Tuesday, June 26, 2007

High Class Backpacker

So after fourteen days since my last entry, I think that I have a few moments that I can muse about with you.

Right now, I am currently enjoying the dreary, cold, wet and miserable weather of London. Have I mentioned before that I didn't really care for this city? So due to an unforeseen event, I am back here for a few days, silently wishing that I had warm clothes. I mean, who needs a thick warm sweater for Spain, Italy or Greece? So for a few days, I will have to suffer from the wet and hope that I don't get sick (again).

These past days have lead me through Paris, Barcelona and Madrid and the three things that I have learned about these cities are:
• Paris is really a freakin' romantic city! I think that they spike the water with something!
• Barcelona is a city that I could visit over and over again and it reminds me of a Spanish Santa Cruz.
• Madrid, well...it's at the bottom of the list.

Paris, France:
Although not too much to reveal in cause, well, it's a romantic city, and 'nough said about that! However the main highlight of it was the Eiffel tower "experience." Marijn and I decided to hike up to the top of the tower since we figured we needed to work our gluteus maximus out. The weather was hot with a light breeze. Once on the second level, the wind picked up and the sky got a few shades darker. They closed the third level off which was disappointing so once you've reached the second level, there really isn't much to do except start the journey down about 600 metal steps. At step 523, a light drizzle started to sprinkle down on us. At step 420, the wind picked up more while the light drizzle became a constant sprinkle. At step 290, the constant sprinkle became a painful downpour. And by step 1, we were drenched from head to toe. There really isn't too many places to protect one's self from the rain at the Eiffel tower and after being pushed out of the only covered section on ground level, we had only one thing left to do: puddle stomping and running through the rain. Hey, if you're already soaked to the undergarments, why not do something that you haven't done since you were a child? The only drawback is that we're not five years old anymore and the health toll it takes on our bodies now is more painful. We're both still recovering. Sniff, sniff.


Barcelona, Spain:
This was the first part of my journey where I was on my own to travel through a foreign land. It's quite liberating to travel by yourself in a foreign place (although sometimes a little lonely) but it was great because I felt so happy whenever I was able to find my destination without asking for directions. There was nothing better than finding the place and doing my little happy dance (ie shake my toosh a little, wave my hands to the left and right and say "whoohoo" to myself). I'm sure I looked like a dork!


I loved this part of Spain...the pacing of life there is so much slower and it was so refreshing to not feel constantly rushed to get from A to B. Perhaps because it is a coastal town that it has this mentality and that's why it reminded me so much of Santa Cruz. I'm sure that the street performers on Las Ramblas also had something to do with reminding me of Santa Cruz. I really did not want to leave when it was time for me to go. Part of me wishes that I stayed there the whole time instead of going to Madrid.

Madrid, Spain:
So why was this city not one of my favorites? There are many factors to it but I think that one main one is because it is an urban city, it has that rushed feeling of life that was very different from Barcelona. There were some beautiful spots to it but I couldn't really enjoy it as much as I would have wanted too. However, the reason for the title of this blog "High Class Traveler" is due to my experience at my five-star hotel.

I love Hotwire. They have some great deals and during the time I was in Madrid, the costs for hostals were minimum: $100/night. That just didn't seem like a great deal to me so I figured I would try Hotwire. I was able to find a five-star hotel for $140/night and that seemed like a great bargain. So I booked and found out that I was staying at the Westin-Palace which is close to old Madrid and in city center. I even did the happy dance when I found out where it was.


Now checking in, I was judged by every single person at this place. Here, in the middle of the afternoon, walks in a young girl with a backpack twice her size wearing hippie traveling attire and I'm sure that I didn't smell decent either. Every single person that was staying in this hotel are people that normally stay at the Ritz and you can just smell their richness. So upon check-in, the receptionist did not like me very much. Perhaps it could have been my appearance or the fact that I kept dropping everything onto their floor from my passport, my airport tickets, my credit cards and my bottled water. I couldn't hold anything in my hands. But hey, Hotwire gave me a great deal so I was going to enjoy my time there and not give in to the looks that I was getting from the staff.

Now the main highlight of this hotel experience is that I made a special appearance into the photo of a Royal wedding. Saturday morning, security was tight and throughout the hotel, there were those scary big men with the earpieces who kept talking into their wrists, so of course something was going on. Now, I'm the kind of person who takes the stairs instead of the elevators. I am also the kind of person who loves to do silly poses and stances for photos (which I'm sure you might have figured out by now). So when I see a camera, I will do a silly stance. So upon my departure from this hotel on Saturday, I decided to take the stairs down. So I'm going down this very nice spiral staircase that leads into their grand hallway at full speed. So I come across the bend of the spiral stairs right into the Royal family photo with everyone in it. Within those two seconds of me going "oh shit" the shutter of the camera goes off, I do my Kim-stance, the photographer laughs, looks into his camera, laughs a little more and I run off. Therefore, I am sure that when this Royal family receives their group family photo shot, there will be a lovely cameo from me! I only wish that I could receive a copy of that photo!

So Spain was great and I was able to really build up on my Spanish! I was really happy with myself when the language came back so quickly to me. They also have great cuisine in Spain, although I didn't experience any of it because they don't really cater to the vegetarian lifestyle so I am a little bit malnourished at the moment (dat betekend even geen boterhammen met kaas meer)!

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