(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!

We have had a couple of rough days in Spain. This catch-up blog will probably leave out many of the unpleasant details. Our first night out in Barcelona was great fun. Perhaps too much. We decided to hitch a ride on a pub crawl - four bars, one night club, free drink at each place and about 100 fellow revilers. Good god! The crowd was loud, fun and quickly drunk. We found a few interesting folk (two California girls and, as always, Canadians! This time, Calgary.) to stick close to.

Try to imagine this drunken crowd strolling the streets of Barcelona on a TUESDAY night from 9:30pm until about 1am when we finally arrived at the dance club. On the way to the second pub we were doused with water by locals who (poor souls) have apartments above the bars. I really cant blame them. The Aussies were yelling (as usual) their Oiy! Oiy! Oiy! song. Unfortunately, Tracy got a full bucket. She was drenched. I laughed sympathetically, but it was damn funny.

The night club was like any other I have been too. Lots of duff-duff music and drunken men trying to do the grind, much like dogs in heat. Very unattractive. We left around 3:30am.

Much hung over the next day, we could only manage to ride a bus. Yes, along with the senior citizen crowd on vacation, Tracy and I bought a tourist bus ticket and road around Barcelona in a hangover stupor, watching the sites go by. I started to fall asleep until Tracy nudged me and reminded me I just paid 16 Euro to nap on a bus! We did see lots of Gaudi (local, famed architect) and went to parts of the city we certainly would have missed on foot. Back at the massive hostel, we tried to take showers and get ready for evening number two while bumping in to 30 other girls using the bathroom. Cramped quarters, and not very clean. Ugh, when will this end...

We decided to keep it low key and early, so we had dinner and went to a bar nearby called the Blue Margherita. Guess what their special drink was? The Lets Go guide book suggested the place for a Wednesday night drag show. As with many things in Lets Go, we got there on the wrong night. Instead, we saw a trapeze "artist". Literally, a trapeze hung from the ceiling of this hipster-filled bar. Some had to move out of the way before the show started. A hairy, bare-chested guy did his routine to Spanish-sounding music (Sergovia-like, classical guitar stuff). A VERY enthusiastic audience member was yelling stuff at him during the show. After his performance she (the fan/heckler) tried to climb on the trapeze. They cut the music, turned on the lights and some security guard guy tried to pull her away. She somehow got on to the trapeze and, of course, turned out to be part of the show. The two of them did a "I love you/I hate you routine" that was quite impressive. Well worth the 3 Euro, no cover drink. We were back at the hostel and in bed by 1:30am.

Tracy set the alarm for 6:30am. We wanted to get to the train station and book an overnight to Bilbao. The train system in Spain SUCKS ASS. You must reserve every train, no matter how short a distance, and the lines for making reservations get to be 3 hours long, no joke. Add to that, rail workers are on strike so some trains are not running at all! Of course, the Bilbao overnight was one of those trains. So, Tracy and I had to leave the queue and refigure our plans. Madrid. Lets get to Madrid and see from there. As we were about to book a train to Madrid leaving in one hour, I realized my wallet was gone. Yup. I freaking lost my wallet. As some of you will recall, I did this recently in Las Vegas, only to find it the next day after canceling all my cards.

Recalling that experience, I looked everywhere for it. No luck. Tracy, bless her heart, even took the metro back to our hostel to look for it. I cancelled my cards and called the US consulate. Of course, we missed the Madrid train.

So, I lost my wallet at 8:30am in Barcelona, Spain. My absolute travel nightmare, but, like any good Girl Scout, I was prepared. I had a back up credit card and a copy of my passport in my backpack. Thankfully the card worked and I got cash. We then trekked to the US consulate and, much to my surprise, I had a new, temporary passport by noon. ALWAYS bring a copy, my friends. It makes life easier. Although, it cost an arm and a leg and I felt sick to my stomach during the whole affair, I felt warm relief when the secretary at the consulate office talked to me in perfect, Southern drawl English. I have not felt more at home since we left! God bless the USA. But leave it to Tracy to make "I hate my president" jokes while we waited for my precious passport!

Back to the train station, where my eyes continued to scan for my wallet (hope never dies). We made an overnight train reservation for Madrid and then had 10 hours to kill in Barcelona. My spirit along with my body was breaking down so...back to the BEACH! We spent the late afternoon sleeping on the beach, had a lovely meal (on me and my new credit card) and made our way back to the train station. Side note: We detest the Barcelona train station.

Wee! An overnight train, first class with Eurail. No hostel, cozy bunk beds and a good nights sleep (for me. Tracy doesn't sleep so well on trains). At least, this is what I was looking forward to. As we boarded the train, which was 1 hour late, our spirits dropped again. SEATS. Our overnight train reservations were for seats. Good god! It was awful. I would take a smelly, crowded, moldy hostel with 200 drunk college students over upright train seats any day. With 8 hours ahead of us, we tried to find a comfortable position. The seats reclined (sort of), but this aint no lazy boy, let me tell ya. I leave Tracy to perhaps fill in some of the highlights. I cant think about it any more. Goodbye Barcelona.

So we pulled in to Madrid at 8am and had to decide what next. With only 5 nights to go, the trains expensive and unpredictable, we chose to get ourselves to Sevilla, the city we fly out of. Seemed the most sane and relaxing idea. I am sorry to skip Bilbao and miss the Guggenheim there, but just thinking about getting from Northern Spain to Southern Spain made my body ache.

We are now in Sevilla at an absolutely adorable hostel. More like a hotel with a shared bathroom, this place is a delight. We have a private room, blessed be! I am pleased to the core of my being to have this as our final European sleeping spot. And, only 18 euro a night! We are in the center of old town, one block from the 3rd largest cathedral in the world. The picture on the picture page of the Coastal Crush website is the tower of this cathedral. We have walked around a bit, had more sangria (takes away all my stress), ate yummy tapas and toured a bull fighting ring. With five nights here, we are taking it easy. A few day trips planned: Cadiz for more beach, maybe Cordoba and Malaga. It is hot here, so we have totally adopted the siesta for the hottest part of the day. To say the least, we will be happy to come home. This trip has been amazing, unforgettable, but both of us are about as spent as possible. It may take weeks just to recover.