Out of the city at last

After two days in Paris, we headed to our first destination in the South of France, Avignon. The morning of our train, taking a couple wrong turns on the way to the station, we found ourselves for the first time running through the streets of Paris, the metro, and cursing loudly whose fault it all was (Tommy's). Sweaty and out of breath, we made the train, and were on our way to the South of France! Famous for holding a yearly music and arts festival, Lonely Planet calls the small city “the belle of Provence’s ball.” The three-hour train through the French countryside was absolutely beautiful, and exiting the train station we were greeted by ancient stonewalls that enclosed the entire town. So cool.

Tommy "cooling off" before the train took off

First stop in Avignon: a bookstore for a French phrase/vocabulary book. Paris was a huge struggle for us as we not only know no French, but also have no clue how to pronounce anything written. Asking for a restroom, reading a map, ordering breakfast; these difficulties are made further stressful because everyone we come in contact with HATES speaking English. With the phrasebook purchased and out at all times, we spent a lovely few hours wandering around the small town of Avignon. Following the crowds, we found our way up and up and up a windy path to what used to be a castle – the view: spectacular. The Rhone river below, the hillsides littered with tiny white houses, huge flowering trees… sigh.

paintings I loved

castle in Avignon centre

the view from the top

 After a few hours of wandering around enjoying the sun and the sights, it was time to head to the bus station and prepare for the journey to our hostel, Maison de Martin. With the catastrophe in Barcelona fresh on my mind (vending machine dinner vending machine dinner vending machine dinner) I was a less than excited to head to a location described as “just outside of Avignon.” Two missed busses and a little yelling later, we are on our way into the unknown – a tiny village called Vers, 45 minutes away from everything. Yikes.

I cannot explain to you how amazing the next 48 hours were. Getting off the bus at the only stop in Vers, there was farmland to the north, farmland to the south, one house to the east, and one road to the west. Our directions to our place were as follows: 

• Pass the village square and turn left
• Pass the store and go right
• You are near my door! I am the second door on the right, a green wooden double door under a stone arch

 Hmm, no town square. Definitely no store. What to do? Luckily, before this frustration had much time to build, the people in the house came outside. Giving them the address they drew us a map with a stick in the dirt and we were on our way! Up the one road, we found ourselves amongst windy cobblestone streets in the most picturesque place I have ever been. It could have been 100 years ago. One left at the village square (an intersection – the only one in the village) and one right past the store (the only store) we found ourselves at a green gate. Success!

Letting ourselves in, we stood in an absolutely beautiful courtyard. Roses climbing the walls and vegetables growing in abundance, two other guests told us that Martin was at dinner around the corner and that he would take us to him. Sounds good! We dropped our stuff in our PERFECT little room at the top of an uneven staircase and walked five minutes around the corner to the pizza restaurant (one of three restaurants in town).

courtyard

my favorite flowers

We were greeted by Martin and Monique, the owners of Maison de Martin. A little background on Martin: finding himself in the midst of a divorce and consequently a midlife crisis in 1992, he came to Fance, somehow ended up in Vers, and taking a huge leap of faith spent his entire divorce settlement on a ruin in the middle of the small village. Speaking no French and having no money to fix the place up, he moved back to America and entrusted a man in the village to oversee the repair of the house. For years he sent a little money at a time, coming when he could to make sure everything was going smoothly. In 2004 he moved to Vers into his completed home, met Monique (an eccentric and wonderful French woman) and together they opened Maison de Martin. This is the most incredible place – a perfect bed and breakfast in every way. Small, romantic, beautiful, tucked away in the French countryside.

Tommy and I chatted with them for a long time, drinking A LOT of the local rouge, and eating A LOT of the best pizza and pasta we have ever had. We are worried we may have found the best pizza in the world and that Italy may be a disappointment – we’ll see.

Martin told us about all the things to do in and around Vers, and helped us to plan for the next day. Exhausted, full, and a little drunk, we passed out in our beautiful Provencal room, in our beautiful Provencal house, in our beautiful Provencal village.


Alyson

oui oui oui!

 Paris was incredible. We arrived on Easter Sunday, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how much the entire city looked like an Easter basket. Robin’s egg blue sky, Pale green trees kissed with pale rose sprigs of sweet smelling flowers. I loved it. Even directly outside of the smelly train station was beautiful and romantic.

All of my friends that have been to Paris told me before we left to watch out for the metro. Citing it as complicated and much harder to navigate than Madrid or Barcelona’s, Tommy and I found this out right away. As soon we sat down and the metro pulled out of the station, we realized we were on the wrong one, going the opposite direction of our hostel. So far we have done this once in every city (each time with all of our gear on our backs and very grumpy about it.)

Originally, we were not very excited about the hostel we had booked for Paris. All of them were really expensive, and not wanting to spend over 30 Euro each, we went with one that didn’t have stellar ratings on Hostel World. When we got to Paris however, we realized that our hostel was in the Montmarte area, famous for being jam packed with cafes open late into the night, and fresh fruit and veggie stands. On top of that, our hostel was incredible. Comfy, clean beds, fast internet, newly renovated bathrooms, all the good things. After enjoying a croque monsieur and two bottles of water for four euro each (I don’t even want to go there) we headed straight for the Eiffel Tower.

croque monsieur for lunch

cat lazing around in Montmarte

 The rest of Paris was such a blur. We had two day time picnic+nap combos at the base of the Eiffel Tower, a delicious dinner in Montmarte, a meltdown when the bank shut down all of my cards, a bottle of wine and crepes at the Eiffel tower light show, and a romantic evening stroll around the Louve. Lots of Eiffel tower, lots of photographs of the Eastery landscape, lots of feeling on top of the world.

picnic lunch. the absolute best quiche i've ever had.

kick in front of the eiffel tower... i love it

the louve at night, pretty pretty

 After two days in Paris, we headed to Avignon. More on that to come very soon!

Alyson

The 3:10 to Yuma... I mean, Paris!

Our final evening in Barcelona was GREAT. We made absolutely sure we wouldn’t miss our train (again), and got to the station about two hours early. Upon arrival we soon realized that there was no consigna or “luggage storage”. This presented a teence bit of a problem because it was dinner time and most restaurants aren’t fond of 2, 50 some pound bags sitting in their dining space. Solution? Eat outside. Outcome? Amazing food, no more stomach problems (knock on wood please), Barcelona football game on TV, PERFECT weather, and as my little Roo would say.. “All of the good things”!

After a dinner of tapas and some easy to eat spaghetti (me of course), we headed across the street to board our overnight, 14 hour sleeper train to Paris. This being our very first overnight train we really had no idea what to expect. When checking in, we quickly realized it would be different than we thought. As is custom on these trains, men do not share train cars with women, which meant we were splitting up… briefly.

As soon as we got wind of the bar on board, we made a plan to meet there after the train departed, which was one of the best decisions of the trip so far. We had brought our own bottle of wine with us and were enjoying a few glasses when we started chatting with some guys from, well, just about everywhere. Canada, Israel, Brazil, London and Ireland were the most friendly and lively of the bunch (all male). We had some great conversation and not too long after that it was time for Alyson to go to bed.

This is where things get interesting and a tad hazy… With it now being just the guys everyone seemed to loosen up a little more and the beer was flowing freely… VERY freely for some. There was a ton of storytelling, life lessons discussed and learned, inappropriate conversation, political conversation, and even some convo about love and how much everyone could tell that Alyson and I are deep in it. Long story short, all six of us got SCHWASTED… “Ima gunna tell my kids abought this train ride” “Ill remember chu guys forevera” “Firsts ands lasts names for da faceboook”

I spent a lot of time talking with John, who is from Israel. To have so much in common with someone from around the world is really crazy. We’re both a little hippieish, rationalists, love the earth, like the same music and share the same views on how life should be lived. He had so much to say, and said it very slowly and in extremely broken English. Although I made other great friends on this train, I truly believe that John and I will talk regularly forever.

We all got kicked out of the bar sometime around 3am and I stumbled back to my sleeper room. Well, my attempt to sleep room anyway. I didn’t get much at all, but before I knew it we were rolling into Paris.

I was feeling quite groggy until we made it to our hostel. It really perked me up knowing I would have a GREAT place to sleep the next two nights. Seriously, if you’re ever in Paris the Plug Inn Hostel is for you! Best part of town, clean, mostly younger people, just the best. Our Paris adventures started soon after this, Ill let Alyson give you the deets! Miss you guys!

“To be in loved isa like, de best, like noting else.”- John, my new Israeli friend

TO 

p.s. F@*K the security guard from Barcelona

A Little Bit Of Everything

Sorry it’s been a couple days – so many things have happened! 

Upon arriving in Barcelona, finding our hostel was a breeze. Walking the streets of a new city felt just as good as it did in Madrid. Our first night in a hostel was… everything I thought it would be? Six beds: three 20-somethings from Igeria, one older Romanian gentleman, one Tommy, and one me. Problems I had with this situation include (but are not limited to): the lack of showering going on, the smelly sheets, and older Romanian gentleman’s excessive snoring that kept most everyone up all night.

made it!

made it, made it!

BUT, before we hit the hay – our first night in Barcelona was perfect. We started off strolling down La Rambla towards the sea. La Rambla is a bustling hub of street art, street acts, street vendors, street everything. I quickly found a delicious (yet pricy) tapas bar and enjoyed a few pintos (bruscetta – Spanish style) and a glass of wine. Wine everywhere in Spain is DELICIOUS and cheap, no matter how expensive the accompanying food is. This, I am into. We continued our walk to the Mediterranean and enjoyed the romantic view of the sea and the harbor; just Tommy, me, and a massive waffle soaked in chocolate and strawberry sauce J

romantical view of the harbor

love for us

The next morning, in the freezing rain, we made our way straight to La Sagrada Familia. Between the incredible sight of the cathedral and the icy chill in the air, my breath was truly taken away. People can tell you something is amazing a hundred times, but seeing absolutely is believing. Tommy and I gawked and gawked, taking millions of pictures and letting our true tourist colors shine through. I was proud to wear them. The fact that it is still a work in progress blows my mind. Even amongst the construction and the imperfection of something unfinished – it is the most amazing sight I have ever seen. We have decided to make a return trip to Barcelona upon its completion.

outside of La Sagrada Familia

one small part of the incredible inside

 So this is where things get a little screwy. We booked a hostel “just outside of Barcelona” for Saturday, our second night there. Our plan was to go out that night, the thought process being we wouldn’t mind the long train ride home as we would be schwasted. Whelp, the hostel ended up being student housing (dorms) for Universitaria Automna 30 minutes outside of Barcelona by train. PLUS another 20 minute walk. Just a little teence reminder – all walking between hostels is accompanied by 60 lbs of everything we brought to Europe. HMM. Not off to a great start. Honestly the rest of the things that went wrong are far too complex to write in paragraph form, so I’m just going to bullet point it for ya:

• Upon arriving there was no reservation under our name
• The office to the dorm was closed
• We had to do all dealings in the security office
• The security guard spoke no English
• The security guard really didn't care if we had a bed to sleep in at all
• The security guard was the biggest asshole in Spain
• We had to bargain and bribe to get a cable for the internet
• All bargaining and bribing took place with our best friend, the security guard

I'm not even going to go there. The bullets are all I can muster. Writing the bullets made me sweat just thinking about it. That's all. 

The room itself was AMAZING. Although in the middle of nowhere, it was the most beautiful middle of nowhere I have ever been. A whole wall of our apartment was a huge window with an incredible view of the Spanish forest J

"right outside barcelona" oh really

view from our room :)

This is the last of the negativity, I promise: upon checking in we that our funds situation is a little tighter than we originally thought it was going to be. We decide that we need to seriously sit down and ration out the money/book our hostels for the rest of the trip. As the hours roll by, we get hungrier and hungrier. All of the sudden we realize three horrible things: 1) it’s too late to go out and we can’t afford it 2) all restaurants, markets, places to get food in the middle of nowhere are closed 3) going into Barcelona isn’t a viable option because the last train has just come and gone. GRRREAT!

Please note the photograph of dinner below. Needless to say Tommy was very angry about this selection. Definitely has a little Keith in him.

vending machine + easter candy. doesn't get much better than this?

Because the security guard was the only person around in the morning and the dorm office was still closed, we were able to relax is our super nice apartment for most of the next day; securing our hostels, enjoying the view, and being so very in love. Through all of the stress of booking, cancelling, being late, being hot, being cold, and being hungry – this trip only strengthens what I already know about this exceptional person who walked into my life so completely out of the blue. If we can get through a night of vending machine dinner, I feel like we can get through just about anything.

Tommy is currently working on a post about our overnight train to Paris – lots on that.

Love and miss you all,

Alyson

The Prado and Palais Royal

Yesterday, with Tommy feeling extremely under the weather, we relaxed at the hotel for the majority of the day. This ended up being the absolute best thing for us as we awoke from our three-hour nap feeling refreshed and rested for the first time since landing in Europe. Around 4:00 (or might I say 16:00) we made our way to The Prado via train. My absolute favorite painting was “The Garden of Earthly Delights” (of course). So much color, intricacy, craziness. Naked people, forbidden fruits, creepy beasts; I love it all! That it was painted in the 1700s and evokes such modern and futuristic feelers (yes I know this is not a word) I also think is quite amazing.  

For dinner we walked 100 yards straight out of our hotel to the Mercado San Miguel. This is probably my favorite place we have been in Madrid. Think Spanish AJ’s – only better. Booths with everything you could imagine: mini burgers with delicious sauces, 1000 pastries, fruit, olives skewered with cheese and sun-dried tomatoes soaking in oil, potatoes with spicy sauces, crackers topped with a variety of cold fish (skipped that), and wine. Lots of wine. Wine by the bottle, wine by the half bottle, wine by the carafe, wine by the glass. GIMME. We ended our night sitting on a wall outside the market sipping an unidentified red from the bottle J Tommy was even able to keep down a steak sandwich – success!

the market in action

end of the night

With a plan to catch the 9:30 am train to Barcelona, we checked out of our hotel and arrived at the Estacion Atoches just in time to find out there were no trains available until 2:30. Harrumph. New plan: check the luggage at the station and head to Palais Royal (a five minute walk from our hotel no doubt). This mistake turned into an absolutely wonderful afternoon. Within the walls of Palais Royal we found breath taking rooms, hand-woven wallpaper 100 feet high, and history in every original cobblestone. We ended our surprise extra day in Madrid by enjoying cappuccinos in a small bar. Here, a very old woman tried to share her churros with me and then gifted me with candy and kisses before going on her way.

the cathedral from inside the walls of the palace

the palace - wish i could have taken pictures inside

I am now seated happily next to a sleeping Tommy roo on our three-hour train to Barcelona. The countryside is beautiful. Tonight we stay in a hostel for the first time; I can’t wait to explore the city so many of my friends made their home semester two of our junior year of college.

Sick

My sweet Tommy is very sick L things have taken a definite turn for the worst since last night. He can’t keep any food down, has serious chills, and is over all feeling terrible. We made the decision to cancel our 12-person dorm style hostel for tonight and stay one more night in the hotel.

Our plan for today is relax in the room till around 2:00, go buy Tommy’s train pass (he didn’t have his passport yesterday when we FINALLY made it there, but I love him anyways) and then hopefully check out Palais Royal if he’s feeling up to it. Although we have a hostel booked for Thursday night in Barcelona, there is nothing available anywhere in the city for Friday or Saturday night – the other two nights we were planning on spending there. Man. We are not sure what to do about this at all – any advice would be greatly appreciated.

On a happier note, although the local cuisine hasn’t been helping with the bug living in Tommy’s tummy… I am loving it! Our first experience with tapas was interesting – kind of like a glorified hotdog, only dismantled. Dinner last night though was exquisite! We shared two dishes, chicken with mushrooms and spicy potatoes and traditional paella. Wine and beer for me, Sprite for Tommy (which I must say earned him an disapproving look from our waiter - my kind of place no doubt). Yum. A little while later, poor Tommy got very sick in the bathroom of a bar while I sat outside and enjoyed the most delicious sangria and olives I have ever tasted. Not only did I feel guilty for enjoying these simple delicacies while Tommy was in such bad shape, but it’s becoming very clear to me that if we don’t get him well and eating – he’s going to have a very plump girlfriend by the end of this trip.

glorified hot dog. sonoran? not so sure.

paella, chicken, potatoes, oh my!

Love you all, more updates on Tommy’s health to come.

Alyson

Day 1 Struggles

initial reaction to madrid... note the lack of sleep

Greetings from Madrid boys and girls! Our first day overseas has been filled with mucho metro rides, tapas (more on these little devils later) and language barriers.

Our first priority for the day was to purchase our international train passes. We found this to be a tad more difficult than expected, reason being the Madrid Tourist Center decided to send us on a wild goose chase, though that ended up being half the fun. We took the metro (cheap, fun, efficient) for most of day, but when we finally got some credible info on the location of the elusive train pass, we needed to be on the OPPOSITE end of Madrid. This led to our first public train ride which to our delight got us where we needed to be in no time.   

Tapas are traditional Spanish snacks that you receive with the purchase of a canna (or small beer). Usually consisting of potatoes with some sort of pork, they have been Alyson’s jam. Me? Not so much… I haven’t been able to keep these little guys in the stomach long, though they taste great. KFC mashed potatoes came to my rescue this afternoon but tomorrow I have a date with a normal, plain turkey sandwich.

Our hotel for the night is an extremely modern, swank place perfectly located in Plaza Mayor. Thank you Jeanne and Keith Haswell! We’re really trying to soak up our last bit of luxury living because tomorrow marks the start of dorm style hostels.

Although we ran through most of the day on zero sleep and lack of calories (me), we’re excited to visit Palais Royal and The Prado tomorrow. Having the best of times with my Love!

Peace on Earth,

TO

AND WE'RE OFF!

Finally, after much mayhem and a wonderful stop in Dallas, we’re off. Dallas was (dare I say it?) ALL THE GOOD THINGS. The first night we enjoyed champagne, cheese, and olives on the patio followed by a delicious home cooked meal by Jeanne.

Day number two began with Easter baskets full of goodies for Tommy and I and more delicious yums by Jeanne. Tommy and Keith headed to the climbing gym and then on a driving tour of Plano/Dallas. Over the course of 45 minutes my dad showed Tommy all the things we love about where we live, I think his motives in this were pretty clear. Mom and I shopped and shopped and got our nails done – the best way to spend a Saturday with mom in Plano. That night we all went out to dinner at Mi Cocina and had two rounds of Mambo Taxis (and lots of loud and inappropriate conversation). Tommy got his first taste of REAL Tex Mex and loved the queso and sourcream chicken enchiladas – I found much delight in this as Mi Cocina holds a very special place in my heart.

According to Tommy I have had exactly four meltdowns: the meltdown of the wisdom teeth that I can’t have removed until we get back to Tucson, the meltdown of the black sweater, the meltdown of getting to the airport late and almost missing our flight (this included a few very public f bomb displays of which I am not proud), and lastly, the meltdown of forgetting my two MOST important shirts. Luckily, we spent two wonderful days in Dallas, allowing my most perfect and loved mother to fix all the sources of my stress and overall discomfort.

This morning, the morning of our flight, I found that the train pass I was planning on buying and printing today cannot be simply printed… so that was the source of yet another meltdown. A little later, on the way to the mall to pick up a last few essential items, my phone had a meltdown of its own. The effect? Another meltdown for Alyson.

Exactly six meltdowns later I am sitting on a plane to Philadelphia next to the most amazing person I have ever met, en route to three weeks of bliss. Here’s to exploring, watching, being in love, learning the land, and learning each other. I couldn’t be happier.

ROO!