End of Barcelona, Back to France, on to Switzerland!

Alright, so now that we've made it safely all the way to Switzerland (country #4!), I figure it's time to put up an update of the last few days.

After sleeping in and opening gifts on Christmas day, we had a deeeeeeeeelectable supper with the Barcelona crew (highlight of which was TJ's masterful apple crisp) and watched the Doctor Who Christmas special, along with a bunch of Corner Gas, which Julia and Kelsey have successfully gotten us addicted to. (Thanks, guys.) We had an extremely lazy day, spending it in all its entirety in our pajamas, inside the apartment. Which, I have to admit, was actually rather nice.

Warm and cozy fire. Shaw Fire Log, you are the best.

Makin' a mess, makin' the best.

Mmmmmmmm apple crisp a la TJ.

Then, the next day we got up and packed, leaving time for the cleaning lady to clean up the apartment and set it up for the next people, while we walked down to Las Ramblas, which is just a big street market with local artisan vendors, as well as souvenir shops (Julia was on a mission for a Barcelona pin). We then made our way back to the apartment along the (very windy) water, to chill out until we had to leave for our trains/planes(/and automobiles- anyone? anyone? ok.).

And here are some various photos of the cool things we did and saw while we were in Barcelona, which I neglected to and now have no energy to explain in detail.

These totally awesome guns that we climbed on until a guard yelled at us to get off. Oops. *there were no signs anywhere. ahem.*

Up at a sweet castle that we explored. (Also, I like black and white)

There were SLIDES coming down from the castle. (It was at the top of a mountain, also had sweet views of the city.)

This lady was great. Just makin' bubbles with not a care in the world. Hilarious.
"I always wondered what I wanted to do when I was older. Well, now I'm older and I want to blow bubbles. Let me tell you- when the a** falls out of whatever it is you're doing, just blow bubbles."

Totally crazy awesome fountain we stumbled upon in a park in Barcelona!

Close-up of fountain.

Juuuulia on the giant mammoth/elephant statue, also in the park.

Moi on the elephant statue.

Mmmmm black and white.

Parakeets! Big group of them just flying around! So cool and so cute!

TJ made a friend.

Majestic lion rider, hair blowing in the wind.

So while Julia and Kelsey headed back to Germany, TJ and I hopped on a train to Marseille, France. We got in quite late at night (after getting off one stop too early by mistake- eep! Thank goodness there was another train to Marseille 10 minutes later. We still don't actually know where we were.) and found the hostel, thanks to a lovely and extremely friendly young woman who saw us looking incredibly lost and offered to show us a map on her phone. Quite nice. Anyhow, we found the hostel eventually and crashed.

Next day, we walked all around the harbor in Marseille, seeing not one, but two castles, and not one, but TWO cathedrals! One of the cathedrals even had a crypt that we decided to check out, and were thoroughly creeped out by for the rest of the night. But it was worth it- very cool. Marseille is BEAUTIFUL and I think i should like to go back sometime in the summertime, when more of the shops and restaurants are open, as well as the water warm enough to swim in. Hehe. Also very very nice to be back in a country where I understand the language. Spain was strange for me as the extent of my Spanish ends after greeting and saying please and thank you. (Not to mention it's a different Spanish than they taught in high school, so even TJ and Kelsey were slightly lost.)

Oh yes I will take eight, please.

Super cool cathedral we went into.

Inside the cathedral. It had strange organ pipes. Kinda neat.

Massive nativity set! With people in wrong time period clothing, haha! And, oh yeah, it's like an I Spy game to find the stable and such. Good luck.

I like windows.

... a lot.

LIGHT, THOUGH.

That evening, which was yesterday, I really started to miss home. Bad. So I was really sad for the evening, and then frustrated because nothing would work when we tried to book a hostel in Geneva for today, all of which didn't add up to the most awesome evening. But I talked to my parents on Facebook a bit, got some help with the hostel, and was finally able to book! Phew! Otherwise ha, ha, ha, homeless in Geneva.

But, ha! Lo and behold, not homeless in Geneva. We arrived safely today after three different train rides through France, which made both of us want to DRIVE through France so we can actually stop at all the interesting things we saw from the train (castles, cottages, and cathedrals, oh my!). That is, the things we saw between naps. Hehe. Hey, it was an early morning!

And so, we are in Geneva, it is pouring rain, but forecasted to stop in the couple days to come, so we will be able to explore this city! I am still feeling somewhat homesick, but certainly don't want to GO home yet, and much much much better than yesterday. As my mom put it, it's nice to know that home is only a Skype call away. Not that Skype sufficiently replaces home, but it helps a bit.

And I believe that is all for now, folks! I shall talk to you soon and report on Swizerland in all it's glory!

Au revoir!