Basking in the Barcelona Sun

The train ride from San Sebastian to Barcelona was incredible. We arrived in Barcelona by train around noon on Wednesday and easily found our hotel. We immediately got settled and went out to get the most of Barcelona. Our hotel was in a great neighborhood with a lot going on and the first thing we did was find something to eat. We sat down for the typical tapas and wine. Jordan and I still can't decide if we actually like the idea of tapas, small amounts of food that usually have meats that don't appeal to us. After our bite to eat we walked around getting lost and discovered some cool parks and streets for shopping. Jordan wanted to change into some shorts so we went to our hotel and looked up the directions to the large local market. It was about a 15 minute walk and was huge. There was so much fresh fruit, meats, veggies, nuts and basically any fresh produce. We really loved Barcelona, it was the most liveable city in our opinion. From the market we looked for dinner and found an American diner and could not resist. Jordan was so excited to have BBQ sauce for the first time in a month, I think it was his highlight of the day. 

The next day we started early and walked to a nearby cafe for coffee and pastries for breakfast. The only tourist thing we wanted to see was the Sagrada Familia church and decided to walk there even though it was 40 minutes away because it was an absolutely beautiful day. It is one of the weirdest buildings we've seen on this trip, very cool. It looked extreamly unstable but had been around a long time. They were actually restoring it, so sadly it had some scaffolding on it. After lunch we wandered a different way home and ended up coming across the Triumphal Arch and scenic boulevard the comes up to it. We walked to the good shopping street again and Jordan ended up bargaining with the store clerk and somehow we walked away with two bags and a pair of boot heels for me. After we dropped them off at our hotel we stopped for a crêpe and gelato which we ate on our way to the beach. We started at the marina and walked along the water past shops, restaurants and many beaches. It was so relaxing and really made us realize how much we had has enjoyed all of Spain, even more than we though we would. We will definitely be going back one day. We walked until we knew we had had enough sum for one day. We found dinner on our way home and got Jordan his decongestants from the hotel because he had been under the weather the last day or two. 

The next morning I let Jordan sleep in, hoping he could overcome his sinus cold. I went to a cafe and got us pastries and coffee to go. We ate breakfast in our room and relaxed the morning as we packed to leave. Once we checked out we walled with our bags to get lunch. After that we found Starbucks where we spent some some time on WiFi with coffee. We were flying out of Barcelona so we had to make our way to the airport via metro and train. The flight was quick and we landed in Amsterdam 2 hours later. We took the train to Rotterdam where we met up with mom and dad Oorebeek for the next part of our trip, a  Baltic cruise! 

The train ride

The first night eating tapas

This meat hung everywhere

We love Barcelona!

Packing up and finding Starbucks

City by the Sea - San Sebastian

We had the best view of San Sebastian beaches from our flat. From our place you literally crossed the street and you were on the beach, where there were always people surfing. We arrived around 6pm on a train from the base of France and then proceeded the long walk in the sun to our apartment. It was totally worth it once we were in the great studio flat and saw the view we had. After we unpacked we walked and found dinner and some groceries for the next few days. We officially found the largest bottle of beer on the trip. 1.1L for €1.78, it was ridiculous. 

We woke up the next morning to the most incredible sunny day. The wind fortunately breaks a lot of the heat and it can be even cold in the shade. We walked the entire path from our flat along the water to the marina which was a beautiful 60 minute walk. The marina as picture perfect so we obviously stopped to take some pictures. From there we walked into Old Town and ate lunch. We walked through town to an old church and stopped to get gelato. We were on a hunt for black dress shoes for Jordan and found some at Zara. On the walk home we stopped in a few stores looking for a dress for me and discovered a store with the most amazing shoes at ridiculously low prices. We both found boots we loved and ended up walking away with two pairs each plus a pair of heels for me. So all in all a great shopping day. We had to drop off our shoes at home and decided to make dinner there. We walked around a bit that night but bought beers and came home instead of going out, it just saves so much money. That night we discovered that the café across the street on the beach also doubles as a night club, that plays horribly loud music till 5:30 am. Fortunately I was able to sleep with earplugs but Jordan didn't do so well. He almost cried with happiness when they did not open the next night. 

We slept in Tuesday morning and when we looked outside it was lightly raining. It killed our plans of going to the beach but allowed us to go back and explore Old Town. After breakfast and our routine stop for coffee, we went on a hunt for an internet cafe because I needed an actually computer to finish something for school. Afterwards we hunted Old Town for more stores but couldn't find better prices than the stores near our flat. As we ran home in the rain we stopped to get bread at the bakery and read our books in the flat for a while. We couldn't find a place we wanted to eat at and ended up eating a bunch of fresh strawberries with nutella and whip cream, I mix of healthy mind unhealthy. I know people always say Europe is expensive but we've honestly found better prices in Europe for food than we do at home. We couldn't resist incredible strawberries at such a good price. We ended up walking back to Old Town for dinner that night and had coffee at a cool corner coffee shop on the top floor. We headed home to try and pack 6 new pairs of shoes into our backpacks. I'm still not 100% sure how we did it. We had to pack that night because we were leaving at 6:45 am on the train to Barcelona the next morning. While on the 6 hour train ride we came to the same conclusion we do every time, for traveling, trains are so much better than planes.

The view from our flat

Our shopping spree

Jordan with the giant beer and our fresh strawberries

Eiffel in love with Paris

The moment we arrived in Paris we knew we would love our stay here. Jordan and I love the big city feel and Paris definitely qualifies, it immediately reminded us of New York. Our apartment was in Montmartre, close to Sacre Coeur. It was a great two bedroom flat with a modern kitchen. There was the coolest cafe bar right across the street called Floors that was 3 floors. We arrived to our flat around 2pm and once we got settled in, went out to maximize our time in Paris. Mom had pre ordered a discount museum and transit pass for the 4 of us, so we went to pick those up. From there we walked to the first tourist site, the Eiffel Tower! Now one of the best things about Europe has been that is does not get remotely dark until 10pm, so you can get a lot of things done in a day. It was a cloudy Tuesday and there was literally no line at there tower. Of course we had to go up! It was absolutely incredible. Jordan refused to go near the edge but then offered to take a picture with me, he is slowly getting over his fear I think. Then again he practically kissed the ground when we came back down. We took a bunch of pictures on, near, and around the tower. Its nice to have our parents there to take some picture of us. My mom and I were both pretty excited as we have always wanted to see Paris together. On our way home we stopped at the grocery store. We bought food for the next few breakfasts and sacks, not to mention a healthy supply of beer.

We got a slow start to the morning, making a breakfast we all wanted but we got a lot done that day. We decided to all do the Rick Steve's walking tour which brought us to the Notre Dame Cathedral. It really is breathtaking, the sheer size and history behind its origin leave you in awe. From there we walked along the river towards a world renounced bookstore called Shakespeare and Co. As we wandered in for a closer look, this quant, small book store was reminiscent of something out of Harry Potter.  We continued to walk to many historical sites, including, but not limited to, the prison where Marie Antoinette was killed, St. Severin church and street and Pont Nuef. Jordan was especially excited for this as a Bourne movie scene was filmed on this bridge. After all this we took the metro towards the Eiffel tower and took a Seine river cruise tour around Ile de la Cite. Once we got off, we were at the base of the tower, and since it was a sunny day we decided to take more picture with the Tower in the background. That night the 4 of us decided to separate for dinner. Mom and dad went off for a night in Paris while Jordan and I went another way. Jordan and I finished the evening wandering through gift shops with a crêpe of course.

I think I am crêped out. I literally had 2 or more a day. I just loved having a food I knew I would enjoy. This day was mom and dads last full day with us. Our goal of the day was to see the Musee du Louvre. I think we spend just over 5 hours there and all of us agree that we barely got started. Jordan was over the moon happy, one of his trip highlights for sure! It really wiped us out so when Mom and Dad decided to go to Sacre Coeur, Jordan and I walked the few blocks home and grabbed a coffee at Floors. Mom and Dad still were not back so we went for dinner on our own, running into them as we finished. While mom and dad went for dinner, Jordan and I picked up some groceries. Its hard to remember the specifics of each day, they blur together at this point. Although I did just remember that I smashed my phone when I fell the night before.

Mom and dad left early Friday morning, 6am early. Although the 3 of us (not Jordan) were up at 4:45. It was sad to see them go, it was nice to have family around, although we do not miss their luggage. Jordan and I packed that morning and then spend a good part of the day wandering around and exploring the city. We ended up in a few different neighborhoods and it was fun to see the culture change in different areas. We moved to a new neighborhood for our last 2 nights in Paris, the more college friendly Latin Quarter, close to St.Germain des Pres. That night Jordan and I walked around the Latin Quarter and ate at a really good Greek restaurant. 

The next day was a full one, in the morning we walked to Pont des Art which is a bridge dedicated to love. Basically what you do with your lover is attach a lock with your names (or any thing you want) to the bridge and throw the keys in the river to symbolize the bond of your love. It was actually a lot of fun and quote romantic. Oh and I bought a pair of boots! The reason I say this is we spend a goods hour finding a pair of socks to buy ones that were not more than €18 euro. Fortunately we were in the walking and exploring a new neighborhood mood. From there we took the metro to the Opera House. It is huge, absolutely huge. I'm still in awe. We went to the top of the theater seating even though I have a feeling people were not supposed to be up there, only because I saw almost no other people. Actually one of the coolest things was that after the Opera House, we went to the Orsay Museum and saw a miniature scale replica of the Opera House and you realize just how big and intricate it actually is. We only explored maybe a 1/4 of the whole structure. The Orsay museum was interesting but a little weird if you don't know who all the painters are, why their painting are popular and why most of them are grossly nude. After that we came home and made our own perfect dinner. We waited until it was almost dark to go out again because we wanted to go see the Eiffel tower at night. It was the perfect end to our Paris trip.  On the way home we picked up a few souvenirs and a crêpe of course. 

Sunday morning we packed up and headed to the train stations for our 6hr train ride to the base of France. From there we hoped on a local train to take us to San Sebastian, Spain which was only 30min away. This is an extremely long blog post but then again it was the longest portion of our trip! 

On the Eiffel tower!

Notre Dame Cathedral and the view on our walk

On our boat cruise and Sacre Coeur near our place

PARIS!

Jordan excited for the Louvre museum!

Could have spent days here!

Shakespeare and Co

Perfectly Paris

Pont des Arts

 

The Opera House
(My phone is sometimes blurry since it was smashed)

Opera House in miniature (could only fit 2/3 in the picture)

Jordan with his crème brulé and the Eiffel tower at night