Fall Break

Ok, well this could get long.
We'll start from the beginning a very good place to start...

Part 1: Airport..
So I took this disocunt airline Ryanair, something like Southwest, the flight was about $40. So the airport is Frankfurt-Hahn, which is really nowhere near Frankfurt, so it's about a 2 hr journey from Heidelberg (HD) to Hahn by bus.
So I get to the airport on time to check in when I run into problem 1, I was supposed to check in online, and since I didn't it was a 40 euro fee, shoulda read the email from ryanair...
So now that I was off to a frustrating start I got onto the Boeing 737 en route to Barcelona Girona.

Part 2: Barcelona
So I get on the bus in Girona which is about an hour north of Barcelona. The catch about Ryanair is their flights fly into cities about an hour away from major cities so you always have to take a bus into the city.
So I get into downtown Barcelona witht the address to the hostel, so I take a cab to the hostel where I run into problem 2, I had the wrong hostel. So I check my email at the hostel and find the address to the right hostel which was about a 3km walk. (I was out of cash for a cab) So after about 30 minutes of walking I was in the vicinity of the hostel, I asked a few locals and they pointed me in the right direction and I stumbled across the hostel.

Coincidently, the Bethel guys had some issues of their own and got their only about 10 minutes before me, about midnight. So we chatted a bit then hit the sack prepping for day 1 in Barca.

Part 3: Barcelona 2:

So we get a metro pass which was good for the weekend which was sweet cuz the metro was one of the best in europe.
The first day we went and checked out most of the major tourists places and the Mediterranean. Mostly checked out the city and walked around.
Later in the day we walked to the FC Barcelona fotbal store where we found out the game we were planning to go to was Sunday at 9 PM not Saturday at 7:30. More details later.

So that freed up Saturday which ended up being pretty cool.
We used the day to take a gondolla ride from the pier to the Olympic village (Summer Olympics in Barca, 1992) So we checked out the village most of the afternoon then went back to the hostel to relax for the night.

Sunday morning checked out a few more structures around town then went back to the hostel to get ready for the fotbal match between FC Barcelona and Real Zaragosa.

While waiting we chatted with these 2 crazy Aussies who were traveling the world. They had sold all their stuff and were using the money to travel the world. They had some crazy stories not worth repeating, by pretty funny.

So we got to the stadium, Camp Nou early to check it out. It was pretty big capacity seats 98,000, so pretty big. The game was sold out which was pretty cool. FCB won 6-1, RZ wasn't much a test.

So after the game, which about 11:30, we went back to the hostel and grabbed our bags and made our way to the bus station to spend the night. The first bus for the Girona airport left at 3AM, and since our flight was at 8 we wanted to be sure to have enough time.

So let me tell you about getting on a bus in Barcelona at 3AM. Every man for himself. Basically its a made rush for the bus pushing and stoving, no organization whatsoever. So me being the competitive aggressive person that I am, I pushed my way to the middle and got on the bus. However, the other guys were more like deer in the headlights, and no one else got on besides me, so i had to get off and encourage the other guys to be a little more aggressive. So we got on the next bus and got to the airport a few hrs early where everyone was pretty tired.

Part 4: Pisa

So we got to Pisa at 10, and we were super tired.

We checked out the leaning tower for about 2 hrs before we checked into our B & B. Which ended up being some ladies apt which she rented out, but it was actually super comfortable, and the free breakfast was amazing, prolly the best cresent i've ever had, hands down.
So Tuesday afternoon after walking around Pisa a little we took a train to Rome.

Part 5: Rome

So Mark booked us at a Country Club for 16 euro a night, so we didn't really know what to expect, especially since it was 40 minutes outside Rome.
So when we reached this CC it ended up looking more like a camp, but everyone really liked, and it had a really good restaurant so that made us happy.

So Wednesday, my only day in Rome, we saw the Colliseum and Vatican. One thing that was interesting about Rome, was that the metro was dirty and nasty, compared to those in HD and Barcelona.
When we got back to the CC on Wed night, they were filming an Italian movie right next to our cabin. it was pretty cool.

Im getting tired of writing, if you can't tell....

Today was a LONG DAY, 6am wakeup, 6:30 shuttle to metro. 8am train departs for Pisa. 11am arrive in Pisa, flights leaves for Hahn at 1:30. Arrive in Germany at 3:30. 2 hr bus ride home, get back to HD around 6:30.

Ok so that was loong, kudos if you actually read the whole thing


E

Recently

Well I haven't wrote anything in the blog recently because nothing extraordinary has happened. Although, last weekend I went to Stuttgart which was about a 40 minute train ride there at 8:30AM and 2:45 ride back at midnight, the trains aren't as efficient at night, clearly.
This week I came down with a nasty throat infection or what the Germans call angena. I stayed in bed for 2 straight days and it couldn't have come at a worse time since I am just about to take my midterms this week, 2 on Monday.
Anyway, I leave for Barcelona on Thursday, pending I don't relapse this throat deal, I'm looking forward to it for many reasons, I get to see Dan and the Bethel kids, I get to have to Ryanair experience, and I get to see a new city.

Well, short post, but that's all I wanna write,
Peace to you

Eric