The journey so far...

First, I met up with my father in London at the airport. It was wonderful to see him. It's been over 3 months since I saw anyone I knew, and seeing him was a breath of fresh air. We went on the Rock n Roll Tour, which showed us all sorts of places that have changed music over the years. It was really cool. Afterwards, we headed to the West End and saw The Mousetrap, the longest running play ever. It was really good, and it shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

The next day, our main tour began and we headed to France. We saw the white cliffs of Dover from our ferry, and got to Paris around 6ish in the evening. It's a very enchanting city. We ate at Montmarte, which was wonderful. The service and the food was excellent. We saw the Sacred Heart and the Moulin Rouge. The next day we saw the Louvre (just the outside), Notre Dame (beautiful and really cool to be there on Christmas), the Eiffel Tower, and various other parts of Paris. It's a wonderful place.


After that, we set off for Switzerland, where we stayed in the town of Grindelwald. We headed up to the top of some of the Swiss Alps, including the "Top of Europe". I nearly froze to death, but the area was surprisingly awesome. I got a really bad cold and ended up feeling kind of miserable on our way out of there, though.

We stopped in Boppard on the Rhine River, but I was asleep for the entire night we were there.

Then we went to Amsterdam. We did the Anne Frank House, the Heineken Brewery, and the Van Gogh Museum. It was kind of awesome, but it's the most indulgent city in the world. Absolute chaos. Especially for New Years.

Afterwards, our tour ended and Dad and I went to London. We saw the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, and we rode the Eye. The Eye of London was a surprisingly good highlight of the trip. I was terrified going up it, but I really kind of loved it once we got on.

On Sunday, we said our goodbyes and Dad flew back to the US. I went to Dublin, for the first part of my "alone" section of my journey. It was a really nice little town. I ended up touring the Guinness Brewery, the Jameson's Distillery, and Old Kilmainham Jail. I got lost at one point, eventually making my way back but exhausting myself in the process. I went to a comedy show, where they made fun of me for being American. Good times.


After Dublin, I flew to Barcelona. That city was amazing. It was like an art museum as a city. I saw the Picasso Museum, the Parc Guell, La Rambla, and Port Vell. I'd go back in a heartbeat; it was wonderful. I had hoped to practice some of my Spanish there, but they mostly speak Catalan in that area.

I took the AVE train to Madrid, which was essentially a flight on the ground. It's one of the fastest trains in the world, and it was kind of awesome. Madrid so far seems cool; I've done El Prado (lots of Goya and El Greco), the Botanical Gardens, and I've been to the Plaza Mayor. We'll see what I do here in the next few days.

Until then, Ciao!