The beginning of Spring Break we went to sunny Barcelona. We trekked around La Rambla and ended up in Mercat la Boqueria, a large public market of food and goods. I loved that there were so many fruit stands and the juices were fresh and affordable. I got a guava strawberry combo and wish I had more than one drink because it was naturally sweet and tasty — nothing like Smoothie King or Jamba Juice. We were hungry from the plane ride, and so we just walked into a random restaurant and it was kind of like subway except pasta style. I had a lot of basil and pesto in mine and it was pretty gross. Later, we walked around Park De La Ciutadella and Passeig de Lluís Companys enjoying the warm weather and atmosphere. Many people were wearing leather jackets and getting around by rollerblades or skateboards, which was interesting. Later, we went to the beach after sundown and noticed many sand castle art! A lot of them were intricate, with fire or water features that I felt compelled to tip into their cardboard box of change for their detailed masterpieces. On the way to the beach, I was walking a bit fast and carrying an American Apparel bag (the one with city names on it) and I had a gut feeling that something was wrong. Since I was walking fast, I was ahead of my friends and it looked like I was alone. Apparently, there was a shady guy trying to pick pocket but, but eventually gave up because he noticed I was actually not alone! I’ve never been targeted to be pickpocketed, even in Paris. After the beach, we went to a seafood restaurant and had paella with some of our other friends who were coincidentally also in Barcelona. The paella was delicious and the shrimp and crustaceans were unbelievably sweet. The dessert in the restaurant was expensive, as in 13 euros for a bowl of strawberries expensive, so we decided to go to a nearby gelato place owned by Italians for dessert. There was an earl grey lavender flavor and a dark chocolate with olive oil and salt flavor. I still think about the dinner and dessert to this day.
At our airbnb we wanted to wash our clothes but there was a bunch of other people using the washer and dryer. When I went to wash my clothes the door to the machine would not open and I started freaking out. The host was never even there, it was the hosts friend who was managing the in person responsibilities. It took about 3 hours to get my clothes washed and dried, and nothing was damaged except maybe my black skinny jeans getting lighter. I also think I had some sort of food poisoning as I had milk and cereal from the grocery store, and the milk may have been processed differently from what I’m used to. We pre ordered Park Guell tickets to go the next day, we as we had to go in at a certain time. In the past, the park was free to enter but so many people came and the wildlife, plants, and area was getting so overwhelmed that they had to start doing tickets with certain entrance times. We took a bus to get there and I was low key panicking because if we missed our time, we would have had to repurchase tickets and wait even longer, but we made it literally 1 minute before the ticket fully expired. The park was beautiful and I kept hearing parrots, but I never got to saw them. Apparently the locals brought the parrots to make the crows go away, but both birds became friends and live together peacefully, which essentially exaggerated the locals “problems.” It was a sunny day, and there was a cafe that sold the best fruit popsicles. We also met up with our friends that we had dinner with last night, and after they did their Park Guell tour we hiked up a little bit to get a view of Barcelona. Afterwards, we split and went to Sagrada Família. We didn’t go inside because it was pricy, but the outer architecture was beautiful as we sat on a bench and admired the art. We were pretty exhausted so we went back to our airbnb and napped as we were all sleep deprived. When we woke up we were hungry and I looked up a tapas place. I never really liked tapas because when I had them in London and St. Augustine, they were pricy, hard to split the bill, and I always left still hungry. However, this tapas place was self serve and we were lucky enough to not wait a long time to sit at the bar, which was where the tapas buffet was placed. They were delicious and affordable, despite each little thing adding up. Since we were in Barcelona, we also ordered fruity sangria that went spectacularly well with the tapas.
After Barcelona, we flew to Rome.
After entering our airbnb, we went to a local pizza place that was underground and the pizza was tasty and the crusty crispy. We then walked to the Pantheon and had gelato nearby, as we were all anxious to try italian gelato. Instead of scooping the treat, they kind of twirl the gelato. In the plaza and nearby areas, I noticed that there were a lot of people who I assume were immigrants attempting to sell objects such as cheap souvenirs, selfie sticks, flowers, and more to tourists. It ruined the vibe, but it made me wonder about the economy of the area. At sunset, we went to the Spanish steps which was located near a bunch of luxury shops. I asked about the bag my aunt wanted to know the price of, and apparently the bag was completely sold out in the country. My friend also wanted to see if a pair of sneakers that had just come out were in stock, but we couldn’t find a sneaker store that was up to date. We then walked to the Trevi Fountain, which was something I have always wanted to see!! It was absolutely beautiful at night, even with the crowds. There were shops nearby that sold woodworks that reminded me of Pinocchio. On the way back to our airbnb, we took a scenic route on the Fiume Tevere and stopped by the Vatican. I facetimed my religious friend, as I knew she would appreciate the gesture. The next morning, however, we actually went inside Vatican City. We prepared early and bought our tickets online, so we didn’t have to wait hours to get in. However, there were so many immigrants attempting to sell us tour guides and made it seem as if they were the official Vatican City workers that it did fool some tourists. They were aggressive, and one of them even told us, “Hey, you don’t need to be so rude, I’m just trying to do my job by letting you bypass the line and showing you the landmarks.” We were simply trying to find the entrance to the building when we were bombarded with them, and it was actually difficult to figure out who was the actual Vatican City worker. The legitimate worker was standing guard in a sleek uniform that didn’t have a lot of “tacky” tour guide pins/designations on. Inside the Vatican, we got to see a lot of art especially inside the Sistine Chapel. The frescoes there were an absolute masterpiece, and Michelangelo’s work cliche-y but literally took my breath away. We decided to eat at the cafe there because it always takes us a while to figure out where to eat, and we wanted to explore Rome more and have lots of gelato. We then went to the Colosseum before it closed, and the Colosseum had cats! Apparently there is a feral feline population living there. My friends thought the Colosseum was small, as media would exaggerate the size of the place. Once we overstayed our time there, we left the roman cats behind in their pretty home and walked toward the sunset. We passed by the Imperial Forum and the vibe was nicer there. Many people were outdoors walking their dogs or painting or playing music. Of course, there was a bunch of tourists and when we got closer to an area more people were trying to pay the bills by selling selfie sticks. At our airbnb, my mom called me and starting freaking out about FAFSA and additional forms for something literally out of my control and that increased my cortisol levels to the max. The water also went out due to the neighborhoods pipes, and the airbnb host was incredibly apologetic and bought us water. I felt bad myself because he probably could hear me arguing on the phone.
Our next stop during Spring Break was Florence.
When we went there, we walked around the San Lorenzo Market, which was an area where leather goods are sold. My friend wanted to get this purse for her sister and we tried haggling, however, it only worked once but we thought we could get a better price. Some of the merchants were a tad racist. The place was close to the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower, and the exterior of the church as pastel, light colored, and pretty — which was different compared to other churches we’ve been seeing. Then we strolled around, and the temperature steadily dropped that I emergency bought pants just in case that I got sick. We went to San Niccolò, and hiked up to the Piazzale Michelangelo where the replica of the David Statue was. There was a small kiosk there and the owners were incredibly rude, unwilling to do their job, and also racist. However, the view from the top was pretty. On the replica, there was a small painted rock with “True Love” written on it for a lucky person to find true love. Cute! The next day we went to the Galleria dell’Accademia and saw the actual Statue of David along with other artworks. One exhibit was about clothes fabric, and the intricate designs involved in silk. We left that area, and good sandwiches from a butchers shop. Here, the workers were incredibly sweet and nice, which was a good change from the rude service we’ve received so far in Florence. After lunch, we went to the Uffizi Gallery and once again we received rude service. Student tickets were only allowed for members of the EU, and our German visa did not allow us to get student tickets. The worker literally used 1 finger to type as her other hand was palming her face, and we just paid the difference for a regular ticket while she rolled her eyes and literally huffed. She did not enjoy her job. The Uffizi Gallery was larger than I thought it was, and I ended up getting a little bit lost inside. The Birth of Venice was quite a pretty piece of art, and it was refreshing to see other people also taking the time to enjoy the art through journalling or sketching. I also got to see Caravaggio’s Medusa in a room placed for maximum effect. For dinner, we went to a restaurant that was actually a bit difficult to get to because of construction. It took us more than an hour to walk there when it should have only been 15 minutes! I had the seafood pasta dish, and for 8 euros, a substantial amount of shrimp, clams, scallops, and other ingredients were cooked with it. We tried to go twice, but the second time we went the kitchen was closed and they were only serving the pizza.
Our last stop was Venice. We had to use the restroom, so I went inside a restaurant/cafe/bar and literally bought overpriced 5 euro tea to use the restroom. One of our friends who spent the majority of Spring Break came to end it with us, so we met up with him before getting to our airbnb. The first thing we wanted to do was eat so we found a fast food fresh pasta standing room only pasta joint. Walking around venice was incredibly different, as the canals, bridges, and narrow passageways added to the ambiance despite being a bit cloudy and rainy. I felt safe the entire time even though many sidewalks representing the cliche “dark and scary alleyways” in media. We walked the Piazza San Marco both at night and in the daytime. I noticed that there were what looked like tables spanning the perimeter and I assumed that was for walking when the plaza became flooded. We walked past the Bridge of Sighs as well as along the water for multiple hours, as the view and vibe was very relaxing. Later, we took a boat taxi to some nearby islands. One of them was Isola di San Michele, the city’s cemetery in the lagoon. The idea of it was spooky and I get scared easily, so it was a relief to visit during day time. Igor Stravinsky is laid to rest here, and it was an eerie wonder to be where he was. Stravinsky composed a lot of music, most famously for The Rite of Spring. Afterwards, we went to the island of Murano and had a tasty meal and gelato. This gelato shop had interesting flavors, such as a cheese flavor or a wine flavor. Sadly, when we got out gelato at shop window, it started to rain (again). But, I’m glad that I got to see and visit Venice before global warming forced Venezia to become an underwater city.
This Spring break agenda was quite ambitious, as it involved finding multiple plane, bus, and train transportations along with lodgings and finding where the lodging was, so by the end my adventurous streak was winding down. However, Mark Twain did write that travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and I definitely do not regret my trip and will look back to it with fond memories.
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