That's all folks

Well, all the laundry's done. The pictures are all uploaded. I'm pretty much caught up on my sleep, but still a little jetlagged... or jet-earlied in my case. The first morning I got up at 3:30 (which is like 12:30 PM Spain time). I fell asleep last night at 7:30 PM in front of the TV. I woke up about 12:30 AM in a panic: I had no idea where I was. I immediately tried to ascertain where it was I was, and thought to myself, "this room is a bit big to be European." That's when I realized I was actually in San Francisco and in my own living room. I went to sleep in my own bed and woke up about 5:30 AM.

The totality of the trip is starting to set in. I finally uploaded all my pictures today. I remembered back at a lot of stuff. As on several trips before, I'd take a picture of something I'd see that I thought was cool. I'd look back on it later and think, wow, that was really cool. There were a few of them. I took a picture in the Plaza del Sol. It was just cool the way the clouds and sun was behind the building with the statue in it. I quickly snapped the photo and went along shopping. It's now my desktop on my work computer.



The other one is my desktop on my laptop. It was taken as the ceiling of the Hercules Drawing Room at Versailles. It was right at the start of the tour. In fact, it was so because when people entered, the King wanted it to be the grandest statement. The most stunning feature was the ceiling. It was curved around, and then painted with incredible detail, depth and a sense of height. It's like looking up into heaven. It quickly found a shot, and as the recording on the self-guided tour finished, I soon walked to the next room. It's now my desktop on my laptop. Incroyable.



The rest of the pictures are below.

Joe's Europe Pictures

Enjoy. :-)

Chapter final: I'm home?

My batteries are all dead. I have 18 days worth of laundry to do. I ran out of Cliff Bars several days ago. My luggage is 8 kilos heavier than it was 18 days ago. And I now absolutely hate my boots. "Bring a pair of walking shoes," I thought before the trip. "Nah, I don't want to take up the extra room," I thought. I'd kick myself if I had any feeling left in my legs. :-)

It's weird to be home. It's weird to hear English again. After getting home, we went out for a quick bite to eat (and then straight to bed). I ordered in English for the first time in 2.5 weeks. I had to take the adapter plug off my laptop in order to recharge it. Little things like when I woke up, I just ran to the fridge and got orange juice. I didn't have to run out to get it. The internet is infinitely faster. I think the latter was just because it was the free internet provided by the hotel, but the "alta velocidad internet" wasn't so "alta". :-)

My trip was fantastic. I'm really only now starting to process the totality of it all. Mein Deutsch ist immer besser. Je peux parler un peu français. Y mi español esta mucho mejor. I have friends all over Europe now. And it might just be more than that. :-)

In a day or two, I'll probably post another update. People ask me how my trip was. I say it was great. Two and a half weeks and that all you have to say is "it was great?" No, quite the opposite. It's so overwhelming, I have no idea where to start.

Capítulo trce: Me encantada Madrid

You know, there's just some things you'll never forget. This night was one of them.

After two weeks of a cold spell, it finally lifted. Today was absolutely gorgeous. In was in the upper teens (that's like the 60s in fahrenheit) and sunny. In the height of the day, people were taking off their coats and enjoying the warmth.

Much like my first trip to France, language in Spain is difficult, but I was in better shape here than I was then. But every transaction is a little success to celebrate. I was hungrier than hell and grabed a sandwich at a little deli down the street. Like, my biggest fear is I'll do something wrong, and then a parade of muy rapido espanol comes out of their mouth and then I'm totally lost. I went to lunch the first day and a woman came up and asked if I wanted something to drink. Anxious to try some spanish wine, I started reading off the wine list. "No no no," she said, and then spouts off a long list of spanish and then say "Café, cerveza o aqua". If no wine, why did someone just hand me a wine list. "Uh, café au lait" "Café?" "Si" "Normal o con leche?" I thought I just said that, but oh right. "Con leche" "Bueno" A few minutes later someone comes by and asks me if I wanted something to drink. "Uh... lo tiene" I stammer out and point at the other girl. She has it. Ah claro. The first person could take my drink order, but the second person was actually my waitress, and I could order wine from her. Ahora yo entiendo.

So at the sandwich place, the place was hella busy. A warm Saturday afternoon in the main shopping district a few weeks before Christmas, yeah it was busy. People are barking orders in Spanish. You know, now I know what it feels like to be in the opposite shoes. But I lucked out. The woman at the cash register was new. She spent more time looking for what keys to press on the cash register. Un pan premium, un cola grande, y patatas bravada. Si, es todos. Perfecto. It went off without a hitch. And for being a good boy, I get to eat.

So I go out for a little bit. Then I head back to the hotel. After two weeks in Europe, I decide to do tonight right. The Spaniards go out late. They go out to dinner about 9 or 10, out to the bars at midnight, out to the discos at 2, and don't leave until 6 or 7. I got a grand siesta in. I had a bit of a sinus headache, so I took a couple asprin and sleep about 5 hours. I wake up at 11. Perfecto! I'm ready to do the night.

I hit a couple bars. I'm getting the hang of this. "Un Habana Club Siete y cola, por favor". Rum and coke, Cuban style. I'm only doing it to subjugate our government. :-) I meet up with a couple friends. Eventually about 2:30 we head over to a disco. Two Germans, a Canadian and an American in one Taxi. None of us know where this place is, except a name and an address. The taxi driver speaks no English, and I have the best command of Spanish in the car. Oh this is gonna be fun. We drive through busy narrow streets of Madrid. We're going around and around. "Sabe donde vamos?" I ask the driver. Do you know where we're going. No answer. He's busy trying not to run down people. 10 minutes later, we get there. I look at the meter. 3.65 euros. I hand him two coins. "Did you pay?" one of the mitfahrers asks. "Yes." They can't believe we went around and around, and that's how much it cost. Nor can I.

So we arrive and walk in. Almost tres in la manana, and the place is packed. We wait for a very very busy coat check. Apparently the had run out of numbers to hand out. We talk to the manager. Eventually he brings just our group back to one of the bars, and stores our coats there. It's crazy.

So we have a few drinks. We dance a little bit. I talk again with the German. I had talked to him the day before. He has a boyfriend (they all do), but it's so funny. Being from the midwest, we're all northern european. Everyone looks like people I grew up around. He looks exactly like he should be from the midwest, until he opens his mouth and the thick German comes out. He actually thought I was German. "Du hast das gedacht, weil ich mit meinen Freunden auf Deutsch gesprochen hatte" You thought that because I was talking with my friends in German. We proceed to talk for five minutes in German. This man is one of the beautiful men I'd ever met in my life. Suddenly it made 3 years of German classes worth every second. Speaking was practically a sexual act. Then he puts his hand on me and says "Ich sehe dich später." "Ich höffe schon." I'll see you later. I hope so, I respond. I'm instant puddy.

So afterwards, we spill out onto the streets, hot and sweaty. "Que hora es?" I ask someone outside smoking a cigarette. "Sies y media." "Sies y media?" I repeat back. "Hablas ingles?" he says to his friend, like I didn't understand. "No no, yo entiendo, pero... no creo." They laugh. It's 6:30 in the freakin morning. And the scene is absolutely unbelievable. "Donde es la estacion mas cercana?" I'm trying to get my bearing. As it turns out, I'm only about 600 meters from the hotel. I walk by a Burger King and order a hot dog, and walk through the Puerto del Sol eating it back to the hotel. The streets are packed with people, and it's 6:30 in the morning. The sound of discos thump through the streets. I've been out in many many cities, New York, LA, San Francisco, but it was nothing like this. Muy loco.

I've done some crazy things in my life. This one definitely just got added to that list.

Capítulo doce: Au revior Paris, Hola Madrid!

I was sad to leave Paris this morning. I had breakfast with Reme this morning. Comically enough, he wanted a big breakfast, so we went to a gay American-style place where we could get eggs. He knew the owner. I said that was quite alright. I had my crepes the day before (complet avec rude waiter... "Oui?" he would bark at me :-) ), and croissants et café the day before that, so I was happy enough with a nice big "American-style" breakfast. (I had to inform the waiter I had never before had cole slaw with breakfast, except one time the day after thanksgiving. Apparently the French feel it necessary to serve a salad with breakfast, and what more American than cole slaw.... Eiyeiyeiyeiyay...) My trip was so quick, I was sad to go. But I'd be heading to Madrid. I realized a pattern. "I'm sad to leave Germany." "But you're going to Paris." "Oh right." Then "I'm sad to leave Paris." "But you're going to Madrid." "Oh right." "On Tuesday, it'll be sad to leave Europe." "But you're going to San Francisco." "Oh right." Okay, okay, okay, life isn't so bad. :-)

So I got me and my luggage (and nothing else) into the tiny elevator and checked out of my hotel. Reme showed me the way to the bus to the airport. He's so sweet. "This is where I give you a big kiss and embarass you in front of everyone and they all think I'm your French lover," he says with his thick French accent. I give him a quick French-style kiss and wave au revior. And give one to Stephen, I tell him. :-)

The flight was very much without event. The weather finally warmed up. Finally, a sunny rather nice in Paris. And now it's finally a big approaching comfortable in Madrid.

I checked into my hotel. Wow. I turned on the light and just went, Wow. It's not very big (it's slightly larger than my hotel in Paris, although the bathrooms is quite bigger), but it's just absolutely stunny. Check out the pics. They're uploading now. Wow.

So now I'm gonna relax up a bit. I'm warned the Madrid boys like it late. Here we go. :-)