Florence

So I got to florence at about 7:30 in the morning and sat around the train station for about an hour waiting for information to open so I could get a map of the city. I knew that I wouldn't have much time there and at this point I was pretty tired and frustrated of travel, but I had to go see what I could while I was there. It's not everyday your in Florence you know. So around 8:30 I began my wandering of the city, still with this stupid pack on my back, I was really getting sick of the pack. My first stop was the Duomo, a truly amazing catedral adn very different from the old stone catherdrals I have been used to seeing, I think it was my favorite so far. I then ehaded down to the river and wandered around in no particular direction. I then headed up to the Michalangelo park which is way up on a hill overlooking the city. I must say that the view is much more spectacular than the statue of the naked man. I'm sorry to those art lovers who read this, though they may have decided to have stopped reading after the last sentence anyway. So we'll continue. I then headed back down got lunch and some much needed strong italian expresso and went on my way in no particular direction. I walked a lot and saw a lot of things, but it was a very quick and sleep deprived tour, so I really don't have to much to say. It is a beautiful city and I would love to go back and really be able to appreciate the art and the city. But unfortunatly this visit wasn't great. So at 4 I caught the bus to the Piso airport and flew off to Sardinia to meet Simo!

Germany to Florence the trip that went wrong

Starting from where I left off from the last post that night was supposed to be my last in Germany and I would head off for a few days in Florence the next morning. I was accompanied by Willi to the train station the next morning for my 8:19 train to Stuttgart. As we said goodbye a train pulled in and Willi said thats the one so I hopped on. Unfortunatly that was not the one. It was going the wrong direction. So there I was sitting on the train completely clueless that I was on the wrong train. Fortunatly Willi had realized the mistake and that I had got on the 8:16, not the 8:19. He proceeded to call every stop along the way and had everybody on the look for me if I got off. I was still clueless and nobody spoke english so I just chilled on the train thinking all was well. The train then stopped at the end of the line and I thought something had gone wrong with the trian and was told by someone who spoke little english that this was true, they were wrong. The train was just waiting to go back towards stuttgart. So I just kept sitting there wondering when we would get to Stuttgart and what I was going to do when I got there. To bring the story to an end the train went back the same way it came and fortunatly Willi was waiting for me at his stop and so I got off and was able to spend another night with him, not bad at all. The next morning I tried again and was able to get on the right trian to Stuttgart and make my connection to Zurich, I was going to connect there to Milan and then to Florence and be able to see the alps! Of course a tree fell in the tracks and the train couldn't continue. So we were bused to another station where we took two other trains to arrive at a station that had a train going to Zurich. By the time I arrived in Zurich I had missed my train to Milan, and the one that left 3 hours after. So I had a choice to make. I could either go to Milan and wait till 5 in the morning to go to Florence or wait 7 hours in Zurich and take a night train direct to Florence. I chose the latter. So I had to kill 7 hours in Zurich which might have been fun except that it was freezing cold and raining, so I walked around a bit, got soaked and waited in the train station, got my train to Florence and made it there without any more trouble, but never got to see the alps, which was the entire point of making that leg of the trip by train. Oh well, I will have to see the alps some other time. And I eventually made it to Florence, but it was a long leg of travel!

Germany!

OK, so I finaly have a little time to sit and tell you all about my travels. At the moment I'm in Barcelona and tomorrow I head off with Dad and Emma to our apartment for the next month in Girona. So I headed off from Salamanca two weeks ago now (or something like that) on my way to the Madrid aiport. From there I flied to Stuttgart where Willi was waiting for me with his dad when I arrived. From there we headed off to Willi's town Mockmuhl. We arrived at Willi's house around 11 o clock and ate a little dinner before I headed off to bed. The next morning I awoke and we had a breakfast of some cold cuts and bread and then headed off to see the town. It was a really nice little town, and it felt good to be out of the city for a little bit. We wandered through the old walled part of the town and saw the old catedral before climbing the hill to see the castle that overlooks the town. The architecture is notably different in Germany and you can see the wooden beams in the buildings (I will try to get pictures up asap). That afternoon I got to play the first soccer during the entire trip as we joined in a pick up game at the basketball court in town. It is amazing the level of even some of the very young people we played with, soccer is such a huge part of life here for the kids, its very cool. I was then treated to a german kabob (german fast food) which is meat and some lettuce and other things in a pita like wrap and is very good. That night we went out on the town and I was able to meet many of Willi's friends. The next day was Willi's birthday and so I got to accompany Willi and his mom and dad to the Senshiem museum about an hour away from his house. I have to mention the drive because the German autobahn is wild and with Willi's dad driving we were pushing 170kph much of the way. The museum was great. It had a vast selection of cars starting from the 50´s american cars ranging to modern ferraris. As well as a huge collection of artifacts and machines from world war II. We even got to see the car Hitler drove, which is amazing to think about. The museum also has a collection of planes, the greatest being a concord which are displayed on the roof of the museum and which we could explore. One of the highlights of the museum for me was when I got to see the bike that Jan Ullrich rode to victory in the 97 tour de france (still cool, even if he was completely doped when he did it). We then went out to a pizzeria for a birthday dinner for Willi and then back home and out with friends again. This was supposed to be my last night in Germany, but that story is for the next post.

Yet another brief update (Sorry)

I hope I'm not completely boring everybody with these quick updates, but at the moment its the best I can do. I made it to Florence early this morning after needing to take the night train from Zurich to Florence. I've spent today wandering around Florence, a truly beautiful city and I wish I could have spent more time here. Unfortunatly I have also had to lug my 25 lb. backpack around as well. But I head to the airport by bus at 4 this afternoon to catch my flight to Sardinia where Simone will meet me at the airport, so I can't wait. I really hope I have time in Sardinia to tell you all about my time with Willi and hellish travel from Germany to Italy (all over now fortunatly). So that's that. Caio.

In Zurich

Yet again no time to right a full report, but I promise I will as soon as I have the time. But here's the next update. So I got on the right train this morning and arrived in Stuttagr without problem. Than of course on the way to Zurich a tree fell in the tracks and I was, along with everyone else on the train, to take a bus to another train station, than a train to yet another train station before finally arriving at a station with a train to Zurich, that I almost misssed. So I arrived in Zurich 3 hours after my train to Milan had left. I am now in the middle of my 5 hour wait in Zurich until I take a train through the night arricing in Florence at 6:45 tomorrow morning. This has effectively ruined the Florence portion of my trip as I fly off to Sardinia to see Simone tomorrow night. So I'm bumbed that I missed out on Florence and will only be able to run around with my luggage tomorrow morning and take a few pics before heading off to the airport. On the other hand I can't wait to see Simone, so mixed feelings on this side of the ocean. Hope all is well with everyone on the other.

In Germany (still)

So yet again I don´t have time to do a proper job but I will give you all an update of my travels and make sure to get the whole story up as soon as I have time. Hopefully sooner than later. So I´ve had a wonderful stay with Willi and met his family and friends and just overall had a great time. I was supposed to leave this morning by train to go to Florence. Unfortunatly I got on a train going in the opposite direction that stuttgart this morning and so was given a tour of the area and returned to Willi´s town two hours later. Fortunatly he had realiyed that he had put me on the wrong train minutes after I had headed off and was able to arrange to meet me at the train station again in his town. I was oblivious to all this since nobody spoke english, but I saw him out the window as we pulled in and jumped off. So that ruined hopes of me continuing on to florence today and I will try again hopfully with better luck tomorrow. THough I must say I have no confidence that I will be able to make it. I´ll let you all now if and when I arrive in Florence. Though I won´t be able to get to a computer again until saturday with all day travel tomorrow(leave willis house 730 and Florence and 11:00 tomorrow night) So we´ll see how all this goes.

Germay in brief

So I have made it to Germany arriving late last night with Willi there to great me at the airport. The travel was great, and its been so good to spend some time with him after 2 years. Anyway I will try to get a more detailed post up soon.

PICTURES

Spanish travels with the madre

So I apologize that I havn't been keeping the blog updated as of late but I would rather not post than bore you with irrelevant and bopring posts. However I think things should be looking up for the blog as a new chapter in the trip is about to begin as I travel to Germany and Italy and then onto Girona. Anyway mom arrived thursday and after spending my last night with my host family and last day of classes we headed off together in a rental car to explore the region of Castilla y Leon, the province that Salamanca is in. We spent friday afternoon in the Sierra de Francia. It's an area to the south west of Salamanca into the foothills of the mountasins; where we found some magical old villages that seemed from an entirely different time. After exploring here we moved on to find lodging in Segovia, about 2.5 hours away. We arrived in Segovia around 10 and had an adventure trying to navigate the streets of the old city to find our hostel and parking. After checking in we went out for a nice dinner around 11:30 (not unheard of in Spain), and then returned to crash in the hostel. In the morning we got our cafe con leche in the Plaza Mayor and then off to explore Segovia. Segovia offers 3 main attractions that we were able to visit. The first being a segment of an old roman acquiduct built around 100 bc without mortar! It is about 4 stories tall at its highest point and is absolutely amazing. The second was a castle that looked straight out of a Disney fairytale and in fact inspired the castle in Sleeping Beauty. The final attraction was a cathedral bording the plaza mayor which was also spectacular. We spent our secoind night in Segovia and then this morning headed off to the walled city of Avila (home to my favorite cyclist Carlos Sastre, unfortunatly he was not sited). But the wall was amazing. I can't imagine how these things were built without the use of modern machinery, its absolutely baffling. So we were able to meander along the wall and outside the city for a bit and then back to Salamanca for me to say bye to my host family and for my mom to move in with hers. At any rate we are all settled and tomorrow I'm off to Madrid in the afternoon to catch my evening flight to Germany to visit with Willi which I am so excited about and then on to 2 nights in Florence before flying to Cagliari to soke up some Mediteranian sun with Simone! So it has been a very exciting weekend with more fun on the horizon. I will try to get some pics up asap because my words (and probably the pictures for that matter) cannot come close to doing these things justice.

Spanish Elections

So just to worn everyone I am not well informed on the issue but I feel like I really should make some comment since I am in the country. So here's what I know (and hopefully is correct): The socialist party that was already in power won the election again by a reasonably close margin. My host mother decided not to vote saying that she did not particularly like either cantidate and feels that both just say things to get elected but in the end don't follow through. I also know that a basque politicion was assasinated, but I'm not sure why, only that he had three children. So there is my lack of information on the issue, but I can sleep better now having at least mentioned it. My final week in Salamanca is winding down and friday afternoon I will head off with mom who arrives here thursday afternoon for her two weeks of study while I travel. So that's that. Hope all is well state side, hasta luego.

The Plaza Mayor

Here is a video I took of the Plaza Mayor here in Salamanca, it is really spectacular. It is said to be the most beautiful plaza mayor in all of Spain if not the world.

The Plan!

So there is really nothing new to report on the Salamanca front. I've been sick for the past week or so but feel as though I've turned the corner. Because of this I havn't really been up to much as of late. Though I did watch the Madrid-Roma game the other night which saw the third of the 4 Spanish teams remaining in the Champions league knocked out leaving only Barca!

With this lack of interesting Spanish things to talk about I think I will fill all of you in on my plan for the upcoming few weeks. I have only one more week remaining in my classes here in Salamanca finishing on the 14th of March. The 13th my mom will arrive from the States because she is going to study here for two weeks before the family reunites in Girona for the month of April. On Monday the 20th I fly from Madrid to Stuttgart where I will meet my friend Willi who lives outside of Stuttgart and studied at PA 2 years ago (right?). I will spend a few days with him and then on some day (I can't remember at the moment) I am going to take a train from Stuttgart to Florence over the Aples which should be amazing. I will spend a day in Florence and then go to Piso outside of Florence to fly to Cagliari on the island of Sardinia where my friend Simone lives who studied at PA last year. I will spend a fews days with him and then fly to Barcelona to meet up with my dad and sister and we will all make the trip out to Girona together to mee tmy mom and move into our apartment there for April!

A soccer filled weekend

So I've been sick the past few days which put a damper on my weekend but I was able to watch myy host brothers soccer game and both the barcelona and real madrid games. My host brother plays for the Salamanca team and they had their game sunday against Real Madrid (the club is actually run by the real real madrid same uniforms and a big bus with real madrid on it, so that was kinda cool. The staduim was really nice, big for a youth game and lots of spanish fans. I only have one bad picture unortunatly because the sun was in our eyes by the time I remembered to take the photo. Anyway they lost 1-0 on an unfotunate goal, but it was still fun to watch and a great level of soccer, much higher VT high school or nordic or anything I've ever played in the states. For those of you who went to Europe with me I was reminded of the french team that killed us the first day. Anyway that night I went out to watch my first game at a bar for the first time because the game wasn't on at home. This was absolutly the way to go. Barcelona on a big projector and Madrid on another TV on the other side of the room filled with excited and drunk spaniards. What more could one ask for to watch soccer? Unfortunatly Barcelona lost and Madrid win increasing there lead to 5 points in la liga, but it was still a good time. Oh and Ronaldinho scored a sweet goal on a bicycle kick which I recommend all of you should youtube.