Beautiful Barcelona (Originally Aug 25 - 29)

My last destination together with my mother was Barcelona. I've always heard about the great architecture, amazing seafood, and exciting nightlife of Barcelona, so I was excited to see this for myself. When we landed in Barcelona you immediately felt the climate change and the appearance of palm trees gave you the signal that you were near the ocean. Growing up in Colorado is great, but one thing I would love to live by is the sea. Hopefully, that happens in the near future. After been dropped off at the wrong hotel by our taxi driver we had to figure out how to get to the right hotel. It was late already and we just wanted to get settled in. After a little assistance from the hotel and another taxi we were finally at our hotel.

Throughout our time in Barcelona we tried visiting as many of the Gaudi architectural pieces as we could. Gaudi designed numerous buildings throughout the city and they were all spread out. To track every one down would definitely take some time and effort. Gaudi's designs were incorporated  into everything from churches, business buildings, parks, restaurants, and living spaces. His work was definitely one of the most creative and artistically challenging I had seen on my trip so far.  We also visited the local Barcelona museum which gave a good insight on how the area developed and struggled under the Franco dictatorship. Barcelona actually resides under an autonomous community called Catalonia which has always seem itself as being an independent area from Spain. They also speak their own language or dialect of Spanish called Catalonian to make things even more interesting. We also ventured around the harbor to try out the local seafood. Every restaurant we went to made delicious seafood and some paella (a local delicacy with rice and mixed meat/vegetables). This is yet another reason why I must move near the sea.

Barcelona was a beautiful city. I didn't get to venture into the nightlife too much as I wanted, but that will be a trip I will make with friends someday. At this point I was headed to Portugal while my mom returned to the US. Last year I made many Portuguese friends while studying in Lithuania, so it was time to have a reunion with some amazing friends.

Paris... (Originally Aug 22 - Aug 25)

Since I have been busy with school starting this week I will sum up the last three places I visited together with my mom this week. This began with Paris. There is not enough you can say about how beautiful the city is, the food, and the endless amounts of places to visit. It's somewhere you could always find something new to discover and explore. We had a great hotel location and were able to walk immediately down to the Arc de Triomphe and Champs-Elysees, one of the most famous streets in the world. If your a shopper, there's no better place to wander down with the endless amounts of designer brands and flagship stores for numerous retail outlets. Since we had a late start to the day we decided to get the Eiffel Tower out of the way that night as well. One more of the seven wonders of the world checked off my list.

 The next day we went with a tour group and saw Notre Dame Cathedral, Bohemia, Moulin Rogue, and a few other churches in the area. The tour went from early in the morning till late in the afternoon so we were quite busy. The Bohemian area was a unique area where many artists used to hang out and lively performances were always happening. It also sat atop a hill so there were some beautiful views of the city from above.

Our last two days in Paris took us to the gigantic The Mouvre art museum, Versailles, and Marie Antoinette's gardens which were all incredible. The Mouvre was an amazing experience. The place was filled with famous paintings and sculptures that you learned about from art classes in school. To finally see so many magnificent pieces of art all in location was a wonderful experience. The legendary Mona Lisa was stationed here as well though I did picture it being much larger. Da Vinci is one of my favorite artists and many other notable artworks done by him were also within the Mouvre. 

Versailles and Marie Antoinette's gardens were just as beautiful. I will say that after you see so many castles and palaces you do seem to notice many of the same features and ideas incorporated into them. It was interesting to learn about the history of Versailles because it went through so many rocky periods in France's past. Each king did something a little bit differently or added their own distinguishing features to the palace to make it more ornate. I enjoyed Marie Antoinette's gardens more. It was stunningly beautiful and is exactly the image you would see portrayed on postcards. It almost seemed like a fairy's world, everything was green full of health, colorful plants engulfing the yards, and the cottage houses were simple but filled with beautiful details. France was an interesting country that I'm sure to visit soon again.

Little Brussels (Originally August 21 - 22)

Brussels was an interesting country. It's a very small country with a mixture of different cultures intertwined all at once. The country has countless natural landmarks that I wish I had more time to visit, but that will have to be for another future trip. Brussels also holds the importance of being the headquarters for the European Union. Though I spent only a day and half here I was able to see some of the major landmarks. This included the Grand Palace, EU headquarters, Comic Museum, Pissing Boy Sculpture, and main square which was extravagant to say the least. The famous Belgian chocolates are definitely as people as people say they are. I will also have to plan to see Bruges and Antwerp as well during my next trip to Belgium.

 The Grand Palace was beautiful. We were lucky to catch it on a day it was open since it is a random schedule of when they open it to the public. It was a nice palace, but wasn't comparable to the ones I saw in Denmark or France.

I have always been a comic book reader since a young age and many of them were Belgian Classics. This included TinTin and Asterix and the Vikings. The Brussels Comic Museum had a nice setup for you to see everything from the creation of comics, comic book series through the ages, and individual galleries for each classic. If you are an avid comic book reader this would be a must see for you. 

It's kinda funny to see how such a small statue can be such a huge historic attraction in Brussels. There is an interesting legend behind it, but you would think it would be much more monumental than the miniature stature it is. In the past they used to even dress the little guy though that tradition has since stopped.