marthamary*

Matt really was the photographer on this trip and took about 4,000 pictures so I will put those up when I can, but here are a few highlights…Last night in Barcelona with the boys

Leaving Barcelona in the rental car

Cadeques on the Costa Brava my favorite place visited by far

Best pizza ever!!!

Arles, France in the French Riviera-where Van Gogh created most of his masterpieces 

The courtyard of the institution where Van Gogh stayed after cutting off a piece of his ear and mailing it to his ex girlfriend…

Cannes Film Festival  

Nice (sorry no pictures of canyoning yet) 

Picnic at the Eiffel Tower-Paris

Fondue and wine in baby bottles!

Boat Cruise on the Seine

Amsterdam 

View from out first hostel, which was on a boat in the harbor-amazing.

The floating flower market is on the right. 

This was taken on a busy shopping street in Madrid, in one of my favorite areas, as a matter of fact. I love this space, the lighting and the textures are so intricate-a little slice of urban decay. I am home safely and will put up more pictures tomorrow, although Matt has a lot more than me. June 2nd is now over. Buenas noches hasta manana… 

Tomorrow I will be leaving Amsterdam and heading back to Madrid so I will be able to make some calls and update you with pictures and news! I am leaving Matt, Brenda, and Eric to explore Germany and head to Berlin…

So we are now in Amsterdam!!! We have been here for a few days and I love it, it is so beautiful-all the bikes and the canals I LOVE it. When we got here Matt and I spent two nights on a boat on one of the canals, which was a really cool experience. Captain Peter makes a mean breakfast. Yetsterday we rented bikes to have for the week and we rode to the Vincent Van Gogh Museum, but first stopping by a few coffee shops of course. Spent the night roaming, stumbled into an art opening and explored the town afterwards. Today we went to an antique market and met up with Matt’s sister and her boyfriend Eric. We have rented a condo and although a bit further out of the city, we have a really relaxing place next to a park. It was really funny because today we went to the store, got food for a picnic, got a nice blanket, wine, and some other things…. and went to the park to enjoy a delcious meal by the water, which was an experience all on its own. The first thing that happened was we sat under a tree that was harvesting sacks of caterpillars, which landed all over us, and the food. Then, a really cute dog decided to take a huge crap by our blanket and last, which my brother especially will hate and Karen Mccarthy..a father and son decided to go to the park with a sling shot and shoot beautiful birds that resembled parakeets. To make matters worse they happened to be right above us,so guess where the rocks were landing?
Short lunch.

Taking it a bit easy tonight. Tomorrow should be fun, some friend fron Paris are coming in and we will have a merry old time. Back to Madrid on Monday. I think Amsterdam may be one of my favorite cities, but no one wears bike helmets ohhh no Peter!!! And there are a lot of bikes…

Saturday May 24th
So we got into Paris last night and stayed with some friend Matt made in NYC: It was really nice because not only are they the friendliest people ever, but they are French so it was nice to hangout with a bunch of French people our age, see their apartment, and go to an amazing restaurant, They were so good to us, they paid for dinner and made us a French breakfast, which to American standards is pretty basic, but the bread was yummy. Matt is back at the airport picking up his Russian friend who is staying in the hostel this week so that should be both interesting and fun, never thought I would be staying with a Russian in Paris!!!!
We are staying in the nothern part of Paris called Montmartre, which the Moulin Rouge is in and also the famous Sacre Cour, or however you spell it. I am pretty beat up from traveling and canyoning so I think I am going to take a rest. Matt said I was talking in my sleep last night; which means I am really tired, I am sure I am leaving out a million details,,,we got to spend the day on the beach in Nice, the water was bluer than Hawaii!!!!!!! The weather was perfect I will write soon!
Besos

This is going to have to be quick because I am almost writing in the dark and these keyboards are hard to use!!! Wow what a week we have been having!!!! Today is Wed, I think, and Matt and I are now in Nice, which is in the French Riviera. Monday we went on a WILD adventure and climbed a serious mountain befoere leaving Cadeques. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever done and it was free!! We climed rocks, hiked, ran into actual bulls and all the while looking at the beautiful ocean. We had a great lunch of fresh mussels and then were off to France, not sure where we were really going. We ended up in Almes, which is a town known for Vinvent Van Gogh and its Roman ampitheater.  We walked around Almes on Tuesday and then headed for Cannes where the film feastivil was going on. We bought icecream sat on the beach with a few topless women and looked for celeb to no avail. Then we left and headed to Nice to stay in a crazy hostel that we had booked for two nights, the other night we just found some place to stay and it worked out great. Today we went canyoning in the Italian Alps!!! It was amazing I cant upload pictures but check out this website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyoning

It was sooooooooooooo crazy and fun!!! I am so beat up and tired now. Tomorrow the weather should be better and Matt and I are going to go to the beach and check out a town called Eze. Sorry for the crappy writing, but I have to run!!! When I get back to Spain June 2nd I can put up some pictures. Friday we leave for France I will write then. If you see him, kiss Holden for me!!!!!!

Today Matt and I rented a car and headed towards northern Spain, sadly Ray had to head back to America.  Having a car has been so amazing! We stopped in Cadequez, a small beach town about three hours from Barcelona. It is so beautiful and not only for its eclectic artists, but for fostering famous artists like Salvidor Dali and the famous Spanish poet Fredrico Lorca. It is such a beautiful, romantic town with terracotta roof tops and all white mediterantian houses. Matt and I decided that we are going to stay another night and go hiking tomorrow, because yes, we are also tucked away in the mountains.

Hopefully we can put up some pictures tomorrow!!! No more money!!1

It has been great to be back, a little strange at first, but a lot of fun. Aside from getting mugged my second day back, even though living here for 6 months and everything was fine, it’s been great. I think I was too distracted after picking Matt and Ray up from the airport. Ohhhh well. Anyways, this week has been a blast. We went and saw an amazing Goya exhibition at the Prado, ate a lot of tapas, drank a lot of wine and sangria and stayed out a few nights a little too late, with Alexei and some of his friends from Barcelona. It’s been really fun to show Matt and Ray around and I still know the city, I feel like I have never left and my Spanish is actually doing ok, which is nice. Today’s Friday and it’s the first chance I have gotten to write. Sorry it’s short. Today we are on our way to Barcelona!!! Hi to Matt and Ray’s families!! We are having a blast and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RAY!!!!  Here are some pictures of our outings the last few days in Madrid! Love you, Martha, Matt, and Ray  Read the rest of this entry »

1. Riding bikes with Holden in my backpack  2. Six Flags New England(Riverside Park)3. soft serve ice cream  Here are some fun spring moments…

Snowboarding with my favorite skier

SOFTBALL!!!!!!!!! 

•                               Mini Cooper ShoppingThe North End 

SIX FLAGS!!!!!!!

Que Mono! The cutest dog ever!!!!

1. Sawyer is a babe 2. Filmed in Hawaii3. Action and suspense 4. Drama 5. Hugo  Could last weeks episode have gotten any better?Some questions to think about that I want to know that answers to check out www.lostpedia.com  for more!!! 

• Why can’t Ben kill Widmore?
• Why is Widmore sure Ben can’t find Penny?
• What is the relationship between Ben and Widmore?

• What did Ben do in his secret room?
• Who or what has control over the Monster, if anything does?
• Why does the message from the freighter say that the doctor is fine?
• What value does Ben have that the freighter people won’t risk hurting him?
• Why did Daniel lie about the message?
• What is wrong with Jack?
• What does Jack talk to Bernard about after asking ‘Do you have a minute?’