I realize that it's been a little while since I last posted about my travels. I'm in Spain right now, having left Madrid and the really nice Hotel Atlantico (located on Gran Via: a trendy shopping district just north of the Plaza Mayor) and arriving in Barcelona yesterday. Our trip in Spain has been much shorter than most of the other places we've been to, therefore, much more hectic. Thus: less bloggy, more sightsee-y.
Madrid was incredible. The first night we arrived, Lupe and I went out carousing at 12:30 am or so, looking for food and drinks. We found food in the form of a pizza stand right on the strip but decided that the nightlife was wayyyyy too hectic on a Friday night to try and do the drink thing. So, instead, we cracked open the bottle of wine we bought on our last day in Rome and made a night of it in our own way.
The hotel room at the Atlantico was on the 8th floor (top floor for rooms with a veranda lounge on the 9th overlooking the city) and it was real nice. The blankets alone made the room fantastic: soft and warm like no others before it. The staff was friendly and the location was unbeatable. The next day, we awoke well rested and made our way through most of the surrounding area, splitting up to wander the streets in search of shopping (for Lupe) and sightseeing (for me). That night, we dined at a really nice restaurant on Calle de Tre Cruces. On our way back to the hotel, we stumbled upon a great local bar off one of the side streets where Lupe and I proceeded to drink Cuba Libres for many hours. Back at the hotel, we finished off the bottle of wine and stayed up far too late than we should have. I finally hit the hay at about 5:30 am. Lupe's mom and sister joined us the next day and we took the Metro to the airport at around 7:00 am or so to meet them. Wheee, still drunk! They wanted to go see the Museum of the Americas to see an exhibit on Alaskan Native American artifacts "aquired" by the Spanish during their "colonization and exploration" of that area. I opted to head back to the hotel and guard the bed. Y'know... just in case.
The next day was spent sightseeing, eating paella at a neat little off-the-path restaurant, and checking out the Plaza Mayor and the Cathedral. Very, very cool. We headed up the street, passing the Teatro Real and making our way through the boulevards to the Gran Via again. We left the day after and arrived in Barcelona.
Sadly, the hotel in Barcelona has been... well... why mince words? The place is a hole. The HCC Regente is dingy: bleach stains on the carpet, cracked wallpaper, base boards cracked along the floor. In Elvia and teresa's room, I found a blood splatter on their closet. Yeah... Pretty shitty. This might actually be the worst place we've stayed in (sorry, Charles :P). Luckily, we are only here for two nights.
We spent the day exploring Barcelona today, cruising the crowded La Rambla and it's plethora of street performers and artists, stopping off at the end of the street to hit the MareMagnum shopping mall. Then I split off and went exploring. I found the Cathedral de Barcelona and had a peek inside at all the frescoes and the Gothic architecture. Then I also stumbled, quite accidentally, across a collection of Salvador Dali museum which was amazing! What a lucky find. Holy crap, that was cool. We have been eating tapas like it's going out of style. So much good food here!
I know that this blog hasn't been the same since I stopped posting photos on here but the process of uploading onto this site takes for. ev. er. So, please, come and check out all the photos fit to print on my facebook page. Not all of them are there but I try to update it when I have the time. Send me a friend request if you need access. I'm an addict to the book of faces, so I check regularly.
We leave for Paris tomorrow. I am both excited for the sheer fact that we are going to Paris and that this next flight will be the last flight I have to take until the flight home. We take the Chunnel from Paris to London then rent a car for the remainder of our trip to explore the UK on our way to Glasgow. Apparently there's been some volcano chaos in Iceland where we're supposed to grab our flight home so... that'll be interesting.
I'm ready to be home. Don't get me wrong: this experience has been of the utmost spectacularness and I don't regret it for a nanosecond. But I'm tired of travel. It'll be a while before I get on a plane again after this is all over, that's for sure. Every time I look at my backpack before I have to pack it up again, I groan. This life is taxing. It's great. It's exciting. It's something everyone should do. It's also time for it to be over. I miss my dog and my neighborhood. I miss my kick ass job and all my kick ass friends.
I have been remiss to you, dearest friends: I promise we will be spending more time together when I get back. Lupe and I have been planning for our lives together when we return and it's exciting to have options again. School really put a cramp on our lives. Saying that is putting it lightly. I gave up all things so she could pursue her goals. I didn't realize how much that meant taking myself away from all of you. And she is looking forward to the freedom to do the same after three long years away from anything in her life that gave her joy. We have been talking about our life together when we get back and it makes us want to come back right now and get it started. I can't wait.
Soon enough, I suppose.
-d@n
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