PRAHA

We got into Prague around dinner time and made the trek from the train station to our hostel. We got a Eugene vibe almost immediately; first approached by a wiry haired old man telling us how to get to our hostels and that we should walk instead of cab, and shortly after, while looking down at a map, we were told by a student with dreads that it's better to see the world looking up...thanks for that. We made it to our hostel, which we later found out was a squash playing hostel-that explains why it was lights out at 11 and we were surrounded by people in swishy pants. Prague was incredible. After we checked in and situated, we went to find a place for dinner. We decided on an Italian restaurant that served delicious pasta-and we were presented with a gift of sorbet from the chef. After dinner, we set out to see the city. Around the corner from where we ate dinner there was a huge castle that looked like a haunted house. The buildings in Prague all look like they were once occupied by Kings or witches. And, it was cool because it ws uninhibited by most of Europe, even still using their own money system (a bit of an inconvenience for us to only use for a day, but cool nevertheless). After viewing castles we went to bed. We woke up to rain and thunder. We quickly found comfort at a cafe called Bohemia Bagel where they served breakfast sandwiches and unlimited coffee. The rain cleared in the afternoon so we decided to walk to a castle armed with a map. We hiked up a hill and had a great view of the city. As the sun got brighter, the water looked enticing, so we rented a paddle boat to see a different view of the city. On our way back to our hostel to get our bags from the luggage room, we stopped at a modern art showcase and got the best Belgian chocolate covered bananas of our lives. After a full day of activity, we grabbed our bags and walked to the bus station to board a 14 hour bus to Paris to meet up with Steph.

Austria and Munich

INNSBRUCK AND MUNICH





From Venice, we took a train through the Alps and into Austria. Our friend, whom we had met in Australia, Olivia, was from there. She welcomed us with open arms and let us stay at her apartment in Innsbruck. It was great to see her again and she acted as our tour guide, taking us to the home of Swarovski Crystals, Crystal World, to the highest European bridge and on a hike in the Alps, where we enjoyed Weiss beer and traditional Austrian food. The next day, we got the genius idea of renting a car, which we figured would also double as a place to stay for the nights we had it. Our first day with our portable home, at the suggestion of Olivia, we decided to drive to Munich. When we got there, we realized that we had arrived during a huge gay pride parade, so the city was bustling and there was much beer to be had. After a day enjoying Munich-the Hoffbrau Haus, the parade and a flea market, we made our way back to Innsbruck to join Olivia and her friends at a graduation party. We spent the night dancing and were dubbed by one of her friends as "special edition Americans." We think it was a compliment...The next day we said our goodbyes to Olivia, packed up our car and headed to Salzberg.

SALZBERG







Salzberg was beautiful. We had no map or travel plans, so we parked the car and explored the city by foot. We had a little idea of what was in store-Mozart's birth place and Sound of Music landmarks. We found these things and much more. We stumbled upon castles like a bum stumbles upon cans at Autzen at the end of a big football game. When it came time for us to find a parking place to sleep for the night, we quickly realized that most cities don't encourage homelessness, so the spot next to a lake overlooking the city that we had dreamed about never materialized. Instead we settled on a well lit parking lot next to a park. It ended up working out pretty well, and the sun woke us up early enough to prevent passersby from seeing us and gave us time to see all of the buildings and Sound of Music sights that we had missed on the previous day. We decided to leave around noon for Vienna so that we could explore some of the Austrian country side. Right outside of Salzberg, we found a lake called Lake Mondsee where we pulled over for a swim and some relaxation. It was gorgeous with crystal clear water and a view of the Alps. After a picnic and some downtime, we were back on the road to Vienna

VIENNA





Now Innsbruck and Salzberg were small, rustic towns, so going into Vienna looking hagard from the lake, we assumed it would be similar. We were so wrong. We pulled in to a big city-and if Salzberg was difficult to find a place to park the car, Vienna was nearly impossible. We drove around looking for parking, only to be informed that there wasn't a place to buy a parking ticket, so even if we found a spot, we could be towed. We finally found a garage and decided to leave the car there until parking ws free. We walked around the city a little during the night but were tired from our sparse sleep in the car the previous night. So, we returned to the car to find a spot to sleep. This one was a little harder, so we ended up on a normal street. Maybe homeless with a car wasn't such a good idea...We returned our home on wheels to Hertz the next day and walked around the city looking at churches and the elaborate buildings. We left in the evening for Prague, but we haven't had our fill of Austria.

Water Water Everywhere

VENICE
Our last stop with the Park’s was the beautiful city of Venice. Venice is unlike any other place we’ve been to-cars were replaced with gondolas and boats, and buses were replaced with vaparettos. We stayed on the small island of Lido to avoid tourists and took a vaparetto into town each day. We spent our full day there exploring the city and looking at art. Rachel and Molly went to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and saw modern art while Geoff and Gail went to a gallery with renaissance art. We took quite a liking to a restaurant near our hotel, so we ate there both nights in Venice and got to know the waiter pretty well. He was hilarious and very attentive, making special recommendations and if we asked him a question about Venice he would say “ask me anything, I know everything.“ The food was delicious-we don’t understand how Italians aren’t fatter. On the afternoon of the 9th, we parted ways with Geoff and Gail, they moved on to Cinque Terre and we were off to Austria.

Duomos and Cathedrals and Museums, Oh My!

FLORENCE
After two nights in Siena, the four of us went to Florence. We stayed in an apartment out of the way of tourists, right outside the city. We spent the 4th of July at the Uffizi Museum-it was a little overwhelming but incredible to see so much famous art in one place. Florence has been dubbed by many as the most beautiful city in the world and it’s not hard to see why. Duomos, cathedrals and century-old mosaics dot the street corners like Starbucks in Seattle. We took a day trip to Lucca to see the Dave Matthews Band perform. We somehow worked our way up to the front row-words can’t describe this experience. It got us really excited for the Gorge. For our last night, we went to dinner at a little place where we had gone with Beth and Danielle about a month before called Nell’s. It was the best food in Florence. On our final day in Florence, we saw Michaelangelo’s David and the Duomo. In the evening, we took a train to our final stop in Italy, Venice.

Party at the Palio

SIENA
Our next stop was the small, medievil town of Siena. And we were there just in time to attend their annual horse race called Il Palio. It was one of the coolest traditions we’ve experienced this trip. The main square in town was transformed into a race track. The city is divided into Contradas (basically different neighborhoods), each with a different mascot like a tortoise, shell or snail. Each contrada hires a horse jockey to represent it. They compete for pride and a banner called Il Palio. The entire city and tourists pack into the center of the square, arriving as early as 10 am to save their spot for the 7 pm race. The jockeys ride bareback and are assigned a horse at random only days before the event. It was a lot of build up for a 20 second race. It was an amazing thing to experience, we’ve never seen such neighborhood pride. And there was no sparing the losing teams’ feelings. For two days after the race the winning team, the Tortugas, paraded through the city, wearing their colors, making sure everyone knew who had won. We went to the winning Contrada after the race and they served free wine all night so everyone could celebrate their victory with them. We ran into our friends from the booze cruise again at the race-small world. The next day we squeezed in some churches and museums, packed up and got on the bus to Florence.

When in Rome

Getting from Barcelona to Rome required a lot of travel time. We started the day with a train ride to a bus station and then a bus to the airport, a flight to Rome, and to get to our Marriott was the most ridiculous. We didn’t know which Marriott we had booked, so while we were trying to figure out how to use the phone to call a few, the guy who worked at the lost luggage counter motioned us over and let us use his phone. He then offered us some of the vodka he had seized from somebody’s bag. After we sorted out where we were going, we took a bus to the metro, the metro to another bus, a bus to a train station, the train to a bus stop and finally the bus to the Marriott. We were told that this was the most direct way other than a cab. After all the travel it was nice to recoup at the Marriott. When we settled in, we turned on the TV to the news that Michael Jackson had died!! We watched it for a bit and then used the outdoor pool and gym. The next day we made our way in to the city to find our next hotel where we were to meet up with Rachel’s parents, Gail and Geoff.





ROME WITH THE 'RENTS



Gail and Geoff got in and we were excited to have some parents back in our lives!! We celebrated their arrival by going out to dinner at a nearby restaurant. The four of us took Rome by storm, making sure to see EVERYTHING worthy of seeing in the city. We went to the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Cafe Greco (the best cappuccinos in the world), Vatican City, the Borghese Gallery, Boca della Verita, the Forum, Circus Maximus, the catacombs, we saw enough art and landmarks to last a decade. We spent our nights trying different restaurants and sampling the local wine. Rome was exhausting because we were so busy, but was absolutely spectacular.

...and then there were two

When we checked in to our new room at the hostel, we found that due to a lack of availability we had been seriously downgraded to a 26 person room. It was packed with people and luggage-there was hardly room to move. Our first night as a twosome, without the guidance of Danielle and Beth, we stayed on the metro too long and ended up in the middle of nowhere. Good start...The next day was one of the largest festivals in Barcelona, the Festival of St. Joan. We spent the day on the beach where we ran into some of the people we had met on the booze cruise in Portugal! That night we got ready and got on a metro-which was no easy feat because everyone was headed to the beach for the fest. We squeezed onto the bus and at every stop had to hold on for dear life so as not to be pushed through the open doors. When we got off and were herded above ground, out of the metro, it felt like we had entered a war zone. Rachel screamed “watch out!“ just in time for Molly to dodge a firework whizzing by her face. The beach was packed and resembled Sauvie’s Island on the 4th of July-fireworks, barbeques and tons of people. The next day we left the hostel to stay with Rachel’s dad’s childhood nanny Rita. She was a bundle of energy and welcomed us with open arms. We were relieved to be out of the 26 person. We rented bikes on our last day and, armed with an ambitious list of Barcelona to-dos, hit the city. In one day we went to the Boqueria (a food market), did a Gaudi tour ending inside Sagrada Familia, rode uphill to Parc Guell (a park designed by Gaudi where he lived in the later part of his life), saw some exclusive beaches and used the internet to check our flight plans for the following day-all in time for dinner. Rita made us dinner and then we looked through old photo albums of her world travels. We have a long way to go if we want to catch up with her! The next morning we took an early train to the airport. Hasta luego Espana!

Bicycle Exploration

Return to Spain

SAN SABASTIAN
We got into San Sabastian late, so our first night, we just settled into our hostel, read our Twilight books (yes, all four of us are really into the Twilight series) and slept off any travel grogginess. The guy who checked us in was an energetic man and he explained the things we could do in San Sabastian on the map-sound effects included. We spent our only full daz there on the beach, swimming, relaxing and enjoying our dwindling hours together as a foursome. The next day we hiked to an old castle where we met some Oregonians who, coincidentally, lived pretty close to Raliegh Hills. The castle gave us a great view of the city and made us wish we had allotted a little more time there. After our hike, we gathered our ever-expanding baggage and did a long, slightly painful walk to the bus station. The bus ride was almost on par with some of the worst we’ve had. It was packed, the aircon didn’t work and Beth had to share her row with a baby who was seriously overdue for some diaper changing. The only upside of the bus ride was that we witnessed the most beautiful sunrise just as we approached Barcelona.

BARCELONA
Barcelona marked the last stop for us as a foursome. We spent our days, as we tend to whenever possible, on the beach. That’s not to say we didn’t soak in some Barcelona culture. We were awestruck by Gaudi’s buildings, especially Casa Mila and his unfinished cathedral, Sagrada Familia, both of which looked like they belonged in The Little Mermaid. We also went to the Picasso museum, which we really enjoyed. We consumed our fair share of tapas and sangria while we were there. We also made sure to go to the fountain at the Plaza de Espana on Saturday night to watch the water show, the fountain changed with music. When the 23rd rolled around, Beth was the first to go.We woke up early in the morning to see her off to Paris where she was headed to meet up with Steph. Danielle, Molly and Rachel spent the day doing some sight seeing, tanning and last minute souvenir shopping. When we returned to our hostel, we found that a pipe in the luggage room broke while we were out and our backpacks were waterlogged. Danielle only had a half hour to dry her stuff before catching her bus to Madrid to fly home. We frantically tried to dry some clothes with a hair dryer so she would have something dry to travel in. We parted ways with hugs and tears. It’s hard to believe that after four months together, connected at the hip, half of the group had left.

Peace, Love and Portugal

LAGOS




Meanwhile, over in Portugal, while Danielle and Molly were waiting for their laundry, Rachel and Beth had made their way to Lagos. The hostel we stayed at was much more “backpacker“ than most we’d been in-we shared a room with 14 girls on king-sized bunk beds. The floor and a closet were one in the same-clothes and bags were strewn everywhere. The woman who worked there was called “Mama“ and made everyone in the hostel crepes and lemon tea every morning. The following day was Beth’s birthday so Rachel and Beth decided to celebrate the day before and hit up what was later described by an acquaintance as “the most Portuguese bars in Lagos.“ They had an oppulent birthday dinner, taking advantage of the fresh seafood in Portugal. The next day Danielle and Molly finally made it to Lagos-the guy at reception in Seville joked that he would check if there was availability there for that night in case we decided to get our laundry done instead of catching our bus again. Finally the four of us were reunited again.We got in late in the afternoon and were weary from the bus ride so we decided to properly bring in Beth’s 23rd year the next night. We went an hour away to one of the beaches recommended by our book during the day-it was well worth the distance. That night we hunted down the only Mexican restaurant in town and ordered our first burritos and margaritas in months. We toasted to Beth’s birthday, went to a few bars and called it a night. We spent the rest of our time in Lagos checking out the beaches, sampling the cuisine and trying to decipher Portuguese. Danielle made guacaomole one day that was a hit at our hostel. We clearly miss Mexican food! On the final day there, Danielle, Rachel and Molly decided to do a “booze cruise“ around the beaches and through grottoes. It was gorgeous and a lot of fun. It ended just in time for us to reunite with Beth, grab our bags and catch the bus to Lisbon.

LISBON



We arrived in Lisbon late and decided to stay in a Marriott there-quite an upgrade from our previous hostel-we even had our own bathroom! It rained on our first day in Lisbon, so we laid low and took advantage of the gym and the movie channels, and of course found a nearby grocery store. The next day we set out to see the city. We took the trolley to a point overlooking the entire city and sipped mint cappucinos while taking in the view. We ended the night with Paella and a traditional Fado performance. The next day we went to the airport and boarded the plane to head back to Spain.