The Rest of the Trip

July 24, 2012
I end up taking the tram the wrong way, but quickly get off and go the right direction. A quick sandwich and I’m on the train to Dusseldorf, It’s an express with only 3 stops, it’s clean, really fast, quiet, and feels more like an airplane than a piece of garbage subway, or even the LIRR.
Ela is late, so I wait around a Starbucks because it has WiFi. They really have been a savior at times because I want Internet to just relax for a second or I actually need to keep in contact with someone, like in this situation. Not only that, but hostel WiFi has been spotting and extremely slow so far .It’s really nice to get back to a regular pace of Internet surfing and find a place that I can reasonable upload my pictures.
I’m sitting there, chilling on my phone, and 3-4 men walk away with their luggage. I immediately notice that there’s just an iPhone sitting there, along with leftover cups and glasses. I chase after them and the guy turns out to be American with a baffled, “Oh! I just left that on the table?!” It was a one or two line exchange and I was on my way back to waiting.
Finally after an hour or so, there’s someone running towards me and then I get a big hug before I can crank by head up. Excited to see Ela, big hugs and then I introduce myself to her older sister, Maren. We’ve spoken before, but not too much as her English isn’t great. I have no problem with it though because I feel I understand broken English pretty well and can help people through their sentences.
We seeing the Champs Elysees or 5th Ave. of Germany, but there isn’t much to see, though it’s nice that there’s a stream running through the big boulevard. We then go t Japanese restaurant where Ela’s friend, Ryu, works. He used to be in a program in Heidelberg, but then moved 3 hours away to Dusseldorf to work his ass off. He’s Japanese and has a work visa and plans to stay a few more years.
After actually a pretty decent meal, Maren, Ela, and I walk around the old town, which is bit touristy, but quite nice. We then walk by the Rhine and sit by the grass, where there are people everywhere. It’s a small city, there are few big bridges, and the large Rhine.
We then meet Ryu again for a drink in the Old Town. I get to try “Altbier,” which is Dusseldorf’s special. Similar concept with the .2L small glass that they keep refilling and they knick your coaster with a pen every time they bring you one so they know how much to charge you. It’s a slightly darker beer with sharper and dryer flavors. I prefer Kolsch.
I borrow Ela’s found as it has data service and I look at my email. Aaron has planned his trip already and I’ve been trying to figure out whether it’s worth it to go back home or stay for an extra 12 days, as staying would mean changing by flight. I confirm with my mother, who is helping me on this trip, that around $300 isn’t too unreasonable as I’ll probably won’t be going back to Europe anytime soon. Last chance before real internships, short vacations, class, finals, the Bar exam, etc.
This is big news, I have to change my flight, change my ATM and credit card alerts, and then book flights to where Aaron and I are going, hostels, etc. I’ll be staying in Amsterdam after the two days that Ela is there, so won’t be hanging with her in Dusseldorf for 3-4 days before my flight.
Maren then decides to split up and Ela and I sit back again by the Rhine, but on these very plain looking steps that everyone sits at. They don’t have benches because there are so many outdoor seating restaurants that litter the side of the river. On the steps, people are drinking beer and chilling, despite the sun knocking down on them and I’m personally melting and feeling myself get darker and arker by the second. We watch this b-boy group for a bit and then get Subway. Then split ways shortly as I’ll be seeing her tomorrow morning too.
I get back by 10:00 and rehydrate on some water. I have to move my stuff into a new room because I planned on staying shorter in Cologne, but I had to rebook and do an extra day, thus new room, and not my sick single. That really was a great situation to come back, be loud, sleep really when I wanted to. Instead, there are some British dudes in this room.
While I’m figuring out my packing situation, there’s this Aussie that walks in. She’s only here for a night because her travels got messed up and this is her stop for the night. Apparently she’s been traveling for 3 months, by herself, which blows me away. I explain that 18 days by myself got a bit much, so this woman is way stronger than me.
I then go downstairs to get better reception. I change my flight, change my credit card travel alert, post about my plans on Facebook, let Luna know that I won’t be coming back so early because we had made plans to hang, etc. After 1-2 hours of slow, slow Internet, all of which should’ve taken 30 minutes, I go back up to sleep. There’s this

July 25, 2012
I wake up at 8:45, way early enough for me to get to Dusseldorf by 11:30 to meet Ela, then we’re off to Amsterdam. I get to see Theresa and Aaron.
I tip toe around in the 4 person room, shower, pack, and start getting out the door. It is inevitable that I make some noise and the Austrlian girl from yesterday is slightly awake and as I walk out, she gives out a sleepy moan of “Good luck traveling.” My face brightens up with a smile and I whisper, “Thank you!”
Mind you, this is someone I don’t even know. We probably spoke for 5 minutes yesterday and I don’t even know her name. Traveling is more than just an adventure of sights, but one of relationships, learning, and people.
On the walk to the tram, I noticed I sometimes miss green crosswalk signs. In NYC, I would be the first to jump those and be ahead of everyone, but here, I end up soaking in the sights, looking around, and then when I look back, people are a few steps ahead of me and I look like an asshole. It makes you realize that I probably should soaking in NYC more like I do in Europe. Instead of staring at a light sign, I should use my time differently. The little things.
Also on that thing, it’s still unsettling that I stand there and wait at every crosswalk. People are pretty serious about that in Europe and people rarely break it. As a New Yorker, you see no cars or a car a decent amount away, you walk. Why wouldn’t you?! Here, even if the street is absolutely dead and there’s clearly no car or tram in the horizon, people just stand there and wait. Very strict social norms here.
Before the train station, I see a bakery and grab a sandwich for half the price ($1.80) than it would be at the station. Brotchen (a medium sized roll), ham, lettuce, tomato, and butter. Ela told me about the butter and it sounds weird, but it’s European better, so it’s much better tasting and the fat does the same job that a drizzle of olive oil or dressing would do for a sandwich, making it bolder with more mouth feel.
Food can be extremely cheap if you eat that way, otherwise, restaurants are more towards New York prices and can be a sinkhole of your spending.
I get to Haufbahnhof Koln, which is the main station. Very beautiful station with its exterior ceiling. Ela in the HBF Dusseldorf that it’s much nicer than Penn, which I couldn’t agree with more. I did this yesterday, so buying a $12 ticket to Dusseldorf shouldn’t be hard.
I look at the board and see that the train is at track 4. I get there and there’s already a train there. This is surprising because usually the train arrives at the exact second (German punctuality). I’m confused and can’t figure whether to get on and it has a “Pander” name on, which I’m not used to seeing. I look at the track list on the platform and it confirms that it should be stopping at Dusseldorf. As it goes, I’m not sure what to do. I should have immediately asked, but I’m leaning towards being right.
After a few stops, which are familiar and allow me to transfer to the right train in case I was wrong, I ask these younger people if this goes to Dusseldorf. “Nicht Dusseldorf” I get. Oh shit, I immediately burst off of the train into decently sized 6 train station, but it’s pretty bare as its in an outskirt of Cologne.
I go downstairs and start investigating. The next train is in 40 minutes and I find out that I actually was right! Despite my schedule saying “Dortmund” as the last stop, for some reason, the train had a different final stop. Whatever, I just sit there on the platform waiting and it’s fine because I still beat Ela by 30 minutes.
While waiting on the platform, I pull out my laptop to get some writing done and there’s this really smelly homeless guy that decides to sit next to me and crack a beer, he’s so freaking gross. I save by Word doc and Shut Down my computer, he looks over at my screen, and I methodically close my screen, put it into my bag, and get up and walk away. I do it like a robot, no eye contact, steady and smooth emotions to not raise excitement, and I smoothly get out of there. It’s like dealing with a wild animal.
I get to Dusseldorf and give Ela money for the train ticket she bought me to Amsterdam. Cost about $80, which is rough for a 3 hour train ride. It is a two-way, but I end up finding out that I cannot get a refund for the return side as I wouldn’t be returning to Dusseldorf as planned. This second leg would have me staying in Amsterdam with Aaron and then going somewhere else.
We take the train, which is really nice. It feels nicer than a plane, with automatic sliding doors between the cars, and the ride is smooth and quiet. After a nap on the train, we get to Amsterdam and meet Ela’s friend that will be with us, Katerina. We figure out how to get the hostel and take the bus there. The whole time it’s quite rude and annoying that they’re just yammering in German.
I barely know this girl and there is not really much of an introduction. I just sit there by mysel and keep a head up on where we have to get off on the bus and then how to get to the hostel from the station. We check in and Theresa has already checked in already. I’ve been gross so I immediately go for a shower.
Theresa and Aaron met up already so after my shower, I get out to see the two in our hostel room. Exciting to see Theresa, but freaking Aaron and we’re both in Europe. What a crazy idea as this was thought up less than a week ago.
We’re starving so we go searching for food. Aaron, Theresa, and I find this Turkish take out. They have 1 Euro lamachun (Turkish pizza), which is great. Aaron and I share this ridiculous plate of fries, kebab meat, which is then topped with melted cheese and sauces. Now that’s a hangover meal.
After that, I barely slept the night before and everyone is pretty dead so we set out an hour to chill out. We get out and take a 20 minute tram ride downtown. I obviously did research on where to get pommes frites or “vlamse fries” in Amsterdam. We walk down to this place and it’s closed. However, we quickly realize that it’s actually opening up in front of our eyes at 11PM. What perfect timing. The lady makes it there straight fresh out of the fryer and I get mine with the standard mayonaise. Very tasty and filling, though probably not the best definition of “dinner.”
We start walking around the redlight district and don’t find the girls, but instead run across this pub crawl. It’s the biggest one I’ve seen with a group of probably 50 people. Pub crawls are organized by hostels or whatever and they basically gather travelers or people studying abroad (English speakers). They charge you 10-15 Euro and bring the group around to 4-5 bars and a club. You either get free drinks or drink specials as part of the deal.
We find this bar and grab a Belgian beer with a little hamster on it. Wikitravel suggested to not drink Heineken, despite the fact it’s brewed here. The Heiney here doesn’t taste any different than elsewhere, so why drink a shitty watery beer when there are delicious Belgian alternatives.
There are some really high and drunk Aussies singing their brains out at this pretty empty bar. We figure out this really “meta” thing to do as I take a picture of a Guinness that has been poured with a shamrock on the head. I take a picture of the food or drink, Aaron takes a picture of me, Ela takes a picture of Aaron, and Katerina takes a picture of all of us doing this. Pretty sweet idea.
We then find out that bars close at 1PM, which is pretty stupid. We leave and finally walk around to find the canals and the redlight. It really is what you expect or have read about. There are large windows all across the canals and streets and it’s a pretty big area. Around the windows are red neon lights and then there are girls dressed in lingerie and sexy outfits. I notice there’s a theme of fake glasses, as surely not that many girls need glasses and they’re going for a bit of a nerdy look.
It really is quite an experience to see. Other than Prague, at the strip club, I’ve never seen women this attractive in real life. You can get real up close and take a gander if you want and not be awkward about it because that’s their job. You’re supposed to be curious and they’re supposed to try to get your business. They tap the windows with their hands or plastic little things as to turn your head.
We explore the area really well actually and the line that got us was this guy chatting with his bro after a quick conversation with one of the prostitutes. He’s out of breath and in disblief, he sighs, “Man, 15 Euros for 15 minutes…” Not that it’s too expensive, but that it’s too good of a deal that he can’t wrap his head about it. The girl is just too pretty for him.
As for why I don’t have pictures of that area specifically, you’re not allowed to. There are bouncers watching from where and they will literally run outside and take your phone or throw it into the canals. One of the bar crawl people said that they have bottles of piss ready upstairs to throw at you. There’s no repurcussions too because the police don’t enforce if something shitty happens to your phone. Don’t be an asshole and just don’t take pictures.
We miss a bus and have to wait and we eventually get back around 4-5:00AM.

July 26, 2012
We wake up and go to grab breakfast. Ela grabs a big piece of apple pie and then complains that there’s cinnamon in it. Apparently they don’t do that in Germany, but she didn’t ask and is left with basically no breakfast. Aaron mentions that the girl might have eating problems. For a while now, she’s had real shit health with a blanket allergy to loads of food and even drinking. She doesn’t drink a beer or anything the whole trip, despite me offering to grab one for my pal. Either way, I thought it would be great to see one of my bestfriends this trip and it did not turn out that way.
She seemed quite apathetic about being on vacation and just wasn’t fun. Just fucking miserable the whole time. While that sucks for her, that also sucks for me because fuck, I was expecting a great time and many laughs and they fell flat. Katerina seemed the same, but at least she clearly liked smoking weed, so she seemed to like that at least. Ela also didn’t smoke weed when all of us did. She has never tried it and why not at least try it in Amsterdam around friends, but nope. Theresa seemed to be somewhat enjoyable during the trip at least.
For breakfast, we go to this cool place called Badhuis right near the hostel. Huge open area and it takes up almost an entire intersection. I get “Americaan,” which is beef tartar spread. I don’t know why they call it that as it is not American at all, but hey, the sandwich was pretty good with pumpernickel, cornichon, and hardboiled egg.
We then head out to Vondel Park, which is their big “Central Park.” It’s a bit different in the sense that it’s not big with tall streets and everything. It feels miniture with little ponds and patches of grass where people just chill out.
We find a spot to do that and then roll a joint from the weed that Aaron bought here. We have a smoke and then go off to just walk around. It’s nice walking the canals during the day. We’re hungry so we go into a supermarket. Aaron gets strawberries, which are some of the best I’ve ever had. Small, juicy, and very sweet, like they’re supposed to be instead of big, hard, bulky, and only sweet in parts.
I get ambitious and decide to start a sandwich party. I get “Allison” bread, which literally is the name of the bread. The label looks like it’s someone’s name, but it’s just whole wheat. I then get some cheese with caraway seeds or something in them and then blood cold cuts. The rest are disgusted by it, but hey, gotta try stuff when you’re abroad. It’s alright, but I wouldn’t eat too much of it. The flavor is quite strong.
As I get outside, I stand at a corner, slightly hunched over. I’m high and I’m hungry dammit for some sandwiches. I’m trying to balance holding the bag, two pieces of bread, opening up the packages, and then creating a sandwich, all while I only have two hands, like any other person would.
They eventually find me and have a laugh about it, but hey, I’m into serious stuff. I probably look absolutely stupid trying to juggle foods in the middle of the street, but a man’s gotta eat.
We then walk over to this pisser that right in the middle of the road. It covers you up a big, but it really is just a metal barrier from anyone walking past you on the street and I guess the pee goes down into the canals. It’s quite obvious that someone is peeing as you can see their legs and even make eye contact with them. I ask Aaron to take a picture of me peeing there and he refuses. I can’t even understand why, what a little bitch.
We find this coffee shop named “The Doors,” after the band. It’s a really chill place with rock icons all over the wall and whatnot. Aaron and Katerina buy some bonkers weed and we start smoking. Aaron and I split one as Katerina and Theresa does the same. Ela is sitting there as chaperone. After smoking in the park, I know to try to take it easy and not go too hard. I guess it’s like any drug, but moderation is key. It’s better to smoke less than to smoke too much and then fuck, you’re just out of it. You can pass out, get really imobilized physically, or whatever.
I notice that Theresa gets really quiet and then she starts putting her hands over mouth. The guy at the shop says that she needs to go outside if she’s going to vomit. We bring her outside and she literally vomits gallons. I don’t know where we was able to pack that much food into herself today, but surely is all gone. The guy at the shop is actually really nice about it. He says he’ll clean up the sidewalk and gives her a sugar water.
We’re sitting outside. Theresa refuses to drink anything or move anywhere. Aaron keeps pushing her to move and get out of there, while the girls just sit there. Aaron does make a good point later that they are her close friends and somehow Aaron and I are given the duty to take care of her. I run off to buy some overpriced water for her.
We eventually are able to grab her to take a tram. I stand by to make sure that doesn’t move and knock her head into anything as she is basically passed out. Aaron quickly points out that she looks like she’s going to vomit again. I give her my grocery bag and we have a quick save from a huge mess.
At one point, I’m really scared that the bus driver will kick us off or something for this as she is hunched over vomiting or whatnot. When we get back, we see this fight between these young guys. There’s a bike and a motorcycle and a confrontation in some Middle Eastern language. They start fighting and one of the guys throws a helmut at a guy. The guy that owns the helmut, that ran away, now has a helmut and chases after the thrower. It’s pretty comical.
We go back to the hostel and let Theresa go to sleep. The three of us then head out. We walk around the redlight again for a bit. It’s a relatively uneventful night. Katerina, Aaron, and I end up smoking some weed before we go back. It’s really liberating and strange to be able to smoke weed in public, even with police around. It’s quite a surreal experience.

July 27, 2012
We’ve been putting it back like assholes about travel. I saw flights to Barcelona for $50 at one point, but since Aaron has arrived, we haven’t figured what we’re doing for 2.5 weeks in Europe. Now, everything is a lot more expensive. Flights that were supposed to be $100 or less are now $150 or so. We have hostels to book, flights to book, trains and buses to look at, it takes us a good 2 hours or so. During this time, the girls go find breakfast.
I thought they would come back to say Goodbye, but they just leave immediately for their train back home that they need to catch. I’m occupied with makin the plans and can’t be distracted with running down the block without knowing where they are.
After booking our flights, I end up a bit annoyed and confused by not getting a Goodbye. I text Ela and she doesn’t reply. This goes on for a full week or two. I guess I’ll talk to her when I get back, but it’s fucking weird and skeevy that a friend would be like this.
Aaron and I decide to sign up for a pub crawl. It costs 17 Euro, 1 Euro more for an ugly shirt. I get it while Aaron does. There’s a really sexy Australian girl that is one of the people running the crawl. She looks a bit like Taylor Momsen with a nose rip. We eventually don’t get her though. The place we’re at sucks, called Players. We then go to Belushi’s, which is a bar as a part of St. Christopher’s Inn, a hostel chain.
It’s a crazy party hostel and it would be crazy if we could stay there instead of our shitty hostel. About the StayOkay Hostel Zeeburg, the place is meh. They have this weird thing about no food in the hostel, so there’s a guy at front desk that I witness have to be on food duty. All these guys tried to bring in food from outside and they wouldn’t allow for it. Why? I have no clue. It’s not like the kitchen is always okay, so I don’t know what’s up. There’s also no WiFi in the rooms, which is super annoying as Aaron and I are on the 4th floor and have to jump up and down.
Anyway, Belushi’s is sick. You walk into this bar and then on the right side, there’s a door into a small front desk. So really, it’s more like a bar at first than anything. There’s a smoking lounge and we go in while they rock some really good music. Heavy riffy shit. We meet these Irish girls and I tell them my “Dublin joke.” You know, the one where you ask why Dublin is so big, because it keeps on doubling and doubling…
The girl didn’t laugh, but I loved it. We then go to this 3 story bar with a dancing area. It’s annoying that there’s a .50 Euro bathroom charge.
In Europe, public parks, public bathrooms, train station bathrooms, they charge you money to use them. There’s a lady that literally just sits there all day collecting .50 to 1 Euro. But now, even a bar where you’re buying drinks and they’re charging you?! Bullshit man.
We then go to this pub and I split for a bit. I start looking for cigarettes, but stores close early, around 11-12:00 for some reason. I run into this guy asking if I want help. He’s maybe 60-70 and Dutch. I say No, I then turn around and walk by him again. This time, I take his help. He ends up offering to walk me to a store and I agree. We go for a 5-10 minute walk. However, nothing is open and he offers to buy me a drink. I don’t think he was being creepy, just an old guy being nice and wanting to meet people.
At every bar, they give you horrible sweet shots. We then go to this other place where there’s a really sexy British girl along with the crawl in what sort of looks like a belly dancer dress. Aaron and I go to grab drinks with her and her large friend. They then expect us to pay, which is not cheap, considering they’re about 6 Euro per pint. Who do these girls think we are?
I’m awkwardly standing there and waiting for something to happen. Aaron thankfully jumps in and gets them to pay their share. We finally walk to another place, which is a “club.” However, it’s just a smaller place with a dance area in the back. Aaron loves bro-ing out and speaks to these Swiss guys for a while. Europeans grow up younger, I think part of that is the drinking age and how people are treated as adults.
They’re quite mature and smart for their age, which is around 19. I run out of cigarettes and I’m able to buy some at a cigarette machine. It feels good to be able to have cigarettes at the touch of your hand.
We then split pretty quickly because the Irish girls we were chatting up with the whole night randomly decided to cold shoulder us. They weren’t even that good looking, so whatever.
Aaron and I split from the place and we rolls a big one. We hang with that and then hear that there’s a party in an upstairs apartment. There are some people sitting outside of some steps and we can’t decide which door to go through. I quickly pull some logic that they wouldn’t be blocking the door that is being used, so we go through the other door. It’s not locked and when we get up, I immediately notice that eyes are on us.
Well first, I notice that it’s a tiki or beach party. We look really out of place and I have the bar crawl shirt on. A good looking blonde girl walks up to Aaron and asks him what’s up or whatever in Dutch. She’s probably the one running the party. He replies in English that he’s looking for “Mikhail.” The kind question quickly changes tone into an angry mood.
Aaron still tries to play it cool and says, “Hey man, I don’t think we’re at the right place.” We quickly storm out of the place, however, there’s a man pushing Aaron down the stairs. They’re weird stairs in the sense that they’re thin and you barely can get a foot on them. I’m running so fast that if there weren’t to banisters to hold onto, I would’ve fallen face first down stairs and killed myself. There were points where I was skipping steps and thought my life was going to end as I held onto both sides for dear life.
I then get to the door and can’t get out. I can’t figure out the door. I’m trying as hard as I can to open it as I hear shouting in the background. Aaron is behind me scared as this Dutch guy is trying to get us out of there. I see a cat or doggie door and for a few seconds, I consider that I could crawl through it. I’m thinking to myself, “Aaron, I don’t know about you, but I’m about go get through this doggie door and you’re fucked.”
Thankfully, I get the door open and run out of there. The funny party must be the people that were sitting outside when we entered and they were still outside when we ran out. They must be howling at how funny that situation is. When we walk out, Aaron repeats a line of the trip, “No consequences.” Inhibitions out the window because social consequences usually mean nothing. No consequences.
We then walk to the bus station and wait for a bit. I end up chatting with a Dutch girl that looks like Amber Rose, with the whole shaved head look. She works at a bar she says, but maybe she does more than that. She tells me which clubs to go to, which is really useful. I speak to Aaron the next day and he actually doesn’t remember chatting with her. It’s a recurring theme through this trip and I’ve become to realize how bad the man’s memory is. Player needs to re-up on some of that ginko biloba stuff.

July 28, 2012
Aaron wants to see the Anne Frank today so he goes to that. I don’t really care for it, along with it being a small exhibit and pretty pricey. I just walk around and snap some pictures. This ends up really sucking though. I had some really cool pictures and most of the pictures in Amsterdam at gone. I stupidly thought I loaded them onto my computer and deleted them off my phone. So dumb of me and they’re priceless, but it’s useless feeling horrible about it. I have so many great pictures from the rest of the trip.
We then make some club plans and Aaron is set on going to Melkweg. We go to the place and they say that we should go at 1:30, when things get popping. We’re walking around the area called Leidseplein and it’s sick there. I wish we knew about this earlier. This is really where the nightlife is. The streets are crowded with people, bars, and all the clubs are concentrated here.
We actually run into the Irish girls from last night. What a crazy wild coincidence. They could’ve been in the same area and we couldn’t have run into them, but somehow we did. Any sane person would be really surprised and hey, travelers running into travelers, wouldn’t it make sense to hang out for a bit and grab a drink? Nope, they give us a really awkward “Hello” and some pleasantries and we just walk away. What a bunch of horrible people. It’s not like we were crazy about hooking up with them as they weren’t even that good looking, but you run into people you were chatting with for hours the night before. Wouldn’t it be someone common sense to maybe hang out for a bit or at the very least be surprised to run into these people as the chances of crossing paths again is so so so very slim. To known as “shitty Irish girls.”
The Redlight isn’t really nightlife as the bars are pretty bad and it’s just sightseeing unless you really want to be involved in the prostitution. We actually see this nice jazz club/divey/old fashioned place. I hear live blues and we walk in. There’s a 5 Euro cover and I tell Aaron to pay it and we go in. Turns out to one of the best decisions of the trip. There’s a guy from Louisville, Kentucky playing straight up blues. A really tight plan, along with a keyboardist and sax player. We hang there just listening to the music and having some beer. It’s a great place that is loaded with locals.
We eventually get out there and finally go to Melkweg and it’s really popping. The club is crowded and we walk by this cool multimedia thing. This guy is spray painting on a projector screen with a fake spray can as the “marker.” We check that out and then go to a huge, huge smoking lounge. It’s really cool. You get to chat with people and ventilation is killer.
We end up chatting with 5-6 really attractive Dutch girls. They’re really nice and it’s fun conversation. At one point, I turn my head and realize, “Jeez, this is one hell of a group of hot gals.” The really hot one in suspenders explains that European women just want nice forward guys. Apparently Americans are able to pull it off, while European men can’t. She suggests being forward, but kind about it.
We then go dancing, but then they quickly seem to want to split from us. The tall suspender one is dancing around like a boss and just hooking up with random dudes. Good for her, but she sure is fun. Aaron and I eventually find ourselves upstairs and wrecking the hip-hop floor. People are barely dancing and we know what’s up. We eventually give up at one point and take a walk. We walk with some good stuff and it makes the long walk to the bus station a lot better.

July 29, 2012
We wake up late after a crazy night and go on a walk looking for some food. We find this decent place called Foem. It’s well priced as food is quite pricey in Amsterdam. So is drinking, place just isn’t cheap in general.
We share a pancake with cheese, which is actually really good and then have some sandwiches. Cuisine here isn’t really great other than some fries, but their open face sandwiches are quite delicious.
We then go to the Rijksmuseum, which is a rip off at 15 Euro. Maybe if you’re a huge Rembrandt fan is it worth it, but I think it was a waste. I regret going.
We got the sign that has huge letters that spell out “Amsterdam.” People stand on them and take pictures on them. Aaron climbs on one and asks me to take a picture. After doing that, I zoom in really close to children posing in front of the sign. I start taking pictures of them and give them to Aaron. He’s really blown away that there are random children on his phone. I’m telling you, you have to do that next time someone gives you their phone. Make them seem like a freaking pedophile is the move.
We then go back and chill out for a bit. The hostel has been pretty boring as there are a bunch of British kids there on a music program trip thing. Kids as in they’re 15-18, young as hell.
Aaron can never turn down the creeping and is stuck on this one girl that is 18. Fine, she’s 18, but she seriously looks like she could be a high school little sister of one of us. I can understand to a certain point, but this girl is still a girl. She doesn’t look like a woman. I’ve said it before, I’m not looking for no girls. Give me the womans.
We then meet some really pretty girls from Zaragoza. We explain that we’re going to Barcelona the next day. They give us some tips, but we don’t end up making any plans with them. We then meet this Canadian that’s really high. He’s on this cool bus trip where they jump from city to city as a tour and there are other young people on the tour as well. Seems like an interesting idea. I wonder if it’s actually a great experience.

July 30, 2012
Today is check out and we need to get to Amsterdam airport. We rush there and think we’re barely going to make it, but we end up making it. We make it to Barcelona and Aaron is out of it. He falls asleep real heavy on the train to the hostel. We need showers and food, but we immediately jump to a tapas place. Thankfuly, Barcelona is Yelp friendly, so I find a popular tapas place. There are a decent amount of tourists there, but it’s a really nice restaurant and the food is incredible. My first few hours here and I’m having tapas here already. I love it.
Soaking in Barcelona is great. The streets tiles are beautiful with Gaudi design. The hostel is thankfully placed right next to Casa Bottlo, a Gaudi house. It’s a beautiful design. I will repeat this as I get more and more Gaudi in me, but the man was a genius. I love his work and Barcelona and the trip would not be complete without me seeing that stuff.
We get back and we get a quick nap in. We get an idea from these Aussie travelers. When we checked in, one of them was still sleeping in the afternoon because people only start partying in Barcelona at 2:00AM and this was on a Sunday night for her.
Aaron and I then take a walk and soak in the neighborhood. It’s a really nice part of the city with nice stores, pretty streets, and a few more Gaudi sights. We then go to Tapas 24 for dinner, a highly recommended tapas place. We end up going around 10:00, which is their busy time. There have to wait 40 minutes for a table. Fortunately, we meet two Americans on the line. They’re about our age. They’re also just two buddies traveling, but only with a week in Barcelona. One of them is a graphic designer and the other is a chef in Brooklyn. Very cool dudes and we end up sitting with them at the bar for dinner.
The dinner is incredible. I love the idea of an intimate setting with tapas and we watch as the cooks make our food. After that, we go to the beer bar next door. The graphic designer is also a beer brewer and he’s been doing it for a while. He loves beer and he buys a “sour” beer for $30-40 at the next door beer bar. Apparently, it’s twice the price in America, so he’s rocking it hard. We end up meeting their friend who is a club promoter. He warns us about the pick pockets, which is apparently all from Moroccan gangs. The penalties aren’t harsh. He’s been pick pocketed five times in the past eight years. Even someone who knows about this stuff has still experienced this.
We then go back to the hostel and meet up with this dude that we saw earlier. We plan on going to Nasty Mondays. We meet Edward in the hostel, who is an American. He’s a sick guy. He’s been studying in Sweden. He’s lived in South Africa before. Now, he’s currently traveling around Europe and hanging out with the people that he’s met through studying.
At 2:00AM, we take a cab to Apollo. It’s a 10 Euro cover and they give us a really strongly poured drink with the entry ticket. We start dancing to the music, which is basically just 90s and 00s American rock music, Strokes, Jet, etc.
The weird thing about the place is that you’re not allowed to go outside for a smoke. They say if you leave, you have to stay outside. I give up with the dancing and I’m done, I want a cigarette. I go outside and wait for Aaron and Edward as I couldn’t find inside. While outside, I watch dozens and dozens of people try to go outside, get a stupid response, and then have to decide on whether they want to leave. Most just slump back in confused.
The boys come outside and I chat with some cute British girls. They’re with this guy friend that is protecting them. He is very suspect of us and starts trying to grab the girls to get away. He warns us with a countdown. Aaron fights back, “Okay, start counting, lets see what happens.” The guy countsdown and nothing really happens. However, they’re going somewhere else and quickly jump into a cab. The mother goose turned out to be right in the end.
We decide to walk back. It’s a bit of a long walk, but whatever, we’re drunk and can use a walk. Thinking back, walking down Las Ramblas (the main tourist road) is not a good idea at night because pick pockets are all over. Walking down Las Ramblas, it’s a crazy cool scene. It’s 4:00AM and the streets are crowded as hell. Even on a Monday, people are going out and don’t give an F.
The more interesting part of the scene are the people selling sandwiches and beer on the street. The beer is supposed to be illegal, but it’s awesome that you don’t have to look for a store or something. It’s convenient, it’s cheap, and they’re not trying to hustle you.
On the walk, Aaron finds some Barcelonians starts chatting. They’re smoking has on a bench. Continuing theme, how awesome is Europe for being so free. We eventually somehow join in the smoking. I get a bit paranoid at times about the police, but hell, it’s Barcelona. Who the hell cares?
I end up getting extremely high. For some reason, in my notes, there’s a fight. I assume the street cred came out and we got into ruckus about something.
I get back into the hostel and I’m drunk, tired, and high. I just want to pass the hell out. People are sleeping in the room and it’s pitch black. I start feeling around for my bed so I can jump on. For some reason, a girl decided to take my bed. I basically end up groping this girl’s ass. She somehow ignores it, I walk away extremely embarrassed, and take up another bed.

July 31, 2012
Aaron and I end up getting out of bed around 4:00. After a day of traveling and a night of drinking, I guess we needed to catch up on sleep really bad. We go to the lobby to book hostels. We’re going to Paris next and we still have to book that. We grab some food and just walk the city. We find the Gothic quarter. There are lots of nice stores, but also it’s also old buildings. They are from the Medieval times and even some from Roman times, although many are Neo Gothic and made later in the 19-20th Century. However, it’s still a beautiful place as in it’s very European. Cars can’t access the streets and they’re just thin with little stores, restaurants, etc.
I see this place that is rocking hard amounts of jamon in this shop. In the window, for 5 Euro, you get a cone of shaved jamon. They give you some crackers to cut through the huge amount of saltiness and fat from it.
We walk around and sit down to see this hilarious guy. He’s really fat and has a huge, huge gut. He has red shorts to match his red Duff shirt. He’s holding a cigarette in his mouth and taking pictures of the Barcelona Cathedral with an iPad. I’m laughing so hard and we just keep snapping pictures of him.
We then go look for food and check for tapas. We find a place and we pushed into a hot back area. I notice in the corner of my eye that there’s a really cute girl standing by herself waiting for a table. She ends up getting seated in a table next to us. Aaron and I are chatting bullshit in English for a while when Aaron opens up a conversation with her.
Lucy turns out to be Aussie, but I mistake it for British at first because she has a gentle accent instead of “croykee” style. We end up joining tables and just chatting with her.
Continuing theme: Aussies. An overwhelming majority of the people I meet on this trip are Aussies. The guy usually travel themselves, but I find myself meeting mostly girls by themselves. They get a gap year after school. I seriously have no clue how they fund it, but good for them that they’re able to do such a thing. In America, we would think someone is a crazy hippie for doing such a thing. However, it’s common for them to do such a thing.
The craziest thing for me is how they’re able to travel by themselves for months on end. I personally got crazy with myself after 2 weeks in Paris. Granted, I would be a great, different, and better person if I could handle such an experience, but it would be so freaking hard. Either way, they’re great people. Fun, kind, and chill.
It’s a cool conversation that literally goes on for hours upon hours. We probably sit at the restaurant for a good 3-4 hours just chatting away. We then decide to go to this bar that we walked by earlier called Bollocks. Inside, it’s a very divey place and it immediately reminds us of Double Down. I’m literally about to die that this rock dive bar is in Barcelona when they basically could have transported it from NYC.
We meet some weird Swedish guys that are high as fuck from smoking weed. Aarno notices that Lucy pulls her hair down and that she looks a lot better with that. I say she looks like a petite non-model version of Don’s wife in Mad Men.
After hanging with this stranger for 5-6 hours, we end up splitting. She goes to the same hostel, Equity Point, but a different location. She’s right near by whereas Aaron and I have to take a quick cab. I get her Facebook info so we can meet up tomorrow. A great dive bar and a great new pal.

August 1, 2012
So we have booked a flight to Paris from Barcelona in a few days and also the hostel, but we don’t know how we’re getting from Paris to Dusseldorf. For some reason, the stupid site won’t take my credit card. We have to go to a calling center. It’s weird, there are these little booths with phones and computers for people to use. I call the company and it turns out we can buy the ticket at an office in Paris. It costs .15 cents.
We then continue walking down Las Ramblas to La Boqueria. It’s the biggest food market in Barcelona. It’s a beautiful sight. Butchers, fish, fruit juices, tapas, all being highlighted by the colors of the produce and fruits. It’s a wonderful place and Aaron and I get a quick bite there. However, the tapas place we go to is pretty touristy and the food is mediocre.
After this, we go to La Sagrada Familia, what I’ve been wanting to see for years. Getting there and seeing it in person, my mind is absolutely blown. It’s crazy that such a thing exists and it was built in the turn of the 20th century. Architecture simply does not look like this. We wait on line for 40 minutes and get the audio tour and get a real experience of the history, the construction, and explanations of all the little parts.
The religious scenes on the outside walls have wonderful stories as they tell the story of the death of Christ in a modern fashion, but then the other side deals with the birth of Jesus with a more romatic style. The pillars inside are grand and branch out like trees as Gaudi had influences from nature. The stained glass has wonderful designs.
The wonderful things about it are that it is a Spanish construction. It is not only Gaudi behind it as other artists have put their input and interpretaion of Gaudi’s plans. Most importantly is that the building has been under construction for over 100 years and it is only half the height of the finished product. They expect it to be finished in 30-40 years, but the funding is not there. It is funded by only tourists, none from the Vatican or Spanish government.
Read up about it, Google it, it’s the best sight I’ve seen in my life. You cannot die without seing La Sagrada. And we get ambitious baby, we then go to Parc Guell. Another Gaudi sight, but a park instead of a building.
The park is glorious and also has a wonderful view of the city. It’s so freaking big. We paid for the Gaudi House, which was disappointing. It was interesting to see, but still only just a house with some Gaudi stuff.
It’s a lot of walking and stuff, but we get back to the hostel. I message Lucy that we’re planning to go to a club tonight. I get loads of planning because that’s what I do.
About the trip: A lot of days involve me waking up in the morning and going to an area with Wi-Fi to make plans. I look up the sights through WikiTravel and Google Searches. I plan food through Yelp, which actually also helps with sights and museums. I plan the day out, pull out a map, get familiar with the subway system, figure out how to get there, etc. The same goes for nightlife. This time in Barcelona, I had to look up where all the big clubs were and what events were going on in the perspective clubs.
I do this when I’m back and just chilling. Aaron tries to push me to grab a beer, despite it being 9:00PM. He says he doesn’t want to drink alone and tries to peer pressure me into him. I explain that I usually would, but I’m about the long game. If we’re going out tonight, it’s going to be at 2AM, which is 5 hours away.
In NYC time, that would be like someone asking you to start drinking with them at 5PM in order to go out at 10PM. It’s a marathon baby and I’m prepared for it. I get a message from Lucy that she’s going to be at Razzmatazz. I try to plan us to meet up before going out, but she just expects us to find each other in the club. This turns out to be impossible.
We eventually go to the club and there’s a big line, but it moves on, which is awesome unlike NYC. There’s just a 10 Euro cover and everyone is getting in. Aaron is bitching at this point already and I pay his cover.
The music is crazy, the club is huge, the crowd is huge, and it literally is the craziest club scene I’ve seen in my life. I literally just fall in love. He complaining about the clubs. He stays there for maybe 30-45 minutes and just splits. I stay there myself for another 30-45 minutes. We have differing views on “fun,” but I explain that it’s at least social tourism. When you visit places, there are sights, food, and musuems, but nightlife matters! What young people do a night is extremely important to understanding a place and a significant part of traveling.
I end up having a Spanish conversation with some guy asking if I’m Chinese. I say Yes and he tells me that he saw some couple and the woman had huge, huge tits. I explain that Koreans and Japanese women are better looking, but he insists that this chick had great tits. I tell him in Spanish that it’s just one example. It’s fun being able to banter in Spanish.
I eventually go back myself and then find Aaron outside on the hostel bench. There are people outside in the hostel and just hang out. It’s a cool situation that the cops and the hostel allows for that. Most importantly, the Paki beer guys are always hanging around so people are well lubricated. 1 Euro beers are great.
http://www.welcome-to-barcelona.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/paki_big.jpg
Between us, things have calmed down a bit since our fight about going to the club. It’s 5AM by the time I go inside and text Lucy, who Aaron and I now call “my wife.” He jokes later in the trip that I should go to Razzmatazz and look for my wife there. It was a futile thign to do, but hey, destiny allows for certain things to occur.

August 2, 2012
Lucy messages me back in the morning, but we can’t end up making plans to hang out. She ends flying out to Israel without us being able to meet up again. After being so productive in a few nights, we have to figure what else we haven’t seen. We go to the lobby and speak to one of the people at the front desk. The woman is absolutely incredible. She gives us plans about Montjuic, a map, directions, and other plans. Everything is extremely detailed and she’s such a sweetheart.
We’re chatting about these American girls we met in our hostel room. Aaron says, “One girl is fat, the other two aren’t too thin themselves.” Now that’s a quote.
We go to the subway and I need to eat before we jump on the furnicular up to the mountain. I’m eating and sitting down. We then witness a fight. There’s this homeless guy that must’ve done something to a woman. She gets really angry and makes the homeless guy walk away. She keeps shouting at him and antagonizing him physically so the guy ends up hitting her a bit. Her son or this younger guy ends up running to the homeless and starts punching and gets him to the ground. He then does this really bad move of stomping the guys head. Swinging and punching is one thing, but this stuff can be dangerous. Two random people stop him. This is the second fight we’ve seen.
We then go up to Montjuic through the furnicular. It’s surprising how few people there are up there. It’s such an incredible and there should be so many more tourists. The botanical gardens are beautiful and parts of them even remind me of what Italy looks like.
We then get to find the National Musuem of Catalonia. We don’t go in because we heard it sucks and it’s old art. However, it’s a huge, huge beautiful building. There’s a guy playing really bad, cheesy smooth jazz style piano. He’s not actually bad, but why does he have that shitty tone?
We decide plans and sit down. Aaron starts plotting out what we’re doing next and I start going, “Yeah, yea, yea, yea, ye, ye-ye-ye-ye-ye.” It’s a bit creepy, but super annoying to overwhelm someone’s speaking with that annoying sound.
We then walk behind the museum and check out the Olympic Stadium. It was renovated for ’92 Olympics in the city and it’s an epic sight. We then go down the hill and walk past the Magic Fountain. We then go past Placa d’Espanya and then we grab a quick dinner at a Chinese run restaurant. It literally covers everything and has 6-8 cuisines on the menu. It’s cheap, huge portions, and we get some sangria with it. A good change from pricey tapas that we’re used to.
We then go to Magic Fountain, which is absolutely beautiful. It’s a water show with colors and music. It’s like the Bellagio water show, but less epic. However, it’s still incredible and a sight that one must see in Barcelona.
We then go back. We meet these two German girls. We start playing some card games and drinking. This Danish guy then joins and we’re just chilling. I usually prefer going out, but Aaron is getting tired of that. I’m hungry as fuck, so I want to go out to get food. The front desk tells me about this doner place, but I’m unable to find it.
Aaron then gets super pissed about me not trying hard enough to wing for him with one of the German girls. This Danish guy was kissing her at one point and all over her. I’m just hungry, I want to get out to clubs in a walkable distance and see what’s up. I don’t even need to go in, but I just want to see people and get involved. I’ve had enough with card games and being stuck in the hostel.
We find some gay club and we chat with some people. The Danish and German decide that they want to go back. I want to figure out this club that is nearby and supposed to be a blast. I want to have some fun. Hopefully we can get in without a cover and check it out. I’m just down to do anything. Aaron on the other hand has gotten his macho bullshit going on. He continues to grill me about how I didn’t help him enough.
I explain that the Danish guy was all over her. I’m not concerned about why the German girl didn’t want fuck Aaron tonight. He needs to get rid of his ego and calm the fuck down. More importantly, he needs to get some standards because this girl was a 5.5 or 6. Stop going crazy over nothing.
The worst part about it is that it ruins my night. He decides to storm off by himself back to the hostel. I end up wandering and looking for this club and not being able to find it. Then there’s a creepy person that follows me and I have to run up to awkwardly get close to this group of British people so I’m not prey by myself. Thanks for messing up the night because your dick isn’t getting wet.
Either way, I find a supermarket that is open and I grab a salmon sandwich. It’s packaged, which Europe does quite well. It’s mayo with lettuce and on plain bread. However, the amount of fish for $3 is quite significant. Granted, it might not be freshly sliced lox from the deli, but if I wanted that much fish in America, I would be paying $6 at least. I then go back, Internet, Facebook, end the night.

August 3, 2012
Aaron and I end up checking out the mall in the Olympic area. For the Olympics, they basically modernized downtown Barcelona and made it a real city. It’s crazy because we were at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and they had an exhibit about this. We look inside and it looks like an American mall basically. However, the food court is super awesome. There are bars looking things where people are drinking beer with their food and there’s a chicken place that we go to. Instead of getting a meal with a Coke, I get beer instead. Same price, no extra charge, and you get beer with your fried chicken. Cmon! That’s crazy good.
Aaron gets the same, but his side is salad. The same is actually filled with 5-6 ingredients and looks crazy good. It comes with a packet of balsamic and olive oil, separate. Now that’s a real salad. In the city, that side salad would’ve cost $4 for the quality and quantity of ingredients. Fuck a creamy gross dressing too.
We then walk to find Torre Agbar, an interesting building in Barcelona. On the walk, we see that it’s a local area instead of Las Ramblas of where we’re staying on Passieg de Gracia. It’s a Friday night and people are just flooded in the streets having dinner. We eventually find the Agbar, which is beautiful. It’s colored with all these different colors and “egg” shaped or actually more like a dildo.
We then go back and decide to stay in the for the night. Aaron is bitching and has had enough with going out. We end up hanging with people at the hostel and getting a decent gang. The two German girls, who we learn are sisters, two Dutch girls, and an American from Cali. We decide to go back to Bollocks.
We met this Italian girl and a Polish girl from earlier that said they were going to an Irish pub. We take this stupid walk to the pub, but it has the same name as I guess the place they ended up. I wanted to take a cab, but instead we get involved in a 30+ minute walk. After the Irish bar, we then go back to Bollocks.
Aaron is excited about the place and gets a badass shirt there. We end up chatting with Tamara, a bartender there. She’s surely my type, nose piercing, edgey look, long hair, works at a badass dive rock bar. Suicide Girls were my type in high school and I still gotta get me one of those. Either way, she says she’s coming to NYC for Rock the Bells. I give her Facebook info so we can show her around to Double Down, their unknown copycat bar and what not.
We then decide to walk back stupidly because no one wants to take a cab, despite it being a ridiculously cheap price if we split it. Easily 2 Euros or less. On Las Ramblas, people are known to pick pocket you. Aaron is walking and this fat black girl just puts his arms around him and starts grabbing. He’s shoving her away, but not strong enough. I help out and she gives up. During this, we have 4 girls walking with us. Then there’s this guy that just starts following us. Aaron and I instinctively get protective and walk behind the girls and create a buffer. The guy follows too closely for a decent amount. I’m on edge, I’m a bit drunk, and I give the guy a TechnoViking pointer finger in the opposite direction and say, “Can you fucking walk that way?!”
He screams something in a language to people across the street. He has accomplices. What a fucker. He eventually gives up. I’m fucking on edge and the girls try to tell me it wasn’t a big deal. I’m not happy about it. These people tried to mess with us, but also the girls that were with us. No way. They don’t get to fuck. I FUCK!

August 4, 2012
Aaron and I wake up late to go to the beach. We meet the German girls and this Australian that is in their room. I would prefer to take the subway, but they like walking and we take a 30-40 walk south down to the beach. We get there and I stayed fully clothed in shirt, shorts, and shoes. The rest of them get into the water while I just chill on the beach. They laugh at me and take a picture of how out of place I look.
It’s a bit funny and disconcerting for them, but I’m cool with it. I don’t really care for jumping in the water and getting all sandy, but I sort of have to see the beach. I’m a city kid, I’m not made for the beach. The beach is quite interesting because there are so many people selling things. Aaron gets a massage from an Asian woman for 5 Euro. There’s beer, mojitos (which I don’t know how they make), sunglasses, dresses, coconuts, donuts, etc.
I have a Swedish cider that I find from the store. It’s quite a girly drink, very fruity. I go take a walk and Barceloneta is a pretty nice area. I grab a sandwich, which is really tasty. Cheap, great bread, chorizo, and cheese. I realize that this is what I prefer. Soaking in the sights, the ‘hood, the food, seeing the people, etc., while the majority prefers beaches.
We left the hostel at 3PM and around 7PM we leave. We walk back and get some water and a much needed shower. We then go to Port Olympic to meet up Aaron’s law school friend. He’s been pumping up as the coolest person ever. Port Olympic is by the water with restaurants and more importantly, lots of clubs and nightlife. We haven’t been here yet.
We meet her at La Fonda and we start off with some pan con tomate, jamon iberico, and white wine (two bottles actually). I have fideua, which is noodle paella. The food is meh, but the conversation is fantastic. Kendall is a law student, but she has been to Barcelona a handful of times, including studying there for a year and being a bartedner at a nearby bar. She’s travelled everywhere and got her phone stolen by a machete mugger in Ghana, where she was studying. She is the mover and shaker of Aaron’s class and is the one that gets everyone to together to hang out and knows everyone. She apparently met some Dutch brothers that have treated her as “family” and their parents let her stay at their place for a month. More stories, more stuff. I wanted it to be a compliment, but I told Kendall that if only 30% of what she said was true, she would still be the awesomest person I’ve ever met. Just worldy, traveled, so much life experience, the stories are endless.
After a pretty expensive meal (34 Euro per head) because of the pricey bottles of wine and jamon, we head off to a lounge that Kendall used to work. It’s a crazy Asian themed place, designed to the nines. It has those Chinese ceramic soldiers and every detail is on point. It reminds me a bit of Megu, a sushi place in New York, but without Kendall, we wouldn’t have gone here. We even got through without a cover. People are dressed up and I didn’t know we were going out so I’m feeling paranoid and slubby in my regular t-shirt.
We have a flight at 8:15 tomorrow morning and we were planning to wake up at 6AM. However, suddenly with dinner, the plans have become crazy. We’re planning to do clubs and everything and just not sleep and jump on the plane with no sleep. I’m pretty much packed, so that getting out of the hostel shouldn’t take long.
We meet up with Kendall’s friend, Andrea, from school that randomly saw her in Barcelona and messaged her to meet up. After a Red Bull vodka from this swanky place that has people chilling with bottle service, we take a cab to a club called Sutton. Aaron and I are rolling deep with two very pretty girls. Aaron thinks Kendall is one of the prettiest girls ever, with her Hispanic descent and tan skin. I think Andrea is one of the prettiest girls ever, being 6 foot tall, her fair skin, and her half Asian look. We’re a good team with our differing opinions on women.
We walk around and find this lounge to chill out at. We meet Kendall’s friends. One guy is an American starting up tech in Spain. Another is a British guy that is marketing and designer for liquor brands in the British market, a very interesting job. Kendall rolls deep with some interesting people.
After Aaron spotting the four of us a 52! Euro round of Red Bull vodkas, we check out Sutton. It’s a nicer place, not too crowded and crazy. Walking in, I’m underdressed and Kendall is a mover and shaker. She grabs me and says we’ll pretend to be a couple and we walk with her arms around me. The bouncers just let it by whereas the guys have to pull down their sleeves from their button up shirts. Now that’s some gaming the system.
We don’t stay at the club too long and then we find a cab to Razzmattazz. I loved that place on Wednesday and it turns out that it’s Kendall’s favorite place. It’s great that I go to go that beforehand and we’re returning to where the locals go, but what I’ve experienced as the craziest club in Europe. On the cab ride there, I’m on a high of it being the last day in my favorite city in Europe and a good drunk buzz. I just start taking video of the the city out the cab window, hair blowing with the open window and the radio blasting club music.
We get there and the line is going along pretty quickly. We pay a 15 Euro cover, which is more than last time, but it’s Saturday night. I find out that half the club wasn’t open when we were there. Now, there are so many rooms and I’m just freaking lost in there. Kendall is dragging us around to her favorite rooms. It’s 5 of us, so getting around is hard through the crowd. At times, to get around, I have to grab Kendall’s hand and bump up against her at times because of the amount of people. I will agree with Aaron that she is a sexy gal.
After some hardcore dancing, I’m really thirsty. I don’t give a fuck because I’ve been drinking and I sip some water from the sink and I even get an empty cup and fill it up with water.
Lesson: Staying hydrated when you’re dancing and drinking is key. Don’t be a newbie.
I decide that it’s time to go at 5AM. Before, there was a line of cabs outside, but instead, we have to upstream people and look for a cab on some random street. Thankfully we find it. When we left, the club was still happening. Remember, clubs start at 2AM! Craziest city ever.
I say Goodbye to Kendall and also Andrea, but it turns out that Andrea is going to Paris the next day. I grab her Facebook info so we can meet up with her when we’re there.
Aaron at this point is out of it. He had one more drink than me, but he didn’t finish his paella. I think the killer was not having water though. I grab my shit really quickly while waking up people that were sleeping. I grabbed everything and just ran. We then had to walk three blocks to where there is a bus to the airport. Aaron does not remember how we got from the club to the hostel, grabbed our bags, to the bus, and to the airport.
On the bus, Aaron is dead asleep. I wake him up and we get off. I want to chill out and have a cig because it’s sunrise, it’s nice, and we have 2 hours. He can barely stand and is trying to sleep on his luggage, man is a mess.
On the line, these girls are drunk and were out all night like us. There are from Toronto and were here for only 2 days. I chat with them a bit to make the line go faster. We then get into the terminal and get some McDonald’s. 7AM, we both get Big Mac meals. Funny thing, we’re curious how much beer you can buy from a Spanish McDonald’s.
Every chance I get, I run to the bathroom every chance I get to drink water. No offense to Aaron, but he’s falling asleep everywhere and I’m feeling quite awake. I make sure that we keep moving and able to get where we’re going. We get to the terminal and people are just lined up as the the plane is late. Aaron and I quickly decide to sit down and wake as people lined up.
You can’t miss the flight, standing there in the morning, exhausted for 30 minutes does nothing. Why not just sit down? The seats are predetermined, but even if they weren’t, I don’t think I would care about waiting on line. As I said, unless they’re giving out free blowjobs, I don’t know why I really would care to wait on line.

August 5, 2012
On the flight, Aaron passes out hard and I get some sleep. I always notice that people shoot up when the plane stops. The doors aren’t opened, where are you going? If you have baggage claim, what’s the rush, you have to sit there and wait 10-15 minutes anyway. And even if you don’t, why don’t you just walk faster? I’ve seen people shoot up and wait to get off the plane only to walk out of the airport at a snail’s pace.
We grab Aaron’s luggage, which cost 25 Euro to check because we’re on a “cheap airline” and his bag was a bit bigger than mine. I was surely above the 10 kg limit, but I got by. We then catch a really long train ride to the hostel, which involves 3-4 transfers. I ask Information to confirm the directions, because I’m quite familiar with the Metro system and she just gives me a stupid look. She was cute, but she seemed like she didn’t know her job of sending people the right way. A quick reminder of why I hate some Parisians.
We take a long walk and eventually check into the hostel. When I sit down, I realize how bad it is. We literally need all human needs, it’s like The Sims. I need food and water really bad. Then I need a shower because we were sweating from the Spanish heat, and then went dancing, sat on a really sweaty flight, and then dragged our bags all through the Paris metro. I’ve never sweated into a shirt so bad. And then, just sleep.
We’re in Montmarte, which is a lovely quaint area of Paris. There’s a great boulangerie (bakery) near us and I grab a sandwich. Sesame bread, creamy creamy mozzarella, juicy tomato, and lettuce. I eat, I water up, and then sit on the computer for a while. I’m confused as to why I’m not passing out already because Aaron went to sleep in the room. I stay up and then go to sleep for 2-3 hours. We then take a walk to look for dinner. Most of the restaurants are closed as it is a Sunday.
However, the ones that are open are really expensive. 15 Euros a plate, so that’s a decent amount more compared to NYC prices and that’s just the norm. We can’t find anything cheaper so we do boulangerie and just chomp on some cheaper stuff. After that, we relax for a while and I just bullshit on the Internet and finally watch the pilot of Newsroom. The show was so exciting and I never knew news could be exhilarating.
Aaron seemed like he wanted to see stuff earlier, but he is out of it and we just literally spend the day in the hostel, other than our little walk around the area. I tell him he must be kidding me with the amount of water that he has drank. With the drinking starting from dinner wine at 11PM last night, then with the heat, many many many drinks, dancing, sweating, the flight, he has only had maybe 3 liters of water. That’s a joke, I’ve had at least twice as much as that.
So instead, we just stay in the hostel, I grab a beer whereas he’s too sick for that. We have tomorrow planned out. A beer and writing gets a decent amount done, but when I’m writing 3 pages for each day single spaced, things are just be really time consuming.

August 6, 2012
We get up and decide to start walking around. I’m starving so we get a baguette at the boulangerie next door and then to the supermarket for an apple, cheese, and ham. A hearty “lunch.”
Despite being in Europe for so long and so many cities, I have yet to do a walking tour. Either a hostel runs it or a private company does, but there are free walking tours every day in many cities. The company gets cred be good reviews and the people that do the tours are just young students who are trying to make some money from tips.
The walk we took was about 6 hours from the beginning of the tour to Champs Elysees was about 6 miles. It started off and it was about 30 people in our group, though there was were groups, mostly Americans. This was surprising because Americans don’t generally travel as much as Europeans and Australians. It’s crazy how much they do this because it’s twice a day everyday they run these tours.
Our tour guide Jacob is from Park Slope, a philosophy major studying in Paris. Funny thing, he went out with Neja Gupta for from. She graduated a year ahead of me. What a small freaking world that we ran into someone with that connection.
We start off near the Notre Dame. One of the continuing themes about the tour is how Paris still exists. Europe, but especially Paris, has been through so much, yet the city is still alive. It truly is one of the historical capitals of the world. The grand sights and old buildings still are alive, whereas places like Germany and many other cities and countries were destroyed by WWII.
The crazy thing about Notre Dame is how old it is. It is one of the oldest and finest examples of Gothic archtitecture. There are so many times when it should’ve been burned down or destroyed, but it was just lucky.
Then to the Palais de Justice where there are holes in the wall because it was a stronghold for fighting in WWII. It’s still where you get locked up in Paris.
We then see a statute of Henry IV and get a story about his marriage, siege of Paris, and his pragmatic conversion to Catholicism from Protestant. He then was assassinated by some dude for this move, who was then brutally given capital punishment, because it was before the gullotine.
Onto the Louvre, we are explained the logistics of visiting the museum, which is huge. There are 2 extra secret entrances. They are necessary as you can find yourself waiting for 2 hours on a line for the museum.
We then walk by the incredible Jardin des Tuileries. This used to be a wonderful garden for the royalty. It’s on a long strip that Napolean wanted to create a vision from the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (not the main one you know) to Concorde. The Arc has a story that Napolean stole the horses on top from Venice, but they eventually gave them back.
Walking on, we see the great garden and then go to Concorde. This is where executions used to take place and it was just a spectacle for thousands of drunk people to gather and see people get their heads lobbed off.
We see the Sacre Couer from a distance. It was actually created after the Commune. This was when the Communists took over Paris for a few months. However, the old money took the city back, went to Montmarte (where the martyrs are buried), and forced the Communists to built the basilica.
There’s also the Obelisk that was given from Egypt. Because of the acid rain, the hieroglyphics are getting messed with and they need to put a gold top on it to protect it.
We then walk over to Pont Alexandre III. It’s a bridge that is donated by the Russians and there’s also one in St. Petersberg. To quelch Germany, France and Russia have had to work together in the past. This is an absolutely gorgeous bridge.
There are also the world fair buildings. We get told the story about how Paris wasn’t destroyed in WWII. Hitler gave von Choltitz the command to destroy Paris. There are two sides of the story. One is the bright shiny side that he became in love with Paris and couldn’t bear destroying such a city. Not that he was a great humanitarian, because he was a commander Nazi, destroyed many other important cities, and killed many resistance, Jews, etc. So the story never actually paints him as a great guy. However, the other side is that he just never got to destroying the city and was still a piece of shit.
Either way, Paris was in the middle of the war. It was not the US, or even London. There was basically no reason why the Nazis couldn’t have just demolished the entire city and leveled the city of its rich cultural history. Instead, it somehow has lived for centuries, despite all odds.
We then see Invalidades, which is a beautiful building where the injured soldiers were kept.
There’s surely stuff that I’ve missed about the tour, but there was so much in 3.5 hours that I can’t remember. Aaron and I end up giving him 10 Euro, which is basically what other people give him. With almost 30 people, he’s making almost 300 Euro for 3.5 hours of work. If he does this everyday, shit, he’s rocking a ton. On the low side, he’s making less than 1000 Euro a week, which is about $1,250.
Aaron and I then walk around and get into a political discussion. Before, we’ve discussed college. I find that it’s horribly prohibitive and idea that people need to rock 5-6 figures in loans is crazy. He thinks getting into college is an easy task and only about desire, not about a family’s income. In addition, he also supports the idea of nature over nuture with intelligence. That he, and other law students, are genetically intelligent to separate them from others, whereas the quality of education and socio-economic conditions (nuture) are less significant. My view of things are not as rosey.
We then get into the idea of American being “great.” While being an economic and military leader, I find that America is shit. Not that everything is, but we’re behind many first world countries in tangible things that matter about the quality of life. It’s not an attempt to bash the country as I love it, but more of a recognition of flaws so they can be fixed. Just saying America is great leads to more mediocrity.
Aaron on the other hand loves our “ideals.” I find people are people, whereas he thinks that Americans are better than many other people for the values that we hold. I don’t even know what these values are, but I think we’re mostly shit people honestly. Either way, he supports that America is an absolutely wonderful place and a world leader no matter where else the other first world countries are in relation to us in other standards.
Either way, these were the only two political conversations. I’m glad because that really fucks up conversation and vacation when people just argue about BS. We have an okay meal because we’ve been restaurant hunting and eating and drinking is just expensive.
Dishes go for 14 Euro at an average place, or even cheaper side. I guess that’s not too far from NYC, but at least we have cheap options. All the restaurants here are like that. Also, fuck drinking beer. They can charge up to 8 Euros for a beer. WTF!
We then walk to see the Eiffel Tower, then to Arc de Triomphe, Champs Elysees, then Laduree. The inside is closed for renovation, which sucks, so they build a tent on the street. On the way there, I stop by a McDonald’s to pee on Champs Elysees. I was literally there less than year ago to pee. I’m back to pee in your establishment yo!
We then walk over to the Redlight, which is just strip clubs and sex shops. Aaron loves that kind of stuff and we go into this store and I’ve never seen so much porn in my life. I’m checking out real porn, whereas Aaron is trying to get me to look like beastiality and shit porn. I really don’t feel like looking and avoid that stuff. We also get to see the jack off booths where guys go inside, check out a video, and get to jack off in the little booth.
While standing in front of the Moulin Rouge, there’s a guy taking a picture of a teddy bear with the sight. It’s a smart idea for people who aren’t traveling with you and you give them the bear that has traveled where you’ve been, with evidence through the pictures. Aaron tries to borrow this idea for a gal he wants to go back to chasing, but ends up giving up on that.
We then look for dinner and I realize that I’m back on the street that I was on. I remember a lonely, rainy night where I wanted to do something, find a bar, get some drinks, do anything. Instead, much of nightlife in Montmarte is people sitting at a restaurant and drinking and smoking cigarettes. They don’t actually eat, they just love chilling, chatting, and people watching.
We eventually find this place that is “cheaper,” but I’m still paying 8.5 Euro for a croque monsieur, or a complicated grilled cheese. The guy seems fine at first, but Aaron is bad about pronouncing French and the waiter says something when Aaron says “Mur-see” instead “Mayhr-see.” The French absolutely love their language and that is part of the reason why they don’t like tourists. They constantly avoid using English, despite the fact they known English. They have to rude about service a lot of the time.
Aaron and I walk the streets of Montmarte and we actually walk upon one of my favorite places in Paris. It’s on the west side of the Sacre Couer, where there are cute little streets, unlike much of Paris. It feels old and gothic. It’s a truly old Parisian experience instead of the city it is now.
We then split a bottle of wine that we bought earlier. Wine is exceptionally cheap and easy to find. Supermarkets sell it everywhere (except only until 9PM) and have a incredibly wide selection of good and cheap wine.
We chat and shit. I give Aaron some support on this gal he’s going to make a move on when he gets back. We then call it a night as we walked a ridiculous amount today. However, Andrea, who we met in Barcelona, messages me and I decide that we will meet her for dinner with her.

August 7, 2012
I’m doing my hard work again and want to go to a “must go to” place. Les Papilles is such a place, but it needs reservations. Actually, all the of the restaurants in Paris need reservations as they’re quaint and small, unless you just want to go to a simple brasserie. I call the place, but I don’t think it’s open and I can’t understand the French voicemail. I instead, just find another place where we don’t need reservations and message Andrea to meet us there tonight.
We then go to Sacre Couer. On the way down, we watch that a Bollywood movie is being shot. The actor is covered in white like one of those tourist trap performers, while there are two actresses, one of which is extremely sexy. We just watch all these Indian people trying to shoot the film. It’s funny that there’s one guy that is offering a bag of potato chips. We have a good time laughing about the guy on chip duty.
We then go down the hill and we see the “String Scammers.” I”ve dealt with them before. They ask you to stop, they then put a knot on your finger, and then try to scam you for a stupid amount of money. During this, an acoomplice can also pick pocket you.
We go down the hill a bit and see these guys and sit down to watch them, 20 feet away. A guy walks up to Aaron and Aaron is stiff, “You’re not touching me with that string.” He’s good and strong about it, but an accomplice hears this. He walks over really angry, “Oh! He can’t touch you!? What are you going to do about it?”
He shoves Aaron a bit and is very offended, asking if Aaron is racist. That is such a fucking criminal defensive move. When you’re in the wrong and someone has caught you or is fighting back, the criminal instead of slinking away embarrassed, he goes even stronger. He pretends to make it seem like you’re in the wrong and threatens you. He pushes even harder because he’s wrong and is trying to distract from that issue instead of admitting it.
I pretend to scam one of the guys by giving him a metro map and asking for 5 Euro. He’s baffled and opens it up as if there is 5 Euro inside, but doesn’t understand. Fucking idiot, I’m doing exactly what you’re doing.
We eventually walk away as these 10-20 people keep hustling every single tourist attempting to get up to the Sacre Couer. On the main street up to there, we see a three card monty game going. The scam works by having accomplices pretend like they’re winning, so that a passerby walks up, plays, and then they pickpocket you or rig the game so you lose a lot.
However, with this one, I immediately saw the flaw. There were 4 people. A guy and gal were “playing,” but they were clearly of the same ethnicity as the person running the game and wore similar shitty outfits. How does this even work at all?! It was so ridiculous when I saw this. However, a tourist walks up and watches. Next thing I know, I see two of the fake players running with 50 Euro in their hand. I then see police on bikes ride down the hill chasing them. From what I gather, they stole money from that tourist.
As for a bigger theme, Europe just fucking sucks because of this. Barcelona with the pick pockets and now this. I would understand (not really though), if you were walking down a bad neighborhood at night, but this is broad day light. This is one of the most popular and famous sights in one of the top cities in the world and somehow you have these String Scammer assholes literally on Sacre Couer park property and the police just chill there. They even allow for the three card monty to go down (we walked down the hill and saw that they were not caught by the police). This is absolutely absurd that a first world country, with such significant cities, can allow for such bullshit.
When I meet people in Europe, I remind them that NYC is the safest place they will ever visit. I can walk in NYC (although maybe not certain parts of Harlem, the Bronx, and projects of Brooklyn at late night) at all hours and be safe. No one freaking gets scammed, pick pockets, or anything. None of this stuff exists. The NYPD would crack down so fucking hard that heads would roll. It’s such a shame that these wonderful cities have to be ruined by such a thing and the stupid police won’t do anything about it. The mayor of these cities must understand that these are tourism killers, whereas for some reason, NYC has a poor/so-so reputation about safety.
We then find the place to buy our bus ticket from Paris to Dusseldorf (city where we fly out of.) It’s 44 Euro, which isn’t bad. Aaron earlier in the trip was being such a fucking asshole as he wanted to take a train. It literally would’ve cost him $100 more and he set on it. Instead, I was headstrong and wanted to make this bus plan work, despite the fact that the site didn’t take a credit card. That’s why I found a call center, called the headquarters, found out Paris has bus ticket offices, looked one in Paris and the directions, and made it a top priority for us to get there. Instead, in Barcelona, Aaron just kept joking about how it wouldn’t work out and kept talking shit.
I personally don’t get offended by shit a lot, but things need to end at a certain point. I draw a line and tell him to stop being an ungrateful asshole. I’m saving both of us, including him, about a $100 on the trip and he can’t appreciate it or at least support the move. Instead, he has to joke about how it won’t work out and that it’s inevitable that we’ll take a train.
Continuing theme: Directions. Along with a bad memory, Aaron’s sense of direction is not the best. Granted, he probably could ask his way around and figure out Europe himself, but I’m here. Not that he can’t, but if you’re traveling with someone, it’s inevitable that someone will lead the way and understand the directions better, whereas the other person will follow. Mind you, this doesn’t mean that the person is lesser, it’s just naturally how things will work out, instead of having two people learning directions and attempting to take charge.
Most importantly, I know the system. I spent three weeks in this city last year, used the metro, can read the stops, and I’m quite familiar with the map. On one day, I lead the way to get to somewhere. Aaron’s ego turns on and wants to know how we’re getting there. I tell him in French and he can’t understand it as he cannot read the pronunciations. He gets very annoyed that he is basically following me. Again, I don’t really want to get pissed, but I don’t like his sense of entitlement. I explain that while he was sleeping in and playing around on his iPad, I spent 20 minutes hardcore studying the map and figuring out how we’re getting to where we needed to go. If we figured out the directions together, then it’s a team effort. However, I don’t see why he has to be entitled to me explaining every little drop of directions when he just got to slack off for this.
I don’t really care about the ego fights, but just don’t fuck with me when I’m doing the work. I don’t need a “Thank you” or some kind of token of appreciation, but understand that I went out of my way to make sure we wouldn’t get lost. That I took time to learn the way, go on Google Maps, look at the metro map, etc. So I’m doing this, just don’t make it seem like one should expect me to teach them every single thing and that they should be on exact equal footing without the work. I’m not saying that I’m a selfish asshole that won’t give an explanation of the city, directions, or the metro. That obviously is stupid. One should be able to learn that from me, but don’t get all entitled and expect shit. That’s all him saying.
We get out of the subway and see 2 Euro beers. 2 Euro beers?! In Paris?! You heard it here, but this is the best deal in Europe. Remember context. 2 Euro beer is bullshit in some countries, but this is Paris after all. They charge 5-8 Euro for beers and even Happy Hour is our regular price for drinks. We grab one where we can even carry it and walk with it on the street. It’s such an incredible feeling to finally have a day beer and soak it sights with that gentle buzz.
The funny thing is that days into the trip, Aaron realized he had just had his first beer. In Barcelona, we would constantly have a beer with a meal or at least at night with the beer guys. However, in Paris, it’s been wine or no drinking. Stuff is just expensive. It’s a weird feeling to be drinking beer again.
We walk along the river and there are little booths that sell souvenirs. However, they sell old books and more interestinly, old pages from old books. This means maps with drawings from the 1500s or old medical books with anatomy diagrams or vegetable diagrams for a kitchen. Instead of buying tourist BS that every city has, this actually has a French and antique flare to it. I didn’t know about this before and it’s surely the place to shop in Paris if you want to bring something back.
We see Notre Dame and Aaron is stuck on seeing the catacombs. I don’t really care because it’s just skulls and bones, but I get dragged along and would sit outside. We get there after the last entrants. We then go to where we’re supposed to meet Andrea and people she met the hostel. However, when we get there, the restaurant has been closed down.
With a theme continued, Aaron’s memory is horrific. In about 36 hours, I have to keep reminding him of Andrea’s name. This is despite the fact that we met her only days ago and he still can’t remember after we hang with her and he can connect a name to a face.
We wait for a bit outside until we meet an Aussie guy, American guy, an Aussie girl named Tess, and Andrea. The restaurant for some reason is closed down. It doesn’t look like it went out of business, just closed for a weekday dinner. I couldn’t read the sign to understand why.
However, I’m a boss and had a backup restaurant that is blocks away. Yeah, Imma brush my shoulders. I get a cassoulet, whereas the five others decide on rissotto for some reason. A not very French dish, so not sure why they went with that, but whatever. We split a bottle of wine and chat about stuff.
We then talk a walk to Les Halles for some nightlife. It’s not really French nightlife, but touristy BS nightlife. We walk by the big square in that area where people are watching the Olympics with this huge projector. It’s public and people are just chilling on a cool summer night. It’s a great idea. During the winter, when I was there, they use the square for a ice skating rink.
We go to a place that has 3 Euro beers. We grab a couple of those, but Aaron and I have to run in order to catch the metro before it closes at 12-1:00.

August 8, 2012
We check out of our shitty hostel and move onto St. Christophers, a hostel I stayed at last year. Hostels in Paris generally suck, but this one is awesome. It has a huge bar, it feels almost like a modern hotel, although it’s a bit off from the city.
Coincidentally, it’s where Andrea and the others are staying. We get up at 8AM and we check in by 9. We meet Andrea to drop our stuff off there because it’s too early to check in.
We then head to the Louvre. We take the side entrance, which is literally empty and meet Tess. Throughout being in the museum, we look out the windows and see how long the main entrance (through the glass pyramid) is. It literally is hours long. People just don’t know about the entrace through the metro or the side entrance. I don’t know why the Louvre doesn’t tell people to split up the line, but whatever. Great organization fuckers. Same goes for your stupid city safety and police.
I unfortunately didn’t do the Louvre last time, but it really is way freaking huge. We spent about 3+ hours running through it hard. I could probably spend a full day there, despite it not being really my style of art. However, Ingres, David, and some of the art is killer. The architecture and interior of the building is crazy. It even has a newer exhibit with some Expressionist stuff that I like. I really wish I could’ve went through it with an audio guide. The four of us get pretty tired really quickly from the museum because we’re doing so much walking through it. There’s an Angelina café inside that has overpriced everything. It really is crazy prices. Tess is starving and has to pay 4 Euro just for a roll with jam and better. Mofuckers.
We eventually give up and skip some of the Egyptian, Greek, or whatever stuff. We then take a walk to the famous falafel place in Paris. It’s a crazy long walk, but I told them that. However, people aren’t very content about it, but at least I knew my way to get there.
There’s a guy that is standing at the end of the line and taking orders and money. Aaron and I immediately said afterwards that we were skeptical it was a scam, but I eventually figured out to trust the guy as an order taker.
The falafel was quite good and we really needed that as we were starving until 2PM with all that walking in the museum. Tess then had to go off to her next city and the three of us are left to hang out.
We grab stuff at the supermarket. Andrea and I split a bottle of wine, while Aaron has beer. We sit by the river, on a bench, and just watch the boats, and have a few drinks. She’s a killer as she graduated from Stanford and works at Google. She’s only 24, but really smart and probably rocking six figures at Google. Killing it. Noticed it when she said she had a data plan in Europe for her iPhone. She’s only here for a few weeks or so, but paid $120 so she can get Facebook, texting, etc. on her phone. Who the fuck cares when you rolling in the money.
We then try the Catacombs again. However, the line is too long and they won’t let Aaron and Andrea line up as it will be too late by the time they get on line. Instead, we hit up the supermarket and decide to do a picnic. We grab some brie and a bottle of wine. For bread, I know to hit up Polaine, probably the famous bread maker in Paris. For the brie, we don’t have a knife so there is a protractor and ruler set for 1 Euro and we plan to ghetto it out with that.
We go to Starbucks to mooch some cups for the wine. We get off the subway and head to Poilaine. We get half a loaf, which turns out to be a good amount for us. I remember having this last year and back to eating this stone ground flour bread. We then head off to Luxembourg Park, which is one of the nicest parks in Paris. We get there and it’s a lovely situation with flower gardens, nice green grass, people just sitting around relaxing, and loose green metal chairs.
As a side note, these green chairs are all over the parks in Paris. They make lots of sense as they promote tourism and people have somewhere to sit and soak in the sights and summer. However, this wouldn’t work in NYC. People would just steal them for their own personal use. Everyone would have one in their apartment. Granted, they’re heavy enough that they’re a bit burdensome to steal, but if people want to steal, they steal. I’m not quite sure how they do it so people don’t steal they or if they collect them at night.
We find some seats and settle down. We crack out the brie and bread and a triangle ruler. This becomes perfect to cut the brie and spread it on the bread. What pure delight. We then push the wine cork down with a highlight that I got free in law school. Aaron doesn’t like the crème fraiche that he got, so I eat that with a ruler as if it were a thick eating spoon. When the tringle is being used, I use the protractor as a spread device and it works quite well. Now that’s a super ghetto picnic.
Despite that, how good is this. Gorgeous summer day in Paris, great food, wine, friends. I’m in the minority about not liking the outdoors and the beach, but this is my shit. I enjoy this.
Then Aaron and Andrea get into some stupid debate about how people perceive someone when they dress a certain way and with certain brands. It stems from whether she would trust a lawyer that looked a bit slubby compared to one that was dressed extremely well and whether that influences one’s perception of how good of a lawyer they were. Dumb conversation, I don’t really play much of a part in it.
We then head back and regroup. I need to shower really bad and take a quick nap. There are these Americans in our room that are stupid travelers, then again, what am I to say, they can do what they like. I simply travel differently. They have a conversation with the Aussies in our room that they’ve been eating McDonald’s for multiple meals. They also talk about going to this stupid bar/club that I’ve been to on the Paris pub crawl. Shitty place, they’ve been there for multiple nighs and plan on going there again tonight.
After resting, we meet Andrea downstairs and grab some drinks. We hang there meeting some people and one of them is a Aussie cop. He’s in his 30s, but is a detective in the drug force. He tells us crazy stories about his job, like how he was recently stabbed by some meth head, though he had his vest on, so he’s fine.
Eventually, we decide to go with the two bro Americans to this shit place. We get there and just hang around, avoiding as long as possible paying for 5-6 Euro beers. Aaron and I say we’re going out for a smoke when we’re really looking for food. He gets a meal from Quick, a popular burger chain from Belgium. I’m in Europe, so screw fast food. Instead, I go to this doner place and get a huge sandwich. I also grab a beer with it too from the store.
We find this place on the street. For some reason, I’m hungry, but extremely pumped to eat. I open the box and it’s a big hero with with doner meat, sauce, veg, and it’s covered in fries. I start getting it on competitive eating style. I start shoving the sandwich into my face and then start throw fistfulls of fries into my mouth. I use the beer to help push the carbs down.
After that, we go back in and I start getting offered some wine from people that have a few bottles. Weird, but it’s cheap to get bottles of wine instead of ordering beer. The hip hop songs aren’t bad, but the place really does suck. We dance a bit, but it’s not really a club nor popping.
We eventually leave and we sit outside and just hang out. Andrea gets the same thing that I did and surprisingly finishes the entire thing. I had to throw out some fries. Weird thinking about it, but Aaron and I gather that she drank loads compared to us that day and then ate a shit ton of food. Girl isn’t fat at all, but tall and I guess she can sure drink and eat.
We then take a cab back, which is hyper regulated. There is a setting of what they charge during the night and it’s quite transparent, unlike NYC, which simply has a meter running without knowing what they’re charging.

August 9, 2012
After being out, we wake up late. We’re starving and get some pho at a restaurant near the hostel that I went to last year. We then go to the Musee L’Orangerie, where the highlight is Monet’s water lillies painted in 360 view.
We then walk over to Pierre Herme, which is killer good compared to the overrated Laduree. The macarons are on a whole other level than the muted flavors of the classic Parisian establishment. We walk over the Centre Pompidou. On the way, we see this place that is selling rat traps. There are rats hanging from the window and it’s a pest control store. Weird stuff.
We spend a few hours going through the Centre Pompidou, which has become one of my favorite museums. The first section is quite modern stuff, with great audio guide commentary. It is mostly lesser known artists.
Above, it is older art, more famous artists, 1900 and on. After that, there is a special exhibit, with much of the work of Gerhard Richter. He’s a really interesting living artist.
Then onto a restaurant near Centre. It’s our last meal and we’re sitting outside and eating, while a guitarist and singer are performing some jazz. We then head off to the Eiffel Tower to see it at night. They stop alcohol sales at 9PM, so we can’t get anything.
When we get to the Tower, we get to catch the light show. It only goes on for a minute and we were able to see that. We then sit on the grass and haggle for a cheap bottle of wine that cost 6-7 Euro. We leave and then spot the film, The Queen, being shot. Again!? We’re only here for a few days and seeing a few sights on random times and we catch the film getting shot twice?! That’s a crazy coindence.
Again, we see the really attractive actress with the great legs and we ask the peope watching what they know about it. They tell us about one of the actresses, who apparently is extremely famous.
We then catch the metro back and then I get the worst news from Aaron. Firstly, things with his grandmother have gotten worse. However, he has been expecting this and knew that he might have to leave and go home early because of it. The news that hits hard though is about Sara. Apparently, she went into cardiac arrest, but Stefan was there and able to bring her to hospital. She’s now being taken care of in the ICU.
This is such horrible news for a young person. It’s a shock that such a thing would happen to her, or anyone our age. I crack a bottle of wine we have left and just chat about it with Aaron. Unfortunately, we can’t really do anything about it, but only hope for the best. We know she’s being taken care of. We don’t know enough, so the only thing we can do is hope the best for her, and Stefan and her family dealing with it.
We to be packed as our bus is tomorrow.

August 10, 2012
On the way to the bus, I grab a sandwich. This is my last time in Paris and it’s a slow and sad Goodbye. We get to the bus and it’s a crazy experience. Importantly, there’s this 2 year old that does not stop for 9 hours, which is longer than we expected. His mother is a piece of shit and can’t control his kid. I’m able to get a few hours of sleep in, but the rest of it is the kid making noises and crying. Everyone on the bus is clearly annoyed and gives her dirty looks. She doesn’t even get off the bus in other cities and we’re stuck with her the whole time.
We go by Lille, Brussels, Liege, and Cologne before we make it to Dusseldorf. Brussels is a cool looking city and Aaron and I grab a Quick burger. It’s quite quality as I have a ring around my burger to keep it together. Leige seems like another nice little city with modern influences.
When we’re going through Germany, these police officers get on the bus when we’re pulled over. They start checking documents. Our passports are under the bus and we give them our NY IDs. They’re useless, but the guy doesn’t give us a hard time about it. However, two people are given a hard time and are pulled off the bus. One of the guys seems to be a bit resistant. We have to make a U-turn and see the guy on the ground being handcuffed. He must’ve actually done something wrong to be taken off the bus, then must have caused ruckus so that they had to arrest him with him on the ground. I’m really confused by this because we’re in the Schengen, which means there are no barriers between almost all EU countries, like when we travel between states. I’m not sure why they would be checking buses and what someone would have to do in order to get taken off the bus. Then again, I did in Slovakia because I didn’t have a passport and they weren’t part of the Schengen then.
We then go by Cologne, Aaron from the bus grabs a look at the HBF and the Am Dom. It really is an epic sight and one of the greatest churches I’ve seen.
We finally get to Dusseldorf. We attempt to take a bus and Aaron walks over to an ATM to buy bus tickets. I let him do what he does. He stands there, bewildered, pressing some buttons, and then walks away. He doesn’t know what’s up. I tell him that he was dealing with an ATM. Yes, I let him act like an idiot and it was hilarious for me.
We take the bus and then check into the hostel. I meet this cute Australian girl in my room. Aaron is in another because he is supposed to leave Sunday and I leave Monday. However, he quickly finds out bad news about his grandmother and must get home for the funeral. He changes his flight to be tomorrow, a day earlier.
We meet this guy Will, an American, who was studying in UK and then found a job in Aachen. We decide to go out to eat and go out for the night. Will is a really interesting guy. He’s young, only about to be a senior in college. However, he’s a smart kid. He’s working to make a heart monitor viable for sale. He explains it all and it’s crazy he knows so much medical stuff, as he had to learn it for the job. We chat for a while on the walk and he’s apparently maybe planning to get an MBA or something. This kid is going to do some things.
We get to this restaurant and I can’t tell if the waiter was being sarcastic or just rude. It’s one of the most famous restaurants there and I have my best meal in Germany there. It’s just incredible food and a great old fashioned German atmosphere.
We then grab a beer at a convenience store and Aaron gets excited about soaking in how we can buy beer there and they have a bottle opener in the place so you can drink on the street. I’m used to it, but I get excited as well because I’m in freaking Germany. Will doesn’t really get our little girly excitement and picture taking.
We walk around and soak in the nightlife and the ladies. Dusseldorf is a small city, but the small town has loads of clubs and bars and the girls are freaking OUT. Aaron was about the little tan girls in Barcelona, but I’m about these girls. They’re tall, blonde and just good looking. I’m in love dammit.
Aaron eventually decides to go because he has to fly out tomorrow. Will and I decide to stay out. We hope a few places, but nothing crazy happens. Thankfully, the places don’t charge a cover, so we’re able to enter many places and just check them out. We get into this crowded place and dance a bit, but then we give up and walk back.

August 11, 2012
After a long bus ride and getting back around 4:00 yesterday, I sleep in until late. I get some curry wurst and go check out Meidenhafen, where the Gehry buildings are. They’re incredible and I walk around checking out the modern parts of the city near the Rhine.
I then head back to the supermarket. I grab some ingredients to make a sandwich for dinner. First, they have Coke Light Lemon, which we need to bring back. Secondly, their beer is so cheap. Even something as delicious as Paulaner is only 4-5 Euro for a 6 pack. Even for cheap beer, we have to pay $8-10 for a six pack. Beer is just cheap here. Dammit I should be drinking a shit ton more of this good stuff.
I get back and make plans with Sarah, from the chat website. I’m supposed to meet her at this club. I make a grilled cheese and rock that. I then hang with some girls in the hostel and play cards. Rachel, the Australian in my hostel, an Indian girl that is traveling, an American from Massachusetts, and a Japanese girl.
I’m drinking Scotch that I bought earlier and pregaming. No one wants to go out so I have to head out myself. I get to the club and I’m waiting to meet Sarah, so I just go in and try to wait for her there. It’s a club where all these dressed people and pretty girls are going in. I try to get in and the bouncer just gives me a headshake with no explanation. I ask why I can’t get in. He says, “It’s full, this is not your night.”
I give the guy a confused look and just walk away. Everyone going in was obviously German and white. I guess the guy saw an Asian guy, then heard an American speaking, and decided that I shouldn’t be allowed in. His explanation was bullshit as people were getting for about an hour as I waited outside.
I go around the block and ask if a bar has Wifi. The waitress is incredibly nice and lets me to use her phone to text Sarah. I then find Wifi and text Sarah that I’ll be waiting outside. I eventually get bored and need to pee so I go to find this secretive area to do that. I wait around and end up going back. I give up and realize that I should have realized she would have ditched. She thought other people would have come and I told her that people in the hostel did not want to. I guess that freaked her out so she just didn’t show up.
Personally, it was one of the worst nights I had in Europe. I was by myself, dealt with a racist bouncer, and had nothing to do. It was Saturday and pretty much my last real night in Europe as I fly back on Monday morning. I was excited to do stuff and I was just by myself with nothing to do. It’s already a bit late at this point to walk to the old town. I’m south of it and walking all the way over there by myself and then eventually have to walk back, a 20-30 minute, by myself wasn’t anything that I was in the mood for.
Frustrated, annoyed, and slightly depressed, I just walk back. I get on my computer and want to find someone to chat with because I’m just not in a good mood. I could really use a chat and any kind of human contact to get rid of how stupid and annoyed I feel. I end up chatting with Tasha, which is incredible. Makes me realize that I’ve enjoyed chatting with her this much and she was also helpful when I was in Budapest in being a good friend.
I then make plans with Luna through texting about when I get back. We’ll be hanging out when I get back. We’ve been planning to hang out this whole 6 weeks that I’ve been gone. The conversations have turned onto the more intimate tones and it’s great that we’ll be immediately hanging out when she visits the weekend I get back.

August 12, 2012
I wake up and have an apple that I bought yesterday. I sit on my computer just chilling on Reddit and doing nothing. I then plan what I’m doing today. I go to a ramen place that’s in “Japanese town.” There are a thousands of Japanese in this city for some reason. It’s Sunday, so literally everything is closed and it sucks. However, this ramen placed I looked up is still open, so that kicks ass. Really delicious.
I head to Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, K-20, a museum. I walk over there and check the museum out. It has a window exhibit that I don’t really love, but the upstairs is quite nice. It’s a modern art museum. When I get out, I just walk around the area, soaking in the old town and the tourists. I stop by Starbucks at one point and I see the hot chicks everywhere and realize how much I’m going to miss that so much. Even a small city like this, there are so many and I just want to stay more!
I get back and at night, I just eat some left over food for dinner. I have an apple and eat as much cheese and ham as I can because I’ll have to throw it away otherwise. I have no more bread nor can I get any today. Freaking Sunday Germany and things are closed as hell.
At night, I grab a beer from the vending machine and write some on my computer. Wait what?! Yeah!! The freaking hostel has a vending machine with food, snacks… And cold tall boys of beer!! Fucking Germany is the best.
I meet these people from Montreal and we drink and drink. I grab the rest of my Scotch from upstairs and they get me to drink a decent amount of it. They end up having a bunch of it as well. We chat about travels, Quebec, etc.
I start realizing that they were speaking French because I was overhearing them earlier. I was extremely confused because it didn’t sound like French to me, some kind of dialect. I end up chatting with them and find out that it’s different. The French are extremely picky about their language and speak in a “hoity-toity” way. The Québécois have a deeper French voice and have different words for things.
I end up saying Bye to them to get some sleep so I won’t be tired and hungover for the morning trip.

August 13, 2012
I wake up and I’m packed. I grab my stuff downstairs. I grab some breakfast, which is quite simple. Coffee, whole wheat toast with butter and honey. Good stuff though, they use Irish butter in Germany. I don’t eat butter in America, but it’s too good here.
I say Bye to Rachel and the Japanese girl and get to the station. After an easy bus, I get to the airport. It’s a long walk, but I’m able to make it to the terminal. The plane is a bit late to Dublin, but I eventually make it on time. Now I have 5-6 hours to wait before my next flight from Dublin to JFK.
I first go to Burger King and get myself a huge ass meal. Big burger, large onion rings, etc. I need to calorie up as I have a while to wait. I like how they serve beer in the airport out of the Burger King. Love Europe. I then do some duty free. I get two bottles of Johnny Red for about 11.50 Euro a pop.
I then realize that my adapter doesn’t work. Mainland Europe has a different one compared to Ireland and Britain. I buy an overpriced one for 6-7 Euros. I have nothing else to do in all these hours than write, so I do that. I then finally go to the terminal and wait. People are obviously lined up like idiots while I just sit there and get to be one of the last persons on the airplane.
The food is pretty bad and I watch a few movies. American Reunion is awkward to watch as there are some sexual scenes. I don’t know why they put movies like this on an airplane. There are people next to me and behind me that can see what I’m watching so I just have to keep fast forwarding when this happens.
I then see this chef film called, “The Chef” with Jean Reno. It’s a fun useless movie, but only really for those who are foodies, otherwise, it’s pretty boring. I then see the Lorax, which is meh.
After that, I’m home. Back in NYC! I quickly get through customs and my mom is there to pick me up. We get some food at a Korean restaurant near us and catch up on family stuff, my trip, etc.
Well, that’s the conclusion to it all. I’ve been gone six weeks for the greatest experience of my life. The pictures, writing, and random things (coasters, ticket stubs, postcards) that I collected will hopefully help me remember how good of an experience it was. Aaron and I had this conversation, I literally live in life to do stuff like this. I don’t need lots of money, I just want to be comfortable, happy, and do what I love, traveling, meeting people, eating drinking, seeing sights, all of it.