A whirlwind of countries

Hey All,
Chelsea and I are sitting in an internet cafe in Munich right now. Hungover and sleep derprived but pretty happy indeed. Modern technology means that most of the time, after writing a blog, I get to talk to Steve, my boyfriend, and my family. This does much to boost my spirits if they are down, even if I can barely form a coherent thought.

I last wrote the day before we left Barcelona. We woke up early to catch the train at 9am. We got the train station in a mad rush only to find that the train we were told ran on the weekends didnt exist. The next train was at 1pm. We woke up really early for nothing! Theres nothing worse you can tell a backpacker. Haha. We were severely pissed off and after afew yoga breaths we decided to make the best of our time in Barcelona. We shoved our packs in the train station lockers and ventured to a really awesome part of the city, La Rambla. Its a really long street that has a huge median. IN the median are stalls selling flowers, fruit, and even birds and turtles. Off to the side is one of the biggest covered markets I have ever seen, aside from Asian countries. I stayed in a hostel on La Rambla last time I was in Barcelona but Chelsea had never seen it. We wandered the strip for a couple hours savoring the smells and sights. Its a great experience and Im glad we got to see it.

We finally caught our train and headed to Montpellier, France. We made a stop in Cerbere to switch trains and then again in Lyon, long enough to have lunch. We made it Montpellier around 9pm and overpaid a taxi to take us to the hotel that Chelseas parents got us. There arent any hostels in the town because it is so small and Chelseas dad wanted to make sure that didnt stop us from seeing one of his favorite cities in the world. We gladly accepted his awesome gesture and quickly settled into the fact that we would have a real bed, not a bunk bed, and our own bathroom! It was glorious. My dad and Chelseas dad traveled to Montpellier for a rugby weekend in 2007. Thez both raved about the place and recommended some pubs and restaurants.

The place is absolutely tiny and offers nothing in the form of sightseeing or tourism. It was just what we were looking for. The town was first built by Romans so it had a distinctly Italian feel while still being French. It feels like a movie set, like no town like this could actually be real. We mostly just relaxed while we were there, taking naps and wandering the town in search of baguettes and wine. We stayed there for two nights. On our last night, we went out to a great little pizza place (counter intuitive, I know). Montpellier is VERY expensive and it was the only place that fit our budget. Our waiter, a cute (but too skinny) frenchman told us in broken english that he plans to travel and wanted to talk more about it. We fell for it, hook line and sinker. He met us at the local irish bar when he got off his shift. A friend of his was also there and didnt speak a word of english. Our friend, Luc, expressed a serious interest in Chelsea and started a long string of compliments and very blatant references to what he could do for her in one night. His friend and I just sat their in awe, jaws dropping.

He was a very outgoing kid and Chelsea was stunned. There was a perpetual blush on her face. This only encouraged him. At one point, he got so worked up in telling her she needed a one night stand that he said (excuse my language), 'you need a very big orgasm'. I was stunned and was crying laughing, Chelsea almost fell out of her seat. Anyway, it made for an entertaining last night.

We woke up early the next day to work out and shower. We've actually been pretty good about working out every other day. Running or circuit workouts if we have our own room. Its a great way to see the city, to run around it, and once you get passed the stares from the people in the city, its reallz enjoyable.

We got the train that day from Montpellier to Lucerne, Switerland. When we were planning our stay in Switzerland, I was talking to Chelsea while we were sitting at a couple of computers. We had no idea where to go or what we wanted to do and were being very clumsy about figuring it out. The guy next to me informs me that he is Swiss and recommended that we go to Lucerne. So thats what we did! After getting over the extortionate prices in Lucerne, we were able to appreciate its stunning beauty. Apparently it is a lot like Interlaken but lesser known and more beautiful. The train ride there was a treat in itself. The juxtaposition of the lush green and towering Alps gave us chills.

We got lucky in that there was a huge jazz festival going on while we were there called the Blue Balls Festival (translation problem. Haha). While they have paid concerts in a small theater, they also had an outdoor amphitheater with live music and surrounded by about 30 stalls with all kinds of food, beer, jewelry, and clothing. While we couldnt buy anything, we just wandered around soaking up the atmosphere.

The town is tiny, possible to walk around it in about 45 minutes, so we bought a picnic from the grocery store and found a little park with gorgeous views of Lake Lucerne and the Alps behind it. We laid there for a few hours and went back to our hostel to start drinking. I bought a 3 Franc (about 3 dollars) bottle of wine. It was disgusting but I managed to get about 3 quarters of it down. We went down to the festival again that night, this time a little jollier, and hoped that someone would approach us. We are generallz pretty outgoing but the people in attendace we made up of groups of friends and didnt bode well for us. When no one approached us, we just went to sit up on the stage, which had since been abandoned by the performers. We sat there, contentedly people watching when a woman finally came up to talk to us. She said that her friend really wanted Chelsea number, that he was a really nice guy but just very shy. She gave the woman her email address but told her not to give it to him until he came up to talk to us. After much persuading on her part, he finally approached us and we all talked for about an hour. We went back to our hostel and to bed.

The next morning we got the train from Lucerne to Munich and thats where we are now. More about that in the next post. Hope you are all happy and healthy. Miss you!

Ash