Kennyboy12

Goodbye Seattle!

Kennyboy12 — Sat, 02 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

So today will be my daughter's, who is now 23 months old, first international flight! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit scared about how she will handle being on a plane for nine hours but she did so well on her very first flight I think she will do great. My dad picked us up and took us to the airport. The flight was delayed by about 55 minutes which made me nervous since our connecting flight to Brussels departed only an hour after our arrival....
We got the airport really early and zipped through security, the airport was surprisingly not as crowded as I had expected it to be on a holiday weekend. We ate an overpriced dinner then sat at the gate waiting to board.

We will be arriving in London the next day so stay tuned for the update!

Farewell Barcelona!

Kennyboy12 — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So today we woke up, packed up, I grabbed the do not disturb sign cause I collect those and headed out. Since our bus didn't leave until 2:30pm and we had to check out by noon and it was only 9:20am we decided to check out then and luckily the hotel locked up our bags so we could see a few more things before leaving and not have to lug them around. So today we went to visit Hospital de Sant Pau. Parts of the hospital was under construction so in order to gain access to the under ground tunnels we needed to join a tour group. So we got to the hospital around 10:06am and saw the first english speaking tour was at 10:00am. But it had just started three minutes ago so we paid and quickly joined up with the group. The group consisted of around 12 kids maybe in like 9th grade? And three adults. Looked to be a school trip. One of the funny looking boys got on my nerves but that's just cause he looked funny and kept running into me. anyways, aside from a veeeery slow and boring beginning the tour was quite good. I mean don't get me wrong, I could have researched all this in half the time it took to walk through and hear the guide's speech but he was very into the hospital's history and was full of knowledge I ended up loving it. My views on tours hasn't changed the slightest and I still avoid them but I am not disappointed with doing this one. I learned a LOT about the place and boy did a lot of work get put into making the place pleasant for the patients starting with the colors used inside, outside, on the roofs and walls, down to the size of the buildings, shapes of the stones, directions of windows, religious options offered for healing, topographical layout of the facilities as in patients with infectious diseases are in the northern half of the facility so that the winds from the south when they blow through will take the diseases north and outward away from the hospital. I mean they thought about almost everything. There is just so much information I'm leaving out but basically in the end the hospital with it's many buildings was basically a city within a city. It was self sufficient with it's own farms nearby. Oh and not to mention how it got started. Okay anyways it's now 12:20am and Kumiko and I are now looking for a place to eat. We stop by this small still place and order fried green chilies, green olives and what seemed to be the breading used in frying seafood rolled into little bite sized balls but with a hint of seafood flavor like crab or something. I ordered pasta and Kumiko got a sandwich. The food was delicious. After we ate we went back to the hotel to pick up our bags. After we got our bags we stopped by this pastry place and got some snacks for the 8 hour bus ride back to Madrid. Well we get to the bus station, wait for our bus, get on said bus and head back to Madrid. Lots of small things happened on the bus but not really worth writing out. Just small little moments one sees when around the same group of people for an extended period of time. Well we got back to Madrid around 10:00pm Kumiko and I part ways at the metro and I am off to my hotel. MY hotel. lol. I oddly missed this room. Well Guess should call it a night I am exhausted.

^_^

Oh tomorrow is my last day in Spain :(.

Barcelona Part dos.

Kennyboy12 — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Sooooo today reminded me why I like to travel alone. No offense to Kumiko but... Never again will I travel with her. Luckily she will never read my blog so I can say that. She bitchy and no fun. Okay, Aside from her being the most difficult person to enjoy a foreign land with Barcelona was amazing! We woke up around 8:30, okay I woke up at 8:30, Kumiko was up waay before that, and after I showered and got dressed we headed out. Okay, real quick this is where the first of many "seriously?" moments occurred with Kumiko....So I am the one paying 550euros for the hotel. My hotel. I am now paying for two hotels in Spain. One thing I like when I travel is my privacy. Which I keep by putting the 'do not disturb' sign outside my door at all times. I don't need someone coming into my room when I'm not there just to make my bed, and not with new sheets or comforters by the way, move my stuff around, or give me a fresh roll of toilet paper. I can ask for toilet paper and towels when I am in the hotel and need them. So as we are leaving the room Kumiko flips the do not disturb sign around so it says please come into my room and do stuff.... I ask "what are you doing? I don't want anyone in there while we're gone." Kumiko, like the spoiled little princess she is actually has the nerve to argue back and say "I want it cleaned." We were only in that room for like 13 hours, and 7 of those were sleeping... the room doesn't need cleaning... AT ALL. She gives me hella attitude like she even has a say... "Well whatever," i said and she had her wait but I said if anything of mine goes missing I'm blaming you. Anyways, now are finally off to visit la Sagrada Família. The famous cathedral everyone imagines when thinking of Barcelona. That place was amazing and very odd compared to other cathedrals I've seen around the world. It had a sort of extra terrestrial feeling to it with all it's bulbs and rounded surfaces. Anyways, we arrive later than we had originally planned. We wanted to get there a little before 9:00am since that's when the cathedral opened and we knew lines formed quickly but since I woke up late we arrived around 9:20. Well the lines weren't that long, nothing compared to the day before around 2:00pm, and so we jump in line. Kumiko is upset and complaining about the segrade going to be crowded when we get there because we didn't get here earlier and suggested we try again tomorrow.... Seriously? I had to explain to her that either we get here irrationally early so to be first in line thus first in the cathedral in which case we would only have minutes before everyone else was let in. So irritating. Anyways after explaining that there are going to be people in there no matter how early we get here because they aren't going to stop allowing people to pay for entry just because you want to be alone we should stay in line and go today. We were in line only about 15 minutes and were inside the cathedral in no time :) We both got two tickets, one entrance and one to go up to the towers. we had about an hour twenty before our time to go up. This was plenty of time to see the ground floor and take lots of pictures :D. 10:30 comes along and we are now in an elevator going up. Once we reach the top we then had the most spectacular views of Barcelona. the city is beautify from above. Kumiko and I spend about thirty five minutes at the top slowing moving in the direction of the stairs to go down (yeah, they make you walk back down via swirly stair case.) Next we spend about another forty minutes or so around the outside and through the museum. After la Sagrada Família we head back to around our hotel where Casa Milà or La Pedrera. This place is a building built by Antoni Gaudí. I don't really know what I saw here cause it was very odd. I do know there were apartments and there were elevators on every second floor cause Gaudí wanted it's inhabitants to know one another. the roof was extremely weird with huge pieces of art and the inside was very old. Oh and on what was... umm.. the 3rd floor? Was a museum explaining the history of the building and the inspiration for it's design from nature. Lot's of very interesting pieces on display explaining the different aspects of the building design polygonal shapes, curvature. After Casa Milà we decided to head back in the direction of the hotel to get some lunch. We went to this little tavern called Taverna Mediterranea right across the street from our hotel. This place was amazing and the staff were awesome. The main guy got a soccer jersey signed by Messi and had it framed and one of the ladies that worked there was putting it up on the wall. The man was very happy with it haha it was fun. We ordered the roasted chili peppers, deepfried cuttlefish, and green olives stuffed with anchovies as started. I ordered a steak with mushrooms and grilled onions which when asked how I wanted the steak cooked I answered, "well done" and the waiter told me "no," then pointed to his shoe haha he said I wanted medium well I said "well done!" he was firm in his decision of me getting it medium well haha. It was amazing! After lunch I wanted to head to the coast so Kumiko and I took some metros south and first went to the bus station to buy our bus tickets back to Madrid. After getting those, Oh also, around the bus station is an Arc del Triomf. This one is waay cooler looking than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris haha. Okay so after getting bus tickets we head to a couple cathedrals down in the old part of Barcelona, Cathedral of Santa Eulalia and Santa Maria del Mar. These places were pretty awesome with the latter being the better one. Santa Maria del Mar had a very odd Palm tree oases in the middle of it. For some reason the greenery surrounded by stone was so cool. Anyways, these were two very quick stops. Now we are walking around the old part of Barcelona with it's narrow streets and little cafes and tapas restaurants. I was in heaven here. Aside from the crowds this was what I love to see and do. See the architecture and getting lost. Which is exactly what happened when we wanted to go to the harbor. I said "This way" as I'm pointing left from this little plaza. Wanted to just walk around Barcelona and eventually get to the water I started walking in the direction I pointed and Kumiko followed. Okay so during the next hour or so we passed some locals and what I think were some prostitutes in what could best be described as the Bronx version of Barcelona, some Muslims rioting over something, some children playing cricket in between two buildings and into an area were we didn't see any tourists. I finally pull out my map and say lets go into this little mart and see where we are. Kumiko asked if I knew where I was going. I said "nope" lol. This is where things get interesting and why I kept reminding myself why I prefer to travel alone because at this moment Kumiko got into one of those female tantrums. Saying things like "don't say you know where you are going when you really don't" and "if you don't know where you are going then ask for directions." sigh... seriously? I told her I never said I knew where I was going and that I just wanted to walk around and eventually end up where we wanted to go. She blew off what I said as if I was wrong and she was right and said no, you said you knew where you were going. I said I never said those words, all I said was "this way." And anyways, she said "nope but whatever" and did that whole girl thing where you guys just get quiet and start walking as if it actually makes you're lies real. ANYWAYS, turns out we were going in the complete opposite direction from the water and had to backtrack like30 minutes or so. Man Kumiko was piiiiissed. I was laughing so hard at how mad she was. She just kept walking at a super fast pace. She is so irritating. Grrr okay I'm done with her, all in all we finally get to the port! It's very beautiful there. We send a good two hours walking around this area taking pictures and soaking up the beauty. After a good amount of time here we decide to head back to the hotel but first Kumiko wanted to grab some souvenirs for her host family from Barcelona... Now... The thought is nice but seriously? Don't get me wrong, I'm sure lots of people would think to do the same but I just don't get it. If I was hosting someone here and they went off to, like, Pullman or lake Chelan or even Seattle, I would not want them to get me anything from there... souvenirs are junk. I accept the fact that the spoons I collect from every country I've been to is technically junk but they actually have a purpose and no one else got them for me. Okay so we are finally on our back back to the hotel. back at the hotel it was very quiet... I went straight upstairs and Kumiko went straight to the bathroom and shut the door. She was in there for the whole hour or so I have no idea doing what but when I had to pee I set the dead bolt in the door so it wouldn't shut all the way and went up one floor to use the public bathroom. I was kinda trying to avoid Kumiko during this time. Anyways, she came out around 9ish and asked if I wanted to go get something to eat. So we headed out to find dinner. After walking in circles we ended up going to this Japanese restaurant haha. This was weird, my brain didn't know how to comprehend a Japanese waitress speaking Spanish in a Japanese restaurant. And on top of that as soon as we sit down the lady who seated us throws like a million different menus on our table - ones in Spanish, ones in English, lists in which we can pick 5 dishes from for 13.35 euros and another list in which for 9 euros we can pick 3 options and we can use the numbers next to each dish on the lists in Spanish to find them on the English menus, or we can use the bug menus and order from the set meals for 2 people, or we can just order large dishes, or individual dishes it was chaos! I felt like I was doing homework! In the end we decided to each do the 5 small dishes each for 13.35 per person. I got friend wontons, miso soup, raw fish, dumplings and uh a breaded meat in a sweet and sour sauce. All in all it was pretty good and a cool idea having multiple small dishes rather than one big dish. We called it a night after that and went to bed after check some internetz like right now.

Tomorrow we are going to try and visit Hospital de Sant Pau with a guided tour so we can get access to the tunnels since the whole place is under construction right now. Also get a quick lunch, pick up some snacks for the bus ride back to Madrid and finally get to the bus station before 2:30pm.

Over and out - :D

ES MI CUMPLEAÑOS!

Kennyboy12 — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Today was my birthday!
Okay, so, It wasn't as exciting or adventurous as I'd planned it to be but I'm in Spain so either way I really can't complain :D. I decided to walk around as much as my feet could bare. Saw a lot of Madrid and even got my bus tickets to Pamplona! I had to get them at the bus station because well as you know from my last entry the stupid Alsa.es site was saying my bank was rejecting the transaction... Stupid websites not taking my money... Anyways, I have all my bus tickets to get me to Pamplona to see the Running of the Bulls tomorrow. My first bus leaves at 1:00am so I will take a short 3 hour nap before heading to the bus station. My first bus leaves at 1:00am and I then have a bus change in Soria, Spain around 4:00am (hope I don't mess up). I should be getting to Pamplona, Spain around 6:30am tomorrow if all goes smoothly.
Well this birthday was very laid back. No Mountain hiking in ancient Incan ruins or flying between four differently countries but it was a BEAUTIFUL day, I got still got my Starbucks and enjoyed a delicious dinner. Well time for lights out.

día número dos

Kennyboy12 — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Today I finally saw KUMIKO! We met up at Puerta del Sol near a statue of a bear and tree around 3:00pm. Granted this was after me not getting her message that she couldn't meet at 12:30 and had to make it 3:00 but in the end it was for the better because in those few hours I got lost. lol. First I forgot to look up how to say 'statue of a bear' or 'bear statue' in Spanish so because taxi drivers in Spain don't really speak any English I had to draw a picture of the statue haha. Luckily my driver could make out my lame excuse drawing of a bear and pointed me to what I would later find out to be the right direction but due to my stupidity completely got myself lost. In all actuality the statue is a LOT smaller than it should be. I was expecting a sorta have-to-look-up size statue so i walked RIGHT passed it and got myself lost... after eventually making my way back to the city Center I spot the tiny-ass statue haha. During my time lost I turned on my internet on my phone to figure out where I was and where I should go consequently getting the late message from Kumiko about meeting at 3:00 instead of 12:30. lol. Her message was sent at the time we were suppose to meet so thank god I checked. After more walking, getting STARBUCKS, and sitting I call Kumiko and we finally meet up at the statue. She and I ended up just walking around Madrid. Madrid is very pretty. The parks are gorgeous and the architecture is outstanding. We talked briefly about possibly going to Barcelona over the weekend so we'll be doing some research on that later. Well I officially know how hot it gets in Madrid and how out of shape I am haha. The heat is killing me but I love it!

Well I'm back in my room and about to order room service and watch a show. Oh by the way, my hotel has a Pillow Menu. haha. I can order different types of Pillows.

Adiós.

Final Day and Hemingway

Kennyboy12 — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So today is my last full day in Spain :( I slept in till around 2:30pm. Finally got our of bed at 3:00pm because some little bastard bug bit both my feet either in Barcelona or last night and man are they itchy! Anyways I showered, got dressed and headed out to SOL. I walked ALL around just south of that area. It was a beautiful day and I was taking pictures left and right. After about an hour I decided to go find the oldest restaurant in the world 'Sobrino de Botín'. The same one Ernest Hemingway ate at and also mentioned in two of his books :D I knew I was close so I grabbed the next taxi I saw and they brought me right to it. I took a few pictures from the outside and decided to end my trip in Spain with dinner here, tonight. I didn't do any research on if I needed a reservation or not or when I need to be there or really anything about the place but I figured dinner around 8:00pm would be nice. After making this plan I made my way back to SOL and caught the metro up and over to Nuevos Ministerios where I thought I saw a few cool sites when driving by that area a several days ago. Well I walked around here and didn't really see anything nice except for one place which I can't seem to find it's name.. I'll keep looking online and add it later if I find out what it was. Anyways there were a lot of shops in the area I was so I decided to visit one of them. I went into Massimo Dutti. Now this is the sort of store I wish I could frequently shop at. I walked around inside looking at the shoes, shirts, pants and jackets. I finally found one I really liked and it fit nicely. Well, 120 euros later it was mine :D. What! It's my birthday trip I get what I want :P Well I was done with this area and remember noticing how nice it looked just east of SOL so i caught the metro back to SOL and started walking east. Saw a lot of great sites like the Palacio de Comunicaciones in The Plaza de Cibeles and Parque de Retiro which is a beautiful park. Well 4 hours have passed and I have seen a lot today. It's about 7:00pm so I start my journey to Botín to see if I can even get in to eat. I show up around 7:50 and see a small crowd gathered around the entrance. Luckily it's just a line and it's still moving! So I hop in and when It's my turn I tell the guy for one and he asks if I have a reservation. I tell him no and he says no problem and directs me left where I am now going downstairs to cellar area. The place was still really cool I had a take in the corner and was handed my wine and food menu. I decided to order the house special menu which for 43 euros I got Gazpacho, Roast Suckling Pig, Half Bottle Red Wine, Bottle of Water and a Loaf of Bread. The roast suckling pig was basically a whole pig roasted over an open fire and two big chunks cut out and plated. The skin was crispy like chips. The whole meal was delicious :D I'm so glad I got a table. Well I am now back in my room. I called my mom and dad and about to call the front desk to ask for a wake up call since I should probably be at the airport by 10:00am.

Well, Goodnight! Last night :D

On our way to Barcelona!

Kennyboy12 — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So today, around 9:00am, Kumiko and I meet up at the bear statue in SOL and together go to the train station in hopes to catch one of them to Barcelona. I checked online just before I left and figured we'd be getting the 11:30am one. Well we catch the metro to the train station and start our small journey to find the ticket office.... There are soo many different kinds of companies/offices we bounced from window to window, person to person until we finally find the train ticket office. We pull a number then wait. When our number got called Kumiko was trying to remember how to ask for two train tickets to Barcelona since very few people actually speak English. We get up to the counter and as Kumiko hesitates shortly I ask for two tickets to Barcelona. The guy smiles, says "Ah, Barcelona" and begins typing at his computer. He shows us the times, we ask for 11:30 and he prints off two tickets. Done and Done. Now we have two hours to find something to do. Outside, across the street from the train station we spot a McDonalds so we go there and get a very small and crappy breakfast. Oh I also want to add this McDonalds was WAAAY nicer than any I've seen in the US and was playing music that would NEVER have been played in the US at least not unedited. While there we find out that McDonalds has wifi and it's free so that's cool. Anywyas, 11:30am comes around, we get on the train and off to Barcelona we go!

Three hours pass and we arrive in Barcelona! It is very humid here. We enter the train station and well hmm, we have no hotel, no idea where in Barcelona the train station we arrive at even is and we have no plan. We head to the first metro map we see and see a station called Segrada Familia which is the famous cathedral in Barcelona and the one thing Kumiko wants to see here so we figure out the metro in this city and head there. The place is jam packed with people. But that is a good thing because where there are lots of tourists there are bound to be little huts of information and MAPS sooo we head to the park that is right across the street from the long line of people wanting to enter the cathedral and stop a little station where the lady gives us what looks to be a paper place-mat from McDonalds that is map. Well now we have a map of Barcelona, we know where the station is from our quick metro journey so now we just need a hotel. I look at the McDonalds map and notice that it marks every McDonalds in Barcelona. Well that's great, I tell Kumiko to follow me and I head straight to the closest McDonalds which is right around the corner. Luckily I'm starving by now so we order a small meal and find a place to sit. I finish my nuggets then whip out my phone and begin to use their free wifi :D I get on booking.com and start to look for hotels. I find three, screen-shot their names and addresses and now Kumiko and I are off to find a taxi. We show the driver the first hotel and he takes us right there. I ask if they have any rooms available but they do not :( Damn cause that place was nice. Anyways we find another taxi and show them the second hotel. We arrive and I ask this place if they have any rooms available. The lady behind the counter checks and yes they do! They had two rooms available. One room is a basic double and the other was an executive double with two stories, a terrace, one patio oh and a mini pool xD I said we want that one. Well 550 euros later we have the nice room for two nights :D Well today was basically walking around and getting to know the area. Tonight we wanted to try tapas so we went to the Moon bar? And orderd a few small dishes like calamari, fried hot chilies and four croquetas Oh and I got a salad which was absolutely AMAZING. omg it had like avocado, BACON, chicken, leaves and a balsamic glaze dressing sorta thing it was heavenly. Well Barcelona so far made a great impression on me :D
Bed time.

Back in Madrid

Kennyboy12 — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Back in Madrid!

Let's not miss this bus either.

Kennyboy12 — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Just a quick bus change. On my way back to Madrid.

Running of the Bulls!

Kennyboy12 — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So I did today what I was suppose to do on my birthday, see crazy people running around and sometimes under bulls. I caught the bus at 1:00am and man was I tired. Luckily I had a few hours until I had to change buses in Soria, Spain. Long and uneventful story short, five and a half hours later, around 6:30am, I arrive at the bus terminal in Pamplona! There are SOOOO many people dressed up in the festival attire of white shirt/pant with a red neckerchief and belt thingy all over the buss station. All these people either going to run with the bulls that day or are leaving having ran with then yesterday. They were every where. Anyways, I arrive in Pamplona only knowing what the route the runners and bulls will be taking looking like on a map so I begin my search for a map. I stop in a small souvenir store and ask for map, one is brought out and I am then shown where I am at the moment and where the Bull Ring is. Which is good cause the route ends at the bull ring. I then buy said map and then start to head up some stairs to the exit. Now, instead of asking for a taxi or trying to figure out which cardinal direction I'm facing I decide to reverse engineer a network of people back to a secondary source, the area of interest. I begin to 'swim' against the little crowds of people walking to the bus station hoping they will lead me to some where on the bull run route. Next thing I know I stumble upon a giant fence which itself is covered with people. Well I found the route now to find a good place to see the people and bulls when they pass by. Every inch of every fence was plastered with people sitting on top, crouching looking through it. The fences were three horizontal beams about 2 feet apart and one vertical beam about every oh 8 feet apart. Well it's now about 7:20am and I find myself accepting the fact that I'm not going to get a spot on top of the route anywhere and will have to try and make due with peering through the fence like oh so many unworthy on viewers. I'm sitting behind this old couple who are sitting on the fence and then eventually the woman looks down and points to a little behind her and off to the side right on one of the vertical beams and says I can try and stand on the second horizontal beam right behind her cause she will be standing when the bulls come so there should be enough room for me to squeeze in during the important part which only lasts about 5 minutes. I examine the area and figure I could climb that just before the bulls get into sight. Well 10 min pass and this girl standing next to me asks the people on the fence if she could try and get up and sit on top of the vertical beam since no one was actually on it. She knew I was gonna be jumping up behind everyone so i figured she'd brace herself when I appear. So she finally gets into place and all is good. Okay so, time passes and it's now 8:00 sharp, after seeing a few runners already run by, the first rocket goes off signifying the first few bulls were set free to run. Right then I jump up and squeeze in between now the girl and the older lady, oh the older couple were Australian by the way lol. Well at this point I'm practically holding myself up so to release some strain on my arms I lean over the top beam at which point the girl sorta leans on my back trying to take her photos while on top of me. She was cute, I was comfortable and able to get my pictures, everyone was happy so I didn't complain. first bull I see and tried to take a picture of came out blurry. I then tried to take video but it was during a moment where there were no bulls... All in all I figured there would be more bulls then there actually were BUT it was still awesome. After all the bulls were ran into the bull ring, running a whopping 6-ish minutes the gates and fences were packed up and taken away. Everyone ran around drinking, hitting up the now open bars and restaurants and attending the free show in the bull ring. At this show a lot of the runners were in the middle of the ring and one bull was let out to run around and smash people against the wall as they tried to tease and taunt it. I was rooting for the bulls. Well it's now like 9:00am and I don't leave back to Madrid till 2:15pm... I walk around the town taking pictures watching parades and people dressed up as characters riding horses and what looked to be giant chess pieces (I really didn't read up on the origins of this festival) and watched as they chased children around and hit them with a stick and foam. I kid you not these characters were beating children right there on the street. It was the funniest thing I've seen all week. I got something to eat, tried to exchange my bus ticket for an earlier time but 2:15pmas the next bus so I sat at the bus station for like 3 hours. Nothing happened during this time and come 2:15pm I was on a bus back to Madrid. One quick stop to change buses in Soria and I was back in Madrid by 8:00pm.

Well time for bed!

Ole!

Better not miss the Bus Change

Kennyboy12 — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Uh this is where I changed buses in between Madrid and Pamplona.

Countering Jet Lag.

Kennyboy12 — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So after 13 hours of travel I finally arrive in Madrid! Getting through customs was super easy (Looong but easy) and I found out that you do not need to fill out one of those immigration forms they hand you on the plane. After customs I grabbed about 140 euros from a cash machine then found a taxi and off I was to my hotel. Apparently taxi's like to ask which route you'd prefer to take. Not knowing any specific routes I just had him take the most direct route is possible. The Eurostars Madrid Tower hotel is really nice and my room is beautiful Oh and I have an amazing shower haha. I still need to figure out where I am compared to everything in the city but I can do that tomorrow when I meet up with Kumiko. I ended up just staying in all day and sleeping. While in my room I found out that the Playboy channel is one channel away from the Disney channel haha. Spain is funny. Anyways, my birthday is on Tuesday and I would like to do something awesome. I found out a couple days ago that the Running with the Bulls is going on this week in Spain. Sooooooo I'm going to look at bus tickets tomorrow and maybe make my way North to Pamplona to run with some Bulls on Tuesday :D Or just go watch.
So all in all -
Everything will start tomorrow :)

Day 10: Final day in Europe spent in Nice, France

Kennyboy12 — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Well today was my last full day in France and I must say it was awesome. It was a beautiful day I wouldn't have changed a thing and I took lots of pictures! To start off the day I woke up at 10 then snoozed till noon :D I wanted to visit the Matisse museum today so I got up, showered, made myself an espresso, checked my email and headed out to find a taxi. There are a lot of female taxi drivers here haha just something I noticed.

I couldn't take pictures inside the Matisse exhibit but it was housed inside the building Matisse had once lived in... I think.. I'll look into that. Anyways, I took a lot of pictures of the building. The exhibit was quite small so after I went through it I decided to walk south to the Museum of Chagall.

Chagall painted some very interesting pieces. I would say about 80 percent of the paintings I saw were of the 'woah' factor. I did particularly like one painting and luckily I was allowed to take pictures in this museum :D.

After Chagall I did a LOT of walking around the old town taking pictures left and right. I was just in "awe" of the coast line. I wanted to get some pictures of Nice from up above so I found my way to some stairs. I looked around and found a tunnel that led to a lift. whew. Well, the ride up was funny, some ladies were in there with me and one of the older ones had one too many buttons unbuttoned. One of the other ladies mentioned it and now I don't speak French but I'm pretty sure she replied back, while buttoning up of course, 'oh I don't hear him complaining.' haha anyways by the end of the ride I'm pretty sure we all were a little closer haha. So the views from up there were spectacular. I found a path that got me up higher and actually lead me to a castle. The panoramic views were perfect from the very top.

Well After a few more hours of picture taking I ended my day in the hotel bar. Well actually after there I decided to go for one more walk along the beach. It was about 7:00pm the sun was setting and it was starting to get pretty cold out. The beach was beautiful and there weren't that many people out. Actually there weren't that many people out the whole day compared to my very first day in Nice. There were though a lot of people gathered around the main shopping street but I only passed through there very briefly while I was temporarily lost lol. Well I depart tomorrow morning at 7:55 am to Paris and then at sometime after 10am I depart to Seattle where I'll be landing around 11:50am and have to be at work by 2pm. blah.
***************************************Au revoir la France!***************************************

Day 5: Are you interested in goats?

Kennyboy12 — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So today was the day I got my tour of Dijon. I woke up around 10am and got a message from Courtney saying that her meeting at 12:30pm got turned into a surprise lunch for all the girls since everyone will be leaving for Spring Break. She said that she should be done by 1:30pm so she's heading to my hotel at 2pm. I have become really hungry since waking up so I decide to go find a bite to eat before meeting up with Courtney. The whole time I've been in France I've imagined Subway being really good here. I finally found one by my hotel and well It was alright. Nothing special. The cookies were still very good so that was satisfying. I forgot to trim up my facial hair before my trip and it has become a little overgrown so I walked into the first hairdresser I came by and pointed to my chin and somehow got an appointment for 2:50pm or so I thought haha. It turned out to be 12:50pm and I totally missed it. Anyways it's still only 11:30am or so and I'm just walking around Dijon taking pictures of the city.

It's really pretty here especially around Notre Dame and the Duke's Palace. I kept walking around and eventually got myself lost for about an hour and a half. Finally I come across this fountain I recognize. It's almost 2 so I decide to sit on a bench and relax some. So 1:50pm comes around I head back to my hotel and at 2pm Courtney shows up. She and I chat 'till it's time to get my haircut. We show up and after figuring everything out Courtney gets me another appointment at 4:45pm :) She and I walk around Dijon, visit a couple churches, a crypt, some historical streets/areas and I'm snappin' photos left and right.

Courney showed me this wooden owl where one is supposed to place their left hand upon it and make a wish. Then you are suppose to walk in this specific direction or else you'll pass this wooden carving of a dog and the legend has it that if you walk back this way the dog chases after you and takes away your wish. I don't know about you but I prefer to keep my wishes so we walked in the safe direction. We then end up at a park sitting, chatting and then talking about what we'll be doing while in Paris tomorrow. 4:35pm comes around and we head to the hairdresser's to tackle this task. Overall it went smoothly all I really wanted was my beard and mustache trimmed a little it was getting too long and annoying. Afterwards we head to a place to get our train tickets to Paris then we go for a walk around town and end up at another park where we sat for about an hour chatting about Paris. For most of that time this man was running like a retard (not to sound mean but it's the best way to describe it) haha. He was like grunting and running flapping his arms around then he would walk back to this bench, sit for about 5 min then stand up and run again. It was cracking Courtney and me up. This park was beautiful.

It was practically a forest with a few roads going through it and a few open patches of fields or play areas for kids. Very peaceful. It's about 7:30pm now and time to eat so we get up and head back to the main part of town to look for a place to eat. We find this little authentic restaurant and well I ordered what I thought would be a casserole sorta dish but it turned out to be nothing like one. It was alright but I wouldn't order it ever again haha. We finish eating and end up talking for about another hour after dinner. I walked her back to her place, said goodnight and now I'm back at my hotel after getting a LITTLE lost. Well I should head to bed soon. I have to be up by 6:45am to get ready for Paris. Meeting Courtney in the lobby at 7:20am and our train departs at 7:46am to PARIS!
Tomorrow is gonna be a blast. Oh and today was PAYDAY!!! So I have even more money to spend in France. w00t.

Day 2: We offer you discount :D

Kennyboy12 — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Wow so today was quite the day!

I was up around 6:30am which is waaay to early to be awake but hey at least I got a good start on the day! I left my room around 8:00am and hit the town.

I walked around the harbor my suite looks over and awed over all the yachts. I then decided to try and get to the old city which overlooked most of Monaco also the Changing of the Guards at the Palace happens at 11:55am and I wanted to see that. First I wanted a drink so I went to a cafe and ordered a coca cola. I found out after finishing my drink that the place only accepted cash. Luckily for me the man let me leave to withdraw some money trusting I'd return to pay him which I did. After getting lost a lot and walking around Monaco like an idiot I finally made my way up the cliff to Monaco-Ville, which is the old city. I walked around the gardens and parks gazing over the Mediterranean Sea

and the Monaco shoreline. The morning was a bit overcast but warm nonetheless. Around 10:20 the clouds around the mountain tops dispersed and the skies cleared up allowing the sun to drape over Monaco. around 11:20am I started back to the Palace. I saw a line of gift shops so I stopped by to see if they had spoons. I now have a spoon from Monaco :D. By 11:30am it was getting very very warm and standing in front of the Palace waiting for the Changing of the Guards Ceremony was becoming my least favorite thing to do.

Around 12:00 noon It was finally over and I was on my way back down the cliff to either a) find some food or b) find the Casino. I chose option 'a' but not after getting lost again and taking more pictures of things. I ate at my hotel, it was sooooo pricey! God I kinda regret it but it was veeery delicious lol. I sat around my hotel for while after eating; I was very tired from walking. Around, uh, crap I forgot when, I think 1:30 ish, I was back out and went to find the Grand Casino of Monte Carlo.

This place was beautiful unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take pictures while inside. I walked around that general area of Monte Carlo taking picture after picture of the everything. well around 5:00pm I was back at my hotel. I was about to call my god mother which I did around 7:00pm, 10:00am PST. I After talking with her I decided to take a nap between 8pm and 9pm then head back out to one of the casinos I saw across the street from the Grand Casino. I ended up sleeping through my alarm waking up at 11:00pm. I got dressed and headed back out. Monaco is lovely at night. All the lit up buildings and yachts ah amazing. I got to the casino and dropped 40 euros at the blackjack table. Don't worry I was up for most of the time but I wanted to go through my limit. That was my very first time gambling and I did it in Monaco of all places :D. After losing I felt like a drink so I headed off to the Buddha Bar just around the corner. A nice dark place, I ordered my drink and sat one of the tables. So about 10 min later two lovely ladies sit next to me. After 20 min and me paying my bill the girls and I start chatting. They were from Poland and apparently live there and in Monaco 6 months at a time. After telling them I'm staying at the Port Palace and was American they asked if I would like some company. haha, I said company sounds like fun, you guys looking for fun? A couple minutes later they hint that they are working girls. I knew it. I chuckled and told them I have no money. They said "but you are in Monaco ;)" then offered me a discount. I told them "I have no money which is why I'm heading back to Nice in the morning." I then slowly stood up, grabbed my jacked, kissed their hands telling them it was a pleasure meeting them and left the bar. Well that was around 1:30am It's now 3:13 am I had just called my dad, Adam/Sami, my mom and chatted on facebook. Gonna upload the Monaco photos and call it a night. My bus is picking me up around 10:35am to bring me to my helicopter and then it's back to Nice, France!

Night ya'll.

Day 8: Back in Nice

Kennyboy12 — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So I caught the train this morning back to Nice. The 6 hour journey once again went by really quickly. Well nothing happened during these 6 hours. The views were amazing I missed most of the country-side ones due to strategically places trees and hills but as we got closer to Marseille, Cannes and Nice I happened to snap a few coastal and city pictures.

I am in love with the buildings here in France I just think they are beautiful! It was a very sunny day and got even more so the more South we got. Luckily down in the French Riviera there are less trees and hills to get in the way of my picture taking so I was able to snap a few photos of the coast.

I arrived in Nice around 3:30pm then caught a taxi and got to my hotel around 4:15pm. I'm staying at the Hotel Elysee Palace in a Sea-view Junior Suite but the Sea view isn't all that great. The room is very nice and the hotel over all is just great. The site even has a weird thing goin' on that I just had to take a picture of lol.

Well I walked around a little today but I didn't really see anything new. I got lunch which was this green salad with bacon, mushrooms and mustard sauce but I now know when I see "mustard sauce" it really means they just dump mustard all over it eeh it was too strong; it should never be a tough task to finish a salad. I got back to my hotel around 7 tonight and just relaxed for the rest of the night. Made some calls and uploaded all my France photos to date. Well I'm calling it a night.

Day 7: Meh

Kennyboy12 — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Today sucked. I had nothing to do at all. I did visit the Musée des Beaux-Arts and it was cool but I just wasn't in the right mood to fully enjoy it. I didn't get to see Courtney today because she had to pack, skype, and prepare for her Spring break because her family will be coming to France. I wish I had known before getting my train tickets so I could have left today instead of having to sit around waiting for tomorrow to come. I leave for Nice tomorrow morning which I'm also not looking forward to but meh I can't fix that either unless I want to spend money which isn't a problem It's just I don't want to. I think I'm all "Franced" out. Too many couples here it's annoying. I think I'll stick to less romantic places for future trips like the middle east or Northern Africa while I'm stuck being single haha. Well it's now 11:04pm, I'm all packed for leaving and just sitting in bed watching a muted soccer match on tv and listening to music play from my phone. I've played like 12 games of Yahtzee could tonight get any more pathetic?
So glad I'm blogging about all this. I wouldn't want to forget special moments like tonight grrr I'm so bored.

Day 6: From Paris with Love

Kennyboy12 — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Wow... So today was absolutely amazing. Courtney and I met up at 7:20am as planned and were off to the train station. She had previously stopped by a bakery to pick up some pastries and bread as snacks for the ride. We boarded the train at 7:40am and were off soon after. The views of the French countryside were soooo pretty. I love trains. You
get to see soo much of country the way the land changes the closer you get to a city. You see all the little villages and just beautiful landscaping. The journey was about 3 hours but it went by very quickly.

Courtney read her book and I gazed out the window while listening to music. We arrived in Paris around 10:44am and decided to go get our return tickets to Dijon while still at the station. I had missed the second confirmation code when purchasing our round-trip tickets. I for some reason thought I had one code for both legs of the trip. So it didn't go very smoothly while trying to retrieve our return tickets. For some reason (maybe the lady was just on the wrong screen) no return trip was coming up even under my last name. This was completely wrong because I know i had purchased a round-trip ticket. Anyways after getting my return ticket to Nice printed out just to have it, I was just about to buy a one way ticket back for Courtney and me when she convinced me to figure something else out. So I got on my phone, logged into my email and found the email with our confirmation codes. haha it was there all along, we plugged it in a kiosk and tadaa printed out our tickets. Okay all set now it's off to see PARIS! I really only had a few things I really wanted to do: See the Louvre and the Mona Lisa painting, see the Eiffel Tower and eat a real crepe in Paris.

On our way to the Louve Courtney and I crossed this bridge where couples write their names on locks and then attach the lock to a link on the fence. There were two fences covered with these little pad locks on two difference bridges.

After crossing the first bridge our first stop was at Notre Dame. This one was really big and gorgeous. It looked just like the one from the movie haha.

After a few photos there we walked to the Louvre.
The line to enter the museum was pretty long but it moved quickly. The outside was amazing. So beautiful and the buildings were just breath taking. I love every inch of this place. After several minutes of standing in the heat, it was getting very sunny and warm by now we were finally through security and inside the main area between the difference exhibits right under the Louvre pyramid.

Maaaan talk about greenhouse effect it was so hot right underneath the Louvre pyramid. Anyways I got our tickets to enter the exhibits and then we were off! We walked through a statues hallway then some paintings and then it we turn the corner and there is the Mona Lisa! It was very cool I don't care what others said I loved it. I finally got a nice picture of it, no one else is in it :).

After my time with Mona Courtney and I walked around some of the painting exhibits. There are some very interesting events being depicted. Well after only spending an hour at the Louvre we head out and walk towards Arc de Triomphe. I got a couple pictures there and by this time we are getting a little hungry. Since we are still quite some distance from the Eiffel tower we decide to take the Metro over to it. The Eiffel Tower is soo cool up close. Pictures don't do it justice. The moment you see it up close you finally begin to realize that you aren't in Tacoma anymore but in frickin' France.

We walk all around the tower and then start lookin' for a place to snack. We end up at the little restaurant where we had a wonderful view of the tower. Courtney and I each had her favorite salad which is a green salad with toasted pieces of bread and warm goat cheese on the bread and a Dijon vinaigrette dressing it was veery good. I also had a Kir Royal which is Kir Liquor and champagne. It was also quite good and it's a staple french drink I was told. The whole meal was amazing oh and the day was perfect! Sunny, warm, breezy, clear with just a couple puffs of white clouds in the sky. We couldn't have asked for a better day. It's now almost 4:30pm and I still want to get my crepe so we walk around the other side of the Eiffel Tower and I get my very first crepe.

Courtney and I both got a crepe with banana and nutella. It was gooood. We ate them along the river with the most spectacular view of the water, the other side of Paris and the Eiffel Tower.
Well our train back to Dijon leaves at 7:45 pm ish so we start our walk back. We are really far from the train station but we figure we can make it. after 2 hours of straight walking along the side of the river we decide to take the metro the rest of the way; we didn't think we would make it in time and having to stay the night in Paris wouldn't be good.

After 10 minutes or so of trying to figure out where the nearest metro entrance was and then trying to find the correct train we finally find the two connecting trains to get us right inside the station or at least very close to it. We barely made the second train do to lots of people trying to also get on board and arrive inside the train station around 7:23pm. Courtney and I look at our tickets to see what train number we are on so we can find our what platform to head to... Well... looking at our tickets we find out that our train leaves at 7:28pm NOT 7:45pm... We had no idea what we were thinking... Well I spot our train number and it's at gate 11. I look and find 5 a 26 or whatever and that was gates 5 to 26 or whatever so now Courtney and I are running and these platforms were waay the heck out there. We run and get to platform 11 around 7:27pm quickly jumped on anywhere and then started to look for our carriage then seats, Courtney then jumps off to quickly ask someone that works there if we were in fact on platform 11 and that this train did stop in Dijon. The answer was yes, Courtney jumps back on, we get to our carriage and the trains takes off. Wow, a minute later anywhere along our journey and we would have missed this train. Some girl was sitting in Courtney's seat but after showing our tickets she got up and left and Courtney and I were on our way back to Dijon. We got back home around 9:07pm. I dropped her off at home and said goodbye in case I didn't see her tomorrow since she has a lot to do before Spring break and her family gets there. I'm not in my hotel and kinda bored. In a weird mood but it's okay. I'm kinda dreading going back to Nice I've had just a great time here. Well, I still have tomorrow to walk around Dijon I plan on going to the Musée des Beaux-Arts which I hear is wonderful. I really hope to see Courtney again tomorrow but if not meh oh well!
Okay I'm out. cya.

Day 4: Dijon Mustard?

Kennyboy12 — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

Hey Hey, So today I am in Dijon! Yes, like the mustard. The train ride from Nice was extremely beautiful. My train passed through: Antibes, Cannes, Saint-Raphael, Toulon, Marseille St Charles, Avignon, Lyon, Macon-Ville, a place where I missed the sign, and finally to Dijon! Overall the journey took about 6 hours which surprisingly went by veeeeery quickly. My hotel is very nice. I'm staying at the Hôtel Le Jura. No AC at all in this room but at least it's breezy and cool up here in Dijon so I wont complain. I will though complain about the crappy wifi. Someone needs to restart their router or something I get about 10% of solid wifi and the other 90% is limited or no connectivity despite having 4 bars of signal strength. meh. Should probably type this up fast before I lose internet again. So I arrived in Dijon around 4pm and walked to my hotel. Oh the rail system in France is super easy. I was meeting up with Courtney in the hotel lobby at 7 so I jut stayed in my room and relaxed. So now it's 7 I'm sitting in the lobby looking at maps on my phone and Courtney shows up! Ah 4 years later and we meet in France. Epic. We went to this pizzeria and I must say, it was soo nice having someone who spoke french. I wish I could bring her back to Nice with me. We finished dinner around 8:40om ish. I walked her back to her place and chatted some more then I was off to find my way back to my hotel (I found it.)

Well it was a pretty simple day. We're meeting up at 1pm tomorrow. And then we're off to Paris the next day!

Day 3: Nice Bound!

Kennyboy12 — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 00:00:00 GMT

So today is the day I leave Monaco :( I had a blast here and will definitely be coming back. Maybe look for a place to live when I do!
I woke up around 9am showered and checked out about 10:35am.

A van was waiting to take me to the heliport. My flight back to Nice, France was at 11am. Man, I love helicopters! So convenient. Anyways, The ride was just as beautiful on the way back got a few more pictures of the French Riviera.

So now I'm back in Nice at the airport. I got some more euros and then grabbed a taxi to my hotel. This hotel looks cool from the outside but the room is crappy. Well.. compared to my last room haha. The AC in this room doesn't work so I had to open my back door and my front door to get a cross breeze in. Oh speaking of back door, when my back door is open my ceiling lamp drops as in the part that is supposed to be attached to the ceiling hangs loose... And when I close my door it slowly moves back up to the ceiling... weird as heck. Oh and on another note... the view from this room is just spectacular! I'm at theLe Royal Hotel in a sea side room.

It's right on the Promenada Des Anglais so there is only a street and a beach between me and the sea. Anyways, Today was just a chill day since I'll be back for three days. I did walk around though, got dinner which was alright. 19 euros got me a huuuuuge pile of muscles cooked in white wine, two things of lamp with french fries and a cooked tomato, and two scoops of ice cream for dessert. haha French Fries in France. They were actually very good probably better than in the states. Except for in-n-out of course.

Anyways, Nice is alright. From the little bit I saw today, the only thing I would like is less people. The city is gorgeous I love the buildings and architecture

but there are way too many people. Oh well! I got back to my room around 5pm and decided to relax till it got cooler and darker out maybe 8ish head back out. I set my alarm clock and crashed. Well, I ended up waking up around 3am :/ meh so I went back to bed. I'ts now 8am and I'm up and getting ready to check out. I have a 6 hour train ride to Dijon today :) then I see Courtney tonight! It's going to be weeeird. haha.

over and out.