It was an amazing 9 week journey.  Starting off in Italy with my family and then ending it with a trip to Croatia with friends, this summer surpassed all expectations. As I sit here at 4:40 A.M. very jet lagged, I find myself already missing Europe, mainly because of the sense of freedom that you can go anywhere at a moments notice or that ending this summer means that real life(work) is even closer.  I’ll never have the opportunity again to spend 9 weeks in Europe traveling with friends…unless I am unemployed, single and my life is not on track. 

Here are my highlights from the trip:

• I enjoyed the country of Italy the most…maybe because I had my family there and we stayed in some ]nice places, ate at even better places and saw some amazing sights.
• My weekend excursions from summer school consisted of: Nice,Barcelona,Paris,Interlaken,Pamplona then ended the trip with Cinque Terre and Croatia.
• My favorite weekend trips were Interlaken and Nice.  Nice because we had 4 guys and we did what we wanted when we wanted and then met up with people at night.  Also, we randomly rollerbladed to some cliff jumps(always a group favorite). Interlaken we did some extreme sports and also saw some beautiful countryside. 
• Cinque Terre and Croatia had the most beautiful coastlines.  Clear blue water with rocks protruding every once and a while.  The boat day in Croatia was one of the best days of the trip.
• Other great days were 1) meeting our distance cousins in Cefalu, Sicily and 2) the tour through the Tuscany hills and wineries.
• I’ll miss coming home from summer school, kicking back with the guys, doing whatever we wanted and then making some random house meal.
• Everything being in walking distance was also a plus in Lyon…anytime you needed to meet someone or go to a bar, you just walked and it felt great.
• My only regrets are not being able to see more, but then again, it leaves me desiring to come back.
• As I think or more things, I will edit this post but the jetlag is killing my thought process.

Hope you(however many of you there are..maybe just my parents, if that) enjoyed my posts this summer. I tried to not bog them down in writing, I would rather be short and choppy than verbose and boring.  Also, I tried to put as many pictures to illustrate the stories that I was telling so I hope that came through the way I wanted.  Have a great rest of the summer and year…I will be around.

Joe

We flew from Croatia to Paris so we could catch the end of the Tour de France and then our flights back home.

We got to Paris real late and didn’t do much.  The next day we got up and headed out to the last leg of the Tour de France.  Got to see them ride by 16 times(they circle the Arc de Triomphe 8 times).  They acted like it was Mardi Gras sending by “floats” and such…so we drank like it was Mardi Gras.

Went to dinner that night with more drinks, tried to get tickets to Moulin Rouge but they were sold out so we just went to a little bar close to the hotel. 

Next day was D-Day…time to fly home from 9 weeks in Europe..very very bittersweet.

We left Croatia the 24th.  Checked out and left our bags with the best and most hospitable apartment owner yet, Jasna.  We went back to the old town to ride the newly re-made cable car that took you to a lookout point over the city.  The originally cable car was a victim to the bombings in 1992. The view was great.

We then ate some lunch..somehow got a free shot for sitting down which was pure liquor.  Went back to a bar we went to the first night(moon light picture).  The bar was built on the other side of the walled city but can be accessed from inside the walls.

We then took off to catch our plane to Paris(last leg of the trip).

Croatia part 2

We left Brela and continued down the coast of Croatia to Dubrovnik.  We stayed about 15 minutes(by bus) outside the city walls in the marina.  Very peaceful and relaxing place on the water. 

We went into the old town center(inside the walls) for a seafood dinner.  Great food…not many people in the place though.  Managed to book a boat for the next day.

Woke up, bought some beer and headed out to our boat.  One of the best days of the trip by far.  Tad had been working on this boat situation for a while so it was great to see it work out.  We had a skipper drive 8 of us around some of the smaller islands off the coast of Dubrovnik.  We stopped at a few spots to swim and eat.  Then he took us(by request) to this cliff jumping spot.  It was an arch over the water that you could swim under and climb up to the top of it.  One of the highest jumps I have done by far.  Took a little talking to  myself to make the jump but I did it.  Hopefully video evidence will follow if I can figure out how to rotate the video.

Then, the skipper also took us to these caves that we could swim pretty far into.  Wish we had a water proof camera to take into the caves(Chenevert).  It was the kind of caves you had to swim under water to get to certain spots. Once the ceilings got low you could swim under(the water was pretty deep and we had goggles) and make it to the next point with breathing room.  After a long day on the boat we made it back to our hotel, played with the dog again I am sure and got ready to go get dinner in old town again.

We found out in the old town that there is this stone that protrudes from the wall and you should try to balance on it.  Harder than it looks.  Once you get the balance you are supposed to take off your shirt to prove you can hold it.  I got it but during the shirt take off, all went down hill.

Next stop Croatia part 1

We took an overnight ferry ride from Italy to Croatia.  It was a pretty good deal considering you are paying for travels and a place to stay.  2 others met up with us before* we got on the ferry.  *5 minutes before the last bus to the ferry.

Ferry had a bar, “casino” and restaurant.  We took off right after sunset which was a bummer.  Stayed up and drank on the deck for a while, discussing scenarios of whether or not we could survive if the Ferry went down in the Adriatic Sea.

We made it to Croatia at 7AM and took a bus to Brela(voted one of the most beautiful beaches…not a clue who voted but thats what we heard and we acted on it).  Got to a nice place(everyone spoke English and in fact one owner was from New Orleans).

Went straight to the beach where we swam around, jumped off the miniature island and drank some beer all day.  Very relaxing and necessary after traveling so much.  Bought some food and cooked at the hostel that night while we hung out with the other visitors.

PS Every coastline ride we took in Croatia was breath taking, but I don’t know if the pictures do it justice.

Off to Cinque Terre, Italy.

We left Sunday from Lyon.  Packed up the place which was a little depressing, especially leaving one amigo(Magyar) behind.  We had booked tickets earlier in the week to go to Cinque Terre then to make our way to Croatia.  Well, the tickets the group booked were on one piece of paper that just so happened to not make it to the train station with us…won’t loud cap who was in charge of the ticket but it was the only girl.  Anyway, we went on without the tickets and managed to duck and dodge conductors and ticket collectors all the way to Cinque Terre.

We got in pretty late so a quick dinner with Gary(random guy who joined up with us and made himself at home with our group of 6) and we were off to bed in the AC.

Got up early to make the scenic hike between the 5 towns in Cinque Terre.  Beautiful views, not too bad of a hike.  Hung out on the the beach in the 5th town then made our way back to the hotel to eat again(what we do best).  The next morning we were up and heading out to make our way to the Ferry in Ancona, Italy.  The Ferry would take us from Italy to Split, Croatia.

Fountain Sliding

Last week in Lyon.

We had an interesting last week ever since we discovered “fountain sliding” on Bastille Day(France’s equivalent of July 4th).  Fountain sliding came about when we saw some locals swiftly sliding across some ankle deep water in a fountain(ish).  I will try and post a video(one that does not show me busting immediately).

Bastille day was also fun, but cut short due to my need to study for the looming exams two days later.  Big firework show down by the river with a few bottles of win capped that night off.

We had a couple nights out after exams ended then we took off that Sunday. Au Revoir, Lyon.  It was a real fun summer.

In Croatia, will update as soon as things slow down. Went through cinque terre, Italy on the way here. En route to Dubrovnik right now then on to Paris to catch the end of the tour de France and fly out on the 26th.

Saturday

On Saturday morning  some people wanted to run again along with the couple people that couldn’t run on Friday.  I lent my shoes to Chenevert because he wasnt allowed to run in his sandles the day before.  I decided to head to the arena to catch that part of the run since I got blocked out the day before.  Missed the bulls running through but made it in time to see the calves they release to play around with all the runners.  These calves’ horns are corked so they can’t gore you but they can sure run you over.

We played around in there until all the calves had run and then set out for the van.  We were in need of sleep and a shower that did not involve a water fountain.  Before those were to happen, we drove to San Sebastian for the early part of the day and got some much needed nap time on the beautiful beaches.

Hopped in the van again and drove to Bordeaux, France.  Had a nice hostel booked for us to clean our lives up.  Got some dinner and watched the consolation game on the streets of Bordeaux.  Did some late night walking around the city which was nice and then passed out in an actual bed.

Sunday

Got out of town early with a minor(kind of) incident to the van.  Due to our contractual relation with Avis, I should not disclose the story here.  Either way, we got out of town and drove back to Lyon. 

Overall, great weekend.  Won’t get the opportunity to sleep in vans, especially in Spain, and come out not looking like a creep.