A Whirlwind Week

Well, it's been a week since I have written anything, so I guess I have some catching up to do.
Greg finally got here on Sunday and took a little nap, since he hadn't slept since Friday night in America. Before he got here, daylight savings time happened in America, so I did not know if he would be getting here an hour later or what, but apparently daylight savings time does not happen until next Sunday in Europe. It's very odd. Anyway, after he was in Prague for about 5 hours, we left for Barcelona. That night we had to sleep in the Frankfurt airport. That poor kid. He was in airports for about 3 days straight. Anyway, we finally got to Barcelona (Monday) and found a really excellent place to change money, plus the Arc de Triomph. No commission AND they gave us 1 euro for 1.5 dollars. Can't complain with that. After getting food, we went and saw the Gaudi house that looks like a dragon. Luckily, I have been to Barcelona, and it really did help a lot. We found things pretty well, and my Spanish skills helped us out a ton. Greg said if I couldn't speak Spanish, then things that would take me 5 minutes to get accomplished would take him about an hour, combined with a lot of pointing. We also saw the Sagrada Familia! I love that building. So beautiful. It was only one block away from our hostel too! We would walk out in the morning and just be in awe of it's magnificence.
After that we went back into town and saw the Park Guell, which is basically a huge park Gaudi built. his home is there and so are many other splendid buildings he helped build. We also went to the Olympic Park and eventually found our way to the National Museum. We then rode around on a bus and got slightly lost, but eventually got to our hostel and we went to bed around 7pm and woke up at 8am.
That morning (Tuesday)... we went BUNGEE JUMPING!!! So much fun! It was so scary and super sketchy. We went out to some bridge about 30 minutes outside of Barcelona and did it from there. Jumping off of a bridge was so scary, but I recommend everyone should do it once in their life. It's such a rush. Seeing the trees get closer to you and hoping your cord will catch you, there is not another experience like it.
Once back in Barcelona, we made our way to Las Ramblas and spent most of our day there. We saw the first Cathedral of Gaudi, which isn't finished, and found a cool marketplace. They had so much good looking food there, but I restrained myself and didn't buy anything! Then we made our way to the beach and Greg got to stand in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. We also enjoyed some coconut while was the sea roll in and a man make a huge sand castle. The night we found a little restaurant off the beach and enjoyed some Paella, a traditional dish from Spain which has rice, corn, and seafood, had some awesome cheese soup, and good white wine. They also gave us desert!!! My favorite!
The morning (Wendesday) was an early one, because we had to catch a bus at 6:15am. Or so the lady told us, but the bus wasn't until 7:00am. Which was bad because we had to get to the airport in time for our flight at 8:25. The bus ride was an hour long, and luckily we had our boarding passes, and security only took 10 minutes. You have got to love lax airport security, especially because it got us to our gate with plenty of time to spare. We then arrived in the Frankfurt airport, which we found out was actually 85km outside of Frankfurt. Apparently the airline we rode with, as Greg calls it "Sketchoair" built their own airport and charged people the ride into the city. So we opted for staying in the airport and just hung out for 6+ hours. Luckily they went by fairly quickly. That night we got back into Prague at 9:30pm and went out to party for St. Patrick's Day.
On Thursday we went out and saw Prague. A lot of it I haven't seen yet, mainly because it has been too cold and I would rather not go out and be freezing to death, but luckily it was super warm here while Greg was in town! We first went to change his money, and then walked around Old Town. After we headed to Wenceslas Square and saw the National Museum and National Opera House. It was cool because Amazing Race was filmed there, so we were like, "Hey! We say that on TV!" Then we went to the castle, where Greg saw his first castle and cathedral! I had not been up there yet, so the view from the top of the castle was AMAZING! You could see everything. It was really beautiful. I got a good handle on where I am in town now too, because I saw basically where everything is. We then strolled across the Charles Bridge and saw all the little trinkets people were selling and what not. From there we went to the Dancing House, then back to the dorm for dinner. Greg was so excited about the exchange rate here. It was so much cheaper than the one in Barcelona!
The next day (Friday) we went to the TV tower, which is very interesting... and there are huge babies on it. You have to see it to understand what I mean. After I tried to take him to a really neat church, but we got lost and somehow ended up at the first castle that was built in Prague, which I didn't even know existed! So that was pretty cool to find! The cemetery there was so small, but there were so many people crammed in it! We then headed to the Jewish Quarter and saw the Spanish Synagogoue, which was also in the Amazing Race. The last thing we saw was the Lennon wall, which is where the original COEXIST sign was created. You know, the one with all the crazy symbols that signify all of the religions. Anyway, it is a wall that has graffiti with things Lennon believed and his picture.
Then we went and had dinner at a place called "The Two Cats", Greg was sold just by the name. We have a delicious dinner, and for the both of us it was around $19, and it was a very classy restaurant too.
Sadly, this morning I had to say good-bye to Greg as he headed back to Kansas. I wished him better luck on his traveling and had to leave him at the customs line. Six days was not long enough, but it was very nice to have him here and travel around with him. He had never been to Europe before, so it was cool seeing his eyes light up when he saw his first castle, or a huge cathedral. It was also nice having a friendly face around. Thanks again Connie for making that happen!
Anyway today I am probably sitting in my room and recuperating. I have about a month and a half of laundry to do, so that should be fun! Hopefully I will be able to post pictures today or tomorrow!