rome.

bryndia arrived in rome and met at the hostel after their seperate journeys from florence. the two had booked two beds in an eight person dorm at alessandro’s palace, a hostel that came highly recommended from various backpackers they had met. When they arrived, they understood why. The hostel was about a five minute walk from the train station, and manned by a staff of really friendly, international kids who were full of advice.

Bryndia made their way up the four flights of stairs to the dorm where they met their first friend, frankie, a 19 year old baller from south carolina who immediately got the check of approval as he was bumping the cuts off of the newest wayne mix tape. Soon after bryndia’s arrival, two girls from thailand, a guy from brazil, and two aussies filled up the room. Bryndia immediately made friends with dave and rachel, a newly engaged couple from sydney who were backpacking around europe for four months. The four of them got to know each other over free pizza and five dollar bottles of red wine in the hostel bar downstairs. Frankie joined them, accompanied by a fly beezy from georgia (“zee country! Not zee state!”), who he proceeded to woo over the course of the evening and bring back to the hostel room late night... we were all asleep. Ahem. You know what that means. (BOW CHICKA BOW WOW.) All in all, bryndia felt real good about rome after their first day: they had made friends!

The next morning, bryndia awoke leisurly and set off on a walking tour of bernini’s art. India having been a bernini fanatic at sarah lawrence and writing a hefty conference paper on some of his work, acted as tour guide as they circled the city and ooed and ahhed at his moving marble. The two visited the ecstasy of st teresa before heading down the spanish steps, checking out the piazza del popolo, and throwing coins over their shoulders into the fontana de trevi. A bit pizza’d out, the two tried their hand at the local chinese joint for lunch… it was gross. A little nap in the hostel (you gotta juice those afternoons when the dorms will be empty) and the pair walked to the colosseum only to find that it closes at sundown, or, in bryndia’s case, a little earlier. Upset but enjoying the outside view, the pair circled back and checked out the ruins… piles and piles of roman ruins everywhere… grabbed a slice of coconut off of a street fruit vendor, and headed back to the hostel. There, they met up with dave and rachel and found an italian retaurant around the corner that served them free glasses of champagne and big bowls of pasta. After dinner, dave and rachel headed to bed after a long day, and bryndia posted up in the hostel bar again, meeting more international travelers while sipping on a five euro bottle of vino rosa.



The next morning, bryndia awoke at the buttcrack of dawn to beat the crowds for vatican city. Almost trampled and suffocated on the subway line, one of only two that run through the city, the pair barely made it alive to the vatican. (it should be noted that the reason rome only has two subway lines is because every time they dig a hole for a new one, they find another pile of 3000 year old ruins. Pretty cool, they guess, but it makes public transport tricky.) when they arrived at the doors to vatican city at 830 am, there was already a hefty line which soon grew to wrap around the entire wall… miles and miles of all different kinds of people, big groups of children in matching bright baseball hats, hourds of tourist groups bouncing off of big buses. Bryndia was smugly proud of doing their traveling independently.

Vatican city is hard to decribe without depending on cliches. Of course, everyone has seen a picture of the sistine chapel, but no one really understands what it is, what it means, until you have actually been there. The grandness of it all is overwhelming. To stare up at the cielings in the raphael rooms and think of how many people have walked on the floors, have seen the same paintings, have stood in awe in front of the michelangelo frescos and masterpieces… it makes you feel like you’re really witnessing something big, something special. Bryndia tried to latch on to different english speaking guides where they learned little tid bits about each work of art they saw. Bryn was particularly found of the story of constantine room by raphael (“in hoc!”) while india got into learning the stories of all the apostoles, particularly bartholomew and his skinless body. The two made their way down the spiral staircase and exited out to st peter’s square where they admired the outside, but skipped the inside, as the line to enter literally wrapped aronud the entire square.



On their way back to the hostel, bryndia walked over the ponte st angelo, another bernini favorite, the marble angels of which each carry a relic from jesus’ last days. Their faces were all so full of emotion, india could have sworn she saw them blink down at her. One more stop at the pantheon which was, disappointingly, covered in scafolding but, encouragingly, across from a mcdonalds, where bryn downed no less than four cheeseburgers and india indulged in soft serve. The two walked leisurely back to the hostel, stopping in various small churches and parks, and brainstormed about where to head next. Upon arriving back at alessandro’s palace, the two realized they had to hit the road again in the morning so they booked a dirt cheap flight to santorini greece after finding that the 24 hour boat ride from italy was unavailible (thank god). (take note: flying to greecian islands isn’t as expensive as you think its going to be. and the Grecian airlines have the cutest flight attendants and best meals, voted by bryn, for 2010.)

After this was taken care of, the two got back to sight seeing and returned to the colosseum where, this time, they got in! here, they mostly pretended to be gladiators, practiced badass sword fighting moves, and read about the different animals that Russell Crowe would have fought against. (Ostriches! Rhinos! Hippos!) back in the day, a stadium wasn’t just a stadium, but a full on tail gate extravaganza. The colosseum had running water up to every level of the seats and each section came equipped with a fire pit to throw some shrimps on the barbi to snack on while you watched fools get murked.



After taking millions of panoramic shots on bryn’s fancy digi cam, the pair met up with dave and Rachel, grabbed a picnic of hella wine and cheese, crackers and meat, and strolled to the Spanish steps to watch the sun set. The stairs were filled with all sorts of internationals and they soon became a group of ten, sharing their travelling stories and laughing at a flasher up on his balcony do little dances for the crowds applause. The night concluded with kiwis-on-a-stick from the fanciest mcdonald’s ever and learning that dave was not only a big brother Australia star but an accomplished author! Such a modest boy, that dave. (buy our friends book here: http://www.boomerangbooks.com.au/Breakout/David-Tchappat/book_9781741108163.htm)

The next morning, dave and Rachel and bryndia hopped a train to the airport where they split ways, only to meet up again, later that evening, on the island of santorini in Greece.

florence.

bryndia boarded the train to florence sunburned and drunk at four in the afternoon. because of this, they didn't make it to pisa for the leaning tower day trip they had planned. instead, they got into florence with the sun setting and spent a solid hour trying to locate their hostel that was, apparently, two blocks from the train station. after wandering in circles (and walking right past their hostel's front door more than once), india stopped a stunning dark haired woman in a red trench coat who turned out to be armenian and a little angel who brought them to her apartment, googled the hostel, and walked bryndia (ahem, around the corner) to their new digs.

by now, bryndia was exhausted, and rather grumpy with each other. most of the time, they've learned, this is because they are hungry. the two approached the front desk clerk at the hostel who informed them that they would have their own hostel room for the night which instantly changed their moods, but when the two asked where to eat he informed them that the only thing open in florence at 10 pm was mcdonalds. (weirdly enough, this turned out to be a lie. and the first sign that this hostel blew hard.) so bryndia decided to take matters into their own hands and find some grub that wasn't puffy with preservatives. surprise surprise! two blocks away from their hostel was a fabulous little italian place with cheap sparkling wine and a crowd of late night diners. bryndia ate pizza and pasta and loved italy all over again.

the next morning, they made their way into the center of florence. walked in the crowd of tourists and italians, body heat blending with the scent of cooking crapes and melting gelato. the sun was out! spring was here! bryndia was happy! they ate breakfast criss cross applesauce in a small patch of grass in a tiny square next to the piazza del duomo before walking to the galleria dell'accademia to check out how big david really was. (he's big! he's so big!) bryndia played the game of "which painting do you like the best on THIS wall" and meandered throughout the gallery, recognizing plaster molds for marble statues that they had seen in the louvre in paris.

more walking, more wandering. through the piazza della signoria, across the ponte vecchio. falafal and sparkling water and complaints about how expensive everything seemed. eventually, bryndia found a park that didn't charge them to enter, and they walked on shaded trails until they found a horse race track with dozens of italians rushing to the windows to place their bets before the gun went off. india cooed over the horses and convinced bryn it was a bad idea to put money on an italian horse race they knew nothing about, and they retreated back to the cool park where they played cards on a park bench for the rest of the afternoon.

that night, after a dinner of lamb pasta (for bryn) and veggie risotto (for india) at an all together WAY too expensive (but very delicious) restaurant, the pair got a hold of india's old friend amy from back in her tulane days. amy was living in florence for her junior year abroad and had an understanding for the city that bryndia was excited to learn. they met on the steps of the duomo, amy looking very italian with her long dark hair and crop top. the three of them bought a bottle of wine and a couple of cans of beer and met amy's friends in a tiny square tucked into the back streets of central florence that was packed with italians of all ages pregaming their saturday night outside. to feel so local, so part of the scene in a foreign country, was special. after an hour, the crowd began to disperse, each sect making their way to a different bar around the square. amy led bryndia to a cute bar that had a large seating area in the front with people chatting, drinking & smoking joints which led to a banging dance club in the back that was dj'd by two fired up lesbians playing LOUD house. (house, is bryn's new favorite music. look at that, connor hyde: you are no longer alone in your uhn-tsha uhn-tsha love!) bryndia and amy kept the dj's spinning until early morning.

when bryndia finally got up the next morning, the previous days bright warmth had disaperated into heavy clouds and pouring rain. the two experimented with travel options and decided to each take a different train to rome. the plan backfired when bryn's train was high speed and india's was local and she got lonely and cried on the five hour journey to rome. they reunited in the capital city. they weren't going to try that again.

valencia.

(apologies for the long haitus in blog posts. getting access to a computer, when you're not staying with friends, is harder than we thought it would be! we have some serious catching up to do.)

after having such a fast paced long weekend in madrid with tyler and sara, it almost seemed like a blessing that andrew bailed on meeting up with bryndia in granada and instead, they got to enjoy a long week in valencia with chrissy and caitlin. these girls are the epitome of perfect hostesses. what was initially going to be a two night stay turned into a week - and they were so gracious and welcoming and wonderful about it. especially after letting bryndia crash out during las fallas! these girls are the best.

bryndia has gushed about valencia a little bit before, but that was when they went during las fallas, the craziest time in the city all year. this time, bryndia arrived to a really quaint city. beautiful tiled squares, huge fountains on every corner, lots of old stone churches looming over the pink sky. the city is a hidden gemstone of spain. honestly.

when bryndia arrived, caitlin was in barcelona, seeing her mama off, so it was just chrissy who met them. chrissy took bryndia out to the most amazing spanish meal they had had thus far, at a tapas bar called Bodeguilla del Gato. the waiters greeted chrissy with kisses and jokes, and bryndia sat back and let chrissy do the ordering. fried cheese with blueberry sauce, wine soaked chorizo, fresh tomato and mozerella smothered in olive oil. and lots of wine. delicious. the tapas way of eating is a favorite of bryndia - they're real into sharing the goods.

the next day, chrissy had to go to work, teaching english to the high schoolers of valencia, who all had really bizarre hair cuts and a major attitude when bryndia walked past them on the streets. to entertain themselves, bryndia took chrissy's advice and went and rented some bikes. they rode their orange cruisers to the big indoor market and stocked up on bananas, oranges, apples, pita and hummus, and then took off for the river, the long park that, weirdly enough, used to be an actual river that ran thoughout the entire city. bryndia rode for miles (or, kilometers, because that's what they measure with over here,) and discovered gorgeous art, huge buildings, lots of trees, and an endless amount of puppies playing in fountains. at the end of the river, the park opened up into a huge white mosaic area called, someting like, arts and sciences city. here, the equivilant of the OMSI, the childrens museum, and the aquarium were, all looking like giant spaceships, really modern and bright and bizarre. an attempt to find the beach was foiled, and bryndia gave up and picniced at the end of the park, played some cards, took a nap in the sun, reveled at how SPRING HAD FINALLY ARRIVED, and loved valencia for it.

the next day, caitlin returned from barcelona, and chrissy welcomed her brother brendan visiting from seattle. san diego, seattle, portland. they were like some sort of west coast gang. that night, they overtook the irish bar in town, drinking pints and cheering on the football game with a bunch of british bros. after, they made their way to a restaurant where when you ordered a drink, you got a free slice of pizza. while munching down, chrissy and caitlins fellow bilingual friend angela pointed out that the table of teens sitting behind us was badmouthing us in spanish. when the group stood to leave, angela waltzed over and, in perfect spanish, asking snarkily "so, are you visiting from mexico?" apparently this is a bigtime burn for spaniards, hinting that they have a mexican accent. the west coast crew left with their heads held high. feeling on top of the world, the group headed to la claca a club, where the dj bought them shots and played every song they requested. they stayed there till closing time once again then left for the Radio City, they continued dancing til 6 am. this became a nightly occurance.

bryndia kicked their hangovers with hardcore runs in the river every morning, stopping at a halfway point for a drill of ab workouts & pushups to keep the 12 pack aka cheesegrader aka washboard otherwise known as hardbody in tact.

the week passed quickly, the days full of bright sunshine & activities, the nights of red wine & goodtimes.

one day, the group rented bikes again, since brendan had yet to see the park and cycled out to the beach, this time actually finding it with help from chrissy and caitlin the best hosts ever. avoiding families on the boardwalk & nigerians selling there "real" guccis & louis v's they made it! the bike gang enjoyed the miles and miles of clear ocean and they braced themselves against the wind while picnicing in the sand eating grapes and cheese. the men indulged in spicy mustard & meat filled sandwiches. bryn, energized from the meat(that's what she said) climbed all over the jungle gym like a monkey, almost plunging to his sandy death 30 feet below.

after a long day of biking, cafe con leches were needed and enjoyed by the ancient gates to the city, when valencia was surrounded by a wall. the whole bunch climbed the towers and had a good old fashioned americana photo shoot on top to conclude massive bike trip around the city.

bryndia decided that a visit to Valencia would not be complete without a trip to the giant cathedral that housed the holy grail. yes! the holy grail! montey python! indiana jones! the fritzin holy grail. no big deal, jesus just drank out of it. Errbody at the last supper gettin tipsy (uh oh, bryn's trying to freestyle again) although bryindiana jones thought it was amazing to see it was sort of difficult to tell when its displayed behind thick glass, fifteen feet behind velvet ropes. but what the duo thought was even cooler were the infamous goya paintings that adorned the wall. moments of these 'i didn't know this was here' revelations have been frequent and appreciated during the journey.

bryndias last night in valencia was celebrated with pad thai and drinks at the corner bar, laboratoria, where the mojitos were cheap and the bartenders knew their names. they kissed goodnight and goodbye to their lovely hostesses that evening and woke up at the crack of dawn to catch a train to barcelona. twenty four hours back in their spanish starter city were spent playing cards in a cafe during a thunderstorm, visiting the barcelona cathedral, and watching some sweet street performers breakdance hard. the following morning, they hopped the cheapest flight to italy they could find.

to venice? sure! wherever the wind takes them.

madrid.

trains are awesome. especially when they´re high speed trains in europe. bryndia took one direct from barcelona to madrid. it went so fast, around the curves it felt like the whole train was tilting to the side. the spanish countryside whipped past them in a blur. in about three hours, they had arrived in the spanish capital city.

bryn´s good friend from high school, tyler andre, is living in madrid with his wonderful spanish girlfriend sara, in a ballin apartment right in the heart of the city, and they were generous enough to give up part of their living room to let us stay with them for four nights. bryn and india feel so lucky to know so many people all over europe who have opened their homes to them. tyler and sara were fantastic hosts, sharing their favorite little bars, museums, parks, and burger joints with us. being from madrid, sara was also an excellent tour guide, spouting off history about all the buildings and memorials they passed on their long walks.

madrid is a very international city. on their first night out on the town, tyler took bryndia to his friend´s flat in sol for a little pregame. (though in spain, you must remember, pregaming doesn´t start until about 11 pm and the actual party doesn´t start until about 2 am.) the party was hosted by a croatian girl and her visiting boyfriend and attended by multiple nationalities, including a german girl, an australian girls, a french girl, an italian boy, many spaniards, and a few americans as well. lucky for bryn and india, the language that most everyone seemed to speak was english. a couple of glasses of sangria in, and their host pushed the kitchen table to the side, cranked the ipod speakers, and let the dance party begin. india taught bryn how to salsa dance. when the group was good and going, tyler introduced everyone to chatroulette.com, a website in which you are randomly linked with another video chatter from somewhere around the globe. note: this can be dangerous. but also fun. definitely check it out. when the group got too sweaty from the dancing (and the roulette), they moved to a club down the block and got sweatier to some techno music. it turned into another one of those 6 am spanish mornings. you know, the kind where walking home, you pose for photos on random mopeds, and then make six quesadillas in your kitchen and pass out real hard.




the next day, sara and tyler took bryndia to the caixa forum, a modern art museum, where they saw an exhibit of miquel barcelo, an artist who had a variety of work, all of which bryndia enjoyed... some more than others. that night, they met up with india´s friend lucy mckenzie, also teaching english in spain, and wandered around the gay neighborhood, stopping to munch on chocolate and churros.

once again, bryndia was blessed with beautiful weather, so sara and tyler took them to parque del retiro, a big park that used to be the private gardens for the king of spain. the four of them wandered for hours, eating ice cream, and oogling over the ridiculous amounts of cute babies and puppies. when it started to cool off, they headed to the reina sophia, the modern art museum in madrid, and saw picasso´s, dali´s, and learned about the spanish civil war from sara. that night, bryn and india got taken to tyler´s favorite americana restaurant, the burger bar, where they ate burgers with goat cheese and blueberry sauce and were, again, puzzled by how restaurants in europe don´t do tap water.


after a little siesta post dinner, tyler and bryndia headed out on the town, tracking down lucy and india´s other friends, amy ulmer and jane clark, in a bar in bilboa. there´s something really special about meeting up with long lost friends in foreign countries, and the group of them got silly until the late night, hanging out with a spanish rugby team and singing along to the jackson five.

on bryndia´s final day in madrid, tyler and sara again played tour guides and showed them all around the latin quarter where the four of them drank mojitos on rooftop terraces, visited the prince´s palace and gardens, saw ancient egyptian ruins, and heard some very romantic stories about sara´s grandparents during the spanish civil war.

madrid was a blur of walking, drinking, eating, art and sunshine.

barcelona and las fallas.

time has a funny way of disappearing when traveling. what seems like last week was actually last month. all of a sudden, bryndia has been in europe for almost two months. it feels like two days.

bryndia spent a little over a week in barcelona. after jumping between cities, it felt nice to put some temporary roots down. being able to rent a room in gabi´s apartment was the best. waking up late to swing the huge windows in the living room open, almost always exclaiming what a beautiful day it´s going to be!, and stare in awe at their view of the sagrada familia. making a lot of home cooked vegetarian meals in the kitchen (because, unless you want to eat falafal every day, which, don´t get them wrong, they eat a TON of falafal here, spain doesn´t have a lot to offer when it comes to the veggie community). at night, drinking wine and watching movies and played a million card games, of which india won maybe three. turns out bryn is the king of crazy eight countdown.

during the day, the two of them wandered throughout the city by foot. because barcelona, as big as it sounds, is actually a city where you can walk anywhere in under 30 minutes. or so it seemed to bryn & india.

the first thing to note is the sagrada familia, the most amazing and beautiful church, antonio gaudi´s masterpiece that is STILL under construction, almost 100 years after it was first erected. it was literally in the apartment´s front yard, and it was so lucky to be able to just take a stroll around it, morning noon or night. the stone looks like it´s melting candle wax, the details are so natural, so unique, animals and plants blend around images of jesus and the virgin so it looks like a finger painting, all swirled together. just like everyone else in barcelona, bryn & india were engulfed with gaudi´s little touches that were all over the city.

one hot afternoon, gabi took bryn & india to parque guell, gaudi´s gigantic sprawling park that overlooks the entire city. the three of them packed a picnic, drank 40s, and stared out at all of this bright mosaic art, sprawling trees, swirling rooftop towers. india bought some handmade jewelry for cheap. bryn snapped a million photos.



another day, the two of them rented bikes and rode the entire boardwalk next to the ocean, around the huge new w hotel that looks like a sail on the horizon. bryn taught india how to ´bunny hop´ on her cruiser. after, sunburned and exhausted, the two of them took nick yerkovich´s recommendation and set out to find la champagneria, a tapas bar that serves 90 cent glasses of champagne and three euro greasy chorizo and any other meat filled sandwiches you can think of. one of the most delicious recommendations we´ve had thus far. thanks, you dirty doggy.


on friday, gabi and bryndia woke up early to catch a five hour train down to valencia for the final night of las fallas, a huge festival that celebrates the end of winter by burning gigantic (and expensive!) paper mache sculptures celebrating spanish culture. each neighborhood in valencia puts a ton of money into building their own unique fallas, most of which have to do with political satire or successful spaniards, most noteably pau gasol. when the three of them stepped off the train, they knew we were in for a crazy 24 hours. the city was packed with tourists, firecrackers going off in every direction, toddlers running around with lighters, throwing huge sparkling cherry bombs at unsuspecting onlookers.


gabi, bryn and india immediately met up with chrissy and caitlin, bryndia´s friends from univeristy of oregon, who are there teaching english for the year. both of their respective mothers were visiting from the states as well, and the group wandered throughout the curvy streets, admiring everything the city had to offer.

when it started to get dark, bryn bought a fifth of johnny walker and mixed some whiskey and cokes for the group. next thing you know, it was almost 1 am and the city was screaming for the burning of the fallas. fireworks were lit underneath the statues which all immediately went up in flames. it is an impossible thing to describe. the statue that gabi and bryndia watched was almost 20 meters high, so when it caught fire, it wasn´t going to stop without help from the firefighters who were surrounding it. the heat was incredible. a blind man would have thought he was in a brick oven. it went from the middle of the night to high noon in seconds. the whole city was doused in bright light and black smoke.


after the burnings ended, the party was just getting started. chrissy and caitlin took the group to one of their favorite clubs, la clakas. ´we´re really tired, we´ll take you to this club and have one drink,´ explained the two. but you can´t deny a good dj. and he was playing american club bangers the whole night. 50 cent. black eyed peas. kanye west. THE DREAM. bryndia and crew cut a rug until six am. and the dj was real into that, so he bought the group some beers, and some shots, and they all became friends.

when the sun rose, bryndia & gabi went to a coffee shop, where bryn took a little nap and gabi and india drank some coffee in total silence. next thing you know, the three of them were passed out on chrissy and caitlin´s floor. before you die, if you have to do carnival in rio, or mardi gras in new orleans, you also have to do las fallas in valencia. it was epic.


after las fallas, gabi and bryndia rode the long train back to barcelona and slept for about 16 hours. when they awoke, bryn had already planned the next adventure: going to a barcelona versus madrid playoff basketball game to see ricky rubio. the stadium size was that of mac court in eugene but as loud as autzen, with no loud speakers or sound bites played after dunks, it was amazing to see these die hard basketball fans cheer for, literally, the entire 40 minutes. (it should be noted that what they were cheering was not exactly family friendly either. they showed the refs no mercy.) bryn was underwhelmed with the play of ricky, but fran vazquez posterized the whole madrid team with a nasty dunk late in the first half which was well worth the 35 euro to see the spanish team ball.

barcelona was action packed and relaxing at the same time. bryn & india headed to the captial next. madrid and tyler andre awaited.

amiens and paris.

the week in france was, how you say, tres romantique.

amiens is a small city about one hour north of paris. not one that many visitors to france would get a chance to see. lucky for bryndia, one of their best friends majken was living there, teaching english to really well dressed french high school students. for three nights, she let the nomadic couple sleep in her bed, cooked them amazing food, and shared all of her cute international friends with bryndia. they had a great time.

bryndia was in amiens to celebrate majken's 23rd birthday. they saw shutter island. (we drool over leo no matter what language he speaks in.) they baked betty crocker spice cake with cream cheese frosting, decorated it with pink candles. went to an irish bar that was called "my goodness!" and put back "lagers" while day dreaming about living in new york together in the fall. they visited majken's school, visited the amiens catherdral, saw the skull of john the baptist, drank cafe cremes. india took advantage of the kitchen, and majken taught her how to bake potato leek tarts and pasta sauce.




on thursday, march 11, bryn and india headed to paris. the city of lights. the city of romance. the city of ASHLEY OLSEN. yes, guys. that's right. they saw ashley olsen. in the flesh. lookin' fly. so, lets recap: new york - kate moss? check. paris - ashley olsen? check. if gaga is in barcelona, by god, india's idol sightings, the trifecta of blondes, will be complete. ("gaga sucks." - bryn little.)

paris is beautiful. it is filled with beautiful people, people who are too fashionable for their own good. who wear sunglasses when it's cloudy and capes and bowler hats and flowers in their hair. there is gold everywhere. gold in the architecture, gold sparkles in the sidewalks. and there are gardens. big green gardens with blossoms who, we could tell, were just about to poke their petals out, to bloom big, just about to turn to spring.

bryndia stayed in monmarte, right at the base of sacre coeur. at nights, they would walk up the 250 stairs to watch the eiffel tower sparkle and the spanish tourists get drunk on the steps. they visited notre dame, and bryn made a lot of victor hugo jokes. they walked through the jardin de luxenburg and pretended they were louis and marie antoinette. but, you know, before the whole execution thing. they went to the top of the eiffel tower, blended in among the tourists. men were strapped to the iron beams, hanging almost upside down off of the side of the tallest building in paris, patching up the corners that had rusted away. they walked the entire champ elyssee while india talked about proust. they visited the louvre, at night, when the museum was empty and the lights were low. and, most importantly, they walked everywhere, and felt very parisian.

on saturday, majken came into paris and met them. the three went to the mosque of paris and drank tea and ate at majken's favorite kitchy restaurant, "breakfast in america", where they ordered bagels and fried eggs for the first time in over a month. and then the three trouped to majken's favorite bar, chez george, a small, secret place in a stone basement in the fifth, where they drank bottles of wine and made friends with french africans who bryn taught how to play crazy eight countdown.

on one particularly sunny afternoon, bryn and india were walking by the river, wandering. they were talking about the street performers, boys who juggle soccer balls for hours, or dress up like the mona lisa, try to stand very still and get pictures snapped of their moving eyes. as the two discussed, they saw an older gentleman in front of them stoop to the ground. he rose and looked around, searching for someone. "excuse me, excuse me!" he called after india as she passed. he held up a shiny gold ring. "you drop? is this yours?" india shook her head no. he looked at it again, back up at india's face. he demonstrated the size of the ring, pushing it onto each of his fat fingers, being obvious that it did not fit his, and he handed it to india. "now, it is yours," he said. she smiled, said thank you, and turned to go. "oh, but sir, may you spare some change for a sandwich?" india emptied out her change purse into his palm and turned, twirling the ring on her finger for the rest of the walk. hours later, bryndia returned to the same boulevard to return to their hotel and there was their friend, stooping down in front of them, a new ring in his hand, marveling at the "real gold" he had just found. india punched him in the shoulder and showed him her bling bling he had given her hours before and he cracked up as india stormed away.

paris is filled with little surprises like that. kittens curled in hotel lobbies. michael jackson murals made of duct tape. carousels that spun in circles to american pop music. curries and wines and sweet smelling cigarettes, spicy perfumes, accordion players on the subway.

but paris is also very expensive. so now, the pair heads south.

berlin.

we shouldn't even try to describe berlin. we should have just snuck a camera into that club and taken a picture of those people having sex in the middle of the dance floor and posted the picture and just wrote the caption: 'berlin'. that would have been easier.

bryn was, in a way, brilliant with this idea. berlin was that kind of crazy. a chaotic crazy party swirls of color and light and different accents and lots of smoke and bucchus, really, is what it was.

when bryn & india were in london, they met their friend echo's amazing boyfriend david. it turned out that david was going to be in berlin with a group of his boyfriends the same weekend that bryn & india would be passing through. because, apparently, berlin had such a nightlife, it had turned into a weekend destination spot for hard core house music loving party goers. david and 20 of his friends were going to be dancing all around berlin and they wanted to give bryn & india tour.

even more of a surprise: india got a message from david knowles, an amazing friend from high school who she hadn't seen since about then, saying he was living in berlin and would love to hang out. for obvious purposes, from here forward, the blog will specify friends by saying british david and american david.

bryn & india stayed in a hostel recommended to them by girls in prague. the wombat was really modern. their window looked out onto the spiking t.v. tower and a wall of detailed graffiti. bryn & india met up with british david their first night. white trash fast food was decorated like a chinese restaurant and served greasy hamburgers. there was a bizarre band playing; a handful of older guys in pleather short shorts and vests strummed electric guitars as sexy middle edged german girls in matching corsets sang back up off key. the weirdest part: the crowd went wild! loved them! cheered them on, screamed in adoration! bryn & india didn't get it. so they laughed and drank and then went to a smaller bar where a guy played bob dylan on the guitar and bryn talked to british david's friends about techno music and so forth.

the t.v. tower framed by the wombat's window.

modern architecture dots the sidewalks.

the next day, bryn & india walked towards the center of the city. they were looking for the holocaust memorial. after walking for awhile, they found a pile of large wooden white crosses hanging posted to a fence. confused, they soon realized it was a homemade memorial to men who had died attempting to escape east berlin's communism in the 1960's. it was a strange realization for them. here they had been, searching for a memorial for one war, and here they were, accidentally finding one for another (more recent!) war that had taken place in the same city. this sort of awful shock had a lasting impression with bryn & india in berlin. for some reason, the dark history of the city held a serious cloud throughout the entirety of their stay.

impromptu memorials surround the icy parks.

the memorial to the murdered jews of europe.

the holocaust memorial, or the memorial to the murdered jews of europe, was difficult to say the least. the modern history of berlin is so rough. bryn & india talked about how bizarre it must be to go to middle school there and learn about your city's history. in your grandparents time, we really messed up, and let a lot of horrible things happen. and then in your parents time, we really messed up again, and let a lot of other horrible things happen. they guessed they must find some way to glorify it. (after all, they did learn about horrible stuff in american history class, too.)

at night, they met up with american david. david was in germany getting his mfa in public art. it was so exciting to be hanging out with a real american artist living in berlin in a real german apartment, trying to start a life there. to see their young friend become a hard-working expat was exciting and great - and american david was both of those things.

american david took bryn & india to an amazing dinner spot where the three mused about opening their own business. communal pasta bowls and help yourself bottles of wine got them ready for the late night that lay ahead.

because berlin's nightlife is not like the life that one lives during the day. it is a completely different, totally separate kind of life. your day life and your night life don't even necessarily need to get along to coexist. they can remain totally disconnected. perhaps, actually, that's the right way to do it.

american david took bryn & india to some amazing bars that first night. they were all packed full of beautiful, tall people who smoked cigarettes and drank gin and tonics. one neighborhood they went to had a large housing complex in it, and right next to someones front door, was a sort of secret bar, tucked in among the apartments. they party hopped around the many bars that were built into said housing complex for a few hours. in one, they crashed an argentenian birthday party, and american david made friends with a xylophone player. there were bands at every bar. they took the subway home when they got too tired. that wasn't until around six am.

german graffiti will you keep you warm.

backpacks grow heavy with collected glow sticks.

the next morning, bryn & india took american david's advice and walked to the west side of berlin. they walked along a mile stretch of the old berlin wall that had been restored and turned into a sort of public canvas. a group of artists had painted murals down it - bright graffiti and big portraits and very lose but gorgeous interpretations of the violence that had brought about the wall. what's funny is that american david, the public art major, mind you, wasn't that into it. oh, you could go see that if you want, but it's not that cool because it's not the real berlin wall, it's just the same height and where it was standing. you can't see the history of the wall behind the paint. bryn & india did like it though. the bright paint in the grey city made them glow. they walked to a big park where there were puppies and babies and kids biking through the snow and skateboarders jumping on the rails and it felt so sunny and wonderful and really great in berlin for the first time. they ate burritos and bryn found india some clunky combat boots in a second hand store and they felt so good.

the berlin wall, decorated. 

a frosty park in west berlin.

that night, their last night in berlin, cannot be spoken about. at the clubs they went to that night, watergate and the panorama bar in berghain, bryn & india were patted down before they entered. they were forced to check their cameras into a separate coat room to ensure they didn't snap shots in the club. as mentioned previously, they saw things in these clubs that they cannot even begin to describe.

they watched the sun rise. after that, they went to another club. around noon, exhausted, grumpy, they decided to give up. they went to the bus station and bought tickets to amsterdam. just like that. goodbye berlin. 

prague.

from london, bryn & india flew to prague. india watched a couple say goodbye to each other, kiss each other's cheeks for about an hour outside of the security gate before their four am. she was happy to not be leaving bryn like that.

prague could only be described as magical. there was something so romantic, so magical, about the place. it cannot be explained. their friend from home had tried; emma had lived there for a semester in college. and india's mom did too, as she had visited for the first time in the summer of 2009. but bryn & india didn't understand how cool of a place it really was until they arrived there themselves.

india had found an incredible deal for a hotel room. so cheap that the two opted for that over a hostel. the catch: it was on a boat. (A BOTEL!) on the hotel albatros almost every room on the ship was empty. bryn & india's was sweet and small and had a big window that slid all the way down and looked out over the river. they threw bread and stale potato chips at the swans who would come flap their wings and wag their tails right in front of their botel window. the women at the front desk were friendly and let them drink beers in the lobby where the the sole television sat. they watched winter olympic sports after all of the bars had closed down.

our home, botel albatros, on the vltava river.

bryn feeds swans out the botel window.

prague was filled with castles. and churches that looked like castles. india felt like she was playing beauty and the beast. (though not with a beast, obviously.)

their first night in eastern europe, bryn & india walked to the main square in the old town of prague, about a ten minute walk from where their botel was. they bought hot spiced wine for 20 czech koruna, or about one dollar, and kicked around snow and watched the old clock chime. since they realized, hey, we can drink outside, this is tight, the two went to a grocery store and bought czech bottled beer for about 5 czech koruna, or 25 cents, and sat in the cold and got giddy about being in eastern europe. this is it! this is it!

downtown prague at night.

their days were leisurely. bryn & india would wake up when they woke up and take their time bundling up for the snow. they ate breakfast in little coffeeshops, bakeshop prague. one morning, they walked across the charles bridge where bryn went crazy with his new camera. they walked up to prague castle, watched the changing of the guards, freaked out over the view that showed them the world. all the spiral peeks of cathedrals swirled for them alone. they were a connect-the-dots of prague. another morning, they visited the ancient jewish cemetery and museum, saw dramatically simplistic synagogs and learned the traditions of a jewish burial. another morning, they went to a district across the river and visited the contemporary arts centre. it was beautiful and bizarre and huge and filled with great things. they debated modern art and decided, perhaps, the pieces were best shared in silence.

the view! the view! the view!

the best breakfast in prague is at okie dokie.

during the evenings, bryn & india would walk in circles throughout the cobblestone alleys. they paid a lot of attention to the lonely planet guide that their dear friend emma had circled her favorite things in. after they had explored emma's notables, they started to just wander, and ended up finding some cozy places on their own. pizza and a bottle of wine for ten bucks in a place where they cheered on the czech rupublic's hockey team with winter olympic fanatics... a middle eastern place where they smoked flavored hookah and drank mint tea. they found some really wonderful small bars that would serve them cheap drinks for hours. they could sit and talk and write and read and drink and think.

smoking hookah in the old square.

we are not tourists.

then india's immune system failed her again, and a disgusting case of the sniffles came in. coughcoughcough. constantly. predicated apologies for the folks who will be sharing her hostel room in berlin...

also, we hate each other.

london.

bryn & india: they had done the whole graduation thing, the whole desk job thing. they had gotten restless. they wanted more. they set out to see the world. this is what they saw. and what they did. (also, what they ate.)

bryn & india arrived in london on a rainy morning in the middle of february. they had intended to sleep the entire overnight flight, but its hard to sleep on virgin atlantic. (free movies! free battleship!) needless to say, they were pretty grumpy when they arrived. but all bad feelings went out the window when they arrived at india's cousin's flat. lorna was there with open arms and tea already made. after crashing into a deep sleep on the pull out couch for a few hours, they awoke and were really able to take it all in: after months and months of making plans and changing plans and making more, they were ON THEIR EPIC ADVENTURE. woah. it was a lot to grasp.

lorna's street in west kensington.

double decker busses mean business.

lorna's flat was absolutely beautiful. right in the middle of west kensington, a neighborhood of large brownstones and vintage markets; one that lorna's friends later pointed out was incredibly posh. the houses were all worn red brick with beautiful balconies peaking over the grand entry ways. it was an amazing place to call home for a few days. and lorna was a picture perfect hostess.

the five days bryn & india spent in london were a whirlwind of misty sunshine and puddles filled with rainbows. as it was bryn's first time in europe, the pair made it their mission to really immerse themselves in the city and do everything they possibly could. and they did.

they saw piccadilly circus and wandered through the national gallery. posed for pictures in front of westminster and pretended they were wendy and peter flying over big ben. they fed the queen's swans in st. james park and made funny faces at her guards in silly hats. they walked through harrods and imagined being able to afford the alexander mcqueen bags and the vera wang underwear. they learned about darwin and the reproductive cycle at the natural history museum. they went to the phoenix club with lorna and her theater friends and went to the groucho club with lorna and her art friends; there they felt very posh when they learned that quinten terrentino and martin scorsese were in the room right above them.

bryn plays mary poppins in trafalgar square.

public art on the streets of soho in london.

india and lorna debate in the back of a back cab.

india's favorite day in london was their last, which also happened to be the most beautiful. as their friend echo pointed out, the clouds in london were different. and the sun poured through the puffs like the gold rays in bernini sculptures on their last day.

as assumed, they met up with echo in the morning, a sarah lawrence graduate who was studying art history in grad school in london. echo and her amazing brit boy david took india & bryn to their favorite breakfast place in shoreditch called leila's. they drank milky tea in real tea cups and got three orders of 'eggs with sage' which ended up being served to them in a communal iron skillet. butter oozed down the sides; they mopped it up with bread served to them in a basket. david immediately assumed the role of tour guide and told stories and pointed out sites as they slowly walked across london bridge.

on the other side, echo showed bryn & india to her secret grocery store. borough market was a gigantic food market that pours out from under the bridge on to the esplanade next to the river thames. roasting cheese and pigs heads made them feel a bit ill, so the group headed towards the flower and dessert part of the market instead. david showed bryn 'the best chorizo you will ever eat' and they munched down on spicy sandwhiches stuffed with the sausage. echo and india stuck to coffee and shared brownies the size of bricks. when their feet got cold, they walked down the river to the tate modern, and wandered through what they thought, without a doubt, to be the best modern art museum they has ever been to. india discovered an artist named cy twombly and watched some crazy cuban movies and got inspired.

echo pays the bill at leila's. 

your map at the borough market.

walking across the thames on the millenium bridge.

after walking the fancy footbridge and kissing echo goodbye, bryn & india got dolled up and went to meet some of bryn's sigma chi buddies, brock and felipe, from the university of oregon who happened to be in london for the weekend. brock, who worked for a marketing company in new york, showered them with fancy chili pepper martinis and tuna tartar at his hotel restaurant. the boys got all bro-y and nostolgic and india learned some sigma chi secrets (oh no!) and they all had a fun time playing dress up.

brock treats the oregon crew to a japanese feast.

london, doused in fancy and sprinkled with sophisticated, was just the tip. the rest of europe awaited. bryn & india were ready for it.