Adventures in Europe

Madrid again!

2008-06-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

So, today shelbs and I slept in. It was needed I think since the last train we were on sucked. So we slept in. When we got up we were in sketchy moods. (The mood where you want to sketch) So we wanted to go to the park, but first we needed to get tickets to go back to paris. So we got there around 3ish. And walked around the station to find the ticket booth. We found it and they told us to take a number, but the number thing didn´t work. So we went to the information counter and they told us to wait till 4:30 to get a number to wait in line to get a ticket. So we had already been there for 30 minutes, so we might as well just wait. So we sketched in the train station. It was ok.

It is getting close to 4:30 and so we go to get a ticket, and there is a long line to get tickets. So we get in line to get a ticket to get in line for train tickets to Paris. Eventually some people try to budge and a girl gets in their face and tells them to go to the back of the line, well I am guessing that she said that because she was speaking way to fast for me to try and translate. There was a guy in front of us who spoke spanish and english and he talked to us. he was cool. He told us that there are strikes going on all over. And that is why the train station was waiting to sell tickets. So we thought we might not get tickets. Yikes.

But eventually we get numbers and wait patiently in the waiting area for our number to be called, and we sketch and listen to a little boy hit his head on a seat, and it is very annoying, but I put my iPod in and listened to that. Our number is called!

We go up to the man who speaks no english, so it seems. And we tell him we would like to go to Paris on the 19:00 train. And he punches some things into his computer and starts writing things down on a piece of paper. He shows us the paper, and it has an arrow on it with a 2 circled, and €74.35. And I asked for both of us and he shook his head no. So it was going to cost us €74.35 a person to go back to Paris. We thought about it for a while and I said, it would be cheaper to just go to London by flying. So we are now looking for cheap airplane tickets to London. I am hoping that it will be way cheaper than it would have been to go to Paris then to Calais and then take a ferrie to Dover, England and then find a train to London. So we are looking at all our options for getting back to London.

So let´s pray that Tucker and Shelbi find some way back to London that isn´t going to empty our bank accounts.

¡Madrid es muy bien!

2008-06-19T05:09:00.000-07:00

So we got on our train last night and met another girl from California, and she was really cool. A lady asked us if we wanted this spray stuff she was giving to everyone, and at first I said no, and then shelbi said yes and the california girl said yes, so I was like ¨Why not¨and they laughed at me and made fun of me. The spray stuff was really refreshing and we had fun cause our seats were broken and the train guy came through and fixed all the seats by shoving them back into the wall. We laughed at him because he got smooshed in the door as he was trying to make his exit, he was trying to be all bad ass because he fixed the seat, but we all knew better. So we talked with everyone in broken spanish and english, but the main thing was that we were all laughing. So the train started moving, and about an hour into the ride cali girl (Veronica) asked us if we would like to go to cafe car and hang out there. I said yes and Shelbi stayed in the seats. So Veronica and I went to the cafe and had a drink. We had whiskey and coke (Mom and Dad, I like whiskey now!) We talked about life in general and what we were doing in Madrid. She is taking spanish and living there for 2 months. She was hoping to get up to London and I told here all the places to go, well the ones that I thought were worth seeing. We talked theatre and art and she is into lighting because she does landscape architecture. And that was really fun to talk about. But after our drinks we went back to our seats for the 10 hour train ride, that went a lot smoother than our first ride from Paris to Lisbon, so that was nice.

When our train arrived we parted ways, only to end up going to pretty much the same place. It was really fun meeting new people and I am starting to see that it really is a small world, and people are way more friendly then I thought. Well people from the states are more friendly, and I wonder why Europeans hate americans? I will never know.

Our hostel is really sweet!!! It is called PopHostel. And it is totally badass! It is hip and fun, and so many people want to talk about adventures and what to do and where you are from. It is just so wonderful. If only all hostels were like this. That would be beautiful.

So we talked to a guy from New Zealand and he was traveling the world for 5 months. And he showed us some of his pictures and they were ridiculously amazing. He is seriously gifted with camera skills. I could learn a few things from him. But he left earlier and is off to South America. So cool. Then we met an Austrailian girl who was here for the week and travelling. So that is cool.

Tonight the hostel is hosting an event where I think shelbs and I are going out dancing. We are going to try and get a hold of Veronica and see if she would like to hang out again. She is seriously cool.

Well... Later days!

We love you and wish you enough!

LAST DAY IN LISBON!!!

2008-06-18T07:10:00.000-07:00

So today is our last day in Lisbon. And Shelbs and I tried to make the most of it. And we did! We got up and checked out of our room, because we had too and the english speaking lady was leaving soon... I think. So we put our bags in a locked room until we come back and get them for our train tonight at 22:00 or 10 pm. So we headed out into the city, just wandering. And we happened upon some interesting things. Many many many hills. And slippery side walks. And some Indians (I would say Native Americans, but they clearly aren´t from the USA, so I will be politically incorrect and call them Indians.) who were playing some really awesome music. We watched them for like 15 minutes and found a fountain and took pictures of that, and went to a bakery and had donut things, and then we walked through a semi park thing. And sat in the shade. It was good. Shelbs and I talked books and the history of Middle Earth. We also talked about Harry Potter and whether or not the movies were actually any good, or if we just liked the actors who played the characters. We talked about Johnny Depp, and then it was time for lunch. We ate at our favorite SNACK-BAR, again. We had fish sandwiches. They were good. Then we saw a boy with a swimsuit on and a towel, so we figured there must have been a beach near by, so we followed him. But soon he got way ahead of us and we lost him. So we walked, and walked, and walked. And we never found a beach, but we did talk about graphic novels and the importance of them in the normalcy of every college aged students life. Or at least mine and Shelbs'. So now we are out of the sun resting in our hostel that we already checked out of, and just looking at things online, like hostels and watching some really good Portugese television. Can it get any better than this? I think not... well actually it could. LONDON!!! But first it is an over night train to Madrid where we will spend 2 days exploring the city and then back to Paris for maybe a night then to Calais to catch a ferrie to Dover, and then we are back in the UK so it will be much better because everyone will speak English and we will be able to understand them... sort of. Well I will probably blog again when we get to Madrid, pray that our train ride is more pleasant than the last one! More than just 2 hours of sleep!

Later days! We love you all and wish you enough!

Ech... Lisbon

2008-06-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

So here we are in Lisbon, day 2. And it has not gotten better. Well some things have.

My debit card works now!
We have finally eaten something that was good!
We found some things good about this place.

List!

Good things about Lisbon:
The moon
Fabio the shark
Corvo the ship
Bertha the ship
Jimbob the ship in love with Bertha
Skippy the ship
Janet the ship who almost collided with Skippy in an attempt to flirt
Glen the loner ship
And the large obnoxious disco ball on a billboard by the highway

Tomorrow we leave Lisbon, thank God! Are train leaves at 22:00 or 10 pm and arrives in Madrid at 8:43 or 8:43 am. We get to bus around the city to find our hostel, and we have been lucky on finding our hostels right away, minus the one in Paris. But who is really keeping track.

My mom is back home after her surgery and she is doing fine. So no more worrying about that.

We are getting excited about going back to London! We are going to go back and play in the fountains and ride the tubes and play in the parks, and sketch everywhere we can!

Today, besides getting our tickets for Madrid, Shelbs and I bummed around and got our strength back, because we were dehydrated and hungry. So we sketched and bonded in our hostel. It was a good day, and we are so HAPPY to leave Lisbon.

NEVER EVER travel to Lisbon. It is not as fun as it sounds. It may be the western most part of the European counties, it is not fun. Maybe we just had a bad taste in our mouths, but I doubt it.

Later days!

We love you all! And Mom and Dad, I wish you enough!

One whole day on a train...

2008-06-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

We decided to go to Lisbon, and we took a night train. It was an exprience. We had to wait 6 hours in a train station that was horrible. We passed the time by playing cards and sleeping and writing lists. Here they are...

Reasons train rides suck:
Babies
Seats that don't recline
Babies
Messages in French
Babies
Cell phones
Annoying Spanish girls who laugh and talk the entire train ride

Ways a 6 hour layover can seem so much longer than what it really is:
No English...anywhere
The infomation lady is rude and unhelpful
The cafe lady hates us for no apparent reason
The magazine man only sells porn
The benches are made out of rail road ties
The ticker that says trains are coming doesn't work.

Reasons why a unicorn would never want to vacation in Irun:
No frollicing space
Only beer and coffee to drink
Nothing magical about this place
No smiling...ever!
Only grumpy gnomes visit Irun
No color
No laughter
No love

Those are the lists that Shelbs and I came up with.

So now we are in Lisbon and Tucker's debit card doesn't work. So I get a phone card and call my mom and through the power of mom magic she fixes it and it works! She figured it out and the Eurail pass people decided to charge me twice for my pass. How wonderful. But before all that happened Tucker broke down and cried a lot.

I really miss home and a normal life. So Shelbi and I decided that we are going to spend the rest of the time we have here in London. Where we are familiar with thingns and where people speak the same language... sort of. I just think that I bit off more than I could chew with the whole backpacking thing. It will be a lot better once we get back to London and back to where thingns were normal...sort of.

But we have made plans to go to Ireland and use as much of our train passes as we can. I think we saw enough of europe for one lifetime. Maybe if I ever come back i will take that language and learn enough of it to get by. No one speaks English, and it is rough. Or if they claim to speak it, they only know like 4 things, left, right, toilet, and no.

Well later days.

Lourve!

2008-06-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

Today Shelbs and I went to the Lourve! It was a beautiful walk there. We walked along the Siene river and got almost swindled like 7 times. These guys never give up!

The lourve!

We decided that this is something that we have to do! So we bought tickets and started to look for things that we had to see. We saw the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory, Venus de Milo, and Madonna on the Rocks. What a great place. I am sure that we could have spent more than 4 hours there, but we were getting tired of walking and decided to head back. We ate our packed lunch in the toulires outside the lourve and headed to the eiffel tower. We watched a woman painting some abstact trees and took a nap. It was so much fun! Then we decided to come back to the Aloha hostel.

We made some friends from San Francisco today. They are pretty awesome! Molly and Peter! They are backpacking too and we are planning on meeting them in Germany to hang out there. It should be exciting. Not a lot else has happened. We coouchsurfed yesterday to find some people to stay with in Madrid and maybe Barcelona. That should be a fun experience!

We have been doing a lot of art, and Shelbi is kicking my butt. She rocks! But I am trying. I think that I will probably stick with ceramics or painting.

Tomorrow we leave for Lisbon. We have a quick train ride to Irun, and have to wait 6 hours for the next train to leave, but it is a night train and we won't have to pay for a night in a hostel. We arrive in Lisbon at 9 and then we are going to explore the town and go to the beach! I am so excited! I am pretty sure that I am going to go swimming!

My foot has been bothering me a lot lately. I don't know what is wrong with it. It just hurts all the time.

Well tonight we might go out and eat with Molly and Peter, but I don't know yet. I am sure whatever we do it will be fun!

Hostels play really good music in the lobby area. Bye, Bye Miss American Pie. What a good thing to listen too while in Paris backpacking. This is a beautiful moment. I think I will cherish it.

Later days.

Ah Paris...

2008-06-13T00:21:00.000-07:00

So here's the deal.

Shelbs and I leave the Moat Arms Hotel with the group and head to Gatwick Airport, and get off at the south terminal for the trains! We were excited for the trains, UNTIL they told us that our Eurail passes don't take us to europe. So we pay an unGodly amount of money to take the Eurostar to Paris. So we grit our teeth and pay. We go through bag checkers and, of course, I (Tucker) get pulled to the side to have my bags checked. I knew exactly what they had spotted in my bags. I had a knife that I had gotten from someone at Christmas in my bag. It was a small knife and I used it for sharpening my pencils and nothing else. So a burly woman comes up to me in the most intimidating way and asks why I have this knife and I tell her for art purposes, and she then tells me that it is illegal to carry knifes across the border. So they take it from me and ask if I have anything else worth taking, I say no and then they watched me pack my bag again. Which took forever because I had so much stuff in it and it was perfectly packed.

So finally the train... oh guess what. We don't have seats on the train. No we had to sit on tip up seats which are practically on the ground. They are uncomfortable and awkard. Jean Paul, the head guy, told us that in ten minutes we could go and find empty seats. So 5 minutes pass and the bar opens, and everyone gets up and goes there leaving no evidence that anyone one was sitting in any of the seats. So Shelbi and I pick two and doze off for an hour or so. Then a french man comes back and rudely asks us to try another seat. So it is back to the tip up seats.

Beautiful.

So we arrive in Paris only to wonder around aimlessly for what feels like days and we get the same trick played on us twice within 2 minutes of eachother. jerks asking for money from tired foriegnors. we finally find a hostel and it is booked full. The kind man tells of another hostel not to far from the 3 Ducks Hostel. This one is called the Aloha Hostel.

So we walk to the Aloha and it is nice. Shelbi and I ask for two nights here and then we are off to Lisboa, Portugal. We want to see the ocean!

Later days.

Gatwick!

2008-06-11T22:26:00.000-07:00

Hey!

We are in Gatwick and people have started leaving. It was sad to say goodbye. The first wave of people left at 6:15 and it was hard. I cried when AB left, but it is going to be ok. I have to be strong and soon I will be on a train back to london and then off to Paris. It should be fun traveling on the Chunnel on a fast train. Shelbi and I are on the second wave of people to leave, we leave at 6:45 and it is early. We got in at midnight, and got roughly 4 hours of sleep. I had to be up early to make sure that I had everything that I needed in my backpack. It sould be good.

I love all of you and wish you enough!

Tucker

London!

2008-06-11T04:44:00.000-07:00

Hey Ya'll!

Shelbi and I are in London right now and things are going great. The group is still here with us and we have 2 shows to see tonight, Merry Wives of Windsor and 2,000 Feet Away. They should be pretty good, and we are excited to see them. Later tonight we leave for Gatwick and we are staying in the Moat House Hotel. Then on Thursday the group leaves and we are staying to leave for Paris! Are plans in Paris are: Lourve, Eiffle Tower, Arc of Triump, and doing art of some sort in the park. Pretty basic, but I am sure something exciting will happen, it always does.

We will keep you posted on everything that happens!

Love you all!

Tucker and Shelbi