And now, for something a little more interesting that dates and places

The last time I had a chance to sit down and write was way back at the start of Aug. At that point I was still dying in 40C+ degree days in the South of Spain. Since then I have met a ton of people and seen too many sights to list. I will keep it to the highlights and give you a bit of an idea of what I have been up to.

Granada, Spain - stayed in an awesome flat and met a group of Canadians. We went to The Alhambra (5 hour line to get tickets, and we got there before 6am). It was awesome to see, and it makes me want to get out and see the spots that beat it to become the New Seven Wonders of the World. From what I hear it is ranked about #10

Next came the most epic of my train trips - 43 hours to get from Granada, Spain to Switzerland (via Madrid and Paris). Getting to Madrid was no problem, getting a ticket to Paris was only slightly complicated, but it turns out that you cannot make a reservation in Spain for a train leaving from Paris. So I had to wait until I got there to make the booking. I took the night train from Madrid to Paris and met a few people on the way. Long story short, after being threatened by the ticket guy we eneded up drinking until the bar car closed and only got an hour of horrible sleep in the bunk that cost me 70euro. Getting to Paris I found out that ALL the trains from Paris to Switzerland are book (then was questioned why I didn't book ahead...). I was now stuck. On a whim I asked if there were any trains to central Germany, to Karlsruhe (where a friend from UBC was working for the summer). I was in luck, so I sent Colin an e-mail and hopped on the train hoping he would get my message, actually be in town, and meet me at the station. In the end it all worked out and I spent a great weekend recovering on lost sleep before dropping down into Switzerland.

Mountains, Chocolate and cool knives for sale everwhere - I love Switzerland. Aside from the fact that it is crazy expensive, I had an amazing time there hiking around. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to do any of the Adventure Activities that Interlaken is known for, but it is at the top of places to revisit. I can see how Bern and Geneva are right up there with Vancouver on the "Best places to live" list.

The next week I met up with Colin again for the trip that we have been planning for the past while. We met in Avignon and traveled through Orange, Nimes, Nice, Cannes and Monaco. The weather wasn't the greatest, but everything that has been said about the south of France is true. It was a great week and spending a day in Monaco clearly pointed out the seperation in wealth between myself and most people walking around the port (I have never seen so many Ferraris, Bentley's and Lambo's - good thing I cant't stand Bentley's, they cost too much).

I have spent the last week in Paris trying to take in as much as possible. Unfortunately someone else was doing the same and made off with my MP3 player and 2 cameras from another guy in the dorm room. I just spent the morning at the police station speaking in broken french, trying to get my message across - they don't really speak any English. I got that sorted and hope I am still covered under insurance.
Aside from that Paris has been great - I am off to the D-Day beaches tomorrow, then plan on coming back here for a couple nights to meet up with my former flatmate, Brianne.

That is the just of things - I don't have time to go into some of the smaller (funnier) stories, but will try to post again soon.

Stress, and lots of information.

Hello there - it's been a while.
Mom and Dad were sending out the questions of "Where exactly are you, and if something were to happen is there anyone that knows where you might be?"
Short answer: no.
So here is a bit of a run down of where I plan on being the next month.
Aug
28 - Bayeux
29 - Paris
30 - Paris
31 - Luzern

Sept
1 - Luzern
2 - Innsbruck (via Zurich)
3 - Insbruck
4 - Wein
5 - Wein
6 - Wein
7 - Salzburg (via Lintz)
8 - Salzburg
9 - Salzburg
10 - Berchtesgaden
11 - Aachen/Koln
12 - Aachen/Koln
13 - Aachen/Koln
14 - Arhus
15 - Arhus
16 - Arhus
17 - Berlin
18 - Berlin
19 - Berlin
20 - Berlin
21 - Dresden
22 - Dresden
23 - Nurnberg
24 - Munich
25 - Munich
26 - Munich
27 - Dublin

A few videos from the past weeks

These swans were feeding the fish!


Fado music - they charged us 20euro for 2 beer to sit here and watch this.


Round 1 of Portugese Bullfight




Round 2 of Portugese Bullfight


Part 3 of Portugese Bullfight (best part by far)

More Pics

I know they may seem a bit random, but I have post more of my pics through FaceBook (you can get there through my pictures page like before).
They are mainly of Portugal, with a bit of Spain thrown in at the end.
Also there are a few pics from the Body Works exhibit that was in town while I was in Lisbon. I just missed it in Vancouver before leaving, so I had to check it out here.
I have some great videos of the bull fight, but so far have been unsuccessful getting them up on youtube.

I'm in the process of trying to get accomidation and trains booked for the next 2 weeks. It now looks like I will make the 38 hour trip from Granada to Zurich and spend a week in Switzerland before meeting up in the South of France with Colin (as long as I can reserve all the trains I need...)

The heat has subsided slightly and it is down to a manageable 35 degrees. Tomorrow I have to get up early to wait in line to check out The Alhambra, which was the main reason I came to Granada. Apparently tickets are pretty hard to come by, so I plan on getting to the gate early and waiting it out.

As usual I have tons to say, but not the time to say it. I hope the pictues explain a bit of what I have been up to.

What's the deal with Spain?

I wasn't back in Spain for 2 minutes, but when I got off the bus and made my way to the washroom the first thing I am greeted with more public masterbation - Buddy is just standing there shaking hands with Lil' José and nobody is paying any mind to it.

Anyways...
I am in Seville and like everyone said, it is hot. During the day it is around 45C (115F) and last night I think it dropped down to 32C (90F). I've only got one more day here before I take off to the south coast of Spain and will hopefully cool down a bit.

Just did the tourist thing around town today and will try to start booking future travel plans tonight. I am trying to work out a flight to Morocco later in my trip and have decided that Denmark needs to be added to my plans as well. We'll see what happens.

Back to Spain

My week in Lagos, Portugal has come to an end and I I am on my way back to the South of Spain for a week or so. Right now it is looking like I will hit up Seville, Malaga, Granada, Barcelona before heading to Paris and the D-Day beaches for a week. I have made plans to meet up with a friend from UBC (Colin Olsen) to travel around the south of France in the middle of Aug. From there my plans are really up in the air agian.

The past 10 days I have been traveling around with the same group of people that I met in Porto and Lisbon. The days have mostly been filled with long breakfasts (only €3!), days at the beach and cheap social beverages throughout the course of the night. Portugal has been great, but it's time to move on.
In my time here I did manage to make a day trip out to the most Westernly point of Continental Europe (a small town called Sagres). There wasn't much to see, but I was this close and had to make the trip.
A word of warning if you are planning on traveling around Portugal - don't buy a rail pass for it. It is much cheaper to just buy point to point tickets.

I know I have a ton of stories to tell, but they really need the pictures to accompany them. Unfortunately I can't upload on this computer, so they will have to wait.

I'm off to catch a bus to Seville in my smokey bar clothes from last night (I had already packed my bag and wasn't about to dig through it this morning - I can handle being the smelly guy on this leg of the trip).