the land of mountains and chocolate!

we bought a eurail pass in paris and boarded our first european train. quite an enjoyable experience, much preferred over planes. and the view of the alps from the train was beautiful! we arrived in interlaken and walked around town, stopping every few minutes to pinch ourselves and remind eachother where we were. the swiss alps. miraculous.

try the fondue when youre in switzerland. its really as good as they say. you can see that we enjoyed ourselves.

wandered around interlaken and ended up in unterseen. aparently they are rivals?

playing with the goats.

the gorgeous view in brienz.

the town of interlaken with the jungfrau mountains in the background. stunning.

more amazing architecture.

this is only the beginning.

paris!!!

long story short. we made it to paris. well, maybe that's too short. after missing our first plane, we sucessfully boarded the second and arrived in paris in a few sleepy hours. then we took a bus to a train station in rural paris and sat for what seemed like hours getting on and off trains. with one final attempt to get to paris before we left forever, we jumped on the train and WE ARRIVED IN PARIS!!

there. that's my short story. now i just have pictures because they are worth a thousand words! grab ahold of your seat! haha.

The Notre Dame...took this photo from the cafe where we lunched

and of course the gorgeous eiffel tower:

this is only from the first level. so cool. then, the view of the city from the second level:

the Louvre!

amazing paintings on the inside of the Louvre

the Nike. gorgeous.

the Louvre at night

and the view from the balcony of our room at our hostel. if you look closely you can see the eiffel tower...it's to the right of the capitol looking building.

and then we left paris. off to switzerland by train!

stupid european airports

we began our day with hopes of going to park guell and the beach before heading to the airport. i would say that worked out for the most part. we made it to park guell by metro and lots and lots of stairs and escalators to the top of the city it seemed. the climb was worth it. viewing the city from the park was incredible, but even more so was the park itself.

not a normal park, park guell is another testament to antoni gaudi's amazing under-the-sea architecture and designs. the place is full of meandering paths under arches stretched out like arms from the ground. there is also a huge platform of mosaiced benches held up by massive white mosaiced columns. did i mention that there were a lot of mosaics?

mesha and i were melting under the spanish heat, so we took a lunch break beneath the columns where it was pleasantly cool. then we were off to la playa!

there was a beach bar on the way, so we detoured for a little refreshment and relaxed under the umbrellas in the sand. yep, just like you are picturing. but in case you aren't picturing it the way i am, here is a photo:

then we layed out my sleep sheet (still no towels) and lounged in the sun. on the mediterranean.

this is where the problem began. you see, we kind of fell asleep in the hot mediterranean sun and lost track of time. when we awoke it was cutting it close to make it to our flight for paris, and we still had to go back to the hostel to retrieve our bags...but we booked it. finally arriving at the airport, we tried to check in but those crazy europeans don't run things the way we americans do. you can't show up 10 minutes before your flight and still make it. nope. the gate is closed. you're out of luck. buy another ticket. sorry.

so when's the next plane ride outta here you ask? not till 7am. and it is currently 6pm. well, we don't wanna book another hostel for the night, so sleeping in the airport it is. and believe me, the stretching you see above is quite necessary before sleeping atop the hard metal airport chairs.

a little bit of beach, a little bit of gaudi

our last day in madrid was spent mostly wishing we were in barcelona. we saw most of the sights in the two days prior and were raring to continue on our journey. there were a few cool places that we visited, like the cathedral by the prado and the train station. the train station was like stepping into the tropics inside with its banana and palm trees and turtle lake. the turtles were cute. and it was refreshingly cool inside; a nice break from the spanish heat.

we finally made it to barcelona! we booked a hostel from our last place and took the train straight there when we arrived in town. a few locals led us to the correct street (they all look the same...its calle this and calle that) and we arrived at alberguinn hostel. this was by far the most helpful hostel we have been to. the receptionist wanted to know how long we would be staying and she unfolded a map to educate us on the city. quite informative and very helpful. our room was a nice big co-ed dorm with all sorts of interesting characters. we are definately ready for a shower and good night's sleep at this point, though the sleep won't come easy with the crazy barcelonians yelling and honking in the streets.

after our nice breakfast of cereal, toast and cheese (the norm), we ventured out into the exciting city of barcelona. since our friendly receptionist told us which metro lines to take, we arrived right in the middle of town where we began our walk. mesha and i were both in awe as soon as we laid eyes on casa mila. pictures don't do it justice. antoni gaudi was incredible. we bought a ticket to go inside for the tour and then up to the roof, which was definately worth it. gaudi's style is totally different than anything else i have ever seen and i love it. so organic and curvilinear.

we eventually left casa mila in search of more gaudi architecture and ran into casa batlo! also an inspiring apartment building, but this one with much more mosaic on the facade. this one reminds me of the little mermaid.

by this time we were hot and tired of walking. beach time it is! we got there and had to keep asking if we were actually really there, on the beach, in the mediterranean. as you can see, it was a pretty gorgeous day.

we didn't have towels at this point, so we sat on some rocks near the sand and did some people watching. on the beach. in spain. still hard to believe. did i mention that this beach was tops-optional? i guess mom warned us...

on our way back to the metro we found our first gelato place...guess what flavor they had? yep, passionfruit! i decided on that and raspberry. still one of my favorite gelato combinations of the entire trip. and who doesn't love gelato? don't worry, you will see many more pictures like this.

so the last place on our agenda for the day was what i had been waiting to see since my junior year of college. la sagrada familia. gaudi's final and ongoing work-a jaw-dropping cathedral that was started 30 years ago and still has about 30 to go. amazing. i only included a couple pictures of it, but i kind of went crazy with the camera at this point. if you want to see more, let me know :)

wow. best day so far. ready for some more beach and more gaudi tomorrow.