OK, that last post was from an internet cafe. I was hoping to upload some photos to Flickr but couldn’t get it working. So I figured I’d return to the Palm handheld with the good old American keyboard.

So we’re staying in a hostel just up the street from Notre Dame in the Latin Quarter. It’s actually pretty laid back here — I suppose most people are back in school/work and only the slackers are out vacationing. The last time I was in Paris (in 2000) it was pretty crowded and hot. So it’s nice to be here later in the season.

Anyway, Jamie and I have a double room with a shared toilet down the hall. I take her to the nicest places. The shower in the room is just that: a shower in the room, tucked away in the corner. No shower curtain either, so water collects on the floor all over the room. Basically, this is a shower room with a bed, rather than a bedroom with a shower. But hey, at least it keeps the floor clean.

The cool thing about European hotel rooms is that nearly every room has an impressive balcony. Our room is pretty plain, but there are French doors (just ‘doors’ here) that open onto a pretty large balcony that overlooks the flying buttresses of Notre Dame. (Yeah, I know.)

We’ve also noticed the major price difference between Southern and Northern Europe. Drinks in cafes costs about $5 here. They were only $1 or $2 in Spain/Portugal. I think they charge extra here for ambiance/people watching. You could easily sit there and nurse that coffee for 2 hours and watch people pass by, so I guess it’s worth it.

Food is definitely an experience here — not simply nourishment. You can’t get coffee to go. You’re expected to go in and sit down. And you literally have to hunt down a waiter for a check. They expect you to sit and talk and enjoy. It’s kind of refreshing.

Jamie’s been a little sick the past couple of days (so maybe send up a prayer for her) but other than that it’s been a pleasant and relaxing experience here. The French people we’ve met have been extremely friendly and helpful. We’re hoping to relax a bit this AM and then go explore a bit more this afternoon and tonight.

Miss you all and we’re looking forward to seeing you all. It’s been real fun reading your comments!

Check them out here.

So we ended up in Paris after Barcelona. We had thought about swit(where the heck is this letter … ah; here it is)Zerland, but couldn;t find a good train. So Paris it is. We arrived yesterday AM after sleeping on tiny couchettes in the sleeping car on the overnight train from Spain. Pretty interesting, but very tight. Paris seems to be beautiful this time of year … not too crowded with those qnnoying tourists. Man, I hates me the tourists.

Had a greqt dinner … OK; hold up: This keyboqrd is wack: I think they messed up the keys just to spite us Americqns: OK, focus … Had a great dinner in the Latin quarter last night … steak frites. grilled pepper. good bread, nice bottle of wine. The waiter also brought us sangria before the meal and cognac after. They like drinking here, i think.

You hqve to hit the shift button to type a period on this keyboqrd! Whqt the heck? Its not like it*s a rarely used key. But good thing this key is easy to type: ù

After dinner we watched a pretty cool documentary in the Notre Dame cathedral, with chants and music. Very cool. OK, this keyboard is driving ,e mad, so I;n gonna go. Tqlk to you qll lqterùùùù

ùùùùù vivq lq frqnce!!!

I think Epcot ruined me. Seriously. We were sipping coffee in a beautiful plaza here in Barcelona this morning as a street performer serenaded us with an accordian. All I could think is that it reminded me of being in Epcot as an eight year old kid. That’s just messed up.

Seriously though, we’ve been enjoying our time in Barcelona. This city is filled with narrow alleys and old buildings with balconies. Most balconies are draped with laundry, or some curious onlooker watching the people pass by on the street below. There’s action everywhere, in every direction, up and down. It’s pretty interesting.

The Spanish eat lunch at 3 and dinner at 10 or 11, so it’s normal to see people on the streets until 1 am or so. Normal people, too. Not young party people. I love this culture. It seems like they’re just trying to get as much experience and fun out of each day. You have no choice but to blend in, so we’ve been eating dinner real late and going to bed at around 2.

Another fun story (Mom, don’t read this): We witnessed some petty crime yesterday. We were sitting in a park when some dude starts chasing another man shouting “Polica! Polica!” on the top of his lungs. We ignored it, thinking they were playing. But they weren’t. As the thief tried to escape, various people from all sides of the park attempted to stop him — with slide tackles, tripping, whatever. Even a group of old guys playing bocce ball started throwing rocks at him and screaming profanities. Josh had a pretty good chance to take him down but the guy saw him get up from and avoided him. Ultimately the guy escaped into a parking garage. Very frustrating. It was pretty funny watching the old guys though, just flailing their arms and shouting long after the guy escaped.

Seems like this stuff is REAL common over here. You pretty much have to guard your belongings with your life. Sort of annoying, but that’s the way it is.

We changed our plans a bit and it looks like we’re off to Paris tomorrow. The trains are not as easy (or cheap) as we thought (it would have cost us 160 euro for the direct overnight train to Paris, even with our rail passes) so we ended up reserving a late afternoon train to France. We leave at 5.30pm and arrive in Paris at 7am. So it´ll be a long day. Travelling through the Pyrenees by train should be an experience though.

Tonight we’ll celebrate our last night in Barca with some tapas y sangria. We’ve been drinking pretty good cerveza, too. It’s called Estrella Dam, but I think it’s from Holland. Haven’t found a Spanish beer yet. They don’t seem to into beer here. Strange.

OK, it’s 6pm. Time for lunch….

We were able to score some tickets (well, we dropped some serious coin for them) to see FC Barcelona play their first league game at home last night. For those who aren’t aware (Bev, if you’re reading, you can skip down to the next paragraph), FC Barcelona is one of the world’s better football (soccer) clubs. Their roster boasts some of the biggest names in the sport: Ronaldino, Deco, Messi, Eto’o, Zambrotta, etc. Their stadium (Camp Nou) holds 120,000 crazy fans and is the second biggest stadium in the world.

Our three tickets were in different spots in the stadium, but Jamie and I ended up 12 rows behind the Barça goal! We got to see all three Barça goals (Eto’o scored 2 and Messi 1) right up close. It was amazing. Despite how close we were, it was tough to see the action on the other side of the pitch, so our seats weren’t really as good as they seemed. But we got to see the goals up close.

We were also right behind the Barça cheering section. Lots of horns, flags, chants, songs, etc. We learned some of the chants towards the end of the match. One chant we picked up ended with “Barça, Barça, Baaaaaarrrrrça!” but the Catalans here pronounce the ‘ç’ as a ‘th’ so it sounds like Bartha, Bartha, Barrrrtha!. Pretty funny stuff.

It wasn’t really a great game (Barça overpowered the other team) but it was certainly a fun atmosphere. Not as wild as I thought. No hooligans or anything like that. Lots of smart, intelligent fans who just watched the game and chanted every now and then.

Don´t have too much time to type right now but we´re having a great time with Josh in Barcelona. Amazing city. We´re actually going to Camp Nou in an hour to see FC Barcelona play their first home match of the season. This is one of the best futbol clubs in the world and the stadium holds 120,000 so it should be pretty interesting.

We´ll check in again later.

It’s about 2am local time and we’re on the overnight train from Lisbon to Madrid. We should be pulling into Madrid at roughly 9 am. The train isn’t full so we’re able to stretch out a bit.

Lisbon was an amazing and underrated city. For some reason it was the city we were most excited about visiting — maybe because we had NO knowledge of what to expect. Aside from the food, which I have to say was average, it definitely ranks in my top 5 favorite cities in the world. For those scoring at home, my favs are 1) New York 2) London 3) Lisbon 4) San Francisco 5) Clifton, NJ

I’m not really into seafood, and that’s what dominated most menus in Portugal. Lots of salted cod, sole, etc. Not really bad, but not my favorite.

I may have mentioned this before, but we stayed at a B&B called Zuzabed. It was owned by a guy named Luis. He was born in Mozambique but raised in Portugal. When we mentioned we lived outside Newark, he said “like near Ferry Street?”

He helped us out a ton while we were there and even insisted on giving us a ride in his car to the train station tonight — so we didn’t need to carry our bags across town. Good stuff.

So we’re pretty excited about meeting up with Josh tomorrow. For those who don’t know, Josh is our friend from Montclair. He’s a fellow slacker who also quit his job and has been traveling through Europe since August 1. We plan to travel with him through France, England and Denmark. He also speaks fluent German so that should help us in none of these countries.

OK, I’m going to try and get some sleep in this here chair. Talk to you from Spain later on.

Check em out here.

I know, we’ve been posting a lot on this thing, but it’s just so convenient with the free wifi — and these late-night espressos are keeping me up.

Had breakfast this morning with some folks from New Zealand. Good people. Wasn’t anticipating that we’d meet so many people along the way, so that’s been a pleasant surprise. Another surprise: Portugal is slippery. The slippery-est country I’ve been to. I’m serious. The sidewalks are all made of smooth white stone. Throw in some hills and a pair of flip flops and it gets ugly. I don’t know if it’s just us or what, but we’ve nearly wiped out on a few hills. It sounds stupid, I know, but it’s true.

Anyway, we went to the beach today in a town called Estoril — about a half hour by train. Old guys in Speedos, girls with armpit hair …the works. Everything you’d expect from a European beach.

Back in Lisboa, we stumbled upon the Portugal-Finland Euro 2008 qualifier in a cafe. Drank Super Bock and watched the second half of the match (they drew 1-1) and the first half of France-Italy. The Portuguese were pretty mellow. They just stared at the screen and didn’t say much. I was actually the loudest guy there. Imagine that. I tried to get a few chants going — to no avail.

So we slid back down the hill on the sidewalk to our room where I sit now, typing words to you, my friends and loved ones.

We’re off to Barcelona tomorrow. Not sure how to get there or where we’re staying. But Josh Cheatham will be there and the sidewalks will not be slippery. Adeus. (I only had one Super Bock. I did.)

From the window in our room in the Chiado quarter of Lisbon, we can see the Castelo de Sao Jorge on the hilltop a couple of miles away. It’s visible from various places in this city because of the many hills. These hills contribute to the beautful landscape, but they also make walking quite trechorous, Each time you turn a corner, you’re faced with a decision: Up or down? Which muscle gets the workout? We invariably choose up, thinking of how much easier it’ll be to backtrack. Somehow, we always end up walking uphill both ways. How does this happen?