Paris, France- romance capital of the world

It's no wonder that Paris is called the "romance capital of the world". It is such an incredible place! It is so beautiful this time of the year and there are fabulous little parks and bakeries on every corner. Couples holding hands and putting their locks on the bridge. It is like a movie, so sweet! We heard that 14 million people visit Paris every year!!! We made our way through the whole city, visiting: Place des Vosges, Norte-Dame, Pont Des Arts, the Eiffel Tower, Seine River, Arc De Triomphe, Moulin Rouge, Montmartre walk and the Basilique du Sacre-Caueur (basically, all of Travel Advisor's top things to do). This is the kind of city that you would really need to spend some time in to fully appreciate it and see everything. Getting to see so many places that I have read about all my life is so amazing! The people here, especially our couchsurfing hosts, have been so nice. We had high expectations for Paris and it has exceeded them in every way!

Running with the bulls- Pamplona, Spain

Seriously, the most terrifying experience of my life!!! I didn't even decide that I was actually going to  run until this morning. The running starts at 8am and so we had to leave our campground really early.  The gate was locked and we almost couldn't get out, since we were running late we didn't get to eat breakfast. We show up in Pamplona and there was mass carnage (trash, bottles, the over powering smell of urine and puke) from the non-stop party that has been going on all week. We worked our way to the front of the running area. We had agreed that we were going to be way ahead of the bulls so that we had time to get into the arena and out of the way before getting anywhere near a bull. Then the police start pushing everyone out and around the back and we ended up in the middle of the pack of people. The most dangerous section is called "dead man's curve" and it was just in front of us. We figured since we were still 2/3 of the way through the run we would still be way ahead of the bulls. When the trumpets sounded at 8 people were jogging at a slow pace, then suddenly people started running faster, and faster, until people were getting trampled by each other. We had just cleared "dead mans curve" and people start screaming and this mass hysteria hits everyone. At that moment I knew the bulls were just behind us and there was no way we were going to out run them. That was the most terrifying moment of the whole day. As I tried to tuck into the side of the wall, I lost Adam. It was just people pushing people into the sides of the building as the sound like rumbling thunder comes through the alleyway between the buildings. I look behind me and 20 feet away running at almost 30mph are 10 1,200 pound bulls. I stayed at the side with my legs shaking so hard, until they cleared. Then I found Adam and we jogged into the arena. We just kept saying how scary that was and that we had no idea we were actually going to be so close to the bulls. The pictures and movies don't show how fast those bulls really are moving. As the adrenaline wore off and the lack of food hit us we were exhausted. Now we can officially say..."been there, done that, got the T-shirt"!!!

Spain- Barcelona

Barcelona, or as Adam and I have been saying "barrrrr-thelona", is the second largest city in Spain and has been a great town! We are staying with these guys at an airb&b where we are getting a chance to practice our seriously rusty espanol. Yesterday, we walked for like 10 hours and visited the Casa Guell, Mercat de la Boqueria, Gothic quarters, museu Picasso, parc De la ciutadella, Arc del Triumf, Casa Milan and Sagrada Familia. Sagrada Famila was designed by Gauidi and began construction in 1882 and it is still under construction! Today, we went to Playa De la Barceloneta (aka the beach) and Park Guell. I know it's a cultural thing but it's still so weird to me to go to topless beaches. I have a few additional thoughts on that topic but it's probably best to leave it at that. We are officially 2 weeks into our trip and haven't washed our clothes yet.  The washing machine here is broken so when we got home tonight we did a massive bathtub clothes washing. I don't think the nasty cheap clothes detergent smell is ever going to come off of my hands!

Spain coast- Cadaques and Tossa De Mar

We have been lounging around the absolutely stunning Spain coast. It's a place many people throughout Europe vacation because of the great weather and beaches. The area we are in now is Catalonia, which is almost like its own country. Adam lived in this area for 2 summers almost 10 years ago. Of course he remembers everything, what towns and beaches are the best, where the best cliff jumping is.  We went to this incredible blue bay that we had all to ourselves. It was so peaceful! Since we have to make everything an adventure we went cliff jumping off the sides around the bay. I consider myself a brave person but this cliff was so scary I had to mentally build myself up for a good 5 mins before I could make the jump. The place Adam jumped off was at least 20 feet above where I went. The cliff edges are sharp and slippery and you have to jump so far out or you won't clear the rocks below. Ahhh why can't we ever be normal people and sit in the incredible blue bay and relax like everyone else would have done.

Monte Carlo, Monaco and Nice, France

2 beach days in a row! I never thought I would say it but I've had a little too much sun. Yesterday we spent the day in Nice, France. We went to the very famous beach there and I didn't realize its super rocky. We got sunburns in an hour because the sun was so strong. Nice has a fabulous historic district with shops and a boardwalk. Adam bought a leather bracelet at the same leather store he bought one at almost 10 years ago. Today we went to Monte Carlo, which is in Monaco, its own tiny little country. That place has some serious money!! Yachts and nice cars everywhere. Absolutely stunning ocean and harbor views. Then we started driving again and it is sooooo hot today I thought we were going to die. It was over 100 degrees at 10:30 this morning! Cloe (our '94 rover) doesn't have A/C and we were rolling up our clothes and sticking our feet out the window. We were so delusional we started writing a song about our River Cola (knock off coke) and making up a dance move called the doggy paddle.

Matterhorn and mt. Blanc- Alps

We have done 3 hikes in 3 days and I thought yesterday's hike was going to put me in my grave. We went to zermatt, which is where the Matterhorn is. It's a car free town. (Who even knew there was such a thing?) so you drive to the town below and then hike or take a train in. It was such a picturesque town. It was a little mountain town situated just below the towering Matterhorn. We should have left more time to see the town because by the time we hiked in we had to hike out. This was probably our favorite town we have seen on our trip and would definitely go back for a longer trip. Then yesterday we stayed in Chamonix, where Mt. Blanc is. We couchsurfed with some college kids. They were so great and we had a lot of fun. I don't feel like college was that many years ago but now I realize that I'm getting old. The hike we did there was so tough. There were so many switch backs and the incline was really steep. I thought my little heart was going to explode. Absolutely stunning views. I think we took close to 100 pictures in 1 day!