Encore en Paris

My trip came to an end in the same city that It all started. The last week of my trip was spent getting to see the parts of Paris I missed the first time around. I had planned on visiting a few more cities including Lisbon and Porto in Portugal. After Barcelona I needed a much more relaxed experience.

I arrived in Paris just in time to join Scott for one last night out. We tromped around the Marais, of course, and managed to have a pretty good time. Again nothing safe for public blogs :)

After Scott left it was back to sightseeing for me. I was able to meet up with my friend Altan and spend a few days with him and his family. A word to the wise; if you figure that you'll be spending a good amount of time with French locals, learn some French.... Not all Europeans want to speak English. Lucky for me Altan's family was hosptiable enough to speak English while I hung around for 3 days :)

- Jesse Mah (says goodbye to Europe)

4 hours in Cebere

On route to France, I had a 4 hour train stop-over in a small town called Cerbere in southern France. To be honest I had no idea which country I was in when I got off the train. The town was super cute and very mediterranean :)






Best cous cous ever!!



- Jesse Mah (wants more good cous cous)

S'Owen my Wild Oats

Hey everyone... Hopefully someone is still reading this blog :s The last days of my trip were so action packed that I didn't make any posts here on deemed. I thought I'd rewind and fill you in on what was left unwritten.

After Granada, I returned to Barcelona for a week with my friends Scott Owen and Roy Steurererrerr (he's Jewish.) I don't think I could have had enough Barcelona time on this trip, it was by far my favourite city in Europe.

Scott, Roy and I spent a week in Barcelona letting our so called "freak flags" fly :) The days were spent parading through the city (usually making more noise than necessary) or lying on a jammed packed beach. At night we didn't sleep much, usually to busy drinking Tinto de veranos, which is essentially cheap Spanish wine and lemonade. Unrated stories can be shared upon request ;)

From Barcelona we spent a day in Sitges, a beatiful beach town just an hour away by train. It was a great place for some quality beach time together and again, being in Spain, wearing a speedo was mandatory.



Here are the boys showering at the beach... Watch it Roy... The waters cold ;)

- Jesse Mah (loves the mediterranean)

Tapas Tapas

Granada has the best tapas ever!!!! I'm actually screaming this right now!

The thing we forget about tapas is that it's supposed to come with a drink! Somewhere along the line, North Americans were tricked into buying tiny portions of food for a ridiculous amount of money. In Granada it is the opposite. You buy a cheap drink (around 2€) and you get a plate food with it :)

I met two really cool girls (Mexican and Spanish) who came tapas hunting with me. We had a blast trying new drinks and walking around Granada. Which by the way has the hugest personality for such a small city.

The main attraction in Granada is the Alhambra. This is basically what they've called a huge piece of land containing Islamic architecture and gardens. I loved it, even if I almost passed out from the sun. My pics don't do the place justice... Google it if you have a chance. Or if you end up in Spain, make sure to go to Granada to see for yourself ;)


(A gateway to the Alhambra gardens)


(Standing in line for the palace. The temp was mid 40's :s)


(The Alhambra Palace! Totally worth the third degree burns while waiting in line)

The utility room

Going for €15 a night in Madrid :)

Picasso's hometown

Málaga has a killer beach, great Picasso museum, an old fortress with stunning gardens and a really charming town centre... Filled with French and German tourists :)



I stayed at a really great place where a girl named Vanessa makes giant delicious mojitos. AND it just so happens that she's from Vancouver/ Kolewna... Small world.

It seems like a luxury to have an English speaker around these days. The further south I travel in Spain, the less people are willing to put up with my "Spanglish." (thank you Adam Sandler) I've promised to study Spanish back home, so hopefully some of you can hold me to my word!

I've already have this memorized:

A que ora sale el proximo trenh parah en Granada?

Hot Hot Hot

Seville is hot! How hot you ask?

So hot you need to drink 9 liters of water (or sangria) per day to avoid dehydration.

So hot that you might think you were in Morroco, but really you would be in Andalucía (the most southern province of Spain).... Taylor that was for you

So hot that some form of ice cream must be consumed every hour on the hour..... Ninianne, for you ;)

So hot that if you attend a 2 hour walking tour, it MUST end before 11am or start after 10 pm.

So hot that siestas are more important than your first born child... I'm not proud to say that I've witnessed this :s

Sooooo hot that you can only take pictures at night!


(Nicely lit houses)


(A concert, or maybe protest, in the street)


Jesse Mah (is going to see his first flamenco show in spain!)