Bienvenidos a Barcelona!

Greetings! We took the train with Caitlin (our DG sister) from Valencia, which was much more enjoyable than our Ryanair flight. After three hours we arrived in Barcelona and made our way to the Metro where we guarded our bags with our lives because we heard about pick-pocketers. We met up with our host Jan and he brought us to his lovely flat. We were relieved when he showed up on the corner to direct us after a day of traveling a little confusion.

On day two we decided to do some sight seeing. We met up with two of the guys we had met in Madrid and walked to La Plaza de Torros. This is the bull fighting ring and there is also a museum that has traditional bullfighting garments. The next stop was Sagrada Familia. It is a massive church that is still under construction and was designed by Gaudi. The church is expected to be under construction for another 25 years. After the church we trecked over to Parc Guell, which was where Gaudi spent his last 20 years. He lived in a pink house (see pictures). The park was originally designed as a private yard but due to lack of funds it was turned into a public park. At the top you can see a great view of the city and the ocean. It was quite the climb and we defintely got our workout in!

After going to the park our exhaustion and hunger set in so we took the bus to Las Ramblas to get some food. Las Ramblas is one of the most famous streets in Barcelona comprised of pet shops, street performers, and vendors. According to Rick Steves (our savior and tour guide), La Boqueria market is a great place to get food and Steves was right! The market offers an array of fresh fruit, cheeses, seafood, and vegtables.

Following our daily afternoon siesta we met up with our friends again and headed to the beach to watch the Spain game. It is always a good night when the home team wins! After the game we walked along the beach and followed the sounds of techno music. It turns out that party crashing isn't just for the movies. We crashed a huge private gay party at a nice resort on the beach. Let's just say our guy friends were not thrilled...

After a late night out we decided to have a relaxing day on the beach. All day we heard "massages," "coconuts," "henna tattoos," "cervezas" from the vendors. The three of us decided to get a 15 minute, 5€ massage and Angela unfortunately went first. The massages were great, however, Angela's included a special finale at the end, consisting of the small Asian woman picking up Angela's arms and bouncing Angela up and down, while her swimsuit was undone. Shock set in, as Angela started screaming, unfortunately drawing more attention to the situation. Luckily being topless on the beach is accepted, and the other two of us were able to communicate that we would not be wanting the last "move."

At the end of the day we headed back to Jan's and thought that a home cooked meal was in order. We went to the supermarket across the street and bought corn on the cob, salmon, and rice. Jan really liked dinner and we were glad that we could give back after all of his kindness and hospitality! Tonight we will wind down with a movie and get some good rest for tomorrow. In the morning we plan on going to the Picasso Museum and some other tourist stops. We will add pictures soon! Thanks for reading.

Ciao, Ciao, Ciao, Ciao!

P.S. We were talking about how to end this post and Angela thought of "ciao ciao ciao ciao" because Jan always says it. Christian of course says, "wait is that spelled c-h-o-w?" HAHA

Valencia

Hola Amigos!

Watching the Spain futbol game at the Real Madrid stadium was one of the most surreal experiences we have had yet. They set up big screens outside of the stadium and thousands of people gathered in their red and yellow to cheer on their country. We immersed ourselves in the culture by working our way into the middle of the crowd and jumping and chanting even as it poured rain. The locals loved us and even gave us face paint! It was amazing to experience the Spanish culture at an event that is so important to the people.

After a frustrating experience with Ryan Air yesterday, we finally arrived in Valencia to visit one of our DG sisters. We have enjoyed a relaxing two days of sight seeing and good eating in one of Spain's most underrated cities. Valencia is amazing, and it has been great to have a local as our tour guide.

Yesterday we walked to the market, grabbed some very fresh food and headed to the river for a picnic. Following our afternoon (and extremely necessary) siesta, we enjoyed endless tapas for around 3.5 Euros. We ran into a very interesting gay pride parade on our way to watch the US vs. Ghana game (disappointing) and ended the evening eating local Spanish food.

Today we rented bikes to explore the city and ended up at the beach right by the Formula One competition. The beach was beautiful, the water was warm, and now we are about to head out to enjoy our final evening in Valencia before taking the train to Barcelona tomorrow afternoon.

Peace, love, tapas, and gelato,

Melissa, Christian and Angela.

Hola from Madrid!

Today is our last day in Madrid. We started the day with a tour of the Palacio Real de Madrid (pictured on the left). On our way to the palace we ran into a fellow DG at Plaza de la Villa! What are the odds?! After the palace we met up with our new friends who are staying at our hostel and we went to Q Tomas to watch the Brazil/Portugal futbol game. Now we are going to hop on the Metro and head to Santiago Bernabeu (the futbol stadium) and watch Spain vs. Chile on the big screen! At 3:30am we will take the shuttle to the airport and fly to Valencia. Viva Espana!

Well two of us are almost there....

Lets just say it has been a rocky start for Christian...maybe checking in with an hour to spare on an international flight is not such a good idea. Angela and I arrived in Madrid at 7 am and after figuring out the metro system we made it to our hostel. Our hostel is in a great location and is full of young travelers from all over. Christian will arrive here at 5 pm and then we will get to experience the night life in Madrid! For now we will head to the park for a much needed afternoon siesta! Adios!

Well two of us are almost there....

AND WE ARE OFF! After months of planning and booking we are finally at T-minus 4 and a half hours. It has been a long night of cramming, family dinners, and figuring out how to lift our backpacks, and yet not one of us is lacking in excitement.

This is where we would like to extend a warm thank you to all of our supportive families and friends. If we were ever in need of support or traveling advice, a plethora of loving family and friends were always readily available. Thank you!

First stop is Spain!!

Watch for postcards, pictures, and updates on any interesting stories or new friends made on the journey to Spain... until then, Adios Amigos!!

xoxo
Christian, Angela, & Mel

22 Cities.10 Countries. 52 days.

As of today, we have created a rough itinerary for our backpacking adventure and have started to book our hostels, flights, train rides, etc. We have decided to visit 22 cities while we are there from June 24th to August 12th.

Spain
Madrid
Valencia
Barcelona

France
Paris
Nice/Cannes/ Monaco

Britain
London

Netherlands
Amsterdam

Germany
Berlin

Austria
Salzburg

Czech Republic
Prague

Italy
Cinque Terra
Rome
Venice
Florence
Siena
Sorrento / Pompeii

Croatia
Dubrovnik

Greece
Athens
Santorini
Delos
Mykanos
Thessaloniki

Welcome to Our Blog!

During our two month journey through Western Europe we will be posting periodically to update all those back in the States on our adventures. The three of us never studied abroad during college so we are taking this opportunity post-graduation to explore Europe. We will be traveling to 8 countries in a little under two months.

This will be our main source of communication to everyone so (Mom and Dad) check here to be comforted that all is well and we are having the adventure of a lifetime.

Wish us luck as we prepare for Graduation and Europe and feel free to leave comments!

XOXO

Melissa, Christian, and Angela.