Valencia and Alicante!

I love Spain. 
I really freaking love it. 
So much beauty, water, the weather is spectacular and the booze cheap. 
-Sangria will knock you off your ass by the way. 
-There are still mullets everywheree. 
-On the beach there are tonnes of breasts. Young and old. 
- The Spanish really know how to and appreciate a good party. I am here during a festival and let me tell you, they are loud and it goes until 3am. 
- Spain is beautiful!!!!!!!!!
- Alicante has this really awesome fortress atop a hill from 1100s, which if you take the tough way (thumps chest) takes a half hour, but the view is incredible and totally worth it. 
- The festival was hilarious and full of fun. Too bad they didn't cease the music until 4am when this old girl wants to be in bed! 
- I hate the mullets!

I love Spain. 
I really freaking love it. 
So much beauty, water, the weather is spectacular and the booze cheap. 
-Sangria will knock you off your ass by the way. 
-There are still mullets everywheree. 
-On the beach there are tonnes of breasts. Young and old. 
- The Spanish really know how to and appreciate a good party. I am here during a festival and let me tell you, they are loud and it goes until 3am. 
- Spain is beautiful!!!!!!!!!
- Alicante has this really awesome fortress atop a hill from 1100s, which if you take the tough way (thumps chest) takes a half hour, but the view is incredible and totally worth it. 
- The festival was hilarious and full of fun. Too bad they didn't cease the music until 4am when this old girl wants to be in bed! 
- I hate the mullets!

Barcelona!

I am so relieved to be back in the Western world again, I know it sounds terrible. But at least Spain is less overwhelming and different than back at home. 
In case you were worried, the mullet seems to be alive and well in Spain. Eeeeeew. Some of the men and women have the WORST hair I have ever seen in my life. I was tempted to tell them that the only people back at home that have those are hillbillies and trailer park people. But I am trying to be nice this time around. 
Barcelonas stores and what not are almost ALL closed on Sundays. Shit. Some of the monuments are open but horrendously crowded with tourists. 
The metro is incredibly confusing, but the city is less so. It is more square (THANK THE LORD) than elsewhere. 
Today I saw 
- Sagrada Familia
- Arc de Triompf 
- The parks nearby 
- Unversidad Barcelone
- The beaches yesterday (though I just went by them) 
- The beautiful docks 
- Walked down La Rambla (and saw an ugly old naked man, I only wish I was making it up) 
- Went to the beach and sat there for a bit. 

Final Thought 
I love Barcelona, its beautiful with charming art everywhere and the buildings are just magnificent. 

Souk De Soleil Finished!

To describe Morocco to people who havent experienced it is difficult. Its the case because its incomparable to our experience.
We dont have souks with merchants who will try everything to get you into their shop. One even went so far as to threaten me with messing up my henna, he got a pleasant GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY WAY! 
We have road rules, I am sure Marrakesh does technically, but in reality its every man for themselves. I kept saying Inshaallah, because well there was no better phrase. 
The every man for themselves translates to shopping and haggling, they only care for themselves and will rip you off constantly. I sound bitter, because I am. Only ONE honest person was to be encountered by me. ONE. He chased me down after I gave him too much money. 
We dont have donkeys pulling carts of food; and there are people who pull the carts themselves.They pull carts of food and modern Western things. But keep it old school. 
People here dress Western; wearing designer knockoffs but they try to keep their own culture as well. 

This may not be my favourite place but if any place has given me some perspective it is this place. No one can come here and not be affected. 
But honestly some of the buildings and sites were wonderful. 

- Palais Badii (The ruins are from 12th century I think) 
- Jardins Majorelle (Yves St Laurent is buried there, he owned it)
- Palais Bahia 
- Menara Jardins 
- Koutoubia Jardins (Moroccans love their gardens) 
- Musee de Marrakesh (There isnt much in the way of artifacts but the building is spectacular)
- Qouba de Ben Youssef (from the 11th century)
- Medersa Ben Youssef (a Koranic school) 
- Saadian Tombs 

I didn´t do as much as other places for it was hot by 2pm and I couldn´t take the heat and needed a nap. On Friday it was 40C..... at least it was dry. 

At this point, I am not too sure about how I feel about Marrakesh. It certainly is a city of complete contradictions. The handicrafts and metalworking are absolutely gorgeous, but then the poverty is prevelant. The women wear the full Muslim garb, and look ladylike, but then they ride scooters or motorcycles with reckless abadon.
I didn't think that people still used donkeys for travel and work, but that reveals my true ignorance and naivete. 

The sales merchants are incredibly aggressive, though if you ignore them they usually leave you be. The henna ladies will chase you down sometimes and start drawing on you despite your protests and demand cash. 

Nothing is free in Marrakesh, not even directions, you may think that people are being polite and giving you directions, but they ask for money afterwards. 

On a brighter note, I ate at the restaurant Riad Omar, and the food was great and there was much of it. 

The cheap places to eat are in the main square and while these restaurants would be shut down in Canada due to health code violations, I dont know anyone who has gotten sick and you can get a full meal for 50 dirhams which is 7 dollars Cdn. 

The architecture is completely underrated and magnificent. 

The men will call you a gazelle and its not an insult, but a compliment. 

Many merchants speak tourist English, meaning they know how to sell you their stuff in many languages. 

I am finished with Morocco. I just want to leave. It sucks being a woman in this place

Sur Le Pont D'Avignon!

I spent about 36 hours in Avignon, and about 24 of those hours were spent sleeping or nothing. Avignon is a gorgeous town, however after a day there isn't much to do. The Palace of the Popes is magnificent, but it only takes a couple hours to go through. 
Though the best crepes and the best pain au chocolat were had there, so it was worth the trip.
Avignon is a medieval town and doesn't smell like pee, so it one ups Paris. Just kidding. Paris is still Paris. 

I am in Marseille right now, and I already had one guy ask me out. I told him I didn't speak French, but he still tried. Can't blame a guy??

Ahhhh Parreeeeee Non?

This will be my final day in Paris, and I am unlikely to do anything as I am sick. 
Overall I liked Paris, it was what I expected. Great food. Great sites. Snobbery. Though, I will warn you the city smell is less than inviting, most places reak of urine and sometimes of animal waste. Dogs are prevalant in Paris, meaning that everyone has a dog. The unforunate part is that many will not pick up after their animals. So watch out, our tour guide had said that it was not uncommon to be injured by slipping in dog crap. I wonder how to explain that to your boss when you need to recover? 

The Parisian people : I honestly cannot say whether or not they are snobs and rude. The service people are generally rude, they don't work for tips and they take their time to do everything. They don't seem to be in a rush like we do back home. I have met some really snotty French people. One thing to note that they barely smile at you, even if you smile at them. Maybe I met a lot of sour faced people, but thats what I encountered, and I think I am pretty friendly. 

I went to 
- Notre Dame 
- Tulleries 
- Eiffel Tower in morning and at night 
- Champs Elysee
- Louvre (The thing is gigantic) 
- Versailles (Ohhhh Versailles! Totally worth the effort) 
- Angers ( a town about 2 hours French train ride= 4 hours Cdn train ride)
- All the patisseries in the area (like Tim Hortons they are EVERYWHERE). 


It may not look like I did a lot, but Versailles was a whole day event as well as Angers. Both totally worth the effort and well funds. 

Angers is totally underrated and worth a visit for a day. It lacks tourists, which means there are NO English people around, but that means NO English people around. It's rather great, you actually feel as though you are in Paris. I thought Angers was like I expected Paris to be, except smaller. There are several churches there that peep out of the line. The streets are narrow and most of them are old. There are 11th century ruins that are now the David Anjou Gallery. I just went and looked at them. Truly wonderful. The view from the fortress was amazing. There were a total of like 5 people in the fortress, and it was only 5 EUROS! Really wonderful. Though warning, the river Maine is absolutely disgusting. Its brown. From on top. Its bloody brown. 

FYI, McDonalds here totally tastes the same. Except they serve Perrier and beer. 

Chips : Bolognaise
Pop: They don't have ROOT BEER! 

Ahhhhh Parreeeee!

-The high speed train makes you a tad queasy. It goes something like 200 mph. We went from London to Paris in 2 1/2 hours which would take 6 hours to drive. 

- Croissants and pain au chocolat are amazing. 

- Most people speak a bit of English, but it is a lot better to know some French (street signs, telephones are not in English at all). 

- Paris is expensive. I will reiterate Paris is bloody expensive. 

- Today wasn't a long day, because it was starting to rain and I don't really feel like getting ill. 

- I went to Champs Elysees which is incredibly crowded. 

- The Mona Lisa is quite small, only because the paintings beside it were 20 feet tall. So it's unfair. There were crowds that just went to see the Mona Lisa and left. 

- Liberty Leading the People was beautiful. There were artists in the museum reproducing the paintings before our very eyes. 

- Some Parisiens are rude, but they are a lot nicer and more helpful if you try to speak a bit of French. Just like the French back at home :P I find that a lot of French are amused that I try, and get the wrong verbs.

- I took the free walking tour here too. Totally worth the money :P Though like the other free tour, you are expected to tip. 

- I walked up the Eiffel Tower. 668 Stairs. Booyah. Its only 3 Euros to walk up it, its 12 to take the elevator. The view walking up is totally worth the tiredness. 

- Paris is a beautiful city and the food is expensive, but they use REAL stuff. Not the preservative filled crap we have. Eat Provencal Sandwiches. Mmmm. 

- Take most of the day off for Versailles. There are a lot of grounds to cover and even missed some of it due to extreme fatigue :P Versailles is 25 Euro but worth every penny. Audio guide is quite useless and silly. Hall of Mirrors is a must see. 

- There will be lines everywhere. No way to avoid it. 

- To those who have young kidlets, there isn't much of a point in taking them. They will not appreciate that much. In fact, they will complain about being dragged around to boring stuff. 

- The Metro is very extensive, but once you get on it, it's fairly simple. The prices are fair too. 

- St Christophers INN in Paris is very nice too :D 

CHEERIO LONDON et AL!

I think that perhaps my expectations for this city were way too high and thats why they were not met. The best times I had were when I left the city. The list of places visited were 
-Buckingham Palace and the Changing Guard 
- Westminster Abbey 
- Big Ben 
- Tower of London (very cool) 
- Hampton Court ( I cried like a baby)
- Piccadilly Circus 
- Leicester Square (Lester) :P 
- Trafalgar Square 
- Hyde Park
- Stratford Upon Avon 
- Warwick Castle 
- Oxford 
- Wanderings randomly around the city. 

Ladies, you will find that British men are NOT shy when they want to pick you up. 

The teeth thing is not a myth. Overall British people have way worse teeth than North Americans. As a rule at least. Though, I have seen many a dental office around. 

Football is like a religion here, people cry fight and riot when theres a loss. I witnessed it during the Chelsea vs. Manchester United match. 

People in your hostel will have sex in the room. No way to avoid it. 

Pick a hostel with restaurant in it, there are many a times where you want a HOT meal. Like yesterday, when it was raining all day. 

Service people in Britain don't tend to participate in small talk. Don't be offended if they don't do it. If they do, they are foreigners likely. But if you are lost ask an old British man. They always helped me :P 

Travelling alone has its perks meaning that I can do what I want, but then I don't always have people willing to come with me. 

So my final thought on London is that you only really need a couple days there.....then LEAVE to go to Oxford or other towns that have way more character. 

Archive: London

Natassia's EuroTip Number One: If you are taller than 5'2 do not use Air Transat. Unless you want intense suffering. 

2: If airports offer shuttles to your hostel/hotel. Take it. It's worth every penny and less aggravation. :D 

3: Airplane food still blows. 

Addendum 

4: FREE tours are AWESOME. Well by free I mean theres no fee outright, but you are expected or hoped to give tips to the tour guide. But that means that they work hard for their tips. 

5: There are a lot of loud loud stupid people in hostels... Bring ear plugs if you are a light sleeper. 

6:St Christophers Inn is great. Cannot complain so far. Except that someone (points at self) shorted the fuse, and they haven't been able to fix it yet, so my first day pictures will blow. 

7: Marmite (Yeast Extract) is disgusting. 

8: Pimms Cocktail is GREAT :D 

9: Warwick Castle is GREAT :D BEAUTIFUL views. As well as the whole medieval thing. 

10: Oxford and Stratford upon Avon are really nice towns and worth the visit. Though iwth Stratford basically its just the whole Shakespeare house thing. But the FUDGE is GREAT :D 

11: Buy good walking shoes. 

12: You can drink pretty much anywhere. 

13: You are always within 2 feet of an Aussie. 

14: Everything shuts down at like 9pm save for pubs (which usually close at midnight) unless they are clubs. They close at like 5am (sweet). 

15: There are always ignorant Americans around saying stupid things. Though quite honestly they are often our best ally, because of the whole North American thing. 

16: Sunday= Most things are closed. 

17:Sometimes it's lonely travelling alone, but you will usually find a friendly face. Though sometimes it takes a while to find one. 

18: A lot of the meat in London seems rather gross and substandard. 

19: Oyster card for the London underground is a must have, though sometimes the travelling day pass is much better it really depends on how far you intend to go in one day. The underground is broken into Zones and I mostly stay within Zone 1 and therefore it doesn't cost me much. 

20: The offical England Dance makes me giggle. A bunch of old men hitting sticks against other sticks.