Barcelona

The morning we traveled to Barcelona we got up at 4:30 in the morning, and from there it was a very long day. We got on our first train in Bordeaux, which took us to Narbonne. Then we waited for two and a half hours and got on our second train to Figueras. We were now in Spain! Then we waited for over four hours for our third and final train to Barcelona. We spent more time waiting in train stations than we did on actual trains that day. Once we got to the train station we figured out where we needed to go and caught a taxi to our hostel. It was good to finally set our things down and have a bed. We spent the rest of that day settling in and resting. We went to the grocery store and got some food. And then that night we went boarding. My favorite part of Barcelona was boarding everyday. That night we realized just how hot and humid Barcelona was. In Barcelona the local preferred language is not Spanish, but Catalan. We found that most people speak Spanish, but they prefer Catalan.

That next day we decided to explore some of the parts in Barcelona that we saw the previous night, and then some. Austin and I grabbed our boards and headed for the beach! We skated around for quite a while and eventually made it to the beach. The beach was very crowded. We looked for a less crowded part of the beach and eventually spotted one in the distance, so we headed that way. When we got there we realized why there weren’t as many people. This section of the beach had a large group of completely nude people. Most of them were between the age of 50 and 80. Most of them were also male. Needless to say we moved on from that area quickly. We moved down the beach and set up shop in one of the more crowded sections. We quickly realized that a certain amount of nudity couldn’t be escaped on the beach in Barcelona. So after chilling on the beach for a while we took our boards and continued our adventure. We skated around the waterfront and the city for a while longer. Eventually we made it back down to the beach for another go at the waterfront. This time Austin actually got in the water, but we didn’t stick around for a long time. At this point in the trip Austin and I were both pretty much ready to come home. We still very much enjoyed Barcelona, but there were little things that pointed towards us wanting to return to America; like the fact that we had Burger King for lunch. We had a late lunch and came back to the hostel to rest a little bit before dinner. Every night we had pasta for dinner. Dinner was nice and slow every night. It was a time to relax. Then after dinner we went out for our nightly ride.

The next day we grabbed our boards and headed inland, away from the beach. We decided to be touristy and check out some architecture. We went to several Gaudi buildings. First we hit up La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s famous unfinished work. Complete with cranes in middle of the structure. Yet another building that I have seen countless pictures of, and got to see it in real life! It reminds me of the hive-like structures in “Pitch Black.” Very impressive, and very different. From there we went up to Park Guell. It looked like something straight out of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. My theory is that every time Gaudi sat down at his drawing table, he first took an unhealthy dose of hallucinogenic stimulant. From there we also visited Batlló House and La Pedrera. Both as uniquely interesting as I would have hoped, but could not have imagined. With that we called it a day for the Gaudi tourism. We went and got some lunch at McDonald’s. Like I said, we were both ready to come home. We went back to the hostel and I rested as Austin went out to skate. I wrote a blog post and worked on some music playlists. It was a very relaxing afternoon, and one that was well needed. Austin got back and then we made dinner. That night we went out to board and I filmed Austin. It was interesting trying to keep up with him and keep the video from being too shaky at the same time. By the time we got back and showered it was pretty late.

That next day instead of skating around to different places, we decided to rent bikes. We walked down to the beachfront, which took considerably longer, and rented our bikes. We then headed up a mountain to check out Montejuïc Castle. The ride up there was a lot longer than we expected it would be, and the ride down was quite a bit shorter than we thought it would be. The castle was quite impressive. It was a military installation; there were never any royalty that had lived there. The castle overlooked the Mediterranean Sea, which was extremely calm. It was quite the view. The castle was fairly simple, but that did not detract from the experience. There were a couple of large canons and several newer large coast defense guns. When we were done adventuring the castle we both had a hot dog and I had some ice cream. I’m pretty sure I had ice cream three times that day… it was a good day. That night after dinner we skated around the beachfront like normal.

The next day we walked down to Las Ramblas, which was an area with shops that we hadn’t been to yet. It turned out to be one of the most touristy places we visited. There wasn’t a lot to do other than walk around, but we made the most of it. We found a small shop that even sold Cannabis seeds. Don’t worry mom, we didn’t buy any. We had another lunch of McDonald’s to keep up our theme of looking forward to America. We spent several hours just sitting and talking. We had some good conversations. It was nice to take it easy and get to talk. We’ve been going so much that an easy day is exactly what we needed. That night we went out to skate and ended up watching some other guys skate for an hour or so. It was an easy, relaxing day. It was a nice last day in Barcelona.

The next day we took our time heading to the airport since our flight didn’t leave until a little after 2pm. We got back in to London and even England felt more like home than Spain. It makes sense because we spent a month there, but it was a strange feeling. England was still fairly new, but even the little bit of familiarity that we had with it was comforting. That night we stayed at the same youth pastor’s house that we did before flying to France. It was good to stay up and talk with him and his wife. Then after a few hours of sleep I woke up, walked to the train station, took a train to the airport, and spent the rest of the day on planes trying to get home. I eventually made it and have been resting here in the heat of AZ. It was a very good trip, but I am so very glad to be back in the States. Oh, and if you want to see photos, check out my facebook. That is all.

Bordeaux

In Bordeaux we stayed with the family of Maxence, the girl from Paris. Like I said previously, Austin’s family and this family have a lot of history together. There are several family members that weren’t there but the ones I did meet were Lorrie, the mother, Fred, the father, Victoria and Theo, who were two parts of a triplet. Austin and I were met at the train station by Lorrie and Fred and were taken back to their house. They live just outside of Bordeaux in a town called Cestas. The house is nice and has a garden surrounding it. Or maybe that was normal, but growing up in Arizona it made me think it was a garden. It may have just been normal foliage. From the moment we arrived we were treated like family. It was so nice to have a place to relax. That day we rested for a bit and then went into Bordeaux. We spent the day looking at different architecture, walking up the riverfront, and having ice cream. That day we experienced the first of many home-cooked meals. Most of them were pretty tasty. Some of them were kind of weird. We didn’t do a whole lot that first day because we hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep and were pretty tired. Each day Lorrie took us somewhere new to show us a part of France, which was a lot of fun.

The next day we went to the beach! We went to Arcachon. We wandered around the town for a little bit and then hiked up a sand dune. It’s apparently the largest sand dune in Europe? Or maybe France? One of the two. It was pretty big. Once at the top you could see the ocean on one side and a massive forest on the other. Which I do remember is the largest planted forest in Europe. After we hiked back down the dune we sat down for lunch. I decided my new favorite fruit is the nectarine. They’re so good! We headed back to the main part of town and got on a boat tour that took us around the bay. It was a little over three hours of a boat ride, and I spent all of it outside. It made me miss the lake. Victoria’s dad has a boat and I used to go with them a lot to the lake. I want to wake board so badly! So being outside all day got me dark; fast. But only where my tank top wasn’t covering. I got a little burnt, but mostly just dark. That night when we got back Fred joined the three of us for dinner. People eat dinner a lot later in France, usually around eight. We stayed up for a while after dinner talking with the two of them, a German even came out to talk with us. Fred and Lorrie were also housing a couple of German students for a week. The day was tiring but oh so fun!

The next morning we woke up late and took it easy for the morning. In the afternoon we went to the vineyards. We pulled up to the “castle” which was basically a cool looking house. And we started the tour. It started with the chapel. One of the previous owners had built a small chapel behind the house in remembrance of her husband that had died. After that we went to where the vines and the winery were. Seeing the vines was cool, but seeing the winery was even more exciting. There was a lady with us the whole time explaining the wine making process and answering our questions. It was very casual and personal and I really enjoyed it. The coolest room was where the barrels of wine were; literally, it was air-conditioned. We didn’t try any of the wine because neither Austin nor I like wine, but he did buy a bottle for his grandpa. The rest of the day we just lounged around the house. Austin napped and I worked on editing a bunch of photos because I haven’t put up any photos from the entire trip yet. I’m working on it.

The next day we went to the beach again, but a different one. The first day we were on the bay side, this day we were on the Atlantic side. The beach was so much fun. It made me miss California. It was a toasty day, so the water felt really good. The water was a tiny bit chilly but it felt great compared to the heat from the sun. One difference about the French beach and beaches in the states are the cement bunkers all over. When the Nazis occupied France they built what was called the Atlantic Wall. It was a series of fortifications on the beaches in France meant to defend against a coastal invasion. There were half sand-covered structures strewn all over the beach and in the water. Over time they have worn away and moved out further to sea. It was interesting to see history lying right before me. It was a very fun and interesting day indeed. That night we had Foie Gras and Duck. I’m definitely going to try my hand at making Duck when I get back to the states. That night Austin and I washed a load of clothes but by the time they were clean the sun had gone down already, so we had to dry them off with a blow dryer. Then we went to bed because we had to get up at four thirty the next morning to make our first train.

One of the great things about Bordeaux is that Lorrie spoke fluent English. This removed the language barrier, for the most part, that had been so frustrating up until this point. It also meant that it was easier for us to practice our French. She helped us with our pronunciation quite a bit. Another thing that was very nice about Bordeaux is that we were there for four nights. Which means we didn’t have to pack all of our things around, we could just leave them at the house. It was nice to be in a home as well. There was a family there and it was very relaxing. Lorrie also planned pretty much everything that we did, which took a big stress off of Austin and I. We did a lot but it was a very relaxing and refreshing time. Bordeaux was one of my favorite places thus far.

Paris

When Austin and I left Fontainebleau we went to Paris. We got to our hotel on July 4. Happy Independence Day! It’s all right to be here because the French helped us out against the British, it’s all good. The hotel room was very small. There was barely enough room for the bed. There was also only one power outlet in the room. Other than the size it was a nice place. It wasn’t spectacular but it was definitely all right for a couple of college guys on a budget. We spent a little bit of time in the room settling in, but not too much, cause we were in Paris. We headed out to dinner and stopped at an Italian place. And I’m pretty sure we were the only ones in there that spoke English. We played a really fun game with the waiter called “point at what you want on the menu.” I just got a pizza because I knew what that was. It wasn’t a bad time; it was just our first eating-out experience with the language barrier. We went to the market after that and got some bread and chocolate to eat later. It was a fairly uneventful first night.

The next day we decided to be proper tourists. We got a fairly late start, hopped on the metro (the subway) and headed downtown. Our first stop was The Louvre. It was very exciting being there, but not as exciting as I thought it would. We saw quite a lot of Egyptian antiquities and some Greek and Roman antiquities also. I liked those two sections best out of all that we saw. We also checked out some paintings, including the Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa was the smallest painting in the room; it was also the most viewed painting in the room. I recognized fewer paintings at the Louvre than at any of the other museums I’ve visited in the past month. That part was sad but being there and seeing a lot of the historical pieces and sculptures was really cool. When we were walking through the Egyptian section I kept expecting a Goa’uld to pop out of one of the sarcophagi, but that didn’t happen. Our second big stop was the Eiffel Tower. We had planned on seeing it at night but I wanted to see it during the day as well. It was absolutely packed out with people. The lines to go up in the thing were ridiculously long. It was fine for us cause we hadn’t planned on going up yet. We sat on the lawn by the tower for quite a while, resting and looking at it. We were also still tired from traveling so the rest was good. I went and got some ice cream. The ice cream over here is more like gelato than ice cream. It’s soooooo good! It was a warm day so it made the ice cream even better. France has been very warm thus far, which wouldn’t be bad except that none of the buildings have air conditioning, but it’s really not that bad. I have definitely experienced more intense heat than I’ve experienced here. After the Eiffel Tower we went to see the Arc De Triomphe. It was exceptionally cool to see that. The first full day in Paris was a success!

The next day I woke up a little earlier and headed off to have a quiet breakfast alone. I had wanted to have some time to myself for the past month and had never really gotten it, so I decided it was time. I found a nice little café on the street and decided to eat my breakfast there. After getting help from two other customers I finally ordered my food. I sat down in front of the café and waited for my food. The great thing about café’s in Europe are that there are usually tables set up out in front of the restaurant. I loved sitting out there for breakfast. I ate my croissant first, which was impeccably delicious. I also had a large glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee. I sat there for about an hour just watching people walk by and listening to the conversations around me. I could not understand what people were saying, but that did not detract from the experience at all. In fact, in a way, it added to the experience. After breakfast Austin and I had to check out of our hotel room because we only booked two nights. For our last two nights we stayed with Austin’s friend Maxence. Since we checked out of the hotel we had our packs with us all day. They were heavy indeed. We spent most of the day at Montmartre. It is a cathedral that is on a hill that overlooks the city of Paris. It was another hot day and we spent several hours sitting on a bench in the shade. This doesn’t really sound like a very exciting time, but we enjoyed watching the locals. We sat by a large fountain, most of the visitors made it into a pool. The security guards came by several times and made everyone get out of the fountain. We also saw a group get kicked off the premises for trying to smoke weed. And we saw a guy running away from the security guards. Austin and I were walking up some stairs and this guy ran past us very fast, about ten seconds later five security guards ran past us after him. It was an eventful afternoon to say the least. After that we headed to Maxence’s apartment, Austin’s friend. When Maxence’s mother was young she stayed with Austin’s grandparents in the U.S. on a foreign exchange program. When Maxence was younger she also stayed with Austin’s grandparents for a time. So Austin’s family has multiple ties with Maxence’s family. That night we stayed up and talked with Maxence and her two roommates. We talked and exchanged stories and tried to figure out the correct pronunciations for words. Austin and I learned that a lot of French words sound the same to us; I have been learning that the ear is as important as the tongue when it comes to languages.

On our last day in Paris we decided to visit the art district. I can’t remember the name of the area we went to, sorry, but I can tell you there were a lot of gay people there. When I commented on this to Austin, his explanation was, “it’s the art district.” Not really sure how I feel about that, anyways. It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of cool buildings around there. The streets were also very cool. There were a lot of small shops around that were fun to look through, we even looked through a pet store for Austin, and it had some unusual pet clothing. That night we went back to the apartment for dinner. Maxence made crepes. First we had salted crepes, they weren’t actually salted, they just had ham and caramelized onions and cheese and cream. Apparently crepes aren’t just for dessert; who would have guessed? We had crepes for the main course and then crepes for dessert. My first dessert crepe had honey and my second had melted chocolate. The crepes were delicious. That night we headed back into town to go up in the Eiffel Tower at night. The lines were a lot shorter at night, and it also helped that we didn’t get tickets for the elevator, we got tickets for the stairs. We only went up to the second floor. There are two floors and then the top at the tower. We were a little crunched on time so we ran up the stairs. We got some photos and chilled for a little bit, then I headed back down because I wanted to get a picture of the tower sparkling. The lights come on and sparkle for about five minutes every hour starting at eleven at night. On my way running down the stairs I could see the lights come on and I could hear the crowd cheering and clapping. I ran down the rest of the stairs and ran out to the large lawn to try and get a photo before the lights shut off. I got two photos in before they turned off. Not as much time as I wanted but I’m glad I got down in time to catch it. I’m just sad I didn’t get any video. It was absolutely wonderful! I honestly didn’t get the whole; France is the city of lovers, until I saw the sparkling Eiffel Tower at night. It was a Disney-esque romantic moment indeed. I don’t really have a wish for a “significant other” in my life right now, but at that moment it would have been nice. It was quite the moment indeed. Also, I got more ice cream.

After the Eiffel Tower we hurried back to the apartment, avoided getting mugged, and got to bed. Everyone else was already asleep, so there were no French lessons that night. We got three hours of sleep, then made all three of our trains and were on our way to Bordeaux the next morning.

Fontainebleau: Chalk and Sand

Getting to Fontainebleau was an adventure in itself. Austin and I quickly discovered how nice it would have been to learn French before coming to France. At the airport we got on a train, which took us to the center of Paris. Then we eventually figured out what train we had to take to get to Fontainebleau, actually it was kind of a guess, we didn’t 100% know until we reached our destination that it was the right train. We missed that train once and almost got back on the metro to take us into other parts of Paris by accident. But we figured it out eventually. Once we got to the station in Fontainebleau we couldn’t find a taxi. We walked around for a couple hours and couldn’t find a single taxi that we could get to stop. This was frustrating seeing as how there was a sign that said, “taxi” pointing to the direction we went. Eventually I found someone that spoke English and she directed us behind the train station where the taxi area was. We called a taxi and twenty minutes later we were on our way to where we were staying. After an interestingly scary taxi ride we arrived at the Bed and Breakfast. It was a nice place, out of the way. It was on the edge of the small town where we were staying, about a forty-minute walk from the climbing area. First thing we did was find the market and buy some food. The baguettes were only €0.76! Later that day we headed out to go climbing. After three hours of walking around in the woods and not being able to find anything, we decided to call it a day. We had a grand total of two hours of sleep the night before so going to bed early was a welcomed blessing.

The next day we woke up to a wonderful breakfast. A croissant, orange juice, toast and jam, cereal, fruit, and great company. Breakfast everyday consisted of Austin and I, Stef, the owner of the establishment, and an old British couple there on holiday. Breakfast was one of my favorite parts of the stay because we would all share stories and talk together. Jack, the old British man, was quite hilarious. We learned about all things Europe from our friends at breakfast. After breakfast we went out to climb. We eventually found the climbing area we were looking for called Le’ Elephant. The first big boulder of the climbing area looks like a big elephant head, so the name is fitting. We were out at the climbing area for eight hours that day. There was a nap thrown in the mix so we weren’t climbing non-stop. It took a while to get used to the rock. It is sandstone so it feels different than the rock we are used to climbing. Because there is sandstone everywhere, there is also sand everywhere. It was interesting to see white sand in the middle of a forest. It added a couple interesting elements to the climbing as well. We only topped out (completed) a few routes that day and it was a bit of a tough day. The temperature picked up and it even got a little warm during mid day. Eventually we headed back to the Gite (name of the B&B). We had a humble dinner of baguettes and pasta, without sauce. We spent the night relaxing and watching videos preparing for the following day.

We woke up the next day to find rain. Breakfast was good as always, but the rain put a damper on our day. When sandstone gets wet, it gets slippery, and if it’s slippery we can’t climb it. We walked to the market again and got some more bread and other food, and continued to watch the weather. Around five in the afternoon we decided to go out to the rock and try to get some climbing in. It turned out to be a great day. We started cranking out routes like nobody’s business. They weren’t necessarily easy routes either; we were just feeling good. Austin and I both ended the day with a project route for the following morning, meaning that we both had one that we really wanted to get, but weren’t able to finish. We only climbed for several hours that day, but we left content because it was such a good day of climbing.

Our last day, which was this morning, we woke up at 6am to get some climbing in before we had to leave. We got out there and I started on my project route. It took me a half hour but I eventually stuck the hold that I had to in order to finish the route. We went on to Austin’s project and he finished it first try. We then went on to a route we had tried the first day of climbing and Austin finished that one first try as well. After some more climbing we headed back for breakfast. We said goodbye to the British couple, showered, packed, and eventually Stef took us to the train station. First leg of the trip has been a roaring success. It went very quickly, but it was wonderful. And now I am sitting in a hotel room in Paris. More adventures to come!