Because it's my blog, you know we're going to talk about trains! The trip to Madrid is about 2.5 hours, on one of the nicest trains I've been on. It has very low lighting and a common area, and honestly looks like a hotel lounge more than a train. It has an upper and lower deck, and we opted for the upper. Most of the trip we had a view pretty similar to what you'd see in the US southwest. I had no idea Spain was so arid, so that was an interesting surprise.

So we arrive at Madrid, and at the time of writing, Europe is going through a heat wave. It is hotter than Barcelona, but honestly it's not terrible. Like, Thailand is normally far worse. Anyway, we had some issues with the metro since the line that serves the train station is under maintenance. I only mention this because we had to walk a few minutes to catch another line. The worker could clearly understand we were from out of town, and was just the most patient, kindest person ever to help us get a ticket. He even did some sort of voodoo magic to get us a 5-day pass for much cheaper than normal.

And then, the positive impressions of Madrid kept rolling in.

So, I'll just say it - Madrid is cool. Why yes, that is a trans person rocking a beard and dress at the same time, while riding a skateboard. Yes, there is a bar devoted entirely to mozzarella, and no, I don't know why or how. Our hostel is unlike any hostel I've seen before. It looks (and is, on the first floor) a brewpub in a hip neighborhood. When we walked in, a waitress with an iPad asked if we were checking in, what with all our bags. You don't get a room key, instead, it's just a QR code on your phone. Also they have comedy nights, karaoke, and pub crawls. Top 5 hostels I've ever stayed at for sure. That night we went to a building that is basically an indoor night market, a 3 floor building full of food stalls selling a bit of everything. We got to eat Peruvian food, which was essentially stir fried beef and onion with rice - I think Peru needs to expand to Asia, because it tastes different enough but is not a huge leap. Top it off with a 3 euro sangria, and exploring a car-free shopping street just outside, my impressions of Madrid continue to be high.

Let's start by running down the museums in Madrid, cause you know I like me a museum. I guess the big cat in town is The Prado, AKA that super famous art museum that's not The Louvre. So. I saw it. It has art in it. But unfortunately, I have been completely overwhelmed with art on this trip. I am thoroughly, completely, art-ed out. My brain cannot absorb more art. It is at art capacity. So while I could look at a painting and go, "Wow. That's impressive", I did it with the enthusiasm of pulling the exact correct amount of dental floss. That being said, if you just arrived in Madrid, it is absolutely worth it, but I have to really knock them for not allowing photos inside. Listen, guys. You're good, but even The Louvre allows photos, so you gotta loosen up. You can't call spoilers on something that's 500 years old. Despite that, later we went to another art museum, because it also has some famous things and is free on Sundays. Ella loved it. I sat and used up the data on my SIM.

For more interesting (to me) museums, a surprise hit was the Romanticism Museum. I don't know why it's called that, but it's a very nice looking old home that I was strangely impressed with. Also the 3 euro entry fee, because they should charge more. It's really good. Right around the corner from that is The Madrid City History Museum. Learned a bit, although I wish it didn't stop at around 1900. Still, pretty interesting, and for the price of free, it's definitely worth a look. Even just for the sparkly clean bathrooms. And finally, I have to mention the Cerralbo Museum. It's similar to the Romanticism Museum I suppose, it was a count's home back in the day, and they kept it exactly as is. That was my favorite, because while The Romanticism Museum looked like "Pride and Prejudice", this one looked like "Haunted Mansion". Compete with suits of armor in the hallways, this place is cool. Also a whopping 3 euros to get in, but we stumbled into its free day as well.

But looking back, it doesn't seem like we did too much in Madrid. But at the same time, I feel like we've done a lot. I mean, some of these museums did take the better part of a day, and we had 3 full days here. But I also feel in Madrid we were not in a hurry to go to a place, because the city itself is a destination. We even went to a park for the better part of a day, which is usually something I don't do unless there's something notable about it. In fact, I think half the time we just wandered around alleys to find random shops and coffee, which normally I like, but in Madrid I loved it. The vibe here is really comfortable to me, and it feels like a place I could easily live in. I have a lot of pins marked on my map, and we honestly didn't visit a lot of them. But I guess that's excuse enough to come back.

Even though Madrid was the last stop on our European Tour, I had to fit in one more train trip - to Toledo, about 30 minutes south. Toledo, Spain is a bit more interesting than its Ohio counterpart, I imagine, although I've not been. It's a walled fort city, that honestly looks like if the Romans invade, they'd be ready. We didn't do too much there, mostly wander around the alleys and try the signature dish, carcamusas. Essentially a tomato stewed pork, goes great with bread and a beer. Of course, we also looked at Toledo Cathedral. I was initially a bit put off by the 10 euro entry fee, but I'm glad we did it. This is one of the coolest looking churches I've ever seen, and honestly may top The Sagrada Familia in some ways. There wasn't anything too notable I guess, but imagine you had a dial for "churchiness". Toledo's Cathedral turned it up to 11, and was uncharacteristically huge, given the small alleyways that connect the rest of the city. Definitely worth the trip, it's a very pretty place.

I didn't really know what to expect from Spain. And I guess that's why it surprised me the most. I don't know why, but I felt really at home there, more so than the other countries we visited. It felt like a very young city with lots going on. I guess if you expanded Cincinnati's OTR to be much larger and connected with a metro, that would be Madrid. It was unapologetically weird, in a good way. It also had an incredibly diverse food scene, and sure, food from Spanish speaking countries was most represented. But on the same street you could find Greek, Italian, Japanese, Turkish, and who knows what in-between. It reminded me of the good things about the US, namely how diverse the food scene is in comparison to many other countries. And not to mention the diversity of the people, it feels sort of like Bangkok or New York, being a mecca for immigrants from different parts of the world. While we only scratched the surface of all the places we visited, I'm especially curious about the rest of Madrid and Spain. If it can live up to the cool factor of here, it's definitely something I want to see more of.

And now, sitting here on a plane, it's hard to believe our European adventure is over. I gotta say - big fan. I guess I'm not exactly blazing a new path by saying "Hey dudes, Europe is great", but I'm certainly glad I saw it. It understandably has a different vibe than Asia, and there's some things I prefer there, other things I prefer in Europe. But after visiting almost every country in Eastern Asia, I wouldn't mind posting up on this side of the world to see the other things on offer.

Amazingly, the last day in Europe happened to be Ella's birthday, which was a great way to end a great holiday. But for now, it's time to visit yet one more country - back to the US, for the first time in... well, many years.

I really like the vibe of Barcelona. It kind of reminds me of Pattaya, but the good parts. Meaning it's full of restaurants and bars near the beach, while being super laid back. It just makes me slow down and enjoy things, and I am enjoying it.

Plus the shops in Spanish (or Catalan?) are called "super mercat", which makes me imagine a cat mermaid superhero. That's always worth a chuckle.

We started not doing anything too notable in Barcelona. Having embraced the laid-back vibe, we wandered around the city, seeing buildings, drinking coffee, and eating things. Fortunately things are about 30% cheaper than Paris, which is much appreciated. Speaking of buildings, a lot of Barcelona's attractions are based on this fellow named Gaudi, although maybe some prefer to call him "Gaudy". He has about half a dozen buildings around Barcelona, and they all have a weird, organic style to them. To me, it almost feels like you asked insects to make a building. They look cool from the outside, but all the pictures we've been seen of the inside seem pretty normal and not worth the price of entry. Who knows, maybe next time we'll take a look - certainly there were people lined up for them, so I guess something is interesting in there. Then again, people lined up for that cable car in Paris that goes 50 meters, so I learned that people will line up for pretty dumb things.

But one of Gaudi's projects is worth the line, and you've probably heard of it. The Sagrada Familia is a big church that has been under construction for like 100 years, and won't be finished for many more. It's the top tourist attraction in the city, and here I go seeing a church after spending the last few weeks seeing dozens. But this one is definitely worth it. Sitting here, writing this, it has such an odd style. Ella said it looked like it was from Star Wars, and it does almost have an alien look to it. There's a lot of sharp angles, which look out of place for a church. But other parts have an almost organic, plant-like appearance, yet still symmetrical. Of course I'm going to add a lot of photos, but I really think this is one place you need to see for yourself. Looking at individual photos makes it appear odd, yet normal enough. But when seeing it in person, the contrast between the different parts sort of breaks my brain, like I'm having a holiday on Coruscant or something.

But most of Barcelona's other attractions are located in its Gothic Quarter, which is honestly an attraction itself. It's a very unique looking part of town, and I can't help but to compare it to Florence. They are different though, as Florence looks like a castle courtyard. Whereas Barcelona looks like a church courtyard. See? Totally different. But it's pretty neat, because like Florence there are few cars, and it's full of little shops and bars to find. We spent the entire morning just kind of wandering around, dodging the sun while drinking coffee and sangria. We also stumbled on the Barcelona History Museum, which I was initially pretty unimpressed with. However as it goes on, you go down into the basement, which have the remains of the streets and walls back when Barcelona was a Roman city. I remember wandering how old some of these things are, so I looked at a sign to see they were built in 10. Like, 10 as in 10 AD . So, that's pretty cool. It's a bit of a labyrinth down there, and definitely worth it. But you can skip the city museum upstairs, bit of a snoozefest.

But Barcelona is also near the coast, so we of course need to see the ocean. Well, I guess the sea would be more accurate. Still, it seems like a nice enough beach, although certainly a bit crowded. I guess that makes sense since it's practically downtown, but I had found more rural and probably nicer beaches online. Still, we walked along the beach for a bit, which is actually in another very cool neighborhood. It's got a nice square in the middle that had some nice outdoor restaurants and a lot of kids playing by themselves, so it seems like a safe place, despite it looking pretty inner-city. Actually according to the previously mentioned Barcelona museum, the Barcelonetta neighborhood actually has one of the cheapest rents in the city, and I cannot understand why. Maybe the buildings are too old and need renovated? But a walkable neighborhood, with little car access, full of bars, and next to the beach? I mean, sign me up.

 

Also, cool rocks.

 

Overall, I have a pretty positive impression of Barcelona. It has a fair amount to do for a city of its size, and is pretty affordable. It also has a bit of its own thing going on, with lots of locals out in squares chilling, and a pretty great food scene. Plus everyone seems to be bilingual in English, I guess due to the all the tourists. Nice for us, but I've tried my best to speak Spanish. I'm actually not terrible at it, although I hear the locals prefer Catalan. But that won't be a problem for the next destination on our European tour, Madrid. I really don't know what to expect there, but hopefully tapas and cheap coffee will continue to make an appearance.

After a two hour flight from Venice, here we are in another country. I'm starting to write this on the first day, without knowing how I feel about Paris. Hopefully by the end I'll have made up my mind.

There's an amazingly studied real thing called Paris Syndrome, where people feel despair that the "most beautiful city in the world" is full of trash, graffiti, etc. It's particularly common with Japanese tourists, and I guess if you come from there you'd be in for a shock. But I found Paris to be surprisingly well maintained for a city of its size, honestly pretty comparable to Shanghai. Also despite their reputation, Parisians have been nothing but polite. Maybe because we throw out bonjours like they're nobody's business, and we try our best to speak French. Ella has been particularly good, what with her knack for languages. We've run into some problems here and there, but with gestures and rudimentary French, we can make it through.

Still, it's not like we're really having conversations with the locals. Except the other night, when we were looking to get dinner. Fun fact, Parisians like to eat late, so a lot of restaurants don't open til 7. We were starving, so we popped into a cafeteria style place. We were trying to think of some French words for things when we noticed the staff spoke Mandarin to each other. We asked if they're Chinese, turns out yes, and turns out white people in France speaking Mandarin is not a common thing. It was kind of a relief to get food without navigating a language barrier though, and they really hooked us up with a pile of food.

Speaking of food, I've found that Paris really lacks any sort of convenient street food options. Everything is a sit down restaurant, which means it's expensive. And while I'm not surprised Paris is expensive, I don't really want to sit around and wait for, well, waiters. I want to get my food and go, cause we have things to see. I mean, Italy had plenty of pizza and paninis to go around. Despite me hearing crepes fill that role, I've found remarkably few crepe stands - they're still often sold in sit down restaurants. Aaaand speaking of restaurants, Paris is a lot like Venice, with a massive discrepancy in the cost of food from the grocery (where both of us eat for about 7 euros) versus a restaurant (where both of us eat for about 30, and it takes a lot more time). I'd like to try more French food while I'm here, but they're not exactly making it appealing. We did carve out time to try the classics like beef bourguignon, duck confit, escargot, and crème brule. And yes, the croissants are amazing, and cheap. But I'd rather limit a big hunk of bread to one meal a day.

But anyway, enough about food, what's going on in Paris? Well, the first day we went to The Louvre. They were completely sold out online, so we considered doing a more expensive bundled ticket, or just lining up. But then Ella was a hero when she checked on Taobao, and sure enough, they have tickets - suspiciously for a little less than the standard price. I assume it's because they buy them in bulk, or maybe resell cancelled tickets? Whatever the case we got in. And even after the art extravaganza of Italy, The Louvre was seriously impressive. We got in as they opened, and decided to go see The Mona Lisa first thing to avoid the crowd. Of course, we weren't the only people to think of that, with some sprinting past us, while we took a more leisurely pace. Still, we had to wait in line under a minute to see it. As others have said, it's really small, and the other art in the same room is more impressive. Still, saw the most famous painting in the world, so, check. About 5 minutes later, the queue was nearly out the door, so it was a good thing we went first thing. The Louvre is a very large place, but I feel we saw about 75% of it. Also as part of the Taobao ticket we got a 3DS to guide us around, so I had fun playing with that. We certainly saw all the famous stuff, so here are some photos:

 Surprisingly though, Ella was not all that excited about The Louvre. She really wanted to see The Musee d'Orsay, known only to me as "The 2nd most popular art museum in Paris." But it has all the artists she knows, and of course some I've heard of, like Monet and Van Gogh. We probably spent just as long there as The Louvre, even though it's about 1/10th the size. I was more impressed with the building, as it was an old railway station. In fact, it reminded me of a renovated version of Bangkok's Hua Lamphong Station, so for me that was the main attraction. But I think Ella said "Oh my god, it's X!" every 5 seconds. So, best look at her photos if you know art. For a bit of fun, we found a blank spot on a wall and stuck Ella's art up there with a description card. So now Ella can say she's been exhibited at The Musee d'Orsay.

There were a few other sites thrown in there as well. We went a little north of town to see Sacre Coeur Cathedral, which is nice but the view of downtown from the steps is far more impressive. It has a funicular to get to the top, and while not too expensive I guess (2 euros), it's probably the shortest funicular I've ever seen. Actually I'm pretty sure our apartment stairs are just about as tall, so I found the long queue for it a little weird. Instead we walked up, which I realized was the same spot they filmed that last fight scene in John Wick 4. Fortunately for us, it was a bit easier to make it to the top. After avoiding all the hired assassins and seeing the church, we went to a bakery which the internet claims is the best croissant in Paris. And yeah, wow. Probably the best croissant I ever had for sure. While we were stumbling about town bread-drunk, we saw a giant torch that is a copy of the Statue of Liberty's. Neat enough, but also it also sadly marks the tunnel where Princess Diana was killed, so there was a little memorial to her.

Now, this was totally unintentional when planning this trip, but as we discovered when fighter jets flew over downtown, it happened to be Bastille Day. We went down towards the Arc de Triomphe to see a ton of military vehicles, with people just hanging out talking photos. Turns out you can just hold their gun for a photo if you ask nicely. So umm, that was something! It was pretty crowded, and we saw most of the parade before it started to move, so we decided to escape to see The Eiffel Tower. Gotta get that obligatory tourist photo, after all. Also since it was Bastille Day, Napoleon's Grave was free admission. So. There he is. He's certainly got a grand enough tomb, but I guess when you're emperor you can do that sort of thing.

The next day we took a day trip to Versailles to see the palace there. The way Google suggested was kind of dumb, taking us way out of town and then back on a regional train. I couldn't understand why, so we just took the commuter rail line. And then I realized when no trains were available, that the reason why Google suggested that weird path was because for a month, that section of the line was closed. So instead we metro'd to the other side of the maintenance, and got there only about 20 minutes later than normal. Which, I have to think going to a train station, buying a ticket, and waiting for the train would take longer than that. Take that, Google. Anyway, turns out I like to talk about infrastructure a lot. How was the palace? Honestly pretty underwhelming. Part of that reason was because it was packed with people, but also because it's pretty empty inside. Sure there are some paintings on the wall, but mostly you just go from room to room with one thing in it. Oh, here's an old bed. Here's an old desk. Okay. There were some very impressive halls, but I think if you've seen The Louvre, you've seen a more impressive version of Versailles. To me, it's not worth the trip, unless you're a big fan of French Royalty.

And that's a good segue into my final thoughts about Paris. This is gonna be a weird train of thought, but stick with me - I remember when I was in business class on a long flight, and how it made me feel really uncomfortable. Because I was constantly being checked on, and given so many options for food, drink, whatever, it made me feel guilty. Like, there were people in economy who had far less legroom, and I would feel better if I could switch with them on occasion. I guess my point is that I think there are a lot of less fortunate people in the world, so when I'm treated as above anyone else, I don't like it. But yet, I feel that's what a lot of what Paris is. The service everywhere is incredible. I'm constantly being called monsieur, stuff is really fancy, and waiters wear nice suits even at corner cafes. I remember when I wanted to get to Pyin U Lwin in Myanmar, and the options available were a bus that left in an hour, or a guy with a tuk tuk full of milk would take me now. And I opted for the milk truck, because it's how a local would travel, it saved me a dollar, and most importantly, time. So I'd much prefer to eat at a place where the waitstaff greeted me with a fistbump and a "Hey dude". But that's definitely not Paris, as everything is quite luxurious in my opinion, with a price to match. I do like a lot of things about this place - the people have been unwaveringly kind, the metro is great, they have so many bakeries and grocery stores with amazingly fresh food, and it goes without mention, but there is a lot to do here. But I wish it was a little more chill, because I feel like I'm always being doted on. Still, I wouldn't be opposed to moving to Paris at some point. Though I'd need to get good enough at French to say the equivalent of "What's up bro?" to take the formality down a notch.

Venice sounds like my perfect city on paper. No cars, easily walkable, full of stuff to do. So when I refer to it as "Old People Disneyland", please know I mean that lovingly.

The high speed train was pretty nice! Although honestly for the size of Italy, I don't think they're worth it unless you're going longer distances. The high speed is 2 hours for 100 euros, and the slow is 3 hours for 45 euros. To me, 55 euros is worth the hour, but you do you. As a point of comparison, China's high speed trains would cost the equivalent of ~15 euros for that distance and do it faster, so, while functional enough, Italy's train system didn't exactly blow me away.

Still, the train stops right in the middle of Venice, so we took a 10 minute walk to our hostel. My first impressions of Venice are exactly what you'd expect - an incredibly beautiful city, with lots of tourists, and yet it actually wasn't as crowded as I expected. Except for some choke points, it was rare to be standing next to someone. And despite boats wizzing around, we never once felt the need to take one. Looking at Google Maps, it was faster just to walk 95% of the time, considering how compact Venice is, and you have to wait for the water bus to arrive, AND they stop at each pier along the way. To top it off it's also 10 euros a ticket, so I kind of don't understand the point, at least as long as I'm young enough to walk. They really need to get the Bangkok canal boats in here, which zip to downtown and back for 10 baht (30 cents).

Anyway, enough about infrastructure, what about Venice? Well, pretty much every corner has a photo op that could be a profile picture, so we overfloweth with photos. We also went to a lot of churches, because A) Ella likes them, B) The art in them is better than what we saw in the museums, and C) They're free or super cheap. And oh boy, Venetians love their churches. We even went to a church that was converted into a supermarket, making those olives and cheeses the most blessed of all. But as far as churches go, we were both a little disappointed with the big tourist attraction, St. Marco's. The outside is great, but the inside was a little meh. Except for the ceilings - man, Italians are super good at ceilings. For us, Basilica dei Frari was by far the favorite, as we found it much more impressive and basically empty. There were a million other churches we stopped at on the way, so I'll put a bunch of photos at the end.

Also it turns out the church I really wanted to see, from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, isn't a church at all, or at least anymore. San Barnaba Church now is a museum about Leonardo Da Vinci, who wasn't even Venetian. Sadly, there were no grail knight crypt underneath, although I did find the "sewer" that Indy climbed out of. It's since been replaced with a square utility panel, ruining my dreams of popping up in the middle of a café before a dramatic boat chase.

As much as I like recreating Indiana Jones, I think the coolest attraction in Venice is the Acqua Alta Bookstore, oddly enough. Apparently it floods a lot, so they store all their books in bathtubs or on elevated shelves. They also turn old books into stairs and walls, and have a free gondola for your obligatory Venice photo. Also, did I mention it was full of cats? Essentially if it was attached to a KFC, there would be nothing else in this world that could compete for Ella's attention. Still, I liked it as well, because it's such an off the wall place that you'd be hard pressed to find elsewhere. And to me, that's what travel is all about.

But as great as Venice is, I have very little to say about it. I think pictures would be a better job than me saying "It's really pretty" a hundred different ways, so, I'd recommend you just look at the photos (seriously, some of the best pictures I've ever taken). If I had to say something bad though, it's that the food is a bit meh. I found it less good and more expensive than Rome (except pizza was cheaper, for some reason?) Eventually after a few restaurants we just gave up and mostly ate from the grocery store - when you can get the same salad for 2 euros that'd cost 10 in a restaurant, kind of makes you consider if it's worth it.

But despite that, Venice is still one of the coolest places I've visited. I really like it here, even if it's just impossible to not take an amazing photo. I think it's been perfectly tailored to be an Old People Disneyland, but it's just so beautiful, I can't help but love it. But unfortunately it's our last stop on our Italy tour. It has been pretty memorable, and looking back at my photo gallery, it's a little surreal to remember all the amazing things we saw. I'm sure we'll be back here some day, because I feel we just did the tourist track without really "seeing" the country. That's not a bad thing, now we checked that off the list, know how things work, and we'll hit the ground running next time. Hopefully that next time starts in Rome, because I really like Rome a lot. Then maybe south towards Sicily? But for now, we're off to Paris to switch from pizza to crepes.

Even the grocery stores are beautiful