a bitter sweet ending

It´s my last night here in Europe. My trip has come to its end. I spent the day traveling from Berlin to Madrid. The flight brought me to Prague and then to Madrid. Most of my day was at the airport and by the time I arrived here at my hostel, I had no energy left to spend one last night out in Madrid.
I am looking forward to returning to the United States. I have learned more in two months here in Europe than the past three years spent in college. I have also relieazed how little I know and how much more I need to learn.
There is nothing on the trip I would change if I could but next time I visit Europe I will do things a bit differently. But overall it was a great trip.
The past week in Europe I spent relaxing and seeing old friends. That was the perfect way to end my trip. I even spent a day at an indoor tropical island!
I am too tired to write anymore. I think this may be my last post. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my travels and I hope to see you all very soon.

A tourist no more

Well, my trip is coming to an end. I still have over a week in Europe but the traveling has settled. I am no longer changing countries every few days or getting on and off trains all day. For the rest of my journey I will be spending time in Germany. Currently I am in Essen Germany where my cousin has been staying for the past year.
Now that I have time to relax I am starting to miss home more and more. Everyone I have stayed with has made me feel at home but still I sometime find myself thinking of home.
I am no longer doing the usuaully tourists stuff but instead just spending time relaxing and hanging out. After over a month of being a tourists, its nice to get back to a somewhat normal life. Although I still can not speak the language and don't know all the customs, I feel less like a tourists.
Traveling is way more work than I thought it would be. Trying to figure out where you are going all the time and having to move every few days takes a lot out of you. I had a great trip but its nice to just relax a little. Now I am off to explore a bit of Essen and area of Germany before returning to Berlin for a few more days and then making my way back to Madrid to catch my flight home.

quotes from the east side gallery. the largest part remaining of the berlin wall that has been painted by different artists.

he who wants the world to remain as it is doesnt want it to remain at alli

many small people who in many small places do many small things that can alter the face of the world

i painted over the wall of shame so freedom is ashamed no more inferno ruled too many years until the people chose the light i put my faith in you berlin and give to you all my colors

the 4th of july in paris

I was in Rome on the 4th of July and was unable to find anything to do to celebrate but I was able to spend the day France celebrates its independence in Paris. the night before the big celebration they have firworks outside of the city and on Bastille day thaere are fireworks over the eiffel tower. i did not care to see any firework and left before the fireowkrs over the eiffel tower but i did get to see some of the celebration.

On the street that is famous for its expensive stores, a parade was held on bastille day. the parade was much different from a 4th of july parade in the united states. instead of floats decorated in red white and blue by different groups, they had a military parade. i am not sure of there all the different troops were from but each had the own outfits and spot in the parade. some of the outfits were very different from what military members wear in the united states. the men and women drove all different types of military vehicles through the parade. there were large tanks and other large weapon carrying vehicles.

after the parade there was a parade of helicopters. by this time it was down pouring and i did not feel like standing in the rain to continue watching the parade.

the celebration was very different than how the united states celebrates its independence. I saw it as a great way to honor the troops and still celebrate independence. I understand that in the united states we have other days to celebrate the troops but i feel those days have turned into just an extra day off for some people. not many people go out and celebrate memorial day but instead take the day to spend more time at a cabin or out of town.

it was interesting to observe the celebration in paris. i was only able to be part of a small part of it but it had a very different feel than the 4th of july in the united states.

also sorry for the spelling, i am using a german keyboard

Just a quick update

Traveling is a lot of work. I never have a chance to sit down and blog. Right now I am in Paris. I like Paris more than Rome but Paris is much more spread out. In other cities we have just walked from one site to the other but in Paris we have to take the metro to the next tourists stop. So far we have seen the Eiffel tower, Norte Dame, Louve (where the Mona Lisa is), Sacre Coeur, and the walked around the street that has all the designer stores. Tomorrow we are going to Versille and hopefully going back to the Eiffel tower at night. The 14th is a national Holiday, it's the independence day of France. We will not be staying for the whole day but I am sure we will be able to go to some celebrations. Next stop Berlin.

1 day and 3 countries

After returning from Rome, we spent the day trying to figure out home to get to France. About 30 hours later and 4 trains, we made it to our destination. The small town we are stay in is called Cordon and it is located in the French Alps. We are here visiting my friend Kalli from Minnesota, who has been working this past summer in France.
It is amazing here. It looks just like the ending scene of The Sound of Music. We have an amazing view of the tallest point in Europe, Mt Blanc. Today we hiked up a mountain but just a small one and after we sat next to the pool all day.
This by far has been the most relaxing part of my trip so far. Finally I am out of the city and getting some fresh air. It is also great to spend time with my friend Kalli, who I haven't seen since Christmas.
I will be here a few more days. Next stop Paris.

Security in Rome

There seems to be police on every corner here but that doesn't mean they are doing anything. They like to hang out in large groups and talk more than enforce anything. The worst has to be the Vatican.
The line to get into the Vatican museum, which includes the Sistine Chapel is blocks long. But this line is just to go through the metal detectors. Finally after waiting hours in the sun, we placed our bags on a belt to be scanned and walked through the metal detector. The person who was supposed to be watching the screen to see what was in our bags was just sitting on his phone texting away.
The guards in the Sistine Chapel were not any better. All of five or more of them were standing in the front talking. Every now and then they would "shhhh" the crowd and yell at people for taking photos (which everyone was doing). I understand they have to deal with tourists all day but that's their job but I don't think anyone told them that.

Tourists

I understand why people hate tourists. I hate tourists. Tourists have no respect for the country they are in or the importance of the sites they are looking at.
While at the Vatican museum, which costs 15 euro, is the largest museum in the world(i think) and full of priceless artifacts. Many of the Visitors to the museum were touching the artifacts or disregarding the signs that said no flash. I even saw one mother help her song up so they could get a picture of him sitting on a statue from Egypt. I mean really people have some respect. Today at the Trevi Fountain another family was crawling all over the side, until a policeman finally yelled at him. I understand why people hate tourists so much. If you refuse to try to fit into the culture you are visiting at least respect it and the sites.

When in Rome......

The second part of my trip has now began. I am traveling with another friend from San Diego State. First stop ROME. We were doing great at first, got to the airport on time, found where we could keep our bags, blah blah blah. Even when we got to Rome we were doing great. Found where we needed to go and everything right away but that's where the trouble started. The hostel we had booked was way outside of town and must have been an old school or orphanage. I think it looked like a insane asylum. It would have been so bad but it looked as if they had not cleaned for years.
I knew I was going to have a had time living out of a backpack and hostels but this was just horrible. Right away we canceled our stay but we had to at least stay three nights. Now we are staying at a little B & B really close to town. The lady who runs it seems great and it is only costing just about $8 a night.
Now that we have a good place to stay, I still am unsure how I feel about this city. In Madrid, there is a great metro system and I had expected the same here. Boy was I wrong. The metro here is made up of two or three trains that are hot and DIRTY. But the bus system is okay but still hot and dirty but very easy to use.
I know that Rome would be full of tourists but I under estimated the amount that there would be. Everyone is a tourists, there are tourists every where. I don't really like I am in Italy, I think the best way to see Rome would be to come in the off season.
Well so far I am not in love with Rome. I am enjoying myself but I miss Madrid.