Granada. The peer was huge, and even had an entire mall on it. We sat on the huge deck and watched to bustling activity. People watching in foreign places is so interesting. There was also a massive spire with a Colombus statue on it. I have a feeling that would not fly in America. We walked back down La Rambla and stopped at a street side place for lunch. The food was decent and fairly priced, but the Tinto de Verano was disgusting and coated as much ad our entire meal. We were totally tourist-scammed. We stopped again to get a Nutella crêpe which was absolutely delicious. We walked the streets more. I was nice to have clear weather.

We took the metro to Park Güell, yet another site designed by Gaudi. I accidentally took us through the back entrance with trails. It ended up working put because the front entrance recently started making you pay. We didn't get access to the Gaudi part, but the park was still nice. Spain is bascislly broke, so they try and find and excuse to charge money for anything.

I wasn't really in the mood to eat tapas again, so we bought ingredient to make a salad. Finally, a meal that wasn't all carbs. We also made our own tinto de verano that was wayyy better. Since our apt wasn't situated any city sites, we just walked around the streets which was fun. The little shops are so tiny but jammed packed with items. Our stay in Barcelona was short, but I feel like I experienced the city well.

Euro trip: Spain pt. I

Friday, December 13, 2013

My final exams have ended for the semester, and I am in need of a break. Julie and I have been saving and planning for this trip for a long time. I'm so thrilled to go to Europe. I've never been before, though I consider myself to be fairly traveled. Julie has actually traveled many more countries than I have.

We caught our noon flight from Memphis to Atlanta, but then had a 5 hour layover. We sat in the international terminal people-watching and killing time. We finally boarded our 7pm flight bound for Madrid, Spain. The flight was long and uncomfortable. Typically drinks were served, with complimentary wine and beer (surprise), and a wide array of personal movies were offered via the personal screen on the seat-back in front of me. The 7 hour flight was exhausting. 

Saturday, December 14, 2013

When we arrived in Madrid, the sun was was coming through the fog across the airport runway. We saw one day end and another begin wihout any sleep. We gathered our things and made our way across the airport to the metro. Via the directions of the Terrell's, we found our way to their apartment. It was nice to see a friendly face, and I could tell they were thankful for seeing old friends from back home (Olivia and Andrew work for Mission to the World, they live in Spain, and they are currently on year 1 of a 3 year commitment). We settled in at their apartment in the guest room.

With Olivia and Andrew as our guide, and meandered through the old city streets, got a quick meal of tortilla de patata, and visited the city plazas decorated in Christmas fair. We ate a small lunch at El Corte Ingles, and my lack of sleep caught up with me as we sat in the sun. The city was unusually crowded, even to the surprise of the Terrells. That night, Julie and I explored the city by ourselves and wondered to a huge palace lit up amongst the fountains and cityscape. We found our way to a street known for its tappas bars, but the shear amount of people out, even at 8pm (which is very early for the Spaniards), was shocking. We got a quick drink and made our way back to the apartment. The Terrell's had a few visitors over the might for church, so we when to bed. I fell asleep faster than I can remember, and we never heard a peep for the party hosted by the Terrell's at their apartment. 

Sunday, December 15, 2013

The next day in Madrid, our first full day, we ate breakfast at the Terrell's apartment and explored the city a bit. We did a bit of shopping, and then walked to a beautiful park with a small lake with paddle boats. The weather was amazing with blue skies. We ate at a small German burger place (I know...not Spanish), but the food was quite different than anything in the state. All the native food here is straight carbs with no veggies or fresh ingredients. The coffee however is delicious... café con leche. That night, Julie and I hard a nicer dinner at Olé Lola, a great tappas bar. We couldn't communicate well with our server, but our meal was delicious. Back at the Terrell's apartment, we stayed up late talking and laughing.

Monday, December 16, 2013

The next morning, we walked to a small cafe for breakfast: pan con tomate, fresh OJ, coffee, and a muffin. Afterward, we strolled to Olivia's jewelry workshop and saw how she makes her stuff. It was really fascinating. We were catching a bus to Granada that afternoon, so we back up our things and said our goodbyes. Staying with the Terrells was a real treat, and we had a great time seeing the city from a " local's" perspective. We got on the metro and quickly realized that we were cutting it very close to the bus station. We were those people running through the station trying to figure out where to go. However, our attempt to make the 2:00pm bus failed, and the next available ride was 5:30 that evening. We stowed our luggage in a locker and explored the streets around the bus station. We stopped for pizza, which ended up being a language lesson trying to read the menu. The server was so helpful and nice.
While walking back to the car, we saw a guy peeing by the sidewalk next to his car. Maybe that's a Europe thing, but I seriously doubt it.

We boarded the bus and left Barcelona as the sun was setting. I listened to music and read while Julie watched a movie and slept. It was actually a fairly comfortable bus ride, far more than the flight over from the US. We made a quick stop about half way through the 5 hour trip. We arrived in Granada at 10:30pm, and finally made it to Casa Bimbo after some difficulty. A couple from the bus was helpful in giving directions. We rolled our luggage up the steep cobblestoned streets. Casa Bombo, a relatively newer hostel, was situated in the older part of the city. It had the classic Spanish look and seemed ancient, yet clean. The view across the valley of the Alhambra was breathtaking. We were shown our room, grabbed a shwarma from down the street for dinner, and went to bed.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

For some reason, I was wide awake at 6:00am. Julie slept while I checked various school things on my tablet. By 8, we both went upstairs to the lounge for a hostel breakfast of coffee, cereal, and toast. I got to see my first daylight view of the Alhambra across the valley which was beautiful. At 10am, we walked up through the city streets to the Alhambra for a walking tour. The gardens were beautiful, even in winter. The Alhambra itself was massive, and it seemed like a great place to live in ancient days. The view from above looking down to the city below was spectacular. Granada is a beautiful city with lots of charm. The Sierra Nevada Mountains could be seen to the east with their gradual snowy peaks.

After the Alhambra, we walked the streets to Julie's school when she studied aboard. We even ran into on of her teachers! We stopped at the Restaurant Europa where I had a cerveza and not so great sandwich. We walked the plazas, stopped in stores, and experienced the city. After stopping by a "Chino" for cheap wine and lemon Fanta (to make tinto de verano), we hiked up to a higher point in there city to watch the sunset. It was spectacular with a view of the Alhambra, the mountains, and the entire city below. Later that night we ate Spanish tapas at a small bar called La Bella y La Bestia, and then we went to a flamenco show. It was in a tiny shotgun style venue/cave, and the music was classic Spanish. I was so tired that I dosed off during the first slow songs, but when the dancer came out and the music picked up, it was a great show. We met a guy from Munich who offered some advice on NYE, so I emailed him later that night. We left during intermission because we were exhauated (and we couldnt understand anything). We slept well that night.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

I woke up early again, around 6am, for no reason. I let Julie rest while I drank coffee and ate breakfast overlooking the Alhambra. When Julie got ready, we walked downtown through Granada and walked through El Corte Ingles, the European (or Spanish) of a superstore. We walked through the city for a while, saw the shops, the trinket stores, etc. We got a salad at La Bella y La Bestia for lunch, then went back to the hostel for a bit to rest.

That afternoon, we went to the Arab bathes. The hostel accidentally messed up the reservations, so the bathes only had three people! It ended up working out for us though. The bathes were so tranquil and warm, such a relaxing environment. They were located in a cave-like structure with multiple room with different temperature pools. Delicious hot was served in the rooms as well. I checked out the steam room for a bit, but those things are just hot and miserable. Another room had a massage, which took up about 20 minutes of the 1.5 hour bath time. It was my first massage too. It was good, but it kinda felt weird too. We left the bathes, got a little lost, and ended up back at the lookout to watch the sunset. We shower and went out for tapas that night at Pöe. The bartender was England, so we had some good conversation with him for a while. It was a long day, so we when to bed early since we needed to get up early.

Colorado Fourteeners. One Week. Five Peaks.

I haven't blog in almost two years. I have fallen away from this online journal because the AT is over and there isn't much to write about, not publicly at least. I have decided to continue my blog as more of a trip journal. Maybe people will stumble across it, but it will mainly serve as a semi-private online trip journal. This trip: climbing Colorado's fourteen-thousand foot peaks.

We left on Saturday morning from Nashville. My dad, sister, her fiancé Miles, and I flew to Denver where we got our rental car, a Chevy Tahoe. Quite a bit better vehicle then our Dodge Nitro last time. We had some time to kill in Denver, so we (of course) visited REI, and a restaurant called "My Brother's Bar". Decent food, great beer. We then took a brewery tour at Breckenridge Brewery. It was a great craft beer experience with lots to choose from. We continued on our way to Buena Vista, Colorado which sits at the base of the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness.

We stayed at a small motel room, ate Mexican that night, and turned in for the night. We wanted to take it slow before we started approaching high altitudes, so staying in BV that night was probably smart. 

The next morning we hung out in town, walked downtown, and watched the kayakers surf the waves on the Arkansas River. It is always fun returning to that river because I guided rafts on it all summer in 2008. 

 Around midday we drove to the trailhead of Missouri Gulch, a large, beautiful valley surrounded my 14ers, all of which we were planning to climb. The trail up was steep with many switchbacks. After a mile or so of hiking, a storm rolled in a began dumping hail violently. It was an unexpected storm, as they usually are, so we scrambled to gather our rain gear. The hail pelted our exposed hands and stung, but it did not last long. After the storm passed, the ground glistened white with hail. Shortly after, we came upon the remains of an old miners cabin. This would be our campsite for the next two nights. The drizzling rain stopped, and we set up camp.

 The clouds never pulled parted, but the sky didn't yield anymore rain. 

The next morning, Tuesday, we rose about an hour before the sun and started up our first 14er, Mt. Belford. The approach through the valley was beautiful in twilight, but the trail quickly started straight up the northwest shoulder of Belford. The grassy switchbacks gave way to a rocky trail to the summit. The ascent took a few hours, but we made good time. The summit was a small rock pile topping out at 14,197 feet. 

Having another peak to conquer the same day, we started for Mt. Oxford, about 1.5 miles away. Miles' altitude sickness started to get more severe, so he stayed back to recuperate. The descent down the saddle to the east between Belford and Oxford was steep and tedious. A trail runner who had passed up going up Belford was now passing us going back after having summited Belford and Oxford. Quite an athlete. My sister, dad, and I made good time traversing the saddle and back up Oxford.

A storm was threatening our ascent, so we were up and down pretty quick. We retraced our steps back to Belford, then back down to our base camp. All in all, it was a great day with two peaks under our belts.

Since Miles was still feeling nauseous, he and my sister stayed back the next day while my dad and I went for the summit of Missouri Mountain. The inconspicuous peak was to the west of Belford and was comprised of mostly a ridge line to the summit. My dad and I rose extra early (3:30am) to be on the trial before 4:30am. We hiked with our headlamps on for the first half hour or so. The air was cold and many of the stream crossings were frozen. Marmots scampered away as we hiked through the Alps-like valley toward Missouri Mountain. The snowy ridge dominated our view to the south as the sun began to rise to our east.

We began climbing up Missouri's eastern face across several boulder fields.
 The ascent was exhausting, but we keep to it. After a few hours, we finally made it up to the ridge the occupied Missouri's northern ridge. Now, it was just another half mile of ridge walking. Much to our surprise, the snow and the steep angle made for a dangerous hike to the summit at 14,067 ft. We summited by 9:30 and had a fantastic view of the two peaks we had just climbed the day before.

Even better, we could see just about every fourteener within a 50 mile range. Mt. Harvard and Mt. Columbia to our southeast, Mt. Huron to our west, and far beyond, the famous Maroon Bells near Aspen. The Collegiate Range spread out further south and Mt. Elbert and La Plata Peak dominated to the view to the north. It was breathtaking, and we found ourselves not wanting to leave. 

After an hour, we began our descent down to the green valley below. The hike down was somewhat straining, but the ability to talk to each other made the foot pounding more bearable. With the sun high in the sky, the temperature rose dramatically. He hiked in shorts and T-shirt back to camp where Miles and Mary Chris had been waiting for us. We made it down to camp by 2:30pm. We gathered the rest of our overnight gear and began hiking back down. The way down seems longer than the hike up 2 days before, probably because I was tired. 

After reaching the car, we drove to Leadville for a dinner of pizza and Avalanche beer accompanied. Our hotel was quaint and relaxing. I got to talk to Julie a while which was great. The next day, we check out of our hotel and found a great little coffee shop in downtown Leadville, City on a Hill Coffee. We sat, ate breakfast, and talked for a while. It was one of my dad's favorites. With that day being our day off, we decided to drive to Aspen. The drive itself makes it worth it, over Independence Pass. 

We arrived in Aspen around mid morning, so we passed the time by walking around the shops. This town has some really amazing flowers too. They were everywhere. Since being there last, the town had a more uppity feel to it. Maybe I just noticed it more.

We ate a Mexican restaurant (again) and relaxed most of the day. We drove over Independence Pass again. We knew forest fires were going on throughout southern Colorado, but we noticed a large plume of gray smoke coming just south of Twin Lakes. It looked to large to be a brush or campfire. We pulled over to get a better look and noticed a helicopter hovering over the smoke. No flame were visible, but they were certainly there. Hopefully everything was extinguished before other tree caught fire. We continued on to our next climb and final climb for the trip, Mt. Greys and Mt. Torreys.

The dirt road to Greys and Torreys trailhead was literally right off of I-70. It was a steep rocky drive to the trailhead where we set up camp for the night. Mt. Grays was visible to the south and its craggy ridge surrounded us to the east. That night we sat around camp and talked until the sun went down, something we hadn't really done yet. It was nice to relax in the cool air on our last night in the woods. I slept well that night after reading a few chapters in of the WWII survival novel "Unbroken".

We started up the trail early the next morning. It was unlike any other 14er trailhead I had experienced before since the start was practially above treeline. However, the approach through the valley was still long. After a couple hours of hiking, a trail runner passed us running up the trail. We watched him ahead of us the whole way. Since these two peaks are fairly close to Denver and easily accessible, the trail began gathering people behind us. We could see other groups start up the trail far below us, many of them with dogs. Our first peaks was Mt. Grays, a featureless rounded peak at 14,270 ft. We continued up the switchbacks until we finally made it to the summit. James, the only other camper at the campsite with us the previous night was on top with his dog Gemma. We chatted with him for a while, took in the views, and visited the mountain goats. As other climbers began reaching the summit, we started down for the saddle to Mt. Torreys. The hike down to the saddle was steep, but not as bad as coming down from Mt. Belford three days before. I got a second wind and pushed it up the summit of Mt. Torreys, a much sharper peak with little room for more than 10 people to occupy. With a height of 14,167 ft, we could see for miles. Mount of the Holy Cross stood to our west with its snowy cross unmelted. Just like Mt. Grays, the peak got congested with hikers, dogs, and gear, so we decided to make the trek down.
 To be continued...

AT Photos

So I am home and have very much enjoyed it. I asked Julie to marry me before I even got home! I was welcomed by tons of friends and family at my house for the engagement party. The weekend was full of emotion, from finishing the AT, getting engaged, and just being home and seeing familiar faces. I hadn't seen most of my friends and family since Liz & Corbin's wedding back in June, so I was ready.

Since being home, I have rested and started to unpack...and pack. My girlfri...fiancee teaches in Memphis and I will be moving there. I am living with some guys who Julie knows. Since leaving Knoxville, I thought the "live in a house with 5 other guys college style" was over, but I'll be jumping back into it again. Fortunately, I am excited about it. My house is about a mile from Julie. I am also applying for research/medical jobs which should be nearby too. Hopefully I'll find something soon.

Here are some photos from the trail. I took 1508 pictures total, so this album only scratches the surface (200). It's the same album that I uploaded to facebook. Click HERE

I've never been much of a blogger except for on the trail, but that's because I had something to write about. Now that I am back, I might continue blogging. Now that my friends from college are all dispersed across the world, blogging has been a link into their lives. Maybe mine will serve the same purpose.

Stay in touch, and thanks for your support while I hiked. The past four month were beyond incredible. I'm glad to be home...time to plan a wedding!

Mt. Katahdin: The Final Day!

I was in middle school, perhaps even elementary school when I heard about a trail that extended from Georgia to Maine. I remember thinking I could hike it in sections over many years, but I never really was interested in doing it that way. I never thought I would do it because it was so hard to find time, and it...was just so hard. As college rolled around, the thoughts of thru-hiking surfaced again. I looked into it more seriously and realized after school might actually work well.
I asked Julie, "What do you think about me hiking the AT after I graduate?"
I remember her saying, "You should do it! It would be great."
Perhaps after being apart for almost these entire 4 months, she may regret that answer, but it is finally complete!

Journeyman and I pushed through the 100-mile Wilderness in 3.5 days, celebrating my 24th birthday on Sunday and his 26th birthday Tuesday. We hiked 20, 28, 30, and 33 miles into Baxter State Park at the base of Katahdin. We sat at the shelter the night before and talked about the amazing experience the trail has been: the people we had met, the places we've stayed, the things we'd seen. I tried to capture it in the three (now full) journals I kept daily and over 1300 photos.
On summit day, we were excited and exhausted from the past few days all at the same time. We started up Mt. Katahdin, a 4000+ ft gain in 5 miles. We pushed up near the top and during the last mile, we hiked without speaking. I was sorting through the thoughts and emotions as I took the last steps of the hike. 2,181 miles of hiking was about to end. I saw the famous Appalachian Trail sign in the distance through the breaking fog. As I approached the summit, I just couldn't stop smiling. This was it. I got to the top, rested my hands on the sign, turned and looked to the south where I started 4 months ago to the day (May 15th), and let out the loudest yell so loud my ears were ringing.

I wish I could describe the feeling of finishing to AT, but I don't even know where to start. The descent down Katahdin was slippery and wet, but I didn't even care. The miles of the AT were over, and my thru-hike is done. I'm torn on how I feel. One half is immensely sad that the adventure is done as my mind races through all the memories of the trail. The other half is beyond excited to be back with family, friends, food, and especially Julie. She supported me the whole way and was separated from me during a hard first few weeks of her first year as a teacher. I can't thank her enough, as well as my family and friends for all the support and encouragement. I'm also thankful for all my friends on the trail: AYCE, Peach, Five Stones, Waterboy, Turbo, Jedi, Chef Boyardee, Fish Hook, Mojo, Grizzly, Milkman, Ever Ready, Journeyman, and all others for the company on the trail. I hope life treats you well...

Thanks for following the blog and for the comments along the way. I hope to see everyone soon back home. I will be posting a handful of highlight pictures on a photo website, so if you're interested, check the blog again in the next week or so.

I'm excited about the NEXT chapter of my life, but I am sad to see this one come to a close.

-NEXT ~NOBO•GA->ME '11~