Day 35- Flight Home

We woke up at 3:00 AM, and got ready for the flight. We left the hotel before 4:00 AM and headed to the airport. When we got there we had to say all our goodbyes to the friends we had made. Then we waited in the British Airways line for about and hour for the check in counter to open. We finally got our tickets, went through security and waited at our gate. Our first flight left at 7:15 AM and landed in London at 8:30 AM, (which is actually 9:30 Spain time) so the flight was around 2 ½ hours. Neither of us remember the flight because we fell asleep and didn’t wake up till before landing. Once we got off the plane in London we had a three hour layover before our next flight left at 11:30 AM. Our flight however, did not leave on time. The flight was suppose to get in around 2 PM (Chicago time), making it a 7 ½ hour flight with the time change. We didn’t actually get in till after 3 PM. The flight was dreadfully long and dragged on forever. We watched a few movies……. I watched Green Zone and The Bounty Hunter; Chrissy watched The Losers, Bounty Hunter, and How to Train Your Dragon. The food on the flight was awful…… some sort of chicken lunch and a chick salad sandwich later.

After landing we went through customs got our luggage and headed out of the airport to meet mom! Then we met the family at Portillios for traditional American food!

Day 34- Barcelona

Today we slept in and decided to make our day more relaxing! We leisurely awoke and headed to breakfast….ate some chocolate croissants and then headed back to bed. We finally emerged from bead around 11 and got ready to head into town. When we got into town we to head into the middle of the square and take pictures with the fountains. Then we walked down Las Ramblas, a mile long shopping street, and did some souvenir shopping! We bought Spanish fans and some other essential Barcelonan souvenirs. We stopped into a restaurant and had some Sangria and Paella. It was delicious!!!!! Then we walked toward Casa Batllo, a façade that is an allegory for the legend of St. George they dragon slayer. This house has some crazy designs. It is multi-colored with many different cut outs and intricate designs. After posing and taking many pictures we decided it was time to head back to the hotel.

On the way to the Metro…… we stopped at a local store to buy some chocolate! Then we headed back to the hotel so we could get ready for dinner and our Flamenco Show.

We had dinner with our tour group director and his wife. We ate at a local restaurant and had tapas ad Sangria, which are appetizers. We order about six different tapas which were: Spanish Omelet (Egg and potatoes mixed in a quiche like shape), Bacon and Cheese Panini, Greek salad, California Salad, Grilled Asparagus, Stuffed Peppers, and Chicken cheese rolls (looked like an egg roll). We had a great time reminiscing about the trip and having a few laughs.

Then Chrissy and I and a few other girls (Yara, April, Aubree) headed to a Flamenco show! Flamenco dancing is known all over Spain, and is an old tradition. We went to the show not knowing what really what to expect. It was pretty crazy and really hard to explain. It began with a man doing some types of steps that were loud… it reminded us of tap and clogging. Then the came out in the dresses with the riffles and big skirts girls joined in. More dancers came out and joined in. The music was done all by snapping of the fingers; then later the men played a guitar and the girls sang. It was crazy! The men and women move their feet so fast and the sound they create was so loud. After a mesmerizing hour long show, full of dance and music we decided it was time to head back to the hotel- since it was close to midnight and we had to leave 4 hours later. On our way back we stopped and got our last gelato….. which was three very large scoops each! It was a perfect end to a perfect day!

Day 33- Barcelona

This day began with a very yummy delicious breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon, cereal, fruit, chocolate croissants and more! Then we headed to our bus for a morning group tour of Barcelona. We first went to Parc Guell. This is a park that was built by Gaudi. This place reminded us of a place right out of a Dr. Seuss book. The architecture of this place was self-contained community with houses, schools and shops. It has colorful designed mosaics and paths.

Then we drove around and saw some other buildings and fountains before arriving at the La Sagrada Familia. The design came from Antoni Gaudi, the same man who designed the park. This is a church that is still in the process of being built. It began in 1882 and it will be complete in 2020.

Then we headed to the Olympic Stadium, which hosted the 1992 Olympics. The stadiums were huge. They were very close to the water, and were on top of Montjuic hill. This is where we ended the bus tour and took tons of pictures that over look the park, ocean, and stadiums.

After the tour ended we head to Las Ramblas and walked down the mile long shopping strip and did some basic souvenirs shopping. We stopped at this market, which is down an alley and there were over 50 different markets: fruits, vegetables, chocolates, candies, meat, fish, ice cream, flowers, etc. Chrissy and I bought some gelato which was Kinder flavored. Kinder is a type of German chocolate, which is amazing! The ice cream was delicious!!! Once we finished our ice cream we continued to walk down Las Ramblas. We ended at the end the street in front of a huge sculptures with giant lions surrounding it; so we stopped for some basic touristy pictures.

Then we continued walking and headed to the Barri Gotic which is an area known for food and shopping. We wondered into this area and took many pictures of churches and buildings. We took pictures of the cathedral, which was built on the top of the 11^th century ruins of a Romanesque church. Then it was time to head back to the hotel so we could get ready for our Farewell dinner and the Flamenco show we had planned for after.

After some quick showers and getting all dressed up we were ready. The Farewell Dinner was planned for 8 PM and was at a restaurant on the ocean. We were all so excited! We headed outside to wait for the bus.

We waited, waited, waited, and waited till about 8:30 when our tour director called the bus company to ask where the bus was. Apparently they didn’t know they were suppose to pick us up, so they said they would send a bus by shortly. So we continued to wait and took some fun pictures with friends and some fun poses. It was around 9 when we saw a bus come speeding up…..however something seemed different. When the bus stopped we relized what was wrong…… it was a small bus.

This bus held 24 people…….and there were 51 of us. Yea…… everyone was laughing because we had no idea what was going on. The bus driver looked confused, the tour director was mad, and we were all in shock.

We were all tired and hungry. After much confusion and the use of one of our group members translating between the bus driver and the director… we all piled into the tiny bus. Yes all of us. Everyone had someone on their lap. We were all crammed into the bus and had to close the blinds in the bus to avoid being pulled over by the police. We had to avoid the police so it took us three times longer to get to dinner than it should have been.

Once we got to the restaurant we all got out and it looked as if we were all getting out of a clown car.

For dinner we had an appetizer of tapas (which was bread with a type of tomato basil topping), then we had a cold pasta which oil, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Then main dish was a beef steak with gravy, and vegetables, and for dessert we had Crème Brule. Our favorite part about dinner was the free refills of drinks and lots of ice. Dinner was a lot of fun because we were reminiscing about the trip, and were talking about future adventures we would like to all take together.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel for some sleep!

Day 32- Spain: Barcelona

Today we had a 9 hour bus ride....woof. It was awful. Luckily we passed the time with music, movies, and reading. Unfortunately Chrissy is out of books to read now and is a bit bummed but she'll get over it. Once we finally got into Barcelona, made it the 1 flight up to our hotel room and collapsed onto our beds from exhaustion from all sitting around that we did. After unpacking and a bit of resting we met the rest of the group downstairs in the hotel lobby and headed to Catalunya Plaza. We did a bit of window shopping and then made it to Hard Rock Cafe. It was delicious. I know I know we should have been eating somewhere authentic but we needed a little American food. It was delicious. We had a little girls evening with dinner and drinks and then made our way to the metro station. Once home in the hotel we got ready for bed and immediately passed out.

Day 31- Nice and Monaco

We woke up and got ready for our day! We boarded the train and headed into Nice! We arrived at the stations and then walked a few blocks to the beach! It was amazing! The water was a clear blue-green. The beachfront was rocks of all colors. The water was so warm and refreshing after being in the Sun! While Cindy tanned Chrissy burned. We stayed at the beach for about 4 hours then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the night. We were going to be heading to Monaco! We got all dressed up, went for dinner (pizza again.....from the same place as the night before) then hoped on a train to Monaco! WE arrived in Monaco and got very lost. We were trying to find the Monaco- Monte Carlo Casino! We wondered for sometime and found many other casinos and hotels. WE then found the casino!! We were excited; Grandma and Dziadz would be so proud! We took many pictures of the casino as weell as the cars parked outside. There were Ferrari's, Jaugar's, Maserati's, Rols Royce's the list could go on. We went into the casino and walked around the entrance however did not venture in due to the entrance fee. We decided to go for dessert at the Cafe de Paris...... We got two huge ice cream sundeas; one with fruit and one with chocolate! It was the best ice cream in the world! After eating we walked around and took pictures of Monaco at night then headed to the train, so we could go to the hotel. We had to repack and get ready for our next transfer to Spain.

Day 30 - Nice

The morning began with a fun loading of the bus.....then unloading of the bus all within 30 minutes. We had to take the bus to the train stations so we could board a train to Nice. We were told we had 2 minutes to board the train, with all our luggage. Thats 50 people, 2+ bags per person, and a whole lot of disorganization. The reality of it was that we had about 5 minutes to board the train. Since more than half our group doesnt listen to directions, they decided to do exactly the eopposite of what they were told; meaning they stood there and were worrying about finding their seat rather than getting on the train. The conductor came over and started yelling at us...... telling us to hurry up. We were the last ones to board the train. Once we boarded the train we were standing in the middle of the asile, holding our luggage. We attempted to make our way to our seats (last row) and found out that our seats were surrounded by everyones suitcases. We had to climb over everyone's suitcases to get to our seats and realized we were in a fortress of luggage at which any moment could come crashing down. After 6 long hours on the train we made it to Nice! We got off the train and boarded the bus and headed to the hotel which was in the neighboring city of a Beaulieu Sur Mer. We got to the hotel and slowly made it to our rooms. Cindy headed to the beach for a nap while Chrissy napped in the room. A little bit later we ventured out for dinner......PIZZA, then headed to bed.

Day 29- Paris

So on our last day in Paris we decided that we needed a little R&R before heading out for the day. We leisurely slept in til about noon before getting ready and heading out for the day. We decided that we were going to hit up a bakery for breakfast and then walk to Montemarte which was about a 20min walk from our hotel. Montemarte is near the Moulin Rouge and is the home of the artist district where many now famous painters got their start. It is also the home of a beautiful church called Sacre Coeur and from here you get a great view of the entire city of Paris. Although in order to get these great views you have to hike up what seemed like one mile straight up. Not to mention climbing about a billion stairs. It was lovely. We took several breaks and had a final break in a great little souveniour shop at the top of the hill and had some waters. Much needed after that. After some great panoramic pictures of the city and looking into the church we walked around through the tourist shops and then meandered the now strungling artists trying to make it. After that we hiked back down the hill and made our way back to the hotel. We napped a bit and then joined the rest of the group for another view of Notre Dame, a great dinner at a small resturant in the Latin Quarter, the Arc of Triumph and then made it back to the Eiffel Tower for the night show. At 11pm and then on the hour after that for 10min the Eiffel Tower sparkles, literally. So we found a spot in the grass and waited, and then waited some more, contemplated ice cream while waiting, and then it sparkled. Not quite as amazing as we had all hoped it would be (we might have been expecting fireworks and multi-colored sparkles) but it was beautiful. We took several shots and just enjoyed the view in front of us and relaxed a bit before heading to the hotel to pack up and get ready for the train ride to Nice the next morning.