Barcelona

I planned to stay four nights in Barcelona, the first two in a hostel and the last two I had arranged another Servas host stay. I only booked the first night in a Barcelona hostel because I could not find out much information about all the hostels available and I planned to check the booked one out the first night and if it did not seem very good - to just find another. It was the last week of September and I didn't think that finding a bed in a hostel would be that difficult. Unfortunately, there was some kind of festival in a town nearby and all the hostels (and all the budget hotels I would find out) were fully booked. The hostel was not that good (12 people in a dorm room) and I would have liked to change to another, but I was lucky the next day when they at least found that they could give me a bed for that second night.

I stayed the last two nights with a Servas host who was a public high school teacher and we talked a lot about our respective school systems. Her balcony overlooked the city to the west and a massive 16th Century court building across the street.

I spent the most of the four days in Barcelona days visiting Gaudi buildings and a park he created. Up until then, I thought the Alps were the most beautiful sights I had seen.

I still can't decide whether to go next to Germany while the weather is still warm or head to Italy and Greece (while the ferries are more frequent than once every two weeks). It is a hard life.

Germany

I'm staying in a hostel in Rome with free internet access so........From Barcelona, I took an overnight train to Paris and then another couple trains to Trier, Germany . The train trip was my first and last overnight one - even though in a bunk, I still did not get much sleep. In Trier Germany my Servas hosts cooked a delicious onion pastry dish for dinner and had a young wine just harvested that was delicious ... a cross between grape juice and apple cider.

I then traveled by train to Koblenz stopping along the way to take a taxi and walking trip to a fairytale-like castle in the forest: Burg Eltz.

In Koblenz I backpacked it up a long steep hill to a fortress overlooking the town and spent the night in the hostel there. Not as impressive as it sounds. The next day on the train ride along the Rhine river to the town of Frieburg, I saw a castle about every kilometer. In Frieberg it was another long hike to the hostel but it was level and the hostel was in a park next to the Black Forest.

The next day I took a tram, bus and gondola to a ridgetop and attempted to walk 18 km through the Black Forest to another town. My Lonely Planet guidebook said the tourist office in Frieberg provided very good maps of hiking trails but the one I got there was very vague and, as I found out when I started walking the trails, downright inaccurate. It took me about an hour to get on the right trail. The trail signage was not so good as well. No wonder Hansel and Gretel got lost. At one point, deep in the woods and not having seen anyone for 30 minutes, I came to a fork in the trail and a very confusing sign that gave no indication of what was the right way to go. I decided to wait at the fork to see if anyone would come by.... and wait.... and wait. It was very pleasant though, and peaceful and quiet. The Black Forest is not really black, but it is dark in places. Eventually, no one came and I made the right decision and finally made it back to town.

The last night in Frieberg the hostel showed a tape copy of The Gladiator ... a fitting movie for my next country:Italy.