Red, red wine

Last night I finished the book "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway. It was a good book about American and British expatriates in Paris who decide to take a trip to Pamplona, Spain for las fiestas sanfermines, or more popularly, the running of the bulls. Much of the book's action took place in cafes and bars. For that reason, when Julie suggested that we go out for Center City Sips tonight, I told her that I wanted to go to a Hemingway-esque place. We settled on Caribou Cafe, on Walnut Street between 11th & 12th. If you've never been there, the place does a very nice job of recreating a typical Parisian bistro, down to the wicker chairs and "black cat" posters. I drank three red sangrias there. After the first one, I told the waitress to bring the next one without any ice; I knew what I was there for. From Caribou, we walked up Walnut to Rum Bar, where we met Wagner and the girl he's been dating for a couple months, Adrianna. They were there with several of Adrianna's ballerina friends. I drank two red wines, Cabernet Sauvignon, I think. After that I was feeling "pretty tight" (to use a phrase from "The Sun Also Rises"). So, after talking politics and law school with Maggie, an attractive 25 year-old girl who was friends with Adrianna, I suggested to Julie that we take a walk to the park. In Rittenhouse, we found a comfortable spot on the grass to lay down and look up at the one star visible in the city's nighttime sky. It was pretty relaxing. A little while later Wagner and Adrianna found us and we all stood up to talk. Adrianna showed us her two tattoos; I showed-off mine. Those guys took off and Julie and I came back to my place to hang out while I warmed up some spaghetti for dinner. I finished it off with a nice salad of greens, tomatoes, dried cranberries, and crumbled goat cheese. Now, since walking Julie home and then returning back to the double-deuce & Spruce earlier, I've been wasting time on the internet all night long. Only now did I decide to post something on the blog. Although I'm vaguely tired, I'm not in the mood to go to bed. That may not make any sense, but I guess I'm in an obscurely restless mood tonight. With coffee earlier today and a lot of wine later in the evening, along with meeting friends, I felt a bit like Jake Barnes, the protagonist in "The Sun Also Rises." It was a good night.

Barcelona, Spain -- early morning

I'm actually writing this in the afternoon, despite the caption. Cherise and I distracted each other last night before I had the chance to write.

Now I'm sitting on a beach just ten meters from the water of the Mediterranean Sea. We arrived on a flight from Beauvais, France to Girona, Spain yesterday morning at about 10:30 a.m. We then took an hour-long bus ride to Barcelona. We began walking in the direction of the main plaza, Place de Catalunya, in order to get our bearings to find a hostel that had been propagandized to us by a Honduran woman waiting at the bus stop. Along the way, however, we found the hostel that we've ended up staying at, for 20 euros each per night.

Before getting there, we saw the Arc de Triomf, Barcelona's version of Paris' momument of the same name. After checking in to our room, we took the rest of the afternoon to explore the downtown, old section of Barcelona. We did a lot of walking, and I absolutely loved the city of Barcelona. We walked down the main street, Las Ramblas, where we saw what looked at first to be a statue of Che. But then it started moving, so I realized it was a man who bore a very striking resemblance to Che. It was crazy. After a little coercion from Cherise, I got a photo with him.

We continued walking throughout the stone streets of old Barcelona. The buildings around us were all about five stories, with balconies. Each balcony had plants or clotheslines. The streets were arranged in a random fashion, so the whole thing was a maze. It was also nice to see that the streets were so clean. Each street had various shops and cafes, and restaurants.

The climate is warm enough here that there are many palm trees. Last night, after so much walking, not only yesterday but since arriving in Europe, we decided to see a movie. It was a great relief to get off our feet and just be entertained for a couple of hours. For the same reasons, it is good to be at the beach today. But getting back to the movie, we saw the third installment of Harry Potter. The movie was broadcast in Spanish, without any subtitles. Since Cherise effectively knows no Spanish, I had to whisper to her at key moments throughout the whole movie.

After the movie, we walked around for a while looking for a decent place to eat dinner. We finally settled on a restaurant on Las Ramblas, where I ate a paella de pollo. Tonight, I'll try the more typical paella de mariscos. We ate dinner after midnight. So it isn't a surprise that we slept in this morning. When we got up, we started our long walk to eventually arrive here at Playa Bogatell. So far, I love Barcelona. I could live here if I got an opportunity, or make one.

As for Paris, which I really didn't write about due to our non-stop schedule there, it was good to see and good to visit. While there, I went to the very top of the Eiffel Tower, where I used their bathroom to take a piss. We also went to the Louvre, where we saw the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. We walked underground to see the six million bones of Les Catacombes. We saw the Notre Dame, which was so intricate in its architecture and very beautiful in appearance. We walked along the River Seine. We ate a lot of good bread and sat for hours at several sidewalk cafes. The coffee there was very strong, as a "cafe" is really a cafe espresso. We also walked along the Canal St. Martin, which was very nice too. Similarly we walked the Champs Elysses to the end, the Arc de Triomphe. Two nights, we went to the Bastille, which is a very hip area for restaurants and bars.

All in all, Paris was beautiful for its sights. But the French language was difficult, and so it frustrated me to be unable to effectively communicate. Paris also surprised me for not being very clean and for its citizens' bland style of clothing. In fact, the Metro stops reminded me of the Philadelphia subway, not so impressive.

Well, I done a lot of writing in trying to catch up. And now the sun is starting to go down. If I want to take another dip in the Mediterranean, I've got to do it now.

Paris, France -- morning

Well, things don't always go according to plan. Cherise and I have a room together at Mary's Hotel in Paris. The hotel has begun renovations, and we're in a newly-renovated room. The rate is 50 euros per night. Cherise's mother, brother, and sister have a room next door.

We arrived in Paris early yesterday morning. The bus didn't even stop at a station or terminal; it just dropped us off on the side of the road. We referred to a map on a nearby board that listed over a hundred hotels in the area, each classed by price range. In an attempt to locate the closest cheap hotel, we stumbled upon a hostel, whose owner was sleeping on a cot inside the window. We walked in and someone woke him up. He said he was full but recommended another hotel to us: Mary's Hotel. We told him we preferred to walk the twenty minutes. Unfortunately, as we found out twenty minutes later, he had sent us in the opposite direction. I really don't think this was malicious in any way. To get back on the right course, we got on the Metro to arrive in the vicinity of the hotel. From there, we navigated the haphazard streets of Paris to eventually arrive and reserve our rooms at about 10:00 a.m.