Brandon O'Brien

Sunday, November 3, 2013 @ 8:02 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 130

The weather was calling for a chance of rain all day but when I got up it was nice and sunny out. I ate breakfast and then hung out at the hostel until lunch. After eating I headed out to go see some of Gaudi's buildings in Barcelona. There are two of them not too far away so I headed over there.

Being a Sunday afternoon the streets were pretty empty which was nice. Most of the shops were closed for the day aside from the streetside cafes where people were eating. I went up Passeig de Gracia and saw Casa Batilo and La Pedrera. I think I liked Casa Batilo better since it was more colorful and a little more wildly decorated.

After checking those buildings out I was debating going up to Park Guell which has a lot more of Gaudi's designs but I figured it would be a madhouse on Sunday. Instead I headed west toward Plaza Espana and the National Palace. It was a bit of a walk to get there but Barcelona is really good about having tree lined pedestrian friendly streets.

The plaza was packed full of people in costumes. At first I didn't know what was going on and figured it might be a late Halloween party or something but then I started seeing signs for a comicon style event. I was pretty shocked at how many people were actually waiting to get into the big convention center.

From there I walked south through some really nice gardens and fountains to a great view at the steps of the National Palace. The palace is pretty close to Montjuic where I was taking photos the other day and had a similar, although not as elevated, view. I took some photos then walked around a bit more with the intention of seeing the Telefonica tower.

It's a pretty crazy looking tower and I didn't realize I was so close to it the other day when I was up on Montjuic. It was only a short walk from the palace so I went over and took some photos. At first I thought you could go up to the top but after looking at it more I realized it's just a crazy looking tower without any kind of viewing deck up there.

The area with the tower is where the 1992 Summer Olympics were held and now it's a big open area where people were playing frisbee or lounging around enjoying the weather. The weather was starting to look a little shaky so I decided to head back into town.

I took some cross streets that brought me through some nice small streets filled with tapas bars and cafes and finally dumped out on the busy tourist street La Rambla. It was packed with tourists so I cut over into the Gothic quarter and cut around until making it back to the hostel. All said and done I walked around 9.5 miles today. I wasn't really expecting that long of a walk but it felt good to be out in the nice weather. Back at the hostel I read for a little while before getting overtaken with hunger.

I'm not sure if it's because my breakfasts and lunches aren't substantial enough or if it's all the walking I'm doing, but I've been getting really hungry at night so I eat dinner early, but then when it's time for bed I'm hungry again. I wanted to keep that from happening so I made a huge dinner with chicken, pasta, asparagus and bread. It turned out really good and I'm really digging the asparagus/pasta combination lately.

Teaser photos:

Casa Batilo in Barcelona

La Pedrera (Casa Mila)

Telefonica Tower

National Palace

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Tags: daily journal, spain, barcelona

Posted from: Spain

Saturday, November 2, 2013 @ 7:41 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 129

I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do today and figured since it was Saturday and a nice day all of the main tourist sites would be packed. What better excuse to spend another day at the beach? I changed into some shorts and made the little journey down to the shore.

I went a little farther north than where I was yesterday and saw an area where bicyclists were playing some sort of hockey game. It was pretty impressive to see them using sticks to hit a ball around all while staying on their bikes. It was some sort of tournament that attracted quite a few onlookers.

After watching that for a bit I found some steps by the sand and read for a while. After a few hours I decided it was time to get a beer. There are a lot of little huts along the beach that are filled with people so I figured the beers had to be cheap. Nope. I checked it out and a beer was 7 euros. Instead of paying crazy prices I walked south to where I was yesterday and went into a little market and bought two beers for 2.20 euros total. I found a wifi hotspot and drank the beers while watching the ocean.

After finishing the beers I read for a little while longer before it started to cool down and I came back to the hostel. This morning before going to the beach I ran out and did some grocery shopping and picked up some chicken for dinner. I had some broccoli and half a red pepper that some people didn't want so I mixed all of that together and cooked it with some garlic and the spice mix I've been carrying around since Italy. It came out really good.

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Tags: daily journal, barcelona, spain

Posted from: Spain

Friday, November 1, 2013 @ 11:20 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 128

The Halloween party at the hostel was pretty good last night. They had some free snacks and gave everyone a free shot. I had bought a liter of beer at the grocery for 1.35 euros and drank that at the party. Some people were playing card games so I joined in for a few rounds. By the time it got to midnight I decided to head up and try to get some sleep. I had done quite a bit of walking during the day and then when you add in the booze I was pretty tired.

I didn't set an alarm this morning and was pretty shocked when I actually slept in until around 9:45. Unfortunately when I woke up the internet was down so I couldn't check email, weather or any of my normal morning routine. I had some toast and then hung around in the hostel until after lunch. Internet was still down so I figured I'd go to the beach and read for the afternoon to get some fresh air and check out that part of town.

As soon as I was leaving the internet started working again so I took a few minutes to very quickly answer a few emails before setting out. I walked down a really nice palm tree lined pedestrian area past the Arc de Triomf toward the Barcelona Zoo. Near there I cut around the train station and followed the big promenade near the marina to the beach.

Along the way there were a row of street vendors selling random food. I saw some 3 for €5 empanadas so I got one with chicken, one with beef and one with bacon and cheese. They were all really good but I think I liked the bacon and cheese one the best. I had finished them by the time I got to the beach.

Today was some sort of government holiday so a lot of the shops were closed down and people were out enjoying the amazing weather. It felt a lot like walking around the Manhattan Beach area of LA. People at beach side cafes enjoying drinks and food as well as tons of people out walking the big wide sidewalks along the beach.

I stopped a few times to read some of my Game of Thrones book. There were a few open wifi hotspots provided by the city of Barcelona so I stopped a few times to quickly use it. It was a bit too chilly to want to get out and walk through the sand barefoot but there were a lot of people chilling on the beach and even a few crazy people in the water swimming.

I walked up and down most of the big stretch of beach and all said and done ended up walking a little over 6 miles round trip from the hostel. It started to cool down a bit so I came back to the hostel and showered. I found an onion and a chili pepper in the free food section so I quietly stowed them away in my bag to use for dinner. I ended up using those plus some garlic and pasta for dinner. It turned out pretty good and filled me up nicely.

It's Friday night and the big groups of partiers are starting to show up unfortunately. That, plus the internet still being down since I returned from the beach made me decide to head up to the room to read a bit and watch some shows I had downloaded to my computer earlier in the week.

They seem to have fixed the internet problem so I'm trying to quickly upload all my photos and blog post as well as answer emails in case it goes down again.

Teaser photos:

Beach in Barcelona

Port Olympic

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Tags: daily journal, spain, barcelona

Posted from: Spain

Thursday, October 31, 2013 @ 7:21 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 127

Today I wanted to do some more exploring of Barcelona so I walked up to Montjuic castle which had great views of the entire city. It was about a 3 mile walk there and took about an hour which wasn't too bad. The entire hill side is one giant park with great views of the ocean and the city.

I brought lunch and ate it while looking over the city and then walked around the castle a bit more. It wasn't too busy up there until I left when a bunch of school groups all seemed to show up around the same time. I was trying to figure out what to do next and saw the Sagrada Familia out in the distance so I decided to check it out later.

On the way back I stopped in the Boqueria market and got a calzone that I'd eat for dinner and dropped it off at the hostel on my way to the Sagrada Familia. I wasn't planning on going in the church but instead wanted to see the exterior today. It was about a 15 minute walk from the hostel through some cool busy streets.

Unfortunately the church was under some heavy construction and was covered in scaffolding, netting and construction equipment. I'm thinking about going in later in the week but don't want to pay 12 euros if the interior is going to be all covered like the exterior is.

Back at the hostel I read for a bit and played around on the computer before heating up the calzone for dinner. The hostel is having a Halloween party tonight at 8 so I'll check it out and see what it's like. with a couple hours to go it seems like it might be a good turnout so I'll hang around and see.

My photos are taking a while to upload so I'll add them to the post later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Teaser photos:

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Tags: daily journal, barcelona, spain

Posted from: Spain

Wednesday, October 30, 2013 @ 8:15 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 126

It was overcast all day and a bit on the chilly side but at least it wasn't raining. I got up, ate breakfast, had some coffee, read Game of Thrones for a little bit then got ready for the free walking tour that starts at the hostel every day.

The tour guide was a little late and then we walked to a few other hostels to pick up some more people for the tour. When we got to the final meeting place the group of people split among two tour guides and we went on our way through the city.

I'm assuming each tour guide does their own customized tour since we didn't see the other group the entire time. Our tour guide was originally from Brazil but has been living in Barcelona for the last 12 years. Her tour took us through the old Roman areas of the city as well as the Gothic quarter and she told us a lot of history about Catalan and how the region is working to become independent from Spain.

We also got to see where Christopher Columbus met with the Queen of Spain when he brought back items from the new world. Next to the old royal palace was where the inquisitors from the Spanish Inquisition passed judgement on people. I had no idea that they sat so high up above the peasants and normal folk as a way to impose a sense of power over them. You literally have to look straight up about 50 feet to see where they sat in a very ornate wooden balcony.

After that we saw some more sections of the old Roman wall as well as where the shore used to be during those times (a lot higher up than it is currently). Apparently a lot of the old gothic looking buildings in the city were built in the 1880's and are a complete facade to the original look of the churches. Many of the important buildings were also moved piece by piece from around the city into the gothic quarter. Some of this process lead to mishaps when it came to reassembly and arches didn't get completed or they were put in the wrong place (see one of the photos below).

We ended up at a bar down by the port where they gave cheap beers to people on the tour. I sat with a couple other people from my hostel and we sampled some tapas over beer. On the way back to the hostel we walked back up La Rambla and stopped in the Boqueria market again. One of the guys bought a full fish, mushrooms and some other veggies.

Once back at the hostel I worked for a while and read a little bit before making dinner. This hostel has free pasta, garlic and oils so I made some more pasta with garlic, red pepper, jamon iberico with some bread and wine.

Since I booked several more nights here before heading to Morocco I'm just going to take tomorrow easy. I'll probably head out and walk around town but don't really feel the need to get up at the crack of dawn to start the day. That's what I love about having more than a week in one place... the lack of feeling pressured to be out and about at every second of daylight.

Teaser photos:

Cool windows in Barcelona

Walls of an old square that was bombed in the 30's

Where the inquisitors in the Spanish Inquisition sat and judged the common folk (looking up)

Someone didn't do their math correctly

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Tags: daily journal, spain, barcelona

Posted from: Spain

Tuesday, October 29, 2013 @ 8:26 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 125

The weather was a bit crappy today so I wasn't really in too much of a rush, plus all the traveling yesterday wore me out. I got up, ate and then hung out at the hostel through lunch. The rain stopped for a while so after I ate I went out to explore a little bit of Barcelona.

There's a big main pedestrian area called La Rambla that's lined with shops, markets, cafes and restaurants. Some other travelers at the hostel told me about a giant market called La Boqueria that's full of meat, fruit, veggies, tapas, cheese and just about any other food you can think of. It was one of the best markets I've ever been to.

I walked around for a bit and got some clementines, some iberico ham and bread for dinner tonight. I also got a cup of fruit to eat while at the market. The prices of everything there was amazing and the fruit and veggies looked so much better than what you can get at the grocery. I'm planning on going back throughout the week to eat lunch there since there were so many different food stands there with delicious looking snacks and meals.

After strolling through the market I went down to the Placa Reial and ate a clementine before heading back to the hostel. It started raining a bit so I've spent the rest of the day at the hostel. It took me 4 months but I finally found a copy of Game of Thrones at the hostel book exchange and have started reading that.

For dinner I made some pasta with fresh cherry tomatoes, garlic and some of the ham I bought. It tasted amazing and it's something I'll probably make more throughout the week. The garlic, ham and tomatoes lightly fried in sunflower oil made a great topping for the pasta.

After dinner I booked my travel to Morocco as well as a few more nights here at the hostel since I'll be flying to and from Morocco from Barcelona. The flights were pretty cheap and they're direct which is nice. Callie and I will meet in Tangier then we'll catch a night train down to Marrakech where we'll spend a few nights before heading back up to Tangier for a night.

Tomorrow I'm going to check out the free walking tour that the hostel puts on. It's a two and a half hour tour that goes through the history and culture behind Barcelona. It's supposed to be a little on the cooler side but at least it's not supposed to be raining.

Teaser photos:

Meat stand at the Boqueria market in Barcelona

La Rambla

Plaza Real

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Tags: daily journal, spain, barcelona

Posted from: Spain

Monday, October 28, 2013 @ 9:34 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 124

Holly's flight was scheduled for 11:15am so we wanted to be able to check out and get on the train to the airport sooner rather than later so she'd have time to get through security and everything. Amina (the owner of the apartment we were staying in) was a few minutes late but it wasn't that big of a deal. We hurried to the Gare du Nord station and got on the first RER B train to the airport. We were sweating like crazy due to the high humidity and being crammed into the train with a ton of other people. All of the trains were also delayed which wasn't a good thing to see.

The train we were on ended up stopping about 5 stops away from the airport and notices were posted that there were signaling problems and no one knew how long we might be delayed. With time counting down we didn't really have too many options so we headed out of the station and looked for other options.

None of the buses ran to the airport and there were no taxis in sight. There was also a big line of people waiting for the non-existent taxis. By now it was about 9:45am and her flight was scheduled to start boarding in a half hour. We were trying to figure out what to do when I saw a taxi van pull up across the street so we bolted over there and were the last ones to get on.

Everyone in the taxi was going to the airport which was great. We dropped one person off in Terminal 1 then swung over to Terminal 2 where some other people got off and finally we were taken to Terminal 2A where we needed to be. By the time we got to the security checkpoint it was around 10:20am. Once Holly went through security I waited around the area for about an hour just in case she missed her flight. It looked like everything went smoothly though and she was on her way back to the States.

I had a few hours to kill before my flight to Barcelona so I ate a sandwich I had packed and looked for a post office. Unfortunately the post office didn't appear to have boxes to ship things back so I figured I'll find a post office here in Barcelona. I checked my bag then hung out and waited for my plane.

Everything was on time with my flight and I got to Barcelona a little after 4pm. There's a bus service that runs from the airport to the center of Barcelona very frequently so I got on that then followed the directions the hostel gave me. It took me about 10 minutes to get to the hostel but I got checked in and unloaded my gear in the room.

They were clearing the water pipes so I couldn't make dinner or fill up my water bottle right away but eventually it was all fixed and I went to the grocery store and got some food. I made some pasta with red pepper and the spices I've been carrying around since Italy.

It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow so I'll probably just stay in or venture around the hostel area. There's a free walking tour every day from the hostel so I want to do that some time this week. Barcelona seems like a really laid back and cool city. It'll be fun to spend a week here and really get to know it.

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Tags: daily journal, spain, barcelona

Posted from: Spain

Sunday, October 27, 2013 @ 10:51 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 123

Apparently there was a time change today that we didn't know about. We woke up and then realized the time changed so we gained an extra hour. After waking up it started pouring down rain for about an hour and a half so we just hung out at the apartment.

Once the rain let up we headed out and got some coffee and breakfast/lunch. The breakfast portion was a big cookie looking thing with nutella as a filling and for lunch we each got ham, cheese, lettuce and tomato sandwiches. We had all of this on the steps of the Sacre-Coeur basillica overlooking the city. Since the rain let up it was a really nice morning with some great views.

After eating we did a little souvenir shopping then came back to the apartment to do another load of laundry. Once the laundry was finished we walked down to the Gare du Nord station and got our train tickets to the airport for tomorrow. We wanted to get that taken care of now so we wouldn't have to worry about it tomorrow.

On the way back from the train station we took a little walk around the Montmartre area and got a couple bottles of wine to finish off the week. We also stopped at a shop and picked up a raspberry tart that we've been eyeing all week. Before dinner we finished some wine and the tart.

We wanted to make sure we got some mussels and frites before leaving Paris and after doing some research we found out that a highly rated place was only a block away so we went there for dinner. We ordered some mussels provencial and a skirt steak and split them. The meal was great and both of us left completely stuffed (check out the instagram photo for a pic of what we had for dinner).

After eating dinner we came back to the apartment where we watched Catch Me If You Can and relaxed. It was nice to have our last day in Paris be relaxing and not feel rushed. We saw and did pretty much everything we wanted to do so today was really just a take it easy day. This week has been great. The weather has been pretty much perfect and aside from a few lines here and there, we've been able to see and do everything we wanted to without delay.

We'll check out of the apartment around 8:30am tomorrow morning then head to the airport. Holly heads home at 11:15am and my flight to Barcelona is around 2:30pm.

Teaser photos:

Moule Frites (mussles and fries)

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Tags: daily journal, paris, france

Posted from: France

Saturday, October 26, 2013 @ 10:49 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 122

We got up pretty early today in order to get to Versailles before the crowds. What we didn't plan for was the main train line from Paris to Versailles being closed. We got to the station and an attendant let us know about the closure and told us a different way to take to get there.

I think we got to Versailles around 11 and got in line for our tickets. We got the full ticket which also included access to the gardens and Marie Antoinette's palace. We packed a lunch and a couple small bottles of wine to enjoy in the gardens. When we went into the palace they scanned our bags and told us we needed to check them. It was a bit chaotic there so we just played the dumb tourist card and kept all of our wine and food anyway.

The first thing we did was the tour of the main palace at Versailles. It wasn't as busy as I thought it might be for a Saturday which was nice. An audio guide was included in the tour so we could hear about what the various rooms were used for.

We were getting hungry so we went out into the gardens and had our sandwiches with some fruit and wine. Our sandwiches consisted of baguettes with cheese, spinach, tomatoes and spiced olive oil. Some bees bugged us for a bit but otherwise it was a great relaxing spot to enjoy lunch in the gardens.

After we ate we went and saw Marie Antoinette's palace which is huge in its own right and also has its own giant gardens. Once we walked through there we drank our second mini bottle of wine at the end of the big pond with a great view of Versailles and the gardens in the distance.

On our way back to the main entrance it started to rain on us a bit but fortunately it didn't last too long. We walked through more of the gardens and saw a little music/fountain show. The gardens were great to walk around in the fall because you get all of the fall leaves and the smell associated with them.

Back at the palace we took a few more photos of the exterior with the dark storm clouds in the background and the palace lit up from the sun. It was a really nice contrast seeing it that way.

It was a little walk back to the train station but we got our tickets and missed the train by about 20 seconds so we had to wait about 15 minutes for the next one. Fortunately it was a direct train into Paris which made it a lot faster than getting to Versailles. When we got to Paris we hopped on the metro to the Eiffel tower to see it at night. We got there at the perfect time. We got some shots of the tower at sunset and then were also able to catch the light show they did at 7pm.

It had been a long day so we headed back to the apartment and grabbed a baguette, cheese and wine for dinner. The area near our place was packed with people out and about and both of us just wanted to get back and kick our shoes off.

Finally we made it back and have just been relaxing and enjoying not being on our feet. Tomorrow I'll upload all the photos we took today. There are some great shots from Versailles and the Eiffel tower.

Teaser photos:

Versailles

Hall of Mirrors at Versailles

L'Orangerie at Versailles (with storm clouds behind it)

Eiffel Tower at night

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Tags: daily journal, paris, france

Posted from: France

Friday, October 25, 2013 @ 9:58 PM in 2013 Europe

Day 121

We took our time getting out of the apartment this morning and grabbed some coffee and croissants on the way down to the Catacombs. It took us a little over an hour to walk down there and when we got to the Catacombs there was a huge line wrapping around the block.

We weren't sure how long the line would take but once we stood there long enough we figured we were committed and stayed there over 2 hours to get inside. They only let 200 people in at any time so if it's busy, it can take a while to get the crowds through. I think today being Friday meant a lot more people were out and seeing the sights. We walked by the Louvre this morning too and it was also a lot more crowded than it was for us yesterday.

The Catacombs were really cool to walk through though. You can't get a full appreciation for the number of bones in there by looking at photos. There are hallways and tunnels that go on for miles and all of them are packed full of bones. The parts opened to the public stretch for about 2 kilometers and took about 45 minutes to get through.

Even though we had to wait longer, it was nice only having a certain number of people inside since it gave us some breathing room and we didn't feel rushed to get through. We were able to walk at a leisurely pace and take photos and check out all the designs made with bones.

We were pretty hungry when we got out since we weren't planning on waiting over 2 hours in line so we went up to a big street food area near Notre Dame and got some giant stuffed pitas for a late lunch. The pitas were filled with fries, chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and some kind of sauce.

After feeling a food coma coming on, we started walking back up to the apartment. It started raining and we ducked into a grocery to get some breakfast and lunch for tomorrow since we're planning on going to Versailles for the day and want to eat in the gardens. When we got out of the grocery the rain was picking up a lot more. It wasn't really raining hard, but we had about 2 miles to walk in the rain so we got pretty wet.

We relaxed at the apartment for a bit since we had been on our feet all day and walked about 9 miles again. After chilling for a bit with some wine and watching random French shows on TV we started some laundry and went out for gelato since the rain had stopped.

We're going to head to bed early tonight since we want to get an early start tomorrow and beat the crowds at Versailles if possible.

Teaser photos:

Bones in the catacombs

Catacombs

Catacombs

Enjoying a giant stuffed pita for lunch

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Tags: daily journal, paris, france

Posted from: France