Cinque Terre Spring 2010, enough said.

Last weekend traveling, and we were going to do it right. 3 guys [myself, karl, jw], camping gear, and possibly the most beautiful place on the planet. Oh it couldn't get any better.

After having some difficulties traveling [while still slightly groggy from not really sleeping on our night train, we missed our stop], we finally arrived in the train station in La Spezia, not knowing what to expect. We then took a train to Monterosso, in the way passing the other 4 cities of Cinque Terre, being equally amazed at each one. When we finally arrived at the fifth town, Monterosso, we looked out at beautiful beaches looking out to the bluest water any of us could ever imagine. After spending a few hours relaxing on the beach and playing some frisbee, we decided to find our spot to camp. After seeing the thousands of people around and signs on the beach that said no camping, well we decided to find a cheap place to say. After a hotel which cost way too much told us of a couple of possibly cheaper ones, we were approached by a woman who spoke no english. She called her friend, who called her husband, and between the english they knew we talked them down to 50 euro a night for the three of us, and we asked to see the room. They then showed us an apartment. Living room/kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, and bedroom. All to us, for 50 euro a night. No name taken, nothing. Just our own apartment. Yeah, we were in. We gave her the cash, she left, and we settled in for the weekend. Seeing our kitchen, we decided it was only right to cook dinner, and we went out and got a bottle of wine, some pasta and some sauce. That is called living the dream; home cooked Italian food, our own apartment, and then a night of wandering the town. Included in this was some time spend climbing a massive rock on the beach and sitting and watching the water, and some serious time spent working on our rock-skipping abilities. Needless to say, it was a good first day.

On Saturday, we woke up and set our for our 9 km walk [I am convinced it's about twice that] from Monterosso to Rio Maggiore. The walk took us about 5 hours [we didn't hurry, just enjoyed it], and was worth every second of struggle and pain which has lasted about 3 days in our calves. The highlights of the walk include the gorgeous views, awesome people we met along the way, and most of all JW's cliff jump. After looking for a place to jump all day, we finally found one he could use. We used the rope we brought, lowered him down to a good spot, and he prepared to jump from about 3 1/2 stories up into the bluest and most gorgeous water ever. At this point, a large crowd had gathered to watch [many of whom yelling at karl and I to get him back up, but it was in italian so we didn't 'understand']. When he decided it was time, he then plunged into the sea, doing a perfect cannonball, leading to applause from the people, and he swam to the shore where we met him excitedly. Yeah, it was rather fantastic. We then finished the walk, boarded a train, and headed back to our apartment [it's still funny to me to say that]. We changed, picked up some supplies for dinner, went back to the beach, and hung out for a while. We then showered, and Karl then began to prepare the massive amount of pasta we had bout while Dubs and I proceeded out to the town looking for random people to invite over to eat [we had an apartment, why not]. After not meeting anyone, we went back, enjoyed a delicious meal of penne pasta, italian tomato sauce, oregano, Parmesan cheese, and some meat, and of course a decent amount of wine. After that, we enjoyed the city one more time at night, including some time spent out our window on the roof of the neighbors place just hanging out with some Peroni and having a blast. And that ended day 2 in Cinque Terre.

Day 3 in Cinque Terre began with a cleanup of our apartment, washing of dishes, and heading to the beach to chill for a while before mass. We watched the waves, which were huge because the weather had changed from beautiful and warm to windy and stormy. We went to a kind of weird mass in the parish church in Monterosso, got some pizza, and went back by the beach to eat. We then climbed some rocks and debated exploring a cave, but it wasn't the day for that sort of exploration [i'm still not convinced, but the rocks were already rather tough to navigate]. After a tragic death to my camera [thank God it had lasted until the traveling of the semester was over], we changed and headed to the beach to just chill all day, since the sun was out. After trying to go in the water but turning around because it was too cold, losing a frisbee in the Mediterranean, and spending some time laying out, it was time to head back. A long and tiring journey back, where sleeping on the train was more or less impossible, could not ruin what was definitely one of the most enjoyable trips imaginable.

Lessons from the last trip of the semester: Cinque Terre is absolutely gorgeous; views like none other, and a place unrivaled anywhere else. Gelato is delicious anywhere in Italy. Having an apartment with a shower and kitchen > sleeping on the beach. Italian pasta, even when bought in a small store, is delicious. Sometimes you have to be a little crazy to get the best views. And that's about it.

Cinque Terre. Five cities. 3 days. No better way to end the traveling of Europe.

Livin' the dream

Ten days. All of Europe. Oh the places we could see. And so, it was going to be Barcelona, Madrid [to work with the Missionaries of Charity], and Lourdes for easter. Err, scratch that...Lourdes first, then Madrid, then Barcelona. Err...scratch that. Nothing is going to work. What will we do. Okay we have a solution. Wait no it failed. Here's another one. Nope too expensive. Oh gosh freak out mode. Okay calm down, it's all okay.

That, above, was my week before ten day. I was leading a mission trip to Madrid for the middle part of holy week, and well it all became crazy. In the end, on Thursday night [everyone was leaving either friday or saturday], we figured out that we could get a van from the school [with the RD driving the whole way] to go to Lourdes, train to Madrid, and then, well, why not just fly to Ireland. And so, we bought the tickets, printed out our boarding passes and train reservations, and at 5 am Saturday 8 of us piled into a 7 seater vehicle headed for Lourdes, France. And so there it was, we would drive to Lourdes, spend a day there, and then continue on elsewhere. Sounds simple right? HAH. Welp, here we go.

Did I mention that there were 8 of us in a seven seater van? Let me break that down for you. A driver and one other person up front, three girls in the middle [it was meant for 3], and the 3 guys in the back who decided to be nice and sacrifice so everyone else could be comfortable. So, three big guys are in a two seater, i'm sitting on seat belt buckles, legs up against the seat in front of me, and squished between two guys. Sleep? Yea right. Comfort? That's a joke. Fun? Depends on how you define it. We laughed a lot, but that's about all I've got for ya. The plan originally was to arrive at approximately 10:30 pm saturday evening. After hitting traffic, we realized that wouldn't happen. Then, after stopping at a gas station at about 10, we realized that, since we stopped to eat around 8, we had been going in the wrong direction. The complete and total wrong direction. We wanted to go South and a little West-we went straight North. So, after the women in the gas station who spoke no english whatsoever helped us figure out that little piece of information, we decided to get in the car and try to get back on track. After dealing with France's ultra-confusing highways, we got back on track at about 1 am, with about 3 hours of driving left. Since Jess, the RD, had been driving all day and we would not let her drive anymore, we pulled into a truck stop to sleep. Daniel and JW had sleeping bags, so they parked it under a picnic table, and the other 6 of us made ourselves cozy [not] in the van. After about 5 hours of interrupted, bad, and simply non-existent sleep, we got ourselves changed and got back on the road headed to Lourdes. After stopping for gas when we were almost completely empty and learning that French gas stations [or this one at least] won't accept anything but a European credit card [convenient, huh?], we finally figured out that Jess had one and so after an hour of asking random people for credit cards while she was inside shopping we gassed up and headed out [can't you tell this was a lovely drive?]. And so, at approximately 11 am, we arrived in the wonderful Disney World that is Lourdes.

At this point, the Lourdes portion of the trip was fantastic. We spent the day praying in the grotto, drinking the holy water, going in the baths, going to confession, going to mass, and simply living up what is Lourdes. After a decent kebap and a quick trip to the Irish pub, we headed back to the cathedral for the procession. The procession was beautiful, although slightly frustrating when they sang the Salve Regina in about 9 languages [I was proud, however, of my ability to participate in the Our Father and Haily Mary in about 5 different languages]. After the procession, we returned to our humble abode (for two of the guys-the van; for the other 2 of us, the floor of the girls hostel) and crashed for the night. In the morning, the crew heading back to Gaming to catch a flight to Ireland got in the car, and the other five of us enjoyed Lourdes for a few hours before boarding a train. After a long day of travel, the five of us met up with our five mission team counterparts in Madrid.

After checking into our hostel and hanging out for a while, we planned the next day and went to bed. Tuesday was when we would begin our work with the Missionaries of Charity, and so we split up the groups. The work needed consisted of help in the AIDS hospice as well as a home for the elderly in the morning, and help at a soup kitchen in the afternoon. We decided that those who had arrived in Madrid early would work the morning shift, and the second group to arrive would do the afternoon. Long story short, however, I ended up working both shifts on Tuesday, and then only the mornings after that because they needed help. Working with the Missionaries was one of the most intense and powerful things I have ever done. Myself and the other guy in our group [yes, it was 8-2, that's a typical ratio for our semester], Dan, would go every morning and work with the men in the AIDS hospice. These were men who were very terminally ill, and required help with everyday things like showering and getting dressed, as well as many of them needed diapers changed and to be cleaned in the morning. Although I was slightly intimidated by this work at first, I fell in love with the guys there and with the passion that the Missionaries and all of their volunteers had for helping, it was simply extraordinary. Needless to say, it was a powerful experience.

Other than our time spent working with the Missionarios de la Caridad, we spent our time in Madrid seeing the city. We saw things like the Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, the Parque del retiro, and everything else that we could. We went to Holy Thursday mass in the cathedral with the cardinal, and were able to do the stations with the Missionaries of Charity on Good Friday. We went to the Via Crucis, the huge way of the cross procession on Wednesday, which was dedicated to World Youth Day which will be in Madrid in the Summer of 2011. The coolest part, however, was probably the huge processions that we saw. On Wednesday night and every night after during Holy Week, the city of Madrid does a huge procession with tons of people, music, candles, and floats dedicated to Our Lord and Our Lady. It was amazing to be a part of that on Wednesday and Thursday, being just one of thousands flocking to Madrid to celebrate la Semana Santa. The downside to being in Madrid that week? I stayed in three hostels in four nights, and our group in total stayed in five different hostels. It was quite a week though, and a great place to be.

On Friday, after working with the Missionaries and then seeing things like the Estadio de Santiago Bernabau, where Real Madrid plays, and the bullfighting arena, we headed to the airport to take a flight to Dublin. At this time, the group I was with was simply myself, Dan [the other guy from my mission team], his girlfriend Nadia who had met us there, and my friend Clare. The four of us flew to Dublin, and then took a train to Cork, to go to the University College of Cork where Dan had a friend studying. She took us in, gave us a place to stay, and gave us a feast after midnight [it was Good Friday, so we were pretty hungry]. Saturday morning, Clare and I then took a train back to Dublin [gotta love the train system in Ireland], and then a standing room only train to Castlebar to meet up with a family friend of hers [best part of that train? Voice on the loudspeaker tells us to have a comfortable journey, and a little girl standing near me in a great Irish accent goes "comfortable journey, that's a joke!"]. We then got to Castlebar and saw Deborah, Clare's friend. She took us in, fed us, gave us a shower and place to stay, and even let five of our friends stay there that night. It was amazing. We went to the Easter Vigil in Knock, where Our Lady appeared with St. Joseph and St. John, which was slightly different than back home [and by slightly I mean completely, but still awesome]. The highlight of the Easter Vigil? In the priest's homily he talked about easter eggs and a bunch of random unimportant things, but then he brought it all home, in something close to this; "When we look at the cracked easter egg we are reminded of the empty tomb. The empty tomb that doesn't point to Christ Risen in the past. Today, we are not celebrating Christ risen 2,000 years ago, but rather we celebrate Christ Risen here, Christ Risen now." He was awesome. And it was in English, so that was awesome. After the vigil we headed back to Castlebar, and had some Guinness in town to celebrate. On Sunday, we feasted for Breakfast and dinner [it was seriously fantastic to have real food again], and spent the day hanging out and walking around the beautiful town. After another night in Castlebar, we headed out at about 3 am, got on a plane, and then spent literally the entire day traveling, getting back into Gaming at about 3 am with a series of travel that went like this "car, plane, bus, train, train, train, taxi." It was ridiculous, but so worth it for ten day.

Overall reactions from Ten Day: French train systems suck. Tolls in Europe suck. Sitting on seatbelt buckles sucks. Doing all of it to get to Lourdes is totally worth it. Madrid is amazing. Speaking in Spanish is really fun, although intimidating when the other person doesn't know any English. Helping people who can't help themselves is ridiculously rewarding. Supermarkets in Madrid have wicked cheap beer. And bread. Being in the front row for Holy Thursday mass is fantastic. Except when you're on the side and can't see. RyanAir sucks, for more reasons than can be stated here. Ireland is quite a country. Guinness is simply delicious. And last but certainly not least: Christ is Risen. Here. Now.

Parlez vous anglais?

I apologize for the delay, but things have been CRAZY around here lately. This blog is about a trip to Paris which I took from March 19th-March 22nd. The weekend before this was a 2-day weekend, and I took a quick trip back to Salzburg. We weren't there all that long, and well there isn't all that much to write about. I may get to a blog eventually, but for now I feel that this will be much more exciting for your reading pleasures. And so, well, here we go.

This weekend we had a 4 day weekend, and so on Thursday night some friends and I boarded a train and headed to Paris. It was myself, and two of my friends, Katrina and Joemy. We planned the trip slightly last minute, and as such didn't have hostels booked or anything like that, but we figured we would roll with it.

When we arrived in Paris, we purchased weekend metro tickets (best choice ever), and then tried to figure out the metro system. After a kind old man helped us, we were able to find our way to Sacre Coeur, an absolutely gorgeous basilica up on top of a hill in Paris. We worked our way through all of the people trying to get us to sign things or buy thing, and entered into one of the most gorgeous places in the world. Above the altar we saw a monstrance with the largest host that I have ever seen, and we knelt down to pray. Shortly after, we saw that mass was beginning, and so we had mass there. Before leaving, we went to talk to the sisters, because you are able to stay out Sacre Coeur for five euro a night. They were closed, however, so we decided to go see the city and then return. We stopped and got our first (of many) crepe, and enjoyed it thoroughly. We then took the metro over to Notre Dame. Although it was very crowded and touristy, it was also an absolutely gorgeous church. After that, we took our first of four trips to the Eiffel Tower. At first, it was ridiculously disappointing, because well we came out the wrong stop and most of the tower was hidden behind buildings. Afterwards, however, we came out from behind buildings and saw the beauty of the tower. After being tourists and gawking for a while, we returned to Sacre Coeur to find a room. This, then, was when things became slightly more exciting. We went into Sacre Coeur and found sister, who spoke a very slight bit of english. After telling her we wanted to stay, she told us they were very crowded, and it would be better if we came back another night. Before calling to find out for sure, she confirmed with us [even though we had not even hinted at being college kids or anything of that sort] that we were franciscan students; apparently we gave off that vibe or something. She told us they were full that night, and so we agreed to stay Saturday night and go find a hostel that night. We signed the papers, and wandered out to try and find one of the hostels. When we finally found one, it looked nice, so we went in. The guy behind the counter was a black man who looked cool, but he immediately told us (in French) when we asked that he spoke very little english. After freaking out about how we didn't have reservations and he was very full [all in french] for a while, he proceeded to talk to us in perfect english, and inform us that he was from Washington DC and was just messing with us. He then told us that all they had was a two person room in the hotel (not hostel, it was nicer), and that i'd have to sleep on the floor. I then agreed, and he gave us the room for cheaper than he was even supposed to, simply because he wanted to "hook up his peeps." We filled out the info, which he then disposed of, telling us that there should be "no trace." We didn't mind, agreed not to tell anyone, and went up to our room.

After checking out our room, we jumped on the metro, deciding that we wanted to head out to get some food and to see the Eiffel Tower at night. We went straight to the Eiffel Tower, where we stood outside in some rain, watching the Eiffel tower light up in flashing colors for a while at the turn of the hour. After that, we saw some other Franciscan kids, who we talked to for a while. Then, we went back towards our hostel, and got some food (we got baguettes with bree cheese-what could be better?). After that, we saw the Haegen Daaz which he had spotted almost immediately, and of course had to go and pay way too much for ice cream because it was there. We then stopped for a drink, but like everything in Paris, it was overpriced (4 euro for a tiny beer!), and so we had one and returned to the hostel for the night.

On Saturday, we woke up early to spend the day traveling around the city and seeing everything that we could. We began by going to the Miraculous Medal Shrine, where Mary appeared and gave the Miraculous Medal to Saint Catherine. This was a beautiful shrine, and we spent some time there simply praying and then, of course, visiting the gift shop. After that, we jumped back on the metro [did I tell you those were a good purchase?] and headed to the Bastille. Although slightly disappointing because, well, all they have is a monument to where the Bastille once was, being the history nerd that I am it excited me very much. We walked around there and up and down the river for a while before heading to Notre Dame for mass. We went to a phenomenal mass there, and then I went to a confession with a priest who may or may not have understood a word that I said [he was fantastic]. After Notre Dame, we wandered the city before heading to the Hotel de Invalides, a super old national hotel with cannons in the front gardens. The place was gorgeous, and so we wandered around the front of there, and then down and across the river. We then saw some awesome museums and buildings there, and ended by getting on a metro and heading to the Arc D'Triumph. The arc was awesome, but, you can only look at a giant arch for so long, so eventually we began to walk away. We headed down a super busy shopping district before stopping at a delicious Parisian sandwich shop for some dinner-ish. After that, we headed to the Luxembourg Palace and the gardens there. We loved it a ton there, and thoroughly enjoyed hanging out by the fountain and seeing the beautiful gardens and the largest children's park in the history of the world. After hanging out by the fountain for a while, we went for Eiffel Tower round 3, because of course we needed a new view. This time was actually rather worth it, as apparently the first two times we had decided to go for the crappy view instead of the fantastic one. After gawking [and, of course, heinous amounts of picture taking], we jumped on the metro, figuring we'd get some food and call it a night back at Sacre Coeur. So, we headed back in that direction, and eventually stopped for some hot dogs [yeah, you read that right, i ate a hot dog in Paris], as well as french fries [the girls put mayo on them, frankly i find that disgusting]. After the food, we of course returned for round 2 at Haegen Daaz [I am sure i'm spelling that wrong, but what can ya do]. Of course, at this point it started raining...the two of them pulled out raincoats and umbrellas, and poorly prepared me got to trek up to where we were staying in the pouring rain. We arrived at the sister's house in back of Sacre Coeur, signed up for a holy hour from 6 am to 7 am, paid our 5 euro, and proceeded to bed.

Waking up before the sun, we met in the Basilica and prepared for our holy hour. By holy hour, of course, i mean we got to spend an hour as 3 of the only 10 or so people in one of the largest and most beautiful basilicas in Europe [no big]. After that, we went to the earliest mass, a 7 am small little mass on the back altar of Sacre Coeur. After mass, we gathered our things, and began to make the trek over to the Louvre. We got there early enough, and headed in for a long day of art viewing. We spent the next 7ish hours in the Louvre, and I'm pretty sure we didn't even skim the surface. We did get to see the Venus de Milo, which is rather impressive, as well as the Mona Lisa, which frankly isn't. Lisa [we're on a first name basis] is pretty small, and she is placed on a gigantic wall all by herself. After you push through a massive crowd, you can get about 20 feet away, and see the small picture [and of course take tons of pictures]. You then turn around and see a massive and beautiful image of the Wedding at Cana, and well it simply seems to hurt the appeal of the Mona Lisa. Nevertheless, it was pretty awesome to get to see one of the most famous pieces of art in history.

After all of the hours at the Louvre, we decided we were ready, and we headed back to the Arc D'Triumph and to our favorite sandwich shop for some food. While eating, we decided to spend our last few hours in Paris doing something new...the Eiffel Tower. We returned to the Eiffel Tower, where we laid in the grass over by the fountains, met a guy from San Francisco, and tried to race him and his son to see who could walk the farthest on the balance beam [okay it was a railing, same thing]. After relaxing there, we grabbed some snacks [more french fries, ANOTHER hot dog, you know healthy food] and began to head to the train station. We then found our train and boarded, only to find out that there was an argument in our compartment from two guys who had booked the same seat on the train somehow. This was quickly resolved by the conductor who pointed out that, the loud and outspoken one of the two [he never shut up the whole train ride, and it was an all-night train] had booked a train for the next day, but they simply let him stay. So we sat uncomfortably with four large men and two girls in a six person compartment, didn't sleep at all, and enjoyed our return journey from Paris back to Austria.

Overall impression of Paris...different than I expected. I didn't have too much of a desire to go to Paris at first, but there some things I truly wanted to see. I got to see what I wanted to [for the most part, more than once], and got to experience a very interesting, crowded, and lively city. Final impressions, however, include some very important notes: someone asks if you speak english-say no in a different language, it's much more effective; watch out for the mustard, it's spicy; mayo in France is apparently different, but still not good; when going to a city where it's supposed to rain the whole weekend, come prepared. The End. Ten day report coming up soon!