The Emerald Isle

So I just got back to Barcelona from my very last European weekend trip.  I would like a moment of silence please, haha.

Any who, I spent the weekend in two cities in Ireland, Dublin and Cork.  It was a very busy weekend with flights every day (Barcelona-Dublin on Friday, Dublin-Cork on Saturday, Cork-Dublin on Sunday, Dublin-Barcelona on Monday), which was very hectic since we had to worry about the air traffic controller strike in Spain (which thank God ended Saturday/Sunday) and all the ice in Ireland.  This got me thinking, why the hell did I book a trip to Ireland in the first weekend of December, why didn’t I go sooner?

Regardless, it was still a good weekend, just a very cold one.  The one thing about Ireland that was different from all the other places I’ve been to is that there were really no major monuments/landmarks to visit; it was more about walking around and enjoying the company of the Irish.

The first thing we (John and I) did in Dublin was go get something to eat at an Irish pub near the hostel, called “The Hairy Lemon.”  Right away we came into contact with the Irish culture.  We ordered a pint of Guinness with our lunch (as did everyone else in the pub) and bantered with the waiter.  The Irish are incredibly friendly, just a step above the British, and I love their humor.  They frequently pull your leg, tease you and banter back and forth with you as a way to be friendly; this is my favorite type of humor/social interaction so I really felt at ease and comfortable talking to the Irish. 

After checking into the hostel, we went to the first Guinness brewery at St James’ Gate.  Now, I’m not that big of a fan of beer but I do have to say that I’ve grown to like the taste of Guinness.  The tour of the brewery was pretty cool but the part that everyone goes for is the chance to have a free pint at the Gravity Bar.  The bar has the best 360° view of Dublin, probably because it’s the tallest building in the city (guess that shows you the Irish’s priorities).

Rest of the day was just walking around Dublin, enjoying what little sunlight we had left (it did get dark at around 4:20ish).  We walked through Temple Bar, the well-preserved medieval section of the city that’s filled with pubs.  We didn’t stop and get a pint though because we already some earlier in the day and we had a very early flight in the morning to catch. 

For dinner, we dinned in Hell.  No not the real hell (it was about 20 degrees in Dublin mind ya), it’s a pizza franchise based in New Zealand.  We stopped to eat there because they had one hell of a deal (12 inch pizza, potato wedges and two glasses of wine for 20€!).  The pizza was soooo good, but I mainly wanted to go there because of the endless possibilities for puns.  Here’s the website if you’re curious.

The next morning we took a flight to Cork, mainly because of it’s proximity to the Blarney Castle.  This is of course the site of the world-famous Blarney Stone, the rock that will give the gift of gab to anyone who kisses it.  Now when I got there, there were two things that I was surprised about.

1. The castle was actually pretty smaller but the grounds were huge.  I thought it was going to be this grand old castle that had a million rooms and dungeons but it was actually very smaller.  That being said, it was still incredible.  We got to walk through pretty much the entire thing and the place was definitely designed for midgets (or possibly leprechauns, as a friend pointed out), cause John and I had to duck our heads through every doorway.
2. The actually stone was part of the castle wall.  Originally I thought it was big rock off to the side on the castle grounds that everyone would just leisurely walk up to and kiss it.  No, you actually had to be somewhat brave to make the effort to kiss the stone.  As it’s on the side of the castle wall and there’s a yard gap between the stone and the floor you have to sit down, hold onto two bars and lean backwards to kiss it, as you’re looking at the ground 70 feet away.  Luckily, there were two iron bars there so that if you feel you wouldn’t fall to your deal but it was still pretty unnerving. 

After touring castle we took a stroll on the castle grounds, which I was happy about because I finely got to see “green” Ireland (as all the snow in Dublin prevented me from doing).  After that, there wasn’t much to do in the town except to walk around and see a few local points of interest (like the English market and two churches).

We flew back to Dublin the next day and it was pretty much the same as the first day, walking around seeing the sites.  The best part of the day was sitting down at a pub and enjoying a nice pint.  While we were there, an Irish guy did strike up a conversation with us starting with the apparently popular phrase “what’s cracking?”  We talked about the States (apparently he spent some time in San Diego), what we were doing in Ireland (What the f-ck are you doing here?), and sports (he surprisingly knew a lot of NFL teams).  He was really friendly and it was cool to talk to a local.  In Spain it’s a little more intimidating trying to talk to a local in a bar because you’re not on the same language level as them, but when you travel to other English speaking countries of course it becomes much easier to do so. 

I liked Ireland, and if I were to go back I would go back in the summer (even though I’m from Ohio I’m not made out for cold weather) and I would definitely try to tour more of the countryside.  I guess we’ll save that for another time…

Pictures can be seen here :)

Venice

Well last week I traveled back to Italy with my roommate to Venice.  There’s not really much to say except that it was as beautiful as they present it in movies.  I’m not going to do a day-by-day account of what I did because it was literally just walking around the city (which was fine by me); instead, I’m just going to give you some bullet points on what Venice was like.

• Canal galore:  The city is composed of about 117 different islands divided by canals; literally every block was its own island.  Each canal was uniquely different from the one you saw five minutes ago so I was pretty much obligated to take a million pictures, haha.
• Gondolas: As to be expected, they were everywhere in the city and they looked a lot more luxurious than I expected (lush carpet and comfy armchairs); no wonder why they cost 80€ for a half hour ride (obviously I didn’t go).  They all wear the traditional striped shirt, but I didn’t hear a single one sing loudly in Italian :(
• Maze: Getting lost in Venice is incredibly easy to do as it is a city of numerous canals and narrow streets.  Besides this, the street signs are painted on the buildings so if one is faded then you’re shit out of luck trying to find out where you are.  Because of these three things, John and I got lost on the way back to the hostel on Friday night, somehow ending up in a residential area with a basketball court.  It was completely deserted, very dark and all we kept of hearing were the meows of some street cat.  It was very creepy to say the least.
• Food: I don’t know why, but the food in Venice sucked.  The portions were small and expensive.  The best meal I had there was a 4€ toasted wrap with a coke for lunch.  This is going to sound bad but the food at the Olive Garden was better the food in Italy…
• Masks and Glass: I didn’t know this before hand, but Venice is well known for their Carnival masks.  During Carnival, the people of Venice would wear them to hide their social status so that they could do whatever they wanted to do.  These shops were all over the city, literally there was like 5 of them on one street.  Another famous product of Venice is their Murano glass.  I don’t know what separates it from regular glass, but it’s very colorful and let’s just say that they make for good gifts…

I really liked Venice, and unfortunately for you guys it's really hard for me to describe it.  It's unlike any other city in the world and there's no way that you could compare it to anything.  So instead of me describing every detail of the city you should be looking at my pictures!

Touring the UK

As some of you already know, the past weekend I headed up north to the United Kingdom to spend some time in London and Edinburgh, Scotland.  I chose the weekend of November the 5^th because V for Vendetta is my favorite movie of all time and I wanted to be there to experience Guy Fawkes Day (you know, the holiday they celebrate in honor of the bloke who tried to blow up Parliament in 1605). 

I left Barcelona on Thursday night right after my last class and got into London at around midnight.  I took a train from the Gatwick airport to Central London, getting a chance to see the London Eye and Parliament all lit up from the train. 

I got up early on Friday to take a walk around the famed River Thames.  My hostel was literally 5 minutes from the River and the first thing I saw was Parliament and Big Ben.  They were exactly how they seem in the movies but so much cooler in real life.  Besides all of Gaudí’s buildings in Barcelona, Parliament is probably my favorite monument over here in Europe.  I don’t really know how to describe it, but it’s just stunning and stoic.  I also got to see other various monuments on my River Thames walk, including the London Eye, Tower Bridge, London Bridge and the Tower of London.  To my displeasure, it started to rain when I was taking my walking tour and it rained off and on throughout the entire day.  Why does it have to rain every time I take a weekend trip, is it a sign that I’m meant to stay in Spain? (espero que sí)

After that I took a walk over to Buckingham Palace to be a tourist and see the Queen’s Guards.  Unfortunately, I arrived too late to see the changing of the guards but I did get to see the guards walking around.  I was surprised though that they weren’t wearing the red overcoat like they’re always depicted; instead they wore a gray overcoat.  Idk, perhaps it was their version of fall fashion?  Also, the palace didn’t seem as majestic as it’s always made out to be, but maybe that’s because I didn’t get to see the inside of it.  The outside of el Palacio Real in Madrid was definitely a lot more impressive.

Next on my list was St. James’ Park, which is right next to Buckingham Palace.  The park was absolutely beautiful as the trees were all changing colors; I made the right decision to come in the fall.  One thing that shock me there was the size of the geese and ducks; they were like on steroids or something because they were massive.  Also, they were completely fearless as I was walking and none of them would get out of the way, I had to go around them. 

At the park I met up with my friend Carson, who’s studying in London for the semester.  He took me around to some of the other sites including Piccadilly Circus (the Time’s Square of London) and Trafalgar Square (the most famous plaza in London).  After getting some food, we headed off to meet up with some of his friends to go to a Guy Fawkes celebration in the London suburbs. 

Though I’ve been extremely spoiled in Spain with local festivals (Aste Nagusia in Bilbao and La Mercè in Barcelona) the event was still pretty cool.  They had this massive bonfire in the middle of the park greens and off to the side they had this guy on a wooden wheel…and the wheel began to spin round and round…and then came sparklers.  After the wheel was done spinning (and after the guy was freed from the wheel) the fireworks started.  I didn’t realize that Guy Fawkes Day was big over in the UK, but I guess it is a popular holiday. 

Here’s a video of the guy spinning, and spinning and spinning….

Then we took a stroll over to see Parliament because after all it was the 5^th of November.  Afterwards, in true English fashion, we headed off to a crowded pub to talk and drink till midnight (when all the pubs close).

I decided early on, before I even came to Europe, that I wanted to see Scotland, the land of my ancestors.  For this reason, I opted out for 3 full days in London for a day to spend in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.  I left the hostel fairly early to catch my flight and I touched down in Edinburgh at about 2pm.  I took a bus into the city center and was immediately struck by how beautiful Scotland is.  It’s truly just like they show it in the movies: everything is green, gentle rolling hills and beautiful stone buildings.  I was got off the bus around the Edinburgh Castle, the most famous castle in Scotland.  It’s perched up on a rocky hill, overlooking and protecting the entire city.  I walked around it on my way to the hostel in absolute awe of the castle.  As soon as I checked into the hostel I came back to the castle because I wanted to go inside but unfortunately I came to late.  I was extremely disappointed and to top it off it started to pour rain at that point (well I guess Scotland is green for a reason). 

Despite all the rain (it didn’t stop till morning) I still had a great time in Edinburgh.  The city was incredibly beautiful and it was just amazing to be in the land of my ancestors.  Besides BCN, Edinburgh is by far my favorite city I’ve visited in Europe, outranking London, Paris and Rome.  During my self-guided walk through of the city I saw Rose Street (a popular street populated by many pubs), Princes Street (the main shopping street) and the Elephant House (the café where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book on napkins).  The café has a great view of the Edinburgh Castle and I can imagine that it was a great source of inspiration for her.  I had the most delicious hot chocolate with a splash of Bailey’s Irish Cream, just enjoying being in the sight where part of my childhood was created. 

As it was raining all Saturday, I didn’t get a chance to take any pictures.  However, I was determined to show you guys how cool Edinburgh was so I got up at 7 in the morning to quickly go around the city snapping pictures before catching my 9am bus to the airport.  I think you’ll be happy with the results, and I’m sure you’ll agree that Edinburgh is a beautiful city.

When I arrived back in London, I did the same thing I did in Edinburgh; that is, go around taking pictures since I didn’t get a chance to do so in the rain.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to visit any museums, which really disappointed me because they are pretty much all free!  I did stop off at the British Library and got to lay my eyes upon the Magna Carta, Jane Austen’s writing desk, and selected writings from Da Vinci, Darwin and Freud.  The highlight of my day was seeing the Old Bailey, the central criminal court in London.  In V for Vendetta, it’s the first building that V destroys, the start of his master plan to overthrow the dictatorship.

Even though they speak English in the UK (what?!?!) I did notice a lot of cultural differences and here’s that list:

1. Stereotypes: You know, stereotypes can sometimes be true. Point one, British food is bland (the national dish, fish and chips, was very bland).  Point two, a lot of their teeth are ewww (a guy smiled at a pub and all his teeth were black).  Point three, Scots swear like sailors (walking down the street all I here is f@cking, sh!t, ect: so that's where I get it from!)  Point four, Brits and Scots drink a lot (every pub is extremely crowded).  Point five, Brits are extremely polite (see below).
2. Politeness:  The people I came into contact with in the UK were some of the most polite people I have met.  I had no trouble asking for directions in London, people would stop and even if they didn't know exactly where the place was they would try to help me anyway.  Everything is also written in a very polite, though wordy, manner.  For example, in the tube there's the famous phrase "mind the gap" when getting off the train.  It's not "watch out" or "caution: gap between the train and the platform" it's "mind the gap."  Add that with a a British accent and it was absolutely beautiful.  Also, I was walking in the park and I accidently cut off a runner.  She turned to me and said "sorry!" and continued on running like nothing happened and then there's me standing there completely dumbfounded (but I cut you off and you're apologizing?).
3. Left side: Seeing people drive on the left side of the road is as weird as you think it would be.  I kept on wanting to look the other way as I was crossing the street only to find that I was yet again looking the wrong way.  The city must realize that this is very weird for tourists because at each cross there was a sign on the ground saying which way to look.
4. Intelligence: The British seem extremely intelligent.  They all read on the tube, people hand out newspapers as you get on the tube and all the museums are free.  Brits don't have an excuse not to be educated and well informed, it's pretty much ingrained in their culture.
5. Security: London is probably without a doubt one of the most watched cities in the entire world.  Literally everywhere I turned there was a CCTV camera with a sign saying that you were being watched (I wonder what Mr. George Orwell would think about that).  Also, airport security was very tight and there were posters everywhere in the city that said things like "report your neighbor's suspicious activities to the police.  If you speak up you can stop them."  Seriously, I thought we were paranoid in America about security but for me this took it to a whole new level.
6. Pubs: There are literally hundreds of pubs in London and they all fill up at 6pm from people getting off of work.  As is tradition in London, most of them close at around midnight and everyone goes home (or to clubs if you're young and hip).  This was really surprising for me because in Spain things don't start happening till after midnight or even later and you'll still see people out at 4 or 5 in the morning.

Como siempre, here are the links to my pictures from London and Edinburgh.  Now I’m off to a Spanish/Catalan cooking class and then tomorrow I’m off to Venice for the weekend.  Come back next week to see more blog posts!

rah-rah-ah-ah-ah-ROMA-ROMA-ma!

*Sorry this post is late, I've been battling my first European cold since last Thursday :(

Can you take a guess as to where I spent my weekend?

That’s right, I went to Rome!  It’s such an amazing city filled with so much history, art and amazing food.  So let’s not didy-dadle any further, let’s dive right into it!

My roommate, John, and I had leave our house at four in the morning in order to get to the airport.  This is because we decided to fly out of Girona’s airport, which is 40-50 miles northeast of Barcelona.  To get there we had to take a taxi to the bus station and then a bus to the airport.  Never again will I be doing that.  On the bus we had two Germans guys sitting behind us and they wouldn’t shut up at all (they seemed to still be drunk from the night).

Finally, we got on the flight and found out within 5 minutes why fares were so cheap on Ryanair; it wasn’t an airline, it was a freakin infomercial. After we had ascended they came on the PA every twenty minutes or so trying to sell you some useless crap, like perfume or their newest scratch-off game where you can win a million Euros!  Thank God I had my iPod…

So we finally get to Rome, crossing through one of the gates of old Roman city.  Of course, our first thought is “let’s go to the Coliseum!”  We got a little lost roaming through the streets, trying to find the damn thing but when we did it was epic.  The Colosseum is incredibly massive and it’s truly amazing to think that 2000 years ago people were walking down on the same street on the way to see a “show” in the Coliseum.  Only a third of the original material is still there, but that didn’t make the building any less impressive.  Once there, we walked around a little bit before we got ambushed by a sweet talking guy who wanted us to a tour group.  It sounded really shifty at first, but we decided to go ahead and go on it.  It definitely added to the experience of the Coliseum as he explained the history of it (it was built in 10 years!), some stuff that I didn’t know about (it used to have a wooden roof with an opening in the middle for ventilation) and some debunking of myths (the emperor didn’t do thumbs up/down.  An exposed palm meant that the gladiator lived and the thumb to the side with the other fingers closed meant death).  After the tour we got to walk around the Coliseum to take everything in.  It was very cool but at the same time very eerie.  Hundreds of thousands of people died here for the entertainment of the Roman people, people were literally fighting for their lives as people watched.  Also, there were crows that still hang around the building, which for me was a little creepy.  To top this off, there was also a black cat that was loose in the Coliseum who I jokingly called the last lion of the Coliseum.

After the Coliseum we got a bonus tour!  We got head over to the near by the Palatine Hill which was the main hill in ancient Rome.  This was literally the center of the world at one point as it was the most important hill in all of Rome.  It also overlooks the Roman Forum, the main town square of Rome.  The space includes the main temples and judicial buildings in addition to other government buildings.  I got to walk through the forum just as Romans did thousands of years ago.  I don’t know, just thinking about all that history while walking through the forum was just mind blowing.

After that, we decided to walk through more of old Rome, mainly to see the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain.  The Pantheon was a temple in Rome that was dedicated to all the Roman gods until it was converted into a Roman Catholic church around 602 AD.  The outside was under some restoration but the inside was very beautiful.  The marble came in all different colors and Raphael is also buried there.  Trevi Fountain wasn’t very far from the Pantheon so we checked that out next.  Of course, besides the Coliseum this is probably the next most famous thing in Rome and for good reason.  It was gorgeous and probably my favorite site in Rome.  To insure your return to the Eternal City you have to throw coins into the fountain over your shoulder.  I think I read on Wikipedia that everyday there's up to 3,000 Euros in the fountain.  However, only 5 cents of that was mine was I threw in 2 cents for myself and 3 cents in for my sister so that someday she can see Europe for herself.

After that I don't remember too much because I was really running on empty (had to get up at 3:30am after maybe 3 hours of sleep).  I do remember that we stopped at a pretty nice cafe and I had a divine dish of fettuccine  and black truffle mushrooms....mmmmmmm delish!

Saturday was Vatican City day.  We got up early to meet up with our tour group and came across a really cheap, but very good, “snack bar” near the metro stop.  A delicious cappuccino and a croissant was less than 2.00€ (just a place to keep in mind if you ever head to Rome).  We waited in line to get our tickets for the Vatican Museum, which ironically contains the world’s largest collection of pagan art (go figure).  Our tour first lead us into two long hallways that were only filled with Greek and Roman statues.  There were so many that I probably saw all the Roman gods without even realizing it.  They portrayed Hercules as half-man half-god by giving him mortal characteristics.  For example, he is often portrayed with veins in his legs (gods don’t have blood) and he was usually supporting his weight on something. 

Outside the halls o’statues our tour guy stopped at a big board that showed the pictures of the Sistine Chapel.  He used this to explain what Michelangelo did and why it is considered the crowning achievement of his life.  He of course explained all the scenes in addition to “The Last Judgment” which appears behind the altar in the chapel.  He literally talked non-stop for about 20 minutes; I didn’t know it was even possible to talk that long without taking a break or pausing.  After his explanation, he asked if we had any questions.  After a moment of silence, with everyone taking in what he said, one guys said one word that summed up what we were all thinking: “wow.”

After that we got to tour more of the museum, which included a few rooms painted by Raphael, a room filled with painted maps of Italy, a room filled with tapestries and a collection of modern art.  This of course was building up to the moment when we finally got to enter the Sistine Chapel.  It was breathtaking.  The ceiling was a lot higher than I expected and I couldn’t get over that Michelangelo painted it with such detail to the point where it was absolutely perfect.  He painted that ceiling for 4 years as paint and crushed up glass was raining down on his eyes while he painted.  Now that is dedication.  “The Last Judgment” was also incredible.

The only bad thing about the chapel was that you weren’t allowed to take pictures or videos and you were to remain quiet, as it’s a holy place; they had three guards to keep the peace.  About every three minutes you would hear a guard cry out, in a stereotypical Italian accent, “no photo.  No video.”  If you were lucky enough you would hear on the PA system (in six languages) that basically said to shut your trap.  Even though I’m not a religious person these two things really took away from the atmosphere of the chapel.  People, you’re looking at one of greatest accomplishments of humanity, can you stay silent for five minutes and just appreciate it?

After that tour we went to Saint Peter’s Square to see St. Peter’s Basilica.  I can’t even begin to describe how impressive the basilica is nor do my pictures do it justice.  It’s just one of those things that you have to see in person to fully appreciate. 

After we left St. Peter’s Square it started raining, to my displeasure.  All I was thinking was “why does it always have to rain when I take a weekend trip somewhere?”  Anyway, we continued on our way in the rain to Castel Sant’Angelo and walked around the city for the rest of the day.

On Sunday we were both dead tired but we still managed to walk around the city.  We walked over to Piazza di Spagne, Plaza of Spain.  Besides wanting to go there to see the really cool Spanish embassy that’s also where the Spanish Steps are.  There’s nothing too special to them except that they are the most famous steps in all of Rome.  Then there was Piazza Novana, which is the plaza where you can see’s Bernini’s most famous fountain Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers).  One thing that I absolutely loved about Rome was all the cool fountains.  They were each incredibly detailed and stunning.  After that, we tried to go into Santa Maria della Vittoria, a church featured in Dan Brown’s Angel’s and Demons but as soon as we got there some friar shooed us out of the church and then locked the door.  I guess visiting time was up…

The trip was an amazing experience; it was definitely a lot better than Paris IMHO.  Here are some last thoughts about Rome.

1. Italian: I had an easier time reading and listening to Italian than I did with French.  First of all, a lot of Italian words look a lot like Spanish so I was able to deduce a majority of the words I came across.  In Paris, I could literally stare at words for hours on end and still have no idea what it was saying.  Also, the Italian stereotypes that we have (they talka like this) are not stereotypes, they are true.  Everyone talked that way and I was really surprised by that.  If I knew Italian I wouldn’t have a problem understanding them cause they talked slowly and seemed to annunciate everything.
2. Cappuccino: Italian coffee is the best I’ve ever had.  It was incredibly rich and there was just the right amount of foam in each cappuccino that I had.  Of, and they drizzle the top of it with bittersweet chocolate.  I was in heaven.
3. Narrow Streets: All of old Rome was like the Gothic Quarter in BCN: narrow streets and cobblestone streets.  I absolutely loved it.
4. Italian crosswalks: The lines to cross the street do exist but actual cross walks are far and few.  As a result, in order to cross the street you literally have to walk in front of traffic and hope that they don’t hit you.  I felt like I was playing Frogger but at the end I got pretty good; I would walk in front of the cars confidently and without fear.
5. We came up with several catchphrases during the trip, the first being “no photo” from the guards in the Sistine Chapel.  The second one came as we were walking in Piazza Novana.  A guy comes up to us with a looped string and tried to tie it around my finger (“Finger please”).  We continued walking, ignoring what was probably some sort of scam.  As we're walking away he says in a very funny voice “what, no finger?”  The final one comes from John's Italian-English translator app that was apparently sponsored by Fiat 500 because a lot of the phrases seemed to promote that car.  For example, under the “essentials” section next to useful phrases such as “Do you speak English” was a phrase that made me laugh: “I would like to buy a Fiat 500.”  Never mind if you need to know how to yell out "help!" in Italian, the most important thing was locating Fiat dealership, hilarious.  A couple of other comical phrases: “Thanks, it’s a Fiat 500” “Can I take a picture next to your Fiat 500” and “We should be driving a Fiat 500” 

Como siempre, you can view my photos here.  I’m off to Valencia (the 3^rd largest city in Spain) for the weekend, so next week you can look for a blog post about that and also one about my host family (as I realized that I haven’t described my living situation yet!)

Ciao! 

Paris

I just took my first weekend trip...to Paris.  Yes, it was beautiful.

My flight in Barcelona was delayed an hour so I eventually got into Paris-Charles de Gaulle at around midnight.  I spent the weekend with a friend who’s studying in London for the semester. Since it was really late at night when we arrived, we had to take a taxi to our hostel.  Right away, a language barrier was present.  The taxi driver didn’t speak English or Spanish, so my friend had to communicate with what French he did know.  We get to the hostel at around 1 in the morning and go to our room to find that we have a 60-year old Australian roommate.  That kind of struck me, because I thought hostels were mainly for people my age, but I guess anyone can rent room, lol.

We were both hungry so we found a local place that was still open.  Right away, the cook at the counter knew that we didn’t speak French and he just started smiling.  My friend asked him if he spoke Spanish, and he said that he spoke it but not very well.  He asked if we were from Madrid and I said “no, I’m from Barcelona,” to which he responded “MESSI!!!!”  It was so funny and we all just bursted out laughing.  The entire time we were waiting for our food he would keep on naming off Spanish and Barcelona football players.  It was a very funny experience, and I guess it’s good to know that I can pass for a Spaniard, lol.

Friday, we decided that the first thing we need to see in Paris was the Eiffel Tower.  We finally got to it and it was so much more impressive in person than it is in pictures.  I used to think, “Oh the Eiffel Tower, it’s just a big piece of iron,” I didn’t really understand why people use to go gaga over it; now I understand why.  I couldn’t stop staring at the damn things, it was so mesmerizing.  The tower seemed to follow you everywhere in the city because you would look up and be like “oh, there’s that tower again.”  After the Tower, we then just strolled through Paris, looking at beautiful buildings that neither of us knew what they were. 

However we eventually made it to a spot that we knew very well, the Louvre.  It is ridiculously big, I had no idea that one museum could hold so much art.  We actually visited it on Saturday and we literally spent about 7 hours there and I’m pretty sure that we didn’t see everything.  However we did get to see the most famous lady in the world, the Mona Lisa.  She was protected behind bulletproof glass and you couldn’t get within 5 yards of her.  It was something to see with my own eyes and that alone was worth the price of admission.  Some other highlights from the museum were Venus of Milo, Napoleon’s apartment and the Code of Hammurabi.

We also visited Notre Dame on Friday.  It was a very impressive cathedral and we made the wise decision of climbing to the top of the cathedral in addition to going inside of it.  The view of Paris from the top was absolutely precious, even though it decided to rain.  You got to see a lot of the gargoyles and I just loved looking at each and every one of them. 

We also made our way up Champs-Élysées (an extremely ritzy avenue) up to the Arc de Triomphe.  The walk up there really sucked cause it was raining and it only continued to get stronger as the night went on.  By the time we got back to the hostel, both our sweatshirts were soaking wet, as was every other article clothing we were wearing.  However, Saturday turned out to be a much better day.

After the day at the Louvre on Saturday, we went out night with two girls from our hostel, an American and German.  It was such a fun night, we went to see Moulin Rouge, the famous cabaret that was the birthplace of the can-can.  We didn’t go in though because a show it costs close to 80€ to see a show…Later, we headed to the Eiffel Tower to watch the light show.  At every hour on the dot, the Tower sparkles as if millions of diamonds are reflecting the light of the city.  In actuality, the Tower has 20,000 light bulbs that keep the show running for at least a good 10 minutes.  It was the perfect way to end my time Paris.

Here are some things I noticed about Paris (some in comparison with Barcelona)

1. Lots of gold: Seriously, the whole city was filled with bling bling.  It was on bridges.  It was on statues.  It was on rotunda of buildings.  I was in shock that they just have actual gold on public monuments.
2. You need money: Paris is very expensive.  Walking down streets most meals cost about 13-15 Euros while in Spain I can get 3 plates of tapas for that much. You need to bring a lot of money to Paris if you want to eat decently, and it’s definitely not meant for students on a budget.
3. Police: After my trip I found out that the US issued a travel advisory to Americans in Europe, which explained why the whole city was crawling with French SWAT.  All the major attractions had groups of 3-5 SWAT guys walking around in full uniform, some with machine guns.  They were definitely on high alert and I was a little bit paranoid when I saw 10 cop cars fly down the street with sirens a blazing.
4. Architecture: All the buildings in Paris pretty much looked the same; they were all constructed with the same style.  It was very pretty to look at, but I prefer the diversity of architecture (Gothic, Modernism ect) in Barcelona.
5. Quiet atmosphere: Just walking through the streets or riding on the metro I noticed that it’s a lot quieter here than in Barcelona.  We were riding the metro at 1am on Saturday and literally no one was talking.  In Barcelona, the metro is crowded with groups of young Spaniards talking loudly, laughing and having a good time.  Everyone just seemed a little bit more subdued in Paris.  I’m not judging or anything, it was probably the thing that stood out the most for me.      

Although it was a very nice city to visit I could never live there.  First of all, I don’t know the language (parlez vous an…do you speak English?”), it’s ridiculously expensive and I love living in Catalunya too much.  That being said, I'm glad I made the trip up there and it was a really good experience.

Until the next time, au revoir Paris! (pictures can be viewed here)