Well, this is it now for this European trip, between Madrid, Paris, Rome, and Barcelona; honestly, Madrid reminds me of all those old images online of 1970s/80s N.Y.C., when the "Big Apple" was definitely "grittier" than now - even the main street in town, the "Gran Via", has a few vacant/vandalized storefronts, so if that place is (somewhat) run-down, then you should expect the rest of the city to still be (sort of) "gritty"! Despite the "grime" seemingly everywhere, though, and the people (mostly the locals, at least from what I noticed) not having any care for the concept of "personal space", it still seemed rather safe overall, especially when you basically heard just about every "major" language, including the main ones we ended up hearing within the following week and change (Catalan in Barcelona/possibly elsewhere in Catalonia, French in the Paris region, Italian in Rome/etc., and, obviously, Spanish, along with surprisingly large amounts of English, particularly down inside the train tunnels, considering the "tourism wind-down" season), only over the course of about 72 hours, those places had better be "safe"!
Upon connecting from the Brussels airport over the weekend, and hearing announcements in four different languages in the process, we started by checking into a hostel the likes of which was basically only reviewed positively for its "central" location, although, despite its age, I personally found it just fine for a couple of nights consisting mostly of just returning there after spending the day "out and about", then simply wandering around the city's downtown, both by taxi, and also on foot, although the taxi fares started piling on earlier rather than later - by then, though, we had gotten quite used to refilling various water bottles at various water fountains in several locations throughout the city, so, despite the (almost) 100 degree weather, we soon ditched the taxis and their rather high fares for what basically amounted to "survival mode" walking through the heat!
After getting accustomed to the boiling heat, we headed off to the old medieval town of Toledo via one of the Spanish "bullet trains", which made what might have otherwise been at least an hour's trip into only about 30-45 minutes' worth of one, and, from there, basically did a "loop" from the train station up a slight hill to the historic district in town; from there, it was off to the cathedral and an old metal-working room, which just so happened to have a shop right nearby, in which we bought some souvenirs, before heading back to Madrid, specifically the Royal Palace/museum!
The second full day, meanwhile, after originally planning on visiting Sevilla, then backing out of that whole plan due to it costing €300+, was spent in Segovia, which reminded me of a few small towns in both Mexico and Peru, complete with an impromptu group of musicians, brief downpours of rain, and a roasted pig dinner at an old restaurant in town, before trudging up the steps of this old castle on the outskirts of downtown; last but not least, we returned once more to Madrid to get everything "squared away" for Paris!
Personally, though, Paris was a rather large letdown, taking the "grime" of Madrid, and basically turning that up more than enough notches to truly remind one of the 1970s/'80s, especially in N.Y.C., which might very well have been the "crime capital" of the U.S. back then, at least among the largest cities in the country, if not world; in the more "touristy" areas, though, the city seems fine enough to wander around in, even rather late, although, honestly, that advice should probably be applied at every time, everywhere, since, even in some "smaller" places worldwide, there tend to be some rather "sketchy" neighborhoods...
To make matters worse with hearing/seeing more than a few reports of generally "sketchy" neighborhoods, though, was that we ended up in an incredibly old hotel in one such neighborhood, where reports of crime were generally higher than even some similar neighborhoods, although, for the most part, we ended up fairly isolated from all the alleged "commotion" outside, or at least as "isolated" as anybody could possibly be in such areas, and that the building itself was more than warm enough to combat the rather cold (by September standards, at least...) nights!
Shortly after arriving, and finding out that we unfortunately ended up finding lodging in a ****** neighborhood (in which we crossed paths with a cowardly taxi driver), we headed to the Eiffel Tower, and just made it partly up, to the second floor, since the tower was just a few minutes short of closing for the night; after that, we hung out fairly close to the tower, in a filthy, yet generally safe, food truck-filled area right below the tower!
The following day, we initially caught up with a relative who had recently moved somewhere between Paris and Versailles, before heading to the Louvre museum and wandering around there for part of the afternoon; once we took care of that massive museum, we headed up a few dozen steps to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, naturally capturing a few more images there, mostly of the city's skyline, and then just generally using the Paris Metro to find some other "touristy" neighborhoods to avoid spending so much time near the hotel; even so, we only ended up returning there after midnight, meaning that there was some drunkenness added on to the "seedy" nature of the neighborhood!
Day 2 started off in Versailles via one of the many French commuter trains; naturally, we braved the crowds there to visit the palace on said grounds, then headed back to the Notre-Dame cathedral before hopping aboard a so-called "Big Bus" tour vehicle to explore various neighborhoods by bus; upon reaching the "red light district" in town, though, we got off, walked up even more stairs to the Sacred Heart basilica, and only then explored the various "erotic" shops there before having dinner at a French "American-style" restaurant, called the "Buffalo Grill", right across from the historic/world-famous Moulin Rouge club!
Overall, though, again, it seems as if all of Paris seems somewhat "seedy" now, but, as mentioned, N.Y.C. (particularly Manhattan) was like that some 30-40 years ago, and it seems like not even catastrophes like 9/11 have stopped the city's "renaissance" from the 1990s through the present, so, even though it's on a different continent, hopefully Paris ends up experiencing a similar recovery sometime in the future, or else it'll basically end up being "segregated" between government officials and the worst-off local residents, economically!
(P.S.: as "seedy" as Paris seems now, there's another Disneyland theme park to the east of all the other main tourist attractions in the city; after seeing a commercial for the one in Paris, and having spent a summer right near the one in Tokyo a few years ago, I've become weirdly tempted to visit the "original" Disneyland out west suddenly, which I've yet to do, despite having visited Orlando twice in the past!)
Turns out, in the end, that our stay in Rome ended up being the shortest of all our stays in the various cities we stayed in during the month - only one full day, but, in the one day we spent in the so-called "Eternal City", I'd like to think I discovered (almost) exactly how places as modern as Tokyo came to be - it all started in (ancient) Athens, Greece/Rome, which was its own empire originally, and worked its way forward from ancient times to the present day!
https://www.buffalo-grill.fr
To make as much out of the day as possible, we started over near the Forum dedicated to Julius Caesar (thankfully, not via Rome Metro line "B", which you can look up for yourself, since the images of those trains are too disgusting for me to even think about), along with the true "world's most famous arena", with all due respect to Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, the Colosseum, which was larger originally, if you can believe it (approximately 50,000+ seats, if I recall), than the current StubHub Center, where the NFL's L.A. Chargers will play their home games until 2020 (approximately 30,000 seats, by far the smallest NFL capacity)! From there, we headed over to the Trevi fountain, which is surrounded by gelato places; after that, we headed to St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, and the Vatican, which are technically all part of their own "city-state" surrounded by Rome; upon finishing our visits to all of those ancient venues, we made sure to try all of the "big three" "gastronomic" items in the country: gelato, pasta, and pizza, and, in doing so, I'd like to think I discovered why those things became so popular internationally!
Barcelona reminded me tons, personally, of Montreal, the second-largest French city worldwide after Paris, except with the Catalan/Spanish languages, instead of English/French, and the more residential neighborhoods adjoining more business/entertainment-oriente
This time, instead of staying either in an ancient hotel (Paris), or along ancient streets (Rome), our hotel this time ended up being more of a "guest house", albeit a higher-end and more private one, with an almost "villa" look to the place, overlooking a corner of one of the city's main (and longest) streets; when we initially arrived late Tuesday night (local time, only after rather pointlessly connecting from Rome via
Once night turned to day, however, and we got a look at the people starting their daily activities, we walked every which way through the streets of the city, eventually hitting the Sagrada Familia cathedral, the Parc Guell, Las Ramblas (
The second full day, meanwhile, started there, this time along with her husband and a few other "regulars" in the restaurant who showed up a few minutes later, before heading off to the beaches overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, heading to the site of the 1992 Summer Olympic games, specifically the 55,000+ seat soccer/track and field stadium (which also ended up getting used briefly by the "other" club in town, RCD Espanyol, which eventually moved to a smaller stadium in a different part of the city in 2010), then heading back to the sea front district to a mall, the port right behind it, and, lastly, a restaurant attached to the W Hotel, which we honestly probably wouldn't have gotten into anywhere else but a beachfront location, but, despite having waited until that afternoon, and doing so again in the evening, we still managed to squeeze a bit more "cuisine" into our bodies then!
Our last (full) day started with printing our boarding passes for Barcelona -> Madrid, and from there back home, before heading to a different beach in a more industrial area, which was definitely dirtier than the other one located near the W Hotel; after that, we headed back to Las Ramblas to find a bullfighting-themed restaurant in which my grandfather probably would've been very much "at home", even in Barcelona, and then to rest up for a very early flight back to the Madrid airport for the fourth time within the two weeks of our European vacation (from Brussels, going to Paris, connecting between Rome and Barcelona, and returning back home from Barcelona)!
Last but not least, I'd like to give you some more thoughts (albeit shorter) on each of the places we visited:
Madrid: seems to be, now, where N.Y.C. was back in the '90s: transitioning from very "rough" place to visit, and even tougher to live in; confusing public transportation system;
Paris: might very well have been considered "beautiful" way back when, but, unfortunately, is currently full of people trying to "pickpocket" others, and very run-down buildings - definitely stick to the "touristy" areas at all costs;
Rome: among the first cities on the planet, and it shows, with lots of ancient buildings, bumpy streets, and a pair of different train lines - one relatively clean, and the other just plain totally vandalized;
Barcelona: reminds me tons of Montreal, with two main languages historically; always a political "flashpoint" - lots of "colonial"-era architecture throughout...
Well, that's it for all these recaps; IDK what will happen soon (well, after this weekend, since I'm planning on using it to recover from these past couple of weeks in various places), but, regardless, you'll still hear from me, especially after sporting events I'll have attended!
A few more things now:
First off, the restaurant we ate at one evening in Paris:
That chain reportedly has 361 total locations right now, of which 329 are in France, 6 in Spain, 2 in Luxembourg, and 1 in Switzerland, so, by and large, it's a French company, yet having a few establishments just outs
...lastly, across from there, at the famous Moulin Rouge nightclub, circa 1940:
That image shows the beginning of what would end up being the interminable Nazi German occupation of Paris (and most of the rest of France, but especially Paris) from 1940 until 1944, and, above all else, what the image showed, at least to me, was Parisians' attempting to keep their lives as "normal" as possible, even as the dreaded black/red/white Nazi swastika flag suddenly replaced the famous French tricolor on basically every building:
Many more images where those came from, though, to remind us where people making the wrong choices for themselves can lead - to them being shut out from the rest of the world, and systematically murdered if they dare oppose the events unfolding around them:
