November 26th, 2004

Hello friends! So, it's been awhile since we last wrote so we have a lot to say. Right now we're in Rome, but since Sevilla we've been to Portugal, Barcelona and Sicily!

Portugal:
Well, we took a night bus to Lisbon, from Sevilla, which was stinky. We arrived way too early in the morning and met a funny little girl named Jennifer from Regina. Jennifer gave us a map and some money for the metro. Thanks Jennifer! So, we went to our hostel which wasn't a hostel at all, it was a nice little room with three beds and nightstands! We toured around Lisbon that day and decided that the next day we would go to Sintra, a small town outside of Lisbon. People were very nice to us in Portugal... and they ALL spoke English! The only not nice person we saw in Portugal was an old woman who was being tormented by some guys. It made her really upset and she threw a huge rock at them. We were pretty scared.

So, Sintra was beautiful! It was small, and there were white lights hanging from all the trees. There were lots of parks, palm trees and palaces. Our second day there we went to see some of the palaces and met a wonderful Canadian couple. We pretended they were our grandparents. It was nice to hang out with our grandparents for awhile.

We spent only three days in Portugal and then headed straight to Barcelona.

Barcelona:
We got into Barcelona in the evening and found our way to a cool hostel. There was a big fruit market off the main street, La Rambla, and we bought food to make the most delicious omelets! Oh umm. We toured around the city the next day and saw some cool architecture and also ate gelati! That night we went out to a place where we got free dinner... it was mediocre. We met some friends and when to a pub and hung out around a barrel. The best part of our time in Barcelona was... FALAFEL!

Sicily:
We left Barcelona and then things got fun. We flew to London where we spent the night on the airport floor. Steph, unfortunately, got sick all night. We relocated so we could be close to the washroom. She must have drunk some bad water. Bad Stephanie!

We had another flight out of there the next morning and things got even more fun! Steph says she was sick again but Ern and Bri know that she was just trying to get free food from the flight attendants. But, it worked for her! Passing out always does! She got a free bottle of water and a free chocolate granola bar! Plus, she got to sleep across three seats while Erin and Bri were mad and smooshed in the back.

Anyway, we arrived in Palermo and it was ugly and there were mean men at the train station so we were outta there! We caught a train to Taormina where we stayed for four nights. Life there was good... we went to the beach, joined the Mafia, and ate marmelada. Ern and Steph took a day trip to Mount Etna, which happened to erupt that very day!!!! They ran really fast down that mountain. That's a lie. They did hike up it though and it was spectacular. Bri went to the beach. We met some cool friends there and they were very nice to us, although they were American. Except for Darcy, James and Gibralto who were not. American, that is. They were also nice.

We took the night train to Rome and sat in a coach with a lovely Italian man who gave us his sandwich and an apple! Bri ate it all and didn't share at all. We got into our hostel about two hours ago... and there's a toga party here tonight! You are all invited. So, see ya here tonight! We have to go because there's free breakfast, fatties! None for you. Sorry! See ya!