The Decision Has Been Made....

Well, I needed to make a decision and that decision was to fly out to Barcelona on Sunday morning. This is really taking some advice from a friend who suggested staying put in one location longer to offset the constant moving around I've had to do between the campaign and this trip. So, I will be using my hostel in Barcelona as my home base for the final nine days of the trip. I('m going to do a few days trips (or possible overnight trips to the Basque region, the Pyranees, as well as a few other locations some Barcelona locaals have mentioned to me. It'll be a great finish to my trip with hopefully many stories to share.

As for Paris, I am very underwhelmed by it. Other than the Louvre, which is HUGE, the city is very Americanized and didn't appear to have much of it's own character outside of a few smaller areas of the city (including the area I am staying - Montmartre). I walked the Champs D'Elysee today and saw McDonalds, Gap, Disney Store, Movie Theatres, etc... It was like walking in NYC or Chicago on one of the main drags.

What separated it out for me from Rome was that Rome seemed to maintain its historic and more local flavor. Hopefully Spain will carry the same individual style that I felt in Italy.

FYI - this post will likely be updated in the next day or two.