Hola!
So I am now in Madrid... Madrid is a very different city than what I´ve seen in Europe so far. For starters, hardly anyone speaks English. Or French, which is really frustrating considering everyone in France and Portugal spoke at least one of these languages! They also have siesta here, so everything shuts down for like 3 hours in the afternoon. And its hot. It said that it was 38 degrees today downtown!
Anyways, Madrid has a great park that everyone in the city seems to hang out in. There are puppet shows, row boats, fortune tellers, dancers, and all sorts of exciting stuff. I also watched a bullfight at Plaza des Torros. It was cool but kind of sad. A bull chases a few matadors, then he gets stabbed by a guy on a horse... which makes him more angry... and then a matador is chosen to actually fight the bull. And they go back and forth for a while until the matador stabs him. If the bull is stabbed between the eyes he gets a standing ovation!
Other than that I´ve been getting used to Spanish time... which means not eating until 10 or 11 at night, and staying out until 4ish.
I will be in Barcelona for Canada Day!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Portugal
I haven´t been able to update recently because of lack of Internet... here´s why:
I took a train from France to Lisbon. Lisbon, Portugal´s capital is pretty small... about 500,000 people compared to 12 million in Paris. It´s sort of like San Francisco... there are giant hills and you have to jump on trams to get anywhere. I went to the Castelo Sao Jorge... A castle that was built in the 1100s while Portugal was ruled by Arabs. The walls were still intact and you could see all over Lisbon because the castle was of course on top of a giant hill.
Portugal has great food and drink for really cheap, and dinners are a big affair... I´m talking like 2 or 3 hours with a lot of restaurants having a singer to entertain you.
After 2 days in Lisbon we took a train to the very Southern tip of Portugal, where there is a beautiful medival beach town called Lagos. Lagos has city walls from the olden days, and the streets are all cobblestone. The beaches there are gorgeous! There are little sand inlets surrounded by giant cliffs that jut out into the Ocean. You can swim in the holes in the cliffs, its kind of like a giant beach playground!
And a quick bus ride away are Atlantic breakers... which meant more surfing!! I didn´t get stung by a jellyfish this time. Anyways, the Internet in Lagos was really expensive, so I waited until now to update my blog.
I just got to Madrid... I met some Americans on the train here and we´re going to a bullfight. Torro torro!!! Adios.
I took a train from France to Lisbon. Lisbon, Portugal´s capital is pretty small... about 500,000 people compared to 12 million in Paris. It´s sort of like San Francisco... there are giant hills and you have to jump on trams to get anywhere. I went to the Castelo Sao Jorge... A castle that was built in the 1100s while Portugal was ruled by Arabs. The walls were still intact and you could see all over Lisbon because the castle was of course on top of a giant hill.
Portugal has great food and drink for really cheap, and dinners are a big affair... I´m talking like 2 or 3 hours with a lot of restaurants having a singer to entertain you.
After 2 days in Lisbon we took a train to the very Southern tip of Portugal, where there is a beautiful medival beach town called Lagos. Lagos has city walls from the olden days, and the streets are all cobblestone. The beaches there are gorgeous! There are little sand inlets surrounded by giant cliffs that jut out into the Ocean. You can swim in the holes in the cliffs, its kind of like a giant beach playground!
And a quick bus ride away are Atlantic breakers... which meant more surfing!! I didn´t get stung by a jellyfish this time. Anyways, the Internet in Lagos was really expensive, so I waited until now to update my blog.
I just got to Madrid... I met some Americans on the train here and we´re going to a bullfight. Torro torro!!! Adios.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Biarritz
Hello famille!
Im in Biarritz, using a French keyboard, so this post is difficult to write!
Biarritz is a nice town on the West coast of France. There is a lot of nice grill restaurants, parks, and most of all the best surfing in France. The Ocean has been nice for good surfers and bad for beginners like me!
yesterday my board hit me in the face; so i have a little bruise on my nose.. I also received a nice jellyfish sting on my foot... i didnt know that there were jellyfish here, so I didnt mention that my foot was burning until somebody else saw one!!! There was still a couple good stands for me though..
Tonight I am on the overnight train to Lisbon, Portugal.
Im in Biarritz, using a French keyboard, so this post is difficult to write!
Biarritz is a nice town on the West coast of France. There is a lot of nice grill restaurants, parks, and most of all the best surfing in France. The Ocean has been nice for good surfers and bad for beginners like me!
yesterday my board hit me in the face; so i have a little bruise on my nose.. I also received a nice jellyfish sting on my foot... i didnt know that there were jellyfish here, so I didnt mention that my foot was burning until somebody else saw one!!! There was still a couple good stands for me though..
Tonight I am on the overnight train to Lisbon, Portugal.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Hello, from Paris
I arrived safely at Charles de Gaulle airport yesterday at 6 am (so 12 pm in Canada). From the airport I used the RER railway to get to the city center, and took 3 different subways (called Metro here) to get to the hostel where I was staying. I couldn't check in until 5pm so I just left my incredibly large and heavy bag in storage. My hostel is only about 15 minutes from the Eiffel Tower so that was my first stop! I managed to see a lot of Paris in the morning... making it all the way down the main quai road to the Musee d'Orsay! I saw some nice Van Gogh originals, which was pretty exciting. After that, I walked back to the Eiffel Tower and fell asleep for 3 hours in the sun (resulting in a burn on only one side of my face)! Today was much better though... Went to the artsy quarter of Monmartre and took a tour of Notre Dame. Tomorrow I'm going to Biarritz to lay on the beach for a few days...
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