Hello everyone, if you didn't know, I'm home, just haven't gotten the drive to update this until now (9-10 days after I got home). The flight home was nice, I sat in business class and my Kacey and Evan only got to sit in World Traveler Plus
(it was because we got 3 round trip business, and they were only coming one way with us, and the ticket was in my name, so they couldn't come up to the 2nd level where we were). I'll do a brief (hopefully) summary of each of the places we went to:
There are too many pictures to post them all here, so I'll just link you to my Europe Trip photo album.
http://photobucket.com/albums/v124/SoleSurvivorAdam/Europe%20Trip/
England:
London: London was the most unbelievably expensive place I have ever been in my entire life. Every dinner was at least a few hundred bucks. The first night we just had chicken kebabs that were about €14 each, which is about $28... It rained the first and last day we were there, but it was still a fun place, we spent 6 nights there.
France:
Paris: Paris is really cool, the Eiffel Tower is really amazing. Our hotel was really small, but really cute (did I just say cute?), I got my own room there! There is a picture of part of it in my photo album. The neighborhoods weren't very interesting or lively, but the crepes sure were good! 3 nights.
Provonce: Connie! Our favorite hotel owner...
We went to this theater festival in Avignon that was sooo much fun, likely my favorite night of the trip. Went wine tasting for the first time, that was a ton of fun. 2 nights I think.
Italy:
Venice: My favorite place of the trip. It was so amazing, the narrow streets, no cars, water and bridges all around, everyone walks everywhere. I didn't even see ANY fast food restaurants there! I wish America was like that, that way we wouldn't be surrounded by stupid, obese, republican, Americans who are too ignorant to realize that America is a sick place. Most of the people you see at Disneyland wouldn't even be able to fit in some of those streets without getting stuck. Enough of my ranting, Venice was awesome. We met my cousin and aunt when we got there. We went on a gondola ride at about sunset ride, and at the end, I jokingly said, "that looks easy," and so the guy let me try it, and my cousin took a picture, and this is my current background right now:

We spent either 2 or 3 nights there, I'll need to check that.
Tuscany: We stayed at this really cool place, and the lady who owned it was very warm and told a lot of stories. I have a picture with her in my photo album somewhere. There was a pool there, which was really nice. My aunt went back home the day we left Tuscany. We stayed there 2 or 3 nights.
Siena: I really liked the plaza there, it was really cool. There are some pictures of it from a tower right above it in my photo album. They have a big no rules horserace twice a year in the plaza, once in June and once in August. We saw a video about it, and it is one crazy event, the usually somewhat sparse plaza is wall to wall with people. We went to this restaraunt that is in these caves called "Da Divo." The owner really liked us, especially me, so he kept bringing out these treats in between courses. He said something like, "I don't know how to say in English, but you are 'simpatico,' it's kind of like warm, but in a funny way you know? Like you seem older." We had this wine there that made the next day for us. We really liked it, so the next day on the way to Florence, we went looking for the vineyard where they make this wine, which was QUITE an adventure which would take a long time to explain. But in this one place we walked in and there was this older lady sitting at a table, and we showed her the wine, and she jumped up and said, "Me vino! Me vino!!!" She showed us around and she too, took a liking to me. She didn't speak any English, but she was talking about me and the word 'simpatico' came up again. Her daughter spoke English, and told me that she wanted me to come back and work there. She then gave me a business card and wanted me, Adamo, to call her, haha. I have two pictures with her in my photo album. We spent 2 nights in Siena.
Florence: Florence was quite a Debbie Downer... It was VERY hot, the city wasn't that nice, the streets were wide, and the sights weren't even that good. I almost had a breakdown at one point when my cousin and mom wouldn't stop shopping. If there is any place I would recomend NOT going to, Florence is that place.
Spain:
Madrid: The first evening we were there, my dad and I wanted a break from the touring, so we went to a water park while my mom and Kacey went to a few museums. It was an experience to say the least. The park was out in the middle of nowhere, and we were sure we were lost when our cab driver took us miles out of the town. It seemed like less people spoke English in Spain then any other country, so it was a ton of fun to talk about people right next to us outloud and not have to worry about then hearing. For example, "This little s*#@ is standing over my clothes!" or "This fata** is trying to cut us!" On the way back, we took 2 buses and a cab, which was a 1/5th of the cost of getting there. That night, we visited my brother (who Kacey and my mom had coincidentally seen at the Prada museum they went to earlier) at the hotel his group was staying at for their last night of the trip. He wanted to stay the rest of the night, so my dad picked him up the next morning when his group had left. We didn't really spend that much time in Madrid itself, but we took two day trips out of town. The first was to Toledo (yes, where "Holey Toledo!" originated) where I actually willingly shopped for the first time. There is a gold threading on steel thing they do in Toledo, and only Toledo, and there are only 22 artists anywhere that still do it. We got this plate for my room and a small vase type thing for the house, and then the guy offered me my mom and Evan free necklaces that are really cool. We came back later, and I looked at these rings (I never buy or wear jewlery, but these were really cool), and they also had pure silver Lord of the Rings rings (they made the ring and swords for the movie in Toledo). Both of them combined were €37, but since this guy liked me too, I was able to get that down to 30. The next day we took a day trip to Salamanca, where my brother had been staying for the previous three weeks. We had lunch with the lady he stayed with, and Evan was able to translate everything we said to her, and everything she said to us. Then we got to see her house, the house he had stayed in, and I have a picture of Evan on his bed in the photo album (he shared a room with a guy from france, who spoke English and was learning Spanish). We spent 3 nights in Madrid. Oh and by the way, food in Spain isn't very good.
Portugal:
Lisbon: My dad's cousin, Dale, and her husband, John, work for the US Embassy in Lisbon right now, so we stayed at their apartment. They took us around Lisbon, and it was fun to get their view of things, since they live there. Dale and John's nephew, Dan, who lives in Seattle I think, is an intern for the US embassy in Lisbon this summer, and stays with Dale and John, so I met him too. We stayed in Lisbon for 3 nights, and then came home!
So that's it for my Europe trip, and take a look at the photo album if you haven't already! http://photobucket.com/albums/v124/SoleSurvivorAdam/Europe%20Trip/ Ciao!
~Adam, via Home sweet home, Burlingame CA: 2:30 AM (Finally I can get some sleep!
)
PS. Please comment!!! I put a lot of work in it, so at least you can just leave something like "I read it." or something uncreative like that, you don't even have to think about it!
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