"Who says you can't go home..." (End of EuroTrip 2011)

I figured I might as well end this trip with one final blog. I'm typing this from my house in New Albany, but I wrote most of it while on our long flight from Munich, Germany to Chicago (good way to kill time on a 9+ hour flight!). I realized that by the end of the flight, we'd traveled 5000 miles in just one day! That's pretty crazy to a small town girl like me. When we were boarding this Munich flight, I realized it is the sixth flight of the trip. I love flying. I still always get that little excited kid feeling every time a plane takes off. And I feel so incredibly lucky, not only that I was able to go to Europe on this amazing trip, but even down to the small things like the fact that I've been on an airplane six times in one trip! My parents and I didn't fly a ton growing up, so it still feels special every chance I get to do so, which I like. I think it makes me appreciate these opportunities even more.

I'm not going to lie, I got a bit teary eyed as our flight from Munich to Chicago got off the ground. This first visit out of the US for me has been so enjoyable. I've always known there is so much more out there to see and experience, but this was my first chance to actually do so, and I can't imagine a more perfect trip. In a lot of ways it almost feels unreal, that we got to do so many amazing things in just a month's time. So many things on my bucket list can be crossed off just from this vacation! :) It was everything I dreamed it would be, and honestly I think a bit more.

I'm not trying to suck up in the slightest, but I truly think a big reason this trip was so wonderful was because of the extremely warm welcome we received everywhere from Keegan's extended family. I've been excited to meet all of these people I'd heard so much about for quite awhile, and I'm so glad we were able to meet as many family members as we were! :) Thank you to all of you for showing us around, feeding us, and just letting us spend time with you. I think I can easily speak for Taylor and Keegan when I say we loved every moment with all of you! :)

We really got lucky with all of our flights/trains/planes during this trip! Zero delays!! :) Our only small hiccup was in Paris when we were heading to Munich and then home. We assumed our flight was with United (which we flew at the start of this trip when going to London). We got to the United counter and saw a sign for Chicago, and when we told the guy directing people we were going to Chicago, he had us cut in line to go straight to checking in. We were all the way to the point of checking our bags in before someone noticed we actually had a Luthansa, not United flight! Luckily we'd gotten through United lines so fast that it was no problem to go through Luthansa's and security, and still have more than an hour to kill!

In Munich we had to go through a couple passport checks and thought it might be tough to make our flight, but we got to the gate right before the start of boarding! Even had time to shop for about 5 minutes! :) I took a couple pictures while we were at the airport as proof that we were in Germany. And waved to my friends there! :) Then we got on our awesome plane. We had individual tv's with lots of movie options. It was a lot nicer than our United flight actually, so I'm glad we were wrong about the airline!

We had a fun couple days up in Hobart with Taylor's family for the 4th of July. They had an awesome fireworks show! :) But it's nice to be home now. It feels a bit weird actually! I told my mom I had no idea what I wanted for dinner because it's been so long since I had all these options that we have here, so nothing particular was standing out to me! I'm looking forward to catching up on laundry and sleep these next couple days. And uploading a LOT of pictures! (Working on that now!)

While on the plane, a song came on my iPod and this one line from it stood out to me.. "This was the very first page, not where the story line ends." Maybe it's a bit of a stretch, but to me this quote means that this was my very first trip out of the States, but it's definitely not the last. Now that I've seen some more parts of the world, I can't wait to explore more. It's a tad cheesy, but it made me feel better when I was a bit sad about the trip being over. I have been planning and talking about this trip with our families for well over a year now, and it is hard to believe it's over! But, I'll just have to start planning the next EuroTrip I think! :)) (Oh and just in case anyone was curious, the song is a Taylor Swift song... don't tell Keegan! Ha)

Thanks again everyone involved with this trip. And special thanks to my parents for letting me go! :) I know it was tough haha. Sending love to all of you who are reading this and who I'm thinking about while writing this!! :)

Much love,

Kaitlyn

End of the trip: Final day in Paris!

Bonsoir everyone! This is possibly the last blog on the trip (maybe one more once we get back to the states just recapping and letting anyone who is curious know that we made it back ok). I am about to crash and get as much sleep as I can before our LONG travel day tomorrow. It probably isn't going to be too fun. But, it's been a great trip so I suppose one long day heading home isn't the end of the world. I am hoping to sleep more this time so it goes by faster. We'll see how that goes!

But back to today! We decided not to sleep in too much so that we could make the most out of our last day in Paris/Europe. After a quick breakfast, we hopped on the metro and set out to see the Catacombs. This may not be as well known of a tourist attraction as some others in Paris, but it actually is really popular and interesting. But for people like myself, it is also a bit creepy and probably not something I'd do more than once. I am glad I went though. This was the main thing Keegan really wanted to do in Paris, so I called it his Trooping the Colour! (becuase we had to wait in line for like two hours to get in to this thing, and I made him and Tay stand outside in London for more than two hours for the parade...) But anyway, for those of you who are not aware what I am talking about, the Catacombs are underground burial sites for millions of Parisians from hundreds of years ago. You basically go down a creepy dark tunnel deep underground, and then eventually reach hallways just lined with skeletal bones and skulls and such. It is amazing to see, though very creepy! I probably haven't done the best job explaining it, but if you want to know more I recommend just Googling it :)

Keegan very much enjoyed his Catacombs tour, as did Taylor and I suppose myself. Afterwards, we went by metro to Luxenburg gardens. It's really pretty there. I enjoyed just walking around a little. There are some tennis courts on the grounds and the maps made them look like they may be grass courts, but sadly they were just hard courts so I wasn't that impresed. Ha but it was still neat. We had lunch just across the street from the gardens at a very nice cafe. Taylor had a cool blue drink that she enjoyed quite a bit, I enjoyed my good 'ol American/Italian style pizza, and Keegan liked his steak and beer. So all was well :). Then we walked to the island where Notre Dame is. It was very crowded due to the fact that it is Saturday and that is a very touristy area, so we took a few pictures and then just headed back to our hotel area. It was a pretty tiring walk. We relaxed a bit, and then went back to the same place we had dinner and drinks the previous day. The guys there all recognize us now and say hi and have little conversations with us. One guy and I try to converse about tennis and he told me to come back and watch the Finals tomorrow. I am bummed we can't do that! We'll be on the plane then though heading back home. So he said to look the restaurant up on Facebook! haha It's funny how even people over here use that to stay connected.

Well, my eyes are very tired so I am going to call it a night soon. Hopefully our good luck continues tomorrow and we have no problems with our flights and travels back to the homeland. I am excited to go back, but bummed to leave as well. It still is crazy to think about how much we have done the past month! It's been so wonderful :)

Goodnight friends and family! Thanks again for reading!!

xoxo, Kait

Paris, J’Taime! :) (Friday July 1)

Bonsoir! We have had a very nice time in the lovely city of Paris. It really is a fantastic city. And it is a very easy place to get around, which surprised me at first. I thought things would be more spread out, but it is all very accessible. And since we got here Thursday morning instead of Friday afternoon, we have plenty of time to see and do what we want without feeling rushed. It also probably helps that we are using the metro a lot here, which gives our poor feet some nice breaks!

This morning (Friday) we ate some food we brought with us from Lyon for breakfast, and then we took the metro to the Arc de Triumph. I’d heard from my French teacher that you can get great views from the top of it of the Eiffel Tower and Paris in general, and she was right! I’d say it was definitely worth the 6 euro entrance fee. After getting some nice pictures and enjoying the views from the top, we headed back down and then got back on the metro to get closer to the Eiffel Tower!

We got off at a place recommended by Keegan’s cousin Brendon. We were at the Theatre de Challiot, which is a GREAT place for pics of the Eiffel Tower, without all the annoying tourists found on the other side of it. Brendon had told us about a café in the theatre/museum which was free to enter and had fantastic views of the Eiffel Tower. He was absolutely correct! It was perfect. While there, we had a waffle with chocolate sauce and whipped cream (yum!) and Keegan had an espresso while we just enjoyed the wonderful view. I highly recommend doing this to anyone who travels to Paris. It is easy, and well worth it!

We walked under the Eiffel Tower and took some pictures on the other side, too. Then we walked around a bit more before heading back to our hotel area. After lunch, we gathered our bags and went to our next hotel, Cosmo’s Hotel. It’s a really cute little place with wonderfully cheap (unbeatable) prices. The location isn’t nearly as superb as our first place, but it is easy to get anywhere with the nearby metro stations.

I was eager to catch the end of the Tsonga/Djokovic tennis match, so while Taylor napped Keegan walked with me in hopes of finding a bar showing Wimbledon. We look our chances with a really cute bar lounge just down the street, and the nice guy working was so kind and changed the tv to show the match just for our request! And I was delighted to find out he was a Djokovic fan, too! (Though surprising, since Tsonga is French…) We had a drink each and a very fun time watching the match there. We loiked the place so much that all three of us went back for dinner! Dinner was wonderful as well. We all chose pasta dishes. Taylor and I loved our three cheese tortellini, and Keeg liked his penne pasta, too.

After dinner, we grabbed some warmer clothes and then headed towards the river/Eiffel Tower and went on a night boat tour! We all really enjoyed it and would recommend that, too, especially at night. This is when all the monuments, buildings, etc are all lit up. The Eiffel Tower almost looks fake it is so pretty! It’s definitely an image that would be difficult to forget! It’s safe to say, we all love Paris! J

~Kait

Lyon --> Paris (Running of the people to the train, The Louvre, etc.) :)

8:45 am: Well we've had an interesting morning! And its not even 9 a; yet. I am writing this while on our train to Paris. But first let me back up a bit. Yesterday was a very chill day. We literally did nothing! Besides go to the grocery store a couple times and a few other places in Brignais. Then we had dinner at home with Nadine. We helped her finish all her leftovers from the party! The dessert was especially delicious! Taylor and I actually really enjoyed tiramisou. We thought it would taste too much like coffee, but actually it was great. And we also had some wonderful homemade ice cream which Nadine made herself! It was strawberry. So fresh and tasty! :) After our nice dinner we finished packing and then went to sleep in order to be as rested as possible for today.

This morning we had a nice 6:15 am wake up call and then hurried out the door a little after 7 am. Our train left at 8 am. Traffic was pretty heavy, so by the time we were near the station it was like 6:57 am (or later!). We literally ran from Nadine's car up to the track and climbed on board as the minute warning bell rang. I am still a bit shocked we actually made it! Of course, then we realized we weren't in the right cabin, so at the first stop we hopped off and then ran even faster to get to our cabin before the train started again, which was about 7 cars away! We were very out of breath when we got on. But at least we got to the correct seats.

11 pm update: Of course that didn't even really matter either because no one ever came to check our tickets! The train ride was really quick and easy. I enjoyed it more than an airplane. The seats are bigger and more comfy, and it just was nicer overall.

After getting off the train, we figured out how to get to the metro. We had no problems finding our hotel, which is a cute little place in the heart of Paris. We are very happy with the location, and for one night the room is fine. Then off to another place tomorrow. The life of a European traveler... ;) When we got to the hotel it was too early to check in, so we just left our bags and had a nice little lunch at a cafe down the street. Once again, we had ham and cheese sandwhiches. For someone who never really ate ham at home, I am really getting to the point where I am ready to have a new lunch! It always tastes good, but no matter how good a meal is having it too much can just make ya uninterested I suppose. But I am honestly going to miss the food. And I am really going to miss all the cafes! I would go buy a new loaf of bread every morning at a little boulangerie/patisserie if we had good ones at home!!

Once we finished lunch, we headed to the Louvre. I am really not a big "museum" person. Typically I don't enjoy them all that much after a half hour or so. But this one was different. It is an exhausting place, but SO cool. We all agreed it was well worth the trip and we really enjoyed it. Just the outside is awesome. At first we thought it was going to take awhile to get in, but the line moved very quickly and once inside we waited no more than 5 minutes to get our tickets. We started off with the Egyptian wing. That was all very interesting and a really neat way to start off seeing the museum. It is just so crazy how intricate they made things and how much work they put into preserving the people. We walked in a tomb, saw a mummy and sphinxes, and lots more.

We spent a good amount of time with the Egyptians, and then headed to another area to check out some Roman sculptures. Sadly I know very little about art, but I know we saw a couple famous ones! And then we decided to try and find the lovely Mona Lisa. Which really isn't that impressive. I need to learn more about what makes it so famous, because going in person and seeing the mass amount of crowds around a little portrait like that just doesn't make a ton of sense. They were so many more "impressive" pieces of art around that it almost seemed funny that everybody was there to see THAT. But, I am still very glad we did, if even just to say so lol.

We walked around a bit more after seeing Mona Lisa, but by that point we were getting a little sick of walking around such a gigantic place. We walked through the Napoleon III Apartments, which had some awesome chandeliers. Still not entirely sure what the apartments even are for (Napoelon did not live there by the way)... Taylor and I had a nice laugh because we felt like we were recreating a scene from The Hangover when we had this little convo:

Taylor: So all of these objects are from Napoleon's house?

Me: I don't think Napoleon lived here!

Taylor: You sound like Alan when he asked if Cesear really lived there!

.... Ok, so it was definitely funnier in person! Anway...

We walked around outside near the Louvre for a bit, and Keegan and I had some yummy gelato. Then we came to the hotel for a little siesta time. After resting up we headed to the shopping area right by our hotel. We spent all our time at one store that has like 6 stories. It is massive! And way too expensive for us. I enjoyed looking at the 101,000 Euro Tiffany ring and Marc Jacobs purses though! And Keegan enjoyed looking at 20,000 Euro wine! Pretty intense stuff!

We had dinner at the Chinese place in the mall. I didn't love mine but Keegan and Taylor liked what they had. Then after a bit more shopping we headed back to the hotel. But first we had to stop at the pub/cafe next to our hotel for Keegan to have some strange drink. I had more unnecessary ice cream. And now we are in our hotel room with the window open listening to the live music from a band at the club/bar also just down the street. We kind of want to go down and see the show, but we will probably just listen from up here instead.

I am really excited to see more of Paris the next couple days! Lots of fun things we still plan to do. We all agree that we like Paris WAY more than Barcelona. London and Paris are probably tied at the moment. Love them both. I would definitely come back here again sometime!

Bonsoir mes amis!

Kaitlyn

Lyon Love :)

Bonjour mes amis! We have been enjoying a much slower pace for the past couple days in Lyon. It is nice to sleep in as late as desired and not have a huge agenda. I love Nadine's apartment so much, so I have no problem just hanging out around here and relaxing! Yeterday we slept in and then explored the town of Brignais (technically where Nadine lives) for a little while. We had a very French lunch of croque-monsieurs and a bagette to go, plus dessert pasteries.

I told my mom the other day that one thing I am enjoying here is watching the tv show Friends in French! I really think there is a tv channel here that only airs Friends, because every time I turn it on the show is on. And since I basically have all the episodes memorized in English (and can still read their lips if I try hard), it is fun to try and understand it in French. Hopefully it is helping me improve my French a bit! :)

After a nice lunch and relaxing early afternoon, Brahim picked us up and took us to explore another area in Lyon while Nadine hosted some of her colleagues for a little get together. We had a very nice dinner at a little local place in Lyon that Brahim and Nadine enjoy. Keegan and Brahim had kebabs, Taylor had steak, and of course I had chicken ;). The meal came with fries, salad, and two kinds of rice. And lots of bread! It was very good. Afterwards, we walked around and saw a very nice shopping area in Lyon, as well as the mairie (town hall) and a cool fountain statue. Then we were very French and had some delicious Haagen-Daas ice cream. Ha. It was really really good though! And afterwards, we were all stuffed!

Next we came back to Nadine's where the party was still in full swing, but we were all too tired to really interact much so instead we took turns getting cleaned up and ready for bed. After the party we helped Nadine clean up a bit and then she helped us book our train to Paris. We are going a day earlier now, which will be nice because it gives us plenty of time to see the wonderful city of Paris. I am looking forward to it. I will miss this place though.

One interesting note I wanted to include about our travels is that we have found everything in Europe seems to be just two hours away through some mode of transportation! It is a running joke we have now, because every time we ask how long it will take, it is two hours (sometimes a little less, but generally around two!). For example, the flight from London to La Rochelle was about 2 hours, and all other flights have been 2 hours or less. The bus from Palamos to Barcelona was 2 hours. The car ride from Ile de Re to Bordeaux was two hours. The car rides from Lyon to La Feclaz and from Anncey to Lyon were both two hours. We all had a good laugh the other day when Taylor asked Nadine how long the train from Lyon to Paris would be, and her response was yet again, 2 hours!! Just something I wanted to share :)

Today is looking to be another relaxing day. It has been really hot here, with temps in the 90s, but today it cooled off and is very pleasant outside. I think we are planning on just kind of relaxing and reorganizing until Nadine gets back. I might try and catch some Wimbledon for the first time since I have a little extra time to kill. Why not! :)

Looking forward to Paris tomorrow! Will update when I can. I can't believe we come home Sunday, so in 4 days?! I am looking forward to seeing everyone again, but I really am going to miss Europe! It will be bittersweet I suppose.

A bientot,
Kait

First Full Day in Lyon

Bonjour! We had a nice day in Lyon yesterday. After sleeping in A LOT... as in until literally almost noon, we got up had breakfast and then caught the bus to go downtown. Lyon is a very nice city and easy to get around. We walked a bit and shopped without buying anything I believe, and then we had a very unFrench bite to eat at McDonalds. We realized later that we have managed to eat at one in every country: in Chicago at O'Hare before the flight to London, in London before the Trooping the Colour parade; in Barcelona at the airport at 5 am before our flight, and now in Lyon. We had intended not to eat at one anywhere, but apparently that just can't be done! This McDonalds was our favorite though. It had these cool machines in the area by the counter to order where you insert a credit card and order from a screen. I wish we could do that in the US! It was nice because you can change the language to English or a lot of other options, so you don't have to hope the French speaking cashier understood you. Pretty smart idea, McDonalds!

Anyway, after that we walked a bit more and Taylor and I decided we LOVE the home stores here. They have such interesting cups, plates, art, and other home items. We love it all! After browsing these stores a bit, we went to a little plaza area and met Keegans cousin Brendon and his wife Alicia. They were very nice and showed us many interesting areas in Lyon. Plus, they got McDonalds right after we met up with them, so we felt less silly for having it ourselves :)

Brendon and Alicia showed us the old area of Lyon, which he said is where the largest amount of architecture and such from the Renaissance period in Europe remains (hopefully I got that fact right.) Then we went in a church, had a drink at a pub to cool off (where the bartender was very rude to Taylor and me for just getting water haha oh well!), and then we got on a tram/metro to go up to higher ground. Once there, we saw a basilica which was gorgeous inside. I took a couple pictures and then realized I probably wasn't really supposed to do that! It was very nice and interesting to see. And then we walked over to see two very old Roman theatres! I love seeing ruins like these. It is crazy to think about how old it is. When we were there they were setting up for a concert. Keegans cousin said Jack Johnson is going to be playing there in a couple days! Kinda cool haha. The only other singer/band we recognized on a little board that said who would be performing there this summer was The Artic Monkeys, one of Keegans favorite bands.

After seeing the Roman theatres, we walked back down. I never knew before this trip that it can be just as hard to walk down a hill as it is to go up one. Sounds silly, but when it is really steep and really long, it takes a lot of energy to maintain your balance and such! I know my calves hurt by the end of the day! After that walk down, Alicia and I got some ice cream and the others just got drinks at another place. They made us stand a little distance away to finish our ice cream since we bought it somewhere else, and then we joined them for drinks. And then Nadine met up with us for dinner!

We mainly had hamburgers for dinner, with salad and potato wedge fries. I got in trouble with Keegan because apparently I was supposed to be eating the burger with silverware like everyone else! I didn't even realize that was what they were doing, so I looked very silly! The burgers were delicious, and our meal came with an option for dessert or cheese and we all choose desserts. Keegan had a fruit tiramisou which was very good, and Tay and I had the chocolate cake dessert with mango ice cream. It was delicious! And I was surprised to find how well the ice cream and chocolate cake went together. Very very good and filling!

Then we headed back to Nadines and helped her rearrange her apartment a bit because she is having some colleagues over tonight and needed to make more room. I love her apartment building! We found out last night that it has a garage underneath and a little cellar, which is perfect for storing things and adds a lot of room to her already large apartment. I would love to live in a place like this someday! After helping her a bit, we were all ready to shower and sleep! I am up earlier than the others so I decided to type this while they rest a bit. Will probably write another blog tomorrow! Hope everyone has a great day!

xoxo Kaitlyn

Adventures in the French Alps and Lyon!

Well, we made it back to France! (After a VERY long night at the airport) I think we are all trying to just forget about last night. It was exhausting. The benches at the airport were not comfortable at all and we had an awful time trying to get situated. We eventually found a nice quiet spot in the airport where we all grabbed our own separate benches. I was just falling asleep when two unfriendly policemen came and woke us up wanting to see our boarding passes. We didn't have them yet because the area for that was closed until 4 am, but they were insistent and annoying about the whole thing. It was especially annoying because they'd already seen and talked to us a littler earlier, yet they waited until we were asleep to ask for this. So, unfortunately it was a long night that I'm just glad is over.

I can't even remember anything about our flight to Lyon, France except for a couple minutes I spent looking at the sun as we took off. Next thing I knew, we were in France and landing. I think we all slept that entire flight. We were half awake due to lack of sleep, and then Nadine and Brahim picked us up and drove us straight up to La Feclaz, the town in the French Alps where the chalet is located. I fell asleep again and was not thrilled to wake up right as we were manuevering around a crazy curve. I've never been on one like it! My stomach was in knots by the end of that trip!

The chalet is really cute and on a nice quiet street. It is so interesting to see all the different landscapes in France/Spain that we have seen. The island and beaches are probablyy my favorites! Lyon is nice as well, at least the suburb of it that Keegan's aunt Nadine lives in. More on that later!

After arriving at the chalet, all we wanted to do was sleep, so the three of us headed straight to bed for about 2 hours. It was tough to get up after that, but we did and we had a nice lunch. Then we took a hike. This hike was unlike any I've ever done. We went up the mountain to two separate spots with amazing views. After the hike, I was told we did about 10 km, or like 7 miles total. Considering how steep it was and how high we went, I was very impressed with what we did! It was exhausting, but in a good way.

After the hike and a delicious Morroccan dinner (Keegan is ready to head to Morroco next after Brahim's wonderful cooking), we all brushed our teeth and went straight to bed! Funny story about teeth brushing :) ... I have discovered that Taylor cannot stand in the bathroom while burhsing her teeth; she always moves around and goes to another room. I promised her this would make the blog, because I think it is fun the little things we are learning about each other!

Then this morning, we got up and had a nice breakfast before heading to the city of Annecy for the day. This is another nice place in the French Alps. It is beautiful and I highly recommend visiting. I haven't been to Italy yet, but Taylor has and she says it is comparable to the city of Venice. There are canals throughout the streets and it is so pretty just to walk around. The main thing to see in Annecy though is the lake. It is right between the mountains, and on beautiful days like today there are lots of boats out on the lake and people swim/tan etc. It is quite a site. We got some quiches and dessert pasteries and had a little pique-nique in the park by the lake. It was yummy, especially the chocolate mousse cake things Tay and I had!

After lunch and exploring Annecy's streets a bit, we drove a few minutes out of the city centre to visit a very old castle! Supposedly, it is the one Walt Disney based the castle in Sleeping Beauty on. The tour was very interesting but in French so Nadine translated for us. My favorite part was the library, which had between 8000 and 12000 old books from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Very cool to be around. We all enjoyed the castle a lot. Then we drove back to Lyon.

Nadine has a very nice apartment we are all excited to be at. We had lamb and turkey kebabs for dinner, and now we are ready to crash again! Bon nuit!

Barcelona Airport Boredom

Note: I'm posting this blog exactly how I wrote it when we were in Barcelona, so technically the present tense should be past and such, but I wanted to keep it as authentic as possible :)

I probably won't be posting this until after leaving the airport, but I'm still going to write it as its happening so those of you reading this blog can better understand our emotions. It's midnight now as I write this on an uncomfy bench at the entrance to the Barcelona airport. Our flight leaves at 630 am so we decided to just chill at the airport rather than pay for a night at a hotel. Ill descibe more of this later but first let me back up and pick up this blog where I last left off.

Last night there were lots of fireworks going off all around us in Palamos as the people celebrated the festival of San Juan. It annoyed me at first because I felt like I wouldn't get much sleep due to the noise; but I must admit it was pretty cool to see. The fireworks were not as big as Thunder Over Louisville obviously; but we had fantastic views from the balcony. It was like our own personal fireworks show. And we were finishing up laundry (which had to be hung up to dry on the rooftop terrasse) and up there we had an incredible 360° view of multiple fireworks shows! Very cool.

We got up a bit earlier than usual, hopped in a taxi, and headed to town to catch a bus to Barcelona. Then we lugged our suitcases from the bus station to the Urbany Hostel, where Jake and his friends were staying for the weekend. Still can't believe we got to hang out in Spain with him like that! Fun stuff. It was funny at the hostel at first because we felt like stowaways for a few minutes when e hid in the stairway while Jake got a new roomkey, because technically we were supposed to pay but we rebelled. Then we all headed to lunch at a tasty Spanish cafe. We had croquettes for the first time and finally had a good paella experience. It was all good.

After lunch, we let Jake head out to see everything he had planned for the day, and the three of us got on a bus tour. We were exhausted so this was a nice change of pace. Barcelona is really an exhausting city. We all agree it is our least favorite place we have been but I'm still glad we got to see it. And Palamos was amazing so we can't speak bad about all of Spain! If I ever come back to Barcelona, I want to just have a specific area in mind to visit and stay in it all day.

After awhile, we got off the bus and had more gelato. Then we headed back to meet Jake again and get our suitcases. And then we came to the airport. Which apparently shuts down all shops and restaurants at 10 pm and won't let us check in for our flight until 4 am. So instead we are bored and sitting on very hard benches that are going to be tough to sleep in. And it is crazy hot inside so Keeg and I keep stepping out to get some fresh air.

I'm ready to get back to France!!! Another update soon!
Kait

Last night in Palamos :(

Before I begin, I have some bad news for my faithful followers. This may be the last blog for awhile. We aren’t sure what the internet situation will be like at our next destinations. We’ve been lucky so far, so maybe our good fortune will continue. I like to try and keep everyone as up to date as possible! :) Thank you for your support and interest, though. It’s fun knowing someone besides myself may be reading this thing!

But back at our trip! Our dinner last night was very tasty. We made two different kinds of pasta: ravioli with spinach and ricotta cheese filling, and tortellini with 4 queso :) filling. It was all yummy. After pasta, we “vegged out” (Keegan terminology) and then while Taylor was catching up with people at home, Keeg & I stopped by the beach bar again for a little dessert & drink combo. I ordered a drink called Le Quiero for him to try, and had the chocolate gelato for myself. We enjoyed both very much! Then the three of us chatted in the room a bit before calling it a night.

Today was more of a cleaning/packing/preparing for our next move kind of day. We managed to do laundry (major props to Taylor for figuring that out!), went to the supermarcat, and reorganized our belongings. Keegan & I took a short hike which Tay decided to pass on. It was more of a rugged hike than I imagined, but fun. We climbed some rocks & took cool pictures. Later, Taylor & I hit up the beach for awhile while Keegan napped. It was fun just being girls (sorry Keegan!) and having time for girl talk & such! :)

Tonight we headed in to town again for more shopping, dinner, and gelato! We shopped in record time due to Keegan’s obvious hunger (he chanted the name of the restaurant until we finally went there). The restaurant was called CanPaco. It was simple but inexpensive and tasty. And quick, which was good because we were mainly excited to get gelato. We tried a different place than we had previously been to, and it was good but the lady working wasn’t as friendly. So, we decided to be crazy and go back to the initial gelato place after to get ANOTHER scoop… but that guy wasn’t working tonight L. Keegan and I still split a cone just because we felt bad for not going there originally lol. Then we walked back to the apartment place.

There is a festival or celebrations going on all over Spain tonight because it is the festival de San Juan or something like that. Everybody is letting off fireworks. I jump every five minutes from the “BOOM”. I have a feeling I won’t be sleeping so well tonight!!

I’m excited for tomorrow. We are heading back to Barcelona, and have made plans to meet up with our friend Jake! It’s so crazy to me that Jake lives literally down the street from me in New Albany and we are able to meet up with him for a day in SPAIN. Love how small the world is sometimes! :)

I’m a little bummed though because we are already on the last leg of our trip. I realized this because Wimbledon started this week, and it ends the day we fly home. Yes, only someone as obsessed with tennis as I am would use a tennis tourney as a calendar/time keeper! (Go Nole!)

On another note, I’ve eaten wayyyy too much pizza in Spain. It’s so good though!

Buenos tardes amigos!

-Kait

Palamos Beach Bums!

Don't worry, a new blog is here! Sorry for the delay! We’ve all been enjoying our time here in Palamos. The pace is very nice—sleep in, have a nice breakfast, throw on swimsuits/trunks, and head out to the beach! That’s our typical morning routine now J. Sunday it was a bit crowded, but during the week crowds have definitely been minimal. We are always able to find a nice spot without many people around. I love the beach here. I know I haven’t been to a ton of beaches, but I always dislike the ones with the crabs everywhere or the really rocky sand. This one is great; haven’t seen any crabs in the sand and its nice and soft, though it does get hot! We’ve had fantastic weather. I don’t know if Spain is just always this picture perfect, or if we’ve gotten lucky. The only rain we’ve seen was a tiny bit in London, and even that was minimal for London.

I don’t think Keegan was prepared for the way girls treat going to the beach. Taylor and I are more than content to just lay and sunbathe for 2-3 hours at a time… and he isn’t. So, we get in the water some, occasionally get drinks or ice cream at the beach bar, and find other things to do. I could definitely keep this pace up for a few more days. We had to be careful today though because it was hotter than it’s been other days. Yesterday it was really windy which was annoying for laying out, but today was much better. They rake the sand it seems every other day, which is nice. And the water is awesome! I’m not much of an ocean swimmer typically, but I did get in today (as did Taylor and of course Keegan). It’s so clear you can see all the fish in the bottom. I wish they were colorful fish, but I’ll take what I can get J. It’s not that deep either and not very rocky, which is nice. Very family friendly area!

Keegan and I bought a little set of the beach tennis game, and although it can be tough with the wind, it’s still fun. And I’m still trying to convince him to build a sandcastle with me! I didn’t do that as much growing up as I feel the typical child does, so I want to make up for it now! J We feel a tad silly buying a pail and shovel though, so I don’t know if it’ll actually happen.

Yesterday early evening we walked in to town to do some shopping and have dinner. Taylor and I really wanted to try paella, so we got all excited to try this fancy looking place with pretty cheap prices. We were given the English version of the menu (we’ve decided it must just be stamped on our foreheads that we speak English or something), and there were many different types of paella. Some types had fish, and some were with meat. One just said “paella” and we thought that was just rice, so Tay got that and I asked for it with “pollo only” (chicken only)… too bad I said ONLY in English, which meant the guy didn’t actually understand what I meant. I’m sure the looks on our faces were priceless when a big frying pan was placed in front of us filled with mussels, langoustines, rabbit, possible chicken, some rice, and more that we couldn’t identify. I suppose we really should have expected all this, but we didn’t. So Taylor and I were a bit thrown off by the looks of the meal which made it difficult to eat, though we managed to have some of the rice and bread. Keegan had mussels (again), but said they weren’t nearly as good as at previous places. So after dinner, we chowed down on some delicious gelato, which made up for the less than stellar dinner experience J. I have yet to have a bad gelato experience!

Keegan has pointed out numerous times that I’ve failed to mention someone who has been a big part of this trip: Jacques (pronounced Jack with a French accent). This is the name Keegan gave to the first langoustine in his meal in Barcelona. For anyone unaware, this species is placed on the plate in full body, including claws and eyeballs. Tay and I were fully disgusted and couldn’t stand to watch as Keegan began to name and play with his little Jacques. He couldn’t bring himself to eat his friend though. After that, anytime one came with his meal he wouldn’t eat it and would say he was “saving Jacques”. Jacques has shown up at multiple meals now. It’s safe to say I doubt I’m ever able to eat a langoustine in my lifetime now. And last night, Taylor and I were lucky enough to meet the rest of Jacques’ family. They were all saved, too.

We’ve decided to spend an extra day at the beach tomorrow because it is so lovely here, and are just going to head to Barcelona Friday morning. We are enjoying perfecting/practicing our Spanish and French in the meantime, and just relaxing. Our plan for tonight is to attempt to cook some pasta, then maybe go out for drinks/dessert.

More to come soon!

Hasta Luego,

Kait