October 22nd-27th
Brussels - We only had around four hours in Brussels, Belgium. It was a perfect little stop between Amsterdam and Paris. Plus, I was able to cross another city of my list. I didn't really know what you expect about Brussels. I had never really thought about going there. It is a destination that is located in between a bunch of popular tourist destinations, and I think that this makes the quaint little city more of a path less traveled. More the reason to recommend you guys to go! We did a small little walking tour of the city. We walked through parks, gardens, by churches and government buildings. It is a beautiful place with so much culture.
One of the things that we did there was had a really good lunch with really good beer. The food was amazing in Brussels. After lunch, we walked up and down the street and looked at a few shops. We stopped at a little chocolate shop and bought some Belgian chocolate and then we went an ate some Belgian waffles. Our trip to Belgium pretty much revolved around food the whole time. It was so good! After that we walked back up the hill and through a beautiful garden to wait for our bus. There was so much left to see. Four hours really wasn't enough. I can't wait to go back so I can have the opportunity to explore Belgium more.
Many people on the trip were dying to go because it is pretty popular in the United States and there are only two locations in Europe. After Chipotle we walked for what it seemed like forever to the Eiffel Tower. We kept thinking we were close and we were expecting to see it around a street corner but that was not the case. We walked forever!! Once we arrived though the view of it was utterly breathtaking. I dreamt about the moment I'd get to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time. It is truly a sight to see.
We went back to the hostel and spent the night mapping out exactly what we wanted to do the next day. We had a lot to see in a little amount of time. 
We woke up the next morning as early as possible to get going so we could see as much as possible. The first thing on our list was the Père Lachaise Cemetery. Sounds kind of weird to visit a cemetery while traveling but I got to see Jim Morrison's grave, along with Oscar Wilde's tombstone as well. It was really cool actually. I wasn't crazy about the idea of going, but after, I decided it was a really interesting experience. Next on our list was the Pantheon of Paris. When I think of the Pantheon I think of the building in Rome, I didn't even know they had one in Paris. We were there for about 10 minutes looking at the building and people watching. I was amazed by the amount of the Parisians clustered together in the square just enjoying life. On our way to the Notre Dame Cathedral, we stopped at the love lock bridge, the Pont de l'Archeveche. This is something that I was dying to see. Leaving locks places is extremely popular in Europe. I saw at least one in every city I 
have traveled to, but seeing them in such abundance was really cool. There was barely any room left. You can tell that they cut locks off though because of the dates written on them. That makes sense though because it's such a popular thing to do in Paris. Our next stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral, probably one of the most famous landmarks in Paris. Let me tell you it is beautiful inside and out. The amazing architecture and painted glass windows really make it a remarkable place. I highly suggest going if you are ever in the area. Next on our list was some souvenir shopping. We walked up and down streets by the Louvre looking at the little shops. I found an oil painting that I ended up giving my grandma for Christmas. I really wish I could have had the opportunity to go in the Louvre. We walked around the square where it is located and I couldn't believe how big it was. I bet you could spend a week in there and still not see everything. That is definitely on my list if I ever go back to Paris. While we were shopping we stopped at a little cafe near Forever 21 to have lunch. We ate baguette sandwiches outside in the beautiful weather. It was really nice to sit down and relax for a bit. We spent about 2 hours in Forever 21. I love that store. The only stores I shopped at for clothes in Italy was H&m and Brandy Melville so it was nice to buy a bunch of new items while I was on break. After our shopping trip, we made our way to the Eiffel tower for sunset. The metro system in Paris is great by the way. Since it is such a big city, having an easy accessible metro system is a must. It's a little confusing at first but once you get used to it, it is rather easy to navigate. We got to the Eiffel Tower right when it was getting dark. We took a million pictures again and decided that we wanted to go up to the top to see the view. With a student id I'm pretty sure it's around 11€ to go up and it is so worth it. We waited for about 2 hours in line but it was again, so worth it. The view was amazing. After that we headed to a random restaurant for dinner. I love French cuisine so much. We spent a few hours just hanging out and talking. It was a really chill night and that was a great way to end it. We didn't go out in Paris because of the long days there and I was completely okay with that. After the restaurant we headed back to the hostel to crash. Talk about a busy day. 
We woke up the next morning to meet the group because we were all traveling to Versailles together. The drama for the morning was that our friends Sam and Alex were missing. Let's just say they had a whole bunch of fun the night before and strolled home around the time we were leaving. Ah I miss those girls so much. We all headed to Versailles which was about 45 minutes away from where we were by metro. Versailles was a pretty place. The leaves were changing and the whole feel of the place was quiet and pretty. The first thing we did when we got there was Starbucks. Oh do we love our Starbucks. Next we walked over to the palace. The palace of Versailles dates back to the early 1600s and was finished in the late 1700s. The palace is truly extravagant. It is famous for it's gigantic size and beautiful gardens. The first thing we did when we got to the palace was tour the main building. The architecture was truly amazing. There were so many rooms and sections I couldn't believe how big it actually was. After the tour, we ventured off to the other parts of the palace. We bought a tram pass that took us to other places on the estate. I recommend doing that because it is huge! With a tram pass you can get in and off as you please to see all of the parts of the estate. We were at Versailles for about five hours total. After we got back we went and did a little shopping and had dinner. We were scheduled to leave for Barcelona that evening.
Barcelona - Spain is truly a beautiful place. I was pretty excited to see Barcelona since it is a popular destination in the country. It is the best of both worlds really, an urban city really close to the beach. We arrived in the late morning after an overnight bus ride. We couldn't check into our room yet so we decided to go explore. We sat down at a little restaurant to have some tapas. Tapas are very popular in Spain. They are little appetizers that you but a la carte. After, we found a Starbucks so we had to go and then we ventured to the Gothic Quarter to check it out. We went to a few shops and then stopped at a little bar and had some sangria. Sangria is notorious in Spain. It is a red wine sweetened with fruit and sugar. The bar/cafe was so little and cute. Plus, they had free wifi. We sat there for a bit and headed back near the hostel to see if we could check in. Our room in Barcelona slept 12. The second most beds in a room that I have stayed in. We were the first of the group to get there so we had first choice of what bed we wanted which was great. We hung out at the hostel for awhile and got ready for the night. We had dinner and drinks at a restaurant pretty close to the hostel and then ventured back to the Gothic Quarter to look for a bar to hang out at. One regret that I have from my trip to Barcelona was not going to a beach side club and go crazy. We went out in Barcelona but we stuck to chill pubs instead of crazy clubs. I had a good time but I feel like I missed out a little bit. The first bar we went to was an Irish pub in the Gothic Quarter. We had a few drinks and hung out for awhile. I was pretty relaxed. We left that bar and went to a different one a little later. It was also a hookah bar so we spent the night having drinks and smoking hookah. It was fun and relaxed. We had a busy day the next day. 
First stop of the morning was Starbucks of course. We decided that we were going to do a bus tour to make sure we got to see all of the sights of the city. I know it sounds pretty lame but it actually was a pretty efficient way to get around the city. It was around 26€ for the whole day and there was like 40 stops total with two bus lines. The first stop of the day was the Gothic Cathedral and the Gothic Quarter. We went inside and lit candles. It was a very beautiful place. We even got to go on the roof to see the city from a different perspective. It was really cool. Next we stopped at the Sagrada Familia. Gaudi's architecture is one of a kind. We didn't go in because it was pretty expensive but we did spend some time looking at the outside. There were also a lot of artists selling their work outside of the building. We spent a few minutes looking at all of the art. Some people are to talented. We took the bus by the beach but we didn't get off because we had plans to go there later that night. We then took the bus to a park where we went and walked around. We saw graffiti near the park and it was so cool. The city busts from the seams with culture. We spent about an hour looking at the park and then got back on the bus to head to Tibidobo, an amusement park on top of a mountain, how cool is that? We spent about 17€ to get up to the top of the mountain. Sadly it was extremely cloudy and we couldn't see the amazing views, but the buildings and rides up there were really cool to look at. After that we headed all the way across the city to go to the beach. It was still early and there were many surfers and people just hanging out. We walked up and down the beach and just enjoyed the views, of the hot surfers and the water. :) we watched the sunset and then headed to a restaurant for dinner. We had really good but really expensive shrimp and a local restaurant on the beach. All of the waiters were really animated and a huge soccer game was on. After dinner we walked near the beach and saw some really cool sandcastles. We ended up getting lost a little bit but eventually found our way to a really cool bar. We spent the night there drinking. Once again really relaxing. We headed back to the hostel pretty late and went to sleep. We woke up the next morning and got on the bus for a 16 hour bus ride to Florence. It took forever! 
I was so excited to be back in Florence. 10 days of traveling in row was pretty intense and being in my own bed was great. I was really excited to see the five cities that I did and I couldn't have chosen a better way to spend my break. All of the cities I saw were really cool and I loved having the experiences I did in those cities. I highly recommend doing the Best of the West fall/spring break trip with Euroadventures. I don't think I would have been able to handle planning that trip without them!
If you have any questions about these cities or any other cities I post about feel free to contact me. I love being able to help and I will give you my best advice, promise. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment