Semana Blanca...aka Semana AMANDA!

The Department of Education (of Cataluña) decided at some point to start school a week earlier in September and insert a random week off in March. Then, later on, they were debating if they were still going to have it or not. Finally, they decided to keep it, but it’s going to be the first and last of its kind. Heh. And I got to experience it! :-D Really, it’s more frustrating than anything else for working parents and teachers who have spouses who aren’t teachers as well. Only schools have it off! But for me, even though I love being in the schools, it meant something special: a chance for my sister to visit! Seriously, we did NOT plan on having her come up before I left for Spain. We always knew that we’d take a trip to Great Britain AFTER my time in Spain (June), but she was in retail management (fancy term for “had no life”), didn’t especially care about Spanish culture and history, and we just assumed it would be too expensive or something. But after several months of playing around with the idea, we figured out that it would work! On a side note, she eventually stepped down from management, so she has a life again. :-)

Our plan was for her to come on Monday, and we’d go to Tarragona on Tuesday. Wednesday-Friday would be in Paris, (as in France!), and Saturday would be in Barcelona. She would leave Sunday morning. We TRIED to plan our Paris stuff, but it was hard to do for several reasons. I was really bogged down with school stuff at that point, and I also had to plan for the Sevilla/Granada trip. That one was further away, but you had to buy things like the ticket to the Alhambra months in advance, which let to basically planning everything. Annyway, all that to say that we decided to get a two-day Paris Pass, have those and the guide books shipped to me, and between emails and a phone call, we had a fairly good idea of what we wanted to do in Paris.

But before I go there, let me start from the beginning!

Sunday:  Preparation day

I went to church in the morning, and because of train times, going to church is an entire morning and afternoon adventure (but totally worth it!!). However, those two hours I have of waiting for the train have turned into great times for Spanish studying, reading, and in this case, Paris planning. When I got back from Lleida, I spent the evening cleaning and getting ready for my first-ever company! :-) Rosa and her husband also knew about Amanda coming, and they were both excited that I’d have some company. Rosa was also concerned about there being enough blankets, which there were. She’s so nice!

The only not-fun parts of that Sunday (well, I mean, cleaning is never very fun...:-D) were: I was still coughing a lot, and it was getting worse—and I slept very little. I had to take the 8:00am train to Barcelona even though Amanda wouldn’t arrive until the afternoon. Oh, well! I could sleep during the 2-hour train ride and figure out where our Barcelona hostel would be for Saturday!

Monday: Arrival day!

Despite waking up early and feeling kind of blah, I was SUPER excited about seeing my sister after 5 months of not seeing her! I spent the morning in BCN figuring out where stuff was, buying metro cards, etc. Ah, yes. Another major thing I had to figure out was the best way to get to the airport in the middle of the night for when Amanda was going to go back to the US. I knew she booked an early flight, but it was awhile before it dawned on me that she booked it so early, all of the trains and “normal” ways to get to the airport wouldn’t be available! I spent a looong time researching night bus options and stuff, and from what I could figure out, we had two options: take a taxi (ouch on money!) or take a night bus. Anyway, I couldn’t find the stop for Plaza Cataluña (the one closer to our future hostel), but I found the one in Plaza España. That one happened to have day buses going to the airport, so I impulsively took one to go pick up Amanda. That turned out to be a good idea, because it gave me an idea of where it would drop us off...and where Amanda’s specific flight area would be. Anyway, so I got to the airport around 1pm or so, and her flight was due at 2 or 3 something. I ate some food and piddled around, and later I read that there was a flight delay with her flight. Not cool! So that was MORE waiting. Finally, after what seemed to be forever, it said that the plane had landed. Yes! I eagerly waited with the swarm of people in the arrivals area...and waited...and waited...and waited. I saw a LOT of happy reunions that day. :-) But where was Amanda? It was long enough where I knew we wouldn’t make the train to Montblanc that would arrive at 7pm, so we’d have to take the very last train that would arrive at 8:30. We couldn’t do much, but we’d live! Assuming, that is, that she was even alive. That was a frustrating feeling...having no idea what her status was. Dad sent a text asking about her, and I replied with the whole “flight delay, should be soon! Will text when she comes” thing...and waited and waited some more. :-P Looong day! Finally, at 4 something, I saw the sliding door open and Amanda hesitantly looking around. Remember, I’ve been around these arrival people all day, and I was quiet the entire time. But when I saw her, I shouted in the loudest voice I’ve used in a LONG time, “´MANDA!!!” EVERYONE in my vicinity turned and gave me the weirded, most surprised look. Haha! I didn’t care at all though; I just wanted her to see me! And she didn’t. She went BACK into the area I wasn’t allowed in! Gah! I halfway collapsed on the railing in front of me in frustration and disappointment, and I could tell those people were still staring at me. Heh. I straightened up and impatiently tapped my fingers on the railing, willing her to come out. Finally, she did! I waved her over, and we FINALLY met up and hugged each other. Yay! Sisters united! However, there was a sliiight problem: her luggage was lost.

I’ve never had that problem before, so I didn’t even know how to help her. She did a few more things, and basically all we knew was that someone was supposed to call my cell phone and set up a delivery time. Okaaay. Oh well, we were together at least!

We would have quite some time to kill since we missed the train I wanted to take, so we hung out in the train station at McDonald’s. I rarely, if ever, have eaten there since I’ve lived in Spain, so it was weird being there! It was kind of cool though because for the first time ever, I ordered food IN CATALAN on my own. :-D Woot! Anyway, we had a good time catching up. It felt so good to talk to her in person again. It truly isn’t the same as emails and phone calls! We then left in what I THOUGHT was plenty of time to catch the train....until...

Okay, several factors were involved, but the main issue was that I was not smart and just misread the train schedule I had. I’ve used this thing 505,503,532,589 times, and part of the problem was that I had circled various things in the past. Soo...I told Amanda earlier the time the train would leave...but that turned out to be a TOTALLY DIFFERENT THING. As we were close to getting ready to head near the train area (the other problem is that we were in huge, stressful Barcelona Sants station. Yuck.), I heard a train announcement saying that one to Lleida was leaving. Wait. There are very, very few trains that go to Lleida, and that was the one we needed. The very, very last one to Montblanc!! Do you know in movies when the protagonist realizes something important, and the camera kind of shows people chatting in the background in a distant, echoing way...and then zooms right on the person as he/she “figures it out”? That’s what it felt like. As I heard the name Lleida, suddenly all of the busyness and even Amanda’s voice droned off into the distance as I realized...

We just missed the last train to Montblanc!

I more or less panicked, half explaining and half apologizing to Amanda. I then paced around having NO idea what we should do until Amanda told me to calm down. Heh. I knew one thing though: if we couldn’t get to Montblanc, it was far better to be stuck in Tarragona. And there are always tons of trains that go to Tarragona! Fortunately, our tickets worked there as well, and we were eventually on a train headed to Tarragona. I then sent a flurry of text messages to teachers or friends I felt close to and knew that they weren’t traveling, but neither Olga nor Carmen Torres (two people who specifically offered to help with transport before) answered. Hmm...I didn’t want to, but I went ahead and contacted Laura. She and Quim were leaving early the next morning to visit friends in Ireland, and I really didn’t want to bother them. But...it was either her or Javi, and I wasn’t sure if Javi was in town...and I knew he’d freak out. :-D And it wasn’t long before she called me! Laura’s great. Anyway, they weren’t able to come to Tarragona, but we could take a bus to Valls, eat with Laura and Jordi, and then Jordi would take us to Montblanc. Phew. Thank You, Lord! My only concern was if there were buses to Valls at that time (this was 8 or 9 something by then), but she assured me that there would be. We did have to walk allll the way down the rambla from the train station to the bus station, but when we finally arrived, everything worked out. A bus was headed to Valls, and we were on time. :-) Amanda was already exhausted but handled the craziness really well, and as she dozed in the bus, I just sat there stewing about my silly mistake. I STILL can’t believe I mixed up the train times, but it’s just one of those things you have to stop stressing over. :-) We made it to Valls, found Jordi and Laura’s flat, and were soon safely in their apartment. On the bright side, Amanda was able to meet my tutora and her husband...and they could meet my sister! I was really happy about that, and it was yet again one of those times when you see God working in yucky circumstances. The interesting thing was communication: Amanda doesn’t speak Spanish, and Jordi doesn’t speak English. :-) So Jordi said we should speak in English so Amanda could follow, but seriously, Jordi’s a talker: he HAS to be involved in conversations. :-D There were times when we went back to Spanish or Catalan, but the time together went well overall. I think the main problem was that Amanda (and I) was/were really tired, and by then, it was 10 or 11 something. So neither of us felt like eating much, which completely weirded out Jordi. :-D However, I was glad that we had pan con tomate, a favorite Catalan food of mine, which is both simple but really good. You get bread, rub tomato on it, put olive oil on it, and eat it with ham and/or cheese. There was also omelette (tortilla española), which is also popular to have. Anyway, we both picked at the food, and throughout our time there, we got advice on what to do about the luggage situation, were given a toothbrush for Amanda, peaked at Quim sleeping in his bed, and generally experienced Catalan hospitality. I was glad Amanda was able to meet Jordi and Laura!

Jordi drove us home, and he and I talked the whole way home (typical with Jordi :-)). I was so, so thankful for them! Several weeks later, when I went to a calçotada with them, I gave Laura a replacement toothbrush and Jordi a mug from Montblanc (he collects mugs). :-) I just wanted to do something for them!

Anyway, we were FINALLY in Montblanc around 11 or 12ish. A looong day for me, but a SUPER long day for Amanda...tack on a long overnight flight with little sleep! Oh, Olga and Carmen both wrote or called later, frantically wondering if we were still stuck in Tarragona and apologizing for the delay. I assured them that everything was fine, and Amanda and I eventually went to bed. :-) Yes, I sent a message to Dad as well. Such a crazy, crazy day...but again, God’s care and faithfulness just SHINES.

Tuesday: Tarragona!

I got up pretty early the next morning because our plan was to take the 8:30ish bus to Tarragona. However, a back-up plan was to take the one that left more around 10:30 or so. As I peeked over at Amanda still sleeping, I decided NOT to wake her until 9-something. :-) So we had a more relaxed morning, took a later bus, and then started to see the main sites of Tarragona. That day was SUCH a better day than the one before! :-) It was definitely the most relaxing day of our week, and it was so wonderful just to be with her, catch up on life, and show her some of my special Tarragona. I still was coughing and dealing with a cold, and the main downside, from my point of view, about NOT having Amanda’s luggage was that the precious cough drops she brought for me (and medicine in general) was in there. At that point, I had very, very few precious cough drops left and never could find any ANYWHERE in Spain. More on that later!

We saw the balcony area with that epic view of the sea, walked in the amphitheater (still my favorite part of Tarragona!), went through the Roman circus, saw a model of what Tarragona looked like in Roman times, walked through an area that lets you see the Roman wall that still remains, and went to a Roman museum (that I hadn’t been to yet). We bought some pastries and sat in the park that overlooks the amphitheater, walked around Tarragona...and just had a good day overall! We also contacted and got a call back from the luggage people, and I had an entire conversation with the guy in Spanish. I’ve done it before, obviously, but there’s something scary AND special about discussing important issues in a non-native language. Anyway, the earliest they could deliver the luggage (which was found!) was Wednesday at 9am. Slight problem: even though we had an afternoon flight from the nearby Reus airport, we had to take the bus to Tarragona at 8:30 that morning in order to later take a bus to Reus to the airport. Sigh. We agreed to the time, and our choices were to either do another round of frantic calling and bothering people to see if we could get a ride to the airport...OR ask about a taxi in Montblanc. I’ve seen them around, but I never used one. But we were happy that the luggage was found and that we’d have it for Paris! We took the 6:00 train home (really, you can see the main Tarragona sites in a few hours), and throughout the evening and night, I talked to a taxi driver (REALLY nice, gave an accurate price, and scheduled a time for the next day) and had our transport figured out (we’d leave in the 11:00 hour instead), went to the library to get some internet stuff done (the librarians were SO excited to see that my sister was with me! I’ll never forget their curious, eager expressions and the way their faces lit up for me because they were glad my sissy came to see me. They’re so nice!), ate some pizza bagels in my apartment, planned, and talked and talked and talked...about anything, everything, and everyone! Haha...chances are, we talked about YOU! :-P It was so incredibly wonderful to talk to my best friend again. We had five months of information to catch up on, and we didn’t go to bed until like 3:30am! Totally worth it. :-) And I was finally able to convince someone about my language problem I’ve discovered since being here: I don’t know why, but there are so many times when I can not think of what something is called. I can’t even claim that I know it in Spanish and just forgot how to say it in English. Nope. Nothing. I stare at an object or try to think of a phrase, and I draw a complete blank! Examples: I was with Olga and her family one day, and we saw Pau’s trampoline. She asked what the name of that was in English. I had no clue. Not a single word came to my mind. After 10 minutes or so, I finally remembered the word. Another example: one day, I was in my flat thinking, and for whatever reason, I was trying to remember the word “proofread”. ALL I could think of was “edit,” and I knew it wasn’t the right word. Later, I finally remembered. And I tried to explain these weird quirks to both Olga and Laura, but I can tell they have no idea what I’m talking about. But finally, with Amanda, I first explained the issue...and she saw firsthand how ridiculous I’ve become! Haha, she might remember more examples, but I told her that the pizzas were “drying” instead of “cooling” and I tried to tell her what I bought in Valencia in November, and I drew a complete blank on the word. All I could think of was cup holder, but that wasn’t it. I lamely described what they were, and she declared that my description was so lame that SHE didn’t even remember the name! :-D It was several minutes later when I heard her call out “COASTERS!” from the bathroom. Ah, yes, those things! So anyway, I have no idea what my problem is or if this is common for people in my situation, but it’s a very weird feeling. Especially if you’re in an English class and a teacher asks you in front of students what something is called. I’ve called elbow pads “elbow guards” before. :-D Annyway, so this was one of 780,354,652 conversations we had that week, but I was glad that someone finally knew what I was talking about! Haha. Ah, and we also walked around a little bit of Montblanc that evening, but it was pretty dark, and I felt blah. However, Montblanc is still pretty at night, and I was glad to show her that little area I liked that lets you see Montblanc from high up. Sigh. I love Montblanc! And Sissy saw some of it! :-)

Wednesday: Paris Day 1!

We woke up early (again) to do some packing and get ready for when the luggage guys would come, and...well...they didn’t. Sigh. Super frustrating! It was mostly frustrating because we planned on taking an expensive taxi JUST so we could get the suitcase, wasted a morning waiting around when we could have done other things, we wouldn’t be back in Montblanc at all, so her luggage would be stuck in my place and she’d have to go home without it, and finally, they didn’t call us. They were several hours late (several critical hours in our case), and the number I tried to call didn’t work...and they didn’t say anything to us! GRR. Ah, well. It could be worse, right? Anyway, there was a point when we realized that yeah, these guys aren’t going to show up in time, so we packed more of my luggage and brought a bunch of my souvenirs for Amanda to take home. Fortunately, I had enough clothes for us all week (and other stuff that we’d need), and Amanda brought some stuff with her in her carry-on. So really, we did quite well for a last-minute thing. :-) We were eventually on our way, and Rosa said that she’d give us a call when the luggage arrived. I’m so glad she was there and was willing to handle it!!

The taxi driver was so nice, and even though I was congested and coughing here and there, I kept up a fairly long conversation with him. In some ways, I was happy to help him out with the money. We were soon dropped of at the Reus airport (which I had never been in), and like the one in Lleida, it’s so small and not stressful. Yay! Actually, it was bigger than Lleida’s, which is saying a lot about Lleida’s airport. :-D I liked that one (which I used for Italy), but I honestly don’t know how they get enough money to be in business! Hee!

Anyway, everything was fine with checking-in and going through security, and after getting a bite to eat and wandering around for a bit, we eventually were on our way to PARIS!

We flew in to one of the smaller airports outside of the city, so we had to take a bus to the actual city center area. It was in the bus when I checked my phone and realized that Rosa had left a message saying that the luggage had arrived. Yay and grr! :-) At least it was safe in the flat!

After the bus dropped us off, we had to take either the metro or a RER train (still not exactly sure what that is, but it’s kind of like...like...a metro train. Or a train metro) to get to our hotel. I had directions from both routes, but the issue was finding the metro or train stop! We wandered around, toting too much luggage, and we finally found the metro. And so began poor Amanda’s first exposure to a metro system. :-) My first time in Barcelona was quite traumatic, and it really helped being with Katie in Valencia as she helped me understand how it generally works. Anyway, we eventually walked out of the metro station, and then I had directions to the hotel. But...I just couldn’t figure out which way to turn! We did a lot of turning around and wandering around, which is always frustrating in the moment, but honestly, it worked out really well because it gave me a good picture of where we were and what was around the area. But we were tired and lugging around bags, and our time to do anything that evening was slipping away. Eventually two girls interviewed us about our first impression of the Eiffel Tower (which is totally epic to see the REAL one in REAL life!!), and I used that opportunity to get an idea of where we were. Eventually, we found our hotel! Yay!

The rest of the evening was spent mostly wandering around trying to find food and debating if we should go up the Eiffel Tower or not. I was (or thought I was!) up for taking the STAIRS up the Eiffel Tower, but Amanda was more like...uh...let’s do it another time. :-) We finally decided that yeah, it would be better to do it another day, so we eventually found a grocery store and bought food there. A great way to save money on food! We headed back to the hotel, and Amanda rested while I pecked out emails on a computer in the reception area. I’m used to Spanish keyboards by now (and used them in Mexico as well...it was hard getting used to US/English keyboards after five weeks there, so I can’t imagine what it will be like after 8 months here!), but French ones are totally different. Not cool! But it was nice to have that option!

Haha...one final note about that first evening. We found a pastry shop before we found the grocery store, and we decided to buy something to split just to tide us over. We didn’t even know exactly what it was, and as I split it in half on the sidewalk, I was trying to figure out if it was chocolate or something else inside. Amanda said something like, “jelly!” and then grabbed one of the halves before I could even blink and then stuffed it in her mouth. Haa! It still makes me laugh when I think about it. :-D

Thursday: Paris Day II!

Thursday was our main Paris sight-seeing day, which was also the first day of our Paris passes. We did so much that day! :-) We walked to the river first, hoping to do the hour-long cruise, but we ended up taking a hop-on/hop-off bus to the Lourve after a pleasant walk around the river and checking boat times. It tooks us awhile to find the actual entrance to the Lourve (and heh, we weren’t even sure what the building looked like!), but we finally did and were able to go through a shorter line since we had passes. WHAT A HUGE ART MUSEUM!! It was amazing, even for a non-art fanatic. However, as non-art fanatics AND people who wanted to see a lot in a short amount of time, we just saw the main things and then some nearby rooms. Obviously the most famous work is the Mona Lisa, which was a mixture of three emotions for me: awe...because I was in Paris, in the Lourve, and seeing the REAL Mona Lisa IN PERSON...frustration, because there were tons of people shoving cameras everywhere (I’ve decided that as much as I like taking pictures, I like it better when museums, especially art museums, don’t let you take pictures. The mood changes completely. The non-picture ones are very quiet, studious, and reflective...while the picture ones are like, “Ack! Everyone snap your camera like a maniac and make stupid poses!” :-D), and...wait, am I still on the same sentence? Haha, not anymore. Anyway, I also felt a litttle bit like, “Wow. It’s so...tiny!” :-) Comparing a picture of a lady giving a slight smile to some of the huge masterpieces that were on display, it makes me wonder how art becomes famous. But regardless, it was neat to see it in real life!

We also saw several other famous things that I now don’t remember their names...a headless winged statue (Winged Victory Something-or-other)...the Egyptian statue (Seated Scribe)...the painting of the girl sewing...some really neat paintings showing biblical scenes (Wedding at Cana, etc.) historical scenes, and just pretty scenes, and then, after we plodded through the swarms of people and were ready to go, I saw a postcard with a painting that I studied in European History at Raymond Walters: Liberty Leading the People. It’s one of the few French works of art that I, for whatever reason, really like, and it just stuck with me since I first studied it. I had to see it! :-) It ended up being ONE room over from where we were earlier, but it was worth going back. :-) Amanda and I also liked a picture with two women (sisters?) together. We got a picture together with that one!

Anyway, so the Louvre was really neat (albeit crowded). We then took the hop on/hop off bus to the Notre Dame. I don’t know why, but of all of the things to do and see in Paris, I was the most excited and obsessed with seeing the Notre Dame and, specifically, climbing the tower to get up close and personal with the famous gargoyles. And I wasn’t disappointed. The outside is beautiful. The inside is (free) and beautiful, with stained glass windows and a statue in memory of Joan of Arc (that church was the one who changed the image of her being a witch/heretic to a saint, etc.), and even though we had to wait in a long line in the cold to climb the top, it was totally worth it (haha...well, Amanda might have other opinions! :-D)! We bought some crepes beforehand and ate them while waiting in line. Another one of my obsessions since Mexico: crepes. :-D I had a Nutella one (the best ones ever), and Amanda had a strawberry jam one (that dripped everywhere, hee hee). Anyway, we climbed a bunch of stairs and eventually made it to the top of the cathedral. Great view of the city (and the Eiffel Tower), and again, I just loved being surrounded by the gargoyles. However, what we think of and call gargoyles are NOT actually gargoyles. They’re called something else, and the “real” gargoyles are longer, flatter, not as detailed, and simply used to drain the water (like...epic gutters?). Regardless, I loved it up there, and to be honest, I think it was the highlight of Paris for me in terms of seeing things. Weird, huh? The only thing that made it not as special was an obnoxious American 20-something guy. Have you heard the term “ugly American” used for travelers? I think he was one of them! I don’t know, everything about him grated on my nerves, and I was cracking Amanda up because she KNEW that I could barely tolerate him being nearby and making obnoxious comments in his obnoxious voice. :-D But aside from that, I really enjoyed my time up there, and it was fun seeing the bell that Quasimodo “rang”. :-) Not that I’ve ever read the book or even saw the cartoon, but...yeah. It’s a cool place!

Then came a rather frustrating sequence of events for us. Okay, we also had free access to the crypt of the Notre Dame, and I thought it sounded really neat. It wasn’t a major thing to see on our list, but since we were right there and assumed it was nearby, we decided to try it. Talk about hard to find! We wandered in a park area, asked various store owners, and finally found some sort of info place that helped us out. Thinking back, I really wouldn’t say we “wasted” our time trying to find it, because the park area was really pretty, and we stumbled across some of those sights that just create the feeling of Paris: a bunch of pigeons, a man playing an accordion while a street performer did some crazy-but-amazing rollerblading thing, etc. However, we had a lot we wanted to see, so it was kind of like...where is this thing?? :-D We FINALLY found it, and it was okay...but not something you really want to do in Paris when there are 200 other things you should do or see, you know? I think I liked it more than Amanda, but it is pretty much like looking at rocks and an old foundation. Meh.

We then wanted to see the Pantheon, which is where Braille, Voltaire, Rousseau, the Curies, Dumas, Hugo, Zola, etc. are buried...and they also have famous paintings in memory of Joan of Arc and some other important French people. The problem was getting there. The hop on/hop off bus didn’t go there, so we had to find the metro stop. The map from the hotel was dreadful in that situation; I think I’ll always remember staring at the map and realizing that they placed the metro stop in the middle of the river. Yeah, that helps! :-P So we did MORE confused wanderings, and I don’t even remember how we got there, but we eventually found the metro stop and the Pantheon! However, after all of that time and stress, we got there too late. The book I had said it closed at a certain time, and it didn’t match the real time. Ugh. Huge disappointment there! As Amanda described it later on, we basically sat on the steps of the Pantheon, eating pastries (our sustenance for most of the trip :-P), and trying not to be depressed. We then decided to see the other famous art museum, Orsay, which holds JUST impressionist works and things similar to that style: my favorite kind of art, and the whole era of that is much more “Amanda and Sarahish”. So anyway, it was something we really wanted to see. We took the metro back to the Notre Dame area in hopes to get the last hop on/hop off bus there, but we were too late or else times were incorrect again. Pressed for time (and hoping to see the Arc de Triomphe afterwards), we took a taxi there. But we did get to see it! :-)

And it was one of those places that was absolutely beautiful, but we were both so inwardly stressed and bummed that we missed the Pantheon AND spent money on a taxi that we really didn’t enjoy it as much as we had hoped. However, it was definitely worth seeing, and another thing I’ll always remember was when we walked in and I asked one of the ladies in charge where Monet paintings were. I have to assume she didn’t understand me and didn’t want to deal with me, because she declared that they didn’t have any of Monet. Umm...hello? The museum is kind of about Monet? :-D That was another thing that neither of us were expecting on this trip: how much French is used and how difficult it is to communicate in English. Seriously, I think I used more Spanish than English, which I’m glad I had, but the whole trip made me wish I knew French...and confirmed that I didn’t want to travel to a lot of countries without knowing the basics of the language! A blow to my pride, that was. :-)

We wandered and tried to find the main paintings we wanted to see, and we found a LOT of Monet works, haha. It’s just a great museum with great art, and you couldn’t take pictures, which is slightly annoying...but like I said earlier, the entire mood of the museum changes for the better.

We then headed out to try to make it to the Arc de T, and before leaving, we asked a (different) person where the metro stop was. He recommended taking the bus, which is fine, buuuut...we spent more time trying to find the bus stop. Sigh. It was dark by then as well, making everything more difficult. That’s definitely a downer to traveling: getting lost and trying to find stuff! But trust me, it’s all worth it. :-) Anyway, we eventually found it and were on our way to yet another famous Parisian monument!

And it is sooo cool from the outside. Traffic swirls around, and it’s just so...well, cool! Our main goal was to go inside it, which also ended up being confusing. :-D We obviously couldn’t walk in front of traffic, and there weren’t any crosswalks (or zebra crossings, in British English!) to the actual place. Okaaaay. We eventually figured out that you had to go down stairs and through a loooong underground tunnel to get there! :-D We made it in time and climbed yet more stairs to the top, and for me, this time was the worst of the whole week in terms of being sick. We were both out of breath, and that really activated my cough. And if you’ve heard me cough, it’s not pleasant. :-D And the worst part? I basically had no cough drops and was trying to rely on mints to help. Which they didn’t. I used my (last?) precious cough drop and eventually was okay to continue, but I think I’ll always associate the Arc de Triomphe with having a coughing and breathing fit. :-D However, we made it to the top, and....wow. By far the best view of the city that we saw (in terms of seeing the city with the actual Eiffel Tower included! :-D). It was night, so everything was lit up (including the Eiffel Tower), and it really was worth the climb. It was one of the highlights for Amanda, and I think it would have been for me had I not loved the Notre Dame so much and had such dreadful coughing issues. One thing I really like about the Eiffel Tower is when they make the lights flash quickly and crazily....okay, it’s really hard to explain in writing, but they have a specific light display that’s absolutely stunning. We saw it from the Arc! Afterwards, we wandered around underneath the arc and saw a memorial to the Unknown Soldier, etc. It’s pretty neat.

Another thing that people say you “have” to do in Paris is wander along that famous street of shops...Champs something? Anyway, we were right there, but we just walked a few feet and were like, umm...okay, we’re done. :-D The best part of that was the fact that I saw a store called Montblanc. EEE...I love where I live! :-) It holds a special place in my heart and always will...kind of like Morelia, Mexico.

We were really tired, but we decided to try to squeak in a relaxing river cruise (our passes covered the expense). We made it just in time to get the last one, and it was a fantastic way to end the evening. Ahhh...I think it would have been Mom’s favorite part. :-) Beautiful, scenic, relaxing, not-stressful, informative (audioguide), and very...Parisy. :-)

And I’m mixing up times now, but at some point (that night, I think), I bought some medicine at a pharmacy. The instructions were JUST in French, but fortunately, I can read French fairly well (romance language and all that). It was still kind of scary taking it though. :-D Also, I remember that when we were finally in the hotel and eating our grocery-supper, I was feeling blah and sick and couldn’t open a bag of chips. I then threw it on the floor and basically pouted, and Amanda gave me one of those looks that only older sisters can give (and one that I hadn’t seen in several months! :-D), calmly picked it up, opened it, and handed the bag to me. Heh. For all of the crazy times we had during this trip, I think God gave extra grace and endurance to my organized sister. I also was impressed how gracefully she endured my hacking and nose-blowing. It was definitely frustrating dealing with that cold/sinus infection the ONE time my sister came to visit (by far the sickest I’ve been since my time here), but she did great. :-) My voice pretty much went out later that week, and it also meant we couldn’t talk as much. However, thinking back, we both decided that it was for the best so we could actually rest sometimes and not talk the whole time. :-D I don’t remember the exact number, but we pretty much averaged 4 hours a sleep a night all week!

Friday: Paris Day III!

Our main priority for Friday was to see Versailles. We got advice from the hotel guy (we always seemed to have the same one, and he was really nice and helpful for so many things!), and took a metro-train thing to Versailles...a gloriously non-stressful transport time! And finding the actual palace (I mean, the only reason people visit Versailles is to see the palace :-D) didn’t take long and wasn’t a complete headache like I feared. The only confusing part was figuring out where to enter, start, etc. It’s just a really big place! And wow...definitely, definitely take a trip to Versailles if you ever go to Paris!!! The outside of the palace area was amazing, and the inside is probably even more so. It’s just so big. I’ve seen a few palaces since I’ve been in Europe, but this one was still amazing and well worth the trip.

And so we spent several hours wandering in room after room, with an audioguide (secret confession: I almost always hate audioguides. Amanda really liked it, but I really, really don’t care about ever single detail about ever single room. I mean, seriously? :-)), and probably the highlight of the palace was the Hall of Mirrors. Amanda LOVED it, and I did as well. It’s amazing! Another room I liked was blue and white with a lot of flowers and nature paintings. It was very Sarahish. I’d like a house like that, thank you very much!

We wandered in the gardens for a spell, which like the ones close to Segovia, SHOULD have been epic, but we were visiting in an off-season time. Soo...yeah. Lots of grounds, but not much else. I bet it’s fantastic in the spring or summer! It was still neat though, and we ended up going to some smaller palace things over that way. More of the same and not quite as epic, minus one lovely music room. You can’t go wrong with a room that has a piano and a harp! :-)

Let’s see...am I missing anything from Versailles, Amanda? That’s the problem about writing this almost two months after it happened. :-D Actually, one a side note, Amanda MIGHT blog about this trip as well, so you may read more Paris, etc. from her perspective.

Ah, we also ate some (more) pastries at the cafe there, and Amanda had a pear tart that she declared to be the best thing she ate from the whole trip. The little weirdo just doesn’t get the crepe thing. Tsk. :-) But I’m happy for you, Sis! We also did some souvenir/postcard shopping (random note: I can never, never remember how to spell the word souvenir. It reminds me of college when I spent four years wondering how to spell bureaucracy. French. Bleh. :-D), and we were back in Paris the city in time to....TO SEE THE PANTHEON!

It was fantastic, assuming you like seeing where famous people are buried. I’m one of those people who do. :-D Amanda was really cold inside (okay, that sounded really random, but hey, it’s what I remember! :-)), and I think I probably enjoyed it more than she did...mostly because I knew more of the famous French people from studying European History in college. After three quarters of that class with one of, if not THE best history professor I’ve ever had (and trust me, I had a lot of history in those four years!), the part that really stuck with me was the French Revolution (and the Enlightenment). I don’t know a LOT of French history, and to be honest, the culture (and even Paris) has never been one of my obsessions (unlike Spanish/Latin American culture and history), but I loved learning about, discussing, and writing about the French Revolution and its surrounding era (especially events and ideas leading to the revolution). Anyway, all that to say that a flood of memories came to me after seeing where Rousseau, Voltaire, etc. are buried. It actually was a bittersweet time, because that fantastic professor passed away a few years ago in his early 40s, leaving a wife and two little twin girls (they were born when I took his class, and I still have some pictures he would show off to us :-)). I’m really getting off track (sorry!), but that’s what was swirling in my mind as I wandered around with Amanda. And aside from seeing where everyone was buried, those paintings of Joan of Arc, etc. were amazing. And even the structure and design of the building itself is fantastic! I’m sooo glad we were able to see it, and even the disappointing time of missing it the day before turned out NOT to be a waste, because we found the place more easily. :-)

And another fun memory is when we stopped by a nearby pastry stop (haha...yes, that’s what we lived on! :-D) to get some food, and we ordered a hotdog to split. Hmm...okay, I need to ramble again for a minute. My aunt, who lived in Paris for two years with her husband, sent me a great list of things to do and try in Paris, and one was to try a certain kind of hotdogs. The kind we saw and tried ended up being different, but it was still amazing. And they were everywhere...hotdogs smothered in cheese. Gross, huh? Nope! We split the hotdog and other goodies in the metro station, and it was so amazing that we went BACK to the place again to get another hotdog. :-D I think the ladies were amused and flattered that we came back, hee hee!

And last but not least...the Eiffel Tower! What might have been first ended up being basically the last thing we did. :-) The area around the E. Tower is pretty cool and crazy at the same time. First, it’s surrounded by guys trying to convince you to buy cheapy tower trinkets. Second, it’s ALWAYS crowded, Third, it’s a very, very exhilarating feeling to stand right under the tower and look straight up. It’s like...the real thing! :-) We stood in a looooong line, and it wasn’t long before security was pushing everyone back and basically trying to get people to leave. Ah, something was up! It looked like they were evacuating the top (people quickly coming down the stairs, etc), and for a spell the Eiffel Tower was closed. A LOT of people eventually gave up and left, and Amanda and I stuck around, trying to figure out what was going on. The security guy said that it could be an hour’s wait, but he wasn’t sure. Preparing ourselves for the fact that we quite possibly wouldn’t be able to go up the Eiffel Tower, Amanda and I debated what we should do. However, not too long after that, the line opened again...everything was fine! Honestly, I thought we were going to be in the middle of a scary-yet-historical moment (terrorist threat or something). I’m still not sure what the problem was, but God’s providence is seen through it all...because we ended up being towards the front of the line! We ended up waiting not long at all to go up the Eiffel Tower with the elevator and everything! Yessss! We decided to go to the very top because, I mean, it’s not like we’re planning on doing this again in our lifetime. :-) We first went to the second level to look around and later went to the very very top. Several things: first, we had PERFECT timing in terms of day/night. We went up when it was still light out, saw it turn dusky, and then were still up when it was dark and the lights came on! It really is an amazing view of the city, and it’s just one of those things you should do. However, we both thought that in terms of being THE EIFFEL TOWER, it’s basically overrated. Now, I’m really glad we did it, and I’d recommend it...but it IS just a tower that has a view of the city. I’d actually like to go back to Paris someday, but I probably wouldn’t do THE tower again. It’s just good for one of those once-in-a-lifetime things. But it is cooler than the one at King’s Island! :-)

Afterwards, when we came down, we wandered around lit-up Paris for the last time. We did a little more shopping and bought some pastries (crepe for me, fried donut for Amanda). We actually debated between a lot of those little crepe stands, and we ended up coming back to a specific one. The guy recognized us from when we were “window shopping” before, and he gave us discounts! :-) He was really nice. I like nice people. :-)

We then took our edible treasures and ate on a bench near the E. Tower, and then got last-minute pictures, including one together. We then headed back to the hotel, got advice on the best way to get to the airport the next day, and ended our sight-seeing sister time in Paris, France!  

Saturday: Barcelona

We took a bus to a stop, and then took a shuttle to the airport. It was okaaay, but seriously, relying on and figuring out public transport gets old. :-) We made it to the airport, and wow...apparently we were in prime time, because everything was insanely crowded. We were worried that we wouldn’t get through everything in time, but we did, fortunately! I did make the scanner beep for the first time in my airplane adventures though. :-P I wore a shirt with a small metal clip without thinking about it. Not cool! Really, the most stressful part was when the lady was telling me what to do...in French. She finally motioned for me what to do, because I basically stared at her with a frozen look of confusion, and she eventually let me go after a pat-down. Yeah. I wasn’t melting on the ground from embarrassment or anything, but it was one of those times were you mentally decide never to travel with a certain shirt again. :-D Anyway, we didn’t even have time to go to the bathroom before we had to get on board, but I was just glad we made it in time!

Now, our plan was to forget the whole sight-seeing thing in Barcelona and instead take a train back to Montblanc, pick up Amanda’s luggage, and take another train back to BCN. However...everything seemed against us. Seriously, thinking back, I was way too optomistic that we’d get through everything in time to make one of the few trains that goes to Montblanc, but it was crazy. We were in the back of the plane, it was late, we had to wait forever to get out, the luggage took awhile to come, we were in terminal one, so we had to take a shuttle to terminal two and then a train to the Sants train station...and yeah. Didn’t happen how I was hoping. I sent a message to Olga and Javi to get an idea if maybe we could somehow meet them in Tarragona with the luggage, but it didn’t work out (plus, I mean, how awkward is that? Making them do that?). So we had official confirmation: her luggage was staying with me. She’d have to live without her stuff for a few months until we met up in England in June, and I’d have to tote hers around PLUS my stuff. On the bright side, she was able to take a duffel bag of my stuff home instead!

So...we then went to the hostel, which was much more hotel-like than hostel-ish (but Amanda compared it to a prison, haha). We were basically exhausted, and it was pouring down rain and disgusting. So much for figuring out stuff to do with Olga and Ines in Barcelona that one day! :-) We ate some pizza at a restaurant, which was really good, and we decided to do ONE thing in BCN. I mean, Amanda was in the 2^nd largest city in Spain, so she should do something, right? And the main thing you should see in Barcelona is the Sagrada Familia church. Ha. Okay, this is a HUGE deal for me, but apparently if you aren’t a Spanish culture nerd, it’s like...okaaaay? We did some metro stuff (ask Amanda sometime how much she looooves metros, hee hee) and finally got to the outside of the Sagrada Familia. It’s such an amazing piece of architecture, even from just the outside. However, Amanda stared at it in the rain and was like...THIS is what you made me see instead of resting in the hotel? :-D Ah, well. A little sister can try, can’t she? :-) So with a few rainy pics of one side of the church, we headed to the hostel to get ready for her flight the next morning. Early morning.

Sunday: airport and church day!

We ended up getting up at like 1:00 in the morning! We took the metro to one of the plazas in order to find the nightbus, which turned out to be more confusing than I was hoping. However, we eventually found it, got to the airport, got Amanda through check-in, and the moment of parting had come. By then, Amanda was more like “Okay! I got my Sarah fix and saw cool stuff, I wanna go home!” and I was a mixture between “Aww...sis is leaving” and “Bleh. I’m so tired and sick. I’m just relived she made it to the airport” :-). We exchanged a hug and parted ways. As I walked away, I just gave a prayer of thanks to the Lord for the opportunity to see my sister again and share a week with her in Europe. In spite of the crazies, it was a good time together!

And then I had to get back to the city center. My plan was to go back to the hostel for a bit and sleep more (hee hee) and then later visit Stephanie (the girl who’s in the same program as I am...and lives in Barcelona) and her church.

I ended up JUST missing the very last nightbus to the city center, and it turns out that NOTHING short of taxis would go there until about 5:30am. So yeah. There is basically non-stop transport from Barcelona’s city center to the airport, minus 40 minutes between 4:50-5:30am. Guess when I was there? Yep. :-D So I waited on a bench where the bus would stop, listening to my iPod and coughing. An older man, nice and not creepy, offered me what looked like a cough drop. Say what?? I’ve been trying to find these things for MONTHS over here, asked my sister to bring some from the States, and this guy gives me one? I wanted to shriek, WHERE DID YOU GET THESE?? but instead thanked him and popped it in my mouth. The brand is Halls, but really, I don’t think they’re cough drops. I think they’re more just a candy you suck on. Regardless, it helped, and I was sooo grateful for the relief. The bus finally came, and I stumbled on, used my metro ticket (works for these buses!), sat down, and proceeded to fall asleep.

It was definitely the deepest I slept that whole week, and I woke up to find myself in a practically empty bus that was stopped. I jumped up, randomly apologized to the few people left who were staring at me like, “Um...why are you apologizing to us?”, asked the bus driver if it was the stop I needed (it was), and stumbled out. It was then that I realized that I somehow had dropped my metro ticket (10 journeys) on the bus. Sigh. So I bought ANOTHER one in the metro station, plodded my way through the drunken 20-somethings, took the metro to the hostel, took a nap, woke up, packed, and got ready for church. :-)

It was the first church I had attended in Spain besides my regular church in Lleida. This one is very international, very big, and English-speaking. It was weird speaking English there! :-) I spoke to a few women at first and then kind of hung around, hoping to find Stephanie. A man, whose name I now forget, saw me standing around and was quick to introduce me to several people. I started “connecting” with everyone after that, and really, it was a nice, welcoming church. If I didn’t love the one in Lleida so much, I’d probably go back. Anyway, the service eventually started, and there was STILL no sign of Stephanie. I sat with some other girls, and the message itself was pretty good, but the music was...well, very...Cedarville-ish, for those of you who know what that means. :-) Rocky, repetitive songs. There was also a time when newcomers were encouraged to stand and say who they were, which I did (gasp!). A LOT of people welcomed and talked to me after that, and I met several people who were from Ohio! One girl lives in West Chester, another guy attended Cedarville University (confirming my idea that the church would fit there!), and the whole service was just another reminder of how good it is to be with fellow believers. There may be some difference in style and opinions, but there’s still that special connection that I just don’t get to have outside of church over here. Such a blessing!

Stephanie and I finially met up after the service (she was gone all week and needed some rest), and it was good to see her again! It had been so long since we saw each other that BOTH of us couldn’t remember what the other one looked like. :-D We ate lunch with a group from church, and it was there that I was able to meet several more people...from all around the world! Parts of England, Africa, Australia, Europe, you name it. I had a fantastic time with everyone, and specifically, it was good to catch up with Stephanie again!

I left earlier than the others (because they spend all afternoon talking :-D), went back to the hostel, grabbed the luggage, and was later on my way back to Montblanc. I picked up Amanda’s suitcase from Rosa, who was so kind to take care of it all, and discovered all kinds of goodies as well as a LOT of stuff for Amanda. :-) I think she had more stuff than when I packed for 8 months! :-D And the best part? Finally having glorious cough drops! I will say that I bought something close to cough drops in a pharmacy, but seriously, it’s just hard to find them here! And when I popped one in my mouth during classes one day, all of the kids were like, “what’s that?? Can we have one??” I was hoping Andreu would distract them, but even HE asked what it was as well! Haha! It’s like...don’t people believe in cough suppressants? Heh. Anyway, I DID eventually recover from the cold, and the cough is more or less gone. Yay! It took several weeks and medicine from three different countries though...haha.

And I believe that sums up Semana Blanca and my time with Amanda! Again, I’m so glad she was able to come. In spite of the crazy times, it was really fun and special. We now have official plans to meet in a London airport on June 1^st (after my time here) and will spend two weeks in Great Britain!

Finally, I just wanted to end with some quotes about Paris:

America is my country and Paris is my hometown. Gertrude Stein 

Americans are immensely popular in Paris; and this is not due solely to the fact that they spend lots of money there, for they spend just as much or more in London, and in the latter city they are merely tolerated because they do spend. 
James Weldon Johnson 

If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.
Ernest Hemingway

In Paris, one is always reminded of being a foreigner. If you park your car wrong, it is not the fact that it's on the sidewalk that matters, but the fact that you speak with an accent.
Roman Polanski

We’ll always have Paris. (Casablanca)

No flying machine will ever fly from New York to Paris.
Orville Wright

Oh, it was so hard to leave Paris, just about my favorite city in the world.
Tony Visconti

Paris ain't much of a town.
Babe Ruth

Paris is a hard place to leave, even when it rains incessantly and one coughs continually from the dampness.
Willa Cather

Paris is always a good idea.
Audrey Hepburn