I finally understand the language!!!

Well I sure do have a lot of catching up to do. I guess I will start with Florence, or Firenze as the Italians say. Our hotel in Forence was by far the nicest one yet. We had two 4 poster beds with red bedspreads and white curtains around it. The bathroom was all white tile and chrome and I coudl have taken a bath in there forever. We felt like we got the royal suite. Florence itself was very beautiful. We went out both nights to two different clubs. Whitney, if you are reading this maybe you've gone to them. Astor and Twice?? The first night was quite the adventure. I was lost in Florence and the only thing that saved me was that I had taken a picture of my hotel and someone was able to steer me in the right direction. I ended up only being about 5 minutes from my hotel so I was fun. Mom, I only tell you this now because I am alive and well so now it is just an entertaining story :) I didnt get to see a lot of the tourist stuff because it was Monday which apparently means everything is closed. I did fall in love yet again with another Italian though...are you suprised though? On our bus ride we stopped off in Pisa and took the typical pictures with the leaning tower. The whole town of Pisa is basically one street so its basically the tower and tourist vendors.

Our next stop was the French Riviera. What a relaxing two days this was! Our hotel looked like it oculd have been on a beach in Mexico. They were like mini apartments complete with a kitchen!! Everyone stayed in and cooked that night. We had a feast. We made hamburgers, paella, and green beans...oh and of course ice cream. We did no sight seeing at all, just high quality time at the pool which was much needed after all the long days we have been having. We kept the nights low key as well which was a pleasant change. However, the only downside to the Riviera was that we were back in France...man how we all love those french people. At our hotel, you basically had to fight to get some toilet paper and dont even think about getting a fresh towel (even when they dont supply pool towels so you must use the same one for both...gross).

We stayed in Orange for one night and we were all happy to say it would be our last in France. Our hotel was quite the luxurious resort. Actually, that was the biggets lie I have told you yet. I heard the hotel rooms described as worse than a room on a cruise ship and that ti was like living inside a portapottie. Our bathroom light did not work, so we had to leave it open to use it and I could not sit on the toilet and close the door because the bathroom was that small. To top it off, there is not a single thing to do in Orange. Everything closes at about 7. When we left Orange we stopped off at an adorable little town called Carcasonne that is completely surrounded by a wall. It was a mideval town, complete with drawbridge and a place where a moat would have gone. Here, I the best quiche Lorraine in my life.

The whole bus cheered the next day when we crossed the border into Spain. Don't get me wrong, France is beautiful but the people are rude. Now I am in Barcelona and it is really nice here. The timing of the daily activities is throwing me off a bit though. Lunch isnt until about 2 or 3 and then dinner is around 11pm. Last night we wanted to go out to a club and even at midnight nothing was really going on. People were walking around everywhere but no clubs were full. I was walking around with about 8 girls and we ran into some American boys who were staying on the main strip and so we hung out and had some Sangria with them for a bit. Then we found a small Autralian bar with 2 British bachelor parties (or as they call them "stag nights"). From this point on I did not pay for a single thing. Most of the guys were either engaged or had girlfriends but they were very nice and entertaining. They bought my drinks, paid for our cab ride to a club, and paid for our entrance fee into the club. one kept giving me a hard time because he said he didnt believe I was American, he thought I had just mastered the accent really well. This was an argument with him for the entire evening. The discotec we went to was neat inside but only played techno music, bad techno music. The most hilarious thing though was watching how people dance to it. Let's just say I have learned some new moves that I'll be bringing back to the States for purely entertainment purposes. Well, its about 2 now so I guess its about time for an early lunch.

I miss you all and cannot wait to see you all in less than a week!!!

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DAD!!! I LOVE YOU!!!