C’est la vie!

Barcelona 

It’s been a few days since I was there, so I’ll try to sum it up as best I can remember. Barcelona was a lot more modern than I anticipated. Walking around the first night, I was constantly surprised by the hubbub and not lack of history but overwhelming sense of modernity of the city. The Sagrada Familia church (while still a work in progress) was impressive to say the least. We didn’t get to go inside, but I loved seeing the oldest parts of the facade right next to construction workers building part of it now. Simply amazing 🙂 We saw Park Guell, went on a port tour (hahahahaha don’t ask me what’s impressive enough about the port for it to be tour worthy, I wouldn’t be able to give you an answer), went to the aquarium, and saw what we could of the city! It was a fun couple of days in Barcelona, but I was definitely getting antsy for Paris!!

Paris

Sang C’est La Vie as we debarked the train in Paris around 11 at night and was pumped all the way to our hotel. We woke up bright and early the next morning and spent a magical day at Disneyland! Fun story for you all: I hate rollercoasters. But I decided to try to face a fear and ride at least one while at Disneyland. FYI for all you fellow anti-coasters, do NOT ride Space Mountain at Disneyland Paris. If I ride another roller coaster in my life, it will be too soon. The fireworks show at the end of the night made up for any mishaps though, going through virtually every Disney story using projections, lights, fountains, fire, and fireworks. It was magical! The next day, we saw all of Paris (casual). We started at the Soucre Coure cathedral, made our way to the Triumphal Arch, shopped our way down Champs de Élysées, ate lunch at a quaint outdoor cafe, saw the Pont Neuf, admired the Eiffel Tower and took lots of pictures, saw the Louvre, ate a crepe, saw Notre Dame, went back to Champs de Élysées, took a bike taxi to the Eiffel Tower (passed by the tunnel where Princess Diana was killed on the way), ate dinner sitting on the grass by the Eiffel Tower and then watched it sparkle. It was a FULL day but I loved every minute of it. I’ve never seen something as splendid and magnificent as the Eiffel Tower. I absolutely fell in love with the city of Paris!! 

Bruges

Next stop: Belgium! The city of Bruges is a quaint, picturesque town about an hour from Brussels. We got here today and walked around. Made a stop to get waffles first! Holy moly, I got a waffle with fresh strawberries, chocolate sauce and ice cream and a Belgian hot chocolate to drink. It was divine. There are also more chocolate shops here than there were gelato places in Italy if that tells you anything. We saw the main square with the beautiful bell tower. Saw the Basilica of the Holy Blood. Took lots of pictures! Saw about a million horse carriage rides and canal tours. Ate chocolate and shopped in lace stores, gawking at the amazing pieces as well as their astronomical prices. All in all, a city definitely worth visiting and a day worth spent with 3 of my very best friends! Tomorrow we’re off to Brussels by day, London by night, and Edinburgh by dawn! 

Disclaimer: I’m probably accidentally leaving things out but my brain hasn’t regained full functioning since the rollercoaster incident so please forgive me.