Switzerland, the true home of the Free and land of the Brave

SWITZERLAND

The final getaway to my "European Adventure" was one of my most favorite places, Switzerland, home of true liberty and freedom and some of the kindest people you could ever meet! Not to mention the Swiss Alps and some of the world's most beautiful scenery.

As you know, Switzerland is a very small country, so we saw most of it, starting in Geneva then to Interlaken and Bern, and everywhere in between. The highlight of my trip was going paragliding, where I ran off a cliff hoping the parachute would inflate, which luckily it did, after takeoff we flew straight into the alps, coming to what seemed to be about ten feet from the jagged cliff sides, when we went in for our landing we hit over 4G, an amazing, somewhat sickening, feeling. I cannot wait until I return back to this amazing country.

Okay, so it have been awhile...

Oh how things have changed since I last updated my blog. First off I am not longer in Europe. I have traveled to many more countries, but I am now back in Chico working three jobs. I guess I am back to reality, whatever that may be.

The last few weeks have been really difficult to adjust back to the United State's culture. It seems like things were some much simpler back in Spain. It's amazing how annoyed I find myself getting at little things lately, it is hard to adjust back into a culture that is so strongly opinionated and closed-minded. However it is wonderful to be back with my family and friends.

I have moved into my new apartment. It is pretty much completely furnished except for Caitlin not being here yet, she will arrive in a few more weeks.

I have been working about fifty hours a week between my three jobs: Research Foundation HR Department, Education for the Future, and Starbucks Coffee Company. Its nice to be busy and to be back in the working world. Alright, I will update more later, I need to get on to my homework for the two online classes I am taking this summer.

Spring Break Week 2

For the second half of my spring break I traveled throughout Italy... It wasn´t an easy journey coming back to Europe after being home for the short eight days, where I was able to meet my nephew Shane, visit with my family and a few friends, and enjoy all of that great food from mom´s enchiladas, grandma´s easter ham, and my favorite Mexican food, not to forget the countless Jamba Juice smooties.

My flight back was, well, horrible, not only because it was twelve hours, but because we almost crashed, and not just anywhere, but in the middle of Greenland. My seat was in the very last row, literally as far from first class as physically possible. I was sitting in my seat enjoying my new book, without my seatbelt on (yes I know, bad idea) when all of the sudden I am thrown from my seat, into the overhead locker (about 2 or 3 feet above my head) after being thrown back and forth watching people flying all over, out of their seats I was able to get ahold of my seat belt. All lights flashed off, the air conditioning stopped, but the "movement" did not. This went on for about 10 minutes, though it felt like forever. A few minutes later the pilot came to the rear of the plane to talk to the flight attendants, where he told them everything was okay, joking "that put this new plane to the test". Later the pilot explained that we experienced a rare type of turbulence, where there is no way to know it is coming. He explained that we had over 130 miles per hour winds pushing our plane directly at 90 degrees, pretty much we almost crashed.

Once I arrived in Italy I stayed in Milano for the night. On tuesday I met my friend Lindsay and traveled by train to Venice. It was a beautiful day, about 75 degrees and completely blue skys. I had problems finding my hostel (it took about 2 hours to find), once I arrived I discovered it was an apartment, with no staff. I had to wait for the owner to come and give me a key. There was no water pressure, ironic being that its a city built on water! Aside from this it was an amazing experience.

After Venice we headed off to Florence, which is now one of my favorite european cities... You cannot believe how beautiful this place is. Here I had some of the best food of my life! My hotel was amazing, with great staff. Lets not forget getting to see the David, and the world largest collection of Renaissance art, having apertivo overlooking Ponte Vecchio.

the cathedral is so big I wasnt able to fit it into the picture

Ponte Vacchino

From Florence we headed off to Pisa for a short time. It was the only thing to really see in Pisa, but it was one of those "have to see" things. It was worth it.

After Pisa we took our final train to Roma, where we spent no where near enough time, but we were able to see everything we wanted, from the Colusseum, Trevi Fountain, Vatican City, St. Peters, Spanish Steps, etc... Rome is the only place we had any problems. We missed our bus to the airport in the morning so we had to take a taxi. And lets just say that Roman taxi drivers arent exactly honest. I asked driver number one how much to the airport, he said 100 euros, I went to the next in line, asked him, he got out of his car asked driver number one, then responded 100 euros, then I ran up to another taxi further away, who was dropping someone off, 50 euros with him, but he told me that I had to go to the front of the line (driver number one). SO I went to him, told him that the other driver said 50. So we got in (having no other choice). He started to drive, without his meter on, I told him that it wasnt on, he told me it didnt work, I asked him if he thought it was a good idea to get it fixed. Then started to write down all his information, at this point he folded down the front seat and started glaring us down... We weren´t sure if we would ever make it to the airport. I am awaiting a response from the taxi company about my complaint on the driver.

inside St. Peters

Only a week and a half until Switzerland!

Bilbao, Spain... Mi Casa

Here is the place I call home (for the next few months):

Just to the west of Bilbao... A church perched a top a cliff.

Aboad a pirate ship.

some crazy landscaping in Bilbao

About a block from my house, this is what Getxo is known for, a transporter bridge.

Agorta's Marina (about 5 minutes from my house).

My ride... not really.

payback from all the spiders I have stepped on.

The Guggenhiem museum in Bilbao, made out of Titanium.

La Coruna, Spain

La Coruna, Espana

The reason I changed to Spain, to discover my Spanish heritage. It was an absolutely amazing experience to have the chance to visit the city where fellow Teijeiro's once lived. Though the weather was not on our side, we had a great time. Above is a photo of the citys main plaza, a place where La Coruna history has been made. This building is the city hall. There are many cafes and chocolate shops surrounding the plaza.

Here is the main port full of hundreds of sailing boats.

With a friendly cat on the coast. The castle in the rear is now an archiological museum.

Sitting in a park on the coast near the main hospital.

Here is the archiological museum.

A drifting boat.

From a top the Lighthouse.

One of the world's oldest lighthouses.It was a climb, but we made it!

notice the lightpolls, they were all over the city.

Lisbon, Portugal

LISBON PORTUGAL
Here are some pictures from my trip to Lisbon (Lisboa), Portugal from Feb 17th thru 20th. Lisbon was an amazing place, one of the few places I have gone without getting ripped off by paying too much for so-so food. They say that the Portugese could cook cod for every dinner for an entire year without repeating one receipe. The cod that I ate was absolutely amazing!!! A four course meal with wine set me back twelve euros (15 UDS), a great deal!

Lisbon was the first place (outside of Italy) that I traveled to on land, it was great not having to deal with the whole airport experience. My friend, Lindsay (from Chico State), and myself set out from Bilbao Late thursday night, taking a bus to La Coruna, Spain. We stayed there Friday leaving Saturday evening, once again by bus, to Lisbon. It surprised me to see the drastic difference between Spain and Portugal, aside from the language and slight cultural change. Northern Portugal is still a drastically poor country. Most roads aside the freeway were muddy dirt roads with "lavish huts" sitting aside them. Porto and Lisbon were a much different picture. Our hotel sat next to a Louis Vuitton store in Lisbon... No huts in sight...

Lisbon was a city full of hills, much like San Francisco. Above you can see one of the many walking streets equipped with trolley cars.

One of the many castles in Lisbon (this one built in 1515 to protect from seaward enterance into the city). It's set off the coast about thirty meters.















No, its not the golden gate, its the Ponte 25 de Abril, or the April 25th Bridge... Many of the streets throughout Lisbon are named after a special date in their history.

Here I am at one of the many Plazas in Lisbon, this one is named Comercio.

Here is the famous arch at the end of Rua Augusta entering into Camercio Square.

OKAY, so I gave in too...

I figured this would be a great way to post pictures and tell stories of my adventures in Europa...

Here are some of my favorite pictures from this weekend in Barcelona:

(above) taken from a top the Barcelona Cathedral.
(above) taken in a plaza near the gothic quarters

(above) on the pier near Christopher Columbus monument and Starbucks

(above) in a plaza high up in the hills surrounding Barcelona

(above) a bird in a fountain