Yesterday in Madrid was awesome. Thanks to maggie's brilliant ideas/directions, I walked from my hostel to Retiro Park, which is kind of like a big central park type thing. The walk there was awesome, I got to go passed a couple of the main plazas and fancy buildings and such, and then the park was absolutely perfect! There's a big pool with rowboats you can rent, and tons of little paths and walkways and a couple museums. I stumbled into this one museum, which was totally cool and different, although a complete mind trip. It was this whole building made completely from glass, so the sun coming through the windows made rainbows on evertything. The floor was made completely of mirrors, so just walking around looking down, everything moved and stretched and distorted crazily and there were all sorts of colors floating around. I'm convinced that's what some of those crazy drugs must make you feel like. Also, they gave you special socks to wear on the mirrors, and I got to keep them and they're actually cute, so yay for one more pair of clean socks! Then I walked back here and rested for a bit, and then watched the world cup final in my hostel. This new hostel has a very community feel, so there were tons of us all watching together, and we were originally planning on going on a pub crawl at midnight that 10 hostels do every sunday and wednesday night, but we all just ended up having a ton of fun staying in and nobody really wanted to shower or get dressed fancy or anything, so we all just hung out around here and had a great time. Now I'm off to explore Madrid, not really sure what I'm going to do today but I'll keep you posted!

My last afternoon/evening in Barcelona was great. After I went back to my hostel and did laundry, I went out to the FC Barcelona stadium and museum, which was pretty cool. Then I took the metro to la sagrada familia, which is a big temple that Gaudi started and spent the last 40 years of his life working on, and it was super super cool. Then I gave myself a little walking tour of all the gaudi architecture stuff in the area (Lizzy--the let's go guide is a complete lifesaver!), and managed to get lost and turned around more times in this one section than in the whole rest of my trip. Ironic that this was the one area I've been in that's a perfect grid, but apparently grids are too much for me to handle! Then I grabbed some dinner from the grocery store with the Scottish roommates ("dinner" used loosely, as it was a baguette and a 44 cent box of wine!) and then I went to a nearby Irish pub to watch the soccer game. Then I just walked around with this group of Irish girls I met who were crazy (real drunk and there for a bachelorette party weekend) and we just walked around and watched the street performers and didn't really do anything, but made a fun night of it. Now I just got off the train in Madrid, and my hostel has free internet and satellite tv and is real cute, so i think it'll be good. Now I'm off to explore Madrid (with suggestions from a certain ms. maggie!) for a couple hours, and then find a place to watch the world cup final tonight.

Barcelona rocks! Let's see, not even sure if I can remember everything I've done here. I started out yesterday, and walked down La Rambla (which is a wide, pedestrian avenue with tons of crazy shops and crazier street performers and cafes and such) which is where my hostel is, and went to the main market here. At first I was really impressed with all the colors and fruits and flowers and whatnot, but then stumbled into some meat shops where the animals were entirely too recognizable as animals to me (we're talking heads that still had teeth and eyeballs and everything!), so I ended up leaving that market without getting anything. Then I walked over to the Barcelona cathedral, and walked around that and a bunch of the buildings in the old part of town. After that, I walked down to the beach, and lay tehre for a couple hours. This is definitely my favorite beach I've been to! Then I took this cable car thing which runs from the beach to a mountain in the sky across the whole city. I climbed around the mountain to a million different sites. Walking between each place it was just beautiful gardens and flowers everywhere, and there were about a million beautiful panoramas of the entire city from up there. I went to the Miró´museum, which was far and away my favorite museum I've been to this whole time! I've always liked Miró a lot, but especially after all the dark regligious art of Rome, I like him even more! And they also had this fantastic temporary exhibit there, about this guy who did crazy art with pianos. Like he had made an entire piano out of plastic oranges, an upright piano with a boat propellor going through it, a remote controlled piano player, a piano with different porno images on each key, giant spongy busts of bach that swung from the ceilings, just crazy stuff like that which was all really cool. Then I walked further up the mountain to the old olympic stadium and botanical gardens. Then I went to this awesome place called Pueble Español, which was set up for a science/technology exhibit similar to the world's fair a long time ago, but then people decided it was too cool to tear down after the fair. They basically made a little village, that has exact replicas of buildings from every part of Spain at the time. And there were tons of cute restuarants and shops and crafts and stuff like that. I feel like I got to see all of Spain just in Barcelona! After that, I took a long walk back to La Rambla, stopping to watch some of the super crazy street perfermers again. Then I went out to a late dinner with a scottish couple from my hostel, and we all got paella for the first time which was delicious! This morning I woke up early and went to the beach for a couple hours again, and now I'm back in the afternoon because my hostel has a laundry room, and all my clothes are pretty nasty right about now, but you can't use them after 9, so looks like it's time for an afternoon siesta while I do laundry!

¡hola amigos! I love that I can do this crazy punctuation from these computers! ¿what do you think of my punctuation? ok, I promise I won't do this for the entire entry. Anyway, after an hour on a train, walking for 20 minutes, and taking a bus for 10 minutes, I finally made it onto my boat yesterday. The boat was actually huge and awesome! It had a casino and a couple restuarants and 3 bars and a pool all on the boat! And my little seat for 20 hours ended up being super comfy (or I was tired enough from Rome that anything would be super comfy!), and way way roomy, kind of like super first class seats on a plane. And the boat received TV signals, so we all watched the portugal/france world cup game on the top deck. Vuvs-- good call on telling me to bring a hoodie! You definitely scored some "good mom" points for that one! So I pretty much passed out in the giant room of seats right after the game, and it was actually really nice to be able to sleep late and not feel like I had to wake up early to go wait in line for some museum or something. The boat didn't get in til 3 pm, so I spent a lot of the day reading a really dumb "single girls takes on the world" beach read by the pool for a lot of the day. I didn't mind being on a boat at all, and actually didn't feel it moving or anything, but for the past 8 hours since I've actually been on land, I've hit some pretty big waves! Seriously, I can't stop feeling like I'm rocking on the water now! Somebody needs to tell my body I'm off the boat. Also, the boat was the first place I was where really nobody spoke English, so it was really just me for 20 hours, which was actually kind of refreshing. So I got to Barcelona, and found my hostel, which is actually located right in the middle of everything and seems great. Yay for hostels that you don't have to cross highways at night past cheering hookers to get to! This afternoon I went to the picasso museum, which was pretty cool but not as cool as it could've been. It focused a lot on his early stuff when he was still in classical art school before we started doing the crazy stuff we all know and love, and then there were only a few things from the blue period and his later stuff. After that, I went to the train station to get my tickets for Madrid and Seville. (Pamplona got cut from the trip as it turns out hotels cost about a bajillion dollars a night during san fermin and you're supposed to book a year in advance) Anyway, the line at the train station ended up taking close to 2 hours, but I ended up talking to a real spanish guy who didn't speak any english, and I could actually talk to him!!! Yay for finally not being scared to ask if a seat is taken or if I'm waiting in the right line! And I ordered my tickets completely in Spanish too! woohooooo!!! Then on the metro ride back, I met these 2 american guys, so the 3 of us went out for tapas and sangria near our hostel. turns out all that stuff is better in the real barcelona instead of the clayton barcelona . . . who'd have thunk? Anyway, my guide book says people don't go out in barcelona until 1 am, but its only 11 and I'm completely exhausted, so I think I'm going to be the party pooper and pass out early. (In the broken english of the hostel owner a couple hours ago, my eyes look too tired.) Hopefully a good night's sleep will get me ready to do barcelona tomorrow!

somebody stop me before I buy a fake designer bag again! The girls last night warned me that once you buy the first one, it completely becomes an addiction. For me, being my cheap and competitive self, I just like playing the game of throwing out rediculously low prices and watching the guys squirm and then walking away. Well today, I decided there was one little cute white "Gucci" bag that I really liked, and I wanted to see what they would do if I suggested paying 3 or 4 euro for it. Well I played the game and walked off with a couple guys, and then one guy agreed to 4, and so I bought it! Don't let me buy any more!!! Anyway, I also did the ruins today and the old Roman forums, and then walked over to the Spanish steps are because theres an American Express place there where I could exchange my travellers checks without commision (I was down to 56 cents!), and then I walked way across town to a little neighborhood the let's go book suggested for real good Italian food way cheap without any tourists around. After walking forever, the guide book did not disappoint! I had incredible lasagna, and people at all the tables around me were actually speaking in Italian! Crazy! After that, I walked over to the Great Synagogue, which was the first synagogue built after the Jews were let out of the Ghetto. It was huge and bright colors and had a rainbow dome and was just super pretty! Then I walked back to the hostel, stopping at a billion churches and fountains on the way (as I was about as far away from my hostel as I could be, I think there really were a billion!) And then I came back and took yet another nap, and now here I am on my way out, either to watch the Italy game at a pub or some imaginary big screen people keep alluding to but nobody actually knows where it is, or do a 4th of July pub crawl (which would all have the game too) that begins with an hour of an open bar with Budweiser, since American beer is expensive to get here and they know we're all missing it! Anyway, tomorrow morning hopefully I'll get up early and go see the pope drive around, and then get on a ferry in which I'll be in my little seat for approximately the rest of my life. Then spain!!

After the last post, I went back to my hostel and passed out for a couple hours. Then I woke up around 9, and set out to look for somewhere to get a cheap and easy dinner. I was looking at the menu of the restaurant right next door to my hostel, and the waiter there came over and tried talking me into it. I told him it was more expensive than I was in the mood for, and he was like, "just come, sit down. we'll take care of you." (I'm thinking he could tell how exhausted and overwhelmed I was feeling and took pity on me!) Anyway, he proceeded to bring me a big salad, a glass of wine, a basket of bread and cheese, and a piece of bruschetta that was the best thing I've eaten in Italy by far. After I was done, I asked him how much is cost, and he was trying to tell me it was free. I wouldn't let him do that, so he told me to give him 3 euro, and I did, so that was a great cheap meal! Yesterday morning, I set out early with 2 Mexicans and a Canadian from my hostel to go to the Vatican museum and the sistine chapel. By the time we got there, the line was just ridiculous. (as in, farther than we could see past the "2 hours from this point" sign) So, the Mexicans decided to give up and come back later, but, using a little slight of hand/trickery, me and the Canadian snuck our way into the front of the line without anyone noticing and only waited about 6 minutes. And we also found out that you can plug normal headphones into the audioguide and split it, so we could both listen at the same time while only paying for 1 audio guide. The museum was awesome, and the sistine chapel even awesomer. Then I came back to take a nap (sensing a theme in rome?), and then headed out to the Colloseum and did an audioguide in there for a while. After that, I walked forever to go on a sunset walking tour of the city that I'd signed up for with my hostel. This tour was what made me finally start loving rome! The guide was an archaeologist who was born and raised in Rome, and she was so enthusiastic and funny and excited, and she just got the whole group really involved. It finally made me understand what exactly I'd been looking at for the past couple days, and it was so great to actually here the stories behind what each figure in the statues in the fountain meant or whatever. The tour ended at the colloseum, which by this point was all lit up at night and absolutely beautiful. On the tour, I met these 2 girls who are in law school at university of North Dakota, but they were doing some EU law course in Oslo for the summer, so the 3 of us went out to a real Italian dinner after the tour. It turns out they're staying in a hostel right near me, so we went back to the place I'd gone to the night before. The waiter remembered me, and said we were the VIPs of the night and brought us free champagne and tiramisu! On the way home, me and the girls got suckered into buying fake fancy purses from the guys on the street all over, so I am now the official owner of a fake prada bag which I am absolultely in love with! The guy originally asked for 45 euro, but I talked it down to 15 (once I took out my wallet and showed him that was actually all the cash I had!), which is still probably more than it's actually worth but I LOVE it! Ok, off to try to cram everything in on my last day in Rome, before the Italy soccer game at 9 tonight! Happy 4th to everyone at home . . . eat a hotdog or something for me!

I'm in Rome now, and completely exhausted. I got in yesterday around 7, and nobody was in my hostel room, so I set out by myself. I took the metro down to the Colleseum, and walked around it from the outside there and it's incredible, but I was too exhausted and overwhelmed by too much to do in Rome and not knowing where to start, so I walked back to my hostel, and got back right when the Brazil/France game was starting, so I stopped to watch at the 1 place in Rome that was showing it. While watching, I made a little group of American friends with a 31 year old couple from Boston who was celebrating their 1 year anniversary, a 40 year old eccentric woman from Alexandria, and a 40 something Indian former mechanical engineer from Georgia. After the game, we all hung out there and the 40 year old woman kept buying us all shots of Limoncello and we all just had a good time. Then I came back to my hostel and passed out, and slept crazy late. or at least 9:15, which is apparently the hostel equivalent to 2 in the afternoon or something, because everyone in my room had been up and out for hours. Today I went to St. Peter basilica in the Vatican, which I've heard will make me not enjoy any other church in Europe, and that may be true because it was absolutely spectacular. I climbed the bajillion steps to the top of the dome, and hung out outside for a bit there. Then from there I walked to this place that called itself the tomb of the unknown soldier, but it really felt more like a palace or something. I climbed up to all sorts of levels in this building, and then the military band came and started playing fun marches, and it was just a great place to see the whole city. Then I walked over to the Pantheon, which is so much bigger and more incredible than I thought it would be just from reading about it. Then I walked to the main fountain that I forget the name of, but its the one with all the big statues and you have to throw a coin over your shoulder, so I did that. From there, I walked to the Spanish steps and walked down the main road with all the Prada/Gucci/Versaci stores, and ended up in another big piazza. I explored a couple churches and monuments and fountains around there, and then decided to call it a day before my body gets too exhausted to keep going. So now its 7 and I'm back at my hostel, hopefully I'll wake up early tomorrow to do the Vatican museum and the Sistine chapel, and then maybe I'll actually go in the Colleseum tomorrow afternoon.

Today's my last day in Florence, and it's been incredible! I made friends with these 3 Aussies right away when I got here, and the 4 of us have been doing everything together and having a blast. My first day here, I went to see Michelangelo's David, and it was unbelievable. You see pictures of him all the time and you hear how big he is, but its completely different to actually see him in person. (alas, no 10 gallon bucket for his pee, but whatcha gonna do . . . ) Then I walked around a couple of the piazzas and churches, and ended up climbing up to this piazza thats on top of a tall mountain overlooking the whole city, and watched the sunset from up there. On the way down, I met back up with the Aussies (we had separated when I went to see David), and they were going up so I climbed back up again and hung out up there with them for a while. Then, the next morning we woke up at 6:30 to go to the main art museum here because we'd heard that lines can get up to 4 hours long if you go in the afternoon. So we were the very first people in the whole line, and got to walk right in at 8 when it opened. The top floor had lots of dark paintings with Mary and baby Jesus, and none of us were all that impressed with it and they all started looking the same. The 2nd floor, however, had this absolutely awesome exhibit on Leonardo Da Vinci. It was all of his science stuff, like his journals and crazy inventions and ideas and everything. It turns out that he was an absolute genius, who pretty much invented and/or prooved everything scientific ever. ever ever. So we were all pretty much blown away by that. Then we came back to the hostel and passed out for a couple hours, and then the 4 of us climbed up a million steps to the top of the dome of the main basilica here, and just sat up there with the incredible view and a nice breeze for a while. Then we came back, got cheap bread and cheese and wine and made cheap dinner, and then headed out to a pub to watch the Argentina/germany game. We picked up a new zealand guy on the way, so it was 3 girls and 2 guys, and me and the girls just sat in the back and talked and giggled the whole time while the boys got real into it. Then we went back up to the piazza on the mountain where they set up a huge tv for the Italy game, and we watched that up there. It was packed and everyone was going nuts, and just basically a really good time. And this morning, the woman who runs my awesome little hostel Im in made breakfast for all of us, and it was chocolate cake and eggs and toast and cereal and yogurt, and it was delicious and free! So Im here for the rest of the day, and around 5 this evening hopping a train to rome!