mario October 29th, 2003

Whoa! I so do have a Livejournal account now! I feel so elite.

• Blog , LiveJournal

mario June 23rd, 2000

Viernes, el 23 de junio, 2000

I would say today was pretty fun. The group got to split up and explore San Sebastian.

I went off with the girls again, as Darien is just getting worse by the minute. Unfortunately, the girls went in just about every clothing store they saw, and San Sebastian has a lot of stores. Eventually we reached the aquarium, which, although interesting, wasn’t worth the walk (or the 1.100 pesetas we paid). The girls decided to go swimming; they enjoyed it until they realized they didn’t bring towels, and had to walk back to the hotel in their swimsuits (I can’t say I minded).

• Spain Journal

mario June 22nd, 2000

Jueves, el 22 de junio, 2000

The bus ride to Pamplona took more than 5 hours! I only slept for 3, so I spent about 2 hours playing Pokémon, until the batteries ran out. Pamplona was fun, but short. Our guide from NETC, Lisa Escobar, showed us where the bulls run during San Fermin on July 7th, and La Cafe Iruña, a restaurant Hemingway frequented. But after that, there wasn’t anything else to do. I walked around with Katya and some of the other girls, and we went in some stores and had some lunch, but we mostly just wandered aimlessly.

Luckily, the trip to San Sebastian was much quicker, 1 or 2 hours. Our hotel is on top of a huge hill overlooking the city. After looking around the hotel grounds a bit, I found a carnival-type thingy, but it wasn’t open. Maybe tomorrow…

Darien is really getting on my nerves. I don’t know what it is about him, but under normal circumstances I never would’ve even talked to him.

• Spain Journal

mario June 21st, 2000

Miercoles, el 21 de junio, 2000

Another fun day in Barcelona. Today we had a guided tour, which was pretty neat, except for the fat that our tour guide was an annoying old lady. She didn’t give us enough time to take a good look at anything, and she looked like a fool carrying around that stupid red umbrella, though it kept us from losing her. Thankfully, her tour was short: we took a quick look at the Olympic stadium, walked through another cathedral, then back to La Rambla. I had some yummy KFC for lunch, walked around for an hour, then went back to the hotel; there’s only so much you can do in La Rambla! After dinner, I went to bed early, so I could wake up early for the upcoming bus trip.

• Spain Journal

mario June 20th, 2000

Martes, el 20 de junio, 2000

Today I had to get up inhumanely early so we could get to the aeropuerto a tiempo. Although I was saddened to leave Mallorca, I looked forward to new experiences on the Spanish mainland. After a 1-hour flight, we were there.

Barcelona was pretty fun. I spent most of the time wandering around. Darien and I walked down La Rambla, a long street with tons of stores and even more people. We also toured some of the back streets, where I found some great gifts for my family. But after awhile, I got really tired (I’m still trying to adjust to the 9-hour time difference), so I went back to our Hotel Cristal and rested up a bit. A few hours later, we all met up for dinner: pork chops and fries. Another American dinner for us…

• Spain Journal

mario June 19th, 2000

Lunes, el 19 de junio, 2000

¡Hola a todo!

I didn’t write yesterday, as we did very little (unless you count the two pasta dinners during the flights). But today I had fun. After a light breakfast of Corn Flakes, we took a bus tour of the quaint city of Palma de Mallorca, followed by a walking tour of one of the cathedrals. It was called “Parc de la Mar”, and the architecture & artwork was incredible. I would’ve taken tons of pictures, but my camera takes all its pictures with flash, which was not allowed inside; it would speed the deterioration of the colored tapestries hung inside.

But the real excitement came when we were allowed to wander the city, with a buddy, of course. So I walked through the tight alleyways with newfound friend Darien Hirotsu. We visited various little gift shops, although I couldn’t yet find anything worth purchasing. Before i came, I was afraid that my smattering of Spanish would be useless, but the locals are very understanding, and I got by. Particularly interesting were two things: Spanish McDonald’s and the beach. However, only the latter proved to be downright strange. After 2 hours of browsing, I was ready to take a quick dip in the Mediterranean waters. Once I got to the playa, I found the women to be… lacking in the clothing department. It was an unusual sight, seeing so many topless women in public. Very unusual…

For dinner, we all had chicken and french fries, which just so happened to be the dinner last night. Most everyone in my group thinks it’s time for real Spanish dishes!

• Spain Journal

mario June 18th, 1999

Friday, June 18th, 1999

Ah, our final hour. It defenitely wasn’t wasted. Thankfully, we didn’t have another Ponderosa trip. Instead, we had another ride on the Tahoe Gal. That was pretty fun. We took the Emerald Bay cruise. Donna didn’t want us to stay below decks this time, so we spent most of the trip sitting on top, fighting the wind. We saw some osprey’s nests, and even a few osprey. In Emerald Bay, we saw Vikingsholm and Fannette Island. Mostly, I chatted with Carlo about Pokémon, Star Wars, and other points of interest.

This evening, we gave Grampa his early Father’s Day present, a shirt with a fishook pattern (I know it’s spelled “fish hook)”. He loved it.

I really enjoyed myself this time. We didn’t do quite as much, and I didn’t swim. And there was Kara… Anyway, I still had tons of fun.

• Tahoe Journal

mario June 17th, 1999

Thursday, June 17th, 1999

Starting today, I’m putting that little st/nd/rd/th on my dates.

Me, Dad, Amelia, and Carlo all went rafting down the Truckee River this afternoon (Donna and Kara were too chicken, and were content with going shopping). It was a blast. For most of the trip, I got to paddle the little raft by myself. That was good, because it was really fun being able to steer.

That’s about it for today.

• Tahoe Journal

mario June 16th, 1999

Wednesday, June 16, 1999

First off, I would like to apologize for my journal entries. I just use this to let off steam.

Today was supposed to be a lazy day, but Grampa had other thoughts. We spent most of the day picking up sticks and doing household chores.

Finally, we went to the beach. Once again, I wasn’t in the mood to swim, so I sat on my towel eating lunch. After dinner, we all sat and watched “The Truman Show”. I liked it a lot, but no one else did.

• Tahoe Journal

mario June 15th, 1999

Tuesday, June 15, 1999

After a sugary cereal breakfast, we took a trip to Reno, which seems to be the farthest this family will ever let me go.

We wandered through the streets and casinos a bit, then stopped for lunch at Planet Hollywood. Nothing’s really different there, but I got to see a prop from “Army of Darkness: Evil Dead 3”, which is a really funny movie.

Upon exiting Reno, we went to Boomtown. This time, I didn’t make the mistake of going on the VR ride, being content with the ticket games. Carlo did the same, so we combined our tickets to get a great Anakin Skywalker cup.

While Grampa and Dad went to a rotary meeting, Gramma and Donna took the rest of us to Lakehouse Pizza. Since Amelia and Kara didn’t want meat on their pizza, we got cheese, which was decent. But you’d think me and Carlo would get our way at least every once in awhile.

• Tahoe Journal