Valencia

We had a short stop on our way to Barcelona from Madrid which brought us to Valencia. With our short amount of time we decided to head right for the main district. The district was different though it was filled with buildings from the 1300-1400's but had new age restaurants and shops put in. It was very opposite of what we had been experiencing. The plaza we ended up near was Plaza de la Virgen, which was very unique it had 3 main entrances one which was Gothic style buildings, another which was Baroque style, and a Romanesque palace gate.

Something very popular in this region is bullfighting and we could not pass up a chance to check it out. We went to the Corrida de Toros but unfortunately we got there a day early and the next matador show was a day after we left. It was interesting to us both being athletes at the simplicity of the arena here it was a bowl that just went straight up no big arena or special structure just very simple.

The parks had some very unique trees we walked through the main park on our way back to the train and were amazed by the trees that grew in this area, they looked fake. Lastly we grabbed some food as usual, as a snack they offered us bread with cheese with a tomato spread kind of like jelly it was very different but enjoyable. Next stop Barcelona.

Madrid

Madrid city of the Jamón (ham in English) we called it, everywhere we went the thighs of pigs were hanging in every window, and in every restaurant they had a leg strapped down to the counter and they cut the meat right off the bone in front of you. We stayed right in the Plaza Santa Anna right in the heart of the city with our host Julio, His place was huge and we had our own room similar to a hotel room with a balcony that opened into the plaza.

We took an art walk down a main street that was divided by a large park that contained 3 fountains which led to the heart of Madrid’s Capital. The first fountain was the Fountain of Neptune the roman god of the sea it is surrounded by Madrid’s two most famous hotels The Palace and The Ritz. Next was the Fountain of Apollo which represents the roman god of arts and it is conveniently right in front of Madrid’s Stock Exchange. Lastly is the fountain of Cybele the roman god of fertility and agriculture, this statue was tremendous and accompanying her were two lions Hippomenes and Atalanta. She was surrounded by Palace of Cybele, the Palace of Linares, The Palace of Buenavista which is the army headquarters, and the Bank of Spain building.

Along the far west side of town are many vast parks and courtyards which surround the Palacio Real and the Catedral de la Almudena. Palacio Real was home to the Spanish monarchy from Carlos the Third to Alfonso the eighth. This is no longer the royal family’s home but continues to be their official residence. The Catedral de la Almudena was most famous for Pope John Paul the second consecrating it in 1993, but the history goes back much further when Alfonso the sixth re conquered Madrid it was said that within the walls was a virgin illuminated by two candles for all time.

Plaza Mayor the greatest plaza in Madrid, although it is not how it was in the 16^th century this plaza still has many vendors and restaurants that flank it and that are inside the plaza. In the 16^th century this plaza was a gigantic marketplace where vendors would bring out all their goods to sell and trade.

Our final stop in Madrid was seeing one of the greatest Spanish football teams of all time Real Madrid. We took the extensive tour that walked us around the entire stadium first up to a panorama view of the inside, then down onto the field and lastly into the backbone of the organization the press room the players areas the locker rooms and finally through their museum which was proudly decorated with tons of trophies. Spain is a complete 360 from France by 9 not a single person or restaurant was open in France and the streets had 100’s of people in them at 11 pm here. Next stop a day trip to Valencia

Paris

Ah Paris, the smell hit us right as we left the train. This was our first of many encounters of being at a non English speaking country. As usual the food is our first priority when we have been traveling and for Paris our first stop was to get a baguette. The bread was tremendous it was so filling and had such a unique taste, very fresh. We then headed to our Host Laurent’s Flat in a nearby town Clichy. The flat was something we had never seen the entire place bathroom, kitchen, living room, and bedroom were the size of a master bedroom in the states. It was very comfortable and gave us a sense of the day to day lifestyle the French live.

We started our sightseeing at the worst traffic jam we had ever seen. The road around the Arc de Triomphe is circular and there are lane lines then to add to the mayhem there are 12 streets that shoot right into the circle, and with all this there are no stoplights. Everyone goes every direction whenever the want. On to the real spectacle the massive Arc, it was built in the earl 1800’s to honor the French killed in Napoleon’s campaigns.

When you think Paris you think of the Eiffel Tower. A tremendous structure that seemed to poke its tip out all over the city whenever you looked in its general direction. We walked around the city for many hours and every time we looked in its direction you could see some part of it poking out. It was originally built in 1889 as the temporary entrance to the World Fair. It was then supposed to be torn down after 20 years because the French were outraged by its ugliness but it single handedly is the most synonymous structure to a city in the world and gets the most paying visitors in the world per year.

Our next marvel was the Notre Dame Cathedral, its located on an island in the middle of the Seine River. We happened to be there on the day they were celebrating its 850^th year since being built. This cathedral was adorned with magnificent gothic gargoyles outside and massive stained glass walls inside. The most amazing thing to us was how long the structure has survived, it made it through the French Revolution, hosted the coronation of Napoleon, and even seen an English crowned king of France. It took two centuries to build it was started in the 12^th and finished in the 14^th, The entire Gothic Period.

Art history in college had nothing on being at the Louvre. All those paintings and famous works of art you see on your computer that look like they are 8.5 by 11 sheets of paper are astonishing 20 by 20 feet canvases covering entire walls. We saw countless things almost to many to name but the highlights for us were the Mona Lisa, Winged Victory of Samothrace, Consecration of Napoleon, and the Venus de Milo.

Of course we had to indulge in what France had to offer so we tried some wine, ate a crepe, and had some macaroons, very delicious now off to Madrid.

London

Our next stop on the trip was London, We opened up our stay by having a traditional English breakfast at the nearby pub. Bacon, sausage, egg, toast, beans, and hash browns it was delicious.

Nelson’s Column is right in the middle of Trafalgar Square, it was built to commemorate Horatio Nelson, who was killed in the battle of Trafalgar. Across the street from Nelson’s Column is Admiralty Arch, it was constructed in 1912 and leads up the mall area to Buckingham Palace.

At the end of the road from the arch sits the Victoria Memorial which was completed in 1911. It features a large gold-plated statue of Queen Victoria, it also contains two bronze statues one of the Angel of Justice and the other of the Angel of Truth and Charity. Across from this memorial sits the official house of the British Monarch, Buckingham Palace. We were lucky enough to get to the palace right as the changing of the guard event began. The palace and the courtyards were truly amazing and it was such a nice day we decided to sit in the park at the palace for a while why we rested our legs.

Westminster Abbey is a large Gothic style church, it was built by Edward the Confessor for monks and nuns to live and pray in 1050 A.D. William the conqueror was crowned in this abbey which is a tradition that continues to this day. Right across the street from the abbey is Big Ben and the Parliament building. This area has been the home of the British Government for more than 900 years. It is a gothic inspired collection of buildings that spans over 8 acres and has 1100 rooms and over 100 staircases. The House of the Lords occupies the southern wing and the House of Commons is in the North wing.

It wouldn’t be a complete trip for us without visiting places we watch on TV. early every Saturday morning. I’m talking about Football stadiums or soccer for us Americans, I will say we did get a little overzealous at first and walked around 16 miles to get to them before realizing our passes worked for the outlying underground zones to. So after walking to two we took the quick routes to the next. It was amazing to us to see how different all these neighborhoods were and the fact that you turn a corner and the stadiums are right there they aren’t huge like our stadiums and arenas they are neighborhood size fitting around 20-30 thousand. We got to check out Chelsea, Fulham, Arsenal, and Tottenham, and while each was located in the greater London area the difference between the four was astronomical.
Paris is up next. Cheers

Dublin

We departed Phoenix on Friday June 21st at 11 a.m. and had a 3hour flight to Chicago that felt close to 20 hours, despite booking in advance we each remained seated in the middle seat. We then hopped on board Aer Lingus en route to Dublin which was a relaxing and comfortable overnight flight that flew into the darkness as we left the United States and as we approached Europe we left the darkness into the serene bright light of Saturday morning sunrise. We made it

Dublin’s airport was amazingly easy to navigate and had very hospitable services for our convenience. We dropped off our luggage at a left luggage greencap lot where they locker your bags and hopped on a double decker bus and got a ride to the city which was barely 20 min away.

Christchurch Cathedral is the oldest structure in Dublin founded in 1028. The entrance contains the tomb of Strongbow, the Norman leader who captured Dublin in 1170. In one of the chapels an iron box is mounted on the wall and until just recent it held the preserved heart of St. Laurence O’toole, patron saint of Dublin. The heart was thought to be stolen by a gang, no sign of its return yet.

Trinity College was founded on March 13^th, 1592 and contains the Trinity College Library which is the largest library in Ireland. It is also the permanent home to the famous Book of Kells. The Book of Kells is a manuscript in Latin created by Celtic Monks sometime around 800 A.D. which contains the four gospels of the new testament.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral is the national cathedral of Ireland which was founded in 1191, it houses Jonathan Swift’s remains who is the author of Gulliver’s Travels. The courtyard was a quiet calm area a safe haven to just sit down and relax in the heart of Dublin sitting next to this giant Cathedral Tower.

The Old Jameson Distillery was founded in 1780 right on Bow Street. The top Irish Whiskey and original triple distilled whiskey. The tour showed us each step along the way from harvesting to packaging this fine whiskey in the original 1780 building, the whiskey is no longer made here but the factory and the tools used to make this fine whiskey still remain. Nick was also selected to participate in a whiskey challenge comparing Jameson against a doubled distilled Johnnie Walker and a single distilled Jack Daniels. Jameson Won.

Temple Bar is an area with lots of bars and restaurants located right along the canal in between the main street which is Dame street. This area has not been updated and its streets are tight cobblestone walkways and roads that shoot in an out of every building winding around this entire area. We completed our experience with a sample of genuine Guinness, Harp, and Smithwicks beer accompanying our delicious bangers and mash.