Barcelona - Gaudi, Paella, Beaches

21 July to 27 July

Leaving Lisbon and our hostel was probably one of the saddest parts of our trip, we loved it there! But I was excited to get to Barcelona, I didn't get to explore it as much as I wanted 3 years ago. The flight with TAP Portugal was pretty good, we even got free sandwiches and drinks, which surprised us because exactly zero flights we have taken (including the ones from Canada) gave us anything. I'm thinking it's because TAP is Portugal's national airline...the flight was only $163 CAD for the both of us, sweet!

Barcelona was like Rome - very hot and humid. Boo. But I don't think it was as bad as Rome, though it was getting there. At least there were beaches! Our friend Alex, whom we met up with in Rome (sorry for not mentioning you in that post!), met up with us 2 days after we arrived for some new adventures!

Hostel 1: Gracia City Hostel

Originally, we wanted to use AirBnB in Barcelona, but it ended up being expensive and no one was taking reservations as early as we were booking. So to compromise, we booked a private room in Gracia City Hostel, which looked pretty nice and had excellent reviews online. However, you shouldn't always trust the internet. It was VERY expensive for what we were getting, which was essentially a small room with a wardrobe, a double bed, and a door that only locked if you tugged hard on the door. Otherwise, you can just push the door open, awesome. On top of that, there was a 5% charge for paying with a card. There were shared bathrooms, but no big deal, I've lived in uni rez and am used to shared bathrooms. Except these bathrooms were severely inadequate. The toilets were more or less clean, but there were 2 stalls for women and 1 for men, for the entire floor. As far as I knew, we were the only private room and the rest were dorms, so that's a lot of people for 3 stalls. The showers were dingy and disgusting; only one stall locked out of four on the floor and the floors were gross. I accidentally dropped my towel while trying to hang all my stuff up, which usually isn't a big deal other than some water, but when I picked it up it had brown muck on it. Super gross. The kitchen was alright at first glance, but there were loads of flies around the sink, so that cut short any plans to cook for ourselves! They wanted €10 to do our laundry and we read that there's a chance they won't even do it on time. Overall, a very bad experience and we were rather unimpressed with the staff, although the girl who checked us in was pretty agreeable. 

So that's our first hostel nightmare out of 7 weeks, which is pretty good I think. But we acted fast. After two nights, we decided we didn't want to suffer through the next four and went to get the remainder of our money back. It went off without a hitch and we immediately sat down to book another hostel close by, Generator Barcelona, which we had heard of before. We had walked by it earlier that night and decided that it looked amazing and, even though we wouldn't have a private room, it would be so much better. I'm quite proud of how we dealt with the issue , actually. Adulthood!

No pictures because I just wanted to get out of there!

Hostel 2: Generator Hostel Barcelona

About 400m away from the first hostel, it is LEAGUES ahead of it in terms of everything. We first had a 6-bed dorm with a private toilet and shower for 2 nights, then the same the next 2 nights but with 8 beds. There was AC, hallelujah, and we could do our own laundry for €3 for a wash and dry each. The lounge/hangout areas were amazing (stocked with couches, chairs, SWINGING chairs, and beanbags) and the staff were so friendly. We had arrived at 11am but check-in was at 2pm, but they kept our bags and let us hang out (and even let Meg shower) while we waited to check in. The bar/restaurant had great food as well, so if we were too lazy to go anywhere, we'd just eat there. The only negative would be the slow lifts and the fact that they were quite small, but I was happy to deal with that haha. The second room we stayed in was mostly boys, which wouldn't normally be bad, except every time we walked into the room it was probably 90% fart (Pitch Perfect 2 reference, woooooo). Not even room spray could save us. There was also a nightmare roommate who would NOT respect that others were sleeping at 3am and blundered around the room rudely, and then snored loud af and denied the rest of us sleep. Rude. Very glad to be out of there, but obviously not the hostel's fault! 

The lobby of Generator; only one of the two hangout places. The other was upstairs and had couches, computers, a pool table, foosball, and darts. 

The ceiling of the bar! 

Park Guell: disappointing

Park Guell was one of my favourite places in Barcelona 3 years ago, but not so much anymore. It's a beautiful park with great views of the city and some very eccentric planning by Gaudi, the famed Catalan architect with an affinity towards colourful mosaics and weird shapes. All of the park was free 3 years ago and for the previous century, but it's now charging 8 euro to even get in to see Gaudi's work. The rest of the park is still free, though. I read later that apparently tourism is the only industry working for Spain, so they have to capitalize on that. Which, okay, I get it, but still. I feel like works of art that were intended to be free (such as a PARK) should remain so. It was a bummer, I really wanted to show Meg where Gaudi intended a marketplace to be and the mosaic iguana, but not for €8 :(

Sagrada Familia: yas 

Barcelona may be one of those places where I'll actually admit to liking its typical tourist sites. So, yes, La Sagrada Familia is one of my favourite places, at least in Barcelona, to visit. There's just something about seeing a building that's been in the making for over 130 years, I guess. It was more expensive this time round (re: capitalizing on tourism), but this time I got an audio guide, which I think was worth it. But going at 7:15 was not worth it because the basilica closes at 8-8:30, so we had to rush a little. I don't really want to write everything I learned about the basilica because it would take up so much space, so instead I'll just say that regardless of your religious beliefs, you should definitely visit this basilica to just marvel at its unique architecture and design. It is certainly a work of the generations, as each new generation has and will have the chance to contribute to its construction, whether that be from visitors or from the new workers toiling hard to interpret Gaudi's instructions or guidelines in their own way to complete the massive structure according to his vision.

The Nativity façade 

Beautiful windows inside, made of Venetian glass! 

Barceloneta Beach: yas

3 years ago, I spent most of my time at Platja de la Marbella, which is east of the city centre and much less busy since I believe that's sort of the "new" area of town. I did get to see a little of Barceloneta, the main beach, but never went because I heard it was always too busy. So, wanting to check it out, one of our beach days was spent here! When we got there, it wasn't too busy, so we scoped out a good place to lay our blankets down, applied some sunscreen (sun protection ain't no joke, kids), and headed straight for the water. My first time in the Mediterrannean! It was lovely, and a lot warmer than the Atlantic water in Lisbon. The sun was hot, hot, hot. I got a good tan. Alex burned. I'm not sure about Megan, I think she got a tan too. The beach was definitely a lot fuller when we left, so we struggled to not kick sand in anyone's face as we made our way back to the street.

Parasols galore at Barceloneta! 

Old Town: Wandering El Born 

I also didn't get to see a lot of the old town last time, so this was awesome! We were mostly in the El Born region, though we wandered a bit into the Gothic Quarter and El Raval later on. I just love the narrow roads, the shops lining them, and looking up to see apartments with clothes hanging to dry. It's something you never see at home or maybe in most of North America. Perhaps it feels like a simpler place? 

3 years ago, I was on a really cool motorbike tour that dropped Tiff and I off in El Born in front of an archeological site, which was all covered up. It didn't even cross my mind until we were walking along and I saw this very giant, very clean and pristine looking building that was the El Born Cultural Centre. Inside the building, which has a highly vaulted ceiling and lots of glass and metal in its structure, are the ruins of 17th century El Born. There are foundations of buildings and one big house that was occupied by a fairly noble family. The building is built on top of the ruins, which are sunken down, allowing the building's floor to be built around them to act as balconies from which you can peer down. There are also panels where you can read about the ruins as well as the 1714 succession of Spain over Barcelona and Catalonia, which I had no clue about beforehand. Best of all, all of this was free! And I like free. I feel like it's important to mention that Barcelona is the capital of Catalonia, which is an autonomous region and they don't really like Spain. So much so that they speak Catalan normally, not Spanish, though Spanish is still understood and spoken. 

Sadly no pictures of the ruins but here's a cool cut bottle from the café in the cultural centre; 1714 was the year of Spanish succession.

We went back to The Old Town later that day for dinner and split a veggie paella between the three of us and had some tapas at Tapatxi, in the Gothic Quarter. It looks pretty similar to Venice's cicchetti, but I think the latter is much better. 

Tapas all lined up 

My picks!

Metro

I liked Barcelona's metro much more than Rome's (the last place we used public transport) because it doesn't stop running at 9:30 (what the heck, Rome?!) and you can buy a multi-person 10 trip card for €10, which means both Meg and I could use the same card for €1/trip instead of €2,15 for a single ticket or €32 for a 5 day ticket. Overall, the metro was really good: the trains were reliable and fast and it was easy to navigate. But there are always some snags.

Most of the metro stations have more than one entrance. Enter the wrong one? Walk 300000 miles and 80 staircases to get to the right line. Have a 10 euro note to buy a €9,95 10 trip pass? Hopefully you get a machine that takes notes! It is TOTALLY random, I guess they don't keep the machines of the most used mode of transport stocked with change. That makes too much sense. If there aren't any machines that take notes, better hope another entrance has one! I feel like there's also the perpetual smell of B.O. on the trains. It could be because it's hot and sticky outside, or that there's zero ventilation in the tunnels so you sweat while you wait for a train despite being so far underground that your ears pop, but either nobody wears deodorant or deodorant is useless in the Barcelona heat.

Paella

Hands down my favourite part of Spanish cuisine. Paella is a rice dish, made with meat or veggies, and is totally delicious. We had paella a grand total of 3 times, seafood twice and a veggie one once. Seafood paellas usually consist of clams, mussels, prawns, and squid. So delicious. They tend to be on the pricey side (though we didn't really go to any local places, just the ones catering to tourists), about €15 per person or per dish. 

Paella near La Sagrada Familia! 

Our last paella was on our last night in Barcelona near Barceloneta beach at Hispano Restaurant. We were super hungry after walking from Platja Nova Icaria (about 2 or 3 beaches over). They had a deal, which was a house salad, paella, and 1/2L sangria for €16,50. Alex and I ordered the seafood paella while Meg got the veggie, but when our food came out, both seafood paellas were made in the same pan while Meg's was by itself in a smaller pan. Not really a big deal, but Meg's single veggie paella was visibly larger than the two portions that Alex and I got out of our pan. You'd think that the dishes would be the same size, but apparently not? We complained but I don't think they got it. Not that we weren't full afterwards, but it's the principle! This will henceforth be known as "The Paella Incident". 

Tourist shops: DON'T 

I don't usually go into tourist shops precisely because their stuff is marked up so highly, but on this trip we've kind of had to because we've needed to buy postcards, patches for our bags, and whatnot. We had a really bad experience on our last night so I'll just recount that here. 

After the Paella Incident, we needed to hit up a tourist shop for patches and a sweatshirt for Alex. We went into the one we wandered into the day we went to Barceloneta beach because it was our last chance! 

In short, the men working there are awful. So pushy, annoying, rude, ignorant, and would not leave you alone to browse. The other day we were in there, I saw a shirt I kind of liked, and the guy said it was €5. Not bad. But I wanted to check out some other shops before buying that one. When we came back, suddenly it was €12. For a tank top. A rather thin tank top, while the hoodie Alex was buying was also €12. Yes. That makes sense. I told the man (a different one from last time) no, that it was too expensive, and of course he then offered €9,90. I then told him that the other day, the other man (who was badgering Alex and Megan) told me they were €5. He stared at me, as if waiting for me to change my mind (no chance, dude), and when I didn't, he said "maybe you are a bit..." and gestured with his hands, implying that I was stupid, crazy, or very unreasonable at best. And you know how I LOVE sketchy guys who work in tourist shops judging my level of intelligence. I'm surprised I didn't explode on him, actually. I continued to say no and went to stand by Alex and Meg, who were trying to decide what hoodie to buy, but the guy followed me, had the shirt crunched up in his hand, shoved it into mine, came super close to me, and creepily whispered that I could have it for €8. I literally said, "Nah, man, it's too much, I don't want it." He got visibly angry and threw the crumpled shirt back onto the shelf. As Meg and I stormed out, the same guy who offered me €5 the first day called out that, "okay, you can have it for 5." Of course. So we go back in just to buy the stupid shirt when this guy starts whispering to come back tomorrow because their boss was there and they couldn't sell it for €5 right then. Super sketchy. And not worth even half the trouble they caused us. So we left again, very annoyed and very rattled. It PAINS me that we gave them any sort of business by buying the patches, but it was our last chance. Sigh. 

I'm ready to come home, I think. Hopefully Paris will be more enjoyable and relaxing. 

Another thing I wanted to mention but have little to write about are Gaudi's other creations in Barcelona, Casa Milà and Casa Battlò, two apartment buildings on Passeig de Gracia that are as beautiful as they are strange. I hoped to go into one (both house museums in addition to actual apartments) but it didn't end up happening. Maybe next time? 

Casa Milà by night; the roof is meant to look like a dragon's back with its ridges.

Casa Battlò by day; an oceany wonderland, the balconies look as though they are made of kelp or seaweed. 

Lisbon, the city of hills, cobblestone, and tuktuks

16 July to 21 July 

Thank the stars above! We've made it to a much more manageable climate and we're loving it! Once we touched down in Lisbon, it was hot, but not nearly as unbearable as Rome, Venice, or even Prague. It was about 32 degrees, but that very morning in Rome it was 30 degrees with 50% humidity, so while it's  technically hotter in Lisbon, we ain't sweating through our clothes anymore, which is always a plus. 

(Fun fact, we literally did sweat through all of our clothes in Rome and had them washed in Lisbon. We are overjoyed at having clean clothes again)

Goodmorning Hostel, 65 Praça dos Restauradores

Our hostel is absolutely top-notch. The reviews online were stellar, but we finally got to experience it firsthand. First off, amazing staff. They're so nice and helpful and always asking if you need anything. As soon as we walked in the door, one of the staff, Tatiana, gave us a "Welcome home!" and it was then that we knew this place was special. The staff clean your clothes for you for only €6 (AND they fold them, what???), run walking tours, city tours, cocktail/sangria nights, dinners out with the staff,and tapas nights for their travellers, AND make an AMAZING breakfast, which is included with your stay. Now, every other hostel we've stayed at with an included breakfast had minimal offerings: toast, cereal, coffee, and fruit if you're lucky. But at Goodmorning, hell nah. They do. not. mess. around. The online reviews don't lie: their butter-coated, freshly made waffles are to die for. Slather them with some Nutella and I'm pretty sure one could die happy right there and then. Additionally, they whip up fried eggs, grilled paninis with cheese and tomato, cereal, toast, coffee and juice, tomatoes, cucumbers, and apples. And there's always a staff member in there cooking from 8-11am to make sure all the food is fresh! How neat is that?? 

The perfect way to start everyday in Lisbon

Comfy hangouts

Tuktuks

I think these nifty little vehicles are actually Thai, but Lisbon seems to be full of them! I never thought I'd be in one, thinking they were for silly tourists who are too lazy to walk, but man, Lisbon is as full of hills and unevenly cobbled streets as it is with tuktuks. For good reason, I suppose. SO, after a particularly long walk up steep inclines to get to Castelo São Jorge (St. George's Castle) one day, we saw the tuktuks all lined up and figured we'd ask how much it would be to get a ride down. At €15, it seemed like an alright deal. 

WELL, let me tell you. First, the ride started off smooth. Then, we got stuck behind a tourist van for a few minutes. When we finally got around to it, our driver really let the cobblestones have it. And by this I mean he RIPPED down the narrow streets, turning left and right, honking his little horn, all the while yelling "WOOHOOOO!". He barely slowed town to turn corners, so I thought we were definitely going to flip. These things have a crazy tight turning radius! I wasn't sure whether to be concerned or amused so I alternated between muttering "oh my god" and laughing my head off. Once at the bottom of the hill, the ride was once again smooth, mostly because the streets had more cars in them. But when we hit traffic, he decided to turn and take a side street, nearly hitting pedestrians in the crosswalk as he did so! A few minutes later, we're on the main road, driving more or less in line with typical driving rules. Except when he decided he'd let 'er rip again and tear through a pretty big crosswalk with pedestrians who definitely had the right of way, laying on his horn to clear a path through them. Uhhh, what just happened?!?! Oh, and at one point he didn't want to wait for the light to change, so he just took the area reserved for pedestrians known as the sidewalk. No big deal, right? 

The ride was well worth the money, and I hope those pedestrians have recovered from the near-death experiences...though I'm not sure I have. 

Belèm

A region within Lisbon that we visited was Belèm, about 20 minutes west of the city center. Hop on the 15E tram from Praça de Figueiro to get first dibs on seats! Day tickets for the metro/bus/tram are only €6 (plus €0,50 for the rechargeable card), so it's well worth it. Plus, you can just go for a few hours, go home, and take transit elsewhere later in the day if you feel like it! Worth noting is that you can only recharge the card once the previous limit has expired. For example, if you buy a 24 hour day ticket, you can't recharge until 24 hours has passed. Confusing and a little difficult, but at least the cards are only €0,50. The tram takes you right to the monastery in Belèm, get off here! You can't miss it.

For €10 we visited the Jerónimos Monastery, which was okay. The architecture and church were absolutely beautiful and it was interesting to walk about the grounds (I think it's called a cloister? Such an odd word...) and a few rooms that the monks used in the monastery's 500 year history. I thought there would be more to see, though. There was a permanent exhibit room that had a timeline of the monastery alongside those of Portuguese and world history, which was really cool. Another room was the tomb of Alexandre Herculano, a prominent Portuguese scholar and intellectual. We also saw the ancient Refectory, which is where monks ate their meals while reading scripture. Lastly, we saw the massive church attached to the monastery, including the upper choir balcony. A few weddings were happening so we didn't want to wait in line to be let in after they were done, but we could see in from the upper balcony just fine. That's pretty much it. I'm not sure what the monastery is used for today (not even Google could give me a good answer), but it must be something or else I'm sure the whole thing would've been open to the public. The place is just huge! All I know is that the monastery was abandoned in 1834 and made secular...further digging to be done, apparently.

The cloister

After the monastery, we wandered about a minute down the road to Pasteis de Belèm, a renowned bakery famous for their Portuguese custard tarts. The pastry was invented by the monks at the monastery before the 18th century, but when it closed down in 1834, the recipe was sold to a sugar refinery. It was the owners of the refinery who opened up this bakery in 1837 and their descendants still own it today! Evidently, they're still going strong - they sell over 20,000 tarts a day! We waited in line for about 15 minutes before we ordered 6 of these famous pastries to take away and eat in the park across the street. They were delicious - the custard sweet and the pastry crunchy yet also soft. Very different from the dan taat, or egg tarts, back home! After hearing my sister rave about them ever since she was in Portugal years ago, I finally got to have a taste for myself. Nom.

Mmmmm

Other than that, we just wandered around Belèm. We saw the Torre de Belèm, but didn't go in. The water is gorgeous and it's a treat to walk along it and get the nice breeze from the ocean, especially on a hot day. Along the way is the massive Discoveries Monument, representing the bow of a ship carrying prominent figures from the 16th century. Belèm (and Portugal) was a major place from which voyaging ships would leave Europe to "discover" new lands abroad. In fact, the main role of the monks at Jerónimos was to pray for the King's eternal soul and for the seafarers' voyages to be successful - they did this for 4 centuries. The monument is beautiful, colonialism aside. 

Sintra 

Another region under the municipality of Lisbon, Sintra is a half hour away from the city centre (and a return ticket is only €5). Also, unless you want to pay for food at cafés or restaurants, buy snacks from a supermarket in Lisbon and bring them with you! Cheaper and more convenient. In Sintra, we bought tickets for the 434 bus that takes you on a circuit around the place, from the train station, to the Villa, Moorish Castle (Castelo dos Mouros), Palácio da Pena, and back down again. The bus ride itself is a little scary; there are a LOT of switchbacks slog a pretty narrow road, but somehow the bus manages. You can opt to walk up to the sights but it's quite a trek. I recommend only doing so if you're quite fit (and wearing proper footwear).

The Moorish Castle was so. cool. We spent at least an hour and a half wandering the grounds, a good portion of which is free before you have to buy a ticket (only €8). The history is amazing, and you can tell that minimal restoration has occurred, so it all LOOKS quite old, but well taken care of. It's on top of a massive hill in a heavily forested area with giant boulders sticking out everywhere. As I walked through it I definitely got some Rivendell vibes. I was diff in' it. Understandably, it was built and used continously as a lookout post. There are covered areas where there have been archeological finds from the original Muslim inhabitants, artifacts from the Bronze Age, and a Christian necropolis/tombs built all on top of each other. Very cool. As well, you can climb all the way up to various lookout points, but be prepared with comfy shoes. The lookout points were just gorgeous. The castle is built so high up that you get a perfect panorama of the region as well as a nice breeze coming off the ocean. Lisbon itself actually has quite a nice climate so even though it's hot, it's not uncomfortably so and you often get a breeze coming in to make up for it. There are little information points as well along the paths, some of which inform you about the particular piece in front of you. My favourite were the big holes seemingly gouged into the boulders on the ground, used as silos or storage for foodstuffs like grains and legumes from long ago. 

Bumble doin' his thing 

You could also go a bit underground, down into where there is still archeological research occurring on a Muslim house built into the fortress, as well as the original cistern that provided fresh water to the fortress since the beginning and never ran dry. There's still water down there, though I'm unsure whether it's from the same water source.

After the castle, we didn't really want to do anything else. The bus also drops you off at the Palaçio de Pena, but it cost €12 to get in and I wasn't up for more walking hahaha. So we continued on until we reached the Villa with all its little shops and restaurants. We wandered a bit through the winding streets, ducking into the odd shop, but we got hungry. There's a lot of restaurants to choose from, and they all have their menus out on display, so take your pick! We chose a place that had codfish and seafood soup (I think it was called Ristorante Taverna or something), which I've been dying to try since we got to Portugal. If you can't tell, I love seafood. The place was nice, service was meh, but the soup was so good! It came in a bread bowl which is always fun. It was full of cod, mussels, shrimp, and possibly other things I missed due to devouring it all. We also ordered the codfish fritters, which were delicious! Crunchy and full of flavour. After that, we hopped back on the bus, caught our train, and headed back home! Easy peasy.

A little bit blurry but here's the food!

Caparica

We wanted at least one beach day in Lisbon, and we got it! Originally, we were going to go to Cascais, which is where a lot of people go, but we asked Tatiana where the best beach was and she told us that she prefers to go to Caparica, which is southwest instead of west of Lisbon. We bought return tickets for the Beach Bus (coolest bus ever), which had two other stops in town before heading to the beach. The drive was beautiful as we went over the very large Ponte 25 de Abril, a bridge that looks a lot like the Golden Gate in San Fran. The view from the bridge was very pretty, with bright blue waters underneath us! 

The cool bus!

Going over the bridge! 

The bus dropped us off right at the beach and would pick us up in the same spot later in the day. We headed to the beach and a) the sand was beautiful, b) the beach wasn't too crowded, and c) there was a little café/bar where we wild definitely relax later. We set up our blanket and bags reasonably close to the water, slathered ourselves in sunscreen, and laid down to catch some sun for the next few hours. It wasn't too hot because Lisbon has this constant glorious breeze from the water, even in town! Once we did get hot, though, we took to the water. The ice cold water of the Atlantic. There was a whole lot of NOPE from me, but the next few times we went in, it got a lot warmer or at least more bearable (weird). The waves were awesome and it was cool to not have to watch your feet to make sure you didn't step on any barnacle-covered rocks, aka FEET SLICERS. Playing in the waves on a Portuguese beach is definitely my idea of a good way to end a visit to Lisbon. 

To end the day, ice cold Somersby ciders and some food to recharge our energy while we waited for the bus to pick us up. 

We're just about to check out of this amazing hostel (wah) and get ready for our flight to Barcelona this afternoon! Can't wait to be back in that crazy city :) 

Until then!

Rome, the Eternal City

10 July to 16 July

If Rome is eternal, then I think I'll try to enjoy it another time.

Overall, I really didn't like Rome! So much so that I have refused to write in my journal about it the entire time we've been here. There are of course some really, really cool things about Rome: its thousands of years of history, the ancient ruins, and the many landmarks and monuments scattered about the city. They are all beautiful, and even the ruins have a sort of beauty in their disarray. 

In fact, we might have enjoyed Rome a LOT more had it not felt like 40 degrees Celsius with the humidity outside! The entire time we have spent in Rome outside of our bed and breakfast, we had been just drenched in our own sweat. How very uncomfortable (and unclean!).

Even so, there were a few things we had to do. We bought tickets to wander the Roman Forum and the Colosseum - I feel like these are the obvious sights to see while in Rome. At only €12, it wasn't a bad deal and we got to see the remnants of a place lost in time. But, because of the heat, we could only last about an hour under the blazing sun in the Forum before we had to retreat back to where we're staying. We were inside the Colosseum for perhaps half an hour; there isn't much to see without an audio guide or an official tour, so all we did was wander around the ground and 2nd floor reading some info cards about some remnants of the Colosseum's past. We also got to walk around the inner part of the Colosseum, the part that looks out over where the battles and "games" took place. It really is a huge structure and an architectural marvel. We passed the half hour doing these things in-between ducking in and out of the shade we could find. Again, because of the heat, we did a lot of our sightseeing in Rome in much the same way.  

The Roman Forum

The Roman Forum 

The Colosseum - very impressive structure 

Underneath the floor of the Colosseum

We also went to Vatican City, because you can't go to Rome and not go there, right??? We lined up to enter St. Peter's Basilica, which of course was out in the big square and in direct sunlight. Luckily the line moved quickly and we made it in within 15 minutes. Finally, we could get some respite from the sun, although we had to cover up our knees and shoulders to do so out of respect to the holiness of Vatican City. Which means I was wearing a long sleeve button-up for the 15 minutes we were in the Basilica, which meant that I sweated not only through the tank top I was wearing, but also my coverup shirt! Super, sweaty, sticky mess. This is essentially all we did in the Vatican. It would have been awesome to wander around more within the smallest country in the world, but it was just too dang hot! We definitely would not have made it out feeling very well if we tried. 

St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican - the only building we went into

We tried to beat the heat by going out in the evenings, but it lingered quite late into the night. However, this was when we did a lot of our wandering, when it was at least a bit more tolerable. During the night we went back to the Colosseum (a few times) and the surrounding area, Castel Sant'Angelo, and wandered the Spanish Steps area on the prowl for dinner and gelato.

Also: are ALL Italians rude as hell or is it just the ones in Rome?! I never really understood the stereotype of Canadians being polite but holy crap, it's so true. If you're at a cross-walk, make sure you wait for a break in the neverending line of cars because NOBODY stops for you to cross! It doesn't even matter if you're away from the city center and the droves of tourists - they won't even stop for one person! So I just started stepping out and staring drivers down, being all, "go ahead, hit me ya Italian jerkface". And IF they slow down, sometimes they'll try to swerve around you if they've got room. The amount of times a car has gone ahead and turned through a crosswalk even though the walking signal is green is unbelievable. Cars have jerked to a stop literally a foot away from me as I'm crossing and I've gotten so tired of it that I stare them right in the eye and challenge them to be even more of an ass. 

The rudeness extends to people walking on the street as well. PICK A SIDE TO WALK ON! Don't weave and make yourself seven lanes wide! And for the love of God don't stop right in the middle of the sidewalk/road. In the metro, I always thought it was commonsense (and more efficient) to let people leave the train before trying to board. Well, apparently not in Rome! They just shove their way through, come hell or high water, they're making it onto that train. But man, come on, how do you expect to get into the train if we can't even get off with you blocking the way?! 

ALSO!!! The amount of pervy leering from men is atrociously disgusting. Today alone, we (well, Meg at least) were on the receiving end of very obvious and very gross staring by a COP in the metro station as well as a dude on his dinky little Vespa, who felt the need to CROSS traffic and stop right in front of us, as we waited for the walk signal to turn green, and yammer at us in Italian, which we angrily ignored. 

What I did like: mostly food

We had a lot of pizza and pasta, but nothing really screamed "DELICIOUS" to me, which is a little unfortunate. I've kicked two GREAT food experiences that have made our trip to Rome a little less disappointing. 

1. WOK Asian rice boxes from Termini Station

The first time we went here, we were just dying for lunch on our way home from the Roman Forum. We were tired and sweaty and wanted nothing more than our air-conditioned room, but we knew we needed food so we stopped and ate, and sweated all the while. BUT! This place in Termini is AWESOME! So awesome that we have eaten there a total of 3 times in the past 3 days and have both gotten the same thing each time: Holy Basil Chicken fried rice for Meg and Thai Yellow Curry with shrimp for me! I'm actually eating it right now and I'm so happy. We've had a lot of luck with Asian food on this trip, actually. 

2. Gelato

We've gotten a lot of slush drinks and gelato/ice cream while we've been in Italy, and Rome is no exception. We've got to beat the heat somehow! Our favourite place is Giolitti, located near the Spanish Steps and Piazza di Spagna. It's 115 years old (not sure whether if has always sold just gelato and sweets), and has a massive variety of gelato flavours as well as Italian ice and pastries. The first time Meg and I sat down there was to take advantage of their A/C...we ended up ordering a banana split that was pretty dang good. The next time we went, I got a cone with raspberry and pomegranate and it was so, so, SO good. The pomegranate was on point and tasted exactly how it would if you were chewing on the seeds themselves - tart and acidic and yummy. The raspberry was also very, very good. Probably the best gelato I've had this entire trip! Not overdone with sugar and entirely refreshing. 

Amazing banana split

Well, that's it! Tomorrow we leave for Lisbon, Portugal, and we are very excited to be in a cooler climate with a beach within reach! 

Venice - Canals and Cicchetti

4 July to 10 July

Weather report: even more hot and sweltering than Prague

Holy guacamole. It was terribly humid in Venice, the air felt so heavy! Which meant bad things for our sensitive little Canadian bodies. Luckily, we made a smart choice in accommodations: instead of staying in the actual labyrinth of Venice, we opted for a camping village just on the mainland. This camping village had a pool. We were very excited about this and spent a lot of time by the pool when we weren't wandering the labyrinth that is Venice!

Walking Tour: fun facts about Venice

Ever since our first walking tour in Berlin, we decided we want to do one for every city thereafter! It's a great way to learn some history from locals who are passionate about their city, and they work for tips which means that it HAS to be a good tour or else they won't get paid. Without further ado, here are some gems from the tour we did in Venice with 306tours:

1. Venice is built on mud isles and will be gone in 70 years of the city does nothing to combat the sinking AND rising sea levels.

2. Salt water is bad for brick, marble, and probably every other building material. 

3. Venetian masks come from a tradition of protecting oneself from the plague, or Black Death. People wore masks and covered themselves from head to toe to do so. Eventually, masks would be worn to celebrate the "end" of plague in Venice (the plague hit Venice three times because it's a port city) and were to show equality between the classes (to quell unrest) because everyone was covered and you couldn't tell if someone was rich or poor from the way they looked. Masks used to be plain, but evolved to reflect personality traits as well. 

4. The canals are nasty dirty; a lot of their sewage goes in there.

5. Under the Austro-Hungarian Empire, 20% of canals were filled and street signs were created to make Venice more of a pedestrian city.

6. Street names are pretty much useless because when they named the streets, they just named them by what was on the street. There are 92 "Baker" streets! The best way to ask for directions is to ask where the "Campo" or square nearest to your destination is. 

7. The word "ghetto" originates from the Italian word "gheto" and means "boundary". The oldest ghetto in the world (and the original) is in Venice and is 500 years old. Its inhabitants were Jewish, and when their population increased, they moved up instead of outwards. This resulted in what are called Venetian skyscrapers, buildings that are 6 or 7 storeys high instead of the typical 4.

A storm in a heatwave?

On the first evening we decided to spend in Venice, the sky looked a little scary. By the time we were in the city and had wandered towards where we were going to get food, dark clouds had rolled in ad we could see some lightning lighting up the sky. We thought it was so cool, as the noticeable drop in temperature wS welcome! The locals on the other hand, were running for the hills. This should have been our first clue. In no time at all, it was like the entire Mediterrannean was pouring from the sky! The rain came down so heavily and the wind was so strong that we dove for cover under a hotel's covered entrance. We were there for about 20 minutes before the rain let up and we could go on our way to dinner. It was an incredible sight! Immediately after the storm, the sky was bright and blue once again - very word. We learned the next morning that the storm had caused a tornado about 20 minutes away from where our campground was, still considered within the city of Venice I think. Knowing that is pretty scary, but I'm glad it didn't come anywhere near us! 

Can't forget about the food!

Ahhhh, food. My greatest downfall. Luckily for me, Italy has some of the most delicious cuisine and I couldn't wait to get started. In all honesty, the pizza and pasta weren't that great, but the only place I ate those things was at the restaurant at the campground so it's not like I went to a good restaurant. Our tour guide told us that there is NO good pizza in Venice because the city banned wood-burning ovens because they cause too many fires and the city can't take that kind of damage! So, what in the world did we eat that was so gosh-diddily-darn good (sorry, Flanders escaped me for a second there)???

I'LL TELL YOU WHAT. 

1. Lunch buffet at Taverna al Remer

We first heard of this restaurant from our walking tour guide. She actually recommended the "happy hour" or aperitivo deal, but we decided to go for the lunch buffet first. The place was a little difficult to find, as you must turn down a number of narrow alleys to get there. We walked in the door as soon as it opened for lunch at noon and were served by some of the nicest staff ever! The lunch buffet was as follows:

- Cost: €20/person

- Includes: water, 0,5 cL wine each, coffee, 1 pasta dish each, lunch buffet, AND dessert

- Lunch buffet: about 6 different kinds of salads including egg, caprese, and I think a sort of raw fish salad?; grilled zucchini, eggplant, and bell peppers; steamed cauliflower; a sort of curried chicken; meatballs; and cured ham and other deli meats

- Dessert: the most delicious tiramisu and fruit salad

UMMMM. Can I get a "yes please"?! We haven't really eaten much fruits and veggies since we've been traveling, so both of us filled our plates FULL with all of the veggies and salads in front of us. There was so much food and it was all so delicious. Considering all of the food we ate, the air-conditioning, the cool atmosphere, and the awesome staff, it was well worth €20.

2. Cicchetti 

Also a tip from our walking tour guide! Cicchetti is LIKE Spanish tapas, kind of. Basically it consists of a lot of delicious toppings on croustinis that cost between €1,20-€1,50 each. You choose which tasty morsels you want to eat, order up s glass of wine, and take your food away to eat standing up inside or outside of the establishment. You're supposed to eat standing up because it's traditionally a time for socializing and exchanging ideas, so you're being open to others (while sitting down is seen as being closed off). Meg and I ate at a little cicchetti bar called Cantinone già Schiavi and it was absolutely delicious. The staff were very nice and helpful, and one woman was behind the counter making new tasty morsels to replenish the ones tamest were being ordered, so we knew it had to be pretty fresh! Some of the pieces I chose had cuttlefish, smoked herring, and Brie on them while Meg had a couple with dried cod and one with pumpkin and "snow"! A very different experience for the both of us, but I loved it. We had two rounds of 3 each, along with a glass of wine and a drink called Spritz. We took our food outside along the canal and ate as we watched gondolas and boats pass by.

Cicchetti!

Venice, I was very pleasantly surprised by you and would love to visit again. A lot of people warn against going to Venice, thinking it to be dirty and smelly, but in my experience, it's no more dirty or smelly than any other major European city, such as London or Berlin or Prague, which both smelled similarly occasionally (London probably more so). I think that Venice, while full of tourists, has a history and culture that should be learned and engaged with, and if you do that I think you'll also see why I was very happy to have visited Venice at all. Take a free tour with Venice Free Walking Tour, intentionally get lost in the streets, and try to get a little taste of how the locals live. You won't regret it!

Prague - the very hot city

30 June to 4 July 2015

We made it to the Czech Republic! I wasn't sure what to expect when we got here, because all I've heard about Prague is that people like coming here to party because it's cheap. So I just figured it was party central (which isn't really ma thang). I was pretty pleasantly surprised when we took a pretty cool walking tour and learned more about the history and culture of the place. Did you know that the Czechs were the first to be occupied by the Nazis and the last to be liberated (by themselves!)?! I SHOULD have known that, but for some reason my brain just glosses over the Czech Republic when it comes to modern history. Our guide mentioned that often when people come to Prague, they take one look at the language and think "...nah, I'll just speak my own language" because it looks so different and we tend to view the country as something so totally foreign and exotic. I can definitely relate to that and I know I was guilty of this. But, regardless, we had a great time even if we felt a little uncomfortable! 

Czech food - very heavy, but I had to try it. That's rabbit with two kinds of cabbage and like 5 kinds of dumplings!

Cheap beer

In the Czech Republic, they take their beer seriously. So seriously, that if you go to somewhere in the country and say that you don't like their beer, they'll kick you out (well, this is according to our walking tour guide). In Prague, beer is literally cheaper than water. In fact, we were at a restaurant once and a beer was 38 Kç (about 2 dollars CAD) while the water was around 50-60 Kç. Pretty crazy to us, where water is (or WAS) deliciously fresh and abundant. However, we did take this opportunity to try some pretty good beers, including Pilsener-Urquell. We had this beer at restaurants, at a burger pub called the Tavern, and even on a peddleboat on the Vltava River as the sun went down and the city lit up. I'm pretty sure the last ones were a little more expensive, at 60 Kç (dang tourist traps), but still not as bad as at home. Needless to say, ice cold Czech beers were a perfect introduction to Prague, especially considering the next point. 

Hot hot heat

Holy mother. Up until now, we hadn't experienced warm weather, at least not warm weather in continuation. There were a few warm days, like in Brighton and Berlin, but nothing that screamed SUMMER as much as it did in Prague. And let me tell you, it was ROASTING. It's very humid in Prague, so the word I would choose to describe the heat would be "sweltering". And swelter we did. Every day, we tried to get out and see the city, but every day the heat would beat us down. Our solution was to get outside for at least a few hours, return to the hostel and indulge in a cold, cold shower, relax a bit, and head back out for dinner and evening festivities. We found this was a good way to get the most out of the day while also not driving ourselves into the ground or heat exhaustion. 

Très chaud

Astronomical clock 

Perhaps the coolest thing I have seen on this trip. Maybe not ever, but definitely on the trip! The astronomical clock is approximately 600 years old and is HELLA accurate. It has kept in perfect time with the following: time, day, month, harvest phases, zodiac signs, positions of the sun and moon (in relation to Prague), and PHASES of the moon. For 600 years. And it is accurate. Have I mentioned that it's the coolest?! It had two dials, the upper dial has the 4 fears (vanity, greed, death, and something to do with being led away to the Ottoman Empire?) while the bottom has the 4 virtues. Every hour on the hour, Death (in the form of a skeleton) pulls a cord to ring the bells as his head falls to his chest while the other 3 figures turn their heads to avoid the gaze of death (because no one wants to die amirite?). The ringing is supposed to be a reminder of our mortality, which is interesting when you remember how old the clock itself is. 

Beautiful clock!

Memorable things we did

1. Fishing (with our feet)

So, Prague has a lot of Thai massage places. Like, a WHOLE lot. They're everywhere in Old Town Square and the surrounding areas. Normally I wouldn't blink an eye at these places because anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a fan of other humans touching me, at all. But of course one thing in particular drew us in: tanks of wittle fish that nibble on your footsies to get rid of dead skin. Sound weird? Well, it WAS weird, but we HAD to try it even if it was a total tourist trap. We managed to haggle the price down from 600 Kç per person to 400 Kç (awesome) and we were set! Our feet and calves were washed and rinsed and in we went! At first it was the weirdest sensation - little tiny mouths nibbling away at your toes, under your foot, and all the way up your calves! It tickled, no lie. But after the first 5 or so minutes, it was so relaxing. 

Omnomnomnom

2. Prague Castle 

The Prague Castle wasn't my favourite, but I feel like I have to mention it. It's the largest castle complex in the world at 70,000 square meters, and is quite beautiful. We couldn't afford to pay for access to all of the areas, so we just paid for the next best, which gave us access to the Old Royal Palace, Basilica of St. George, the Golden Lane, and St. Vitus's Cathedral. The churches were quite beautiful and St. Vitus's was huge, ornate, and intricately designed with gorgeous stained glass windows. The Royal Palace was kind of "meh", as the information boards were quite bland and if you wanted to learn more interesting stuff (I assume), you had to pay a lot more or an audio guide. This is probably why I didn't really like the Castle, but I'm sure the whole thing is quite interesting if you pay for it all. The Golden Lane was kind of cool - it shows the homes/shops of people who lived in the castle grounds, but these were built INTO the Castle wall, so were quite small and cramped (although perhaps people back then were also smaller?). Maybe as much space as a first year dorm, the biggest being possibly double that. Examples of people who inhabited these were seamstresses, blacksmiths, and even a psychic. The upper floor of the wall was where soldiers would keep watch for enemies over yonder.

To finish off, a cool fact about the Castle is when the Cold War ended and the Soviets were booted out of the Czech Republic, the Rolling Stones added a tour date last minute in Prague. They were previously deemed "rotten junkies" by the Soviets, and their performance was one of many to symbolize a once again free country (the Czech Republic has been occupied SO many times that our tour guide's friend's grandmother had never moved in her life, but yet had lived in 6 different countries). The slogan of the 1990 performance was "the tanks roll out, the Stones roll in"...and the Czechs LOVED it. In 1995, they were back in the city and I believe it was Mick Jagger who told the President Vaclac Havel that they needed to "Taj Mahal that shit up", the latter referring to the fact that to couldn't see the beautiful castle at night. Now, the Czech Republic has a country to rebuild after WWII and the Soviet occupation - they're mr so concerned with making their Castle look pretty. SO. The Stones donate an elaborate lighting system to Prague so that they can illuminate the Castle at night. Pretty crazy!!! 

The Castle complex from across the river

3. Peddleboating

The whole time we were in Prague, we saw people in rowboats and peddleboats on the Vltava River, but we couldn't figure out where they were getting the boats from! It wasn't until our very last night that we decided to go for it and get a peddleboat ourselves for an hour at dusk. It wasn't too expensive and we bought a couple of beers to take on the water with us. It was so fun! I had never peddleboated before, and doing so on a river in a place with so much history, as the sun went down and the city lit up, was an unforgettable experience. Also unforgettable were the swarms of bugs that fly around the water at this time. Literally MILLIONS, flying into you from every direction. One even flew into Megan's full beer! Luckily, they weren't biting bugs, but I swear I could still feel them hitting me as I went to bed that night. 

Amsterdam - a place full of hustle and bustle

19 June to 24 June 2015

I was writing a review the other day for the hostel we stayed at in Amsterdam (Meininger Hotel, if you want to look it up!), and I essentially gushed about how great the city is, so I figured it would make sense to turn that review into a (rather late) post about one of my favourite places we've visited so far. 

First up, the hostel. Meininger was super modern, very clean, and had the best wifi connection of any place we've stayed. We shared a 4 bed room with rotating roommates over the course of 5 days, but it was a HUGE room. It even had its own bathroom, which was also huge, and a novelty to us since we've been using dorm-style shared bathrooms this whole time. The beds were comfy, the whole place was pretty quiet, and it was definitely the nicest place we have stayed at. 

We didn't think it was ideally located at first (ie. not in the city centre), but as it turns out, Amsterdam's public transit is impeccable and far, far better than what we're used to in Vancouver. Meininger is right beside Sloterdijk station, which is one train stop from Centraal station. But as train tickets are only sold as single or return tickets and not as daily passes, we decided to go with the bus/metro/tram 4-day pass. This allowed us to use any bus, metro, or tram an unlimited amount of times in a 96-hour period for only €21. Everyday, we took bus 48 to Centraal station, which takes less than 20 minutes!

I don't want to gush on and on about how great I think Amsterdam is, so I'll just use a list to pick out the main points. 

1. Food: Frites and Rijsstaffel 

Everyone I know who's given us advice about what to do in Amsterdam told us two very important things: eat frites and try rijsstaffel, an Indonesian dish that literally translates to "rice table". Fair enough, I thought, I'll eat pretty much anything. Even Megan, who's a fairly picky eater, was definitely game for the frites (potatoes are one of her main food groups) and was willing to try Indonesian. 

SO, the frites: holy crap. They're so, so, SO sinfully delicious. It's hard to pinpoint why, though. I mean, they are literally French fries with mayo...how are they so much better than what we've got back home?! It's either got to be the fact that they don't mass produce to the level that we do at home, or the oil they use...either way, BEST fries we have ever had. Who knew they could be so good? 

Megan with our GIANT frites

Rijsstaffel, on the other hand, was a whole other experience. I had heard from a few people that we should try to make t to a particular restaurant, Blauw, for this culinary dish. Apparently local food bloggers rave about it, so of course we wanted to get in on that. We had to make a reservation to ensure we were able to make it in, so we blundered around their website to do so, attempting to translate from Dutch as we went along. 

The restaurant was away from the city centre in a nice, sort of residential neighbourhood (ie. It was quiet and peaceful). It was a fairly fancy place (they took our jackets?!) so we felt the need to order wine with our shared rijsstaffel. So? Essentially, rijsstaffel is a bunch of mini side plates accompanying two larger rice dishes (white and fried). We chose to have the vegetarian rijsstaffel, and some of the mini dishes included steamed veggies with peanut sauce, sweetened toasted coconut, pickled cucumber salad, tofu in curry sauce, and fried banana. In total, we had about 10-12 mini dishes, all of which were delicious. I'd never had anything like this before - an experience for sure! Megan even liked it, which automatically makes the meal a success. I would definitely go back again! 

Blauw's veggie rijsstaffel!

2. Bikes - the stereotype is TRUE!

Thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of bicycles are both on and off the streets, whizzing by or locked up on the pavement while their riders run errands. Seriously, don't try to drive a car here! The few cars we DID see moved very slowly and cautiously so as to avoid knocking a cyclist off their bike. The bicycle seems to be the family vehicle, as well. Seats attached at the back and behind the handlebars allow for 2 more small passengers, while an interesting contraption that looks like a wheelbarrow on the front end is often used to cart goods or more children around. A favoured way to move oneself and a friend appeared to simply be one person perched on the back as the other pedalled away down the street. We really wanted to rent bikes and travel how the locals do, but as we aren't entirely comfortable biking at home yet, you can imagine how cautious we were about a foreign city! It looked like fun, though, so maybe next time! Even so, Amsterdam is an incredibly walkable place and its public transit is really good.

3. Things we did and things we found  

Since Amsterdam is so walkable, we did a lot of wandering. And by wandering, we stumbled upon some cool things! We were actually looking for something called the Begijnhof (a former convent) when we came across the Amsterdam Museum, tucked away behind a seemingly small entranceway that gives way to two large courtyards connected by a small corridor. We didn't go inside, but we enjoyed wandering the courtyards and the teaser displays outside. The main display was on one end of the first courtyard and took up the whole wall with two floors of info cards explaining what was inside the boxes in the wall, former lockers of the children who used to live there. On the first floor, the lockers were filled with memorabilia from the days when the museum served as an orphanage in the city. The lockers explained how orphans came to the place, their activities, how they were educated, and daily life within the orphanage walls. In fact, the two courtyards were the play/outside areas for orphan boys and girls respectively back then. This was enough to make me want to go inside, but alas we were on a fairly strict budget. I guess the thing about that is that you get to earmark loads of new things to do next time?! The upper floor was more about the other properties in the city that the museum owns and curates, namely the former homes and personal collections of well-known nobles/aristocrats of Amsterdam who donated their estates.  Somewhat less interesting than the orphanage story, but still an interesting part of the city's history! 

The lockers in the courtyard!

My personal favourite in Amsterdam was the Anne Frank House. Whether you think it's a tourist trap is up to you, but for me it was a humbling experience. 

We waited in line for an hour and forty minutes, though mind you we probably would have made it in within an hour had we lined up when we first passed the place earlier in the day instead of deciding we'd "wait 'til it dies down". Indeed, the line had not died down, and had instead grown longer...but we decided to bite the bullet and suffer through the line because it was a site we really, really wanted to see. Once inside the entryway, we paid our €9 each and entered the museum. What I had expected to find, I'm not really sure, but I was certainly very surprised and deeply touched.

The museum has a set route you must take. First, you enter into the building (from the side, as the museum bought the buildings next to the actual house to serve as additional exhibition space) where you find the office and storage space of Otto Frank's jam ingredient business. There is little in the room, save for videos of the secretary talking about the family and her role in hiding them and some financial account books. There are a few other rooms like this, rooms that were used for business purposes, all laid out similarly to the first. Then, you reach the bookcase. It was here that I first felt the gravity and significance of where I was standing - in the building, in Amsterdam, and in the world. If you're familiar with Anne Frank's story, then you might know what I mean. Sure, being in the building comes with its own hefty weight, but being at the movable bookcase, about to step through into the space where the Frank and van Hermann families (and Fritz Pfeffer) hid for two years, was something else entirely.

Just as soon as we had reached the bookcase, I was stepping through. It felt as though the air was thicker, but I know it wasn't. The first room inside the annex was the sitting room/study/Anne's parents' room. It was here that the 8 people in hiding met to discuss, well, everything, and where Anne and Margot did their homework, reading, or writing.

Then, you get to the room Anne shared with Fritz Pfeffer, a friend of her father's who joined them in the annex after they had moved in. The pictures that Anne pasted on the walls to make the room more homely still remain - photos of movie stars, from magazines, and old postcards she had collected in her childhood. Through this room is the single bathroom in the annex that the occupants used only at night, to avoid being detected by the warehouse employees who didn't know the building housed Jews. 

Upstairs there is the van Hermanns' room and the kitchen as well as their son Peter's small room, which leads to the attic above where both e and Anne would frequently go to escape the tensions of living in a confined space with so many people. 

This is all for the actual house, which is situated at 263 Prinsengracht. There is more to the museum, but I want to put the most focus here. I have offered scant few details of the annex because, in all honesty, there is literally NOTHING to see. Nothing but a book here and there that an occupant read at the time or various other trinkets, with quotes pulled from Anne's diary printed onto the walls. There ARE scale models in each room, showing how they would have looked at the time, with furniture and everything, made from the memory of Otto Frank, the sole survivor of the 8.

So if there's nothing to see, why wait so long and pay money to go in? Because it's not about filling the place to the brim with artifacts from Anne's life; in all likelihood, there is probably little left from that time after the families were found out, arrested, and deported to concentration camps. Instead, it's about the SPACE, significance of what transpired behind that movable bookcase, and what it represents that matters. Otto Frank requested that the rooms remain empty, unfurnished, and unadorned to symbolize "the void left behind by the millions of people who were deported and never returned", and to me this is such a powerful point. I wrote in my journal, "it's like my heart is heavy with knowledge of the depth of history, anguish, fear, and a million other emotions that the Secret Annex holds. It's eerie to see the rooms, where the families slept, ate, talked, and existed, so empty of life, of joy, of anything when we've read about Anne's experience. And I think that's the point of that decision [to leave the rooms empty], for it to be striking, jarring in its contrast".

But maybe the most important part of visiting the museum was a video at the end showing what people say about Anne Frank and her story. She is praised for her bravery and hope, raised up as a symbol of warning to the dangers of hate, and seen simply as a girl, not a mythologized saint. We all believe in her bravery and her innocence, and I think this has led many to revere her. But, to reference the ever popular novel The Fault in Our Stars, we need to remember the millions of other victims who don't have museums or foundations, whose stories are not remembered. Something to think about, and something that I haven't stopped thinking about since then, and it's been over 2 weeks! 

No photos in the museum, but here's a blurry photo of my journal with pieces from the pamphlet. Quotes from the diary and some photos, bottom one shows the height of Margot and Anne in the Annex. 

That was a super long post and I'm sorry if I bored anyone, but I feel so strongly about that last bit that I couldn't shorten it any more. Still a few posts behind, but slowly getting there I hope! Be well, and until next time.