Oops, where have you been girlfriend?

So, we are leaving Brussels, well, we left Brussels, and we are on a bus to Amsterdam, which is in Holland, which is in The Netherlands, which, I did not know. How did we get here you may be thinking... Well, about a week before our trip to Brussels, we realized how close the two cities are, so we were like, "hey let's just make our four day trip a 6 day trip." And that was that; and now we are staying 2 nights in Amsterdam and then taking a bus back to Brussels, to fly back to, what will soon no longer be our home, Barcelona. So there's the back story... I also want to add because this is kind of cool, in a, definitely-can't-do-this-in-America, type a way. Flying is so cheap here, we actually just bought a new flight home from Brussels, instead of changing the departure on the round trip flight we already purchased because the cost to change the departure time cost more than the tickets. I love budget flying!!! We seriously got to get on this America! 

More about Brussels, I really, really, like this city. It's cold, which I hate, (seriously though, nobody likes dry skin) and it kind of smells like urine, quite often actually, which I also hate, but think of it this way, what big city doesn't smell like fresh pee on occasion? Except DC, DC smells like flowers, which I still don't understand how. But if you bundle, and find some Chapstick that doesn't cost 8 euros, (hello, that's $10 american, for Chapstick WTF!?) you can really find some cool attractions here. 

Let's see... My favorite part, like what I truly enjoyed the most, but is a serious tease, is the holiday cheer. That's right, I said it... Holiday Cheer. They are setting up for the Christmas markets that begin next weekend, and it's beautiful. Side note: Christmas markets are apparently awesome everywhere in Europe, and we are trying to figure out how to see some, as in more than 1. Basically they build these tiny wooden houses, and set them up around the market squares and put a big old Christmas tree right in the middle. In Brussels the tree is massive, it's not the fullest of trees, and I suspect, it's not a. Pine, but they deck it out in twinkling led lights. My god, it's beautiful. But seriously it is just so pretty. I can't wait to go back and see if there are massive ornaments to go with the twinkle lights. 

        The vendor booths look like tiny log cabins built 100+ years ago, complete with straw roofs. Ahhh, I can only imagine the Belgian hot chocolate, and slightly carmalized waffles, to come out of there next week -sad panda🐼 I wish I could be there- and of course, despite my obsession with food, there is something I like just as much... SHOPPING! Hundreds of local vendors will set up shop for the month to sell their goods, to the people, who will wrap them up with pretty paper, tie them with a bow, and set them under a tree to give to their loved ones* (*loved ones/those they feel obligated to- despite how much you just want to squeeze them most of the time). Oh Christmas, I love you Christmas, my favorite time of the year. 

Okay, enough about Christmas. Another Belgium highlight is chocolate! Damn, these people really love chocolate; and so do I, muahhahahahaha-(crazy/evil chocolate-induced laugh). You know what else I love, things that are free. You know what's free, chocolate samples. I learned we like dark chocolate best, and even more, if it has crunchy hazlenuts or rice in the middle. Quick tip though, a tip given to us by a local. Go stuff your face with free samples, but then go to a supermarket, and buy a candy bar there. You'll pay half the price for some pretty phenomonal chocolate. 

Oh snap, just got to Amsterdam: let's wrap this up. The shopping is good. There are lots of fun boutiques, with things like a toilet paper dispenser that looks like a Polaroid camera accompanied with Polaroid picture toilet paper. (Please can we get this Noah?!) Another highlight is the saturday flea market. It wasn't huge but what they lacked in space they made up for in the amount of trinkets they could sell in such a small area. So many beautiful antique tea sets, clocks, bronze candle holders, furniture and more. My head was spinning with design ideas for both our home and teenie cakes (coming soon). I wanted everything. But hello, teenie, you are already over your baggage limitations, you can't bring more things home. Oh and surprisingly there is a huge middle eastern populations so go for the halal durum, it will be fantastic.

Okay that's a wrap. Go to Brussels it's really cool I promise. 

Editors note: this was originally written in my journal and published after Amsterdam when we could find wifi. 

I Came, I Ate, I Conquered (pt.2)

Day 3
Bagels, quiche lorraine, and some strange and delectable puff pastry with almonds and pastry creme kick started day three. On our way to dinner the day before we walked through the Notre Dame Cathedral and across the Seine. Today we continued on the tourist trail and walked along, around, and on top of Montmartre. We visited Rue de Clichy home of the famous Moulin Rouge and various sex shops, peep shows and even a museum dedicated to the dirty. I wanted to get tickets to go see a show at the moulin rouge but they were around 90 euro so I decided that money was better spent on food.

We walked up to the top of Montmartre, which is literally a giant hill, and wandered along the cobblestone streets. At the peak of the hill sits Basilique du Sacre-Coeur (Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris) an incredible church that towers over the city of Paris. You can literally see the entire city from the church. There is some pretty cool history behind the construction of the church and it's role in French history so here's the wiki-link.

The temperature plummeted and it started raining once we reached the top of the mountain. So after taking in the sights we darted in to a small restaurant near the church before it started pouring. Another prixe fixe menu and another chance for me to get another well known Parisian dish, escargot. Snails are decent but snails doused in butter with chopped parsley are even better. I ordered the sea bass, which was perfectly seared and just melted my mouth. Toni got pasta with with a light basil cream sauce. The French can cook.

Day 4
Our final day in Paris was all about the Louvre. I was a little scared we wouldn't be able to go because we had our carry-on bag with us, which was slightly oversized for their baggage check, but the staff was very kind and let us through. A quick note to anyone who decides to visit. DO NOT wait outside at the central entrance for access and tickets. The staff out there are probably a little miserable from being out in the cold and dealing with thousands of tourists everyday so they were very brisk and unhelpful in shooing us out of line when they saw the size of our carry-on. I had read online that the underground gift shop/mall entrance at the Place de Carousel was a better place to go, so after getting kicked out of one line we walked a couple blocks down to the other. The staff here was much more helpful and allowed us in even with our slightly over-sized carry on and the line was probably an eighth of the size of the central entrance.

This post is running a little long so I won't bore you with all the things we saw at the museum. Needless to say it's an absolutely amazing experience. There is just so much history, world history and french history, stuffed into one museum. We spent 4.5 hours there and still didn't see everything but we did get to the Big 3 (Mona Lisa, Winged Triumph, and Venus). We didn't want to take a bunch of pictures at the museum but I couldn't help taking a few.

In Summary
Paris was incredible. I don't know how Parisian women are so skinny and all the men don't weigh 400 pounds.

I Came, I Ate, I Conquered (pt.1)

(A portion of my last post was about the FC Barcelona game. Unfortunately due to technical difficulties I'm unable to upload pictures from the game. I'll try and have them up ASAP.)

Oui mademoiselle, I will have some foie gras. Escargot, no problemo. On our little trip to one of the gastronomic capitals of the world I devoured everything I could get my mitts on: duck, snails, chicken, sea bass, liver, pastries, pies, stinky cheese, not-so-stinky cheese, and baguettes. The city was cool too.

Day 1
We stayed at an AirBnB apartment in the Republique area of Paris. The apartment was very small, even by Barcelona standards, but was apparently fairly well sized for Paris. The place overlooked canal St. Martin, had a bar on the ground floor and a few small restaurants and eateries next to it. We got in to the city at around 10 a.m. and stopped at Cafe Republique for my first French baguette sandwich, some coffee, and wifi.

We met up with our close friend and Paris spirit guide Lindsay Poulin after breakfast and quickly dropped our stuff at the apartment. Lindsay gave us a mini-tour of the city, her favorite train stop, places to shop, and most importantly places to eat. After we dined under the tower then headed home and took a much needed nap, which lasted all night (I had been running on 3 hours sleep for the past 36 hours).

Day 2
The culinary adventure begins. We had a late breakfast, or early brunch, at a a little restaurant next to the apartment. I ate liver. It was the only meal I didn't love in Paris. The listless organ was well cooked but severely in need of salt and seasoning. I did see a lot of the restaurant ordering and devouring the same plate so maybe my liver had a bad diet or I'm just not a liver guy. I also witnessed a Parisian woman putting mayonnaise on toast, like buttering her toast with mayo (gross). On the plus side everything else we ate at this place was incredible. Toni's chicken was the second best chicken dish I've ever tasted. My first plate of thinly sliced beets and a seasoned ricotta cheese was fantastic. And we got a decadent chocolate cake to finish all for around 20 euros. I got my food, so after lunch we went shopping.

Toni bought some stuff. I stood around. There was a very pretty salesclerk who almost convinced Toni to buy a gigantic (and expensive) bag. It started raining and, being used to the Barcelona weather, I started freezing my... toes off. We went back to the apartment, bought an umbrella left to meet Lindsay for dinner.

Restaurant Polidor has been serving customers since 1845 so the food has got to be pretty solid. It also happens to be one of the shooting locations for the movie Midnight in Paris (a favorite of mine). I dropped 35 euro for my meal plus 18 for Toni's making it our most expensive meal of the trip but hey how many times are you going to find yourself in Paris. The food there is like your mother's comfort food on steroids. Good ol' fashioned meat (or fish) and some silken mashed potatoes. Very simple, very well done, and very delicious.

I couldn't resist trying foie gras for the first time (unimpressed, guess liver really isn't my thing). I got the chicken in a velvety mushroom gravy sitting on top some of mashed taters. Toni got the steak and steak frites. Both the ladies also had pumpkin puree soup, which they loved. If that wasn't enough we also had lemon pie, apple pie, and tarte tatin (for an english speaker this is a very difficult dish to pronounce). I have to say this was the best chicken I've ever had in my life. I'm sorry Dad you're jerk chicken has been replaced. This place was so thoroughly decadent I tried to plan our entire last day around getting back here so I could have the beef bourguignon, alas it was not meant to be.

Because, packings hard...

I'm Because, packing is hard when you have to account for multiple countries, seasons, and even continents that you have never experienced before...

A lot of you, my dear friends, have at one point, inquired about how I would be packing for this trip, and let me tell you it wasn't easy. I did, (I think at least), a fairly good job... But not great, that's for damn sure. 

For those of you, that do not know the details of the trip. Noah and I packed up the contents of our home, put what was priceless to us in storage (a total of 8 boxes and three large pieces of furniture, and a few paintings) and we sold the rest. As for our clothes, we donated or packed them for our open ended trip to Europe, consisting of 2-3 months in Barcelona, and at least a month traveling Europe. 

For me, my clothes are precious. I have admired a well designed article of clothing since I was a teenie Toni, and over the years I collected quite the collection of beautiful things,. When I dress each morning it takes more than just the temperature to sway my decision, I touch each piece of fabric, think about my mood, where I'm going what kind of shoes I want to wear... It's a process; a process I enjoy every single time.

So what I am getting at, is, I didn't want to leave anything behind, I wanted to bring everything I have ever collected with me, because who knows how I am going to feel each day I am there, and who knows how cold or warm it will be? In the end I donated about half of my wardrobe and packed the rest but this is what I am finding, at least here in Barcelona. 

Where clothing is involved:

The things I thought I'd wear all the time, I never wear. And the things I packed and said I don't know why I'm packing this I probably won't wear it, I wear every day. And a few things, I donated, thinking I won't need this, it's excessive, I wish I had. 

At home in New England, I generally wear a cotton maxi skirt, paired with a ribbed tank top or a long sleeve cotton shirt, a light scarf, and a pair of wedges, or flats depending on the amount of walking I'm doing that day. That's my go to outfit; it's comfy, cute, and casual. So I packed 7 maxi skirts and countless long sleeve shirts. Because I of course thought, this is probably what I will wear all the time.

In reality, here in Barcelona I usually get dressed twice in the day, as the temperature drastically changes. In the morning/during the day, I wear a short shift dress with a bathing suit underneath paired with sandals or toms. At night I either wear a pair of jeans with an oversized sweater, or a long sleeved dress usually with my Clark wedged ankle boots.

So what I am saying is, I only barely overpacked when it came to clothes. I have exactly what I need, and the shopping here is incredible so it gives me an excuse to shop! 

Shoes however there are 3 pairs in my closet I have yet to wear... Oops! 

In case you want to know for your own trip this is what I never touch that I brought. Cotton long sleeve shirts, maxi skirts, blazers, t-shirts (cute and plain), any type of like nice dinner dresses, or party dresses, black pumps, leather riding boots, and another pair of heels. 

This is where I failed:

Medicine... Facewash... Razors... Chargers... Bathing suits

I don't know, if I was so caught up in trying to get everything else packed that I overlooked these things or I thought how easy will it be to get them when I get there. But let me tell you, women's razors are expensive, hard to come by, and pretty shitty quality. I think that spanish women use "veet", that instant hair removal lotion my mumma always told me to stay away from; either that or they are just naturally hairless. I think the former but who knows?

       They have face wash, but it's really hard to read the ingredients in a foreign language, and I'm pretty anal about what I put on my face.

      Medicine: I completely forgot to refil my prescriptions before I left, which will pretty soon send me on a journey trying to find my prescription medicine over the counter, or a pharmacy that will fill a US prescription. OOPS! Actually let me reemphasize: a MAJOR OOPS!

       Bathing suits I wear instead of undergarments every day. While packing, last minute, I took out a bunch of bathing suits and said "I don't need all of these stop being ridiculous teens". Well I wish I had them because when you live on the beach you are always wearing a bathing suit (now I know)

Last but definitely not least, CHARGERS. Right before we left the charger to my MacBook Pro broke. They cost a fortune at Apple. They cost 3/4 of a fortune at second hand stores, and they cost half a fortune online. Overwhelmed and out of time we didn't buy one and decided to get one abroad. Well they cost double a fortune here. And they basically only sell third party chargers which are known to catch on fire. Hello stressful. 

All-in-all I am happy I decided not to sacrifice fashion for this trip, and brought most of my pretty things. It feels nice going out and wearing the things I love. I wish I had thought a little less about clothes and a little more about essentials I also wish I had Hermoines bag so I didn't have to lug my suitcase around and pay overweight baggage fees. Because although I can pack like no other and fit a ridiculous amount of things in one bag, I can't make them weigh less. 

FC Barcelona, Paris & Pat

Going to my first ever professional fùtbol game. Dropped a pretty penny on the tickets but Barcelona is playing a scrub Spanish league team so they weren't too pricey (Real Madrid vs Barca tickets start at €270). I will take a billion pictures and post them all later tonight. 

We fancied a stroll over to Paris. The flights early in the a.m. tomorrow and we are AirBnB'ing for a couple of nights. I have been practing my "oui, oui's" and "hon, hon, hon's."

Met some blokes from the UK, and one South African, while we were out drinking mojitos last night. They are all part of crew that sails Micky Arison's yacht (the owner of the Miami Heat) and confirmed suspicions that Pat Riley is an asshole.