Let's start with the adventure of arriving at the airport. Forgetting it was Sunday and that the Italian bus system is, well, Italian, we left the Centro at 1:45, 4 hours before our flight. We waited quite a while for the 75 bus, and by the time we reached Termini station the shuttle taking us to the airport had left, meaning we had to wait for the next shuttle, which left us with very little time to check our bags, go through security and get on the plane. But we made it against all odds! Finally, after all that excitement we reached the Barcelona city center. Where we had no idea where to go. We got the help of a friendly old couple who spoke only Spanish, and by the time they finished their argument about where our metro station was, we could have already been on the train and two stops down. It's the thought that counts...
Our hostel was wonderful. It was in a nice safe neighborhood, close to a bunch of stores and restaurants and a metro station. And free breakfast! Anyways, we settled down and went to get dinner down the street. Turns out that every single restaurant in Barcelona is a Tapas restaurant. So we had tapas- the traditional tapas that basically every place has are called Patatas Bravas, basically roasted potatoes with garlic sauce. Yum Yum.
Monday morning we got up early, some of us (me) with a stomach bug, and headed down to La Rambla, the main street. The market in there is insane. Stands covered with fresh fruit and different juices, and candies, and meats and cheeses and everything ever.
Mmmmmmmm
We got some lunch and walked around more, and ended up inside a mall on the boardwalk, where we spent some time shopping. We wandered back up another street where we saw a large Gothic cathedral, and after some confusing misunderstandings about cafés in Barcelona (you can't sit outside if you only get drinks?) we sat down for some Sangria and afternoon Tapas. The rest of Monday was uneventful for me, as I spent it sleeping off the stomach bug.
On Tuesday we went to the Sagrada Familia, which is actually insane. It's a church designed by Gaudi and still being built. It's designed to look like a forest, but is also architecturally crazy. Some pictures:
After that we went back to the market for lunch again, and went back to our hostel for a nap. That afternoon we walked around our neighborhood stores and I spent another terribly exciting night sleeping off the bug.
On Wednesday (finally healthy) we had lunch in our neighborhood and then walked around Barcelona looking at the rest of the crazy Gaudi architecture. It is all insane. Also, we went into maybe 5 H&Ms... We had delicious Paella for dinner and went to the boardwalk for some drinks. Thursday was mostly spent in airport travels, which are not our forté... let's leave it at that.
Skipping those fiascos, we reached our hostel in Brussels! Which, conveniently, was across the street from the Grand Place, the center of Brussels. We decided the most important thing to do straight away was get some french fries. When in Brussels...
Can you see them under all the mayonnaise?
We wandered a bit and walked into a chocolate shop. And now,the story of the amazing chocolate shop French man. Since it was late evening and we were the only ones in the store, the (beautiful) guy working there offered us some free samples and was asking us where we're from. The he turned to my friend Quinn, and in true European political correctness style said 'You are a little bit Chinese, no?" After explaining Quinn's ethnicity he told us about how he left France for Belgium because 'it's like France but without French people.' Then, after Quinn asked him what his favorite food item in the store was, he went on a strange little violent rant about some almond biscuits, which went something like 'there are almonds inside, and you bite into one, and it makes you want to get your weapon, AND GO TO THE COMPANY AND... hehe, yeah.' (Quinn went back in and bought the biscuits.)
Anyways... Friday morning we got breakfast and embarked on our search for the Manneken Pis. Which we only found because I stopped at a nearby waffle stand... So here that is.
In his Irish army uniform for St. Patrick's Day
We spent the rest of the day walking in and out of chocolate shops. That's really all we did all day. At one point we took a nap... we got beer... chocolate... fries... That's all.
For dinner we had the obligatory moules-frites, mussels and fries, and after a drink to celebrate Mariah's 21st birthday we headed to bed.
On Saturday we got up, had more waffles, and spent about an hour sitting on benches, wondering what to do. Brussels is quite boring. We ended up finding a Starbucks-type restaurant except with more food, where we could sit for 3 hours with our suitcases and not get kicked out. After another beer (to celebrate Belgium and St. Patrick's day) we left for our final airport adventure! Which, after much traveling, ended us up at the Centro. So lovely to be back...
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