(Tracy here, see below for Nina's post today.) So first of all, Happy 4th of July my friends! It has been a while since you last heard from me, so I will quickly backtrack. Paris. Lovely little city. It was great albeit too short of a stay. Nina told of our Turkish Tea House tale. It was incredible. When they brought out the huka I thought it was a giant bong. I took one look at Nina, apologized lovingly with my eyes as I figured I was about to get seriously messed up or I'd be charming snakes. Or maybe pretending to charm snakes. Who knows. Luckily it was some sort of spice infused tobacco. We were definately out of place, not helping any by performing our rendition of the salsa, country line dancing, and swing for our hosts. The next day we went to Notre Dame, Sacred Heart, walked around Montmarte, saw the Moulin Rouge, went to the Eiffel Tower, and the Louvre. My favorite piece at the Louvre was a sculpture of Psyche and Cupid. I also loved the Venus de Milo. As I stared at this beautiful work, I thoughtfully declared, "Wow, she's beautiful" at which point I waited for Nina to come up with something professorly, scholarly, reflective even. Nope, she says to me, "Hmm she has small breasts" (looks at Venus's chest then at me and nudges me) Ouch. It doesn[t stop there. She goes on to comment on her wide hips (once again another stare down and a nudge) then she takes aim at the big nose. I think my slightly raised fist may have stopped the "joking." It was all good fun though.

Marseille blew, I'll leave it at that as well though Nina did get her foot slammed in the door by the bus driver which got a laugh from me. I was ignored for the rest of the evening.

We arrived in Nice not without a comical anecdote. Other travellers had advised us to make the most of our Eurail pass, more bang for the buck. So, we had been changing dates. For example, we{d change 06/23 to 06/28 so we'd have more days to travel on our pass. Nina (Miss Goody Goody) had completed yet another magical transformation. The best forgery, yet. Didn't we get caught? Oh yes we did. The conductor takes our pass. Shiiiiit. Comes back and says I can see you've changed the numbers. Shiiiit. She says we either pay 130 euros or go to the police. Shiiiit. Nina's attempting to explain (explain what who knows) as we have now gathered a crowd of conductors. She{s going on and on about the "rules" as Nina is saying yes, yes of course we'll pay...blah blah and this woman keeps going on and on saying and saying LOUDLY, pay or go to the police. No shit lady, we said we pay now get out of my face. It was so embarassing. And all this after Nina had just told me about confronting cheating students. Such a role model for America's youth, no? Nice rocked though! Went to Cannes and Monaco as you know.

I think Barcelona was pretty well covered and I managed to get myself covered in all sorts of liquids (I'm talking beverages, people.)The passport debacle was sort of frustrating and I feared for a few moments I may lose Nina to a panic attack but it all worked out in the end. I got to visit the US consulate and stare at pictures of Dick, Colon, and Bush.

Sevilla is unbelievable. A guidebook superbly sums up the Andulucian area. It says, "It is made up of Castilian pride, Arabic pleasure in life, the peaceful wisdom of the Jews and the passion of the Gypsies." I love the diversity here and if not able to be home for the holiday tomorrow, I can think of no better place to be! Right now we are off to see a Flamenco show! Adios!