Photos I like

These are photos I´ve taken and just like.

Ana Margarida Costa Gomes Leite

Yes, this tiny Portuguese girl has five names and needs them all, because her personality is that big. The truth be known though, it is really all Sam´s fault. See, since Sam and I met up in Portugal at the begining of the month my blood alcohol levels have been elevated. So, when I met Ana in the train depot and suspected she was a bit crazy, it turned out I was right. But, she´s crazy in a good fun loving way. So, when she suggested that we meet in the bar car after catching our train at 00:30, I thought why not, my last drink was with lunch, I haven´t eaten dinner, and I´ve been up since 06:00.

Ana´s english is pretty good and so are my charades. Between us we managed to entertain and maintain conversations with the train stewards until who knows what hour. One of the funniest moments was her renacting a birth, until I said ¨born¨ because one of the stewards was trying to tell me where he was from in Portugal. And of course that area has the best wine in all of Portugal! It just so happened that I had been through that town two days earlier. Even though I cannot say I had the wine there, it really is a beautiful place along the Rio Duoro.

To explain the picture. Ana must have a small bladder, because on my way to the bar car I saw her outside the WC doing a potty dance, talking, and laughing to one of the guys we ended up hanging out with later. As the night wore on it became too irresistable to not repeat the performance. With the Portuguese people being as kind as they are one of the stewards stepped up and offered to catch it for her so she wouldn´t have to wait. It was pretty funny.

The rain in Spain is mainly in the plain

I am thinking that is not true at all. Of course I don't really know where the plain is, but I'm in Granada and spent all morning touring the Alhambra in the rain. And it wasn't a mist or dampness, it was a downpour with about 5 minutes of sunshine. Of course it is the Alhambra and I was overwhelmed and the rain didn't matter. I came here on the advice of a person in Porto and am so glad. I believe this is the most beautiful place I have seen on my trip so far. I am staying in a hostel across the valley from it and my room overlooks the Nazrid Palaces. Look it up online and come here.

Girl Time

I can't believe Sam has already come and gone a week ago. I am losing track of time so terribly!! Well, I had a great time with her in Lisbon. We walked, ate, and drank to our hearts content. And when Sam left she lent me some clothes!!! I am the proud borrower of a skirt and several cute shirts, a change of outfits was much needed for my mental health. Actually girl time was the most important for my mental health. We had our nails done and got to have lots of girl talk and shopping. I had a great time touring around Lisbon and Albufeira with her. We had a bus tour of the city with this older woman who spoke like, five languages. At every interesting point she'd rattle off the same thing in one language after another. They all went by so fast, she'd be halfway through the english before I recognized the words. It was crazy, but very fun. My favorite parts were the carriage museum and seeing Vasco de Gamas tomb. I'm sure I didn't spell that correctly, but bear with me, it's really hard to keep track of the days anymore. So, spelling is far down on the list of priorities. What is funny to me right now is that as I write, I am realizing how bad my grammar is. Why is that funny you wonder? Well, I'm contemplating moving overseas and teaching English. Imagine me grading papers and being like, looks good to me. I may single handedly fill the world with slang speaking, bad grammared foreigners.

I also got to meet and spend time with Sam's grandma, uncle, aunt, and nephew. They are all very fun people and generously let me in on their family vacation. The bittersweet thing about my time with them is that we ate the best calamari I will probably ever have in my life. Now calamari is something I have to remove from my diet because for the rest of my life I will compare it with our meal at the beach.

I know this is a jail

That's not exactly true. I left Budapest and was going to make a southern route through Europe to Lisboa. I meet Sam in Lisboa tomorrow!!! We're having a girl vacation in Portugal. Ok, back to my story. I left Budapest and headed toward Venezia on the train, but before I got there I decided to spend the night in Treviso. Only I said it wrong and got off the train in Travisio. At every other train station I have been to, you get off and there is a hotel right there. It might be junky, but it's a place to stay. Not in Travisio. Travisio is right on the border with Austria and it is gorgeous with giant mountains and trees. I mean really stunning and very cold. I use my best one word question which is "Hotel?" and get pointed down the road. I'm walking and walking and begining to get worried when I see a police station. I figure it can't hurt to go in and ask "Hotel?" again. The Italian Polizia think they are hilarious and use their english and hand signs to tell me this isn't a hotel, it's a jail. But, if I would like a room they could give me one. It was pretty funny. I said no thank you and they told me which direction I needed to go. I ended up at a great place and had yummy pasta with wine out of an unlabeled bottle. It was really good wine. Another good nights sleep for Angie.

Budapest

Now, Budapest is the place to be!!! It's got Flagstaff's attitude in a big city. When I was there, I stayed at the Budapest Bubble, which is a hostel that just opened a few months ago. It was really fun and run by this great Hungarian lady named Olga. She loves her city and knows it inside and out. The location of the hostel was so convenient to everything it was amazing. The first night I walked along the Danube to see the castle lights on the river, it was so beautiful. I took some great photos, which I'll try to post soon. I was there for four days and didn't come close to seeing everything there is to offer. I did get to enjoy the Gehlert Bath, which is fed by natural thermal springs. I slept really well that night.

Poland continued...

The train stations in Poland are not so good after Belgium and Holland!! One thing I learned is that in Poland they put the arriving trains (on the left) posted next to the departing trains ( on the right). In short, if you plan to depart on a train that's arriving, you're not going anywhere. So, no Boleslawiec for me, but I can now say the name of the town. I can also say Wroclaw and Katowice correctly. All in all I had a nice day in Poland, I met an old lady on the train who couldn't understand why I wanted to go to Boleslawiec in the first place, because it was only pottery factories. When we got off the train in Wroclaw she waited for me with her daughter who speaks really good English. She was tremendously helpful to me and pointed me to the city center, which was really nice. I was pleasantly surprised by the whole place and would go back again, but with a phrase book.