Sorry for the delay, things have been really going quickly now!
So we are in Barcelona, and last night I fell asleep listening to a crowd of men singing in the street below me. The city that never sleeps! We got in around 8:30 last night, went to dinner (which was delicious), and came back to our hostel, wiped from a day of traveling from Nice, France.
Now let me finish telling you about how nice Nice is! Our first stop was at the Hostel, which was rated one of the Top 10 in the world, if that tells you anything. For more info on this, click here: www.vsaint.com
After getting settled in our new rooms (of which Dan had three-- he had to change every night because we booked a little late), we went to the Hostel's bar area. There we met some great American friends: Angela and Justine from Atlanta. They are hilarious!
The next day the 4 of us decided to go to the Cannes Film Festival, as it was only 30 minutes from our hostel. What a great decision this turned out to be. On the way, we met more new friends, Amy and Hannah from Chicago! Hannah actually has been living in Paris for the past year teaching English though, which sounds like it was an amazing experience for her. She actually later offered for us to stay at her place when we go to Paris and she'll give us a grand tour! I'm really excited... But back to Nice!
So we spent an amazing day in Cannes, exploring the city, the beach, the red carpet and the Louis Vutton store. (Hey, I can dream!) At 9:30pm we were able to go to a premier showing of Women Are Heros, an excellent submission to the film festival. And the best part? We got to watch it on the big screen right on the beach! We got lounge chairs and blankets, not to mention a bottle of wine. What an amazing night!
The next day, the 6 of us made plans for a beach day in Cap D'Ails, near Monaco. Again, itw as a short 30 minute ride to our destination there. Even on the bus ride, the scenery was breathtaking. But when your in the south of France with cliffs and oceans, how can you go wrong?
So we spent a good 3-4 hours on the beach, enjoying the sun, the swimming, and a great lunch. After that, we said goodbye to Angela and Justine, and they left for Paris. Dan also left with them because he was feeling a little tired-- the sun tends to do that! But Amy, Hannah and I continued on our journey to Monaco, a sovereign state just 15 minutes from Cap D'Ails by bus.
It was amazing! I had no idea they were independent from France, but they sure were. They had their own flag, their own license plates, even their own royal family! So we went to see the palace, and turns out the philosophy at Monaco is LUXURY. More cliffs, more beaches, more ocean, and plenty of yachts. It was definitely an experience in itself to see Monaco, and yes, the casinos were pretty fun too.
Then that night we said farewell to Amy and Hannah, but for Hannah it wasn't really goodbye... We'll be seeing her again in just a few days when we go to Paris! So exciting...
But I'm really excited to be in Barcelona now! We've only been here for a day, yet its quickly turning into one of my favorite cities ever. It is so beautiful, and the people are extremely friendly. Everything is much cleaner than most of the cities we've been too, and much more artsy if you can imagine. Full of young people and loud people, its a great and unique experience. Even the street performers take things to another level here.
For the first part of the day, we wandered around the city, shopping and enjoying the architecture. In about half an hour we leave to go on a bike tour of the city, which takes 4 hours. The sidewalks here have specific designated areas and lanes for bikers, and it seems to be very accommodating for bike tours and the like. So it should be really great!
Then later tonight we are going to go on the Hostel's pub crawl... In case you didn't know, Barcelona isn't just known for the architecture, but for its clubbing too. So that should be really excellent too. We'll definitely keep you posted! But for now... enjoy this music video by the band I'm From Barcelona: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxpjWmgaZSw (Yeah, I saw them live at Lollapalooza a couple years back, and now I can say they truly reflect the way of life here)!
Ciao!
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