One final entry...

Well. It's finally come to an end. This is my last week here in Spain.

Between graduation, end of the year stuff, the Germany trip, and The Hogueras festival, my birthday kind of snuck up on me. The problem with that is that my birthday was what I had chosen as the event/date that marks the start of the end, because after my birthday, I don't even have 2 weeks left. But I've been spending the small amount of time the way I like to: low-key. Some time with some friends, hanging with Sofia (my best friend here), with the family, enjoying the fireworks festival from the 25th-29th, and the like.

Last night, I finally cooked an American meal for my host family. I had been thinking about it when they asked out of curiousity if I was going to, so I decided then to do it. However, I really didn't want to do hamburgers and hot dogs and french fries or things like that, because that's TOO American, you know? It's just too stereotypical. I ended up asking my dad for the recipe, from my great-grandfather if I understand right, for the meatloaf he makes and his green bean. I made them both, to my apprehension, and my host mom made some veggies, potatoes, fruit, and a red fruit cheesecake to go with it. We invited over a couple from the urbanization that we know, a friend of Elena who lives in the urbanization and her son (who is Luis' age), and my best friend Sofia. It was a complete success. Everyone commented on how good it was, and I must say, it reminded me perfectly of the meatloaf my dad makes, so I didn't end up screwing it up. It was a good night of good food, good people, and good conversation.

Me and the food I cooked. Below, the food.

Lastly, I want to mention how crazy it's been trying to pack. I had no idea how I was going to manage it without adding another suitcase or going overweight. Not to mention the fact that people kept giving me going-away gifts. I was totally stressing out, because I didn't want to leave anything behind, even though all 4 of my parents were telling me I'd have to do that. In the end though, thanks to some creative thinking and reorganizing, I managed to get all the important, irreplaceable stuff (i.e. not the underwear, socks, undershirts, etc.) into the space and luggage I have. It's such a relief to not have to worry about that now.

Well, I'm coming home soon, so the next time I talk to you all, it'll probably be in person.
Thanks for tagging along!
Un abrazo
Erik

Currently listening to:
Song: I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow
Artist: The Soggy Bottom Boys
Album: O, Brother Where Art Thou? Soundtrack

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, since it's my birthday, I thought I'd blog a bit about a few things.

First, I'll explain Las Hogueras. I'm not sure why they celebrate it, but it's THE festival in Alicante, the one not to miss. Each neighborhood builds their "hoguera" (which means bonfire, but is also used to refer to the statues.) and there are barracas and racos everywhere. Barracas and racos aren't much different. They're tents for different groups or neighborhoods or whatnot, that usually have music and a dancing area and drinks and food and tables.
The entire city center is basically blocked off and cordoned off, so travel is a...well, it ain't easy to get there with car or bus. Anyway, every night is a party night starting on the 19th. During the day the barracas are open and they have las mascletas.
Las mascletas are a type of firework show, but instead of focusing on pretty lights, las mascletas are more about the noise and ryhthms and stuff. I love them! My host mom told me about some friends who live on the plaza where they set off the mascletas every day at 2 and how every year, they have to turn in forms to the city hall to get them to replace the windows the mascletas broke!
The night of the 23rd to the 24th, everyone goes out to party on the beach. People build bonfires and drink on the beach. It was crazy. One thing they do is write a wish on a piece of paper, burn in, and then jump the fire. I didn't do nor see it, but they tell me it's done when the fire has burnt down to coals, so it's a little safer. haha
On the 24th, at midnight they "shoot the palm tree" from the castle, which is a firework that looks like a palm tree, to mark the start and then starting at the hoguera statue in the town hall plaza, they go around the city burning the statues.
The following week is a fireworks competition, which I like because I got to welcome my birthday with dinner on the beach with friends the night of the 25th and then at midnight, we watched the fireworks and tonight, I'm going out to dinner with my host family and then we're going to watch the fireworks. So I'm starting and ending my birthday with fireworks. Not too bad, huh?

The hoguera in the town hall plaza.

Above: A street in the city center, blocked off and filled with people, and below: the beach on the night of the 23rd.

The "palm tree" above the castle. It was a little disappointing, because to me it didn't really look like a palm tree, but it was one big firework!

Since it's my birthday, that means it won't be much longer before I come home, so I wanted to talk about what I'm going to miss and what I have missed.
The States:
-> I miss junk food. There is junk food here, but it's not a typical thing to have at home though.
-> I miss having the words match up with the mouths in movies and on TV. I got used to that though, so it's not that big of a deal.
-> I miss driving. You don't know how many times I wish I could have hopped in a car or a on a moto instead of taking the bus.
-> I miss "your mom" and "that's what she said" jokes. They just don't get them over here. haha
-> I miss family and friends and familiarity of places, although I have that now here too, so it's not so bad.
-> I miss watching "Bones" during dinner with my family.

Spain:
-> I'll miss not having junk food around. While I miss snacking, I don't filling my body with all that junk.
-> I'll miss fresh bread every day with lunch and bread with every meal.
-> I'll also miss quantity and diversity of fresh fruits and veggies that we always had in the house.
-> I'll miss how open everyone is here. They're a lot less judgemental about some things here. Also, while sometimes, they might come across as touchy-feely, you get used to it and realize they're just open and caring people.
-> I'll miss the few people I've become close to this year: my host family and a few select friends.
-> I'll miss watching "Bones" and "The Mentalist" during dinner with my host family.
-> I'll miss how basically every window and/or door in the house can be opened up, which is just really nice, for fresh air and to deal with the weather.

I'm sure there were other things I wanted to put on the list, but right now I can't remember them. But it kinda gives you an idea.

Currently listening to:
Song: Home
Artist: Daughtry
Album: Daughtry

An Not-Quite-As-Behind-As-I-Imagined Update

Hey everybody, I know it's been awhile and I apologize. Since it's been awhile, this one might get a little long.

The weekend of the 23rd of May, my host family and I traveled to Granada. We stayed with a cousin there, who was a fantastic tour guide (no sarcasm there at all, he seriously knew his stuff). The main part of the trip was the visit to the Alhambra. It's one of those places you always end up talking about, but rarely ever travel to, so I was excited to be able to visit it.

The next big thing that happened was "graduation." Here, they call them Las ORLAS. A few of the big differences are that the ceremony is slightly less formal. Dress varied from dress shirts and jeans to suits for the guys, although all the girls got dressed up. Also, the majority of the people talked amongst themselves throughout the ceremony, which was in the school's parking lot. Instead of calling each person, they named off the people in the groups that signed up and the groups went on stage to receive their ORLA. The ORLA actually isn't a diploma, just a posted with pictures of everyone from the class. There were also some recognitions of other awards and a speech by class representatives, but that's it really. Then on to the class dinner and party, an aspect I really liked, doing one last thing together as a class (a little easier to do here, with no more than 70 people in my class). The open bar at the class party was interesting, but that's just Spain for you.

Next on the list of news is my Germany trip. An exchange friend was stopping in Alicante on their way to Germany and from there, I was eventually invited along on the trip. We went to Freiburg in the south to visit some of her (Canadian) family's friends and then we went to Berlin. We spent 5 days in Freiburg, just relaxing and enjoying the feel of the laid-back city and then an overnight train to Berlin and 5 days in Berlin, doing as much sightseeing as we could. If you want to know about all the places we went to and the things we did, check out my Germany photos on Flickr. (The word Flickr is the link to the page).


Speaking of Flickr, I got all but my most recent photos up now. So that's the photos from Granada, graduation, class photos (high school and language school) and Germany, as well as some photos from around town too, to give you all, my readers, an idea of where I have been living. (Each name is a clickable link to that specific album on Flickr, for those of you that don't know).

Class photos
Granada
Graduation
Around town photos:
Walk to school
Walk to beach

The Germany link is above in the previous paragraph.

I'd love to go into more detail about each step I listed and maybe even about my day-to-day life, but that day-to-day life is exactly what prevents me from that. 3 days after I got back from Germany, Las Hogueras started. Las Hogueras is THE festival in Alicante, from the 19th to the 24th of June, and what a festival it is! In order not to miss anything, I'm afraid I'm going to skimp a little on this entry. No hard feelings? Alright then. I hope these brief explanations and all the photos satifsy the curiousity of what I've been up to lately.

So, that didn't turn out quite as long as I thought it would, but anyways, I'm off to the parties. Until next time (which should be soon[er than this last wait]).
Erik

Currently listening to:
Song: Come Back
Artist: Foo Fighters
Album: One by One
(Granada)

Song: Keep On Trying
Artist: Poco
Album: Head Over Heels
(Graduation)

Song: Lovestoned/I Think She Knows
Artist: Justin Timberlake
Album: Futuresex/LoveSounds
(Germany - this was kind of the Germany trip anthem, for some reason it was stuck in our heads the whole trip)

A visitor in Alicante

Since Evan let me stay at his house during my visit to Madrid two weekends ago, I returned the favor when he wanted to come down to see Alicante.
I was going to show him around when he came down Saturday afternoon, but for the first time that week the weather decided to NOT be nice and we went home to avoid the rain. Later that night, we went out to see a play by Luis's old theater group and then we went played Spanish Trivial Pursuit with some of Luis's friends (that I'd met once before) and after that, we met up with Javi, Carlos, and a few other guys for a game of bowling.

Sunday, Cassie and Maddy came down to Alicante like we had discussed and the 4 of us spent the day on the beach: playing volleyball, swimming in the freezing water (now I get why my host parents say it's better to wait til June to swim...haha), and just relaxing. After we dropped the girls off at the bus station, we headed to Panoramis and saw the amazing new Star Trek movie (in Spanish of course).

Evan, Maddy, Cassie, and me on the beach.

Monday was the big day. Since Valencia is so close, Evan wanted to see it and since I hadn't really been there either, we made a day trip. All we ended up having time to see was the City of Arts and Sciences, which is the big thing in Valencia. There's an art museum, IMAX theater, science museum, garden, and aquarium. We saw a movie about the Alps in the IMAX (with cool headsets that let you choose your language: Spanish, Valenciano, English, or French) and then checked out the Science Museum. We thought about going to the aquarium but since that was another 18€ (and that was with a student discount!), we decided not to and spent more time leisurely in the Science Museum.

Various shots of the City of Arts and Sciences.

Unfortunately, Tuesday I had to go back to school, especially after skipping Monday to go to Valencia, so I left early but Evan had learned the bus route from when we'd used it, so he got himself up and off to the train station (and even had time to stop at the castle before he went, which was good, because it's one of the really good things to see in Alicante, and we hadn't figured out how to fit it in the schedule very well.).

All in all, a good weekend.

Currently listening to:
Song: Uprising Down Under
Artist: Sam Roberts
Album: Chemical City

Trip to Madrid

This past weekend, we had a 4-day weekend in Alicante, but unlike a lot of the other holidays, this one was just celebrated in Alicante, and nowhere else in Spain.
Thursday was the festival of Santa Faz, celebrating a saint in the small town of San Juan, which is one of the small towns surrounding Alicante that are basically part of Alicante.

Anyways, I decided to take advantage of having a 4-day weekend. I'd been talking with several other exchange friends that I'd gotten close to on the Italy trip about traveling to Madrid, Barcelona, and the Canary Islands, and Evan and I figured out Santa Faz would be a great weekend for me to go up to Madrid and stay with him.

Thursday, I went up to Madrid by train and Evan met me at the station. Since I'd packed light, we decided to walk around the area, which luckily the train station is fairly centrally placed in relation to many sights in Madrid. We went to Plaza de Cibeles, Puerta de Alcala, Retiro Park and the lagoon there, and finally we went into the Prado Museum, taking advantage of the free entry after 6PM. I saw "La Rendición de Breda" and "Las Meninas" by Velazquez and "El 3 de Mayo" by Goya among other works. After the Prado, we headed to Evan's house to get me settled in.

The lagoon in Retiro Park.

Friday, we woke up and headed back to the train station to catch the train to Toledo. Ever since I'd gotten to Spain, Toledo has been on my list of destinations, and since it's 30 minutes from Madrid by train, I made sure to get there while I could.
We spent the morning wandering around Toledo, stopping at various sites on the map from an Info booth. Toledo is a small, old town, but it is very well-preserved. We also stopped along at a lot of the stores we saw, as I was on the hunt for the perfect sword. Between many of my hobbies and interests (fencing, history, etc.), ever since I've known I was going to Spain, I knew I wanted to buy a sword from Toledo, because it would be the perfect souvenir for me. And in the end, I found one!

Toledo.

My sword.

Saturday, we spent hitting some more sites, such as the Plaza de España, Plaza de Castilla, and Puerta del Sol.

Plaza de Castilla.

Saturday afternoon, we met up with Ariel, another (non-Rotary) exchange student that lives near Evan and we went to a "recorte de toros," which isn't the same as a "corrida de toros." The corridas are the typical bullfights, like what everyone thinks of, but the recortes are like junior/training bullfights. All the recortadores (the people) do is dodge the bull. It was pretty amazing. One of them kept jumping over the bull and another was so close when he dodged that the bull ripped his pants (but he didn't get hurt, just his pants)!!!









Sunday, we met up with Stephen, another Rotary exchange student in Madrid at El Rastro, the biggest, most well-known street market in Madrid. After wandering around and getting lost in the surprising vastness of the market, we stopped off at the Palacio Real (Royal Palace) and the cathedral and then headed to Plaza Mayor, two sites I'd gotten to see briefly the only other time I'd been in Madrid. We stopped at a kebab (a Turkish restaurant) for lunch and then it was time to go. We headed back to Evan's house, I collected my things and thanked him for having me and it was time to head to the train station and go home to Alicante.

Currently listening to:
Song: Next Year
Artist: Foo Fighters
Album: There Is Nothing Left To Lose

Semana Santa => Holy Week

Holy Week is a big deal here in Spain. Starting with Palm Sunday, there are processions and concerts and all kinds of things all week. Most of Spain has vacation that week, but here in Alicante we also have a festival for San Vicente on the 20th, so our vacation goes from Maudy Thursday until the 20th. Which following that we have another break pretty quickly for a saint in San Juan. But I digress.

For Palm Sunday, Elena got in touch with Pep's mother and the other relatives in Elche, about 30 minutes or so south of Alicante so I could go see the parade for Palm Sunday there. Elche has a lot of palm trees and even a park full of palms that has been named a Patrimony of Humanity by the UN. So needless to say, they are quite skilled when it comes to palms. Whether it be giant staffs with everything from baskets of flowers or statues of the Virgin all entirely made of woven palms or brooch like pieces ranging from flowers to leaves to crosses and many other things. Sadly, it started raining and the procession was canceled, so it was good I happened to stumble upon it on my way to meet up with cousin Pablo. The Iaia (grandma) Remy said it's the first time she can ever remember the procession being rained out, so I apologized. haha
We went into the church to see some of the palms and then had lunch and Palbo took me home.

Above and below: photos from the procession for Palm Sunday in Elche.

I really didn't watch any of the processions, but while I was out and about one day, I stumbled upon one and it kinda freaked me out. Here's why:
Yes, they look like the KKK. But the outfit has something to do with sinners and the KKK actually ripped the idea from this. Anyway, the processions last several hours each and they wind through the city center, where the main streets are cut off from traffic after a certain hour of the day.
I also happened to be very lucky this year. We just formed a Rotaract club here in Alicante and thanks to the brother of one of the members, we were offered the chance to be costeleros in a procession. The costeleros carry the statues of Christ or the Virgin in the processions. Here's the one we carried:

In the photo below, you can see me in the back of the third row from the right. I'm the only one not looking straight ahead, but I'm looking at the camera.

It was massively heavy, even with almost 50-60 people carrying it, but luckily we stopped like almost every block. We also had to stop to change: some people to better distribute the burden, but mainly to switch the front and back groups. Depending if we were going uphill or downhill changed where the "short" group and the "tall" group were. Our procession, of the Convent of the Monks of the Holy Blood, started at 9:15 or so and we didn't get back until around midnight. It was crazy. But it was a memorable experience and one that not many people have, so it was worth all the effort and the sore back, side, kidneys, neck, and shoulder the next few days.

Un abrazo,
Erik

Currently listening to:
Song: Jueves
Artist: La Oreja de Van Gogh
Album: A Las Cinco en el Astoria

Italy - Pisa & Venice & Home

Sunday was once again spent traveling and on our way to Venice we stopped by Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. The Tuscany region is stunningly beautiful. It's probably my favorite zone of Italy. And the weather in Pisa that day was fantastic and sunny, a nice contrast to the cold in Florence the day before.

There isn't much to see in Pisa, aside from the Field of Miracles with the church, baptistery, and bell tower (the Leaning Tower), so we spent the afternoon lounging around on the grass, enjoying the weather and each other's company. We took all the cheesy, touristy photos "leaning" against the Tower and everything and eventually worked our way up to making pyramids in front of the Tower. We really wanted to do one with the whole group, but the biggest one we managed to make was with 10 people. For a bit of the afternoon, several of us rented these bike-things to ride around the city. That was fun (and some good practice for driving!).

Supporting the Tower. haha

The church and the Tower.

The bike-car-thingy we rented.

Later they kicked us off the grass, so not long after that we headed on towards Venice. That night though, we went out on the town to celebrate Josh's 18th birthday. We went out to a bar/club and then headed back to round up the night on the beach in front of our hotel.

Venice was definitely one of my favorite stops we made. Monday, we woke up and went to the boat that would take us to Venice. Technically, Venice is part island and part mainland city, but the city that everyone thinks of as Venice is the island part. There was a problem with our tour guide, meaning we had some free time, so a small group of us that were interested went and found the cheapest priced gondola ride we could. It was 80€, but since we split it between the 6 of us, it wasn't that bad. And getting to ride around Venice through the canals in a gondola was definitely worth it. Our guide finally showed up and we were shown around the city and St. Mark's Square and inside St. Mark's and the other main sights, like the Doge's Palace and the Bridge of Sighs. We got to see a glass-blowing demonstration, which was astounding (the rapidity of the glass-blower to make a beautifully crafted vase mainly). After that, we were free to wander the city and some of us went to see the Rialto Bridge.

Evan and Caitriona with our gondolier, Antonio.

Standing on the Rialto, overlooking the Grand Canal.

St. Mark's Basilica and St. Mark's Square.

Tuesday was the worst day because it was our last day together. We were all exhausted from having stayed up the night before hanging out and signing postcards, kinda in the style of yearbooks or whatnot. I didn't have that many postcards, so I had people write their notes in my Rick Steves' Italy guidebook that my (real) parents had given me. I did that, because I was constantly passing it out to people or referring to it to explain things to people. I was declared the "unofficial tour guide" within the group. haha...
Anyways, we spent Tuesday sleeping on the bus to Milan and then flying from Milan to Madrid, where we ended up missing our train since the flight had been slightly delayed, and we made our goodbyes and headed to the train station to get our tickets changed and we came home.

All in all, they were some of the 9 best days of my life and I made 22 amazing new friends (or deepened an already existing friendship).

Currently listening to:
Song: Running Out Of Days
Artist: 3 Doors Down
Album: Away From the Sun

Italy - Asis & Florence

After Rome and Naples, we got up and headed to Florence. Since it was only about a half-day of travel, on the way we stopped in Asis, the birthplace/origin of St. Francis of Asis. It was a pretty small town, but the church was interesting, as it had several different levels and then the catacomb-esque tomb of St. Francis. Asis had to be my least favorite of everything, but that's only because there wasn't really anything to do, but the city was cool because of the history is has with St. Francis and everything.

In the plaza in front of the church in Asis.

Lunch was in Asis and then we continued on to Florence and went to the hotel.

Saturday was spent in Florence. The morning was spent being led around by our guide and the afternoon we had free. We hit the Duomo (the call it that, but duomo is Italian for cathedral), Santa Maria del Fiore, again, but only from the outside. A small group of us decided to pay the 6.50€ to enter the Gallery of the Accademia, where they have Michelangelo's David. That statue was worth every penny. It's breathtaking: in size, in detail, in everything. We also stopped and saw the Ponte Vecchio and the Uffizi Gallery (but didn't go into the gallery as the lines were ridiculously long). Florence was nice because it was really easy to find our way around as we just wandered through the city, stopping at the different markets and sights that caught our eye. While we were there, about 8 of us took the opportunity to buy some Italian leather items: 2 girls bought leather gloves and the rest bought leather jackets. It was the first time I'd ever had to haggle the price for something and I think it went pretty well.

Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral in Florence.

Piazza della Signiora in Florence.

Michelangelo's David (they didn't allow photography, so this is the only shot I got, but I couldn't NOT take a picture to show I'd been there...haha)

Next: Pisa & Venice!

Currently listening to:
Song: Details in the Fabric
Artist: Jason Mraz
Album: We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things.

Italy - Rome & Naples/Capri

There are so many stories from the Italy trip, so I'll just keep this to a quick run through of what we did and save the stories for later.

Sunday the 15th, Cassie and Maddy came down to spend the night here since we had a really early train to catch. I showed them around Alicante and the beaches and then we had Mac & Cheese that Maddy had with her for dinner. Yummy!

Monday, we got up and took the train (business class tickets - that was an interesting experience!) to Madrid and then the metro to the airport, where we eventually met up with the other students. They could be divided into 3 groups: those I remembered, those I remembered but not the names, and those I didn't know. So we all got introduced or re-introduced. Then we caught our flight to Rome.

Once in Rome, we found our bus, went to eat dinner and then headed to the hotel to get settled in.

Tuesday began the actual tour. After picking up our guide for Rome, we started with a bus tour hitting the main sights: some old Roman baths, the Circo Maximo, the Colosseum, the Forum, Palatine Hill, etc. Then we got off the bus and walked around on foot and passed through the Trastevere neighborhood and the Jewish quarter and we saw some more ruins (they're everywhere), the place where Caesar got killed, and the Castel Sant'Angelo. Then we rushed to make it to lunch on time, so we would have time to get into the Colosseum. After lunch we went back to the Colosseum and we went inside. It was amazing and a dream come true, to be there. After the Colosseum, we went around Rome a little and we saw the Arch of Constantine, the Forum and Palatine Hill up close, Trajan's Column, the Victor Emmanuel Monument, and we had our first gelato! Then came dinner and the night tour of Rome's plazas and fountains. We went to the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Four Rivers Fountain and Plaza Navona. At the Trevi Fountain, we all threw in the coins to come back to Rome.

Caesar got killed somewhere in here.

Inside the Colosseum.

In front of the Trevi Fountain.

Wednesday, we actually went to a different country. But since the Vatican is basically a giant museum, I don't know how it can be a country but it is! haha
The Vatican wasn't that interesting but that's because we spent most of the time looking at statues, mosaics, or paintings, but they were kinda cool. We saw all the Popemobiles from the different epochs, we got to see the Sistine Chapel (Amazing!), and we went into St. Peter's Basilica, which is enormous, and we saw Michelangelo's "Pieta" statue too. And we saw some Swiss guards.

The Pope's balcony, from St. Peter's Square.

Inside St. Peter's Basilica.

After the Vatican, we had a free afternoon, so we split up and my group went back to see the Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon with less of a rush. We also did some shopping and tried some famous "death by chocolate" gelato, which was good but not that rich.

The next day, Thursday, was a day trip to Naples and the island of Capri. Really it was a trip to Capri, because we barely spent any time in Naples, which I didn't like, because I really wanted to see Pompeii, which is right next to Naples. But Capri was beautiful, even though the weather was a little chilly.

Naples and Mt. Vesuvius.

On the island of Capri.

We ate lunch on the island and then wandered around Naples for about half an hour before returning to Rome to spend the night.
Next: Asis and Florence!

Currently listening to:
Song: Not A Man
Artist: Celebrity Chimp
Album: Celebrity is the New Royalty

3 teens, 2 days, 1 city...(Part 3 of 3)

Sunday, we split up a little. We went to see the Tower of London from up close. I decided that I should enter at least one of the historic landmarks we were seeing, and so paid the £14.50 student price (instead of the normal £17 price. Either way, the price is ridiculous.) to get in, while Luis and Juanmi went to see a couple modern architectural landmarks they wanted to see. The Tower was impressive. Between replicas of the torture machines used when it was a prison, engravings on the walls left by the prisoners that are still there today, the displays of old armor, the interactive museum, and the Crown Jewels, it was definitely worth the price. I took a lot of pictures, including some of the Jewels, which techincally is prohibited, but I couldn't NOT photograph every step of the trip.



Running about 10 minutes late, I met up with Luis and Juanmi outside the Tower and we went to see St. Paul's Cathedral. After that, the day went downhill.
We left the cathedral, our map almost blew away, we headed down the main street looking for the Metro station, it started raining, we realized we'd lost the map and also gotten lost, we walked about 10-15 blocks in the rain until we found a station, which happened to be on one of the two central lines through downtown London which were closed that weekend for repair, we walked another couple blocks in the rain to another station, realized we really didn't have any more time to see anything more. So we headed to the restaurant Masiel had recommended for lunch before heading home. However, the whole street of restaurants was closed! We ended up going to Wok-in-a-Box, where they only accepted cash. I used the last of mine, and Luis only had the £20 note. Uh-oh (earlier that day, buying the train/metro tickets, we'd tried to use the note to buy them, but the ticket agent justed started laughing, saying it was a really old note and asking where we'd gotten it!). The Chinese woman behind the register just stared at it for awhile, before calling over her workmate, and then the other, and the other, and finally the manager. After all 5 of them had looked it over, they finally took it. And so ended the saga of the old £20 note.

After lunch, we went home, thanked Masiel, grabbed our suitcases and took the train to the airport. However, due to construction that started THAT day, we ended up taking 4 trains instead of 2 and we missed the check-in for the flight by 10 minutes!!! They wouldn't reopen for us, so we had to pay £35 each to catch the next flight to Alicante. So instead of flying out Sunday night at 6:50PM, we had to fly home Monday morning at 6:35AM!!! As such, we had to spend the night in the airport. Between sleeping on the benches, calling the parents to explain how we'd missed the flight, and trying to exchange 2€ so I could use a computer and check my debit card (that I'd been using all weekend) and send an email, it was an interesting night. It was also an interesting end to a fun weekend.

Sleeping on the benches in the airport.

My legs/feet were killing me after so much walking, but it was worth it, to get to see London.
Next week: ITALY!!!

More in PARTS 1 & 2!!!

Part 1: http://erikinalicante.blogspot.com/2009/03/3-teens-2-days-1-city.html
Part 2: http://erikinalicante.blogspot.com/2009/03/3-teens-2-days-1-citypart-2-of-3.html

Currently listening to:
Song: Elgar/Something Inside
Artist: Jonathan Rhys-Meyers
Album: August Rush Soundtrack