Milan

We landed in Milan on Monday, the 28th, with just under twenty-four hours to explore Milan for what it was worth.  We were all tired but that's part of free travel so we quickly checked into our sketchy bed and breakfast and set out to see the main attractions of Milan.  We really wanted to see the famous painting of the Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci but unfortunately you have to make reservations before hand. We then wanted to see the Duomo, which we got to see, and it was beautiful. We found a gelato place right next to the Duomo so naturally we all decided to get some.  Gelato was really good, and I have a hard time deciding if I like that or crapes better. Anyways, after we visited that area for a bit we decided to head to the San Siro, the famous soccer stadium in Milan where Inter Milan and AC Milan both play. It was yet another impressive soccer stadium, but unfortunately I didn't get to go in. By then it was already seven o'clock and we were really tired from being up since four o'clock in the morning, so we decided to go eat some pizza then head to bed. One of the highlights of the day involved Alex getting pooped on by a bird which sort of represents the kind of day we were all having. Regardless, Milan was a pretty cool city that represented the industrial side of Italy, but we were all ready to get out of there and head to Interlaken, Switzerland. Until next time.

Barcelona Pt. 2

After the bike tour I set out to go to the El Classico, a soccer match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. It is arguably the biggest match in all of the world minus the World Cup final and Champions league final, and I was going to it! It was on my birthday so I considered it a nice birthday present to myself because it for sure wasn't cheap. I was extremely excited on the walk over there being in a sea of Barcelona fans about to see Messi and Ronaldo play in person, something I will probably never get to see again. Their stadium was massive holding around 98,000 fans. I felt like I was in Neyland except it was for a different sport. It was a beautiful area and the volume of the fans when they all sang together was ridiculous. This game and atmosphere made me realize again that I keep falling more and more in love with this sport and it is definitely going to be hard to go back home where no one cares about the sport. Barcelona would end up winning the match 2-1 and even though I was in the upper deck I still had an awesome time. The pictures below almost look fake, but they aren't which makes it even more impressive. After the match I met up with the guys and we had some Mexican food in Spain for my birthday (yes mexican, it isn't a typo.) We then went to the beach and hung out the rest of the night. I couldn't of asked for a better birthday and it probably won't ever be topped! Sunday we hung out at the beach for most of the afternoon and saw somethings that were for sure eye opening (people don't believe in bathing suits over here) but other than that we had a pretty relaxing day. We ran into some people from the Vienna group and hung out with them all night. It's always nice to see Americans over here and it is even more nice to see Americans you know. We went to bed fairly early because the next day of travel was going to come early with a flight at six in the morning to Milan which is where I will now leave you. Barcelona as a whole was an awesome city. It moved up to my top three cities but it is still behind London. I would love to make my way back to Barcelona one day if possible, but I'm thankful for the weekend I got to spend there.

Barcelona Pt. 1

On October 25th, we left Madrid for Barcelona by train where we were planning on spending the weekend. When we got to Barcelona we all immediately fell in love with the city. Maybe it was because our overall experience in Madrid wasn't great and we were just happy to finally be in a sunny place because it rained the whole time in Madrid, or maybe it was because Barcelona just gave off a great first impression, regardless we were pumped to be there. All Friday night we just walked down the main strip to the beach and the massive dock (pictured to the right) and hung out there for most of the night. Later we would figure out the exact distance we walked multiple times from the hostel to the beach was around 2.5 miles but we didn't care because it felt great there. A few of us woke up and decided we wanted to do the Fat Tire Bike Tour in Barcelona because we felt like it was the best way to see the city and figured it was worth the money. We biked around seventeen kilometers total and saw the main historic sites of the city. We learned that the beaches sand isn't actually natural sand, and how it's imported every few years from the Sahara desert. One of my favorite sites was the old bull fighting arena purely because that sport fascinates me. Unfortunately the sport has been outlawed, at least in Barcelona, but the arena was still cool to see. It was also interesting seeing the differences in the culture from Madrid to Barcelona. First off, they have their own version if Spanish called Catalan. Also, Barcelona is pushing for independence from Spain and it is a very rare thing to see a Spanish flag flying in the Barcelona. Instead everywhere you look you see Catalonian flags (which I like better honestly.) It is still up in the air whether or not they will actually gain independence, but they are for sure pushing for it and are very proud people when it comes to their roots. After the bike tour I set off for a big soccer match, which is where I will end this post. Until next time. 

By the way, I'm finally back in Bath, so my best pictures are getting put up!

Madrid

Our first destination for our fall break was Madrid. Just to clear up who us is, it's me, Matt, Zach, Andrew, Alex, Luke, and Jacob. We landed in Madrid Wednesday night ready to see all of Madrid within the next 38 hours before we set off for Barcelona. We didn't have any set plans for the day on Thursday which is nice to an extent but looking back at it I wish we would've done that differently. We did a lot of wondering around and time wasting in the city, but eventually we would make something out of the day. We went to visit the Santiago Bernabeu which is the famous soccer team Real Madrid's stadium. It was one of the nicest stadiums I have ever seen and I decided I would regret it if I didn't take a tour so I decided to take a tour and meet up with the guys later on. The tour was amazing and gave me chill bumps and I'm not even a fan of Real. The history of the stadium is unreal and the amount of trophies they have won over the years is ridiculous. The trophy I found most intersting was the "Team of the Century" trophy which speaks volumes about the club by itself. It hurt seeing my favorite player from Tottenham who transferred to Madrid, Gareth Bale's, locker. The rest of the day in Madrid we explored the main sites for example the Palaca Real and Plaza Mayor. Madrid was definetly an industrial city but I liked it. It was nice being in a Spanish speaking country because it's the only language other than English I feel halfway confident on so I found the basic communicating with people much easier. The hostel we stayed in was fairly nice and at no point I ever felt threatened. Although, the major downside of the hostel was the man who slept below me who snored louder than anyone I have ever heard, maybe even louder than my dad. It literally shook the whole bed and I didn't get any sleep the first night. The second night I was determined to beat him to sleep and I succeeded which lead to a much better night of sleep (however this whole struggle made me really appreciate how my mom is able to sleep each night due to the amount of snoring that takes place next to her haha.) Our meal of choice in Madrid was Mcdonald's purely because of the price and the Chicken burger they had which was basically a McChicken plus BBQ sauce already on it, and for those who know me they know how much I love my BBQ. We also had one solid local suggested meal called Paella which is basically fried rice and a choice of meat (because there's only so much McDonald's I can eat.) We went to a few parks but it literally rained off and on the whole time we were in Madrid which made it hard for us to enjoy the city. Thursday night we saw a riot take place, and our guess the motive behind it was something to do with the education system. It was a normal protest until the riot squad was released with riot shields and then people started throwing chairs and bottles at the police within five feet of us. The police started charging the people around us so naturally we ran away and went back to the hostel (don't worry none of us were injured or threw anything.) On Friday afternoon, we set off for Barcelona where we would be staying until Monday. Until next time. (Again sorry about the lack of pictures.) 

Bayeaux, France. (Beaches of Normandy)

On last Monday and Tueaday we went to Bayeaux as a group, which is a small city in northern France, to stay in a monastery and visit some of the main sites around that area (Primarily the Beaches of  Normandy.) Whenever we first pulled into the town we saw a statue of Esienhower in honor of the work he did in World War II and a French and American flag flying above him which was a welcoming site. We didn't really do much on Monday, and the town of Bayeaux as a whole was pretty dead. It was a small quiet place and it was for sure hard to adjust from the hectic life of Paris to Bayeaux's slow laid back atmosphere. We spent some time in two museums for a tapestry and a small Beaches of Normandy museum but after that we just went back to the monastery, and yes I said monastery. The monastery had 16 nuns who still currently live there however they have a decent amount of rooms they let people stay in. It was dead quiet and there was a strict no noise after 10 o'clock rule. We had a wake up bell at 7 o'clock and then went and ate some breakfast which they provided, mainly bread with a few homemade jams. Overall, they were very welcoming to us and it was for sure an interesting experience. On Tuesday we set off for the Beaches of Normandy planning to visit two landing sites with the first one being the beaches of Omaha. I was really nervous we weren't going to be able to visit the cemetery because of the governments issues back home, but it was opened about 5 days before we were scheduled to go which was a major relief. The first thing I did when we got there was I took a lap around the cementery paying my respects to the all the men who gave their life when they stormed the beach. I then took the long walk down to the actual beachand tried my best to invision the whole scene playing out. I can't even begin to imagine the feeling of terror those men felt that day, but they got the job done. I have never felt more proud to be American than I did that day. It gave me chill bumps looking at the USA flag flying above the cemetery and realizing just how lucky I am to be American. We then went to a British landing area where the floating dock was brought in from the UK and set up on the shores of France and learned about how impressive and important this really was (which I never knew about until we visted that area.)  The rest of the day we spent at an area called Mont Saint Michel's which basically was an old monastery on top of a rock island. We went back to Paris Wednesday morning and then were released for our fall break. Seven of us guys decided to travel together and our first destination was Madrid which is where I'll pick up next time. Also, I'm lacking on pictures because I don't have a way to transfer them from my camera to phone on break, so when I get back I'll put up my best pictures in a blog post. Hope all is well. 

Paris Pt. 2

On last Sunday we did a bike tour as a group and saw the major historical sites of the city. We went to the main sites of the French Revoultion and got to invision all the different scenes of it and how it all played out. Which again was awesome because we just recently studied it and I already knew most of it. We also saw the exact place princess Diana wrecked and talked about the conspiracies behind it. We of course saw Notra Dame which was impressive and then took a quick stop at the richest portion of Paris where Johny Depp and multiple other celebrities have property. After the bike tour me, Micahela, and Evan set off for Disneyland Paris. For those who don't know, my family is obsessed with Disney so naturally if I had the chance to go in Paris, I was going to take advantage of it (Emily my sister has already been before so now 2 of us Davidsons have been.) We got there and got in line to buy our tickets which were going to be about 65 euros when all of the sudden we were approached by a German man who offered us three tickets for only 10 euro a piece. At first we didn't believe it and thought it was a scam, but he said he would wait and make sure it worked for us and then we could pay, and he stayed true to his word. The amount of excitement all three of us felt after the tickets worked and we were inside the park is indescribable. We were at the happiest place on earth plus we saved near 80 American dollars! Whether it was an act of God or a true example of Disney magic it doesn't matter, regardless we were pumped. We then spent the next 7 hours riding rides and doing the typical Disney routine. The only downside of the day was that Pizza Planet was closed, but it's okay because we were too excited too care. Overall, It was a lot of fun and for sure one of the highlights of my trip. It did make me miss home and my family some due to the sentimental value of Disney, but regardless I had a blast with Evan and Micahlea and I couldn't of asked for a more blessed day. Until next time. 

Paris Part 1

We arrived in Paris last Friday via the Eurostar as a whole group for our educational field trip, which is by far the best field trip I have ever been on in my life. We had dinner as a group and then were released for free time for the rest of the night. A group of us went straight for the Eiffel Tower where we would end up spending the rest of the night there hanging out and taking pictures. As we were walking away we saw a crape stand so of course I had to stop and get one. I got a banana and Nutella crape and honestly it was all it's been cracked up to be and more. I loved it. Granted after I ate it I went on a jog because I felt way too stuffed to walk around. We then made it back and went to bed because we had a packed day set for Saturday. On Saturday we went to Versailles and The Louvre. Versailles was honestly unbelievable. The entire estate was impressive and the size of the whole area was unreal. We broke down and rented a boat for an hour and took it around the canal there, which was awesome. Also, right before we left for our field trip we just finished studying this time period in France's history so it was cool putting what I learned into real life. We then headed to the Louvre where we got a 2 hour tour which considering how big it was it wasn't near long enough of a tour. Our tour guide told us it takes 3 months to see the entire Louvre, and even she has just recently seen all of it. The Monalisa was a bit smaller than I imagined and honestly it wasn't my favorite part. I have never been a big artsy guy but I was in awe the whole time. After that some of us set out to go see the local soccer team's, PSG, stadium. Unfortunately we were about twenty minutes too late because the match that was going on had just sold out, but I was pleased to add that to the list of stadiums I've seen. Overall my first two days in Paris were awesome, and it would only get better from there. Side note, I'm currently free traveling on my fall break with some of the guys and will be until November 3rd, so the updates will be randomly done when I find time on wi-fi. Hope all is well back home.