Spain to Itlay

Valencia was fantastic. Delicious paella (they inveted it there apparently), beautiful beaches and amazing architecture. The city of arts and sciences is one of the more impressive cluster of buildings I've ever seen. Went to the aquarium which was a lot of fun. Seeing the dolphin show was a blast. Seeing the dolphins and walruses having sex (within their own species you pervert) was kind of weird. The walruses looked like two obese people going at it underwater.
From Valencia I made it up to Barcelona which I really enjoyed. A very beautiful city that also has impressive buildings (especially the Gaudi ones), great beaches, food and nightlife. While there I did a bike tour, visited the more famous Gaudi sites (Park guell, La Sagrada Familia and La Pedrera), went to the museum of modern art (some very weird stuff) and also saw a concert by the Australian artist Xavier Rudd (http://www.xavierrudd.com/) He was amazing to see live. The guy sits in a little cocoon of about 30 different instruments including 3 didjeridoos, guitars and many types of drums. Very cool.
After a week in Barcelona I flew to Rome. So much history there it's unbelievable. Saw most of the main sights apart from the Vatican because I didn't feel like fighting the crowds. Also went on a pub crawl which was a lot of fun. There were over 120 people. I definitely enjoyed the delicious pasta, pizza and gelato at every turn.
Right now I'm in Florence and still enjoying the delicious food. I've been here a few days and I really like this old city. Did a day trip yesterday to Siena which was equally beautiful. Would have been nice to be there for the big horse race they have in the main piazza. Guess I'll just have to come back another time.
Tomorrow I'm planning to head to Cinque Terre on the north western coast. I hear it's really beautiful there.
After that I'm not sure where I'll spend my last few days. Maybe Nice, France. It's weird that my trip is almost over but it will be nice to be back home again and out of the hostel dorm rooms. The current hostel is pretty strict. They close the doors at 2am and don't open till 6am...so I always have to run home just as the night is getting started. Also, at 9:30am they sound an alarm and play the radio in all the rooms since we have to be out by 10am and are locked out till 2pm. Not fun. I have met a ton of cool people there though, including a bunch of Spaniards who are staying there while they look for apartments before they begin their study abroad programs. I'm actually speaking more Spanish in Italy than I did in Spain. It feels good when they are all surprised that I'm from NY. A few of them were convinced I was from Spain.
Ok, off to enjoy my last day in Florence.
Ciao.

España

Finished up Morocco by visitng Fez (way too hot to do anything but eat ice cream, which was delicious) and then Tangier (only there for one night so didn´t see much).

Took the ferry across the Straight to Tarifa which is great. A small, laid-back kite surfing town with narrow streets that open into nice plazas where people sit outside and eat tapas and drink sangria. Not a bad way to kick it.

After a few relaxing days there I parted ways with Kdub and headed up the coast to Malaga. Another beautiful coastal city. Joined up with a group of international spanish students (like my program in chile and Argentina) and went to a col disco outside of the city at this big marina. Enjoyed more great tapas and then headed up the coast again to almeria for one night.

After that it was on to Alicante where I am now. Super relaxed with great beaches. Liking it a lot. Tomorrow it´s of to Valencia for some Paella and then maybe to Ibiza before making it to Barcelona.

Lot´s of moving around, but I only have a month left and still want to see so much.

ciao

Sans Plomb

Here are a few stories/observations from Morocco that may make me appear to be an unsophisticated/unintelligent American. Nevertheless...

- In Morocco there are tons of cats but very few dogs, from what I've seen.
- Many Moroccans touch their hands to their hearts after shaking hands. I think that's pretty cool.
- Speed limit sign are spaced very far apart in Morocco and if you go 9km over you get a ticket. No fair.
- Apparently Sans Plomb means unleaded. Yesterday Kristina and I drove up the coast to Casablanca. When we neared the city center we stopped for gas and to try and ask for directions to our hotel (a difficult feat since hardly anyone speaks English - Only French and Arabic). We told the guy to fill it up with the cheapest one (our Hyundai rental doesn't exactly need the super premium stuff). The writing was in Arabic, so we didn't know what kind it was. We paid and drove off. Not two minutes later I tried stepping on the gas and the car didn't respond. I downshifted to second gear...still nothing. Eventually the car completely died. With some help from a group of passing boys, we were able to push the car off the highway. Wondering what could be wrong, I quickly came to the conclusion that we put in the wrong kind of gas...and the car was not happy. Kdub stayed with the car and I walked back to the gas station. Luckily we hadn't gotten very far. When I tried to explain to the attendant what happened I could hear him laughing with his colleague, "Ha, these Americans put diesel into their compact car that can only run on unleaded."
Well, yeah, I thought, but he's the one that put it in. I don't speak Arabic and this guy works with cars and gas for a living. You think he might know which ones typically get diesel (they call it Gas Oil) and which don't.
Anyway, after pleading my ignorance with his boss they rounded up a crew of people and we walked back to the car. Pushing the car back to the station wasn't very difficult, but getting all the bad gas out of the car was another story. The guy who filled it up in the first place began syphoning out the gas by sucking on a hose to get it flowing out. This didn't look like fun as he spit out the gas that went into his mouth. But it worked and the buckets began to fill up with gas oil.
Then the scary part. The attendant went inside to grab...a cigarette! This guy's clothing, hands and mouth were all full of gas and he was smoking. Not only that, but there were over 30 liters of gas in open containers right next to him. Kristina and I backed away slowly.
Luckily there were no explosions and after 2 hours, the tank was empty. We filled it up with unleaded, turned the key and....nothing. The car sputtered but never caught. We pushed it around the lot trying to kick start it into gear, to no avail.
Finally, after another half hour, the little Hyundai Accent that could, began coughing back to life. Even with our attempts to poison the little sucker, she still held strong and made a dramatic surge back to the world of the living. We were saved.
I have to mention how nice all the guys were to us...and so happy the whole time. Whenever I looked under the car to see them working, I would get a gas covered smile in my direction. I wish we spoke French, but we were able to gesticulate that we were all happy with the outcome.
A few hours after the whole thing began, we were on our way to the hotel. I won't soon forget the experience though...especially the words "Sans Plomb".

Fun Times

So the bike tour was fun and informative. We stopped at a huge beer garden which made it tough to get back on the bike. The pub crawl was also a lot of fun. Munich has a solid nightlife. I never made it to Innsbruck because all the places I wanted to stay were full.
In Zurich I met up with my friend Daniel who I met on my Galapagos Cruise boat back in November. It was great to see him and have a local show me around the city. Really beautiful city, as was Lucern.
Switzerland looked just as I imagined it would...especially Interlaken. I will definitely be going back there again at some point. I did some nice hiking, went Hanggliding again, still my favorite activity, and also went swimming in a beautiful lake.
After Interlaken it was time to meet up with my friend Kdub. After taking a train from Interlaken to Bern, then Bern to Biel; then Biel to Geneva and then flying from Geneva to Casablanca and finally on to Marrakech, I met up with Kristina. We had a lot of fun walking through and exploring the main market in the medina. So much energy there.
Today we rented a car and drove to the west coast town of Essouaira. The old town is very nice with a great vibe.
After this we're going to head up the coast to Cassablanca and then finish up in Fez before heading to Spain.
Looking forward to all of it.

Overnight trains DO suck

The bed was tiny, it was hot, the train kept jerking back and forth whenever we stopped and we got woken up twice for passport checks. Needless to say I was very tired when we got to Budapest. Luckily though a record heat wave was just beginning which made me feel great. It may have been hot, but at least the hostel didn't have any fans or A/C. Good times. Budapest itself is beautiful. Did a walking tour which, reluctant as I was to learn anything in such heat, was very interesting. They have a lot of cool outdoors bars and clubs too. When it was too hot to walk around, we went to a water park which was a blast.
The train to Vienna was also pretty rough with the A/C cutting out very early into the ride...and the windows were all locked. What's up with that?
Vienna was really nice. Went to a very cool museum called the Haus der muzik (house of music) which had interesting exhibits on the big Austrian composers and then more interactive stuff dealing with the physics of music and how we perceive sounds. One room mimmicked what it was like to be in the womb, what it would have sounded like anyway...there was no amneotic fluid. Another part let you virtually conduct an orchestra with a remote control baton. If you went to fast or slow, they got upset and started yelling at you. I think they need to calibrate the thing a little better.
Met a local in Vienna who took me to this cool nature preserve 30 mins outside of the city. which was a great way to beat the heat.
From Vienna I headed to Salzburg, home of the Sound of Music. The city is stunning...no surprise they used it so much in the film. After watching the daily screening of the movie at my hostel I actually went on the Sound of Music tour which was a bit cheesy, but fun. Saw all the big spots.
Went out that night (it was a Monday) and the nightlife was surprisingly good. Felt terrible the next day, and even though it was raining, decided to go to the world largest ice caves. Helpful hint, don't stand in the rain for an hour before going into an ice cave. If you do go...bring lots of warm stuff...like gloves, hat and scarf. I was a little unprepared...but not as much as my aussie friend who wore flip flops. He couldn't even go in it was so cold.
Got to Munich yesterday which is also a beautiful place and decided to lie out in the big park by the river. This happens to be the spot were the Germans like to sunbathe naked. Definitely the old men anyway. Didn't see too many fraulines. Oh well. Off to do a bike tour of the city now and maybe a beer garden pub crawl tonight. I think Innsbruck will be my next stop after this. Adios.

Post Prague

After the Czech Republic I took a very long and fairly uncomfortable train ride to Krakow which I really enjoyed. Much more laid back than Prague and just as beautiful in my opinion. Plus, the people I interacted with were much nicer, to me anyways. Perhaps the waiters and such in Prague were less than friendly from dealing with hundreds of tourists each day. That being said, they did chose jobs that put them in that position.
My first day in Krakow I went to Auschwitz which was very intense. Definitely not an enjoyable excursion but necessary. Afterwards my friend Aaron sent me this article http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/12/world/europe/12krakow.html?ex=1184990400&en=7affd2b7da037b54&ei=5070&emc=eta1
which brightened my mood some.
Next day I walked around the main square, Wawel Castle and the old Jewish district. All very nice. The nightlife is great too with tons of cool subterranean bars and clubs.
Tonight I take an overnight train to Budapest. It will probably suck, but hey, it's an adventure.
Over and out.

Brief Update

After Amsterdam I hopped on a train for Berlin. Should have been a straight shot but because of "problems with the engine" (aka German conductors were on strike) we had to switch trains a few times. Not all bad as I met some cool people in the process.
Berlin was great. Tons of interesting architecture, museums and the nightlife was excellent. Went to a sand sculpture exhibit which was very cool and did a pub crawl at night which was a blast. One bar we went to was 7 stories, had graffiti everywhere with art galleries on the top floors.
From Berlin went to Dresden which was a nice mix of old (beautiful castle) and new (trendy shops and cool bars). Saw a Chilean band, Chico Trujillo, which brought back good memories of my time in Chile.
Now I'm in Prague which is very beautiful. Too bad there are SO many tourists and the weather is rainy. Oh well. From here it's off to Krakow, Budapest or Vienna. Not sure yet.