My final travel partner was my sister, Ronia, who I call Roon. She is 18 months older than me, and we have bickered exactly like sisters that close in age for most of our life. When Roon went to college however we definitely got a lot closer. These days we see each other only a few days a year, so when we are together it is always a treat. Now that's not to say we still don't fight like siblings some times, but now that we are "adults" and practiced travel partners we can go out together and experience the world together which is super cool. I asked Roon the same questions that I had asked my previous two travel buddies, her answers are below. Q: What was your favorite part of our Europe trip?
A: “Renting the segways our first afternoon in Rome and cruising around the Bourgehese garden is definitely a highlight. I’ve always wanted to play with a segway, and especially on such a hot day, it was great to get a good breeze and see a lot very quickly. I think my favorite part overall was capturing our incredible trip with my DSLR camera. I love the act of taking photos but even more so, I love that we’re going to look back on these photos in 2, 5, 10, 20 years and reminisce about this incredible time.” Q: Do you have a memorable meal or snack from the trip? A: “Eating crepes (filled with Nutella, bananas, and strawberries, of course) on the steps of Sacre Coeur in Paris, listening to the street musician sing and interact with the crowds, watching the sun set over Paris. What a perfect night.” Q: What is a challenge you felt we ran into on this adventure? A: “I live to eat, while Addie just eats to live :p This raised some conflict, especially in London, where I wanted more sit-down style and she just wanted to grab something quick and keep moving. We both understand each other’s reasoning, and handled it well overall, and by the time we got to Rome, we were completely on the same page so it wasn’t a problem anymore.” Q: Where is on your short list of places to travel next? A: “I’m planning on something this upcoming winter break, whether with friends or family, we shall see. Then next summer, after graduation but before Real Life starts, I’ll have at least two months completely free, and I’m planning on doing a big backpacking trip then. I think the safest option, especially if I want to jump cities every 2-3 days, would be Europe again, but I’m also considering doing something in Southeast Asia.” Q: What else have you done/ are you doing this summer? A: “My summer was effectively split into three sections. The first was immediately after school ended, I stayed on campus ostensibly as the Kirkland House photographer for senior dinner and graduation ceremonies. However, this job gave me two weeks entirely free in the middle while the seniors celebrated senior week, so I was able to give tours for The Hahvahd Tour, babysit, and hang out with friends for the vast majority of the time. The second section was spent in Miami, Florida, where I was working at Restaurant Brands International (RBI), which is the parent company of Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes. I was working in the technology department, looking at how franchisees report sales to corporate across all three brands. I had a phenomenal time and am seriously considering returning to RBI for work post-grad. The third section was this trip! I met Addie in Paris right after work in Miami ended, then stayed in Europe for another week after she left, in Florence. Florence had been recommended to me by multiple friends, and it is a phenomenal city!” Q: What is your current favorite song? A: “Oh boy. I’d say my current favorite is Wastin’ Gas by Dallas Smith, but yesterday it was Stand by Rascal Flats and I’m sure it’ll be something different tomorrow. So maybe it’d just be easier to say my favorite song is 'country music' by 'men in cowboy hats'.” Q: What are your opinions of the cities we visited? A: "I’d say my ranking is: 1.Paris 2.Florence 3.Rome 4.London Paris had the best food and it was amazing to use the little French I remembered, although I loved how walkable Florence and Rome were. London felt a lot like Boston, but bigger and less friendly." It was a blast to hang with Roon again. We have now been to Israel, France, England, and Italy together which is hopefully just the start of our sister travels. I am very much looking forward to seeing her at Thanksgiving! For the last stop on our sister Europe tour, Roon and I spent four days in Rome, Italy. We were both very excited for this stop, mainly because of the food. We were also looking forward to some heat after a cool week and a half in Paris then London. Our accommodation in Rome was a step up from our previous ones, because we got a wicked deal on a pretty nice hotel with great location. It would typically be almost $500 per night, but for some reason we got it for just over $100 a night, which is only marginally more expensive than two beds in a hostel. With this hotel we got our own room (obviously) with AC, our own bathroom with color changing lights, and breakfast delivery for a nice meal in bed each morning. It was definitely a nice upgrade to end the trip on. Day 1 Our first day consisted of simply wandering around to see the city and some of it's famous sites. We visited the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and got our first gelato of the trip. Our afternoon plans were to go on a free walking tour, which we had been told was full but that we could show up anyway to see if some people in the group didn't show up. This tour was not Sandeman's :( but it had good reviews on TripAdvisor so we decided to try it out. We were unable to even find the group, so just decided to book the same walking tour for the next day, gather more information on the meeting spot, and spend the present afternoon in the Borghese Gardens. The gardens are pretty big, so we ended up renting segways for an hour and were able to see almost the entire place! Only 15 euros for an hour, and boy were the segways fun! Neither Roon or I had ever ridden one before, so we had a blast. Day 2 We started day two off with the walking tour that was booked the day before. This tour was through a company called Rome's Ultimate, and our tour guide was great. A few things went wrong on this tour though. First, someone on our tour got pickpocketed. The outer pocket of her backpack was unzipped and her wallet was taken from it. This put everyone in the group on edge and Roon and I were very careful with our bags/phones/wallets for the rest of our trip. Second, because of this pickpocket incident as well as a few stops that took a little too long, this tour ended up being 3.5 hours instead of the advertised 2.5. Literally all I wanted was a heaping serving of pasta and I had to wait so long for it, definitely a challenge. But when the tour was over Roon and I got our pasta and it was delicious!! We spent the afternoon sightseeing- Castel Sant'Angelo and the Vatican. We did not actually go inside either, mainly because of long lines, intense heat, and no real deep desire to see what was inside. They were both great from the outside, but we felt the time and money it would cost to do them fully was not worth it with only four days in the city. This day overall was great, we learned a lot about the city and saw lots of famous sites. We also had more gelato (obviously) after our yummy pasta lunch feast.
Day 4 For our final day in Rome we visited the quaint neighborhood of Trastevere. This neighborhood was waayyyy less touristy/ busy than the rest of Rome so it was a nice break compared to the first three days. We visited the Church of Santa Cecilia. This church was quite beautiful on the inside, as was the live organ music being played, but the coolest part was beneath the church. For a small donation of 2.50 euros we followed some stairs underground to see an excavation site, a capsule of the church's long history. As usual with Rome, it was amazing to see remnants so old, but also it was a nice and chilly below the church, which was a nice break from the 96 degree heat outside. In this charming neighborhood we also saw the Church of Santa Maria, watched a movie being filmed in one of Trastevere's plazas, and had an adorable lunch at a restaurant outside. It was a pleasant way to spend our final day together in Rome. The End... The end of our time in Rome brings me to the end of my big Europe adventure. Roon will continue on for a few more days to Florence by herself, while I have to return to Penn State for classes on Monday. One month abroad, and I've seen Portugal, Spain, France, England, and Italy. Plus, tomorrow during a hefty 9 hour layover I will have the opportunity to see Copenhagen, Denmark, and do one final Sandeman's walking tour. It has truly been an amazing Europe trip, I'm still digesting everything that happened and everything that I've experienced. For now my biggest concern is starting back up with classes and crew, but I'm also excited to return to this routine and see how my travels have helped me to grow and learn about myself. Travel really does offer more than new sightseeing and food opportunities, it's a catalyst for learning that can't possibly occur in a classroom. Once I've made sense of this past month a deeply introspective blog post is sure to come :) This month was filled with many new lessons, and experiences, but now I'm ready to get back to State. I get home Thursday night, have Friday at home in Bedford, and drive over on Saturday. Quick turnover, just how I like it. See ya soon PSU!! London was the fourth city on my individual Europe tour, and the second city that Roon and I visited together. I’ll be honest, visiting London directly after Paris made it tough to love London as much. Paris certainly set a high bar. But that being said, with each day I spent in London I came to enjoy it more and more. Airbnb Abroad For the third time this summer I stayed in an Airbnb. The first two times were in Montreal then Quebec back in July. When Roon and I realized how expensive hostels and hotels (and everything!!) is in London, we looked towards Airbnb which did in fact end up being the cheapest option for us. It was very impersonal, more business-y Airbnb and less personal host-y Airbnb (Interesting article about this click here) but it worked perfectly fine for us. It was located right near an Underground station and it had a kitchen which definitely saved us money on breakfasts. If traveling alone or traveling with the desire to meet lots of new people a hostel is definitely the way to go. The social scene of youth hostels is unmatched by any other type of accommodation. The Airbnb, however, was perfect for Roon and I in London because all we really needed/wanted was a place to sleep and keep our stuff. We would leave before 10am in the morning and not be back until at least 8pm. These two types of accommodation both have their places in college-age travel, its just a matter of choice what type you want in each city, and also what your budget allows. Activities Tate Modern - Our first day in London was rainy (surprise!) so we opted to see some of the city’s free museums. The first of which was Tate Modern, a modern art museum. It had some interesting exhibits, my favorite of which was an architecture exhibit where sculptures were half art, half architecture and you could walk through them and interact with them, rather than just look at them. For free entry it was not a bad way to spend a few hours on a rainy London afternoon. The British Museum - The second museum we saw during the rainy day was The British Museum, most notable for housing the Rosetta Stone, which we saw. There were also ancient Egyptian mummies and ancient Greek ruins and Indian artifacts. With free entry and amazing contents it was no surprise that this museum was PACKED and very hot in some of the popular rooms. Additionally, the museum’s temporary Summer exhibit was on Hokusai who is most famous for his painting The Great Wave. I would have loved to see this exhibit but it was sold out for the whole summer, which was definitely a let-down. That let-down in combination with the crowds definitely frustrated me a bit but again, free entry and shelter from the rain, so why not! Sandeman’s Free Walking Tour - Fourth city, fourth free walking tour. What can I say, I love em! Best/cheapest way to learn about a city’s history and culture in one morning. We did a Sandeman’s tour again, and as usual it was awesome. We saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and many other famous London buildings and parks. Buckingham Palace / changing of the guards - I coerced Roon to walk back to Buckingham Palace with me after our walking tour because I wanted to take a picture with the guards that don’t smile, and 3/4 of a mile later when we arrived back I learned that they are not in front of the gate so it’s basically impossible to try to make them laugh or take a photo. Wicked bummer. Another wicked bummer; the changing of the guards. This ceremony takes place three days a week and literally thousands of people come out each time. Roon and I went (total tourist trap) and waited in a huge crowd for over an hour just to see a few guards march towards the palace at 10:30am and then march back at 11:30am. It really did not live up to the hype. Wimbledon - I had a few hours to kill one afternoon so I took the Tube out to Wimbledon, home of the famous 'The Championships, Wimbledon' tennis tournament. Although I’m not very good at playing tennis, I do have tennis pipe dreams and very much enjoy watching the sport. I always watch Wimbledon in the summer, definitely my favorite tournament to watch. I went to Wimbledon so that for the rest of my life when I watch Wimbledon I will have seen it in person, and now have a more genuine real-life reason for it being my favorite tournament. There was a bit of construction, and it was a bit of a walk from the Tube, but I’m glad I went because it was surreal to be there in person. Covent Garden - A great spot for lunch, Covent Garden is basically a bigger, cleaner, and newer Fanieul Hall. Lots of great shops, restaurants, and street performers fill the area. It was lively both times Roon and I went. Sandeman’s walking tours met in this area so we did go there twice. I would recommend this area to anyone visiting London for lunch or an afternoon snack. Sandeman’s Old City Walking Tour - As usual Sandeman’s Free Walking Tour sold us on one of their not-free tours. In this city it was the Old City tour which included the city of Temple and The Knights Templar history, St. Paul’s Cathedral, London Bridge and Tower Bridge, and Tower of London, among others. It was an awesome way to see so many famous spots in one afternoon while learning about the history of all of them. Kew Botanical Garden This deserves it’s own section. Kew is the fifth biggest botanical garden in the world, the garden I saw in Montreal is 13th. I had high expectations going into this botanical garden visit, and my feelings are mixed after spending the day there. First, it is definitely huge, but as I have just learned, biggest does not necessarily mean best. There was a ton of wide open grass space, which is great for picnics and reading and whatnot, but as far as my interests go it was a bit of a letdown. I want to see every square foot of a garden packed with plants from all over the world and amazing displays that are agriculture, architecture, and art all mixed into one. Open grass space does not quite fulfill this hope, but I will say that the parts of Kew that had more than grass and a few trees were quite amazing. We saw a bamboo garden, treetop walkway, bonsai collection, lily pond, and amazing flower beds. My favorite part of Kew was the Princess of Wales Conservatory, which was a greenhouse that had 10 different rooms, each with a different climate and plants native to that climate. Tropical, desert, and rainforest just to name a few. My favorite of these was the Tropical Desert, because it was a huge room with so many different types of cacti. I do very much enjoy a nice cactus, and this room was simply over the top. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in this garden, it was the fourth botanical garden I have been to this summer. My official opinion ranking of the ones I have seen so far is as follows:
Overall
I found London a tad boring. Perhaps this is because I had just come from Paris, the world capital of quaint charm and rich culture. But also maybe it’s because I’m from New England, which I now understand the name of. England was truly just like home, same foliage, similar weather, and same language (although I do love British accents!). I was not quite wide-eyed like I have been in other travel destinations, and for that reason I was not totally enthralled by the city. Honestly even as I proofread this post I’m a little bored by it, but maybe that’s more my fault as a writer than it is London’s fault as a city. Despite this, Roon and I managed to hit all of the major tourist attractions and wander around the city a good amount. London is an obvious hub to visit when in Europe, so I’m glad I’ve been there but it is not on my list to return to as soon as I can. We are headed to Rome now, and we are both very excited to eat a ton of Italian food. I took Latin for 4 years in high school, so I’m about to totally geek out, this should be fun! Being in Paris was truly surreal. As someone who took French for six years throughout my younger years, I could not believe to finally be in this city I had heard and read so much about. Although I discontinued my study of French (to put it lightly) by the time high school started, I remembered a surprising amount of the language, which made my time in this city that much more enjoyable. Compared to Portugal, for example, where I did not even know how to say "thank you", France was a very pleasurable experience. For this part of my Europe trip, I had a new travel buddy, my older sister, Ronia (but I call her Roon). Roon took French as well and was much better at it than me, and she continued to study it through high school all the way up through AP. Roon and I have traveled together before, in the winter of 2015/2016 to Israel. We were so excited to link up to see Western Europe for the first time together. Accommodation Roon and I stayed in a group of hostels in the heart of Paris called MIJE. The way this group works is that you book beds, and the day before you arrive, you receive the name of one of three possible hostels all within a very close distance of each other that you will be staying at. Our hostel was built in a refurbished mansion which gave the place character, and we were a stone's throw from the River Seine which was super convenient. Aside from these positives, the hostel had a serious lack in outlets and wifi quality, which definitely added a challenge to our cell data-less trip. But we managed, and the location was just too convenient to complain any more about. The hostel was not very social, the age range was much larger than previous hostels I had been to, there were families, older adults, and even a student group of 13 year olds who were pretty annoying. Roon and I kept to ourselves mostly but that was not an issue because we were barely at the hostel except to sleep. Activities I had one free day in Paris before Roon arrived that I chose to spend at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris' botanical garden. This was my third botanical garden so far this summer (Montreal, Madrid, Paris). It was much more impressive than Madrid's, perhaps because of the cooler and wetter climate, but it was not nearly as great in size as Montreal's, perhaps because of location. Regardless, I enjoyed seeing another garden and can't wait to visit London's HUGE Kew Gardens in a few days (5th largest in the world). Once with Roon, we packed a full Paris experience into an amazing three days. First, we participated in (another) Sandeman's New Europe Free Walking Tour which was amazing and helped us get our bearings in this new city. Our next stops that same night included Paris' most iconic sights- the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower! The Arc we mainly just went to see it and snap some pics, but the Eiffel Tower was where we had dinner and spent our evening. There was a lively food market where we picked up our meal then we sat in the large grass area next to the tower. It was a wonderful scene to hang out in for an evening, we even saw someone being proposed to! We shared a Sprite and waited for the sun to go down, because we had booked a River Seine boat tour and wanted to do it at night so that we could get a good view of the Eiffel Tower light show. We boarded our boat at 10pm, when the light show started, but to be honest this was not much of a show. The tower sparkled for five minutes... and apparently it only sparkles for five minutes every hour. So we moved on and enjoyed our boat ride down the famous river, seeing many landmarks along the way. Great first day together! Our second day together came with a little bit of wandering, which was no trouble at all in such a beautiful city. First we waited in a bit of a line but went inside Notre Dame. It was underwhelming to say the least. I would say that building's glory stops pretty much at the outside. But then again I'm never one to really care that much about the inside of a church. Next we stopped at the Pantheon, which was actually an accident, but nonetheless we were excited to see it and snap more pics. After that we walked through the Jardin Luxembourg, a gorgeous garden in the city, very nicely manicured. This too was by accident, because we were on our way to the Montparnasse observation tower and our navigation took us the scenic route. Again, no trouble. The observation tower itself had an amazing view of the city, well worth the 13 euros or so we paid to go up. Our evening ended with a Sandeman's Walking Tour of the Montemartre neighborhood, which is the quaint and picturesque Paris everyone imagines. It is where the movie Amelie was filmed, and in fact during our tour we had to wait at one intersection because they were filming a movie up ahead! The tour was charming, the weather was perfect, but where it ended was the best part. Sacre Coeur (meaning sacred heart) is a massive and grand church up on the hill of Montemartre. It is an unbelievable building, and the surrounding area of restaurants, artists, and street performers made for the perfect evening for my sister and I. We had a pizza at a quaint restaurant, got caricatures done by a frenchman, then got dessert crepes and watched a street performer do sing-alongs with a lively crowd. Truly a perfect Paris evening! Our final day in Paris actually consisted of a trip outside the city, to the great palace of Versailles. We did a Sandeman's Walking Tour of this as well, but instead of going inside the palace (which would require waiting in a 4-6 hour line) the walking tour was of the surrounding gardens and their hidden rooms. The walking tour was perfect for us, because when you stand up at Versailles and look over the garden all you see are trees, but if you walk around within them you stumble across hidden "rooms" with statues, fountains, and stages. The walking tour leader obviously knew exactly where all of these were, so he guided us around to see them. The garden is very geometric, which Roon loved (she is a math major this makes sense), and it was a garden... which I loved, going along with my theme of gardens for this summer. Even though it rained when we went, Roon actually said this was her favorite part of our trip so far, which speaks to just how amazing it was. For me, perhaps the best part of this trip is being with Roon. We were born 18 months apart, and basically lived 17 years of our lives right by each others' sides. But honestly it was not until Roon went off to Harvard that we got really close, but of course by that time in our lives we are hardly together anymore. With her living in Cambridge and me living in State College we see each other at Thanksgiving, a few days over December break and Summer break, and perhaps a day or two for a visit some other time during the year. Before she arrived in Paris I had not seen her in over four months, so this time together has been really special and fun. We are already talking about potential travel plans for next summer, before she enters "the real world" of city life working.
So here we are, three days in and on our way to London. We are having a wonderful time and really enjoying the amazing sightseeing, photography opportunities, and each other's company. We are excited for what the rest of this trip will bring! The second out of my three travel partners this summer is my homegirl from high school, Jess. I had asked Jess about taking a trip to Europe with me because my sister and I had planned our portion of the trip, but I wanted to spend a longer time abroad and my sister could not leave any earlier. I knew that Jess was probably one of my only friends that I could text saying "hey wanna go to Europe" and she'd text back "yes I'm in", and actually mean it. Jess and I concluded our adventure together yesterday, and I have asked her similar questions to those that I asked Fred in order to share her view on our trip.
Q: What was your favorite part of our Portugal and Spain trip? A: “My favorite part was just meeting all the people from around the word at the hostels and sharing our experiences and travels with each other. It's a really amazing environment to be apart of.” Q: Do you have a memorable meal or snack from the trip? A: “My favorite meal was probably the cod fish I had in Portugal.” Q: Where is on your short list of places to travel next? A: “Southeast Asia and another longer Europe trip hitting countries I have yet to see.” Q: What is your current favorite song? A: “Bloom by Odesza” As Jess had mentioned on our flight over, we are "doers", because people will talk a lot about the places they want to go but how many actually take the leap? Jess and I really had an amazing adventure in Portugal and Spain, it was so exciting to take our childhood friendship thousands of miles away from our quiet hometown. For my first time being in Spain, Madrid was a great city to travel to. As the capital of the country, I was given an introduction to the history and culture in a very immersive way. Jess and I spent four full days together in Madrid, including one day trip to the city of Toledo (but more on that later). We packed a lot into four days, and thoroughly enjoyed our time in Spain, even though it never went below 90 degrees Fahrenheit (I had to google how to spell Fahrenheit like who would ever know how to spell that?? but I had to include it because they use Celsius here obviously). For two Americans that took French and Latin in high school, Spain was a whole new adventure but we were excited to experience it in person. Accommodation Jess and I stayed at Living Cat’s Hostel, located right in the heart of Madrid. We had originally planned to stay at Mola Hostel, but after some good investigative work by jess we realized that Mola had no AC, and on top of that Cat’s had generally better reviews. So we switched! We had high hopes for Cat’s because of some conversations we had at Yes! Hostel Lisbon. Numerous people had mentioned staying at Cat’s and one even said it was his favorite hostel ever. Cat’s was cool, there’s no doubt about that. It is built in an old church which gives the place some serious character and charm. The bar is well decorated, the common area had some cool cushions (sick right?), and the bathrooms had many more showers than in Yes! Hostel Lisbon so that was a plus. Aside from these positives, the hostel did not wow me too much. It felt like “big business”, the people at the front counter didn’t seem to care as much, and in four days our room of eight beds saw probably 15 different girls, so we did not get invested in any of our roommates. On that note, you may notice on this post there is no “friends” category like there was in my post about Lisbon. This is because although Cat’s was a social hostel, I think we missed out a little on getting to know people. I believe this is because Yes! Lisbon Hostel made it so easy with nightly dinners and a lively common space, and while Cat’s had a bar as well and a common space, it was different. The common space at Cat’s closed down at 1am and they would kick everyone out, forcing us to retire to our rooms unless we were willing to sit in an extremely hot, crowded, and LOUD bar. Additionally, although the bar was fun (you got a free drink each day) it was constricted to one room, compared to Yes! where you could grab a drink at the bar then sit back down in the general common area. This created a separation between those drinking and those just wanting to chill for a little that evening, basically eliminating any chance of social interaction and ALSO making the drinkers drink more and the chillers mellow-chill more than either group would have originally (social psychology's group polarization). It is worth mentioning, however, that I did meet two girls from the United States. The first was in the bunk bed above Jess, and through casual conversation it came up that she went to Temple University… “Oh, I go to Penn State, cool” I shared. The second girl I met said that she went to Rutgers… After I said I went to Penn State she also said “I think we’re supposed to have beef” to which we both laughed. But seriously, what are the chances that I meet two Americans one from Temple and one from Rutgers?? Is there no safe place on this earth?? Culture and History The walking tour that Jess and I took was our key to learning about Madrid’s history. By the end of a walking tour, sure, your feet hurt, but for the information you get out of one it is well worth it. The most interesting tidbit that I learned about Madrid’s history is basically a fun fact that might help me win trivia night some day. We learned how Madrid used to be surrounded by a city wall, and outside the city lied brothels, bars, and bad behavior. At night, men from inside the city would run to the wall, climb over it, spend the night partying, then climb back before morning. The nickname given to these men, and to Madrid residents in general, is "gatos" or "cats". This also explains the name of our hostel, which I thought was just too cool! Something about Madrid that gave me culture shock was the 10pm dinner time. When I am at school, I go to bed by 9/9:30 at the latest and I’m up by 5:30, so basically being in Europe is really messing me up. Jess and I would wake up by noon each day and be in bed by 2am, so we were still getting our 8 hours of sleep, everything was just shifted. Between this Europe trip and school starting I have exactly 1 day at home, so that first week back at school is gonna send my body for a loop that's for sure! Activities
Food I would be lying if I said I loved the food here. I had a bit of a tough go with Spanish food, that’s for sure. Spanish food is just not my forte, but I'm holding out hope that at least Italy down the line on this trip will please me. Pleasing me with food is no easy task, as most who know me know how much of a picky eater I am. Basically all I ever want is mac and cheese, but when I can't get that any type of plain food will suffice. Spanish food has lots of seafood that still has a face on it (prawns haunt my dreams) and lots of vegetables. While you may have thought of me the epitome of health (lol) surprise! I don't like vegetables. One vegetable I do like however is green beans. So at dinner the first night when I saw "scrambled eggs with green beans and ham" on the menu I quickly ordered it, happy that there was at least one thing I was willing to eat. When the plate came it was a huge plate of green BEANS. BEANS that are green... UGH. I don't like beans... so 15 euros was spent on a glass of water and slice of white bread. Live and learn I guess. A positive food experience I had in Spain, however, was on our last night Jess and I got churros at the world famous Chocolateria San Gines. We split a plate of six churros and a cup of dipping chocolate... what a treat! I had actually never had churros previously, so I guess if I was going to try them anywhere it had to be the best place in the world to get them. If you go to madrid this shop is a must-try. In Conclusion
I will say, for the sake of honesty, that I did not enjoy Madrid as much as I enjoyed Lisbon. I think a lot of this had to do with my difficulties with food, but also it was as simple as the different feels of the two cities. On a scale of Bedford Massachusetts to NYC, Lisbon was like a 7 and madrid was like a 9. Being the non-city girl that I am, I definitely preferred the relaxed beachy vibes of Lisbon over the rush and heat of Madrid. That being said, Madrid was a fascinating city to visit and a true hub of some amazing culture in Europe. It has been an enjoyable four days, now... on to Paris! |
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