Big Spring European Trip: Paris

Hitchhiking in France was bearable. Nothing special and definetely nothing from this amazing feeling I had before, freedom and joy of travelling for free and meeting people on the way.
Yes, there were people and they gave us a ride, but it was cold, wet, difficult, slow and frustrating.
Nevertheless we got to Paris one evening, tired, dusty and having no place to sleep.
But it was worth it.

Paris I knew only from 19th century books, and from what I've heard from friends it's supposed to be totally overrated, loud, unfriendly and ugly.

We spend five days there, walking and biking it through.
Sure, it is loud and busy to pure madness level I cannot compare with any other city.
It's full of extreme unfriendly, hostile people and weird municipal rules. And damned expensive!

But it's full of this special kind of magic you find in old, big cities, which remember other centuries. As if the streets and walls soaked up with all the stories, emotions, sorrows and joys of many human beings, who lived, loved, created and died there over so many years.

A city so full of substance that it's like a separate world, one have to get to know from the beginning.
And absolutely charming. Not the whole city is beautiful, that's sure but there are not just pretty streets, there are whole beautiful districts, compounding in a huge, overwhelming, breath-taking picture.

People who lived there say though, that it's just a mirage, impression, a romance that turns cold, soon after you fall in love. That one can't live and be happy there.

Don't get fooled by pretty parks, flowers and trees, theaters and galleries.

Well, I enjoyed it a lot. Enjoyed our fresh relation, that was growing beautiful and fascinating under the spring trees.

If you fall in love, go to Paris.

Hitch-hiking to Germany was a nightmare. I truly gave up all the hope and sympathy for this way of transportation. Maybe I grew old, maybe people grew selfish, but it just does not work as it was before. I was making jokes that one day, in many years I will tell children, how once it was possible to catch a ride with a stranger and get wherever you wanted, totally for free. They will surely not believe me.

On our way back we visited friends in Cologne, had a lovely few days enjoying first days of a real Spring and preparing to a real, hard life back in Hamburg. We stayed together and came back so much stronger.

Maybe there is no such thing as bad luck at all?

Big Spring European Trip: Spain

Spain was kind of disappointment.

Not that I expected a lovely warm sun and mild ocean breeze in Basque Country at the end of March.. Okay, I admit. That's exactly what I expected. Well, not this time.

It was terribly cold, rain never stopped and wind was tearing our heads off.
But meeting friends, landscapes and magnificent, angry and scary, beautiful ocean made it up to us.
Spain still has one more chance to show it's nicest side.

From the French border we took off in a Czech truck with a nice driver.

Big Spring European Trip: Portugal

As usual, I'm sorry for being silent for so long. The life has its ways and rules, I had to bring some order into it and it took me a while.
A lot happened within all these months, not all I will recall. What's important, is some kind of magic chain of coincidences, that seem to be happening to me, bringing up similar situations, dates and places from the past. And millions of memories.
And hopes. And dreams.

So, that trip should be called BIG SPRING NEW-LOVE-SEE-HOW-WE-GET-TOGETHER EUROPEAN TRIP. But the love was not yet love back then. It doesn't matter now anyway. So:

We decided to take a trip before we both find a job and run out of time or run out of money on the first place. A bit crazy, concerning the fact that I was without job and flat, knowing that after we come back I have to fix everything ASAP.

We were supposed to meet some friends in San Sebastián, Spain, but since the only cheap flights we found were to Porto, Portugal, the plan was to spend a few days there and hitch-hike back visiting Spain, Paris and Cologne on the way.

This is the same route I made with one of my best friends in Fall four years ago, going from Cologne, Bruxelles and hitch-hiking further down South to.. Porto, where she used to live.
Can't even tell how much I've learned during this 1,5 months then, about myself, world and making choices and making friends.

So I was about to do the same with my fresh new relationship. In the middle of March!
Brave.

It was also my first flight, nice experience. We got to Porto almost missing the airport bus in Hamburg, him being totally ill and me awaiting a great adventure and wave of memories.
Porto did not surprise me though, I've seen a lot during these years and the city, however beautiful, was just a memory.
We've been welcomed by the friends of a friends in their house with a roof-garden in a ruined building, had a nice day on a beach, I finally could eat as much of baked chestnuts as I wanted (food in Portugal is way cheaper than in Germany) and we camped in a lovely fairy-tale bushes in the middle of the city.
We didn't hitch-hike anywhere. After 1,5 days of standing in one spot we gave up and took a train straight to Spain.