Remember when I said I would try to post updates no more than one week apart? Lol. Good times. In three days, it will be a whole month since my last post. I'm determined to keep it going. In my defense, though, a LOT has happened in the past month. I have so many things to share that I almost abandoned this blog altogether, but for the sake of my future self and future TAPIFers, I decided I have to keep going.
When I last posted, I was getting ready to leave for the two-week Vacances de la Toussaint vacation. Here is what I had planned:
1. 10/21-10/26: Barcelona
2. 10/27-10/28: Marseille
3. 10/29-11/1: Paris
4. 11/1-11/4: London
Things did not go as planned.
Here's what I'll do. In this post, I'll talk about my trips to Barcelona and Marseille, because those were pretty good. Then, I'll make a second post just about the trip to Paris, because that was an utter catastrophe that warrants a separate entry. Ugh, it makes me sick just thinking about everything that happened. But for now, let's reflect on the good parts of the vacation.
Barcelona
I took a Flixbus from Paris to Barcelona late at night on October 21st. This was my first time using Flixbus, and it was.... something. First, I thought my bus was delayed by three hours, because I saw a sign saying a bus to Barcelona was delayed until 2:00 AM, which was terrible news. However, literally one minute before my bus was scheduled to leave, I double checked the sign, just in case... And thank god I did, because as it turned out, I was looking at the wrong bus!!! The 24 hour clock really throws me for a loop, and I had been looking at the 21h00 bus when mine was actually the 23h10 bus! You're supposed to board your Flixbus no less than 15 minutes before departure, but I was super lucky, because there was a woman having some sort of problem with her passport so they were delayed a few minutes anyway. The bus driver was pissed at me for being so late, but he let me on anyway, and that's what matters. What a close call!
The bus ride was 12 hours long, which is exactly as pleasant as it sounds. The seats recline back fairly far, so it's easy enough to get into a comfortable-ish sleeping position; except, the woman in front of me reclined her seat
all the way back, so she was quite literally in my lap the entire ride. It also didn't help that someone near me (I couldn't tell if it was the teenage boy directly next to me or someone behind me) absolutely reeked of BO. I am very glad that I still wear face masks in crowded places. Much like on my flight from New Jersey, I don't remember falling asleep, but I must have at some point, because I would wake up and several hours had passed. We also stopped for breakfast at a gas station eventually, and I put my 1.5 semesters of Beginning Spanish to use and ordered a pastry and some peach juice (see the image to the right). I intended to keep the bottle the juice was in because it was the first thing I bought in Spain, but then I forgot to rinse it out and it got all moldy and disgusting so I had to recycle it. RIP.
My bus arrived in Barcelona at 11:20 AM. The first thing I saw after getting off the bus was this police dog carrying a huge water bottle in his mouth (left), which I think is a pretty awesome introduction to any city. Such a good boy, keeping us so safe.
I had booked a bed at St. Christopher's Inn, which was about a 20 minute walk from the bus station. My Barcelona travel buddy, S (I forget if I've mentioned them already or not), had already arrived and was waiting for me in the lobby. My suitcase was very heavy (I'm not great at "packing light") and it was much warmer than I expected, so I was pretty miserable by the time I got to the hostel, and I'm sure I didn't make a very good first in-person impression. Check-in wasn't until 2:00 PM, so we just hung out in the common room and worked on our itinerary until then.
I was super excited to try authentic Spanish empanadas, so for a late lunch we stopped at
Folk Empanada near the hostel. I ordered two chicken empanadas, and they weren't bad, but I was kind of disappointed because I've had way better. (One of my coworkers when I worked in the Office of Student Development in college made THE BEST empanadas ever, and now I know for sure that they are impossible to beat, even in Spain.)
We spent most of the day at Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. S was interested in the modern art exhibit while I prefer the older medieval stuff, so we split up and reunited later. The medieval exhibits were pretty cool, but also mostly just paintings of Jesus (in the museum's defense, that's pretty much all medieval art was). My favorite part of medieval art is all the animals that don't look like animals, and the funny little demons.
For dinner, we went to a Mexican restaurant S had scoped out ahead of time called
Tacos Tacos. We split nachos and a taco (I think it was mushroom sausage? Something like that), and man, those nachos were BUSSIN'. Although I was also just really hungry and desperately missed Mexican food, so my perception may have been a little skewed. The taco was really good too, but it was RIDICULOUSLY tiny, especially for the price.
We spent the next day in Montjuïc: first the cemetery, then the castle. The cemetery wasn't as spooky as I expected/hoped, but that's probably because it was in the daylight. It was pretty huge, and I thought it was cool how a lot of the graves were in the walls of the mountain. It looked like ghost apartments. We met up with two other assistants at the castle: one from Seattle, and one from South Africa. They were both SO nice! Spoiler alert: by the end of the trip, the girl from South Africa (who I'll refer to as CL), would become not only one of my TAPIF besties but also my platonic soulmate. On a less happy note, I made S really upset because I accidentally spilled my water bottle on their journal while we were at Montjuïc Castle. There must have been something really important in that journal, because they started to cry and left the group for the rest of the evening. I felt really horrible, even though it was an accident. I don't want to dwell on that, though, because Barcelona was the GOOD part of my vacation, so here's a picture of me in a hole at the castle:
Can you believe I'm wearing SHORTS??? In LATE OCTOBER??? I originally wasn't going to pack any shorts from home at all since I wouldn't be needing them in northern France, but I'm glad I brought two pairs because it was pretty toasty in Barcelona.
For lunch (this was before the castle; I'm going a little out of order here), S and I went to
La Sal del Port and tried another Spain necessity: paella. Now, I don't eat seafood (I'm not allergic or anything, I just hate it), so I was worried I wouldn't be able to try this traditional dish; fortunately, however, they had chicken and sausage paella, so I ordered that, and it was AMAZING. I'm salivating just thinking about it now. I need to find an authentic Spanish restaurant back home in New Jersey, because now that I've tried paella, I think I'll die if I don't eat it at least once a year.
For dinner, we ended up at a falafel place. I didn't order anything, but I tried some of CL's falafel and it wasn't bad (I'd never eaten falafel before). There was a Mexican restaurant called
Burritos next door, so I ended up getting my own dinner there.
The next day, I met up with CL and another assistant, BK, to do some sightseeing. We planned on going to the beach later, so we stopped in Primark to look for a bathing suit and more summer-y pants for CL. Apparently the entire population of Barcelona was in that Primark, because Jesus Christ, it was MOBBED. We ended up separated from BK, and barely survived navigating the SEVEN floors of the building. I'm pretty sure purgatory is just the Barcelona Primark. I found this absolutely adorable stuffed reindeer in the Christmas section, and although it's utterly blasphemous of me to even LOOK at Christmas stuff before Halloween, I fell in love with him. Unfortunately, the checkout lines were at least 40 minutes long on all seven floors, so I had to give up on him.
For lunch, CL and I went to a Japanese restaurant, which doesn't exactly scream "Spain," but hey, we were hungry, it was there, and we're weebs. I told her about my plans to teach in Japan through Westgate in 2024, and now we're going to apply together! But for now: back to Spain. We went to Barceloneta beach, and ended up getting a free bus ride because the card reader was broken and neither of us had cash so the bus driver just said forget about it. The beach was BEAUTIFUL. I can't believe I went swimming just days before Halloween! The water was so clear and blue, and not too cold. There weren't even any waves, so I was able to swim around for a long time.
I had more empanadas for dinner, this time from a place called Muns, but if I'm being honest they were pretty gross and extremely unsatisfying. Folk was way better, but I didn't want to go to the same place twice when I would only be in the city for such a short amount of time.
The next day's adventure was Park Güell, and to be honest, if I had to pick one thing I wish I hadn't done in Barcelona, this would be it. Admission to the park was 10 euros, but there wasn't anything to do there other than walk around and look at buildings, and architecture really isn't my thing. Getting there also involved a loooot of uphill walking. If I had to describe the visit in one word, it would definitely be "exhausting." At least the company was good, though: I met up with CL and a girl from France that she'd met at her hostel. In one of the buildings, I saw a ton of people putting their phones on the ground, setting a timer, and taking selfies with the ceiling in the background; so, since we ourselves were simple tourists, we did the same thing:
We were also determined to see this one lizard statue/fountain (left), but to get there, you had to go alllll the way up and around. We did it anyway, and we did get to see the lizard, but when I stuck my hand in the water an employee yelled at me, even though some kids were literally splashing in the same fountain and none of them got yelled at. Ageism is a real problem and my dislike of young children increases every day.
After Park Güell, the three of us stopped for smoothies at a delightful little café called
Ciclopes. After that, CL and I parted ways with our new French friend and went to La Sagrada Familia together. It costs over 25 euros to enter the building, so we just walked around outside. As with all famous structures like that, the scaffolding and crane kind of ruined it for me. The McDonald's across the street didn't help, either. Still, I gotta say, even though I'm not an architecture gal, it's one hell of a building. Very big, very artsy. But the thing I remember most about the visit was finding out that CL also watches
What We Do In The Shadows, which is one of my favorite TV shows (and the original movie is one of my favorite movies), and it was in that exact moment that I realized she's my platonic soulmate. She's also a very good photographer!
Our next stop was Parc de la Ciutadella, where we reunited with the assistant from Seattle and she introduced us to yet another assistant. This was definitely my favorite place we saw in Barcelona! Unfortunately, I can't find any of the pictures I took there, so you'll just have to take my word for it.
CL and I had tickets for a
walking tour that night at 7:30 PM, so we couldn't stay at Parc de la Ciutadella as long as I would have liked. We ended up accidentally getting on a bus going in the wrong direction, and by the time we realized it, the next
correct bus wouldn't get us to our destination until after the tour started. So what did we do? We ran. And let me emphasize that I am NOT a runner. Still, we miraculously made it just as the tour was starting! Our tour guide was an Irish man named Owen, and he was hilarious and very friendly. His mom (or his mom's friend, or his aunt... Idk, a woman he knows) owns a beach house on LBI in New Jersey, which is wild because my childhood best friend and my step-aunt also have beach houses on LBI. But they are from New Jersey; this guy is from Ireland and living in Barcelona. What a small world! We learned a ton of fascinating stuff about the city and its history, and I was going to make a Facebook post detailing all the cool things we learned, but I never got around to it and my memory is horrendous, so I guess they'll just have to remain legends. I
do remember, however, that all of the sand on the Barcelona beaches is actually imported from Egypt, and the palm trees are "on loan" from Florida and California. That "loan" actually expired earlier this year, but it's unclear what exactly Florida and California plan on doing, if they plan on doing anything at all.
After the tour, CL and I reunited with our new French friend to eat some patatas bravas: yet another food I could not leave Spain without eating. We went to a places called
Amades, and it was AMAZING. The atmosphere was so homey, the staff was so friendly, and the patatas were absolutely delicious. 10/10, highly recommend if you're ever in Barcelona.
I couldn't stop thinking about that little stuffed reindeer, so as soon as S and I checked out of St. Christopher's Inn the next morning, I braved the walls of Primark once more and sought him out. Fortunately, the lines were much shorter this time. I named him Rodolpho, and he is the best 5 euros I've ever spent.
I met up with CL and our French friend at one of the local markets; well, that was the plan, but I spent most of the time standing outside the door petting a dog that was tied up there. I was worried that she had been abandoned, but her owners were literally at the very first stall inside the building and they came back for her within five minutes. I hope she's doing well.
With plenty of time to kill before my 10:10 PM Flixbus, I took a solo trip to the Museum of Natural Sciences. It was a little underwhelming, mostly because I was hoping to see some dinosaur skeletons and was very disappointed to find that there were none. There was a cool video about the history of the Earth projected on all the walls, though, and there were some dinosaurs there, so that was cool. At some point (I forget if this was before or after the museum), I had lunch (or possibly dinner) with S. Since it was my last day in Barcelona, I got paella again: this time, chicken with peas. It was just as incredible as the first time. I know nothing will be as good as the real, authentic thing, but I'm hoping to find a recipe that comes close so I can attempt to recreate it at home.
Lastly, S and I stopped at Farggi Café so I could try churros and hot chocolate, since my friend Heather from back in the US strongly suggested it after going to Barcelona a few years ago. I was expecting a mug of the beverage hot chocolate, but no, it was quite literally chocolate that was hot. Like, a mug of straight up melted chocolate. I did try to drink it, but that wasn't possible. There was too much of it for its sole purpose to be dipping churros, but eating it with a spoon seemed overkill (I'm not that big of a chocolate fan to be honest), so I just dipped my churros in it and let S have the rest. Churros and chocolate: what a novel idea!
Marseille
S and I took the same Flixbus from Barcelona, but we parted ways when S decided to get off early at the Aix-en-Provence stop. I arrived in Marseille at 5:30 AM, which is disgustingly early for me. The Airbnb I'd be sharing with yet another assistant (I'll call her EG) agreed to let me check in early at 9:30 AM instead of 2:00 PM, but that still left me with four hours to kill. I was a little nervous about where I would go during this time, but the train station in Marseille was much nicer than I expected, so I felt safe just sitting on a bench and then inside a Monoprix outlet when it opened at 7:00 or so.
The Airbnb was easy to find, but I'd never seen or used a lock box so I struggled a lot with getting the door open. I took a nap until EG joined me around 11:30 AM. We got lunch (I got a burger, she got pasta), and then made the trek up the mountain to Notre-Dame de la Garde (not to be confused with THE Notre-Dame, which is in Paris and I saw later in this vacation). It was on this hike that I nearly had my first fainting spell in Europe. I have a fun little condition called vasovagal syncope, which means that under certain conditions—namely if I'm dehydrated, sleep-deprived, extremely hungry, I stand up too quickly, or the temperature changes too suddenly—I pass out. I haven't passed out in a while, but it's always a concern in the back of my mind. Fortunately, I can recognize the early stages and know when it's going to happen, so I told EG and she was very patient with letting me rest. I managed to power through it and made it to the top of the cathedral without progressing past the my-face-is-tingling stage. I still can't say for certain if the view was worth all that, but it was definitely really nice.
We took a bus back down the mountain, and planned on getting ice cream as a reward for all that walking, but I was feeling nauseas, which commonly happens after I've had one of my spells. When we got back to the Airbnb, I looked up local Halloween events, and saw that a nearby bar was having a Halloween party fundraiser for a seeing eye dog school. Halloween, dogs, and a good cause? What a combination! The event went on all night, so I was hoping that I would feel better soon and we would be able to go; however, after laying down on the bed, both of us decided that a quiet night in was the best move. EG ordered Uber Eats from a Japanese restaurant called
Le Yen, and I got coconut rice, since rice is something I can handle when I'm nauseas. I also ordered mochi ice cream in case I was feeling better later, because even though I was feeling too sick to get ice cream when we planned on it, I still wanted some, even if my body disagreed. Considering it was just rice, it was surprisingly super delicious! The TV in the room came with Netflix, so in honor of spooky season, we put on two Tim Burton movies:
The Corpse Bride and
Dark Shadows, both of which I had never seen but really wanted to. The movies themselves were in English, but the in-film text (like the title screen and credits) were all in French, which I thought was interesting. Honestly, this was probably the best night of my whole two-week vacation.
We checked out of the Airbnb at noon the next day, stored our luggage at the train station, and then spent the day at the Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean, or Mucem for short, which I thought was "museum" in a language I didn't recognize but is actually just an acronym. Admission was free with the
passe d'éducation, so that was good news. There was an entire exhibit on the Mediterranean diet and free recipe cards throughout the building, so I took a lot of those (although at the time of my writing this, I'm not sure where they are). I also found a painting with a goat in it (left). We found out at the last moment that EG and I had accidentally booked separate trains to Paris and hers left almost an hour later than mine, so that was a little awkward, but turned out to not be a big deal.
And then, that's when things started to go wrong. Stay tuned for Part 2.
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