We looked for the hunch back, but he wasn't there.

I know eventually I had to face my conqueror, and it did come with great excitement. Mostly because by this point of the trip, we both hunger for some wet, soupy food! Our slurping skills were not put to good use, except for our saliva when thinking about Pho. Our one Vietnamese food experience in Spain was horrible, just read my review on Tripadvisor.

We must apologize to the French people and their many beauties. We lived paris like locals focusing on food, shopping, and picnicking in parks - in English, and only did a few touristy things. Just our luck, a friend from NYC networked us with his friend in Paris, and we ended up having a great nightlife tour of Paris.

Paris was a lot like living in NYC for us. The expansive subway system, shops on every corner, stylists people, good food... We noticed that older French service people tend to be more impolite to us once we discovered to not speak French. I asked this one guy if he spoke English, and he shook his head when I know pretty damn well that he speak at least some! The French smokes too much. The boys are beautiful, and the dogs are friendly. 

I forced Mr. anti-pictures to be in this one. It's was after he took me to some hipster coffee shop.

During the day-time, the tower was kinda ugly. All steely and...just not impressive. At night, slightly better. We took a siesta here among the sea of tourists.

The subway system. I loved their colorful chairs! Each stations had different, brightly colored ones.

Of course we had to do the Louvre. Oh man, it's gigantic! We probably did the whole thing in 2ish hours and that's quickly glimpsing at famous works. We both felt ashamed for not knowing anything about the works. I felt worse, for having studied art. The Mona Lisa, aka La Joconde, was beautiful. We tried to steal it, but it didn't work out, so we settled with this picture.

Find me. 

Italy part two- Lastra a Signa to Florence and Cinque Terre

Finally, the guest writer has found some motivation to write a blog post! Yes, it's not just Ngoc running the show around here. Honestly though, I (Jamie) have been just sitting back enjoying the view as Ngoc documents this wonderful trip. 

He's tasked me with posting the rest of the photos from Italy and it was not easy to choose which ones to post. From the country side at our 13th Century Villa Hayloft to the historic hustle and bustle of Florence and Bologna. Oh, and the beauty of Cinque Terre, how to choose what beauty to speak to?

Feeling slightly more "civilized" once we picked up our car rental (Fiat 500), off we went on the Italian freeways! Needless to say, the word "civilized" is not one you would use to describe Italian drivers. Blinkers, staying within lanes, speed limits, what ever...what are these things? Those of you who know my driving style, know that I took full advantage of the fun that can come from these "relaxed" rules. Oddly, Ngoc didn't even yell at me!

We walked the cities, trekked from one village to another in Cinque Terre, and drove through the beautiful mountain towns of Tuscany. I can't image a more perfect place to spend a week, I only hope that I can convince my family to plan our future summer vacation to Italy.

Sculpture in Bologna

We're going to have a Stanley version made for our future home

Hmmmmm

Vernazza from above 

Hiking in the summer heat

We could see the relief in the distance

YES, finally into the sea

Dinner in a 1000 year-old castle looking over the sea

The best pizza

Ngoc's wonderful photography 

More...

Little break from our mountain drive to Lucca

Mortadella in Bologna (the second one was porchetta)

The Hayloft entrance- Our private home in Tuscany...Absolutely mad, no?

Italians are bad drivers, part 1

Dear diary,

We got so many good pictures of Italy that I will do 2 entries. Stories on the next, and more pictures!

Ibiza

It seem so long ago, but our time in Ibiza was only a week ago. Loading these pictures and reminiscing  back really bring up warm feelings of beach fun, late night partying, and great friends.

We were very lucky to have stayed with Jamie's friends who he had met 8 years ago on his trip to Europe! We stayed at their nice house with their dog Knut, who has the cutest over-bite! Most dogs have an overbite, but this one's overbite had a gap! i love dogs w messed up teeth. Our few nights stay in Ibiza basically involved waking up at 1pm, go to the beach, siesta, dinner around 9, sit at Dragan & Jens' bar (Dado) making friends and people watching. Having drinks here is one of the most interesting and fun experiences I've ever had! You see many interesting characters that frequent the same spots nightly. Like this one German couple that come nightly with the woman dressing in latext and whipping the surrounding patrons. On our last night, I finally got whipped. Also, every 30min. or so, you see and hear these club promoters come down the streets in themed costumes. Bars and local restaurants close at 3am, and then to the disco-tech aka from there! One night, amanda lepore came to town, so Jamie and I went to the club she was performing at. Lets say, clubs in the states got NOTHING on the clubs here in Europe. The sound system, the gigantic space....crazy! 

What I've appreciated here is the openness of one's body and sexuality. People are just naked, and free...about everything, and it's normal. We were the ones that was out of place, wearing too much on the beach. 

Ok, I'm keeping this post at 16+. If anyone wants to see video of Amanda Lepore with....nothing on, let's work out a bargain when we're back home. Next post: Italy. Currently in Amsterdam.

6-pack of beer costs 3.50 Euro

Tu sabes, at first arrival I had my hesitation with liking Barcelona because we exited the subway to sights of wide streets and tall buildings. I've come around to appreciating more of the lifestyle and understand more of the beauty that is here. Where we are staying and certain things are reminiscent of Brooklyn for me. 

We still haven't gotten use to the getting up at 12pm, eating lunch at 3pm, dinner at 10pm, and partying at midnight thing just yet. The siesta part, that we are getting very good at! The train ride from madrid to Barcelona was an easy 3hrs, on a very comfortable and fast train. Though on the train, there were many, what I'm assuming Americans, that complained about the train.

Our dinning experiences so far has been mostly "misses" and a few "mediocre." The downside of traveling and not making friends with the local. One distasteful experience had to be Vietnamese food here in Barcelona. We yelped, tripadvisor, etc., and still we were lead astray. It's too much to get into, but we should've known when we saw no Vietnamese people working there, no Asian patrons, and that this is Spain! The menu has misspellings of the Vietnamese dishes, the decor was contrite, and there was an off-brand sriracha(sp) sauce! Jamie had a Vietnamese coffee, which was overfilled w/ ice and milk, so it overflowed as the coffee drip in.

One of our favorite pasatiempo here has been buying beers and drinking in parks and at the beach. Extremely cheap and extremely amazing. A business idea that's trending is people making mojitos on site and selling it! After you buy one, follow up questions tend to be "where are you from?" And "you want hash, cocaine, weed...?"

This city is popular with Gaudi architectures so everywhere you go, you see his work. The first two pictures are from Madrid, then of Güell park. We miss our little man. 

Next up, Ibiza, where Jamie promises days-long dance parties and drugs. Drugs - Spanish lingo for beach time.