Back in Provo, Vacation is Over

Well it's been a good last little bit. We finished our trip by spending time in Pittsburgh, Seattle and Portland. 

We didn't go sight seeing or do any Couch Surfing, but we spent some well needed down time with family. 

We are now back in Provo to move into a new house, start work and start a full load of school. It is going to be a busy few months but we feel like we have had our fun and it's time to focus in on serious stuff again. This does not mean that the fun is over. We have lots of camping and crafts planned for this summer. But for now we plan to stay put for a while.

Here we are in Pittsburgh:

After over a month of traveling, here are several things we learned about cheap, efficient traveling:

1. Plan way way ahead: We started this Europe planning two months before. Fact is, most people pay a billion dollars for tour guides and tour buses etc. When you don't have resources like that you need to plan quite a bit so as not to miss out. 

2. Ryanair/EasyJet: If you are going to Europe you need to know about these low cost airlines. If you plan ahead you can get flights for super cheap (Dublin to Berlin 24 Euros!) What's the catch? Well there are several hoops you have to jump through to make it worth it. I'll leave it to you to look up the tricks to winning with Ryanair but basically you have to pack light, show up early and be willing to sit in not the most comfortable airplanes. Worth it!

3. Learn to eat local picnics. Restaurants were not really an option for us. Instead we bought bread, cheese, fruit etc from the market and just snacked on that all day. This is a way you can save a lot of money

4. Couchsurfing.org: This is a social network that allows travelers to connect with people all over who are willing to open up their home to you. Again you can check out the details with some research but basically you get a place to stay, sometimes a meal and usually a cool new friend and experience. We did this everywhere we didn't have a connection and ended up only paying for one night of accommodations during our month in Europe. Needless to say this is our number one money saver. Check it out, it's not as sketchy as it sounds

Those are our four little suggestions on getting around Europe when you're poor and ambitious. Good luck

Keep tuned in for our summer fun here in Provo,

I&J 

Barcelona: Where everything went wrong and right at the same time

It's been a wild two weeks and we are back to update everyone on how it's all been going. 

We reluctantly left the beautiful city of Paris and headed towards Barcelona.  Here we are in yet another train station. 

We got into Barcelona very late on a Saturday night. We had to take a bus from the airport to the city and in the process we lost (or got stolen of) our little pouch that had all our money, credit cards etc. Big Problem! We walked to where we where staying, trying desperately not to explode at each other. It was 2am, we were tired, this wallet thing, and to top it off careless drunk Spaniards out partying on their Saturday night. It was a mess. 

Luckily we were staying with a family we knew; they were very helpful and accommodating through out this whole thing. 

Jaxon is currently living there so he showed us around. Barcelona is essentially a Hawaiian vacation with courser sand, bluer water, historic Spanish architecture and amazing food. Needless to say we loved it!

We would spend the days wandering the city and resting in the parks. We read our books and just relaxed.

We spent hours on the beach. Yes we burned. Well worth it? Yes!

The big deal in Spain is a dish called Paella. Rice, vegetables, seafood, chicken and whole bunch of spices. 

To add to the drama we got up early the morning we were to fly out to Italy and confronted several complication that led us to missing our flight. Below is a photo of Izzy about to burst but if you look closely you can see that she kind of has that look of completely not caring anymore. We sat there wondering what we should do. Since it was quite early we ended up taking the day to explore La Costa Brava, a remote (ish) line of beaches right on the boarder of France and Spain. 

By mid day we were celebrating the situation. Having missed that flight might have been the best thing we ever did. We found ourselves in Lloret De Mar, a great little town on the Mediterranean. Blue blue blue water and a hot sun and yes a little more sun burn.   

What's more, a quaint castle fortress resides on the cliffs near the beach we were at. 

The castle allowed us to walk on a path that followed the base of the castle but did not let us go up into the actual fortress. This would not do! Luckily our castle experiences in Wales gave the skills necessary to ignore the "stay out signs" and climb into the fortress. 

This day ended up being one of our favorites. We stayed out exploring for a long time before returning to Barcelona to make adjustments to our trip seeing as Italy was now out of the picture. 

Meanwhile, back in Barcelona, the Spanish had evidently caught wind of the revolution trend that is spreading across norther Africa. Thousands of young people positioned themselves in the downtown square, protesting the government for alleged corruption and no jobs. The irony of the situation was that while these protesters petitioned jobs, opportunists wove in and out of the crowd selling food and drinks, thus employing themselves on the dime of the furious unemployed. 

Johnny Turned 23. We've decided that birthday cake is over rated so now we can chose what want to be our birthday treat. Johnny chose strawberry milkshakes. 

That same night Barcelona won the European Soccer Championship. The streets exploded with fans. Unlike anything we have ever seen.  

We flew back to London for our last 3 days of the trip. We took it easy, slept in and explored new parts of the city. 

We went to a little village outside of London near Hamstead Heath. It was small townish and quite relaxing. We had one last picnic there.  

Our last night there we went to a Fleet Foxes Concert. 

And that's it. Our trip to Europe is over. It was a wild ride. We saw some amazing things and will never forget the people we met and the experiences we had. Now back to the USA for the last little bit of summer which includes, but is not limited to, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Portland and then back to Utah for the start of summer term and more summer fun. Leave us a comment, we always love hearing from you.

Sincerely,

I&J

Paris

We took the 200 mph train (coolest invention ever) to Paris.  The weather cooperated very well with us. Sunny days but not too hot. We spent our first day resting at the Eiffel tower. Honestly, the tower is cool, but we don't really understand how it became the biggest tourist icon in the world.  Nevertheless the lawns in front of the Eiffel Tower provide a great place to rest.

Last semester we took a music history class and studied the music of Chopin. We were able to visit his grave. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. We consider this a 'must see' for anyone coming to Paris. The place is full of old beautiful graves and few tourists.

 

 

Back in  downtown Paris we found ourselves to be just two of the billions of ravenous tourists, hungry to see everything. As fun as these places are, the amount of people jammed into the museums makes it a less pleasant experience. Nontheless we loved wandering around this old old place.

 

At the Palace of Versailles we found ourselves smashed up against huge group of mainly over-zealous Chinese folks with expensive cameras. We marveled at the sight of people crawling over each other taking photos of paintings. Yes I know, everyone does it..But why? Why would you compete with one  thousand other people who all fight for the space in front of the Mona Lisa just to get a photo of the painting when google image carries a high resolution scan of the same painting? After discovering this silly tendency we put the camera away and giggled at the countless photo zealots that roam the halls of these museum. 

Versailles--in our opinion--was too built up and while splendid and grand, nightmarish queues made the experience good but not great.  

We loved Notre Dame more on the outside than the inside.  This masterpiece is not only a breathtaking illustration of Gothic architecture, but also a romantic building. We spent hours just walking around it.

Our favorite visit was Sainte Chapelle. Again, a place with little tourists. But beyond that, Sainte Chapelle has a very solemn and reverent air about it. The stained glass walls let the light seep in with magnificent color and tone. Another must see!

On top of the Arc de Triomphe, we caught the sunset. Paris from above is easily the most beautiful city we have ever seen. After a long day of museums and monuments we got to relax and take in this amazing view.

One night we went around and gathered cheeses, meats, bread, etc for a nice picnic. We've found that gathering ingredients at various shops and markets is not only extremely fun, but affordable as well. After purchasing enough to stuff ourselves, we continued on our way to the Eiffel Tower.

Here's us at our 600th boulangerie (bakery) picking up supplies.

We perched ourselves on the lawn in front of the Eiffel tower for several hours just talking and wondering if life gets any better.

 

Stop 601 at the boulangerie 

Almost done with Europe,

I&J

Brussels

After a little break we have returned to the blog world to update everyone on how it's going over here across the pond. 

We made our way to Brussels and wasted no time making it to the chocolate factory. At the chocolate factory they let you sample everything you want. Best part, the samples are full size pieces of chocolate. It's great for the first few pieces, then it get a little overwhelming. The thing about Belgian chocolate is that it extremely heavy and rich. We spent some time carefully choosing which chocolate to partake, lest we overdose. It turned out well. We bought two boxes.

We then made our way to what they call the "junk market". We found that what Belgians call junk is actually great stuff. We found all sorts of antiques. We spent hours there rummaging around through the "junk" and bartering down the Flemish sellers from their ridiculous prices.

Later, we ate a "machine gun", one of Belgium's best creations. It's basically spicy sausage, lettuce, wild and spicy sauce, topped with fries and all inside a baguette. So Good.

To add on more calories we couldn't help throwing down a warm waffle covered in Nutella, cream and banana. The fact is Belgian waffles are actually way better in Belgium. We didn't regret it for a second.

At the end of our Brussels trip we found a gigantic horn...no joke, a huge horn in the middle of city, free for all to come and announce what they please. We spent quite a while yelling into it.  What is this thing for? there was no explanation, no reasoning, just a giant horn.

We loved the food, people and sites in Brussels and now we are ready for Paris. 

See you soon,

I&J