Catching up - France, Andorra and Spain July 12-13

As we try to get caught up here on the travel front, let me take a few minutes to tell you about the day we went to three countries. After Pamplona we ran for the border and made it just into France. The next day we took our car and headed southeast, paralleling the Spanish border, across the French countryside. It was really amazing to see and fun to drive through. There were problems along the way. There was the Italian phone card I got sold at a tobbacoist shop that was a huge ripoff and a friend Deni made in traffic in another town. We have posted a few pics of this leg of our jaunt earlier in the blog. You'll see a pic of Deni eating lunch in Anglet and me with a French man we met very randomly who was selling native meats and cheeses alongside the road. He was very cool. He sent us up the street to a small tavern where we bought an excellent $3 local wine to compliment what we'd bought. In France, most people don't go to the supermarket for their shopping. For bread they go to the breadstore and for meat they go to the butcher, etc, etc... Anyway, the system works pretty well once you figure out that everything is closed in the middle of the afternoon for lunch (a four hour lunch).

We also stopped to work on postcards (that finally got mailed in Poland a few weeks later). We pulled over in this village and had a few drinks in the town square as we worked on them. Ah, the good life.

We drove on to Andorra. It's a tiny principality between France and Spain. Pretty much it's one big and very posh ski resort from one border to the other. Interesting to see and I'd love to go back when I'm in a different tax bracket.

We made it to Spain at about midnight-ish. I bet the scenery in the mountains was beautiful, but it was pretty dark. One interesting thing we saw was a 5km tunnel under a mountain we drove through to make it into Barcelona. We grabbed a quick bite and slept in the car at the airport, so we could drop it off at 7am and hop our flight to Rome to meet the cruise ship.

Catching up - Pamplona, Spain and San Fermin July 10-11

B: Okay, on July 10 Deni and I woke ourselves up and caught a train to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. We flew a discount Spanish carrier called Vueling. It was cheap, but you get what you paid for. We paid to get to Barcelona and luckily that's what we did (obviously we didn't pay for food or prompt return of our luggage).

We picked up our Citroen car and headed north to Pamplona. The first thing we found out, the hard way, is that tollroads are extremely expensive in Spain. They don't have an extensive, free, interstate system there like they do in America. We took the turnpike a couple times, but after one 20 euro toll, we'd had enough of it. The backroads worked fine and you got to see more of the countryside.

We also began to learn about how to deal with people that don't speak English. The first thing is not to let people rush you or get you flustered. I did and instead of a salmon fillet I got something with tentacles...Sorry, no pictures of that one.

Anyway, we got to Pamplona at about 2am on the morning of July 11. It was cold, but people were up, so we grabbed a quick sandwich and a beer. San Fermin is a lot like Mardi Gras, in my opinion. It's a religious festival, but it's also an excuse for people to come from all over, drink a lot of beer and hurt themselves. The smells are also similar....(urine).

We covered Pamplona a bit a few posts ago. Instead of running or fighting for a vantage point along the route, we grabbed a spot in the arena. Pretty crazy to say the least. More than once my jaw dropped after seeing a savage smashing.

We watched the partygoers vie with the bulls for a while then went to explore the town. We searched for some white clothes and red scarves and hit a grocery store for lunch. Then we went back to to arena for some professional bullfighting.

Bullfighting was interesting, but nearly as much fun as I hoped/thought it would be. There were about 4 guys in full regalia, of varying ages, on the perimiter and one guy on horseback, who was in really really nice clothes that trotted into the arena. The guy on horseback taunted the bull until it charged at which point he tried his best to put a spear in its back.

The bullrun takes about 3 minutes. Even when they're not actually running, bulls have their spies out looking for people to take out the next day...We were able to capture a rare picture of one in action.

Our strategy was to watch the bullrun and then decide if we'd go for it the next day or not. As we mentioned a few posts ago, we decided against it. Read this story about what happened the day that we would have run, had we chose to:

MADRID, Spain: American brothers Lawrence and Michael Lenahan won't forget their debut at San Fermin festival.
In one split second the same bull had gored the two of them — one in the buttock and the other in the leg. Blood was everywhere.
"I started yelling at my brother to show him I was bleeding everywhere but he showed me he was bleeding everywhere," Lawrence, a 26-year-old U.S. Air Force captain from Hermosa Beach, California, said in a phone interview Friday from his hospital bed in Pamplona. Michael, 23, from Philadelphia, also remains hospitalized after undergoing surgery.
The two were gored Thursday in the sixth bull run of the nine-day festival, the longest and most dangerous so far.
In all, 13 people were injured and seven were gored, including the Lenahan brothers, all by the same bull.

In one incident, the bull's horn tore through the shin of Norwegian Christopher Neiff, 24, sliding under the skin and right up to his knee. Photographs and video images of the moment were not for the squeamish.
Initially, the media reported that Neiff was one of the Lenahan brothers.
The festival organizers said in their daily medical report that Neiff had a 12-centimeter injury but that the bone was not affected.
But the incident did not unnerve the elder of the Lenahans.
"We will definitely be back again," Lawrence said. "My brother will never run (in the festival) again but he would like to come back to celebrate."
"It struck a little bit more spirit into me," he added. "I think my brother and I underestimated the speed and danger of it."
The brothers arrived in Pamplona with friends and had watched one bull run before taking part. Thursday's run was their first.
"I remember looking back and thinking I was in trouble," Lenahan said.
After the two were hospitalized, Lenahan said he told his parents by phone that they were fine because they were together.
He said he remembered using his shirt to help wrap his brother's leg as medical service staff arrived to help them.
The pack of six 1,300-pound (590-kilogram) bulls and six steers — intended to keep the bulls running in a single pack — disintegrated shortly after the animals set off on the course through the narrow cobblestone streets of Pamplona.
The run lasted 6 minutes, 9 seconds, compared with the usual length of 2 minutes because one bull separated — the most dangerous thing that can happen during a bull run.
Friday's run, which lasted 2 minutes 42 seconds, occurred with few complications though several people sustained bruises and other minor injuries.
The San Fermin festival, renowned for its all-night street parties, dates back to 1591. It gained worldwide fame in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises."
Since records began in 1924, 13 people have been killed in the runs. The last fatality, a 22-year-old American, was gored to death in 1995.

The picture of their injury is pretty incredible. Here is a picture of what would have happened had Deni decided to run...

The bulls run every morning at 8 a.m. for the lenghth of the festival. After the run and bullfights, people finally go to sleep if they've been up all night or celebrate San Fermin in their neighborhoods with bands like this one D captured.

After getting some good souvenirs and pictures, we skipped town to spend the night in a French town across the border called Anglet.

Catching up - Amsterdam I: July 6-10

Where to start where to start...

D: YES!!! the art is amazing! YES YES!!! the fries with mayo are unreal!!! YES YES YES!!! they have coffee shops with marijuana, and NO we did not know that before we got there!

People of the Dutch persuasion where so kind and extremely outgoing.

B: Yeah, there are wooden shoes in the Netherlands, but they're bigger than you think.

B: Also, I love mayo. But people over in Holland, they really love mayo. And fries. And they come in a cone. There are also additional flavor options like curry, red pepper and BBQ.

Q: What do they call a Whopper in Amsterdam?

A: We don't know. We didn't go to Burger King.
(For Pulp Fiction fans--we didn't go to McDonald's either, so can't report on the "royale with cheese")

Deni and I did a fair amount of research on the trip and the details of traveling before we left the USA. Six months of research paled in comparison to what we learned in the first six hours.

B: One thing we learned is not to ask foreigners for directions. If you're in Amsterdam, make sure you're at least asking a Dutch person where things are. We found that out the hard way.

D: This is actually one thing Bill learned. The very first set of directions he asked for, it was from an Italian couple. they where looking for pizza...we where looking for Rembrandt. Always pay attention to the language peope are speaking. Not eveyone speaks Mexican, like in Texas.

B: That said, we've been asked for help in places like Rome and Greece. Either people think we look local, which I doubt, or they'e just desperate for a friendly face when they're lost and unable to communicate.

Another thing we believed after "research" is that we should bring a few pairs of clothes that you can wash and wear over and over again. That sounds great in comparison, but at one point Deni and I had the revelation that not only did we look like we just walked out of REI, but that I bore a striking resemblance to Rick Steves -- a gifted traveler to be sure, but definitely kind of dorky -- and REI is expensive, making you look a lot more like a tourist than the skantily clad women and men of the red light district. (We just wish we had brought jeans...)

Of course, when you think of Amsterdam you think of the bikes. Everyone bikes in the city and there are paths everywhere. They're a lot of fun. I really liked the bell. People really move when they hear you ringing.

D: I remember one night, riding really late in the red light district. Bikes and their traffic bells are like New York and txai cabs and ther horns. You know they are there and you do not always have to hear them. I remember one guy getting really mad at us for ringing our bell as we came down the alley. (B: It was 3 a.m., but in our defense it was the red light district.) He yelled "dammit, we hear your damn bell, shut up already!" We rode to end the of the alley....then we rang it really loud and we peddled as fast as our fat asses could peddle. I mean...come on buddy!

B: Hmm, what else to say? How about a little middle-American love from our Dutch brethren? I know what you've heard about foreigners hating Americans, but we can promise that such statements are a little overboard. They do have a lot of respect for Americana.

We liked the frog on this sign.

In addition to the fries we ate very well in Amsterdam. We had dim sum twice and Thai once. Our B&B was very nice and it only rained a bit. Our place was pretty close to the red light district, but not actually inside it. The thing you notice about Amsterdam is that there aren't a whole lot of women there--let's say the boy/girl ration isn't all that great. Maybe we just say that because we were in mainly tourist-frequented places, but it's not somewhere to pick up normal chicks that you don't have to pay for hourly. English dudes pop over from London for less than $100 for bachelor parties and stuff like that. We saw a vanload of them asleep outside our window one morning. We were a little wore out after four nights in Amsterdam, but as we found out, when it comes to crazyness, it's no Pamplona.

Dim sum:

Postcards

BnD hard at work on postcards somewhere in France...

Hey everybody...

Mesinna, Sicily from a tower, a French guy we met in a small town and our visit to the tiny principality of Andorra.

I'm a tourist!

Deni eats in France!

Shots from the first few weeks

Stray cats running around everywhere are a big thing in Greece - they even make calendars of them. In Italy, it's all about stray dogs.

some recent pix from our travels

The windmills in Mykonos are a big thing to take pictures of. It's really windy there but pretty. Just like you think Greece looks like (but for the most part doesn't).

this has been a test....

guys...we know it is taking a while to get up more post. please be patient. it is hard to discorver europe and the rest of the world when you stick yourselves in a cafe all day doing computer things. we are off the boat in rome and looking for a flight into rotterdam hollad to regroup. we have hit some bumps along the way but nothing old b-n-d cannot handle. once we get into holland we are going to fill everyone in on what our lives have been like for the past few weeks. we are also going to do a running talley of how many time we have tripped, fallen, slipped, and said "it s hot!". thank you for everyone that comes in and checks but we do apologize that it has been while. we are still learning and to make it even harder...in french, italian, and greek. we miss and love everyone. keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

oh yeah...we have a butt load of postcards. we promise everyone has one. we are just forgetting to get postage in which are doing right right now. so we may in poland when you get a card from greece. hey, we still love you though!

B:This is us before we saw all the blood. We're happy and smiling. Then we saw a guy get a horn put through his butt. Then my jaw dropped and did not return until well into France. I just had an Italian guy tell me he heard about two Americans that got pretty seriously injured this year. The first day there were two gorings and seven injuries. Maybe next year...

D: Hey B...ther's a bull going in your ear! You know, we fit right in...we do not look like tourists!

B: You're so crazy D... Everyone there was in white and red. Everyone...but us. There's no need to hide it. We didn't pack so well...

B:This guy, like a lot of the people in the arena, was totally asking for it. After the bulls and the runners come through the narrow, slick-stoned streets of Pamplona, they gather in an arena to go one on one with a bull. We rooted for the animals because the people that get hit are asking for it. They taunt and hit the bull and act surprised when they get nailed. This guy, for instance, thought he was pretty tough stuff the first few times he avoided injury. Then the bull got the last laugh by slamming him upside down a few times, with his shoe going in one direction and his legs in another. He staggered, obviously in a state of shock, to one of the many emergency personnel standing by.

D: we really really really wanted to run witht bulls. it is something that we have wanted to do as children. well me, since i saw "CITYSLICKERS". we thought we would watch first and run the next day. well...needless to say by the picture above, we did not. we are considered wusses by Spanish standards. see what they do not show us !XTREME ADRENALINE JUNKY! americans is the blood. ummmm...there was a lot of it...as well as laughing.

Hey all, this post comes from Messina, Sicily. We finally found an inexpensive internet cafe when we had a little time to kill. We've survived Amsterdam, Pamplona, France and Andorra and now we're on the boat in the Med Sea. We will put pix and video up once we are able to get the footage burned onto a disk. We appreciate your patience and will leave you with some thoughts of Spain...

Things I learned in Pamplona, Spain:

Did you guys know...that it is considered a mark of courage to get your ass run over by a bull???

When run over by the bull, people will either a. laugh at you, b. pat you on the back, c. punch you in the face if you disrespect the bull...

People are rooting for the bull...

It is normally americans who get gored...idiots

New Orleans, mardi gras is IMMACULATE compared to how clean pamplona is...

They do not show blood in the states when it concerns san fermine (rwtb)...

There is A LOT or blood at the running of the bulls...

Realization: we are not going to run with the bulls.

In Spain...they run from the bulls. In Texas...we ride the bulls. So who exactly is the dumbass?

quick fact

Did you know the George Bush Tollway takes pennies? In spite of what the signs say, the automatic machines do take the copper tokens. DnB can't tell you exactly how we came about this inside information, but it's true. So don't sweat it, throw in as many pennies as needed.

Here we are in Amsterdam

Hey everybody, this is our first post on the trip. We're coming at you from Amsterdam... the town is awesome, as is the great BnB that BnD are staying at. The sun has come out the last few days and week took advantage by getting bikes and riding all over town. There are special bike paths and we saw a lot of very cool places. There is a lot to do here at all hours of the night. The place we're staying at is great and we're enjoying the whole experience. We'll upload some pics when we get some free time and learn how. Hope everyone enjoys this first update...
We're coming at you now from the Internet Cafe at the Bulldog...
Bill

this is just a test...

blah bla blah blah....

bnd