Quick Update

I am now in a small fishing village on the western coast of Italy (the area is called Cinque Terre) after spending several days in Venice. Venice was fantastic, everything I would have hoped, but rather expensive and starting to get cold. I have come down with a cold or the flu or something, so staying in this tiny town has been a good break.

Internet is insanely expensive and I cannot upload photos to the computer anyway, so I will write a proper blog for Venice and the Cinque Terre, including photos, soon.

French Riviera (October 31 - November 2, 2006)

After three solid weeks in Spain, I finally moved on to the French Riviera in southern France. The idea was to break up the trip between Barcelona and Venice (my next stop). My train trip Monday took a particularly grueling 10 hours with several quick changes and three hours on something that looked more like a D.C. metro car than a real train. But I miraculously (seriously, there were several points throughout the day that I never thought I'd make all my connections) arrived in Nice, France, around 8pm and quickly found my hostel (although I had forgotten to write down the directions to it, so I had to make a stop in an internet cafe). The only other girl sharing my 4-person room with me is a chef in D.C. (what a coincidence!); we spent Monday evening talking and hung out the next two days together before she left on Thursday morning.

Nice, a beautiful seaside (Medditeranean Sea) town, is beautiful and surprisingly reasonable despite the French Riviera being known for its luxurious beachside towns, one of which, Monaco, we visited Wednesday. Haleigh and I spent Tuesday exploring Nice (and even helped some guys move a couch) and as said, Wednesday took a day trip to nearby Monaco, its own principality.

There are a surprising number of foreigners in Nice, and Tuesday night we celebrated Halloween by going to Wayne's, a British bar, and listening to a British coverband (the guitarist was one of the guys we had helped move the couch earlier in the day). After Haleigh left on Thursday, I spent the day walking around Nice's old town (another example of winding, narrow streets) and catching up on emails. Thursday evening, I dragged my new Italian roomie to Wayne's to hear the band play again.

On Friday, taking the train to Venice, Italy.

For the complete photo journal for Nice and Monaco, visit http://www.AndreasOdyssey.shutterfly.com.

Barcelona, Spain (October 26-29, 2006)

I think the best way to describe Barcelona is crazy and over-the-top. The rest of Spain seems reserved and quaint in comparison to this bustling party mecca. It is no wonder that every backpacker in Spain talks so fondly of their time in Barcelona! A mid-day stroll along La Rambla greets you with eccentric street performers, hoards of strolling tourists, and, of course, ridiculous prices for food and souvenirs. You hear English (or other foreign languages) spoken as much (if not more) than Spanish or Catalonian (Barcelona is in Catalonia, a Spanish state that also seeks independence and claims a different culture and history).

During the day, you can get lost for hours in Barri Gotic’s (the old town) winding, narrow streets, spend an afternoon sunbathing along the beach, or explore the city’s many modernist buildings (most by the eccentric, Dr. Suess-like Antoni Gaudi). At night, Barcelona truly comes alive. Dinner is not until 9:00pm and don’t even bother going to a bar or nightclub until midnight or later.

I have to agree with the many other Barcelona-lovers in saying that Barcelona is an intriguing and awe-inspiring city. With that, however, I have to admit that my first few days there were rough. I didn’t meet any cool people to hang out with at first, so I spent my first few days exploring the city by myself, which was fine but can get a little lonely. On Friday night I was supposed to change hostels to (supposedly) the coolest one in Barcelona, where I had a reservation for three nights. I was really looking forward to staying there, but when I arrived there on Friday, I was told my reservations had been messed up and they had to send me to another hostel (one I had heard was not very good). Sure enough, it was not ideal—old mattresses in a 10-person dormitory, push button showers, no WiFi or kitchen, but it was only 15 Euros per night.

My luck changed on Saturday evening, when I went on a pub crawl and met the partial-owner and her Kiwi (New Zealand) boyfriend and his friend. We ended up spending all of Sunday (along with an Australian guy I had met at my hostel in Madrid and had arrived Saturday night) together. They took us to a local restaurant for lunch, on an hours-long tour through the city, and to an excellent wine bar that evening for drinks. I had such a great time on Sunday that I was sad to have to leave Barcelona on Monday morning, but I had already made reservations for my next destination, Nice, France.

For the photo journal for Barcelona, visit http://www.AndreasOdyssey.shutterfly.com.