1st week of trip to Europe

May 11^th-12^th

I started packing on Monday and it didn’t take me as long as I thought is was going to. I only took enough clothes for 8 days and then thought we can just find a laundry place where we can wash our clothes. In the picture you can see that we (Isabel and I) packed into these two suitcases and that was it. I put in an extra duffle bag so we had something to put our purchases in.

May 13^th Depart SLC on our way to Madrid

We got to the airport 2 hours early just so we had enough time…not my usual way of arriving but I didn’t want to mess around with an international flight. Plus I wanted to make sure that I had a chance to call Mom and Dad before I left. First we flew from SLC-Houston then from Huston to Newark, NJ and then our 8 hour flight to Madrid. The flight was not my favorite, I wanted to sleep so bad because I knew when landed it would be morning and I wanted energy to go and see everything. No such luck! I think I slept maybe 2 hours…maybe. The food wasn’t bad and I ended up finishing the first Lord of the Rings movies (I hadn’t see any of them before this trip).

May 14^th

We arrived in Madrid at 10:30am tried and excited that we made it. We walked right through customs and got our luggage and away we went to find a taxi. All the signs were in English and Spanish. Not like that was a problem for us but it was nice to see. The taxi went right to our hotel and we dropped off our stuff, we went down stairs to the lobby and our friend Jorge who had just checked us in told us how to take the bus and get down town. We jumped on the bus and we were on our way to explore the city. I really enjoyed watching all different kinds of people get on and off the bus and to hear them talking Spain Spanish (that is why I was thereJ) To my surprise there were a lot of seniors couples (we are talking 75 and older) out and about. Not something you see in a large city. Madrid had the big city look but it was much cleaner then other big cities I have seen. Our bus ran into an organized protest and we were forced off the bus. We soon realized that the protest was because of some kind of labor issues that were going on all over Europe and similar protests were going on in other large cities.

It was a mild day, a little bit windy and I could feel the pollen flying into my eyes and getting caught in my eyelashes. It was horrible and my nose and eyes were itching like crazy…but we kept walking. We finally made our way to the Prada museum, home to famous Spanish artists and a nice collection of Christian paintings of Christ. I was really tried by then and could only handle so much walking around. Isabel and I sat down on a bench to admire a painting and found our eyes closing and our heads bobbing because of jetlag. We decided we couldn’t force ourselves and so we should go. Right out side the museum was a guy playing a guitar (old traditional Spanish music) and a grassy hill where people were hanging out to listen and enjoy. I bet you can’t imagine what we did? Yes, we found a nice little spot ourselves and enjoyed the music by lying down and closing our eyes (taking a nap). The sun was just warm enough but not too hot and there was a breeze for a very nice nap. I felt safe because there were a lot of people and we were on a little hill so people could see you. We slept for an hour and woke up when the guy stopped playing his music. That was the best nap I ever had.

We walked across the street and found a little tapas (tapas are traditional to Spain and mean little eats, they used to be appetizers but now are eaten as a meal) restaurant and ordered a plate of tapas and soup. Not the best food and I was a little disappointed. Oh well we said and we went to go check out the National Palace.

National Palace was a very beautiful building with so much history and huge. We got ourselves a drink and people watched for a minute in the plaza right in front of the Palace. There was a couple getting taking their wedding photos in front of a fountain and kids riding their skate boards and a family having a picnic and a man sleeping on a bench all right in front of us.

After that we wondered up a street that looked like it would take us to the subway and we found a delicious Spanish bakery. We of course went in and ordered a few things that looked good. We kept walking and wondered into a large plaza that was lined with restaurants and music. There was a Colombian guy playing a harp on one side and a Spanish couple playing the according and tambourine on the other and another guitar on the other side. We found a place to eat and sat down to enjoy the ambiance. Here is where I first tasted croquettes. There are so yummy, they look like a stubbier version of a mozzarella stick but instead of cheese there is creamy potato inside. Very tasty and later on in the trip I had a ham and cheese version that was also good. The sun was going down so we wrapped up dinner and found our way back to the bus stop. We were really excited to go to bed. We got home took showers and once my head hit the pillow I was out.

May 15^th

We didn’t wake up until 11 or so the next day and my eyes were really puffy. But we had to check out because we were going to go to Paris that afternoon. So we got up and checked out a few things down town see pictures and then we got our friend Angela pins and a T-shirt from Hard Rock Café (she collects pins from there). We didn’t want to eat there 1. because it was way too expensive and 2. because it was American food and we weren’t ready for that. We found a little café and ate lunch there instead. We made it back to our hotel and thought we would have time to go see the temple with a taxi but the taxi driver got lost trying to get out of the neighbor and I didn’t want to risk being late to the airport. So we went directly to the airport and said we would visit the temple when we come back to Madrid in a week or so.

The flight to Paris was less than 2 hours and everyone spoke in Spanish or English. When we got to Paris all the signs were in French and English. We took the train to our Hotel and realized it was located in the shopping district of Paris (not that we could afford anything anyway). Right before I found the street of our hotel I stepped in dog poo…I was looking up at the street signs instead of down where I was.

We tried to speak in Spanish most of the time so people wouldn’t like we were Americans. On our way to the hotel in the subway some guy my age approached and ask in French if we needed help because I was looking at the map trying to not look like a tourist I responded in Spanish and he said he didn’t speak Spanish and then he said English and I played dumb like I didn’t know that much. It worked and he told us which way to go. When we got to our hotel we dropped off our things and headed to eat. We found a cute little pasta place right in front of a huge movie theater and ate. It was good but pricey.

May 16^th

Saturday we woke up and heading to the Louvre one of the most famous museums in the world. People only dream of coming to see this art collection. My eyes were still puffy and I was still feeling a little bit out of it. Nonetheless, the subway took us right there (our hotel was only four stops from the major sight seeing areas). There is the gigantic glass pyramid that you walk through and down into to buy our tickets and it was a lot of fun taking pictures of it. The museum is housed in the National Palace and was made to hold all this art. You could spend all day and not see everything. We saw all the things we wanted to see and took a lot of pictures…as you can see. The highlight of the museum is pushing our way through the crowd to get a picture of the Mona Lisa. Wow! It was really cool to see her and it truly took your breath away. I also learned a lot about Napoleon that I didn’t know about before and thanks to him a lot of that art France hasJ

Paris had interesting weather. As you can probably tell from the photos it rained most of the time. The clouds were one of my favorite parts of the city. They looked so close to you and they were so different then the clouds that I am used too. I hope you can see that from some of the pictures that I took. Next we crossed the river and headed over to the Notre Dame cathedral. Here we experienced a truly partisan thing…right out side of the cathedral they were selling fresh cheese in one booth and bread in another and wine in another. Then in a larger tent they were demonstrating/racing? I am really not sure but they were baking baguettes (French bread). So we bought some bread (see picture) and a plate of cheese. That was the best thing I ate. Oh the bread it was so good!! It was soft and it had blueberries or something mixed in with it. The littler breads where like a cinnamon knot with crystallized sugar on top. It was very tasty and with the cheese that would just spread on like butter but tastier, it was divine!

After that we wondered in and out of these little side streets where they would have restaurants and shops and apartments. We wondered for a little while and then we would stop and find ourselves on the map and wonder some more. Paris has a lot of small streets and they were really unique and fun to explore. We made our way to the Tour de Eiffel, Americans are the only ones that say Eiffel tower, everyone else says the Tour de Eiffel. It was un real to see it in person. The tower is an icon in so many movies and things (like on your French bread bag at the grocery store) that I couldn’t believe it was right in front on meJ

We took pictures and more pictures and walked through the park that was right there but there was such a long line that we didn’t want to stand in…also was a little cold, windy and looked like it was going to rain. All of which we knew we wouldn’t enjoy going to the top in those conditions. After that we took the subway back to another neighborhood and ate crepes from a street stand and waited for our boat trip to start. We wanted to take a boat trip down the La Seine which runs right through the city, to see the city all lit up. It truly offered us many magical views of the city. We sat up top and it was chilly but we grab a hot coco before hand and sipped it along the way. The tour guide was Chinese but spoke in French and English. In fact there were a lot of Asian people, mostly running the little tourist stores. There were also a lot of Blacks from French speaking countries in Africa. After the lovely boat ride we took the subway back to our hotel.

May 17^th

Sunday! I was very excited to go to church in FrenchJ We got there just in time and the room was packed! We shuffled us into an over flow room right behind the speakers. So for the first part of the meeting I couldn’t see anyone but I could hear the speakers. Then a young man came and told us to sit on the front row because they had freed up some space. So we went and sat there. I only understood a little bit and it was fun to be there. After words I was so surprised how many people spoke English. The bishop was American and many of the families were too. There were actually very few Parisans. We met many tourists from all over but mostly the states. We took pictures as you can see. After that we walked around and had lunch in a neighborhood were all the Jews live (these are Israeli Jews) called Marais and had some really good humus and faceral. I really liked this neighbor with all its shops and bakeries it was fun to explore and probably the best food we had in Paris (besides the crepes). After that I called Mom and Dad on my way to museum d’ Orsay. The Orsay has art from Van Gough and other famous artist, but I mainly went to see Van Gough. I think after we left there we went to the famous Arch de Triomphe. It seems that many European cities have them. After winning a war the ruler would have something like this built to honor their victory! These arch sits in the center of an intersection where 12 main roads enter…it’s like one huge round about. You can pay to go to the top but Isabel and I decided we didn’t want to spend the money on that. Here is where I dropped my camera and it got sand in it. I was sad but glad that I had my i-phone to take over 650 photos on!

May 18^th

Monday we got up and went straight to Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur. Montmartre was the cutest neighbor of all. With its steep streets and tilting houses it was so pretty and truly why I would come back here. The shops were so unique and hard to explain but romantic in its quaintness. We hiked up the steep street to Sacre Coeur, a church with creamy white domes this basilica soars high above Paris giving some us a great view (for free) and a few good pictures. There were a few tacky shops but for the most part it was very enjoyable. The weather was nice too, didn’t rain and it was over cast most of the day. Around the corner from the white domes was a whole plaza of artists. They each had a stand and were working on something and selling it. Surround them were restaurant/cafes. We thought this would be a good opportunity to have our “French café” experience. So we did and enjoyed watching the artist in action. See the pictures to see the food we ate. After sitting and eating for a good while we got up and wonder the neighbor some more taking pictures and enjoying the scenery. On our way back to the subway we found a bakery and bought a treat. I absolutely enjoyed running into the bakeries it was so fun seeing all the different delicacies. Later on we walked all over trying to find these “hand” made chocolate shop that turns out to be way too expensive and stuff I had already seen before, but the tour book I had said it was for chocolate lovers to see…we were so tried that we found a crepe stand and got one to go so we could go back to the hotel and back because in the morning we were leaving for Roma.