Sitges/Barcelona to Pisa, Italy

Today is my last day in Sitges-Barcelona. Tomorrow morning I fly to Pisa, Italy where I will spend a couple of days sightseeing then board a train for Cecina. Ursula, the owner of the olive farm and vineyard will pick me up at the train station....then its time for some olive pickin´.

I am quite sad to leave this area. I love both Sitges and Barcelona. I may return after my time on the farm. I´ve attached one picture of Barcelona, last night, on a thriving Saturday night. The other picture is of Sitges today. It is beautiful here today, warm enough for people to be on the beach, everyone is dining outside, it´s gorgeous. Today´s bonus - naked chicks on the beach. I know, I am so immature, but it had to be mentioned. :)

I will also say goodbye to my friend Ki Ki tonight. She was instrumental in making my time here smooth and more fun. I hope to see her agan one day down the road.

My next entry will be from Pisa where I hear there is some sort of leaning tower..... :)

I miss Barcelona already.....Adios.

Barcelona

I am in Barcelona today. I took the train in from Sitges. Awesome. I love this city and the train ride along the Mediterreanean is beautiful. I could stay in Sitges/Barcelona for a long time. Sitges is perfect.

I made my first friend...a woman named Ki Ki who bartends at a bar called Nirvana in Sitges, just down from where I am staying. She has been beyond helpful with everything from translation, to food recommendations, to train directions. She is originally from Brazil and speaks english pretty well. It has made my time here much better just having someone to give me the inside knowledge and point me in the right direction.

Barcelona is one of the best places I have ever been......

Pictures - below are pictures of Rome and Sitges. Above are pictures Sitges (church on the coast) and amazing buildings created by Antoni Gaudi. Google him and his work. It's impressive. The picture of the bearded man with PBR 12 packs is my friend Eric, tour manager of My Morning Jacket, backstage at the Edgefield Amphitheater. Nothing at all to do with my trip, but still funny.

I need to figure out how I'm going to get back to Italy and down to Tuscany over the next week.....hmmm.

Hugs! -T

Arrivederci Roma - Hola Sitges, Spain

Hola from Sitges, Spain!

A lot has happened since I last wrote. First and foremost, congratulations America on your choice for our next president. You have made the world very happy. Everyone I´ve encountered is overwhelmingly in favor of Obama. Its the first thing people bring up when theylearn I am from the US and it´s nice to be proud to be from there. That hasn´t always been the case over the past 8 years. :) And my parents are pleased that I won´t be seeking refugee status and applying for citizenship in Italy or Spain.

On Monday we ended our day in Rome at the Piazza de Spagna, climbed the Spanish steps, grabbed some gelato, and had a late dinner in Trastevere. It was awesome. Marta departed for Torino at midnight. The following day I was scheduled to fly to Barcelona. Fortunately there was an Internet Pointe below where I was staying, and fortunately I decided to check my email before leaving. Bravofly.com, the website I used, had canceled my flight reservation due to a technical error on their part. Having to get out of the place I was staying and wanting to get out of Rome, I decided I would still head to the Ciampino Airport to see if Ryan Air had my info anywhere. At this point I am lugging my giant American pack around.

The travel gods were certainly not on my side on this day. The plan Marta and I had created for me to take the Underground to the train station, then the train to the airport was all wrong. After a few random stops on the Underground and some less than helpful attendants in the booths, I finally made it to Termini, the central train station. From there a helpful police officer told me to to take the shuttle bus to Ciampino. The shuttle bus drivers were on strike. Awesome. I finally abandoned the idea of going to the airport with no real flight reservation, and checked my bag at the train station so I could walk around the city with just my day pack. I strolled around, grabbed some food, and just enjoyed the city a bit more with no real plan, no place to stay that night. Then came the worst thunderstorms ever....southeast US style...Florida style.....explosions, streaking lightining, and walls of rain. Awesome. At this point I decide to inquire with hotels as I passed by, it was after dinner, and it is the low season, everyone was willing to negotiate. I found a reasonable rate and checked into a hotel near Termini. The room was beyond description - if Devo made hotel rooms, this was it...think Sprockets from SNL. Purple walls, purple carpet, plastic modern furniture, bright red bathroom, stainless steel counter tops....I took pics...it was laughable.

That evening I found another Internet Pointe after searching in the rain for a while. I booked a flight to Barcelona for Wed night. From here my lucked turned much better. I hit the hotel bar and Rome was playing Chelsea live. The game was being played in Rome and people were enthusiasitc. Rome won 3-1 and it was fun to watch a football (soccer) game with locals and other travelers. I then headed out for a very late dinner. I found a very quaint family restaurant, where I was the only real customer, just a couple of Italian guys hanging out watching football. The owner took very good care of me, asked if I was from the US and replied 'Country Roads take me home' in very broken English. It was funny. I had an amazing dinner with wine and talked to these guys the whole time. They loved that I knew Rome had won the game and we watched highlights. They asked about Obama. Then the owner grabbed an acoustic guitar and palyed John Denver´s Country Roads and Knocking on Heaven´s Door. It was classic! He didn´t really know the words so he just made the sounds he thought were the words. Bravo! It was good times.

Yesterday I strolled around Rome some more, had lunch, had gelato, the weather was sunny and warm. I hopped a train to the airport and my flight to Barcelona went well. I arrived in Barcelona a bit late, missed the last train and bus, and was forced to taxi from the airport to Sitges. I chose to stay in Sitges because after 5 rocking days in Rome I was ready for something a little more relaxed. From Sitges I can easily take the train into the city center of Barcelona. Sitges is a spainish beach town, its beautiful and very affordable given its the off season. http://www.virtourist.com/europe/sitges/Sitges_Spain.htm

Apparently in the summer this is a huge destination for the gay community. I´ll have to return in the summer for that action.

Today I am exploring Sitges. Tomorrow I will train into Barcelona to spend the day seeing the sights. From here I´m not sure where I´ll go, but I´ll probably stay here for 3-4 days. I have 8 days before I am to be on the olive farm in Tuscany.

Take care and give my best to everyone. Peace.

Roma, Italia - Day 3

Day 3 in Rome and my feet are so sore and blistered I'm limping. :) Another whirlwind day of exploring on foot and sight seeing....

Last night we hit St. Peter's Square at sunset. It was beyond impressive, very beautiful. We then finally found a pocket of the Trastevere neighborhood that appeared to be all locals. It was very fun...wine, dinner, wandering around the narrow cobblestone streets, etc. It's like Vegas, you can drink while walking down the street! Ha.

This morning we returned to St. Peter's Square and toured the cathedral. After that we hit the Vatican Museum which ends with the Sistenthe Chapel. Saw Michealangelo's great works and may other pieces that are beyond description, all of which was very impressive.

Throughout the day I am conituing on the regiment of excellent espresso, gelato, pizza, wine, and other great dishes. Ive taken a lot of pics but haven't attempted to upload any from the Internet Pointes I am using day to day.

Marta leaves tonight to return to Torino by train. I will be solo from tonight forward. I think I'm going to fly to Barcelona tomorrow......some relaxing on a beach is in order after three nonstop days in Rome. Peace.

Roma, Italia

Buongiorno from Roma, Italia!

I arrived in Rome Sat at 630am. My flight from DC was very good, smooth, on time, went by very quickly. My friend Marta, a native Italian, met me at the airport. This was blessing as navigating from the airport to train to the Underground (subway) to the bed and breakfast would have been beyond challenging.

We are staying in a nice city style bed and breakfast in the Tuscolana neighborhood. Tuscolana is a modest, very working class neighborhood, about a 15 min Underground ride to the city center.

Yesterday we spent the entire day and night on foot exploring the city center, seeing all of the sites. My feet are blistered. We had espresso and brioche overlooking the coliseum, lunch near the Pantheon, and dinner in the Trastevere neighborhood. If you had one day to cover all of Rome, we certainly did it.

Rome is busy and FULL of tourists. I can't imagine this city at peak season in the summer time. Everything seems to be catered to tourists, and thus very expensive. One of the more entertaining aspects of this city is the drivers. It is awesome to watch and our Saturday night cab ride in downtown Rome was classic - Notorius BIG blasting, which he kept turning up, whipping in and out of traffic in the tiniest car known to man...it was awesome.

Marta leaves tomorrow to return to Turin. From there I will be solo, which should be interesting and fun. I think I will depart Rome on Tuesday and possibly head to Barcelona. A flight from Rome to Barcelona is 37 Euros, 2.5 hours....train is 80 Euros and 36 hours....weird.

The weather has been gorgeous, probably peaking at 70 degrees today and sunny. The people and food have been great, and as one would expect the sites are beautiful. I am writing this from an Internet Pointe (internet cafe) right outside the walls of Vatican City.

From here, I must admit, I look forward to exploring some smaller areas of Italy or Spain...areas with less tourists :) and more reasonable prices, but thus far Rome has been very kind to me.

Have a great week everyone! Caio, Travis