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I'm back. But I think I may be jetlagged a bit.

Back in London

Crazy. I'm less than 24 hours away from finishing up my trip here in Europe. I'm back in London where I started. The weather is the typical dreary London weather you expect. No rain but tons of clouds. It's so different from when we first got here when it was still nice weather.



While I was still in Madrid I was thinking "Wow. It's amost time to go home." I know I've said how excited I am and how I can't wait to get home, but there's also a part of me that doesn't want to leave. Discussions with other backpackers have made me interested in so many more cities not only in Europe but around the world. Three people from the group of people I had been hanging out with in Madrid were heading to Morocco - a place I was thinking of going to before my stuff got stolen.



There's too much to see.



When I get back home I plan to do a huge blog trying to remember everything I did and the people I've met in various places. I know I should've done this right after my journal got stolen so I wouldn't forget more, but I'll wait till I get back and I'm in a contemplative mood.



So... I'll be back this weekend. I have a family party to go to on Saturday. Anyone down for breakfast, lunch, or dinner another time? You can't believe the number of foods I miss from home.

Madrid

I've finally gotten to Madrid. I really consider it the last city of my trip although I fly back to London and stay there for two nights. I've already been to London what seems like ages ago. Madrid is new. Since the beginning of my trip, these two cities in Spain (Barcelona and Madrid) were like the grand prize of a big race. I just wanted to get here and reap the rewards. And here I am. Finally. Awesome.



It's sort of strange. At the beginning of my trip, I was honestly homesick. It was sort of a sad mood that I was in and it happened again at one or two of the cities I wasn't excited about. I wouldn't say I'm homesick now because I'm in a suprisingly good mood and in a city I'm really looking forward to exploring. But I just want to get home. I think I've hit my backpacking-saturation point. The grand prize is now my own bed, a closet instead of living out of a backpack, and being able to rest my blistered feet.



Barcelona was a great additional prize that I picked up along the way, too, though. Despite what happened it has to be one of my favorite cities in Europe. I didn't even get to do all the things that I wanted to. I was still awake when the sun rose this morning and that wasn't the first time that happened. Barcelona was awesome but I am dead tired right now.



I can't say much about Madrid, yet. I haven't gotten a real chance to explore it. It's just weird to me that my trip is sort of starting and ending the same way, with just a slight difference. Maybe I'm being a big pansy about it - I miss home but this time I'm okay with that.

Barcelona Still

First of all, thanks for the support from various people who've emailed or blogged. Haha. Don't worry about trying to make me feel better. I've heard other horror stories that have done the job and I'll get to those later.



Yesterday I booked a flight to go home earlier. After I did that though, a phone call made me realize that if I went home earlier, I'd be disappointed in myself later on. So I cancelled the earlier flight and I'm coming home as originally planned.



I have roughly ten days left - two more nights here, six nights in Madrid, and two more nights in London. I feel like it's a long wait to get home and at the same time, a short duration left here in Europe. I still don't know what I'm going to do with so much time in Madrid but hopefully I'll find something that will keep me from getting bored.



I'm in a better mood today, determined to finish this time here. Haha. It would still be nice to go home but it's cool staying here. Regarding those other horror stories, I thought this one was crazy and sucked ass:



So I've been hanging out with this Australian guy from Melbourne named Andy. He was with me when my stuff got stolen and went with me to the police station. (By the way, the theft is a very unexciting story.) He was staying at the same hostel I'm currently at but had reservations at another better rated hostel. And he also moved because the Filipino ladies that work there and are really nice to me are rather mean to everyone else. So anyway, at his new hostel he met this other Australian who has been in Barcelona for the past 3 months. He was originally planning on staying here for only 5 nights.



It turns out that for the past 11 weeks, this other Australian guy has been in jail. Early in his stay he went on a Pub Crawl and had a bit of a spat with this obnoxious and drunken American (go figure). The story goes that the Aussie pushed the American back and the American, in his drunken stupor, fell over and hit his head. The American was in a coma for six weeks while the Australian was arrested and thrown in a Spanish jail with no English speakers for 11 weeks. Although he paid the 20,000 Euro bail and 500 euro per hour attorney fees, he has not gotten his passport back since being released and because of that, can't really get home yet. That sucks major ass.



So... it's a good thing that I, or any one of my friends, didn't catch the guy who stole my stuff and beat the living shit out of him. My Spanish is horrible and I'm a little too pretty for jail. Haha. Not really, but yeah - 10 days is better than 11 more weeks. See you guys in 10 days.

Barcelona

Firstly, Barcelona is a great city. I was so excited to get here and when I finally did I just soaked in the atmosphere and was really enjoying myself. I still love it. But while here, the stuff most important to me on this trip got stolen. With the quickness my daypack with my new camera, my dad´s videocamera, my ipod, and other stuff was gone. And it´s not that that bums me out the most. It´s the 700 or so pictures, the two tapes of video and various little souvenirs that I wish I still had. Those are the memories I wish I could´ve brought back to show everyone and the ones I wish I still had for myself when I look back on this trip.



After the incident I was just ready to go home. I called my mom and asked if she could look up flights to just get me the hell out of here. But after a bit of cooling off and some helpful and supportive conversation with various people, I decided I´m going to stay a little while longer. For sure I´ll be staying 2 more nights but beyond that, I´m not so sure. I woke up this morning just wishing I was home.



Whether I´m home in a couple of days or back when I originally planned, this trip has been an unforgettable experience and I´ve loved pretty much everything about it. I´ve learned a lot and I won´t let this incident ruin what I´ve done and what I have yet to do.

Nice

Nice is nice. Haha. As the joke will usually be. Not a very funny joke, though. But anyway, I'm here in Nice and it's pretty cool. For those who love to shop, this - and the cities surrounding - is your area. They even have guided shopping tours available for those interested.



Some random stuff happened today. Haha. Cool, fun stuff but nothing very exciting. I was hoping to find a place to play some Hold 'Em but the three casinos in Monaco/Monte Carlo didn't have anything. They had Poker but if I read it correctly, there was a $25 minimum bet. Uh. Yeah. I'm not a high roller.



Anyway, I think I'll be here another night and then I'm off to Montpellier. Au revoir.

Riomagiorre, Cinque Terre

Riomagiorre is the southernmost village of Cinque Terre. I think it may also be the smallest of them, but I could be mistaken. I'll be staying here tonight, like last night.



Today I hiked from Monterosso, the northernmost and biggest of the villages, down back to here. It took about 4 to 5 hours total, and I am freakin' pooped. Beautiful scenery, though. There were times when I doubted why I was up there, but I'm really glad I did the whole thing.



I really like Cinque Terre. I know I said Florence was what you might imagine Italy to be, but I really think that applies moreso here. Obviously not all the ocean stuff, but the little villages. The food here is great; It's the best Italian food I've had so far. If anyone ever has a chance, come here to Cinque Terre.



Tomorrow I plan on exploring the little villages and probably buying some souvenirs. I think I'll only be staying one more night after tonight but plans could change. I guess we'll see.

Cinque Terre

I'm pretty pleased that I left Florence early. I've only been in Cinque Terre for a couple of hours and already I think it's an awesome place. I'm planning on being here for the next 3 or 4 nights, so there's plenty of time for my mind to change. But I think I'll enjoy it here.

Florence

Florence has the opposite effect on me from Rome. It's a cool city and in some ways may be more of what you might imagine Italy to be, but there's something about it that doesn't impress me; I almost want to say I don't like the city.



There's a lot of artwork (it's the birthplace of the Renaissance I'm told), but I don't know. I'm just not feeling the atmosphere. This was true when I came here with my family a couple weeks ago. I don't really know why I came back. Maybe it's one of the cities I'd rather be at with people I know. Anyhow, I decided to cut my time here short so I'm only here for tonight. Tomorrow I'll be heading to Cinque Terre. Hopefully that'll be fun.

Rome(ing)

Just an interesting tidbit: There's this Aussie guy who I may be hanging out with later but has also been on some of the Rome(ing) Tours (that's the company name) I've been on. He decided to call me Jezza (sounds like Jizza) because "every Jeremy he's known has been nicknamed Jezza". Haha. Crazy Aussies.

Vatican City

So it's almost 4PM and I'm pooped. I was hanging out with JP2 (you might know him as Pope John Paul II) and took a tour of his city and pad. But I didn't have the pimpmobile that he does so I couldn't get around as quickly and he sort of left me behind. He said whatsup to the folks from back home in the United States, so I'll be sure to show you guys the video. It's funny because he gets rock star status here when he goes through a crowd. You know, where the women faint and throw him their panties. They also call him Big Poppa. Haha.



I'm not in Vatican City anymore (back in Rome, now) but yes, I was there earlier. Every Wednesday the Pope comes out and greets the public. Haha. I don't know that women actually fainted but I did see one set of panties flying in the air (just kidding). They do yell out "Papa", though, which I think is how they refer to him as in Italy. It was pretty cool. I was maybe 10 feet away from him and his popemobile. It would've been cooler if I could find a wind-up popemobile toy, but I don't know that they exist. Supposedly, there's a bottle opener (beer or wine, I'm not sure) with his holiness on it. Haha. I should look for that one.

Rome, Again

Whoa! What's that I hear? Tagalog!? Could a Filipino restaurant be nearby?



For those of you who know, I've had a craving for good ol' Filipino food for the past couple of weeks. I'm in an Internet cafe right now and behind me there are international phone booths. There was an old Filipino lady talking in there but unfortunately, I was shy and kept to myself at this computer. It was weird, though, because when she went to go pay she started talking in Italian.



I'm in Rome again and I don't know what it is but there's something about being here that's cool to me. Maybe it's the history, the art, the food, or whatever - Rome, despite some of the dirtiness that's here, is a cool place.

Munich II

I've eaten well here. I just had me one of the best rotisserie chickens I've ever had. Yesterday and the day before, I had me the best pizza I've tried in Europe. I had some really good pasta and had a hot dog with saurkraut. I don't know if it was really only satisfying because I was drunk, but I think everything really is that good. The Bavarians/Germans really know how to live. I don't know how authentic the Italian food is, but that's ok. It's good eating after I really haven't been eating as well as I could be in other countries. I'd definitely like to come back to Munich at some point.

Munich

Ok. Call me a woman. Call me weak. Call me pathetic. I am perfectly aware that I cannot hang. Four liters of beer is my limit. Anything beyond that is asking for trouble. But with that said...



OKTOBERFEST IS F***ING AWESOME!



It's totally not what I expected. I still had a ton of fun and, with it being the last weekend for it, I wasn't even able to get into one of the beer tents. Next time I'm around Europe and it's Oktoberfest time, I am definitely coming back and aiming to be in one of the beer tents.



I'm rather drunk right now. In fact, I left my German friends who were telling me to drink some more. Rather than embarrass my country and vomit, I told them I'd be back because I was going to look for my other friends. I have no idea what I'm gonna do now. I just wanna sleep. Haha.