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[everettslife]

Day 28 - 10/16/17 London, England

Today is our last day! We got a late start after a nice long rest and I packed and organized my bag. I checked all my goodies and unfortunately a bunch of the crackers got smashed. Sad life. I hope they still taste okay.

Eric and I got breakfast at the same place we've gotten it for the last 2 days and got the exact same breakfast of scones with jam and cream. This stuff is seriously delicious and I'll be making it when I get home.

There's a park called Hyde Park nearby and we decide to give it a walk through. This park is huge! We walked around for about an hour and we were able to...help some wildlife find some food. The squirrels there eat from your hand and I saw some Budgies flying around and they grabbed some food from my hand as well. That was a ton of fun.

We decided to walk around Camden Market after and grab some souvenirs there. That's when things started getting weird. The sky is dark as if it's 7 or 8pm over here but it's only 3:00pm. I hear the locals in the market talking about how weird the weather is and that gets me worried. I hit Shermaine up and ask her about it. Apparently there's a hurricane heading this direction which is changing the weather. It isn't supposed to hit us and we should be okay for today and tomorrow.

We went to Boroughs Market again for some food but this time it was pretty dead there. About half the stores were closed and some of them were even packing up. We quickly grabbed some Indian food and I saw someone from church there! Curtis was there with some friends to visit one of the Yee brothers. What are the chances I find someone I know on the other side of the world. Eric was kind enough to allow me to go back into that spice shop again. It's so much fun searching through all the different types of peppers and reading the descriptions of how they taste and how to use them.

After I was satisfied with what I bought we spent about an hour relaxing a local cafe before they closed at 6pm.

We then hopped back on to the line to go to Chinatown. Chinatown was pretty normal so we sat down and watched some really bad street performers just for some entertainment. One guy was yelling into a traffic cone and another group of people were singing but their main singer couldn't remember the lyrics to the song. Great combination. After some good laughs we went to a place called Honest Burger suggested by Petrina. This place was amazing and I was surprised by the quality! The bun was very sturdy and was not soggy. There was also an amazing red onion sweet relish on the bun. The sweet goes so well with the heartiness of the burger. Especially from being from a chain, the burger was astronomically better than in-n-out. What a great last meal to end the trip with.

The total mileage for the last 28 days was 267.5 miles with an average of 9.55 miles/day.

Highlight of the day: Feeding the squirrels leftovers from breakfast was exhilarating.

Update: I just learned the skies were dark and a weird color today because the incoming hurricane picked up sand from the Sahara and that was blocking the sun. You can't see from the picture, but the skies were apparently orange today.

[everettslife]

Day 27 - 10/15/17 London, England

Today was pretty awesome. It started off with Shermaine meeting us at our Airbnb again and we got those scones with tea again. This time Eric was able to join us and he absolutely loved it. We're going again tomorrow. Around the breakfast area we found the best street performers we've ever seen. They were a quartet of strings and it really made me want to pick up the violin again. I feel like they were at a professional level and we gladly stuck around for about 20 minutes.

Afterwards we went to go watch the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Eric heard that it's really hard to actually see it because there are always so many people so we just watched them march by further down the route with their big fuzzy hats. It was cool to see and we were able to take a quick stroll through the park.

Afterwards we went to Knightsbridge which is a very "posh" area of London. Petrina used to live in that area so we were all curious how the area was. There was a little mall in the area so we swung by there and it was pretty interesting. Everything was outrageously expensive like 80cents for a single black berry and stuff. We did get to see fancier things like caviar and authentic Kobe beef. It was far too expensive for us to eat there so we headed to Camden Market.

Camden Market is a popular eating spot and wow. The place is popping and I felt like I was at Disneyland peak time with the amount of people. It did have tons of good food places and we ended up having their famous fish at chips at Poppies. They won a bunch of awards and it's obvious why. Their fish was amazing. Thick chunks of fish with a thin tasty layer of fry. Best fish and chips I've had in my life by far.

We continued to walk through the area until we found a well known ice cream place called Chin Chin that uses liquid nitrogen to make their ice cream. I've had stuff like that before in San Jose so I wasn't surprised but it was incredibly good ice cream.

Shermaine's friend called her and said she's free for dinner so we met her near Chinatown for some food. Her friends name is Jamie and she used to live in London for 3 years. With this inside knowledge she picked a ramen place for us called Shoryu Ramen. This place was a little pricy but totally delicious! Best ramen we've had on the trip. It was cool to get to know her. She lives in Malaysia now and works at a bank. She knows Shermaine through college and they've kept in touch since then. She's very chill and didn't even mind dancing through the city with us.

Jamie guides us to our next spot for some great milk tea called Biju. This place was satisfying and I got myself some classic roasted oolong milk tea. We hung out and talked there for a few hours before Shermaine had to go. She's going to where Jamie was staying to prep for her train ride back at 1am. I'm glad Shermaine spent the time to visit us even when she lives 4 hours away and works at 8am. The time sacrifice is very touching. We say one last sad goodbye before we go back to our Airbnb. We agree to go out to travel again sometime.

Highlight of the day: Going through Camden Market with Shermaine was super fun and we had a ton of good laughs and dancing sessions together there.

[everettslife]

Day 26 - 10/14/17 London, England

I woke up early this morning to greet Shermaine at the tube. She came an hour late because she got lost but it's fine. It's so great to see her again! I didn't honestly never expected to see her again after she left SF. I gave her the hot cheetoes I've been saving in my bag for the last month and she LOVED it. It was worth holding onto them for so long. Eric had a walking tour and I had no interest so Shermaine and I headed off by ourselves.

First stop was breakfast where we stopped by at a local cafe to grab some scones. Scones are different in England. They're drier and more crumbly than the US version (in a good way actually) and they're eaten with jam and cream. Their cream is also different because it's like heavy cream and not as sweet as ours. I layered the cream and jam on and holy moly. This stuff is delicious. I will try to make it when I get back. The flavors work so well together.

I just followed Shermaine around throughout the day to different sights around the city after. The things we saw were Westminster, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Parliament, London Eye, Trafalgar Square, and two different market places. Yeah, we were all over the place. Big Ben and other buildings in Westminster was are under construction so it was hard to see. Everything else wasn't anything extraordinary except for we found a store that only sold US imported goods and I found hot cheetoes there for 9£ ~$12. A single bag for $12. Arizona Ice Tea is $5 and a Reese's cup was $5. Rediculous prices.

We met Eric at 2:00pm for lunch in Chinatown and Shermaine suggested we go get dim sum and she knows a good place. We agree and head over to Dumplings' Legend. We entrust her with ordering food and she ordered a selection of dishes for us which were all amazing. We got XLB, BBQ pork buns, siu mai, prawn dumplings, and soy sauce chicken with rice. I don't eat this often enough to compare it to food in the bay, but it was good enough where I'd love to stop by again before we leave. Price came out to 12£/person ~$15. We wanted to get milk tea after and we found a Happy Lemon! We were all super stoked because it's the same company as the Bay Area. I got the original milk tea because who can go wrong with that? Happy Lemon apparently. My drink was all milk and no tea. It tasted like boba in whole milk and was disgusting. I threw 80% of it away 5 minutes later. Eric and Shermaine enjoyed theirs at least.

We headed to Borough Market after we heard so much hype about it. Petrina also sent me a huge list of stuff to do and places to eat so I'm super grateful for that. Borough Market is amazing! Top sight in London by a long shot. It's filled with small specialty vendors everywhere and the first booth we see is a spice booth. I head straight in and I come out an hour later with some goodies to bring home. I could have spent all day there but Eric and Shermaine were waiting. We walked through and tried the different samples and various booths such as honey, cheese, mustard, and olive oils. I'm not a huge honey fan but that honey stall was outstanding. The honey is made west of London and make their honey from one very specific flower. 10/10 honey. Eric bought the last bottle of that honey for 8£ and that was a great investment. We searched for a burger place for awhile but we're unable to find it so we headed over to a Korean place for dinner.

I got the spicy tofu soup and it was amazing. Bay Area worthy for sure and it was less than 10£. The place was called Bibimbap Soho. Shermaine is really picking out amazing food places. We hung out and talked there for a bit before heading back. Food today was on point. I loved it.

I come back to find ants swarming my suitcase and it seemed like they got into my snacks I brought (not ones bought on the trip). I also find my towel was moved and there's cat hair on it. I really hate this Airbnb.

Highlight of the day: The spicy tofu soup was one of the best if not the best I've ever had.

[everettslife]

Day 25 - 10/13/17 Dublin, Ireland - London, England

Today was another early morning starting at 5:30am but my body is pretty accustomed to low sleep at this point. We spent about 30 minutes going to different bus stops because Eric's guide gave him the wrong location and we had to find the correct one. We eventually found it and made it to the airport. Our plane left about an hour late but that's fine and I'm just happy this flight is only a little over an hour long. You know what else I'm happy about? The seat next to me was empty so I had tons of space on this flight. Prices of food is ridiculous on flights. The guy next to me bought a coffee for 8€ ~$10. That's crazy.

We arrive in London and it looks like every other city so far. We spent about an hour on the "tube" they call it to get to our Airbnb stop. This is the only bad place Eric has chosen so far but it's not even his fault. The lady chose fake pictures to put online. The lady is a crazy cat lady who collects "vintage" *garbage* and puts it all up around the house. Our room is made of stuff she's found on the streets and put together. Our bed is literally jerry rigged together with random pieces of wood she found. She also has a ton of house rules that are incredibly annoying.

1. We have to keep our bedroom door open to let light in and to let her cats wander around since it's "their" spot.

2. We have to clean the shower after we use it.

3. We aren't allowed to kill any bugs or anything in her house because she's vegan. (She also has an ant problem in our room)

4. No meat products allowed in her house

5. We need to keep a very annoying top sheet on top of our bed to prevent her cats from shedding on it

Yeah. This place is awful. Included with her rules lecture she showed us how to scoop the cat poop if it started smelling. We decide to run out and grab some food. There's a highly rated Vietnamese place a few blocks away so we head there.

Worst pho I've had in my life. They obviously used beef powder to make the broth and they added in way too much water. The noodles used were pad Thai noodles instead of pho noodles.

Eric and I headed off to the London Bridge per Shermaine's suggestion and once we got there, we were pretty disappointed (theme for the day). I'm surprised it's even a tourist location. It looks like a regular bridge. The nice looking bridge was actually across the river called Castle Bridge so we headed over to that instead. There were two large brick towers sticking out of it and we took a couple pictures before heading off to get some food. Many people have recommended Nando's to me so we wanted to get that. It was relatively cheap compared to other meals but still very pricy to Bay Area standards. They mainly sold chicken so I got a couple chicken thighs with corn and mash. Delicious. Although the thighs were tiny, they were juicy and packed with flavor. The corn was nicely roasted and the mash was super thick and delicious. Definitely worth the 11.50£ ~$15 price tag.

Chinatown was our next stop to get Londons famous alcoholic boba. It was quite easy to find being in the middle of Chinatown. With a couple non-Asians behind the counter I had my doubts but those were quickly erased. My mango and passionfruit tea with boba was delicious. They put half a shot of something in it but I couldn't taste it at all. The quality was similar to Castro Valley iTea. For about $6 it's definitely on the pricier side but I'd say it's worth trying once.

Eric and I continued to walk around Chinatown afterwards. It was surprisingly nice with lit lanterns hanging everywhere for the moon festival. We stopped by a pastry shop for some goodies (2 moon cakes and 2 dan tat). Severely disappointing. We checked yelp beforehand and it was the top rated pastry shop in the area and wow. Everything was pretty sad and about double the price of the Bay Area. Dan tat custard tasted watery and the crust was very hard while the moon cakes didn't have the right texture and tasted old. London Chinatown was a huge letdown in terms of Chinese pastries but the food looked good though so we may be back to try something else.

The culture of London seems to be similar to San Francisco where it's hustling and bustling but not extremely rushed like Germany. As of right now, I'm pretty disappointed with what I've seen today but I'm seeing Shermaine tomorrow along with the more popular sites. We'll see how it goes.

Highlight of the day: The alcoholic milk tea was great even though it was pricy and you couldn't taste the alcohol.

[everettslife]

Day 24 - 10/12/17 Dublin, Southern Ireland and Belfast, Northern Ireland

I got up at 6am to walk to the start of my tour. Wow. Rough start to the morning. Most breakfast places weren't open so I settled for an egg mcmuffin. McDonalds actually isn't as awful as I thought it would be. We board the bus and leave perfectly on time at 7am. I have a perfect window seat and I sit back to enjoy the 2 hour ride from Southern Ireland to Northern Ireland. The guide was talking about some history of them being split but I was too distracted by the huge grass fields with sheep to be bothered by it. The fields look like they have little cotton balls on them. The sheep are adorable. Ireland is absolutely beautiful and I did find out that they filmed a lot of Game of Thrones episodes here. After a two hour ride we arrived at our first destination and we had a choice between taking a taxi ride and listening to a history lecture or to visit a titanic museum. I picked the latter.

The first thing I did was pick up food and snacks for the trip because none is provided. I was worried because I took out too much money from the ATM in € and they only use pounds £ in Northern Ireland.

This place accepts euros and gives you change in pounds. What are the chances that a place that only uses pounds and not in the European Union will accept euros. God provides again. I was able to exchange all my money from buying my snacks so I won't lose money at a cash exchange place.

The museum itself was incredibly dry. It shows you how they make boats. They could have taken out the name Titanic and the first 3/4 of the museum would have been the same. I basically skimmed through everything and relaxed at the cafe with the remaining 10 minutes.

I also found out the call yield signs while driving "give ways".

On the way to the main attractions we passed by Dunlace Castle which is the House of Grey Joy in GoT and something was filmed there for Harry Potter. But the next big stop was Giants Causeway.

Giants Causeway is a collection of rocks that are naturally Hexagonal in formation. There were three options.

1. Take a bus down to the rocks

2. Hike 15 minutes down to the rocks on an easy path

3. Hike 30 minutes on top of a cliff with crazy winds then going down a scary steep set of stairs to the bottom.

Yeah. There's really only one option. I followed the cliff edge and wow. Huge steep cliffs with waves crashing below and everything else are perfectly green fields of grass. It was a scene straight out of a movie. I followed it around and down the stairs to the rocks. The rocks are super interesting because they almost seem like they were ancient manmade building stones. Our "tour guide" didn't tell us the scientific reason behind it so I'll probably look it up later.

The last stop of our trip was Carrick-A-Rede. This was a place that fishermen used to cast their nets. The bridge is 100ft above the water and 60ft long. It's about a 20 minute easy walk along the stunning coastline to get to the bridge and oh man I was excited. It was pretty windy and when the wind blew hard you can see the rope bridge away back and forth. I stood in line to get on and it was exhilarating. You can feel the bridge bouncing beneath your feet as you're 100ft above the waves. Again, our guide said we were super lucky because the air and skies were clear and we had a great view of Scotland. According to them, that doesn't happen too often. I really took my time there and ate some Irish shortbread cookies.

What I realized today is that I'm no longer scared of heights. Back in the day I always feared them but today I was totally calm and even enjoyed being on that bouncing bridge today. Awesome self realization.

The tour headed back and we got back exactly on time. It's impressive how they were able to stay exactly on time for an entire 13 hour trip. I got back to the hostel and Eric led us to some pub that his walking tour recommended. I got a rack of ribs for 15.50€ and Eric got a burger. The meat on the ribs was falling off the bone but the sauce was a little sweeter than I prefer. Meal overall was amazing. I'm starting to love mayo and fries instead of ketchup.

I wish I could have spent more time in Ireland since I didn't get to try a to of their cultural foods but it was worth giving up to see the amazing sights I saw today. I'm going to miss being called a lad or a gent everywhere I go.

Not a drop of rain for us. It rains 300/365 days a year here too.

Highlight of the day: The rock formations at Giants Causeway was super unique and I loved every second of it. I also read up and found out they were caused from a volcano eruption in the past.

[everettslife]

Day 23 - 10/11/17 Lisbon, Portugal - Dublin, Ireland

We woke up this morning at 0830 ready to head to our next destination. Both of us were a little tired because a couple in the room was whispering sweet nothings into each other's ears until 0145. We made it to the airport fine but there was a bit of a rush because we were taking our time at first looking around before heading to our gate. We didn't realize we had to go through a passport screening again since Ireland is part of the European Union and uses the Euro. The line was pretty long and we start getting worried but it moved quickly. We were able to save another passenger on our flight. He was standing behind us for luggage check in and when we were standing in line for our passports Eric saw him trying to catch our attention. Eric went over to go talk to him while I stayed in line and we were able to get him up with us. We made it to our zone about 10 minutes before the plane took off so he would have either just barely made it or missed it.

The flight was uncomfortable but we get what we pay for. My seat was dirty and there was trash in the compartment in front of me. The charger ports didn't work and my chair didn't recline. This is all accompanied with a screaming 3 year old a couple rows behind us. Parents were doing their best but the kid wasn't having any of it.

We landed safely but our luggage was pretty banged up when it arrived. WOW Air was actually the best flight we've had so far and we thought it would the worst.

We arrived to beautiful sunny weather in Ireland. Like many people have said at other points in the trip, sunny weather is rare. God is really changing the weather for us.

We took a bus to our hostel which luckily drops us off across the street from it. We check in and wow. Our room has 14 people in it. Good luck sleeping tonight. Eric and I talked a bit over some delicious Irish stew we had down the street and he just wants to chill. I'm the complete opposite since we only have two days in Ireland. I decide to book a 70€ day tour viewing all the amazing sites in Northern Ireland. The people at our hostel says these sell out way in advance and there's probably no chance to get in for tomorrow. I check at the tourist office a few doors down and boom. I get the last spot on the bus for any of the tours for the day. God provides. Ireland weather is usually rainy and foggy so seeing anything on these trips is usually a gamble but it's supposed to be crystal clear skies tomorrow. Coincidence? Nope.

Eric and I then walk around the pub district which is known to have a million bars. There's not a whole lot else to see around here. People drive on the opposite side of the road so that's interesting and I love how they speak English here. It makes everything so much easier and the Irish accent is just so attractive. Irish accents everywhere. It's amazing.

We decide to have an early dinner at O'shea's which is a pub and grab a bunch of traditional Irish dishes. We nabbed black pudding, fish stew, and fish and chips. The black pudding was nasty. It was super salty and gritty. What else can you expect from pork blood, barley, and oatmeal mixed together. The fish stew was amazing was more like a chowder. It tasted similar to SF clam chowder and was just as delicious. This was my favorite part of the meal. The last part was the fish and chips. In Ireland I guess they use smoked fish instead of fresh when they fry it. I wasn't a huge fan since I don't care for smoked fish but I'm glad I tried it.

We head back afterwards and I'm going straight to sleep preparing for a long day tomorrow. The tour is from 7am-8pm. Not bad for 70€ ~$85.

I really love Ireland so far. Not only is everybody we meet super friendly, but the accent. I could listen to it all day.

Highlight of the day: That beef stew we had for our first meal was out of this world. It was also the first meal we had in about 17 hours.

[everettslife]

Day 22 - 10/10/17 Lisbon, Portugal

This morning Eric, Tamara, and I headed off to Belém to get the best Portuguese custard tarts in the region. They're the creators of it. We hopped on the bus and rode down about 20 minutes until we got to our stop. There was some huge military event going on that Eric thought had something to do with the president of Portugal.

We were standing around trying to find the tart place and artillery started firing about 30 feet away from us. It scared all of us so badly and I stepped straight into a mud puddle. I'm guessing the firing was the start of some ceremony but we got first row seats to that. Some soldiers marched by and we skittered over to the other side of the street when we had time.

The restaurant was called Pastéis de Belém. Each of us ordered 4 custard tarts, a duck pie, and a cod cake for breakfast. Everything was amazing but the star of the dish was definitely the custard tarts. The custard was so creamy and rich and that was surrounded by a crispy pastry shell. It beat all the egg tarts I've tried in my entire life. Meal well worth 10€.

We decided to walk off some of our meal and we took a stroll to some huge statue and sat there for 2.5 hours just watching the waves and looking at the scenery. There was a man behind us playing some guitar and singing so it was super relaxing.

Tamara and I split off from Eric to go look at some flea market while Eric went back to the hostel to rest. After a 30 minute walk, we arrived the there. Apparently it was an antique market. I must not have an eye for this stuff because it looked to me that they were selling garbage. There were broken watches and computers next to shoes worn to the limits. I don't have an appreciation for this stuff.

Tamara and I headed back to the hostel after about 30 minutes and she had to check out so Eric and I got back together to hangout with Patrick one last time. This time we met at his university.

After meeting up with him he drove us out 30 minutes to his secret beach. It was around Cabo Da Roca from yesterday and called Praia da Ursa. It's about a 10 minute walk until the real hike begins. We get to the edge of a cliff and wow. The view is breathtaking. Most people stop there but we do is start making our way down an unmarked path down the cliff. It's a very dangerous hike but we catch glimpses of an amazing beach at the bottom. We reached the bottom just as the sun was about to set. The sunset was pretty nice but the main shocker was the beauty of the beach. Only two other people were there and it was truly private in a cove surrounded by cliffs. We spent about half an hour on the beach before it started getting super dark and we needed to get back up before it got too hard. Before we left I had to do a backflip to say I've done a backflip on the most western point of Europe on a beautiful beach. The hike back up was super difficult as well but we made it up safely.

Patrick drove us back to his house where he dropped off his car and gave us some insight on the parking situation. There's not enough parking and probably 50% what they need. People double park everywhere and leave their numbers in the car and you just call them to move it when you need to get out. When Lisbon was made, they had no cars. There was no need for them so they just made tiny winding roads with no parking areas. Things haven't been changed so that's how they are now.

He wanted to bring us to a place close to his house but they were packed and closing soon so they denied us service. We decided to take a taxi to the city center to save us some time and grab some food there. Scariest taxi ride of my life. The guy seemed new and the streets in Lisbon are the size of one way streets but are two way. He was also driving extremely fast and flying around corners and turns almost hitting people. I decided to just relax because I figured he was a professional driver and this was normal for their culture. After getting out I asked Patrick about it and no. This guy was just a super scary driver.

We eat a dish called bacalao. This is basically ham yu but with cod. The fish is salted two weeks before serving and is Portugals signature dish with over 1000 ways to make it. We trust Patrick and he proceeds to flood our table with dishes. The three main dishes were the types of bacalao.

1. bacalao fish cakes

2. Bacalao with tomato and onion baked in a garlic oil

3. Fried bacalao

This dish is honestly amazing. It's so difficult to explain but the easiest way I can say it is that everything is super moist and flaky. It's not super salty like I expected and it's not a super fishy fish. It has more of a sweet taste.

Patrick parted ways and we were left with a bitter sweet feeling. We've spent 6 days in a row hanging out with this guy and it's finally over. We had a great time and we hope to see him again. My glutes are also pretty sore. Tons of uphill walking and we averaged 12 miles/day this week.

Highlight of the day: That beach was amazing and was the highlight of the entire trip so far.

[everettslife]

Day 21 - 10/10/17 Lisbon, Portugal

Today we woke up around 8am to go to our hostel tour of Sintra which is far west Portugal. We hopped into a van with 6 ladies and we headed off 45 minutes to our first destination. I got to know an Australian girl next to me named Tamara. She's totally awesome.

So all of the following areas are in Sintra-Cascais National Park. Our first stop of the tour was Quinta da Regaleira. I'm still not sure what it was but it was incredibly lush with small paths leading everywhere, giant lakes, caves, and castles. It was mindblowingly amazing. I can't describe it's beauty so the pictures will have to do. They will be posted below. We only had an hour to hike but I could have spent all day there.

Our next stop was Park and Palace of Pena. I thought the first stop was great and this one just added to it. Trees everywhere. I feel like if I were to go on any trip, this is what I'm looking for. It takes an estimated 10 hours to explore the park but we only had 2 to do it so we only hit a few main points that our guide suggested. We hiked straight to the top which was only half a mile but it gave an amazing view of the entire area including Moors Castle right on the next mountain. It's impossible to explain all this through words. It felt like I was in the hobbit. There's just so much green and beauty.

The wine and cheese tasting time was next but the lady was rude and not happy so we left quickly and headed to our fourth location which is the most western part of Europe called Cabo Da Roca.

Our guide brings us to the edge of an incredibly high cliff and we just looked off into the distance. This was the best view of the trip by far. This is the most western part of Europe and it's just amazing how over all that ocean the next landmass is US/Canada. All these locations we've been to I could have spent all day there. I love this country.

The final stop was at Guincho Beach. The beach is stunning with amazing sand and great oceanic views. The only thing was that it was freezing. Freezing water and strong breezes does not make for a fun beach trip. Eric dove right in and chilled (heh) in the water for about 20 minutes. I put one foot in the water and headed back to the safety of sand further up the beach. The day continues on even more from there.

After we get dropped back off at the hostel, we find out Eric's friend invited us over to his house for dinner so we couldn't turn that down. We showered off and headed to his place. Same guy as last night and he made us this amazing vegetarian meal to eat with two of his other good friends. It was some pasta dish with soy as the "meat". It was fantastic. We laughed and talked the night away as a group and headed home after. This was the best day of the trip so far.

So far Lisbon is my favorite city of the trip. Their culture is so relaxed and hardly in a rush for anything. The people are so nice and their food is cheap but delicious. Coupling that with amazing scenic views, this country is amazing. Safe city, cheap food, friendly people, relaxed culture makes for a happy Everett.

Fun story: 4 of the girls in the group today were from the United States and they have the heaviest valley girl accent I've ever heard. They are the stereotype in both how they talk and what they talked about. They really love their red wine and boys. So I'm talking to the Australian girl and telling her how many Americans love an Australian accent. I ask her what accent Australians like and they love french accents. I ask her if there's any accent she doesn't like and she says Valley girl. A girl behind us says,"Oh my gosh like yeah. I can't like even stand that accent either. It's like when they talk like Kim Kardashian." She says all this in a heavy valley girl accent. This was when I realized she didn't realize she was that person we were talking about. It was hilarious.

I've also stopped proofreading these posts for the past few days. Sleep > grammar.

Highlight of the trip: Cabo Da Roca was amazing. I'm at a loss of words for it.

[everettslife]

Day 20 - 10/8/17 Lisbon, Portugal

The bus ride was pretty rough but I think I was able to get a little bit of sleep at least. I dreamt I was in the olympics for 300m low hurdle which isn't even an Olympic event. Great dream though. Eric didn't have much luck sleeping and only slept a couple winks. It was pretty rough but in the end we got off safely.

We're in Lisbon now! We took the metro then walked a couple minutes to our hostel. Unfortunately they weren't answering the doorbell and we were stuck outside for about 10 minutes with an Australian traveler. They finally opened up and we were able to drop our stuff off inside. I was ready to rumble but Eric had a walking tour in a couple hours and wanted to chill so we split up.

I wanted beach time and it's only two blocks away so I headed straight there. The beach is small but very beautiful. I spent some time there before following the road along the ocean. I had no plan so I just kept going and going until I found a road that led to the city center. I followed that road and stopped by some parks along the way. Once at the city center I made my way back. This loop was around 8 miles.

I was hanging out at the hostel and resting while waiting for Eric to finish his tour but he ended up contacting me to grab some lunch with him and people from the tour. I agreed and met up with them to have a traditional cod dish with some fries for 6€. It was okay. Eric wanted to see some of the old town area to the east of our hostel. This area is the oldest area of the city because everything else was destroyed in an earthquake years ago. 85% of the city was destroyed and only this small part remains.

This small area was amazing. I felt like I stepped into an ancient movie set. Everything was how it was years ago with tight, narrow streets with all the houses looking the same. It was super hilly but worth the adventure.

After cleaning up at the hostel we headed out to meet with Eric's friend Patrick. This guy is awesome and is living in Lisbon as a student. He brought us to some random street restaurant where he proceeded to order dish after dish after dish. Once they brought the food out, our entire table was filled and we feasted. He also ordered us a drink only available under the counter in Portugal called Aguardiente or fire water. It's a tonic that's about 60% alcohol and it's the secret drink of the area. You cannot buy it from stores and restaurants won't have it on the menu. It's usually home made and "helps with digestion". I took one sip and I felt like I was dying. It was so strong but you could feel like there was fire going down your throat into your stomach and warming it up. Totally awesome experience but I hated the taste so I didn't have anymore. This entire meal filled all of us to the brim and only cost each of us 10€. Super cheap local place.

Patrick took us to all his secret lookouts around the city and we met one of his good friends after to just talk. We all had a good time and we're planning on meeting again tomorrow. With all the walking I did, I ended up with over 40,000 steps and 17miles. I'm tired.

Highlight of the day: The place we ate at with Patrick was not only delicious, but also large with a cheap price. This beats out El Tigre for best deal on the trip for food.

[everettslife]

Day 19 - 10/7/17 Madrid, Spain

Today was just a total chill day for us. I woke up after 10 hours of sleep and just relaxed until Eric woke up an hour later. We decided to go across the street to get some breakfast. That was a huge mistake. We paid 2.50eur expecting two of each tapas (small dish) we ordered. The picture was very misleading so we only got one and it was a waste of money. We were out of there in probably 5 minutes because we ate each piece in two bites. We decided to get some churros for breakfast too since we were still starving. Churros in Spain are like the US ones but without any sugar or cinnamon. It's just bread so to go with it, it's usually dipped in hot chocolate. We went to a popular place down the street and oh man. 4 euros for 6 churros and a huge cup of molten chocolate. I ate 4 and let Eric have the rest because it was so sweet. Kristi would have enjoyed it though.

To finish off breakfast we grabbed some more calamari sandwiches at a place nearby and it was a nice way to finish off our giant breakfast. This one was softer and not as crunchy as the last one we had but the batter was much more flavorful.

After we finished up there we went back to the hostel to chill. Eric has been feeling a little bit sick and my legs are starting to feel the stress of walking so much. We've walked about 36 miles over the last 3 days so we spent about two hours just playing the guitar together and relaxing on the sofas and bean bags.

After two hours I got hungry and we stopped at a restaurant called El Tigre. This place was AMAZING. They charge you 2.50eur ~$3 for a single drink of whatever you want. Eric got a beer and I got water. The trick is that they also give you a massive dinner plate full of different Spanish dishes as appetizer. It was filled with different types of ham, cheese, fried peppers, bread, and potatoes. I honestly don't know how they make money. Best value meal of my entire life. All of it was delicious. With our hunger satiated we head back to the hostel to chill some more.

Once back we planned to have paella that night to finish Spain off before our trip out. Everything went according to plan and one of the friends Eric made tagged along too. Unfortunately the place that we chose (my paella teacher chose) no longer sold paella. We were stuck and picked any paella place we saw in the area and we ended up at an upscale restaurant and ordered some seafood paella for 15eur. It was disgusting and so ridiculously salty. Huge disappointment. I'm guessing that they over salted the broth they made ahead of time and when the broth sat it became even saltier. I considered it was inedible and only ate the chicken and seafood in it.

We left after quickly finishing whatever we wanted to eat and headed back to the hostel to grab our stuff and head out. Eric was offered a 1 month volunteer internship position at the hostel by one of the hostel workers so he's considering that right now. He would stay at the hostel for free during that time.

Making our way through the metro system and onto the bus was without incident. We did have some problem with Eric's ticket once onboard but the agent figured it out after awhile. The agent didn't speak English at all so it was pretty rough trying to explain ourselves to the agent in Spanish and understanding what he was trying to say. Anyways, this bus is uncomfortable but we'll be there in 8 hours. Our trip started at 2330 and we'll arrive in Lisbon around 0800.

I wish I had more time to spend in Madrid. There's not a lot to see here like in Paris but they have such a huge culture and it's impossible to experience and understand it in two days. I really enjoyed my time here and I think it's tied with Copenhagen, Denmark as my favorite city of the trip.

Highlight of the day: Doing nothing. I haven't done nothing in a long time and it was so relaxing.

[everettslife]

Day 18 - 10/6/17 Madrid, Spain

This morning was another morning where I had the opportunity to experience a little bit of traveling for myself. I left this morning and headed off to the cooking class I signed up for about a mile away. It feels so freeing being by myself in a big city. It gave me some much needed time to introvert myself. I find that I don't really talk much anymore and I like keeping to myself. I'm just peopled out at this point. Anyways, I show up to the class called Cooking Point and I'm greeted by a man in his 60s. He seems like s nice guy and leads me into a room with 3 older ladies. Apparently this is our class. I was the youngest person there by a lot. The ladies looked between 60-75 years old. Luckily I got paired with the only lady there who has any cooking experience.

It started off with us taking a 1 hour trip to the market to pick up all the ingredients. He walked is over and took his time at each stall and explained what he was buying and why. It was super interesting that he did not pick any of his own ingredients out. He tells him what he wants and the merchants pick for him. I asked him about it and he explained it was because these merchants hand pick all their wares and they know that all of them are good so there's no point in him checking to see if they're fresh or not. We pick up some squid, mussels, tomatoes, and other various ingredients.

They had some expensive stuff at this market. There was pork for $140/kilogram. Apparently the pigs are only fed acorns from oak trees located in a specific region of Spain and it gives them a great fatty flavor. It's crazy.

We get back and we start by making some sangria. That is a type of fruit wine they drink here. I tried a little taste when it was done and it was good I guess. I'm not much of a drinker.

My partner was about a 75 y/o Australian lady and she was super nice. We got along well and had no problems taking turns and sharing all the tasks. The next dish we made was gazpacho which is a cold tomato soup. All the recipes are in a booklet they gave us. The gazpacho was surprisingly deliciously refreshing and sweet with a little tang at the end. It's mostly made of tomatoes, bread, cucumbers, and bell peppers all blended up.

The final dish and one reason why I was there was the paella. We made a seafood and chicken version of it. There's way too much to explain here (booklet has everything). I did find out the reason why ours always burns is because we add too much rice and it cooks too unevenly. If there's less rice it cooks around the same time and won't burn to the pan. We also eat the paella way too soft. Our rice at the end tasted a little hard and almost not cooked quite enough but the teacher said that's how it's supposed to be. He said that there's three main types of paella. 1. traditionally made 500 years ago with rabbit and chicken

2. made at home now with chicken

3. Made at restaurants with seafood

People make it with chicken at home so when they go out they want something different which makes seafood so popular.

We tried it at the very end and it was very good. It wasn't mindblowingly good but I think it's because it wasn't salty enough. I'd like it to be saltier but I didn't want to mess it up for my partner. It was good enough where I am going to make it back and home though.

Eric and I met back up at the hostel after where we played some guitar and just hung out. There's not a ton to see around the city so we're just sitting back and enjoying the relaxed culture they have over here. It's a very chill culture where people aren't really in a big rush similar to Denmark. I love it here.

Eric and I went out to get lunch around 4 at Rosi La Loca (recommended by hostel staff). We decided to order a bunch of tapas and share them all. We ordered eggplant chips, croquettes (similar to fried cheese balls), huevos rotos (egg, ham, and potatoes), and some sort of coconut pudding with pineapple pieces. Everything was amazing and cost each of us less than 10 euros. Food is a steal here. The eggplant chips were the biggest surprise because they were super sweet. I normally don't like eggplant but these chips were to die for. The coconut pudding is also my second favorite dessert of the trip. It's just under Belgium waffles. There was such a strong coconut flavor in the pudding and it just meshed so well with the pineapple.

On our way back we saw some people from last night who were going to check out the sunset and we decided to join them. We walked over a mile to the sunset place and I was honestly disappointed. I think I'm spoiled by Hawaiian sunsets and I thought it was no big deal. I FaceTime for awhile with a buddy and man I needed to introvert even more after all that so when we went back to the hostel Eric continued going out for dinner with the others while I retired for the night.

Highlight of the day: Making the paella was so much fun even with the older ladies. It was so informative and well detailed especially when it came to choosing ingredients.

[everettslife]

Day 17 - 10/5/17 Paris, France - Madrid, Spain

We woke up at 3:30 and called an Uber to get to the airport. I actually wasn't too tired. The airport went smoothly and I slept on the flight over. Boom. We're in Madrid. We go from 50 degree to 85 degree weather. The people here seem way nicer than Paris or Germany. So we had two issues on metro. 1. The ticket machine stole my money and a ticket agent came by to help me get it out. 2. We got out at the wrong exit and a different ticket agent swiped us back in so we didn't have to pay for another ticket. Arrival to the hostel was without incident and wow. It isn't the nicest place but all the staff here are amazing. They're so accommodating and friendly. You can tell that they really love what they do. As of right now they're tied with Copenhagen people for kindest people. We went on a walking tour after we stored our baggage and man. The tour was so dull. There was only 4 people on the tour so we stuck it out for 3.5 hours. It would be too awkward and insulting to him if we just left. I thought it was just me until Eric said he was totally bored too. It takes a lot for Eric to complain something was bad.

One cool thing about the tour was that we tried alcoholic fruits. Apparently bears in the area used to store certain fruits for hibernation but they fermented while the bear slept. By the time the bear ate them, the fruits were fermented enough to be alcoholic and the bears would get drunk. At this point the hunters would find and shoot them because they were easy targets. We tried some wine made from them and it was super sweet. I still don't like wine but if I did, I would probably drink this one. To celebrate finishing the tour we grabbed some calamari sandwiches for 3 euros and it was delicious for the price. Imagine calamari in sandwich bread. It tastes exactly like that. We decide to try some other traditional tapas such as clams, sausage, and Spanish pancake. Spanish pancake is basically fluffy hash browns. I couldn't really tell what else was in there. That meal filled us for a total of.....5.50 euros a person. Food is so cheap here! I love it. After heading back to the hostel to change we took a scenic hike through the city. The part I loved the most was the park. This park was enormous but it was actually a park and less of a tourist attraction. It's literally a forest in the middle of the city and I loved every second of our time there. We probably hung out and walked around for 2 hours. We made it back to the hostel after for our free dinner and to hang out with some other people. We had a great time! There was somebody from LA, Germany, Minnesota, Chile, and Italy. Everybody drank but I held off for tonight. The meal consisted of some sort of noodle salad dish made with noodles, canned tuna, corn, garbanzo beans, olives, tomatoes, and olive oil. This was actually extremely tasty and I had 3 servings of it. I'm probably going to make some of this at home sometime. At 2330 they cleared everybody out for quiet time in the hostel and most people went out to the club and the bar to continue celebrating. I'm pretty peopled out at this point and I just want alone time so I just crawled into bed and enjoyed time by myself. I have my paella making class tomorrow and I'm super excited for that! I'm loving Spain so far and it may or may not top my list for favorite city on the trip so far. Only time will tell. Highlight of the day: The German dude was hilarious and he was telling us how Germany was actually rated the least funny country in the world 30 years in a row. I learned so much about his country and that was cool.

[everettslife]

Day 16 - 10/4/17 Paris, France Pt 2/2

Both of us wanted more nature time so we decided to go to a park our host suggested. Totally worth it. I think that park along with the catacombs were my favorite parts of Paris. It was a big hilly park with both tons of grass fields and long passages of trees. The center of the park was an island with a beautiful lake surrounding it and bridges going towards it. We spent a couple hours exploring it and we even found a large cave. The rocks were perfect for climbing so I climbed up about 10-15 feet or so to a ledge. It felt so good to do something like that again. It was a surprisingly difficult climb due to the rocks being pretty slick but I was fine with Eric spotting me. We went back Montmartre after because apparently we missed a huge area behind the chapel called the artist area. It's a bunch of quaint little streets with a ton of people doing portraits. Unlike the amusement parks where they only do caricatures, here they do both that and realism drawings. These people are super good at what they do and some pictures they did look like photo realism. On the way out from the area we grabbed some Nutella and banana crêpes. They were pretty good but I feel like they didn't live up to the hype. I'm also not a huge sweets person but even Eric said it was alright. We actually got ramen today for 12 euros. Totally satisfying. The quality wasn't as good as Amsterdam but I was happy to finally get a cheap meal that was very decent. To finish off the day we went to the Eiffel Tower at night. They do a light show for 5 minutes on the top of every hour. We were there about 40 minutes early but we found a good spot dead center up front and decided to sit there to save it. It's a stunning night with the moon shining in the perfect spot along with the lights of the tower itself. After a wait the lights come on and start flickering. It was honestly pretty disappointing to me. I thought it looked better with the lights off. They just seemed too cheesy and boring to me. We left shortly after the light show and headed back. It's 10pm at this time and we need to be out of the Airbnb catching an Uber at 4am to the airport. That's going to be fun.

IMPORTANT. When visiting Paris make sure you keep all your metro tickets. They don't have this labeled anywhere, but it is the law to keep the ticket with you. You literally just walk out of the station without using it and you only need to swipe it to get in but they'll check. I just got fined 50 euros ~$60 for "fare jumping". I've just been tossing my tickets once I get into the station because you don't need them to get out. Day was still great. Getting a ticket doesn't take that away, but lesson learned. Highlight of the day: The second park where I was able to go rock climbing was such a welcome sight and so much fun. I am definitely a nature guy.

[everettslife]

Day 16 - 10/4/17 Paris, France Pt 1/2

Today is the day Eric and I split up. I'm spending the first half of the day in the catacombs and Eric is spending his at some famous chapel and the Milan Rouge (where the Cancan was created). We did both grab breakfast together this morning. Croissants and baguettes. Both are absolutely amazing. I walked the one mile to the catacombs entrance and holy moly. I got there as they opened and the line to get in was already around the corner of the block. At least a 2 hour wait I'm guessing. I ordered my ticket online the night before to skip the line and give me priority access. When they say priority access, they mean it. I showed a man my ticket and they stopped all other people walking in and escorted me straight into the catacombs passing everybody not only in line to get in, but also the line to get the audio guide. That was the start of an awesome experience. So it started off with a steep staircase spiraling into the underworld of Paris until we're 20m underground (65.5ft). There's a quick introductory room with some basic background to how they were formed. So the passages were initially dug out to extract limestone from the rock. It wasn't until later when the graveyards started to fill up that they decided to move the bodies to the tunnels underground. The cemeteries were so full that they began stacking bodies on top of each other but all the rotting flesh in one area began getting people sick. They start moving cartloads of the bodies at night with priests following to bless the process. An estimated 6 million skeletons fill the catacombs today. The ceiling was just higher than my head height so I didn't have to crouch at all but in some spaces it got pretty tight. Average height was probably around 5'10-6'0. I can see why so many movies are based off of the catacombs. It's eerily creepy in there and there are plenty of areas where the wall has broken and large chambers lie behind them. They're off limits but if somebody wanted to, they could climb through the holes and get lost. Several of the larger holes and passageways are blocked off with bars. One of the coolest parts was the jn the middle of one of the tunnels surrounded by a circle of skeletons. It was called the Samaritan woman based off of John 4 in the Bible. They wanted to add some peace to the area so they carved various scripture and philosophical writings on the wall. The one near the well read a version of this verse in French. Funnily enough the audio tour read us the NIV translation of it. “but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”” ‭‭John‬ ‭4:14‬ ‭NIV‬‬ After finishing the roughly .75 mile walk through I decided to enjoy a walk around Luxembourg Park again to spend the next couple hours. I realized it was exactly what I needed. I've been around buildings for so long that it was so relaxing to just enjoy some beautiful nature. I thankfully made it back safely after realizing I didn't mark on my map where our Airbnb was. I remembered the name of a restaurant near our place and was able to map back to there phew.

[everettslife]

Day 15 - 10/3/17 Paris, France

It's another beautiful day in France. Weather is absolutely perfect. We started off today the right way with two freshly baked croissants. They were amazing. It was more moist and sweet than the ones in America and this probably had to do with whatever they brushed on top. It was sticky and sweet but didn't taste like honey. After breakfast we headed off to the star of the country--the Eiffel Tower. We hopped on the metro and got off at a station about a mile away from the tower. The tower could be seen in the distance and the mile walk over was through a very touristy location. The street finally ended in an open park where the Eiffel Tower was in full view. Paired with the beautiful weather, it was a pretty amazing sight. Eric forced us to take tourist pictures. After enjoying the view for awhile we took a walk down the river before stopping for lunch at a french restaurant. This place was called Chez André and we were there for two reasons: escargot and beef tartare. We knew it would be small portions but were both happy to be saving a little bit from a full french meal. There were 6 escargot in a pesto sauce for 11.50eur and came with some snail tongs and a little fork. Luckily enough, I did my research beforehand and had a rough idea of how to use it. We slid those little gems out of their shells and dove in. They're pretty much what I expected being slightly chewy and great in flavor. 3 per person was too little and we still wanted more after. The beef tartare for 18 eur on the other hand, not worth it at all. Why does raw meat with an egg onion and chives cost 18 eur??? It was alright. Tasted like raw meat. Eric and I were both glad we didn't get a second plate of it. Although it wasn't the best, we're both glad that we got to try it out. We decided to check out the Bastille afterwards only to arrive and find they're doing construction on it so we can only see two golden figures on the top of some pole. There wasn't much to see and both Eric and I were craving sweet so we got gelato at the closest store to us called Armarino. Best gelato/ice cream I've ever had in my life hands down. I had pistachio, lemon, and mango in a small cup. Each flavor was incredibly strong and didn't taste artificial at all. The mango and lemon in specific were a great combo. The sweetness of the mango contrasts so well with the super sour lemon. Wombo combo. I can see myself going back there again before we leave. We headed back, grabbed some souvenirs and chilled back at our airbnb. I fell asleep with the cats (am I dreaming? Probably). Eric was kind enough to snap a picture when I was out. I woke up and we decided to get some dinner. Eric found a ramen place about 30 minutes away on yelp so we hopped on the metro and headed off. Turns out this place was a sushi place not a ramen place but we were starving so we ate there anyways. Surprisingly good sushi! Better than the last time we ate sushi too. I guess the Paris has pretty good sushi? Their technique to make the rolls was not standard and the rolls looked pretty weird but they were delicious. I'm not 100% sure what I ate since the entire menu was in French but I think I had a spider roll, caterpillar, and some tempura roll. One of my rolls had salad on it. Strange but totally delicious meal. 3 rolls for 25 euros. Tomorrow Eric and I are splitting up for a bit. Im going down to the catacombs and Eric is going to see some church thing before meeting back up. Pray for our safety alone! Highlight of the day: Seeing the Eiffel Tower in person was surreal. It clicked that I'm on vacation and in Paris. It's almost weird being on vacation and not in Hawaii. I really miss that place.

[everettslife]

Day 14 - 10/2/17 Paris, France

We started off the day with a walking tour and we found our tour guide is actually a graduate of CSUEB! What a small world. The tour itself was just okay. We saw a bunch of really big buildings and stuff. I think I'm getting to the point where I can't stare at buildings all day. A bunch of them were still cool though. The main stops of the walking tour covered the Church of Notre Dame, Tuileries Garden, Louvre Museum, and Montmartre. All those areas were cool but the Church of Notre Dame was coolest. The Church of Notre Dame has a long backstory to it. So the emperor at the time of it being built thought that the church should not only teach people spiritually, but mentally as well in learning. They began teaching people up write and read and the first school was created. People thought that the church was super ugly and they wanted to destroy it but one man named Victor Hugo wanted to save it. He wrote the story Hunchback of Notre Dame and it was so good that people totally changed their mind and decided to keep it. It was awesome seeing the church behind the Disney movie. After our tour we walked to Arc de Triomphe. It was massive and looked awesome. Apparently the French like walking under it after winning battles. France was in a lot of wars so they had plenty of opportunities to do that. We didn't want to pay 9 euros to walk underneath an arch so we just took pictures from afar. All these high tourist locations were so fascinating because all the scams I saw in the YouTube videos I watched were happening in front of me. Luckily both Eric and I did our homework ahead of time so we were able to avoid all of them. There were 3 that we avoided. 1. A person moves a ball between 3 cups and you bet money on which cup it's under. This is a rigged game because he will move it around or do a sleight of hand last second so you always pick wrong. He has accomplices with him to make it look like the game is super easy. 2. Somebody will grab your wrist and start tying a friendship bracelet on because of "kindness". After they get it on, they pressure you to give them money for it and they're not so friendly to you if you say no. I hear sometimes they even threaten to have a stalker follow you around until you pay up. 3. Same as number two except it happens after they ask you to sign a petition for them. A group of ladies with shove a petition in your face and will motion for you to sign it. If you do sign it they'll pressure you to give money "to the poor" and if you don't, repeat cons from #2. The key to avoiding all these scams is to pretend they're not there and totally ignore them. If they force something onto you, you take it and drop it on the ground and walk away. There were illegal merchants selling souvenirs for 20cents a piece. They looked like good souvenirs but I didn't trust them at all. Nobody was buying from them so we just stayed away. These merchants have lookouts and as soon as someone sees the police coming they gather all their stuff up within seconds and are running away. On our way back from the walk on the metro our station broke down and it took us 45 minutes longer to get back. I was on the fullest train car I've ever been in. It shows up and people are just overflowing out of it. You have to brute force your way into cars to get in. It was so uncomfortable. We grabbed some cheap panini wraps at a nearby restaurant for dinner and they were pretty good for the price. The place always has a long line so we decided to try it out. Tomorrow we finally get to see the Eiffel Tower and maybe the Paris catacombs. Super excited for that. Fun fact: I found out important French writers and artists are buried in the Pantheon. Highlight of the day: I was able to prevent someone from getting scammed by the ladies getting signatures. It felt so good that the scammers got nothing.

[everettslife]

Day 13 - 10/1/17 Brussels, Belgium - Paris, France

Waking up this morning was a struggle. We somehow made it out and to the subway on time though. This trip to Paris is our one and only first class trip. We decided to be fancy and spend another 3 eur to upgrade our ticket for the hour long trip over. The train was super nice. The floors were carpeted in this red velvety material and all the chairs were super fancy with buttons to recline. A complimentary meal and drink was offered partway into the trip. I grabbed the food but wasn't in an eating mood so Eric ate mine. It looked pretty but lacked in the taste department according to Eric. We get to our hostel and man. Our room is huge. I love it. Even better, our Airbnb host has two super friendly cats so we spend some time playing with them before heading out. I had to grab a burrito on the corner store because I was starving. It tasted like Taco Bell except it cost 12 euros. Everything seems bigger in Paris. These buildings and fountains are massive. A few things we saw in our walk around our area was the Pantheon, Saint-Sulpice Church, and Jardin du Luxembourg. These were all just random attractions around where we're living. My favorite one of the three was the Pantheon. It's literally just a really big building but it's the size that impressed me. I'm hoping I'll get to learn more about it on our walking tour tomorrow. From my limited experience so far Paris seems like a moderate pace culture. People aren't in a rush everywhere like Germany nor are they relaxed and taking it slow like Denmark. I have noticed that they do not like Americans here. I've been told that from different people but I finally get to experience it. When I walk into shops I get dirty looks from the people working there and I was looking for a ripe piece of fruit at one store and they said I'm not allowed to touch any of the fruit and they'll get it for me if I want any. This is at a grocery store and I can imagine that all French people pick their fruit without checking if it's ripe. Maybe it was just one bad experience. I'll see how the next few days go for that. Bailey taught me some basic french to survive over here. Vocab time! Bonjour - hello Merci - thank you Au revoir - good bye Je prends - I'll have Pour deux - for two C'est pas mal - not bad Oh la la - exclamation either good or bad based on tone of voice We use these everywhere we go and I'm hoping it's helping us get along better with the locals. We headed back to our hostel after our mini area self tour to play with the cats and plan out the next few days. After a little while we went out and got some sushi. I know. Weird. So French food, even in France is mostly fine dining. I checked on yelp and most of the places are $$$$ on yelp. It's super expensive so we're only going to have one french meal while we're here. The rest of the days we're eating whatever we want. Okay back to the sushi. Actually pretty good. Did not expect that at all. I paid 20 eur for 22 pieces of sushi, a bowl of rice, salad, and a miso soup. Miso soup was top notch and really good. For the fish quality the tuna was okay. It tasted like it's been around for a few days. Not bad but not super fresh. The salmon was outstanding though. SO FRESH. I was very pleasantly surprised with how good a sushi meal in Europe was. I'd say everything but the tuna was comparable to Bay Area sushi. I'm really enjoying my stay in Paris so far and I'm excited to see more main attractions tomorrow! Highlight of the day: learning that the Airbnb owner has cats that like playing with us.